Out & About

I know it is a tight squeeze for everyone right now, but I am sure it will all come good for all of us in the long term.

Please support all our Irish bars and restaurants in all the boroughs Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island and that those out in Yonkers, Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and all over New England and Boston, because without them we would lose our culture.

They are still great meeting places for a bit of gossip from back home. Christmas time will always bring out the best in all of us and it is a happy time to meet friends and have a pint.

This Sunday, December 21, the man himself Sean Fleming will perform at the Kerryman's Hall (305 McLean Avenue, Yonkers) at 4pm.

All are invited to come along for an afternoon of great entertainment.

There will be a screening of the documentary Memory Brings Us Back:Irish Stories of Farewells and Fortunes produced by the Aisling Irish Community Center.

This will be followed with the live performance by the talented Sean Fleming.

The cover charge is only $10 per person with the proceeds from the sale of the DVDs benefiting the Aisling Center's community outreach programs.

For more information call (914) 237-5121 or visit www.aislingcenter.org.

Oasis play at Madison Square Garden this Wednesday (December 17th) and, as you might know, we had an exclusive interview two weeks ago for both The Irish Examiner newspaper and Irish Connections magazine.

We also went to see Nail Young on Tuesday night and boy can he perform - he still has it.

When you're out and about give a call into Papillon and say hello to the lads as though this does not sound like an Irish restaurant, it is Irish-owned and well run by a couple of good Irish bartenders.

Up the road a bit you can visit P.D. Hurley's which is always hopping as well. Manhattan is full with with the cream of the crop of Irish Restaurants, all are run by good Irish men that came over to New York to make a better life for themselves.

I will name a few of them and please forgive me if you are left out: The Playwrights with Frank Dwyer, Langan's with Des O'Brien (I know Des, I have not given you a mention for a while),  the Pig'n'Whistle off Broadway with Pat Burke and another with Ken McCoy, PJ Moran's with John Mahon, Stout with Noelle Mooney, Mustang Sally's with Ian and Nail Conroy, Tracks with the O'Briens and the Caulfields, Desmonds Tavern with Hugh Connolly, Galway Hooker with Johno, Anna and all the gang, Nevada Smiths with Tom and Paddy McCarthy, O'Brien's with Cormick McCormack, Lansdowne with Pat Hughes, Stitch with Nick Cohen, the Central Bar with Gillies Cooper, Ryan's Irish Pub with Frank, Jerry and Andrew, O'Lunney's with Hugh O'Lunney, Eamonn's with Eamonn Maher, PD Hurley's with Paul Hurley and, let tell you, there are loads more that I will mention in our next issue so please bear with me. I would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and take care of each other as we prepare for a prosperous New Year.

See you in two weeks.