THE Irish have been raising hell on Manhattan's West Side for well over a century since that was where many of them landed or worked after emigrating from Ireland.

Even my own father first settled there from his native Co. Clare with his brother and sisters thanks to a sponsoring uncle who had an established cooperage business in Hell's Kitchen, as it was charmingly referred to before the current wave of gentrification attempts to whitewash the area.

Since 1868 a saloon at the corner of 46th Street and 11th Avenue has serviced the mostly Irish clientele who passed through the portal of the red-bricked building that currently houses one of the most historic interiors you will find in New York City these days. Living up to its title, the Landmark Tavern instantly brings you back to a time and place where the corner pub was the place to meet and greet your friends, and if you could have a bit of Irish music all the better.

Such was the occasion a week ago Monday for a special surprise birthday celebration for Tom Dunne, from Tombrick, Ballycarney, Co. Wexford which offered a grand theme for attending the regular Monday night music session hosted by Don Meade there every week.

Dunne's bride Ann Vogt, whom he met one St. Patrick's weekend in New York on a spree from Ireland back in 1988, knew that Tom would like nothing more than to have a session to mark his 60th birthday with his old and new friends in New York where he has been a popular fixture since he emigrated in 1992.

The backroom, ordinarily a dining room for the fine fare served at the Landmark Tavern daily, converts to an early hours (I mean early, to start at 8 p.m. finishing at 11 p.m.) session venue that can accommodate about 50 people comfortably on a Monday's eve.

Apparently one badly-kept but not unappreciated secret appearance was by the Gneeveguilla-born fiddler, Paddy Cronin older brother of the legendary late Johnny Cronin who lived and died in New York whom Tom first befriended at a fleadh in Clones, Co. Monaghan in 1967.

Paddy lived in Massa-chusetts raising a family with his Cambridge-born missus, Connie, for decades before retiring to Ireland in the 1990s, but was back stateside to look after their home in Needham.

The octogenarian had a great year, starting with the release last March of Tom Dunne's CD entitled, A Tribute to Paddy Cronin, where Dunne put the fiddle skills honed under Cronin's inspiration to work on a number of rare tunes that the Kerry tune master released from dusty books over the years.

In July Cronin was celebrated at the Willie Clancy Summer School for his musical contributions, and this past Easter inducted into the prestigious TG-4 Hall of Fame at their 10th annual Gradam Cheoil Awards in Cork City.

At Dunne's session this night, he regaled the revelers with tunes and yarns that help cement the enduring friendship of Tom Dunne and Paddy Cronin down through the years. And it was a wonderful occasion to put the spotlight on Tom Dunne, a generous and gentlemanly box player and fiddler who always understood that the music was there to be passed on and enjoyed, not necessarily for commercial reasons.

It was a great night's celebration of traditional music and old friends gathering in the hospitable environ of this time-worn hostelry where if the walls could talk, the New York City lore of Irish America would be even more colorful.

The owners Michael Younge (of nearby Druid's restaurant) and Donnchadh O'Sullivan have encouraged Meade to keep the Monday session going for the summer, so it's a good place to bring your appetite for fine food and drink and trad music, and don't forget your imagination because the ambience there will help feed that as well.

And you can look for Paddy Cronin and Tom Dunne to make some music together at the Catskills Irish Arts Week (www.east-durham.org) this summer as well over the week of July 15-21 in East Durham.