Category: Daily Dispatch

They say that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. I’m in the process of driving all the mileage out of my car. This week the odometer passed 200,000 miles. To give you an idea of how much that is, I could have driven back and forth to Ireland more than 24 times. When my mother’s people came to America, it’s doubtful they envisioned one of their descendants in a beater with one hubcap missing and a door plowed in. But that, my friends, is what is known as upward mobility.

I hope you’ll join me this morning as we get all misty-eyed over occupation, famine, political unrest and poor dentistry, with a nostalgic glance at the Emerald Isle. You’ll experience heart-tugging pastoralism and delirious reels, courtesy of native composers John Larchet, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, and Joan Trimble; composers of Irish descent Henry Cowell, Augusta Holmès, and Sir Arthur Sullivan; and Irish-for-a-day Ludwig van Beethoven, Percy Grainger, and Frank Martin.

We’ll retire to the pub for ten minutes, around 9:00, to hear what pianist Orli Shaham has to say about her interactive program, Baby Got Bach, designed for kids 3 to 6, which she’ll be bringing to Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium this Sunday at 1 p.m. Joining her for that special event will be So Percussion and Rachel Richardson of American Ballet Theatre. For more information, look online at princetonuniversityconcerts.org.

Then it will be back to weeping and drinking and step dancing and fighting, as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’re looking over a four-leaf clover, on Classic Ross Amico.