CenterPieceNY
48 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 months ago - ★★★★★ - 9 ratings(For the best experience of this podcast, visit: https://www.CenterPieceNY.com) New York Irish Stories: the lives of long-standing members of New York's Irish community, in their own words. And for a small country like Ireland - such a diversity of accents! Stay in touch @CenterPieceNY - we'd love to hear from you! Be sure to Subscribe, Rate and Review ! Episode schedule: one published per month, towards month end. Creator/Producer/Presenter: Paul Finnegan @paul_NY . Logo by @muireannlalor
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Episodes
S3E10: Linda Bonnar, Checking In
June 29, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 42.6 MBLinda Bonnar is a successful life coach and entrepreneur. She's also a former educator, and has built her services around both her experiences in the teaching profession, and her teenager years with mental health struggles in her hometown of Ballinasloe in County Galway in Ireland. During those fragile, formative years of her childhood she had the misfortune of being targeted by a clique of mean-spirited schoolgirls, which made her road to today all the more difficult. But she has used th...
S3E9: Jennifer Muldowney, a Heart Grows Bigger
May 29, 2023 17:00 - 1 hour - 47.3 MBJennifer Muldowney, from Dublin’s fair city, in Ireland, is an author, a podcaster, and a member of that exclusive set of people who has given a TED Talk. But for this vivacious young woman, all these glamorous activities are in support of her unique, creative, small-ish, and growing business, which, not to put too fine a point on it, services the industry of passing and death. Jennifer's work is as much a service to the living survivors, as it is to the departed. If you don’t know Jen...
S3E8: Denis Maguire, Life on the Peninsula
April 26, 2023 09:00 - 56 minutes - 39.1 MBWhen it comes to experiences, life is an embarrassment of riches. Even more so, if you're an adventurous, wandering type, which might be another way of saying 'if you're Irish'. Certainly Denis Maguire is, although he has gone about it in his own quiet way. As a thoughtful playwright, flimmaker and artist, boisterousness is not for him. Raised in Galway City in Ireland, of rebel lineage, and later a college student in Dublin, he left his native Ireland and headed off to study in Moscow ...
S3E7: Corina Galvin, Quiet Influencing
March 28, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 45.3 MBCorina Galvin calls County Mayo in Ireland her home. She's also been a New Yorker for almost three decades. And she has accumulated a lot of frequent flyer miles along the way. That's because her job in event planning and management puts her constantly up in the air, traveling all over the globe, meeting some significant influencers in the process. This job, the only career of her working life, also allows her to divide her down time nicely between Ireland and New York, keeping her co...
S3E6: Jane McCooey and her Band of Sisters.
February 28, 2023 10:00 - 58 minutes - 40.2 MBJane McCooey thrives when she’s bringing people together to solve a problem, to the benefit of all. When Jane, from County Armagh in Ireland, is confronted with obstacles, she’s not afraid to reach out for help, and her first port of call is often to tap into the familiar power of sisterhood. Before you know it, she’s fallen in with a band of sisters. She’s done this repeatedly–sports being a prime example–and more recently in the world of work. Why there, you ask? Because, you coul...
S3E5: Niall O'Leary–A Life By, And Of, Design.
January 31, 2023 10:00 - 57 minutes - 39.6 MBNiall O'Leary is best known as a performer of Irish dance in the New York area, and further afield. A lesser known fact about Niall is that he also has his own Manhattan-based architecture practice. The amazing thing about Niall is how he has managed to satisfy his innate need to create and design in these two very disparate disciplines. To him there is barely a difference between them. Maybe every young person should be trained to think like Niall, so when they are asked what they want t...
S3E4: A Sort of Christmas Carol
December 20, 2022 10:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MB'Tis the festive season, and as yet another year ends, a time for self-reflection. So we thought we'd take a moment this Christmas to have a closer look at this podcast, delivered in the words of creator, producer and host Paul Finnegan, to explain why he does it, and to give you a walk-through on how he goes about doing it. We hope you'll find it a relaxing and perhaps thought-provoking, and hopefully entertaining listen, worthy of your precious time. It's a Christmas Carol, but by no ...
S3E3: Ray O'Hanlon, Stringer of Pearls
November 26, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 45.5 MBRay O'Hanlon is a long-standing journalist, author and editor of the weekly Irish Echo news service, which has been a pillar of the Irish American identity since 1928. That's a stretch coming up on 95 years, and Ray has been with the Echo for more than one third of that time! Ray sees his work as stringing together elements, pearls he calls them, of larger stories, creating a broader context that transcends any particular incident or era. It can be said he has been the string itself, de...
Helen McNamara O'Shea: Healer at Heart
October 27, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 43.4 MBIn this episode, Helen McNamara O'Shea tells us of the brave leap she made from a career as an accomplished doctor to that of a singer/songwriter. Given that Helen describes herself as 'ancient', which she is not by any means, it seemed, on the face of things, a switch that didn't make a whole lot of sense. But that's on the face of things, because both careers, to Helen, have something fundamental in common. Healing. And that's what Helen is at heart, a healer. She just does it now thr...
S3E2: Helen McNamara O'Shea, Healer at Heart.
October 27, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 43.4 MBIn this episode, Helen McNamara O'Shea tells us of the brave leap she made from a career as an accomplished doctor to that of a singer/songwriter. Given that Helen describes herself as 'ancient', which she is not by any means, it seemed, on the face of things, a switch that didn't make a whole lot of sense. But that's on the face of things, because both careers, to Helen, have something fundamental in common. Healing. And that's what Helen is at heart, a healer. She just does it now thr...
S3E1: Donie Carroll, A Song of Freedom.
September 27, 2022 09:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBCounty Cork, on Ireland's southern shore, is its biggest county, bigger than all the rest, all thirty one of them. Corkonians, as the people of Cork are known, are intensely proud of their heritage. They often claim, in all sincerity, that Cork City, not Dublin, is the true capital of Ireland. And they might be right. One need only ask the British about their experiences dealing with 'the rebel county'. By the time the centerpiece of this episode, musician and singer Donie Carroll, le...
Donie Carroll: A Song of Freedom
September 27, 2022 09:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBCounty Cork, on Ireland's southern shore, is its biggest county, bigger than all the rest, all thirty one of them. Corkonians, as the people of Cork are known, are intensely proud of their heritage. They often claim, in all sincerity, that Cork City, not Dublin, is the true capital of Ireland. And they might be right. One need only ask the British about their experiences dealing with 'the rebel county'. By the time the centerpiece of this episode, musician and singer Donie Carroll, le...
Season Three Introduction: A Conversation with John Lee.
September 16, 2022 09:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBSeason Three kicks off with a short conversation between CenterPieceNY host, Paul Finnegan, and fellow New York Irish podcaster, John Lee, to preview what's ahead. Check out Irish Stew, the podcast for the Global Irish Nation, co-hosted by John and Martin Nutty. ========================================== Thanks to Purple-Planet for Intro/Outro music, and to FreeSound for the sound FX. Learn more about our sponsor: Fox Lifestyle Hospitality Group. Check out the Celtic Irish American Ac...
S2E10: Eamon Harkin-This Is The Only Time We Live In.
June 30, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 43.7 MBHere in the tenth and final episode of Season Two, we get to know Eamon Harkin, originally from Derry in Ireland, who has achieved celebrity in the world of DJs, and is taking dance culture and its community to a whole other level in Queens, the biggest borough in the city, and one that is not so outer-borough anymore. Eamon’s story takes us from the troubled streets of Derry in the 70s and 80s, over to a hopping London in the 90s, then on to New York, a city in shock in the wake of 9/11, t...
S2E9: Amy Brett-The More Things Change...
May 28, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 44.8 MBAmy Brett is a passionate and skilled event planner, an avid Gaelic footballer and a powerful fundraiser for great causes. And she's all 'Mayo for Sam', red and green, through and through. Based in Sunnyside, Queens, she's having the craic in New York. For many from previous generations, that's a familiar tale. The more things change, the more they stay the same. But above all she's a community builder. She loves to bring people together; it's the thing amidst everything else that stan...
S2E9: Amy Brett-The More Things Change...
May 28, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 44.8 MBAmy Brett is a passionate and skilled event planner, an avid Gaelic footballer and a powerful fundraiser for great causes. And she's all 'Mayo for Sam', red and green, through and through. Based in Sunnyside, Queens, she's having the craic in New York. For many from previous generations, that's a familiar tale. The more things change, the more they stay the same. But above all she's a community builder. She loves to bring people together; it's the thing amidst everything else that stan...
Claire McGovern and her Soft Power.
April 28, 2022 09:00 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBClaire McGovern is a sustainable interior designer, art advisor and manufacturer, whose recent work uses Irish wool as its basis, a textile she has come to see as a 'miracle fiber' and after listening to this episode you'll think so too. Claire spent her formative years in a small enclave in south Dublin called Dartry, nestled between the more well-known suburbs of Milltown and Rathmines. Perhaps it was under the shelter of these leafy idyllic suburban surroundings that she first developed...
S2E8: Claire McGovern and her Soft Power.
April 28, 2022 09:00 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBClaire McGovern is a sustainable interior designer, art advisor and manufacturer, whose recent work uses Irish wool as its basis, a textile she has come to see as a 'miracle fiber' and after listening to this episode you'll think so too. Claire spent her formative years in a small enclave in south Dublin called Dartry, nestled between the more well-known suburbs of Milltown and Rathmines. Perhaps it was under the shelter of these leafy idyllic suburban surroundings that she first developed...
S2E7: The Computer Club, Part I
March 29, 2022 09:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBWe're taking a slightly different approach in this episode. We've gathered some thoughts and memories of several centerpieces, but the centerpiece of their lives in New York was, for a few years, a decade ago, a thing called 'The Computer Club'. The reason we are doing this now is because one of us, Paraic, had to leave the stage this month, and we've put together this episode in his honor. We hope it will help us grieve. Have a listen. If you do, you'll end up feeling connected to a ...
S2E6: Martin Nutty, the Pensive Podcaster.
February 26, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 48.3 MBMartin Nutty, all 6 foot 4 inches of him, burst onto the global Irish community scene in 2020 when he fetched up alongside the previously-minted local New York Irish community celebrity John Lee, to stand up the innovative Irish Stew podcast. From the throes of the pandemic in 2020 to the current reemergence, he and John have roped in dozens of amazing members of the Global Irish Nation, and in doing so are helping to define it. And Martin has the voice that is the envy of all male podc...
S2E5: Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake, the Unapologetic Advocate who Belongs.
January 28, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 42.2 MBThey say that diversity is being asked to the dance, while inclusion is being asked to dance, but belonging is hearing your music play at the dance. To belong is a fundamental human need, but the road to true belonging continues to be a long one for many in the US. Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake, or simply Shelley, devotes her day, and her life as a lawyer, to those excluded from the dance, and to those who've made it into the dancehall but who aren't allowed onto the dancefloor. Discriminatio...
S2E4: Breda Skeados and the Baker's Dozen
December 30, 2021 05:00 - 59 minutes - 41.2 MBBreda Skeados is the middle child in a family of thirteen siblings from the rural West of Ireland, all born in a twenty-year period between the 30s and 50s. Ten survive to this day. Even during that time, in her hometown of Dunmore, County Galway, families of this size were on the wane. In fact it was so remarkable, some smarty pants composed a rhyme to keep track of all their names in order, a rhyme still recited by children in the region to this day! Breda was raised in a small house...
S2E3: Sophie Colgan–Speaking Truth to Power
November 30, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 45.8 MBSophie Colgan is one of the finest examples of strong leadership on the rise today among the young in the Irish community of New York. Upon first arrival in the Big Apple in 2013, Sophie Colgan picked up on the background noise of goodwill that benefits all Irish people who come here, an almost universal feeling that has its origins in the aggregation of centuries of small and big contributions to community that the Irish have given this great city. Sophie returned to Ireland to finish...
S2E2: Jacqueline Kealy - from Tuam to the stage lights of New York City!
October 28, 2021 09:00 - 57 minutes - 39.4 MBWe know County Galway in Ireland has it share of towns (and a city!), each with their own character and traditions, but Tuam–along the northern edge of the county–stands apart in its creative take on the world. It is no surprise that such a free-thinking place, with its vibrant music and theatre scene, should produce an adventurous young lady like Jacqueline Kealy, our centerpiece for this episode. In fact, Ireland produces more such women than most nations, and we'll explore that theme to...
S2E1: Adrian Flannelly - the Godfather of Irish talk radio in New York.
September 30, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 43.1 MBSo we're all podcasters nowadays, but what is podcasting but radio on demand ? In this episode we hear the story of one of the great radio pioneers among New York's Irish community, who is still standing and still broadcasting after 50 years, who was plying his trade when it required serious work and investment to do so: studio time, air time and a lot more equipment than a bit of editing software, an Internet connection, and a microphone (or two). We refer of course to the legendary, the ...
Season Two Preview: A chat with Colm O'Regan
September 23, 2021 09:00 - 26 minutes - 18.3 MBTo kick off Season Two, host Paul Finnegan sat down with well-known Irish comedian, author, broadcaster, MC and podcaster Colm O'Regan. Of course, the marvels of the Internet allowed both chairs to be separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The topic? This podcast itself, and podcasting in general. Have a listen... and keep an ear out for the rattle of a cicada in the background now and then. Loads of energy after 17 years of dormancy! You can find out more about Colm O'Regan on his web...
S1E10: Peter and Bryan Fahy, and a tribute to Galway City.
June 29, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 86.8 MBWe have two guests this time around, young thirty-somethings and brothers, Peter and Bryan Fahy, originally from Salthill in Ireland's Galway City, who came to live in New York just only in the last ten years, but are in the States now for the long haul. But we also have a third guest: the City of The Tribes itself–we are taking a deep 'Blackrock' dive into Galway City, which also happens to be the hometown of Paul Finnegan, the presenter and producer of CenterPieceNY, so this one is close ...
Peter and Bryan Fahy, and a tribute to Galway City.
June 29, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 86.8 MBWe have two guests this time around, young thirty-somethings and brothers, Peter and Bryan Fahy, originally from Salthill in Ireland's Galway City, who came to live in New York just only in the last ten years, but are in the States now for the long haul. But we also have a third guest: the City of The Tribes itself–we are taking a deep 'Blackrock' dive into Galway City, which also happens to be the hometown of Paul Finnegan, the presenter and producer of CenterPieceNY, so this one is close ...
S1E9: Sean Benson
May 27, 2021 09:00 - 46 minutes - 63.9 MBLegalizing the Irish. In the days before Monday October 14th 1991, thousands converged on a post office in Merrifield, Virginia. They had come from throughout the United States and represented countries the world over. They all had one thing in common. They were undocumented immigrants, and by being there, at that post office in Virginia, at that time, they had a real shot at securing a green card, and coming out of the shadows in America. It was the very first running of the Diversity pro...
Sean Benson
May 27, 2021 09:00 - 46 minutes - 63.9 MBLegalizing the Irish. In the days before Monday October 14th 1991, thousands converged on a post office in Merrifield, Virginia. They had come from throughout the United States and represented countries the world over. They all had one thing in common. They were undocumented immigrants, and by being there, at that post office in Virginia, at that time, they had a real shot at securing a green card, and coming out of the shadows in America. It was the very first running of the Diversity pro...
S1E8: Susan McKeown
April 29, 2021 09:00 - 46 minutes - 63.8 MBDubliner Susan McKeown has made a career in music. This is no small feat, and tells us she is an accomplished singer and innovative songwriter. And now, through the Cuala Foundation, she's become a social entrepreneur in the arts. And when you add to the mix that she is also a mother who single-handedly raised her daughter, you're learning about someone who revels in taking on the world when the odds may not be in her favor. In short, she's a warrior. A Celtic warrior. With her drea...
Susan McKeown
April 29, 2021 09:00 - 46 minutes - 63.8 MBDubliner Susan McKeown has made a career in music. This is no small feat, and tells us she is an accomplished singer and innovative songwriter. And now, through the Cuala Foundation, she's become a social entrepreneur in the arts. And when you add to the mix that she is also a mother who single-handedly raised her daughter, you're learning about someone who revels in taking on the world when the odds may not be in her favor. In short, she's a warrior. A Celtic warrior. With her drea...
Pat Lally
March 25, 2021 09:00 - 47 minutes - 65.7 MBPat Lally is a Galwayman. He hails from the county in Ireland that is the second largest of that country's famed set of thirty two. And that county is Galway. County Galway is named for Ireland's famous, most western city, Galway City, which sits on the shores of beautiful Galway Bay, itself famed in song, with the Aran Islands strung across its entrance like three precious emeralds in a necklace. And on those weather-beaten islands, early settlers brought forth elaborate stone forts f...
S1E7: Pat Lally
March 25, 2021 09:00 - 47 minutes - 65.7 MBPat Lally is a Galwayman. He hails from the county in Ireland that is the second largest of that country's famed set of thirty two. And that county is Galway. County Galway is named for Ireland's famous, most western city, Galway City, which sits on the shores of beautiful Galway Bay, itself famed in song, with the Aran Islands strung across its entrance like three precious emeralds in a necklace. And on those weather-beaten islands, early settlers brought forth elaborate stone forts f...
S1E6: Fr. James Kelly
February 25, 2021 10:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBFew neighborhoods, if any, in New York City have gone through as many upheavals over the last 60 years, as has Bushwick in Brooklyn. For an area that covers a mere two and a half square miles, the sea-changes it has witnessed during this period, both economic and demographic, have been massive. And its residents have lived through times of great urban peril. But Bushwick has remained a community. How it has retained its distinct and unique identity through so much turmoil, is due in no...
Fr. James Kelly
February 25, 2021 10:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBFew neighborhoods, if any, in New York City have gone through as many upheavals over the last 60 years, as has Bushwick in Brooklyn. For an area that covers a mere two and a half square miles, the sea-changes it has witnessed during this period, both economic and demographic, have been massive. And its residents have lived through times of great urban peril. But Bushwick has remained a community. How it has retained its distinct and unique identity through so much turmoil, is due in no...
S1E5: Peggy Cooney
January 29, 2021 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBPerhaps it came about from the confines of her upbringing, and the little say she had in decisions that greatly affected her life, but Peggy Cooney has a rebel's soul. And as with all the rebellious, she has come to negotiate the world on her terms only. Peggy who has turned 90 years of age in the midst of our great pandemic, was raised in County Meath in Ireland. Her county is often called Royal Meath, so-named, not for those who have sat on throne of England, but because, at Slane, it ...
Peggy Cooney
January 29, 2021 10:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBPerhaps it came about from the confines of her upbringing, and the little say she had in decisions that greatly affected her life, but Peggy Cooney has a rebel's soul. And as with all the rebellious, she has come to negotiate the world on her terms only. Peggy who has turned 90 years of age in the midst of our great pandemic, was raised in County Meath in Ireland. Her county is often called Royal Meath, so-named, not for those who have sat on throne of England, but because, at Slane, it ...
S1E4: John Houlihan
December 30, 2020 15:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBJohn Houlihan is a native of Ringsend, a fishing village in Ireland, absorbed long ago into the great city of Dublin, the nation's capital. But Ringsend still retains its unique customs and traditions, and a flavor of a Dublin of a by-gone era, which John exemplifies. John came to America in 1970, and has made his home among the Italians of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. John's working life in New York was mostly spent navigating its vast, and famous, 24-hour subway system as a train conductor–...
John Houlihan
December 30, 2020 15:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBJohn Houlihan is a native of Ringsend, a fishing village in Ireland, absorbed long ago into the great city of Dublin, the nation's capital. But Ringsend still retains its unique customs and traditions, and a flavor of a Dublin of a by-gone era, which John exemplifies. John came to America in 1970, and has made his home among the Italians of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. John's working life in New York was mostly spent navigating its vast, and famous, 24-hour subway system as a train conductor–...
S1E3: John McGurrin
December 21, 2020 10:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBJohn McGurrin was a mere lad of twelve years when his family upped stakes in his native County Cavan, Ireland, and headed for New York, unlike many Irish immigrants who arrive on the shores of the United States as young, single adults. It was 1955 and he had his whole life ahead of him, a life that brought him and his family great tragedy and hardship in his adopted country, but also great opportunity and excitement. It's been a life where he's travelled the world over, and a life he continu...
John McGurrin
December 21, 2020 10:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBJohn McGurrin was a mere lad of twelve years when his family upped stakes in his native County Cavan, Ireland, and headed for New York, unlike many Irish immigrants who arrive on the shores of the United States as young, single adults. It was 1955 and he had his whole life ahead of him, a life that brought him and his family great tragedy and hardship in his adopted country, but also great opportunity and excitement. It's been a life where he's travelled the world over, and a life he continu...
S1E1: Helen Ward
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MBOur very first episode! Though still a teenager, Helen Ward left her small village in rural County Longford, Ireland, in 1960, to come to New York. Now a mother, a grandmother, and a widow, living in the traditionally Irish neighborhood of Woodside, Queens, she has led a full life, with its share of ups and downs, including one very traumatic family event. Learn of her tough upbringing in Ireland, finding her own voice in America, her sustaining faith, and dealing with the pandemic of 2020. ...
S1E2: Mike Doherty
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MBLike many a man before him, Michael Doherty left his home in Ireland, and followed his brother to New York, in search of a steady wage. What he hadn't figured on was the big down payment he'd have to pay to America soon after arriving in New York, to prove his commitment to his new country. Within months of his arrival, Mike was drafted by the US military and packed off to Vietnam, where he served his tour of duty as a medic. Almost a year later, with war behind him, he finally embarked o...
S1E2: Mike Doherty
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MBLike many a man before him, Michael Doherty left his home in Ireland, and followed his brother to New York, in search of a steady wage. What he hadn't figured on was the big down payment he'd have to pay to America soon after arriving in New York, to prove his commitment to his new country. Within months of his arrival, Mike was drafted by the US military and packed off to Vietnam, where he served his tour of duty as a medic. Almost a year later, with war behind him, he finally embarked o...
Mike Doherty
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MBLike many a man before him, Michael Doherty left his home in Ireland, and followed his brother to New York, in search of a steady wage. What he hadn't figured on was the big down payment he'd have to pay to America soon after arriving in New York, to prove his commitment to his new country. Within months of his arrival, Mike was drafted by the US military and packed off to Vietnam, where he served his tour of duty as a medic. Almost a year later, with war behind him, he finally embarked o...
Helen Ward
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MBOur very first episode! Though still a teenager, Helen Ward left her small village in rural County Longford, Ireland, in 1960, to come to New York. Now a mother, a grandmother, and a widow, living in the traditionally Irish neighborhood of Woodside, Queens, she has led a full life, with its share of ups and downs, including one very traumatic family event. Learn of her tough upbringing in Ireland, finding her own voice in America, her sustaining faith, and dealing with the pandemic of 2020. ...
Introducing CenterPieceNY
November 18, 2020 11:00 - 7 minutes - 5.5 MBWe will be dropping our first couple of full episodes in the run up to Thanksgiving (that's before November 26th, for those of you who do not live Stateside). In episode 1, we'll be talking with Helen Ward, a great lady who came to New York in 1960, and who has led a remarkable life since. In episode 2, Mike Doherty, from South Armagh, tells of his service in Vietnam, his love for the US, and the many twists and turns on the road since he arrived in New York in 1963. In the meantime, you can...