After celebrating 40 years together, then unexpectedly suffering a great loss of long-time member, and friend Derek Bell, the Chieftains are taking to the road again for the 41st U.S. tour, in dedication to Bell who died this past October. The band's 30-city tour kicks-off on January 13th in the southwest and culminates in New York City on St. Patrick's Day (March 17). Pop … [Read more...] about The Chieftains Will Tour U.S.
2003
Burns Library Acquires
Rare 19th Century Irish Harp
An Irish harp handcrafted in Dublin in the 1820s has been acquired by the John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections at Boston College and is now on display in the library's Irish Room.
The 35-tach wooden harp decorated with gold shamrocks was crafted by John Egan, a leading harp-maker of the time and was bought at auction by New York concert soprano Heidi … [Read more...] about Burns Library Acquires
Rare 19th Century Irish Harp
Ireland’s “White House”
The hottest ticket in Dublin is no longer to the Abbey Theatre. It's a ticket to tour Áras an Uachtaráin, the sprawling white-pillared residence of the President of Ireland in Phoenix Park. Best of all, tickets are free, but available only on Saturdays on a first-come basis at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre. Hearing the news as I arrived in Ireland last month, I decided it … [Read more...] about Ireland’s “White House”
The Church on the Irish Ridge
The decay of an Irish American landmark. ℘℘℘ The glass factory, feed mills, saloons and boat repair facilities that once lined the canal are gone. But the fitted limestone walls that mark either side of the original waterway are still there -- a testament to Irish immigrants who built it and the many who died in its construction. Bypassed when the "new" Erie Barge Canal was … [Read more...] about The Church on the Irish Ridge
Remembering Emily
One of the best-loved poets, Emily Dickinson, counted her Irish caretakers among her friends. On May 15, 1886, Emily Dickinson died in her narrow bed in the Dickinson house in Amherst, Massachusetts where she had lived for all but 15 of her 56 years. Her elder bother Austin wrote in his diary: "It was settled before morning broke that Emily would not wake again this side." She … [Read more...] about Remembering Emily