St. Paddy's Day with Paddy Maloney
This entry was posted on 3/16/2008 9:05 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
What a better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, then with the Chieftains. I was left home once again (though I did get a really long walk) and my humans were off to Philadelphia to see the legendary band that encompasses the finest musicians in Ireland. Before their show at the Kimmel Center, they wanted to get a bite and a pint to start the day off properly. Alas, the "Running with the Micks" pub crawl was going in full force and a proper pub was difficult to find. For a moment, this bawdy raucous group threw a wrench in my humans day. "Is this a way to celebrate St. Patrick and all the contributions the Irish have made to our world? Dress up in as many shades of green as you can find and drink until your skin matches that unnatural color?" .........until they happened upon Fergies, a quiet pub with some wonderful food, a proper pour and some good craic.........then off to the show. Ah, what to say about the Chieftains, they have 46 albums you know - and they dabbled in a bit of everything from over the years and were proud to tell you of all the fine musicians they have recorded with. A highlight was when the broke into "Satisfaction" by the Stones in tribute to one of their collaborators, Mick Jagger. But the pinnacle of this fine day, was to finally meet the man behind over 4 decades of joy that he has brought to you humans (though they do make my tail wag a bit).
The Kimmel Center held a meet and greet for charity with the band after the show. It was completely disorganized to the point that they forgot seating for the band. They actually set up a table in the center of the "boofay" line that allowed on-lookers to gawk at the band eating while they waited on line for their meager meal of picked through crumbs of "spotted dick" and some broth left from what was rumoured to be Irish stew..................but finally the moment came, Paddy Maloney was done with his vittles and looked about ready to leave....my human jumped at the chance. She approached him to sign the Chieftains first album, yes album - vinyl baby, that a generous friend had recently bestowed on her. Paddy took her hand, looked her in the eye and exclaimed "Jaysus, where da hell ya find tat ting? I don't even have a copy meself!" It was a real ice breaker and led to a very interesting conversation, not just with Paddy but with Matt Malloy too. Not only did my human find out about the secret entrance to his pub in Westport, she was also told to "make your presence known love."
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!
Peace & Paddy Maloney,
Seamus Mac
