The Luck of the Irish

What could be luckier than having your death sentence commuted?
Back in ye olde days, if an Irishman on Death Row was lucky, he could avoid the gallows by taking advantage of the Crown's travel program known as 'transportation'; a practice which provided poor persons and criminals with wealthy landowners that they could work for in exotic locales such as Van Diemen's Land; Sydney; Georgia or Boston.

Irish women were also 'transported' . Lucky them.


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Back in 1960, political pundits were asking this question: " Is America ready to elect an Irish Catholic to the office of President?"
We were, and John F. Kennedy moved into the White House.

Things didn't work out so well for JFK personally, but one thing is certain:
We are really lucky that George Bush wasn't President during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

There's a striking parallel between the question asked in 1960 and a certain question being raised during the current election season.
If we are lucky, the answer will be 'yes' and the parallels will end there.

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I played a great many songs on the radio this weekend. If you were lucky, you heard:

The New Breakfast Snob, 16 March, 2008

Snakefinger- 36-22-36
Alvin Lee- Education
Sharon Shannon-Blackbird
Jethro Tull- Cold Wind To Valhalla
Loreena McKinnett- Gates of Istanbul
Soft Boys- When I was a Boy
Alan Parsons- Hyper-Gamma Space
Jeff Beck-Freeway Jam
Moving Hearts- The Storm
Television- Prove It
Pretty Things- Pure Cold Stone
Iron Butterfly- Shady Lady
Claanad- Together We
XTC- Dear God
Steeleye Span- Lowlands of Holland
Fairport Convention- Tam Lin
Pogues-Sunny Side/Sayanora
Pentangle- Hunting Song
Claanad- Poison Glen
Maire Brennan- Against The Wind
Damien Dempsey- The Jar Song
One of my fellow DJs has started playing Dempsey! A convert! Take that, St. Pat!

The 12 Fl. Oz. Show, Monday 17 March

I play quite a bit of Irish and Celtic music on my own weekly show so I found it ironic that I was acting as guest DJ for an Americana show on St. Patrick's Day.
As a DJ, I tend to look at St. Patrick's Day the same way that an alcoholic looks at New Year's Eve- it's the one day that the rest of the world follows my lead...anyway, the playlist:

Les Paul and Chet Atkins- Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Little Feat- Oh Atlanta!
Tornados...OZ...Atlanta...nevermind.

Ken Nordine- Green
Papa John Creach- Enjoy
Mem Shannon- S.U.V
Johnny Cash- Personal Jesus
Marcy -The Gospel Express
Roy Clark- Steel Guitar Rag
Sandy Nelson -The Boss Beat
John Prine - Sweet Revenge
Sam Bush- Howlin' at the Moon
This song mentions Heaven and moon-howling...Christianity and Animism!
Holy 'Dual'ing Banjoes, Batman!

Steve Earle- Hillbilly Highway
Big Brother & Holding Co. - I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle
Granpa Jones & Friends- Pft, You Were Gone
This is from Hee Haw.
Bill Anderson- The Reverend Mr. Black
Ken Nordine- Yellow
Steve Earle & Del McCloury- Dixieland

Mitch H. Price- Shopping Mall Moan
Flaming Groovies- Jailbait
R. Crumb- Confessions of R.Crumb
Ten Years After-Baby Won't Let Me Rock and Roll ya?

X- Come Back To Me
Ken Nordine- Flesh
Les Paul & Chet Atkins- Lazy River
Mitch H. Price- Save me a Slice of That
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown & Roy Clark- Tobacco Road
Hot Tuna- Ode to Billy Dean
Steve Earle-Galway Girl
Factoid: Ireland and Scotland are two different places.

Mitch H. Price - Voodoo
Steve Earle & the Pogues -Token Drinking Song
Leo Kottke- Morning is a Long Way Home
Tony Trishka & Bela Fleck- John Hardy
Lucinda Williams- Concrete & Barbed Wire
Billy Pilgrim- Dominique
Roy Clark- Under the Double Eagle
Honest to Baal, Roy Clark is one awesome MFing guitarist. Clark's rendition of this John Phillip Sousa classic is nothing short of amazing.
Buck Owens and Roy Clark- Turkey in the Straw



Good Night and Good Luck.