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Fergie’s

News, People

Raise a Glass to Fergie

Fergus Carey, right, with Hollis Payer, Darin Kelly, and Brian Boyce

Fergus Carey, right, with Hollis Payer, Darin Kelly, and Brian Boyce

He has a small pub on Sansom Street, but he has a big heart.

On Thursday, many of Fergus Carey’s friends will come together to formally recognize all the ways in which the owner of Center City’s iconic Fergie’s Pub—and several other local bars—has supported Philadelphia area theatre.

But don’t expect much in the way of pomp. It’s a roast.

Although he probably never thought anyone would take him up on it—and didn’t really expect it—”Fergie Fest” was sort of his idea to begin with.

Catherine Logan is development associate of Theatre Exile, a company to which Carey has devoted much of his time and passion. Exile is hosting the event, Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Ruba Club 414 Green Street. Logan says Exile deemed Carey worthy of honor simply because “he’s awesome. He’s been such a big supporter of the Philadelphia theatre scene. He contributes to a lot of theatres. He’s a good friend.”

Logan says Carey once had a conversation with his friends at Theatre Exile in which he joked, “If you ever do a roast, you ought to do one for me.” That was a long time ago, she says, “but we always thought: Someday we’ll take you up on this.”

Before she met Carey, Logan wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Or maybe she was sure, after all. Sure, but then surprised. “I thought he was gonna be this big, loud Irish guy, but he’s actually shy, very quiet and respectful.” She likes the accent, too: but that’s “a girl thing.”

This will be the first time Theatre Exile has hosted anything like a roast, but based on the overwhelming interest in the theatre community—and the bar and restaurant community as well—expect a big evening. Actors and performers from throughout the city have lined up to salute their longtime friend. Restaurants from one end of town to the other are also providing food.

If you want to go, tickets are selling out fast. Tickets are $25 if you buy now; $30 at the door.

For details, contact: 215-218-4022.

More info and online orders here.

News, People

Raise a Glass to Fergie

Fergus Carey, right, with Hollis Payer, Darin Kelly, and Brian Boyce

Fergus Carey, right, with Hollis Payer, Darin Kelly, and Brian Boyce

He has a small pub on Sansom Street, but he has a big heart.

On Thursday, many of Fergus Carey’s friends will come together to formally recognize all the ways in which the owner of Center City’s iconic Fergie’s Pub—and several other local bars—has supported Philadelphia area theatre.

But don’t expect much in the way of pomp. It’s a roast.

Although he probably never thought anyone would take him up on it—and didn’t really expect it—”Fergie Fest” was sort of his idea to begin with.

Catherine Logan is development associate of Theatre Exile, a company to which Carey has devoted much of his time and passion. Exile is hosting the event, Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Ruba Club 414 Green Street. Logan says Exile deemed Carey worthy of honor simply because “he’s awesome. He’s been such a big supporter of the Philadelphia theatre scene. He contributes to a lot of theatres. He’s a good friend.”

Logan says Carey once had a conversation with his friends at Theatre Exile in which he joked, “If you ever do a roast, you ought to do one for me.” That was a long time ago, she says, “but we always thought: Someday we’ll take you up on this.”

Before she met Carey, Logan wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Or maybe she was sure, after all. Sure, but then surprised. “I thought he was gonna be this big, loud Irish guy, but he’s actually shy, very quiet and respectful.” She likes the accent, too: but that’s “a girl thing.”

This will be the first time Theatre Exile has hosted anything like a roast, but based on the overwhelming interest in the theatre community—and the bar and restaurant community as well—expect a big evening. Actors and performers from throughout the city have lined up to salute their longtime friend. Restaurants from one end of town to the other are also providing food.

If you want to go, tickets are selling out fast. Tickets are $25 if you buy now; $30 at the door.

For details, contact: 215-218-4022.

More info and online orders here.

Music

10 Years, and Still Going Strong

Fergus Carey, right, with Hollis Payer, Darin Kelly, and Brian Boyce

Fergus Carey, right, with Hollis Payer, Darin Kelly, and Brian Boyce

Saturday brought out a who’s who of Philly-area Irish traditional music at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street in Center City Philadelphia. For several hours, fiddlers, pipers, accordion players, flutists and more rotated in and out of the seats at two beer-laden tables in a dark corner of this venerable Irish bar and eatery.

They were all there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the traditional Irish music session held at Fergie’s every Saturday.

Session anchor and guitarist Darin Kelly presided over this not-so-motley crew of musicians.

There were few breaks in the action, as they motored through one set of tunes after another, to enthusiastic applause of the civilians who found themselves at a stool at the bar, or a table in the back. Fergus Carey himself made an appearance as the sessioneers carried on, grinning like a proud papa.

The video up top ought to show you what you might have missed. And if you were there, here’s one for the time capsule.

 

Music, News

Reeling In the Years

Darin Kelly

Darin Kelly

Visit Fergie’s Pub on any Saturday afternoon, and the place will be rocking to traditional Irish music, performed by some of the city’s best players. Fiddlers, flutists, accordion players and more have called the pub home for a decade.

This Saturday (January 5), they’ll be positively blowing the doors off the joint as local musicians from all over the place descend upon the standout Sansom Street bar and restaurant to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fergie’s traditional Irish music session.

Session anchor and guitarist Darin Kelly sees the big blowout as a way to thank owners Fergus Carey and Wajih Abed. Without them, he says, the Fergie’s session wouldn’t have lasted 10 weeks.

“I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate the support that Fergie and Wajih have given to traditional music for 10 years, which is like 80 years in human time,” says Kelly. “Sessions tend to live their functional lives in dog years, as trends come and go. But Fergie and the whole staff have been nothing but supportive and enthusiastic from the jump. I wanted to invite everyone who has been a part of the session since those first notes, and give Fergie our expression of thanks, in the best way we can.”

Gratitude perhaps goes both ways. When Fergie’s opened in 1994, Irish tenor banjo player Jack Crowley anchored the session. Then, for a while, there was a lull. Then, in January of 2003, Kelly—primarily known as a celebrated classical trumpeter—approached Fergie about re-starting the Saturday afternoon live music session. Fergie was enthusiastic from the start, he says. Soon, he and Brendan Callahan—a four-time all-Ireland medalist fiddler now living in Boston—were anchoring one of the jumpingest Irish sessions anywhere, let alone the city.

Like all traditional Irish music sessions, the Fergie’s Saturday afternoon get-together also serves a social purpose for the small core group of regulars who play there, off in a far corner of the room.

“People are there to enjoy each other’s company, swap stories, bust each others’ stones, and generally enjoy a good couple of hours of great music in a rare place without television,” says Kelly. “Fergie’s is pretty small, so naturally our group of players has remained fairly tight-knit. The regular players are people I’ve known and played with for years, and I’ve learned everything I know from these people. And we generally like each other—a rarity. Bottom line, there is better traditional Irish music on a consistent basis coming out of Fergie’s than any other session I know of around here.”

After 10 years, Kelly has piled up a guitar case full of fond memories. He recalls in particular the times when fiddler and dancer Dan Stacey would lace up his hard shoes and take to the floor. “The look on peoples’ faces when he would literally make the room shake was fantastic.”

Sometimes, the vibe was so irresistible, the session blew right through the scheduled 7 p.m. stop. “One night I remember playing pretty much non-stop until 9:45,” Kelly says. “The absolutely sublime moments of music I had with Brendan particularly are memories that I’ll have forever.”

You can find out why the Fergie’s session stirs such tender memories. The 10th anniversary blowout starts at 1 p.m., and lasts ‘til 7—at least, that’s the plan. Fergie’s is at 1214 Sansom Street. There’ll be food and drink specials as an extra incentive. Show up, eat, drink, play (or listen).

Arts, News

With a Little Help from His Friends

At the end of the Jimmy Stewart classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the beleaguered George Bailey, whose friends and neighbors are tossing money into a basket to replace the $8,000 missing from his savings and loan, finds a book in the pile from the angel, Clarence, who helped him when he thought life would be better for everyone if he’d never been born. In the front of the book, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Clarence wrote, “No man is a failure who has friends.”

And playwright William Rolleri knows that even better than George Bailey. The former New York Daily News reporter who now lives in Delaware had little hope of producing his newest play, “The Brothers Flanagan.” It’s a recession; he’s a mostly unknown quantity, as is his play about two Grays Ferry Irish pub owners whose business is being decimated by a serial killer. And, he points out ruefully, “No one wants to produce a 75-year-old playwright.”

Except maybe his friends, who have already anteed up half the cost of the production. And to raise the rest, well, in the spirit of Mickey Rooney’s Andy Hardy movie character from the 1930s, they’re putting on a show in the bar.

On December 28, two of Philadelphia’s finest actors, Michael Toner and Jack Barrett, will be performing two of Rolleri’s short one-man plays upstairs at Fergie’s Pub at 1214 Sansom Street. For $30 a ticket, you not only get two plays, but some Irish music and a Guinness Stout glass (which you can fill downstairs at the bar).

“Fergie [bar owner Fergus Carey] is one hell of a supportive guy,” says Rolleri. “He loves the theater himself, and he loves ‘The Brothers Flanagan.’ If we get the money together to do a full production in fall, we’re going to do it in Fergie’s because the whole thing takes place in a bar.”

Rolleri chose the two short plays because they both got a great reaction from audiences when they were previously performed (by Toner and Barrett). One, called “Sugar Ferguson’s Rotten Apples,” is a largely autobiographical account of an episode from Rolleri’s last visit to his grandparents in Canada, though the playwright, who is half Irish (County Wexford), transports the story to Dublin. It focuses on a near tragedy, involving kids, a forbidden apple tree, a shotgun, the police, and the parish priest. “Ring in the Old” takes place in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen where a bar patron sees an opportunity to bring back, at least for a moment, a little of the now yuppiefied area’s violent past. . .for auld lang syne. Expect some midnight dark humor.

The generosity of his friends has inspired Rolleri to pay it forward. “It occurred to me that there are a lot of younger playwrights in Philly and some of them are very good, but they have trouble getting produced because their work is original and their names not known; their names are not going to sell tickets,” he says. “I have a few friends who wanted me to go ahead and get my play produced, and I decided that if I go ahead, I’m not going ahead alone. Whatever we get at the box office will go to produce another play—not me, but another playwright.”

You can help Rolleri and the unknown playwrights his success will also lift by attending “Apres Noel, Christmassy Plays,” on Sunday, December 28, at 7 PM. For tickets (there are only 50 seats, so act fast), contact Fergie’s at 215-928-8118 or Steve Hatzai at 215-769-0552, or? swhatz@msn.com.