Larry Kirwin is a very busy man. Next Saturday, August 11, his band, Black 47 will appear in Paddypalooza, at The Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center Studios. The band’s new CD will be released this fall. Kirwin’s new play opens on September 12th and, in the midst of his cross-country tour, he’s also writing editorials for The Irish Echo.
Paddypalooza is a one-time reunion of members of the Bronx Irish music scene that burst in to existence in the early 1990’s. Black 47 will share the stage with Mary Courtney and Morning Star. Dennis Murphy (from Shillelagh Law) will also appear. “We’ll have a blast,” said Kirwin, “and it will good to work with Mary and Dennis again.”
The next time Black 47 will perform in Manhattan will be on Saturday, October 13, at their official home, Connolly’s. The pub is undergoing an extensive renovation with a brand new PA, lights and sound stage. The new room, Rock 45, will open on September 20th. At the same time, Black 47 will be launching www.celticlounge.com --- a community space/webzine/internet radio station.
In the midst of all of this, Kirwin’s play, The Heart Has a Mind of its Own, is going through its final rehearsals. The play, set in the Rockaways a few years after 9/11, is about a family coming to terms with the death of a NYPD Lieutenant. Kirwin said the idea for the play came to him in a dream. “When I awoke, I was shocked and a bit put off. I had no wish to write a play at that time. In fact, I was trying to finish a novel.” Kirwin thought he had said everything about 9/11 in his previous CD, New York Town. “But the play was so real and such a gift,” he said. He planned on writing in just a few weeks, but the play had its own timetable. In the end, the play turned out to be less about 9/11 and more about the war in Iraq and questions about where our country is headed.
Some of these themes are explored in the recent editorials that Kirwin has been asked to write for The Irish Echo, and in their forthcoming release, IRAQ, due out in early fall. Kirwin said the CD deals with the war from the point of view of the troops stationed there. “Black 47 has been speaking out against the war before there was one,” he said. “It was a war of choice. It’s very un-American and we’ll do everything we can to get the troops out of Iraq.”-Sherry Mazzocchi
Paddypalooza on Saturday, August 11th, 8 pm
The Grand Ballroom of Manhattan Center Studios
311 West 34th St.
The Heart Has a Mind of its Own
Opening Wednesday, Sept 12th
Center Stage Theatre
48th West 21st Street
212-352-3101 or order online
photos: courtesy Black 47
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