People

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

This is how you dress for the Burlington County parade.

This is how you dress for the Burlington County parade.

The first parade of the season is the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day Parade which marches through Mt. Holly on Saturday. There’s a heated tent in the township parking lot for the after-party (because it’s going to brrrr on Saturday) where you can hear Jamison Celtic Rock, the Broken Shillelaghs. Birmingham Six, the Paul Moore Band, the Shantys, Clancy’s Pistol, and other performers. Jim Logue, who has been organizing the parade for years, is its grand marshal this year.

If you’re in or near New Castle Delaware, the New Castle Historical Society will be recreating the atmosphere of an Irish Pub in the historic Buck Library at Buena Vista Mansion on Saturday night. Students at the William Penn Culinary Arts program will provide some authentic Irish fare (no Irish nachos!) and you’ll be entertained by the group Slyte of Hand, playing a host of traditional instruments and featuring Michele McCann, the 2013 winner of the Delaware Division of the Arts Emerging Folk Artists Fellowship. Proceeds from the evening benefit the historical nonprofit.

Also on Saturday night, the Gloucester County NJ AOH is throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party featuring the Broken Shillelaghs (who will be driving over from Mt. Holly for their second gig of the day). It takes place at the Richard Rossiter Memorial Hall in National Park, NJ.

And if you’re in Bucks County, the Bucks St. Patrick’s Day Committee is honoring this year’s parade grand marshal, State Senator Chuck McIlhinny Jr, at its annual Irish Ball at Kings Catherers in Bristol. Jamison Celtic Rock will be performing—also driving over from Mt. Holly for their second gig of the day. The Bucks parade is scheduled for March 15, starting at St. Joseph the Work Church in Levittown at 10:30 AM.

You’d think that would be plenty for one weekend, but no, there’s more. Also on Saturday, Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones will be playing at the Rising Sun VFW Post in Philadelphia and the First Highland Watch—bagpipes and rock ‘n roll—are taking the stage at Jimmy D’s in Folcroft.

On Sunday, Timlin and Kane are performing at the beautiful Glen Foerd on the Delaware on Grant Avenue in Philadelphia. Later this month, they’ll also be performing for members of the US Congress and the President in Washington, DC–more about that to come.

On Tuesday, the Sellersville Theatre will be alive with the sound of Claddagh, a music and dance extravaganza with a fusion of classic and modern styles.

On Friday, catch the Broken Shillelaghs at Molly Maguire’s Pub in Lansdale, but don’t stay out too late or you won’t be up and ready for Saturday’s “Running of the Micks,” the unusual pub crawl (with buses to keep everyone out of the drunk tank) that takes participants in a run up the Art Museum steps (and to a bunch of Irish pubs, starting with Finnigan’s Wake). That’s followed by McPatty’s Fest, a day of live music at McFaddens 3rd Street. Don’t shoot us—we’re only the messengers.

Next week will make this week look like a night at home, so don’t strain yourselves too much. There’s a lot more of March to go. Check out our calendar (which is changing daily) to see what’s going on. And while you’re at it, put your event on the calendar. Just go to the orange bar at the top of our home page, click on Irish events listing, and follow the instructions.

February 28, 2014 by
People

Putting the Fun in Fundraising

A couple of fun-raisers: Bob Hurst of the Hooligans and Frank Daly of Jamison.

A couple of fun-raisers: Bob Hurst of the Bogside Rogues and Frank Daly of Jamison.

 

Every year the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade has to raise money to pay for all the things most people don’t notice because they’re too busy looking at the floats, dancers, and bands– like police presence, port-a-potties, and bleachers.  This year, they needed only one fundraiser–and a big one–at the new Fraternal of Police Lodge #5 on Caroline Road in Northeast Philadelphia.

Local Celtic rockers Luke Jardel, the  Bogside Rogues,  Jamison Celtic Rock, and folk singer Raymond Coleman provided the background–and often the foreground music–for the hundreds of people who made the huge hall seem crowded on Sunday afternoon, February 22. There was dancing, eating, raffle ticket-buying, and lots of dancing–both amateurs and the remarkable Celtic Flame Dancers.

But don’t take our word for it. We have pictures that prove people were having fun.

February 27, 2014 by
People

They Could Have Danced All Night

Genevieve Smith and Paul Welsh: Dancing Like a Star's 2014 winners.

Genevieve Smith and Paul Welsh: Dancing Like a Star’s 2014 winners.

They danced like Gene Kelly to “Singing in the Rain,” like Travolta and Newton-John to “Grease,” and Peter Sellers and, well, the Pink Panther, to “The Pink Panther Theme.” In the end, Genevieve Smith and Paul Welsh were the winners of the 2014 Delco Gaels’ “Dancing Like a Star” fundraiser at Springfield Country Club on Friday night, February 21 with their “Great Gatsby” themed individual dance.

Two other couples, Siobhan Trainor and James Conboy and Kathleen Seward and Tom Farrelly, participated in the finalists’ dance-off.

Fox-29’s Jenaphr Frederick was host for the evening with music spun by DJ John McDaid. Money from the sold-out event will help fund the Delco Gaels, the largest Gaelic sports club in the region.

But what you really want is to see the photos. We took plenty. Check out Caine Donaghy and partner Charlotte Comasky pulling a Mary Poppins to “Singing in the Rain.”

View our photo essay here. 

February 27, 2014 by
Music

Interview: Singer Noriana Kennedy of Solas

Noriana Kennedy

Noriana Kennedy

What do you say when one of the world’s top Irish bands asks you to be the new lead singer?

Noriana Kennedy thought about her already thriving career. She thought about the demands of touring with a band that spends a lot of weeks on the road. She thought about time away from home and boyfriend.

But in the end, Kennedy, also a skilled banjo player, said yes—an enthusiastic yes—to Philly hometown band Solas.

Here’s how it happened.

Early last summer, Solas was performing in Dublin. Kennedy and the band’s lead singer at the time, Niamh Varian-Barry, were friends, and Kennedy asked whether she could join in, in a supporting role, and the band agreed.

“They took me up on the offer, and I did a solo set with some new songs I wanted to try out. Little did I know Niamh was leaving, and they were sussing me out for the job. A few weeks later, Winnie (Horan, the band’s fiddler and co-founder) texted me to let me know they were interested in having me join the band. I was thrilled and flattered.”

The decision was not a total no-brainer. Kennedy had just recorded an album with her trio, The Whileaways, and they were planning a tour. She also looked forward to recording her second solo album. Kennedy’s career was very much in progress.

“After a bit of thought and conversations with Seamus Egan (multi-instrumentalist and the band’s leader), it seemed right to join the band and balance all three projects.”

Joining a band as well established as Solas, on the other hand, is nothing like a no-brainer. Kennedy’s was a baptism by fire. There was no time for rehearsal in Ireland, so she joined the band for a one-month tour, starting in Philadelphia in July. There were a few days of rehearsal here, and she had been listening to the band’s CDs all along, struggling to memorize tunes. Then, she was off and running. “The first few gigs were daunting!”

Kennedy’s not completely sure why the band saw her as the right choice—”I must ask the lads”—but she suspects at least one of the answers lie in her deep interest in both the Irish and Scottish folk traditions, in combination with her love of American old-timey music. All that, she believes, blends in nicely with the Solas’s sound.

And it helps that she plays 5-string banjo, clawhammer style. Banjo is more than a passing interest for Seamus Egan, one of the world’s foremost tenor banjo players.

The Whileaways continue to figure prominently on Kennedy’s musical horizon. During Solas’s last one-month break, she returned to Ireland to record an EP with her friends. In April, during the next break, she will go back to Ireland to tour with the band, and release a single.

It’s a lot of music to jam into one life, but Noriana Kennedy has never known any other way. As a kid, she listened to everything—rock, reggae, folk, whatever rolled down the pike that engaged her interest. When she was older, she and her brother formed a band that toured five years before marriages and the demands of family put an end to it.

She continued to work as an environmental consultant, but then the recession hit.

“I decided to have a go at playing music in bars around Galway,” Kennedy says. “I’d teamed up with a brilliant Dutch musician who’d just moved to Galway, who sang and looked like Bob Dylan. We formed a group called Mad Uncle Harry, and we had a great following, and gigged four or five times a week.”

All of that gigging offered some useful schooling for a singer on the way up.

“It was a great three years, and great training for me. My voiced developed hugely after singing in bars and trying to be heard.”

If you’ve heard Noriana Kennedy sing, you know she learned her lesson well.

Solas will appear in concert Thursday, February 27, at 8 p.m. Visit st94.com for details.

February 21, 2014 by
Music

Review: “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” by Barleyjuice

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice ThingsLet’s just say that “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” the new CD from Barleyjuice, is a party. A loud, raucous, boozy blowout.

And when I say booze, I mean waking up on the kitchen floor with your head in the cat dish, and wondering how all that onion soup dip wound up in your shoes.

For example, this snippet of lyrics from the second track, “3 Sheets to the Wind”:

“Let’s go down to whiskey town
Land of song and sin
We’re not leaving till we’re weaving
Three sheets to the wind.”

The title might also be a dead giveaway.

Bands like “Barleyjuice” are popular because there’s a pretty big market for drinking songs. Some people like rebel songs. Others like traditional folk ballads. And plenty of people like drinking songs. Different strokes for different folks. And face it, drinking songs go back. Way back.

So belly up to the bar, boys. And girls.

Barleyjuice is in great form on this recording. Spot-on lead vocals, and seamless harmonies. Relentless, pile-driver rhythms. Mean, nasty, slashing guitar riffs.

If you can’t wait for the St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl, you can get a head start with the opening tune, “St. Patrick’s Day.” Kyf Brewer take the lead on this rock anthem dedicated to post-New York City parade shenanigans. Brewer sounds like he might have swallowed ground glass somewhere along the way. And I mean that in a good way.

I could call this tune “catchy,” but it really grabs you by your lapels and shakes the hell out of you. You’ll become a one-person mosh pit.

On this tune, guitarist Keith Swanson seems to be channelling the guitarist for whatever band played “I Fought the Law and the Law Won.” (OK, it was the Bobby Fuller Four. Don’t send me any emails.) It’s all clangy, jangly retro chords. Really fun.

The fourth track, “Catholic Guilt,” takes a jaundiced view of that aspect of Irish heritage. There’s a great bit of call and response between Brewer and the rest of the band on the chorus, a kind of steroidal sea shanty. Some brassy in-your-face fiddling on the bridge by Alice O’Quirke. We could talk about the lyrics in depth, but suffice to say references to “plastic Marys” pop with some frequency.

O’Quirke later takes the lead on vocals—and plays very sweetly, on a sweet little jiggy number, “Whelan’s Barroom.”

Keith Swanson is out front on “Whiskey for Christmas,” a tune that at times sounds like a song recorded by The Kinks, although I’ll be darned if I can remember which one. And just to mess with your head further, the harmonies remind me of John and George from almost any of the Beatles’ early stuff.

Clever chameleons.

Again, it takes a good bit of talent to pull off smart mash-ups like these and still come across as a loose bunch of rowdies. I admire that kind of talent. So get up on your feet, turn this CD all the way up, and scare the cat. You didn’t like that cat, anyway.

February 21, 2014 by
Dance, Food & Drink, Music

2014 Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Festival

Our pal Jamesie Johnston of Albannach

Our pal Jamesie Johnston of Albannach

Every year we say it was the best yet. Even that year when wind storms knocked out the lights, and the bands played on in the darkness. Actually, that was pretty cool.

But, OK, we’re going to say it again: This year’s Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Festival out at the Valley Forge Casino and Resort was the best yet.

Large crowds flocked to the festival over the weekend.

If you were in the mood for tunes to make you forget all the snow and ice, you were in luck. Most of our favorite bands were there. We don’t want to accidentally leave anyone out, so we’ll leave it to you to peruse our huge photo essay. We guarantee you’ll see a lot of familiar faces there.

We renewed our acquaintance with John the Scottish Juggler, who’s always on hand to keep the kids entertained. The adults love him, too. The Washington Memorial Pipe Band stepped out from time to time, and they never fail to impress. The Campbell School Highland Dancers were there, and our Irish dance friend Rosemarie Timoney led ceili dancing.

We cruised the vendor area, and found one or two things we’d never seen before. And a thing or two we wish we had never seen at all. Extra Special Haggis Sauce comes to mind.

The air was filled with the aroma of cooking oil—which can only mean one thing: fish and chips. To be accompanied, of course, by bracing brews from those cold islands—and a wee bit of whiskey, perhaps.

And if you happened to be sporting a kilt, a sword—or even a pirate hat—no one would give you a second glance. What more could you ask?

So if you didn’t brave the wind and the snow this past weekend, pull up a chair and let our photos warm the cockles of your hearts.

Whatever cockles are.

February 21, 2014 by
People

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Get ready--it's almost that time again.

Get ready–it’s almost that time again.

The events are starting to multiply as we inch toward March. You can get some St. Patrick’s Day practice this weekend when The Next Generation, the youngest trad performers in the area, appear at the Garden State Discovery Museum’s Irish Festival (on Sunday at 2 PM, though the festival runs both weekend days); The John Byrne Band appears at the new Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill (Saturday); the amazing (this fits all of them) Brian Conway, Billy McComiskey, Brendan Dolan and Mary Courtney perform together at West Chester University (on Saturday night) along with local fiddler Alex Weir, dancer Josh Srour, and the Do Cairde Irish dancers; and Jamison Celtic Rock, the Bogside Rogues, Raymond Coleman, and the Irish Flame School of Irish Dance help raise money for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade at the FOP Lodge 7C in Northeast Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon.

And that’s not all: Celtic Pride is appearing on Thursday evening at Washington Crossing Inn.

Or you can catch The Broken Shillelaghs at Schileen’s Pub in Westvill, NJ on Thursday night as well.

Or. . .you can catch the supergroup Solas at the Sellersville Theatre on Thursday night.

The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Center is holding an information meeting for anyone interested in entering the competition  to become Philadelphia’s next Rose of Tralee. It will take place on Thursday evening at The Radnor Hotel in Wayne, where the Rose of Tralee event is held every year. The Rose of Tralee is open to any young woman of Irish descent. The winner will compete in Ireland in the summer.

On Friday, three-time All Ireland concertina champion Caitlin Nic Gabhann will be joined by fiddler Ciaran O’Maonaigh, a former TG4 Young Musician of the Year, in a house concert in the Philadelphia area. For more information and location, email phillyceiligroup@gmail.com. These are two up and coming young Irish musicians who are worth seeing. Nic Gabhann is also an accomplished Irish dancer who performed in Riverdance.

And a big head’s up: The Burlington St. Patrick’s Day Parade is always the first one in our area, and it’s coming up in a week. Yes, on Saturday, March 1, there will be bands, pipers, dancers, and floats all heading down High Street in Mount Holly. It’s grown every year since we’ve been around (we’re heading into our eighth year of being Irish in Philly). You could top the day off be going to the Gloucester County AOH St. Patrick’s Day Party at 8 PM that evening with The Broken Shillelaghs, or hear Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones at the Rising Sun VFW Post 2819 on Martins Mill Road in Philadelphia, which starts at 8 PM.

Looking even further ahead. the “sashing” of the Grand Marshal of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade–this year it’s Jim Murray, former GM of the Eagles and founder of Ronald McDonald House–takes place at a dinner on Thursday, March 13, at the Doubletree Hotel in Philadelphia. Contact Kathy McGee Burns, chairperson of the event, at mcgeeburns@aol.com or 215-872-1305 for tickets and more information.

Then, after this, all Irish breaks loose. More on that next week.

If you have a March concert, gig, party, performance, play, anything going on, please put it on our calendar. It’s easy to do yourself: Go to the orange bar at the top of our page, click on Irish Events Listing, and fill in the blanks. If you have trouble, give me a shout-out on our Facebook page or email me at denise.foley@comcast.net.

Keep checking our calendar for late-breaking events.

February 21, 2014 by
People

Economy and Immigration: Ireland’s Top Priorities

Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson with SAP US President Gregory McStravick.

Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson with SAP US President Gregory McStravick.

Irish Ambassador to the US, Anne Anderson, in a speech to more than 400 people attending an awards program in Philadelphia on Thursday, illustrated the paradox of the Irish economic recovery. Called the European Union’s “bright spot,” Ireland’s economic growth has outpaced the rest of the Euro zone, its Moody’s rating has climbed from “junk” to investment grade, and Forbes Magazine recently called it the best place to do business in Europe.

But a 12 percent unemployment rate—a figure she admitted would be higher if young people weren’t still leaving Ireland in droves–still makes immigration reform in the US one of her top priorities, said Anderson at the Ambassador Awards at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, the premier event of the year of the Philadelphia-based Irish-American Business Chamber and Network.

She told a story of going home to Tipperary not long ago “where I went into the local pub for tea and sandwiches, and started talking to the barman. I asked him how things were and he told me it was great at Christmas, there had been a lot of life around the place until all the young people had gone back.” She asked him where they’d gone. “Australia,” he told her.

“They should have an opportunity to come here,” Anderson told the crowd, urging them to contact their local lawmakers to remind them that “this immigration issue has an Irish face.”

There are an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish people in the US. “Most are employed, pay taxes and are good upstanding, god-fearing citizens,” said Anderson, who was Ireland’s permanent representative to the United Nations before replacing longtime Irish Ambassador Michael Collins nearly six months ago. “But they’re living in the shadows and I don’t have to tell you the human toll this takes—they’re unable to go back to Ireland for a terminally ill parent, a funeral, a wedding.”

The reason for the high number of Irish undocumented: It’s the unintended consequence of an immigration overhaul in the 1960s meant to end bias against immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. That left the Irish “with an infinitesimal share of green cards,” said Anderson.

Although several bills have been introduced in Congress to increase the number of green cards available to Irish citizens, immigration reform—like just about everything else in the US Congress—has been the victim of partisan skirmishes. There’s unlikely to be any movement in that direction unless some of the players change.

Anderson acknowledged that talking about Ireland’s recovery and at the same time pointing out the need to forge a new pathway for Irish immigrants to the US seems inconsistent. “We don’t want anyone forced out of Ireland,” she said. “But in the current circumstances [Ireland’s high unemployment rate] it’s a fact of life.”

Since many IABCN members do or want to do business in Ireland—like this year’s Ambassador’s Award winner SAP, the German multinational business software company with a US headquarters in Newtown Square and more than 1200 employees in three offices in Ireland—they’re no strangers to the facts of Irish life.

In fact, in his acceptance speech, SAP US President Gregory McStravick echoed Ambassador Anderson’s comment, citing Ireland’s highly educated populace and favorable business atmosphere, that “no one invests in Ireland for sentimental reasons.”

“We’re not doing it for sentimental reasons,” he told the crowd. “We’re not doing it because we’re good people, though we are. We’re doing it because it makes good sense for our business. There’s some very good talent in Ireland. . .and there are great benefits to doing business in Ireland.”

The Ambassador’s Award is one of three the IABCN gives out annually. Denis O’Brien, senior executive vice president of Exelon Corporation and CEO of Exelon Utilities (which includes PECO), was chosen to receive the Taoiseach Award, given to individuals of Irish descent who shows “exemplary leadership and compassion,” long before this year’s winter storms made this an “annum horribilis” for PECO.

Although more than 700,000 of its customers lost power–some for nearly a week—PECO got relatively good marks from most for its response: Thousands of PECO worker, putting in 16-hour days, with the help of more than 2,000 out-of-state electrical workers, restored power to all its customers in six days. It was the second worst storm in the company’s history.

Ann Claffey Baiada, RN, CRRN, director of Bayada Home Health Care, received the Uachtaran Award, given yearly to people of Irish descent who make “significant civic, cultural, or social contributions to the United States or Ireland, particularly contributions to the Irish diaspora.”

Baiada, who traces her family’s roots to County Donegal, grew up in a strongly Irish community in Germantown where, she said, “we had many mothers and you didn’t dare cross any of them.” It was also a community where she said everyone learned the important lessons, knowing right from wrong and to “take care of each other.”

The Irish American Business Chamber and Network is a nonprofit organization that promotes development of economic and education partnerships between the US, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.

View more photos from the event here.

February 21, 2014 by