Regular readers know how little regard I have for this plastic Paddy holiday, having run the gauntlet bartending and been mistaken as Irish on this silly, American drinking pageant. No shade on the Irish, by the way, and up the ‘RA and get your Brits out, as Kneecap, a favorite Irish rap group of mine, likes to remind people. I’m certainly a Republican in spirit only in the sense of the French Revolution and a unified-Ireland-sans-limeys meaning of the term. But American St. Paddy’s Day is as whack as Whacking Day on that classic episode of The
Simpsons (look it up). You will find elsewhere plenty of places to get day drunk and red-faced if that’s your aim, and I’m the last fella to pretend I don’t sometimes enjoy those experiences. However, if you want a good show of beautiful fusion music from Cape Breton to the Isle of Skye and beyond, the Hanneke Cassel Band is back in town, with the lead lady on fiddle and backed up by cellist Tristan Clarridge and French-Canadian guitarist Yann Falquet. Always a wonderful time live, Ms. Cassel can be found fiddlin’ away at the Old Steeple tonight at 7:30 p.m. ($25).
This article appears in 10 Foliies Anniversary.