Well it’s March— and for the New York Irish, that means BUSY: Reception for Dr. Mick Moloney, and his show on the Famous McNulty’s at Symphony Space; Craic Fest; Michael Flatley Lord of the Dance– 3-D, among others! Apart from gearing up to launch the New York Irish Arts Podcast, an interview/arts program, I’ll be running around taking in the exciting events that are happening. Calendar listings will be added soon below!
Tomorrow night I’ll attend a reception, hosted by Mr. Noel Kilkenny, Consul General of Ireland, and Ms. Hanora O’Dea Kilkenny, at the Consul General’s Residence to honor Dr. Mick Moloney, who is announcing the release of the new Washington Square Harp & Shamrock Orchestra cd– “Since Maggie Dooley learned the Hooley Hooley.” (fittingly, as the only journalist in New York who writes for both The Forward and the Irish Examiner US, I’ll be rushing after the reception to Compulsion, by Rinne Groff, about a man obsessed with Anne Frank, at the Public Theater– I did a Q&A for The Forward’s Arty Semite with Rinne a couple of weeks ago; read it here).
Washington Square is the home of NYU, where Mick teaches– and the orchestra combines area professionals and students. They play at many events Mick hosts– including the Irish Christmas concerts at the Irish Arts Center, and his concert last year at Symphony Space, “If It Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews.”
Mick is a busy bee as always– coming up on FRIDAY is another big event at Symphony Space, “Tribute to the Famous McNulty’s.” If you’ve been at any of Mick’s NY gigs you’ll have heard him refer to this Brooklyn vaudevillian family from the 30s-60s before, but now he’ll really dig in and show us the results! There will be slides too (sometimes at Mick’s concerts I feel like I should be taking notes, in the best way) and dance. This event is sponsored by the Irish Arts Center, home of All Things Good. They also launched the show Mimic last week, by Raymond Scannell, which had its New York Premiere during Under the Radar 2010.
Joining Mick will be Irish chanteuse/performance artist Julie Feeney (who’s at Joe’s Pub WEDNESDAY, but I won’t be able to make it this time– see below)
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks (who play, among other things, on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire); The Green Fields of America (Mick Moloney, Athena Tergis, Billy McComiskey, Brendan Dolan and Jerry O’Sullivan); Courtney Grogan; Dermot Henry; Dana Lyn and her String Quartet; The Niall O’Leary Dance Troupe; Mary O’Dowd; and– The Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra.
Now, I’m happy I had a chance to catch Julie Feeney when she was here for APAP in January, because I can’t go this Wednesday– but if you haven’t seen her, definitely check her out.
Julie blends theatricality (I love the gossip number where she runs around the audience whispering into people’s ears) with haunting music– she composes for strings. It’s just not like very much else. And she’s a brave woman, wearing her costume with a house on her head at the launch of Culture Ireland back in January, too. The rest of us were in suits.
WEDNESDAY night, I’m attending an advance media screening of Michael Flatley’s new Lord of the Dance– 3-D film, which opens officially on St. Patrick’s day! I’ll be covering for Speakeasy, at the Wall Street Journal, and will write more about it here too.
This week also marks the opening of CRAIC FEST. I went to their launch party last week and picked up a brochure, as well as chatting with the Fest’s Producer Terence Mulligan, and the New York Irish Center team Paul Finnegan and Chris Deignan. The Festival opens March 10th– THURSDAY, and I may catch if I can summon the energy! The first film is the U.S. Premiere of White Irish Drinkers Directed by John Gray. Film starts at 7pm. After Party & open bar from 9:00-11:00pm. Shown at Tribeca Cinema 54 Varick St. Check the web for details about the film festival, including musical guests (Colin Devlin! The Coronas!).
Irish Rep has extended Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney to April 10th– and I’ll probably have to see it next week or so, there’s too much going on– loads of music coming too.
If you haven’t read it already, check out Mike Farragher’s new book, This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks— which I’m sure we’ll be covering too. Mike is going to work on the podcast too, as will SUNY New Paltz professor (and Dub) Michelle Woods.
I don’t want to think about the weekend yet….nor the fact that next week is the Big Week for music. We’ll be launching the podcast then, so stay tuned!
