It's Saint Patrick’s Day

The Druid in Cambridge – my favorite

Today Boston would normally be the scene of huge, drunken blow outs at all of the 50 bazillion Irish bars AND there'd be the annual, always fraught, parade too.

In 1995, the Supremes, in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. ruled in favor of of the bigoted South Boston Allied War Veterans Council.

A unanimous court held that the State Court's ruling to require private citizens who organize a parade to include a group expressing a message that the organizers do not wish to convey violates the First Amendment by making private speech subordinate to the public accommodation requirement. Such an action "violate[s] the fundamental First Amendment rule that a speaker has the autonomy to choose the content of his own message and, conversely, to decide what not to say."
(source)

Understood but still, a pile of antediluvian, whiny-ass Rancor shit. The bigots won in court but they, ultimately, LOST. Evolution happens don'cha know.

Pretty if it wasn't so scary

This year the parade’s been cancelled due to COVID19. For that matter, as of today schools are closed, pubs and restaurants are open but only for take-out (can I get a Guinness to go plz?), the library is shuttered AND so is the Y. 

The Y going dark – I get it. This is where my physical therapy happens though. Two months post-surgery my struggle to regain strength and mobility continues. I can do exercises here at home and take walks along the seawall. Ten’s gonna look into turning my recumbent trike into a stationary recumbant trike. I guess the only thing I’m missing are the weight machines.  

*sigh* Shit’s gotten way too fucking real.

The Dropkick Murphys will still do their annual show but it’ll be live-streamed (and FREE) sans audience from the House of Blues. Embarrassingly, because they're hometown boys AND, back in my hearing days, I was real keen on Celtic Rock and Punk (Black 47, The Pogues, Runrig, etc., etc.), I’ve never heard DKM play. Maybe, if I turn the sound WAY up on my laptop, I’ll be able to feel their tunes?

Will there be other folks rockin’ the uilleann pipes and bodhrán anywhere? At home, for tiny audiences, maybe,

An aside: I’ve been told, by a few Irish musicians no less, that bodhrán rhymes with moron, This proves my postulate that drummers get no respect anywhere.

My first trip to Ireland, unsurprisingly, springs to mind today. After a few days hangin’ in Eyre Square, smokin’ ciggies with randos and quaffing Stout in Galway’s divier bars, I took off for a couple of magical and unforgettable days on Inis Mór. That was, mebbe, 25 or so years ago. I wonder how much has changed – has Inis Mór undergone Disneyfication yet? 

Every good thing eventually does, right? Life – sanitized for our protection and shit.