‘The Peacemaker’ lays out the trials and successes of Padraig O’Malley

By Peter F. Stevens
April 27, 2017
Peter F. Stevens

His work is of world importance – literally so. At a recent screening of the documentary “The Peacemaker” at Plimoth Plantation, the personal struggles of Padraig O’Malley are presented on a parallel track with his labors to bring conflict resolution to the world’s bloodiest, most intractable trouble spots.

O’Malley, the John Joseph Moakley Professor of International Peace and Reconciliation at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has worked tirelessly in such lethal locales as Iraq, Nigeria, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland.

Singing and policing are a match, says Cambridge Lt. Pauline Wells

By Sean Smith
April 27, 2017
Sean Smith

It’s not that Pauline Wells wasn’t used to singing: Growing up in a family with strong Irish roots, and a father who loved to sing, there were plenty of opportunities for her at home or in the church choir. But getting up by herself to sing in front of a roomful of people – let alone a packed stadium? Not a chance.

Her husband, however, had other ideas.

Conway lecture set at Whaling Museum

By BIR News Room
March 30, 2017

The New Bedford Whaling Museum continues its popular “Famine, Friends & Fenians Lecture Series” on April 20, welcoming Philip Conway, an Olympian and father of the Irish Throwing Revival, who will present his lecture, “Irish Whales – A Favorable Term for Those Big Lads from Ireland.”

Conway will share stories of a time when Irish and Irish-Americans dominated field events in the Olympics, and about how America provided the much-needed opportunity for Conway’s athletic career, which culminated in his representing his country at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Irish PM Kenny drops in on the mayor and the governor

By Andy Metzger and Colin A. Young,
 State House News Service
March 30, 2017
Andy Metzger and Colin A. Young,
 State House News Service

Mayor Martin Walsh hosted Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny during an offical visit to Boston on March 13. Mayor’s Office Photo by Jeremiah RobinsonMayor Martin Walsh hosted Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny during an offical visit to Boston on March 13. Mayor’s Office Photo by Jeremiah RobinsonBefore his meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington later in the week of March 13, the head of Ireland’s government visited Boston City Hall, which Mayor Marty Walsh has said could become a citadel for Boston’s undocumented immigrants depending on federal policies.

“We need some clarity for all immigrants, all undocumented immigrants,” Walsh said at a press conference with Taoiseach Enda Kenny. He said, “I wish him all the luck when he goes down to Washington.”

In broad terms, Walsh and Kenny are of one mind, advocating for Congress to come up with a solution for the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“For those who are in this country, who have made their decision to live in America, to work for America, to raise their families in America, we need an opportunity for a path to legitimization here,” said Kenny. “It’s not just about the Irish. It’s also about our position as a member of the European Union.”

Weather picks, chooses on sites for St. Patrick’s Day parades

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
March 30, 2017

By Judy Enright

Depending on whether you’re a “glass half empty” or “glass half full” type of person, this was either a bad or good year for St. Patrick in Ireland.

While communities on the east and south coasts celebrated the patron saint’s day with colorful parades, festivities, and bright weather, some communities on the west and north coasts were forced to cancel or postpone their annual parades due to cold ocean winds and pouring rain.

Celtic Music, Dance Calendar for April

By Sean Smith
March 30, 2017
Sean Smith

The Tannahill Weavers, along with Massachusetts duo Elizabeth and Ben Anderson, will mark the return of the notloB Music series this month in its new location in Harvard.The Tannahill Weavers, along with Massachusetts duo Elizabeth and Ben Anderson, will mark the return of the notloB Music series this month in its new location in Harvard.The next several weeks’ worth of Irish/Celtic events in Greater Boston (and slightly beyond) sees the revival of a concert series in a new location, a visit by a “supergroup” of recent vintage, and appearances by several local performers.

• After a 10-month hiatus, notloB Music is returning to the folk/acoustic scene with an April 27 concert that features one of the Scottish music revival’s foremost bands, The Tannahill Weavers, and Massachusetts fiddle/cello duo Elizabeth and Ben Anderson. This event, which takes place at the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church at 7:30 p.m. – doors open at 7 – will inaugurate notloB’s new base of operations in Harvard (the town, not the university); since its creation in 2007, notloB has presented nearly 200 concerts of Celtic, old-timey, bluegrass, folk and world music at venues in Arlington, Somerville, Jamaica Plain, Newton, and elsewhere in Greater Boston.

Writer, musician, organizer, academic, Dan Neely is on the lookout for insights

By Sean Smith
March 30, 2017
Sean Smith

NeelyNeelySo what do you do if you’re a Boston-born, banjo-playing, soon-to-be ethnomusicologist with a special interest in Jamaican music living in New York City?

Well, you might decide to take up Irish music, become a session regular and organizer and, eventually, work for a premier Irish-American journal – at a job formerly held by Earle Hitchner, one of the more prominent Irish-American journalists of the past few decades.

That’s the path Newton native Dan Neely chose almost 20 years ago, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

Neely is marking his fifth anniversary this year as the traditional music columnist for the Irish Echo, the oldest Irish-American newspaper in existence. He’s also the public relations officer for the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Mid-Atlantic Region branch and leader of a popular weekly New York session, the former artistic director for the now-ended annual Augusta Irish/Celtic Week in West Virginia, and he was director of New York’s Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra during its last years. In addition, he is a lecturer on Irish music in America at New York University, from which he obtained his PhD in ethnomusicology.

‘Sanctuary Sessions’ key on common values in face of anxiety, hail ACLU’s steadfastness

By Sean Smith
March 30, 2017
Sean Smith

(L-R) Ted Davis, Tina Lech, Laura Feddersen, Nathan Gourley and Martin Langer during their set at the Sanctuary Session, held at the On the Hill Tavern in Somerville. Sean Smith photo(L-R) Ted Davis, Tina Lech, Laura Feddersen, Nathan Gourley and Martin Langer during their set at the Sanctuary Session, held at the On the Hill Tavern in Somerville. Sean Smith photo

Somerville’s On the Hill Tavern was the venue for arguably one of the most high-profile Irish music-related events in the US on March 5, as it played host to “Sanctuary Session: Trad Music for Civil Rights,” a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union.

A special appearance by Lúnasa and singer Karan Casey highlighted the show, which included performances by a number of local musicians, followed by an informal session.

Andover’s Katie LaMark rocks 20th anniversary tour of ‘Rent’

By R.J. Donovan
March 30, 2017
R.J. Donovan

The company of the “Rent 20th Anniversary Tour,” playing Boston’s Boch Center Shubert Theatre, April 11 – 23. Carol Rosegg photoThe company of the “Rent 20th Anniversary Tour,” playing Boston’s Boch Center Shubert Theatre, April 11 – 23. Carol Rosegg photo

When “Rent” opened in 1996, it scored major headlines, for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, the show was a raw, rock musical that stood out in a theater season featuring “The King & I,” “Victor/Victoria” and “Inherit The Wind.”  Its characters, a group of struggling young artists in New York’s East Village, were a motley crew living amidst the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  

Beyond that, on the night before the show’s Off-Broadway premiere, its creator and composer, Jonathan Larson, suddenly died of an undiagnosed aortic condition.  He would never see the enormous impact his landmark vision would achieve.

With a message of joy and hope, Larson’s contemporary re-imagining of Puccini’s “La Boheme” went on to win both Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. Two decades later, the “Rent 20th Anniversary Tour” comes to Boston’s Boch Center Shubert Theatre from April 11 to April 23.

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