IrishBeat.com

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Eve to everyone! The holiday has gotten into full swing in Chicago, with the river already dyed green and the big parade planned for tomorrow. My favorite band, Great Big Sea, is performing at The Riviera tonight. If you’re not familiar with them, GBS is a celtic-inspired band from New Foundland. They mix traditional Irish music with modern-day folk and have one of the craziest fan bases around. (Think Grateful Dead followers, but swap acid with Guinness and you’ll get the picture.) Can’t wait to raise a pint with the Great Big Sea faithful tonight!

 Anyone else got interesting plans out there?

I spent Sunday enjoying one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I curled up on the couch and re-read “The Dead,” the final story in James Joyce’s “The Dubliners.” I love the story because of its prose, its melacholy and its relative accessibility.

But mostly I love it because it’s one of the few Joyce works in which he openly misses Ireland. Though he spent most his adulthood in bitter, self-imposed exile, “The Dead” allows Joyce to surrender himself to the longings of family, music and home during the holidays. If a cynic like Joyce can’t overcome Christmastime nostalgia, what chance do the rest of us have?

Dear Bono,

I have forgiven a lot over the years.  The iPod commericial. The Rattle-n-Hum documentary. The perpetual soapbox. The entire Zooropa album. I even forgave you for marrying your childhood sweetheart, Ali, instead of waiting for a quirky, freckled-faced sixth grader from Chicago to come of age.

However, I’m not sure I can forgive the selection process behind the band’s latest album, U218. How does ”Sweetest Thing” make it before “All I Want Is You” ?  And, really,  ”Mysterious Ways” before “Bad”? They boyish lads on the CD cover suggest it’ll contain music from the early years, yet there’s not much to be found. (Rememeber “Boy?” I do.)

You and the other three guys are still the coolest things to ever come out of north Dublin. I’m just not sure I need to plunk down $20 to remind you of that fact.

This time you’ll have to make it on your own.

Nellie

ps Seriously, “Mysterious Ways”?