Staying in St. Patrick’s Day a Day Too Long

You get all four seasons in March. One of my favorite sayings. On Friday a sudden harbinger of early summer burst upon us and like another sign of things to come a new Street Fair down by what those who dream of a new SoHo call the Power House District. What one would assume to be two competitors, the two gin mills on Marin Boulevard, closed off a block and held a Saint Patrick’s day street party—technically a half block party since the makeshift bars that were set up comprised exactly that much street space. The new place, the lounge, has my favorite mural and the older place, an Irish-themed bar, I saw a pretty good show by Any Day Parade that became one of my earliest blogs. I have aged out the target demographic for either. I find the idea of making Marin Blvd a hipster scene amusing and absurd, although I’m not sure if it is amusing because it is absurd or the other way around. Marin Boulevard is min-highway whose sole purpose is to feed an unending stream of traffic to and from the entrance (or exit) of the Holland Tunnel. A toll booth is more organic to this thoroughfare than upscale taverns since it resembles the Turnpike more than it does Williamsburg. I hope I’m wrong.

I made this Facebook joke on March 18th: See you next year green shirt, plastic green hat, temporary shamrock face tattoo, corn beef and cabbage, Jameson, Van Morrison CDs... Now back to our regular scheduled programming—hold on, Jameson and Van Morrison stick around The point of the joke is that whiskey and good music transcends holidays. I like Saint Patrick’s day. Last year I went to the Jersey City parade, for the first time, and went to the NYC edition, which is nearby the day job office. I couldn’t afford the time this year. Nonetheless, I always have a corned beef sandwich, a Jameson or three or five and listen to Van Morrison. In fact, I play the Van cds for a few days before and after (Astral Weeks, which is new to me, fascinates) too, but mainly because I seem to never listen to him the rest of the year and it’s satisfying to spend time with him (Favorite: Rave On John Donne from the Live at the Belfast Opera House, which has one of the best (not by Coltrane) saxophone solos ever – the great Pee Wee Ellis).

I’m actually part (my mother’s mother) Irish, although I have no kind of ethnic identity; I admire ethnic identity, I just don’t feel I have one nor do I desire one. Being American is quite sufficient thank you very much. Saint Patrick’s Day is really celebrated around here and maybe Boston and Philadelphia, but the rest of the country it barely is a blip. It’s almost as regional as Mardi Gras.

Except at Bars of course, some of which push the holiday all year but most just put up those cardboard green shamrocks right after they put away the New Years noise makers and garland. They want the holiday to be the entire month of March. Just as some taverns attempt to hold Mardi Gras drinking parties outside of bayou country, they want March to begin in January. Drink if you’re Irish and everybody is Irish during the Saint Patrick season.

Hoboken, Jersey City (even Queens) have their own Saint Patrick’s day parade, which they hold before the 17th. Friends of mine who are part of and/or have friends who are part of the local Teamsters have a big St. Patrick’s Day party in Seaside. Many who march in those gigs also partake of the 5th avenue orgy of green and booze. We get several weeks, or at least several days during those weeks to put on the green, celebrate the Celtic, and consume alcohol. The Irish, and Irish-Americans, have a lot to be proud about; we all share the legacy of the positive impact they (and 25 percent of me) had on the United States. But the fact is we celebrate this contribution by boozing it up. Nothing wrong with Whiskey! But, the idea that Saint Patrick’s is a religious celebration is not only absurd, but offensive, i.e., let Irish Gays March! To pretend otherwise is sickening blarney. Irish Pride is worthy of celebration, but that celebration is expressed with materialism and materialism’s most obvious result: consumerism. Seriously, why pretend otherwise?

Extending holidays beyond the specific date has been a troubling trend in America for the past quarter of century. Unabashed, unapologetic and relentless consumerism is a byproduct of Reaganism, an era only now fading, and fading too slowly to suit me! Christmas of course is most egregious example, not just of the consumerism but of extension of the holiday, which enables expanded consumerism. There’s black Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday, the shopping seasons, the Christmas Party season and then New Years. About an entire month of consumption in the name of family, friends, colleagues and good cheer. Halloween is as much of an adult holiday as the trick or treat candy give-away for kids—two distinct markets.

I think this started with my generation, the younger baby boomers too old for Gen X, Halloween parties for College Students. Very popular in rural college towns where the surrounding agrarian societies brought over the holiday from old Europe as part of the Harvest season. Now it’s Halloween weekend, people go to more than one Halloween Party. Valentines Day is another example – Valentines Day Weekend, or week; hell all them mattresses sales in February during Presidents Day Weekend. We can’t have holidays on one day any more. We all have to strive for Christmas, the masterpiece of extended consumption. Christmas is bigger than Jesus (and X-Mas!)

But here’s the thing with Christmas, and holidays – anticipation is part of the celebration, and we can ring in the holiday early – but enough is enough! When it’s over it’s over, no one wants to celebrate the holiday after the holiday. We have to go back to our regular life, friends, family. There are books to read and movies to see. Normal life, work to do. Vacations are fun but you eventually you get enough and the vacations you remember as being the best are probably the ones that you didn’t want to end when you accepted the inevitably of the ticket home. Holidays should be like good entertainers, never give too much, always leave a little early, always leave your audience wanting more.

I was never big on the adult Halloween party thing, although a good buddy of mine was and was organizing Halloween parties (which I almost always found an excuse to avoid) into his late 30s. I remember this one year, he was holding a party on November 5th! I think I remember him telling it was his least well attended Halloween and it may have been his last Halloween extravaganza. Can you imagine, putting on the costume again while you are beginning to make thanksgiving plans. Who wants candy corn when you have to take the scarf out of mothballs and implement sausage or oyster stuffing deliberations?

Look at the Capitalist Bacchanal that Christmas has become – but by January 2nd you’ve had enough, the tree is a sagging fire hazard and the snow and cold are no longer fun and you are apprehensive about the credit card bills. So maybe with local parades and the Guinness specials that right after Valentines Day week, Saint Patrick’s can sustain more than one day of celebration. But celebrating it on the 18th?

Those shamrocks looked awfully sad and in the half block block party the bar and lounge workers far outnumbered the attendees. The weather was fantastic and drinking legally in the street is always fun but I had enough Jameson the day before (Astral Weeks I played all weekend). When the holiday is over, it’s over, trying to stretch it tarnishes whole damn enterprise. Celebrating it too late is far worse than celebrating it too early. Load up the front end, not the back end. Capitalism needs some kind of leash. Banal impulses must be hindered to be enjoyed. On the other hand, absurd or amusing are often outcomes that are unanticipated during planning.