Minister Frances Fitzgerald: Ireland’s children are on her watch

By Ed Forry
April 3, 2012

Boston’s St. Patrick’s events were the occasion of the visit to Boston of Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., the Ireland government minister who is designing new initiatives to protect the country’s children.

Fitzgerald, T.D., who serves in the Dail representing city residents in the Dublin Mid West constituency, undertook a whirlwind set of public appearances that included the launch of an initiative with the Irish Pastoral Centre, a St. Patrick’s breakfast speech hosted by the Irish American Partnership, a star turn as the honored guest at the Irish Network/Boston St. Patrick party at the Moakley Court House, and a visit to Holyoke for that city’s St. Patrick’s parade.

Fitzgerald speaks in Boston

Commentary: Ah, yes, ‘The Quiet Man’

By Ed Forry
March 8, 2012

The huge flow of information on the internet sometimes can be quite useful. In this age of almost immediate access to all sorts of knowledge, information can be had with just a few keystrokes. Case in point: Some friends were trying to recall some of those wonderful lines from the movie “The Quiet Man,” the 1950s John Ford film about the ancestral country of Irish Americans.

An online search for “Quiet Man quotes” yielded a treasure trove of memorable quotes. Here are a few:

“He’ll regret it till his dying day, if he ever lives that long.” – Red Will Danaher

Returning to Kerry – the Flahertys and the O’Donnells

By Bill O'Donnell
March 6, 2012

Bill O'Donnell

My cousin Dan Flaherty died twenty years ago at age 53. As he left us, he was doing what he loved: tending his sheep atop the mountain overlooking the farm below that he shared with his wife Eileen and daughter Margaret. I love all the Flahertys, but I reserve a special place for Dan. He was a community leader, a regular in the Castlemaine players group, and a much-loved performer in his neighborhood musicales.

Dan Gurney enrichs status of the accordion

By Sean Smith
March 6, 2012

Sean Smith

There are the recording projects that try a musician’s soul: long, exhausting hours in the studio spent doing take after take of the same track; fretting about various post-production details; squabbling with accompanists about this or that artistic aspect.
And then there is Dan Gurney’s new album.

Liam Harney: Dancing Man He’s in Reagle’s revue, ‘A Little Bit of Ireland’

By R.J. Donovan
March 6, 2012

R.J. Donovan

Reagle Music Theatre’s popular revue “A Little Bit of Ireland” returns on March 17 and 18 for its 14th season. The show is a colorful celebration of Irish music, dancing, and light-hearted comedy based on what Reagle’s Producing Artistic Director and Founder, Bob Eagle, modestly calls “a little idea I had.”

Irish music calendar for March – it’s busy, as always

By Sean Smith
March 6, 2012

Sean Smith

The Greater Boston area resounds with Irish and other Celtic music all year round, of course, but March seems to be a particularly active period – perhaps because of a certain holiday that falls on the 17th. Here’s a look at some of the events taking place in the next few weeks:

At a time of changing seasons, The Ivy Leaf seems to be on the cusp of its own transition

By Staff
March 6, 2012

Hoary clichés and bad jokes just seem inevitable where the Boston-based traditional Irish band The Ivy Leaf is concerned: You could say, for instance, that The Ivy Leaf is blossoming, has deep roots in the Irish tradition, is branching out, and some day will be raking it in.

But horticultural-themed wisecracks should not obscure the fact that this quartet of young musicians—all in their early or almost-mid 20s—really is getting ready to bloom.

The sound of ‘music in the air,’ and the sight of ‘feet on the floor’

By Bill Whelan
March 6, 2012

Bill Whelan

It seems like yesterday that Moya Doherty and I sat down in the chill winter of 1993 in a small café on Dublin’s Baggot Street to discuss the germ of an idea that was to become Riverdance. Little did we dream that by 2012, this small germ would have sprouted into a two-hour show that would be seen by 22 million people around the world. Now it is making its return visit to Boston, where Riverdance has previously performed on seven very happy occasions.

St. Patrick’s Day fete will hail Society’s 275th anniversary

By Staff
March 6, 2012

The Charitable Irish Society of Boston will celebrate its 275th anniversary with a gala dinner on St. Patrick’s Day at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. The evening will commence with a reception at 6 p.m. that will be followed by dinner at 7. The event is optional black tie. Members and non-members of the society are welcome to attend.

All in the Family: Hiring of noted doctor seen as Carney coup

By Bill Forry
March 6, 2012

Bill Forry

It’s far too early to know if Dorchester’s one-and-only hospital can survive and thrive under the for-profit model of its new owners, Steward Health Care Systems. But for those seeking a reliable indicator that Carney Hospital is moving in the right direction, a key appointment announced in January is a positive sign.

Dr. Glennon O’Grady, a New York native who has focused his career around a family-medicine practice, first in Lawrence and then in Boston, has been hired to head up Carney’s Family Medicine department.

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