[A guest post by my friends at the New Jersey Chapter of the Irish American Writers and Artists]
The New Jersey Chapter of the Irish American Writers and Artists had their last salon for the year recently at the Irish American Cultural Institute in Morristown. It was the best-attended event of the year, with a handful of audience members cheering on our performers over tea, adult beverages, and a mighty craic!
Chicken soup for the soul on a cold evening
Congratulations to Patrick Clifford, who landed himself on the “best of 2012” list for The Irish Voice and IrishCentral.com with his album “Chance of a Start.” His mixture of original tunes and re-imagined traditional ditties is like chicken soup for the soul on this cold evening! Clifford’s website can be found here: http://www.ChanceOfAStart.com
Mike Farragher recently told a story of receiving two requests from friends to read manuscript; one was a collection of beautiful poems and the other were essays about grievances from a cranky Italian American. Farragher swirled chocolate and peanut butter together in the literary sense and read his “Screw U Haikus” from his upcoming book, This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks2: 50 Shades o’ Green, out this February. For more information, log onto thisisyourbrainonshamrocks.com
Chris Reardon read an engaging travel writing piece about traversing through the lush hills of Ireland. The piece showed great promise--here's hoping it gets published soon!
Thomas Johnston tinkered with tunes from his upcoming release, "Highway Signs and Highway Lines,” a record that promises to be rich in classic Irish American storytelling. One of the tracks I know you’ll love is “Heading to Bundoran,” with the lyrics "Gliding along on the N15...Donegal shoreline, as I had seen it in a dream...Maybe this one time, life will be more than fair...I'm heading to Bundoran, taking a chance you'll be there."
This will be a busy year for Johnston, who also plans on launching his own label, Tabhair Records, with his son Stephen.
"to taste sweet victory at the winner’s cup"
Dance, till your heart is rent
dance, till your toes are bent
and gnarled and purple
as the crushed grape spent
Dance, till your hips [dysplay]
dance, till ankles crack away
till bones and tendons chip and fray
till tired thighs chafe and splay
Point, your toes on out
don’t, want to hear you pout
nor complain as you get on
with your dance and train.
Block, out best the pain
block, for each step to gain
the podium’s highest step up
to taste sweet victory at the winner’s cup.
Because of the holiday, the NJ Irish American Writers and Artist Salon did not meet on the last Thursday of December. We will make up for it by meeting twice in January; the next meeting is Thursday January 4, followed by Thursday, January 31. Start time is 7PM. Two of our writers, Mike Farragher and John Liam Shea, have released two new books recently and we will be coming together to celebrate these milestones at upcoming salons!
The Salon takes place at The Irish American Cultural Institute, One Lackawanna Place, Morristown, NJ 07960
Phone: 973-605-1991 www.iaci-usa.org
Email Mike Farragher at irishwriter@optonline.net to reserve your space on our roster!
To join the Irish American Writers and Artists, click here: http://www.i-am-wa.org
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