Hell's Kitchen

'Flight of the Earls' Documentary Airs Tonight

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:02:53 +0000

We're happy to convey the contents of a news release from Richard Gibson, Flight of the Earls Coordinator, www.flightoftheearls.ie, sent this morning:

LETTERKENNY, COUNTY DONEGAL, IRELAND -- 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls. As part of this year long commemoration, BBC is screening a three-part documentary series titled Flight of the Earls, produced and presented by Antaine O Donnaile. This feeds in with Donegal County Council's commitment to commemorating the anniversary. The first episode will be screened tonight, at 10.40 pm on BBC1 Northern Ireland.

The Flight of the Earls, from Rathmullan, on September 14 1607, is a pivotal event in the history of Ireland, and indeed in the history of Europe. The series takes an in-depth look at what led to the sudden departure of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, and charts their epic journey across Europe as they sought allies who would assist them in their quest for victory at home. Dramatic reconstructions of various battles (such as the Battle of Kinsale 1601) have been used in the series to create a clearer picture of the events leading up to the departure and the repercussions in Europe. Presenter and producer, Antaine O Donnaile travels across Europe, tracing their footsteps, ending at Rome at the Earls' final resting place.

Digital viewers will have the choice of watching the series in Irish or English (by pressing the red button on the control). The Irish version of the series will also be shown on BBC2 Northern Ireland on Sundays at 10.45pm starting Sunday.

For further information on other events taking place throughout the year to commemorate the Flight of the Earls, contact Donegal County Council on 074 91 94200.

Sraith faisnéise ar Imeacht na nIarlaí i dtrí choda ag tosnú Dé Ceadaoine ar BBC1 Thuaisceart Éireann.

Tá 2007 ag comóradh 400 bliain d'Imeacht na nIarlaí. Tá BBC ag scannánaíocht trí shraith faisnéise 'Imeacht na nIarlaí' a léiriú agus a chur i láthair ag Antaine Ó Donnaile. Beidh seo ceangailte leis an tionscnamh ceiliúraithe atá a eagrú ag Comhairle Chontae Dhún na nGall. Beidh an chéad sraith a thaispeáint ar an Cheadaoin, 24ú Eanair ag 10.40in ar BBC 1 Tuaisceart Éireann.

Is eachtra fiorthábhachtach i stair na hÉireann, agus fiú i stair na hEorpa, é 'Imeacht na nIarlaí' ar 14 Meán Fómhair 1607. Amharctar ar an fáth gur imigh Aodh Ó Néill, Iarla Thír Eoghain agus Ruaidhrí Ó Dónaill, Iarla Thír Chonaill, chomh tapaidh agus a d'fhág siad chun tearmann a fháil agus tacaíocht a lorg dá gcás trasna na hEorpa. Déantar atógáil ar chathanna éagsúla (mar Cath Cheann tSáile 1601) chun na himeachtaí suas go dtí an 'Imeacht' agus frithbhuailte san Eoraip a dhéanamh níos soiléire. Leanann Antaine Ó Donnaile á gcuid lorga trasna na hEorpa, ag críochnú suas ag uaigh na nIarlaí san Róimh. Beidh rogha ag an lucht féachána ar an tsraith Gaeilge nó Béarla. (Beidh an sraith Gaeilge a thaispeáint ar BBC2 Tuaisceart Éireann ar an Domhnach ag tosnú 28Eanair ag 10.45in.)

Déan teagmháil le hOifig na nIarlaí Chomhairle Chontae Dhún na nGall ag 074-9194200 fá choinne tuilleadh eolais ar chomóradh Imeacht na nIarlaí i rith na bliana

Golden Globes

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 05:17:00 +0000

The 64th Golden Globes Awards, hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are now history. We were watching to see how “The Departed,” nominated for 6 awards, would fare; Martin Scorcese took home the Globe for Best Director. He referred to the Boston crime drama/remake of “Internal Affairs” as “Devils with Dirty Faces.” The Jimmy Cagney reference was unmistakable.Leonardo DiCaprio, who was nominated against himself in the Best Actor/Drama category(“Blood Diamond” and “The Departed”)lost out to Forest Whitaker, who portrayed Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.” Whitaker played a British soldier kidnapped by IRA soldiers in Neil Jordan’s “The Crying Game(1992).”
Best Film/Drama went to “Babel,” the Mexican film which was in contention for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year. “Dreamgirls” won Best Film/Musical or Comedy; Jennifer Hudson took Best Supporting Actress/Musical and Eddie Murphy took Best Supporting Actor/Musical. Best Actor/Comedy was Sacha Cohen for "Borat" and Best Actress/Comedy was Meryl Streep for "The Devil Wears Prada." This was her 2oth nomination for a Golden Globe; she has won 6 Globes.
Royalty was a pervasive motif; Jeremy Irons, winning for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in HBO’s “Elizabeth I.” Irons owns Kilcoe Castle in County Cork; he describes the location as "West Cork, near Skibbereen." Helen Mirren took home the Best Actress Award in that category(she ran against herself in “Prime Suspect: the Final Act.” “Elizabeth I” took home the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Helen Mirren also took home a Golden Globe for Best Actress/Drama, playing Elizabeth II in the theatrical release “The Queen.” Peter Morgan also took home a Globe for Best Screenplay.
The other motion picture we were watching was Emilio Estevez’ intriguing drama “Bobby” which tells the story of hotel patrons at the Ambassador Hotel on June 6, 1968set against the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, Best Drama and Best Original Song, but didn’t win. The cast has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild ensemble award, against “Babel,” “The Departed,” “Dreamgirls” and “Little Miss Sunshine.” That ceremony is on January 28, 2007.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, www.thewildgeese.com

http://www.hfpa.org/

http://www.sagawards.com/PR_070104.htm

http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/movies/17bobb.html?ref=movies

Authors Get Yuletide Chance To 'Give and Get'

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:39:00 +0000

As we conclude the 12 days of Christmas, Hell’s Kitchen presents a new feature. Throughout the year, we have met many prominent authors. This year we asked which book each author would like to receive for Christmas, and which they would like to give to a friend. Some surveyed were from academia, others are ink-stained wretches. Please feel free to log in under the comments feature here to leave your own entries.

Paul Muldoon signs at Glucksman Ireland House in November. Photo by Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

So, without further ado, here are our authors' replies:
(Click on the titles for more info on the books or to buy them.)

Dan Cassidy ("The Secret Language of the Crossroad: How the Irish Invented Slang," forthcoming in 2007) would give "Hour of the Cat" by Peter Quinn and would like to receive "William Kennedy's next book."

Michael Patrick McDonald ("All Souls,""Easter Rising") would give: "Paddy Whacked" by T. J. English and would like to receive Colum McCann's "Zoli: A Novel."

T. J. English ("Paddywhacked") would give Nuala O'Faolain's "The Story of Chicago May" and would like to receive Michael Patrick McDonald's "Easter Rising."

The above authors, who were together, laughed when we posed our question, and may have succumbed to a "I'll give yours, if you'll give mine" ... mmm... exchange of favors.

Eileen Reilly (contributor, "Making the Irish American") of NYU's Glucksman Ireland House, would give Angela Bourke's "The Burning of Bridget Cleary" and would like to receive "A Guide to Irish Fiction," edited by Rolf Loeber.

John Waters whose book "Scattered Radicals: Irish Writers and Atlantic Modernity" is forthcoming, is an English professor at NYU. He would give Alice McDermott's "After This"
and would like to receive Kevin Whelan's "Atlas of the Rural Irish Landscape."

Terry Golway ("So Others Might Live: A History of New York's Bravest," "Irish Rebel," "The Irish in America") would give his own "Let Every Nation Know," a look at the speeches of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He notes the books are taking up too much room in his attic, and his wife isn't pleased. He said he would like to receive Peter Quinn's forthcoming "Looking for Jimmy."

Peter Quinn ("Banished Children of Eve") would give Peter Behrens' "The Law of Dreams" and would like to receive a boxed set of John Dos Passos' "USA."

We are ready to vouch that there was no collusion between Quinn and Golway.

Alice McDermott ("That Night." "Charming Billy") would give Edward P. Jones' "All Aunt Hagar's Children: Stories" and would like to receive "Vladimir Nabokov: Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951 : The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend Sinister, Speak, Memory (Library of America)."

Paul Muldoon ("Moy Sand and Gravel") would give "The Aeneid" (translated by Robert Fagles) and would like to receive John McGahern's "Collected Stories."

I would give "Banished Children of Eve" by Peter Quinn and would like to receive a boxed set of "The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing," edited by Seamus Deane. Thanks for asking.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano,
Culture Editor, TheWildGeese.com

BBC Considers Filming Don Mullan's Boyhood Memoir

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 07:33:00 +0000

The BBC may film Don Mullan's book "Gordon Banks: A Hero Who Could Fly," a memoir chronicling the legendary Stokes FC footballer's long and inspiring influence on the Dublin-based investigative journalist and author. (Read TheWildGeese.com's review of Mullan's book.)

Gordon Banks, left, with author Don Mullan at the launch of "Gordon Banks: A Hero Who Could Fly" in Dublin last summer. Photo by Aoife O'Donnell

The British Broadcasting Co. optioned the book, which was published in March, and has received a treatment written by Mullan. Mullan told TheWildGeese.com in a Jan. 12 phone interview that he expected word by mid-February whether the project would be green-lighted, for either theatrical release or TV production.

In a landmark book published in 1997 and reissued in 2002, Derry native Mullan compiled never-before published, first-hand accounts of the Jan. 30, 1972, Bloody Sunday Massacre that killed 14 peaceful demonstrators in his hometown. He has considerable film production experience, having served as a co-producer for the Paul Greengrass film "Bloody Sunday" (2002), as well as the 2004 film "Omagh," which examines the aftermath of the 1998 Real IRA bombing that killed 29 people in Omagh, Northern Ireland.

The author's admiration for Banks has led him to help organize what he calls a "living monument" to the legendary English goalkeeper. Assisted by Banks' Dublin-born teammate Terry Conroy and local sculptor Andrew Edwards, Mullan is working to create a stone monument outside Stoke City FC's Britannia Stadium and a charity match within the stadium, pitting teams led by Brazilian soccer star Pelé and Banks.

The monument unveiling, and the match are slated for the same day, and may occur as early as August. Funds raised will go to the Derry-based charity Children in Crossfire. Mullan said he hopes to have Pelé unveil the monument, which Edwards has titled "A Hero Who Could Fly."

Mullan has frequently worked with charities and human rights organizations. In 2002, he received the Defenders of Human Dignity Award from the International League for Human Rights at the United Nations. His books include "Eyewitness Bloody Sunday: The Truth" and "The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings," both by Wolfhound Press. He has also written Columba Press' 'Little Book' series, including "The Little Book of St. Patrick" and "A Little Book of Mother Theresa of Calcutta."— Gerry Regan, Producer / TheWildGeese.com

* Buy an autographed copy of "Gordon Banks: A Hero Who Could Fly."

I’ve Been Dying On The Railroad

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:47:00 +0000

In June 1832 fifty-seven Irishmen arrived in Philadelphia aboard the John Stamp out of Derry. Just six weeks later all of them would be dead. All over America Irishmen were doing the back-breaking labor that was building the country’s roads, canals, railroads, bridges and anything else that a new and usually poorly educated immigrant could do to make a living.

On the docks the fifty-seven men were hired by Phillip Duffy, a railroad contractor working for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. No doubt they thought it a wonderful start to their new lives in “Amerikay,” instead it was the beginning of the end of their lives. Duffy took them to a spot in southeast Pennsylvania along the route of the new rail line near Malvern. It was a ravine between two hills that needed to be filled. The spot is known as Duffys Cut today.

We know that a cholera epidemic broke out shortly after they began work and that some of them caught it. Shortly after that all fifty-seven were dead, supposedly of the disease, and buried in a mass grave. But the normal death rate from cholera is 40 to 60 percent, not 100 percent, and most of these men would have been in tremendous physical condition to do the job they were doing. The suspicion exists that some of them may have been killed by locals who were fearful of the spread of the disease and prejudiced against the Irish Catholic suddenly thrust into their midst.

Now a group from Immaculata University is hoping to clear up this historical mystery with an archeological dig at Duffy’s Cut. Thus far they have found a large group of artifacts, including belt buckle, coins, eating utensils, buttons, and nails, but no bodies. You can learn more at the Duffy’s Cut Project website.

Duffy’s Cut Project

Articles on Duffy’s Cut

Philly's big dig: Closing in on the secrets of Duffy's Cut

The dark side of the Irish-American dream

The Ghosts of Duffy's Cut: The Irish Who Died Building America's Most Dangerous Stretch of Railroad

2006 Movie Poll by BBC

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 23:02:00 +0000

"The Wind that Shakes the Barley" has taken second place on BBC One's "Film 2006 with Jonathan Ross." This is an interactive poll taken through the website of the BBC, so it's hardly a scientific poll, but it does show us that the Ken Loach-directed drama about the Irish War of Independence, starring Cillian Murphy, Padraig Delaney Liam Cunningham and Orla Fitzgerald, has not gone unnoticed in the United Kingdom. We saw the movie at a special journalists' preview; we can't understand why IFC, the distributor of the film in the United States, is waiting - hesitating? - until March to release this enthralling, riveting and award-winning film. Although it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last May(see http://thewildgeese.com/blogs/2006_05_01_archive.html), the movie will not be eligible for an Academy Award in 2007 because it has not been shown for a week in Los Angeles before the end of calendar year 2006. So any pre-Oscar buzz for Murphy, who was Golden Globe nominated last year for his performance in "Breakfast on Pluto," is moot.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano,
Culture Editor, www.thewildgeese.com

Above, Cillian Murphy and Padraig Delaney as brothers Damien and Teddy, serving in the Irish Republican Army, in "The Wind That Shakes the Barley." Pathe.co.uk photo

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2006/1229/windthatshakesthebarley.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2006/11/03/the_wind_that_shakes_the_barley_dvd_2006_review.shtml

Deck the Halls for St. Brigid's Church

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:30:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Committee to Save St. Brigid

Christmas parties are always festive occasions, and Solas' shindig
for St. Brigid's proved no exception on Sunday. We received a
warm welcome from the parishioners who form the Committee to Save St. Brigid's. Carolers sang warmly, Kevin Smith played guitar and sang Irish and Irish-American songs. Food and drink flowed freely.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was clear that his agenda includes not only St. Brigid's Church but neighborhood preservation, declaring, "What's at stake here is not just the church, but the community...let's not give up; let's not be pushed around, but continue to build this great coalition." He was not the only elected official we heard from; Rafael A. Escano, representing City Comptroller William Thompson, read Thompson's letter expressing solidarity with the commiunity. Thompson cited the Irish immigrants who built the church, declaring its signifigant place in history as a refuge for labor leaders and others, and called for landmarking the building. No decision has been rendered by the courts on the status of the embattled church, which faces Tompkins Square Park in the East Village.

The Committee is working on two fronts to save the church: legislative and landmarking. According to Scott J. Gastel of Sheinkopf Ltd, a member of the Committee, at least seven elected officials, including Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, have written letters requesting a hearing or fair review with regard to landmarking the Famine Church, designed by architect Patrick Keely and built by Irish immigrant shipbuilders in 1848 as an upside down boat.

An art auction followed in Solas' salon on the second floor, raising a great deal of money. Artwork was donated by local and not-so-local artists; some work came from Dublin artists. Edwin Torres, who heads the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, has a great future as an auctioneer, and we think we hear eBay calling!

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, www.thewildgeesetoday.com

http://onno.us/site/SaveStBrigid/
http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-oldnewyork1216,0,3306719.story?track=mostemailedlink

Christmas Party and Fundraiser for St. Brigid's Church

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 04:58:00 +0000

Solas Bar plays host once more to a fundraiser for St. Brigid's Church, the endangered Famine Church on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Sunday night's combination Christmas party and fundraiser will kick off at 6 p.m. and go to at least 10p.m. This is the second art auction held by the Committee to Save St. Brigid's; the first was in August(the writers held one in June at another Irish bar on the West Side). We blogged about it then and we'll be there with bells on for this party.

Photo courtesy of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's

Getting to Solas is easy; it's 232 East 9th Street, and the nearest subway stops are on the Lex(#6) at Astor Place or on the Broadway line(R)at 8th Street.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, www.thewildgeese.com

Here's a link to help you find your way:

http://maps.citysearch.com/map/view/11322770

And the Committee to Save St. Brigid is at:

http://www.savestbrigid.com/www/

Modernism and Michael Cusack

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 03:46:00 +0000

100 Years On, Celebrating GAA Founder Michael Cusack

We never thought about linking sports and literature, but WGT's correspondent Danny Murphy has done an excellent job doing just that at he commemorates the centennial of the death of GAA founder Michel Cusak on our homepage. Murphy draws the analogy between Irish sport through Irish nationalism and author James Joyce's reconstruction of the English language, also through Irish nationalism of the early twentieth century.

Check out the website; for nature enthusiasts, it has some wonderful information on the Burren, the limestone landscape hosting a unique ecosystem in County Clare.

Photo courtesy of www.michaelcusack.ie/, The Michael Cusak Centre

Venerable Gaelic Athletic Association founder Michael Cusack is gaining new scrutiny, in this, the centennial year of his passing. With a new website launched, next up will be an exhibit on "The Citizen" in his native Clare. WGT Munster correspondent Danny McCarthy reports on this Irishman's unique legacy to both the Gaelic Games and the Irish nation.
Ireland Pays Tribute to Michael Cusack
Cusack, Joyce May Well Have Shaped Modern Ireland

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

Culture Editor, www.thewildgeese.com

Writers Muldoon, McDermot bring muses to NYU's Ireland House

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 06:21:00 +0000

Poet Paul Muldoon read from his latest work, "Horse Latitudes," at Ireland House on Nov. 16. As always, Paul is the poet of the Coney Island of the Mind (apologies to Laurence Ferlinghetti); he takes us on a roller-coaster of language and lyricism. Adding a somber introduction to the evening's festivities, Professor John Waters announced the death of lawyer and civil rights activist Frank Durkan, and Muldoon described the poetry he would read as elegiac. He devoted the evening to Durkan and his late sister Maureen, to whom this volume of poetry is dedicated.

Novelist Alice McDermott read from her latest work, "After This," at Ireland House on Thursday. She spoke of the book's connection to war, saying she had gone back to read the classics in American literature dealing with war -- Walt Whitman and Steven Crane -- in preparation for this book. Nuance is McDermott's strong suite, and she spoke of writing a novel in light of making choices. "You make choices as a writer, "she said, "limiting other choices -- and every detail is there for a reason."

Ireland House has Airneál na Nollag, its annual Christmas party, featuring traditional music with NYU Irish Language students, on Dec. 7th.

In the spirit of exercising choices, however, we will be at Solas, 232 East 9th St., that night celebrating "Recent Works -- The Photography of Gary Sammartano." His work is good, and that's not just the wife talking.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, TheWildgeese.com

Cinematography Award for Barley

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 06:07:00 +0000

The European Film Awards were given this past weekend, and the Cinematography Award was split between Barry Ackroyd for THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY and José Luis Alcaine for VOLVER.

Meanwhile, Paul Laverty has been nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for Best Screenplay. These awards are given out by the International Press Academy in Los Angeles.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, www.thewildgeese.com

'Barley' Director Loach Takes Jury Prize at British Independent Film Awards

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:49:00 +0000

This just in: Director Ken Loach has taken the Special Jury Prize in the 9th Annual British Independent Film Awards, announced in London. Loach has directed "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," set against the early 20th century struggle to birth the modern Irish nation, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May for the film deemed the festival's best. We discussed "Barley" then, and revealed this week that current plans for a March '07 US release preclude the film from Oscar consideration next year.

"The Wind that Shakes the Barley," the story of two brothers in Cork who join the Irish Republican Army during the so-called "Black and Tan War" of the early 1920's, was nominated for the BIFA Awards in Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Technical Achievement, but only Loach won, with the Special Jury Prize. The movie is also up for the European Film Awards, in the categories of Best Film, Director, Actor, Cinematography, and Screenplay, to be given out early next month.

IMHO, it is truly a show of disrespect that the U.S. distributors of the movie have not seen fit to release it in time for Oscar eligibility in '07. It will be released in mid-March, first in New York and Los Angeles, and perhaps other major markets to be determined.
Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, TheWildGeese.com

'Barefoot and Pregnant?': Aussie Prof Focuses on Irish Experience Down Under

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:56:00 +0000

Australian immigrant Trevor McClaughlin, a senior lecturer in history at Macquarie University in Sydney, graciously shared his knowledge of and enthusiasm for Sydney's Irish Famine Memorial with Hell's Kitchen readers in August. He has served as adviser to the Sydney-based Irish Famine Commemoration Committee, which spearheaded the monument construction. McClaughlin has edited and written numerous books and articles about the Irish experience in Australia, including "Irish Women in Colonial Australia," "From Shamrock to Wattle: Digging Up Your Irish Ancestors," and "Barefoot and Pregnant? Irish Famine Orphans in Australia." WGT's Gerry Regan e-mailed him some questions. They are below, along with Trevor's replies.

What drew you to the effort to honor Australia's Famine immigrants in this way?

TM: They originally approached me as an academic who had published on the Irish Famine orphans.

How many Irish landed in Australia in those years?

TM: Depends what dates you set for the Famine. Most Irish were government assisted migrants. Some were sent to Van Diemen's land as convicts. The numbers are not large in absolute terms but in comparative terms they'd be c. one third or more of the immigrant population. They'd be in the tens of thousands for 1845-50 for example. But there is a strong continuing immigration of Irish through the 1850s, many also attracted by gold discoveries. Chain migration through convict links and the large influx of 'bounty migrants' 1839-42 (c.19,000 Irish) also played a significant role in bringing Irish people here.

Do you know where in Ireland your ancestors came from and the circumstances of their immigration to Australia?

TM: Yes. I was born in Ireland, in Holywood (County Down).

With the monument now more than a decade old, what is the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Trust up to these days?

TM: The monument was unveiled in 1999. We are in a long drawn out process of getting State govt approval to keep the monument 'alive' in a variety of different ways--annual celebrations at the monument, revising our website, awarding a prize for Macquarie University students who work on Famine-related matters for their honours thesis, and very importantly we are hoping to gain approval to help sponsor the education of an adolescent female refugee, perhaps from Darfur.

Do Australians today consider themselves more Irish than English, by and large? Is that distinction clear from the cultural environment there in Sydney and around the country?

TM: No. Most consider themselves to be Australian.

What is the state of Irish heritage and culture in Sydney today? The magazine Tain recently pleaded for a new generation of Australian Irish to take the helm? Do younger people there no longer identify with their Irish roots?

TM: There's been an influx of young, well-educated Irish in recent times. How long they stay is another matter. Many Australians have a big mix of English, Scots, Irish, Italian, Greek and others in their family trees. The number who are overwhelmingly Irish has fallen greatly since the 19th century. I've noticed a different Irish heritage from state to state. In Queensland, NSW (New South Wales), Western Australia and Victoria, it's still strong in many quarters.

Final question: Mel Gibson -- is he still a favorite son after his fall from grace here in the U.S.?

TM: No way. Though the answer will depend on who you ask. The kind of humour here -- different from most American humour -- would go something like "If he wins an Oscar he's ours, when he acts like he did recently he's yours."

###

Riverdance Meets Romance

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:45:00 +0000

Sailing our way is the new Broadway play "The Pirate Queen" starring Stephanie J. Block(Mary Jane in "The Dead" at the Kennedy Arts Center and Baby Love in "The Grass Harp" at the Pasadena Playhouse, Elphaba in "Wicked"), Hadley Fraser and Linda Balgord, with book and a lush score by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg("Miss Saigon" and "Les Miserables"). The play's website showcases "Sail to the Stars" and Producer and Creative Director John McColgen says of the score, "It is an extraordinary musical score....gutsy and windy and full of tempest and love and longing and ardor and passion and mystery and majesty...all of those aspects of the human adventure are a part of this musical force."

"The Pirate Queen" saw its world premiere at the Chicago Cadillac Palace Theatre on October 3 and will play there until November 26, before coming to Broadway's Hilton Theatre in preview on March 6, 2007, opening April 5th. It is the story of 16th-Century pirate chieftain, leader, warrior, twice-married, mother, skilled negotiator, and foe of Tudor England, Granuaile O'Malley, based on the novel Grania - She King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn. O'Malley lived from 1530-1603 and sailed off the northwest coast of Ireland, besting ships from England, France and Spain. She was a gifted mariner and bold leader of men in an era when women didn't normally pursue those occupations.

The play is directed by Tony Award-winning director Frank Galati("The Grapes of Wrath," "Ragtime"), with musical direction by Julian Kelly("Riverdance"). It's brought to us by the Riverdream team of Moya Doherty and John McColgen of "Riverdance."

The website is fascinating, with historical notes by Anne Chambers(Granuaile: Ireland's Pirate Queen (Grace O'Malley) 1530-1603) and a vlog(video log) by the cast and crew on comcast. Like "Rent" the show has developed Blockheads and Ye Loyal Krewe of Grace O'Malley. The vlog is updated on a regular basis, so you can keep track of the show as it sails toward us. Tony Awards, anyone?

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, WGR

Cormac O'Malley: Revolutionary's Son Helps NYU Focus on the 'Possibilities'

ger@garmedia.com (Gerry Regan) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:02:00 +0000

Former IRA commander and author Ernie O'Malley left the people of Ireland, indeed the world, a rich legacy, in political conviction, principled action, recorded memory, and commitment to the arts. His widely heralded books include "On Another Man's Wound," "The Singing Flame" and "Raids and Rallies," collectively recalling his experience and those of others in the ranks of the IRA during Ireland's War of Independence and Civil War.

Above: Ernie O'Malley, a leading figure of the IRA during Ireland's Civil War, memoirist, and a man who, according to his son Cormac, urged people "to open their minds."

In his 59 years (1897-1957), spanning a number of defining epochs in the history of the Irish state, the Mayo native traveled widely and befriended or otherwise encouraged many figures in the arts in the United States and Europe. These include the American poet Hart Crane, photographer Paul Strand, and artist Georgia O'Keefe, Irish artists Evie Hone and Jack Yeats, poet Louis MacNeice, writers Sean O'Faolain and Graham Greene, and American film director John Ford and actors John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. He also encountered virtually all the major Irish political figures that emerged from the ferment of the years 1916-1923.

For Irish America, and certainly for NYU's Glucksman Ireland House, another legacy of O'Malley's has been his son Cormac, who was born in Dublin in 1942. Cormac O'Malley serves on Ireland House's board of advisors, where he also served a stint as advisory board president.

Below, Cormac O'Malley, advisor and key supporter of the innovative programs at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House.

Cormac is the third child of Ernie and Ernie's wife, Helen Huntington Hooker, daughter of a wealthy Connecticut businessman. He spent his first eight years in Mayo, and was educated in Dublin. He came to the United States as a teenager and later studied history at Harvard University and law at Columbia University. Married, with two children, he works as an international legal consultant, living in New York City and Stonington, Conn.

Cormac spends time each month in Ireland working and doing research, and over the years has been involved with many Irish and Irish-American charitable and arts-related organizations. He has taken a keen interest in having the role his father played in Irish national, military and cultural history better understood, and to this end he has lectured and published. He recently presented the second annual Heinrich Boll lecture in Achill, County Mayo, titled "Ernie O'Malley's County Mayo: Perceptions, Reflections and Friendships."

On Monday, three days before Ireland House's annual Ernie O'Malley Lecture, WGT Producer Gerry Regan interviewed Cormac via e-mail.

WGT: Cormac, this Thursday Glucksman Ireland House is presenting the 8th annual lecture in its series named after your father, famed 1920s IRA leader and author Ernie O'Malley. It seems an appropriate time to catch up a bit with you. First off, you seem much too young to be the son of a veteran of the Irish war of independence. Did Ernie O'Malley start his family late in life? At the risk of seeming impudent, how old are you? Are you Ernie's first-born? How many other kids did he and your mother have?

Cormac O'Malley: Many veterans of the War of Independence (1919-1921) and the Civil War (1922-1924) postponed the social aspect of their lives until after the end of their young military careers. Those veterans who had been interned during the Civil War were not released until after the end of the hunger-strike in November 1923. My father, then the most senior surviving anti-Treaty Republican, was not released until July 1924. Given the poor state of his health, he recovered in southern Europe for two years, returned to medical school in Dublin, 1926-28, and then spent seven years in the United States. He did not marry my American mother, Helen Hooker, until September 1935 -- in London. They had three children ( Cathal, Etain and Cormac, and I am the youngest.

WGT: Ernie is sometimes called "The Intellectual of the IRA." Did he encourage in his children, and especially in you, a passion for the life of the mind?

O'Malley: I have always disagreed with the concept of my father being “the intellectual of the IRA." There were many other university students and writers who joined the Irish independence movement in one way or another, who certainly were intellectuals, and many of them had a great impact on Irish society through their writings.

Ernie O'Malley and Cormac in 1951, at the family's home at Burrishoole, County Mayo.

From an early age my father encouraged his children to be broadminded and to read. He prepared an extensive list of books which he wanted to read to us jointly and individually. I know that my brother and sister have always had a great interest in reading. I perhaps am not nearly as broadly read as they.

WGT: To the business at hand: What inspired you to endow this lecture series?

O'Malley: Upon our return to New York in 1992 after 12 years in Europe, I had heard of the start of Glucksman Ireland House and its ambition to create a center for Irish studies at New York University. Because of my extensive international business travels, I could not become involved with Ireland House until the late 1990s. When I joined their board of advisors, we asked the question whether we should expand our efforts to include Irish-American studies, and the answer was definitely affirmative. Though my own interests lie more in the Irish historical field as a board member I felt a responsibility to encourage this new field of studies and so suggested that we have a lecture series specifically devoted to Irish-American topics. Since my father was a man who encouraged people to open their minds and think of new possibilities of independence, I thought it fitting to have the series named in his honor.

WGT: The lecture series continues this week with a presentation by Professor William Mulligan titled "From the Emerald Isle to the Copper Island: The Irish in Michigan Copper Country, 1845-1920." Not exactly the stuff of revolution, with all its attendant high drama. What would your Dad make of a topic like this?

O'Malley: My father would have greatly encouraged the presentation of lectures such as the Irish in the copper mines of Michigan or the impact of Irish immigrants in the Chicago educational system, last year’s topic by Professor Janet Nolan. He would have been the first to recognize that the development of a new field of studies depends on the exploration of local possibilities. We need to encourage American academics to delve into the field of Irish-American studies with their own particular academic training, and it will only be after some years of these types of studies that we will have a better understanding of the greater participation of the Irish and their descendants in the history of these United States.

WGT: As a devotee of the history of the Irish yourself, what would be your dream lecture for this series? That is, if money, practicality, scheduling conflicts and even death were disregarded, who would you like to see come to present next year's O'Malley Lecture?

O'Malley: Given that this series of lectures is intended to stimulate further serious academic writing on Irish American topics rather than Irish history, I hope that on a regular basis a lecture should be devoted to an analysis of the areas or topics in this field which have not been adequately covered or explore. Such a lecture would help stimulate discussion as to what further work is needed and hopefully in response to that impetus more work would get written up. There are plenty of people who have individual ideas, but we need the soldiers of history -- the academics on the ground -- to do the slog work to write up their analysis of those historical areas. An important complementary effort at Ireland House has been the establish of "Radharc" as its annual academic journal for the publication of the O’Malley Lectures as well as other presentations made at Ireland House.

Since the selection process for each lecture -- including that for next year -- is an academic matter, I will defer to the selection process already established at Ireland House and will not attempt to influence their decision. It is important that the academic world have the freedom to make their choices and to say or have said what they wish. WGT

RELATED RESOURCES:

Glucksman Ireland House at NYU

"Ernie O'Malley and Achill Island" From Achill Island 24/7

Ernie O'Malley in Wikipedia.com

Papers of Ernie O'Malley (University College Dublin)