October 21 - 24

IRISH SEATTLE NEWS

MASS IN GAELIC - Seattle's Irish community Mass of Remembrance in the Irish language is Wednesday, October 27, 7:30pm, at Seattle's St. Patrick's Church, 2702 Broadway Ave E (just off I-5 at Roanoke St). Mass booklets in Gaelic with the English translation will be provided, and a choir will lead the singing in Gaelic. This Mass commemorates all deceased members of Seattle's Irish community, and the names of those who passed away in these past 12 months will be read out. To submit names, or for more information, call 425-745-1263 or email Mass@irishclub.org.

IRISH PLAY - The Discovery Bay Players presentation of Brian Friels' play "Faith Healer" ends this weekend, Saturday at 7 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, at the Odd Duck Studio, 1214 10th Ave, Seattle. Tickets $20 at Brown Paper Tickets or at the door. One viewer's comment: "It is a stunning 3 person rendition of Brian Friel's amazing play."

CELTIC BALLADEER - Born in the Connemara Gaeltacht, and the owner of O'Flaherty's Irish Pub in New Orleans until it was closed following Hurricane Katrina, Danny O'Flaherty performs at Seattle's Owl 'N Thistle Pub (808 Post Ave, at Columbia), at 8 pm on Thursday evening, October 14. Admission $10 - call 206-621-7777 for details. Danny is a widely respected entertainer who plays the guitar, accordion, and penny whistle. He has performed for Pope John Paul II, for President Ronald Reagan, and as a headliner at The National Theatre in Washington, DC. He sprinkles his shows with stories and jokes, and you can expect a very enjoyable evening.

GAELIC STORM - The Irish band whose career lifted off with their appearance in the blockbuster film Titanic, Gaelic Storm will be in concert at 7 pm on Tuesday, October 12, at the Puyallup Fair & Events Center in Puyallup. Tempting food, wine, Irish beers and microbrews will be sold prior to, during and after the show. Tickets at all Ticketmaster locations.

IRISH TENOR  - Ronan Tynan, one of the founding members of the Irish Tenors, will be the featured speaker and performer at the Legacy Community Luncheon in aid of Providence Mount St. Vincent, on Wednesday October 13, 11:30 am at the Westin Hotel, Seattle. Joining him will be William "Billy" Lewis, a multi-talented singer and pianist. For reservations and information call (206) 938-6242 or email legacyluncheon@providence.org.  

IRISH AUTHOR - Gemma Whelan, a Co. Laois-born author, will read from her first book, Fiona: Stolen Child, at Borders Tacoma (2508 S 38th St), Thursday, October 14 at 6 pm, and at Borders Downtown Seattle (1501 Fourth Ave), at Noon Friday, October 15. The author is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and currently lives in Portland, OR.

HARP FEST - This annual Samhain Harp Concert, featuring local harpists performing solo and ensemble, will usher in the Celtic New Year on Sunday, October 31, from 2-4 pm, at Galway Traders, 7518 15th Ave NW in Ballard.  Admission is free and refreshments will be available.  For information, contact 206-784-9343 or zawamoss@seanet.com.

INISHMORE LIEUTENANT- From October 15 - November 14, The Act Theatre (Falls Theatre), 700 Union Street, Seattle, presents The Lieutenant of Inishmore, a comedy from the Oscar-nominated Irish author Martin McDonagh, about a merciless Irish terrorist and the thing that matters most to him in the world: his black cat. For details, visit www.acttheatre.org.  

PARTY NIGHT - The 2nd Annual Irish Night fundraiser for St. Mary's Food Bank will be Saturday, November 20th at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 722 E. Union St, Seattle. For tickets ($60), to donate auction items, etc., contact John O' Malley at 206-547-1612 or jomalley@mail.com.

CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS - Seattle's Irish Community Children's Christmas Party with Daidí na Nollag (Father Christmas), is 1-4 pm Sunday, December 5, Maplewood Church Hall, 19523 84th Ave W (on 196th St), Edmonds. Everyone is invited to meet Daidí na Nollag when he arrives in his green robes at 2pm. To make sure there's a present for every child, we need to know your child's name and age. Please register by contacting Nanci Spieker at NanciS@IrishClub.org or 206-427-3027.

MOTHER'S CHRISTMAS - The 2009 Nollaig na mBan (or Mother's Christmas) Dinner will be Sunday, January 9 at 6pm at Mick Kelly's Irish Pub and Restaurant, 435 SW 152nd St, Burien. For details and reservations ($30 pp), contact CandaceD@irishclub.org or 425-745-1263. Early reservations are advised as this popular dinner has sold out every year since 2000!

IRISH ART EXHIBITIONS - Seattle's Pratt Fine Arts Center, supported by a Culture Ireland grant, will host two Irish artists for exhibitions and classes. Shay Culligan, a Boston-based Meath artist will have a solo show from November 4-26 at the Pratt Gallery in the Tashiro Kaplan Building, 115 Prefontaine Pl S, # 507, in Seattle's Pioneer Square, with a lecture on Friday, November 5, at 6:30pm. The title of the show is Exile and is screenprinted art based on Culligan's photography. Kevin O'Dwyer will work as artist in residence December 7-16, at the Pratt Gallery with a lecture on Sunday, December 12, at 2pm at Bellevue Arts Museum. Kevin is a master silversmith, sculptor and the Director of Sculpture in the Parklands at Lough na Boora in Co. Offaly. More details later.

FIDDLE MASTERS - Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Masters of the Fiddle from Cape Breton, perform Thursday, October 21, at Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia (call 360-753-8585), on Friday, October 22, at the Admiral Theater in Bremerton (call 360-373-6810) and on Saturday, October 23, at the Edmonds Center for the Arts (call 425-275-9595).

Click to see photos from the Irish Wine and Cheese Tasting party hosted by Irish Network Seattle.  

US VISAS - Seattle's Irish Immigrant Support Group encourages Irish-born people who do not have a US visa to participate in the Diversity Visa lottery. 50,000 US Green Cards will be allotted via lottery and the application deadline is November 3. The only way to apply is online at dvlottery.state.gov, and there is no application fee. Be extra vigilant about companies and websites that charge a fee for processing applications. Any questions, email siisg@irishclub.org.  

CATHOLIC PROFESSIONALS - Irishman Mark O'Neill is on the Advisory Board of Catholic Professionals of Seattle which tries to bring together Catholic men and women to improve their business and professional lives, while keeping the number one priority vibrant.

I-A HALL OF FAME - The Irish American Heritage Center on the northwest side of Chicago has established the Irish American Hall of Fame to "preserve the story and history of individuals who through their leadership, work and vision contributed to the success of the Irish in America". The nominations deadline is November 15 and all the details can be found at iahof.org.  

DEV HISTORY - Reporting on the visit of Irish revolutionary leader Eamon de Valera to Seattle in November, 1919, the Seattle P-I reported that the "Head of So-Called Irish Republic" was visiting Seattle and the Catholic Northwest Progress reported that "President DeValera of the Irish Republic" spoke before "a crowd of 6,000 enthusiastic and sympathectically responsive persons".

SPOKANE LIMERICK - A large group from Spokane spent several days in Limerick last month celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Spokane Limerick Sister City relationship.  During their visit, they rededicated the Spokane Walk along the Shannon River and renewed the bonds of friendship for the next 20 years.

MULCAHY THOROUGHBRED - Seattle's Mary Mulcahy this summer finally met her namesake, a three-year-old racehorse also named Mulcahy who was the 2007 Washington champion. Born in Cork, and with no formal legal training, Mary successfully argued her own case through the courts all the way to the Washington State Supreme Court where she won her case in 2005 and collected a $760,000 settlement. Inspired by her persistence, the horse was named in Mulcahy's honor.

TSERING RETIRING - Tsering Yuthok, the City of Seattle's International Programs Coordinator in the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, will retire the first week of February. She has been a tremendous advocate for Seattle's Sister City programs over the past 20 years and the Seattle Galway Association will miss her support and enthusiasm. She never did make it to Ireland although she was scheduled to visit Galway with Mayor Nickels in 2007 but had to cancel at the last minute. We wish her a long and happy retirement.

GENEALOGY HELP - Free Genealogical research assistance is available on at the Bellevue Regional Library at 1111 - 110th Ave NE. Volunteers from the Eastside Genealogical Society are available Tuesdays 7-9 pm and Wednesdays 1-3 pm to help with individual problems and questions.

MISCELLANEOUS

- Irish author, Joseph O'Neill from Cork, will be at Elliott Bay Books (1521 10th Ave on Capitol Hill) this Monday, October 11, 7 pm, to discuss his memoir Blood-Dark Track with Seattle Times Book Editor Mary Ann Gwinn.

- For $10 monthly, you can belong to Overplay's 'Virtual Private Network' gaining access to online live Soccer, Rugby and GAA games that are normally restricted to Ireland. Visit Overplay VPN for details.

- Irish Christmas in America - The Show at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, Friday, November 26, 2010, 7:30 pm, featuring Irish music, song, dance and stories of seasonal Irish traditions.

- Check out a listing of North American Universities with Irish Studies Programs.

NEWS FROM IRELAND

SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH - Scientists led by researchers at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth have solved the mystery of how complex life formed.  "Nature's big bang" - when two single cells fused into one living organism - has been mapped for the first time and the research helps explain multi-cell organisms like insects, plants, animals and humans.

BOOMING EXPORTS - Irish exports reached new peaks in the second quarter of 2010, up again from already-high levels in the first three months of the year. In July alone, $11 billion-worth of goods were shipped out of Ireland, the highest monthly figure since 2002.

STREET VIEW IRELAND - Internet users can now explore Ireland's cities, towns and countryside online through street-level imagery on Google's Street View Ireland. Streets, roads, houses and buildings on any road or street around any part of Ireland can be viewed and more than 51,000 miles of Irish roads were mapped to collect the panoramic images.

CLINTON VISIT - Former US president Bill Clinton was in Ireland last week to promote US investment in Northern Ireland and to open the Clinton Institute for American studies at University College Dublin. Next month, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will host a major Northern Ireland investment conference in Washington.

WINNING IDEAS - Two winning entries have been chosen to the 'Your Country, Your Call' competition to find two ground-breaking proposals for job and wealth creation in Ireland. One proposal plans to establish Ireland as a 'global media hub' targeting the digital content industry. The other proposal plans to make Ireland a 'data island' to position the country as a world leader in cloud computing, secure data storage and online gaming development. Each winning idea receives a prize of €100k and another €500k to help with implementation.

HAPPY GIVERS - A World Giving Index study of the giving patterns among 153 nations has Ireland sharing third place with Canada, and with the USA 5th. The study took into account the willingness to donate cash, the level of volunteering, and readiness to help a stranger. The results also showed that Irish people are 16th happiest of the 153 nationalities surveyed.

NEXT PRESIDENT? - Current Irish President Mary McAleese's term expires in 2011 and she is prohibited by law from running for a third term. Senator David Norris, the noted James Joyce scholar and gay rights activist, is currently leading the polls of those tipped to replace her, while others reportedly in the running include the former Mayor of Galway and Labour TD Michael D Higgins, former Taoisigh (Prime Ministers) Bertie Ahern and John Bruton, and Fine Gael MEP and former GAA president Seán Kelly.

MITCHELL SCHOLARSHIPS - Applications are now being accepted for the 2012 George J. Mitchell Scholarship.  Twelve Mitchell Scholars, 18-30 years old, will spend one year of postgraduate study in an institution of higher learning in Ireland or Northern Ireland, and tuition, housing, and stipends for living expenses and travel are provided. A survey of 100 graduates of the program reports that every single one of them said they'd recommend the Mitchell Scholarship to others, and many described their experience as 'life-changing'.

ROBINSON KNIGHTHOOD - Former Irish president Mary Robinson has received a knighthood for her service to the cause of human rights. She was invested as a Dame of the Irish Grand Priory of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus, an ecumenical Christian order of knighthood.

HAND-DANCING - 'Up and Over It' is a hand dancing video on YouTube composed and performed by two former Irish Riverdance performers. Irish dancers often learn their dance steps with their hands, usually beating on their laps or chests, although this hand dancing is done to the electro beat song "We No Speak Americano".

NORTHWEST TV - A new internet TV station, Northwest TV, provides information about current events and important and interesting happenings in the Donegal/Derry, Northwest region of Ireland, covering everything from local News, Sport, Entertainment, Business, Community, Arts, Leisure and Tourism.

HORSE FAIR - Europe's oldest horse fair in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, attracted an estimated 80,000 people to the town this week. The fair has been running for more than 300 years. In 1801, the London Times referred to it as the "Great Cattle Fair" of Ballinasloe and in 1816 called it "the greatest in the British empire".  Nowadays the fair also has non-horse events such as a fashion show and a vintage car rally.

PROLIFIC KING - Trinity College Dublin geneticists have discovered that as many as 3 million men worldwide may be descendents of the Irish warlord, Niall of the Nine Hostages, who was the High King of Ireland at Tara from AD 379 to AD 405. One in 10 Irish males, and one in every five males in northwest Ireland, share his Y-chromosome, as do one in 10 men in western and central Scotland.  Even 2% of European American New Yorkers carry the same gene!

EQUAL BINGERS - More than eight Irish college students in 10 said they had binged in the previous year, with a binge defined as at least four pints or a bottle of wine or its equivalent in a single sitting. Female students appear to be binge-drinking at least as often as their male counterparts.

ND-NAVY - The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the US Naval Academy Midshipmen college football game will be played in Dublin's new Aviva Stadium on Sept. 1, 2012. Smaller than Croke Park where the two teams played in 1996, Aviva has a seating capacity of 50,000. The Notre Dame-Navy rivalry is the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in college football with the two schools having met every year since 1927.

SHOWBAND STAMPS - New Irish stamps have been issued featuring the Miami Showband, The Drifters, The Freshmen, and The Royal Showband, all part of a commemorative set to immortalize the1950s-60s showband scene. At one time, up to 700 showband acts performed in Ireland. Three members of the Miami Showband were murdered by the UVF after being pulled over in Co. Down in 1975.

LEARN IRISH - Check out a website called Seanfhocal an lae - Irish Proverb A Day, and also Focal an lae - Irish Word of the Day, both of which also provide the pronunciation.

ANGEL OF THE DELTA - In New Orleans, there is a small park called "Margaret Place" with a statue of a middle aged woman seated in a chair and a small child nearby. The plaque on the statue has only one word: "Margaret." It is named for Margaret Gaffney Haughery who was born in 1813 in Carrigallen, Co. Leitrim, and came to the US in 1918. After the loss of her husband and child at the age of 23, she devoted the remainder of her life to helping the poor of New Orleans.

TID BITS

· The latest book by Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who this week was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature, is El Sueño del Celta ("The Dream of the Celt") about Irish patriot Sir Roger Casement who was hanged by the British in 1916.

· 32.2% of Irishmen aged 25-34 and 17.9% of Irishwomen live at home with at least one of their parents.

· A report by the Vale Columbia Centre on Sustainable International Investment lauds Ireland's recent performance in attracting foreign investment and asserts that this will be sustained over the remainder of 2010.

· There are now 188,000 students in higher education in Ireland (Republic), of whom 48% are male and 52% female.

· T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") was the son of Anglo-Irishman Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet of Westmeath.

· Ice hockey's Boston Bruins played a Belfast Giants Select team in Belfast's Odyssey Arena last week.

· Cigarette prices in Ireland average $11.70 for a 20 pack.

· The annual O'Carolan Harp Festival was held last weekend in Nobber, Co Meath, where the great musician and composer, Turlough O'Carolan, was born 340 years ago.

· The number of people in Ireland aged 65 years and over now exceeds half a million for the first time ever.

· 13,300 Irish nationals returned to live in Ireland in the 12 months prior to April 2010.

· The population of the Irish Republic is now estimated at 4,470,700.

· Check out the decline in population on Ireland's islands between 1841 - 2006.

· Kenny's Bookshop in Galway has announced plans to take on Amazon.com. Kenny's Bookshop now stocks more than five million titles and provides free shipping worldwide.

· Dublin-born sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens redesigned American coins at the behest of President Teddy Roosevelt in the early 20th century and Donegal-born Mary Cunningham was the model he used for Miss Liberty.

· Scouting Ireland has over 40,000 members for the first time in its 100-year history, in 450 groups across the 32 counties.

· Ireland is the third largest market for Guinness. Nigeria is second, and Britain first.

· This year's corncrake census counted 133 breeding males in Ireland, compared to 127 recorded last year.

· Ireland has the highest household income in Europe after taxes, $70,660.

· The California State Senate passed a measure (SJR 45) on August 31 expressing support for the final reunification of Ireland by all peaceful means.

· The number of Irish people describing themselves as obese rose by 30% between 1998 and 2007.

· Last year, among the 27 EU member countries, Ireland had the highest rate of outward migration, the lowest death rate and the highest birth rate.

· In 2009 there were 17 babies born for every 1,000 people in Ireland, by far the highest birth rate in Europe.

· Proposed European parliament legislation will require airline passengers to name their next of kin when they book a flight.

· An elementary school teacher from Co. Down is in the "Guinness Book of Records" for having the loudest voice in the world reaching 121.7 decibels.

· An 80-year old Irish woman who has lived in Boston for sixty years was detained at Logan Airport after coming back from a ten-month stay in Ireland, was temporarily stripped of her green card and threatened with deportation.

· Frankie Gavin of Irish group De Dannan has set a world record by hitting 150 beats per minute while playing the fiddle.

· Irish President Mary McAleese has turned down an invitation to be grand marshal of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade in 2011, the historic parade's 250th anniversary.

· Archaeologists excavating a site at Annagassan in Co. Louth uncovered an ancient Viking settlement dating from around 841AD.

· The head of Ireland's Police Federation has called for a five-mile area either side of the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland where PSNI officers and gardaí could pursue criminals who flee from one jurisdiction to the other.

· An RTE poll to name Ireland's greatest person picked Michael Collins as the greatest.

· Wicklow woman Katie Taylor is a three-time world boxing champion after retaining her IABA World Championship crown.

· Ryainair, Ireland's budget airline, hopes to increase passenger capacity by 40% by having  passengers ride short-haul flights riding on a saddle-like seat in a semi-standing position.

· It is estimated that up to 100,000 Irish people are now signed up on Twitter.

· The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked Ireland at #17 in the world for the overall quality of its higher education system.

· Cu Chulainn will be portrayed in the new "Lord of the Rings" style movie called "Hound" which is set to start production next year in Ireland.

· If you haven't read Mary Pat Kelly's book "Galway Bay", put it on your list. 

· Vote for the Cliffs of Moher to be classed one of the "New7Wonders of Nature" at http://new7wonders.com/n7w.  

· Screen legend Maureen O'Hara recently celebrated her 90th birthday with family and friends in her home in Glengariff, Co. Cork.