La Fheile Padraig

Fresh blessings on all LMN and Celtic Corner readers for the Feast of St. Patrick.

Trivialized, commercialized and perhaps bastardized as have been many other traditions, St. Patrick's Day nevertheless endures as an occasion of pride and joy for the Irish and their world diaspora. A distant Rock relative at a recent clan rally described her special St. Pat's Day celebrations of some 800 Irish and their descendants ... in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

The Falls City observances have increased in number and intensity in recent years. The Flaherty's shindig is gone. No Rock tears on that account. It was by all accounts a strictly green beer and leprechaun type of event. Happily, it is replaced by several new observances, most notably "The Hooley." Capitalizing on the relocated St. P's parade, it has moved from the Water Tower to Jeffersontown this year and features a trio of local groups: Ten Penny Bit, Tight Squeeze and Cloigheann.

The Irish Rover is hosting a tent party featuring, in addition to its great food and properly poured pints, two days of music by the likes of The Rashers, Tight Squeeze, Galloglas and Fannigan's Isle. The Brewery is also in on the act this year, starting the weekend revelry on Friday with its "Irish Thunder" in the Thunderdome, featuring the Louisville Pipe Band and Galloglas.

Several of these groups will also be performing at O'Shea's Traditional Pub as well. Galloglas starts the feast day on SunA day in The Saloon at Phoenix Hill Tavern.

A complete list (Rock hopes) is in a sidebar.

If you need late-breaking information you can always call the Celtic Centre at 897-9050.

Celtic Cyberspace

Rock is hopelessly confined to print media and looks upon the emerging computer technologies perhaps in much the same way that the brehons and the shanaehies of the oral tradition regarded the tonsured fellows scribbling away in their monasteries. with wonder and not a little apprehension. Nevertheless, dearly beloved, there is, I am told, a wealth of information available online of interest to Celtic music enthusiasts. There are several Celtic music discussion groups. On America Online there is one called "rec.music.celtic" providing information about tours, sessions, album reviews, etc. On the Internet you can access a specifically Irish music discussion group organized by University College Dublin at (irtradl@irlearn.ucd.i) which is a good source for tunes via ABC, a software allowing an output in musical notation as well as actually playing the tune on the PC speaker system. Various bands like Alton have web pages where you can get their latest tour information and various news. "The digital tradition" is a web site to get thousands of folk songs, many of them Irish. The most exhaustive source, especially for beginners, is run by Stanford University called "ceolas" (http://celtic.stanford.edu/ceolas.html).

There is a good deal more which you will hear about in future LMN issues.

March Celtic Calendar

Dates received as of press time

MARCH 2

GALLOGLAS: Open Books Cafe, Hawley-Cooke Booksellers, Shelbyville Road Plaza, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

THE RASHERS: O'Shea's Traditional Pub, 10 p.m.

MARCH 9

GALLOGLAS: Spalding University Irish Coffee, l0 a.m.; United Scottish Societies' Spring Fling (with Colin GrantAdams), Barren River State Park Lodge, Lucas, Ky., 8 p.m.

MARCH 13

GALLOGLAS: Cathedral of the Assumption, 12:30 p.m.

MARCH 15

GALLOGLAS: Irish Thunder (with Louisville Pipe Band), Thunderdome at the Brewery, 7 p.m.

THE RASHERS: Irish Rover, 9-12 p.m.

MARCH 16

GALLOGLAS: St. Patrick's Day Eve Tent Party. The Irish Rover, 7:30-9 p.m.

THE RASHERS: Irish Rover, 5-7 p.m.; O'Shea's Traditional Pub, 8-10 p.m.

TEN PENNY BIT: Irish Rover, 2:30-4:30 p.m.; Hooley (J'town), 7-ll p.m.

TIGHT SQUEEZE: Irish Rover, Noon-2p.m.

MARCH 17

GALLOGLAS: St. Patrick's Weekend Blow Out, The Saloon, Phoenix Hill Tavern, 2:30-3:30 p.m.; O'Shea's Traditional Irish Pub, 4:30-7:30 p.m.; St.

Patrick's Day Tent Party, The Irish Rover, 8:30-11 p.m.

THE RASHERS: Irish Rover. 3:30-5:30 p.m.

TEN PENNY BIT: Hooley (J'town), 6-10 p.m.

TIGHT SQUEEZE: Hooley (J 'town), 2-4 p.m.; Irish Rover, 6-8 p.m.

MARCH 30

TEN PENNY BIT: Hawley-Cooke Booksellers, Shelbyville Rd., 7:30-9:30 p.m.