The 31st Galway Arts Festival, which ran from July 14-27, was another huge success for both the city and lovers of the arts. Though Ireland was soaked with enough rain to dampen the most ardent optimist this summer, for 14 days the city of the Tribesmen was drenched with music, theater and art. One couldn’t take a stroll down the quays without encountering some jovial … [Read more...] about Galway Arts Festival
2008
The Conventions
Ireland was in the background at this year’s Democratic and Republican National Conventions, but it was there. On the eve of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Senator Barack Obama appeared in Springfield, Illinois, to introduce his candidate for vice president, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Biden has long been an outspoken advocate for Irish-American issues and Obama has … [Read more...] about The Conventions
Irish Eye On Hollywood
Liam Cunningham is an Irish actor to look out for as fall approaches. He has built up an impressive resume of Irish and British movies, including Ken Loach’s provocative Irish Civil War Epic The Wind that Shakes the Barley as well as Breakfast on Pluto, in which Cunningham co-starred with fellow Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Cunningham’s most recent appearance was in the summer … [Read more...] about Irish Eye On Hollywood
The Battle Over Ulysses
The court case that changed the way Americans read. During a first-season episode of the excellent AMC TV series Mad Men, set in the New York advertising world of the 1960s, several secretaries are seen gathered around the office water cooler, whispering. Finally, one secretly passes along a well-thumbed copy of the erotic literary classic Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was … [Read more...] about The Battle Over Ulysses
Broadway’s Irish Colleen: Kelli O’Hara
We all know the wonderful score of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. The romantic ballads such as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Younger Than Springtime,” the joyous numbers “Cock- Eyed Optimist” and “In Love with a Wonderful Guy,” the humorous songs “Nothing Like a Dame” and “Honey Bun,” and the insightful lyrics of “You Have to Be Carefully Taught” – these all play in … [Read more...] about Broadway’s Irish Colleen: Kelli O’Hara