The Lads of the Ring 💍🇮🇹

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on a blustery Friday evening, bringing you Irish news and views from home and abroad. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, our app to connect Irish people and lovers of Irish culture globally. If you haven’t got Shift yet, you can download it here. And if you’d like someone else to get The Craic every week, drop their email in the wee box on this page.

News from Home

Laoghaire of the Rings. Quite the tale this one: Irishman Patrick Mohr was holidaying in Italy with his family and lost his wedding ring in a river. The family approached three Italian men to tell them about his loss and gave them their phone number in case they stumbled upon it. The three heroes – Fillipo, Nicola and Edoardo – went a little further than that, scouring the river for the ring for days. Finally, Nicola spotted a gleam of gold in the riverbed, snatching up the precious. The lads sent Patrick a photo of their triumph. But instead of posting the ring back, they decided to carry it themselves, taking a plane (dressed as Hobbits) all the way to Mordor Ireland. They reunited with the Mohr Family in their native Dún Laoghaire (sounds like a Middle-earth place, but it’s actually in South Dublin) and handed over the ring to a grateful Patrick. We love this story. People are sound, aren’t they?

Stay Tuned. Jack McGarry, proprietor of the legendary Dead Rabbit Bar NYC, has made little secret of his passion for Belfast, where he learned the bar trade. Jack has hinted this week that he may be opening a new bar in the city where it all began.

Riches. A new study has shown that Irish “wealth’ has trebled over the past 30 years. We’ve touched on Ireland’s transformation from a poor country to an extremely rich one a lot over the years, but without getting too political about it all, there is a growing sense that access to that wealth is highly uneven. “Who gives a shite about GDP when a lot of folks struggle to pay rent?” is basically what the average person on the street thinks.

Too Soon. Well, here we are, lads. It’s October the something-th, and The Temple Bar is bedecked in Christmas decorations. Come on, really? There has to be some law against this. Big thanks to friend of Shift, Alan, for braving the throng (and Temple Bar prices) and sending us the photos!

The Craic Recommends....Pinotphile. Well, we haven’t seen it yet, as it is being filmed for Netflix on November 7 at the New York Comedy Festival, but it is a stand-up comedy special by Ireland’s Joanne McNally, and we know it’s going to be great. Joanne made her US TV debut last week on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, getting a standing ovation from the audience and plenty of props from Big Jim. This is just the start for Joanne. 

The Irish Influence

The Garrick is one of Belfast’s most beloved pubs, known for great Guinness, tasty traditional grub, trad sessions, and more. It’s run by Colm Oates, one of the city’s best-known and respected publicans. So there’s been plenty of excitement in Belfast this week about the opening of his new bar, The Side Bar. The Craic went down to investigate last night (had a few too many, so this newsletter is being typed extra slowly today), and we can report that, unsurprisingly, it’s class, with great cocktails, fine wines (we overdid it on Shiraz 🍷🤒) and superb bites. It looks like a new wee jewel in the heart of Belfast, a modern contrast to the old-school Garrick. We’d certainly recommend it to anyone visiting the city. Anyway, we want to give a big shout-out to Colm, Daniel and the team. Best of luck with your new venture! We know it’ll be a massive success. 

Cúpla Focal

ÉAN {EE-an} – Bird. Lately, we’ve been really impressed with some of our Gaeilgeoirí (Irish speakers) doing their bit to promote the language at home and abroad. So we want to highlight weareirish.ie this week, where we found these lovely words for Irish birds: Smólach ( Thrush), Lasair Choille (Goldfinch), Corcrán Coille (Bullfinch; they are cute wee fat boyos) and Faoileán (Seagull). You can check out more wee birdie names here.

Blast from the Past

We had something else planned for this spot today, but news broke mere minutes ago of the death of Dónal Lunny. If you aren’t aware of Dónal, a comment from a friend there called him “the GOAT of trad music”. He has been delighting lovers of Irish music since 1966, founding several popular bands, including the legendary Planxty with Christy Moore. Dónal was a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, brilliant at everything from guitar to keyboards to bodhran. Yet, one of his lasting legacies is the (re) popularization of the rarest of musical instruments, the Irish bouzouki. Anyway, no quips or jokes here, as there is a sense of sadness at the loss of such a titan. Here’s a little clip of Dónal playing the bouzouki – búsúcaí in Irish – back in 1979. Gorgeous.

And One Last Thing….

Tomorrow is the Central Mass Irish Festival, running from midday at the Winchendon Amphitheater, Winchendon, MA. Thankfully, the weather looks fine, as this one was postponed due to the Nor’easter a couple of weeks back. This is a Shift Partner Festival, so you will get loads of info on the event on the Shift app. Tickets cost just over $20, but there’s a bunch of great Irish and Irish American bands and entertainment, so we think it’s a bit of a bargain. As ever, if you see anyone wearing the aul Shift apparel – we are usually hard to miss – come on over and say hello.