Spring 2008
Next Event
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Summer Barbecue Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 6:15 p.m. Mona Lake Boating Club Entertainment by Mona Shores Fiddlers
Look who have returned from their tour of Ireland this summer, and will be entertaining us again at our annual barbecue picnic at the Mona Lake Boating Club - the Mona Shores Fiddlers! They will be performing for us their selections they played on their concert stops on the Emerald Isle. And we’ll hear how these dynamic kids liked Ireland and how the Irish received them on ye olde sod. We will have our choice of steak or chicken dinner, and at the bargain price of just $12.50 per person! A cash bar will be available. And remember, if it rains we are well sheltered under the lakeside pavilion. To make your reservation and select your entrée choice, you can email Bob Wright at mskirish@muskegonirishamerican.com. Or you can call the Wright’s at 777-2122 or Kathleen Marek at 759-7344. Please PLAN AHEAD and make your reservation as soon as possible, but no later than Wednesday, August 27. If you do not make a reservation, we cannot guarantee you will get a dinner! And don’t forget, this is when we hold our annual Green Elephant Sate. See article inside. Last Event On Tuesday, May 6, a capacity crowd of 100 from the Grand Rapids Irish Heritage Society, the Gaelic League of West Michigan, and our own Muskegon Irish American Society, gathered at the House of Chan for a dinner program presented by Frank West, the respected book and theater reviewer of the Irish American News, published in Chicago. He first presented an historical overview of Irish writing from ancient times to the present, and then spoke enthusiastically of the contemporary explosion in popularity of modern Irish literature and drama. He discussed today’s writers like the best-selling Maeve Binchy, and the recent nominee for the Edgar Award (best mystery), Ken Bruen. He also included poets and playwrights, pointing out that Tommy Marren’s play, The Banshee of Crokey Hill, was recently produced in Chicago. In closing, Frank promised to prepare and forward a recommended reading list for us, and he has done so. The list will appear in a future newsletter. Frank and the publisher of the Irish American News, Cliff Carlson, plan to attend our Michigan Irish Music Festival in September. We very much appreciate Frank for filling in at the last minute when our scheduled speaker, Seamus Metress, had to cancel for health reasons. We are also deeply grateful to Britta and Roy Portenga for their terrific prelude music, and to Paula Hynes and Kathleen Marek, who provided the transportation for Frank to Muskegon. This program was one of the best received we have ever had. Frank McCourt Here in October
As part of
our community’s fall Humanities Festival sponsored by Muskegon
Community College, the Muskegon Writers’ Center has announced that
Frank McCourt will appear to present a program a Born to Irish immigrant parents in Brooklyn in 1930, McCourt grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to America in 1949. For thirty years he taught in New York City high schools. Angela’s Ahes, the story of his impoverished early years, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the L.A. Times Book Award. In 2006 McCourt, a lively storyteller, also won the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award for Exemplary Service in the Field of Arts, and the United Federation of Teachers John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education. The Mona Shores Fiddlers will perform on stage half an hour before the event. In conjunction with the reading, a coat drive will be held to benefit Muskegon’s Every Woman’s Place, our crisis center for women and their children. Donors are asked to bring a clean used coat to the ticket office when they purchase tickets or to the theater the night of October 25.
High Kings in G.R. September 17
The High Kings is an Irish singing and instrumental quartet who have taken the taken the Irish music world by storm, with sell-outs all over Ireland. They will perform at the Devos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, September 17, at 8 pm. Ticket prices range from $35.50 to $60.50 and can be purchased at 616.456.333 or www.ticketmaster.com. The balladeers of the High Kings, Finbarr Clancy, Brian Dunphy, Martin Furey, and Darren Holden, all have famous names and musical pedigrees. Produced by the same folks that brought us Celtic Women, the High Kings have an exclusive three concert U.S. tour next month, preceding their next full tour in Ireland. The Grand Rapids performance is one of those U.S. stops. This will be a very popular event, so be forewarned to buy tickets early. Green Elephant Sale Don’t forget that at our Mona Lake barbecue dinner we also hold our annual Green Elephant sale, chaired by John and Barb McFadden. There is no time like now to clean out those closets, shelves, and other repositories of Irish related items that you no longer need. Just bring them along to donate to our sale. Of course, our sale also is a great chance to find new treasures, too! Michigan Irish Music Festival September 12-14
“The best
ever!” That's the inside word from our fellow member and Festival
Director, Chris Zahrt, on the 2008 Michigan Irish Music Festival, to
be held September 12-14 at Heritage Landing. Headlining the 2008
festival will be Gaelic Storm, Scythian, Teada, The Barra MacNeils,
and Millish. Returning favorites include Switchback, Seamus Kennedy,
Lawrence Nugent, Blackthorn, Fonn Mor, Kennedy's
Kitchen, Peg & Collette, and The Muskegon Police Pipe & Drum Corps. Festival Entertainment Director and our fellow member Tom Schaub considers this year's line-up to be one of the strongest he has booked in the festival's nine year history. He is especially enthusiastic about introducing Millish to a wider audience in that band's home state of Michigan. Tom comments, "Last year when I visited the festivals in Dublin and Milwaukee, I asked several of the performers whom they think is the hottest up- and- coming band on the scene, and they answered Millish. Millish is breaking into the main festival circuit, and we are very happy to have them with us this year."
Irish Movie Night Our annual event of gourmet desserts and viewing of a great Irish movie has been scheduled at the Muskegon Museum of Art for the evening of Thursday, November 6. Mark your calendar now! Specific details will be in the next newsletter. Just think, the elections for our national, state, and local offices will have ended a few days earlier, and we will look forward to enjoying this evening. R.I.P. As this newsletter is being written, our club has been informed that our dedicated long-time member Elizabeth Charron has been called to her eternal reward at age 87. Better known to our community as “Bets,” she and her husband of 62 years, Adolf, have been members of the Irish American Society since our founding in the early 70’s. Bets and Adolf never missed any of our events, and were always among the first to volunteer to do whatever task was at hand, and with lots of fun. In recent years her decining health prevented her from participating in our activities, and we missed her very much. We send our deepest sympathy to Adolf and the Charron family. We have also learned that Fidelis O’Toole has passed away at age 95. She is the mother of our members Mary Therese Kendra and Denny O’Toole, and is related to our other O’Toole family members. She lived a faith-filled life dedicated to her large family, and we express our condolences to Mary Therese, Denny, and to the entire O’Toole family.
Copyright © 2008 Muskegon Irish American Society. All rights reserved. |
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