The Humors of Galway

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Salutations everyone,
I am in Galway, home of the "Galway Races" (horse-racing). I love Galway and Galway loves me. So much in fact that I managed to make 25 Euro in 45 minutes busking on Merchant street, or the Bourbon street of Ireland.. Some of you have been here but for those that haven't (that being most of you), I will do my best to capture it in a few sentences.

You're more likely to hear French, German, or Spanish in downtown Galway than you will English. There are literally tourists everywhere, and many of those foriegn accents belong to former tourists who decided they liked the place so much that they would just stay. In the past 24 hours on this strip of pubs and shops I've seen fire-dancers, emo-rockers, this British jester-type who tricks people into riding a backward bicycle through a line (yeaaa..can't really explain that one, just gotta see it), a Texas magician, a rasta playing the djembe who was literally there at midnight when I left and was there again this morning in the rain....(fill in weird idiosyncratic musical talent here), etc. The place is just bursting at the seams with bohemians after hippies after drifters after twenty somethings travelling the world who have made a pit-stop in Galway.
I played in a session last night with this Danish tenor banjo player who lives in a commune and makes his living playing Irish music. If he didn't tie his dreads behind his back, they'd probably get in the way of his pick. The pub was jumping and I couldn't even hear myself playing so I don't know how much I accomplished from playing there, but I did get to hear an awesome bouzouki player. So yea I hope you're getting a good picture here....it's a BIG town too by Western Irish standards. I suppose that means they have more than one of the following: a pub, church, "Celtic Adventures" gift shop (or a name of comparable rotten cheesiness).
It's funny how you pull out a map and as you skim the towns you realize there is an Irish tune about every one. I so want to make terrible jokes on the names of the top twenty chestnuts of Irish music, but I realize that would just be revealing my suprising celto-nerdiness (cause most of you didn't already know that right?). I suppose now I'll fill you in on a few cultural tidbits:
-All the 14-15 year old guys here sport these horendous bleached mohawks dripping with gel and pseudo-badassity.
-The cops don't carry guns
-Country music is FRICKIN HUGE HERE. Like, it seems our number one cultural export after fast-food was Hank Williams. You can't walk into a music store and not here the latest country hit. For some reason my inexplicable revulsion to commerical country has never kept me in the store long enough to figure out whether they are putting on an American "twang" or if they sing about the good ole Southern livin' in an Irish accent. I expect you Irish reading this to leave me a message answering this question as soon as you read this.
-Bathroom sinks are REALLY small
-Contrary to popular stereotype about Europe, soccer is NOT as popular here. Gaelic Football and Hurling (both Irish inventions) are the sports of choice.
-Everything is "sound"*


I hope that gives you something to smile/wonder/ shrug about. I will be here for a few more days than back to Carrick-on-Shannon and soon Clare. I'll keep you posted...

andrew

*sound- colloquialism meaning solid, assured, spot-on.

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