I started off this holiday season as a guest of Gloria Starr Kins, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher UN Correspondent Society & Diplomatic Review, at the United Nations Correspondents Association dinner dance at Cipriani Wall Street.
This event took place last Friday and the Guest of Honor was H.E. Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General with actress Ashley Judd being the 2019 UNCA Global Advocate of the Year. There were over 600 guests including me, (not to bad huh?) and it was just fabulous, well somebody has to do it.
Now for one that got away and yes I was invited but I could not make it. Shane Humphries of the Dublin Society sent me in a little report on it: “Hello all. Just a quick shout out to say THANK YOU to all those who attended our 3rd Annual Irish Christmas Brunch.” They had 55 attendees and a grand time was had by all. I was so looking forward to this but unfortunately, I could not make it.
Shane says thanks again to Shay Mac for the musical entertainment. Top notch as always, he said and he also thanked the maestro himself, Kieran Green and all the crew at Gossip for a fine job all round, great food and service.
“Hoping everyone had a great and very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. Nollaig Shona Dhuit, agus Ath Cliath Abu, All I can say is that the Dubs win all the Cups and now again another successful event, keep it going boys and girls,” he concluded.
Now after all that here is one I will not miss and that is the IBO Christmas Party which will be honoring Siobhan Dennehy with the Inaugural Sean McNeil Award. The Irish Business Organization of New York will bestow its first Sean McNeill Award to Emerald Isle Immigration Center executive director Siobhan Dennehy at the IBO Christmas Party on Thursday December 12.
Named for the three-term IBO president who passed away this summer after a brief illness, the Sean McNeill Award celebrates people who, like Sean, best exemplify the IBO mission to ‘Network, Communicate, Reciprocate’.
Sean McNeill touched so many people through his friendship, humor, and quiet effort to help others in need and I can vouch for that as The Irish Examiner USA made him Man of the Year.
“It’s a fitting tribute to his memory that the first recipient of the Sean McNeill Award is Siobhan Dennehy. Siobhan exemplifies everything that Sean believed in and she was a friend whom he greatly admired,” IBO President Nicholas Malito said.
Soon after Siobhan joined the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in 2002, she was named executive director and initiated a period of dramatic growth serving clients from a broad spectrum of nationalities. For her tireless efforts in the Irish community and beyond she earned the John F. Kennedy Medal from the National Boards of the A.O.H and L.A.O.H among many other honors.
The IBO Christmas Party will be held at O’Lunney’s Times Square (145 West 45th Street) beginning at 7 pm. For reservations go to www.ibonewyork.org/Upcoming-events.
I was at Carnegie Hall on Monday evening for the Andy Cooney Christmas Celebration and what a spectacular show is was too. Special guests were The New York Tenors, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Brian Kennedy, Hibernian Festival Singers and The Hims.
What a show with the cream of the crop of talent led by himself Andy Cooney and I must not forget his band who were only brilliant. One great thing about this annual show is that it is for charity and you get to meet people that you would not get a chance to meet from one end of the year to the next. I have to hand it to Andy he knows how to do it and he did because they came from all over to make it a capacity audience that clapped for every song, good on yea Andy.
Now for another top Irish concert and that is The Irish Tenors who will be performing this Saturday at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury (960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury). I am told it is almost sold out so if you are interested you need to go to NYBC.BoxOfficeTicketSales.com now. This is one performance I am not going to miss.
Just got great news that PUMPGIRL at The Irish Rep has just been extended till January 12, 2020, now isn’t that just wonderful?
Tickets are available from their Box Office at 132 West 22nd Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues), by calling (212) 727-2737 or online at irishrep.org.
Happy Christmas to you all, see you next week when I am Out&About again.