Saw Doctors Bethlehem March 2008.

So anyone who has been reading for a few years now will realise that this gig was more than just a gig. This was a make-up date for a past event that the Saw Doctors were not able to fulfill last time out. Leo one of the band members explained that it was "good to finally get back to Bethlehem" that gig would have been in a high/secondary school and that would have been interesting. We drove the short trip to the lehigh university and as we turned into the parking lot Jill noticed what looked like Leo...."isn't that Leo she said" (one of the band members) "Yes" said I. I lifted my hand and waved a knowing wave as if to say - I know you! Leo waved back in a kind of chilled out beer buzz as he was holding a beer in his hand...something not exactly legal over here, but it was quite dark and cold. When we parked we debated if we should "shark" him (follow and ask him some questions). Now I'm a bit wary of being a pest but then again you hear many a story about the band being very nice and approachable. Still after we half-heartedly walked in the same direction to find him again we then kind of gave up - well it was cold and windy. Eventually we went into the building. It was mad, a large building open and cold looking filled with musik/celtic fest type stands for food and crafts but with not enough volume to fill the chasm of arena the building was. As you can see from the picture its quite big and over marcs shoulder in the far back left hand corner was the stage which when we arrived had some ceili dancing. Quite good. That finished and then the countdown to the band coming on was in earnest. Merchandise came out and I had to scrum through the crowd to get my CD "That takes the Biscuit" (I mean literally come on people) and a couple of shirts one for Marc and one for Me....$55 dollars total thank you very much.
More waiting and then the band came on. Needless to say the band made the best of their environment as surreal as it may have been!!! I am sure they were thinking WTF. Still the first few songs were old ones and as they reeled off song after song the open and cold environment faded away to feel more like an intimate setting. I am thinking there were perhaps 200 people there and by the end of a short(ish) set all went home happy, I am sure. There was the usual encore Ole Ole etc etc and a nice version of Hay Wrap with a beastie boys twist. By the end we were all happy and looked forward to New York in a couple of weeks. We wished we had "sharked" Leo but please god there will be another time for that. As we drove out of the parking lot we saw their huge tour bus packed full with mod-cons and beeped a kind of cheers and thanks and see ya again soon kinda beep. We went home full of the memories of the day and happy we saw the Saw Doctors again one more time.

Google Earth.

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Wow, although the images are between 1 and 3 years old, this is still a very cool application. Almost feels like I am right above Dublin now. More on this to follow....

Proposition317 - a worthy cause if you live in America.

It has come to my attention via a TV ad that there is a movement out there to campaign for the making of St Patrick's Day to be a national holiday in America. Now this is something I have been joking with my boss about, as over here they dont believe in giving workers too many days off much less national holidays. So with this in mind its an issue that would be beneficial to me and in any case an Irishman should always look for this day to be a day of rest and drink and beer and alcohol. The campaign organisers (yes it is really a campaign) need to have one million signatures to submit to congress in less than 16 days and with over 900,000 to go, there is lots of work to be done. Those of you outside of the U.S. may try to sign up but I'm not sure if it will be allowed on the site, if this is the case then all I would ask is for you to spread the word and therefore give the petition the best chance of success to reach one million. Let everyone you know have the power to change the world in general and America in particular.

www.proposition317.com