Happy St. Patrick's Day
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 7:50 PM
Monday, March 17, 2014
About Me
- Name: Peter Rozovsky
- Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
This blog is a proud winner of the 2009 Spinetingler Award for special services to the industry and its blogkeeper a proud former guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's Here on Earth. In civilian life I'm a copy editor in Philadelphia. When not reading crime fiction, I like to read history. When doing neither, I like to travel. When doing none of the above, I like listening to music or playing it, the latter rarely and badly. Click here to find an independent bookstore near you.
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33 Comments:
Awhile back I had mentioned Jim Tully in the comments of one of the posts. Of his five essential books to read one of them is called Shanty Irish, about his time growing up in a dirt poor Irish American family in Ohio (Tully was born in 1886).
Here is a quote from the book, do with it what you wish.
"I had none of the illusions of youth. I knew that I would never become president of the United States. I came, on both sides, from drunken barbarians who groveled in superstition and were as illiterate as geese. All the vast realms of knowledge and beauty were closed to me. Nearly all of my mother’s brothers were half mad. Most of my father’s people were witty Irish morons. My mother had moods which lasted for days. . . I inherited her moods and silences along with the wild blood which flowed in two rivers of half insane Irish." -- Shanty Irish Jim Tully
It's also worth pointing out on the oirish day that the Governor of my state has his own Irish band called O'Malley's March. Again do with that what you will :)
That's a hell of a quote. Makes me want to read the book.
I don't think any of my stete's recent governors would have amounted to much in the musical line.
Thanks for the you-tube thingy. Very nice indeed. And so is the quote above. I rather like that about the Irish, a kind of deep dark honesty.
Just happened to comment on Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor as a heroic and inspiring character elsewhere. That series is not noir, but it is about as dark as it gets.
While it *is* a Jim Tully quote I'm now doubting myself if it was from that book or one of the others.
I'll have to double check.
The five essential books are his autobiographical ones:
Beggars of Life (1924)
Circus Parade (1927)
Shanty Irish (1928)
Shadows of Men (1930)
Blood on the Moon (1931)
Happy St Patrick's Day to you too! I love the music clip, it's fabulous. I come from dirt-poor Irish Canadian farmers, a quarrelsome family who love to read. So i enjoyed your commentator's remark above, very much!
I.J., that's one of my favorite vocal performances ever, and the song tells quite a story. A guy leaves home, gets ripped off, has his stuff stolen, is scorned for his nationality, gets seasick, and still comes up fighting. He sounds a bit like Jack Taylor, really.
Brian, I thought he'd be worth reading whren you first told me about him, and I think so more now. Are you sure that passage is from one of the five books?
Thanks, Susan. And that's another enjoyable description: a quarrelsome family who love to read. I don't know what it's like to grow up in one of these colorful families, but it sure must be fun to tell stories about them.
Peter
I'm surprised you havent had some some folk fascists on complaining about the banjo. I'm glad. I LOVE hearing the banjo in Irish folk and dont have a problem with it at all. Where would the Ulster Scots' greatest gift to the world, bluegrass, be without it?
Wait, I'm arguing against nobody.
Ok, er...
Yeah, I think you're picking a fight in the wrong bar, Adrian.
Great song, great singer, Peter.
Adrian, interesting you should bring that up. I stumbled on a Luke Kelly documentary this week in which some of his Dubliners associates said that he dug being a bit of a rock star and that he was willing to make all kind of instrumental additions to the Dubliners' records.
The banjo contributes mightily to the edge and the drive of this performance.
I should add that from what I know of the Dubliners, they did not seem to be Irish folk fascists. Luke Kelly lived in England for a while and performed Scottish songs. And I think Ronnie Drew lived in Spain and studied flamenco guitar.
Seana: I'll start the fight in this bar.
Hey, Adrian. Yeah, you. Thin Lizzy sucks.
Scared me for a minute there Peter, I thought you were going to start singing the praises of Bono.
Glenna, mention that name one more time, and you're barred.
Eek...I'll behave. No more talk of he who shall not be named.
Yep, no Hewson is good Hewson.
Peter
One of the reasons I'm so enjoying the Spiderman The Musical! debacle is that finally Hewson and "The Edge" are getting their comeuppance. The only person who likes the musical is Glen Beck which makes me roar with laughter.
My workplace cafe "celebrated" St Patrick's Day by providing a corned beef and cabbage entree and, for dessert, an "Irish Car Bomb Cupcake." I suppose this name is meant to be cute but sheesh! Tacky? Insensitive? (Ingredients include Baileys Irish Cream and Guinness.)
At $3.75 per cupcake + that name, I wonder how many takers they had...
Adrian, I'd stopped following the Spiderman news once actors stopped falling out of the rafters. It was not until I read an article published today that I realized how far beyond that the disaster goes. This is good news indeed.
Elisabeth, that strikes me as a name that might better have been left unused. See this discussion of a drink of the same name – that some bartenders are said to refuse to serve because they consider the name offensive.
Elisabeth
When I worked as a barman in the Bronx I refused to serve the "Irish carbomb" drink. Didnt make a big fuss about it, just said "I'll get someone else to do thatfor you."
Did anyone ever ask why or give you grief?
Adrian, for that matter, what instruments would folk purists approve of: pipes, harp, and bodhrán?
Peter, most of my Tully's are packed up and the only one not in a box is Circus Parade. I'm 99.9% sure that the quote is either from Shanty Irish or Blood on the Moon, I just don't have them handy to check.
If I come across any used ones down here I'll send them up to you.
There has been a Tully biography that has been long in the works. Black Squirrel Books, who has been doing the reissues, is supposed to be finally bringing that out sometime this year.
Brian, if I think of it I can look for some copies myself. We have a good seocndhand mystery bookstore here in Philadelphia. Tully sounds (and reads) like a historical figure who might still be very much readable today.
I wrote late last night to say the Dubliners are good, especially to hear on St. Paddy's Day.
I asked about instruments, including the lovely banjo and why there are not usually included in a purist folk bank.
Over here in appalachia, the bluegrass bands, some of which derive from Celtic music, do include fiddles and banjoes.
(a few other points were lost since the last message!)
I knew the banjo had African and African American roots. I'm not sure if it had other origins as well. Maybe Ulster Scots migrants to America picked it up once they got here.
I don't know its history in various forms of music, but the Wikipedia article on the banjo calls it a feature of Irish traditional music.
"I knew the banjo had African and African American roots. "
Alvin Youngblood Hart, Otis Taylor, Corey Harris, and Keb' Mo' released a grea CD called Recapturing the banjo a couple of years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Recapturing-Banjo-Otis-Taylor/dp/B0010VD7FS
Recapturing, as in bringing it back to African roots?
Brian, I'm listening to excerpts from each song. There's a lot of stuff -- stop-and-start rhythms and so on -- that most people probably don't associate with banjo music. Thanks.
I just tried emailing you the audio files for that CD and the emails were rejected.
Email me your address and I'll burn you a cd and send it to you
Will do. Thanks.
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