Out & About

There's lots happening over the next few weeks that I am sure will interest all our readers.

Up first, the Friends of Sinn Fein will be having their annual New York Dinner on Thursday November 4th at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers (53rd Street & 7th Avenue) with cocktails being served at 6pm and dinner at 7pm. The special guest on the evening will be Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein.

For more information or to get tickets, please call (212) 248-3232.

On the following night you will have Alex Maskey and Rita O'Hare who will be reflecting on the 1980-81 Hunger Strikes as the 30th Anniversary approaches. This event will be held at Rory Dolan's (890 McLean Avenue in Yonkers) on Friday November 5th, beginning at 7.30 pm.

For further information call (212) 248-3232/33.

I am sure that both of these events will be well supported.

Maura Mulligan will be starting a new Irish language session on November 16th. Classes will be held on Tuesday evenings at the New York Irish Center (1040 Jackson Ave, Long Island City - one stop from Grand Central on the 7 Train).

Adult beginners will have their learning assisted through the Total Physical Response (TPR) method. Greetings, songs and poems will also be introduced. The beginners class meets at 6:30pm.

For those seeking Intermediate or Advanced Level-spoken language there is an Intermediate-level class where students will interact with each other in and through thematic themes and activities, language being a vehicle for classroom communication, not just the object of study. This class meets at 8pm. Call or e-mail Maura Mulligan for more information about registration on (201) 869-6717 or mauramulligan@aol.com.

Terence Mulligan is holding the the 1st Annual CRAIC Comedy Festival on Thursday November 4th (this week) at the Irish Arts Center (553 W. 51 Street).

There'll be an open bar from 6.30-8pm with the shop beginning at 8pm.

Sponsored by Sierra Nevada and Sheraton Tribeca, the $20 tickets give you access to both the show and pre-party!

Special guests for the Festival include Morgan Murphy (Jimmy Fallon Show), Liam McEneaney (Comedy Central) anf Christian Finnegan (VH-1).

For more information and tickets in advance go to www.thecraicfest.com or www.ticketweb.com/snl/Search.action?query=craic+comedy.

Lillie's is at 13 East 17th Street where, as I've mentioned before, they have a great session every Saturday evening.

Take any train that goes to the 14th Street/Union Square station, walk halfway down West 17th Street towards 5th Avenue and you're there. The session starts at 4pm and goes until 7pm.

Why don't you blow the dust off the fiddle and tune up the old vocal cords? It's time to have some fun and raise some money for Annie McMahon and Cystic Fibrosis. On Thursday November 4th starting at 6PM at Our Lady of Good Counsel (230 East 90th Street) the Emerald Guild is hosting a Fund Raiser for Cystic Fibrosis: "Emerald Guild Got Talent".

All members, vendors, building management and other associations are welcome to participate in this competition i.e. sing a song, recite a poem, dancing or just attend.

There are some great prizes: $3,500 for the winner in 1st place, $2,000 for the 2nd place finisher and $1,000 for the 3rd-placed finalist.

There will be a panel of judges/special guests. The price is $50 per person/donation. This includes an open bar and great food.

For more information or to purchase a ticket or to make a donation, please contact Louis Corbet on (212) 737-2152 or luocor@ellimam.com, Brian Moore on (212) 289- 4521 or bl101098@aol.com, Pat Brady at (212) 223-2116 or pbrady4@nyc.rr.com, Seamus Burke on (212) 744-0355 or s.burke@rcn.com, Garrett Doyle on (212) 751-3667 or gdoyle5@nyc.rr.com, Michael O'Reilly on (212)945-4346 or moreilly@yahoo.com, Niall Cremin on (212)580-0942 or niallcremin@yahoo.com, Michael Gubbins at (212) 528-2200 or mgubbins@thesolaire.com or Noel McCarthy at (212) 965-1070 or noely_mcc@yahoo.com.

Please let all your friends know that they are welcome to come and join. There will be a few Cork boys entertaining as well I just heard and I wonder is it Donie Carroll and friends... you never know.

Last Thursday lunchtime I was at the Irish Radio Network USA studios (515 Madison Avenue at 53rd Street, between Park and Madison) as a guest of Adrian Flannelly and Aine Sheridan to show the support of the Irish for Dan Donovan whose running to try and become the next Attorney General for the State of New York.

Mr Donovan has been ndorsed by Mayor Bloomberg, former New York City mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani, former New York Governor George E. Pataki, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the Irish-American Republicans and this very newspaper.

The Keynote Speaker at the event was James F. Gill, the Chairman of the Irish Hunger Memorial Foundation.

Right now, hoping that we don't tempt fate, it looks like he has a good shot at being elected as the next State Attorney General on Tuesday.

Over the past few months, there has been a significant upsurge in the volume of enquiries that the Aisling Irish Community Center are receiving via e-mail and phone from people planning on immigrating to New York.

In response to this trend they have compiled a document containing vital information for Irish people planning the move in the near future to New York.

They will dedicate a page on the website to impending immigrants so that they will be well informed in advance of their departure that you will see on one of our news pages.

Moving to a new country thousands of miles away from family and friends can be overwhelming for many, so they want to make the transition to a new life here in New York as stress free as possible for everybody before they even leave Ireland.

Give Executive Director Orla Kelleher a call at Aisling Irish Community Center (990 McLean Avenue in Yonkers; (914) 237-5121 or (914) 237-7121; www.aislingcenter.org) for more details.

Glucksman Ireland House NYU has a lot of events coming up that would fill up this whole column so give them a call for all the information on what is happening.

I will be visiting a lot of establishments in the next week in case you might think it's been a dry week, maybe you're right?

See you all next week.