Friday, March 16, 2007

Saint Patrick's Season

So, it used to be a Day, right? It hasn't always been Saint Patrick's Season, has it? I mean, I think I remember growing up celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. As seen in the photo to the right (O'VTK on the far right). Regardless, I have to hand it to Guinness for their brilliant marketing strategy, turning St. Paddy's (Patty's) Day into St. Paddy's Season. So, you have an excuse to drink Guinness for a week instead of a day, or as I suggested when I heard it - 2 weeks - or as the guy at the bar suggested when he first heard it - 3 weeks. That's some George Lakoff caliber framing there.



But I do love me some St. Paddy's Day reverie. I know it's amateur night and cheesy Irish Americanism, but hey. I love the cheese. And it gives me an opportunity to post some photos from the St. Paddy's Days of the early 80's in my hood. Like this pic of a snowy St. Pat's Day that I'm reminded of by the madness that's going on outside in Boston right now. Speaking of Boston, here's a segue into the first of my three 07 SPD topics:


Phoenix Article - here's an interesting article about the purported unique nature of the Boston Irish as opposed to Irish American development in other cities. It's classic Irish American romanticism in it's criticism of Irish American romanticism.

JJ Foley's - and I'm sad to report that I am now boycotting one of my favorite bars in Boston - a place that I've been going to on a semi-regular basis since I moved here in 00, a place that used to be home to a diverse, intersting crowd, a harmonious mix of bike messengers and business casuals. The bar where the bartenders exclaim "Todd!" when I walk in because they once mistook me for a "dead ringer" of me named Todd. The bar that I was sitting in when Bush announced he was invading Iraq (which I think was on St. Paddy's Day, 03). The bar that I was standing in when the Red Sox won the World Series (a bar that is constantly filled with loud music, but on that night was filled with the call of the game, until the final out was made, at which point they blasted AC/DC's "It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll" as the celebration exploded, which I have to say, and I say this as a die hard Yankee fan, was one of the coolest moments I've ever experienced). The bar where I have too many great memories to recount in a post about me boycotting it. Anyways, bigotry and intolerance is not acceptable, so fuck Foley's.


Cute Story From My Mom
- and on a lighter note, here's a cute St. Patrick's Day memory from my mom's youth as the daughter of an Irish family in Detroit in the 40's and 50's.

Irish Step Dancers ... I could watch them forever, with their straight posture, toes pointed downward, heads held high, dancing jigs, reels, hornpipes, and sets. It's in my blood. From early childhood, my brother, sisters and I were brought to ceilis, Irish gatherings for music and dance, sponsored by the Gaelic League in the Detroit area. We knew many Irish immigrants. My father was born in Ireland and so were my mother's parents.

My sister and I took Irish step dancing lessons in the basements of different Irish homes around the city. Unlike today's step dancers, we didn't participate in feises (Irish dance competitions), or have beautiful costumes with embroidered Celtic designs, or a headful of curls. But we danced proudly in our little white blouses, green cotton pleated skirts and gold cotton pleated shawls, attached over one shoulder by a broche and spread open across the back to display the green shamrocks on them. Like Peggy Fleming, our mother made our costumes. Every St. Patrick's Day, the family would go downtown to the Sheraton Book Cadillac Hotel for a big dance. We, the step dancers, were the entertainment when the big band took the break. One year I did a solo sword dance, using yardsticks as my swords. The governor of Michigan, G. Mennan Williams (Soapy) was always there in his polka dot bowtie, and he was sure to make a fuss over us. Our teacher, Annie Ryan, and her daughter, who sometimes danced with us, were Irish dance champions. Years later, we learned that Annie moved back to Ireland and her most notable student was to be her youngest grandson, Michael Flatley of Lord of the Dance.

We have no pictures of us as children in our Irish dancing outfits, but there is one of my sister and me doing the Irish jig at our parents' 50th wedding anniversary. I still do Irish dancing with the Irish American Club of Berkshire County.




Slainte, y'all.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does this mean the embargo on your mom reading vtk is over? Here is a poem for the season - my family contends it captures more about being Irish than plastic shamrocks and green beer
http://www.nortonpoets.com/ex/
bolandeagainstlove.htm

Dan Nolan said...

it doesn't mean that. why, are you ready to admit that she's reading this because of your unauthorized disclosure?

that's a lovely poem - i like that being irish is more about devotion, love, and darkness, than plastic shamrocks and green beer.

Anonymous said...

That's such a sweet picture of you in front of the snow-shamrock. But how did you get the snow to turn green?

Any why is it that the homos and the micks always brawling this time of year? Bravo on boycotting JJ Foley's! Dan, you should be able to kiss anyone you want in a bar.

Dan Nolan said...

that's me on the left behind the snow shamrock. I think my mom spray painted it. She was always leaving her tag under bridges and stuff.

speaking of boycotts and gay brawling, are you still banned from Northampton for punching that girl?

Anonymous said...

Oh Zing! Come on now, I engage in a single act of lesbian S & M in my early 20s and its been haunting me for over a decade.

Anonymous said...

given the direction the comments have taken, I'm happy to report your mom is not reading unless someone else slipped up and gave her more info on the address. And when I was at your house for Ski Mass 2007 I didn't even look at the blog on her computer lest she find it in her history or something. yeah, yeah, delete cookies but I can't even hyperlink stuff so I'm not getting into that on your mom's computer. Because it's not like you're 34 or anything and hiding stuff from your mom.

Dan Nolan said...

No, it's not like that. It's just something I chose not to share with her. But we can let the VTK readership decide. If anyone thinks that this blog would be more interesting if I started censoring myself or altering the content because I knew that my mom was reading everything I wrote, please let me know.

KB said...

Keep VTK censorship free! What would you censor anyway? You come off smelling like a rose in this blog.

Dan Nolan said...

a foul mouthed, gin soaked rose.

Duffless said...

Well, one less reason to cross the river. Later Foley's.

The Druid is my new home, well that and SLIGO!

St Patrick's season was in effect for me this year, with the Pogues coming to town 1 full week before St. Pats. What's a lass to do?!

So from one Mic to another, here's my fav Irish saying:

May you live half an hour in heaven before the devil knows you're dead.

Dan Nolan said...

that is a good one.

my question is - does the season extend to the week after St. Paddy's Day, or is it just before. I know it extended until yesterday, but today?