Heading home, folks!
The show at Vicar St. here in Dublin went great. It’s a great venue, we packed it out and the people here are an awesome audience. Martin Angolo opened for me and he did a fantastic job. We just got done packing up our stuff and we’re getting ready to head out. I chose this to be the city I end the tour in and spend the most time in. I did my show on Thursday, I’m writing this on Sunday. I love it here.
I’ve always felt connected to Ireland since I first came here. It has less to do with the people at first and more to do with the weight of the place. There’s an emotional density here that you can feel in the buildings and the hills. It’s hard to explain but there are plenty of poets and writers you can reference for better descriptions than mine. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not unusual for certain kinds of people to feel connected to this place. You would think they would be Irish or have a bit of it in them. I do not. I just connect to the weight of the island.
I’ve had a tense relationship with the Irish in the past. I started my career in the Boston area and I made my bones in comedy performing in bad situations for New England Townies. Many were the Boston Irish. It was no easy task to find a middle ground with them as an angry, neurotic Jewish guy in his twenties but I was determined to do it and I did most of the time. I can’t say I was being my authentic self but I was in a kind of stage survival mode. I found the audiences to be tough and seemingly mean and judgmental. I thought the Irish didn’t like me. It was a generalization but it came out of insecurity not contempt.
The American Irish I encountered a lot in Boston are different than the ones I encountered here in Ireland. Again, a generalization but maybe there’s something to it. Maybe the American Irish, not unlike the Jews or Italians that made their way to America a few generations ago, had to fight for their place as people and as communities and that gave them a bit of an edge. There’s a certain sense of surrender and kindness here in the old country. I may be romanticizing it but so be it. I guess what I’m saying is I like the people here.
We had tea at Bewley’s a lot. Scones, whatnot. I actually stayed away from the sausages somehow. We ate a lot at an old veggie place called Cornucopia which was good. We saw the Book of Kells and the long room in the old library at Trinity College. We took a day trip out to Howth and walked the cliffs. We saw Francis Bacon’s reconstructed studio at the Hugh Lane Gallery. We walked around the city a lot. I am going to come back here and spend more time in other parts of the country. Didn’t have time this trip.
The whole short tour was great. We had a good time.
Today on the show I talk to Scott Thompson. It was a long time coming. It was a good talk. I have two more KITH to talk to, Bruce McCullough and Mark McKinney. I also have a short chat with my old friend Tom Rhodes today. On Thursday me and Drew Carey do the talking and it was pretty enlightening. I didn’t know anything about him.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron