Little Chapel on the River

Team Guinan will ride again this year for Braking the Cycle with a smaller, devoted crew who needs your support and donations more than ever. Riders include: Kelly Guinan Preusser , Ed Preusser , Christine Ashburn and Dean Bradshaw . Kelly's Mom, Mary Jane , is likely to be part of the crew. They ride/crew in honor of the late John Guinan , a long-time rider who has been dubbed honorary Rider #1 for Braking the Cycle, and his late brother-in-lawn, Tom Caruso . The ride goes from Boston to New York this time -- a tough terrain. They leave on September 11th and ride into New York City on September 13th. Those of us former riders who can't make the ride this year hope everyone who supported us individually will send donations to Team Guinan. CLICK HERE to donate online to Team Guinan. More updates on the team and their training progress to come here on the blog.

One former patron of Guinan's has just self-published a book of his poetry titled: "Writing in My Head: Guinan's, God and Other Things." There are several poems dedicated to the former pub and country store as well as members of the family. With permission, here is an excerpt: "The Communion of Saints" It's Irish Night at Guinan's first Thursday after the full moon and the place is packed. And there is a harp And a bodhran And a few accordions And a whistle And a few guitars And a few fiddles And some singers And a lot of beer. There are some writers And plumbers And a Governor (with a State Police guard). And restauranteurs And real estate agents And professors And whoever else walks in. And there is much talk and gaiety until there is a hush when Jim is ready to sing "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" And we all listen. Kelly's behind the bar Jim's in the kitchen And we all take turns putting money on the deli register. Tr...

This is kind of cool and unexpected. The story of Guinan's will fall into the hands of readers in Waco, Texas later this summer. Little Chapel on the River was picked as a summer read for the community's One Book, One Waco program. The book was selected for exploring "themes of family and friendship as well as the importance of building a strong community." Last summer's pick was "Marley: A Dog Like No Other." Clearly they hadn't heard of Lou-Lou yet.

Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2009 Location: McKenna Theater SUNY New Paltz campus Street: 1 Hawk Drive Town: New Paltz, NY Time: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Cost: $25 At the door: $30 Phone: 8452573844 Email: amy@ecoartspace.org Cold Spring, N.Y.-based singer/songwriter Dar Williams and special guest Nick Panasevich will perform at the McKenna Theater/SUNY New Paltz to benefit the work of ecoartspace and Habitat for Artists , a collective of artists based in the Hudson Valley including: Chris Albert, Richard Bruce, Sharon L. Butler, E. Odin Cathcart, Ryan Cronin, Simon Draper, Kathy Feighery, Marnie Hillsley, Matthew Kinney, Grace Knowlton, Michael Natiello, Sara Mussen, Steven Rossi, Todd Sargood, Matthew Slaats, Lynn Stein, Dar Williams, Grey Zeien, Donald Kimmel and Flying Swine live Theater.

This nice photo comes from J im Donnery . Pictured: John Guinan and Mike R. Mihalik on St. Patrick's Day, 2006.