Opening Day

Most of you know how much I love St. Patrick's Day, I written endlessly about it. Christmas is up there too, other days each year that mean a lot would be, in no particular order, my birthday (not as much as the years pile up) my children's birthdays, 4th of July, but tomorrow is a day that I look forward to every year. Opening Day. The day when everyone's team is tied for first. The expression , "Hope springs eternal" had to be about baseball. Before cable TV you could not see any spring training games and opening day meant that even if it was cold and maybe snowing outside, the boys of summer would be on the field playing the game we all love. All ready I've seen, and been part of, that love/hate relationship between Red Sox fans and Yankee fans. Although this goes on all year, tomorrow starts up the really hard core action. Tomorrow is the day that we all think back to those days when we could run and play baseball. It seems that we become better ballplayers in our minds as we age. That seeing eye ground ball becomes a line drive as we reminisce. that bloop double all of a sudden smashes off the wall in the gap. So here are some things you will hear starting tomorrow.
Can of corn.
Texas leaguer.
Baltimore chop.
Round tripper.
What other place could you use these terms and just what do they mean? Yeah I can't wait for tomorrow. If you don't think tomorrow is a special day go back to my post on holidays. Opening day fits all the criteria for a Holiday. It has movies about it, Pride of the Yankees, Bull Durham, Angels in the Outfield, Fear Strikes Out, Babe Ruth (at least 4 different movies), Field of Dreams (men can cry during this movie), just to name a few. Opening day has songs about it, Take me out to the ballgame, Talking Baseball, Glory Days, Tessie. So you see baseball and opening day are special. Sleep well tonight for tomorrow a new season begins.

TV Theme Songs

I thought it was time for another top ten post, this time the subject is TV Theme Songs. This became harder than I thought it would be. First, there are a lot of songs to choose from, do I break down the category to cartoons and real people. Some of the best are from cartoons, The Flintstones and The Jetsons just to name two. The second problem was the breakdown of songs into categories. I think that there are three types of theme songs, one, the instrumental. Two, the narrative, and three the lyrical.
So let's start with the instrumental. What songs quickly bring back memories of a time in your life or just a great TV show.
Hawaii 50
Miami Vice
Bonanza
The Munsters
Peter Gunn
Mission Imposable
You see my problem, off the top of my head here are six great theme songs and that's just from the instrumental list.
The narrative, this is the one that everyone remembers, and can sing along with. I can give you the first line and you can name the show.
"Let me tell a story 'bout a man named Jed"
"Their creepy and their kooky"
"There's a hold up in the Bronx, Brooklyn broken out in fights"
"Here's a story of a lovely lady"
"Now this is the story all about how, My life got flipped, turned upside down"
"She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing Queens"
(Answers in the comments section)
Six more, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The lyrical theme, it has words but doesn't tell the story of the show.
The number one has to be Cheers, when you hear it you know what show is on, so let's try the quiz again.
"Boy the way Glenn Miller played"
"Hey Baby I hear the blues a calling"
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated"
"Who can turn the world on with her smile"
Then there are the ones that have lyrics but don't use them, M*A*S*H, you know the tune and if you saw the movie you would know the lyrics to the song, Suicide is Painless.
Some shows used a combination like The Odd Couple it started with a narrative but ended with just music.
There are shows that used popular songs as the theme (this could be a chicken or egg situation)
Friends used I'll be there for you by the Rembrandt's
Happy Days started with Rock Around the Clock by Bill Halley and the Comets
Keeping with the 50's icons who else but the King, Elvis Presley for the theme to Las Vegas.
So these are just a few of the theme songs that rattle around in my head all day, I hope they bring back fond memories for you, so let's end this post singing,
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful ship.
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship........

It's not over till we say it's over

It's 12:30 Sunday afternoon, March 20,2011. St. Patrick's Day is pretty much over, there are still people in Pearl River marching in their parade and a celebration will follow but by and large the holiday is over. This may seem strange to those of you that think that St. Patrick's Day is a one day event but for us Irish it's at least a week, or as I call it, the holy week.

St. Patrick's Day started for me on Friday March 11. I went to the Albany Hibernians to see the entertainer Danny Quinn. This was a pre, pre parade event. Emmett, Chris and Amy met up with Mr.Cromie for a fun night.

Saturday March 12, was parade day. Unlike the unruly mob in the early morning hours we waited till noon to start. Sean, Sara, Mike, Jess and I met up with Sam at the Ontario St parade headquarters. a little after one the girls headed downtown and the men bused over to central ave to await the 2pm step off.Although there was no rain or snow, a wind made the day a bit cold. Mike was the highlight of the Saratoga Hibernians, high fiving and wishing the crowd a happy St. Patrick's Day along the route. His good cheer was rewarded with good cheer and a cookie by the hugh crowds. After the parade we returned to the Hibernians to relax and enjoy food and drink, the girls and Tom joined us and the party was almost complete. We returned to Saratoga and made our way to the Irish Times to hear the Fighting 86's on what they were calling prat ice day. It was fun to see the other people that had been to the parade during the day extending the celebration into the wee hours.

Sunday, March 13, was the Saratoga Hibernian's Family Festival. Again the Saratoga/Wilton Elks opened their doors to us and a wonderful afternoon of Irish music, dance and fare were offered to the public. Jack and Margaret were able to make the party after missing the parade due to rehearsal of the Saratoga Springs High School play. Some of Jack's friends also joined in and got up to sing a few tunes. The Wild Irish Acres dancers performed and then went into the crowd bringing back people to the dance floor to learn a couple of Irish dances. John Cromie and Paul Quinn supplied Irish music as well as members of the Pan Celtic session players. Because of these talented people the day was a great success.

Thursday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day. The day started at 9am with breakfast at the Irish Times. The 86's played at noon. By that time seven members of the Saratoga AOH were together celebrating the day. Around 4pm I headed to Albany to meet up with some friends and the festivities continued into the night.

Saturday March 19. I headed to Delhi, NY for their first St. Patrick's Day Parade. I went with the Fighting 86's and we set up in the Shire Pub. The Schenectady Pipe Band marched in the parade and made their way to the pub. Here I was a two hour drive from home, enjoying a parade with some cousins. Iain, Bill, Dona and Conor.
As you can see it was a very long week and the best part was spending time with family and friends.That's the difference between the Irish and the want to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day

.

Kegs and eggs is not Irish

I'm an American of Irish decent. I don't say that much, growing up I was Irish. It wasn't until I landed at Shannon Airport that someone said you're American and it hurt deeply. Not that I am not proud to be an American but all at once I lost my heritage. Here in the US we hold tightly to our past, it is what makes this country great, America is a mixture of every culture in the world. We embrace each others heritage, or at least we should. America gives us the freedom to say, I'm Italian, I'm Greek, I'm French and for me, I'm Irish.
Thursday is St. Patrick's Day, a day that the Irish in this country and around the world stand and show the pride for their patron saint and the land that they came from. To say that the Irish came to this country seeking a better life is to simplistic. During the 700 years of British rule in Ireland, yes, this country offered a better life. During the 1840's and the Great Hunger ( you may know this as the potato famine) the choice that people made was leave for America or Canada or stay and die. The Great Hunger was a genocide of the Irish people by the British government, while the potato crop was ruined by blight the country was producing food fro the rest of the British Empire. Shiploads of corn, barley, rye and other produce left Irish harbors every day but the landlords would not let the Irish people have any.The Irish have sung of this for years, in the song Fields of Athenry the line is
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
Christy Moore is his song City of Chicago, sings
Eighteen forty seven
was the year it all began,
Deadly pangs of hunger
drove a million from the land,
They journeyed not for glory,
Their motive wasn't greed,
Just a voyage of survival,
Across the stormy sea.
I give you this lesson to explain a little why we are proud to be Irish.
Do we drink, yes. Do we carry on, yes. Do we do what you see in the video above, no.
Growing up we always said on St. Patrick's Day there are two kinds of people, Irish and those that want to be Irish. The drunken college students in the video are the wanna be's.
So who's fault is this disgrace? I as a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a fraternal order of Irishmen, will take some of the blame. We have perpetuated the stereo type of drunken Irish to a point, but that point is far from riot and destruction of the Kegs and eggs party. We, as Irish flock to Festivals that are sponsored by beer companies and we laugh at ourselves in TV ads for Guinness. We also have festivals, like the one Sunday in Saratoga, that are for families to celebrate St. Patrick, and while the Albany police were cleaning up the riot members of the Irish community were at mass. I lay a lot of the blame on stores like Spencer's Gifts that fill their shelves with St. Patty's Day merchandise like green beer bongs and shirts that say "Irish Drinking Team". Herein lies the problem, my children have been raised to have fun for St. Patrick's Day and on parade day, this fun includes drinking and dancing and singing the songs. If you are not Irish and don't have the background to know that it's St. Patrick's Day not St. Patty's Day and think the more you drink the more Irish you are, we end up with the riot.
When the Saratoga Hibernians left New Orleans a couple of years ago after a national convention of the AOH, one of the bellmen at the hotel said,"I've seen Mardi Gras, Super Bowls and conventions in my time but I have never seen a group of people drink as much as you people with out a single problem or complaint"
One last Irish lesson, St. Patrick drove the snakes and vermin out of Ireland. It seems to me that they ended up on Hudson Ave. on Saturday morning.
Enjoy yourselves on Thursday and remember to drink responsibly and have a good time.

a little snow doesn't stop us

So what, a little snow. The weather outlook for Saturday is cloudy and 45, I've marched in worse.
It's St. Patrick's week. I went yesterday to Syracuse with The Fighting 86's to a fundraiser for the Syracuse St. Patrick's Day parade. The Event was held at Kitty Hoyne's in downtown Syracuse. First I would like to apologise to Sheila for not inviting her to join us. Secondly, what a great place, they were very generous to my son Brian's band. It started to snow west of Utica and snowed all day in Syracuse. Even with a call for 8-12 inches of snow, the Irish of central New York came out for a good time. The ride home took almost 5 hours but the promise of "it's only raining in Albany" kept the group on the road and between the rumble strips.
Looking forward to seeing everyone out this week and to get you in the mood here are some of the local music you can see over the next ten days.



The Fighting 86's will be at Irish times in Saratoga Saturday night





Who's Your Paddy






Flynn 529 will be at Beff's in Albany on Saturday




Hair of the Dog will have two shows at the Parting Glass on Saturday.



REMEMBER: PARADE ON SATURDAY FAMILY FESTIVAL ON SUNDAY

for more information go to www.saratogaaoh.com

see you all this weekend

Time to get you Irish on

Before I get started here just a note from Division President Mary Simmons. The St. Brenden the Navigator Division #1 of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians are seeking new members. If you are a woman 16 or older and of Irish decent, Catholic or married to a member of the AOH, you are invited to join the Saratoga LAOH. Please Contact Mary Simmons @ (518) 538-2918





It's March, the long cold winter is about to leave us and to help push it out are the Irish. Let's get together to welcome spring and warm days. Over the next few weeks the Commodore John Barry Division #1 of the Ancient order of Hibernians have a few events planned.

March 12, 2011: The Annual Albany St. Patrick's Day Parade. Central Ave. in Albany turns green for the day as groups from Albany, Colonie, North Albany, Watervliet and Saratoga to name a few, step out to show their Irish pride. The parade is a great time for young and old.

March 13, 2011: The Saratoga AOH and LAOH are holding their 8th annual Family Festival at the Saratoga/Wilton Elks Lodge in Saratoga. The is a St. Patrick's Day party that is family friendly. The cost is $5 for Adults and children under 12 are free. Food and drink are available to purchase. The party goes from 3-7. Come out and enjoy an afternoon of Irish music and culture. A must for every Irish family and of course those that want to be Irish.

March 17, 2011: St. Patrick's Day. What more can be said. Enjoy the day with your family and friends. The Irish Times, The Parting Glass, Dango's, The Local, all great places to get your Irish on. In New York City, the 250th St.Patrick's Day Parade will keep 5th Ave. busy and green. Members of the Saratoga AOH will be marching up the Ave. passing St. Patrick's Cathedral, The New York Public Library, and Central Park.



What ever it is you have planned for the month don't forget to go and hear Irish bands. We are very lucky to have some of the best in the world right in our own neighborhood. Hair of The Dog, The Fighting 86's, Flynn 529, Who's Your Paddy. these lads will be working their butts off this month. They all have websites so check out the schedules and lift a pint and sing along.



If you are looking for a nice gift, try Celtic Treasures on Broadway in Saratoga. Owner Paul O'Donnell and his staff have the finest in Irish imports for you to choose from.



And last but not least, remember all of the above can be found on http://www.saratogaaoh.com/