On May 30, 2002, John B. Keane, author, raconteur, and much-loved Kerryman, passed away. Keane, at 73, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994. The author of 18 plays and 32 works of prose and poetry, including Big Maggie, which played on Broadway in 1982, and The Field, which was made into an award-winning movie starring Richard Harris Keane captured the soul of rural … [Read more...] about John B. Keane Remembered
Interview
Bono’s African Journey
Bono wants a major rethink on U.S. foreign policy regarding Africa. The Dubliner and frontman for U2 feels that aid can work but only if the burden of debt is removed, and he took his argument to U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. When Bob Geldof roused the Western world out of indifference about starvation in Ethiopia, much was made of the fact that he was Irish. The … [Read more...] about Bono’s African Journey
Out of Albany
William Kennedy, known as the author who captured Albany, New York, talks to Tom Deignan. ℘℘℘ William Kennedy is telling a story about his father that could very well be a haunting moment from any one of his seven "Albany cycle" novels. "My father's father came from Tipperary," the novelist, 74, says over an Irish breakfast in Fitzpatrick's mid-town Manhattan hotel. Kennedy's … [Read more...] about Out of Albany
Denis Leary Honors New York’s Heroes
It's an unseasonably balmy October night a little ever a month since the tragedy of September 11 and a well-heeled crowd has gathered at the trendy Park restaurant in Manhattan for a benefit organized by Denis Leary's Firefighter's Foundation to raise money for the families of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on that terrible day. To the backdrop of Celtic tunes … [Read more...] about Denis Leary Honors New York’s Heroes
America’s Favorite Irish Tenor
Siobhan Tracey talks to Ronan Tynan about life, love and what keeps him sane. As my knowledge of opera is almost solely limited to the trivia fact that "Un bel di" from Madame Butterfly is playing as Glenn Close wreaks her havoc in Fatal Attraction, I did wonder fleetingly whether I needed to brush up on a few key operatic terms before meeting Ronan Tynan, the renowned Irish … [Read more...] about America’s Favorite Irish Tenor