A discussion with Andy Irvine: Life on the road, soloing, composing

By Sean Smith
October 12, 2011

Sean Smith

First of two parts

For most of his adult life, Andy Irvine has been true to the advice he set down in one of his best-loved songs: Never tire of the road.

Irvine’s ongoing odyssey – which this month brings him to Boston, where he’ll perform on Oct. 6 at Four Green Fields – these last four decades have taken him not only through Europe, the US, and plenty of other places, but also across the length and breadth of the modern Irish music revival as well.

Irishman shot to death on Nahant Avenue

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
October 12, 2011

The murder of a 36- year-old man who was found shot to death on Nahant Avenue near Adams Corner early Monday morning has prompted renewed calls for police enforcement in that section of Dorchester, where gun violence is rare but not unprecedented. Boston Police are probing whether the murder is connected to an armed robbery that happened just a block away on Ashmont Street on Sunday night.

Ireland native shot to death outside Dorchester home

By Staff
October 11, 2011

Ciaran Conneely funeral: The Irish and Galway flags flew outside St. Mark's Church following the funeral Mass on Thursday, Oct. 13. Photo by Pat Tarantino Ciaran Conneely funeral: The Irish and Galway flags flew outside St. Mark's Church following the funeral Mass on Thursday, Oct. 13. Photo by Pat Tarantino
By Bill Forry

Ciaran O Conghaile (or Conneely), who is originally from the Aran Islands in County Galway, Ireland, died hours after a neighbor found him at 1 a.m. sprawled along the curb outside 20 Nahant Ave., just steps from his apartment. Conneely suffered from a single gunshot wound to the chest. He was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries and died later in the morning, according to the Boston Police Department.

Goodby summer, hello, autumn; busy days ahead

By Ed Forry
August 31, 2011

By Ed Forry

The summer of 2011 is all but history now. The sultry days are mostly behind us, some of the kids are back in school, the tomatoes are at last almost all ripe on the vine. In just the last fortnight, Bostonians have lived through first an earthquake, then, days later, the first hurricane of the new decade. Even the Olde Town team is sitting in first place as we enter Labor Day weekend. What an August month it was!

If you believe in omens, then perhaps you will agree that a World Series championship is almost a certainty. Almost.

Gaelic Roots schedule set; tribute to Derrane on tap

By Boston College Public Affairs
August 31, 2011

Boston College Public Affairs

Joe DerraneA special tribute to the legendary Joe Derrane – and a performance by the Boston-born Irish accordionist and composer himself – will highlight this fall’s Gaelic Roots Music, Dance, and Lecture series. The series, under the direction of Sullivan Artist-in-Residence Séamus Connolly, also will feature “The Musical Priest,” Monsignor Charlie Coen, fiddle-piano duo Gráinne Murphy and Kathleen Boyle, and a program of holiday music by harpist Aine Minogue.

This fall also will introduce a new venue for Gaelic Roots, which is sponsored by the Boston College Center for Irish Programs and features music from Ireland, Scotland, Cape Breton, Appalachia as well as other Gaelic-related traditions. Unless otherwise noted, Gaelic Roots events — previously held in Connolly House on BC’s Chestnut Hill Campus — will now take place at 2101 Commonwealth Avenue on the BC Brighton Campus.

The fact is that US companies like doing business in Ireland

By Joe Leary
August 31, 2011

Joe Leary

By Joe Leary
Special to the BIR

At least one segment of the Irish economy is doing very well this year -- exports of goods and services are way up, largely due to American companies doing business in Ireland. Some of the largest American corporations in the world and many smaller ones have chosen Ireland as their European base of operations while employing over 100,000 Irish to run their businesses. Another 300,000 Irish are employed by Irish companies to supply and service the 500 American businesses who have located in Ireland.

MAKING MUSIC HAPPILY

By Sean Smith
August 31, 2011

Sean Smith

Long Time Courting

Will McGarrahan in "Next Fall" at SpeakEasy Stage

By R.J. Donovan
August 31, 2011

R.J. Donovan

Will McGarrahanBy R.J. Donovan
Special to the BIR

Actor, singer, pianist and director Will McGarrahan has been part of Boston's theater community for more than a decade. During that time, he has established himself as one of the city's most reliable and diverse talents. He's an accomplished musician, gifted at comedy, and he can just about stop your heart with a dramatic moment.

A graduate of Boston College, he has appeared at Lyric Stage Company, Gloucester Stage, Publick Theatre, and Nora Theatre, among others, in everything from "A Moon For The Misbegotten" to "Grey Gardens," "Some Men," "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," "9 Circles," "The Last Sunday in June" and "A Class Act."

On Sept. 16, he returns to SpeakEasy Stage Company to open the season in "Next Fall." Written by Geoffrey Nauffts and nominated for a Tony Award in 2010, the play looks at the ups and downs of an unlikely gay couple's four-year relationship with humor and honesty.

Here and There September 2011

By Bill O'Donnell
August 31, 2011

Bill O'Donnell

By Bill O’Donnell

Lenihan Family Passes On Politics – For the first time in a third of a century no member of the Lenihan family will stand for election in Dublin West. The death three months ago of Fianna Fail TD and former Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has brought to a close the active participation of the family members in Irish national politics. Mary O’Rourke, an aunt of Brian, and a longtime Fianna Fail TD and minister, was defeated for reelection earlier this year.

Here’s hoping the 2010’s Tea Party story ends the same way the 1850’s Know-Nothings era did

By Peter F. Stevens, Reporter Staff
August 31, 2011

Peter F. Stevens, Reporter Staff

Millard FillmoreBy Peter F. Stevens
BIR Staff

The Boston Irish community of the 1850s would have recognized the ways and means of the Tea Party of today. Those immigrants from the “old sod” would have known exactly what the “I-want-my-country-back” crowd of 2011 was up to and would likely be part furious, part ashamed to learn that any of their descendants were imbibing the tea of Texas Governor Rick Perry, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, Dick Armey, FreedomWorks, the Koch brothers, et al. (In a case of art imitating life, check out the old Eddie Murphy-Dan Aykroyd comedy “Trading Places” for a look at the uber-rich, bigoted, social-experimenting, morally bankrupt “Duke” brothers played by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy and you will that some “Koch-like” traits abound.)

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