I went to see the movie A Star is Born on Sunday evening. It is still on my mind as it was just fabulous! I can tell you that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were on fire with their acting performance in the movie. Yes, it was the third installment of this movie, the first one featuring Judy Garland and the second, Barbra Streisand as the leading ladies in the version of the earlier movies. You have to go and see it and be ready to have your handkerchief with you.
Now that I have told you about that movie do not forget to go and see Black 47. It gives you a lot of truths on what happened over 300 years ago. The acting in the Black 47 movie is brilliant so go and see it.
Margaret Corrigan, the Executive Assistant to the Consul General of the Irish Consulate in New York will be retiring at the end of October 2018. Margaret has been the Executive Assistant for over four decades at the Consulate and is a pillar of friendship to all that happen to meet her as she is always there to greet you and very generous to everybody with her time no matter who you are.
We here at The Irish Examiner would like to wish you and your family lots of happiness in your retirement and please Margaret, come around as often as you can because we all love you.
In case you missed the Gaelic Players Association Awards dinner function last Thursday at Capitale (130 Bowery) that was headed up by host Marty Morrissey, the 2018 Ireland-U.S. Gaelic Heritage Award Honoree was Gary McGann and the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award went to none other than Finbar Furey. Lucky for all of us Finbar sang a few of his hit songs playing his prized banjo that he put up to be raffled when he finished; that’s so great of a man like Finbar Furey.
On Friday night it was off to the 30th Annual American Celtic Ball at The Plaza Hotel New York City and yes, I was also there in black tie and all, well somebody has to do it. I have to praise Maurice Buckley for doing a wonderful job in making the night such a splendid success for all of the guests and recipients along with chairman Brian O’Dwyer, ah you can’t keep a good man down.
The Award recipients were Patrick Coveney, Kevin Conlin, Cathriona Hallahan, Gerald Lawless, Kenneth Frazier and Richard Moore, and they were all well deserved honorees I might tell yea.
I got to meet Doctor Patrick Boland who is a senior member of the Orthopaedic Service, Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he specializes in the management of malignant and benign tumors of the bones, including those of the spine and pelvis, and in soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities. He also has special training in limb salvage surgery—that is the removal of the limb cancers while preserving a functional extremity. What a great privilege it was as I have not seen Dr. Patrick for a long time and what a nice man as well.
It’s all happening as The Origin Theatre Company presents acclaimed Italian-born playwright Marco Calvani’s “Beautiful Day Without You” which opens on November 7. Directed by Erwin Maas, “Beautiful Day Without You” features a cast of three that includes Dan Butler (“Bulldog” on TV’s Frasier and last season’s “Travesties” on Broadway), Richarda Abrams and Anne Son. A dark comedy that boldly delves into a number of hot-button issues with an incandescent theatricality and humor steering clear of easy polemics, “Beautiful Day Without You” plays a limited, four-week Off-Broadway engagement at The West End Theatre, (263 West 86th Street), from Thursday November 1 at 8pm to Sunday November 25 at 3pm. The opening is set for Wednesday November 7 at 8pm. Tickets are on sale already and can be obtained by phone on (866) 811-4111 or online at www.origintheatre.org
In March 2014 internationally acclaimed songwriter Mundy received one of the highest accolades for an Irish musician when he was invited to play in front of President Obama as part of the St Patrick’s Day Celebrations at the White House and in the same month for Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
It was a long way from the small town of Birr Co. Offaly in Ireland where Mundy (a shortened version of his real name, Edmund Enright) was born and grew-up.
It was here that Mundy first picked up a guitar and started playing in the pub his parents owned. Moving to Dublin in 1992 when he was 17, he began busking on the city’s famous Grafton Street where he honed his craft of performing and singing. It was also on Grafton Street where he met many of his contemporaries in the Irish music scene such as Glen Hansard, Damien Dempsey and Paddy Casey.
During this time Mundy began to write his own songs in earnest and in 1995 he was spotted and signed by Warner Chappell Publishing and Epic Records at an open mic night which he regularly attended. His first album ‘Jelly Legs’, released in 1996, featured the song ‘To You I Bestow’ which was included on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ movie adaptation, and which sold more than 11 million copies worldwide.
More hits and multi-platinum albums on his own label followed during the next decade including hit singles ‘July’, ‘Mexico’ and ‘Linchpin’ as well as Mundy’s version of Steve Earle’s song ‘Galway Girl’with Sharon Shannon.
The song became the most downloaded tune in Ireland for two years running, the studio version going to number one in the charts and picking up two meteor awards, with the CD reaching multi-platinum status. Since that time the Youtube video of the song has also received more than 2 million hits.
Now you have your chance to see this great star musician, who will be playing at the Rockwood Music Hall this Saturday at 8.15pm. Don’t miss this opportunity to see him live! See the ad in the center pages for more information.
See you all again next week when I am Out and About.