Celebrate St Patrick’s Day 115 days early this year. Yep, that’s right, on November 22^, Celtic punk rock band Dropkick Murphys will make a tour stop in Coyote’s at City Block. The Murphys are a small hardcore punk rock Celtic orchestra with more than ten types of Irish instrumentation, including uilleann pipes or Irish bagpipes.

File Photo

Dropkick Murphys formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts, which is just a few miles outside of Boston. They started as a four-piece punk rock act, changing a few members during their early years. They eventually started adding members with new types of instrumentation, which brought more of a Celtic flair to their punk rock sound. Today, the Murphys have grown to seven members playing up to ten types of instruments from one song to the next.

Dropkick Murphys started to make their way onto the national scene when they were added to the Vans Warped Tour in 2003. The following year, their remake of the Boston Red Sox’s anthem, “Tessie,” went on to become the Boston Red Sox’s official song when they won the World Series later that year.

Also in 2004 the Murphys landed a song on the Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 CD compilation, which included the Foo Fighters, Green Day, Bad Religion, and Rancid. Rick Rubin was one of the producers of this album.

In 2005, they released their fifth album, The Warriors Code, on Epitaph Records. Their hit song “I’m Shipping Up To Boston,” with lyrics that is based on a Woody Guthrie poem, was used in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winning film “The Departed,” which gained the Murphys considerable fame. Yep, you remember that song, don’t you?

So you already know this is one show you shouldn’t miss. This is one awesome showcase of musicianship, so long as you can stand the good ol’ punk rock drinking crowd whom will keep the environment quite “live” offstage too. The Dropkick Murphys will probably feel right at home here in Louisville. As for everyone else here at home, you’ll like this band because they are just as patriotic to their homeland as many of us Louisville / Kentucky musicians and fans are. And bagpipes in perfect unison with traditional punk-based instrumentation just effin rocks, too.

Opening the show is The Loved Ones and The Mahones. Ticket prices are $25, which seems a little on the high end for Coyote’s, but, I think the average person will get way more for their entertainment dollar on this $25 ticket price versus most other $25 ticket price shows at a bar.

Bottom line, go see it. Gas is down to $2.50 a gallon temporarily, and on top of that St. Patrick’s Day is one of the coolest holidays of the year, even this ad-hoc one on November 22.

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After walking 27 New York City blocks in the world’s largest human traffic jam, the Strawberry Fields sign along the West side of Central Park came as quite a relief to see. Strawberry Fields is a small area in Central Park memorializing the area where John Lennon both lived and where he eventually was murdered in 1980. Before I left that big electronic concrete jungle, I had to pay my respect to one of the world’s greatest musicians.

After rounding a few corners, I walked into the focal point of the memorial. It’s a big stone Italian-style mosaic with “Imagine” in the center.

Photo by Jason Ashcraft

There was a middle-aged bearded man nearby. Next to him was a Black Labrador wrapped in a sleeping bag, lying pretty much motionless. The man furiously sorted through a garbage bag of second-hand flowers and laying out the ones not wilted onto a small area on the cobblestone walkway. I was pretty sure the dog was getting ready to die and the man, apparently homeless, was making peace with the situation.

All the other tourists still came and took pictures of themselves around the Imagine mosaic, ignoring the man and his dying dog. Being a dog lover, ignoring that whole situation wasn’t easy for me. I snapped a quick picture of the mosaic and, opting not to visit The Dakota, the apartment building where Lennon was murdered, I headed back up to the Upper West Side. Although not having the human traffic jam that neighboring parts of the city do, the Upper West Side doesn’t have nearly as many places of business.

I still left somewhat amazed how there is a sense of solitude around Strawberry Fields, right in the middle of one of the world’s largest and most hectic human environments. Ying and Yang is the best way to think of it.

However, Strawberry Fields is a “must experience” place for music history buffs and Beatle lovers alike. If you can stand the chaotic city that surrounds it, I suggest you make the trip.

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