Dropkick Murphys

Where to begin with describing this busy weekend?

I guess we'll start with Friday night -- that's when we got the pakage from Ken Casey, lead singer for Dropkick Murphys, one of Peter's favorite bands. If you aren't familiar with them, they're Punk Irish band from Boston. Think guitar and drums, plus bagpipes and penny whistle. They're probably now best known for having their songs in The Departed, which won the Oscar for Best Picture last year. If you haven't seen it, it's all about Boston Irish cops and Boston Irish mobsters. One of the songs from the film is "Shipping Up to Boston," one of Peter's favorites (and mine, I'll admit. Good running song.)

They also have a big connection to the Red Sox. They sing a song called "Tessie," which is a very old tune about a woman who loves the Sox. They rode in the Sox Workd Series victory parade this year, with Jon Papelbon, the Sox closer, jigging along with the band. Personally, I like "Wicked Sensitive Crew," which features the lyrics "In Pittsburgh they called us closed minded/but we know that's simply not true./Yeah, we're touchy, feely, sensitive guys/I ain't ashamed I cried when Mickey died in Rocky 2!" (Yes, it was Rocky 3, but that doesn't rhyme.) Plus, I like some other songs with titles I can't print in the blog.

So that's the band.

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We knew we were going to this Irish party on Saturday, so ISabel and I looked for fun t-shirts for the kids. I saw a Dropkick t-shirt at a Bob's Store that I wanted to get for Peter (it says BOSTON IRISH on the front), but they didn't have his size. I called my Mom to see if they might have one at the store near her. She called back to tell me that my dear cuginita (little cousin) Christine was friends with the lead singer. Mom remembered his last name was Casey. "Kenny Casey?" I said. "I used to play baseball with him." He grew up in Milton, and he was a neighborhood kid, so we'd play pick-up baseball, or football, or basketball sometimes. I'd hardly call him a close friend, but I certainly remembered him. (He has the same face 30 years later.)

After I talked to Mom, I told Peter that I knew Ken Casey, and he about fainted. (He gets a little star-struck at times.) In the meantime, Mom told me that she had contacted Christine and hold Christione that Peter was such a big fan, so Christine called Ken Casey. Apparently, they knew each other well as teenagers, and have kept in touch. (Still not sure about the details of their relationship. Christine -- could you explain?)

Ken sent a package to out to us immediately: an autographed picture, two shirts, and a bunch of stickers. Here are Peter and John wearing the shirts at the St. Patrick's party Saturday:

Yesterday, we wrote to Christine to thank her, and asked if it would be OK to e-mail Ken Casey directly to thank him. She asked Ken if it was OK, and he agreed ("Anything for you," is what I think Christine said that Ken told her. Seriously, Christine, can you explain this relationship?). So Peter e-mailed him last night to say thanks. He wrote about two sentences, and I asked if that was all he wanted to say. "I don't know what else to say!" Peter told me, all nervous. "I've never written to someone who's world-famous before!" (Peter knows Dropkick is off to tour Europe in a few weeks -- thus, "world famous.")

So, thank you my dear cousin. You made Peter's week -- maybe his month. He'll be bragging about this at school for the rest of the year.


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We had a good time at the St. Patrick's Day party (two weeks early, but that's what you need to do if you want to book an Irish DJ, apparently). Catherine especially enjoyed herself. She didn't stop moving the whole night. When slow songs came on, she danced ballet. When fast songs came on, she dragged someone out to the dance floor (usually me) or just ran around in circles. Here are some pictures:

John getting down, doing the Macarena:

Catherine dancing with some friends:

Peter doing the Chicken Dance. Instead of the clapping part, he makes armpit noises:

And yes, he really did write a piece called "Concerto for Saxophone and Armpit." But every time he tried to play what he'd composed so far (with himself on sax and his brother on armpit), John would laugh too hard to make it work, so he abandoned the project.

Discussing music makes as good a transition as any. Next entry: the kids perform at the Connectocut Young Musicians Festival, and Dad runs a 5k.