Following up Dublin‘s Bloomsday celebrations last year wasn’t going to be easy, but I found that Chief O’Neil’s Pub here in Chicago was hosting an event, so Jeanne, Sarah and I decided to go. Our book club is considering reading an episode of Ulysses, so this was a great tasting menu of the book, in Jeanne’s words.
The program was really wonderful. Josephine Craven hosted the evening and gave background on Joyce, Ulysses, and the pieces being performed. There were 8 performers who sang and read, alone and in groups. Really amazing talent!
Craven performed a very joyous last excerpt from Penelope, Molly’s famous last section in the book. Then the last song brought the full cast on stage, with amazing singer Mark Piekarz leading the group and audience in Dublin’s Fair City.
Excellent evening, we enjoyed it very much!
And a note to readers – I resolved the issue we’d been having with being able to post photos to the blog. I think we’re back!
