Are you? I mean, I'm happy for the Irish and I suspect I have a little Irish back in my own ancestry, but why do we all wear the green and go for the day with such gusto? I also have a little Creek Indian in me, but I haven't noticed any celebrations breaking out on their behalf. How about we pick a day and dress like these guys?
Cocoa Moon - the Latin restaurant - dressed up for St. Patrick's Day
Really, no other group causes us all to act as if we are all related. I know it's all in good fun and I really don't mind. I enjoy celebrating different cultures, it's just that I don't understand how this one captured the imagination of so many. We're even chided if we don't participate - "Where's your green?"
Latitude shows the green and snags a media interview.
Jack Neely, who wrote a great article on the subject last week, suggested that perhaps our identification with the Irish reflects our American inclination to support the underdog and the defeated. Again, I submit to you my Creek ancestors. You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger underdog or a group more thoroughly defeated.
Junior League Band, Blueplate Special, Knoxville
Ah well, might as well join in. Knoxville goes for it to a small degree. We have Irish music and green is abundant, though mostly for commercial reasons. There is no parade. I caught the Blueplate Special that day at WDVX. The first artist, the Junior League Band was not Irish, nor did Lissy Rosemont and her band play Irish music. Their website describes them as an "old time inspired rock band." That's probably a fitting description.
Lissy Rosemont sings and Irish Ballad
She played banjo and every song featured an electric rock guitar. Their music and particularly her vocals reminded me greatly of Hilary Hawke who I wrote about a while back. One hails from Georgia and the other from New York, but they have arrived at similar musical styles, at least to my ears. Lissy did end with an old Irish ballad in honor of the day.
Four Leaf Peat, Blueplate Special, WDVX, Knoxville, St. Patrick's Day 2011
There was no mistaking the Irishness of the next band. Hailed as "Knoxville's Premier Traditional Irish Band," and perhaps our only traditional Irish Band, Four Leaf Peat. I believe they said this represents their fifth consecutive St. Patrick's Day show on the Blueplate.
Four Leaf Peat, WDVX, Knoxville, March 2011
Four Leaf Peat, WDVX, Knoxville, St. Patrick's Day 2011
They are a talented group playing a wide range of traditional instruments and sticking very close to their tradtional Irish roots. I enjoyed them live, but I'm not so much a fan of the genre. Hearing that style music once a year is enough for me.
Now, if you want to talk about some Creek songs, that's another discussion altogether. Here's a little clip to get the movement started.
Of course, given my penchant for anything cheap and musical, the Indie Grrls Fest was a perfect way to spend my weekend, but one of the things I love about the city is that everybody is finding their own groove. At any given time, dozens of events are happening and everyone is following their own taste or life-script blissfully unaware of everyone around them who are just as tuned into their own world.
The biggest event downtown, except for maybe the Indie Grrls event, was the Irish Festival. Who knew that was happening? Several hundred people, apparently. I continue to stumble, baffled into one thing or another. I particularly seem oblivious to all things Irish. I missed the St. Patrick's Day Parade and I couldn't go to a party I was invited to that night because of another committment. I've got to be a better Irishman.
The coolest event I saw was a birthday party on Market Square. I'm guessing the birthday girl was somewhere from 12 to 14, judging by all the giggly friends. They were given a list of things they had to complete all around downtown. The winning team got prizes from Mast General Store. The girls were hoping for candy. What a great idea for a simple, cheap, fun birthday. There should be more of that kind of thing.
But the best thing I watched was a bride and wedding party getting pictures made all over the World's Fair Park. I mean, what better thing to do on a hot August day in Knoxville than to dress in twenty different layers of lace and satin and trudge all over a park in the direct sunlight getting your picture made?
I assume everybody had fun in their own way, delightedly oblivious of each other. That's a pretty good weekend in the city.
I'm a person who is interested in documenting urban life as I experience it in Knoxville, TN, from the fun to the tragic, from the silly to the profound. If you have a thought you'd like to share privately, you can contact me at KnoxvilleUrbanGuy@gmail.com.
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