I am spending the next ten days in Ireland. Betsy and I have joined eleven other couples on a journey round the southwest of the Republic on a Mercedes bus. We will visit the pubs at night and hear the best of Irish music. By day we will play golf and see the sights. Four of us who are musicians are going to perform in three or four of the pubs we visit. This was all arranged by our friend Peter Pavarini, who took this tour with his wife Colleen two years ago. Out tour guide is Tom Pigott and he has signed up for a whale of a group! Each couple on the tour knows at least one other couple, but none of us knows everyone on the tour (yet.) So I expect some good fun and great stories to come out of this trip. Stay tuned and I will try to post once a day or so.
"Circling Shannon" is an Irish expression for having had too much to drink. It comes from a state visit that Boris Yeltsin made to Ireland some years ago. Apparently he had his pilot circle Shannon airport six or seven times so he could sober up enough to be presentable when he stepped off the plane. Whether it's true or not, it's become part of the lexicon over here.
Tonight we played our first few songs on Irish soil. We sat in the lobby of our hotel in Bunratty and rehearsed a bit. Peter and Colleen brought down the house with "Old Love" and then I closed with "Elvis Imitators." I plan to re-learn "The Ballad of Penny Evans" by Steve Goodman so I can sing acappella if the moment is right. We already have two anti-war songs in our repertoire of 32 songs, and so one more makes three. It seems right in this country that fought for its freedom and won back in the 1920's.
There is a friendly rivalry here between the Irish and the Scots that I liken to the Ohio State/University of Michigan rivalry. Of course there has been and continues to be a lot more at stake here than who won a football game. Maybe the main difference between the Irish and Scottish is that the Scottish have yet to win their freedom from England. It has not been for lack of trying. If it happens for the Scots, it will happen in a peaceful way, even though earlier Scots laid the path with their blood.
But I digress. Ireland is a beautiful, friendly place with a real sense of itself. Come explore with me!
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