The Young Wolfetones will be at The Plough and the Stars.
If you’re of Irish descent and are thinking of starting a family, take time out on Saturday morning to be tested for Tay-Sachs disease at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby.
This insidious genetic condition strikes babies and is always fatal. The Irish, as well as Eastern European Jews and French Canadians, have a higher than average risk of being carriers of Tay-Sachs. The Albert Einstein Society and National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Foundation of the Delaware Valley are offering free screenings to anyone over the age of 18 who had at least three Irish grandparents. The screenings start at 11 AM.
On a lighter—and musical—note, Catherine Rooney’s Pub in Delaware is scheduling more live Irish music to take us through the holiday season, starting with Benny and Bill on Saturday night. Timlin and Kane and Gary Quinn are also coming up, as well as sessions, starting with one this Sunday. Check our calendar for times and details.
Also on Saturday, The Shantys will be at the Red Rooster Inn in Philly while Jamison is at Dublin Square in Cherry Hill, where you may be able to pick up one of their brand new CDs. We just listened to it and love it—it’s live, so it’s just like being there, but it’s much easier to admire that high level of musicianship that characterizes this local band.
Tullamore Crew, the old gang from the late, great lamented Shanachie’s kitchen, will be serving up a fine Irish meal on Sunday at the Irish Center starting at 5 PM.
Also on Sunday, The Plough and the Stars celebrates its 15th birthday with a concert by the Young Wolfetones. Go down for dinner—the food is outstanding and the atmosphere couldn’t get more Irish (is that peat you’re smelling?)—then stay for the concert.
At Coatesville, the Irish traditional music duo, Lilt, will be on stage.
Of course, on Wednesday night you’re probably baking pies. Thursday is Thanksgiving, after all. What? You bought pies this year? Well that’s good because that means you have some free time to go see Jamison at Curran’s in Northeast Philadelphia.
Next week being Thanksgiving weekend, look for two annual events: The Mary from Dungloe pageant, which is part of the Donegal Association of Philadelphia Ball, held at the Irish Center, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Oireachtas, a major Irish dance competition drawing dancers from the Atlantic Coast states for three days of jigging, reeling, and fun-having at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott. We like to go for the kicks and giggles—and believe me, there are plenty of those.
Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving from all of us who give thanks for all of you!
=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/front-photo.jpg” alt=”” width=”380″ height=”356″ /> Maureen Brett Saxon, vice president of the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, presents the award to Siobhan Lyons, executive director of the Irish Immigration Center and the Brehon Law Society.
It’s hard to recall what drew the most laughs—longtime Irish Edition newspaper photographer Tom Keenan asking how many people in the crowd of more than 400 at the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame dinner Sunday night he he’d never photographed (then whipping out his camera to capture the three people who raised their hands) or Montgomery County Court Judge Kelly Wall revealing that her mother, president of the organization, “thought gourmet cooking was putting a can of fruit cocktail into a can of baked beans.”
There were plenty of laughs—and a few tears during emotional speeches—at the 12th annual awards ceremony at the Irish Center in Philadelphia during which Keenan, Burns, and Irish Immigration Center Executive Director Siobhan Lyons were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Burns is retiring this year after 7 years as president of the organization, which honors those who have made significant contributions to the Delaware Valley Irish community. Also honored this year with a special award was the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, founded 13 years ago by entrepreneur Bill McLaughlin to build a business bridge between the US and Ireland.
We were there and took photos. See the celebration here.
/2012/11/eshome-300×199.jpg” alt=”Ed Slivak” width=”300″ height=”199″ /> Ed Slivak
Pete Hand remembers the point at which Ed Slivak decided to become a leprechaun.
Hand, who was then president of Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 1 in Swedesburg, says he was sitting around the club one night, and Slivak came over and popped the question.
“He walked up, and he said, ‘Do you mind if I dress up like a leprechaun?’ I said, ‘Sure, you look like one, anyway.’”
And he really did. Edward J. Slivak, who died this week at the age of 70, was small of stature, with a face that always looked like he was ready to ask a question. The turned-up nose, the laughing eyes, and the little scruffy beard completed the picture. It didn’t take much makeup to complete the transition. After he added a set of latex pointed ears, tinted his beard orange, and donned the green bowler hat (sometimes a crumpled top hat), that’s who and what he was.
The women of the division’s Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians helped Slivak flesh out the other elements of his wardrobe―jacket, vest, bow tie, knee pants, athletic socks with green and orange stripes, and green Converse All-Stars. “He looked good,” says Hand.
(Slivak’s own recollection of events was a little different. In a 2010 interview shortly after he was named Grand Marshal of the Montgomery County St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Slivak said his outfit wasn’t quite all there yet: “I looked like an immigrant, just off the boat.” He also confessed to not being completely at home in the role at first: “I felt a little goofy. I thought, here I am a grown man dressing up as a leprechaun.”)
In time, Slivak reached his comfort level, and then some―maybe because there was a lot more to being a leprechaun, in his view, than just dressing the part. His leprechaun had a charitable heart.
“He always remembered being sick in a hospital when he was a kid, and he really liked to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House (at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children),” says Hand.
Current Division President Mark Ryan says Slivak was tireless in his pursuit of the greater good. “He was the one who came up with the idea of collecting money for the children’s hospital. He did a lot of events, like our annual Irish Festival in Montclare and the Scottish-Irish festival at Green Lane. He always seemed to enjoy it very much, and he loved to take pictures with the kids. What he did was important. He really exemplified our values. Charity is one of the things the AOH is about.”
Slivak kept it up until 2009, when he became ill at the end of the Montgomery County St. Patrick’s Day in Conshohocken. Someone gave him a ride home, and that was the last thing he remembered until waking up in Montgomery Hospital. He had suffered a debilitating stroke. After he returned home to his wife Gi (short for Virginia) and a little pug dog named General Patton, he began several long, trying months of rehabilitation.
In spite of it all, he counted himself lucky to be alive. “I think the Lord was calling me for judgment day,” he recalled in his 2010 interview. “But St. Patrick, St. Brendan and St. Bridget all went to the Lord, and they gave me a little extra time on earth.”
Slivak, of course, is not an Irish name. Growing up in Fishtown, he took the name of his stepfather, whom he recalled as “a good man.” His mother Clare had roots in Cork and Donegal, however.
After working for 25 years as a tearsheet clerk at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, Slivak and his wife moved to Swedesburg in 2001. AOH Division 1, up the hill on Jefferson Street, beckoned, and the curious Slivak joined the same year―even though he only had a vague notion what the AOH was all about. “I remember, I didn’t know what the initials stood for,” Slivak said in his interview. “But in the past 10 years I’ve learned a lot more about being a Catholic and Irish.”
Once in, Slivak was completely in. His commitment to the AOH was noticed and appreciated: in 2007, he was the division’s Hibernian of the Year. “He made a lot of friends,” Hand recalls. “But he wasn’t hard to make friends with. He was just a good guy.”
Funeral arrangements for Slivak have been announced. Learn more here.
“The Sam” drew an enthusiastic young audience in a previous visit to Philadelphia.
Jim McGuinness, manager of the Donegal Senior Football Team that this year snagged the All-Ireland Senior Football Championships, played on Philadelphia’s Donegal team for five short weeks in the summer of 1996. He visited Philly again in 1999, and evidently liked what he saw.
When he arrives on Tuesday night for one more visit—this time to the Philadelphia Irish Center—he’ll have some splashy company. It’s called the Sam Maguire Cup, more familiarly known as “the Sam,” awarded to the winning senior football team.
“Jim McGuinness was here 13 years ago,” says Louie Bradley, chair of the Philly Gaelic Athletic Association team, the Delco Gaels. “He hasn’t been back in all that time, and he knows a lot of people here, which is why he wants to come back.”
The Philadelphia visit is one of several in the U.S.—a kind of victory lap that will take McGuinness and the cup to such Irish hotbeds as Chicago, Boston and New York City. The Irish Center event—billed as “An Evening with Jimmy McGuinness and the Sam Maguire Cup”—will also bring to town two Donegal all-stars, Mark McHugh and Michael Murphy.
As eager as McGuinness is to visit Philly, the Sam Maguire tour schedule is tight. Bradley says the local Gaelic Athletic Association, which had only a couple of weeks to pull things together, was hoping to get the Donegal delegation to come to town on a Saturday, but “we had to take what we could get. We are lucky to get them.”
Nevertheless, the local GAA is expecting a great turnout on Tuesday night, with 250 to 300 of tickets already sold, with time to sell more. “It should be a big crowd,” says Bradley.
Admission to the event is $50, which will buy you hors d’oeuvres, dancing to the music of Sullivan Bridge, and photos with the cup, coach, and his all-stars. Kids under 18 will be admitted for free. (Bradley is expecting as many as 100 of them.) Local organizations, such as the Philadelphia Donegal Association and Donegal Philly GAA, will present tributes. State Legislators (and brothers) Kevin and Brendan Boyle will present a citation from the Commonwealth. The Donegal athletes can also expect to receive the key to the city.
The event runs from 7 to 11 p.m.
No question about it: the St. Malachy’s crowd loved Mick Moloney.
Maybe the big anniversary had something to do with it, but it was one of the largest crowds ever for this grand tradition, the 25th annual concert benefiting St. Malachy Mission School in North Philadelphia.
Moloney, who spent many years in Philadelphia and is close friends with former pastor Father John McNamee, returns every November with a stellar lineup of musical talent. This year, Moloney’s “friends” included fiddler Dana Lynn; uilleann piper Joey Abarta; singer, guitarist and harmonica player Saul Brody; singer and guitarist Robbie O’Connell; accordion player Billy McComiskey; and two outstanding local fiddlers, Caitlin Finlay and Paraic Keane.
As always, it was all in a good cause: to help support what has been called “a beacon of hope” in a neighborhood that knows more than its fair share of hardship.
We were there from beginning to end, and we captured some photos we think you’ll like. And the pièce de résistance: A video capturing a huge blast of tunes by—fittingly enough—Philly’s prolific Irish tunesmith, Ed Reavy.
Looking very Irish: Bill McLaughlin, founder of the Irish American Business Chamber, which will receive a special award this Sunday.
While folks are still cleaning up the mess in Wildwood, Sea Isle, and Brigantine, some musicians are staying closer to home to help raise some money to help those who lost so much when Hurricane Sandy blew into the Jersey shore towns where so many Philadelphians vacation or have homes.
Sylvia Platypus, a Psycho-Celtic glam blues band, will be raising money at The Rotunda in Philadelphia on Saturday night. ” As Sandy hit the Caribbean, the suggestion for a hurricane relief concert was raised,” says Janet Bressler, vocalist and principal songwriter for Sylvia Platypus. “Then, the devastation arrived so close to home, and the choice became obvious.”
According to Joe Magee of Galway Guild, the bands appearing at Deck Fest at The Deck in Essington (which include Jamison, Clancy’s Pistol, and Split Coil) will be taking up a collection for Sandy victims as well. There’s a pub crawl linked to Deck Fest from 6 PM to 12 AM, which will take revelers to Jimmy D’s in Folcroft, RP McMurphy’s in Holmes, and Mary Magee’s in Prospect Park. Doors open at 3 PM.
For you Solas fans, at least a few members of the group will be at the Irish Center on Saturday night—Winnie Horan, Mick McAuley and Colm O Caoimh will be giving a concert on Saturday night and workshops in the afternoon.
The AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 will be celebrating veteran’s day early on Sunday with a ceremony in front of their building in Swedesburg featuring US Army Major Jared Auchey.
On Sunday, join the rest of the Irish community in honoring three new inductees to the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame: its current president, Kathy McGee Burns; Irish Immigration Center Executive Director Siobhan Lyons, and Irish Edition photographer Tom Keenan. A special award will be given to the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, founded 13 years ago by businessman Bill McLaughlin in an effort to build a business bridge between the US and Ireland and which now has 2,000 members.
We go to the Hall of Fame dinner every year at the Irish Center, but this year is special for us at irishphiladelphia.com, since we count all of these people among our friends. And may we just say, they all deserve it!
On Monday, join your favorite Irish retirees for the monthly seniors’ lunch at the Irish Center. President Vince Gallagher will be providing live music for you to eat and dance by (though not simultaneously, please).
And on Tuesday, Gaelic football fans should head to the Irish Center too—to meet Donegal GAA manager Jim McGuinness and two of his players along with the Sam Maguire Cup which they won this year in a hard-fought match against Mayo. McGuinness has Philly connections—he was here in 1999 to play for the local Donegal GAA football team.
Speaking of the Irish Business Chamber and sports, the Chamber is hosting Gareth Maguire, managing director of the Sports Changes Life organization that works to bring real change to the lives of young and underprivileged children in Ireland through the means of sports involvement. The event, held at the Pyramid Club of Philadelphia, will be moderated by Ed Hastings, PhD, executive director of Neumann University’s Center for Sports, Spirituality, and Character Development. This will also be a networking reception with cocktails and hors d’oeurvres.
If you’re Irish and thinking of becoming pregnant—there’s a free Tay-Sachs carrier screening at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby on Saturday, November 17. Eastern European Jews, French Canadians, and people of Irish descent are at higher risk than other populations of this genetic disorder that cripples and kills young children. If you have (or had) at least 3 Irish grandparents and are 18 years or older, you may be eligible to receive Tay-Sachs disease carrier screening at no cost to you. The Albert Einstein Society and NTSAD-Delaware Valley have funded a study to look at risks for Tay-Sachs disease in Irish Americans. To sign-up or for more information about the study, please contact Amybeth Weaver at irish@tay-sachs.org or 484-636-4197.
2013 St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal Harry Marnie–at the parade!
A decorated former Philadelphia police officer, US Marshall, and investigator for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, has been named grand marshal of the 2013 Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Harry Marnie, who is also current president of the Emerald Society, an organization of police and fire personnel of Irish descent, will march at the front of the parade on Sunday, March 10, Bob Gessler, parade association president announced today. The parade theme this year is: The Irish Memorial, a Decade of Remembrance, which celebrates the installation of the 30-foot bronze Glenna Goodacre sculpture in the park overlooking Penns Landing.
Marnie is a member of the board of directors of the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association as well as its treasurer; he also belongs to the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and AOH Divisions 1 and 88. In his role at the Emerald Society, Marine started the annual Leprechaun Run which raises money for the Special Olympics. He is also credited with helping set the Emerald Society back on its financial legs back in the ‘80s, when he joined.
He joined the Philadelphia Police Department in 1965. Right after graduating from the police academy, he was assigned to patrol in center city, then later worked in the juvenile aid division and in Fairmount Park. While a Philly cop, Marnie received two certificates of Merit.
In 1989, he workd in Camden as part of the US Marshal servince, providing security at the federal courthouse. In 2002, Marnie was asked by the Pennsylvania state attorney general to join a team with two other agents to uncover, arrest, and convict people involved in computer child pornography. Later, he worked in the criminal investigation division of the attorney general’s office, investigating various complaints including computer fraud, money laundering, and identity theft.
A graduate of Bishop Neuman High School, where he played varsity basetball and was inducted into Neuman’s Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996, Marnie is a board member of the Retirement Trust Fund for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police and has been a member, delgate and chairman of FOP Lodge 5.
Three new members were added to the association’s board this week: Sister James Anne Feerick, IHM, a former grand marshal and one of two chaplins for the board; Joe Fox, president of the Philadelphia County Board of the AOH, and Philadelphia Councilman Bob Henon.
Here is the current makeup of the executive board of the organization that plans and executes the second oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the nation:
The new Executive Board:
Chaplain: Sister James Anne Feerick, IMH
Chaplain: Reverend Kevin J. Gallagher
President: Bob Gessler
1st Vice President: Chris Phillips
2nd Vice President: Mary Frances Fogg
Treasurer: Harry Marnie
Recording Sec: Kathy McGee Burns
Corresponding Sec: John Stevenson
Parade Director: Mike Bradley
tle=”OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA” src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Tommy-Keenan.jpg” alt=”” width=”380″ height=”419″ /> Unofficial official photographer for the Irish community, Tom Keenan.
By Kathy McGee Burns
“The best compliment to a photographer is to see his photographs hanging on your wall, ” Tom Keenan, one of the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame award winners for 2012, told me recently.
The longtime Irish Edition photographer has had his share of compliments. His pictures of people from Philadelphia’s Irish community—and the many photographs of Ireland he’s donated to auctions and raffles—are everywhere, just like Tom Keenan himself.
When AOH leader and St. Patrick’s Day Parade President Bob Gessler nominated Tom to receive this award, he wrote: “ He has for years, chronicled every aspect of our community. With little fanfare or fuss, Tom Keenan, has at one time or another, made all of us part of History.”
Tom Keenan was a Kensington boy, one of five sons (Robert, Hugh, Michael and John are his brothers) of Hugh and Thelma Keenan. His father died when Keenan was still young. When his mother remarried, she added
Kathleen, Donna and Billy to the brood.
Tom graduated from Frankford High and enlisted in the Navy, where he served aboard the USS Simon Lake. When he was discharged, he returned to Philadelphia where he attended Philadelphia Community College and in his own words, “majored mostly in soccer and girls.” He met his sidekick and the love of his life, Jane Mulvenna, at the Friendly Bar. He had just moved into a new apartment and invited everyone back for a late night party. Jane and Tom have been together ever since–37 years. They have a son, Dylan Thomas Keenan.
As a boy growing up, Tom Keenan spent a lot of time with his Uncle Mike Ruane and Aunt Helen. They would take the Keenan kids to the Irish Center where they would “run around like Banshees,” enjoying the Irish music, dancing and food.. Mike was a great republican (in the Irish sense) whose mantle was overflowing with Celtic crosses, harps and much paraphernalia from Long Kesh (aka His Majesty’s Prison, site of the Hunger Strikes).
Between the flavors of the Irish Center and his uncle Michael Ruane’s politics, Tom developed a lasting love for Ireland. But he came to his love affair with photographer relatively late.
In 1983, Tom Keenan started work at the Philadelphia Naval Yard installing electronics equipment on ships and submarines; missile systems and radars. That all came to an end when the shipyard closed.
So, in 1987, he decided to follow his passions. He joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians, returned to school to learn photographer, and became, in his words, the “unofficial official Philadelphia Irish community photographer.” Chances are if you’re at an Irish event, you’ll find Tom Keenan there. He covers galas, games,
I asked Tom to tell me which of his many photographs were his favorites. He did so with words filled with passion and sentimentality.
The first was the arrival of the three-masted replica of the famine ship, Jeanie Johnston in 2003. Tom was invited by Bob Gessler and Seamus Boyle, National President of the AOH, to escort the ship into Philadelphia. They drove him to Wilmington, DE, where he was taken by tugboat out to meet the tall ship. While on board the tug he started to see a mast, shrouded in fog, coming under the Commodore Barry Bridge. To him, it looked like a ghost ship. He started snapping pictures and little by little this magnificent ship came into view. He boarded it and sailed right in to Penn’s Landing.
The second photograph involved the Irish Memorial. He had been taking pictures of the various stages of development. There was a wreath tossing which commemorated the souls lost in the voyage over. Then an event which introduced a small replica (15×6”) of Glenna Goodacre’s yet-to-be monument. Finally, in 2003, came the unveiling of the 30-foot bronze statue with its two dozen life-sized figures. To Tom, taking the photo at the moment of the unveiling was like Christmas morning and opening a special present. It was the coming together of all the Irish to witness a long-awaited dream.
Tom Keenan described to me the joy of capturing “Old Ireland” with his camera; photos of things people can’t see anymore: thatched cottages, fishing villages, small towns. He visualizes the people in those times, big families with two rooms and no running water.
During the Hunger Strike days, he was asked to join Northern Aid’s Honor Guard. With each new death, they would add a small white cross. These were sad but proud days for Tom Keenan.
Tom sounded very determined when he mentioned that Philadelpia should have an Irish Museum. He believes that all of treasures, memories, and artifacts that are donated or held in one place or the other in the region should be together under one roof.
Tom Keenan is totally genuine—he’s loved by all and a keen observer of life who told me that he thinks that “Life is like sitting on the boardwalk, watching the people go by until one of them comes over and says hello!”
The Delaware Valley Hall of Fame Awards Dinner is on November 11
2012, Irish Center. 5PM. For tickets, call Sean McMenamin 215-850-0518 or Maureen Saxon 610-909-0054
