S'Lainte! Played a show yesterday at CHS field, the home of the St Paul Saints minor league baseball team, at the end of the St. Paul St. Patrick's day parade. Playing again tonight at a bar near the University of Minnesota. We were supposed to play a St. Patrick's day show at this bar two years ago but a bus drove into it two days before our show, thankfully no one was hurt.
was in a saint patricks day celebration not too long ago in sydney near the harbor. they blocked off an area with bars and such and i snuck in. i thought this was a murican thing. those under downs were copying us.
Has anyone noticed that however sensible my diet is my belly keeps getting bigger? It’s not the beer is it?
Here are some thoughts I had about St. Patrick's day while waiting to play yesterday. Being a Chinese American playing Irish music St. Patrick's Day has a different meaning for me than it does for many other Americans. This scene from the TV show Warrior while very dramatized is based on real tensions between the Irish immigrant community and the Chinese immigrant community in places like San Francisco in the 19th Century. The show also correctly notes that both communities were exploited and despised by Nativist Americans. The history of this country has been a history of waves of immigrants who have come here and struggled to make their place in this country. Too often one group has looked down upon the next group with fear and resentment. As this scene notes the vast vast majority of immigrants are coming here to build a new life for themselves and their children. "The cupboards were bare and people needed to feed their children". That was true of the Irish fleeing the Potato Famine in the 1850's, Chinese fleeing the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in the 1870's, to people from Latin America fleeing violence and failed states now. For those of us who are recent immigrants or the children of recent immigrants this struggle is one we're reminded of frequently. I was reminded of this as recently as just last night when someone told me I speak English really good. This country was built by immigrants and as Ronald Reagan said in his farewell address immigration is what renews this country. Yet we as a country struggle with what it means to be an American and the fear of "Papist Irish" and "Yellow Hordes" are now directed at another generation of immigrants. On St. Patrick's Day remember what drove famine ships from Cork and Galway are the same as "caravans" from South America. The cupboards were bare and people needed to feed their children...
Reagan . .. the demonic gift that keeps on giving Dude Legit started the downfall of America Rocket River
You don't have to agree or like everything that Reagan did but he did believe in immigration and was the last US president to not just advocate a comprehensive immigration bill he also signed one. Reagan also was of Irish ancestry that he was very proud of and spoke of the struggles of Irish and other immigrants.
Seems like a good place to repost one of my favorite wiki articles: The Timeline of Irish Inventions 14th Century: whiskey ... 17th Century: the next invention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Irish_inventions_and_discoveries
