A Guide to All Things Patrick in Ireland This Month

By Ed Forry
March 1, 2011

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
Ah, St. Patrick, that elusive, mystery man who surfaces once a year, on March 17, empowering everyone to flaunt their Irishness, whether or not they have even one drop of Irish blood.
Would you believe – and you can pull this tidbit out at your next Trivia session – that this year marks the 1,550th anniversary of the Holy Man’s death? Well, 2011 marks the death of one St. Patrick anyway. Whether there was more than one is the stuff of legend and ongoing controversy.

New Film Gets to the Heart of Childsplay

By Sean Smith
March 1, 2011
Sean Smith

By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
What can you say about a film in which Liz Carroll -- one of the most influential Irish fiddlers of our time -- appears as an interviewer, rather than a performer?
That’s one of the many charms of “Fiddles, Fiddlers and a Fiddlemaker: Childsplay,” a new documentary about the fiddle ensemble Childsplay and its artistic director and guiding spirit, Cambridge violin-maker Bob Childs.

Black 47’s Kirwan talks music, strife, and civility

By Ed Forry
March 1, 2011

By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
Second of two parts
Wexford native Larry Kirwan — co-founder and guiding spirit of seminal Irish rock band Black 47, playwright, memoirist, novelist, columnist, radio show producer and host — has been one of the most visible and active figures on the Irish music scene for the past two decades, especially in New York (The Daily News once placed him ahead of Madonna in its list of the 50 most interesting New Yorkers).

The Tale of My Left Foot

By Ed Forry
March 1, 2011

By James W. Dolan
Special to the Reporter
My left foot greets me from the end of a cast that stretches from my thigh to my heel. I can see it, feel it, and even wiggle my toes, but it might as well be on the moon should I try to reach it.
A skiing accident might give my condition some style; but no such luck. I went down on ice as I exited my back door to feed the birds. While I was able to get up and hobble on my right leg, I knew I had injured something.

Anger, Disgust Drive Irish Voters to Send Fianna Fail to Sidelines

By by Joe Leary
March 1, 2011
by Joe Leary

By Joe Leary
Special to the BIR
DUBLIN – Foreclosures, higher taxes, higher health insurance costs, and huge pay cuts for most everyone over the last several years had created an Irish anger that demanded change, and right away. In addition to those woes, there was a broad disgust and a deep loss of pride at the government having to borrow from European banks to bail out Irish banks. On Feb. 25, Ireland’s voters complied resoundingly with the call for change and sent the former leaders of Fianna Fail into oblivion.

Singers, Dancers, Harpists Aplenty Conjure Up ‘A Little Bit Of Ireland’ at Reagle Music Theatre

By R. J. Donovan
March 1, 2011
R. J. Donovan

By R. J. Donovan
Special to The BIR
Take an international step-dancing champion, add a dazzling fiddler from Galway, 19 heavenly harpists, one Broadway star, comedy galore and a 30-member choir and you’ve got “A Little Bit Of Ireland,” the St. Patrick’s Day musical revue presented by Reagle Music Theatre March 11-13.

Published Reports Bring More Bad Publicity, Add to Ireland's Woes

By by Bill O'Donnell
March 1, 2011
by Bill O'Donnell

By Bill O’Donnell

Reading More, Liking It Less – If you are an Irish citizen you would be forgiven if you took little solace in the bruised cliche that all publicity is good publicity. That is demonstrably untrue and especially so with two articles last month in major US publications that savaged the Irish economic crisis and its perps, and a second article that inflicted yet more damage on that country’s reeling Catholic Church.

Boston's First Irish Cop: Remembering What Barney Did

Ed Forry
By Ed Forry
March 1, 2011

By Ed Forry
Barney McGinniskin was the first Irish cop in Boston. He arrived in Boston’s North End from County Galway in the 1840s, and found work as a laborer, until finally, on Nov. 4, 1851, he was hired by the city and he put on the blue waistcoat of a Boston police officer.
BIR contributing editor Peter Stevens told his story in these pages in 2008: “Boston had its first officially appointed Irish cop. Not surprisingly, his presence soon ignited a political, social and cultural furor in the land of ‘Yankee icicles.’

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