September 2011 VOL. 22 #9 $1.50 Boston’s hometown journal of Irish culture. Worldwide at bostonirish.com All contents copyright © 2011 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. MAKING MUSIC HAPPILY Feds raise ante in BC archive case Subpoena university for all ‘Belfast Project’ recollections BOStOn iriSh repOrter Staff The Justice Department, in the person of US At- torney Carmen M. Ortiz, continues to work on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in an attempt to force Boston College to release from its archives recollections that are part of an oral history project on the Irish Republican Army and the time of the “Troubles” in the North. Citing a pledge of confidentially given to those inter- viewed for the history, BC has been resisting subpoena actions for those portions of the archive known as the “Belfast Project.” Initially, federal officials requested copies of the recollections of two individuals who were involved with the IRA some 40 years ago; they have since followed up with additional subpoena actions, essentially asking for the whole Belfast collection. While the matter wends it way through the judicial process in the hands of Federal Judge Joseph Tauro, Long Time Courting, from left: Shannon Heaton, Sarah Blair, Ariel Friedman, and Liz Simmons. members of the media have begun to weigh in with their theories of, and comments on, the case. In a recent column, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Cullen Long Time Courting four celebrate wrote that the PSNI, via Ortiz’s office, now wants what he calls “the whole enchilada: anything and everything … related to the 1972 disappearance and murder of a friendship and yen for exploration Belfast mother of 10 named Jean McConville, who was abducted and executed by the Irish Republican Army as By Sean Smith that came from a Johnny Cash record, a fiddler finds that a suspected informer. Her body was recovered in 2003.” Special tO the Bir her voice can be an equally important instrument, and Initially, reports Cullen, the PSNI-US Attorney team There is no one formula or blueprint for forming a concert sound-checks become a laboratory for cobbling wanted the recollections of but two individuals in con- band. Sometimes it’s by conscious design, sometimes together what is arguably their CD’s highlight track. nection with long-ago IRA activities. But the bottom it’s a matter of happenstance, a confluence of the right Most of all, LTC is four people who get a clearly line to all this activity, Cullen says, “is an attempt by factors at the right time. obvious kick out of being with each other, even if those police in Northern Ireland to certainly embarrass and And then there’s Long Time Courting, which com- times do not come all that often, given their copious (Continued on page 5) bines all that and more. musical activities and family considerations. The all-female Boston-based Celtic music quartet “I just feel blessed to play with them,” says Simmons, is celebrating its third birthday with the release of who shares lead vocal duties with Heaton. “Musically, Boston Irish Honors its debut CD, “Alternate Routes,” a showcase of the I’ve grown so much. Working in a band is such a great enchanting vocals, top-rank musicianship, and well- education anyhow, but I feel I am always learning things conceived, intelligent arrangements that have charmed from the girls I never knew about music, or myself.” program set and impressed audiences throughout the Northeast, “When I talk about Long Time Courting as a ‘work and elsewhere. The anniversary also has served as an in progress,’ I mean it in a totally positive way,” says for Oct. 20 opportunity for reflection among the “LTC” members: Heaton. “In this band, there is so much room to grow Liz Simmons (lead vocals, guitar); Shannon Heaton and develop a bond. It’s a wonderful place where we (flute, whistle, lead vocals); Ariel Friedman (cello, vo- can all bring ideas and know they’ll be treated fairly, Story, Page 3 cals); and newest member Sarah Blair (fiddle, vocals), honestly, and with respect.” who handily filled the void left by the departure of Fairly, honestly, and with respect also describes original co-founder Ellery Klein last year. how LTC treats the music they play, as is evident on As the four explain it, Long Time Courting represents “Alternate Routes,” which includes energetic, bravura that elusive, coveted blend of talent and temperament, tune sets, sprightly, smart versions of traditional songs Millard Fillmore, meet an ideal union of musical backgrounds and experiences like “Maggie Dean” and “The Miller and the Lass,” that spur collective creativity and individual growth. a soulful, sensitive rendering of Robbie O’Connell’s Ms. Bachman, Gov. Perry In LTC, for example, a classically trained cellist gets to “Islander’s Lament” and the elegiac “Barbara Allen,” devise an arrangement for a centuries-old folk ballad (Continued on page 17) Peter F. Stevens writes, Page 5 From Andrew Square to Port-au-Prince, Brian Concannon fights for Haiti’s causes By GreG O’Brien provide relief for months, perhaps years. They are too nation for generations. Special tO the BIR little—they stop where the requirements of helping Newly based on Dorchester Avenue in Andrew It may be hard to imagine any parallel between poor people conflict with the requirements of the bu- Square (a celebration of the move to 666 Dorchester Ireland and destitute, still earthquake-ravaged Haiti, reaucrats’ economic theories. In the meantime, just Ave. will be held on site on Wed., Sept. 14, from 6 and yet there are any number: analogous gripping as Ireland exported food during a famine, Haiti will p.m. to 8 p.m.), the Institute has set its mission suc- histories of famine, long stretches of political and keep exporting money. So more Haitians will die of cinctly: “To work with the people of Haiti in their non- economic repression, and the bad geographical luck the diseases of hunger, and more children will grow violent struggle for the consolidation of constitutional of being adjacent to a super power or dominant force older without going to school.” democracy, justice and human rights by distributing that presents undesirable attention. It is always dif- There is yet another critical connection be- objective and accurate information on human rights ficult fighting a bully in your own backyard. tween Ireland and Haiti, and it is Brian Concannon. conditions in Haiti, pursuing legal cases, and coop- Human rights attorney Brian Concannon wrote of Director of the Institute for Justice & Democ- erating with human rights and solidarity groups in these dilemmas three years ago in the Boston Irish racy In Haiti, Concannon, 48, has devoted most of his Haiti and abroad.” Reporter and in the Boston Haitian Reporter. “Like the adult life to enforcing human rights for impoverished Under Concannon’s resolute direction, the IJDH British response to Ireland’s famine, bank programs Haitians and reforming long-standing US policies that seeks restoration of the rule of law and democracy in (in Haiti) do not rise to the need,” he wrote, predicting have undermined and destabilized that Carribean Haiti and works to sustain changes required to avert the inevitable in a column headlined: Eating Dirt in Haiti’s next crisis. For such a small organization—a cadre of well- Haiti and Ireland. “They are too late—they will not Brian Concannon: Human rights crusader (Continued on page 6) Page 2 September 2011 BOSTON IRISH RePORTeR Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com BLACKTHORNE RESORT Located in the Irish Catskills GREENHILLS BAKERY • Hot Irish Breakfast • Irish Sausage Rolls • Brown Soda Bread & Raisin Bread • Round Bannock • Treacle Soda Bread Bigger and better than ever! • Irish Barm Brack Come and create new memories with us in our beautiful new building. GUINNESS BEEF STEW Blackthorne offers the very best Irish music, activities and gourmet IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE! home-cooked meals — all combined to make the best vacation you’ve ever had! Included in Mid-Week and Weekly stays: Horseback riding, Hot, Home-Made, go-karting, mini-golf, hay rides, pony cart rides, moonwalk, Haunted House tour, antique taxi cab rides, cotton candy, movie night, exotic Stick-To-Your-Ribs animal shows, karaoke-masquerade party, magic shows, phenomenal Fireworks display every week, plus much more! Lunch Specials Daily!!! • Irish Boiled Dinner • Guinness Beef Stew • Shephard’s Pie Book Now For: Scones - 5 Flavors! September 2-5: Trifle Bailey’s Eclairs Baileys Sponge Cake Porter Cakes Labor Day Weekend Bailey’s Swiss Rolls Barry’s Irish Tea Blackthorne’s Celtic Festival Many Other Specials Every Day Camping and RV Sites Available Greenhills Bakery Open Monday - Saturday BOOK EARLY! 780 Adams Street, 5AM to 6:30PM Dorchester, MA 02124 Sunday 6AM - 2PM www.BlackthorneResort.com (617)825-8187 greenhillsbakery.com 348 SunSide Road – eaSt duRham, nY 12423 518.634.2541 BOSTON COLLEGE Center for Irish Programs/University Libraries – will host an Irish art exhibit in the Burns Library during November 2011. The collection of several dozen Irish paintings, including works by Sean Keating, Paul Henry, and Jack B. Yeats, is owned by the Government of Ireland and is scheduled for additional American venue sites following the Boston College showing. The Center will also host a program featuring William Hay, Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, together with Dr. Phil Budden, British Consul General, at Boston College on Tuesday, September 6. Irish Studies will host the first presentation in its 2011-2012 lecture series on September 21 at the Burns Library. Profes- sor Colin Barr, a prolific young scholar on the Irish Church will speak on “Ireland’s Empire: The Roman Catholic Church in the Anglo-World, 1830-1922”.