Among Other Things: 'Twas a great couple weeks for the Irish

The past couple weeks were great ones for the Irish, part Irish and wannabe Irish among us.

It all started off on St. Patrick’s Day with the Ronan parade, complete with a green horse and a green pig, staged by the TRIC (The Ronan Irish Community). Karen Peterson told the story, listed prize winners and had some pictures in last week’s Leader.

There were two weekends of performances of Goin’ a Little Irish by the Port Polson Players’ ShamRockers and the Freedom Day Performers at the John Dowdall Theatre on the Polson golf course’s “Old Nine.” Then last Friday was Irish Night at Page by Page books with a program of music, poetry, recollections and stories.

As usual, the Port Polson Players contingent was superb, starting with a bagpipe solo by Jim Pettit followed by the ShamRockers (Neal Lewing, Rick Skates, Rob Sloan and John Glueckert plus Mike Lozar, Jackie and Megan Gran), The music ranged from lively Irish tunes and traditional numbers to poignant pieces such as Danny Boy and an outstanding adaptation of Robert Fulghum’s The Bench by Karen Lewing.

The latter led into the introduction of youngsters of The Freedom Day Performers in a preview of what’s coming up in Polson over the Memorial Day weekend.

Interspersed between the songs, of course, were bits of Irish blarney and banter. My favorite was a tale (paraphrased) about God sending an angel to Earth to see how things were going. The angel reported back, “Not well, 95 percent of the people are bad, only 5 percent good.” Two more angels were dispatched and returned with the same negative reports. So, God said he’d send an e-mail to the 5 percent to encourage them. The group wanted to know, “What did the e-mail say?” And they were told, “You didn’t get the message either?”

Jackie and Megan Gran aren’t twins — they’re mother and daughter, respectively. But their singing voices sounded identical to my ear in tone and quality whether the music was a lively piece or a poignant one. Both are terrific.

Especially appreciated was the number by the Freedom Day singers, You Were There for Your Country and for Me, written by Karen Lewing. Watch for this group over the Memorial Day weekend. You’ll be impressed.

Page by Page, a good fit

There are places that are just good “fits” for certain types of programs. And one of those places is Marilyn Bert’s Page by Page Books. The special series of poetry, music and readings conducted once a month for the past three months is a perfect place for 35 to 40 people to gather and enjoy.

Last Friday was Irish Night. Opening the program was music by Butter’d Peas (Kathy Quist on the flute, Cole Halford, guitar; Jeri Halford, cello; Katie Carter, hammer and dulcimer and pennywhistle; Shannon Nunlist, fiddle, and Jim Pettit, drums). Jim was running a tight schedule to get to the John Dowdall Theatre to open for the ShamRockers later that night.

Neal Donohue returned to read a couple of his poems including Gettysburg, which was a national award winner five years ago and is included in his book of poems, Revisiting the Echo, published by The Plowman Press in Ottawa, edited by Tony Scavetta, and printed in Tony Scavetta’s Poetry Review, and in Veterans’ Voice, publication of the Disabled American Veterans.

The poem was meant to show the “goodness and badness” of war, Donohue said. A visit to the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania inspired the work. Just standing where General Meade had pored over his maps, and where General Lee rode his steed, and where a staggering 46,268 were killed, wounded, missing in action and captured during the July 1-3, 1863 battle, had a profound impact on the author. It was there also on Nov. 19, 1863, that President Lincoln delivered his brief but memorable Gettysburg Address.

Dr. Tom O’Halloran of Polson recounted an experience he had as a 10-year-old while living in Galway, Ireland.

That was 80 years ago, but he remembered attending an outdoors music fest, wearing short pants, seated in the grass, and listening to a beautiful melody as Marie Scolaire sang a Coulon.

The 10-year-old “fell in love” with the singer, only to be disappointed a few years later when he learned that she had married. Many years later he obtained a tape of the song, but lost it in a move. The song, he recalled, was also played at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral.

“I want it played at my funeral, too,” he said during conversation after the program.

A reading about mischievous and sometimes troublesome Irish fairy-folk known as Pookahs was read by Shana Hanneman.