St. Patrick’s Day is upon us. This is the time of year when all of us (whether we have Irish heritage or not) are just “a little Irish.” In this edition of Off the Beaten Path, a few links to enjoy the Irish and St. Patrick’s Day.
Ireland’s Website
The Emerald Isle has a website. Yes, everyone these days has a website, but theirs is worth checking out. Here are Seven Fun Facts about Ireland.
St. Patrick’s Day
Shamrocks, green beer, silly hats, green clothing, bangers & mash, shepherd’s pie, cabbage … all part of what we (Americans) recognize as St. Patrick’s Day. But what’s the deal? What’s the real story? From History.com is this link with information about St. Patrick’s Day, its origin, how it’s celebrated and how the Irish see it.
America … the Country of Immigrants
From Biography.com, here’s a look at some of the most well-known Irish-Americans. From authors to politicians to actors, the U.S. has many great Americans with Irish heritage.
Guide to “Hidden Ireland”
Thinking about making a trek to Ireland? There’s a lot more to do than just see an old castle or visit the Guinness brewery or drinking a pint in a pub. Here are a bunch of other cool things to see. It’s a beautiful and fascinating country!
Irish Food for St. Patrick’s Day (or Anytime)
Who can resist corned beef and cabbage, Irish Stew or Shepherd’s Pie? Each year at the NAB Show, I make one of my first stops Nine Fine Irishman pub (in New York, New York) for some “lucky food.” Well, the food is good, but don’t know that it’s ever brought me much luck to “being in Vegas.” By the way, next month we’ll revisit “Things to know before heading out to NAB in Vegas” in Off the Beaten Path.
Used with permission of Anne Corry.
Walking With St. Patrick
Two visits to the same web site in on blog? From Ireland comes “Tracing St. Patrick in 9 Steps.” Here we can see where the story of St. Patrick takes us across Ireland.
An Irish Tenor
Besides U2 and Bono, Enya, The Cranberries, Thin Lizzy, The Chieftains, The Corrs, Flogging Molly, The Young Dubliners, Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison and so many other Irish singers, the roots of Irish singers who gained popularity probably begins with John McCormack. Though you probably don’t have “the cylinder” or 78 of “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” from 1914, but it was one of his many “hits” and just one of hundreds of recordings he made beginning in 1904. Adding to our list of links is archive.org. It has original McCormack recordings and maybe anything you are looking for.
Irish Art
I’m not sure you can say there’s such a thing as “Irish Art,” but certainly art from artists around the world (past and present) is affected by the surroundings and experiences of the artist. From my friend, Anne Corry, an Irish artist, is a link to some of her work.
And finally …
In keeping with our Hibernian theme, and for the fun of it, here are some “G-rated” Irish jokes. Before you go to the link, I’ll share my favorite “engineering joke” (and I can’t begin to tell you how many radio ops I’ve hit with this one): When you have an operator who comes running in saying “There’s a hum in the audio.” Your response should be: “Do you know why it’s humming?” Board op always responds with a “No.” Engineer’s answer: “Because it doesn’t know the words!” (Buh-dum!) That’s my favorite radio joke. Second all-time favorite? “Horse walks into a bar. Bartender says: ‘Why such a long face?’”
If you stumble across a good or unusual web site that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. Also, with the upcoming “heading to Las Vegas for NAB” edition, if you have any tips or stories to share, please send them my way. My email address is [email protected].
