Irish America

Black 47

From Five Points Riots and Romance to Alphabet City Punk Rockers

By Keith J. Kelly
IA Newsletter July 2, 2022

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Larry Kirwan is All the Rage The East Village of the 1980s will be the setting for the next play from Larry Kirwan, a co-writer and conceiver of “Paradise Square,” whose leading lady Joaquina Kalukango recently picked up the Tony Award for best actress in a musical. “All the Rage” is the title of the new play that Kirwan, an author and the longtime frontman of Irish rock … [Read more...] about From Five Points Riots and Romance to Alphabet City Punk Rockers

Why Famine Came To Ireland


By Thomas Cahill

January 2000

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Thomas Cahill writes on the great catastrophe that became known as the Famine. The mass exodus of people during and following this period would forever change the course of Irish and American history. The potato blight that arrived in Europe in the summer of 1845 was, like the potato itself, an American export. The fungus that caused the blight was a microscopic organism … [Read more...] about Why Famine Came To Ireland

Musical Merry-Go-Round

By Tom Dunphy

January 2000

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It's been a good year for Irish pop music. There hasn't been one big ticket album in 1999--the new U2 effort isn't expected until early 2000--but if you scratch the surface, you'll find some exciting music nonetheless. TOM DUNPHY recommends a few favorites you may want to investigate... VAN MORRISON, BACK ON TOP Van Morrison's Back on Top couldn't be more aptly named. Van … [Read more...] about Musical Merry-Go-Round

The Blue Ribbon

By Jill Fergus, Contributor
October / November 2000

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When I was 13 years old, my mother took my siblings and me to Rockaway Beach in New York City for the day. After we romped in the ocean and were sufficiently sunburned, we ended up at a rather run-down Irish tavern that was hosting a singing contest. Since I can carry a tune, my mother made me enter. All the entrants, adults and kids alike, sang well-known Irish songs. I … [Read more...] about The Blue Ribbon