Mixtape Friday: Ni Higgim Gaelach (sic)

I've had so much fun playing with my newly-discovered toy that I've decided to make it a weekly theme. Which I think is actually good because then it gives me something to anticipate and write to and hopefully the content of these will inspire to me write more things outside of this blog. I had originally put the photo of Dublin's Molly Malone statue* on the cassette box, but when I went back this morning to edit the order of the songs Mixwit went stupid and lost it and for some reason won't let me put it back on and is now giving me a reason to be irritated on a Friday. But it should work, right? Deep breath. Letting it go.

*When we visited Dublin a few years ago, we passed this statue a lot and finally on the last night we got pictures of it. Blurry and bad. Honey gazing down her cleavage, etc. But my favorite part was that while Honey as posing with the legendary fishwife, a couple was seated at the end of her cart, breaking up. HY-larious!

I promise, there's a "tape" below.

Before I go further, I was chided after I posted this for not providing a link to the friend who turned me onto this nifty service. It were right wrong of me not to. So, an update: go check out Jordan's blog today - after you finish this post and drinking in the loverly melodies I have for you this fine Friday - and be awed by all that he knows. Seriously, the boy has an encyclopedic knowledge of and passion for music - pretty much all genres - and the technology by which one may experience it. If PCP doesn't open your mind to possibilities, I'm sure his blog will.

"Ni higgim Gaelach" is Irish for "I don't understand Irish." I can't verify that I spelled the first two words right. Over a decade ago, I went through an Irish phase. Lacking funds, I had to drop out of college in the middle of my Freshman year and move to Houston to live with my family. My family had just moved there months earlier. I had no roots nor friends there. Randomly, and without impetus, I started listening to celtic and celtic-inspired music - mostly The Chieftains; I read Yeats and Irish folklore. Maybe I supposed the Irish and Celts understood dejection and loneliness. Who knows? I just knew that by February of 1995, my life's fantasy was to move to Ireland, live alone in a cottage on a small farm with my herding dog and work the land for the rest of my days. (A year later that fantasy gave way to living in a cottage in the woods of New Hampshire with a golden retriever; the walls of my abode adorned with portraits of all my lovers past and present. I am more than content with my current reality!)

Though I'm no longer obsessed with Irish culture - not as much anyway - I still do very much enjoy Irish and celtic-inspired music. I have no track by track explanation for these songs. They're just songs I like. Some are modern originals, others are folk tunes revamped or whatnot. I was particularly pleased to find Factory Girls, Flogging Molly's collaboration with Lucinda Williams. (I really like her.) I want to get to know Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys better. As for House of Pain - okay, really it's just the bagpipes at the end that celtify this; though I associate very much with Saint Patty's day, which is of course, more Irish than Ireland herself.

If you've made it this far and still owe me feedback (you know who you are), I have another secret word for you drop in conversation/email/comment: arugula.

Have a fantastic Friday!