News

Having a Hot Time, Wish You Were Here

Not as long as we're around it doesn't.

Not as long as we're around it doesn't.

The unofficial theme of the annual Cape May AOH Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood was global warming.

Well, actually, it was Wildwood warming.

It was so hot on Saturday, September 21, a crowd gathered and enviously watched a trainer give the Annheuser Busch Clydesdale horses their daily shower. “I wish he’d shoot some my way,” said one woman, sweat making rivulets from her hairline to her cheeks.

But that didn’t stop thousands of people from strolling up and down Old New Jersey Avenue in this small seaside town last weekend, looking for the best t-shirt slogan and bargain, buying curlicue mountains of butterfly fries (ruined with squirts of processed orange cheese liquid), green plastic glasses of Bud (a sponsor of the event), and ducking inside the music tent (which at least was opened on one side to entertain any wandering sea breezes) to hear some of the best Celtic bands on the east coast, including Paddy’s Well, the Bogside Rogues, Searson, Scythian, and Derek Warfield.

Local Celtic rockers Blackthorn hold a complementary event in Wildwood, the next town over and just a shuttle bus ride away, that kept the music rocking with electrifying fiddler Eileen Ivers, Albany, NY’s Jimmy Kelly Band, Black 47, Timlin and Kane, Raymond McGroary, 5 Quid, and Random Blond.

So what if all the performers left the stage looking like they’d just gotten out of the shower. So it was hot. No one really seemed to mind. It sure didn’t keep anybody home in the air conditioning, including the pipe and drum bands–one which came down from Binghamton, NY–to show their stuff (in those really warm costumes, hugging those bags of hot air) to honor the late piper Brian Riley, who died of a massive heart attack several years ago. On Saturday, his family donated a defibrillator in his name to the Wildwood Recreation Center.

Though one T-shirt promised, “What happens here, stays here,” www.irishphiladelphia.com  was there for the entire weekend. Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, check out the photographic evidence of what happened there, right here.

September 25, 2007 by
News

Was It Fun in Wildwood? Shore ‘Nuff!

Paul Moore pours it on.

Paul Moore pours it on.

Exactly how Irish are you?

In North Wildwood, it came down to a true test of loyalty.

On stage in the main music tent at the annual Cape May County AOH Irish Fall Festival, Paul Moore and Paddy’s Well were pounding out all the standards. As usual, they sounded pretty wonderful.

At the same time, the Eagles game  was playing on a big screen off in a corner. You know, the thrilling blowout in which the Birds smacked the Lions around and sent them mewling like cowed little kittens back to Detroit?

Paddy’s Well or the Eagles? Irish music or football? Hmmmmmmmmm ….

Seriously? It was no contest. I won’t pretend that some people weren’t paying attention to the on-field heroics of Donovan McNabb and company. (And what was with those nightmarish uniforms? They looked like Mr. Blackwell’s LSD nightmare.) But it was way too hard to resist Moore’s bunch. So hardly anyone bothered. Instead, they crowded ‘round the stage, slurped their beers, sang along, and danced. I seem to remember a lot of unrestrained smiling, too.

Sunday was also the day of the big festival parade, this year with young singer Timmy Kelly as the grand marshal, along with a visit by those imposing feathery-hooved Budweiser Clydesales. With temps in the mid-80s, a cool offshore breeze and a brilliant blue sky, it was pretty much perfect parade-watching weather. So Surf Avenue was lined with kids and grannies, all decked out in their neon green fuzzy hats and shamrock-shaped sunglasses, and all of them obviously enjoying the pipe bands, the multiple leprechauns, and one of the last, best days at the shore.

Weren’t there? (Watching the game??? What kind of Mick are you?)

Check out our photos.

  • Saturday action
  • Sunday’s finale
    • September 25, 2007 by
    Sports

    Huge Wins for Philly-Area Footballers

    By Paul Schneider

    In the emotional world of Gaelic football, it would be easy to draw the conclusions from a highly-charged championship match, a flurry of police activity and a quick exit out of town.  But if you believe that all of the above added up to an on-field donnybrook in last Sunday’s New York Senior Championships, you’d be wrong.

    Philadelphia’s Donegal Football Club dumped Leitrim, of New York, 2-13 to 2-9 for the championship Sunday afternoon at Gaelic Park in the Bronx.  The victory had been preceded by a 1-13 to 1-10 win over Cavan, and was followed by a police escort across the George Washington Bridge.

    “It was a sign of respect,” said Seamus Sweeney, the Upper Darby resident who managed the Donegal footballers to their first New York Senior Championship title in only the second season for the club.  “This was a mighty achievement.”

    The second football championship in a month for Philadelphia – the Kevin Barrys captured the Intermediate national crown over the Labor Day Weekend in Chicago – the Donegal win avenged the club’s only loss of the season, a one-pointer against Leitrim earlier in the summer.

    Team captain Liam McGroarty and center half forward Michael Hagan scored Donegal’s two goals in the final; Hagan registered the only three-pointer for the Philly club in the semi-final against Cavan.  Donegal also got strong play from attacker Dean O’Neill, as well as Liam Moore, Patsy Moore and Liam O’Donnell.

    September 25, 2007 by
    Arts

    Two Homicidal Brothers, a Drunken Priest, Poteen, Dead Bodies …

    Anthony Lawton and Ross Beschler as the two homicidal bachelor brothers.

    Anthony Lawton and Ross Beschler as the two homicidal bachelor brothers.

    By Marianne MacDonald

    It’s fortunate that Martin McDonagh chose to become a playwright and not a travel writer, otherwise he would have singlehandedly killed the Irish tourist trade. Like the other two plays in his trilogy, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” and “A Skull in Connemara,” his work, “The Lonesome West,” now playing in a Lantern Theater production at St. Stephen’s Theater in Philadelphia, is set in a small town called Leenane on the west coast of Ireland.
     
    His is not the romantic Irish vision of quaint thatched cottages, colorful town characters, and cute colleens. In his portrayal of small-town Ireland, McDonagh is merciless, mining the pettiness, gossip-mongering, back-stabbing and barely contained malevolence characteristic of rural places everywhere, where a tiny population becomes too close, too familiar, and too stifled to grow emotionally. This is not the Ireland of the travel poster. It is a vicious black comedy that makes light of the dark.

    “The Lonesome West” opens with a bang–a front door is slammed by Coleman, played by long-time local actor Anthony Lawton, who is returning from the funeral of his father, whom he has shot and killed “accidentally.” In fact, homicide, fratricide, suicide, even mutilation are practically local sports in Leenane. Coleman is at perpetually war with his brother, Valene (Ross Beschler), over everything from poteen, bags of crisps, Valene’s holy statue collection, and a laundry list of grievances that includes Valene’s prize possession, the felt tip marker which he uses to engrave all of his household possession with a large V.
     
    Wandering through the town is the local parish priest, Father Welsh (Luigi Sottile), a lost soul with a penchant for a drop of drink, who attempts to calm the bachelor brothers while decrying the state of his parish which he calls “the murder capital of feckin’ Europe.” Then there is Girleen (Genevieve Perrier), a flirt who delivers quick comebacks to all in her path along with the mail and bottles of poteen she has nabbed from her own Da. She is also the conduit for the currents of unspoken emotions and heartaches of the town’s lonely souls, two of whom come to a tragic end. 

    Having spent some time in a small town in the west of Ireland, I recognized some of the citizens of Leenane. McDonagh may have turned them into cartoons, but every small town has them and you will find them both funny and disturbing.

    The play, directed by David O’Connor, is not for the faint of heart nor the sentimental. It dares to ask us the tough questions: “Is there such a thing as redemption?  Can we forgive our childhood mistakes?  Can siblings live together in harmony?  Who drank my poteen?”

    Be prepared for more than a biteen of raw anger and violence.  But also be prepared to laugh at one moment and gasp at the very next.

     “The Lonesome West” runs through October 14 (extended from October 6). There are other events being run in conjunction with the play, including a Meet the Artists post-show discussion to be held this Wednesday, September 26  after the matinee show. For information go to www.lanterntheater.org.

    Marianne MacDonald is host of “Come West Along the Road,” on WTMR-AM 800 every Sunday.

    September 25, 2007 by
    Genealogy

    Drop In on Your Ancestors’ Place Online

    When amateur genealogists aren’t bent over a microfiche machine or trying to decipher chicken-scratch names in the front of a bible, they’re looking for maps and photographs of the places where the Riley side of the family was born or where the McNamaras had their farm. The lucky travel to Ireland to take their own pictures. I have wonderful photos of the house where my great-great grandparents raised their nine children–with my Donegal relatives standing in front of it. It’s a real treasure to me.

    But if you can’t get to Ireland any time soon you’ll want to take a look at www.geograph.org.uk, an ambitious project to collect geographically representative photos and information for every square kilometer of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. There’s a map with a grid comprising 330,175 kilometer squares that you can click on and view photos. There are an average of 2.7 photos per square, though a finished square (there are a few–click on “Explore” then “List Fully Geographed Hectads” ) may have 100 photos. You can also upload your own photos to the appropriate squares.

    There are now more than half a million geographs posted to the site and a searchable database of pictures of Irish county capitals (eight are still missing, including Galway. Surely someone out there has photos of Galway!).

    I found a photo of the Culdaff town center where we stayed, ate, and listened to music every night when we were in Inishowen, County Donegal, the home of my maternal great-grandparents, the McDaids. There was another of the road to Tremone Bay, not far from where my family lives.
     
    There are some rules for submitting geographs. A photo should be of a place, not people. While your family can be in the shot, they shouldn’t be the focal point. The idea is to allow folks like you and me to literally see the lay of the land. Supplemental shots, like closeups of flora and fauna, are accepted, but what they call “geographs” are photos of the landscape and get first priority.
     
    Another good idea: Get rid of those auto dates that appear at the edge of the photo. Very distracting. And follow the rules for labeling your photo.

    The site is simple to navigate and a lot of fun to peruse. Not only does it bring your genealogy search alive, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “armchair travel.”

    September 22, 2007 by
    Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

    How to Be Irish in Philly This Weekend

    It’s never too late to be spontaneous, right?

    So, even if you didn’t book a room in advance, why don’t you consider heading down to North Wildwood and Wildwood this weekend for a double dose of Irish: the Cape May County Ancient Order of Hibernians 16th Annual Irish Fall Festival and Blackthorn’s 16th Annual Wildwood Weekend. Hey, it’s a day trip, and you can pick up the last of the Jersey tomatoes at a farm stand along the way.

    The AOH event rockets into high gear with three days of music and dancing, including a ceili Friday night at the North Wildwood Recreation Community Center starting at 10 PM, the Brian Riley Pipe Exhibition on Saturday morning at 8th and Central Avenues, and a great concert Saturday night by the Dublin City Ramblers (and they’re really from Dublin). They’ll be accompanied by the Gibson School of Irish Dance.

    Among the acts you’ll see (and we’re talking music here–behavior is something else entirely) are Paul Moore and Paddy’s Well, Scythian, Bogside Rogues, Killen Thyme, the Sean Fleming Band, Searson (cute Celtic Canadians), and 2U (a great U2 tribute band that packs them in at the Sellersville Theater), among others, appearing at the Irish Music Tent at the Pointe on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (see the entire lineup for times at www.paddyswell.com). There’s free live entertainment along Olde New Jersey Avenue (including the amazing and adorable little singer, Timmy Kelly, who is grand marshal of Sunday’s parade). And all the pubs and taverns have scheduled performers so there’s absolutely no escape.

    If you’re at all capable of moving, there’s also a 5K run on Saturday morning (early–8 AM).

    In the next town over, Blackthorn will be playing tirelessly all weekend at The Bolero Resort, 3320 Atlantic Avenue, with an incredible array of guest performers, including Timlin and Kane, Black 47, the Eileen Ivers Band (not to be missed), Random Blond, the Danny Boys, and, fresh from being smooched at a Phillies game by the Phanatic, singer and band leader Vince Gallagher.

    (If you do miss Eileen Ivers, we’re offering a pair of tickets for her November 9 performance at the Sellersville Theater as part of our first contest to increase subscriptions to our free e-newsletter, mickmail, which is your best source for all the Irish goings-on in the Philadelphia area. To enter, you need to subscribe–just put your email address in the little “Get our E-mail Newsletter” box in the upper right hand corner of the site or, if you’re already a subscriber, just forward your mickmail to someone you think might be interested. New subscribers will get an email invite to put their name on the list–you have to respond to that email get mickmail, which comes out two or three times a month when things are hopping. Or jigging, as the case may be.)

    The crazy Irish weekend at the shore is also famous for its bottomless mug of beer, so we at irishphiladelphia.com urge you to be careful out there. We’re going to be.

    Staying home? Then check out the play, the Lonesome West, at St. Stephen’s Theater at 10th and Ludlow in Philadelphia. All of playwright Martin McDonagh’s work is edgy and hilarious. You won’t be sorry. Keep it Irish by heading over to Fergie’s at 1214 Sansom Street for Saturday’s session. Fergie’s is a former Bavarian bar that has made a graceful conversion to Celtic. The session is great, and so is the food.

    September 18, 2007 by
    Sports

    Field of Dreams

    The local GAA hopes to have the field complete by late 2008 or early 2009.

    The local GAA hopes to have the field complete by late 2008 or early 2009.

    By Paul Schneider

    It’s not much to look at at the moment, but for the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association, it’s home.

    Over the summer, the Philly division received a funding commitment from the GAA to assist in the development of an 11-acre parcel in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, to serve as the new home of the Philadelphia GAA. Sean Breen, vice chairman of the Philadelphia Division, said that the GAA president Nickey Brennan and overseas chair Sheamus Howlin were “very impressed with what they saw,” and had promised GAA support.

    Pending final Limerick Township approval, Breen anticipates beginning work this fall on the complex, which will include two full-size football fields and a 7,000-square foot clubhouse with chaning rooms, a cafeteria and meeting rooms. The goal is to complete the complex by the end of 2008 or the early spring of 2009.

    “It will be a place of our own,” said Breen, “not a place that we would have to lease or rent. It will be a place where we can promote Irish culture, hold hurling, football and camogie, and facilitate youth programs.”

    Breen noted that the complex also would be a central part of future Philadelphia GAA proposals for hosting the North American GAA championships held annually over the Labor Day weekend.

    Selected for its combination of size, affordability and accessibility, the site would replace Cardinal Dougherty High School as the site of all GAA events. The project is being executed under the auspices of the Greater Philadelphia Irish American Cultural Association, Inc. (“GPIACA”), a 501( c )3 tax-exempt organization.

    “A lot of individuals have spent a lot of time to see this through,” said Breen. “This was something that all of the clubs agreed to pursue. We’re looking forward to getting this complex built and to having a permanent home.”

    September 14, 2007 by
    Dance, Music

    It Was a Grand Party

    Lunasa's Kevin Crawford gets crazy with his bodhran.

    Lunasa's Kevin Crawford gets crazy with his bodhran.

    At one point on Saturday night, Dennis Gormley, fiddling with the mike on the Fireside Stage at Philly’s Irish Center, leaned over and expressed his thanks to the Philadelphia Ceili Group and its Irish Music Festival director Frank Malley  for “throwing this great party.”

    “And inviting all our friends,” added his wife, Kathy DeAngelo, from behind her harp.

    The duo, who have been performing as McDermott’s Handy for nearly three decades, could look out at the audience and see rows of familiar faces. But even if you didn’t know a soul, you would have thought you were among your closest friends at an intimate little party for hundreds. That’s the atmosphere of the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual Irish Festival, which ran for five days from September5-9.

    You could have mingled with legends.

    If you had stayed late on Friday night, for example, after the performance by the incredible Irish group, Lunasa, you could have shared a pizza with the band and piper Tim Britton, a former Delaware Valley resident, who opened for them.

    On Saturday, you might have been in the food line behind the towering form of Breanndan Begley, the Kerryman who had just mesmerized the crowd with his emotional singing. Or struck up a conversation with Sligo-born Kevin Henry, a venerable flutist and piper, now of Chicago, who wasn’t going to have a bite until he found “herself”–his wife, who was somewhere in the crowd.

    If you hadn’t brought your own dance partner for Irish radio personality Marianne MacDonald’s House Party on Saturday night, you didn’t have to worry about being a wallflower. Someone could be convinced to dance a set or two with you–or even teach you the steps in the hall. It might have been Ed Reavy, son of the legendary fiddler, who, with his wife, Mary, are the Fred and Ginger of Irish set dancing.

    And you could have seen four-time all Ireland fiddler Brendan Callahan perform superhumanly, fiddling for the Irish dancers, playing with a trio, sitting in on sessions. . .admitting only once on Saturday night that he might be “a little tired.”

    The 31st festival opened on Wednesday night with an evening of poetry and prose, read by local Irish literary lights including Father John McNamee, pastor of St. Malachy’s Parish in North Philadelphia and the author of four books, and his friend, Father Michael Doyle of Sacred Heart Parish in Camden, NJ, author of the book, “It’s a Terrible Day, Thanks Be to God.” On Thursday, local singers including Terry Kane, Rosaleen McGill, Eugenia Brennan, Sharon Sachs, and John Winward, joined Canadian sean nos singer Catherine Crow and, from the Midwest, Brian Hart, the 28-year-old singer and dancer who is the only American ever to win an All-Ireland title for singing at the Irish Fleadh Cheoil for the Circle of Song.

    The festival ended with a set dance event on Sunday.

    We were there for mostly everything, as these photos will prove. If you couldn’t make it this year, mark it on your calendar for next year. It’s a party, and everyone is invited.

    Relive the festivities here:

    September 10, 2007 by