Bloomsday: A Rare Ould Time at The Irish Consulate

To contact us Click HERE

@James Higgins

How it’s New York:  Luncheon was served at The Irish Consulate. Although it’s17 storeys above Park Avenue, technically the Consulate is Irish soil.How it’s Irish:  Celebrating one of Ireland’s most magnificent writers,James Joyce.

Bloomsday reports are coming in! What a great day it was in NYC-- sunny, breezy, full of laughter and craic. 
Guest bloggerJoseph Goodrich reports on the Bloomsday luncheon at the Irish Consulate on Friday, June 15 (I did tell you it actually started the day before!)
Joe is the Edgar Award Winning author of the play Panic. Blood Relations, his collection of Ellery Queen's letters, was published by Perfect Crime Books in 2012.James Joyce once said that all he demanded of a readerwas a lifetime of devotion. Readers from around the world have readily offeredup their devotion in the 90 years that have passed since Ulysses was first published. No day proves it better than June 16^th,known in Joycean circles as Bloomsday.
The Irish Consulate in New York City hosted its annualBloomsday celebration on Friday, June 15^th. Selections of Ulysses were read that mentionedspecific pieces of music, followed by the songs themselves—-“The Rocky Road ToDublin”, “Love’s Old Sweet Song”, “The Croppy Boy” and others. This mix ofwords and music was a neat idea, one the author would have enjoyed:  by all accounts Joyce possessed a serviceabletenor, and music was one of his passions.
Readers included Maura Mulligan, author of therecently published memoir  Call of the LarkCharles Powell, Stanley Goldstein and Miriam Wasserman of TheAmerican Friends of James Joyce Society; George C. Heslin, Artistic Director ofOrigin Theatre Company; and the incandescent Aedin Moloney, Artistic Directorof Fallen Angel Theatre Company and the world’s premiere interpreter of MollyBloom’s soliloquy.

The O'Sulleabhains (@James Higgins)

Singers included Mary Deady, Jacqueline Berstein, anda phenomenal pair of singing brothers, Moley and Eoin O’Suilleabhain. I wasunfamiliar with the O’Suilleabhains before I entered the Consulate, and I can’twait to hear more of them.
Lunch and liquids were there for the taking, courtesyof the Consulate. What with the words, music, food and potables, one had thefeeling that Joyce would have had a rare ould time.