How to Be Irish in Philly

Sean Tyrrell comes to Monmouth College this week.

Recovered from last weekend? No, we didn’t think so. That’s why it’s a good thing that this is a relatively light week, Celtically speaking. There are three big events:

On Wednesday, the masterful and energetic Irish trad group Lunasa comes to Philly for a Crossroads Concerts’ show at Calvary Church.

Lunasa features, among others, piper Cillian Vallely and flute and bodhran player Kevin Crawford, who is also one of the funniest guys we’ve ever seen on stage. Music, comedy—it doesn’t get much better than that.

Then on Thursday, you can hear Galway folk singer Sean Tyrrell celebrate Ireland’s many poets in a one-man show called “Who Killed James Joyce?” at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ. That starts at 7 PM.

Or you can hear Irish folk rocker Luka Bloom (brother of Christy Moore) at the Sellersville Theatre, also on Thursday night.

On October 2, photographer Brian Mengini is having his coming out party for the Spirit of the Fallen calendar, featuring his exquisite black and white photographs of dancers at Finnigan’s Wake in the Spring Garden section of the city. Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go to the Philadelphia Police Survivors Fund. There will be music and fun–because it’s Finnigan’s Wake, and that’s how they roll there.

You’ll get the equivalent of a hole in one by taking part in the Jack McNamee Masters of the Green Golf Tournament on Monday at the Paxon Hollow Golf Club in Media. You get to honor a great man—the late Jack McNamee, a longtime restaurateur and member of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association and a past Grand Marshal of the parade—and help raise some money to keep the parade marching this year.

There’s also a new session on the calendar—at The Bards on Walnut Street in Philadelphia—featuring Paraic Keane and Tom O’Malley both of whom you’ve probably seen at the Plough and the Stars. This session runs on Wednesdays starting at 6 PM.

And don’t forget the new Irish genealogy group that is meeting on Thursday in Cherry Hill featuring crack genealogist Deborah Large Fox and our own Lori Lander Murphy.

There’s a happy hour networking event on Thursday starting at 6 PM sponsored by the Irish Network-Philly at the Shanachie Restaurant and Pub in Ambler. It’s free (including the appetizers) with drink specials.

Next Saturday, Voice of the Faithful Greater Philadelphia, is holding a forum on “Saving the Catholic Church” at Chestnut Hill College. That means you can contribute your suggestions for rescuing a church under siege all over the world.,

In the next few weeks, lovers of Irish music will be treated to a house concert by singer Aoife Clancy (yes, of that family) in Lansdale (October 16); Begley and O Raghallaigh, two superlative trad performers who will be both at the Irish Center and Coatesville Culture Center (October 16, 17); and Blackthorn in concert to raise money for St. Laurence Parish in Upper Darby (October 16).

East of the Hebrides—those wonderful folks who bring us the Mid-winter Scottish-Irish festival, Brittingham’s Irish Festival, the Phoenixville Street Festival and many more—has added Lansdale to its repetoire: On October 17, they’re throwing a free street fair with Irish music and vendors near Molly Maguire’s Pub and Restaurant, which recently opened there. They’re calling it “Molly O’Ween.” Get it? There will be a costume contest, pumpkin carving, and kiddie activities.

For details on these events and more, check out our calendar.

That's a caber and it's about to be tossed. You can see this in Bethlehem this weekend.

Get those deely-bobber shamrocks and your best funny Irish t-shirt out of mothballs, folks. It’s that time again.

That’s right, the 19th annual AOH Div. 1 Irish Weekend in N. Wildwood, where the pipe bands will flow like beer and the beer will flow like, well, beer. This annual AOH fundraiser spans four days and features some of the best Irish music talent around, including Paddy’s Well, the Bogside Rogues, the Broken Shillelaghs, the Birmingham 6, the Bareknuckle Boxers—and Blackthorn is also in town, playing at the Anglesea Pub. There’s amateur boxing on Thursday, a golf tournament, and the Brian Riley Pipe Exhibition on Saturday at 8th and Central Avenues. There are also miles and miles of vendors and other music to lure you into any one of N. Wildwood’s many pleasant pubs.

Enjoy the party responsibly. Check out some of previous years’ action in our photo essay.

If you’re up north, this is also the weekend for the Celtic Classic, which has loads of music and vendors and beer, but also highland games like caber tossing and hammer throwing, border collie demonstrations, and haggis eating contests. On stage this weekend will be Enter the Haggis, Timlin and Kane, Barleyjuice, John Doyle and Susan McKeown, Bua, McPeake, Burning Bridget Cleary, the Makem and Span Brothers, and our personal favorite–the Red Hot Chili Pipers (no, that’s not a typo). There’s also a play, Bombshells, from Ireland’s Jasango Theatre, on tap at Foy Hall at Moravian College. It’s described as a wildly passionate comedy—and we like the sounds of that. Great craic–and whatever the Scots call fun.
View some photos from last year’s Classic.

And as they say on late night infomercials, but wait, that’s not all. On Friday night, Immaculata College is hosting Beth Phillips Brown for a talk on how Welsh and Irish literature that influenced the tales of King Arthur. What, we had something to do with Camelot?

On Friday night and Saturday, some of Irish traditional music masters, including Father Charlie Coen, Michael Tubridy, Paddy O’Neill and Lesl Harker, will play and tell stories about the music that harkens back to old Ireland at the Irish Center. “Irish Flute, Music, and Stories” will also feature Irish Gaelic scholar Tom Cahill talking about how sean nos singing—old-time unaccompanied singing—relates to the playing of tunes. Meals are included in the $85 fee for both days. And if you play an instrument, you can count on some of the region’s most serious musicians playing in the sessions so come, sit, and learn.

This has got to be the busiest weekend in all of Irish Philadelphiadom. On Saturday, you have a few other choices:

Irish Network Philly is holding a friendly 5-a-side World Cup Competition at Fox Chase Fields, 701 Rhawn Street in Philadelphia, to help raise money for charity. Participation will cost each player $20 which will be collected on the day. Register individually or register your team on the IN-Philly website. Players must be 18 and over to participate. If you’re 40 or over, fair warning, mate—ambulances are not standing by. There will be a post-game happy hour at Tir na Nog in Philadelphia.

At the Sellersville Theatre, the fiddlers three, Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaître (Brittany) & André Brunet (Quebec) combine their musical traditions and spontaneous humor for an evening of dazzling energy, showcasing their regional repertoires.

At Penn’s Zellerbach Theatre, there’s going to be more dazzling fiddling going on—Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, one of our faves. We talked to Eileen last week.

Then, on Sunday, the lovely and talented Fil Campbell does a reprise of her “Songbirds” show at the Irish Center in which she performs the music of five of Ireland’s top female singers, including Delia Murphy, Maggie Barry, Ruby Murray, Bridie Gallagher and Mary O’Hara. I saw her last year and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen at this very intimate venue. Have to give this one a “must-see” rating. Read our interview.

You might run into these guys from Irish Thunder in Wildwood.

Lace up your running shoes, kiddies. You are going to be oh, so very busy this coming week.

Honestly, we’re not this crazy busy with Irish and Celtic stuff in March.

First, this weekend. There are three festivals. Let me start by saying that Irish people could not possibly have planned any of this weekend’s events, or they would all be on the same day, and you’d have to figure out which one to go to, and which two to blow off. Fortunately, such good planning hardly ever happens.

All you have to know is, they’re all in Jersey:

Dublin Square Pub over in Bordentown is hosting its Halfway to St. Paddy’s Day event Friday night, starting at 8 and continuing until whenever. Live Irish tunes with the Broken Shillelaghs, and lots of fun.

The Gloucester City 2010 Shamrock Festival kicks off on Saturday, starting at 12 noon, in Proprietor’s Park & Marina on the waterfront at 225 South King Street, in Gloucester City, one of our favorite towns. The Broken Shillelaghs will be there, too, with Jamison, Beautiful Day and the Misty Dew’rs. Vendors galore, and plenty of activities for the kiddies.

On Sunday, starting at noon and going until 5, Mount Holly launches its Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day Music Festival at the High Street Grill. Music by Paul Kennedy, Celtic Connection and the debut of O’Farrelly’s Whiskey. Bonus: Find out who the 2011 Mount Holly St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal is going to be.

After the weekend festivals are over, shoot back over to Pennsy—Norristown, to be specific— for the Ciara Kelly Higgins for CP 5th Annual Fundraiser at Plymouth Country Club (Belvoir and Plymouth Roads) on Monday. It’s an all-day event, including breakfast, golf, music by Paddy’s Well, dinner and the comedy of Joe Conklin. There’s also a silent and live auction. All to raise money for 7-year-old Ciara Higgins, who has cerebral palsy, and other kids with CP, to make sure they get the therapy they need. Learn more here. 

Knock off for a couple of days after that. You’re really going to need your rest because …

Irish Weekend down in North Wildwood—one of the biggest such events on the East Coast—gets under way with live amateur boxing Thursday night at 7 in the Music Tent at New Jersey and Spruce Avenues. The main celebration kicks in on Friday from 8 in the morning until 7 at night with music and vendors, and no small amount of food and drink.

It continues on Saturday, with the Brian Riley Pipe Band Exhibition at 8th and Central at 10 a.m., and more entertainment and vendors all day, and a ceili at Anglesea Firehouse from 7 to 11 p.m.; and a big, splashy parade on Sunday. Lots of your favorite bands will be booked down the shore that weekend.

But wait! The annual Celtic Classic, Highland Games and Festival—another event that also easily fits the “one of the biggest” description—kicks off Friday, runs throughout Saturday and wraps up on Sunday. We’d tell you what’s happening hour-by-hour, but there’s just so much going on, we would fall down from exhaustion before we got midway through Saturday.

Suffice to say that many of the top Celtic bands will be performing, including some of our particular favorites: Bua, the shy and retiring (not!) Timlin & Kane, Burning Bridget Cleary, Enter the Haggis, and the Jameson Sisters. Plus, the great John Doyle and Karan Casey team up for concerts Thursday and Friday night. Their CD “Exiles Return,” was one of the best Irish traditional recordings of the year. They’re just terrific together. This is an absolute “don’t miss.”

(UPDATE Sept. 18, 2010: Karan Casey will not be appearing, due to a family emergency. Taking her place is the marvelous Susan McKeown.)

The Classic also features enough pipe bands to cause ringing of the ears for weeks, Highland games (think beefy tattooed dudes in kilts tossing telephone poles … the dudes, not the kilts), sheepdog trials, haggis … it’s a jam-packed weekend.

With all the festival fun going on, you run the risk of missing two very good concerts: the Celtic Fiddle Festival Saturday at 8 p.m. at Sellersville Theatre, and Eileen Ivers—a one-woman fiddle festival in her own right—the same night and time at Zellerbach Theater on the Penn Campus. If you can see your way clear, either one is likely to be a rock-solid hit.

I don’t know about you, but after all that running around, I might sleep until March.

Expect a lot of exuberance at this year's Ceili Group festival.

Welcome to September! Dust off your shamrock deely bobbers, folks. You’re going to need them.

In a couple of weeks we’ll be halfway to St. Paddy’s Day and this is the month where we all start practicing because we have plenty—and I mean plenty—of opportunity. I don’t want to say there’s an Irish festival every week, because I think we’re skipping a week this year. But there are some weekends when there are two or three to make up for it.

[A brief pause to air a pet peeve: Now, seriously, folks, can we get some coordination here? Before you decide on a date for your event, check our calendar. It’s the only comprehensive Irish events calendar in the region and you’ll get more people at your fest if it’s not scheduled say, when most of the Irish people in Philly are in Wildwood destroying their livers or heading to a festival where, in addition to hearing great Irish music, they can see half naked men in kilts throwing telephone poles around. Now, back to our regularly scheduled column.]

First festival of the season award goes to Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill where East of the Hebrides launched a nice, kid-friendly Irish fest last year in Brittingham’s parking lot. On Sunday, September 5, there’s great music from Paddy’s Well, Jamison, Oliver McElhone, Seamus McGroary, and Whiskey Folk; a beer garden (I’m having one of those next year); Irish dancers and bagpipers; and vendors and delicious food both inside and out (for those of you who’ve been to Ireland, Brittingham’s serves authentic toasties!).

The Saturday before, you can see the Samuel Beckett play, “First Love,” at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia. It stars Irish actor Conor Lovett in his 19th role in a Beckett play. And boy, is his sense of the absurd tired.

Then, come Thursday, gear yourself up for three days and nights of the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual festival of traditional Irish song and dance at the Irish Center in Philadelphia.

This year could be one of the best years ever: Remarkable fiddler Liz Carroll will be joining forces with Altan’s Daithi Sproule on stage on Saturday night., September 11. Irish Philadelphia will be there on Saturday afternoon with a table filled with fun for the kiddies, so stop by and see us. (And bring the kids: We have free Silly Bandz and tattoos.) There will be other vendors too, as well as food, drink, Irish dancing, and classes on everything from the Irish language, to making a St. Brigid’s Cross to genealogy (our own resident genealogist Lori Lander Murphy will be giving a talk on how to find your Irish ancestors).

But before that, you can see “The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy,” a much-heralded documentary on the life of this Irish music legend who died last year, on Wednesday night at the Irish Center. On Thursday night, the Singers Circle brings some of the best voices in the area to one place (and if you have a nice voice, come on down and add it!). And on Friday, kick up your heels for a ceili (set dance) featuring legendary Kevin McGillian (on accordian) and Friends along with a Fireside room concert featuring Galway’s finest, Gary Quinn on accordian and Anthony McGrath on guitar.

There are some other amazing musicians who will be performing and/or offering workshops, including Myron Bretholz (bodhran) from Baltimore; Dave Abe (fiddle) from Washington, DC; singers Karen Boyce McCollum and Michael Boyce of Blackthorn; guitarist John Brennan; Cara Frankowicz from New England, who will be teaching fiddle; Dave Hanson (bodhran); and Tim Hill, who, at 17, is an up-and-coming uillean piper.

Also on the bill: Tom Reing, director of the Inis Nua Theatre Company, will be offering an acting workshop for kids aged 8-14; Paraic Keane, from the well-known Keane family in Ireland (dad Sean was with The Chieftains, uncle James is a celebrated box player), will be performing; the Jameson Sisters (angelic voiced Terry Kane and the very funny harper, Ellen Tepper) will be performing and offering workshops in sean nos singing and harp; singer Marian Makins (she of the unbelievably beautiful voice); uillean piper Dan McHugh; flute player Paddy O’Neill; and the irrepressible Gerry Timlin, musician, publican (he’s co-owner of The Shanachie Pub in Ambler, which serves as the occasional home office of irishphiladelphia.com) and comic.

The Ceili Group’s festival will be overlapping on Saturday, Septmber 11, with the Green Lane Scottish-Irish Festival. Music will be provided by the Martin Family Band, the Hooligans, Burning Bridget Cleary, Tree, and Norsewind. There will be pipers of every strip, Highland and Irish dancers, great food, kids activities, and, of course, the big sea monster in the middle of the Green Lane reservoir.

The Young Dubliners are also coming to town on Saturday, September 11, playing the Sellersville Theatre with The Barley Boys and later, on September 14, with the John Byrne Band at the World Café Live in Philadelphia (an Irish Network-Philadelphia get-together and the informal founding of Philadelphia’s new Dublin Society).

Speaking of the Jameson Sisters, they’ll be playing on Friday, September 10, at the Meet The Artists night at Villanova University, where the works of a group of Irish artists in London, “The Quiet Men,” are on exhibit through October. The London Irish co-curator and painter Thomas Whelan will be speaking on the topic, “Who are the Quiet Men?” — referring to the artists who, like many Irish-Americans, have Irish roots but grew up or live in England.

On Saturday, September 11, The Gloucester County AOH will conduct a wreath-laying and short ceremony honoring Commodore John Barry, father of the U.S. Navy and Wexford-born American Revolutionary War patriot, at the monument at the Commodore Barry Bridge. A mass will follow at the AOH hall, with a free luncheon afterwards and music by The Broken Shillelaghs.

There’s more heading our way, so stay tuned!

They know there's plenty of craic coming up.

A bonus this week: Nearly a month’s worth of ways you can be Irish in Philly. The reason: We’re taking the week off. All of us. At the same time. We’re not going to be wired for a whole week. And there are some festivals coming up in September you need to plan for.

First, here’s what’s going on while we’re gone:

On Friday, August 20, works by a group of Irish artists living in London who call themselves will be on display at Villanova University Art Gallery. The exhibit will be there for several months.

The Irish Club of Delaware County will give it another try—its second annual picnic by the pool, featuring Round Tower and good eats at the Knights of Columbus De LaSalle Pool in Springfield on Saturday. The first date was a rainout.

On Sunday, “Go Irish: The Purgatory Diaries of Jason Miller,” a one-man play, is coming for a one-off at the Irish Center in Philadelphia. Actor Bob Hughes plays Miller, and actor who was Oscar-nominated for his role as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 movie, “The Exorcist.” and a screenwriter and playwright who was was winner of the Pulitzer Prize that same year, for “That Championship Season.” At the time of his death,Miller was in the midst of mounting a revival of Inherit the Wind at Scranton Public Theatre and writing a television script about his former father-in-law, comedian Jackie Gleason.

Jason Miller was passionate, talented, troubled and conflicted. He turned his back on Hollywood –it was not his style– to return to his native Scranton to care for his ailing mother and father. One of his Miller’s memorable roles was in the movie “Rudy” in which he played Notre Dame Head Football Coach Ara Parseghian. An avid Notre Dame fan, the greeting on Jason’s home phone was ‘Go Irish,” hence the name of the play.

Free movie night is back at the Irish Center on Thursdays through the end of summer. Kick back with a beer, a plate of Paul’s fabulous chicken fingers, and enjoy the show on the big screen in air-conditioned comfort.

Next Friday, August 27, The Celtic Tenors come to the Sellersville Theatre bringing their eclectic sound that has sold more than 1 million CDs worldwide.

Now this sounds yummy: On Saturday, August 28, the 8th annual Berks Celtic Oyster Fest takes place at St. Benedict’s Grove in Mohnton, PA. On stage will be RUNA, the Hooligans, Charlie Zahm, Trinity, John Whelan, Hamilton Celtic Pipe Band, and the Reid School of Highland Dance. There’s also an oyster-eating contest and a best men’s legs in kilts contest. Plus food and vendors and probably some oysters for public consumption.

But that’s just a taste of this particular weekend. Solas is appearing on Saturday night at Longwood Gardens. What a beautiful venue for this talented group.

And the Mairead Farrells Ladies Gaelic football club is holding a “Halloween in the Summer” costume party on Saturday night at Tir na NoG in Philadelphia to help raise funds for the team, which is going to be in great need of a trophy cabinet soon to hold all their well-earned honors. You go, girls!

And on Sunday, August 29, photographer Brian Mengini (you’ve seen his work on our pages) unveils his “Spirit of the Fallen” exhibit, photographs of dancers wearing wings who volunteered their time to honor Philadelphia’s slain police officers. Mengini is using the event, which features the Timoney Irish dancers and fiddler Laine Walker Hughes from Paddy’s Well and is being held at the Irish Center, to raise money to publish a calendar which he plans to sell to raise money for the Philadelphia Police Survivors Fund. Order your tickets here.

That takes us into September. For many people, it’s a bittersweet month. Summer fun is winding down and the kids are going back to school. But if you’re Irish, the fun is just starting. With September come festivals galore, starting with the second annual Brittingham’s Irish Festival in Lafayette Hill on September 5 featuring the ever-popular Paddy’s Well, Jamison, Oliver McElhone, Seamus McGroary, and Whiskey Folk, dozens of vendors, an outdoor beer garden, dancers, and plenty of activities for kids.

This is also a bang-up year for Irish and Scottish plays and on September 4, you can see actor Conor Lovett in Samuel Beckett’s one-man play, “First Love,” at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival of Irish Music and Dance (September 9-11) this year features Grammy-nominated fiddler Liz Carroll, about whom one critic wrote, “[she] conjures up a dizzying mixture of the sweetest tones, the fastest runs, and the most dazzling display of musicianship imaginable.” Joining her during the Saturday night concert will be Daithi Sproule of the acclaimed Donegal group, Altan, who frequently collaborates with Carroll. There will be music all day in the Fireside Room and dancing in the ballroom, Irish product vendors, kids’ activities, dance demonstrations, and classes in everything from genealogy to Irish singing and crafts.

But before that, see a showing of “The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy” on Wednesday night at the Irish Center to kick off this year’s festival, followed by Singers’ Circle on Thursday, featuring some of the area’s finest Irish singers.

The Green Lane Scottish Irish Festival is on tap for the same weekend. It will feature the Martin Family Band, the Hooligans, Burning Bridget Cleary, Tree, Norsewind, pipers, Highland and Irish dancers, great food, and that wonking big sea monster in the middle of the Green Lane reservoir.

The Young Dubliners are coming to town on Saturday, September 11, playing the Sellersville Theatre with The Barley Boys and later, on September 14, with the John Byrne Band at the World Café Live in Philadelphia (an Irish Network-Philadelphia get-together and the informal founding of Philadelphia’s new Dublin Society).

On September 18, try something a little different–the Gloucester City 2010 Shamrock Festival, which starts at noon in Proprietors’s Park on the Delaware waterfront. Gloucester City is a couple of minutes from Philadelphia over one bridge or another and is a lovely, often overlooked little city with a long Irish history (and plenty of Irish pubs). Jamison and the Broken Shillelaghs are only two of the bands scheduled to play, and there’s plenty of kid stuff to do, great food to eat, and a beer garden. Hey, maybe next year we’ll plant beer seeds in our garden!

The Cape May County AOH Div. 1 holds its annual Irish Weekend September 23-26 in N. Wildwood, the largest Irish festival on the east coast, which lasts for four days and covers N. Wildwood like gravy on Irish stew. It includes a boxing match, a ceili, 5 K run, 1 mile walk, a pipe band exhibition, and music galore, including Paddy’s Well, the Broken Shillelaghs, Bogside Rogues, Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones, the Sean Fleming Band, and many more. It’s wall-to-wall vendors, great food, and craic. We have the whole schedule up on our interactive calendar.

There’s craic galore at the Bethlehem Celtic Classic which is held the same weekend as Wildwood’s fest every year. But in Bethlehem you also get big guys tossing hammers and cabers, border collies doing their stuff, a haggis-eating contest, lots of dancing and singing by groups like Barleyjuice, John Doyle and Karan Casey, Timlin and Kane, Bua, McPeake, the Makem and Spain Brothers, Enter the Haggis, the Glengharry Boys, the Jameson Sisters, Burning Bridget Cleary, and more. You’ll find a link to the entire schedule on our calendar.

We’ll be back soon and update you on anything new. Enjoy the last of August! We know we will!

Barleyjuice will be having fun in Wildwood this weekend ... you can too!

Big goings-on at the shore this weekend: The inaugural Irish Summer Fest in Wildwood kicks off on Friday night with the critically acclaimed Celtic Crossroads show at the Wildwoods Convention Center, repeated on Saturday night.

This whole weekend you can see a wide variety of Celtic artists, from the popular Barleyjuice and Raining Hearts (the enormously talented daughters of Barleyjuice’s Kyf Brewer), Roger Drawdry and the Firestarters, Nae Breeks, an ensemble pipe and drum band, and Philly and Dublin’s own John Byrne Band, who’ve been tapped to play for former British PM Tony Blair when he receives the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia in September. It’s also your chance to hear Boxty, a duo made up of Miltown Malbay’s Fintan Malone and Kevin Brennan, formerly with Van Morrison.

There are also workshops in everything from tin whistle to bodhran, vendors, food, Irish dancers and story telling for the kids by Terry Harris, author of “The Loneliest Leprechaun” and Sean McCabe.

Part of the proceeds from the event will go to Access to Art, a local nonprofit that brings music, dance, and art to residents of Cape May County; The Forgotten Irish Fund, which aids Irish immigrants to Britain; and the Irish Way, a study abroad program for American students interested in learning about Irish history and culture.

This is the last weekend for Bethlehem’s Musikfest, where Barleyjuice (wow, they’re busy!), Enter the Haggis, and Blackwater will be on stage on Saturday.

On Sunday, the tone is serious. The Mayo Association of Philadelphia is holding its annual Out Lady of Knock Mass at the Irish Center in Philadelphia. This year there will be a special dedication of an Our Lady of Knock stature sculptured in Knock, County Mayo, before the Mass begins. A dinner follows after the Mass.

A basilica stands on the ground in Knock where, in 1979, five people said they saw an apparition of Our Lady, St. Joseph, and St, John the Baptist at a small parish church. Behind them was a lamb, the symbol of Christ, on an altar.

On Wednesday, August 18, you’re in for a treat—The High Kings will be doing two shows at Brittingham’s. The first may be sold out (call and check) but they’ve added a second, 10 PM show. If you’ve seen them on PBS, here’s your chance to see them up close and personal.

On Friday, Villanova opens an exhibit called “The Quiet Men,” paintings by a group of Irish artists working in London whose works reflect the “outsider” nature of being an Irishman in England. The Irish Times newspaper called it “powerful work,” and it will be on display through October 6. On September 10, there will be an artists’ reception and artist Brian Whelan will discuss the paintings.

Next Saturday, the Second Annual Irish Picnic sponsored by the Irish Club of Delaware County will take place at the Knights of Columbus de LaSalle Pool in Springfield, Delaware County. The event, which was rained out earlier in the summer, features the band, Round Tower, a DJ, food, and vendors.

Check out the calendar for all the details.

You have two chances to see the Celtic Crossroads show!

Musikfest starts this week in Bethlehem and while there are plenty of musical genres and major stars to hear (they have Norah Jones, Martina McBride, Richie Havens—he’s sold out already–Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Doobie Brothers, Adam Lambert, and many more), we’re going to give you the Celtic lineup here because this is Irish Philadelphia. All the details are on our interactive calendar, which can send messages to your smart phone to remind you. So 21st century!

August 6, 9 PM: 2U, the U2 tribute band.
August 8, 3 PM: Burning Bridget Cleary
August 9, 7 PM: Scythian
August 10, 1:30 PM: Seamus Kennedy
August 10, 3 PM: Malinky
August 10, 5 PM: Seamus Kennedy
August 10, 9 PM: Scythian
August 11, 5:30 PM: Celtic Cross
August 11, 7:30 PM: Munnelly
August 11, 9:30 PM: The Hooligans
August 12, 7 PM: Cherish the Ladies
August 13, 12 PM: Irish Stars (dancers)
August 14, 5 PM: Blackwater
August 14, 7 PM: Barleyjuice
August 14, 9 PM: Enter the Haggis

If you haven’t gotten your fill of Celtic sounds, there’s much, much more coming up this week and next. It might be best if we give it to you straight out by date:

Sunday, August 8: The Irish Cultural Club of Delaware is holding its annual feis and festival at St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington. They’re expecting 900 dancers, plus there’s an afternoon ceili (party) for everyone, vendors, food, and more.

Tuesday, August 10: The Saw Doctors are coming to the Sellersville Theatre.

Wednesday, August 11: Celtic Crossroads, considered one of Ireland’s best stage shows, gives a free performance at TD Bank Ampitheatre in Bensalem.

Wednesday, August 11: Continuing in the “free concert” theme, Shannon Lambert-Ryan and RUNA will be performing at Walk a Crooked Mile Books in Mt. Airy.

Friday August 13-Saturday, August 14: Primo time to be in Wildwood for sun, sand, sea, and Celtic music (threw you off with that hard C, didn’t we?). Irish Summer Fest goes on all weekend at the Wildwoods Convention Center with Celtic Crossroads (see above), the John Byrne Band, Barleyjuice, Raining Hearts (they’re the multi-talented daughters of Barleyjuice’s Kyf Brewer), Boxty (Fintan Malone and Kevin Brennan—Kevin’s a former bandmate of Van Morrison), and many, many more. There will be food, a marketplace featuring Irish crafts, workshops and the usual fun and frivolity when two or more Irish folk are gathered together.

Celtic Spring in concert.

If you’re up for a little drive—just to Pottsville—the Clover Fire Company is holding its 23rd annual Irish Weekend from Friday through Sunday. It’s a freebie on Friday and only $4 for adults to get in to hear groups like The Martin Family Band, the Irish Lads, The Breaker Boys, the Kilmaine Saints, and Charlie Zahm and Tad Marks.

In Newfield, NJ, her friends are holding Haley’s Ceili to raise money for the seven-year-old fiddler Haley Richardson to Ireland to compete in the Fleadh Cheoil (All-Ireland) competition.

Also on Saturday, another group of friends are coming together to raise money for a group that calls itself Carmel’s Crew. They’ll be walking in the Susan B. Komen three-day in October. A karaoke beef-and-beer is scheduled at Paddy Rooney’s in Havertown to raise money for the team, walking for Carmel Bradley who was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. Carmel, now cancer-free, is walking too.

On Sunday, Celtic Spring—called the “vonTrapp family of Irish music” and featured on “America’s Got Talent—will be performing at the Keswick Theatre. The six Wood siblings all play the fiddle and dance—and yes, at the same time. Their dad plays drum and their mom plays piano.

This Thursday marks the return of Free Movie Night at the Irish Center. This week, watch a fascinating documentary that will take everyone back to their Irish roots—way back. Using archeological finds and DNA testing, researchers are now coming up with some interesting answers to the question, “Who are the Irish?” One clue: Part of the action takes place in Africa. Come for a late dinner—there’s a new menu at the Irish Center and most of the entrees are under $5.

Ceili Rain is taking the stage next Friday at the Sellersville Theatre. This Nashville-based band is led by Bob Halligan Jr., a songwriter who has penned hits for Cher, Joan Jett, Kathy Mattea, Judas Priest and Michael Bolton. Ceili Rain does Celtic music with a pop-rock flair.

Next Saturday, Celtic Women comes to the Mann Center for the Perfoming Arts.

And there’s plenty more on the way: The Kane Sisters with Edel Fox, are on tap for the Irish Center on Sunday, August 1. The two siblings are fiddlers in the Sligo style and Fox, who is on staff at the famous Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, is one of the most accomplished Irish traditional performers in Ireland today. The three recently performed and taught at the annual Catskills Irish Arts Week in Durham, NY.