Monday, April 12, 2010

Drink With a Poet, Get Attacked by an Orb

So, I am hanging out with a new drinking buddy- let's call him "Larry", and my cousin takes a picture. Well, don't you know, I get attacked by an orb emanating from a paranormal Pabst sign.





Luckily, with my experience in parascientific knowledge and psionic hardware, I was able to avert a disaster. Oh, and regarding the picture, please note that I am not the guy with the "red hair and glasses".

Larry Kirwan, in a word, is awesome- he's a friendly guy, with a genuinely warm personality. He played a few songs, mostly from Black 47's debut album (Dear Old Donegal, the eponymous song, James Connolly- preceded with an introduction which unabashedly characterized the man as a community organizer and a Marxist-eat that, teabaggers!), and read from his new novel Rockin' the Bronx. I asked him the extent to which the novel is a thinly autobiographical work, and he told me, "It's veiled enough so I won't get my arse kicked." He read the from the opening chapter, which was hilarious, though with a hint of bad things to come, and sang an a cappella rendition of a personal favorite- The Cliffs of Dooneen, which ***SPOILER ALERT*** features in the narrative.

Larry also related a tale of strolling around Times Square as a wet-behind-the-ears immigrant, during a time in which it hadn't been gentrified to chain-store blandness, and read another chapter in the book, which detailed his protagonist's run through a gauntlet of dealers, and panderers.

All told, the night was top-notch... it was four hours of music, prose, booze, and good fellowship, in an intimate, friendly setting. Larry is a great guy with whom to knock back a Smithwick's, and I made sure to tell him not to forget his fans in the Midwest as he's touring in support of the book.

9 comments:

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

You're a Big Bald Buddy.

He is tremendously friendly, which through me for a bit of a loop when I talked to him at the County Clare after a show.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Hey, he knows he has fans all over the place, and is meaning to expand his tour (he'd recently been in Joisey.

He is tremendously friendly, an all-around terrific guy. I am sure he'll get to Milwaukee.

Now, I gotta go, I have a wake to attend on Long Island, for a true legend.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Sometimes the orbs are friendly, but misunderstood.
~

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Drink out of an orb, get attacked by a poet.

Vonnie said...

I'm going to have to check this guy out!
Watch out for those pesky orbs...

Anonymous said...

Mike, your orb will always glow for me!

John Boy (staying anonymous for now...)

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Your secret's safe, meines bruder!

Now, make a profile and start blogging!

Vonnie said...

meines bruder? Please. Please tell me that's not German. Germish, maybe. Ich habe Deutsch Klasse heute abend.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Ich kann wenige Deutsche gesprechen, aber nicht sehr gut.