Meet Erin Hart, American author of two acclaimed mysteries that meld archeology, Irish folkore and music, and spine-tingling crime plots, set in Ireland's bogland.

There's the Mayo Ball, musician Mick Moloney and friends will be in town to raise money for St. Malachy's School, Blackthorn will be holding its annual "Celili for Kayleigh" fundraiser, the new group Celtic Thunder will be singing in Reading, and next Friday and Saturday, there's a great Northern Ireland Film Festival at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center. Best of all, most of them aren't at the same time!

At its last big bash, Emmett's Place was a place for memories and music.

Members of the band all took different routes, but all wound up in one place: playing Irish traditional music.

After 37 years, Emmett Ruane of Emmett's Place is retiring, and all the musical friends who made this Oxford Circle pub THE place for Irish music are throwing him a "wake." The list of performers is really long, so plan to stay into the wee hours! Find out the details here.

The vice president of the Dennis Kelly Div. 1 AOH in Havertown talks about the October 25 benefit that raises money to help financially strapped Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. For this AOH division, the connection to vets is personal

Two great fundraisers are on tap this weekend, with great music, food, drink, and causes. A sad note: Emmett of Emmett's Place is retiring, so his musical friends are throwing him a party and we're all invited. There's some more great music on tap too--including John Carty and Donal Clancy at the Coatesville Cultural Society. It's worth the drive!

Blackthorn once again will play music into the wee hours, and other fund-raising activities are scheduled to raise money to fund research into methylmalonic acidemia, or MMA.

The group was such a crowd-pleaser, they've been signed for next year,

He sang, played, piped and told great stories when the Irish music legend appeared in Ambler this week. See our story and photos.