Sailor Songs for Valentines Day

Folksinger David HB Drake and Pier Wisconsin/ Tall ship Denis Sullivan present the next in a series of "Sea Shanty Sing-Outs." The general public is welcome to bring instruments and sing.  the program begins at 7 p.m., Monday Feb. 10

There is no charge to participate. The "Sea Shanty Sing-Out" will be held at Pier Wisconsin ( formerly The Wisconsin Lake Schooner Center) 500 N. Harbor Drive (East Michigan Ave at the Lake).

Call 414-276-7700 or 414-702-6053 for information or visit www.davidhbdrake.com.

Beòlach to Play Racine and Rockford

In the charitable spirit of St. Patrick and as a warm-up to St. Patrick's Day, the Parkview and Forest Glen World-Music Concert Series are presenting not-for-profit benefit concerts in Racine, Wisconsin, and Rockford, Illinois. Net proceeds from the concerts support the Girl Scouts of Racine County and the Girl Scouts of Rock River Valley.

The next concert series will feature Beòlach, a six-member band from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The group will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday night, March 7 at at Memorial Hall in Racine. Rockford's concert is at 7:30 p.m., Saturday night, March 8 at the beautifully-restored historic Coronado Theatre. The facility opened two years ago after a two-year, $18-million renovation. This is Rockford's 10th concert in the series and Racine's fourth.

Beòlach is comprised of some very talented stepdancers, featuring the Inverness County style of stepdancing. Cape Breton is an island off the northeast coast of Nova Scotia,off the eastern coast of Canada in the North Atlantic Ocean. Supposedly, Cape Breton has more musicians per capita than any place in the world. Natalie MacMaster and Her Band, who was featured at the Forest Glen World-Music Concert Series on Sept. 19, 1998, is from Cape Breton. MacMaster was also a headliner at the 2000 and 2001 Milwaukee Irish Fests. 

Beòlach is a Gaelic word meaning "lively youth." The group performs an energetic mix of Celtic music, including Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton tunes, featuring two fiddles, pipes, whistles, keyboards/piano, guitar, and drums. The band began at an impromptu session at the Celtic Colours International Festival in 1998, and after a strong initial response, went on to play festivals and concerts in North America and Europe. Beòlach recorded its self-titled debut album in the summer of 2001 and is now working on their second album. The current album features original compositions, as well as dynamic arrangements of traditional Celtic tunes.

Beòlach consists of Patrick Gillis (guitar), Mairi Rankin (fiddle), Wendy MacIsaac (fiddle), Mac Morin (piano/keyboards), Ryan MacNeil (pipes & whistles), and Mathew Foulds (drums). 

The Beòlach concert in Racine is part of the Parkview World-Music Concert Series, sponsored by The Parkview, a premier, award-winning, affordable apartment community for independent seniors in Caledonia, located on Douglas Avenue, just north of Four Mile Road. The Beòlach concert in Rockford is part of the Forest Glen World-Music Concert Series sponsored by Forest Glen, Rockford's national award-winning apartment community located on McFarland Road, just south of Riverside Blvd. 

The Parkview and Forest Glen World-Music Concert Series have included only the very best world-music artists on Earth: the famous traditional Irish band, Patrick Street; the equally exciting Irish band, Solas; the spectacular, toe-tapping, French-Canadian music (with its strong Irish influence) of La Bottine Souriante from Quebec; the exciting and wild fiddling and stepdancing of Natalie MacMaster and Her Band from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; Altan, one of the world's best and most well-known Irish bands; and the Scottish band, Skyedance, featuring Alasdair Fraser. 

Three years ago, the series brought Jerry Holland and His Band to Memorial Hall in Racine, who considered to be one of the world's best musicians and composers of Celtic Music. Two years ago, both series brought the thrilling Sharon Shannon Band to Racine and Rockford. Last year, both series featured Lúnasa. All the concerts have been very well received by people of all ages, as Beòlach is sure to be.

For more information on the Forest Glen or Parkview World-Music Concert Series, look at the concert web site at www.geocities.com/feelsgoodmusic or for more information about the band, see their web site at www.beolach.com.

Tickets for reserved seats are now on sale. Tickets are modestly priced at $17 for adults and $12 for children/students/seniors (seniors, age 65 and over), when purchased in advance. To get the best seats and save money, order your tickets soon — tickets purchased the day of the concert will cost an additional $3. 

For reserved seating at Racine's Beòlach concert, call or visit Molly MaGruder at 262-898-9080, 330 Main St., Racine, or visit Festival Hall, 5 Fifth Street, Racine. For reserved seating at Rockford's Beòlach concert, call 815-968-5222, or visit Centre Events ticket outlets, or the MetroCentre Box Office, or go online at centreevents.com, or visit The Tin Whistle, 1414 N. Main St., Rockford.

Gallery Presents Monumental Peace Accord Sculptural Work

"We have come to realize that looking is not just looking but that looking is invested with identity aesthetics are politics."  Felix Gonzalez-Torres

The Golden Thread Gallery, located on an interface in North Belfast, continues its program exploring aspects of Belfast/Northern Ireland's contemporary urban condition with The Agreement.  A preview is set for 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday Feb. 22.   The show continues to  March 23.

A Beaconsfield commission to commemorate the signing of the Agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations of 1998 is showcased in this vast new sculptural work by Shane Cullen.  Measuring 220 feet (67 meters) in length, it presents the 11,500 words of the British-Irish Peace Treaty of 1998, carved into 56 panels. Visually arresting, Cullen gives the legalities within this charged document concrete form.

Delivered to every household, the text of the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement was overwhelmingly approved by the population of Ireland in a cross-border referendum and the crafting of the document keenly followed as a media event. Cullen has chosen to signify this historic breakthrough by transforming the language of diplomacy into a visual work of art. His practice can be paradoxically related both to the subversive activities of artists such as the Situationists and to the traditional form of commemorative works like the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.

The artist, aware of the legitimate concerns of the pro and anti-agreement division places this monumental work for  the viewer's consideration of a document which affects everyone in Northern Ireland. The work will make this significant information accessible in a new way.

In addition to the exhibition, a seminar program co-ordinated by Prof. Liam Kelly and supported by the University of Ulster will be held at the historic Crumlin Road Courthouse. Contact the gallery for further details.

The exhibition of this contemporary memorial will be animated by a series of outreach activities including workshops and gallery tours. The gallery welcomes inquires from schools, colleges, and community groups.

The Agreement is a cross-border partnership produced by Beaconsfield, London supported by the Arts Councils of England, the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, the Agreed Ireland Forum (London), Awards for All the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Community Fund (Belfast), the British Council, Brookfield Business Centre (Belfast), City Arts Centre (Dublin), the Cultural Relations Committee (Rep. Ireland), Fire Design (Dublin), Firestation Artists Studios (Dublin), Flax Art Studios and Flax Trust (Belfast), Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast), Imagine Belfast 2008, Orchard Gallery (Derry), Project (Dublin), University of Ulster (Belfast) and Visiting Arts (London).

 Information updates are available from www.theagreement.org or Beaconsfield 020 75 826 465

Scottish Emissary to Talk

 The Honorable Susan Stewart, Scotland's first diplomat to the US, will present a talk on Scotland and it's future since devolution at 6 p.m., Friday Feb. 21, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Hefter Center, 3281 N. Lake Dr.  The free talk is preceded by a 5 p.m. reception.
 
Stewart was born in Glasgow in 1965 and brought up in Renfrew. She graduated from St. Andrew's University in 1988 before undertaking postgraduate work in the States. She returned to Scotland, working in political journalism, then in press and public affairs for Strathclyde Regional Council (based Westminster) and Glasgow City Council. 

She joined the Scottish Office as deputy head of press in 1998, just before the transition to devolution, and was then appointed as Scotland's first diplomat to the US in 2001. 

The event is sponsored by the UWM Center for Celtic Studies and the Institute of World Affairs.

The annual Irish American Heritage Lecture series will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 9,  at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago.

On Sunday, Feb. 23, the topics will be:

"Irish Summer Visitors' Connections to Grand Beach" by Eileen Durkin, with a Greek perspective by Elaine Thomopoulos of the Berrien County Historical Association.

"The Fenian Invasion of Canada" by Dr. Andrew Wilson, Loyola University Chicago.

On Sunday, March 9, the topics will be:

"Irish Diggers - The Building of the Ilinois-Michigan Canal" features the film Prairie Tides, with a lecture by producer Constance Mortell; cosponsored by The Newberry Library.

"Antarctic Journeys - Tom Crean, Man of the 20th Century" slide show and lecture by John McGowan about the man who was on three expeditions to reach the South Pole.

Each Sunday's presentations will be followed by a reception.  The cost for each Sunday's events will be $6 for IAHC members and seniors, and $7 for non-members.

Please call IAHC at 773-282-7035, or fax 773-282-0380 to make your reservation.

Milwaukee Goes Sean-Nós

Join the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Celtic Studies for a weekend celebration of sean-nós singing on Feb. 29 and March 1. This is the traditional Irish art form of storytelling through song, one of the oldest singing traditions in Europe.  A number of well-known native Irish singers will gather in Milwaukee for this unique weekend of song sharing, workshops, sessions, archival recordings, and, of course, public performance.
 
Friday, Feb. 28

4 p.m.    Singer and author Lillis ó Laoire will talk about issues raised in his new book Ar Crag I Lar na Farraige (On a Rock in the Middle of the Sea).  Based on his extensive research on Tory Island (9 miles off the Donegal Coast), Lillis explores the social role of traditional singing in the life of both the home, and the exiled community in America. (UW-Milwaukee's Greene Hall, free and open to the public)

7:30 p.m.     A gathering of sean-nós singers will be recorded by Irish radio, and will include performances by Lillis ó Laoire, Máirín Uí Chéide, Bridget Fitzgerald, Celia Ní Fhathartaigh, Áine Meenaghan, and others.  (UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts Recital Hall, $5 at the door)

 Saturday, March 1

11 a.m.-3 p.m.     Workshops -- Learn more about the history and performance of sean-nós singing, and take a song or two away with you!
($10 fee per workshop)

8 p.m.     A traditional Irish music session will be held at Slim McGinn's Pub, 338 S. 1st St. It is free and open to the public.
 

Ulster Project Irish Fun Night Set for March 7

The Ulster Project Irish Fun Night 2003 is 5 to 10:30 p.m., Friday March 7, at Bergstrom Hall, Mount Mary College (enter from 92nd Street at Locust).

Entertainment includes music from Milwaukee's popular Irish band Leahy’s Luck, and dance from Glencastle, Trinity and Cashel Dennehy Irish dance schools. The evening also features a "Grand Raffle," a silent auction and mini-raffle opportunity tables.

The $5 admission (tickets are available at the door) includes one raffle ticket. Prizes include round trip airfare for two to Ireland, a golf foursome at Grand Geneva, one night at a luxury villa in Wisconsin Dells and more.

Fish fry is on sale 5 to 7 pm, and other food and beverages are available throughout the evening.

For more information, please contact Terry Gillick, 414-479-9064 or terrygillick@hotmail.com.

Muskegon Irish to Host St. Pat's Party

The Michigan Irish Music Festival Muskegon announces their St. Pat's Party on Friday, March 14.  This music filled evening will be held in the former Sears Store in the former Muskegon Mall in downtown Muskegon. 

The doors will open at 6 p.m. with live music, authentic Irish Food by McGovern's Catering, Silent Auction, Dancing and more until 11 p.m.  The admission to the St. Pat's Party is only $5 per person.   Come and join in the fun as a Festival favorite "Switchback" takes the stage along with other local and regional music acts.

For more information on the Michigan Irish Music Festival Muskegon's St. Pat's Party and for directions to the event visit us on the web at www.michiganirish.org

McCarthy to Receive O'Shaughnessy Award

Irish poet Thomas McCarthy will receive the seventh Annual Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry of the University of St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies.

McCarthy will read from his work at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 14, in 3M Auditorium of Owens Science Hall on the university's St. Paul campus. The reading, free and open to the public, will cap a week of events, classroom visits and public appearances by the poet.

McCarthy's other appearances include:

*        "From Leprechauns to Celtic Tigers," an explanation in poems and stories of, according to McCarthy, "the happy sadness of being Irish." The talk is hosted by the St. Thomas Alumni Association's First Friday Luncheon Series and begins at noon Friday, March 7, at The Depot, 225 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis. Cost for luncheon and speaker: $20. For reservations, call 651-962-6430.

*        "Art and Integrity: Writers in a Political World," which features the poet in conversation with former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer. The event begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Highland Park Branch Library Auditorium, 1974 Ford Pkwy., St. Paul. This event and the March 14 reading are free and open to the public, co-sponsored by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and by the St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies.

The $5,000 O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry, established in 1997, honors Irish poets. The award is named for Lawrence O'Shaughnessy, who taught English at St. Thomas from 1948 to 1950, served on the university's board of trustees and heads the St. Paul-based I.A. O'Shaughnessy Foundation.

McCarthy, of Cork, was born in Cappoquin, County Waterford, in 1954. A member of Aosdána, the Irish Academy of Arts and Letters, McCarthy is now on extended leave from his longtime position in the Cork public library to work on Cork's 2005 term as the European Capital of Culture.

His six poetry collections include The First Convention (Dublin: The Dolmen Press, 1978); The Sorrow-Garden (London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1981); The Non-Aligned Storyteller (Anvil, 1984); Seven Winters in Paris (Anvil and Dublin: The Dedalus Press, 1989); The Lost Province (Anvil, 1996); and Mr Dineen's Careful Parade, New & Selected Poems (Anvil, 1999).

In addition to his poetry, McCarthy has written three novels: Without Power (Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1991); Asya and Christine (Poolbeg, 1992); and Without Memory (forthcoming). The three books constitute a trilogy played out against the background of Irish politics. McCarthy also has published a memoir, Gardens of Remembrance (Dublin: New Island Books, 1998).

He is married to artist and short-story writer Catherine Coakley; the couple has two children.

Previous winners of the O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry are Eavan Boland, John Deane, Peter Sirr, Louis de Paor, Moya Cannon and Frank Ormsby.

For more information, please contact Jim Rogers in the St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies at  651-962-5662 or jrogers@stthomas.edu.

St. Louis to Celebrate St. Pat's

The Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Louis will take place on Saturday, March 15 in 2003.  Leading the 34th annual parade will be founder Joseph McGlynn, Jr.; Parade Committee Chairperson Terry Walsh; an unnamed dignitary from the Republic of Ireland; the to-be-named Honorary Parade Marshal; Mayor Francis Slay and others.

The parade participants step off at noon from Broadway and Market Streets and proceed west on Market past Union Station to 23rd Street, where it will end.  The official reviewing stand will be located on the north side of Market Street, directly across from St. Louis Union Station.

The parade, also known as St. Louis' "Rite of Spring," will feature over 100 units and over 5,000 marchers.  In the past with good weather, more than 350,000 spectators have gathered along Market Street to watch the elaborate floats, marching bands, marching units, and the children's favorites - giant cartoon character helium-filled balloons.

The family-oriented parade features floats from local Catholic parishes, neighborhood groups, Irish arts schools, Irish "clans," local sponsors, equestrian and canine groups, auto clubs, marching bands from
high schools in Missouri and Illinois, and other groups affiliated with Irish heritage in St. Louis.

The 25th Annual Michelob Ultra St. Patrick's Day Five-Mile Run will precede the parade on Market Street and also end in front of St. Louis Union Station.  Over 6,000 runners usually participate in St. Louis' largest run that starts at 9th and Market Streets at 9:30 a.m. Runners, walkers and wheelchair racers of all ages are welcome.  There are 10 different age categories for both male and female competitive runners, ranging in age from 14 to 70-plus years. 

Prizes will be awarded in age categories for both men and women, including "14 and under" and "70 and over."  There is a $13.00 entry fee that must accompany an entry application. It must be received prior to March 4th.  Runners can register on line at www.active.com. For more information call: (314) 231-2598 or go to the run and parade website at www.irishparade.org.

On Friday evening, March 14, preceding the parade and run, there will be a dinner at the Missouri Athletic Club honoring the parade's Irish Dignitary and co-Honorary Parade Marshals. Cocktails and festivities start at 6:00 p.m., with dinner following at 7:30 p.m. A band will provide entertainment and dance music.

Tickets for the dinner, which is open to the public, are $85.00 per person.
 For more information on the dinner, parade, run and the attendant activities, call (314) 241-PATS or contact the Parade's and Run's Internet web site at www.irishparade.org.
 

Makem to Present Stoughton Concert

Tommy Makem,  the "Godfather of Irish Folk Music," will perform Monday, March 17, at the recently restored 102-year-old Stoughton Opera House in Stoughton, Wis.  Makem, who has been the kingpin of the Milwaukee Irish Fest for many years, will make one of his only appearances in Wisconsin at this special performance.  When not performing, Make now produces specials for National Public Television such as "Tommy Makem's Ireland", "Songs of the Sea" with Judy Collins and The Makem Brothers (Tommy's sons), and "Tommy Makem in Concert" with Friends.

Asked recently if he had any plans to retire, Tommy replied "Yes, as soon as this interview is over I'm going to bed, and tomorrow, when I get up I'll find something to make life interesting".

TICKETS: Limited seats available at $22 each. By mail, phone or in person.  Stoughton Opera House, 381 East Main St. , Stoughton, WI. 53589.-(608) 877-4400. Box Office Hours: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Other shows:

"Hearts on the Avenue"
Feb. 14 -- Dennis Janzer Organ Concert -- with Guest Artist Bagpiper
 Rob McWilliams -- Irish Cultural & Heritage Center, Milwaukee -- 7 p.m.

Gaelic Storm
Feb. 15 -- [Hartford] -- Schauer Arts Activities Center -
Ruth A. Knoll Theater
Feb. 16 -- [DeForest]-- DeForest Area Performing Arts Center

The Irish Rovers
Feb. 28 -- [GREEN BAY] -- Weidner Center -- 8 p.m.

Tommy Makem and Friends
March 17 -- [STOUGHTON] -- Stoughton Opera House -- 7:30 p.m.

February Events at the Irish American Heritage Center

A warm welcome, good food and excellent Irish music can be found in the Fifth Province every Friday and Saturday evening.  The Irish American Heritage Center is located at 4626 N. Knox Avenue in Chicago, where there is plenty of free parking and no cover charge.  For more information on events at the Center, call 773-282-7035 or visit us on the World Wide Web at www.irishamhc.com.

Feb. 1 Fast Eddie at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 7 The Burren Céili Band at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 8 Paddy Go Easy at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 14 Switchback at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 15 David Dunne and Blackwater at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 21 Seamus O'Kane and Friend at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 22 Velvet Green at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province

Feb. 23 Monthly genealogy meeting, 1 p.m.; free and open to the public

Feb. 23 Irish American Heritage Lectures, 2 p.m.; "Irish Summer Visitors' Connection to Grand Beach" and "The Fenian Invasion of Canada," $7 ($6 IAHC members and seniors)

Feb. 28 Brendan Loughrey and John Condron at 9 p.m. in the Fifth Province