In America, St. Patrick's Day often seems both special and accessible to those of all ethnic backgrounds. And by that, your friendly neighborhood Crawler simply means that one needn't have more of a connection to the holiday's homeland than having used Irish Spring soap in the shower once for the entire Irish community to open its proverbial treasure chest of green beer, corned beef and other island delicacies to the masses, and somehow simultaneously make it all right with everyone's bosses, spouses and legal guardians to take off for hours on end and indulge in them.
While folks like yours truly marvel at such phenomena, however, others with decidedly more erudite perspectives, like Jim O'Connor of Celtic faves the Boston Blackthorne Band, are reminded that—this year, in particular—the celebration in honor of the famed Irish patron saint bears slightly more significance than tinted tonics and a universal license to imbibe.
"Last spring, there was a reconciliation in Ireland that essentially equalled the country being both whole and free for the first time in 400 years," he says.
Despite the newfound peace, O'Connor is right quick to add that the triple Bs have no intention of jettisoning the numerous rebel tunes that have become sing/drink-a-long staples of the band's live set.
"We thought about it," he concludes, "and we decided to continue doing them… but now in their historical context instead of a modern call to arms."
Speaking of historical context, O'Connor (and O'crew) had a 15-year string of consecutive Northampton Patty-dates snapped last year courtesy of Old Man Winter.
A March 15 engagement at the Elevens puts Blackthorne back in Noho in 2008, and, with a little luck of the Irish—and continued advancements in road de-icing materials—on track for yet another multi-year run, hopefully.
While we're in the Beantown low-down department… the unofficial band of Boston and its world champion boys of summer—The Dropkick Murphys—are also perennial St. Patty's Day favorites, not surprisingly. Appearances on The Departed movie soundtrack and multiple BoSox celebrations have made the Drop-sters' stock rise considerably in recent months. So much so, in fact, that after witnessing their four standard St. Patrick's Day weekend shows sell out in a half-hour, the band recently offered up a fifth show at the Lowell Auditorium on March 15 as well.
Unfortunately for fans, that show enjoyed a similar fast sell-out fate. Considering the sheer logistics involved with squeaking in a show six, coupled with an impending European trek later this month, the Murphys' new limited edition CD/DVD Meanest Of Times, released March 11, may be the only sure way to get your Dropkick fix this month.
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Also celebrating new product—and peddling some St. Patty-rock—are Valley upstarts the Drunk Stuntmen. The disc is dubbed State Fair and marks the Stuntmen's fifth studio opus, following up where 2005's Trailer Life expired. The gig is March 17 at Franconia, New Hamp's Dutch Treat club, and in addition to any four-leafed fanfare will also serve as what the band is calling "opening day of the official Stunt season."
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Lastly, video may have killed the radio star, but video games like MTV Game's recently released Rock Band are now actually resuscitating such seemingly passé concepts as "arena" and "anthem" rock. Never ones to miss a trend, the folks at Lazer 99.3 FM have concocted the area's first ever Rock Band Tournament—occurring this Friday, March 14 at Maximum Capacity. Some $1,000 in music gear from Falcetti's hangs in the balance. For full contest info, kindly point your browser to: www.lazer993.com.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
