Given that I’m in Dublin, here’s a photo from the weekend, of the spot that divides the city.

I took this photo of O’Connell Bridge while indulging in a spot of levitation on Westmoreland Street. So you’re looking north, at the expanse of the bridge and on up O’Connell Street itself, which starts there at the Daniel O’Connell Monument and continues up beyond the Spire.

click to enlarge

It was a largely unremarkable day in town. Republican Sinn Féin were out at the GPO complaining about something nbobody seemed to be listening to, and the Pro-Lifers were competing with them to shove leaflets at you. I missed the Legalise Cannabis march and sidestepped the money collectors from Concern, the Fire Brigade, and an alcoholism support group.

From the point of view of the photograph, ahead of me to the left there were tens of thousands of people unremarkably on Henry Street, and behind me thousands of people on Grafton Street - including a whole host of the usual buskers including puppeteers, didgeridooers, and your Frames/Mic Christopher ilk.

Stephen’s Green was littered with people without being crowded and as ever in town I saw people I knew, both ordinary people and famous people.

You won’t know the ordinary people but you should have heard of Neil Jordan. And I just missed out on Colm Meaney, the Starr-Trekking father of Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown trilogy who I last saw in the excellent Kings.

But mostly I was looking at buildings and bridges, and statues and trees.

An ordinary day in town.

More of my Photos from Ireland
   • Ireland - It Wasn’t All Mountains & Islands
   • Walls of Dublin
   • Scenery Around The Cottage
   • The Grand Canal in Dublin
   • At The Races - Clonmel

Read: Photo: O’Connell Bridge, Dublin, Ireland »

It’s the day you forget how badly you treat your mother on every other day of the year. And how badly your mother treats you.

Either way it’s a day when you might make a Kansas City phone call to an Irish mother.

Maybe your mother really does embody sweetness, purity and endurance, and so deserves a single carnation that its American creator advocated, but can you really argue that Tony Soprano was wrong when he attempted to give his mother a pillow?

As well as being celebrated on different days in America (today) and in Ireland (the 4th Sunday in Lent), the day has very different origins in each country. In Ireland (as in Britain) it was tied to the church, and in a time when you didn’t have many family celebrations it made sense. Nowadays though it makes little sense but much money - just like the American version contrary to what Anna Jarvis thought she was campaigning for when she lobbied for its creation.

Mothers and More:
   • Don’t Show Your Painting to Your Irish Mother
   • How Do You Say Grandmother in Irish (Gaelic / Gaeilge)?
   • I’m Reminded of the British Police by Valentine’s Day in the USA
   • My Mother Invented the Chicken Sandwich
   • A Mother Teaches
   • Irish Women Really Don’t Talk Like This. Ever

Read: A Pillow For Mother’s Day »

There are fair few people in Ireland who for 20 years have called me “Goats Don’t Shave”. As it’s a mouthful for a name it frequently gets shortened to just “Goats”.

Yes, as I saunter up to the bar in my local pub in Dublin (I’m given to sauntering), it’s not uncommon for a voice to cry out something along the lines of “Goats Don’t Shave, have you seen anything of Ambrose lately?”

It’s not because I look like a goat, or indeed a plurality of goats. Nor is it because I don’t shave. It’s because of Donegal.

Many years ago at a festival in Donegal I was among a small band of men who took shelter in a hotel from a filthy rain. On bar stools as it happens. As our pints of Guinness settled in front of us I turned to the lads and gestured at the front door, where despite the dark clouds it was still techically bright outside - it being almost noon after all.

-Isn’t it odd to think that the whole planet will revolve all the way around so that we’ll go through to darkness and on into brightness again, and all the time we’ll still be in here supping pints?

And we were.

And somewhere in there, around 5 in the morning, I was involved in an incident with the guitarist from the Donegal band Goats Don’t Shave. And my adult name was born.

I’ve mentioned Goats Don’t Shave before, and I’ve been meaning to talk about them for a long time - they being 2nd only in popularity to The SawDoctors when the lads from Tuam were at their peak of chart success.

Las Vegas in the hills of Donegal was their biggest hit going something like:

If I could
I’d build a wall
around old Donegal
The north and south
to keep them out
by god I’d build it tall
Casinos, chicken ranches
I’d legalise them all
And we’ll have our own Las Vegas
in the hills of Donegal

But hey, have a listen yourself - from the Gay Byrne era of The Late Late Show

The guitarist in question was that fella on the left end with the lovely hair, and the guitar as it happens. I should add that the relevant incident involved no violence. Nor anything illegal - if you ignore the fact that we were drinking 5 hours after last orders.

Goats Don’t Shave were probably unlucky in their timing, and didn’t achieve anything like the commerical success of The Saw Doctors, but every once in a while I hear, directly or indirectly, from somebody who has bumped into their music. And the most recent edition of Kansas City’s Irish radio show, Celtic Crossings, includes a track from them.

So if you didn’t hear it live, why not have a listen to the podcast where you can hear it, as well as interviews with Kevin Ryan of Governor Stumpy’s just in advance of their Celtic Block Party, and Devin Cooley about KCGAC goings on, and a brief interview with Gerry O’Beirne from when he played at Eddie Delahunt’s Cafe &, and loads more.

See Other Stuff, Kind of Related:
   • A Celtic rock Assault on England
   • Paddy Rock Radio Top 25 CDs 2005
   • Pub Crawl Memories

Read: Goats Don’t Shave »

A reminder, though you shouldn’t need one, that Hayes & Cahill are playing Kansas City tomorrow.

Recently ranked one of the Top 50 Music Acts in Ireland, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill are playing at 8pm in Unity Temple on the Plaza, 77 West 47th Street, KCMO this Friday, May 8th, 2009.

Listen, I’m not going to wax on about this - suffice to say: this is huge. So if you’re in the Kansas City area and you like Irish traditional music then this is where you want to be.

Admission
$20.00 general admission
$17.00 for MVFS, Crosscurrents members
Students (all ages) $5.00
Kids six years and under free

Parking
Off-street parking is available in the parking garage of the Park Plaza office building just across Summit Street to the West of the Temple. The garage entry is on Summit (which is one way running South) just South of 47th Street. MVFS thanks Kessinger-Hunter & Co., the manager of the Park Plaza Building, for allowing their guests to use the parking facility.

Well done, again, to the MVFS for bringing tremendous quality Irish music to Kansas City.

This event is posted on the Kansas City Irish events calendar.

Read: Reminder: Top Irish Music Act in Kansas City »

I took this photo of a local hurling match here in Ireland a couple of weeks ago.

These days I watch a lot of Gaelic Football and Hurling matches, local though as I don’t go to inter-county games anymore unlike before I moved to America when I attended every League and Championship game involving the Dublin football team at Croke Park, Parnell Park, and a fair smattering around the country.

click to enlarge

For the Gaelic Games of Hurling and Gaelic Football in KC you have the Kansas City Gaelic Athletic Club (KC GAC) and this weekend the KCGAC are playing Springfield, Missouri in a match of Gaelic Football at Southwest High School (66th & Wornall).

The Throw-In is at 1pm. Go watch, cheer, and then sign up - they’re interested in all skill levels.

Read: Photo: Hurling Match in Ireland »