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Europe » Ireland » County Dublin
May 4th 2007
Published: May 4th 2007
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Hey Blog Reading Folks……(Ed/ZAPPA here)
The ultimate(I felt)best way to go about this was to do it as we went along…Fresh thoughts…get a real feel for the place…unedited…warts and all…balls to the paper journalism….Stream of consciousness…how it was happening…while it was happening…you get the idea…..Just as I am ranting now…just throw it down big fella…The problem …
1)Would it be understood?
2)Would it make sense?
3)Would it be boring?
The bigger problem it ends up was ………not laziness not drunkenness(that would have added to the charm)but we could not get “hooked up”.We wanted 24-7 access…not to be had in “good ol Ireland” our rooms were not equipped.The idea was as we were done for the day getting ready to “kick it”…jot a few things down…wind down for the day...see what we were arguing about….put it on paper,not afraid of who would read it or be offended by it….again it sounds great…..BUT when you try and execute this plan…….suddenly you are worried about:
1)punctuation(which I am not)((I KNOW RATHER OBVIOUS))(((is that spelt right?)))
2)spelling(which I do)((I’M AFRAID I’LL LOOK LIKE A IGNATOID))(((which I am)))
3)who will read it?
4)will they get the joke?
5)am I drunk?
6)does that make sense?


So here is my blog:
I will go thru the trip all at one time(several days actually..can’t type as fast as I think)trying to remember what happened.My random thoughts of Ireland etc etc Hope you enjoy it….it will be “spastic”…it will be from one thing to the other…it will be “after it happened stream of consciousness”

Day 1 (very official looking)
LAX in line to get our seats drop our bags off ……”on our way to the green hills of Kerry” …a guy in line waiting with us starts playing his guitar …this is surely a good sign of things to come…after all… we are going to drink beer listen to music travel around Ireland with the Waterboys….this is going to be great…this just may have been a sign of things to come he was playing a Beatles tune not an Irish song….
ON THE PLANE:long plane trip… when you hear “it sucks to travel when your sick”they ain’t kiddin I have a slight head cold at 30,000 feet…IT SUCKS no joke needed it’s miserable. At one point I thought about sprawling acroos the floor of the plane. Even Borat our in flight movie only gave me solace for an hour but it was kinda amusing watching the reaction of our fellow travelers during the hotel stay scene in which they wrestle with each other. I hope you’ve seen the movie to know what I’m talking about.
Dublin airport 10hrs later:
Waiting for our bags getting a feel of the place…..you know the message “don’t leave your bags unattended”…US version comes across a little nicer...IRELAND’S ends with “it will be destroyed”….thank you come again….I’m thinking ok they have been dealing with the IRA they know what they are doing staying just a bit closer to my bag….
AHHHHHH YES the rent a car……UMMMM STEVE YOU DRIVE I’LL NAVIGATE….it seems pretty easy watching someone else do it…driving from the airport to our hotel in downtown Dublin… when you are on a freeway one way to go things are smooth.Then comes the moment when you have to find a specific place.Oh the joy of a oneway street the thrill of no signs to tell you where you are or where you are going.If you want to know what this is like for us…….think The Amazing Race at it finest moment when they are screaming at each other in the car …..ahhhhh but then you find the place and it’s all “ I didn’t mean to call you a jackhole I love you”Yep it’s real life no getting around it.It “ is amazing” the things you will say under stress.
Dublin 1st hotel night one(THE THUNDER CRUNCHER)no reason for the nickname just can’t remember the name of it …check in …find a local paper.. article on the Waterboys..ok this town is ready RIGHT??????Hey what are we doing we have been here 3 hrs and have not entered a pub yet,what gives?Troops are ready… get some advice from our handy dandy MTV guide book… get directions from our hotel clerk and we are off for the adventure of a lifetime.”THE PORTERHOUSE” our first stop …they brew their own I get “THE BRAIN BASHER” nice little stout and some Irish stew ….good beginning not bad at all…we move on …I think the rest of the gang has filled in the holes here…..so I’ll just give some of my first impressions:
1)Ireland adores Thin Lizzy
2)there are more tourist then people who live in Ireland
3)very cosmopolitan
4)folks working at the hotels, restaurants,cabs are not from Ireland
5)you can not just type in an address and get directions
6)you can not just ask for directions because once they give them to you you still won’t be able to find it
7)Ireland pubs are very very cool great atmosphere,each has a different feel, you can find what you want, you just have to walk around a lot
8) the Irish music we listen to is not exactly what they have in mind for us…. we are kinda………. once again…. not the “rulers” of what everyone should be listening to but should be because after all we know what is best for everyone…hold it I mean I should be the “RULER OF ALL GREAT MUSIC TO LISTEN TO” not Steve Jackie or Tammy they are crazy they don”t have a clue about great music!!!!!!
9)the Waterboys are Scottish and Ireland knows or cares less about them than Americans

DAY 2
As I am typing this I realize I am not going to be able to use this format.To many days have past.I can not remember everything.Days are running together It will take to long to go thru each day.I’m going to have to just throw things down.Out of sequence.Out of context.Out of the blue.
“Woke up fell out of bed dragged the comb across my head……” Take the scenic coastal route to Cork …..I could have sworn Ireland was smaller …..my navigational skills told me that Ireland is only about two and a half hours from one side of the island to the other…what this means is ……….we will not be able to make the 3 or 4 stops on the way like we hoped…ya know stop at a local pub….see the coastline….stop by Bono’s house…visit a castle…we are on a deadline Waterboys 8:00pm so we scurry along barely enough time to stop off at Waterford ….try again to get on the net get an address of where we are staying in Cork maybe even the directions……not to be …..so we grab a quick Irish meal for lunch …MEGAMAC (girls tell a funny story of the “little girl” they meet in the “toilet”) the Irish McD’s yeah that’s right not bangers and mash…..and keep a brisk pace to get to Cork can’t possibly be late for the first show…..obviously you don’t know our record for this sort of thing… it is very possible and more then likely will be…..but hey we just traveled 10hrs from L.A. have had tickets for months,we would not be that stupid to miss them.Seven and half hours later I was beginning to worry.We are going to miss the opening band Hybrazil,that was going to be my ticket to how we land on the tour bus.Another AMAZING RACE moment trying to find our new place to stay for two nights.SPLEENSVILLE APARTMENTS or whatever get the name from the other blogers…..do a quick shot of Jamison’s ….take a cab to the Cork Opera House(first cab experience in Cork interesting story to tell about cabs after the show) and finally the reason we are here……THE WATERBOYS……we do miss the opening band and drinks but the seats are killer 4 rows back….we are ready…let’s start the show….

Waterboys set list 3-16-07 Cork Opera House:
We wrote it down but now Jackie can’t find it.
Old England
Dumbing Down the World
The Stolen Child
Red Army * Blues
Fisherman’s Blues
Peace of Iona(yes you will be singing this for days after hearing it)
Medecine Bow
The Pan Within
When will we be Married?(best song of the night..they really got crankin at this point new rockin version “FANTASTIC”)
(not in the correct order)and 8 or 9 new songs off the new cd “Book of Lightning”
The Crash of Angels Wings
Love Will Shoot You Down
Nobody’s Baby Anymore(dedicated to Britney Spears)
Strange Arrangement(personal favorite)
She Tried to Hold Me
Sustain(another gem)
Everybody Takes a Tumble(yes you will think it is Fisherman’s Blues when it starts out Mike Scott is aware of this)(started the set with this)
It’s Gonna Rain(which it did)
You in the Sky(not sure if they played this or not I think so …need to ask the rest of the group????)
THE BAND:Mike Scott
Steve Wickham
Richard Naiff
And two new members Mark Smith and drummer Damon Wilson(I think)
The concert was a bit odd …..in the sense we were sitting down thru out…. no beer ….constant talk between songs crowd screaming what it wanted to hear Mike just not caring about what they were screaming for …Mike did tell a tall tale of how him and Steve wrote Fisherman’s Blues “pulled him up out of a hole”…..he does love to tell stories ……pacing weird …but believe me I loved it ….
Ok so the show ends and we are now ready to tear it up….. look out Cork…..
We proceed to walk around looking for the perfect pub ….the “ah bodran” or whatever how am I to keep track of this ahhhh yes the camera only trouble is I have not seen the photos the “photo police” have them and they are hoarding them to edit them down so folks can only see what is good for them…..shazlebagles…..this is where we meet the good “SHAMUS” Irish lad singing American covers …couple of pubs and drinks later …we decide we will take a taxi tired of all the walking…we hail a taxi he stops across the street….something washes over me ….”I SEE THE LIGHT I WILL BE THE LIGHT”…I run across the street with unbridled anticipation ….then …..the DEVIL takes over and in an unexplained flash of “Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky and Hutch-itis” kicks in……I throw myself across the hood of the taxi… slide across….perfect landing and climb into my chariot that awaits me …TO THE “AH BODRAN” I yell…I know I know I know …..yeah ……taxi driver did not exactly work into my plan…he was not to pleased with the show…to say the least he was pissed…he screams “what are you doing or something similar” I don’t really know I’m still in shock he didn’t think that was kick-ass…I get out of the taxi we both stare at the hood of the car looking for dents he is threatening to call the “GUARD” also known as the police I’m trying to calm him down telling him “HIS PRECIOUS”(Lord of the Rings reference) is ok….He then says “Is that how you hail taxi’s in your country ?”Well at this point I’m trying not to cross the line so I mutter something about I guess this means your not going to give us a ride.And Sulk Off…….beaten and confused…as we later realized we should have said “Yes that is exactly how we hail taxi’s that is the only way they will stop”…arggg a missed opportunity…………. .Making friends all over the world!!!!!!
DAY 2 CORK well covered by the group nothing really new to add but hey check out the video of the fight in “THE OLD OAK” and our killer version of “KILLING IN THE NAME OF”…….beer is awesome….we can all sing….and now a word about ………………………….CRICKET…………..a sport we started to learn about in The Old Oak…..well as it ends up if your team losses they KILL the coach…man we thought we took our sports serious(THIS IS A TRUE STORY CHECK THE NEWS)also on the sports front maybe I should miss more Lakers games since I’ve been gone Kobe has gone on a tear four games over 50pts including one for 65 and the Lakers have won 4 in a row NOW CONSIDERING THE SEASON THIS IS MAJOR NEWS……I hope somebody taped the 65pt performance for me….oh well back to more Guinness!
Blarney Castle and Killarney
Again well chronicled by the group……..but let me just add a couple of thoughts……………my thoughts wonder recklessly meandering along ….. bliss,pleasure, beauty and then suddenly a harrowing thought cracks into my skull…thank god I made it out of Cork before the TAXI MAFI found me….and believe me when I tell you as we walked around Cork I kept seeing that taxi driver…arms flailing about shouting screaming pointing I made it just by the scruff of my collar…whoa……but hey …….I get to drive now “ to the Blarney Stone” let’s get some mojo let’s get to kissing let’s ……………let Steve drive this sucks….my first experience behind the wheel narrow roads, rain,no idea where I’m going yeah it’s fab…
Job interviews I think are going well….maybe I will just stay in Ireland….but our bigger concern is how do we meet Mike Scott and get on the tour bus …… 7 days to go…..we need a better strategy……

Ring of Kerry and Galway
Great blogin Bloks ….very scenic….so we need a new plan …so the idea is this:
Phase one=convince the troops we need to add another Waterboys show (2 is not enough)
Phase two=make sure we have enough time to get from Galway back to Limerick(I will time how long it takes us from Limerick to Galway)
Phase three=convince them in my best “Rain Man” voice “I’m an excellent driver”(let them know I will drive to and from the show they can get hammered if they like )
Phase four=make sure tickets are still available and buy them

As you can imagine it really didn’t take much convincing…I had them at “drinks”
PLAN: MEET MIKE SCOTT BACK ON TARGET!
I ‘m sure the Waterboys will do a different set!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!!

Galway Day 2
Shop drink shop drink drink site see(or don’t see)drink get ready for the second show drink see the show drink
Waterboys Tuesday 20th March 2007 University Concert Hall
Easy to find… because I’m driving… what did I tell you about my driving skills…. we are fired up for our second helping of “WATERPEOPLE” show two… and we are ready we got the new disc we got our seats(rear stalls v9 for those of you keeping score)bring it…..
Set-list (same as the first set no “Dumbing Down the World”)
We wrote this list down too but Jackie can’t find that either.
What is going on “the same set” “inconceivable”(ref. Cliffs of….coming soon in a blog near you )We definitely enjoyed the show more than the first…..we can now sing along
But hey Mike is going to change the set …..Right?

Galway Day 3
Martin the tour bus driver had a surprise for us.We waited in anticipation for the jewel of insight he would give us about this fantastic country we are visiting for the first time,that only a well worn local tour bus driver could give.”Um oh ah ….I picked this music for you” he said as he drove the bus along the beautiful stretch of road to our destination of the Cliffs of Moher.Yeahhhhhhh the mighty tour you get what you pay for…..tells a couple of jokes...tells the same story twice….but it was the music he picked that truly was the surprise……sleep inducing Irish slag but hey it was beautiful….like Jackie doesn’t have enough trouble staying awake in a moving vehicle…..the lunch break was great would loved to have seen “the music circle” in action at the pub we stopped at maybe next time…more Irish stew and a pint of Guinness….yowzaa….they really need to serve beer on this bus…hold it right there………
I have two great ideas for work.One come up with a map for yahoo maps of Ireland,so all you have to do is type in an address and you get directions.The other idea a “rock and roll tour” complete with full bar and crankin tunes supplied by Edge Productions.Now that is how you want to see the countryside.AHHHHHHHzeintergeist….back to the tour……….Martin informs us about the walls that form around all the farms and who built them and how long it took and why they built them and how they built them what they are made of everything you could possibly want to know about the walls …great job Martin..I don’t remember any of it…but I do remember there were walls he talked about…we have pictures but you will have to ask the “picture police” to see them.As Martin makes his way back to Galway passing beautiful castles spinning yarns of yesterdays my thoughts drift again…………WATERBOYS SHOW #3……….new venue! new set? New stories to tell!new friends to make!Will we meet Mike this time?Is “Purple Rain” on the set list?Will they play “Whole of the Moon”? Anxious can’t wait to get back to our hotel….”Hotel Greenwolf” or whatever……the show is actually across the street from where we are staying at the Radisson that’s right the Radisson it is general admission doors open at 7:30pm sooooooooooo the plan is simple walk across the street get there early, be there by 6:00pm……ok so we get there about 6:30pm things are looking good only a handful of people in front of us….we get some beers while we are waiting in line we chat with the t-shirt guy he remembers us from the other show we start chating up our fellow line dwellers(because of the Blarney Stone I now have the power of gab)and we learn a number of things;
1)people have seen the Waterboys more than us
2)we are going to see the Waterboys in a venue that will make you think you are at a convention
3)we still do not have tickets(we are on a list but that list has not arrived yet)ouch this could be trouble
4)we meet a guy named Christophe Van Rompaey www.dubh-linn.be he gave me his card who owns a Irish pub in Belguim who has seen U-2 seventy-five times travels around the world to see shows and hey I can come work for him in Belguim ALRIGHT A JOB OFFER something to think about
5)nobody gives a rats ass that we came from Los Angeles to see the Waterboys they came from England like everyone else ….IS THERE ANYBODY FROM IRELAND?
6)groupies are cool it is very communal/spiritual to go see an artist that everyone thinks is a genius
7)not having tickets was not going to stop me from getting in……but it was straightened out in the nick of time…few of my spiritual buddies did get by me….beat me to the center seats that was not very Christian of them nor were my thoughts of what I was going to do to the door man…..oh well second row best seats we’ve had yet and the bar is still open……..LET THE GAMES BEGIN………
Waterboys March 21st 2007 Wednesday The Radisson Hotel
Set-list……wait for it…..wait for it…..the same as the other sets no change….DANGFANGLE NEW BAND MEMBERS….should know some new songs by the time they get to the US. The show rocks! After the show we decide to hit some pubs with our new friends.(Christophe and a couple of Harley chicks from Liverpool)Great conversations to be had…..I’m going to need some help here …can’t recall details but I do know how the evening ended……after the pubs will not serve us any more liquor we head back to the ol’ Wolfhaven Green Hotel or whatever (where we are staying)and they have the doors locked at night for safety reasons or to keep us out not sure which….but you have to knock to get the door man to let you in…..anyguzzles…he comes to the door to check us out like he did the previous night opens the door to let us in and waves us over to the Hotel pub as he did the previous evening but NOW we finally figure out he is inviting us in for a drink NOT scolding us for bothering him….you mean “we could have gone over there yesterday” bloody tourist….soooooo me Jackie and Steve pop on over and order up a round of drinks…..we continue this process on into the morning …get into a heated discussion about god knows what but I’m sure I was right…. We now realize this guy will continue to serve us until we stop… f-the laws…..best Irish gent we met..who knew he was looking out for us…..I believe we christened him “JOHNNY THE TIE” …….Moral of this yarn…The Hotel you stay at is not a bad place to get a drink.Who knew?Would have been nice to figure this out 3 days earlier….oh well you live you learn….we will not make this mistake again…we need to limit our mistakes… play within ourselves….stay focused….play our game….dictate the tempo….

BACK TO DUBLIN(fromGalway)DAY WHATEVER
On the road back to Dublin, now we are experts on the super highway. Confident, Cocky,Cool,Collected,Carnivors……we can get wherever we want no time pressures…no new Waterboys show to get to…..HOLD IT….oh right we need to get the rent a car back to Dublin before 5:00pm…….shite…. solid planning …. we got the map we got the confidence … we’ve been to Dublin before….. driven around it for a couple of hours already ….WE ARE READY!This does however mean we will once again have to leave off site-seeing.No “Slane Castle” where U2 recorded “The Unforgetable Fire”.YARKANDNUTS.We kept thinking when we were driving from one town to the other we could make more stops.Next time.You need to leave some things to do so you will come back.We did stop for lunch in a castle which was nice.Good food…I’m sure the “photo police” have a shot of it.So we are relaxed well fed and ready to get to Dublin.Well not quite…not sure how long it takes to get to Dublin…we go into freakout mode ….keep looking at the watch ..keep looking at the signs, how far are we? how close are we? what time is it?are we going to make it?can we find our new hotel? Now, if you have been following along this blog you know the answers to these questions.
We arrive in Dublin confident we can find our Hotel “JASPERHUNT”(or whatever)and we can get directions to the car rental drop off spot.RIGHT! Have we learned anything yet on this trip…….you once again know the answer to this question………..GIGANTIC HUMUNGAS NO we do find the hotel, with only mild mind shattering accuracy but then………….yes indeed the helpful hotel clerk will surely be able to help us find EUROPCAR Murrays car drop off in Dublin!!!!!We have the address…..just key it into the “OL IRISH COMPUTER”….the clock is ticking…4:59pm…your kidding me (THE MOST SARCASTIC VOICE I CAN DO IN A TRILLION YEARS)you can’t help us KARUMBA…..that’s ok we have the phone # of the place we will just call and straighten this out no problem……..RIGHT!!!!OK problem…car drop off that is suppose to be open till 6:00pm is closed…. it appears that when you call them earlier in the day to verify drop off time and they say 5:30pm will be cool they are just jacking around with naïve tourist…..oh and about that closing time well it seems that they kinda decide the time by their FRAKIN IRISH whim…not to be discouraged we will just call the airport car rental spot and straighten this out no problem………YEAH I KNOW YOUR AHEAD ME NOW ………ok problem……he explains to us naïve tourist the Irish closing time procedure…..nothing we can do….laugh it off hell we are on vacation HOLIDAY as it were….just take it to them tomorrow …..”now kind sir if you could just give us gentle souls the directions to your Dublin drop off spot we would greatly appreciate it.”………What are we thinking? Directions it is only 5 min from our Hotel. How in the flangletops can we miss it.There is a nice little river and plenty of world renown landmarks here to help us.Guide us like a freakin beacon…Wouldn’t you know it ….the car rental chap could not!!!!SUPRISE SURPRISE!!!He could only give us the address we already had.Ok we will just deal with it tomorrow…we got more beers to get to tonight….don’t let it effect what we are here for…..By the way tight deadline for tomorrow to get the car back or extra fees 10:00am NO PROBLEM! Stay tuned for the out come.

DUBLIN THE FINAL DAYS (can or will we get arrested)
Woke up early knowing we had to take care of this “albatross” around our neck.Get the car out of the car park before we have to pay more fees.Get directions to the car rental spot.Find it drop it off.Then get back and get some rest.Big night ahead of us plenty of new pubs to visit.I think there are 20 of the 300 pubs we have not had a drink in.

How it goes down:
Girls slept…..dragged Steve out of bed….walked to car park….had an epiphany…..ask a cab driver how to get to the rental car drop off spot(very Amazing Race of us)….he gives what we think are good directions uses the river as a guide…now that is what I’m talking about something I can relate to ….go to a bridge and turn left just to your left you will see it …..”CAN’T MISS IT” how many times have you heard that…..soooooooo we are driving ….driving…..looking for river looking for bridge…..driving….driving….feel the river be the river….river bridge river bridge…..remember this is only 5 min. away …so we’ve been told……river bridge river bridge where in the hell is the freakan river was that it or was that a stream…..river bridge river bridge….Steve I think this is a bridge hell turn left ok looking left looking left should be right here ok driving driving looking left …still looking left alright now looking right ok now looking behind us now wondering once again maybe this is a stream what the hell is the difference between a river and a stream anyways need to look that up and find out for the next trip so I’m ready…..just about to give up on this road and…DA DA DA DA……BEACON OF LIGHT…..SWELLING THEME MUSIC it appears right where they said it would be …EASY….now to park.

OTHER THINGS TO DO IN DUBLIN BEFORE YOUR DEAD(in no particular order)
Walking Tour(good exercise slim you down make you healthy get you thirsty for another 6 gallons of Guinness)
Things to see on your walking tour:
General Post Office(you will have to ask Tammy why it’s on the list-------we saw it not sure why?)
Guinness Storehouse(you know why-----FREE BEER-----can’t do Dublin without it)
Irish Museum of Modern Art(never saw it)
Irish Music Hall of Fame(come on U2 Thin Lizzy Van Morrison Rory Galager Chieftains Enya Cranberries Christy Moore the Dubliners Sinead O’Conner Bob Geldof Boyzone alright that’s starting to reach but you get the idea should be pretty cool I CAN ONLY HOPE THEY HAVE SOMETHING ABOUT THE BEST IRISH BAND EVER “THE CACTUS WORLD NEWS” sooooooooo never found it …..after walking around for 45min we finally asked somebody they told us it was closed down….kackinflack.
National Gallery of Ireland(never saw it)
Old Jameson Distillery(do I have to give you a reason? You know why------FREE WHISKEY-------nice-----only thing that sucked about that tour is we did not get picked to be the test samplers of 5 different whiskeys……everybody sing..”whiskey whiskey let’s drink whiskey…..whiskey whiskey…something something …….)
St. Michan’s Church(this is the church that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula…..and it gets us to keep asking Tammy if this is the church where they have the severed head she had read about and told us about not sure if it is but it makes a hell of a story….we see the church from the outside only)
St. Patrick’s Cathedral(burial grounds for Jonathan Swift….we tour the inside…yep it’s a church….”the largest church in Ireland and quite a beauty”….the guide book says so….
Christ Church Cathedral(see the cat and rat mummy and the heart case thingy and THE ORGAN)(they also film the Tudors in here)
Do The Dublin GhostBus Tour(body-snatching in St. Kevin’s Graveyard,the Haunted Steps,Dracula’s Dublin origins-see above referenced church----Tammy and I love these things we’ve done this type of tour in other cities and usually enjoy them….this one had very few moments shall we say….Jackie stay awake eerggg another moving vehicle….promise her cider when it’s over.
Visit or stay in The Clarence(Bono and the Edge’s hotel-----from what we saw I would love to stay here if you have “the nooks”also here is the beautiful Octagon Bar ….wish we could find the photos we know we took not sure where they are either all of us had the same dream about posing for the bartender to take a photo of us or it really happened….come on “photo police” where are they?)
Eat at the Queen of Tarts(it is what it sounds like…cakes and cookies…yummmm)
Ditch the Girlies watch a soccer match with Ireland Hooligans(the ladies decide to go see “Malahide Castle” the dudes decide to go drink beer and watch sports…… go figure!)and now a word about this experience….the idea is we will just walk down the street listen for some screaming and walk into the pub and join them…great plan sounds reasonable…the first stop is Nash’s Pub we go inside and there is a family of four and one old guy at the bar the only screaming we here are the kids complaining about the beer they serve or something…well at least they have the game on.We move on sure that are plan will work.Long and short of it ..we end up at let’s just call it “FOUR CORNERS PUB”or “THE YAG AND WHISTLE” whatever you prefer..there is plenty of screaming going on……. on the outside it advertises 4 floors of “thrilling excitement” or something similar…we walk in, place is packed everyone is watching the game…..just what we were talking about …check our shirt colors make sure we are not looking like we are going for the wrong team…I mean come on they just killed their Cricket coach….no place to sit but we start ordering up the brew and enjoyed the game…..95min later the score is ---------zero to one or some such nonsense---wasn’t the point really….success!
Pub Crawl(the reason you’re here-----doing it Zappa style-----)here is a list of pubs we visited(again no particular order):
The Auld Dubliner(one of the many pubs in the Temple Bar area)
Doheny and Nesbitt(don’t remember a thing about it---guide book says it is the best looking traditional pub)
O’Donoghue’s(one of the better “music circles”)
Ocatagon Bar(hey is that Paul Hewson next to Dave Evans?)
The Village(pictures on walls of rock stars)
Whelans(live rock bands)
The Porterhouse(also known as the house of the “woodman”)
The Temple Bar(not to be confused with the Temple Bar area)
Carrolls(I have a receipt we must of drank something there nope scratch that it’s a gift shop)
Gus O’Conners Pub(ahh another receipt yep drink order)
Tempis Fugit(cool just like the Yes song watched old guy play some cover tunes with his kick ass drummer “THE Machine”)
The Dungeon(not the correct name but watched a live band here that had “screetch” playing bass for them,the pub was cool had a goth feel and the Dungeon down stairs,very cool)
More pubs can’t remember the names(isn’t that helpful)I know this is suppose to be used for travelers to find places they want to visit get tips get the inside scoop oh well ….just do as we would do ….
Step 1 = walk inside(get past the bouncer)OK HERE IS A TIP…..so in our travels going from pub to pub we started wondering what was up with the bouncer stopping us all the time and asking us some question….WHAT GIVES?...that’s not the question he would ask us that is what I am asking you ….I of course, “usually” did not understand what the good lad asked and would “usually”stare at him like a mute….they really don’t appreciate it if you just ignore them and go blasting through the doors…I was acting on the principle of “just act like you know what you are doing”….well thank god I have the rest of my fellow travelers to interpret such things and make nice with the fine doorman and of course explain to him that I am indeed mute….and in we would go…so we are perplexed about this phenomenon and ponder it over a few pints…”they don’t like tourist” “they don’t like the way we look” “they don’t like Ed” (OBIVIOUS) “they just want to flaunt their power” “they just want to pick-up the girls”(or Steve) or “they really are concerned about us”….well as we thrash out WHAT GIVES…I am watching the bouncer in action with my best mute impression and I notice he is asking everyone a question as they get ready to enter……ah not just us dingledorks……and he proceeds to turn people away guys, gals, mutes ….well it ends up the pubs have no problem filling up and if you are to hammered they don’t let you in(thank god for my acting skills)so they are really looking out for you……WHO KNEW?
Step 2 = once inside listen for music(good bad or otherwise)Is it live or is it Memorex?Then of course start debating whether it’s good or not.(good chance you will hear “RUBY RUBY RUBY” by the Kaiser Chiefs)
Step 3 = look for place to hang…….many things to consider: Can you see the players? I mean the musicians.Well then again whatever sets you on fire.How far are you from the bar?Carrying back drinks and shots folks to get thru you know the drill.What does the crowd look like?Young old trendy chic scenesters gangsters prepsters ah hell who we kidding ….HOW FAR FROM THE BAR!
Step 4 = MAKE A FREAKIN DECISION or move on to the next pub just next door.

I would be remised if I did not mention our home away from home “THE MIGHTY PORTERHOUSE”.We spent the most time in this establishment .Proximity to where we were staying .Spent the most nights in Dublin.But most importantly “LIVE ENTERTAINMENT”.The world renowned “WOODSY” or the “woodman” as I like to refer to him.He was a Michael Hedges like cover songsmith ……he used alternate tunings,slap harmonics, hammer-ons and pull offs, percussive slapping on the guitar body,and ultra fast strumming while playing a melody of cover songs one into the other and back again……..and you sing along what else could you ask for ….and they serve their own homemade brew…..YOWZA!!!!!We also saw another rockin combo-the SKEEBAZLES(cover tunes)I actually don’t remember their name but again we had a great time singing and drinking along with them.PORTERHOUSE ROCKS!

AND FINALLY
I will cherish the time spent in the car with my friends and beloved wife.(25hrs to be exact our car had a timer)Driving along the beautiful Irish countryside,listening to the Waterboys catalogue.Thrilled when Jackie realized the Waterboys had written a song about her.Even more thrilled when I realized they could not do anything about the Zappa I was playing.Forced to listen to the “master”.AHHHHHHHH SUCH JOY…….only one thing left to say…………………WHEN ARE WE GOING BACK!







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1st June 2007

NICE
Good job Ed....Liked your spinn on the trip, kept me intrested start to finish. I know you wanted to get arrested but glad you all made it back, and you remembered most of it!
4th June 2007

jesus
i did not know zappa even knew that many words. goddamn i am halfway thru and i have to take a break. this is a Prog Rock version of a blog...will write more later when my eyes refocus and i can read more...

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