Emerging in the late 1800s as a phrase referring to someone a little crazy, slightly deranged, a bit off his rocker, "touched in the head" has had over a century to evolve within our vernacular.
Here in Milwaukee, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop's Denise Dee reclaims it and, aligning the phrase with its other meaning -- unique or genius -- has given the name to her week-long festival celebrating the fierce genius of the Irish.
The "Touched in the Head" festival kicks off this Sunday, March 11 and fills the following week with readings, performances, poetry, art and music from Milwaukee's Irish literary community at Schwartz's Bay View and Downer locations and Broad Vocabulary.
Having lived in San Fransisco, Dee used the Bay Area's "Finnegan's Awake" festival as inspiration for organizing Milwaukee's own Irish invasion, which closes on St. Patrick's Day, Saturday, March 17. Her credentials also include a play she wrote called "The Song in Your Blood," which was based on" the Irish side of the family whose history was full of schizophrenia, alcoholism, early death and poverty."
"I believe the Irish are truly people with a love of the story," she says. "To me language kept the Irish alive. I found their ability to narrate the events of their lives gave them meaning, purpose, and humor. I think language (to me) for Irish people is a life raft. And Ireland was a country whose language was taken away from them quite brutally. I think any time a country is denied the right to speak their own language -- it becomes even more important."
For her festival Dee has gathered some of Milwaukee's great Irish writers, artists and musicians, including Ce`, Ellen Elder, James Liddy, members of Milwaukee Irish Arts and Next Act Theater, as well as Chicago's John McNally and Cleveland's Katie Daley for a week of mixing and mingling between several artistic communities.
Sunday, March 11
1 p.m. (Bay View) -- John Throne (The Donegal Woman) and Paul Crowley (Last Call)
2 p.m (BV) -- On the Blanket -- James Godsil, Nubian Star, Eddie Kilowatt, Nicole Penick, Tea Krulos and guests- share poems, artwork, and stories inspired by Bobby Sands and the H-Block political prisoners
2 p.m. (Downer) -- Michael Raleigh (In the Castle of the Flynns) and Tom Tolan (Riverwest)
3 p.m. (Broad Vocabulary) -- Katie Daley, Ellen Elder and other Irish-American female writers (tba)
Monday, March 12
7 p.m. (BV) -- John McNally (Book of Ralph) and Denise Dee (Sowkins)
7 p.m. (DN) -- John Throne (The Donegal Woman) and Katie Daley (performance poet from Cleveland)
8 p.m. (BV) -- Ce (Irish band)
Tuesday, March 13
7 p.m. (DN) -- John Gleeson (reading poems in Irish) and Dennis Patrick Regan
Wednesday, March 14
7 p.m. (BV) -- Martin Hintz (Celebrate the Irish) and guests
7 p.m. (DN) -- James Liddy (I Only Know That I Love Strength in My Friends and Greatness) and Ellen Elder
Thursday, March 15
10:30 a.m. (BV) -- Myra Poe -- Irish storytime for kids
7 p.m. (BV) -- Next Act Theatre, Sally Tolan (Bloodroot), Milwaukee Irish Arts (theater company), Deborah Del Mastro & Judith Moriarty (monologues)
Friday, March 16
7 p.m. (BV) -- James Liddy (and guest)
Saturday, March 17
3 p.m. (BV) -- Boulevard Ensemble Theatre and Next Act Theatre
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
