August 2018 Boston’s hometown VOL. 29 # 8 journal of Irish culture. $2.00 Worldwide at All contents copyright © 2018 bostonirish.com Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. MEET THE KELLY GIRLS… Evans leaves Boston Police for new role at Boston College By Jennifer Smith and Bill Forry Reporter Staff Marking the end of an era in local law enforcement, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans retired from the Boston force on July 30 to begin a new posi- tion as executive director of public safety at Boston College. Mayor Martin Walsh named a black officer, Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross, as the new com- missioner of the 2,200-officer Boston Police Department. Evans, a 59 year-old South Boston native who has been on the force since 1982, served in the commissioner’s role for the last five years, first on an interim basis when he succeeded Ed Davis in 2013. Walsh appointed him to the permanent position in January 2014. Walsh has been a close friend and dedicated boss, Evans said, referencing multiple daily phone calls between them. “He left me alone and I ran the department I wanted,” Evans said. “There hasn’t been a time throughout my en- tire career where I didn’t want to go to work.” An avid runner, Ev- ans said this was the time for him to make a choice that would allow The Kelly Girls (L-R): Christine Hatch, Nancy Beaudette, Ashling Keating and Melinda Kerwin. Says him to spend more time Keating of the quartet’s performances, “I often feel like we are sitting in one big circle with our audi- with his family. His wife ence – and forget that we are on stage and tied to a PA system.” has patiently waited out his decades on the force, Evans said, smiling. William Evans … the perfect ‘midlife-crisis band’ “We’ve had some re- ally tough obstacles over the last couple years with By Sean Smith Celtic and traditional And earlier this year, the (Kerwin); a Canadian na- the environment we’ve been operating in,” Evans said BIR Correspondent Irish tunes and songs, quartet released its first tive who is a former Cana- in commending his force, “whether it’s Occupy Boston, Make no mistake: Chris- as well as contemporary album, “May You Always.” dian Gospel Music Awards the Marathon bombing, Black Lives Matter, Charlot- tine Hatch, Aisling Keat- folk and original music. Bands of any musical “Song of the Year” winner tesville. And they’ve shown this city proud.” ing, Melinda Kerwin, Over its four years of genre often represent (Beaudette); a one-time While applauding Evans’s work in the post, city and Nancy Beaudette are existence, the band has a fascinating amalgam performer on the nation- and state leaders also welcomed the new forthcoming grown-up women, with appeared at events and of experiences, back- ally touring “Hollywood police commissioner. Suffolk District Attorney Dan families and jobs and venues like BCMFest, grounds, adventures, and Spectacular Stunt Show” Conley said of Evans in a statement: “His unassuming other adult stuff like that. the Amazing Things Arts interests, of course, and (Hatch); and a massage demeanor masks a leader who was fiercely committed But every so often, the Center in Framingham, The Kelly Girls members therapist who once trav- to leading a department that would embody the highest four are happy just to be Bull Run Inn in Shirley, certainly have their marks eled through China as standards of professionalism, integrity and innovation girls. Hibernian Cultural Cen- of distinctions: a child of part of a Celtic music band and it made him one of the very best partners we as Kelly Girls, that is. ter in Worcester, and, Dixieland jazz musicians (Keating). prosecutors could ask for. It has been my privilege Based west of Boston, most recently, at the who is a social worker and So there’s no shortage of and blessing to work with Bill Evans. I’m sorry to see The Kelly Girls perform Maine Celtic Celebration. mother of three teenagers (Continued on page 11) (Continued on page 14) From Kieran Jordan: A note full of thanks, a testament to what the will can make happen By Ed Forry dents that she had been no conclusive evidence of ter seeing eight doctors Publisher planning for more than any particular problem. and therapists, she was The dance artist Kieran a year. But as recently But her health did not diagnosed with Lyme Jordan returned recently as late June she was not improve, and for eight Disease, and she began from a week at the Willie certain she could ever take months she struggled an aggressive campaign Clancy summer school, a that trip. with the symptoms: de- of antibiotic and other legendary Irish music and It was a 12 months bilitating fatigue and medicines. dance festival in Milltown ago, in July 2017, that body aches, night sweats, Even worse, she learned Malaby in Co. Clare. It Kieran came down with insomnia, low blood sugar that the treatments were was a trip for herself, her flu-like symptoms. After counts, and all sorts of not covered by her insur- husband Vincent Crotty, a couple of days, a doctor bothersome symptoms. ance, and her friends tested her, but there was In April this year, af- and 25 of her dance stu- (Continued on page 7) Kieran Jordan and Vincent Crotty before his live concert painting at the Willie Clancy Festival. 34-Month 46-Month 58-Month

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Fees could reduce earnings. Subject to penalty for early withdrawal. Not available for IRA Certificates. Must be a member of City of Boston Credit Union to open Cityofbostoncu.com certificate account. Offer may be withdrawn at any time. Federally Insured by NCUA. Excess share insurance by MSIC. Page 2 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com Irish International Immigrant Center Immigration Q&A An agency accredited by US Department of Justice Birth records: necessary One State Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02109 (617) 542-7654 Fax (617) 542-7655 for Green Card process Website:iiicenter.org Email: [email protected] Q. I am applying for legal permanent residence in the US. Do I have to submit a birth certificate with my application? I lost my copy, so I would have to Irish graduate scores winning internship in NYC get another one from the town where I was born in my By IIIC Staff home country. After Joseph Kelly A. Yes, you definitely need to submit a copy of your completed his master’s certified birth record (assuming such a record exists) degree in international as part of the application package for legal permanent finance at National Uni- residence and for various other immigration benefits. versity of Ireland, Gal- It is certain that US Citizenship and Immigration way, he found himself Services will not process your application without contemplating the best this document. Information regarding the specific route to pursue all of his procedures for obtaining birth certificates usually is professional and personal available from the embassy or consulate of the relevant goals. Joe recognized that home country. the J-1 Internship Ex- The record must contain the following information: change Program, “gave Person’s name; date of birth; place of birth; names of me the opportunity to both parents (if known); an annotation (stamp, seal, see a whole new side signature, etc.) by the appropriate authority indicating of things, and to start that the document is the official record or an extract taking responsibility from the official records. and shape my future.” Your birth record may be unobtainable for a number Today, the Dublin native of reasons, such as: Your birth was never officially says that his time in the recorded; your birth records have been destroyed; in US helped him become such cases, you should try to obtain a certified state- more independent and ment from the appropriate government authority in self-sufficient. your home country stating the reason why your birth Joe went to New York record is not available. With the certified statement City, where, luckily, his you must submit what the US immigration authorities brother already lived, call “secondary evidence.” For example: and focused on securing A baptismal certificate that contains the date and work to gain valuable life place of birth and parents’ names (providing the baptism experience. He landed took place within two months after birth); an adoption a position at Hedgeserv decree for an adopted child; a sworn affidavit from at Joe Kelly (first on the right) and teammates celebrate winning their soccer least two persons, preferably including the applicant’s analyzing data for hedge league title. funds. “This job required mother, stating that they have personal knowledge of me to have great atten- the date and place of birth, parents’ names, and the tion to detail skills, be mother’s maiden name. An affidavit must be signed prepared, and organized, in the presence of an official authorized to administer as deadlines were vital in oaths or affirmations in the relevant country. this job,” Joe says. “I defi- Translations nitely learned more, and If your birth certificate (or any of the other evidentiary improved other skills.” documents discussed above) is in a language other than Furthermore, Joe prof- English, you will need to submit both a copy of the ited by the fact that original document plus a certified English translation Hedgeserv’s office culture of the entire contents of the document. The translator cultivated positive team needs to certify that he/she is competent to translate morale, and collaboration documents from the original language into English, between colleagues. and that the translation submitted is a complete and When Joe wasn’t accurate version of the original document. Applicants crunching numbers, he and their family members may not provide translations could be found exploring themselves, even if they are fluent in English. Note other cities across the that the same criteria apply for translations of other country, or playing soccer documents not in English that may need to be submit- in a local league. ted in conjunction with applications for immigration “I played soccer for benefits, such as passports, marriage certificates, di- my local team, Hoboken vorce decrees, and other court records. Note for Irish FC 1912, which was citizens: For Irish birth certificates, the “long form” an unbelievable experi- version should be submitted. ence, both on and off If you have any difficulty obtaining the proper evi- the field. We managed dence regarding your birth records, or if you have any to win the league and other questions concerning immigration law, visit one get promoted to Division of our weekly clinics as advertised in the Boston Irish 1 in the Cosmopolitan Reporter for a free, confidential consultation. [Soccer] League. I made a Disclaimer: These articles are published to inform lot of really good friends, generally, not to advise in individual cases. Immigration and that is really helpful law is always subject to change. US Citizenship and when you first move and Immigration Services and the US Department of State may not know that many frequently amend regulations and alter processing and people.” filing procedures. For legal advice seek the assistance In addition to soccer, of IIIC legal services staff. Joe played Gaelic football and even tried skiing for the first time! He trav- eled to several cities, Upcoming Clinic Schedule including Washington, D.C., Atlantic City, and Clinics are in the evening – please do not arrive San Francisco, but de- more than 30 minutes before the clinic begins. cided that his favorite city was Philadelphia! The Irish International Immigrant Center’s Joe summed up his immigration attorneys and social workers are time in the US as “the available for all immigrants during this time of experience of a lifetime.” uncertainty and concern in our community. We Best of luck with all your are closely following the changes in immigration future endeavors, Joe! policies, and are available for confidential legal consultations, and case representation. At weekly Save the Date legal clinics, you can receive a free and confidential consultation with staff and volunteer attorneys. For for Annual Solas information, or if you or anyone you know would like to speak to an immigration attorney, please Award Gala call us at 617-542-7654. Join the IIIC on Decem- ber 6th, as we present Tues., Aug. 7; Tues., Aug. 21: 4 p.m. at the IIIC the 2018 Solas Awards offices, One State Street, 8th Floor, Boston 02109 to leaders who bring hope and light to our communi- Mon., Aug. 13: 6:30 p.m. at The Green Briar ties, and as we honor the Pub, 304 Washington Street, Brighton 02135 many ways immigrants contribute to our society. Tues., Aug. 28: 6 p.m. at South Boston Labouré Together, we can support Center, 275 West Broadway 02127 immigrants and refugees as they journey from sur- viving to thriving. Citizenship Clinics Please contact Megan 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: IIIC offices, One State Street, Miller to sponsor a table, 8th Floor, Boston. reserve your seat, or for Our Downtown Boston location is fully accessible additional information by public transportation. Phone: 617-542-7654; Fax: at [email protected] 617-542-7655; iiicenter.org and 617-695-1554. bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 3 COMINGS, GOINGS, AND DOINGS State Police turn to O’Toole for management advice Upon leaving Boston, O’Toole moved to Ireland to work as chief inspector of the Gardia Síochána Inspectorate, which the State Police said is “an oversight body responsible for bringing reforms and greater accountability to the 17,000 member Irish national police service.” In 2014, O’Toole took the reins of the Seattle Police Department, a job from which she retired in December. “Former Commissioner O’Toole pos- sesses a wealth of knowledge about, and experience in, leading and bringing posi- O’Toole as Police Chief in Seattle tive change to major police agencies, and As it tries to steady its ship amid my command staff and I look forward to myriad controversies, the Massachusetts her input and ideas about law enforce- State Police announced late last month ment to help improve the department,” that it is bringing former secretary of Gilpin said in a statement. public safety and Boston Police com- In April, Gilpin and Gov. Charlie Baker missioner Kathleen O’Toole on board announced changes intended to restore St. Augustine Chapel and Cemetery as a management consultant. O’Toole public confidence in an agency that has will work on a pro bono basis to counsel been beleaguered by one scandal after ready for a robust 200th anniversary State Police Col. Kerry Gilpin on the another in recent months, including the “recruitment of qualified and diverse can- recent revelations that more than 20 The Catholic parishes of South Bos- raising effort to secure funds for needed didates for employment and professional troopers apparently put in for overtime ton will join together in celebrating the repairs and improvements to the Cha- development and leadership training for shifts they did not work. Baker installed rich history of St. Augustine Chapel & pel itself, as well as the surrounding existing personnel,” among other issues. Gilpin as superintendent of the State Cemetery beginning on Sept. 15, with grounds. Necessary repairs include a new O’Toole served as a lieutenant colonel Police in November after Col. Richard a 4 p.m. Mass celebrated by Cardinal roof, repointing the building, replacing in the State Police in the early 1990s and McKeon retired amidst a controversy Sean O’Malley. The chapel, now in the brick floor within the Chapel, and was appointed by Gov. William Weld in over the department’s handling of an the care of the Gate of Heaven and making the Chapel fully handicapped 1994 to serve as secretary of the Execu- arrest report for the daughter of a central St. Brigid Parish Collaborative, is accessible.” tive Office of Public Safety and Security, Massachusetts judge. still a very active worship site cel- The historic cemetery on Dorchester a position she held until 1998. In 2004, – COLIN A. YOUNG ebrating funerals, baptisms, weddings Street in South Boston was the first she was named the first female commis- STATE HOUSE and a weekly Saturday vigil Mass. Catholic burial ground in Boston. It was sioner of the Boston Police Department NEWS SERVICE A statement posted by the parishes established on land purchased in 1818 by and led that agency until 2006. said: “It is believed more than 1,000 then-Boston Bishop Jean Cheverus, and people are buried within the Cemetery the first burial there were the remains grounds, many of whom are early of Rev. Francis Matignon, a priest who immigrants from Ireland. Restoring helped establish Boston’s first Catholic and beautifying the grounds and Cha- community. pel will ensure the existence of this St. Augustine cemetery and chapel was site for many generations to come. founded by a member of the Augustinian “We are currently in the planning pro- order, Rev. Philip Lariscy, who minis- cess for celebration ideas throughout the tered to Boston’s Catholic population, year to honor the past 200 years of the estimated at just over 2100 at the time Cemetery Chapel and its significance the chapel was built. within the Archdiocese of Boston, as More details are available online at well as the South Boston community. StAugustine200.org. “Additionally, we are beginning a fund- IIIC’s Gobnait Conneely is dead Funeral services were “Gobnait was loved across held on July 20 at St. the Irish community, and Theresa church in West this was truly reflected Roxbury for Gobnait Con- in her work here at the neely, who died on July 11 IIIC. She had ‘style, grace, after a long illness. A na- and a heart of gold’, and tive of Mervue in Galway, generously contributed where as a young woman her time, wisdom, and she was crowned “Miss experience as a member of Galway,” Ms. Conneely our staff and as President Charitable Irish Society incoming president Carleton LaPorte with Hilda emigrated to Boston in of our Board. Landry and Chris Duggan at a June appreciation luncheon at the Harvard Club. 1982 at the age of 21, and “The IIIC sends sincere was undocumented for condolences to Gobnait’s more than 10 years. In friends and family - she will Charitable Irish Society the 1990s she received a be greatly missed by all.” “Donnelly Visa” and later Ms. Vonneely leaves a became a US citizen, an Gobnait Conneely: One sister, Sheila Farragher, hails legacy of outgoing event she said was “one time Miss Galway. and her husband Jerry the proudest moments of for many years. In later of Dublin, and a brother, my life.” years she worked for the Anthony, and his wife president and key aide She was a longtime ad- City of Boston with the Consilia Conneely of Gal- Some two dozen members of the Chari- us today, for all the good work you have vocate for immigrants at city’s housing authority. way. She was the aunt of table Irish Society gathered for lunch done.” the Irish International Im- “We are deeply sad- Laura, Gillian and Kevin at the Harvard Club of Boston on Mon., LaPorte said that Duggan is known migration Centre (IIIC), dened to hear of Gobnait Farragher and Jacob Con- June 25, at an appreciation luncheon for for his “love of poetry,” and he presented where she worked as com- Conneely’s passing,” the neely, and dear friend of outgoing Society president Christopher the outgoing president with a bust of munity outreach manager IIIC said in a statement. Kathy Doyle of Saugus. Duggan and his assistant Hilda Landry. William Butler Yeats. Incoming president Carlton LaPorte In brief remarks, Landry saluted his joined with other board members and assistant, Hilda Landry, saying, “Noth- Subscribe Today to Boston’s Own Hometown Newspaper society supporters to honor Duggan and ing happens in my life- nothing- without Landry for what he described as the the efforts of Hilda Landry.” “inestimable contributions they have The Charitable Irish Society, started both made and continue to make to the in 1737 in Boston by Irish immigrants, Boston Irish Charitable Irish Society. was formed to assist other newly ar- “Chris Duggan is an attorney with a rived Irish immigrants in settling in and national reputation, and he has served assimilating into a new city and new as our president for four years. He has country. It is the oldest Irish society in A SubscriptionREPORTER to the Boston Irish Reporter Makes an Ideal Gift for Any Special Occasion. given of himself- his time, his resources, both Americas and has had a rich his- Why Not Order One Today for Yourself, or for That Special Irish Someone in Your Life? and his energy- and has increased the tory for over two and a half centuries. effectiveness of our organization. There The society continues to offer housing Mail to: Boston Irish Reporter is nobody I know that has done more for assistance, financial aid and employment 150 Mt. Vernon Street, Dorchester, MA 02125 this organization than Chris Duggan,” opportunities to new Irish immigrants or Fax this order form to 617-825-5516 Laporte said. “I want to thank him and in the city. his wife Nancy, who is unable to be with Order today, and we will send a gift card in your name. Enclose $35.00 for each gift subscription. The menu: Scones, tea, and news Name______The Consulate General of Ireland in event of interest to the Irish diaspora over Boston once again invites those interest- tea. Says the invitation: Spread the word Address______ed in Irish & Irish-American community and bring your friends! You can register City______State______Zip______news to stop by 535 Boylston St., 5th by reaching out to Consular Officer Anne Floor, on Fri., Aug. 3, from 8 a.m. to 9 Byrne at [email protected] or by calling Gift from______a.m. for scones and some updating from 617-936-2452. Please bring a valid photo the consulate staff. The session offers ID to present at reception on arrival. Charge to Card #______Code # on card Exp______an opportunity for people promote to an Page 4 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com Editor’s Notebook Commentary Listen to your heart, As the lies keep coming from Washington, it could save your life our best defense is to always pay attention At first, I thought, it was just a bad reaction to something I ate. By Joe Leary principles don’t seem to matter anymore except perhaps It was Thursday night and I felt a little discomfort Special to the BIR in the selection of Supreme Court judges. rattling around my stomach, then a bit higher near For several years now most Americans have been As we watch television or pick up the morning news- the left shoulder. disappointed by a federal government in Washington paper, we hear or read statements like the following It must have been that cheeseburger, I told myself, that features constant bickering, outlandish statements from Washington: “The press is the people’s enemy; or maybe the fries. A couple of antacid tablets should from all sides, little being done to correct such problems it is all fake news” and “The United States has been take care of it. as a faulty immigration system and health care costs, foolish and stupid about our interaction with Russia.” I’ve always kept a bedside supply, even though since and the absence of a civil, thoughtful management that With the constant drumbeat of criticism about the the daily omeprazoles, the gastric attacks, have been gets things done. FBI, CIA and our intelligence agencies, the average few and far between. Trust is hard to come by when American hardly knows what to believe anymore as By Friday morning, the tablets weren’t giving much average citizens are being told lies and gross untruths are constantly being aired. relief. It was time to go to the drug store for a bottle untruths and don’t know how to Generations have grown up listening to stories about of Mylanta. Long ago, I remember learning to keep a react. Aggressive positions taken George Washington and his cherry tree adventure when bottle chilled in the fridge; taken at room temp, it can by all sides of an issue are hard and he said, “I cannot tell a lie.” Lying was not permitted be downright nasty. bitter and seemingly irresolvable, when we were young. Our priests and ministers said The pharmacist suggested the generic liquid antacid- and raucous Congressional hear- so, our teachers said so, our coaches said so, and if a mix of aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, ings on matters like Benghazi and you lied to the FBI you would go to jail. Reporters lose and simethicone- so it was home with a bottle. I was FBI agent Peter Strzok’s emails their jobs if they lie. Try lying to your boss, though you sure it would control the bloating gas. add to the ceaseless chaos. might only get one chance. But relief was only temporary. The discomfort kept Joe Leary In the past month, the disap- But lying has become normal, even excusable to a returning, and I needed something pointment has grown to focus certain segment of the population. When a politician stronger. on America’s dealings with our neighbors across the or bureaucrat is caught telling a blatant lie, another Googling the symptoms, I asked globe. It is fair to say that our foreign relationships lie is used to cover it up. Recently an excuse for a so- “How do I get relief from indiges- are a mess. President Trump’s recent trip to Europe called misstatement cited the difference between the tion?” Apple cider vinegar, came to meet with the leadership of NATO, and later with verb forms “would” and “wouldn’t.” Can you imagine the answer, so it was off to the the prime minister of Britain, descended into heavy a drill instructor or a school prefect of discipline ac- supermarket for a bottle of that criticism and personal attacks by the American leader. cepting such an excuse? elixir. By Saturday, night, even that Then came the disastrous meeting in Helsinki with The discovery of transparent lying or what some call didn’t work. Google offered all sorts the president of Russia where our leader insulted our “truthful hyperbole” can severely erode confidence in of other home remedies: Wear loose intelligence agencies and looked completely subservi- a person or institution. As a recent Politico Magazine clothing, stand up straight, elevate ent to the Russian dictator. article pointed out, “When we are overwhelmed with your upper body, try ginger, take Some things seem to have been turned upside down. false or potentially false statements, our brains pretty licorice supplements, even chew gum to help dilute Conservative Republicans who have fought for free and quickly become so overworked that we stop trying to the acid. open trade for decades are witnessing their party’s sift through everything.” Despite these extra steps, still no remedy. leader imposing huge import tariffs on our friends A writer for the Washington Post last month ques- Certain it was just a gastric event, I made it through in Mexico, Canada, and the European Union, and on tioned whether truth can survive the current atmo- most of Sunday, keeping an eye on the Red Sox game China, to many, our main competitor in world affairs. sphere. And Einstein reportedly said, “Whoever is on TV and committed to waiting it out. After all, I’ve While this has been going on, the country’s debt has careless with the truth cannot be trusted.” Ultimately, had acid indigestion before, and it always went away. grown substantially due in the main to vastly increased paying attention is the best defense for the average By late that afternoon, the sensations were no lon- spending by the administration and a new tax bill that American citizen. ger just discomfort, but more like small, rhythmic, primarily benefits higher wage earners. Conservative electrical-like jolts. And they were now in my upper chest and left shoulder. They began to radiate across my chest. Thinking that maybe I should get this checked Off the Bench out, around 6 o’clock Sunday night, I drove myself to Carney Hospital’s emergency room. When I told of my chest pains, I was ushered inside, and was rapidly surrounded by a team of nurses, About life: Children trapped in a cave technicians and a doctor. They monitored my BP and pulse, drew blood took a chest Xray, and gave me an aspirin and a nitroglycerine pill. vs. children trapped in poverty, neglect Soon the doctor returned to say they found enzymes By James W. Dolan Love requiring little of us beyond sympathy and in the blood and they would admit me overnight. I really compassion is easy. It makes us feel better about didn’t quite grasp everything they told me there in the Special to the Reporter Isn’t it remarkable how the entire world came to- ourselves. But when the expression of love demands emergency room. But two words caught my attention: we give up or modify things we value, that’s another “Cardiac observation.” gether to support and pray for the twelve boys and their leader trapped in a cave in Thailand? The outpouring story. We then enter the realm of selfless love, putting Now it occurred to me: Maybe this isn’t indigestion; whom we love before our desire for independence and maybe I am having a heart attack! of sympathy and hope is all the more amazing given the hostility, anger, and partisan bickering that so autonomy. Love for a spouse or for one’s children is I spent that night in a bed with a view of Dot Park, an obvious example, although even that generous love where I could almost see my house. A memory returned often pervades human relations. What is it about the plight of these youngsters that speaks to our “better confers benefits on the partner and parent. of a visit to my dad here in this same hospital, back in Humans are incapable of absolute, selfless love, the 1955- when he had the first of his two heart attacks. angels” and why is it absent in so many other areas of human distress? kind that provides no perceived or actual benefits for The Carney was new in our neighborhood back then, the lover. Such love is what believers hope God has for and they saved his life. Now here I am, 63 years later, Where is it when children are the victims of senseless mankind and will prompt mercy for our many trans- back in this same hospital, maybe with the same prob- gressions. Other loves do not directly involve people as lem as my father. gun violence? Where is it when desperate refugees risk death objects, such as love of nature, principle, truth, justice, Was history repeating? Thank God for the Carney! literature, and art. These, too, are very important and Monday morning, a cardiologist told me, “You had to find a better life? Where is it when nations go to war and rain require action to preserve and promote in the interest a mild heart attack, and will need further attention.” of mankind. By 5 o’clock, I had been transported to the cardiac ac- death and destruction on each other? How is it we identify so It’s regrettable there is so little love manifest now in cess unit at Mass General, where doctors on Tuesday the workings of our government. Self-interest prevails would do a catherization to find and fix any blockages strongly with children trapped in a cave and ignore those in all its crudest forms as “us against them” replaces in my heart. the “common good” as an operating principle. Why is At 2 o’clock Tuesday, a team of heart specialists be- trapped in poverty and neglect? Perhaps it’s because we more it the love evident in the concern for the boys in the gan the procedure, entering an artery on my wrist. In cave, the worldwide outpouring of support, admira- a little more than two hours, they found and repaired easily identify with victims of natural disaster where there tion of the rescuers, and joy at their recovery does not two blockages, leaving me with two stents in my heart. translate into other aspects of our lives? It’s there, but I was sedated but awake through the entire procedure James W. Dolan are few if any conflicting inter- ests. We share a common bond of it’s a too often dormant natural expression of solidarity, and felt just a little discomfort but no pain. compassion, and shared humanity. The next afternoon, Wednesday, the 4th of July, my concern for the safety and well-being of others so long as it doesn’t cost us emotionally, financially, or politi- Maybe it will happen when we decide to love ourselves son came and brought me home. It was just under 72 a little bit less and our neighbor a little bit more and hours from that first moment at the Carney, where on cally. Love is easy in the abstract because it demands so little. It becomes far more burdensome, and, thus, accept the often overlooked and equally important Sunday night, the doctors and nurses had taken the part of that admonition: “Everybody is our neighbor.” first steps in saving my life. – Ed Forry unlikely, when we have to surrender things like money, access to guns, power, control, and status. James W. Dolan is a retired Dorchester District Court judge who now practices law. Boston Irish REPORTER The Boston Irish Reporter is published monthly by: Boston Neighborhood News, Inc., 150 Mt. Vernon St., Suite 120, Dorchester, MA 02125 [email protected] www.bostonirish.com Mary C. Forry, President (1983-2004) Edward W. Forry, Publisher Thomas F. Mulvoy Jr., Managing Editor William P. Forry, Editor Peter F. Stevens, Contributing Editor News Room: (617) 436-1222 Ads : (617) 436-1222 Fax: (617) 825-5516 [email protected] On The Web at www.bostonirish.com Date of Next Issue: September, 2018 Deadline for Next Issue: Monday, August 20 at 12 noon Published monthly in the first week of each month. At left, faces of joy and relief were omnipresent last month after the complicated and dangerous rescue The Boston Irish Reporter is not liable for errors appearing in advertisements beyond of a youth soccer team and its coach from a cave in Thailand. At right, a different sensibility prevailed the cost of the space occupied by the error. The right is reserved by The Boston Irish as Central American immigrants hoping to gain entry to the USA waited and watched at the Mexican Reporter to edit, reject, or cut any copy without notice. border. Toronto Star and ABC News photos. bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 5 Point of View PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TRUE COLORS? They Are Red, White and Blue, But… By Peter F. Stevens and droned that Putin’s flimsy denials surface. He has stated that the Supreme Reporter Staff were as “strong and powerful” as the Court’s landmark 8-0 decision to order For once, President Donald Trump unanimous and proven conclusion of President Nixon to cough up the White has told the truth. He professes that every American intelligence agency that House tapes that drove him from the nothing is more important to him than the Russians put their thumb on the Oval Office was possibly “erroneously the proverbial “red, white, and blue.” campaign and election scale to try and decided.” Additionally, Kavanaugh has That truth materialized as he stood tip it Donald Trump’s way. contended that the exigencies of office alongside Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Frum, again a rock-ribbed Conser- should shield a sitting President from With virtually every word that spilled vative, chides the President further: even a subpoena, let alone an indictment. from Donald Trump’s lips, the President “Russia helped Donald Trump into the It seems that Kavanaugh believes the displayed his devotion to the red, white, presidency, as Robert Mueller’s indict- President is above the law. If so, Trump and blue—not to that of Old Glory, but ment vividly details. Putin, in his own might well have picked Kavanaugh as to the same colors on the the flag of the voice, has confirmed that he wanted a Supreme get-out-of-jail card who will Russian Federation. Trump elected. Standing alongside Supreme Court nominee Brett Kava- have the President’s back if Robert Muel- As Conservative David Frum writes his benefactor, Trump denounced the naugh AP Photo/Manuel Balce Cenata ler does strike. in the Atlantic, the United States “can special counsel investigating Russian The media has waxed on about Kava- no longer afford to wait to ascertain intervention in the U.S. election—and Trump’s public bending of the knee naugh’s Catholic creds—Mass-goer, CYO why President Trump has subordinated even repudiated his own intelligence to Putin in Helsinki should constitute coach, and so on. All well and good, but himself to Putin—it must deal with the appointees. questions for Republicans, Democrats, the good judge has even had a St. Paul of fact that he has.” Frum adds, “We still do “This is an unprecedented situation...” and Independents alike. Not to mention Tarsus epiphany. As Ken Starr’s attack not know what hold Vladimir Putin has As I’m finishing this column, there is the matter of his more than two-hour dog, Kavanaugh went after President on Donald Trump, but the whole world breaking news from President Trump’s private meeting with Putin. What did Bill Clinton like, well, the hounds of has now witnessed the power of its grip.” Twitter thumbs. He has just tweeted they discuss? Were any “deals”struck, Hell. Kavanaugh contended then that Trump’s weak, obsequious defer- that he is “concerned” the Russians are any concessions made by our President? a Democrat President was not above the ence to Putin came in the immediate meddling in our 2018 mid-term elections As of this writing, the nation has no law. Now, having been struck by legal wake of having trashed NATO and the in favor of the Democrats “because he has real answers—other than the words of a lighting that a President IS above the law EU in Brussels and prime Minister been so tough on” Putin and company. A President who lies every day and defies with a Republican in the White House, Theresa May on her home turf in the rancid chunk of Putinesque disinforma- his supine party to question him. Some GOP stalwart Kavanaugh miraculously U.K. Whether wittingly or unwittingly, tion, Mr. President. Actually, let’s call 88 percent of his party continues to swal- jumped from the far corner of Trump’s President Trump was singing straight your words what they are: yet another low whole their daily dose of falsehoods. Federalist Society list to near-certain from the Putin Hymnal. bald-faced lie and b.s. from you, Mr. To paraphrase the Bard, “Something is confirmation to the Supreme Court. Is For reasons that remain murky, President. Does he plan to raise this rotten in the State of America.” there a possibility, even a faint possibil- Donald Trump gives every appearance “concern” when Putin arrives for his All of which brings us to a certain ity, that the President has nominated of being Vlad’s Vassal. The President of autumn “sleepover” with our Presdent, proud Irish American named Judge a jurist who apparently asserts that the United States stood next to Putin— who obviously believes that an invita- Thomas Kavanaugh. As his eventual Donald J. Trump must be shielded from who orchestrated the Russian meddling tion to D.C. is a fitting thank you to his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt?” Who into the 2016 election, the bleating of BFF Vlad for his attack—not meddling looms, his writings about the power of could believe that about a President Trump supporters notwithstanding— or interference—on the U.S. the Executive branch have begun to who embodies the red, white, and blue? A French Connection: Frédéric Jacques Temple à Dublin By Thomas O’Grady brevity, their slightness, they seem Ximémès in a poem titled “L’Ère des Temple’s transcription of how he mis- Special to the BIR to aspire toward satori, the Japanese Français” in 1793: “Attaquons dans ses heard the lyrics of the popular ballad “You flew. Whereto? Newhaven- equivalent of Joycean “epiphany” as- eaux la perfide Albion.” Temple too may “Molly Malone” may be endearing, but Dieppe, steerage passenger.” So James sociated with a poetic form like haiku; have known that earliest reference. he would have been disappointed in his Joyce, in Ulysses, has his character but they never quite achieve that level There may be a Joycean element in the quest for Guinness, as Bewley’s does Stephen Dedalus recollect one leg of the of illumination. Perhaps they are best third poem as well: not serve alcohol—only tea and coffee! journey he took from Dear Dirty Dublin thought of as vignettes: a literary term, Undaunted, however, he continues to La Ville Lumière—Paris, the City of vignette means “little vine” in French If you are wise his literary tour by taking his reader Light. Joyce made that journey himself, and derives from the tendril-like decora- you will see down Grafton Street to College Green as early as 1902, and eventually, begin- tions that nineteenth-century printers in the mist of the Liffey and through the arched gateway of ning in 1920, spent most of the last two would add to title pages of books and the phantoms of Chapelizod. Trinity College. Did Temple person- decades of his life in Paris. He com- the first page of chapters. Gathered ally know Samuel Beckett, the TCD pleted Ulysses there and wrote Finnegans under the title “À Dublin” (“In Dublin”), Named for its association with the alumnus who spent the last fifty years Wake there, too. these vignettes—sort of calligraphic Irish princess Iseult (or Isolde) in the of his life living and writing in Paris? But Joyce is just pen strokes, not much more substantial Arthurian Legend of Tristan and Isolde, The poem offers no hint; but it does seem one of many Irish than monkish marginalia—are part of a the Liffey-side village of Chapelizod fig- to suggest that Temple was housed on writers who lived larger gathering of poems that Temple ures prominently in Joyce’s final work, campus during his Dublin visit hosted famously in Paris. titled Périples (Journeys). Reflecting the “Finnegans Wake,” as the home of his by Professor Little: Other household poet’s self-consciousness as a visitor, that central character, Humphrey Chimpden names include Os- context actually lends his Dublin verses Earwicker, his wife Anna Livia Plura- In Beckett’s lodgings car Wilde, John resonance beyond their substance. belle, and their children Shaun, Shem, at Trinity College Millington Synge, Indeed, beginning with the first poem, and Issy. But Temple’s reference to I caress in a dream Samuel Beckett, Temple inscribes a sort of touristic con- “phantoms” may also invoke the writings the 340 vellum pages and Brendan Be- nect-the-dots map of Dublin with literary of Sheridan Le Fanu, whose novel “The of the Book of Kells, han. James Ste- and nationalistic shadings: House by the Churchyard” (1863) and a wonder of the world. phens, who main- tale “Ghost Stories of Chapelizod” (1851) Frédéric Jacques tained an apart- We will go tomorrow are both set in the village. The series ends on Duke Street, not Temple ment in Paris for to lay flowers on the tomb Joyce definitely factors in the next two far from Trinity and that famous il- more than thirty of Maud Gonne vignettes. The first, a tribute to Temple’s luminated manuscript (which dates to years, reportedly misplaced (briefly, in Glasnevin Cemetery. old pen friend, obviously involves a visit around 800 A.D.), at another drinking fortunately) the manuscript for his novel to the Martello tower where, like his establishment with another Joycean “The Demi-Gods” while living there. Po- Immortalized in poems by her ardent character Stephen Dedalus in the open- association: ets Brian Coffey and Thomas McGreevy admirer, W. B. Yeats, Maud Gonne, a ing episode of “Ulysses,” Joyce once lived: also found inspiration there during ex- fervent nationalist, became in 1902 the It is winter, tended sojourns in the city. literal embodiment of “Mother Ireland” In Sandycove I enter let’s duck into Davy Byrne’s The number of French writers sojourn- thanks to her acting the title role in James Joyce’s tower and take on for ballast ing in Dublin is considerably smaller, but “Cathleen ni Houlihan,” a play co-written and doff my cap a feed of coddle. recently I happened upon one who not by Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory for to salute the shade only visited but actually sketched out in the Irish National Dramatic Company. of Tom McGreevy. That venue is immortalized in the verse the outline of his time there. In Late in his life, Yeats would ask rhetori- “Lestrygonians” episode of “Ulysses” fact, for Frédéric Jacques Temple, Dublin cally: “Did that play of mine send out / The next one returns the reader to when Leopold Bloom slips in for a seems to have been a place of pilgrimage. Certain men the English shot?” “Finnegans Wake”: bite to eat: “He entered Davy Byrne’s. He reflects on this in a little remem- Perhaps that specific association Moral pub.” Bloom orders a gorgon- brance he wrote about meeting Thomas prompted the second poem in the se- At Mulligan’s Bar zola cheese sandwich and a glass of McGreevy, sometime in the 1950s, in quence: in Poolbeg Street burgundy for his lunch. Temple opts Montpellier, France, at the home of a we hoist a solemn toast for a more robust dish with a particular mutual friend, transplanted British man- Remember to the memory of Anna Livia. Dublin flavor (as it were): sometimes of-letters Richard Aldington. According Cathleen ni Houlihan simmered in Guinness, coddle usually to that remembrance, Temple, moved by who sparked the powder In Irish, the name for the River Liffey includes pork sausages and rashers of his subsequent epistolary friendship with to dislodge Albion. is Abhainn na Life, from which Joyce bacon mixed with chunks of potatoes McGreevy, visited Dublin twice—both derived the name of his character Anna and sliced onions then seasoned with times, though, after the Irish poet’s death Interestingly, Temple’s use of Albion, Livia Plurabelle, who is the embodiment salt and pepper and maybe a sprig of in 1967. The first time, he was invited an ancient name for Great Britain (dating of the river in “Finnegans Wake.” parsley. Ballast, indeed! by the Alliance Française in Dublin and at least to the fourth century B.C.), may Born in 1921, Frédéric Jacques gave a talk on McGreevy, titled “An Irish- also implicate James Joyce, who has his By the evidence of the next poem, Temple is now 97 years old and appar- man in Paris or the Key Witness,” that character “the citizen,” a diehard Irish Temple had drink on his mind more than ently still living in Montpellier where drew an audience of nearly 200 people nationalist, deploy the phrase “perfidi- once during his Dublin visit: he met Thomas McGreevy more than to Bewley’s Oriental Café on Grafton ous Albion” in a rant against the French sixty years ago. His poetic record of his Street. His second visit, at the invitation in the “Cyclops” episode of “Ulysses.” I am going to Bewley’s time “à Dublin” lives on, too. of Roger Little, a noted Trinity College Joyce probably knew that the phrase to drain three pints of stout. professor of French, led to his writing a had great currency in France, especially Molly Malone Thomas O’Grady is Director of Irish series of eight very short poems. among journalists, during the nineteenth sings her tune Studies at the University of Massachu- There is not a lot to say about them century. He may even have known that at the foot of Grafton Street: setts Boston as poems per se (except that I found the phrase was first coined by French <> Page 6 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com

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8. BRETT’S BOSTON 9. By Harry Brett Exclusive photos of Boston Irish people & events

The Boston North East Board GAA hosts Gaelic football and hurling for both men and women, and the schedule of games continue on the pitch at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton weekly through August 22. The Gaelic Athletic Association charges $10 at the gate to view the games. On Sunday, July 22 BIR photographer Harry Brett looked as the crowd en- joyed the senior football match between Donegal and Connemara. The Donegal team was the winner, with a final score Donegal 1 - 15 , Connemara Gaels 0 - 10. Donegal tallied another win in the senior football championship against a dogged Connemara Gaels who were eager to make amends for a disappoint- ing outing the last time the teams met. The Gaels made Donegal fight for everything they got, but did not have enough to get a result out of the game. For full reports of the games, visit tharantrasnan.blogspot.com

1.) AnnMarie and Mark Barrett, Quincy; 2.) Meabh Kenny and Philip Kenny, Westboro; 3.) Caroline Mannion, Milton; Sharon Walsh, Galway; 4.) Kathleen Robinson, Tyrone; Deirdre Gormley, Quincy; 5.) Tiarnan 1 1/2; and dad Johnny Friel, Quincy; 6.) Caomhan Keane; Matthew Louth, both of Dorchester; Eamon O’Donnchadha; 7.) Caitlin Gormley, all of Tyrone; Aoibhe Gormley; Orlagh Gormley; 8.) Bridget O’Mally; Jackie Gormley; Merry McGrory, both of Quincy; 9.) Dermot and Nikola Gormley, both of Tyrone; Sorcha; 10.) Michael Geoghegan, Milton; Conor Mannion, Milton; Gabriel Mannion, Dorchester; Tommy Mannion, Milton. 10. bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 7 From Kieran Jordan: A note full of thanks, a testament to what the will can make happen (Continued from page 1) dancers and musicians. established a GoFundMe But beyond that, I was site (gofundme.com/kier- able to reconnect to my an-jordan039s-healing- abilities. And reclaim fund) to help cover the some of my confidence. costs. In two months, And restore some of some 400 people have my faith that a feeling donated $34,400, funds strength and USEFUL- that go directly to recoup- NESS and even a little ing out-of-pocket medical bit of sass is still within costs and most income, me. And I am able to and for ongoing expenses return to Boston know- like non-covered doctors’ ing that Vincent, my visits, lab tests, and treat- dancers, and myself all ment therapies. bring home inspiration Before she fell ill last and new hopes for the July, Kieran had made next season, and indeed plans to bring her stu- the next trip to Ireland. dents to the Willie Clancy “It’s been a full year now festival, saying she want- of being sick with Lyme ed them to “experience and co-infections. I will the magic of that week.” see my Lyme N.P. next In addition to the Ki- week. Treatment is trial eran Jordan Dance group, and error, and so individ- she and her dance part- ual, so I really don’t know ner, Kevin Doyle, were what to expect. I am pay- invited to teach and ing close attention to my perform again this year. symptoms, and keeping “And then last July, I got logs of everything every sick,” she said in June, “Sparks on the Floor” dance workshop with Kevin Doyle (from Barrington, RI) on the left, Kieran Jordan (Dorchester, MA) in the center, and Aidan Vaughan (Quilty, County Clare) on the right. day. Trying to not obsess “and am in treatment for over the future, how this Lyme disease… and hav- “There were many things formed with me, and with affects my work, or what ing a really bumpy ride. I I was NOT able to do … their other classes, in the course this illness will think and hope that I am things that I love … and big Thursday night dance take for me in the long on the right track, but the am so used to doing at a recital. I think it’s safe to run. Easier said than medications have been festival week like this. say that they also made done. But as I swam in harsh for me, and healing Staying out late, dancing friends and memories to the cold but invigorating is slow. The daily regimen in sessions, listening to last a lifetime. ocean in Clare, I sym- is demanding. My diet is music in crowded pubs, “In fact, we all did. For bolically left the last 12 very restricted. My sleep dancing the sets at the me, the “minding myself” months behind me. I let is still messed up, and céilís, attending lectures meant that I WAS able go of the “nightmare,” re- my energy and mood are and concerts, running to walk on the beach or ceived the healing gifts of often low.” around to meet up with swim in the sea every the sea, and started over. But despite the low friends, having a Guin- day. In my “doing less,” At our dance gatherings energy and continuing ness or a glass of wine, I was able to have quiet, and the other events, I physical struggles, she and eating my Irish fa- quality chats with people received more hugs than did indeed make the vorites, like toasted ham- who I might normally ever before in my life, and trip, and when she came and-cheese sandwiches or just see in passing as we plenty of wisdom, too. back in mid-July, Kieran fish and chips. run from one gig to the “I would not have had posted a note of thanks. “But I WAS able to next. I was able to drive the courage or motivation She wrote: be there — to teach the Vincent Crotty’s live painting of the final concert in around with Vincent to make this trip without “This trip to Ireland workshops and perform in the Community Hall, Willie Clancy Summer School, almost every evening for Vincent, Kevin Doyle, was life-changing at a the concerts I was hired Miltown Malbay, County Clare. landscape photography Aidan Vaughan, Michael time when I badly needed Tubridy, all the members to do, and to attend not couldn’t! They took all va- to hit all the major sites and plein air painting. it. It was challenging one, but three, gatherings And what landscapes of his group, all the mem- and daunting — to feel rieties of morning classes of Clare, too. And they bers of my group … and of dancers with the Dan (music, step dancing, set hosted what was sup- we had —with sunshine symptomatic while trav- Furey Irish dance group and glorious light for so many other friends and eling, to acknowledge my dancing, sean-nós). They posed to be an informal supporters. and my group of students, pushed on to take Irish “super low-key group din- almost the entire trip. limitations, and to stay on Kieran Jordan Dance. “In my teaching, and “Thank you for reading my schedule of medica- language classes or my ner,” which turned into a my updates and for the “Speaking of my group workshops in the after- mega potluck and one of performing, I was able to tions and herbs and the from Boston, I was really reconnect to my passion ongoing encouragement restricted diet. I ques- noon. They danced at cé- our grand Dan Furey step and support.” so proud of them. They ilís in all the various ven- dance sessions with about within a very happy com- tioned my decision to go, lapped it all up where I munity of international and maybe others did too. ues. They toured around 40 people. They also per-

Kieran Jordan and Vincent Crotty with members of the Dan Furey Dance Group from Ireland at the July, 2018 festival in County Clare. Vincent Crotty and Kieran Jordan in a photo made several years ago, before she was infected with Lyme disease. Page 8 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com A Q&A with the multi-talented Eric McDonald Medford native Eric McDonald, in Scotland, how challenging 31, has become one of the more has it been to be able to work prolific performers in the Boston together on Cantrip material and New England folk/traditional and to line up tours and gigs? music scene. Now based in Portland, A. It’s tough to be interconti- Me., McDonald – an accomplished nental. We all have other proj- guitarist, mandolinist and vocal- ects to round out our schedules. ist – has played in a duo with There are a lot of kids in the Scottish/Cape Breton-style fiddler picture as well. But we have a Katie McNally and as a member of few different tours that we do contra dance trio Matching Orange, every year and we look forward among many other collaborations, to them like vacations. We have and more recently in Irish/Celtic a lot of places that we play where trio Daymark and the long-running people come to see us year after Scottish band Cantrip. He’ll be ap- year, and that has really helped pearing with the latter group on make it work. Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. as part of The In terms of material and re- Burren’s Backroom series. hearsals, it feels easy because Earlier this year, Cantrip – whose we’re all such good friends, and members also include Jon Bews the music just comes. So it’s (fiddle, vocals) and Dan Hough- never really been a question as ton (pipes, flute, whistle, guitar, to whether or not we’re going bouzouki, vocals) – made a live to make the time. We just do recording slated for release shortly. it whenever we can, and we’ve McDonald discussed his musical never been short material. It’s activities – past, present and future built a really solid founda- – with Sean Smith of the Boston tion for us. The last couple of Irish Reporter. years, we’ve been turning up Q. What were some of the key the touring and trying to go formative experiences for you in to new places. We expect that Boston that put you on the road to continue. The logistics are to playing Celtic and traditional tough, but they’re worth it. folk music? Q. You put out a solo album A. Gosh, there were a lot of last year, and Daymark recently them. I really got the music released an EP. What are some bug going to shows at Club Eric McDonald, flanked by his Cantrip bandmates Jon Bews (left) and Dan Houghton: “Play- other recent, ongoing or upcom- Passim in Cambridge. His- ing live is like food for us, and we all click on stage in a way that we don’t otherwise.” ing projects on your slate? torically, Passim is a hub for A. One of my major touring singer-songwriters and still is, Q. What is it about the Boston to their music, and has kept you were fast friends and I signed projects is a duo with Washing- but when I started going it was area that makes it such a good with the band? on quick. ton-based fiddler Ryan McKas- during a natural progression place for folk music, especially A. Yeah, those guys are We’re now great friends, and son. We put out an album last that brought a lot more Celtic the Celtic/Irish/trad? old. The original four met in we all feel the band has been year called “Harbour,” and we and traditional music through A. To be completely honest, university, but when our piper reborn better than ever. As far got to have Jeremiah McLane the doors, so I was exposed to I’m not entirely sure what Dan moved back to the US it as what draws me to the music, play on it. I’m loving that proj- a lot of fiddle. It was amazing makes Boston so vibrant com- put pressure on the band and besides Dan and Jon both being ect, and we’re starting work on the sheer number of amazing pared to other places. I’m cer- eventually two members moved absolutely monster players, I our second album for next year. musicians I had the opportunity tain that our rich immigrant on. Dan and Jon, our fiddler, find them to be very authentic Daymark just released the EP, to see. history plays a major role. I were the originators and the musicians. I don’t think we try but we’re already hard at work Boston’s musical community think also being the biggest crux of the group so they kept it too hard to be anything we’re on our first full-length album. is very welcoming, and when I city in New England probably alive by hiring various rhythm not, and the sound that comes After releasing this live album, showed an interest it was easy helps. There is a ton of musical players to sub in. I was one of out is very raw and energetic. Cantrip is doing another studio to find a way in. Meeting and heritage in these six states, and those players. Playing live is like food for us, album in the spring. playing with all these musicians a lot of it manifests here. We also It was actually the weekend and we all click on stage in a way All of these acts are on the I was watching on stage was in- have lots of resources that draw after Hurricane Irene, back in that we don’t otherwise. That’s road regularly. I’ve also been credibly powerful, and really set musicians of all stripes, such as 2011, when I first joined up one of the reasons we’re very doing some touring with an me on the path. I also sang in the Berklee, Passim, programs like with them: They had a gig in excited about this live album. amazing band called The Out- chorus for Cambridge Revels, Gaelic Roots and many others. Vermont and the guitarist they It’s an open dialogue that lets side Track, and I’ll be back in and that did a lot to teach me Not every place has things like had on board was stranded in us all be ourselves and works the van with them this winter about how traditional music can that. the Catskills, so I got the call surprisingly well in the end. It’s to help promote their upcoming and should be connected with Q. Cantrip goes back two de- three days before the gig. From really just a privilege and a joy album. This is what is keeping community. Later on I studied cades, to the 1990s Edinburgh the moment we sat down to play, to be a part of this group with me busy, and all my other ideas at the Berklee College of Music, folk music scene. So how and though, we could tell it was a these lads. and projects will be kept at bay and of course that was pretty when did you get involved with natural fit. I think that carried Q. Given your busy calendar, until these are completed. important as well. them? What was it that drew you over past the music as well. We and the fact that Jon is living – SEAN SMITH Summer BCMFest – a photo gallery The fourth annual Summer BCMFest took place July 8 at Harvard Square’s Club Passim, beginning with a “Celtic Brunch” featuring fiddle-piano duo Chris Overholser and Utsav Lal. During the afternoon, the festival shifted outside to Palmer Street, where bands Scottish Fish and Pumpkin Bread performed. Closing out the event was an evening concert with Ari & Mia (sisters Ari and Mia Friedman), and Matt and Shannon Heaton. The winter BCMFest will take place this coming January 17-20 (more information will be available at passim.org/bcmfest).

Maggie MacPhail, right, was all smiles as was her fellow Scottish Fish member Caroline Dressler.

Pumpkin Bread fiddler-vocalist Maura Shawn Scanlin had her eye on Jackson Clawson as he Matt and Shannon Heaton teamed up with sisters Ari (second from left) and Mia Friedman as part of played melodica. the Summer BCMFest evening concert in Club Passim. bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 9 Traveling musicians find home away from home in Canton The Irish Cultural Centre located in ces Morton. none other than their biggest fan, the late The Irish Cultural Centre of New England Canton, MA is a mecca for touring Irish Scottish musican Frances Morton Larry Hagman. After a period of being Maudy Dooher musicians, dancers and up and coming accompanies Doimnic on flute and tin musical ambassadors for their country, 200 New Boston Drive, Canton MA 02021 Irish band. At their recent festival they whistle. Frances began playing tradi- Sephira were invited to give a dazzling 781-821-8291 www.irishculture.org hosted Ireland’s leading bluegrass group tional music at a young age and went performances at the pre-premiere of the “JigJam” and Super trad group from on to win several titles throughout Bond movie, Skyfall, in NYC. them international recognition… Last Galway “BackWest.” Scotland, Ireland and England on tin The sisters play powerful music with year, they performed four huge concerts Knowing that Irish bands will have a whistle and flute. stirring melodies and their energetic per- with hip hop star Kanye West. home when they travel and a ready-made In 2004 Doimnic released his first formances and harmonies have earned – Irishmusicdaily.com audience is encouraging for Irish groups album, Saol na Suáilce, of which was making the trip across the Atlantic to try said: ‘in the musicality of his singing and and break into the American music scene. his innate understanding of the Donegal Depending on the type of music we can sean-nós idiom, he is a breath of fresh host the traveling musicians either in air.’ ‘the album marks the debut of a one of our function rooms, our marquee great new traditional talent.’ tent (to cater to a larger audience) or in – Claddagh Records our authentic cottage (capacity of about Altan – September 14th 60 people) for a more intimate affair altan.ie We recently launched our 2018 con- The iconic Irish string band Altan has cert series in our marquee tent with a achieved legendary status in a genre that performance by Byrne & Kelly stars of has been equally shaped by the band’s the Celtic Thunder Group. influence and genius. Audiences from Upcoming events include the follow- Ireland to Japan to Australia to Europe ing: have embraced their heartwarming, Hermitage Green dynamic live performances which run Sunday, August 12th from touching old Irish songs to hard- hermitagegreen.com hitting reels and jigs. The band has A five piece band from Limerick, re- been going strong for 35 years and is as cently signed with Sony Records, have relevant as ever: their newest release, played to critical acclaim throughout “The Gap Of Dreams,” came out this Ireland and are now bringing their tour year on FreshGrass partner Compass to the US to captivate the American Records, and fiddler, singer, and found- audience. ing member Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh “It is a special feeling. The moment was the recipient of the Gradam Ceoil/ you discover a band you love which has Traditional Musician of the Year in 2017, failed to come under your radar, until one of the highest honors in Irish music. now. I felt this in a crowded, smoky – The Boston Globe: part of Birmingham’s O2 Academy on “The hottest group in the Celtic Friday night. Two brothers – former realm these days” rugby player Barry and Dan Murphy “Altan’s tireless touring has won them – are at the forefront of this folk rock a loyal following especially in America, band, backed up by two drummers and and helped them make impressive in- a keyboardist.” roads on world music charts” Ross, Alex (4 February 2017). “Her- – Billboard mitage Green, O2 Academy, Birming- ham - REVIEW.” Express & Star. Joshua Tree – September 15th Kern – Saturday, August 25th joshuatreeband.com kernmusic.com This New England Goup are a phenom- Kern is a contemporary folk band enal tribute to U2. The Joshua Tree pride from County Louth, Ireland, made up themselves with their ability to generate of Brendan McCreanor(uilleann pipes), a unique musical experience that does SJ McArdle (voice and guitar) and Barry not lend itself to impersonations. Kieran (fiddle). Sephira – October 20th “Trad music that crosses over into sephira.ie singer/songwriter territory … top-shelf Sephira - The Irish Violin Duo are un- playing with great songwriting and deniably one of the world’s most exciting interpretation” musical talents having appeared with - Irish Echo Andrea Bocellli, Kanye West, Michael Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhride Buble and Enya. This was all followed & Frances Morton by a two-year engagement as dancing September 9th violinists for the show, “Celtic Thunder.” Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhride, an award- Sephira have appeared extensively on winning (Oireachtas na Gaeilge) sean- PBS television in the US and have en- nos singer from Gweedore, Co. Donegal, tertained luminaries across the globe who plays accordion and uilleann pipes including: Prince Albert of Monaco, will be touring with a flute player, Fran- Muhammad Ali, Priscilla Presley and Eire Society elects officers The Eire Society of William Smith, Corre- and Ann Connolly Tolkoff. Boston held its annual sponding and Recording After a light lunch ac- meeting on Sunday, June Secretary; and Mary Ellen companied by Irish mu- 3 at the Aisling Gallery Mulligan, Membership sic, the board expressed and Framing in Hingham. Secretary. thanks to outgoing Presi- The new slate of officers Elected to membership dent Tom Carty for his elected for the 1918-19 on the board of directors leadership, and to retir- program year includes: were: Maire Concannon, ing board members Ann Richard Finnegan, PhD., Christian Dupont PhD, Doherty, Connie Koutou- President; Paul Doyle, 1st Denis Keohane, Mimi M jian and John McGuire Vice President; John Con- Langenderfer PhD, Bar- for their outstanding nolly, 2nd Vice President; bara Smith Fitzgerald, efforts on behalf of the John Mara, Treasurer; Margaret Walsh Sullivan Eire Society.

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Now Hiring Experienced RN’s, LPN’s and CNA’s. Please email resume to: [email protected] www.CurtinHomeCare.com Page 10 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com THE BIR’S CALENDAR OF IRISH/CELTIC MUSIC August 2018 Superstar Irish accor- honors at the Irish Music dionist and visionary Awards and Independent Sharon Shannon’s return Music Awards, and has to The Burren Back- built a strong following room series highlights in New England on the this month’s offerings of strength of its appear- Irish/Celtic music in the ances at, among other Greater Boston area (and places, the New Bedford vicinity). Folk Festival. Shannon, who will play New to the series is shows at 7:30 and 10 p.m. House of Hamill, which on Aug. 7 at the Backroom, will perform on Aug. 23 at has been a leading innova- 7 p.m. Named for an Irish tor for the Irish accordion, reel composed by fiddler bringing it into the realms Ed Reavy, House of Hamill of Appalachian, country, is a duo of considerable rock, hip-hop, reggae and pedigree: Brian Buchanan Portuguese music – and, (fiddle, guitar, mandolin, on her most recent album vocals) of Enter the Haggis “Sacred Earth,” African and Rose Baldino (fiddle, music. She’s also per- vocals) of the now-defunct formed with the RTE Con- Burning Bridget Cleary. cert Orchestra, Jackson Thrown together in some- Brown, Christy Moore, what desperate circum- Sinead O’Connor, and stances at a concert four many other luminaries, years ago, Buchanan and including Steve Earle, Baldino found that they most memorably on his hit clicked enough to become song “Galway Girl.” partners in music and, On Aug. 15, Scotland’s eventually, matrimony. Old Blind Dogs come Equally talented as clas- to the Backroom for a sical violinists as they are 7:30 p.m. appearance. traditional-style fiddlers, Through more than a the two combine original quarter-century and 13 and contemporary mate- albums, OBD (Jonny rial with tunes and songs Hardie, fiddle; Donald from the folk tradition, Hay, percussion; Aaron bringing with them rock, Jones, vocals, bouzouki, pop, and other influences guitar; Ali Hutton, pipes, cultivated over the years. whistles, guitar) has put Scottish trio Cantrip forth a rootsy yet cosmo- closes out the Backroom politan sound, definitively schedule for the month Scottish with hints of on Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Louth trio Kern will make two appearances in the Boston area this month, at the Irish Cultural Centre African, Caribbean, and Originating from the of New England and The Burren Backroom. American/old-timey. Edinburgh folk scene RUNA, which styles of the 1990s, the band Aug. 7. Brighde – who Ireland titles at Fleadh istics of French-Canadian Burren’s Backroom [see itself as a “Celtic roots” underwent a significant won the BBC 2 “Young Cheoil competitions. To music, including the dis- above] on Aug. 24 at 7 band, pays another visit change several years Folk Award” in 2016 – this they add an appeal- tinctive rhythm and foot p.m. While their music to the Backroom on Aug. ago and emerged with a began learning pipes at ing blend of bluegrass percussion, setting these has strong ties to the 22 at 7 p.m. Observing leaner yet still powerful the age of seven, and over and Americana styles and against a modern, indie- Irish tradition – especial- its 10th anniversary, the sound. Read an interview time has incorporated ele- a lively stage presence, type groove. ly through the presence international quintet of with Cantrip guitarist/ ments from Cape Breton, not to mention dapper The above shows begin of Brendan McCreanor’s Shannon Lambert-Ryan mandolinist/vocalist Eric Ireland, and even Eastern wardrobes – a combina- at 8 p.m. uilleann pipes and whistle (vocals, step-dancing), McDonald, a Boston-area Europe into her playing tion that, along with their Go to passim.org for and Barry Kieran’s fiddle Fionán de Barra (guitar), native, elsewhere in this style while collaborating two albums, has brought tickets and other infor- – there is an unmistak- Cheryl Prashker (percus- edition. with prominent perform- them acclaim well beyond mation. able contemporary folk sion), Zach White (guitar, For tickets and other ers such as Carlos Nunez, Ireland. • The Irish Cultural dynamic represented in vocals, mandolin), and details about Backroom John McSherry and Ross For well more than Centre of New England in the vocals and guitar of Maggie White (fiddle, events, see burren.com/ Ainslie. Mairi, a gradu- a decade, the Boston Canton will host folk-rock- S.J. McArdle. Dan Neely, mandolin) fuses Irish EventsCalendar.html. ate of Berklee College of Harbor Scottish Fiddle ers Hermitage Green on writing for The Irish Echo, and Scottish music with • Club Passim in Har- Music, is familiar to many School, held in August Aug. 12 at 6:30 p.m. The praised their 2016 debut Americana/roots, add- vard Square will fea- Boston-area audiences on Thompson Island, has Limerick-based quintet album “False Deceiver” ing harmonies, rhythms ture a concert of pipes through her partner- brought together leading is fronted by the Murphy as “an intriguing release.” and tints of of jazz, blue- and harp by Scottish ship with fiddler Jenna Scottish and Cape Breton brothers, Dan (lead vocals, Go to irishculture.org grass, flamenco and blues. sisters Brighde and Moynihan; well-versed in musicians from abroad, as dobro, guitar, keyboard) for details on these events. RUNA has won multiple Mairi Chaimbeul on traditional harp, she has well as the Boston area, and Barry (vocals, elec- • The annual “Celtic gone on to explore jazz- to share their skills and tric bass), with Darragh Roots and Branches” con- influenced, improvisatory knowledge with students Griffin (vocals, guitar), cert series organized by AUTO BODY REPAIRS (617) 825-1760 styles. of all ages. And in recent Darragh Graham (ban- WGBH “Celtic Sojourn” (617) 825-2594 Fresh from their ap- years, the school’s fac- jo, djembe, vocals) and host Brian O’Donovan FAX (617) 825-7937 pearance at this year’s ulty has given a “Redux” Dermot Sheedy (percus- will touch down at the Boston Irish Festival, concert at Club Passim sion, bodhran). Griffin, Shalin Liu Performance bluegrass-folk-Irish per- to close out the weeklong who writes most of their Center in Rockport on formers JigJam will play camp. This year’s show songs, has cited legend- Aug. 26 at 5 p.m. This at Passim on Aug. 14. The will feature fiddlers Bruce ary singer-songwriters year’s edition will include band’s members – Jamie MacGregor, Pete Clark, John Martyn and Nick widely-loved Irish sing- Free Pick-Up & Delivery Service McKeogh, Cathal Guinan, Troy MacGillivray and Drake as among his in- er-songwriter Robbie Daithi Melia, and Gavin Anne Hooper, pianist spirations, but the band O’Connell, accompanied 150 Centre Street Strappe – have extensive Andy Imbrie and guitarist also has delved into more by Cape Cod fiddlerRose traditional Irish creden- Eamon Sefton. latter-day pop-rock mate- Clancy; guitarist-vocalist Dorchester, MA 02124 tials, having collectively The Quebecois tradi- rial evoking acts such as Keith Murphy, whose earned more than 20 All- tion finds a 21st-century Florence and the Machine, traditional repertoire rep- milieu in Les Poules a Timbaland and Mumford resents the melting pots of Colin, who will appear and Sons. Hermitage New England and East- at Passim on Aug. 29. The Green has released one ern Canada; Boston-area band (Sarah Marchand, full-length album, “Save resident Joey Abarta, piano; Béatrix Méthé, Your Soul,” and three regarded as one of the best fiddle; Éléonore Pitre, gui- EPs, most recently “Gold uilleann pipers in the US; tars; Marie Savoie-Levac, & Rust.” superlative teenage fid- EIRE electric bass; Colin Savoie- Kern, a trio from Louth, dler Haley Richardson; Levac,mandolin, guitar, will perform at the ICCNE and dancers Kevin Doyle bouzouki, banjo) offers on Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m.; and Evelyn Miller. some familiar character- they’ll also be in The See rockportmusic.org/ pub celtic-roots. • The Mostly Celtic JOHN C. GALLAGHER Quartet – the duo of 795 Adams St. • Dorchester John and Theresa Bielecki Insurance Agency Owens along with Denya AUTO INSURANCE Levine and Julie Charland “President’s Choice” Specializing in Automobile Insurance for over a half – will present an evening of Celtic and seafaring century of reliable service to the Dorchester community. music on Aug. 16 at 6:30 Serving Lunch & Dinner New Accounts Welcome p.m. at the Truro Library’s 1471 Dorchester Ave. at Fields Corner MBTA Summer Concerts on the Green series [facebook. Every day, Phone: 617-265-8600 com/TruroSummerConc- “We Get Your Plates” ertsOnTheGreen]. 7 days a week – SEAN SMITH bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 11 THE DEATH OF A BOSTON-IRISH TITAN In August 1890, the life of John Boyle O’Reilly was tragically cut short

By Peter F. Stevens BIR Staff On Aug. 10, 1890, stunning news spread through Boston and across the nation: John Boyle O’Reilly was dead at the age of 46. During that summer, exhaustion had plagued this seemingly indefatigable man. While serving as a judge John O’Reilly passed away in his summer home, in at the National Irish Athletic Association’s annual Hull, in August 1890. Today, his house is the Hull games on Aug. 6, he shrugged off a dizzy spell as the Public Library. Photo by Peter F. Stevens result of his heavy workload at the Pilot, figuring that a few nights of solid sleep would take care of the problem. future “father of the IRA” John Devoy, had played a Sleep, however, had rarely come easily to him. It was key role in procuring the ship and in introducing his not so long ago that the former Fenian rebel and Royal fellow plotters to the New Bedford men who literally Army cavalryman had been sentenced to be hanged for helped to launch the mission. treason against the Crown, a sentence that was later The crew of the whaler rescued the six Irish pris- commuted to hard labor in Western Australia. He oners two days later, on April 17, and the Pilot was Prison photo of John Boyle O’Reilly, who was ini- pulled off a daring escape to the United States aboard a one of the first newspapers in the world to break the tially sentended to hang for treason against the New Bedford whaling ship and eventually ended up in stunning news of the plot’s success, an event that was Crown but whose sentence was commuted to hard Boston, where, wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes, O’Reilly always to fill O’Reilly with pride for a blow struck labor in Western Australia. would become “the most famous Irishman in America.” against his former captors. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress. Early in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 10, O’Reilly For the Pilot, O’Reilly wrote on a wide array of for the unveiling of the Crispus Attucks Monument walked into the office of his summer home in Hull, topics that included his advocacy of equal rights for on Boston Common and of the Pilgrim Monument, in Massachusetts, and settled into a chair. He lit a cigar blacks, his diatribes against anti-Semitism, and his Plymouth, in 1889. and opened a book. His wife, Mary, went into the office espousal of better treatment of all immigrants. He Always a believer in the ideal of a fit mind in a fit a few hours later to coax him to bed. She found him also made the Pilot an outlet where some of the era’s body, O’Reilly loved sports and exercise, and he wrote slumped in the chair, his left hand resting on the book, finest female writers and poets could have their work “Ethics of Boxing and Manly Sport” in 1888. He was his cigar smoldering. When she tried to wake him, he regularly published. His enlightened views on many a fine athlete who loved to row and canoe whenever did not move. She sent a servant racing for the doctor. social and cultural issues notwithstanding, O’Reilly his brimming schedule allowed. It was scant wonder that John Boyle O’Reilly had proved a conservative Catholic with traditional views By August 1890, O’Reilly stood at the heights of been fatally worn down. Since his harrowing escape of men’s and women’s roles in the church and in the career success. He was tired, to be sure, plagued from Australia in 1869, he had worked ceaselessly to household. by insomnia, but no one who knew him suspected carve out a brilliant career as a reporter, editor, poet, His status as the newspaper’s editor and part- that he was working himself to death. In the frantic novelist, and essayist. A man who did not like to ac- owner not only afforded O’Reilly plenty of space for minutes after his wife found him unconscious in his knowledge any physical limits, he pushed himself hard, his editorials and articles, but also a healthy salary Hull study, a doctor’s efforts to revive him resulted in and in terms of life experience, he was 46 going on 86. of $5,200. The man who had desperately wondered no more than a faint stirring. By 5 a.m., John Boyle His hellish experiences as an Irish rebel and prisoner if he would die in the boiling heat of the Australian O’Reilly was dead. haunted him, filling many of his poems and press. bush, and who had been willing to die in his attempt His public funeral was – and remains – one of the By 1876, O’Reilly was a man on the rise in Boston’s to escape that fate, had truly “made it in America.” largest in Boston’s annals. Attesting to the status and the nation’s literary and newspaper circles. Hap- O’Reilly’s written output was prodigious. His liter- of the Irish rebel and immigrant who had bridged pily married and having bought the Pilot in partner- ary resume – not taking into account his work at the Boston’s social and ethnic prejudices, the city’s Irish ship with Boston’s Archbishop John J. Williams after Pilot – would include the following works: “Songs, and Yankees turned out to honor the man who had the paper’s owner, Patrick Donahoe, was financially from Southern Seas,” 1873; “Songs, Legends and Bal- lived his all-too-short life with uncommon passion and ruined by the Great Boston Fire of 1872, O’Reilly was lads,” 1878; “The Statues in the Block,” 1881; and “In courage. He stands as both a transitional and pivotal scaling the ladder of success. Bohemia,” 1886. In 1878, his novel “Moondyne” drew figure in Boston’s history. O’Reilly’s elation of rescuing the Pilot was tempered heavily from his horrific experiences as a prisoner in Today, at his burial site, in Holyhood Cemetery, in by his worry over a secret that only a handful of men Western Australia. Brookline, a boulder from his birthplace, West Meath, knew: The New Bedford whaler Catalpa had anchored A compelling orator, he was much in demand among stands above the plot. The stone is a fitting symbol of off Western Australia, and a plan to free six of O’Reilly’s Irish literary societies, and at political events, tour- the one-time Fenian rebel who first fought tyranny, fellow prisoners from the horrors of Fremantel Gaol ing the country several times on the “rubber-chicken then escaped it, and went on to condemn it in his new and forced labor in Australia quarries and the bush circuit.” He was also selected over such literary lions nation. In the history of the Boston Irish, John Boyle country was nearing its climax. O’Reilly, along with as Oliver Wendell Holmes to write the dedication verse O’Reilly was the indispensable man. Meet The Kelly Girls … the perfect ‘midlife-crisis band’ (Continued from page 1) by their folk/contemporary style and The Corrs’ popular version. to the album. things to talk about or stories to share stage presence. Before long, she started Most of the other tracks are Kelly Girls It’s the kind of repertoire and presen- when they gather. But in the end, the joining them up on the stage, and then originals, which contain a lot of the lyri- tation that would work at a St. Patrick’s instruments come out, the voices start one day Beaudette told her she wanted cal and thematic aspects of songs from Day bash, a mellow folk coffeehouse, or a singing, and The Kelly Girls are doing to start an Irish band – and she wanted folk tradition. There’s the title track by fine summer’s evening on a town green, what they love. Keating in it. Keating asked a fiddle- Beaudette – a lovingly expressed assort- where people just want to clap and sing “Our rehearsals tend to be a great playing friend, Therese Gerene, to join ment of blessings (“May you always have along, even get up to dance. Whatever blend of laughter and play,” says Keat- up, and the band was off and running. four walls/when the wind is blowing the setting, though, the description ing. “We emphasize fun and friendship When Gerene left two years later, Keat- high/and a roof for the rain/and a fire to “Celtic band” fits them quite snugly, say but are also ready to work hard and ing reached out to Kerwin, whom she’d sit beside”), with a cheerful pas de deux The Kelly Girls. devote time to prepare new material known and occasionally played with for between Kerwin’s fiddle and Keating’s “The term ‘Celtic music’ refers to a sto- and arrangements – and, when a gig is more than 10 years. whistle at the end. Another Baudette rytelling genre, complete with varying near, putting in extra effort to be tight “At that time,” Kerwin recalls, “I creation is “Molly Kool,” a portrait of a degrees of instrumentation and lyrics,” and together. We often get side-tracked wasn’t really looking to join a band. I seafaring lady who takes no guff from explains Beaudette. “While we totally with eating, drinking, and merriment was busy with kids, work, etc., but I anyone, least of all her crew (“Hey boys, respect the historical compositions that – Chris is an amazing chef – but we also agreed to come out and maybe sub in don’t mess with Molly/she’ll break you if we carry forward, we recognize that love to work as hard as we play.” while they found their permanent per- you do/Hey boys, don’t mess with Molly/ we are also part of a new generation of “I have sung in a variety of choirs son. We played for a few hours, had a unless you’re just a fool”). stories. I think we all feel connected to and choruses and just love the harmony nice meal, perhaps a drink, and I was The winsome “Daffodils,” full of ad- our common humanity and the thread of aspect of an ensemble,” says Hatch, a so inspired by their talented playing, miration for pastoral beauty, is a joint hope and dreams that weave us together songwriter who plays guitar, harmonica, harmonies, songwriting, and just how Baudette-Keating venture – and for continue to connect us to each other.” and banjo. “Although we are few in lovely these women were. I was thrilled. Keating, a satisfying accomplishment. “It’s about the people, the land, the numbers the harmony we create is such I really couldn’t believe it, we seemed “It was inspired by a poem I’ve always hardship, the joy,” says Hatch. “So we a spirit lift.” to click musically and all of a sudden loved, ‘ I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,’ constantly are on the lookout for tradi- Beaudette, a full-time musician (she music was back in my life. by William Wordsworth. I wanted the tional and contemporary Celtic songs to plays guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, and “It helped that my three children all song to live up to that feeling it evokes add to our repertoire and inspiration for clavietta) and songwriter like Hatch, encouraged me to go for it,” she adds. in me. The process of co-writing was a new song to write. agrees: “Our gatherings are quite ani- The name “Kelly Girls” has a spe- unique to me, and I wasn’t quite sure “We love to rise to every and any oc- mated, and it usually takes a bit of time cial resonance in post-World War II where we were going with bringing our casion and make that connection with for us to catch up with each other and American history, referring to both the parts together, and how we would move our audience,” says Keating. “We have focus on the task at hand. We really pioneering temp company and its em- from poetry to song lyrics and from main an extensive repertoire which we like to enjoy each other’s company and have ployees, as the band notes on its website. melody to an instrumental, and end up mix up depending on the setting. When grand interests in each other’s lives, Although the company changed its name with a song we loved. we play a full-length, two- or three-hour so we have to sort that out before we to Kelly Services in 1966, “Kelly Girl” “When we got there, it was pure joy.” concert, we experience the joy of chang- start making music. We often refer to endures as a catchphrase evoking an In a similar vein is Hatch’s moving ing things up and moving back and ourselves as the perfect ‘midlife-crisis era in which American women became “The Last Rose of Summer,” a medita- forth from rousing energetic pub songs band’ – which simply means we are an increasing presence in the workforce, tion on the passing of seasons that is full and reels and jigs to heartfelt ballads women of a certain maturity and we can presaging other societal changes and of metaphor and meaning – Kerwin’s and waltzes. We create the set list we handle a glass of wine at rehearsal and trends to follow. octave fiddle, which sounds like a cello, imagine to be the right fit and yet are still make fabulous music.” Historical significance aside, the 21st- adds a contemplative and soulful stroke. ready to change course or tempo when The band’s origins go back about five century Kelly Girls show themselves Steve Spurgin’s “Walk in the Irish Rain” we read our audience and their response years to a weekly open mic that Keating to be a versatile ensemble indeed on continues the bucolic-idyll theme, with to us. We like to energize our audience and her family regularly supported as their album. There are some everyone- some sailor-on-shore romance to boot and offer an experience. listeners and participants. They were join-in-type songs from tradition, like (“I’ve got three pounds and change/And “I often feel like we are sitting in one there one night when Hatch and Beau- “Wild Mountain Thyme” (onto which is I’ll sing you songs of love again/And when big circle with our audience – and forget dette were among the performers, and tacked a Swedish tune, “Sommervals”) I get too drunk to sing/We’ll walk in the that we are on stage and tied to a PA Keating – a Dublin native well-versed in and “Jolly Rovin’ Tar,” plus a jaunty Irish rain”). Beaudette and Kerwin’s system,” she quips. Irish traditional music – was impressed rendition of “I Know My Love” that’s in “Another Goodnight,” a combination For more about The Kelly Girls, see much the same spirit and cadence as song and waltz, provides a fitting end thekellygirls.com. Page 12 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com are “Organised Chaos,” with its high-tide/low-tide ing centered on a CD Reviews arrangement (and deft melody and rhythm work by unifying theme Emer); “Mighty Makena’s,” which starts with Carlin’s or vision endures, By Sean Smith low whistle gamboling leisurely over a keyboard and including in Celt- Connla, “The Next Chapter” • The second full- electric guitar-driven jazz-blues vibe before shifting ic music circles, as length album from this young Northern Ireland quintet into an accented up-tempo jaunt led by Conor’s uilleann this latest release shows a band that has distilled numerous traits of the pipes; and “The SS Baychimo,” featuring some gorgeous from Scotland’s Irish folk revival: a bit of Flook here, some Moving interplay between Starrett’s acoustic guitar and Emer’s Polwart shows Hearts there, traces of Solas, Lúnasa, perhaps some harp, accompanied by the Arco String Quartet. (and also the new Grada, and so on. And there is absolutely nothing wrong The album’s five songs spotlight McCafferty’s as- recording by her with that – we all draw inspiration from somewhere, sured, solid vocals – keeping with Connla’s overall fellow Scot Aidan so why not from the best? Nor is this to imply that mien, her impressive range and command bespeak a O’Rourke, to be Connla’s sound is derivative or lacking in originality. grounding in rock, pop and jazz. Two of the five songs reviewed next F o r o n e on “The Next Chapter” reflect a continuing fascination month). thing, there among Irish performers with Americana: the tradi- One of the fin- is the high de- tional “Wayfaring Stranger” and a cover of “Julie,” a est singer-song- gree of musi- stark but profound slave-mistress dialogue written by writers around – in folk or any other genre – Polwart cianship from, Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens, who appeared at is an articulate, thoughtful observer of the human in particular, this year’s July 4th extravaganza at the Hatch Shell. condition who brings an astute balance of dignity and A l l - I r e l a n d Irish/British Isles folk revival giants Sean Tyrrell (“One empathy to her art. She’s taken part in collaborations c h a m p i o n s Starry Night”) and Dick Gaughan (“Sail On”) are also that fall into the concept-album domain, such as a re- Ciaran Carlin represented here. The remaining song is a spellbinding cording of contemporary songs about Charles Darwin, (flute, whis- rendition of “One Last Cold Kiss,” from 1970s heavy- and the wonderful “Songs of Separation” project. tle) and Conor metal pioneers Mountain, imaginatively reworked as “A Pocket of Wind Resistance” (which originated as Mallon (uil- Celtic acoustic rock. (One quality-control issue: The a stage production for the Edinburgh International leann pipes, names of Gidden and Gaughan are misspelled in the Festival) is arguably her most ambitious undertaking whistle), not CD liner notes.) yet: a spoken essay that assembles great themes – the to mention Connla has achieved a foothold here in Massachu- cycles of life and death, the persistence of place and harpist-pia- setts, having performed at last month’s New Bedford memory, and interdependence among living creatures nist Emer Mallon – her harp adds a distinctive texture Folk Festival; they’ll be at The Burren Backroom on (human and otherwise) – interspersed with both tradi- not typically heard in most Irish ensembles. Rather Sept. 9. If this “Next Chapter” is any indication, the tional songs and her own compositions. Polwart weaves than shaping traditional tunes to meet their creative rest of the band’s story will really merit the attention together history (some of it personal and familial), whims, Connla composes their own instrumentals of Bay State Irish music aficionados. [connlamusic.com] lore and legend from her home district in Midlothian which, while well within the framework of tradition, – which, among other things, includes the ruins of a are marked by syncopations and other flourishes often Karine Polwart with Pippa Murphy, “A Pocket medieval hospital. Birds, a motif throughout Polwart’s augmented with rock and jazz stylings by the rhythm of Wind Resistance” • The “concept album” lives on. work, also figure prominently on “Pocket of Wind Re- section of Paul Starrett (guitars, bass) and Ciara Even in the digital music era as LPs and CDs have sistance”: The title itself refers to the aerodynamics of McCafferty (bodhran) – with guest appearances by given way to playlists of random tracks from assorted, migratory flocks of geese, which Polwart sums up in a percussionist Fintan Mulholland. Highlighting these wide-ranging sources, the idea of a full-length record- phrase that becomes a refrain, and indeed a rallying cry for humanity: Stepping up, falling back, laboring, resting – “Because we’re not going to make in on our own,” writes Polwart in the liner notes. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” Anchoring the narrative is the story of Will and Roberta Sime, whose daughter Molly Kristensen later COME VISIT ANY became Polwart’s neighbor, and the subject of her previously recorded song, “Salter’s Road,” reprised here in a fuller context, as is another early Polwart creation, “Rivers Run.” Other songs include “Through the Heather,” “The Lark in the Clear Air” and “The SOMERS PUBS Death of Queen Jane,” from tradition, and “Now Westlin Winds” from the pen of Robert Burns. Polwart’s lovely singing has always complemented her writing, and LOCATION FOR QUALITY FOOD, her speaking voice is much the same – never prone to excessive histrionics or declamation, preferring to let the words do the work. HOSPITALITY & LIVE MUSIC Her co-star here is Pippa Murphy, the album’s co- producer (with Polwart) and sound designer. Murphy creates ambient patchworks that are as integral to 7 NIGHTS A WEEK! the album as the words and music – from keening, primal-like background voices to field recordings from nature, notably the sound of birds’ wings in motion. Ultimately, the album reflects a hallmark of Polwart’s songwriting: envisioning tragedy not as an end, but part of a continuum that holds the possibility of renewal and redemption. Even as the listener digests the shat- tering climax of Will and Roberta’s tale, the comforting rhythm of her guitar riff for “Salter’s Road” is already ushering in the postscript, which connects us simulta- neously with past and recent present – and whatever else may come in the unending epic of existence. A beautiful and moving concept. [karinepolwart.com] 77 Broad St. 11 Marshall St. Boston, MA 02109 Boston, MA 02108 25 Union St. Genealogy conference 617.338.5656 617.367.0055 Boston, MA 02108 mrdooleys.com greendragonboston.com 617.742.2121 Aug 10, 11 in Newton hennessysboston.com Pathways to Our Past is Ancestral Research Asso- the theme of the 2018 Celt- ciation (TIARA) and the ic Connections Conference Irish Genealogical Society scheduled for August 10 International (IGSI), For and 11 at the Boston Mar- more details and t register, riott Newton in Auburn- visit the conference page dale. Co-hosts are the Irish at celtic-connections.org

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www.Gormleyfuneral.com bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 13 A look at the man behind the Playbills By R. J. Donovan Broadway in Boston, The pected second career in Succession planning Special to the BIR Boch Center, and the Am- publishing began.” It’s opening night for bassador Theatre Group Following his stint at for your business Disney’s “Aladdin” at The contract with New Ven- Boston Magazine, he met Boston Opera House. A ture Media to produce iconic Boston impresario distinguished looking Playbills for all their Jerome Rosenfeld, owner Presented by Brian W. O’Sullivan, CFP, ChFC, CLU theatrical productions, of Jerome Press, and a gentleman with silver hair It may be hard to imagine right now, but odds stands in the lobby with while the Huntington mainstay of the Boston friends. Several thousand and ArtsEmerson utilize arts community. Jerome are the business you’ve worked so hard to create ticket holders pass by him, Theatrebill. Press had published Play- will be owned by someone else in the future. never realizing the subtle Born in Brooklyn, and bill Magazine in Boston Eventually, you will either give up the helm impact he’ll have on their raised on the South Shore, since the ‘60s. (The New voluntarily when you retire, or involuntarily as evening. Montgomery received a York edition of Playbill the result of an unexpected event. That gentleman, Tim first-hand view of the en- dates back to 1884.) Montgomery, is president tertainment world when Rosenfeld was looking Charting a path and CEO of New Venture he was a boy. for just the right person for your small business Media Group, publishers During a recent inter- to run his company. Said Succession planning helps you specify, in of Playbill Magazine in view he said, “I have an Montgomery, “He was writing, what will happen to the business when Boston. uncle who worked on ‘The getting on and I just was Disney’s “Aladdin,” con- you retire, become disabled, die prematurely, Handed out to each pa- David Letterman Show’ impressed by what he’d tinues at The Boston . . . He started out as a done, what he’d built, how Opera House through or otherwise step down. It is not a one-time tron entering the theater, event, but instead a continuous the magazine includes stagehand on Broadway . . he lived . . . I really ad- August 5. comprehensive informa- . He’d take me backstage to mired him. He was in his Photo Courtesy New process that starts with your tion on the evening’s theaters in New York and 80s when we first met. He Venture Media Group goals, and builds and improves performance, cast biogra- later on, when the Letter- passed when he was 101 Despite this, the origi- over time. Your succession plan phies and photographs, a man show started, we’d go and came into the office nal purpose of Playbill is also a roadmap for you, your listing of acts and musical to the show together. It almost every day. Quite a was not to create memo- family and your employees numbers, plus related arts was pretty exciting stuff.” force of nature and he had rabilia. Montgomery to help ensure that, in the features and editorial Montgomery attended quite an impact on me.” explained that producers event you are no longer able content. Bowdoin College in Maine, Montgomery ran Je- are required to provide to run the company, any ill- while working as an NBC rome Press until buying a program by the terms advised decisions are kept to a page in New York during the company in 2009. of their agreement with minimum. By creating a succession plan today, the summer. His as- Of New Venture, he Actors’ Equity, the union you can make the decisions now about what will signment? “The Tonight said, “We operate inde- that protects actors’ rights happen to your company in the future. Show,” starring Johnny pendently, but you could and interests. Carson. “You know the consider us the Boston “If you hire an Actors’ What goes into a succession plan? geeky guy on ‘30 Rock?’ office ofPlaybill. We do not Equity actor, they need Like any strategy your business may already That was me.” own Playbill, but we are to have their information have in place, a succession plan follows the Remembering Carson, 100 percent responsible presented and their image same principles. It should address the who, he said, “He was pretty for publishing Playbill presented in a program. what, when, where, why and how you would like aloof and nodded at the in Boston. It’s the only And that’s what Playbill to transition your business. Your professional Tim Montgomery, presi- pages, but I never exactly market that has that con- has done all these many, had a chat! . . . One of my nection to the mother ship, tax advisors will be able to provide you with dent & publisher of Play- many years – provide a detailed guidance on setting up a succession bill Magazine in Boston. jobs was to deliver his let’s call it, on Broadway.” necessary service, not R. J. Donovan photo shirts to his office.” And while all Playbills just to the theater-goer, plan customized for you and your company. After graduating from are programs, not all pro- but to the presenters and Generally speaking, your succession plan should Playbill is the tactile Bowdoin, Montgomery grams are Playbills. Some producers.” address the following: memento of an unforget- joined VISTA, then known local theaters produce “Boston is a great the- • Your goals – what do you want from the table night at the theater. as the domestic Peace their own programs, which ater market,” he said, business when you exit? New Venture is a multi- Corps. He later got a job audiences often refer to pointing to the phenom- • Your successor(s) – who will take over and faceted marketing, pub- at legendary Boston radio as a playbill. It becomes enal interest in produc- are they prepared? lishing, travel, and the- station WBCN. FM radio a challenge to protect the tions like “Hamilton,” • Ownership – what will future owner roles be, atrical services company was a new phenomenon at brand. “Book of Mormon” and the and what will the ownership percentages look based here in Boston. In the time and ‘BCN reigned “There’s always the world premiere of “Moulin like? addition to publishing the as the king of underground problem of people refer- Rouge.” • Management – how will you keep key New England edition of radio. ring to Playbill as a ge- However, as the inter- employees on board through the transition and Playbill Magazine, they He started as “the kid neric,” Montgomery said. net consumes more and beyond? also publish the tourism who writes and sells the “(It’s) the old Kleenex more of our print media, ads,” and rose through the problem. Every piece of • Transfer plans – what are the steps involved magazine, Panorama – what does the future hold in the transfer, and what is the timeline? The Official Guide to ranks to become general paper’s a Kleenex and for Playbill? Boston; and Art New Eng- sales manager. Kleenex has to fight and “Playbill is part of the • Triggering events – what events (death, land, the region’s leading When the broadcasting fight to keep it legal and theater-going experience,” disability, retirement, divorce, bankruptcy) will contemporary art and chapter of life came to a protect it. Same thing said Montgomery. “It’s start the transfer process? culture magazine. close, he was contacted out with Playbill.” part of the tradition. • Purchase price/financing – Where will the Montgomery and his of the blue by the owners As keepsakes, Playbills People want it. They funds come from for a buy-out and what are the team also operate Show of Boston Magazine, where are highly sought after don’t leave it behind. They tax implications? of the Month Club, the na- he soon became publisher. among theater fans, not take it with them after a tion’s oldest membership- He admits he didn’t know only for hugely successful show. They cherish them Other considerations based discount theater a great deal about publish- shows, but also for those as a keepsake of a special Your succession plan will also have an impact ticket club, and The Travel ing, but said, “As it turned shows that disappear after event.” on both your retirement plan and estate plan. Club (an offshoot of Show out, running a magazine is a painfully short run. Happily, he assured Some additional considerations you will need to of the Month). Addition- much like running a radio People collect them, get theater fans, “I don’t see- keep in mind: ally, they publish Theatre- station or a television sta- them autographed, frame ing anything replacing • Value of the business: You need to know bill, the official program tion. Largely the same them, trade them, even Playbill.” the true know the value of the company so you for several of the region’s structure, same kind of buy them, as evidenced R. J. Donovan is edi- are confident the succession plan is accurate. independent theaters. management challenges. by the number of Playbills tor and publisher of on- Keep tabs on company value regularly (every Boston presenters like And that’s how my unex- available on ebay. stageboston.com. three years) and update your succession plan to account for any changes • Estate Equalization: If a family member who works in the business is the chosen successor, you should indicate how you plan for equitable distribution of the remainder of your estate for other family members, such as other children, who have no knowledge of the business. • Sale Proceeds: You’ll also want to include instructions relating to taxes from the proceeds of the sale of your business, and detail what should occur regarding your personal estate plan. Timing matters Regardless of what form your succession plan takes, its ultimate success often hinges on timing. The sooner you start planning for the From left: Emilie Fiore, Gianna Fiore, Shauna Meehan, Alex Conley, Salomme Sweeney, Maeve McAl- eventual transition, the more flexibility you’ll lister, Eli Weldon, Aidan Hurff, Eoin sheehy, Grace Sheehy, Aisling Callahan, Charlotte Winarski, Katie Meehan, Katelyn Maguire, Isabella Fiore. have in making future adjustments because — let’s face it — the only thing that’s guaranteed O’Shea-Chaplin dancers win top place is change. Brian W. O’Sullivan is a registered representa- tive of and offers securities, investment adviso- in national competition ry and financial planning services through MML Over the week of July team placing first in the Disney World after quali- and they had a great time, Investors Services, LLC, Member SIPC (www.sipc. 4th, dozens of dancers country. fying through regional too,” she said. “The kids org). Supervisory Address: 101 Federal Street, from the O’Shea Chaplin Kids from the pro- New England competi- were all super psyched.” Suite 800, Boston, MA 02110. He may be reached Academy of Irish Dance gram, who hail from the tions, called feiseanna, In addition to the senior at 617-479-0075 x331 or bosullivan@financial- participated in the 2018 greater Boston area and last November. Academy team’s first place fin- guide.com. North American Irish New Hampshire, got the director Lisa Chaplin ish, the junior U16 team Dance Championships chance to participate in said she was proud of her placed fourth, and mul- [email protected] in Orlando, with the the competition as well as dancers. “They worked tiple solo dancers placed www.commonwealthfinancialgroup.com academy’s senior co-ed perform and spend time at hard, they were focused, in the top ten. Page 14 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com Evans leaves Boston Police for new role at BC (Continued from page 1) retired in 2012 after serv- him go, but he leaves the ing in the same role that Boston Police Department Gross presently holds: in very good hands with Superintendent-in-Chief. Commissioner Gross.“ “He could just talk to The appointment of people and get them to Gross, 56, has been widely immediately talk to him. praised from all quarters. He understood that people A 33-year veteran of wanted to see him as a the BPD who began his person.” career as a patrolman in Horace Small, who Dorchester and Matta- leads the Union of Mi- pan, Gross is very popular nority Neighborhoods with rank and file cops and and can be a tough critic civilians alike. of city government, and “Willie is a really good police in particular, says policeman who never took that Gross’s appointment himself too seriously. He caused him to “drop his didn’t get all locked up in coffee” with delight. A fan the badge,” recalls Robert of outgoing Commissioner Dunford, a former Boston Billy Evans, Small says The Evans family (from left): Paul, William, James, Thomas and John with Mayor Walsh and Ed Forry police commander who that the choice of Gross at the 2015 Boston Irish Honors luncheon, where the family was honored. Margaret Brett photo

Geraghty ASSOCIATES PROPERTY MANAGERS Studio and 1-Bedroom Apartments

Available in the desirable Mayor Martin Walsh, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans and Super- intendent-in-Chief William Gross at City Hall on Monday. Chris Lovett photo Cedar Grove section of Dorchester. to be the next in command dad died of a heart attack (Deputy Chief James and is a “home run” by Mayor at age 53 in 1974. Billy- District Chief John), and Walsh. Evans and his brothers— two who became police Studios reasonably “Willie Gross is a pro- Paul (who also served as commissioners of Boston foundly decent human Boston’s police commis- (Paul, 1994-2003, and, priced; being and the antithesis sioner), James, Thomas, currently, William). All of the stereotypical heart- and John — were honored five brothers scoff at the less, cruel police officer by the Boston Irish Re- notion of living anywhere 1-bedroom units; that’s in currency in so- porter at its annual Irish but South Boston.” ciety today,” said Gross. Honors luncheon in 2015. Billy Evans’ brother heat and hot water included. “I think his policy will be In a profile written for Tom observed that his an open door, because he the awards event, Jack dad would be proud of how Short walk to the Red Line. understands the needs Thomas wrote: “The Ev- the Evans boys have con- of black Boston and poor ans family survived those ducted themselves in life people. That’s not to heartaches by drawing on “He always told us Free off-street Parking. suggest that magically familiar resources, their that we should look out enlightenment will take faith in Gate of Heaven for one another, and I place, but I do expect Parish, their neighbors in think if he could see us Washing Machines that what Willie will South Boston, their con- today, it’s not the titles do is make community fidence in America, their and the successes that and Dryers in building. leaders more accessible loyalty to one another, would make him proud, to the captains and the and their adherence to the but it’s the fact that we’re precincts. He will make best of Irish values. To- still together,” said Tom Call Michael at 617-364-4000 it possible to have some day, the five surviving Ev- Evans. “That meant more real dialogue.” ans brothers count among to him than any honor or William ‘Billy’ Evans their achievements the achievement. If my father Geraghty Associates, Inc. is one of five brothers (a service of three of them could see us all together sixth brother, Joey, was who served in combat now, what would make Property Managers killed at age 11 by a hit- during the Vietnam War him proud is that we’re and-run driver in Southie (Paul, James, and John, still doing what he taught P.O. Box 52, Readville, MA 02137-0052 in 1968) who lost their who won two bronze us to do. We’re still taking mother to ovarian cancer stars), two who joined the care of one another.” Tel: 617-364-4000 Fax: 617-364-3157 in their childhood. Their Boston Fire Department Photography by Image Photo Service • Weddings • Anniversaries • Banquets • Portraits • Reunions • Groups • Families • Special Occasions (617) 291-6609

Harry Brett • Margaret Brett Hastings The official photographers of the Boston Irish Reporter bostonirish.com August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 15 Traveling People The Irish summer is a cornucopia of fun and interesting events

By Judy Enright TASTE OF DONEGAL Special to the BIR The 10th Annual “A Summertime is fun Taste of Donegal” Food time, especially in Ire- Festival will be held land. Every visitor can from Aug. 24 to Aug. 26 find something fun and in Donegal Town and something of interest will feature 20 celebrity when the weather is fine chefs, including Neven and the cities and towns Maguire, Kevin Dundon are bustling and bursting and Gary O’Hanlon, food with activities, events, tents, demonstrations, and festivals. music, fireworks and ACCOMMODATION other entertainment. See Some travelers say a tasteofdonegal.com for it doesn’t much matter more. where you spend the night While you’re in Done- because it’s just a place gal, be sure to stop by to stow your luggage and the Donegal Craft Vil- sleep. Well, there is some lage on the Ballyshan- truth to that, but there non Road to see many is much more involved great works for sale by in ensuring an enjoyable Papertree, McGonigle overnight experience. The Glass Studio, Michael place you choose to stay Griffin, Clare O’Presco, on your holiday should be Johnny McCabe, and Mi- fun, interesting, and add chelle McKee. My favorite a whole new dimension to artist at the Village is your trip. Niall Bruton, who cre- Ireland, like every- ates sculptures but also place, has undergone a designs lovely jewelry huge change in the accom- from precious metals and modation market. gemstones. I am the proud Airbnbs are everywhere owner of several pairs of now and even some Tour- his silver earrings, one of ist Board-approved B&Bs which I bought as a gift and farmhouse accom- Fun mural in the Quay Bar/Brasserie at The Lodge at Ashford. for my sister but couldn’t modations have added bear to part with! Airbnb to their listings. While you’re at the There is a huge range Craft Village, delicious of accommodation avail- lunches and pastries are able from private homes served at “Aroma,” which and hotels to castles and is highly recommended nearly all have a internet and a definite draw any- presence and website time I’m in the area. where you can take a look Another foodie event at what’s offered and book is the Seafood Weekend a stay. (Aug. 25-27) at Newport One of the most famous House in Newport, Co. Irish castles is the 5-star Mayo, where Padraig Ashford in Co. Mayo, Gannon of Croagh Patrick which has undergone mil- Seafoods will showcase lions in renovations and his fresh, native Clew upgrading in the past few Bay and Pacific oysters. years. When we stopped See newporthouse.com by this spring, Paula for more. Carroll, director of sales National Heritage and marketing, shared Week 2018 is planned in that the castle’s 83 rooms counties all across Ireland were fully booked at that from Aug. 18 to Aug.26. point. “We’re having a See heritageweek.ie for phenomenal year,” she listings of all the events said. Thanks to a BBC on the agenda. program, “Amazing Ho- Looking for active fun in tels – Beyond the Lobby,” August? There are daily that featured Ashford, activities offered for those bookings from the UK between 8 and 80 at the were up 1,530-percent, Killary Adventure Co. she said. in Leenane, Co. Galway. And, just an aside, Activities include bungee in case you wondered jump, a climbing tower, whether Ashford might be clay pigeon shooting, a good place to work. Car- archery, wakeboarding, roll noted that employees waterskiing, kayaking, had logged more than 600 windsurfing, and much years of service there, in- Courtyard at The Lodge at Ashford in Co. Mayo. Judy Enright photos more. You can stop by cluding 200 years in food for a day, a weekend or and beverage. General contemporary.” Further- For more information, So grab your beach Now. There will be 10 a midweek break. Visit Manager Niall Rochford is more, The Lodge has 24 visit the lodgeac.com chair, bathing suit and stages and performers killaryadventure.com for celebrating his 16th year designated family units BLUE FLAG towel, and head to one of including Fleet Foxes, more information. at Ashford and Carroll that suit multigeneration- BEACHES Ireland’s beautiful, clean Underworld, Villagers, Also in that area is said a number of other al travelers better. There Of course, the sum- beaches. and Mura Masa. See all- the Killary Sheep Farm employees had been on are only four family rooms mer focus for an island INTERNATIONAL togethernow.ie for more. where you can see sheep the rolls for more than in the Castle. is the surrounding wa- EVENTS From Aug. 9 to Aug. 19, shearing, sheep dog dem- 40 years. We visited The Lodge ter, beaches, and wa- Love horses? If so, you the Kilkenny Arts Festi- onstrations, bog cutting, THE LODGE where Phillip Kelly, the ter sports. This year, would have a hard time val will be held at various hill walking and more. So, you’re traveling in duty manager, said many Ireland has received a seeing a more beautiful venues in Kilkenny City. See killarysheepfarm. Ireland with your fam- wedding parties choose record number of Blue or exciting selection than The 10-day event will com ily and you love Ashford to stay. “We often have Flag certifications for 83 at the Dublin Horse Show include theatre, music, If you’re interested in Castle, the manicured three generations here for outstanding beaches and in Ballsbridge from Aug. dance, the spoken word, equestrian adventures, grounds and all the avail- a wedding,” he said. Visi- seven marinas. 8 to Aug.12. More than art, design and other Moorlands Equestrian able offerings, but, sadly, tors come from aboard but The Blue Flag standard 1,500 horses and ponies attractions. See kilken- and Leisure Centre in Ashford is a bit pricey for also from the local, Irish, is awarded by the Foun- annually participate in nyarts.ie for more. Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, your budget. The perfect and European markets. dation for Environmental more than 130 events, If you’re in Co. Mayo is one place to enjoy horse- solution, according to Car- All rooms are individually Education and is an in- competitions, and classes from Aug. 5 to Aug. 12, back riding or pony trek- roll, is the nearby Lodge designed and all suites ternationally recognized at the five-day show. be sure to see the series king with fully qualified at Ashford. feature fabric wallpaper citation for compliance Be sure to enjoy Ladies of Memorial Cup races instructors. Weather is no Located just a short and original art. with bathing water qual- Day at the show on Aug. 9, in the 2018 Achill Yawl problem since the Centre walk away (transporta- The ballroom at The ity and sewage treatment the Aga Khan on Aug. 10, Festival. On Aug. 18, the has indoor and outdoor tion can be provided), The Lodge not only accom- regulations. and the Puissance high Achill Beg Festival Yawl facilities. The Centre Lodge offers suites and modates weddings but Beaches and marinas jump competition on Aug. Race will be held at 3 p.m. also caters to disabled rooms and restaurants – also conferences, fashion that win the award must 11. See Dublinhorseshow. and on Sat., Aug. 25, there riders. See moorlands.ie everything you need. And, shows, and other gather- adhere to specific criteria com for more. will be an All Girls’ Yawl for more. Carroll said, staying at ings. for water quality, site Music, the spoken word, Race from Achill Sound. Enjoy anyplace and The Lodge costs about 40 No matter when you vis- management, safety, and comedy, theatre, debate, The Dominic Kelly Fam- every place you visit in percent less than the price it Ireland and the Lodge environmental education. art, and workshops will ily Butcher’s Race will Ireland. For more infor- at Ashford Castle. or Castle, Carroll said, Irish beaches and mari- be the fare for visitors to be held on Sunday, Aug. mation on activities and And, she added, rooms “there‘s no such thing as nas that won Blue Flag Curraghmore House, Co. 26, from Achill Sound at accommodation, visit at The Lodge are “funky, bad weather – just bad status last year retained Waterford, from Aug. 3 6 p.m. See achilltourism. Ireland.com. fun, different, and more clothing!” that status this year. to Aug. 5 at All Together com for more. Page 16 August 2018 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com