Out & About

Yes they did it again! Kruise for Kids was a big sensation. For all of you who don't know Project Children had their 19th Annual Kruise for Kids last Wednesday and it was great success.

The man behind the annual event is none other than Denis Mulcahy and let me tell you this man and his volunteers know how to throw a party, and this is one big party let me tell you.

I am talking about 600 guests on board and having a really good time. It was rumored that this might be the last one but let me tell you that it has to continue because what Denis does with this fundraiser is unbelievable.

He brings all these kids from Ireland and puts them up with families and finds them intern work so when they go back to Ireland the experience they get is magnificent and treasured for the rest of their lives.

Denis does all this with the great support from the AOH Division 7 and people of all walks of life that come out for this great charity. The bands that supplied the music for the night on three decks of the cruise ship, The Spirit of New York were The Cunningham Brothers, who yours truly made a guest appearance with on the drums, (No, No, No PLEASE no autographs!!!).

The other bands that played superbly were: Celtic Cross, The Shay Mac Band and Tom Casey & Friends and let me tell you that all the music was top shelf, with all different styles.

I would also like to thank Sean Murphy, from MurphGuide.com, who did so much volunteer work and had a big hand in the raffle, and also helping to get the word out about this cruise.

I could go on forever with guests that were on board, but it would take up this whole column. So I will mention just a few: Captain Tom Slattery, who is always on hand to make sure that we had smooth sailing. Even though it rained for the whole trip... but it didn't matter because everyone stayed indoors, had a beautiful dinner with cocktails and danced the night away.

Also onboard was Dermott Kelly, who led a whole posse from Long Island. With him was Marty Glennon, the famous attorney, Pat Burke and his lovely wife Lillian and, of course, the coffee man himself, Pete Scalley. A few others on board were Maurice Landers, Eileen O'Mahoney, Gwen Orel, Maureen McLoughlin and Sheila Lennott. Let's keep it going as this is one of the best charity events each year so tell your friends to get on to Project Children and Denis Mulcahy as this a really great Irish event which we all want to support for as long as we can, because it is a great get together to meet a lot of old friends who you would not get a chance to meet because of other commitments.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 has been a smash hit all over the USA and now the US team has drawn with one of the big favorites, England, in the first round.

Every bar and restaurant in New York was packed to capacity and with the national coverage it has got it will now be even bigger and, believe me, the business is well needed..

The Pig'n'Whistle on 36th Street just off 7th Avenue was swamped I was told and I am sure Des O'Brien must be a happy man as he worked very hard to make it one of the best World Cup headquarters on the west side of Manhattan.

I was at Nevada Smiths myself and it was wall to wall upstairs and down and a lot of disappointed punters could not get in as they closed the doors two hours before the game got started.

I also heard that Eamonn's Bar and Grill (on 45th Street between Madison and 5th Avenue) had a bumper crowd so Noel must have been happy and then over to Channel 4 (on 48th Street) where there was not a table unfilled.

Dresner's Restaurant up on York Avenue got in to the World Cup serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and again every table was full... good on yea Dermot, keep it going.

O'Casey's (on 41st Street between Madison and 5th Avenue) had its first World Cup event and talking to Karl O'Connor, the owner, it could have not been better and he is looking forward to the next four weeks with full houses where they'll be serving some very special menus for the duration.

To watch the World Cup live you can visit Lillie's Irish Victorian Restaurant (on 17th Street near Union Square), P.D. Hurley's Restaurant (72nd Street and West End Avenue), Papillon Bistro (on East 54th Street off Madison Avenue), the Galway Hooker Pub (36th Street between Madison and 5th Avenue), Fiddlestick's Pub & Grill (54 Greenwich Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue), the Downtown Galway Hooker (133 7th Avenue South (at Charles Street)) and O'Brien's Irish Pub and Restaurant (46th Street off Times Square). All of these bars and restaurants are great places to watch all the World Cup games.

We would like you all to support our advertisers as they are the backbone of making this paper the success it is and we want you to support them. In return, as I've said before, we have to support our own.

The 2nd Annual Cornelius F. Doolan Memorial Outing will be held on Monday, August 30 at Bethpage State Park to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the International Rett Syndrome Foundation and the Special Olympics. Reserve your place by calling (203) 391-2123, faxing (203) 391-2215 or sending an e-mail to Dools15@aol.com or jdoolan@heinekenusa.com.

Thank you to those who attended the Failte 32 job networking event last Monday at O'Casey's. It was great to see such an enthusiastic and motivated crowd of young Irish people in attendance. We hope we were able to add value to your job hunting efforts, and that we can continue to add value over the coming months.

This was a great turn out for our first job networking event which we expect to grow over the coming months.

The event was featured on New York's Channel 4 (NBC) on Tuesday morning and on RTE Radio's 'Morning Ireland' show on Wednesday morning and in Wednesday's edition of the Irish Independent.  See www.independent.ie/national-news/job-advice-and-a-pint-for-students-in-nyc-2212449.html.

Just to remind you, Failte 32 provides support at four levels: the Failte 32 website, monthly job networking events, weekly social nights (dollar beers!), and on any day of the week, any of you can use O'Casey's as your home base when job hunting, use their wifi, and have some light refreshments courtesy of O'Casey's.

What a great night at the The Irish Repertory Theatre when they held their Annual Benefit Gala on Monday night - a rare concert performance on Broadway! The event was hosted by Matthew Broderick and Jonathan Cake!

Brigadoon by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe starred Len Cariou, Jason Danieley, Christine Ebersol, Melissa Errico,  Ciaran Sheehan, A.J. Shively, Don Stephenson, other Broadway Stars, a full orchestra and a chorus of 50!

Like the legend of Brigadoon, a night like this may not happen for another hundred years, but I'll see you all next week!