For my forefathers...

I plan to hide this particular St. Patrick's Day -- it's one of those "amateur" days and I have two Irish pubs in my neighborhood that will be overrun with the idiots.  Instead, I have a bottle of single malt Irish whiskey at home and I drank my fill of stout (both Guinness and Murphy's) last weekend, and songs like this for my stereo...

• The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem - Mountain Dew (live!)

I grew up listening to the "Irish Hit Parade" on a Boston AM radio station most Saturday and Sunday afternoons, even though I'm third-generation (and therefore ineligible to claim citizenship). I have very little patience for the "irish tenors" slop, but I will gladly stomp my feet to something like this.  If you can't smile after hearing a classic folk tune reconstructed this way, you clearly need to join the heathens in the pubs this Saturday.  Slainte!