Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The Wearing o’ the Green

Sure, isn’t it another St. Patrick’s Day that’s just rolled around. Time to join in the funs of the jigs and reels. Time to bake soda bread. Time to wear a bit o’ the green. Which I’ll do, if only my shamrock earrings.

On Sunday, I did go to the Celtic Sojourn St. Patrick’s Day Concert at Sanders Theater in Cambridge. The Celtic Sojourn is a Saturday afternoon radio program on WGBH, and I listen to it once in a while.

A few Saturdays ago, I had it on while the host was - what else? this is public broadcasting – doing a bit of fund raising and luring donors in with the promise of tickets to the show. I kept ignoring the pleas (I’d already gotten sucked into a WGBH donation via an old Peter, Paul and Mary concert), but then I thought, what the hell.

And there I was, the last caller to gain a coveted pair of tickets for the sold-out show.

Well, I like Celtic music, and the concert was fun. There was even a sing-along or two, so my sister Trish and I (who listened to plenty of Clancy Brothers tunes growing up) got to release our inner Carmel Quinns (an allusion for the younger folks: Sinead O’Connors).

I’ve always liked St. Patrick’s Day just fine, although I could live without the UMass drunken hooley called the Barney Blowout (toned down this year after a major melee in 2014) or the St. Fratty’s Day Party at Cal Poly, which combines the worst of all possible worlds: the drunken excess of a frat party with the drunken excess of a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Not to mention the weekend-prior celebration that turns some parts of downtown Boston into an outdoor vomitorium. (Okay. Just looked up the word, and it’s actually a part of a theater or stadium that has nothing to do with hurling. Still, the word should mean what it says, and, to me it says place to throw up.)

Oy. Just plain oy.

Over the blogging years, I’ve had plenty to say about St. Patrick’s Day, and some of it’s pretty good. (Personal favorite: You Say Po-tay-to.)

So click away for my thoughts on this day of days.

And Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Top of the Morning, and Wearing of the Green to all of yez.

2014: St. Patricks’ Day 2014 (Not a great one and, on re-read, forgot to mention that The Parting Glass was going to be sung at my husband’s memorial service.)

2013: The Ides of St. Patrick’s Day

2012: Answering Ireland’s Call

2011: St. Patrick’s Day 2011

2010: St. Paddy’s Day No More We’ll Keep.

2009: Irish Eyes Not So Smiling These Days.

2008: You Say Po-tay-to, I say Po-tah-to. Who’s Irish and Who’s Not.

2007: Kiss Me, I’m Irish.

Looks like next year will be my tenth annual St. Patrick’s Day post. Talk about oy, just oy…

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