Kruise for Kids celebrates its 20th anniversary

The Project Children Kruise for Kids is celebrating its 20th anniversary with -- what else? A cruise around Manhattan on June 8!

The cruise features breathtaking views of the city from the water, full open bar, hot and cold dinner buffet, the finest in Irish music, and more, all for $110 per person.

This year, the musical lineup includes Celtic Cross, the Cunningham Brothers, Shay Mac Band, and Maire McVicker.

“It’s a great party on the water, like going to an Irish wedding without a bride and groom,” jokes Sean Murphy of Murphguide.com, the site where you can purchase tickets.

You have people from all ages. Spirit of New York is one of the top-notch yachts cruising around the island, and they always put out a beautiful meal. This Project Children benefit has grown nicely over the years to become this great, upscale Irish event.

Take it from personal experience: this is the best way to kick off the summer! Tickets are on sale now at www.MurphGuide.com/kruiseforkids or by reserving at 212-717-9955.

The Ronan MacManus Bible

I spoke to Ronan MacManus, leader of the London-Irish rock band Biblecode Sundays. This was hands-down one of the more energetic live bands I had seen in many moons when I took in their show at Rocky Sullivan’s. They came on strong in the pub and summer festival here a few years back, but they haven’t been to our shores in a while.

That doesn’t mean they’ve been idle. Ronan released a solo album, Strawberry Hill, and guitarist Andy Nolan has released a critically acclaimed film called Clan London.

“This movie is about an Irish family growing up from 1970s London against the backdrop of anti Irish prejudice,” Nolan says in the bio. “The three brothers become heavily involved in organized crime and go on to become top of the U.K. underworld. The movie deals with the whole London Irish experience as well as the brutality of this particular crime family.”

Film and music intersect these last few weeks on this side of the Atlantic as the Biblecode Sundays undertake a short U.S. tour to support their new EP, The Pittsburgh Kid, out now through iTunes.

They will play a string of dates (May 27, 28 and 29) in East Durham on Memorial Day weekend at the Blackthorne Resort in East Durham, with Black 47, Derek Warfield, the Whole Shabang, the Gobshites and more.

If that wasn’t enough, MacManus is thrilled to share the stage professionally for the first time with his brother Declan. Most of us know him by his famous stage name -- Elvis Costello. The pair recently played in Boston and New York.

“One of the bar owners that booked us in Boston asked me if I knew he was playing in town,” MacManus says with a laugh. “He’s in Canada and I am in England, so we don’t always connect. Anyway, I called him and we will do these shows.”

MacManus hints at more music and shows coming up. He describes the new music the band is recording as a bit of a departure from the London Irish sound they perfected.

“We have some great tunes we are polishing off,” he enthuses. “The new sound has some rap in it, some U2 rock. I can’t wait to get it out!”

If you’re lucky, they’ll play some in East Durham this weekend! For more information on the band, log onto www.biblecodesundays.co.uk.

Black 47’s tribute to New York punk rocker Joey Ramone

I’m still reeling over the blistering sets of songs offered up at Irving Plaza in celebration of New York punk rocker Joey Ramone of the legendary Ramones.

The VIP balcony was like a CBGB punk pioneer reunion, with rock and roll hall of famers like Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of Talking Heads catching up with old friends like Richard Hell of the Voidoids, the Stranglers, and Bebe Buell (model and mom to Liv Tyler, one of Steven’s kids).

In the middle of it all was Larry Kirwan and the lads from Black 47, who played a blistering set of old and new songs to honor their old friend.

“Joey Ramone was one of the most gentle men I have ever met,” Kirwan recalls. “He always used to come to the gigs we did at Paddy Reilly’s and was an early supporter of what we did.”

The feeling was mutual. In between a spirited 30-minute set that included the new “Celtic Rocker” from their CD Bankers and Gangsters and “Rockin’ the Bronx,” Kirwan recalled his first Ramones show from the stage.
 
“I might be the only person in this room that caught their first show ever at CBGB,” he said. “The bartender turned to me with worry that with their black leather jackets they might be fascits. ‘Nah, I said. They look like Jews from Queens!’”

The line got a huge laugh. A political nod in the song “Who Killed Bobby Fuller” prompted me to ask Kirwan what he thought of the Queen’s visit in Ireland last week.

“Having written songs like ‘James Connolly,’ ‘Black 47’ and ‘Bobby Sands MP,’ I was skeptical about the visit,” he says. “Still, I had always been careful to separate the attitude of the British establishment from that of the regular British person in regard to Irish politics and history.

“I'd always admired certain parts of British culture, for instance the music of John Lennon and the novels of Graham Greene. In other words, I blame the establishment for the crimes committed against the Irish people.
“When the leader of that establishment comes over and basically apologizes for its behavior and visits both the Garden of Remembrance and Croke Park, the symbol of Bloody Sunday, I have to break with a lot of old friends and colleagues and say two things – ‘it's about time’ but also ‘well done.’

“Beginning with Tony Blair's apology, I think there's a genuine desire to acknowledge past wrongs and turn the page. It's hard for many of us to forget the past but to my mind there's no point in poisoning the future with such memories.”

Like any road warrior, Kirwan is looking at the next gigs this Memorial Day weekend. He’ll be playing East Durham’s Irish Festival May 27-28 and the venerable Blackthorn Resort, which has literally risen from the ashes after a tragic fire a while back.

Most folks head for the mountains or the shore for the holiday and Black 47 is no exception. They’ll finish their holiday at the world famous Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Sunday May 29.

“We've done a show or two every year at the Stone Pony since 1992, I believe,” he says. “I've always loved the Shore and particular Asbury Park, maybe because it's had its ups and downs, Black 47 always seemed to fit in effortlessly.

“There's something about great rooms -- Tipitina's in New Orleans and Toad's in New Haven spring to mind. The room adds some ineffable quality to your music. Perhaps, it's because so many great bands have played there before you. Whatever it is, there's always a magic in the air when Black 47 hits that Stone Pony stage.”
For more information on the band, log onto www.black47.com

Time to take a stand!

The Stand

Why isn’t the band Stand bigger?

I caught yet another breathtaking show at the Saint in Asbury Park last week and once again, I left with my jaw hanging open.

Neil Eurelle (bass, vocal), Alan Doyle (guitar, vocal), Brian Ellis (drums) and David Walsh (guitar, keyboards) have an inspired anthem sound that made the hair stand at attention on my forearms; the only thing missing was a swaying cigarette lighter dangling from my head as they peeled off “She Is,” “Full Circle,” and the gorgeous “Olivia.”

I particularly love the vocal interplay between the sunny Eurelle, whose toothy grin is a mile wide as he delights the crowd, and Doyle, a gruff but graceful shadowy presence that calls to mind the deep introspection of Eddie Vedder can offer.

In front of this small but deeply appreciate crowd, Stand peeled off tracks from their criminally underrated 100,000 Ways to Harvest Hope, a disc chock full of radio friendly hits.

You hear a song like “The Living Kind” and you think this should dominate the charts. You find yourself wondering why their career is not like the Script, another deserving Irish band that now finds itself not only with hits on their own but hits from other artists interpreting their work.

Enough is enough! The Dublin band the Stand has been building a loyal following on both sides of the Atlantic since 1994.

Let’s make a community effort here -- “friend them” on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, post songs from their website www.standland.com and do whatever you do to get the word out here.

With all the country and manufactured pop we’ve heard on American Idol this season, isn’t it high time we took a stand and idolized good old-fashioned rock and roll?


Morrissey Rants on Queen
WITH the visit of Queen Elizabeth in Ireland this week, eighties rock god Steven Patrick Morrissey has written an article for Hot Press which challenges in trenchant terms the appropriateness of welcoming the British monarch to Ireland.

The former lead singer of the Smiths, whose parents are Irish, dismisses the four-day visit this week as part of a new palace PR campaign to re-invent the Windsors. This is a man who wrote the hit “Irish Blood, English Heart,” so no surprise how he feels about the British roots in his family tree.

"As recently as the turn of the 1980s," Morrissey says in the article, "the Queen supported Margaret Thatcher by not dismissing Thatcher as she allowed hunger strikers to die at the Maze Prison, most famously Bobby Sands, who was 27 years old."

Morrissey suggests that the Queen's silence at the time makes her culpable for Sands' death -- and for those of the other hunger strikers.

"As Sands starved to death," he charges, "in protest at being tagged a 'criminal' and not a 'political prisoner' by the Thatcher government, the Queen sat in her palace and said nothing.

“The Queen also has the power to give back the six counties to the Irish people," he argues, "allowing Ireland to be a nation once again. The fact that she has not done so is fascism in full flow."

Wow. We definitely gotta work on that guy’s shyness and bland views on life.

Let’s tip a pint to Morrissey for sticking his neck out -- and for that great pompadour that shows no sign of standing at full attention!

Playwright Reading Nights a Hit

LET’S hoist a pint and toast John Shea and Billy Barrett, two aspiring Irish American writers who are doing the Lord’s work by hosting an open mic reading night for aspiring writers throughout Manhattan.

They’re hosting these monthly events on the second floor of the Playwright Irish Pub in Midtown. “We just want to give everyone a chance to read, especially writers that don’t do it that often,” Shea said during our chat over a pint.

“I saw some excellent writers like Jimmy Breslin read at Rocky Sullivan’s years ago when they did literary nights. Rocky’s moved to Brooklyn and although they are doing some great stuff there, they left behind a hole here in Manhattan. There is no literary pub.

“Just because a book company has yet to pick up a writer doesn’t make that work invalid,” Shea asserts.
He’s right, of course. There was some stunning talent on display at the reading night I was at.

Dublin native and playwright Honor Molloy brought the house down with a dramatic read of an unfinished essay she was working on. Not one muscle twitch was wasted as she tore into her story about a traditional seisiun in her house growing up. 

Another writer whose name I didn’t catch gave an impassioned delivery to an essay on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Irish and Irish Americans dominated the night, but there were writers from all walks of life that contributed to the evening, befitting of a cosmopolitan city like New York.

Steve Rosenstein, a writing teacher at CUNY (and alum of my school) dressed in black and appearing too cool for the room, read a razor-sharp essay about being tongue-tied when he met the playwright David
Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross) at a book signing.  His rapid-fire delivery and neurotic introspection were hilarious, leaving the room begging for more.

While the evening was filled with exciting voices not previously heard, it was not without its dim spots. A Mexican American writer read an offensive essay about how her sister betrayed the family and her race by marrying a “f**** white boy.” The racist rant went on way too long, a notion not lost on the gruff but lovable Billy Barrett. Dressed in a bowling shirt, he barked, “Move it along,” as he clapped loudly at the woman.

“You gotta know when yer losing the audience,” barked Barrett, who paced between the narrow aisles of tables. He grabbed my shoulder and pointed to the podium. “Yer up at bat.”

“Let me be brief,” says I, tipping my hat to the Mexican American writer and a few other readers that droned on. “Two things I can’t stand are prejudiced people and Latin gals with chips on their shoulder.” Based on the applause, I said what most were thinking before I launched into selections from my new book.

Based on the slow, meandering readers and the dramatic theatrical performers, I learned a lot about how to read -- and how not to do it -- at future book signings. The literary nights at the Playwright are a fantastic boot camp for experienced writers and novices alike and a thoroughly enjoyable evening for people interested in cutting edge literature.

Based on the large crowd and enthusiastic clapping, it would seem there is a market for literary nights in Manhattan Irish pubs after all!

Of course, the pub culture is exactly where the arts thrived not so long ago in our native land. So many of our pubs here in town have forgotten about this and are basically glorified sports bars, with big screen television broadcasting sports games at the expense of good conversation.

To borrow a line from my mom, let’s hoist a pint and say a silent prayer that more pubs join the Playwright and try cracking open a book instead of turning on the idiot box.

Who cares about the neighbors!

“WHAT will the neighbors think?”

Anyone with Irish blood in their veins has heard those five words strung in an accusatory question from their parents at one time or another.

You come home with long hair and a piercing from college. You get off the tarmac at the Aer Lingus terminal packing a chin that wasn’t there the last time you were in Ireland.

You’re in counseling and popping anti-depressants like Pez candy. News of a rough spot in your marriage gets out.

Or worse, you write about any of the above “family business topics” in a column like this.

No matter what the circumstance, a furrowed brow and a shot of worry about what others will think about this latest development is the Irish knee-jerk reaction to every twist and turn of life’s road.

Of course, each one of those “neighbors” in the parish of my youth have skeletons in their closet that could outpace the jigs and reels that our family’s skeletons have done in the dark corners of our house, but that didn’t seem to matter as we analyzed and sterilized rough spots in our lives and appearance before we left the house growing up so that the best possible image was put forth into the world.

Y’know, I thought I mothballed my rebellious streak when I graduated college 20-some years ago. But I find it’s been raging these last few weeks as the This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks book tour shows no sign of stopping at the same time that a select few in my family sit on the sidelines worrying what the neighbors will think of the perceived vulgarities in the book.

In a weird way, it has fueled a fire in me to get this thing in as many hands as possible, so I thank the (precious few) naysayers in my clan for the much-needed inspiration behind all this perspiration.

The week of September 2001 has dark significance in the world, but it has an element of joy and rebirth for me because that was the month that two significant conversations allowed me to break free of a life manufacturing a charade to please a collection of people whose opinion I could care less about.

I had gone to a personal empowerment course shortly before the towers fell, and the instructor encouraged us to reflect on how much time we spent trying to look good and avoid looking bad.

When you’re Irish and forced to spend a weekend taking inventory of what you invested in this ridiculous and vicious cycle, you are struck with how many years you robbed yourself of power, freedom and self-expression in your life. It boggles the mind, and I resolved never to put those confines on myself ever again.

I guess I was still in that self-awareness fog a few days later when I met none other than Sir Bob Geldof for coffee in New York. I remember marveling how his disheveled hair matched the grey pinstripes of his Saville Row jacket perfectly.

I was interviewing him for this column about Sex, Age & Death, a highly personal album about the high-profile suicide of his ex-wife and the affair she had with INXS singer Michael Hutchence that he had just released. During our chat I had the temerity to ask him what he thought the family would think of the lyrics.
“I could give two s**tes about that,” he said with a sneer. “You worry about what the neighbors think and art dies. You die. I never would have accomplished Live Aid or anything else in my life if I thought much about looking bad or feeling a failure.”

Imagine that. Thousands of Africans were saved because one Irishman pushed through the worry about how he would be perceived.

I was so inspired that afternoon that I gave birth to writer right then and there. It was no longer enough to be a scribbler that merely comments on the creations of others as a music critic. It had suddenly become critical that I transform into someone who creates something unique.

I rolled up my sleeves that day and published my first novel within 18 months of meeting Geldof. This new pathway of unconstrained self-expression through writing has added dimensions of joy and creativity to my life ever since that I cannot possibly describe in this space.

I am now promoting my second book, and I have been touched by how many people from all walks of life, Irish and non-Irish alike, are taking the personal essays of This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks to heart. They see the love and wit of their deceased mother in how I describe my living mom and it moves them to tears.
They hear an essay about my deceased Uncle Bob in Yonkers, and Bob is brought to life once again on McLean Avenue as someone recalls hearing his band the Limerick Weavers. Above all, they reflect on the common themes of family, guilt, love, and unity that run through our lives.

This book tour taught me that being a writer means a dedication to writing things that make your neighbors think without worrying much about what they will think about you. I wouldn’t live my life any other way.

Ian O'Malley stumps for a good cause

You've heard that smooth-as-the-leather on a couch voice of Ian O’Malley for years now. He graces the airwaves at Q104.3 in New York and was featured on VH1 when that channel actually played rock videos.

He has had a front row seat to cheer on the greatest rock stars of the last twenty years, but now, inspired by the triumph of his eight-year old niece over cancer, he is cheering on kids with blood cancers.

“I am running for ‘Man of the Year’ for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (known as LLS),” O’Malley says. “Basically, it's a number of individuals trying to raise the most money possible for LLS over a 10-week fundraising period, which started March 10 and ends May 19. Whoever raises the most money is Man of the Year.

“I'm doing this in honor of my eight-year-old niece Kate who is a cancer survivor, and spent two and a half grueling years fighting it only to fully recover in large part to the research the LLS has done.”

There are a number of personal reasons why O’Malley is throwing his fame behind this endeavor.

“When you throw in the fact that my father died of cancer and my family has been ravaged over generations by it, you can understand why this is so near and dear to me. I can't think of a single person I know who hasn't been affected by some form of cancer, whether personally or through someone they are close to,” he says.

O’Malley’s competitive juices are flowing to nab the honor, and he is putting out all the stops with 18-hour days and encouraging his high-watt friends to play along. He’s secured signed guitars from Jon Bon Jovi and John Mayer for raffles and other donations both big and small.

“The guys in Def Leppard, and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart made fantastic donations,” he reports. “My friend Brad Richards from the Dallas Stars and (PGA golf pro) Justin Rose donated so generously right out of the gate.

“But my favorite donation was this kid from Denmark that found the site online and gave $10 out of his allowance without telling his parents. That’s just so amazing to me!”

While O’Malley is gunning for the Man of the Year Honor, he knows who the real winner will be.

“When all is said and done, after the 10 week fundraising period, it doesn't really matter who wins, as any dollar amount raised goes to an amazing cause,” he enthuses.

O’Malley has had a number of famous Irish American comedians helping his cause. He gathered Jim Bruer and Greg Fitzsimmons at Caroline’s on Broadway, and the Irish band Mr. North gave the door proceeds to the cause during their Ulysses show in town over the weekend.

O’Malley rattles off the sobering stats during our interview about blood cancers and the desperate need for research. Every four minutes someone is diagnosed, with more kids and young adults under 20 succumbing to leukemia than any other cancer, and 150 deaths a day being caused by a blood cancer.

He pauses for a moment when asked what he’s learned about himself as he took on this charitable contest.

“I’m just amazed by the human spirit and kindness of people,” he says. “It’s not just being touched by the donations, which are great, but it’s amazing to see how people persevere in the face of these odds. You have people surviving cancer themselves rolling up their sleeves and donating to find a cure for others that are sick, and it just reinforces your belief in mankind.”

To find out more about the cause and how you can donate, check out O’Malley’s page here.

The Script to play Central Park, New York this summer - VIDEO

The Script has been booked to play the Rumsey Playfield in Central Park on June 4.

Expect the lads to be tan, as they will have just gotten off the VH1’s Best Cruise Ever, which is cruising the tropics as this paper goes to press.

The band has proven to be more than a one hit wonder, as their single “For the First Time” seems to be an anthem for the hard times we are now in.

The Script’s second album Science & Faith debuted at three on the Billboard 200 in January and “For the First Time” climbed into the Top 40 of the Hot 100 last week to stand at number 39...with a bullet!

Tribute for John Lydon

According to RTE, organizers of the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics in London are currently working out plans for a monster British super group that includes some famous Irish Brits. Members of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Sex Pistols, three of the most influential British bands of all time, would grace the stage together for the first time.

"If Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo came together with great bands like the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols it would be fantastic," gold medal-winning rower Steve Redgrave told The People newspaper. He is hoping to see McCartney and Starr team up with Mick Jagger and John Lydon to put on a powerful display of British music talent to open the festivities.

"The London Games gives us a chance to celebrate our own history," he adds. "We have to show the world what we are good at. Those bands are a huge part of our history. It would kick off the party and put us centre of the world's attention."

While this closet punk rock fan is elated over the recognition Britain is giving to the cranky Lydon, there seems to be something so establishment about the whole Olympic opening ceremony honoring the anti-establishment Lydon is peddling.

As another sign that this cranky Irish guy is going mainstream, a tribute album is set to release next week that honors his work in the Sex Pistols. No Future: A Tribute to the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned will be released by U.K. label Released Emotions, and distributed in the U.S. by E1.

This is tribute to the three bands that pioneered the punk revolution in the late seventies and are still influencing new bands to this day. It includes cover versions provided by a varied selection of established U.K. indie and alternative acts from the last 20 years.

There are 18 tracks on the album, with six tracks each dedicated to the Pistols, the Clash and the Damned. All the bands were tasked with providing covers of a high standard.

Lydon is currently on tour with his post-punk, post-Pistols band Public Image Limited. He will bring that band to Dublin for a tour stop on June 10.

The Prodigals rock better than ever

When it comes to news of one of our favorite bands, the Prodigals, “Off the Record” has of late devoted much-deserved ink to the Andrew Grene Foundation, the charitable endeavor created by head Prodigal Greg Grene. The charity is a tribute to the twin brother he tragically lost in the rubble of the Haitian earthquake last year.

Forgive me, then, if I haven’t reported that Greg Grene and the Prodigals have not given up on the rocking that they routinely do in bars, clubs and Irish festivals around the nation.

I hadn’t seen the band since 2009, when they were running around in support of their Whiskey Asylum release and hadn’t caught the current lineup changes that include Dave Fahy on guitar and Bulgarian Trifon Dimitrov on bass.

I remedied that situation over the Easter break to catch the Prodigals as part of the month-long celebration of Paddy Reilly’s in New York.

I was ill-prepared for what I saw. Gone is the jig punking the lads have done in years past.

With the new lineup, caustic electric guitar riffs are replaced by aggressive acoustic strumming that allows for Dimitrov’s caffeinated bass lines and Grene’s fiery accordion playing to take their turns at the spotlight. I hereby re-christen these jig punk kings trad-rock brawlers!

Grabbing a beer bottle from the bar, Dimitrov peeled off wicked slide guitar bass lines for the crowd favorite “Open Reel,” while drummer Chris Berry kept time with a funky back beat.

“I was trained classically on guitar back home,” Dimitrov says. “I was asked to play bass because we had too many guitarists in that band. I hated it at first but I got used to it after a while.”

Considering how he replaced bass virtuoso Andrew Harkin, Trifon is nonchalant about how he brings a new level of ferocity and funk to the band.

“It’s just what I do,” he says with a shrug, his sunken eyes modestly avoiding your gaze. It’s hard to believe that this is the same guy who played the four strings like a caged animal a few moments ago!

Originally from Galway, Dave Fahy is a self-taught guitar player who possesses a broad range of styles, from driving and percussive to sensitive and nuanced.

His singing is clearly influenced by Christy Moore, Dick Gaughan or Shane MacGowan, artists that hug each syllable of the song to create a landscape of the Irish countryside. Perhaps this is another agent that brings a more traditional Irish feel to the band than what I remembered.

“I tried playing the electric guitar in this band and it just didn’t work for me,” Fahy says. “Making the melody more acoustic allowed me to bring my own stamp to the music, and I think it really opens the band up into new directions.”

This versatile group can switch on a dime, with a flourish of Creole music passing you by and the band is already three bars onto “Work’s Too Bloody Hard” before you know what happened. It’s a sly tribute to Haitian people and the culture brother Andrew gave his life to support.

There was nothing sly about the heartbreaking “Snow Falls on Derrycark,” a new song Grene wrote for his twin on the occasion of returning to their birthplace. “Now the child's foot and hand/go where her father’s used to go/standing now where the memories stand/knowing all they know/snow falls on Derrycark/the wind now whispers in the rising dark/may she dream of you.”

Grene repeats that last line, his eyes growing moist right before he closes them. Grene’s mother, in for the holidays, rocked on her heels, gazed proudly at the stage and softly murmured the words with her son. This reviewer washed the lump that formed in his throat with a pint of the black stuff.

“There are moments when I sing that song that I can almost feel him put his arm around me,” Grene admits when I remark how the song’s performance seems like a continuing conversation between the twins. “It’s surreal.”

Funk, trad, creole, and rock with attitude were all served on this night. If you couldn’t find something to like in the set, than chances are you don’t like music. Check out the band and fall in love with their music all over again at www.prodigals.com.

It is there you will see a button to find out more on the Andrew Grene Foundation, a worthwhile cause that provides educational assistance and support to the Haitian people where a transformational difference can be made. Visit http://www.andrewgrene.org/ to find out how you can help.