April 2012 Boston’s hometown VOL. 23 #4 journal of Irish culture. $1.50 Worldwide at All contents copyright © 2012 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. bostonirish.com Farewell to ‘Riverdance’ Famed troupe make final stop in Boston (April 13, 14, 15) In 1996, Bill Clinton was pres- movie soundtracks, TV coffee ident, William Weld was gover- commercials, even a “Simpsons” nor of Massachusetts, the old episode or two. Boston Garden was still stand- So what did “Riverdance” ing, the Red mean to Americans, and how SEAN SMITH Sox were still will it be remembered? Several in search of Irish music and dance experts their first world championship recently offered their thoughts. since 1918 – and a show called “Many contest the ‘pop’ na- “Riverdance” began touring cit- ture of ‘Riverdance,’ but in my ies in the United States, includ- mind, the most important con- ing Boston, hoping to duplicate tribution it made was to bring its success in Ireland. Irish dancing and Irish music Long story short? It did. to a much broader audience Now, “Riverdance” is prepar- than it previously reached,” ing to make its seventh and final says Susan Gedutis Lindsay, stop in town, on April 13, 14, 15 musician, author and former at the Boston Opera House, as Boston Irish Reporter arts and part of an extensive farewell to music writer. “Now, even kids’ its US tour that will conclude movies like ‘Shrek’ and ‘Barn- in June. yard’ have ‘Riverdance’-style The show will go on else- dancing sequences, even if just where in the world, but the for fun. That never would have imminent end of its 16-year run happened before ‘Riverdance.’” on American soil is prompting “’Riverdance’ put Irish dance reflection on the “Riverdance” on the world stage,” says Bos- phenomenon and how and why ton-area Irish dancer, teacher, it has made such an impact in and choreographer Kieran the US and around the globe. Jordan. “Before that time, Irish Toward that end, the show’s “Riverdance” will be stopping off at the Boston Opera House April 13-15 as it winds up its US tour. See related story, Page 12. Jack Hartin, Abhann Productions dance was mostly known in composer Bill Whelan penned its own circle of participants – his own musings in last month’s created as an “interval act” there seemed to be a national- tions into a modern, multicul- among dancers, dance families, Boston Irish Reporter: “For the for the Eurovision Song Con- pride component to the show, as tural setting struck a chord with parents, musicians, feis goers, dancers and musicians, Boston’s test would become a two-hour if it were an advance guard for audiences, and most critics, the Irish diaspora, and also folk audiences always feel a bit more extravaganza that not only Ireland’s ultimately short-lived everywhere – even, or perhaps festival audiences.” like their Dublin counterparts spawned world tours but also TV but undeniably optimistic Celtic especially, those who wouldn’t The Chieftains, along with – rowdier, more familiar, and specials, DVDs, and CDs. But Tiger era. know a hornpipe from an Uil- the Green Fields of America eager to celebrate their Irish as Whelan, along with numer- The artistic aspects of “River- leann pipe. For better or worse, and Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eire- roots.” ous other commentators, has dance,” of course, were what in the wake of “Riverdance,” ann tours, did a lot to bring Whelan readily acknowledges observed, the commercial and attracted the most attention. Irish music and dance became step dancing around the world that he did not foresee how critical success of “Riverdance” Its innovative transportation a bona-fide pop culture “meme,” into concert settings, she says, a seven-minute performance has only been part of the story; of Irish music and dance tradi- glimpsed or heard on Hollywood (Continued on page 11) ‘Who knows where Thomas Myles’s voyage I will be buried now’ into the deep unknown By Peter F. Stevens By John P. Rattigan BIR Staff Special to the BIR Third in a four-part series. He stood on the dock that cold April morning, gazing at the hills Nine years ago, in late July 2003, the Jeanie Johnston glided above Queenstown wondering if he would ever see Ireland again. into Boston Harbor. Onlookers could be excused for thinking He looked at the long line of third-class passengers, Irish men and what a splendid sight she was. The vessel, framed against the women, waiting to take the tender out to the ship anchored in the city’s skyline, did present a seemingly idyllic glimpse of days channel, a common scene in this seaport town. when canvas sails and wooden hulls ruled the seas. The Jeanie He knew what they were thinking. He could see it in their faces. Johnston, however, was a replica of the Famine ships – “coffin Not so much fear as a mixture of excitement and anxiety. The last ships” – that ferried the human wreckage of An Gorta Mor – “the goodbys were finished and now they were heading toward a new life Great Hunger” -- to America’s shores. She testified to the peril- in an unfamiliar land seeking prosperity and security or whatever ous journey that hordes of gaunt, traumatized “Famine Irish” else it is they thought was needed to make their lives complete. made to Boston and other ports from 1846-50. Their travels were ‘Crusher’ Casey in his heyday. He almost wished that he could tell his story to each of his fel- anything but pleasant. low passengers. Yes, Thomas Francis Myles was leaving, but this In his American Notes, Charles Dickens wrote of the misfortunate The Mighty Casey fam- was not for the first time. Tom Myles was born into a comfortable immigrants, “If any class deserves to be protected and assisted by ily returns to the old middle-class family in Fermoy, County Cork in 1849. He was fortu- the government, it is that class who are banished from their na- Dorchester neighbor- nate enough to obtain a good education at St. Colman’s College in (Continued on page 18) hood. Page 6. (Continued on page 6) Page 2 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com THE EIRE SOCIETY OF BOSTON The Gold Medal Awards

2012 Gold Medal Dinner & Award Ceremony The Eire Society cordially invites you to attend the seventy-fifth annual Gold Medal Award Dinner honoring the 2012 Gold Medal Award Recipients Ronan Tynan & Seamus Mulligan On Thursday May 10, 2012 6:00 p.m Reception followed by dinner The Hampshire House, 84 Beacon St. Boston $125 per guest. Invitations in the mail April 10 Information: Connie Koutoujian, 781-899-3140

Geraghty ASSOCIATES PROPERTY MANAGERS Studio and 1-Bedroom Apartments Available in the desirable Cedar Grove section of Dorchester. Studios reasonably priced at $750; 1-bedroom units at $925; heat and hot water included. Short walk to the Red Line. Free off-street Parking. Washing Machines and Dryers in building. Call Michael at 617-364-4000 Geraghty Associates, Inc. GERARD’S ADAMS CORNER 772 - 776 Adams Street Property Managers Dorchester, MA 02124 P.O. Box 52, Readville, MA 02137-0052 617-282-6370 Tel: 617-364-4000 Fax: 617-364-3157 Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 3 Ireland President Michael D. Higgins to visit Boston May 5 The Irish Consulate in Boston has confirmed that ting tribute to the victims of the Great Irish Famine.” to Cork in 1847” by Catherine B. Shannon, Professor Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins will make an Full details of the Famine Commemoration are ex- Emerita, Westfield State University. Reception and official visit to the city on May 5, and will officiate in pected to be made public later this month. The sched- refreshments, Members: $10, Non Members $15.00. ceremonies in remembrance of the Irish Famine. ule of related events is available on the BIR website, Reservations required: 617 330-1737 “Mr. Jimmy Deenihan T.D., Minister for Arts, bostonirish.com Irish Cultural Center of New England events- Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Chair of the National Most Irish organizations are planning commemora- May 12: “The Great Irish Famine: Remember Skibber- Famine Commemoration Committee, welcomed the tive events, including: een. - The evening will begin at 5:30pm with a lecture, news that President Michael D. Higgins will lead the Sunday, May 6 2012 a meal and a viewing of the award-winning film The official representation at this year’s overseas Famine AOH Lawrence Event- Division 8 AOH and LAOH Great Irish Famine: Remember Skibbereen. Seamus Commemoration, which takes place in Boston on Satur- will hold a Commemoration of the Great Hunger on Mulligan and others will conduct a conversation and day, 5th May 2012,” the Consulate said in a statement Sunday, May 6, 2012 at the An Gorta Mor Memorial Q&A. Location: ICC, Canton. Deenihan said, “I am delighted that President Hig- in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery, 29 Barker May 31: “The History of the Irish Famine and gins is leading the official representation at the Fam- Street, Lawrence, MA at 1:30 p.m. A host of County, its Impact Today” - Professor of Irish Studies Jo- ine Commemoration in Boston this year. Many Irish State and National AOH and LAOH representatives seph Lee from New York University will lecture on emigrants during the Great Famine, and indeed after along with other dignitaries are expected to be pres- the Irish Famine. Professor Lee is widely recognized that period, have settled in Boston and on the eastern ent. The memorial service will include an oration on as a leading expert on 19th and 20th century history coast of the United States of America and I know that the great hunger, a prayer service, and the laying of and politics, particularly Irish, British and European the community in Boston are working hard to ensure a wreath at the memorial. Light refreshments will be studies. Former member of the Irish Senate and cur- that the Commemoration will be a dignified and fit- served following the service. rent member of the Royal Irish Academy, Lee is also Division 8 A.O.H. President William J. Sullivan the author of numerous publications including three recently said: “It is fitting and appropriate that we books on Irish history. The evening will begin at 6:00pm Stonehill grad Toni Earls pay tribute to the Irish of Lawrence and to the famine with a reception, followed by the lecture. Location: descendents who settled in Greater Lawrence. It is Downtown Boston. named IIIC Citizenship our turn to give back to those who gave so much. This Other events coming later this year include: Cohas- monument stands as a testimony to their accomplish- set Historical Society event, Sunday, September 9, Outreach Worker ments and their lives!” 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.“The Wreck of the Brig St. John and Its Irish International Immigrant Center/ Mont- Commemoration, 1849-2012: An Illustrated Lecture” By Kielan O’Boyle serrat Aspirers Incorporated event - 2 p.m. - 5 by Catherine B. Shannon, Emerita Professor History, Special to the BIR p.m., 19th Annual Black & Green Event, “Hunger Westfield State University, at the Cohasset Historical The Irish International Immigrant has appointed Then, Hunger Now, Hunger Here, Hunger There; Society, 106 South Main Street, Cohasset MA Toni Earls as its new Citizenship Outreach Worker, The Famine in 19th Century Ireland; Hunger Today: October 2012- Brig St. John event, Cohasset a position that will enhance the IIIC’s mission of pro- Locally and Globally. An afternoon of performance Annual Commemoration for the victims of the Wreck moting civic engagement and helping Irish immigrants art, thematic presentations, cultural exchange and of the Brig St. John, October 7, 1849 sponsored by the integrate into society here in the States. She will be community building. Monserrat Aspirers Hall, 358 Ancient Order of Hibernians at St. Anthony’s Church promoting the benefits of becoming a US citizen and Washington St, Dorchester MA. For More information and Cohasset Central Cemetery, Cohasset, MA. Date helping individuals connect with our Legal and Citi- contact Ally Tzovaras at the IIIC at: 617.542.7654 ext. to be confirmed. zenship Services. 43 or [email protected] Irish Cultural Center of New England event Toni joins the IIIC team Charitable Irish Society and the Eire Society October 4: Famine Then and Now: A Look at the with a strong background event- at Forbes Museum, 215 Adams Street, Milton, 1840 Irish Famine and the Current World Famines in Irish Studies, which MA, 2 p.m. -5 p.m. “New England Responses to An Gorta in West and Central Africa A panel of historians and started with a semester Mor, 1845-1848.” The program will include tours of the nutritionists from Tufts University examine the causes abroad at the National Forbes Museum and two presentations: “Asneath Nicol- of famines, both in Ireland and throughout the world, University of Ireland, son in Ireland” by Professor Maureen Murphy, Hofstra with particular emphasis on the similarities between Galway. During her time University, Biographer of Nicolson. “Captain Robert the Irish Famine and the emerging current crisis in at Stonehill College, she Bennet Forbes and the Voyage of the USS Jamestown West and Central Africa More details to be announced. majored in English with a minor in Irish Studies. While studying in Ireland, Toni built a deep connec- tion to Ireland and after graduation, she returned to NUI, Galway to pursue a Masters in Irish Stud- ies followed by a Higher Diploma in Archaeology. Her academic studies developed a strong foundation for her understanding of the history, literature, and language of Ireland... and living in Galway gave her a fine understanding of the “craic.” When Toni returned the United States, she took an internship at the Irish Emigrant newspaper, which involved her in the thriving Irish community in Bos- The Irish American Partnership hosted its traditional St. Patrick’s breakfast on Friday, March 16 at the ton. By attending festivals, community events, and Boston Harbor Hotel. Featured speakers were, right, Frances Fitzgerald, T.D, Ireland’s first Minister for through her work with the paper, Toni feels she has Children and Youth Affairs; and, left, Professor Brian MacCraith, President of Dublin City University, become a part of the Irish community, adding that Ireland’s “University of Enterprise.” Several hundred guests at the breakfast also heard a performance she is looking forward to helping Irish immigrants of “Danny Boy” performed by the Boston Archdiocesan Boys Choir of St. Paul’s school, Cambridge. become US citizens. Harry Brett photos, courtesy of the Irish American Partnership APRIL CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Friday, April 6 New England, 200 New Boston Dr., Canton. Email: neckenburger at Cantrip Blackstone River Theatre, 549 The Irish Cultural Centre is sponsoring a free gene- [email protected]. Tickets: General Admission Broad Street, Cumberland, RI. 8 p.m.; $13 advance, $15 alogy lecture – The Irish in the 1940 Census – at 7:30 is $10; ICC members: $5. day of; 401 725-9272, riverfolk.org. Lissa Schnecken- p.m. Find out how this census was taken, and how Saturday, April 21 burger’s fiddling is uplifting and lively, and her sing- the information gathered can benefit your research. Joyce & Religions - A Symposium. Starts at 9 ing is gentle and evocative. Both in concert and in the Lecturer Michael Brophy is a professional genealogical a.m. in Devlin Hall on the Boston College campus. studio she is regularly accompanied by some of New researcher, heir search specialist, and lecturer in the Keynote speaker is theater critic, historical writer, England’s best musicians, including guitarist Bethany Boston area. Pre-registration required: Please e-mail political commentator, and Ireland’s leading public Waickman who will join Lissa that night. [email protected]. intellectual, Fintan O’Toole. The day will feature panel The Irish Cultural Centre presents La Gaeilge, a Thursday, April 12 discussions, a theatre performance, workshops, a tour day of Irish Language Immersion in conjunction with Gaelic Roots Presents: Irish Songs, a concert by of the Rural Ireland exhibit at the McMullen museum Cumann Na Gaeilge. The day includes conversation Cathie Rya in the Walsh Hall Function Room, 150 St. and much more. This event is free, but guests must & writing workshops, getting to know fellow students, Thomas More Rd. on BC’s Chestnut Hill campus. 6:30 pre-register online. and lunch will be served. Workshops are available for to 8:30 p.m. Free 617 552-0490. See [email protected];| Sunday, April 22 all levels. Begins at 10 a.m., runs to 2:30 p.m. $30 for bc.edu/centers/irish/gaelicroots. The Gaelic Roots series 3rd Annual Irish Hearts for Haiti. This benefit members and $35 general admission. Please call 781- is directed by renowned fiddler Séamus Connolly, BC’s fundraiser will take place at the Marriott Hotel in 821-8291 to register. Following the workshops join us Sullivan Artist-in-Residence, and sponsored by the Quincy from 2 p.m,. to 8 p.m. See Page 13 for more in the cottage for music and dancing. Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. Seamus details. Meitheal: Come and welcome spring with the hosts this monthly concert featuring the best in tra- Afternoon Tea & Spring Fashion Show: The Irish springtime tradition of symbolic whitewashing, ditional Irish music, song and dance. ladies of the Irish Cultural Centre welcome you to thatching, preparation/ demonstration, turf cutting, their annual spring fashion show with fashions pro- dancing, music and games for kids. All are welcome Friday-Sunday, April 13-15 vided by Dress Barn and jewelry provided by Spilada to take part in this fun tradition. Free event. Begins Broadway in Boston Presents: Riverdance – designs. Begins at 2 p.m. $25 per person. For more at 3 p.m. in the cottage. Final Tour! Boston Opera House, 539 Washington information or to purchase tickets, please call the Old-Fashioned Céilí Dance at Doyle’s Café. Live Street, Boston Ticketmaster 1-800-982-2787. See ICC at 781-821-8291. music! Dance lesson from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Music and dancing begins at 7 p.m. with special guest instructor stories on Page 1 and Page 12. Thursday, April 26 Aidan Vaughan. The Boston College Arts Festival. Runs through Saturday, April 14 April 28. Check main tent on O’Neill Plaza. Noon - 10 The Irish Cultural Centre is sponsoring a lecture: Sunday, April 29 p.m. 617 552-0490; bc.edu/offices/artscouncil. Every Steps for Sets and Sean-nós Dance Workshops The History of the IRA beginning at 8 p.m. Back by year, the Boston College Arts Festival brings the com- popular demand and continuing with our Irish lecture with instructor Aidan Vaughan! 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., munity together to celebrate the arts. Irish Music, Song Boston Percussive Dance, Cambridge. series, Professor Matthews will discuss the history of & Dance, Seamus Connolly and students, faculty and the IRA (Irish Republican Army). In January 1919, staff. Over 16,500 people attended the 12th anniversary Cathal Brugha, Minister of Defense, required the Monday, April 30 festival in 2010 – participating in art demonstrations, The Irish Cultural Centre presents an Irish members of the Irish Volunteers to swear an oath of enjoying music, dance and theater performances, allegiance to the Irish Republic, thus the Irish Re- Cooking Workshop: Irish Scones: ICC chef Seamus browsing through art exhibitions, listening to literary Healy will teach you how to make one of Ireland’s publican Army was born. In this lecture we will trace readings, and appreciating films. the history of the IRA from the War of Independence favorites, Irish Scones. 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the ICC (1919-1921) through the Civil War, the bombing cam- restaurant. $25 for members & $30 general admission. Saturday, April 28 paign in England, to its demobilization as a result of Pre-registration is required. To register please call the Blackstone River Theater Presents: Lissa Sch- the 1998 Peace Accord. The Irish Cultural Centre of ICC at 781-821-8291. Page 4 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Publisher’s Notebook Irish America has passionate link Ireland’s children to the island where we came from By Joe Leary erations removed from Ireland yet remains quietly and are on her watch Special to the BIR intensely Irish American. He is deciding now about a By Ed Forry The multitude of St. Patrick’s Day events we witness huge seven-figure additional investment in Ireland. Boston’s St. Patrick’s events were the occasion of the each year, with their music, speeches, singing, and No parades, no awards, no $10,000 a table dinners, visit to Boston of Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., the Ireland dancing, illustrates the passionate Irish-American just a connection to the old country. government minister who is designing new initiatives connection to the land of Ireland where our ancestors For six and a half years, we received $30 each month to protect the country’s children. were born. from a not so wealthy gentleman from Pennsylvania. He Fitzgerald, T.D., who serves in the Dail representing The nearly month-long series of parades, parties, must have felt very good about his generosity because city residents in the Dublin Mid West constituency, solemn dinners, “the wearing of the green,” official he kept to the monthly schedule. We don’t know how undertook a whirlwind set of public appearances that and unofficial visits from Irish many other Irish activities he participated in, but we included the launch of an initiative with the Irish Pasto- politicians, Irish educators, and are sure he loved Ireland. ral Centre, a St. Patrick’s breakfast speech hosted by the Irish businessmen -- all focused on We received a letter about 10 years ago from a law Irish American Partnership, a star turn as the honored celebrating Irishness and Ireland firm in Texas stating that a Catholic monsignor who guest at the Irish Network/Boston St. Patrick party at itself -- are public manifestations was pastor of a small Texas parish, had died and left our the Moakley Court House, and a visit to Holyoke for of deeply held feelings and loyalty organization a $15,000 bequest to be used for Northern that city’s St. Patrick’s parade. to who we are and where we came Ireland’s Catholic schools. He had been a modest donor Trained as a social worker, from. for several years, but we had never been in contact with with degrees from University There is a place in most every him other than by mail. After discreet inquiries, we College/ Dublin and the London Irish American’s heart and soul created a list of six small Belfast schools and delivered School of Economics, Fitzgerald that connects his or her spirit with $2,500 checks to each school in his memory. I’m sure was born in Cork and moved with Ireland. A former prime minister that each of the schools still remembers his caring her parents to Dublin at age 13. Joe Leary of Ireland once said to me, “We are and generosity since without exception they were all She spent 20 years working as a the envy of nations throughout the amazed that an American priest cared that much about social worker and family thera- world to have such intensity on our side.” small Catholic schools so far away. pist in Dublin and London. Be- The hundreds, probably thousands, of parades across I could go on for pages and pages listing the acts of selfless generosity on behalf of Ireland that I have Ed Forry fore her election to the Dail, she the United States, Canada, Australia, and Dublin that chaired the National Women’s were held last month tell only a small part of the story. witnessed over the years. Our first real benefactor in Council of Ireland (1988-1992) and was vice president One million Americans visited Ireland last year, and the United States, Mr. Charles F. Feeney, has, with of the European Women’s Lobby. at least that number, and maybe more, will do so this his foundation, given hundreds of millions of dollars to A member of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael year. I know many Irish Americans who have purchased Ireland. He devoted his life for many years to help solve party, she came to Boston just weeks after Kenny’s second homes in Ireland to firmly fasten themselves the violence and bigotry in Northern Ireland while also February visit, and she echoed his upbeat, optimistic to their heritage. helping to build and grow several Irish Universities rhetoric coming just one full year after the Fine Gaels From where I sit, as part of a national charity that that could never have done it by themselves. And all took control of the government in a power-sharing organizes Irish Americans on behalf of Ireland, I have of it anonymously until very recently. coalition with the Labour party. become keenly aware of the remarkable affection that Closer to home, three members of our board of di- “We hit the ground running,” she said in a March many Irish Americans have for their heritage. rectors have vacation homes in Ireland and give their 16 interview. “We have taken everything that has In a small mid-western town, a wealthy Irish- valuable time and support to our activities. come our way and in a very constructive, positive sort American farmer, now 75 years old and nearing the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are worthwhile expres- of way, and we wanted to rebuild our international end of his life, has been thinking about Ireland more sions of our affection for Ireland and our heritage, proud reputation. We felt that it had been damaged. We feel and more seriously for several years. He knows the statements on behalf of the Irish American community. one year around that we’re well on the way, not least country fairly well for having traveled there every And there are many other less well-known but effective of which is typified by our visits to America this week, year for some time. Three years ago, he contacted us and important Irish activities that also honor Ireland. and the kind of investment that we are getting from and began donating significant sums to us to be used They should all be encouraged. American companies. in assisting Irish education. No strings attached, he Joe Leary is president and CEO of the Irish American “Our message is that we are open for business, our keeps saying. “Just continue helping.” He is four gen- Partnership. international reputation has been won back, and that we have a very constructive approach towards business. We are reforming government, reforming the way things have been done. We are becoming more competitive Of the fanatic again, we had lost our competitiveness. We are resilient and we are turning things around.” Minister Fitzgerald said she had been chosen to estab- as a martyr lish a new focus on children and families, an expertise By James W. Dolan that has been part of her professional live for decades. “I am very honored to be appointed the first Minister Special to the Reporter During his lifetime, he was known as a fanatic, zealot, for Children and Youth Affairs,” she said. “It’s a new and madman. After his death, post which the Taoiseach decided to create at cabinet among abolitionists, he was a level in order to integrate the services for children which hero, revolutionary, martyr. In were spread across a lot of departments – education, the South he was condemned justice, health – to bring together integrated services as a murderer, terrorist, and for children. traitor. “We have had a slightly tortured history in relation I recently completed Midnight to children and institutions and abuse. I see this as Rising by Tony Horwitz, a biog- a turning point to child protection in Ireland. We are raphy of John Brown, who led going to have a referendum, we’re going to put to the the ill-fated raid on the federal people that now, in the constitution, children have armory at Harpers Ferry, Vir- rights; their voice should be heard and that their best James W. Dolan ginia, in 1859, eighteen months interest should be considered. before the start of the Civil War. Speaking about the pedophile crisis that has shaken It was a botched attempt to incite a slave revolution the Catholic Church in Ireland, Fitzgerald said, “We’re centered in the mountains of western Virginia. in a new place, I think it’s a kind of mutual respect. From their mountain hideouts, freed slaves and their The inappropriate deference isn’t there, and I say that abolitionist allies conducted guerilla warfare by raiding on the record. but there’s respect for the job the church plantations to increase their numbers and eventually has to do, respect for the job the state has to do, and dermine and ultimately eclipse a noble cause. Captain destroy the south’s “peculiar institution.” that’s what [Kenny’s] Cloynes speech was about. It was Brown and a group of his followers viciously murdered Ill-conceived and poorly planned, the raid was a marker, and it was saying in relation to the practices several innocent, unarmed, southern sympathizers doomed to fail from the outset. Captain Brown, as he which had been so exposed in the Cloynes report, that in Kansas, none of whom owned any slaves, in what was known, and most of his 21 followers, three of whom they simply weren’t good enough. known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. were his sons, probably knew that from the beginning. “And by the way: the state has failed as well, so there It was in retaliation for similar acts committed Dedicated abolitionists, they were prepared to sacrifice are state failings and church failings, and it’s about ad- against so-called “Free-staters,” who opposed Kansas their lives to end slavery. dressing both. And that’s what was in the Taoiseach’s becoming a slave state. The massacre seriously dam- Of the raiders, ten were killed in action when, on speech: ‘Enough is enough.’ ” aged Brown’s reputation even among abolitionists Oct. 18, 1859, a company of Marines stormed the and lent credence to the claim that he was a madman. engine house where Brown and his men were holding That reputation was redeemed, at least in the Boston Irish hostages. Seven, including Brown, were captured and North, when Brown’s steadfast opposition to slavery later hanged. Five conspirators, who were not in the prompted his bold raid. He expected to die when the engine house, escaped. No hostages were harmed. Four Marines assaulted the engine house but instead was townspeople, including the Harpers Ferry mayor, and seriously wounded when he was slashed and stabbed REPORTER one Marine were also killed. The Boston Irish Reporter is published monthly by: by a Marine wielding a sword. Whether someone is labeled a terrorist, zealot, or During his imprisonment and trial and the lead-up Boston Neighborhood News, Inc., madman is in the eyes of the beholder. The American to his hanging on Dec. 2, 1859, he impressed all who 150 Mt. Vernon St., Suite 120, Dorchester, MA 02125 Founding Fathers were considered fanatics and traitors witnessed those events with his dedication to the [email protected] www.bostonirish.com by the British and their sympathizers. Early Christian cause and his calm and courageous acceptance of his Mary C. Forry, President (1983-2004) martyrs were considered zealots. The leaders of the fate. Expecting a firebrand, they saw a dignified old 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland were viewed as traitors Edward W. Forry, Publisher man patiently explaining how slavery violated both Thomas F. Mulvoy Jr., Managing Editor and terrorists by the British occupiers. religious and constitutional principles. He exhibited William P. Forry, Contributing Editor Even the 2001 terrorists, who killed thousands of in- no rancor toward his captors and even thanked them Peter F. Stevens, Contributing Editor nocent civilians in what appeared to be senseless acts, for their kindness as he was about to be hanged. A are considered heroes and martyrs by many in Islamic News Room: (617) 436-1222 Ads : (617) 436-1222 devout Calvinist, he refused the services of southern countries. What we describe as collateral damage – the clergy because they tolerated slavery. Fax: (617) 825-5516 [email protected] unintended consequences of an attack – is viewed as Upon his death, he became a martyr to the cause of On The Web at www.bostonirish.com murder by relatives of victims and their sympathizers. freedom and human dignity. Union troops were soon Date of Next Issue: May 2012 The slaveholders in the South had no problem ratio- marching to a song that began: “John Brown’s body Deadline for Next Issue: Friday, April 20 at 2 p.m. nalizing and excusing their ownership of human beings; lies a-mouldering in the grave…” Thanks to poet Julia Published monthly in the first week of each month. first, they dehumanized them and then claimed they Ward Howe, it later evolved into “The Battle Hymn were better off than they would have been had they The Boston Irish Reporter is not liable for errors appearing in ad- of the Republic.” not been sold into slavery. They viewed the abolition- Approximately 600,000 soldiers died, North and vertisements beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. The ists, who aimed to deprive them of their property, as South, in the epic conflict that ended slavery and right is reserved by The Boston Irish Reporter to edit, reject, or cut fanatical terrorists. fulfilled John Brown’s legacy. any copy without notice. A laudable goal may lead to excessive means that un- Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 5 POINT OF VIEW / PETER F. STEVENS Now, the Irish are stalking the Masters in Georgia Messrs. McIlroy, McDowell, Harrington strut ‘major’ stuff

By Peter Stevens tend in all of the majors and BIR Staff perhaps add to the Emerald In July 2011, the gifted Northern Irish golfer Graeme Isle’s Tour trophy case. For McDowell tweeted the following words: “Darren Clarke all of the golf-mad Emerald – the first Northern Irish golfer to win a major in almost Isle, the surge begun by Dub- four weeks.” McDowell, winner of the 2010 U.S. Open, liner Padraig Harrington’s was lauding Clarke’s stunning triumph at the 2011 breakthrough at the 2007 Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington British Open, the latest in a run of “Majors magic” by and 2008 British Opens and Irish golfers after no linkster from the Emerald Isle the 2008 PGA Championship three of the last six majors. Two South Africans had snagged one of the game’s majors since Fred Daly has spread to the North and across the golfing globe. – Louis Oosthuizen and Charles Schwartzel – and in 1947. The question for those who play and follow the Some have mistakenly written that Harrington was German Martin Kaymer seized the other three. An Tour is whether Irish names will continue to appear the first Irish player to win a PGA tourney, butin obvious American retort is that Tiger Woods has been atop the leaderboard of the Masters, the US Open, the 1922, Paddy O’Hare, of Co. Louth, finished on top at both hurt and buffeted by his personal woes in this British Open, and the PGA Championship. the North South Open, at Pinehurst, the event not only time frame. Fair enough, but with Tiger’s legendary The game’s brightest young gun, Rory McIlroy, the on the line-up of the fledgling PGA circuit, but also roar resounding at the Arnold Palmer Invitational young Holywood, Co. Down, golfer who stormed to vic- considered one of the era’s preeminent professional and drowning out McDowell at the Bay Hill tract, in tory last in June at Congressional in one of the most contests along with the British Open, and the US Open Orlando, Florida, the upcoming Masters might well dominating performances in US Open history (and in in pre-Masters and PGA Championship days. provide a showdown between Tiger and one of Ireland’s the wake of a final-round collapse that cost him the Numerous golf observers, including this writer, long four major stars. As Irish Central’s Patrick Counihan Masters in April), proclaimed in 2011 that Northern believed that Harrington and Clarke had the games writes, “Tiger Woods has sent out a Masters warning Ireland had become the “world capital of golf.” A year to win a major and end Ireland’s post-Daly drought. to Rory McIlroy – after taming his compatriot Graeme later, as the 2012 majors loom and McIlroy chases the Either could still nail another major; however, it is McDowell in Florida… The win is the first for Tiger Augusta glory his implosion cost him last April, his McIlroy who has become “the man” in the Irish golf since the controversy surrounding his infidelities and victory last month at the Honda Classic – in which firmament. No one would be surprised if McDowell is seen as ominous for McIlroy and his rivals ahead of he withstood a vintage Tiger Woods’ charge – serves rises to the top of a major board either, rendering both the return to Augusta in a fortnight.” notice that McIlroy is ready to pick up where he left off McDowell’s and McIlroy’s boasts of recent Northern Although Woods might well back on track, and no in 2011. Of course, Tiger’s emphatic win in the Arnold Irish golf dominance hard to dismiss. Irish golfer has won the Masters, McIlroy, McDowell, Palmer Invitational over McIlroy’s fellow Ulsterman The rising superiority of Irish, other European, Harrington, and Clarke have shown they all have the McDowell last month is stirring rumbles that Woods Australian, and Asian players in recent years has stuff in a major way. The luck of the Irish – with a is back in the hunt against all of the Tour’s stalwarts. become a question that both bedevils and angers large dollop of skill – could end the island’s drought Hyperbole and national pride from McIlroy and American players and officials alike. Nonetheless, at Augusta. McDowell aside, one can’t downplay chances that a facts are stubborn things, as the adage states, and man from the Republic or Northern Ireland will con- the facts are that McDowell, McIlroy, and Clarke won LOGUE’S DIAMOND 100 years ago, he put the green in new Fenway Park

By Peter F. Stevens who ever really mastered that blinding experience BIR Staff -- Logue followed the plan to the letter. Opening Day always makes April special, but never When he and his men laid out left field they did not more so than this year, when the Red Sox take the build the legendary ‘Green Monster.” That landmark field at Fenway in the 2012 home opener – the 100th would not rise until 1933. They did build, however, anniversary of the grand old park. When new man- to specifications. The fact that the Boston & Albany ager “Bobby V” sends his first Sox starting nine out of Railroad’s line wound along the tract’s far side meant the dugout, they will owe in some measure a debt to that Lansdowne Street would lie only a shade more an Irish-born builder who literally helped shape the than 300 feet from home plate. turf where Pedroia, Gonzales, Ellsbury, Lester, and The distance from the plate to the fences did not company are playing today. mean much to builders during baseball’s dead-ball It was 100 years ago, on April 20, 1912, that some era. Few players could drive the leaden ball of the day 27,000 souls jammed the ballpark stands for the Red more than 350 feet, and outfield fences, as Curt Smith Sox home opener. This opening day, however, heralded writes, were “supposed to eliminate gate-crashing and a new era for the club. As starting pitcher Buck O’Brien free looks from the street.” rocked into his wind-up and uncoiled the season’s first By Opening Day 1912, Logue had delivered the pitch at the New York Highlanders’ leadoff hitter, he goods. Fenway Park was ready, completed at a cost did so in a brand new ballpark. Fenway Park was in of $650,000 in private funds. John I. Taylor officially business, in large part thanks to an Irish immigrant Fenway Park: the early days. moved his Boston Red Sox from the Huntington Avenue named Charles Logue. The Derry-born contractor’s Grounds, which they had leased, to the new ballpark, company had built the ballpark that was destined to ing of the proposed design and a detailed story meant to built specifically for them. become a shrine to “the Grand Old Game.” stoke every fan’s fervor. The article stated: “With the Washed out by rain for two days, Fenway’s first In the years before the Charles Logue Building new park covering 365,306 square feet of land and the game was played on April 20, 1912, the stands packed Company’s crews first put pick and shovel to the plot stands of the most approved type, and the home club with fans gaping at the technological marvel. The of land between Landsdowne and Jersey streets, its brought up to its best pitch, the fans hereabouts can New York Highlanders, who would be renamed the owner and other local Irish contractors had begun confidently look forward through the winter months Yankees in 1913, were a fitting opening-day foe, as to leave brick, steel, and granite marks across the to some great baseball games next season.” the raucous rivalry between the clubs for decades to Boston landscape. In Beyond the Ballot Box, Dennis Trolley lines ran near the site in the Fenway, which come would prove. P. Ryan writes, “Irish immigrants learned early that had been a fetid mudflat until it was drained as part of The New York nine cuffed Red Sox starter Buck the city streets were not paved with gold, but some, Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace plans. It O’Brien around for three runs in the top of the first, as contractors, found that fortunes could be made by would seem fitting if the park had actually been named and the Fenway Faithful – featuring a who’s who of digging them.” for the site itself, but the truth is that “Fenway Park” local politicians – might have thought a long afternoon A number of Boston Irishmen parlayed practical paid tribute to the Taylors’ land company – Fenway was on tap. However, the Sox clawed back and went hard-won knowledge of construction and unbridled Realty. up 5-1. O’Brien was yanked in the fourth in favor of ambition into fortunes. Thomas H. O’Connor, in The Many baseball historians have deemed the ballpark’s reliever Charley Hall. By the end of the ninth, the Boston Irish notes, “With the growing need for roads, construction as little more than a lucrative real-estate score stood at 6-6. houses, sewers and bridges in the new Irish neigh- deal. Once the first shovels bit into the Fenway, the In the 11th, Boston second baseman Steve Yerkes, borhoods, the contracting business also flourished. Taylors sold 50 percent of their interest in the club for already five for six in the No. 2 slot, got on base again. Patrick O’Riordan became a millionaire working on a pricey $150,000 to cover their initial outlay. Then, Future Hall of Famer Tris Speaker stepped to the city projects, Timothy Hannon helped fill in the Back in a slick financial gambit, they held onto outright plate and drove in Yerkes for a dramatic 7-6 victory. Bay; and Owen Nawn’s trucking company that carried ownership of the rising new park. Fenway’s first game had lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes. granite from the quarries attracted lucrative contracts Charles Logue, the Derryman with a reputation for What should have been the Boston newspapers’ from City Hall and the public utility companies.” straight-shooting negotiations, reliability, and dead- big story, the Red Sox win in their maiden game at In the vanguard of Irish-born contractors turning lines met, broke ground in the Fenway on Sept. 25, Fenway, was eclipsed on the front pages by the most construction into cash was Charles Logue, born in 1911. A state-of-the-art steel and concrete ballpark, one recent developments in “the story of the century” – the Derry in 1858. A bearded man with a genuine talent of the first of its kind, began to materialize on a tract Titanic had gone down just a few days before. Following for shaping land to architects’ plans and the father of whose most distinctive previous buildings had been the their Opening Day triumph, the 1912 Red Sox went on a large family, Logue carved a stellar reputation as Park Riding School and a church. A different type of to rack up their best record ever, 105-47, and beat the a man whose company finished jobs on deadline and church, one later deemed a “baseball cathedral,” quickly New York Giants in the 1912 World Series. without questionable cost overruns, something that began to rise, courtesy of the Taylors’ bankroll and the If Yankee Stadium is “the House That Ruth Built,” could not always be said of the city’s more than 250 skill of Charles Logue and his “pick-and-shovel-men.” perhaps in some degree, Fenway Park could bear the Irish contractors in the early 1900s. Logue’s business Many of them, like their boss, were Irish immigrants. title “the House That Logue Built” (or helped to build, approach, which earned him financial success from Logue and his crews had to follow both the architects’ anyway). In 1995, Charles Logue’s grandson, John I. building structures for the Catholic archdiocese and plans and the realities of day baseball. A Fenway Park Logue, wrote: “It’s important to me and my extended for Boston College, would serve him well in 1910-1911 historian wrote: “There was no thought of night base- family that my grandfather is known as the builder when John I. Taylor, son of Boston Globe publisher ball in 1911, so the architects had to make sure batters of the ballpark which is so prominent in the history General Charles H. Taylor, who had given his son the would not be facing into the sun late in the afternoon. of baseball.” ballclub as a “perk,” began in earnest the search for a Thus, home plate was set in the southwest corner of A century from Opening Day 1912, the distinctive contractor to build a new park for his team. the yard to ensure that the sun would be behind third green of Fenway Park’s field, its stands, and even its One June 24, 1911, when the younger Taylor an- base, bothering only the right fielder.” To the eternal Monster, are a fitting hue for Derryman and Boston nounced that he intended to build the park, his father’s agony of countless rightfielders who lose balls in the Irishman Charles Logue. newspaper trumpeted the news with a half-page draw- Fenway sun -- Dwight Evans might be the only man Page 6 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com A Tough Race Remembering ‘The Toughest Family On Earth’ ‘Crusher Casey Challenge’ Proved a Special St. Pat’s Event By Peter F. Stevens Garvin writing that “Tom Reporter Staff Casey…would move a “The Crusher Casey rowing shell in the fastest Challenge Race” – the time ever seen then on the name peals formidably, Charles River – under a and rightfully so for a minute for the quarter family the Boston Globe mile. Singly and with once called “the toughest his brothers, Tom Casey family on earth.” would win every race On St. Patrick’s Day entered thereafter at the 2012, the Riverside Boat then unheard pace of 40 Club, on the banks of strokes a minute – a pace the Charles River in that would not become Cambridge, kicked off its commonplace in rowing rowing season with the for more than three de- 10th annual “Crusher cades.” Casey” race, but this time Crusher Casey proudly the occasion was differ- proclaimed, “Nobody ever ent. Attending the event beat Tom when he was were members of the rowing.” From a mem- Casey family, who arrived ber of that famed rowing from England on March clan, the words were high 14, commemorating the praise. Casey brothers, who were The Casey’s prowess on not only once fixtures in the water flowed literally Dorchester, but a legend from both sides of their in local rowing circles. family, with their father, The Riverside Boat Michael, a fine rower Club’s Kate Sullivan, with along with their uncles Dorchester resident and Pat and Mike Sullivan. fellow club member Jack In 1985, Crusher Casey Kowalski, arranged for told Boston Globe writer the visit of Paddy Casey, William P. Coughlin that his son Gary, Gary’s “we’d come from County wife and two children, a The Casey family visited the Kowalski home on Melville Ave. on March 17. The Victorian house was Kerry….Uncle Pat was nephew. Paddy, the son once owned by Jim Casey. Pictured are District 3 City Councillor Frank Baker, Paddy Casey, Lindsey the skipper of Cornelius of Jack Casey – one of the Casey, Richard Casey, Carl Casey, Lynda Casey, Gary Casey and Jack Kowalski. Photo by Kate Sullivan Vanderbilt’s yacht in seven Casey brothers. who Newport, Rhode Island. were dubbed “the Famous of the famed boxer. Row- One day he told Vander- Casey Brothers” for their ing out of the Riverside bilt he could get a crew rowing and wrestling Boat Club, which had to win the world rowing prowess -- presented the been founded in 1869 by championship. Vander- Crusher Casey trophy to mainly Irish immigrant bilt said, ‘If you can get the winners and Riverside printers and laborers them, I’ll pay their way to Boat Club presented him from the Riverside Press, Newport to train.’ That’s with a photo of his uncle, part of Houghton Mifflin, how it [the Caseys’ rowing Steve “Crusher” Casey the Caseys embodied the renown] started.” launching his single from club’s reputation as “the What the Caseys start- the Riverside docks. After working man’s club.” ed in Kerry and Dorches- a breakfast at the Boat Dick Garver, the club’s ter continues with the Club, the Caseys visited historian and author of A Riverside Boat Club’s Jack’s Melville Avenue Brief History of Riverside Crusher Casey Challenge home, once owned by Jim Boat Club, notes that the Race. The Brothers Casey Casey, one of the great brothers’ challenge was would no doubt have been family rowers of the 1930s. “quite a gauntlet to toss delighted to see some 65 In a 1940 Boston Globe before the proud society people on the water in the article, the “Famous of Boston and Cambridge single and eight races, not Casey Brothers,” whose rowing circles by sons of to mention Paddy and his family hailed from County Irish immigrants.” Those family there to take it all Kerry, recounted how immigrant sons quali- in along the Charles and they had issued a chal- fied for the 1936 Munich in Dorchester. lenge to “race any crew Olympics in single scull Kate Sullivan said, “All [rowers] in the United racing. Paddy’s uncle in all, the Casey family States.” The challenge Steve “Crusher” Casey, had a wonderful and very whose nickname testified was resonant of former The Kowalski home on Melville Ave., former home of Jim Casey. memorable visit.” The heavyweight champ John to his status as a world same can be said for the champion professional Photo by Kate Sullivan L. Sullivan’s boast that Russell Codman, former said, ‘I will row the three first, Jim second, Steve rowers, their families and he “could lick any man wrestler (1938-48), re- friends, and all the club called: “A Philadelphia Boston fire commissioner Casey brothers [Steve, third, and Codman fourth. in the bar”; the Caseys’ under Mayor Jim Curley, Tom, and Jim] and beat Tom’s victory surprised no members who met the mother, Bridget Sullivan crew took us on, but Caseys. then backed out….Then himself a national cham- them in single sculls…” one who knew anything Casey, was “distant kin” pion, came forward and Tom Casey finished about rowing locally, Dick Thomas Myles’s voyage into the unknown (Continued from page 1) would be measured out to him. He had As he and the other passengers the post-Famine era. Eventually, he and arrived in Ireland a few months earlier watched the last lifeboat pull away two brothers decided that their destiny to settle some estate matters and to from the ship, it is said an almost holy lay in the wider world and they set off provide for his handicapped younger stillness replaced the earlier pandemo- in different directions. Tom recalled that brother James, his only remaining nium on deck, with those remaining on he, too, was apprehensive on the day he family member in Ireland. Although he board preparing for their voyage into left Ireland, now some forty years ago. enjoyed the visit, now that his work was the unknown. That journey eventually brought him complete, he was anxious to return to Weeks later, one of the survivors to America and, in time, to Cambridge, Cambridge. His departure was delayed visited the Myles family and said that Massachusetts. by a coal mining strike in Britain, but he he had met Tom during the journey Starting out with little money, he was finally able to book passage home: in and watched as he gave up a seat in a learned the real estate business, worked second-class aboard the newest, largest, lifeboat to a woman. He last saw Tom hard, and later married. Tom’s property most luxurious, and safest vessel on the on deck, kneeling with others in prayer, investments grew rapidly and soon he transatlantic passenger run, a “floating as the ship went under. Of the 120 Irish and his wife, Mary, built a fine home palace” that everyone was talking about. third-class passengers who boarded the where they raised their two sons and Now, with the ship underway, he stood Titanic with Tom Myles at Queenstown, four daughters. He had achieved a level at the starboard rail taking a last look only 38 survived the tragedy. of affluence that few immigrants could at the land receding in the distance. Tom’s son, Doctor Leo T. Myles, trav- imagine. Once again, he thought – would he ever elled to New York to await the arrival Tom reflected on the many blessings come back? of the rescue ship Carpathia hoping he he found in his adopted land. He was The answer, of course, was “never.” would find his father among the survi- Thomas Francis Myles sure these fellow emigrants, standing Never again would he see his native vors, but like hundreds of others, Tom’s the many threads woven into the larger on the dock with him, would not regret land, nor would he reach his destination body was never recovered. narrative of the Titanic tragedy, a story the decision to follow their dreams just on the far shore, for Tom was aboard the Members of The Charitable Irish of life and death and shattered dreams. as he had. White Star liner, RMS Titanic, on her Society of Boston adopted a memorial That story, 100 years old now, still holds His uncertainty about ever return- maiden voyage to New York. On April resolution to Thomas Francis Myles us in its grip. ing had been on his mind for a while. 14, 1912, three days into the crossing, in May 1912 describing their brother The family of Thomas Francis Myles Although he had been able to travel to the Titanic struck the sharp end of an member as “the ideal Irish gentleman.” has planned a Memorial Mass at 11 Ireland often during the intervening iceberg and sank, taking with it more Dr. Myles, also a member of the Society, a.m. on April 15, the 100th anniversary years, he had just turned sixty-three than 1,500 hundred souls, including later became its president. of his death, at Saint Paul Church in and was unsure of how much more time Thomas Francis Myles. The fate of Tom Myles is but one of Cambridge. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 7 Boston Irish Reporter’s Here & There

By Bill O’Donnell in Christian Brothers institutions or elsewhere, the body made bigger or faster ships then Harland & Wolfe The Chieftains At 50: Better than Ever—The deadline for filing is roughly 120 days from today. and the Titanic experience in the opening years of Irish Taoiseach calls them “living treasures whose European Central Bank Credit Watch—Here’s the 20th century knew no boundaries or man- made music has transcended all boundaries.” And ain’t it the the situation as it exists today for Europe’s Central limits. Out of the Titanic Quarter in April, 1911 came truth. After 50 years as a major international music Bank with regard to it being the bank of last resort a doomed vessel that would intrigue the world and group, the Chieftains, led as they have been since for troubled European countries like Greece, Ireland, play a role in a tragedy that is with us today. the beginning by Paddy Moloney, have won just and Portugal and the ECB’s relationship with our own Belfast has lived with the historic back-story of the about every award Federal Reserve Bank. The Fed under chairman Ben building and sinking of the ship that couldn’t sink. A imaginable for their Bernanke has lent the ECB $108 billion. Bernanke hundred years later, Belfast, recovering from three richly nuanced tra- calls the loan “a very safe proposition ... [the ECB] is decades of the Troubles, has created an attraction that ditional Irish music well-capitalized and has behind it the national central it hopes to parlay into a city-saving, exciting and novel offerings. banks of 17 countries.” That’s Bernanke’s spin and tourism treat. Three years under construction at a cost They remain after sounds good to these untutored ears. But hold on! In exceeding $100 million (the same construction time a half century the one week alone last month, the ECB lent 800 banks table for the Titanic itself) the city of Belfast hopes to leading purveyors about $700 billion. The current balance sheet/money bring in somewhere close to half-a-million sightseers of traditional music lent of the ECB is close to $4 trillion, (that’s a capital and history buffs to relive those formative days of the fare and the best- ratio for Europe’s big bank of 36 to 1), hardly the most greatest ship on the waters. There are nine separate selling group in the secure leverage factor. Some respected experts like galleries that trace the different aspects of the selec- world. Performers Rex Nutting in Reality Check believe that with such tion of Belfast as the shipbuilder, to the launch, to the come and go, from a high leverage “it wouldn’t take much of a decline fateful journey itself. The final gallery recounts the hot, to surviving, to in the value of ECB’s assets to eat through all of its discovery of Titanic’s final resting place 70 years later forgotten, yet the capital.” Who’s right: Bernanke or expert Nutting? to diving excursions to the wreck some two-and-a-half Chieftains, despite Yes, Boston Can Do Better—The corner outside miles below the surface of the Atlantic. The Bel fast cast changes not the recently shuttered Borders Bookstore is situated Experience officially opened on March 31. only survive but also amidst an historic and well-traveled part of Boston Shafts Of light In The North—Belfast City Hall, thrive. Moloney, in that will become even more strategic and busier when for several centuries a Unionist/Protestant bastion, Bill O’Donnell accepting yet an- the Filene’s hole-in-the-ground debacle is resolved. The has its first Irish legendary-themed stained glass other Chieftain award idea —maybe, alas, it may already be a fait accom- window celebrating Cu Chulainn and the cattle raid as guests of honor at plit—to put a Walgreens drug store into the Borders on the Cooley peninsula. The Hall’s newest art work a Ireland Fund gala last month noted, “I often get building (with likely an atrium added or whatever) was commissioned by the City Council. It brings to worried when presented with a ‘Lifetime award’ but adds zilch, a big goose egg, to Boston’s downtown. mind the Bob Dylan lyric that notes the times “are in our case, we are still going strong: 2012 is our That’s for openers. a-changin.” busiest year yet.” The School & Washington streets corner is also The DUP mayor of a unionist council, Ian Steven- It hardly seems to be nearly two decades since 1991 host to the City’s Irish Famine Memorial. A few doors son, has discovered that his grandfather played Gaelic when Moloney, standing in for the entire group, was up School Street is the first home of Boston Latin games, and despite cultural differences, Stevenson honored here in Boston by the Eire Society for the School and the well-preserved old City Hall. Across confirms that part of his heritage is his deep interest Chieftains’ contribution to Irish culture around the the street on Washington is the Old South Meeting in hurling. Recently he journeyed to Dublin’s Croke world. My favorite memory of the group were the sev- House. Just feet from the Borders location a CVS is Park to watch the All-Ireland hurling championship eral days I spent in Manhattan in the late seventies well-entrenched and prospering. Is Walgreens in a final, a first for a unionist politician. when they were playing at an Irish gala at Carnegie strictly competitive posture vis-a-vis CVS? RANDOM CLIPPINGS Hall. We shared a nearby hotel and I found myself join- Here’s one (maybe lonely) native Bostonian’s vote Congressman Richie Neal of Western Mass con- ing the musicians for breakfast at the local automat. for Mayor Menino and the BRA’s Peter Meade firms what many of us already know: There is no sup- The Chieftains all had retained their day jobs, from to sit down and brainstorm their way to a resolu- port or sympathy for breakaway republicans among postal clerks, to government employees, to shopkeep- tion that treats Boston, the Famine Memorial, and Irish Americans. … 5,000 days and counting for the ers, and none of them was throwing money around. the adjoining location and history with respect and Orangemen who still seek to walk Drumcree. That’s They were delightful company and had a grand time imagination, not another (unnecessary) drug store. 14 years and holding. … The Mahon Tribunal that with other gala performers such as Siobhan McK- No Pope For Eucharistic Congress—The 1932 exposed Bertie Ahern as a rogue and dissembler has enna, Maire Keane, Anna Manahan, and Donal Eucharistic Congress eighty years ago was one of racked up nearly $300 million in costs, much of that McCann, all regretfully gone to their reward now. the largest and best attended Catholic Congresses for grossly overpaid Irish lawyers. … Incidentally, Long may Paddy and the Chieftains reign! of the 20th century. The news that Pope Benedict Ahern (age 61) collects over $200,000 every year for Oil Strike May Be Ireland’s Eldorado—For will likely not be in attendance this June, preferring life. His junior partner, Brian Cowen, has to make years, especially in difficult times, the Irish papers a televised message from the Vatican, should come do on $198,000 a year but he’s only 51 and will cost regularly carried stories full of speculation about how as little surprise for Ireland’s battered Catholics. In Irish rate payers a whopping $7 million this or that oil find would surely change Ireland’s 1932, Pope Pius XI stayed in Rome and used radio to with a normal life span. … Jet Blue, the successful destiny. Ultimately, there was invariably less than communicate with the faithful in Dublin. The crowds small airline, says it has no interest in buying the met the eye and that’s been the case until the recent in 1932 were huge, with half a million Irish Catholics Irish government’s 25 percent interest in Aer Lingus. discovery off the Cork coast of an unprecedented crowding O’Connell Street. The attendance this year … Irish late show TV personality Ryan Tubridy has commercial oil strike by Providence Resources, an will be relatively muted. The largest crowd is expected a winner in his book on JFK’s 1963 Irish trip. … A Irish company majority-owned and run by Tony to be 80,000 at Croke Park in June. new entry into Irish American trade and investment, O’Reilly, Jr. From the pastoral to the commercial: The Irish the Ulster American Society, has a trade mission to The oil strike at Barryroe Field is the most promis- Independent newspaper, with tongue nowhere near Northern Ireland coming up in mid-September. … ing find in the history of oil and mineral exploration cheek, reports that the pope, now 84, has found the Citizens United has allowed billionaires to call the in Irish waters. The discovery is initially producing time to accept a signature eau de cologne that was shots in the GOP primaries, but Democrats aren’t some 2,000 barrels a day, exceeding earlier but less created especially for him by Italian perfumer Silvana unhappy. The process has exposed the loopy-goopy productive strikes by Esso and Marathon. The Bar- Casoli. This is not Casoli’s first time out of the box. underside of the befuddled Republican candidates. ryroe findings, Providence Resource officials believe, Before creating a suitable scent for the pope, she had … You and I might not be Ian Paisley voters, but could lead to a renewal of interest in the Irish offshore worked with Sting, Madonna, and Spain’s King we have to applaud his comeback from his apparent industry and increased activity from international in- Juan Carlos. Casoli had also previously concocted death bed at 85. vestors. Ireland can certainly use something like that. two other colognes for the Catholic Church, “Water Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, who doubles as Famed Irish Movie Studios Facing Closure— of Hope” and “Water of Faith.” The pope’s new scent, a Dail member from Dundalk, is saying that a poll on Ireland’s world famous Ardmore Studios in County which will not be available to buy, is exclusively for the future of the border in Ireland is inevitable. But Wicklow, the scene of film production for some of the his use and is yet unnamed. Mr. Adams is not saying much on his earlier predic- most celebrated movies over the past half-century, Casoli said she realized that the pope’s essence “had tion that 2016 would be a pivotal year. … Meanwhile, is closing. The studios have been in some financial to have at its core something pure and clean, recalling Sinn Fein’s national party chairman, Declan Kear- difficulty in recent years and the unexpected loss of the idea of peace.” Amen. ney, is saying aloud that the IRA should say “sorry” a rich contract to host production of the MGM TV The Little Museum Of Dublin—It’s only six for its actions, at least some of them. … Canada’s series “Vikings” may well have pushed Ardmore over months old and nicely located on St. Stephen’s Green, realistic and compassionate emigrant entry rules the line. The studios have been at the forefront in the but few of the faithful except a handful of history- have attracted some 6,000 Irish workers this year to development of the Irish film industry. minded Dubs know of its existence. The idea of having find jobs and a new life north of the border. … Gal- Among the movies filmed in part or entirely at Ar- a museum devoted exclusively to the city of Dublin way Mayor Hildegard Naughton has changed her dmore are such familiar titles as: “My Left Foot,” “In and its inhabitants tells the story of the Fair City in mind about a statue to Che Guevara. No go, says America,” “Angela’s Ashes,” “Dancing at Lughnasa,” the 20th century. The artifacts and memorabilia of this Galway’s civic leader. … President Obama broadly “In the Name of the Father,” “The Field,” “The Com- non-profit visit down Dublin’s memory lane have been hinted to Taoiseach Enda Kenny when the latter mitments,” “The Lion in Winter,” “The Spy Who Came donated by hundreds of Dubliners to create a collec- was in Washington that he would love to go back to in from the Cold,” and “Shake Hands with the Devil.” tion that highlights the social, cultural, and political Ireland, but he has an election to win first. … Ireland’s Ardmore has done superb work in hundreds of qual- history of Ireland’s capital. Poor Clare nuns, a contemplative order that lives by ity movies and it would be a shame if strapped Ireland The acquisition of material almost exclusively from strict rules, has begun reaching out to the outside is unable to find private or government financing for volunteer Dublin contributors is unique. Among the world via the Internet. … Brian Patrick Lamb is this invaluable and world-respected asset. items donated and on display at the Little Museum stepping back as CEO of the non-profit C-Span after Christian Brothers Abuse Claim Deadline—A are art, photographs, letters, advertising, postcards, thirty years on the job in a masterful tour de force. A year ago this month the Christian Brothers of Ireland, ephemera, and related objects between the years great run by a first-rate communicator. … The Globe North America, Canada, and other varied locations 1900 and 2000. It’s part archeology, part social his- reports that John McGrail, a Boston pub owner and filed for protection under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the tory. Among the objects on display are the lectern developer, borrowed almost $200 million to try to get United States Bankruptcy Code. In a legal notice in President Kennedy used to address the Irish Dail super rich during the building bubble. His Anglo-Irish The Boston Globe, the principals in the litigation had in 1963 and James Joyce’s death mask bank loans are now held by Wells Fargo and McGrail to publicly and officially notify anyone who might have It is more than likely that as word of the Dublin is doing the only thing left to do — He is suing Wells sexual abuse claims against any brother or others Museum gets around that more artifacts will find their Fargo. Boston lawyers will get financially healthy connected to the Christian Brothers here, in Ireland, way to the ground floor of the Georgian townhouse with this litigation. Canada, or elsewhere that the deadline for filing a at 15 St. Stephen’s Green. The museum will present RIP Barbara Eachus—She was the ebullient, claim is August 1, 2012. regular lectures from March into December with an all-knowing face of the British Consulate in Boston Other contact references or to obtain information array of fascinating speakers with topics as varied as for three decades. She had answers for everything, about Christian Brothers institutions, and/or to obtain Easter Widows, Dublin 100 years ago, Murders found passed on information with a smile and a handful of and file a proof of claim: Claims Agent, phone 1-800- in Joyce’s Ulysses, Manix Flynn’s Dublin and The good words, and was the default switch if you had to 873-4094; or phone 1-888-667-4266 or write: Claims Incredible Life of Brendan Bracken. get the story behind the story on things British. She Agent, Omni Management Group, 16161 Ventura I haven’t been to the museum but I’ll visit the next was great fun, had an elegant big heart, and she could Blvd. Suite C, PMB608, Encino, California 91436. chance I get. All in all and from a distance, the Little almost always make you forget what you were angry If you or a loved one or family member in Ireland Museum of Dublin seems to be a treasure ready to with the Brits about. In all, the best hire the British or North America have a claim of having been sexu- be discovered. government ever made on this side of the water. ally abused by Christian Brothers or their agents Belfast Experience a $120 million Event—No- Page 8 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com St. Patrick’s Irish International Immigrant Center other legacy An agency accredited by US Department of Justice

By Sister Lena Deevy 100 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110 Special to the BIR St. Patrick’s Day is behind us for another year. Re- Telephone (617) 542-7654 Fax (617) 542-7655 flecting back on all the wonderful celebrations of this past week, I found myself marveling at the way in Website:iiicenter.org Email: [email protected] which this “Irish day” has become a national holiday IIIC Program Updates Free Health Screen- to Ireland with new skills issues, including citizen- in the United States. A cynic might tell you that much Free US Citizenship ing: At the IIIC office in and confidence which ship, civic participation, of this can be attributed to humanity’s tendency to Classes: The next IIIC Boston, on Mon., April 2, allows many to become access to health care, adult over-indulge, but I maintain that there’s much more Citizenship Exam and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Contact future community leaders, basic education, ESOL, to it. In fact, anyone who knows anything about St. Interview preparation Kielan at 617-542-7654 youth workers, care pro- and education equality. Patrick’s life needs no convincing as to his relevance class starts on May 3 for for more details. viders, and more. Please The day is coordinated by for contemporary society. 6 weeks. We have after- Host Families Needed consider supporting this MIRA, the Massachysetts Famously, of course, Patrick was not born in Ireland. noon classes and evening for Wider Horizons program by opening your Immigrant & Refugee Most historians agree that he likely came from what is classes. Anyone who is Program: The Wider home to one or two of these Advocacy Coalition. The modern day Wales and that, when he was just sixteen interested in signing up Horizons program brings young adults for their theme is “Building Power years old, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in should contact Chris Teg- young Irish men and wom- six-week stay! IIIC Staff Together—New Ameri- Northwest Ireland. Far from home and stripped of mo at 617-542-7654. en to Boston for six-week supports all host families cans Vote.” every comfort, he spent six years as a shepherd before Free Legal Clinics in internships in communi- throughout the six weeks Please join us to cel- escaping and making his way back to Britain. The April: At the IIIC office, ty-based organizations. and compensation is pro- ebrate the contributions experience solidified his Christian faith and on his 100 Franklin St., Boston, The experience provides vided. For more informa- immigrants make to the return home, he determined that he would dedicate on Tues., April 3, at 4 a great opportunity for tion, contact Ann-Marie Commonwealth and to his life to spreading God’s message. p.m. At the Green Briar personal and professional Byrne at 617-542-7654, encourage legislators to Passing up what would have been a very comfort- Pub, 304 Washington St., growth for these young Ext. 16. advance the rights of im- able life by 5th-century standards, the now Bishop Brighton, on April 9 at 6:30 adults who make a tre- April 9 is Immigrant’s migrants and refugees Patrick chose to return to Ireland, and to spend the p.m. At the South Boston mendous contribution to Day: Please come to State across the state and in the rest of his life working to persuade the Irish people to Laboure Center, 275 West the local Boston commu- House between 10 a.m and national arena. Join us accept Christ’s message. Patrick the immigrant brought Broadway, South Boston, nity with over 1,000 hours 12:30 p.m. to ensure our and bring a group! RSVP with him not just a new set of religious ideas, but an at 6 p.m. Please call 617- of service to local organiza- collective voice is heard to malmeida@miracoali- entirely new perspective on human existence, a belief 542-7654 for more details. tions in 2011 and return on important immigrant tion.org. system that would nurture the learning and culture for which Ireland would become famous. The debate around immigration both here and in Ireland has too often hinged on what immigrants “cost” Matters Of Substance us rather than on the ways in which they enrich our society. St. Patrick’s life is a reminder to us that many of the lasting positive effects of immigration are seen When the storm is over…find hope! only with the benefit of hindsight. By Danielle Owen families unable to sleep, loved ones, and friends, Indeed, it is precisely for this reason that we should Special to the BIR fearing what will happen whether sober or not.” remind ourselves, and particularly our young people, St. Patrick’s Day week- if they are not awake to I hear from wives, hus- of the historical context within which the American end is quite an experience make sure their loved bands, girl/boyfriends, celebration of St. Patrick’s Day arose. The story is if you live in Boston. There one doesn’t leave a lit mothers, sisters, fathers, important both because it illustrates how far we’ve is a style, passion, and cigarette on the couch to brothers, daughters, and come, and because it serves as a powerful reminder commitment that Bosto- catch fire, or the gas stove sons, all who are wonder- of our connection to all those who find themselves nians uniquely have for on when cooking a night ing if they are “crazy” strangers in a strange land. Ireland’s patron saint, time snack. because they think there James Flannery, writing in the Irish Times of March ranging from leprechauns Often these families feel is a problem. Ask yourself 17, makes this last point very well. He argues that manning the pumps at gas alone. The truth is that the following and you may the parades and overt displays of ethnic pride we see stations to mid-day revel- many families experience find you are quite sane! each year reflect the historical reality that the Irish ers on the T with huge these worries and fears Are holidays and gath- weren’t always welcome in the United States. These green pint-shaped hats and do not have to face erings spoiled because of celebrations developed as defensive displays of ethnic and painted shamrocks on them on their own. For a drinking? pride and unity in the face of considerable discrimina- their faces. Even if you are long time now, adults and Do you tell lies to cover Danielle Owen tion and anti-immigrant feeling. The extent to which not Irish, it’s hard not to their children have found up for someone else’s the day has become a national holiday celebrated by be affected by this March support in Al-Anon meet- drinking? There is hope and help. people of many different backgrounds, Flannery argues, Madness! ings all over the world. Do you feel that if the Al-Anon MA is there for speaks both to the successful integration of the Irish If you love someone No matter who you are, if drinker cared about you, you. So too is my office into this society, and to the corresponding growth in with an alcohol problem, your life is being affected he or she would stop drink- (Danielle at 617-542- openness that has that accompanied their newfound though, it’s a holiday by someone who drinks ing to please you? 7654, Ext.14, or by e-mail confidence and security as a people. that seems to revel in a too much, they are here to Are you afraid to upset to [email protected]), This relatively new self-confidence is also evident behavior that hurts their help. Al-Anon MA’s mes- someone for fear it will set which specializes in sup- in Ireland itself where campaigns to remind people family. Some families sage is one of hope: “It is off a drinking bout? porting families worrying of our own historical journey have resulted in a more dread festive occasions the story of men, women Do you feel like a failure about a drinker in their fulsome welcome being extended to contemporary im- like these: Thanksgiving, and children who once felt because you can’t control lives. You can call Al-Anon migrants to the country. Christmas, weddings, fu- helpless, lost, and lonely the drinking? MA at 508-366-0556 or We at the IIIC are proud to work with those who will nerals, birthday parties, because of another’s alco- Do you think that if the check out its website: be our fellow citizens because we know that America’s any excuse, really. What holism. Today these men, drinker stopped drink- ma-al-anon-alateen.org. success owes much to its willingness to play the odds, is a special occasion in women, and children have ing, your other problems Check out thus useful to welcome strangers, and to bet that this country will some homes is the norm in courage and confidence. would be solved? resource at http://tinyurl. be richer for them in the end. If you doubt the wisdom theirs. Families awakened They have found under- Do you feel angry, con- com/c6nkptn. of this, ask yourself whether the Island of Saints & late at night by their loved standing friends. They fused, or depressed most Danielle Owen LADCII Scholars would have existed without the immigrant one singing or fighting have learned what to do of the time? is the IIIC’s Director of called Patrick. downstairs, oblivious to to help themselves – and Do you feel there is no Wellness and Education Sister Lena Deevy is the executive director of the others’ broken slumber; or this can indirectly help one who understands your Services. Irish International Immigrant Cente. their alcoholic relatives, problems? About conditional permanent residence Q. I received a two-year green such as criminal convictions). The who know the spouses as a married card, based on my marriage to a US kinds of documents that you use to couple and who can briefly describe citizen. I see that the card is due demonstrate the current marriage their relationship with them. No one to expire in a few months. What relationship are essentially the has all the example evidence listed do I do now? same as those that you presented at above, but every couple has at least A. Your two-year permanent your original green card interview, some of it. residence (as opposed to green except that this time you mail the IIIC can assist applicants with cards granted for ten years in other evidence to USCIS along with the the I-751 form and affidavits and circumstances) is “conditional,” Form I-751. help them to evaluate whether their because you were married to your For example: Birth certificates of marriage evidence documentation US citizen spouse for less than two any children born of the relation- is adequate. Also, if there are any years at the time when your applica- ship, showing the applicant and criminal offenses since the grant of tion for legal permanent residence spouse as the parents; copies of fed- conditional permanent residence, or was approved. Now you and your eral and state tax returns filed with if the spouses are divorced or sepa- spouse MUST jointly file Form I-751 the “married filing jointly” status; rated, it is essential to consult with with US Citizenship and Immigra- evidence of joint checking, savings, an immigration lawyer before filing. tion Services (USCIS) during the or other accounts or assets (stocks, Visit one of IIIC’s clinics as noted three-month window before your bonds, mutual funds, retirement elsewhere on this page for a free, current card expires in order to accounts, pension plans, etc.), or confidential consultation about this “remove the condition” and obtain a joint obligations on any loans; photo or any other immigration law issue. green card with a ten-year validity ID cards (such as driver’s licenses, Disclaimer: These articles are period. Neglecting to file this ap- school IDs, or amended passports) published to inform generally, not plication on time can have serious showing the wife’s married name; to advise in individual cases. US adverse consequences, including the an apartment lease or a letter from Citizenship and Immigration Ser- loss of permanent resident status. the landlord indicating that both vices and the US Department of USCIS wants to see that you are spouses live at the residence. State frequently amend immigration still married and living with your There is one important additional regulations and alter processing and spouse, and that you therefore requirement with regard to mar- filing procedures. For legal advice still have a basis for permanent riage evidence at this stage: Ap- seek the assistance of an IIIC immi- residence (and also that you do plicants also must submit at least gration specialist or an immigration not have any disqualifying issues two sworn affidavits from people lawyer. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 9 BRETT’S BOSTON By Harry Brett Exclusive photos of Boston Irish people & events

Irish Minister Frances Fitzgerald T.D. was the honored guest at the annual St. Pat- rick’s party held March 16 at the John J. Moakley Federal Court. The event is hosted by the Ireland Consulate and IN/Boston, the Irish Network/ Boston. Among the guests was US Sen. Scott Brown.

1.) Kate Boland, Hingham; Consul General Michael Lonergan; Scott Perman, Newton; Margaret O’Brien, W. Dennis; Lori Berkow- itz, Newton; 2.) Ray Flynn, Jr.; Ambassador Ray Flynn, So. Boston; Jim Brett, Dorches- 1. ter; Gerry O’Doherty, Braintree; 3.) Jack and Marie Meehan, Quincy; 4.) Mrs. Karen and Dr. Larry Shields, Newton; 5.) Paul and Meredith Moore, Dorchester; 6.) Tom and Brenda Byrne, Reading; 7.) Mirian Costel- loe, Boston; Stephan Kairns, Manchester, NH; 8.) Bill and Kate Nichtern, Hanover; 9.) Declan Boland, Hingham; John O’Brien, W. Dennis; Jim O’Brien, Dublin; 10.) Kerry Fleck, Brookline; Maureen Murphy, Back Bay; Ellen Donovan, Back Bay; 11.) Nancy O’Doherty, Braintree; Kathy Flynn, So. Boston; 12.) Joe Freeley, Pembroke; Ted Harrington, Braintree; Dan Harrington, W. Roxbury; Andy DeJean, Randolph; John Harrington, Wellesley; Bill Harrington, Hingham. 2.

3. 4. 5.

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11. 12. Page 10 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 11 Farewell to ‘Riverdance’ (Continued from page 1) technology that had never Irish dance has an energy but “Riverdance” went in previously existed.” level it has seldom seen a dramatically different WGBH-FM “A Celt- since before “Riverdance.” direction. “It was a major ic Sojourn” host Brian Lisa Chaplin, co-direc- dance theater production O’Donovan agrees. “ tor of the Boston-area with dance at center stage, ‘Riverdance’ did an amaz- O’Shea-Chaplin Academy which is not to say the ing job of turning people’s of Irish Dance, says the music was less important heads towards traditional trend – a surge, followed in any way. The large cast music.” O’Donovan notes by a leveling-off – has of dancers, the Broadway that at a recent concert in certainly been in evidence style lineup of percussive The Burren, local musi- where her school has been dance in unison, plus cian Joey Abarta recount- concerned. But the num- professional lighting, new ed how seeing a video bers aren’t as significant costuming and stage de- of the show practically as the level of interest, per- sign – all of this brought changed his life to one of formance opportunities, the folk dance form into dedication to playing the and experiences the school contemporary theater and Uilleann pipes. and its members have ben- contemporary culture, “Riverdance” may efited from during what and made it accessible to have set the stage for might be called the “River- a worldwide audience. other major Irish/Celtic- dance Era.” In fact, where “On the one hand, it themed productions, such “Riverdance” is concerned, was this powerful, electric as “Celtic Woman,” but O’Shea-Chaplin has come rebirth of Irish dance, but O’Donovan says there’s “On the one hand, it was this powerful, electric rebirth of Irish dance, but full circle: One of their at the same time it became no comparison with the at the same time it became a global dance,” says Boston-area dancer Kieran dancers, Scott Doherty, a global dance. You did not original. “One thing that Jordan on the impact of “Riverdance.” “You did not have to be Irish to get it, had a stint in the show, have to be Irish to get it, or always did, and still does, or enjoy it, or feel its powerful pull. Its influence is still felt for all of those and last year more than enjoy it, or feel its power- set ‘Riverdance’ apart reasons.” Jack Hartin, Abhann Productions 20 O’Shea-Chaplin mem- ful pull. Its influence is from other big, block- bers performed in NBC’s still felt for all of those buster ‘Celtic’ shows is the an idealization? – of what of Irish stepdancing, “typi- genres or traditions. See- “Riverdance on Ice.” reasons.” quality of the musician- has existed ‘on the ground’ fied by sexy or sleek attire ing the show in Dublin “’Riverdance’ continues Bill Black, a Cape Cod- ship and dancing. Top in the tradition for many and moving arms.” about a year before it came to combine the best of based Irish music and notch. Always. Just look years, performed by the In commercial and criti- to the US was unforget- traditional and contem- event organizer, says, at the personnel that have old guys in the then-smoky cal terms, Hitchner adds, table, she says. porary Irish dance along “’Riverdance’ served the toured with them over the pubs and the little girls in “Riverdance” may have set “I was sitting in the au- with music and song,” says same purpose for a later years, like Eileen Ivers the outrageous dresses. the bar impossibly high. dience, deeply moved, but Chaplin. “It has opened generation of people po- and Anuna. That is not “It could be argued that “What most dance and maybe also a little rattled the Irish culture to both tentially interested in the case with subsequent the whole ‘Riverdance’ music critics today want is or disturbed. I was seeing the younger and older gen- Irish music as the Clancy shows currently touring. phenomenon took infinite- something different from the very same dance steps erations, and that ensures Brothers, Dubliners, and Many of these are simple ly more from the tradition ‘Riverdance’ but equally that I grew up doing, but that we are carrying on our Chieftains did for an ear- commercial efforts with than it gave back, at least galvanizing. That’s a tall here it was so dressed up. heritage and traditions.” lier generation. I’d like to little artistic integrity but in terms of content. But if order and an ongoing It was professional and Jordan echoes that sen- think that for folks know- a lot of marketing savvy. two percent or 10 percent challenge for Irish cho- so beautifully executed. It timent. “Right now, Irish ing little or nothing about ‘Riverdance,’ while big or 20 percent of its audi- reographers, composers, was also jazzy and snazzy. dance seems to be experi- Irish music, ‘Riverdance’ and extravaganza-like, ence allowed themselves dancers and musicians: Flashy. And in the years encing another rebirth in provided a kind of ‘foot in has delivered on artistic to go beyond ‘Riverdance’ how to make it new. Re- that followed, its success performance. I am glad to the door’ to allow them a quality.” to the point where they at treads or knockoffs won’t led to a real commercial- see some original, authen- look inside at what the Yet there exists a certain least became conscious of do,” he adds, noting the ization of the dance form.” tic voices in the choreogra- tradition might look like. ambivalence about “River- the trad world ‘behind the negative reviews for “The A truism of “Riverdance” phy of the shows and solo And once they had the dance” and its relationship door,’ then on balance we’d Pirate Queen,” produced is that the doors to Irish works that are emerging look, they could decide for with Irish tradition, a feel- have to say that the show by the “Riverdance” team dance schools throughout now. There seems to be themselves to what extent ing that while the show has been a good thing.” of Moya Doherty and John the US were driven off less copying going on, and their interest in what was may be rooted in the old The journalist Earle McColgan on Broadway a their hinges by hordes of more risk-taking, and that presented would continue. music and dance, it exists Hitchner, whose March few years ago. youngsters (or even non- is good for any art form as “Where in the 1970s, outside that domain. 1996 article in the Wall For Jordan and many youngsters) wanting to it develops. ‘Riverdance’ you could make the move “Put it this way: Have Street Journal helped to others, however, the most be the next Jean Butler or certainly laid the foun- from the Chieftains and you ever heard a musician fuel interest among the US salient feature about Michael Flatley. Inevita- dation for this kind of Clancys to the Bothy Band play a ‘Riverdance’ tune at media and public for the “Riverdance” has been, bly, as with most any pop risk-taking. Its legacy is and De Danaan, in the ‘90s a session?” says Black. “I show’s debut in America, and will continue to be, culture phenomena, some impressive. As a lifelong and later you could make can’t be entirely sure, but says the “splashy, novel, its innovations with tra- converts’ enthusiasm has Irish dancer, I am grate- the move from ‘River- I don’t think its produc- iconoclastic” depiction of ditional Irish dance, like burned out or been super- ful to have witnessed and dance’ to any number of ers ever pretended that Irish tradition unques- percussive rhythmic ex- seded by other interests participated in this period traditional experiences, ‘Riverdance’ was anything tionably influenced other changes and fusion with and commitments. But of Irish dance history.” provided and enhanced by but a reflection – maybe modern stage showcases tap, Flamenco and other there is little question that Page 12 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Boston irish Boston Irish Arts, Entertainment, Reporter Travel & More 40 countries, 4 continents, 350 venues ‘Riverdance’ legacy – so far By R. J. Donovan Special to The BIR The international sensation known as “Riverdance” has played in 40 countries across 4 continents in more than 350 venues to a worldwide audience surpassing 22 million people. That’s astounding when you consider that the two-hour celebration of Irish music, song, and dance began life as a seven-minute intermission entertainment for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest televised throughout Europe. After touring America for the past 16 years, “River- dance” returns to Bos- ton one final time, from April 13 - 15, for five performances at The Opera House. Natalie Haas, a one-time Boston resident and Berklee College of Music faculty member, will be back in (The Farewell Tour town for her acclaimed collaboration with fiddler Alasdair Fraser on April 14 at First Parish Church comes to a close on in Cambridge. Irene Young photo June 17 in Virginia.) I recently had a chance to speak with Maeve Croke, who’s served Natalie Haas and the cello: as the show’s Dance Captain for the past five years. Born in Waterford, They were made for each other Ireland, Maeve began cians Martin Hayes (fiddle) and Dennis Cahill (guitar). dancing as a child. She and Alasdair Fraser “We’re not very deliberate in how we approach record- Like many of her cast ing—we tend to be very organic in our processes,” says Waterford native, Maeve members, she has set for April 14 outing Haas, who has been living in Montreal for almost three Croke, “Riverdance” Dance earned her share of years. “But one thing Alasdair and I felt was that this Captain. stellar dance champi- By Sean Smith one should have more guests than on our previous onships. Plus she has Special to the BIR CDs. As much as we enjoy playing as a duo, we love seen her dance career Siblings usually find out early on in childhood—often to collaborate with other musicians, and we decided take her everywhere from The Great Wall of China to their dismay—that they can’t always have what the it would be fun to bring in some friends we’ve played to the Kremlin. She’ has also toured in “Lord of the other one is having. But once the cries of “No fair!” with and work out some arrangements.” Dance” both in Europe and across the United States. and “Mom always liked you best!” have faded, the ag- The Fraser-Haas-Hayes-Cahill alliance (along with We had a chance to speak by phone when “Riverdance” grieved sister or brother may discover that, you know, fiddler Bruce Molsky) gets the CD off to a stirring start was playing in Chicago. Following is a condensed report the thing they wind up with isn’t bad at all. on the title track, which traces the musical and geo- of our conversation: For instance, after seeing her younger sister Brittany graphical journey of the tune “Highlander’s Farewell.” BIR: Boston is eager to welcome you and your cast take up violin at age 5, Natalie Haas—then 9 -- decided It begins as a slow strathspey, Haas undergirding that mates back to town. When where you here last? she wanted to play an instrument, too. On the advice uniquely Scottish rhythm, until Fraser, Hayes, and MC: Four or five years ago I think. I just love of a music teacher, however, Natalie was steered to Molsky segue into its Irish cousin, the reel “Farewell Boston. I love, is it Quincy Market? That area down the cello to avoid any hint of competitive sibling ten- to Ireland”; the ensemble suddenly breaks into the jig there. There’s a great buzz . . . I just want anyone in sion. Under those circumstances, it might have been “O’er the Water to Charlie” (evoking the tune’s transat- the Boston area who hasn’t seen the show to know that understandable if Natalie had regarded the cello as lantic voyage) before Cahill’s guitar lays down a pulsing this is the last time that we’re going to be there. They some kind of consolation prize: not bad, but never as 4/4 beat, and “Highlander’s Farewell” reappears and should come out and see us. We’re excited to get there. good as what your sibling gets. morphs into its Appalachian descendant – while, just BIR: Your job as Dance Captain puts you in Instead, she took to the cello as if it were made for a little down in the mix, you can hear Haas reprising charge of all the dancers in the company while you’re her, and never looked back. the strathspey rhythm, a faraway but vivid memory on the road. What’s an average day like for you? In fact, over the past decade, Haas, a one-time of the starting point. This shouldn’t work, you might MC: (With a laugh). It can vary. Basically I just have Boston resident who taught at the Berklee College of find yourself thinking, and yet it does. Very well. to make sure the show is the best it can be. We’re on Music, has helped spark a major wave of interest in Other guests on the album include aforementioned a very long tour at the moment, and it’s a very hectic the cello’s capabilities in Celtic music. Trained at Jul- sister Brittany (who has done very well for herself as tour as well. liard but influenced equally, if not more, by years of an Appalachian/old timey-style fiddler, notably with BIR: Do you have a standard set of tasks when you fiddle camps, Celtic festivals, and sessions, California the band Crooked Still); Boston resident Hanneke arrive at a venue? native Haas has drawn accolades for her expressive Cassel on piano and fiddle; fiddlers Laura Risk and MC: When we get there, we usually do what we playing, and her ability to use the cello’s full range of Evan Price; Ryan McKasson and Emily Onderdonk call troupe checks. We go through any problems we characteristics as accompaniment, harmony or lead. on viola; and cellists Mike Block and Crooked Still’s may have had the night before. Or maybe somebody Most musicians who play in the Celtic traditions Tristan Clarridge. new has come into the show and we try to slot them usually have a large reservoir of antecedents upon But it is Haas’s duets with Fraser that, as always, into the different numbers. I get notes from our stage which to draw—if you’re an Irish fiddler, for example, still stand out the most, characterized by their pat- manager. I can watch the (in-house) videos and just you could practically run through the alphabet, from ented “ducking and diving,” in which they exchange tidy up the things that may go wrong, which doesn’t Michael Coleman to Martin Wynne. But while the cello riffs, trade off melody versus rhythm, and otherwise happen very often . . . We warm up together, do a bit has a distant history in Scottish music, at the time converse in various tones of emotion and intensity— of cardio, do our stretches to make sure that we’re Haas became interested in playing Celtic music, she you can practically hear their instruments laughing warmed up enough for the show, and that’s basically it. was venturing into largely uncharted territory. Yet at in-jokes. While there’s no doubting the traditional BIR: Have you had a lot of cast changes to deal with? she feels this worked to her advantage. content – witness Fraser’s playing on “The Wee Man MC: We will have a change-over, I think, just after “I was blissfully unaware of what I was doing,” she from Uist,” as he captures the intricacies of a bagpipe— Boston. We’ll have two new girls that come into the explains. “Because there were so few recordings at the at various times, there are hints of classical, jazz, and show and one new male dancer. time of anyone doing ‘Celtic cello,’ I think I felt freer to downright experimental music flowing between, and BIR: And it’s your responsibility to get the new try more things. It actually helped me not to listen.” from, them. If this sounds like the sort of thing that people up to speed? Among all her work—which includes guest ap- comes with lots of practice, well, yes and no. MC: A lot of the times the dancers will have gone pearances with Solas and Natalie MacMaster, and “A lot of what we do is intuitive,” says Haas. “We through some kind of rehearsals back in Dublin with projects with folk/classical-crossover musician Mark spend half the year touring and teaching, so in fact our dance director. So they have the basics of the O’Connor—it is Haas’ partnership with legendary we don’t do a lot of practicing—as I said, we’re very actual steps. It’s more getting into the show, getting Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser that has generated organic. We’ll fool around with our ideas, melodies your bearings on stage and getting your steps, because the most acclaim. On April 14, the duo will visit the and riffs, make things up, then at some point record there are so many people on stage at all times. You Greater Boston area, playing at First Parish Church and listen, so we can develop a tune or a set further. It have to be in the right spot, where you’re supposed to in Cambridge, with Scottish-born harpist and vocalist helps when you play a lot together, because you have a be, you know what I mean. Maeve Gilchrist opening. good sense of what the other person might want to do.” BIR: You started dancing as a small girl, didn’t you. Fraser’s and Haas’s local appearance comes in the Haas’s partnership with Fraser extends back to her MC: I was five or six. I started in my regular school wake of their recent CD, “Highlander’s Farewell,” teenage years as a student at Fraser’s Valley of the as most kids do in Ireland, like as part of your kinder- their third recording together. The album includes Moon fiddle camp in northern California. Haas first contributions from another heralded duo, Irish musi- (Continued on page 13) (Continued on page 14) Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 13 40 countries, 4 continents, 350 venues A column of news and updates of the Boston Celtic Music Fest (BCMFest), which celebrates the Boston area’s rich heritage of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton music ‘Riverdance’ and dance with a grassroots, musician-run winter music festival and other events during the year. – SEAN SMITH legacy – so far (Continued from page 12) Kyle Carey’s “Gaelic Americana” – Although she garten. Irish dancing is part of the curriculum there is steeped in Gaelic music, language and culture, Kyle because it’s such a huge part of our culture. It’s part of Carey is not strictly speaking a “traditional singer.” our physical education. So I started class there. And But her traditional-influenced songwriting style has then my parents saw I had a keen interest and took made an impression on listeners in New England and me to lessons outside of that, to a private school (The beyond, and she’ll be sharing it at this month’s Celtic Troy School of Irish Dance). So I would go there maybe Music Monday concert, on April 9 at Club Passim. three or four times a week and practice after school. “The best term I’ve been able to come up with for BIR: And then you began to compete. what I do is ‘Gaelic Americana,’ ” says Carey, who spent MC: I started competing at a higher level. I would part of her youth in New Hampshire and is now living have been around ten, until I was 16 or 17 . . . I placed in the Boston area. “I’m not a traditional singer, but second and third in the Munster championships, which my songs draw on traditional subject matter, and I do are my regionals. And I placed Top Ten in the All my best to try to make them sound like the old ballads Ireland Championships. that I love. When I perform, I mix my show with my BIR: Your career has taken you all over the world. own originals, ballads in English from Ireland and Do you find a great difference in audiences from coun- Scotland, and traditional songs in Scottish Gàidhlig. try to country. The subject matter of my own songs fits well with the MC: They’re very different, based on the location. traditional stuff, though we do tend to skip around the When we were playing in China, when we first came globe a bit thematically.” out, the audience was very, very quiet at the beginning. Carey’s interest in folk and traditional music has So we didn’t know how to take it. We were a bit like, taken her to such places as Cape Breton, where she oh, do they like it? But then towards the end of the studied fiddle styles and struck up a friendship with first act and into the second, they absolutely loved it fiddling legend Jerry Holland, and the Isle of Skye in . . . Americans are the best audiences, they clap for Scotland, where she became immersed in Gaelic song every number we do. and language. These experiences, along with other vari- BIR: What do you think it is that makes “Riverdance” ous literary influences, have served as the inspiration such a hit around the world? for her songs. Her debut CD “Monongah” was selected as MC: Backstage, when I meet people, the general one of the top albums of 2011 by World Music Central. opinion I get is that there’s so much more to “River- This appreciation for folk and traditional music dance” than just the Irish dances. Everyone comes to started literally right at home for Carey, who credits watch the dancing, but then they’re blown away by her “armchair folklorist” father for exposing her to all the other aspects of dance incorporated into the ballads of England, Ireland and Scotland. show. We have the American tap dancers. We have “We also listened to folks like Nanci Griffith and Joan our Spanish dancers as well. People love to see that Baez on family car trips,” she says. “When I started collaboration between the different types of dance . . . exploring music myself I gravitated to Gillian Welch, They leave wanting more. And the music. The music and later when I was getting into Gàidhlig singing, is what makes it for me. I never ever get bored with Kathleen MacInnes — I love her natural vocal delivery it. It’s beautiful, beautiful music. and progressive approach to Gàidhlig song.” BIR: Any special, personal memories of dancing in Carey, recently returned from a tour in the Nether- “Gaelic Americana” singer-songwriter Kyle the show as the tour comes to a close? lands, has found the music scene in Boston much to Carey visits BCMFest’s Celtic Music Monday MC: I suppose for me, it’s when my family comes her liking: She performed at BCMFest 2012 in January April 9. to see me. Because America’s so far away to come, and as part of the notloB Concerts series, and this past and because I’ve been touring America for such a month led a workshop in Gaelic song at the Passim Admission is $12, $6 for members of Passim, WGBH long time, when I play in Ireland during the sum- School of Music. This spring she’ll be appearing at Kiva and WUMB. For more information, see passim.org. mer my family and my friends can come and see me. House Concerts in Billerica and at the Cantab Lounge. Stay in touch – News and updates on BCMFest That just makes me very proud, that they can see She’s also enjoyed hanging around at The Burren and are available on bcmfest.com, and you can also sign that I’ve put this much work into it. Because as a the Lizard Lounge. up for the BCMFest e-mail list. You can also follow kid I was always away at weekends, competing. And “There is plenty of good music and inspiration to be BCMFest on Facebook and Twitter [www.twitter.com/ after school I was always in class, you know. They found around Boston, no question,” she says. bcmfest], and check out the BCMFest Blog at bcmfest. can see that I put this hard work in and it paid off. Carey’s Celtic Music Monday show begins at 8 p.m. wordpress.com. R. J. Donovan is publisher of OnStageBoston.com. Declan Nerney & His Band

Sunday • April 15 6:00 P.M. Florian Hall 55 Hallet Street • Dorchester For Tickets Call – 781-534-3919 To Purchase Online: www.ShamrockNation.com Tickets $25 • Table of 10 may be reserved Page 14 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Martin Hayes heads ensemble for ‘Masters’ event in Somerville World-renowned Irish fiddler Martin Hayes leads an ensemble of top-rank musicians when the “Masters of Tradition” tour comes to the Somerville Theater on April 14. Joining Hayes will be his long-time accompanist, guitarist Dennis Cahill, as well as vocalist Iarla O Lionaird, accordionist Mairtin O Connor, Uilleann piper David Power, guitarist Seamie O Dowd and fid- dler Cathal Hayden. The musicians will perform solos, duets, trios, and full group collaborations, offering insights into the journeys that they, and the music they play, have taken over the years. “Masters of Tradition” is named for the music festival held each August in the Irish coastal town of Bantry, Co. Cork. Hayes devised the festival, in collaboration with the classical music organization West Cork Music, to create a space where the heart of traditional music could be revealed. The April 14 concert at Somerville The “Masters of Tradition” tour will bring a wealth of Irish music talent to Somerville Theater on April Theater will begin at 8 p.m. For tickets and other 14: (L-R) David Power, Martin Hayes, Cathal Hayden, Máirtín O’Connor, Seamie O’Dowd, Dennis Cahill information, seeworldmusic.org. – SEAN SMITH and Iarla Ó Lionáird. Haas and the cello: made for each other (Continued from page 12) vibe, the energy in the air,” and they kept coming back Celtic music during her Julliard sojourn: She went for more. Although VOM was strongly fiddle-oriented, out to Irish sessions in New York City regularly, and started attending VOM at age 11, on the advice of her Haas was able to take classes from Abby Newton, a even formed a band, The Spondoolix. So, even while sister’s music teacher, Audrey Gray. “I didn’t really pioneer of “folk cello” (another source of inspiration for she has become associated with Scottish music, Haas know much about traditional music, but Brittany had Haas was Rushad Eggleston—the original cellist for has a pretty solid foothold in Irish as well. She’s played gotten interested in fiddle, and Audrey thought Scots Crooked Still—who made occasional appearances at and recorded with Solas, for example, and appeared was ‘cleaner’ for her,” says Haas. “Audrey knew about VOM). The year she went to VOM at age 15, Fraser as part of a special “Song for Ireland” showcase at Alasdair and the camp, so I went to VOM at first as came into her life. this year’s Celtic Connections festival; she also was Brittany’s sidekick.” “Alasdair was looking for a cello player willing to go invited to teach at the University of Limerick master’s The sisters were too young at first to take part in off the written page,” she recalls, “so he scoped me out. in traditional music program. VOM’s storied after-hours jam sessions and other We began by looking at some collections of Scottish Haas has continued to expand her boundaries, spectacles, but even then Haas says “you could see the music from the 18th century, when the cello and violin exploring Scandinavian music in collaborations with were typically in the local dance bands of Scottish vil- performers like Vasen and Annebjorg Lien, and more lages. But our feeling was that the cello part—which recently—especially since she’s been in Montreal— usually was a bass-line drone—could be expanded on, playing Quebecois. and we started from there.” The prospect of returning this month to Boston, This experimentation led to their first appearance however briefly, is a very appealing one for Haas, who together on a concert stage in 1999. Yet even as Haas greatly enjoyed her residency in the area (even though found a calling in her music, she also wanted to build she spent a great deal of it on the road). She found on her overall foundation, so she moved east to attend fulfillment not only in Boston’s Scottish offerings, but Julliard. in the Cape Breton and Irish scenes as well. “It was just too good an opportunity to pass up,” she “There’s such an amazing level of talent in Boston—so says. “I felt I needed a set of tools so I could do what I many good musicians, so many exciting things going wanted with the cello. I felt I could work on traditional on. I really loved it here, and I always look forward to music on my own, and that I didn’t need a degree in coming back.” it. Going to Julliard made me a better musician, not The April 14 concert with Alasdair Fraser & Natalie only in technical terms but also playing as part of an Haas, plus Maeve Gilchrist, will begin at 8 p.m. in the ensemble, with musicians who are the best at what First Parish Church, 3 Church Street, Cambridge (in they do. Doing that brings your game up.” Harvard Square). For ticket information and other But Haas, it’s worth noting, did not give up playing details, see heptunesconcerts.com. BC Irish Dance troupe to perform on campus April 14 Boston College Irish Dance will information, go to the Robsham Fancy, The Jolly Beggars, Last give its sixth annual spring perfor- Theater website at www.bc.edu/rob- Night’s Fun, Jordan Cannady, mance on April 14, when the all- sham or call 617-552-4800. For more Corvus, and the trio of Tyler Buck, student troupe presents “Rince” at on Boston College Irish Dance, see Bill Bumpus and Amy Conley. In 6 p.m. in the Robsham Theater Arts their website atbcirishdance.com. addition, local quartet The Ivy Center on the BC Main Campus. Leaf will team up with piper Joey Almost 30 dancers strong this NEFFA on tap April 20-22 Abarta and dancers Siobhan Butler year, “BCID” is one of the nation’s One of the longest-running and Jaclyn O’Riley as “Old Hearth largest collegiate Irish dance en- folk and traditional music events Music.” Participatory dancing is a sembles. around, NEFFA (New England big part of the festival, and this year 3484 Washington Street Senior co-president Peter Cronin Folk Festival Association), takes will include a session on Irish barn Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 • 617-524-2345 says this year’s show will once again place for the 68th year during April dancing with Tim Van Egmond and be a blend of traditional and modern 20-22 in Mansfield, Mass., with Traditional Brew. dance forms, “from set dances to plenty of Irish and other Celtic The events all take place at hip-hop,” and featuring a special music offerings. Mansfield Middle School and High surprise collaboration with another Among the Irish/Celtic perform- School, located near Route 495. BC dance team. ers appearing at NEFFA will be For all information on NEFFA, see For ticket reservations and other Nancy Mulrey, NØIR, Mulligan’s neffa.org. EIRE pub

795 Adams St. • Dorchester “President’s Choice” Serving Lunch & Dinner Every day, 7 days a week Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 15 Bothy Band phase of the modern Irish music revival. by Jordan, is the On this CD, Jordan reaches back to her Roscommon next step along CD Roundup childhood, with a selection of songs and instrumen- the metaphorical tals rooted in her family life as one of seven children road, a haunting By Sean Smith growing up in rural Curradrehid. To underscore the remembrance of Special to the BIR down-memory-lane nature of this project, the CD scenes from home. “Close Your Eyes, Love: Lullabies of the Celtic sleeve displays old family photos as well as a more Continuing in Lands,” by Aine Minogue—A Tipperary native recent shot of Jordan—or rather a reflection (get it?) the same direc- who now lives in the Boston area, harpist-vocalist of her in a mirror—and includes a little foreword by tion is a scintil- Aine Minogue has imbued her interpretation of Celtic her that sets the context for the album. lating rendition music with an appreciation for its underlying myths, An impressive collection of guests appears on the of the traditional rituals, customs, and spiritual aspects. Hers is often CD, including Jordan’s Dervish bandmate Seamie “Sliabh Gallion an ethereal, even other-worldly sound, and while it O’Dowd, Andy Irvine, Liam Kelly, Eddi Reader, Michael Braes,” guided by may not be to everyone’s taste, the authenticity and McGoldrick ,and Rick Epping, who along with O’Dowd Tallroth’s guitar sophistication—not to mention the artistry—Minogue and Jordan make up the American-Irish-roots band and a shimmering brings to her work put it beyond other more recent, The Unwanted. But the most frequent, and important, lapsteel accompa- and commercial, efforts in a similar vein. contributors are a pair of Scandinavian multi-instru- niment by Ljunggren, and McGoldrick’s expressive On this CD, mentalists, Gustaf Ljunggren and in particular Roger Uilleann pipes. Minogue explores Tallroth, who produced “All the Way Home.” Tallroth, Don’t get the idea that the album is one big vale the harping tradi- while a frequent collaborator with Celtic performers, of tears, though. “The Banks of the Foyle” is sweet- tion’s suantri, or brings a fresh perspective that perhaps keeps things natured through and through, and “Ould Ballymoe” is “songs of sleep.” from getting overly mawkish or sentimental. playful and spirited. The climactic title track—another She notes that But there is to, be sure, a generally melancholic feel Jordan original—is easily the best of the bunch: It’s an lullabies, as we to most of the album. That’s not unexpected, given that anthemic bookend to “The Road I Go,” with Jordan’s commonly refer some of the people and places Jordan associates with triumphant, affirming vocals bolstered by a chorus of to them, were cre- the material here are gone, in one way or another. The family and friends, as if they had just welcomed her ated not just for first track, “The Bold Fenian Men,” sets the tone for the through the front door. children but for album, with a subdued, respectful take by Jordan on Whatever shortcomings of “All the Way Home”—and all ages. So in a this ode—often sung, she notes, by her mother—to the there are really not that many—Jordan deserves credit high-speed society heroes of the 1916 uprising. “The Road I Go,” a Jordan simply for the respect and love she shows for not only where we often composition, is an obviously autobiographical song of her family, but also for the place that helped nurture seek relief from stress and anxiety, she says, why not farewell to the familiar; it segues into the exquisitely her considerable gifts as a singer. Her message is, look to suantri as an aid to meditation or other form bittersweet “River Field Waltz,” also by Jordan. “In enjoy and savor your journeys and all they teach you, of relaxation? Curraghroe,” a Patrick Devine poem set to music but never forget where you’re from. Obviously, you may not have much interest, or belief, in the restorative powers of music, but on its merits as a recording, “Close Your Eyes, Love” has plenty to recommend it. Minogue’s gossamer-soft soprano glides through songs in English, Gaelic and Welsh, including her composition “Take Time to Thrive,” Stephen Foster’s “Slumber My Darling”—with co-producer Scott Petito on guitar and cellist Eugene Friesen providing a suit- ably gentle, understated backing—and the traditional “Gartan Mother’s Lullaby,” Friesen again supplying a sensitive, subtle accompaniment to Minogue’s harp. (Also noteworthy is the appearance of Seamus Egan from Solas, playing a distant low whistle on “I Am Asleep.”) The instrumental tracks, some traditional, others by Minogue, are showcases of dexterity—her solo piece “Mary’s Lullaby” in particular, as well as her interplay with Petito’s guitar and Michael Pennington’s oboe on “William’s Lullaby.” As producers, Minogue and Petito create an effec- tively aural dreamscape, with healthy but not overdone reverb, and vocal accompaniments that seem to echo from the stratosphere. No, there isn’t a lot of variation in tone or tempo, and presumably that’s what Minogue had in mind. If you can’t get into the whole altered- consciousness aspect of “Close Your Eyes,” then look at it as perhaps a substantial change of pace in your Celtic music listening. Life isn’t always about jigs, reels and Dropkick Murphys rave-ups. “All the Way Home,” by Cathy Jordan—Nostalgia tends to smooth out the rough edges and round off the sharp corners of our lives—and often impels recording artists to make albums drawn from youthful memories. So it is with Cathy Jordan, whose three-decade singing career is best known for her membership in Dervish, which stands along with Solas and Altan as among the more influential bands to emerge in the post-Planxty/ AUTO BODY REPAIRS (617) 825-1760 (617) 825-2594 FAX (617) 825-7937

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“Serving Greater Boston since 1971” 1060 N. MaiN St., RaNdolph, Ma 02368 phone: 781-963-3660 fax: 781-986-8004 www.miltonmonuments.com email: [email protected] Page 16 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Traveling People A castle for the night? Ireland has plenty to offer

By Judy Enright of an Irish American, John Special to the BIR Gorman (or O’Gorman Elegant castles and depending on your source), ruins are scattered across who is said to have made the Irish countryside and his money from a cigar add an air of romance and plantation in Ecuador. He mystery to this mystical also donated the bell from island. It’s fun trying to that plantation to Doo- imagine life in those feu- lin’s Holy Rosary Catholic dal days and how castle Church. This castle is a dwellers coped without private home and not open instant communication, to the public but it can be grocery stores, or malls. photographed from lots Some of these castles of different angles, from and tower houses have below, from above, and been restored, with many from a side road beside the of the larger castles now castle that leads out to the serving as deluxe hotels, great Clare Jam Company including Ashford, Kilkea, (be sure to stop) and the Dromoland, Kilronan, coast road. Abbeyglen, andf Bally- Many of the other old nahinch. tower houses across the Several years ago, we country are in ruins now visited the construction but they’re very pictur- site at Dunboy Castle Ho- esque and make for great tel, Castletownbere, Co. photos. There are said to be more Cork, which looked very If you’re looking for than 3,000 tower house promising, but reportedly comfortable accommoda- remains in Ireland, built work came to a halt during tion, be sure to check out throughout the 15th and the recession and has not Ireland’s numerous and 16th centuries. Among resumed. This was to have excellent castle hotels. them is this four-storey been Ireland’s first six- Many offer extensive out- tower house on an inlet star hotel. We’ll check on door activities for guests, of Clew Bay in Co. Mayo the progress again soon, great food, and outstand- called Rockfleet Castle but the last we heard, ing service. Castle hotels and formerly the home the property, which in- can be pricey but you do of Granuaille, Ireland’s cludes the derelict Dunboy get what you pay for in Pirate Queen. Castle, was for sale. The most instances. Left: Doonagore Castle, hotel construction was B&B IRELAND a round 16th Century at the site of the former We have stayed in many tower house, overlooks Puxley Mansion. B&Bs in Ireland and have the sea in Doolin, Co. TOWER HOUSES almost always had a great Clare. Doonagore was Depending on which experience. There have restored in the 1970s been one or two in all our and is now a holiday source you believe, there home, inaccessible to are anywhere from 2,000 visits that were not too great but overall, B&Bs How about booking the the world and guided tours visit discoverireland.com/ the public,owned by an to 3,000 tower houses in Blackhead Lightkeep- are available all year. The ni2012 www.titanicbel- American family. Ireland, most of which are are economical, clean, and comfortable, and the hosts ers’ House at Whitehead Mizen Head Lighthouse fast.com. Judy Enright photos derelict. Some scholars say on the County Antrim in Co. Cork is also worth COBH TITANIC there were once as many are outgoing and accom- their ancestry and we are modating. coastline? The scenery a visit although, to reach EXPERIENCE as 8,000 of these fortified is breathtaking all along the visitors’ center, you The Titanic Experience, maximizing the impact of towers that were primar- Recently, a group called online access to our genea- “B&B Ireland” began to that coast and there are a must be brave enough located in the original ily built during the Middle number of seaside walks to cross the Mizen Head Cobh offices of the White logical records. Ages. categorize properties into “In the second half of the nine specialist services and other activities and Bridge that is suspended Star Line, is part of a year- Some of the more famous attractions around the high above the sea. long series of events and year, Tourism Ireland will tower houses include two provided by owners: eco- promote The Gathering friendly, pets welcome, area, too. TITANIC activities, called Titanic that were once home to There are a number of The world’s largest Ti- 100, taking place in this Ireland to the 70 million Granuaille, the notorious golfers welcome, food lov- people across the world ers welcome, Gaeltacht Irish Landmark Trust tanic attraction, Titanic Co. Cork harbor town to Pirate Queen who ter- properties where you can Belfast in Northern Ire- commemorate the loss of who feel linked by family, rorized the English and experience, farmstays friends or otherwise with welcome, adventure seek- stay, including Loophead land, opened last month the luxury liner. Events ruled the West Coast. Five Lighthouse in Co. Clare and, even before that hap- include concerts, Titanic Ireland,” Gibbons said. miles outside Newport, Co. ers welcome, and anglers The Certificates come welcome. (sleeps five), and the pened, more than 50,000 trails and boat tours, a Mayo, on a side road off still-working Galley Head tickets had been sold to maritime festival, vintage in a number of designs, the N59, is Rockfleet, also Sounds like you can reflecting themes of emi- find almost any interest Lighthouse, Co. Cork, residents of more than 20 and gourmet festivals, and known as Carrickahowley where you can hire one countries, including the tours of Cobh pubs where gration, landscape, and Castle. Another of her by visiting the website: Celtic design. Apply or bandbireland.com. or both of two connect- US, Australia, New Zea- people enjoyed a farewell tower castle homes, Kil- ing lighthouse keeper’s land and even Réunion, drink before they boarded get further information davnet, is on nearby Achill LIGHTHOUSES at heritagecertificate.ie. Wouldn’t it be fun to stay houses. Wicklow Head the French island in the the Titanic. Island. Both are accessible Lighthouse also offers ac- Indian Ocean. Cobh was the last port PRISON ART SHOW and well worth a visit. in a lighthouse or light- If you’re in Dublin be- house keeper’s cottage? A commodations with lovely The visitor center is de- of call for the liner that Doolin, in Co. Clare, is views of the Irish Sea. scribed as “a spectacular stopped there to pick up tween now and April 15, the site of another well- different accommodation there is an art show at Kil- experience is surely in If you don’t want to stay physical presence featur- 123 people heading for known and oft photo- in an Irish lighthouse, why ing a unique architectural New York.The fate of the mainham Gaol Museum graphed tower house: Doo- store when you book into that sounds interesting one of Irish Landmark not experience maritime design influenced by sev- passengers who embarked nagore Castle, which was Ireland by visiting one? eral maritime themes, in- at Cobh (then named and features 145 differ- rehabbed in the 1970s and Trust lighthouses or stay ent pieces of prison art. in a Northern Ireland Hook Head Lighthouse, cluding ice crystals, ships’ Queenstown) is also re- made into a holiday home. Co. Wexford, is the oldest hulls and the insignia of vealed: only four survived. The Irish Prison Service Doonagore is reportedly lighthouse keeper’s cot- runs the national art show tage. operational lighthouse in the White Star Line, the IRISH HERITAGE still owned by the family owners of the Titanic. Those of Irish descent every two years, with work Some 3,000 shards make are invited to celebrate from serving inmates as up the building’s impres- their heritage by apply- well as from two post- sive exterior while the ing for a Certificate of release centers in Dublin. plaza includes one of the Irish Heritage, an official A prison source said world’s largest outdoor program of the Irish Gov- while works are not openly maps of the northern ernment. for sale, some had been hemisphere tracing Ti- Evidence of Irish Ances- sold in the past and if a tanic’s route across the try is required as part of potential buyer was very Atlantic. the application process. interested, contact could “And dominating the Certificates can be given be made with an inmate approach to the building as gifts, subject to the an- with a view to selling the is a 15-ton Titanic sign cestry requirement, so, for piece. “The money goes recently winched into example, parents, siblings to the prisoner,” said the place. Laser-cut and made and partners could pres- source. “But sometimes, if from eight 30mm-thick ent them to other family it was a group piece that solid steel plates, the 4.5m members. was chosen, we might give tall, 15m long sign is the Says Niall Gibbons, the money to a charity or same length as the private chief executive of Tourism that kind of thing.” promenades available on Ireland: “The Certificate TRAVEL RMS Titanic’s most ex- of Irish Heritage is a Enjoy your trip to Ire- pensive accommodation, wonderful way for people land whenever you go. It’s the First Class Parlor around the globe to cel- spring, flowers are bloom- Suites. The new sign is ebrate their Irish roots. As ing, sheep are lambing. also the same weight as part of Tourism Ireland’s It’s a glorious time to visit. Titanic’s main anchor.” promotions this year, Be sure to go to the vari- The Titanic Belfast particularly in markets ous airline websites for air Festival will feature a like Great Britain, the US, and ground travel deals varied program of spec- Canada and Australia, we and visit discoverireland. tacular events through are targeting the Dias- com for information about April. To learn more about pora and those people who happenings in Ireland at these anniversary events, are interested in tracing any time of year. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 17 The Irish Language by Philip Mac AnGhabhann Celtic

We will keep using our two “model” verbs, céangail /KAHN-guhl/ “tie” and osgail /OS-guhl/ “open” for our Cross discussion of the rest of the two-syllable verb tenses. These are the so-called “Class II” or “Type II” verbs – simply because they have two syllables. Céangail “tie” Words begins with a consonant; the second, oscail “open” begins with a vowel. The Irish Remember that the first thing to do with “Class II” verbs, in the Habitual Present tense, is to “telescope” crosswords are the final syllable. This is easily accomplished byre- moving the last vowel(s) – a single vowel or vowel a service of an “clusters” which may contain one or more “silent vow- els”. Many Irish vowels are “silent” to fulfill the Irish Ireland-based “vowel rule” for balance, “Broad to broad and slender to slender” and to tell the reader how to pronounce the website which following consonant. This is why when you first see Irish written it looks provides Irish like a daunting task – the vowel rule coupled with “eclipsis” – clach but an gclach -- makes English Family Coats of speakers shake their heads and turn away. Irish is really not all that difficult once you learn to “break the Arms by email. code”. Don’t expect Irish words to be pronounced as English letters. ” In English there are at least three You are invited ways to pronounce “slough– a daunting task for Span- ish speakers, for example. No language has a perfect to visit writing system. If the “telescoped” word has a final consonant, it www. is moved over to become part of the “root” word, thus maintaining the meaning. There are still two syllables, bigwood.com/ the first one and the “telescoped” second one to which the verbal endings or person+tense suffixes are heraldry attached. The “root” of céangail drops the –ai- and becomes céangl-; céan is the first syllable and –gl + person+tense ending is the second. céanglaíonn tú, “You tie.” Remember that “silent” -a- to meet the ©-bigwood.com spelling rule. IRELAND IN CROSSWORDS In the same manner oscail will drop the –ai- to become oscl-. Os- is the first syllable and –cl + person+tense ACROSS 18. Little to wear on the Pacific atoll of big bangs. (6) ending is the second. Osclaíonn tú, “You close”. 1. I ran non-art shop over in Clare’s gateway to Ireland, 21. “I shall be like that ——, I shall die at the top.” We already learned that there are three “Person” end- which has its ups and downs. (7,7) Swift. (4) ings in the Habitual Present for two-syllable verbs 7. Are set in order at this rising time of the year in – “I”, -(a)ím /eem/, “we” -(a)ímid /ee-muhj/. Endings for Ireland. (6) “you, he, she, you-all, they” are –(a)íonn /een/. 9. Hit hard when good person goes to the United Na- CROSSWORD SOLUTION ON PAGE 18 Many two-syllable (Type II) verbs end in –igh, pro- tions. (4) nounced /ee/. Examples are coinnaigh /KOH-nee/ “hold, 10. “The whole worl’s in a —— o’ chassis.” Seán keep’, oibrigh /OH-bree/ “work”, salaigh /SAH-lee/ O’Casey. (5) “soil, get dirty”, éirigh /EH-ree/ “get up, awaken”, 12. “Too —— for a statesman, too proud for a wit.” gortaigh “hurt, injure”, and dubhaigh “blacken”. Goldsmith (of Edmund Burke) (4) Irish Sayings In the case of “Type II” verbs ending in –igh, simply 13. His run up leads to a sudden incursion (in Co. Blind should be the eyes in the abode of another. drop the whole ending. Here are some examples in the Dublin, near to Lusk?). (6) A man with loud talk makes truth itself seem folly. Present Habitual tense: 15. Huge land log chopped up in Wicklow holy site The lake is not encumbered by the swan; nor the steed Éirigh for “I’ would be Éirím ar a leathuir tar éis where Saint Kevin built a hermitage. (11) by the bridle; nor the sheep by the wool; nor the man a sé gach lá /Eh-reem ar uh LEY-oor tahr eysh uh 17. Desert rat gets rib and leg broken. (6) by the soul that is in him. SHEY gahk lah/ -- “I get up at half-past six every day.” 19. Nore in turmoil over Nevada city of speedy uns- If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will Oibrigh for “you” would be Oibrionn tú ar seacht plicing. (4) take you there. uairean gach lá /OH-breen too ar SHAHK oor-een 20. Tiler in retreat having fired again. (5) When the apple is ripe it will fall. gahk lah/ – “You work seven hours every day.” 22. Dublin ullage has invalid content. (4) Give your love to your wife and your secret to your “We” is Salaímid muid féin nuair oibrímid / 23. We’re disturbed about six, to pass comment on mother. SAHL-ee MOO-uhj feyn NOOR–ehr OH-bree-muhj/ the book. (6) In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. “We dirty ourselves when we work” or, better English, 24. Selling, ask Bill about Kerry Irish speaking seaside Many an irish property was increased by the lace of a “We get dirty when we work.” village near Waterville. (14) daughters petticoat. Some verbs take an object. We call these “transitive The best way to keep loyalty in a man’s heart is to verbs.” Gortaionn tú mise nuair deir tú an sin / keep money in his purse. GOHR-teen too MEE-shuh NOO-ehr JEYR too uhn DOWN A narrow neck keeps the bottle from being emptied sheen/ – 1. Lined stack risk. (anag.) In Strangford Lough, County in one swig. “You hurt me when you say that.” Down, where there is a Norman castle ruin. (8,6) Show the fatted calf but not the thing that fattened him. Abair /AH-per/ “talk, speak” is an irregular verb 2. “Gladstone tried to guess the ——— to the Irish Marry a woman from the mountain, and you’ll marry with the form deir tú, sé, sí, sibh, siad and the forms Question, but whenever he got warm, the Irish secretly the mountain. deirím and deirímid in the Present Habitual tense. changed the Question.” W.C. Sellar (6) It’s better to solve the problem than to improve the law. For the Definite Past tense of Type II verbs what do 3. Rowing boat propellers seen in Sligo arsenal. (4) The thing that is closest to the heart, is closest to the we do? First, don’t “telescope”, simply lenite (“aspirate”) 4. It was not long ago that the centre was rebuilt. (6) mouth. the initial consonant. Recall that verbs beginning with 5. Cut back spending, but dig a hole again. (8) Don’t bring your troubles to the person who hasn’t got a vowels “artificiallylenite by prefixingD’ . There are no 6. We lack monk’s nod up in the Tipperary mountains sympathy for your case. person+tense endings for the “one shot” Past Tense. above the Abbey of Mount Melleray. (14) A scholar’s ink lasts longer than a martyrs blood. Céangail becomes chéangail /HEN-guhl/; oscail 8. Rails a plank. (anag.) Kerry estate and hotel on the Take gifts with a sigh , most men give to be paid. becomes D’oscail /DAHS-kuhl/. shore of the Kenmare River near Sneem. (11) A country without a language is a country without a Compare these sentences: 11. Panes get smashed by quivering tree. (4) soul. Present Habitual: The person that isn’t strong, has to be clever. Céanglaionn sé a bhóga. “He ties his shoes.” 14. Naturists seen in the shifting dunes? (5) Definite Past” 15. Irregular soldier could lure Gail over. (8) Youth sheds many a skin.The steed (horse) does not Chéangail sé a bhróga. “He tied his shoes.” 16. First notes taken in Gweedore mishap. (2,2,2) retain its speed forever. Present Habitual: Osclaionn sé an doras gach lá. ADVERTISEMENT “He shuts the door every day.” Definite Past: D’oscail sé an doras inné. “He shut the door yesterday.” Present Habitual: Photography by Éirím ar a seacht a chlog. “I get up a seven o’clock.” Definite Past: D’éirigh mé ar a seacht a chlog. “I got up at seven o’clock.” Image Photo Service See if you can translate these sentences in to Irish: 1.) “Liam tied his shoe.” 2.) “Nora tied her shoes. 3.) She is eating breakfast.” 4.) “We got up at five o’clock • Weddings • Anniversaries today.” 5.) “My husband is a policeman. He gets up at six o’clock every morning.” 6.) “Good morning, Mary. How are you today?” 7.) “Did you shut the • Banquets • Portraits door?” 8.) “Mum, I shut my door every day?.” 9. “How did you get your dress dirty?” 10.) “They blackened • Reunions their shoes.” 11.) “Who is it?” 12.) “What time is it? Answers: 1.) Chéangail Liam a bhróige. 2.) Chéan- • Groups • Families gail Nora a bróga. 3.) Tá sí ag ithe bricfeasta. 4.) D’éirígh muid ar a cúig a chlog inniu. 5.) Is mo • Special Occasions dhuine guarda é. Éirionn séisean ar a sé a cholg gach lá. 6.) Dia duit, a Mháire. Conas atá tú in- niu? or Cad é mar atá tú? or Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? 7.) An d’oscail tú an doras? 8.) A mhamaí, éirim (617) 291-6609 mo dhoras gach lá. 9.) Cad é mar shalaigh tú do ghunna? 10.) Dhubhaigh siad a bróga. 11.) Cé ata ann? or Cé sin? 12.) Cén t-am é? The official photographers of the Boston Irish Reporter Page 18 April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com ‘Who knows where I will be buried now,’ she asked (Continued from page 1) leaking, lurching vessels packed with passengers who pant from being pitched out of it with each roll of the tive land in search of the bare means of subsistence... retched with every rise and fall as the ship plowed vessel. At only eighteen inches wide, each berth was, The law is bound at least on the English side…to put through the stormy Atlantic, the trip to “the promised a passenger noted, “three to four inches less than the an end to that system by which a firm of traders in land of Amerikay” proved nothing short of hell. Thomas average width of the back of a man’s coat.” emigrants purchased of the owners the whole ‘tween Gallagher, in Paddy’s Lament – Ireland 1840-47, his In an 1848 letter penned by British official Stephen E. decks of a ship, and send on board as many wretched absorbing and well-written look at the Famine and De Vere, the description of the berths is chilling: “The people as they can get, without the smallest reference the mass emigration of the Irish to escape the ravages, passengers have not more [room] than their coffins.” to the convenience of the steerage…or anything but combed the logs and records of Famine ships, record- A Parliamentary Report of the Select Committee their own immediate profit.” ing unforgettable scenes of human fear and misery. to Investigate the Operation of the Passengers Acts The voyage from Ireland to Boston and other points “My soul from the devil,” exclaimed one woman to related: “I have known cases of females who had to sit posed physical and emotional nightmares that few of her husband, “this looks like his home.” up all night upon their boxes in the steerage,” said one the Irish had ever dreamed of encountering. Aboard Gallagher paints a grim portrait of conditions aboard eyewitness, “because they could not think of going into the ships: “The law required that every four adult bed with a strange man.” With men and women packed passengers be allotted a space of six feet by six feet, into steerage so tightly, there were scant or no means which was to contain not only the two tiers of berths to preserve even a semblance of privacy or modesty. on which they were to sleep, and eat, but also their Edwin C. Guillet’s The Great Migration wrote: “Most clothing, bundles, chests and sea store of provisions. parents kept their single daughters in their berths with These allotted spaces, resembling horses’ stalls or cattle them, sleeping with them if necessary, rather than pens, were small enough to create in anyone a dread exposing them to the dangers of bunks so inadequately of tight, enclosed places. But any ship carrying ‘Royal divided. Some young girls never before exposed to even FOLEY LAW OFFICES, P.C. Mail’ was exempt from the legal space requirements. the rudiments of sex became hysterical when caressed Attorney John Philip Foley With even one post office bag on board, a captain could in the middle of the night by men who did not have give his passengers even less space.” to reach far to touch them. The girls often jumped Permanent Residency & Citizenship • Family & Business Each berth looked like a scoop or shell of rough, screaming from bed, racing and tripping the crazy Immigration • Labor Certification & Temporary Visas unfinished pine or fir and was attached to one of the aisles to some other part of the ship, where they soon ALL Nationalities & AILA Members ship’s bulkheads or walls, with a wooden plank nailed found themselves within arm’s reach of other men.” to the shell’s outer edge in hopes of keeping the occu- The desperate enormity of every step each and every Famine refugee gathered at a ship’s gunwales had taken materialized as Ireland faded in the distance. One man said, “May I never set eyes on anything greener than that. … “That island will stand, the soil will be there, Burials in moist and fertile, long after we’re gone…overrun with Massachusetts England-bound cattle it will be – and a few leftover Celts!” An elderly woman slumped against the rail of a or Ireland coffin ship and exclaimed, “God save me. Old as I am, Easter Joy I should never have left Ireland. Who knows where I’ll be buried now.” Many of the Irish of the Famine ships would endure all year! and carve out new lives in Boston and elsewhere across Gormley America. Others, however, would be laid in unmarked graves. In May 1847 – “Black ‘47” – Boston city of- ficials established a quarantine station on Deer Island Funeral Home to deal with the hordes of Irish Famine immigrants still weak with hunger. Many arrived wracked with typhus, cholera, and an array of fevers. At least 850 617-323-8600 were buried in unmarked ground on Deer Island, the worst fears of that old woman coming to pass.

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Mail to: Boston Irish Reporter Card # ______150 Mt. Vernon Street, Dorchester, MA 02125 Exp______Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com April 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 19 Of James Connolly, and his road to the Rising

By Stephen M. Pingel when he was 14, using on socialist movements Connolly was among those Special to the BIR a false name and forged that embraced labor re- taken prisoner and he was Following is the second birth certificate, a means form and joining the In- held at Dublin Castle, in a series of retrospective widely used at the time dependent Labour Party not at a gaol as popularly articles on individuals to escape the unrelenting and the Scottish Socialist believed. who made notable con- hardship of poverty-class Federation. His brother Execution and Legacy tributions to civic life in civilian life. John signed up with him Gravely injured in the Ireland during the 20th James Connolly’s time in these activities. But it fighting, Connolly was re- century. in the service of Queen was also a time of financial portedly in such condition Victoria at the height of strain for James and his that he was not expected James Connolly Pax Britainica, when the growing family, and they to stay alive for more than 1868-1916 imperial red of the Brit- moved to Dublin where a day or two. Visited by Although the closing ish empire colored great he hoped to find work. his wife at Royal Hospital years of the second decade patches of the world’s And he did, with the Irish Kilmainham, he spoke of the 20th century and the maps, would later shape Socialist Club, which later of his actions and said, early years of the third are both his quasi-military became the Irish Socialist “They will all forget I am remembered for their im- strategy and tactics as Republican Party, a move- an Irishman.” Soon after, portance in the Irish quest the Irish agitated for ment generally regarded he was taken on stretcher of independence, the time independence and his by scholars as one of the by ambulance to Kilmain- had been ripe a few years political attitude toward most important early ham Gaol and led into the earlier for a movement to all things British as the players in Irish Republi- prison courtyard. Unable loose the island from the 20th century loomed just canism. to stand, and given no British crown, in particu- ahead. Socialism has many help to do so honorably, lar the Easter Rising of The British faces, and that ideology deprived of a last meal, 1916 during which a man Army Years has always been a strong he was tied to a chair and named James Connolly For the first seven years aspect of Irish Republi- shot dead, his body later made a substantial mark of his Army service, Con- canism, although not in dumped into a unmarked before he was set before a nolly’s regiment was sta- the sense of what most mass grave along with British firing squad. tioned in Ireland, which in the United States see the brothers-in-arms who From his roots as a gave him a close-up look as socialism. Irish ideals paid the ultimate price in Scotish-born Irish im- at the brutal effects of have historically been the pursuit of their ideals. migrant, to his dabbling British oppression in the geared toward agrarian James Connolly was a in Marxist ideology, to country. Scholars of Irish reform and welfare pro- man of deeply held views his role as commandant history see these years grams, not gross business who was often at odds with of the Dublin brigade as the most influential in nationalization and the his contemporaries in the during the Rising, James Connolly’s life. Using a like as seen in other social- fight for independence. Connolly remains one of later-day comparison, it ist experiments. Curiously, his overall po- the more interesting and would not be a stretch to During this time (1900- litical views, his socialist overlooked leaders in the draw parallels between 1912), Connolly also trav- instincts, and his support history of local Irish gover- his experiences and those eled to the United States James Connolly: Led Dublin brigade. of far-left radical unions nance right up to his death of Ernesto (Che) Guevara, several times, setting left a bigger mark in Scot- by fire at age 48. who experienced the same up socialist groups and The Easter Rising the British alone -- the land than in Ireland. But The Early Years sorts of epiphanies of promoting Irish indepen- Although Connolly IRB agreed to a com- as the de facto leader of James Connolly was indifference to local life dence. In 1910 he wrote would head up the Dub- promise by which they the failed Easter Rising, born in Edinburgh, Scot- of foreign imperialists a relatively unknown, yet lin brigade, arguably the would help plan and carry the ashes of which gave land, on June 5, June while traveling through- important book – Labour driving force behind the out the revolt. Connolly, rise to more muscular and 1868, in the Cowgate out South America as a in Irish History – which rising, he found himself Tom Clarke, and Patrick coherent movements for area of the city, an im- medical student during gave him leverage in the was at odds with the Irish Pearse led their adherents independence, he gave his poverished, ghettoized the early 1950s. Irish labor movement Republican Brotherhood into the Rising, with Con- life for a better Ireland, a area the memory of which But Connolly’s military as he worked to support (IRB) and de Valera. By nolly the majority leader legacy noted to this day would deeply affect Con- career would be short- unions, usually meeting its standards, the Broth- by virtue of his control of by monuments to him in nolly’s views on life and lived. What he saw every with mixed success. All erhood saw the ICA as too the Dublin brigade. It was Dublin, near Liberty Hall, death and governance. day bred in him a deep of this brought Connolly rash and radical, but for a losing cause, and bloody, and in Chicago in Union His family, originally from hatred and mistrust of the more deeply into the cause practical reasons -- the and the British were Park. Monaghan, comprised British, and when his regi- of independence, and, in threat of the ICA creat- rarely gracious winners mostly laborers, and the ment was transferred to 1913, he organized the ing a rising and fighting when it came to the Irish. young James followed India in 1889, he deserted Irish Citizen Army (ICA), much in the same path af- and returned to Scotland. 250 or so armed men ter attending his Catholic Looking to intent on establishing parish school until the age Irish Independence an independent Ireland, of ten. Unskilled labor in On his returned to Edin- albeit one with more that era was harsh and burgh, Connolly married socialist leanings than hardly rewarding, so he Lillie Reynolds, in 1890, those held by the likes of followed in his brother and turned his mind to the influential Eamon de John into the British army political events, centering Valera.

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