Out & About

What a weekend it was and we had all kinds of weather!

I realize that I sound like the weatherman except that, as you all know, it's the first thing you'll hear when you're out walking in the street in Ireland: "lovely day today" or "God when will the rain stop?", I'm right am I not?

Anyway let's talk about the weekend as I was at the United Restaurant Tavern Owners' Barbecue on Sunday that was on from 10am to 7pm, with lots of fun in between.

Well let me tell you I was on the team for the Tug of War and war it was as it was the West-side against the East-side of Manhattan.

Now guess who lost... it was the East-side and guess what side I was on? You're right, the East-side; oh well, I blame Paul Hurley as he was the anchor man and Martin Whelan was the Captain. I got out of that one, ha!

On a serious note it was all great fun and the proceeds were for charity.

The great Maureen McLoughlin was hard at work  making sure we all had a good time and a good time we had too let me tell you!

All the major players were at the barbecue and their were lots of games, food and some refreshments; hmmm, I love it.

Now who else should I mention? Oh yes, Bruce Caulfield, his wife Katy and their two lovely kids, Paul Hurley's wife Fiona and son Desmond, Pat Burke, Dermot Kelly, Tim Myers, Tom Slattery, Kathleen Reilly and her husband Gerard McGrink, Martin Whelan and his wife and family and quite a lot more of of whom were having a great time.

I just got the news that Lorraine Christian and Alan Farrelly will be leaving the Irish Consulate this week and we will be welcoming in Peter Ryan and Fiona McCabe in their place.

I can only tell you that Lorraine and Alan were just wonderful deputy Consul Generals who represented Ireland in New York excellently and they'll both be missed.

We at The Irish Examiner newspaper wish them well and thank them for all the help they've given down through the years; they always kept us up to date on what was happening in both here and in Ireland. 

Damian McGinty from Derry in Northern Ireland was named the winner of The Glee Project last night in Los Angeles.

In the finale of the 10-episode show, Glee producer Ryan Murphy announced that Damian McGinty and Samuel Larsen had co-won The Glee Project.

Both winners will now appear in guest roles in seven episodes in season three of hit show Glee on Fox.

Last week Damian won a place in the final four and after a demanding final week he chose to perform the Bobby Darren classic 'Somewhere Beyond the Sea' as his last song for Ryan Murphy.

Initially Murphy named Samuel Larsen as the contest winner, and then sprung the surprise of the evening on Damian, telling him he had also won.

Damian is no stranger to performing. At 14 he was cast in the internationally acclaimed show Celtic Thunder when a CD he recorded for charity was passed along to Celtic Thunder Producer Sharon Browne and Music Director Phil Coulter.

Since then he has completed four coast-to-coast tours of the USA and Canada, and Celtic Thunder has sold over one million CDs and DVDs as well as over 400,000 concert tickets.

Damian has also performed in six Celtic Thunder specials for Public Television.

The group was named #1 World Album Artists for 2009 by Billboard Magazine and three of the show's albums featured in the Top 10 World Album 2009 Billboard chart. 

Their 'Heritage' CD reached #11 on the Billboard Top 200 in March 2011.

Look for the Wee Craic announcement in this week's paper as this event is always one of the most sought after tickets in the Irish Community.

I promised I would give this performance a good plug: Guggenheim Grotto will be playing a concert on Saturday August 27 at the New York Irish Center (10-40 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City in Queens - five minutes from Grand Central on the 7 train; (718) 482-0909). Doors open at 7.45pm  with the show beginning at 8.30pm. Tickets are $22 (this includes service charges).

The band will play two 45 minute sets with  a short intermission between sets.

The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street; www.irishrep.org;  (212) 727-2737) will have a new show running from September 6 to October 2 called NOCTU that is choreographed and directed by Riverdance Principal Dancer Breandan de Gallai.

Now that should be some show! Buy your tickets before September 12 and save $5!  

See you all next week...