Browsing Tag

Philadelphia Irish Center

Music, People

They’re Coming Home

Shannon Lambert-Ryan with RUNA.

For Shannon Lambert-Ryan, each scuff on the dance floor at Philadelphia’s Irish Center represents a happy memory. A few of them might be hers.

“I took step dancing classes there for years,” says the young singer-actress with the group, Runa. “My mom, Julie Lambert, started to go to the ceilis over there when she was 16 and 17, and when I was born we went to the festivals and music events. I took a hiatus for a while then wound up going back to the ballroom for the swing dancing. It’s one of those places where, when you’re there once or twice a week, feels like your second home.”

Karen Boyce McCollum thought it was her second home. The youngest of the six children of Carmel and Barney Boyce of County Donegal, longtime members of the Irish Center Board, Karen is a former singer with the group Causeway. “One of my first memories is of going up there with my mom and dad to the Donegal meetings. They were on a Sunday and we would go to church then head up there. While they were in their meeting, we had the full run of the place, and we’d usually meet up with some of the other kids and get into some fun and a little bit of trouble.”

So it seemed fitting that Shannon and her group and Karen and brothers Michael and John (of Blackthorn) will provide the music at Sunday’s Inspirational Irish Women Awards. The event honors 11 Delaware Valley Irish and Irish-American women who embody the Irish spirit and is a fundraiser for the Center, which, like many organizations, has experienced some recent financial difficulties.

“I had to do it,” says Shannon. “It’s important to keep it afloat. The Irish Center allows for quite a lot to happen. Just to coordinate it elsewhere would take quite a bit of effort.”

Along with ceilis, dance lessons, and concerts, the Center houses most of the county associations and hosts most of the annual county balls. “We went to all the Balls—Donegal, Mayo, Cavan,” recalls Karen, who eventually wore two crowns: Miss Mayo and the 2006 Rose of Tralee. “When I was little I remembering wishing I didn’t have a dress on so I could really spin around on the dance floor.” She laughs.

Later, she began taking fiddle lessons at the Center. Her family held her bridal shower there; her sister Colleen’s reception was held at the Center, as was her brother, Brian’s. She sang and danced in the ballroom and on the Fireside Room stage, most recently with her brothers at the Center’s Rambling House entertainment events, produced by Irish radio host Marianne MacDonald.

Karen Boyce McCollum and brothers Mike and John.

“As time went on I started to love it more,” says Karen. “I don’t think there’s a place that cozier than or more appealing on winter’s night than the Fireside Room with a fire going, having a beer. Some of the memories I have are of the people I met there—people who are gone now, like Tommy Moffit and Jim Kilgallen and a man who became like a grandfather to me, Tom Finnegan. He was a widower with no children and my parents met him through the Donegal Society. They would drive him here and there on weekends, and finally they said ‘Why don’t you stay here?’ So for 10 years, he stayed at our house Thursdays to Mondays. Every time I’m at the Irish Center I think of how Tom used to get up a dance. He had these moves he did.” She laughs. “One drink and he was kicking his feet up, cute as button.”

For Shannon, it was the dancers. “I think about Frank Malley, who just passed away about a year ago. He was somebody who my mom used to dance with at the ceili when she was much younger and they met later on. He became a friend of ours and his partner, Connie Koppe, is still a friend. He was always so gentle and warm. He would take you under his wing and my mom said he was one of the best dancers.”

She also remembers “waltzing with Eugene O’Donnell,” the legendary five-time All-Ireland step dancing champ and master fiddler from Derry who was a fixture at the Irish Center. “This is really where music became the love of my life forever,” she says.

For both singers, Sunday’s performances are a labor of love. “There are people who go to the Center and love it, and go back all the time. I think their spirits are there,” says Karen. “They say that the older a chair gets, the more comfortable is is. That’s the way I feel about the Irish Center. When the lights are low and there’s a good band playing, there’s nothing like it. It feels like home.”

May 20, 2010 by Jeff Meade

People

Ghost Story

The Irish Center's dining room: Site of a ghostly experience.

By Susan Spellman Burns

You may not believe in ghosts, but 22 percent of Americans assured CBS news pollsters that they’ve been up close and personal with the dead.

Paul Gallagher is one of them. It has been several months since the Irish Center bartender’s startling experience that Friday night as he closed up the Center, which included cleaning up the Texas hold-em game in the front dining room. At the time, Paul felt a cold breeze pass through his chest, though he had just closed and latched all the windows. Then he heard someone say. “What are you going to do now, Paul?”

I sat down with Paul, and we talked about the ghost he encountered, who he is fairly sure was the spirit of a late customer who made a very heartfelt gesture to Paul before his death.

Paul told me that he has been teased often by patrons and his friends after his previous interview about the ghost with irishphiladelphia‘s Denise Foley so he was hesitant to talk about it again. But we both agreed that his visitation was a gift, and a gift that can be shared to perhaps give others new insight on such a personal experience.

Q. Has your “secret admirer”contacted you in any way since that memorable night?
A. No. I really don’t look for it, or try to think about it. Yes it happened. I have moved on.

Q. Do you have a better understanding of who may have visited you?
A. I feel it was a patron that passed away last fall. My gut tells me it was him. I know it was him.

Q. Why do you feel this spirit chose you to contact?
A. It was probably just his way of saying good-bye. I feel honored.

Q. The ghost asked “What are you going to do now Paul?” Did this have anything to do with your own personal struggles?
A. No, definitely not. I have thought about this several times. I have my own personal struggles like everybody. It was again, just his way of saying good-bye.

Q. Has this experience sparked a greater interest in the paranormal?
A. Not really. Sometimes I watch one of the ghost hunter shows on television, but when it comes to choosing that or sports shows, I prefer watching sports.

Q. I know you mentioned that you think the ghost has moved on since that night, do you feel there maybe other spirits in the Irish Center?
A. I have not sensed this in any way myself, but there is certainly talk that there are other ghosts here.

The Burning Question:

As I stood in the front dining room after my interview with Paul, did I experience anything paranormal?

Nope. However, I did feel something quite normal. I could feel that this building was filled with dear memories, dreams, happy times, and that magical Irish love.

Do you have a true ghost story to tell? Contact Susan Spellman Burns via the “contact us” link on the home page. She’s on the trail of Irish spirits—of the other-worldly kind—and will be taking us on ghost tours periodically.

May 6, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Music

All-Ireland Champ Isaac Alderson, Singularly Focused on the Music He Loves

Isaac Alderson, on one of the several instruments at which he excels, the flute.

Isaac Alderson is many things…

At age 27, he‘s young.

As a musician, he’s talented in a manner many dream of but few can lay claim to: In 2002, he was named the All-Ireland Senior Champion on the flute, the whistle and the uillean pipes, in the process making this Chicago native the first American since Joanie Madden to win a tin whistle championship.

For a profession, he is making a living playing the Irish music he loves. “Irish music… I came across it when I was 11 or 12. My mom had a friend who gave me my first practice set of pipes, and I started playing them at 14. The pipes, they’re the most awkward thing for a beginner…I was really enthusiastic about it; through my high school years it was almost like an obsession. I practiced all the time,” Alderson recalled.

“I grew up in a musical household, not Irish music, but my dad had been a professional musician for a short time when he was young. He played the bass, the guitar, the harmonica. I played the saxophone when I was 10.”

Alderson’s teachers, once he discovered his passion for Irish music, were the likes of John Williams, Laurence Nugent, Al Purcell and Kieran O’Hare.

“I had a lot of people helping my interest along the way. I played a session in Evanston, and I learned a lot, hearing them play. Laurence Nugent was a primary influence.”

“My parents, my mother especially, worried about me a lot, about whether I’d be all right financially. When I was 17, my parents said, ‘Well, we think it’s about time you got a job,” and then I got handed down the session at The Hidden Shamrock in Chicago, paying $75,” Alderson laughed.

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence in 2005, Alderson made the decision to move to New York to pursue professionally the career that had begun as a fascination with Irish music and culture.

“I never saw myself getting into it in a professional capacity… I had no idea I’d ever make any money in it at all. New York’s a great place. There are tons of bars to play in, and always lots of traffic from Ireland… you don’t feel like you’re stepping on each other’s music toes.”

There’s a regular crowd of Irish musicians in New York, many of them around the same age, having arrived in the city about the same time. A camaraderie has developed among them, and an ease in playing together.

For Alderson, a collaboration between two of those musicians in particular has emerged: Fiddle player Grainne Murphy and guitar player Alan Murray.

“Alan and Grainne and I started playing together about two and a half years ago, a regular session at the Pig ‘n’ Whistle on 3rd. Six hours of playing together every Sunday for two years… slowly over the course of time, we’ve started to feel really comfortable together musically. We work very well together.”

The Philadelphia Ceili Group has thoughtfully and affectionately arranged for the trio to play at The Irish Center tonight, Friday, April 30, at 8:30 p.m. A last-minute scheduling conflict for Murray is bringing John Walsh and his guitar to town instead with Alderson and Murphy.

“I’ve played loads with Johnny. He was born in The Bronx, but raised in Kilkenny… he’s a remarkably versatile trad musician. He often plays with Paddy Keenan. He also has a recording studio in Westchester.”

The same studio, in fact, where Grainne Murphy recorded her recently launched CD, “Short Stories.”

Murphy hails from Boston, where she was gifted with her first fiddle at the tender age of 4. She learned to play from County Clare’s All-Ireland champion fiddler, Seamus Connolly.

Alderson is effusive in his praise for Murphy, with whom he “absolutely loves“ playing. In addition to her talent on the fiddle, “she has an incredible ability to pursue lots of different things at once. She’s a lawyer by trade, and an avid runner… she maintained her job as a lawyer, finished up her solo recording, kept up her running, and went back and forth to Massachusetts to help her brother, Patrick, in his campaign for city council, which he won.”

For Alderson, for now, his focus is on the music.

“It’s not a glamorous living, but I make enough to get by, and to have fun at the same time. I have thought at times of finding something a little more stable,” Alderson mused.

There doesn’t seem to be much need for that anytime soon. In addition to his regular gigs with Murphy and Murray, Alderson is pretty well booked.

“I freelance, and I get a lot of gigs by virtue of playing the pipes… I get way more gigs as a piper than as a flutist. They share me, I guess. The pipes are the quintessential Irish instrument, especially for stage gigs; people like to see the pipes.”

Oh, yes, Isaac Alderson is many things, including modest.

He can be seen playing with Shannon Lambert-Ryan, Fionan De Barra and Cheryl Prashker in RUNA.

He can be found performing with the group Jameson’s Revenge.

He recently returned from touring with Celtic Crossroads, and is set to go back out on the road with them in July.

And he is working on his first solo CD, which he hopes to finish up this June.

“What I like best above everything else is just playing tunes…playing trad music in its unadorned form.”

For information on their Philadelphia Ceili Group performance, Friday, April 30, visit their Web site.

April 30, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

People

Derry is Back!

"Irish" Joan Reed gets into the spirit with a cheek shamrock.

It’s been almost a decade since the Derry Society held a social, and if Sunday’s event at the Irish Center was any indication, they were sorely missed.

The family “party,” which featured the Shantys and Bare-Knuckle Boxers, face-painting and kids’ games, Irish dancers, and a buffet, was packed. “There ought to be more of these,” said Tim Murphy of the Bogside Rogues, who was just enjoying the music instead of playing it. “This is just plain fun.”

You can see how much fun everyone was having in our photos.

April 30, 2010 by Denise Foley

Music

A Rare Showing in Philadelphia: Liam Clancy’s story in “The Yellow Bittern”

Liam Clancy figures prominently in "The Yellow Bittern."

“That Volcano” may have been the cause of many a travel upheaval for folks around the globe recently, but it wasn’t only people who got delayed. Planes grounded by airborne ash also temporarily waylaid the arrival of the brilliant feature documentary “The Yellow Bittern” from arriving at its Philadelphia destination.

The film, the brainchild of director Alan Gilsenan, is a riveting feature-length portrait of Liam Clancy, culled in large part from rare archival footage (some that had been tucked away, forgotten, in Liam’s attic for years, the discovery of which, according to Gilsenan’s comments on the film’s Web site, surprised and thrilled the man himself), and intimate interviews done over the past several years. And the Philadelphia Ceili Group is one of only a few American outlets to be granted the rights to a stateside showing of the movie.

“One of the researchers from the film found us online, and contacted one of the board members at the PCG,” explained Beth Ann Bailey, the Ceili Group’s treasurer. “I took it on as my project to chair because my parents always had The Clancy Brothers albums playing in the house when I was growing up. As far as I know, the PCG is the first to host it in the Philadelphia area.”

There were just a few moments of worry for Bailey when the flight delays continued…but those worries are over now. The documentary arrived safe and sound this week, awaiting its one and only Philadelphia showing on Friday, May 7, at The Commodore Barry Center (aka The Irish Center) in Mount Airy.

“This is a different event for the Philadelphia Ceili Group to host…we haven’t done anything like this in a very long while, and the showing of “The Yellow Bittern” is a great way to re-introduce film premieres to the group’s events,” said Bailey.

The film is indeed a feast of music, biography and poignant insight into the lives of the Clancy Brothers. Liam, who was the last surviving member of the group, and who passed away this past December, figures most prominently. He’s the man that Bob Dylan once called “just the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my whole life.”

Admission to the screening is $10, and seating will be limited. Tickets can be purchased online at www.philadelphiaceiligroup.org. The PCG recommends you purchase your tickets early.

“We hope people take advantage of the opportunity. It will be a great evening at the Irish Center…a brilliant movie showing at 7 p.m., and then immediately following the film, there will be a session happening as well!”

For a peek at the online preview of “The Yellow Bittern,” check out the official Web site of the film at www.liamclancyfilm.com.

April 22, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

Music

The Return of BUA

Sometimes, here in this East Coast mecca of Irish music, we tend to forget that our forefathers occasionally immigrated their way deeper into the heartland of America…all the way to Chicago, even.

Which is a very good thing, since the Irish-American group BUA calls the Midwest home. And an even better thing is that they are making a return visit to the Philadelphia Irish Center on Saturday, March 6 for a show sponsored by the Philadelphia Ceili Group.

And, if you can handle still one more great thing: BUA co-founder and fiddle player, Chris Bain, talked to me about the band whose name is the Irish word for “Innate Gift.”

“We are all actively tied to the tradition of Irish music,” explained Bain. “I grew up surrounded by Irish and Scottish music. My dad plays the guitar and mandolin, and my mom plays the harp and guitar. Music was just always around, and always encouraged. It was just normal to always have musicians like Kevin Burke and Ged Foley staying with us.”

A little bit of background on the rest of the group: Jackie Moran, co-founder of the group and bodhran player, was born in County Tipperary and moved to Chicago with his family at age 10; Detroit-born Sean Gavin, who plays the flute and the uilleann pipes is the son of County Clare fiddler Mick Gavin; Brian Hart, who plays the concertina and is the lead vocalist, is fluent in Irish; Minnesota born guitar player Brian Miller has been playing Irish music since age 17, under the influence of Twin City transplants like County Derry guitarist and singer Daithi Sproule, and County Offaly accordion player Paddy O’Brien.

“BUA is a product of the Irish diaspora. All the immigrants who came over in search of new lives, they brought the music with them,” Bain went on. “And there was a lot of back and forth in the days of immigration, songs going back and forth between the countries.”

“Jackie and I initially got the band together a little after 2000 with a few other guys. It was around 2006 when we started performing with our current line-up…I’ve always loved being part of an ensemble and I love the presentation of the music.”

An active touring band that doesn’t “tour all the time,” BUA has been garnering increasing acclaim as they play at some of the major festivals and music venues in the United States, “from Maine to Montana,” as well Canada.

“The great thing about Irish music is that it’s a social event,” Bain said. “It’s nice to go out and hear live music, and have a pint or a coffee and chat with people. And we’re looking forward to teaching the workshops in Philly, it’s always interesting doing them…there’s a real social aspect to the workshops as well.”

I was fortunate to be a witness to the backstage creative process that is behind BUA’s success when I watched them work out a new song last September at the Bethlehem Celtic Classic. “Soldier, Soldier,” a traditional ballad that tells the tale of a young lass who is sure she will get to marry the fighting man she fancies, if only she can provide him, a verse at a time, with the clothes he requires for a proper wedding.

“We like doing a bit of the obscure stuff,” Chris laughed. “But we’re also confident enough to do stuff that’s been done before with our own spin.”

“The title track on our album ‘An Spealadoir,’ we didn’t know when we were recording it that it was also on a Danu album. I’m glad we didn’t realize it before we did it…they are two totally different versions of the song.”

“We’ve got a new CD in the works, it will be our third,” says Chris. “We recorded a live album in 2007, and then ‘An Spealadoir’ in 2009. Our challenge now is that as a band we’re in a sort of limbo land. We’re not a brand-new thing anymore, we’re not a pub band, but we’re not Lunasa or Danu. It’s a good place, though.”

February 26, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

Music

The Show Must Go On

Gabriel Donohue with his bandaged hand.

A few days before his February 19 concert at the Irish Center, Gabriel Donohue slipped on an icy step and broke his hand. Not a good thing when you play a guitar. But in the spirit of all the performers who have gone before him, Donohue made sure the show would go on. He hired Harrisburg native Sean Ernest, who recently toured with Teada, to take his place on guitar while Donohue soldiered on with one and a half hands on the piano.

It was a treat to have Ernest back on the Irish Center stage again. As a high school student, he was part of a young group of musicians who captured the attention of some of the top Irish musicians in the world—like Mick Moloney who tapped Ernest to play with him at his annual St. Malachy’s School benefit concert.

The Irish Center’s stage was packed with talent, including Philadelphia-based traditional singer Marian Makins and fiddler Paraic Keane (yes, of those Keanes—his father, Sean, is a long-time member of The Chieftains who are appearing at the Kimmel Center in a couple weeks).

Video 1

Video 2

February 25, 2010 by Denise Foley

News

Re-Celebrate the New Year!

Sarah Conaghan rings in the New Year.

A roaring fire, a table laden with goodies, and live Irish music–it was enough to make you think that 2010 was going to be a mighty fine year, no matter what economists were saying.

That was the scene at the Philadelphia Irish Center on New Year’s Eve 2009. We were there and have the photos to prove it.

January 6, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Older Posts

Newer Posts