Sunday's Irish Music - Foggy Dew

Irish Movies - Stories From Home & Peacefire

Just saw the following films @ the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival last night. Gabriel Byrne was there for a Q&A. A interesting and fun night.


GABRIEL BYRNE: STORIES FROM HOME, Dir. Pat Collins. A revealing look at the life and creative impulse of Gabriel Byrne ("In Treatment"), one of the most respected actors of his generation. Using intimate interviews and extracts from his journals and diaries, this is an evocative and insightful film with universal appeal.

Plus "Atlantic," (Ireland, 2008, 4 min.) Dir. Conor Ferguson. A quietly gripping tale of a lonely farmer and the potentially life-changing letter on its way from the woman who loved and left him many years ago.

PEACEFIRE, Dir. Macdara Vallely. Colin (John Travers, SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY) is a joy-riding hood who couldn’t care less about the local political situation. But a chance encounter with a ruthless detective (Gerry Doherty) turns him into an informer for the so-called forces of law and order and a target for retribution for his father’s old mates in the Irish Republican Army. "...

Plus "Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty" (Ireland, 2008, 6 min.) Dir. Nicky Phelan. A seemingly sweet old lady loses the plot as she tells her version of Sleeping Beauty to her terrified granddaughter.

Sunday's Irish Music - Ronan Tynan's Ireland

Thanks to Andrea Antoniazzi Devlin - Friends of Ireland group on Linkedin

Sept 11 2001 - Never Forget - 8 Years Ago

An Irish Tribute and rememberence of Irish and Irish American lost on 9/11 and support for America's loss

http://www.irishtribute.com/index.html

Irish-American Writer William Kennedy Life Time Achievement Award

Irish America Writer William Kennedy given life-time achievement award. Read the full story @ Irish Emigrant Online

http://url4t.com/A5q

I remember reading all his books when I was in college......

Irish Movie - "At Swim - Two - Birds"

Here is some information on what sounds like an interesting Irish film heading in to production. The writer is calling the Irish acting team the" Pat PacK'

Check it out on irish Central

http://url4t.com/-6a

Sunday's Irish Music - Finbar Furey

Irish Movie - "The Commitments"

I just watched "The Commitments" again. What a great movie. One of my favorites. Makes me miss Ireland. Hopefully on my next visit I'll be able to spend more time in Dublin.

Personal Ramblings - Happy Birthday from Foxford

Life is Great.

This morning we got a Skype call from Foxford Ireland.

My 95 year old Aunt Maggie and cousins from Ireland, UK and Germany sang Happy Birthday to my 12 year old daughter. Then my Aunt Maggie sang "A Mother's Love".

Two years ago I had no contact or knowledge of my relatives and now they are singing Happy Birthday to my daughter from a pub in Ireland. Life is truly amazing.

My 95 year old Aunt Maggie just had an eye operation that restored her sight so you could see us very well in the laptop.

My Irish cousins have never been on Skype, they live on a mountain top in Glanduff. And we were found and reconnected because of the Internet and the efforts of my cousin sharon

We feel totally blessed. It doesn't get better than this.

Thanks Cousin Sharon and Gary. Up the O'Donnell's

Sunday's Irish Music - 2009 # 2 - Why Murphy's Not at Work Today

Thanks to James Hayes - Founder Friend of Ireland (FOI) on Linkedin

Sunday's Irish Music - 2009 # 1 - Galway Bay

Personal Ramblings - My Heart Is in Glanduff

I wish I could be there again, on the mountain in Glanduff where my mother was born and where my Aunt Maggie and my cousins Marie and John and Seamus still live.

My cousin Sharon and her family and her dad my cousin Tony and his wife will be visiting this week with all the O"Donnell clan. Last year I was there twice with them for two amazing and miraculous visits.

I am with them in spirit on this one and send all my love.

So up the O'Donnell's and here's to Aunt Maggie and raise a toast of potcheen for me and have a safe and great trip.

Sunday's Irish Music - 2009 # 1 - Enya

Thanks to Elaine A. DeJesus CPhT - Linkedin - Friends of ireland (FOI)

Tribute - Immigrant Eyes

I just discovered this song and video by Girsa. It's a tribute to their immigrant grandfather who came to America from Ireland and arrived at Ellis Island. Very moving and it reminds me of my father Pat Duffy and mother Ann O'Donnell who arrived at Ellis Island in 1928 from ireland. The came for the American Dream and worked hard and passed it on to me. I will be eternally grateful and will always remember them. This song helps to remind me and to appreciate their courage and sacrifice.

Sunday's Irish Music -2009 # 1 - Luke Kelly Raglan Road

A little bit of Ireland in the Bronx

A vibrant Irish community thrives in the Woodlawn Section of the Bronx

http://url4t.com/kHR

Rest In Peace - Frank McCourt

I, like many Irish-Americans read all of Frank McCourt's books and watched the movie of Angela's Ashes and it broadened my understanding of his personal experience both in Ireland and in America. I enjoyed his writing and as I struggle to write my memoir I am inspired by him and by his writing. There is a quote by Frank McCourt that is so true not just of his life but so many of our lives especially in America. I know it is true for mine. Frank McCourt said "F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I've proven him wrong," So true. He taught English for thirty years, went on to write three books, win a Pulitzer Prize and see his book turned into a movie. What a life. I know he had more stories and books in him but he leaves us with a great legacy. Rest in Peace Frank McCourt, you will be missed but you enriched our lives by your contribution.........

Irish Central Coverage:

http://url4t.com/ddB

Sunday's Irish Music - Eddi Reader

A little Scottish flavor....

Irish Central Tribute to Frank McCourt

Here is a tribute to Frank McCourt on Irish Centra,

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/col/NOdowd/The-Frank-McCourt-I-know-51021432.html

and Frank McCourt Master Storyteller - NY Times

http://url4t.com/yDr

Watching Space Shuttle Endeavor from Aran Islands - Ireland

Saw this great story on the Friends of Ireland Group on Linkedin that I belong to:

And for generations of Irish, gazing out past the Aran Islands, westwards across the atlantic, became their vigil of hope and optimism. Last night did not disapoint!
Last night, July 15, my son David and I watched in awe as the space shuttle Endeavour passed over our house at 11.23pm, Irish time, just 20 minutes flying time from Florida to Galway Bay! Now that's the way to travel. Suddenly there it was, a brilliant bright star, hurtling along, huge really, and closely paralleled by the glowing orange fuel tank, they appeared together over the Aran Islands, rocketing eastwards towards us across a cloudless pool of midnight blue sky, a comet among stars, breath-taking! And we think we saw them jettison the boosters just after it passed us, fireworks as we turned to follow its flight path eastwards towards Dublin. What Timing! Oh boy, Endeavour was really shifting as it crossed from horizon to horizon. In just about 2 minutes flat it was gone, leaving us both open-mouthed, stunned, privileged. Whooooey!!! You had to be there! Just the two of us, dad and 10 year-old son, on our little rock out on the bog in Barna, in the silent pitch-dark night - star-gazing! Priceless!

Thank you America. Good luck Endeavour.

Brian Nolan

How the irish Took Over Cable TV

Interesting article on Irish Central

http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/How-the-Irish-took-over-cable-TV-46393292.html

Sunday's Irish Music - Corrs and Chieftains

Sunday's Irish Music - U2

Sunday Bloody Sunday U2 Dedicated to Iranian Freedom

Sunday's Irish Music - Luke Kelly - Come My Little Son

Irish Website

Here is a resource for information on Ireland

IrishTimes.com and Ireland.com has partnered with IrishCentral.com in a historic link up

In the biggest and first-of-its-kind outreach to the global Irish community - estimated at 70 million people - IrishCentral.com has partnered with IrishTimes.com and Ireland.com in an innovative plan to represent each other for advertising in their markets, and work to vastly increase the readership of all three Web sites and their related print properties.

"This is a great step forward toward reaching the Irish Diaspora," said IrishCentral.com founder Niall O'Dowd, who has published the Irish Voice newspaper and Irish America magazine for more than a quarter-century.

"We have long been the market leader in the United States, and joining with the market leader in Ireland allows a synergy and outreach that would not otherwise be possible. The combined audience will be a powerful new force to serve advertisers and readers."

"The combined strength" is very strong indeed, noted O'Dowd, adding that when IrishCentral.com's surging audience is aggregated with those of Web pioneer IrishTimes.com and its Ireland.com portal, "we are looking at an existing, vibrant audience of more than 1.5 million visits every month from just the United States -- far and away the leader in reaching the Irish world.

"And that's just where the race begins," said O'Dowd.

IrishCentral.com, which launched on St. Patrick's Day, is owned by New York City-based IrishCentral LLC, and is the leading online source for Irish news from around the world. IrishTimes.com and Ireland.com are owned by The Irish Times Limited, publishers of the prestigious, 150-year-old Irish Times newspaper. IrishTimes.com is Ireland's leading news website, and Ireland.com is a popular portal site with a vibrant pulse and audience.

www.irishcentral.com

Reprinted from Irish Central