He’s immersed in history and the arts scene

By R.J. Donovan
July 2, 2014
R.J. Donovan

By R. J. Donovan
Special to the BIR

For a relatively young guy, Michael Duncan Smith has developed an unusually deep understanding of history.  He also has a passion for the performing arts.  Happily, the Westford native has found a unique way to satisfy both interests.
Most days you’ll find him at New Repertory Theatre in Watertown where he serves as marketing and public relations director.  However, when the weekend arrives, he can often be found portraying a Colonial Minuteman – an experience he describes as “living history.”

Much ado as festival makers strut stuff

By Sean Smith
July 2, 2014
Sean Smith

Kathleen Parks and Ricky Mier of the band Cat and the Moon share a duet during the Boston Irish Festival music weekend. Sean Smith photoKathleen Parks and Ricky Mier of the band Cat and the Moon share a duet during the Boston Irish Festival music weekend. Sean Smith photo

Dancers small, tall, and in between swarmed the Irish Cultural Centre of New England campus June 14 for the second Boston Irish Festival Feis, a day of Irish step dance competitions that attracted some 450 participants of various ages and levels from across the Northeast, as well as from Toronto, South Carolina, and even New Zealand.
Co-organized with the Harney Academy of Irish Dancing, the Feis was the third of three consecutive weekend Boston Irish Festival events celebrating popular Irish pursuits at the Canton-based ICCNE, which is marking its 25th anniversary. On May 31, the festival featured a day of sporting events – notably hurling and Gaelic football – and children’s activities. The middle portion of the festival, June 6-7, showcased top-line Irish/Celtic acts Black 47, The Screaming Orphans, and Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul, as well as numerous musical performers from the Greater Boston area and elsewhere in the region.
Misty, murky weather greeted the Feis, and a steady, 45-minute drizzle at mid-day posed a potential threat to the styled hair and make-up sported by some of the competitors. But most of those present, being pretty experienced in matters of feis, seemed unperturbed by the damp and focused on the task at hand – although a number of younger dancers found the temptation of the center’s playground facilities irresistible.

Bostonia Public House: ‘elegant renewal’ near Faneuil Hall

By Bill Forry, Editor
July 2, 2014
Bill Forry, Editor

A who’s who of Boston business leaders— with a heavy dose of Irish-American heavies – packed the city’s newest hot-spot near Faneuil Hall last week. The opening of Bostonia Public House – located in the Board of Trade Building on State Street – was hailed as a “elegant renewal of a classic Boston meeting space.” The restaurant and bar replaces the Irish pub Kitty O’Shea’s, but is bigger and American-themed.

Eire Society cites O’Donovan’s ‘authenticity, artistry’

By BIR News Room
July 2, 2014

The Eire Society of Boston presented its annual Gold Medal Award to the well-known radio host and musician Brian O’Donovan at a reception and dinner on Thurs., June 12, at the Neighborhood Club of Quincy. He and his wife Lindsay live in Cambridge. They have four children: Aoife, 31, Ciaran, 29, Aidan, 27, and Fionnualam 21.

 Following are the text of the citation honoring a man who has spent the past four decades promoting Irish traditional music and other Celtic music in the New England region and excerpts from his remarks:

OF GREED AND GREENS: Two recent deals have Irish eyes here and there scowling and smiling

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
July 2, 2014

The deal is completely legal. Medical-device titan Medtronic will soon complete a $42.9 billion deal to gobble up Massachusetts-based outfit Covidien. The swollen pact benefits Ireland’s economy, pays off big for two companies’ executives and stockholders, and will purportedly allow Medtronic to pump some $10 billion into research and development in the US. The deal, however, contains one aspect that raises questions about the continuing offshore tactics of American companies finding ways to set up shop overseas to wriggle out of paying taxes here in the States.

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When compromise is seen as hypocrisy, governance by democracy is impossible

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
July 2, 2014

There was a time in Washington when politics was the means to an end. The end was governing. The messy process of politics was applied to gain office and then to develop and secure passage of legislation that reflected a public policy consensus.

Politics was the dark side of good governance. Its tools were influence, cajoling, trade-offs, favors, intimidation, patronage and pork that often produced good results when applied to a noble purpose. It was the means to achieve the enactment of the Constitution and laws that have made this a prosperous and compassionate nation.

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July in Belfast often means marching to taunt; where is Unionist leadership?

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
July 2, 2014

The month of July marks the most difficult time of the year for Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital city. It is in the seventh month that the Protestant community, led by the notorious Orange Order, annually renews the famous “marching season,” sending loud and boisterous bands and Orange Order members matching into Catholic communities where they pass in front of Catholic churches.

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‘Lucky to be alive’ not always a cliche

Ed Forry
By Ed Forry
July 2, 2014

This past April, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell was on vacation with his brother Michael in the British Virgin Islands when his taxi van was hit in a head-on crash. Both sustained serious injuries.

In his first telecast since the accident, he gave a poignant telling of his story since that day, saying he felt “lucky to be alive.” His words articulate his profound sense of gratitude to all who helped. Here are some of those words:

Playground in Southie to memorialize Michael Joyce

By Jeanette Origel
July 2, 2014
Jeanette Origel

Moving to a new city is difficult enough. Moving overseas can be even harder.

But for the immigrants who came to Boston during the 1960s through the 1980s, getting accustomed to the new place was made much easier thanks to the late Michael Joyce, who had himself moved to Boston from Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland in 1949.

It’s a time to ‘Fight Like TK’

By Bill Forry
July 2, 2014

Tommy Kelly is four years old. This week, the rest of his kindergarten classmates from Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy in Neponset are where they should be: enjoying their first full days of summer vacation at the sands of Tenean and Nantasket or planning for a week or two down the Cape with their families.

Tommy has just returned home after a grueling three-week stint in the hospital, where he’ll probably spend a good stretch of his summer as well.

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