The annual Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day parade was supposed to roll today. It’s been postponed because of the chance of severe weather. I wasn’t likely to go this year anyway. I’m paraded out after Carnival and this parade celebrates what I call Quiet Man Irishness. Shorter Adrastos: People get shit faced drunk. While I’m not on the wagon, my booze intake is way down since my major illness. It’s one reason I’ve lost so much weight: 47 pounds and counting. End of blatantly gratuitous humble brag.

In the past, this feature rarely had political  content. We all need a break from the news cycle, especially when the Insult Comedian is in the saddle. It’s gotten harder to do that as the Trump-Musk regime wreaks havoc on the country. The stupid motherfuckers don’t know what the hell they’re doing. When I see President Pennywise telling crazy lies, I think of this line from King Of The Hill:

Yeah, you right, Hank. Unfortunately, in this case, the boy is POTUS. Enough of this depressing shit. Let’s resume our normal Saturday programming.

The featured image is The Wild Ones by Jack Butler Yeats, the kid brother of the legendary Irish poet. Talk about a talented family.

This week’s theme song is a traditional tune dating from the 17th Century. The original title was Kilgary Mountain but we all know it as Whiskey In The Jar. Bottoms up.

We have three versions of Whiskey In The Jar for your listening pleasure: The Dubliners, Thin Lizzy, and Jerry Garcia & David Grisman:

Whiskey is not just in the jar, it’s the devil:

That album cover is the epitome of Quiet Man Irishness. I love me some John Ford, but that movie hasn’t aged well. Its views on women are downright Trumpian. In fact, John Wayne is the perfect MAGA hero: IRL he was a draft dodger, wingnut, and fake tough guy. Sound familiar?

Before we move on, two more whiskey songs:

Our second act consists of a review of a 9 part limited series from FX and Hulu.

Say Nothing is an adaptation of a book by Patrick Raden Keefe. It covers four decades of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, which is a subject that has long fascinated me. Say Nothing is as far away from Quiet Man Irishness as one can get.

In lieu of Adrastosian exposition, a summary from the show’s IMDB page:

“The shocking disappearance of Jean McConville, a single mother of ten who was abducted from her home in 1972 and never seen alive again. But McConville was only one of many others who became known collectively as The Disappeared. Through the eyes of various IRA members, including sisters Dolours and Marian Price, young women who transformed into magnetic symbols of radical politics, Brendan Hughes, a tight-lipped but conflicted military strategist, and Gerry Adams, a savvy political operator who would go on to negotiate peace but ultimately deny his involvement with the IRA, Say Nothing unpacks the extremes some people will go to within a movement as they pursue their ideals, the mystery surrounding The Disappeared, the cost of silence, and the way society mends or doesn’t after a long and bloody conflict.”

Before the series landed, many were concerned that it would whitewash Gerry Adams. It does not. He comes off as a cold blooded creep even after he abandons the armed struggle for the political arena. As a politician, he continued to lie his way through life, always denying his violent past.

Say Nothing moves smoothly between the past and the present with different actors cast as their younger and older selves. The standouts are Lola Petticrew and Maxine Peake as Dolours Price around whom the action revolves. Petticrew is literally a baby faced assassin as she plans and carries out a London bombing that leads to jail, a hunger strike, and a move to an Irish prison.

Dolours lost the taste for armed struggle after her release from jail and wound up marrying the fine Irish actor, Stephen Rea. Fame meets infamy.

I was interested in the series when it dropped in November butwasn’t in the mood to watch a serious drama. I was too bummed from the election. I’m still bummed, but Say Nothing was a surprisingly welcome distraction from our troubled times.

Here’s the trailer:

Grading Time: I’m not an expert on The Troubles, so I don’t know how historically accurate Say Nothing is, but it captures the spirit of the time and tells a helluva story. I give it 4 stars and an Adrastos Grade of A-. That says it all.

The last word of our second act goes to Simple Minds:

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Casting Edition: I still have the media on my mind. I quoted former WaPo executive editor Marty Baron in my Marcus-Bezos piece. Before moving to DC, Baron was the editor of The Boston Globe and was played in the Oscar winning movie Spotlight by Liev Schreiber.

Spotlight tells the tale of  The Globe’s investigating and breaking a huge story about pedo priests and the Catholic church. That’s why the last word of the segment goes to a protest song by the late, great Sinead O’Connor:

Your Weekly Oscar: Let’s lighten things up with an early recording from the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?

The Best of Fool Us: Irish American magician Michael O’Brien does not fool the modern masters of magic, but he charms the hell out of them and the audience without resort to Quiet Man Irishness.

I’m not Irish, I’m just writing about them this week notwithstanding the cancelled New Orleans parade. Why not? The real St. Paddy’s Day is Monday. Erin go bragh or some such shit.

Classic Movie Trailer: I mentioned Stephen Rea earlier, here’s the preview of the movie that put his name on the map. Rea was married to the aforementioned Dolours Price when The Crying Game came out in 1992.

This video popped up when I searched for the trailer. I can’t think of a better way to spend a few minutes.

I still miss Gene and Roger or as we called them in our house, The Sweater Boys.

Saturday GIF Horse: The Simpsons go Irish in the first GIF and slip in a King Of The Hill reference in the second one.

Yeah, you right, Homer.

Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: What’s more Irish than a live clip of The Chieftains? Not a damn thing.

That concludes this grim and green edition of the Saturday post. The last word goes to Lola Petticrew as Dolours Price in Say Nothing: