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Music, News

Still Bringing Music to Ambler

Gerry Timlin

Gerry Timlin

In the Delaware Valley, his name is synonymous with Irish music, but what’s got Gerry Timlin really excited right now is an Italian guy who plays jazz. Not just any old guy—Vince Giordano and his 11-piece orchestra the Nighthawks, Grammy winners for their soundtrack for HBO’s hit series, Boardwalk Empire.

“He is fabulous, just fabulous,” says Timlin, who until about two years ago was owner of The Shanachie Restaurant and Pub in Ambler and is one of the movers and shakers behind the Ambler Arts and Music Festival, scheduled for June 14-15, on the borough’s main drag, Butler Avenue.

Giordano is the headliner for the two-day festival and he is quite a get. Giordano and the Nighthawks play twice a week at Sofia’s Restaurant, near the Edison Hotel in New York’s Times Square, but they headline away gigs like the Newport Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Giordano and the band have also played on more than half a dozen Woody Allen soundtracks, in Francis Ford Coppola’s film, “The Cotton Club,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” and Sam Mendes’ film, “Revolutionary Road, as well as two other HBO presentations, “Grey Gardens” and “Mildred Pierce.”

It’s part of an eclectic mix of performers who will occupy two stages among vendors beer gardens, and art exhibits, including local favorites, rocker Tommy Conwell, the country-western band, 309 Express, singer-songwriter Craig Bickhardt, the McKendry Brothers, the King Brothers, party band Doc Freeman, cover band BKWG, and Jersey Shore favorites, Secret Service Band. The Trammps (“Disco Inferno”) will close out Saturday night with some R & B.

If you’re a former Shanachie denizen, you know Bickhardt, the McKendrys and the King Brothers as regulars at Timlin’s musical pub and you’re likely to hear at least some Irish music. “But the idea was to make it all-inclusive,” says Timlin, who still performs regularly solo and with partner of 40 years, Tom Kane, at Irish music venues on the East Coast.

Though Ambler has had an arts festival, this is the first year that music will be side-by-side with fine art, pottery, and jewelry makers. Timlin volunteered to help add the musical notes. “I thought this was something that could really help Ambler and I kept looking as my blueprint Bethlehem at what Musikfest and Celtic Fest have done for the Lehigh Valley.”

Most of the festival is free. Only the Giordano concert, which is being held at the Ambler Theater, is ticketed ($45). Parking is cheap ($5 no matter how long you stay). And some of Ambler’s best restaurants—and there are many—will be selling food street-fair style along with outdoor table service.

For more information, check out the festival website.

Dance, News

A Dance Extravaganza At Penn’s Landing

Dancer Moira Cahill of the Coyle School. She' s also the reigning Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe.

Dancer Moira Cahill of the Coyle School. She’ s also the reigning Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe.

There were so many Irish dancers–representing most if not all of the dance schools in the Philadelphia region–that they didn’t fit in the area beneath the stage at the Irish Festival on Penn’s Landing on Sunday. So, some of them did their big number on the stairways that lead up through the ampitheater seating which was packed with festival goers.

It was all for Jane Richard. The 7-year-old Irish dancer from Massachusetts captured the hearts of Irish dancers everywhere. Jane’s brother, Martin, was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing in April. Her parents were also injured and Jane lost her leg. A local fund has been set up to collect money for the Richard family. The specially designed “Philadelphia Loves Boston” t-shirts that all the dancers were wearing on Sunday–and which were moving off the sale table faster than the hot dogs and beer–have been making a sizeable contribution to the fund.

We caught some of the action at the Sunday afternoon event, which followed a Mass and flag-raising ceremony at the Irish Memorial. Here are just some of the photos we took.

And a neat little video below.

History, News

Remembering Commodore Barry

Joe Tobin of the Emerald Society Pipe Band.

Joe Tobin of the Emerald Society Pipe Band.

With an honor guard of University of Pennsylvania Navy ROTC cadets, an Irish piper, and dozens of churchgoers and representatives from local Irish organizations, the life and accomplishments of Commodore John Barry, revolutionary war hero and father of the US Navy, were remembered again, as they always are on Memorial Day, on Sunday at Old St. Mary’s Church in Philadelphia.

Barry, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1745, came to the colonies as a young man with a long history at sea to offer his service to the new American Congress. The government bought his ship, the Black Prince, and renamed it Alfred. Lt. John Paul Jones hoisted the first American flag in its rigging.

Barry took over the Lexington, a ship with 14 guns, which sailed out in March 1776 and barely a week later, engaged in battle with the British man-of-war Liverpool, which he captured and brought into Philadelphia. Over the course of the next few years– the Revolutionary War years–Barry served valiantly in several campaigns, including on land in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. In 1780. Barry and his men captured three enemy vessels and he was later wounded in battle.

After the war, Barry was appointed number one on the list of Captains in the US Navy, his commission signed by General George Washington.

He died at 58, and was buried in the graveyard of his parish church, St. Mary’s, the second Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia. Built in 1763 as an adjunct to the city’s oldest Catholic Church, St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s is celebrating its 250th birthday this year. Archbishop Charles Chaput, head of the Philadelphia archdiocese, co-celebrated Sunday’s Mass with Pastor, Msgr. Paul A. DiGirolamo.

View our photos of the day. 

News, People

Rest in Peace, Mary O’Kane

Mary O'Kane

Mary O’Kane

A well-loved member of Philadelphia’s Irish community has passed away. Radio personality Mary O’Kane died Thursday night in hospice, attended by daughters Bonnie Kelly and Teri McQuaid.

Local radio host Marianne MacDonald remembered Mary O’Kane as “a great friend.” MacDonald will be doing a tribute show in her usual noon slot on WTMR 800 AM. Tune in to “Come West Along the Road,” and share your memories.

A funeral Mass will be held at Sacred Heart Church, in Manoa, on June 5 at 10:30 am. Burial at Holy Cross Cemetery. Reception to follow at Sacred Heart Parish Hall. All are welcome.

We’ll have more to share in days to come.

News, Sports

Welcome Back, Tyrone!

A valiant effort by Tyrone (in the green, orange, and white.

A valiant effort by Tyrone (in the green, orange, and white.

There’s a new team in town.

For the first time in seven years, the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association football lineup will include Tyrone, a club that was premier in the city since 1949 but, like other Gaelic clubs, struggled with the loss of players—immigrants who returned home—and the pressures of fundraising and time, the two plagues of every volunteer group.

Tyrone’s first match against the Kevin Barrys on Thursday night, under storm-darkened skies at Cardinal Dougherty High School in Olney, wasn’t the best of debuts. The seasoned Barrys controlled the ball the entire game and, at least on the Tyrone sidelines, no one even bothered to keep a score. It was a rout.

But, as coach Aidan Trainor told the crestfallen team at half-time, “You can’t lose heart. “

Trainor didn’t. Nor did his brothers, Sean and Joe, who, with Peter McDermott and Noel Coyle, resurrected the team this year, basically appropriating the National Junior C champions, the Eire Ogs, to form the new team. “It’s all for the love of the red hand of Tyrone,” said McDermott, referring to the red hand that appears on the Tyrone flag. The upright hand honors Eoghain O’Neill, high King of Ulster, who, in a sea race to claim his land, took the rules literally. The first to lay a hand on the land was its king, so O’Neill cut off his hand and threw it to shore. There are those who will tell you that that exemplifies the Tyrone spirit: They’ll do whatever it takes.

That offers some hope for the season which starts now at Cardinal Dougherty and may end at the GAA’s new field in Limerick. “One of the fields is finished,” said Sean Trainor, “but we have some work to do on the parking lot.”

Also in the hope department: The reinforcements have yet to arrive, but the Irish players who spend their summers in Philadelphia just to play football in the heat and humidity are on their way. There are fewer Irish accents on the field before they arrive; many of the players these days are Irish-American (some not even Irish) who made their way through the vibrant local GAA youth clubs. It’s not easy getting even visiting players, says Sean Trainor. “Not when air fares are $1,000. But some of the players are willing to pay their own fare.” They’re that motivated.

Peter McDermott wasn’t concerned that the Tyrone team’s first effort on the field wasn’t the best. That, he said, is yet to come. “They were playing a senior team and it’s good for them,” he pointed out. “That’s how you learn, you know.”

Check out our photos of the action.

On Thursday, May 30, the Young Irelands will meet the St. Patricks on the Dougherty fields, 6301 N. Second Street, in Philadelphia, starting at 6:30 PM.

News, Sports

Irish Heritage Night at PPL Park

Local GAA Youth footballers escorted the players onto the field.

Local GAA Youth footballers escorted the players onto the field.

Last Wednesday, it was Irish Heritage Night at PPL Park in Chester, home of the Philadelphia Union soccer club, and the place was packed to watch the Union square off against  Los Angeles Galaxy (sadly, the Union lost 4-1). There was an Irish connection to the game in more than just the stands too–the Galaxy’s Robbie Keane is the all-time record Irish goalscorer for the Irish national football team. While in the city, Keane met up with members of the Irish Memorial (and has his photo taken there). Proceeds from the ticket sales to the game will go to help maintain the memorial, overlooking Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.

Check out our photo essay, done by photographer Gwyneth MacArthur.

History, News

Prayers for the Hunger Strikers

hungerstrikergloucester20130510In the summer of 1981, 10 Irish republican prisoners held by the British in Long Kesh Prison made their mark on the long history of “the Troubles” through the simple, yet tragic, act of starving themselves to death in protest against the government’s refusal to accord them political prisoner status and respect their basic human rights.

Northern Ireland has come a long way in the years since, notably with the culmination of the peace process in 2007. Still, more than 30 years later, the sacrifice of hunger strike leader Bobby Sands and comrades is still remembered around the world—and in our own back yard.

Members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians John Barry Division in National Park, Gloucester County, took to the streets on Sunday for a short march from their club on Columbia Boulevard to St. Matthew’s Church just a few blocks away. Escorted by pipers and drummers, the marchers held simple, whitewashed wooden Celtic crosses inscribed with the names of the dead, the length of their hunger strike, and the dates of their death. They processed into the church, and celebrated a short, simple Mass, in memory of those who gave their last full measure.

The march was once sponsored by the local division of Irish Northern Aid, of which Joe Bilbow was a member. When the county INA chapter ceased to exist, Bilbow resurrected the observance in 1990, when he became the charter president of the Barry AOH division.

“I made a promise that we would never forget our Irish history,” says Bilbow, now the division’s Freedom for All Ireland chairman. “Ten men gave their lives for Irish freedom. We remember that.”

The peace process has gone a long way toward healing old wounds, Bilbow acknowledges, “but it wasn’t easy to get where we are today.” The sacrifice of those 10 men, he says, played a important role in the evolution of Northern Ireland. As an organization, the Ancient Order of Hibernians remains committed to a non-violent political solution. But at the same time, Bilbow says, the Gloucester Hibernians believe it’s important to commemorate this critical chapter in the region’s long, bloody history. “We don’t make it political,” Bilbow says, simply. “We just do it to remember our honored dead.”

We have photos from the afternoon. Check them out, above.

News

Bishop Joseph McFadden, Remembered

Michael Bradley and Bishop Joseph McFadden

Michael Bradley and Bishop Joseph McFadden

The night before he died, Bishop Joseph McFadden was talking to a friend about the Holy Thursday homily of Pope Francis, the one in which he encouraged priests to go “out of” themselves, to put their hearts and souls “on the line,” to reach out to their flocks like good shepherds, “shepherds living with the odor of sheep.”

At his funeral this week in Harrisburg, where the 65-year-old native Philadelphian headed the central Pennsylvania diocese, it was clear that he had long ago taken that message as his own personal mission. “He had only been in Harrisburg for three years and everybody in Harrisburg felt that they’d lost a family member,” said Bishop McFadden’s sister, Sister Jane McFadden, IHM, vice principal of St. Francis DeSales School in Philadelphia.

“That was Joe. If there was a sick person, someone who needed to be baptized or confirmed, he would go to the farthest end of the diocese, where people hadn’t seen bishops for years. He’d walk into the high school and when he’d see a group of kids he’d just say, “Hey, how are you? What are you doing?” He was there so much the principal gave him a key to the building! At his funeral, someone said, he never had an acquaintance, he had a friend.”

He had many friends—3,000 of them on Facebook alone. One of them was Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, who had dinner with the bishop the night before he died of a massive heart attack on May 2. McFadden had been in the city attending a meeting of the Catholic Bishops of Pennsylvania.

“I know that people said he was a regular guy, but he wasn’t a regular guy he was a special guy,” said Dougherty. “When we were having dinner, he was telling me stories from Harrisburg, about how an Albanian gentleman had come to the rectory because he had plumbing problems and he helped him with them. Then the man came back with all the papers involving a mortgage problem because Bishop McFadden had helped him with his plumbing! That’s the kind of guy he was. He officiated at my mother’s funeral a few years ago. And as recently as a week ago he came to our scholarship dinner even though he had to postpone some confirmations. He told me, ‘I wouldn’t miss it.’”

As extraordinary as he was, he was also a “regular Joe,” says Michael Bradley, Philadelphia’s St. Patrick’s Day parade director who called Bishop McFadden “my best friend.”

“He used to come to my house at the shore and we would go fishing,” recalled Bradley. “He had an old t-shirt on with a hole in it, a crappy hat—he looked like a guy on vacation with his family. He was fun to be with and loved being with his family. ”

And he had a uncanny way with the fish. “He’d catch all the fish and I didn’t catch any!’ laughed Bradley. “We switched rods once and I still didn’t catch any. He had already caught 15 and he caught three more!”

But his real love was golf. “It was church first, family second, and golf third,” laughs his sister. “Basketball had to be fourth.”

It was basketball and a family tragedy that kept Joseph McFadden from, as his sister put it, “doing what he supposed to do:” become a priest, which he didn’t do till he was in his 30s.  “My mother used to say at the dinner table, ‘It would be wonderful to have a priest.,’ It’s every Irish mother’s dream. And we always thought he would be. He was always at church. . .even in high school he served Mass and that was unusual at that time.”

When Bishop McFadden was 18, his mother died suddenly of a massive heart attack. His older brother was in the service and his sister, Jane, who was a year older (“we were Irish twins”), a novice. “I think if my mother hadn’t died he might have gone into the seminary after high school. But he felt like he had to stay home with our younger sister, Ellen, and my Dad.” Two years later their father died of cancer, so Joe, then in college, had even more reason not to enter the priesthood—he had to look after Ellen.

He also had a drive to be a teacher—and basketball coach. After graduating from St. Joseph University with a degree in political science, he toyed briefly with the idea of entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, then decide to apply to West Catholic High School, his eye on coaching the basketball team.  (He had played varsity basketball at St. Thomas More High School and was on the freshman basketball team at St. Joseph’s.) But to be able to coach, he had to teach and the only job that was open was teaching general science. He took it. After a year, he gradually moved into National Problems—close to his major—and then, religion. Eventually he became director of athletics.

A visit to his sister Jane’s mission in Peru was a turning point—the poverty he witnessed made him begin to think about where he was going with his life. “It was after my sister, Ellen, married and he almost won a basketball championship he finally did what he was supposed to do,” said Sister Jane. He entered St. Charles in 1976 when he was 29, older than most of his classmates, graduating magna cum laude a few years later with a master of divinity degree.

After spending several years as secretary to the late Cardinal John Krol, McFadden was appointed first president of Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Delaware County, where there will be a Mass of Memorial on Wednesday, May 15, at 6:30 PM. (The high school is at 1701 S. Sproul Road in Springfield.) That’s where he and Michael Bradley first met. Bishop McFadden served as chaplain to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade for many years and was still listed as its chaplain emeritus.

“We became good friends back in the 80s, though, when he became bishop, we became even closer,” recalled Bradley. “We talked every week and we were supposed to get together soon. We were talking about taking a trip to Ireland in the fall. I don’t cry too much, but I cried when I heard he had died. He had that quality of looking at you when you were talking so that everybody thought he was their best friend. Well, he was mine. I feel like I lost my own father.”

He left many who knew him feeling the same way. He was the kind of man—gregarious. genuinely kind, and down-to-earth—who earned “a seat in first class on his way to heaven,” said John Dougherty. “But,” he added, “knowing Joe, he was no doubt sitting in the back with the rest of the people.”