St. Patrick’s Day has largely been given a drop kick to the head this year, again being officially observed midweek, but being true Irish, Paddy Ryan’s Pub in the town of Hudson is leading the way for the celebration like it was on a Saturday!
And in this area, that means a mid-afternoon bevy of ditties by The O’Briens, an Irish-size family of musical performers that broadly is considered the cream of the crop in their genre between here and St. Paul. They go on at 3 p.m., but an encore might throw them will into the dinner hour.
The proprietor is known on such occasions to bring out the sampling of shots of Irish whiskey, but the place will be packed, so get there early for what likely will prove to be a free trial that can built on as the day continues to flourish. Talk about being pub friendly. And there are plenty other things that are Irish to imbibe in, not just the ones you tend to hear about most in popular culture.
Now we must enter in the name of another regional Irish performer, as the name O’Brien resounds all through the metro area and all over the world on St. Patrick’s Day.
His name is Paddy O’Brien, and yes leading the way among those St. Paul Irishmen, and you can’t miss the irony in the name.
He is a renowned two-button accordian player, and can be a bit buttoned down and introspective socially, but as a performer … Will be standing in on St. Patrick’s Day with the namesake group of Irish musicians? Hard to say exactly, but the Irish are known for their surprises.
But all such musicians, family of’ O’Briens or not, bring with their lilt a broad array of musical titles that are Irish to the core and seem to be masters at, being masterful, at most all of them. So there is a bevy of music to be heard today, no matter how you cut it … while cutting into that wonderfully tender corn beef and cabbage. So there is great food there, too, to taste if you have this taste in music.
So to wit, which is something you best not try once midnight rolls around, take my Irish music trivia quiz, and see if you can string together the pieces and come up with this song title, definitely a classic if my Google search of Irish tunes means anything, so it will likely be on play lists near and far today, with references that show both its universality and probable local presence: “Oh, me name is MacNamara, I’m the leader of the band …We play at wakes and weddings and at every fancy ball …
There is O’Brians, O’Ryans, O’Sheehans and Meehans, they come from Ireland …”
Or much closerby.
“That’s MacNamara,” the song concludes.
There is a place, too, to top it off that has been well-versed in these columns, that being Casanova’s Historic Liquors, in the bluff area of town that is capped off by caves. They feature brands of Irish whiskey, many of them, that I can’t even pronounce, and look at the not so wee people dressed up by their door that partake — armored soldier with a devil may care mask, and a smaller version of what I just have to assume is a Bigfoot.
And for vintage, classic bottles of wine to fit the day, all of them at prices no more than you’d expect from the greats of Wisconsin beer, there is always Charlie’s Pub in the old Water Street Inn just across the river in Stillwater. If you need to go for a nightcap, you will indeed get to do the math in dollars and cents of savings in that regard. And they also have bands today and tonight (plural). Tune in later for more on that.