Editor’s Corner: Tea, I Drink with Jam and Bread
By John O’Brien, Jr. @Jobjr
The hills are alive, with the sounds of music, festivals, conventions, golf and Gaelic football, hurling, camogie …. The annual Festival Focus continues with festivals in Mahoning Valley this month; pull out your calendar, there are loads more in August and September – check them out on pages 10-16.
Celebrate this too-short and oh-so-sweet life. As I write this on the one-year anniversary of my sister Noreen going Home to God, I think that the opportunities are tremendous. For ideas, see What’s the Craic? Take the Fields of Glory, and the Annual Festival Focus pages within for all the fun, and the details too.
Besides the 4th of July parades and gatherings, there is so much going on this month, including Faith & Whiskey @WOW Wednesday on the 6th; the AOH/LAOH National Convention, this year in Pittsburgh, the 11ththru 17th; an Inner View with one of the true legends of Irish music: singer, songwriter (Hand Me Down My Bible; Ireland’s Call, My Boy, Saturday Night, Scorn Not His Simplicity, The Town I Loved So Well …, recording artist and producer Phil Coulter, performing the 24th at the West Side Irish American Club in Cleveland; and The Prodigals @Byrnes Pub in Columbus on the 22nd.
The Druids gave a fantastic performance for the Irish Club of Toledo’s fundraiser. – many of the songs in the show you would know, but the arrangements, the story behind the songs, the authenticity that the guys bring to each and every show, made it an enjoyable and memorable event. They have a new CD out, titled, Just Grateful to Be Here. Our review is within, in Out of the Mailbag.
Do you remember our story on Irish baseball player Patrick Mitchell, training for the Irish National Baseball team right here in Cleveland, Ohio? Patrick has accepted an offer to play at Penn State Allegheny College, which is a great fit for him, according to coach Jay Murphy. In more great news, Coach Murphy let us know that young Cleveland man Dave Gallagher now plays on the Irish National Team as well.
If you would like to support the Irish National Baseball team, contact Coach Murphy at [email protected]. We are trying to help them raise funds for their work here in Cleveland, and travel expenses playing for the Irish team in games around world.
iIrish is made in America. We have always been green and are proudly Irish, all year long. Join us.
…
Nuair a stapann an ceol, an damhsa déanann an amhlaidh
(When the music stops, so does the dance)
John