Slainté…

Yep, it’s St. Paddy’s, which is a holiday yours truly actually really likes, for no accountable reason other than a lifelong fascination with the Irish (from whom I’m descended, partly, despite being generally a Western European mutt). I kind of got into Irish culture first in high school, being interested in genealogy and history, and then when I got to an actual big city, I was happy to find that Houston’s got a fair number of Irish/Celtic/whatever bands, clubs, and such.

These days I use the day primarily as an excuse to blast The Pogues, The Chieftains, and Dropkick Murphys, replace the wife’s cheery Spring flag on the porch with the Irish colors, and drink some of the tiny-tiny-tiny amount of booze I generally consume (probably even less today, mind you, since I’ve still got a stomach bug). If you’re out and about, though, I’d heartily recommend checking out the St. Paddy’s festival at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck (although it’s been going on for a bit now, I think) or hitting one of the other clubs in town serving godawful green beer. It’s worth it just to watch the drunken idiots, seriously. Check the shows list to see who’s where (The Handsomes @ The Continental Club & Flying Fish Sailors @ The Big Top would be a good bet).

And hey, in honor of the day, I’ve dragged some Irish-themed music out of the stacks of CDs piled in the office; some new, some old:

1. Dropkick Murphys, “The Auld Triangle” (gotta love Brendan Behan)
2. Dropkick Murphys, “The Green Fields of France”
3. Young Dubliners, “Rocky Road to Dublin”
4. Black 47, “Fanatic Heart” (the most sadly-unrecognized Irish-American band ever)
5. Anonymous, “Whiskey In The Jar” (for all those people who think Metallica wrote the freakin’ song)
6. Anonymous, “Finnegan’s Wake” (this is by far the best recorded version I’ve ever heard; love the glasses clinking and people cracking jokes in the background)

(To anybody who owns any of the music above, I’m posting it here strictly for sampling purposes; I think these bands & albums are great and deserve to be heard. If anyone wants these taken down, just let me know, and I will.)