People

News, People

Hey Kids, Let’s Put on a Show!

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Talent and stage presence in one little package!

When Una McDaid and her sisters came to the US from Ireland, they were shocked that children didn’t seem to know how to sing and dance. “When we would ask about it they would say, ‘Oh, I used to,’” says Una. “We looked at each other. This is what we grew up with.”

So, nine years ago, they founded Act One, a three-week summer performing camp where kids can learn to sing, dance, and perform on stage in a friendly environment. No pressure. No hassle. Like Planet Fitness, a no-judgment zone.

“We start the first week with workshops to help them learn to come out of themselves,” says Una’s sister and Act One co-founder, Fionnuala Porter McBrearty. “We match up the younger children with the older ones who are their ‘buddies.’ And by the third week, everybody wants to do a solo!”

This is no “America’s Got Talent.” The point is not to find the most talented kid in the tri-state area, but to help children build confidence in themselves. “All of the kids are stars of the show,” says Fionnuala. “Some kids already sing and dance well because they’ve taken lessons. But every child gets a chance to shine.”

“For some kids, just the act of walking on stage is a win,” adds Una.

That was clear last Friday night, when the Act One troupe performed songs, dances, and funny skits for a sell-out crowd of parents, grandparents and siblings at the Ardmore United Methodist Church, where camp is held and Una McDaid teaches preschool. (Proceeds from ticket sales are given to various charities, including “Cradle to Crayons,” a local nonprofit that gives school supplies to needy children.)

One of the tiniest little girls, her short hair in heat-induced ringlets, barely made it through her first song, her hands in her mouth and eyes wide and glinting with terror. But she sat out the rest of the show on her mother’s lap until the finale, when her friends encouraged her to come back on stage with them. You could watch her stage fright evaporating as she joined them in song and threw in some comic and unscripted floor wiggling.

“Our first goal is always to have fun,” says Una. “But we know that these kids will go through so many things in life, tests that will crush their confidence. We want to help them build up some confidence. We always tell them, ‘Your parents will be so proud.’ They know their parents will be in the audience. Though they don’t always think that everybody’s else’s mom and dad is going to be there too, so we do have some meltdowns,” she laughs.

“We don’t want to put the children out of their comfort zone,” says Fionnuala, “but we do have a rule at camp: “You can’t say ‘I can’t.’ You have say, “I’m going to try.’”

You can see how much they all tried—and succeeded—in our photo essays.

View rehearsal.
View Show.

Arts, News, People

Setting Art to Music

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Judy Brennan, John Brennan, and L.E. McCullough, playing among the art.

About a month ago, fiddler Bette Conway, who is also a geologist, metalsmith, and jewelry maker, decided to add a fifth simultaneous job to her resume: gallery owner.

She’s co-owner of Water Elemental Crafts and Fine Art in the Dresher Arcade, 319 W. Main Street in Lansdale.

And the show she’s mounted for her first attempt is also an exercise in multi-tasking. “Music & Art: Artists what are Musicians,” which runs through August 26, features works by fiddlers, guitarists, balladeers, harpists and pianists who, when they’re not making beautiful music are making beautiful things.

Like Philadelphia’s John Brennan, fiddler, guitarist and teacher, who is also a metalsmith and jewelry designer who creates timelessly classic necklaces and earrings using silver, chrome, and gemstones. And harpist Ellen Tepper, whose clay dragons—made and fired using kitchen utensils and a regular oven—prowl the gallery shelves and guard her glass Celtic knot windows. And Pat Egan, originally from Tipperary, a professional guitarist and singer late of the critically acclaimed group, Chulrua, whose photographs capture Ireland, the musician’s life, and the natural world around him.

“This was the first time I was putting a show together and this seemed so natural,” said Conway, at the gallery opening last week on Lansdale’s First Friday. And not only were the artists’ work under the lights, so were they.

Along with featuring their art, Conway wanted to feature their music. So there were Brennan with his sister, Judy, flutist E.L. McCullough of Woodbridge, NJ, pianist and artist Donna Long of Baltimore, MD, and bodhran player George Fairchild from the Lehigh Valley, playing tunes as visitors sipped wine and perused the art.

There will be three more live concerts at the gallery. On July 28 you can see the old time music band, “Hobo Pie,” featuring Ray Frick, a ceramic artist, as well as Barbara Johnson, Carl Baron, and others. On Friday, August 3, there’s an open Irish music session featuring harpist Tepper and Iris Nevins, a jewelry maker whose work, on display at the gallery, recalls ancient designs.

On August 4, Wildwood, NJ radio personality Rick Rock will host a singer/songwriter night with local singers Eugenia Brennan, Teri Rambo, and others.

Other musician-artists represented in the gallery are:

Linda Hickman, who is a silversmith and jewelry maker who plays flute and tin whistle in the New York area and has performed with Celtic Thunder as well as at the White House.

Paul Tooley, a watercolor artist, who is an old-time fiddler.

Lillie Hardy Morris, a painter who also does mixed media collage, is also an Irish fiddler.

We’re going to be getting up close and personal with some of these and other Irish artisans in the Philadelphia area in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Check out our photos from the show opening.

July 13, 2012 by Denise Foley

Dance, News, People

Cummins Dancers Bring Home the Medals

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Some of the Cummins' School medalists.

Maggie Priole, 10, from Glenside, was ranked first in north America for her age in the treble jig round, earning two perfect 100’s from 2 of the three judges at the North American Irish Dance Championship, held July 3-7, in Chicago. Maggie, who is a student at the Cummins School in Philadelphia, placed fourth overall in North America . She attends 3 three-hour classes a week, plus 2-3 private lessons a week, and has a private strength-training session geared towards Irish dancers each week, proving that winning takes work. Congrats, Maggie!

Maggie Priole of Glenside who ranked first in North America in the treble jig.

Other Cummins School dancers also came back with medals. Mairin McDonnell age 10 from Jenkintown came in 25th. Mairin also competed in February at the all Ireland champs in Dublin. Ellie Lynch, 9, from Oreland was franked in 35th place. Katie Donnelly, 16 from, Manayunk came in 56th place. This is the first year Katie qualified for North American competition. She also received a medal at the All Ireland’s in February.

The Cummins School is located at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy.

Editors’ note: How did your dancers do? Email us with the information at denise.foley@comcast.net and we’ll let everyone know. Pictures welcome!

July 12, 2012 by Denise Foley

News, People

The Irish Risk for Tay-Sachs Disease

Cathy and Jeff Mitchell with a photo of their late son, Harrison, who had Tay-Sachs.

When Cathy Mitchell’s son, Harrison, was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease, she and her husband, Jeff, were devastated–and more than a little confused.

“I thought Tay Sachs was a Jewish disease,” says Cathy. The Mitchells, who live in Langhorne, then learned that this deadly inherited disease, which cripples and kills, is common among people of Irish descent. As many as 1 in 50 Irish Americans is a carrier.

Children can only inherit the disease when both parents carry the trait; with every pregnancy, a couple runs a 25 percent chance of having a child with Tay Sachs and a 50 percent chance of having one who is a carrier but doesn’t have the disease. Cathy and Jeff Mitchell are both carriers.

“I didn’t even know I was Irish,” said Jeff Mitchell, who, with his wife and another couple–Aaron and Kathryn Harney of Downingtown—manned an information booth on Tay Sachs at the recent Irish Festival on Penn’s Landing. Mitchell hadn’t been close to his father’s side of the family and only learned after Harrison was diagnosed that his grandfather was Irish.

Like other children with Tay-Sachs, Harrison seemed like a perfectly normal baby when he was born. But at six months, he began showing troubling symptoms. “Harrison didn’t sit up. His muscle tone was weak,” says Jeff, a shop foreman at a truck equipment company. “When you would pick him up he would fall over. He startled to loud noises. He rolled over once and then never rolled over again.”

When Harrison seemed to have trouble seeing toys in front of him, the Mitchells took him to their pediatrician who, says Jeff Mitchell, “kept pushing it off on the fact that Harrison was born a month early,” implying he was experiencing normal developmental delays. Eventually, the Mitchells took their baby to a pediatric opthamologist who saw a cherry-red spot on his retina, a physical marker of Tay-Sachs.

The disease is a particularly cruel one. New parents come home with an infant who appears to be healthy and normal, but is lacking an important enzyme, hexosaminidase (Hex-A), that helps clear out fatty protein and other substances from the tissues and nerve cells of the brain. That regular housecleaning allows the infant to develop vision, hearing, movement, and other vital functions. For a few months, the Tay-Sachs babies grow and develop as babies do—cooing, reaching for toys, smiling, laughing, turning over.

But as those proteins build up in the tissues and nerve cells, a relentless deterioration of physical and mental abilities begins. Children lose their sight and hearing. Their muscles atrophy and they become paralyzed. Eventually, they’re unable to swallow, and they develop seizures and dementia. Most children born with Tay-Sachs die by the time they’re five. “They just slowly fade away,” says Jeff.

In 2010, Harrison Mitchell died just shy of his sixth birthday.

Kathryn and Aaron Harney of Downingtown, with their son, Nathan, who has Tay-Sachs.

Unfortunately, most doctors don’t encourage any but their Jewish patients—particularly Ashkenazi Jews–to be tested for Tay-Sachs. They also may not recognize the symptoms when they see them in children like Harrison. Like the Mitchells, Kathryn and Aaron Harney saw doctor after doctor before their son, Nathan, now 18 months old, was diagnosed—again, by a pediatric opthamologist. “A lot of doctors looked and us and said, ‘Well, you’re first-time parents. . . .,” says Kathryn Harney, Nathan slouching on her lap, his hazel eyes wandering, unfocused.

Like the Mitchells, they Harneys didn’t know that Tay-Sachs is common among the Irish. After they were tested, Aaron Harney learned that he carries a strain common among French Canadians. “I didn’t realize I had French Canadian ancestors,” he says. Tay-Sachs is even more common in French Canadians and Cajuns than in the Irish—an estimated 1 in 27 carry the trait, the same as Ashkenazi Jews. Nathan also has a rare form of Tay-Sachs that more often occurs in older children. “That gives us some hope that he might survive longer,” says Kathryn.

There’s no cure for Tay-Sachs, but it can be prevented with genetic screening. The National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association of the Delaware Valley offers free Tay-Sachs screening to anyone over the age of 18. Researchers at Einstein Medical Center’s Genetics Division in Philadelphia are now conducting a study to determine an accurate carrier rate for Tay-Sachs disease in the Irish and to identify the most common gene changes in this demographic. If you qualify for the research project (you must have at least three Irish grandparents), you will be screened for free and also get genetic counseling to explain your results and discuss your options.

For more information about Tay-Sachs disease carrier screening or to participate in this study, contact Amybeth Weaver, MS, CGC at irish@tay-sachs.org or call 215-887-0877. You can also go to the website and download a brochure that explains the Irish connection to Tay-Sachs.

Eight weeks after Harrison died, the Mitchells went to their first information session to help spread the word about the disease and especially to let others know that the Irish are among the most vulnerable populations. Last March, they manned a stand at the Bucks County St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Levittown (they serve on the parade committee) where they sold T-shirts, hats, and souvenirs to raise money for the parade—and passed out Tay-Sachs pamphlets for free.

“It’s important to us to raise awareness about Tay-Sachs,” says Cathy. “We need to get the word out there that it affects everybody.”

July 2, 2012 by Denise Foley

Food & Drink, People

Tullamore Crew: Bringing a Bit of Ireland to You, One Bite at a Time

When The Shanachie Irish Pub and Restaurant closed its doors for good at the end of March, it wasn’t just the patrons who were sad to see this local gathering place close. After spending more than 8 years together, the folks who prepared and served the food felt like more of a family than a workplace full of co-workers. After all, they’d spent holidays together, even survived last year’s flood in Ambler together. So, one evening in the waning weeks counting down to The Shanachie’s end of days, a brainstorming session by the restaurant’s staff brought them to a light-bulb moment.

If we cater it, they will come.

And the Tullamore Crew Catering Company was born.

“It was really heartbreaking for us when The Shanachie closed,” Crissy Farley, former Shanachie server/bartender/manager and one of the Tullamore Crew’s founders, explained.

“It was our home. When something would happen to one of us, we would automatically show up at The Shanachie. We spent every New Year’s together; some of us have known each other since before we started at The Shanachie.

“We knew that in a community where people are really enthusiastic about their Irish heritage, that if we marketed ourselves, we could find a way to bring what people had loved about The Shanachie directly to the public.”

And that is exactly what they have done. It was Farley, along with fellow Shanachie expat Cynthia Farley, and former Shanachie head chef, Chef Paul,who took the lead in founding the new venture.

Last weekend, Tullamore Crew offered the Irish community an opportunity to sample their menu at a food tasting at The Commodore Barry Club in Mt. Airy. The event sold out, and with good reason. In a word, that reason is “Yum!”

“Chef Paul is originally from Dublin. He is amazing. He came up with the curry chicken recipe; Indian food is very popular in Ireland. You’ll find traditional Irish items on our menu, like shepherd’s pie, beef stew and steak and Guinness pie, but also appetizers like mini bangers in a blanket (they’re real bangers, imported from Ireland) and bite-sized fish and chips.”

There’s also a section of the menu called “Drunken Entree Options” that offers a choice of meat and fish served in their signature Tullamore whiskey sauce. Named after several of the Crew’s children, you can opt for Maddy Ohara’s Baked Breast of Chicken, or Mackenzie Murphy’s Marinated Pork.

The tasting event at The Irish Center confirmed that Tullamore Crew has fulfilled their pledge to bring the best of The Shanachie, and more, to the community. The trays of mini crab cakes didn’t always make it past the line of people queued up for seconds on the curry chicken. When the desserts came around, no one wanted to choose between the chocolate cake, the apple cobbler or the rice pudding. So they tried a bit of everything. A few times. Every member of the Tullamore Crew team was on deck, including Sherri Timlin-Windhaus, daughter of former Shanachie owner and music legend Gerry Timlin. She’s one of the Crew’s managers. It’s truly a group effort and a labor of love.

“After we knew The Shanachie was closing, Paul became the chef at the Hinge Cafe in Port Richmond. It was around February that we came up with the idea, and things took off almost immediately. The owner of Hinge, T. DeLuca, helped make this happen; he partnered with us. He lets us use his space, and has taken us under their umbrella.

“Our first job was catering a jewelry party for a friend, Chef Paul made all the food. Out of that, we got booked to do a reception for a wedding. They loved it! And word started spreading through the grapevine,” Farley said.

“The menu is really versatile. We will tailor a menu to your budget. People have asked us why we don’t have prices on our website and brochures; it’s because we can work with what you can afford. We’re able to do everything from showers to tea parties, weddings, Irish brunches. Even whiskey tastings! You can have a St. Patrick’s Day celebration any day of the year.”

And, Farley added, “We are part of a coalition in the city, an urban gardening foundation. We use all organic, locally grown produce and products.”

“We’re still coming up with new ideas. The other day we thought up the idea of a mashed potato bar. We’re gonna keep this thing going.”

To book Tullamore Crew for an event, and to peruse their menu, check out their website: Tullamore Crew Catering Company

And, follow them on Facebook: Tullamore Crew on Facebook

June 21, 2012 by Lori Lander Murphy

Music, People

Niamh Parsons Captivates the Crowd

Niamh Parsons at the Philadelphia Ceili Group concert

Honey. Whiskey. A warm spring day.

Niamh Parsons’ voice evoked all three of these finer things in life at her sold-out show Saturday night for the Philadelphia Ceili Group.

Straight off a flight from Ireland, followed by a drive from New York to Philadelphia, Parsons and partner Graham Dunne performed at The Irish Center in Mt. Airy. They should have been jet-lagged, barely able to stay awake, let alone entertain a full house, but if they were, you wouldn’t have known it from their performance.

From the first notes of “The Boys of Barr na Sráide” to the final strains of “Blackbirds and Thrushes,” singer Parsons and guitarist Dunne held their audience in thrall. On stage, the songstress holds nothing back, whether she’s singing or sharing stories and song histories. Earthy, funny and smart, this acclaimed singer of Irish song lets the audience know they are all sharing the same exhilarating ride, while the uber-talented Dunne sets the pace. Don’t ever miss an opportunity to see this duo live.

Don’t believe us? We have a video to prove it.

“Black is the Colour” ~ Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne

And here’s a link to Niamh Parsons’ website and her current U.S. tour dates: http://www.reverbnation.com/niamhparsons