Four superfans of The Boss will take to the stage on Friday, August 30 at the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross, Wexford, with Lise Hand as moderator to delve into the Irish heritage of the Born in the U.S.A rock icon.
The 74-year-old singer-songwriter’s great-great-great-grandparents left Rathangan in County Kildare for New Jersey in 1853.
The first panellist is geologist Fiona Fitzsimons, who is the co-founder of Eneclann and the Irish Family History Centre which looks at Irish emigration at the EPIC museum in Dublin.
She has led the Eneclann research team and established their work as a benchmark in family history in Ireland and internationally, with clients such as former White House President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden’s administration.
Also in the panel is a familiar face on Irish television, author and RTÉ Nine O’Clock News presenter David McCullagh, who first saw Bruce Springsteen play in Slane in 1985 and has seen him more than 40 times since. He has also interviewed his lifelong idol twice.
Ralph Riegel is the southern correspondent for The Irish Independent, The Evening Herald, The Sunday Independent and other MediaHuis titles.
A Springsteen fan since 1982, he attended his first concert aged 17 years at Slane Castle in 1985, just days before his Leaving Cert – and has since been privileged to attend over a half-century of Boss concerts in Ireland, the US, UK, Italy, Spain, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Canada.
“It was the start of a lifelong musical love affair which some, including my long-suffering wife who was also at Slane that day, often suggest is a borderline obsession,” he told the Irish Independent.
The southern correspondent said Springsteen’s music has “effectively been the soundtrack of my life”, recalling the early years of going on dates with his future wife with The Boss playing on the car cassette player.
“We danced to Springsteen songs at our wedding, brought our children on summer holidays with Boss albums carefully stacked in the carry-on luggage and I’ve since brought my two daughters and son to Boss concerts in Ireland,” he added.
“I’ve been fortunate enough over the past 39 years to see The Boss at over half a century of gigs in 24 cities/towns across 10 countries.
“There is a very special connection between Bruce Springsteen and Ireland which extends far beyond his ancestral links and the obvious appeal of his music.
“The importance of that link between Springsteen, Ireland and his Irish audience is reflected by the very fact the issue made it onto the 2024 Kennedy Summer School Programme,” Mr Riegel said.
The Kennedy Summer School and Festival is run in association with the Office of Public Works, Failte Ireland, New Ross District Council, Wexford County Council and Purdue University.
The final panellist is Kirk Curnutt, who joined the faculty of Troy University’s Montgomery campus in 1993 and was for the first stretch of his career was the youngest tenured professor in the system.
He is the author of several works of fiction and criticism of popular music and teaches both online and on the Troy campus, focusing on creative writing, American literature, senior seminar, and—finally, after many years of begging the music department to let him—the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
For further details and tickets for the 2024 events, see www.kennedysummerschool.ie or call St. Michael’s Theatre on 051 421255.