Irish Massachusetts

World renowned Celtic harpist Patrick Ball is performing his new solo musical theater piece, The Fine Beauty of the Island , at the Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland, RI on Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets to the show are $12 in advance and $15 the day of the concert.  For more details call 401 725-9272. The performance tells the story of Ball's journey in search of the origin and meaning of an enchanting tune he heard one night in an Irish bar in San Francisco. This tune led him back not only to a Blasket Island community and culture “whose like will not be seen again,” but to a long-neglected corner of his own past. For a full schedule of upcoming concerts at Blackstone River Theatre, click here . For year round Irish cultural events in Massachusetts and the New England states, visit IrishMassachusetts.com .

Boston-born accordion player Joe Derrane is being honored by his peers in Irish traditional music at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at the Fairfield Theatre in Fairfield Connecticut. Among the musical legends slated to play in Derrane's honor: fiddle champion Seamus Connolly, folklorist, author and singer Mick Moloney, flutists Joannie Madden and Seamus Egan, uilleann piper Jerry O'Sullivan, accordion players Billy McComiskey and John Whelan, plus dozens of other great musicians. Music critic and Irish Echo columnist Earle Hitchner is the Master of Ceremonies.  Proceeds of the concert benefit the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society in Fairfield, a non-profit group dedicated to teaching and performing Irish music and dance. For tickets call 203 259-7672. For year round information on Irish music in Massachusetts and the New England states, visit IrishMassachusetts.com .

Boston University presents a discussion on city hall activism during the Reagan Administration that features author Pierre Clavel of Cornell Univeristy and former Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn .  The forum takes place at BU's School of Hospitality Administration, 928 Commonwealth Avenue, in Room 110 at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 4, 2010.  It is co-sponsored by BU's Department of Sociology and Dept of Applied Social Sciences, graduate programs in city planning and urban affairs.  For directions click here . Clavel, a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University, is author of the newly published book, Activists in City Hall: The Progressive Response to the Reagan Era in Boston and Chicago . Flynn was mayor of Boston from 1984 to 1993, then was appointed as US Ambassador to the Vatican by the Clinton Administration.  He is author of several books, including a biography of Pope John Paul II . For more information ...

Christmas Blaze – A Celtic Kitchen Party is opening for the holiday season at the Confederation Center for the Arts in Charlottetown , Prince Edward Island .   The show starts on Thursday, November 25 and runs through Saturday, December 18, 2010. Among the performers is the group Talamh an Eisc, an innovative and exciting dance troupe led by famed Irish dancer and choreographer Shawn Silver of Newfoundland .   Talamh an Eisc, which means “Land of the Fish” in Irish, is a touring dance show that showcases the authenticity and artistry of Irish traditional dance as it has been performed in Newfoundland Labrador for generations. Christmas Blaze also features some of Atlantic Canada’s leading performers, including fiddle master Stephanie Cadman , singers Catherine O'Brien and Joey Kitson and actor Wade Lynch.   Donald Fraser is musical director. Silver, who is also artistic director of Idance, Inc ., says the show “evokes a time and place steeped in legend, lore and...