Happy Holiday Hosting
Crackers, cheese, and fresh or dried fruits are perfect pairs when it comes to serving small bites at holiday gatherings, but successful hosts rare...
December 20, 2023
by Margaret M. Johnson
MacColl was 'Fairytale' partner
This Christmas, like every Christmas, Irish people will be listening to Shane McGowan’s immortal 1987 Pogues’ ballad “Fairytale of New York.” Liste...
December 19, 2023
by Geoffrey Cobb
Raucous, tender, exciting tracks
As we creep toward the full bloom of the holiday season, I continue to keep my ears open for albums that this column’s readers will find interestin...
December 18, 2023
by Daniel Neely
Culture
Christmas: A Gift Wrapped in an Irish Winter
Christmas in Ireland has always carried in it something of a contradiction. There is feasting and celebration aplenty but often the revelry is foll...
December 15, 2023
by Ray O'Hanlon
Countdown to Christmas
A few years ago, I gave a book talk/cooking demonstration on Irish holiday foods at a local library. One of my personal favorites is mincemeat, an ...
December 14, 2023
by Margaret M. Johnson
Christmas with Grandpa Charlie
This is a slightly adapted extract from “Untangling the Shadows: Searching for the Voices of My New York Irish Ancestors,” a memoir by Charles R. H...
December 14, 2023
by Charles Hale
The house on Bowne Street
The Bowne House is “a beautiful little home.” So said Mayor Fiorella La Guardia in one of his famous broadcasts on WNYC. He said he’d been in old h...
December 13, 2023
by Peter McDermott
Women elevating piping tradition
Shane MacGowan’s recent passing was a huge blow to Irish music. An electric performer and one of the all time legends, MacGowan not only took liber...
December 12, 2023
by Irish Echo Staff
Poor Mouth to stage panto
It’s that time of year again! That is when the Poor Mouth Theatre Company presents a holiday panto in the Bronx. The company’s 10th annual pantomim...
December 07, 2023
by Irish Echo Staff
Debut album is a crowd-pleaser
In the media player this week is “Sailors on the Rock,” the debut album from John Nolan, John Reynolds, and Bruce Foley, three musicians who would ...
December 05, 2023
by Daniel Neely
Glenveagh inspires debut novel
Find a story you really, really want to write. That’s the view of Anne Madden, as we can see from her answers below, and it helps to explain how sh...
December 05, 2023
by Peter McDermott
Shane MacGowan was the poet laureate of the hyphenated people
The recent riots in Dublin, sparked by the stabbing of three children and a care assistant by a naturalized Irish citizen from Algeria, raised the ...
December 05, 2023
by Stephen Butler