By: Denise Foley

Okay, let’s see if we can do this without taking a breath.

On Thursday, September 6, you can hear local singers perform in an intimate setting in the second night of the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s 31st annual music festival, called “Circle of Song.” It starts at 8 PM at the Philadelphia Irish Center, Carpenter and Emlen Streets, in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. The festival opened on Wednesday night with readings by local Irish poets and playwrights in the first “Spoken Word” evening.

You’ve got the fabulous band, Lunasa, Friday night, September 7, starting at 7:30 p.m. Remarkable piper and flutist Tim Britton will open. Tickets are $25 ($27 at the door).

On Saturday, there’s a whole day of music on two stages at the Irish Center, with headliners Aoife Clancy (yes, she’s one of the Clancy Brothers Clancys--her father is Bobby) and Robbie O’Connell (called Ireland’s “national treasure," he's a Clancy cousin who sang with the group) in afternoon and evening concerts; All-Ireland and World Champions such as Jerry O'Sullivan, Joe Vesey, McDermott's Handy, Breanndan Begley, Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, Caitlin Finley, Kevin Henry, Jimmy McGillian, Judy Brennan, John Brennan, Eugenia Brennan (yes, 3 of the 7 talented Brennan Family!), Brendan Callahan, Sean McComisky, Tommy Moffitt, Myron Bretholz, and dozens more dancers, singers, and musicians.

In the evening, radio personality and tour operator Marianne MacDonald (hear her “Come West Along the Road” show every Sunday from noon to 1 PM at  WTMR 800AM) will host a “house party” which will be a wonderful way to relive the past. Not often done these days, house parties were once how the Irish in the Philadelphia area (and elsewhere) kept their culture alive--dancing to the old tunes spun by local musicians. The furniture got pushed aside and there you had an Irish hoe-down. You don’t even need to know the steps--someone will teach you.

Now, if you want to take a break from the festival, you can head up to Green Lane Park in Green Lane, Montgomery County, for one of the largest Scottish-Irish Festivals in eastern Pennsylvania, which starts Friday night with the wonderful local group, Burning Bridget Cleary. But the Green Lane Fest is more than music. Over the weekend, you can watch sheepdog trials (better than NASCAR, if you ask us--check out how those dogs take the turns); go back in time with the living history encampment set up by the Society for Creative Anachronism (genealogy buffs, take note) and the 69th Irish Regiment encampment; learn about falcons and falconry; listen to swords clash; and, of course, have your face painted in Celtic style.

Need yet another break? Well, on Saturday, it’s Irish Heritage Night at the Phillies! (We were honored that they contacted us and asked our advice on how they could be Irish too!) There’s a $7 discount online and ($4 over the phone/in person) -- for everyone, not just the Irish -- and the first pitch will be thrown by Brian Morris, a pitcher for the Irish National Baseball Team (yes, Ireland has a baseball team, and the Phils will be donating equipment for youth and adult teams).

Music will be provided by the Bogside Rogues. Local musician Vince Gallagher will sing the national anthem, possibly with an Irish accent (because this Donegal native has one). You can even learn to step dance at the First Base Gate with the Lynn Academy of Irish Dance from Audubon, NJ, and the Cummins School of Irish Dance in Philadelphia. The Phanatic will be jigging too.

The Phils also promise “Irish delicacies” at concession stands. It’s worth going just to find out what they are. Bangers and mash? Great! Black pudding? We’ll have a Schmitter from McNally’s--that’s Irish enough for us.

Save some energy for two very biting, funny Irish plays that open next week: “Lonesome West,” a Lantern Theatre production that debuts Monday night at St. Stephen’s Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, in Philadelphia, is a “savagely funny” comedy by Irish bad boy playwright Martin McDonagh about two warring brothers in the tiny Irish backwater of Leenane. On Wednesday, September 12, it’s opening night for “Trad,” a play by Irish comedian Mark Doherty, which will be playing for two weeks at the Mumm Puppet Theater, 115 Arch Street,  in Philadelphia. It’s a twisted take on a quest story: 100-year-old bachelor farmer, Thomas, and his improbably ancient “Da,” scour the Irish countryside for the child Thomas once fathered but never knew. Their voyage explores the realities of modern Ireland and the fading of its traditional past.

If you have any energy left at all, those crazy kids, Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, are appearing on Thursday at Festival Pier on Columbus Boulevard and Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. This is screaming rock, with a Celtic flavor. You haven’t heard Fields of Athenry and Black Velvet Band until you’ve heard the Boston-based Murphys do them hardcore.

See our calendar for more information.