“Banter and Chat and Laughter Between Cousins” Our Irish DNA Cousin – Tom Molloy in Ireland
By Todd Neel and Tom Molloy
Through my Y-DNA submission of a cheek-swab sample to ancestry.com I got 250 names of genetic relatives around the world. I got some interesting and fascinating stories, but few actual connections where we tried to figure out who-begat-whom that got us here, confirming how we are related except by the genetic lab’s claim.
I did make a significant connection with one genetic relative in Ireland through this test. Ancestry.com says that Thomas Joseph Molloy from Ireland and I are both in Haplogroup R1b, and that we are genetically related. It says “Ancestor Match: Within 14 generations, approximately 350 years ago”.
Tom Molloy claims lineage to of Niall of Nine Hostages (also known as Niall Noígíallach), the man who kidnapped Patrick from England at age 14 (in the 5th Century) and took him to Ireland where Patrick was a slave until about age 21 when he escaped and later became St. Patrick (check out Niall of Nine Hostages on Wikipedia.com)
This growing chapter is a bit long (43 pages in November 2011). It is rich with very humorous e-mail interchanges between my DNA cousin, Tom Molloy in Ireland, and myself. I think it is well worth the read:
I did make a significant connection with one genetic relative in Ireland through this test. Ancestry.com says that Thomas Joseph Molloy from Ireland and I are both in Haplogroup R1b, and that we are genetically related. It says “Ancestor Match: Within 14 generations, approximately 350 years ago”.
Tom Molloy claims lineage to of Niall of Nine Hostages (also known as Niall Noígíallach), the man who kidnapped Patrick from England at age 14 (in the 5th Century) and took him to Ireland where Patrick was a slave until about age 21 when he escaped and later became St. Patrick (check out Niall of Nine Hostages on Wikipedia.com)
This growing chapter is a bit long (43 pages in November 2011). It is rich with very humorous e-mail interchanges between my DNA cousin, Tom Molloy in Ireland, and myself. I think it is well worth the read:
From: Tom Molloy
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
To: Todd Neel
Subject: Would like to connect with you as a result of using Ancestry.com's DNA service
hello todd,
good day to you, and i am sorry for not replying earlier. if i can be of any help in finding a family connection i will certainly provide you with any information i have. my family name molloy is a very old irish name, we can trace our name back to niall of the nine hostages, who it is said brought st patrick to ireland as a slave. the name molloy in irish is "maolmhuaidgh", meaning great leader the family motto is "gearraigh agus dogh buaidh" which means cut and burn to victory, so as you can see we are not a friendly lot, what with slave trading and wanting to cut and burn to victory maybe you might want to disconnect rather than connect our families. only joking, so todd any questions i can answer i will and any information i can provide i will
take care
tom (slave trader) molloy
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
To: Todd Neel
Subject: Would like to connect with you as a result of using Ancestry.com's DNA service
hello todd,
good day to you, and i am sorry for not replying earlier. if i can be of any help in finding a family connection i will certainly provide you with any information i have. my family name molloy is a very old irish name, we can trace our name back to niall of the nine hostages, who it is said brought st patrick to ireland as a slave. the name molloy in irish is "maolmhuaidgh", meaning great leader the family motto is "gearraigh agus dogh buaidh" which means cut and burn to victory, so as you can see we are not a friendly lot, what with slave trading and wanting to cut and burn to victory maybe you might want to disconnect rather than connect our families. only joking, so todd any questions i can answer i will and any information i can provide i will
take care
tom (slave trader) molloy
(Note from Todd: I wrote back to Tom telling him that if he, and his family, are over that
(cutting and burning and hostage taking), that I would like to keep talking).
(cutting and burning and hostage taking), that I would like to keep talking).
From: Thomas Joseph “Tom” Molloy
Paternal Test: Y-46
Paternal Haplogroup: R1b
Group Membership: O'Molloy Clan Association
Number of members: 16
Our surname of interest is O'Molloy Clan Association. We are looking for additional participants. Individuals interested in collaborating on family history and using genetic testing to assist our research efforts are encouraged to join. If you are a male with one of the included surnames and are interested in researching your direct paternal line further, you can participate. This project study is using the DNA test that looks at a portion of the DNA called the Y chromosome. The Y chromosome is unique to males and can be used to identify one's direct paternal line. For this reason, females cannot contribute directly, but can find a male relative (father, brother, cousin, etc) to be tested as a representative of her line. Females can also participate by acting as a Project Coordinator or in other administrative capacities.
Paternal Test: Y-46
Paternal Haplogroup: R1b
Group Membership: O'Molloy Clan Association
Number of members: 16
Our surname of interest is O'Molloy Clan Association. We are looking for additional participants. Individuals interested in collaborating on family history and using genetic testing to assist our research efforts are encouraged to join. If you are a male with one of the included surnames and are interested in researching your direct paternal line further, you can participate. This project study is using the DNA test that looks at a portion of the DNA called the Y chromosome. The Y chromosome is unique to males and can be used to identify one's direct paternal line. For this reason, females cannot contribute directly, but can find a male relative (father, brother, cousin, etc) to be tested as a representative of her line. Females can also participate by acting as a Project Coordinator or in other administrative capacities.
From: Todd
To: Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for writing back so quickly. When I wrote you previously, at that time I was so overwhelmed with messages from ancestry.com it was hard for me to sort out which messages to respond to (I had just gotten my DNA results, and I got 250 names). I do remember your story, though, about Niall of the Nine Hostages, and it lead me to do more research about him and St. Patrick (who at the time I hadn't realized had been taken hostage).
And I do remember your translation of the Molloy family motto being “cut and burn to victory”. Are you and your clan done with that tradition?
Well, of course, it would be great if we could help each other with genealogy research and figure out how our families are connected. Since I got the DNA information, I have yet to make actual linkages with those DNA relatives with my known family. I can share my own database with you if you're interested (I currently have 3800+ persons). I also have a book I generated on my home computer using Family Tree Maker software. (The book is a bit expensive to print, but you're welcome to an electronic version of it at no cost - my intention is to make family connections, not to make any money).
But this work is not just about gathering numbers. For me it's also about adding color to my family tree, with interesting stories like yours. I would like to hear more about your story, and about your family's history. Can you tell me more about yourself?
And, my family is coming to Europe very soon (my wife, Mary, and our 2 sons Nathan, who is age 17, and we'll celebrate his 18th birthday in Paris, and Josh, who is age 16). We have plane tickets, but we have to work out more details, like hotels, ground travel, and other logistics. There were so many places we want to go, and we have to set some limits because of time and money restrictions. (I also have to be respectful of my wife's wishes, also, because this trip is being paid for with her inheritance - her mother died last summer, and we consider this as a gift from them, our children's grandparents). This is possibly a "once in a lifetime" sort of trip, as I had never imagined going to Europe, but then again maybe this will just be opening doors for future trips there.
So, Tom, how can we help each other? Are you willing to share information about your family? And what would you like from me?
Thanks,
Todd
To: Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for writing back so quickly. When I wrote you previously, at that time I was so overwhelmed with messages from ancestry.com it was hard for me to sort out which messages to respond to (I had just gotten my DNA results, and I got 250 names). I do remember your story, though, about Niall of the Nine Hostages, and it lead me to do more research about him and St. Patrick (who at the time I hadn't realized had been taken hostage).
And I do remember your translation of the Molloy family motto being “cut and burn to victory”. Are you and your clan done with that tradition?
Well, of course, it would be great if we could help each other with genealogy research and figure out how our families are connected. Since I got the DNA information, I have yet to make actual linkages with those DNA relatives with my known family. I can share my own database with you if you're interested (I currently have 3800+ persons). I also have a book I generated on my home computer using Family Tree Maker software. (The book is a bit expensive to print, but you're welcome to an electronic version of it at no cost - my intention is to make family connections, not to make any money).
But this work is not just about gathering numbers. For me it's also about adding color to my family tree, with interesting stories like yours. I would like to hear more about your story, and about your family's history. Can you tell me more about yourself?
And, my family is coming to Europe very soon (my wife, Mary, and our 2 sons Nathan, who is age 17, and we'll celebrate his 18th birthday in Paris, and Josh, who is age 16). We have plane tickets, but we have to work out more details, like hotels, ground travel, and other logistics. There were so many places we want to go, and we have to set some limits because of time and money restrictions. (I also have to be respectful of my wife's wishes, also, because this trip is being paid for with her inheritance - her mother died last summer, and we consider this as a gift from them, our children's grandparents). This is possibly a "once in a lifetime" sort of trip, as I had never imagined going to Europe, but then again maybe this will just be opening doors for future trips there.
So, Tom, how can we help each other? Are you willing to share information about your family? And what would you like from me?
Thanks,
Todd
From: Tom
Sent: March 06, 2011
To: Todd
hello todd,
good to hear from you, i hope you and your family are doing fine
and are as healthy as a butcher's dog.
we are fine over here except for a small debt of 150 billion yoyos
we owe the imf (International Monetary Fund) and european bank,
i've taken on extra work to help
pay this debt, but have been told making hooch is still illegal,
but we find great enjoyment from it and days seem to blend into each
other unlike our pooteen. staying drunk is good as we never suffer
hangovers, and we smile constantly. we maybe poor but we are
happy.
sorry you can't make our rally this year, and if i keep making pooteen
i won't be at it either,
take care of yourself and your family
keep in touch visit me in prison
tom
Sent: March 06, 2011
To: Todd
hello todd,
good to hear from you, i hope you and your family are doing fine
and are as healthy as a butcher's dog.
we are fine over here except for a small debt of 150 billion yoyos
we owe the imf (International Monetary Fund) and european bank,
i've taken on extra work to help
pay this debt, but have been told making hooch is still illegal,
but we find great enjoyment from it and days seem to blend into each
other unlike our pooteen. staying drunk is good as we never suffer
hangovers, and we smile constantly. we maybe poor but we are
happy.
sorry you can't make our rally this year, and if i keep making pooteen
i won't be at it either,
take care of yourself and your family
keep in touch visit me in prison
tom
Note from Todd: “pooteen” is alcohol, as Tom explains later.
3/28/2011
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
Good to hear from you. Hope you're not in prison when you receive this. You're a funny guy.
We're actually not "healthy as a butcher's dog", as my wife and I joined "The Biggest Losers" competition at our health club, trying to lose weight. (I don't know if you get that TV show, but I actually hate the show). I've lost about 10 lbs. so far, and I'm feeling better.
Yes, the Irish financial situation sounds pretty bad. Does it make daily living bad? We've been in financial hard times here for awhile, but not like you've got there. In my family, we've got 2 parents working full time (me and my wife), and our 2 boys are almost done with high school, so hopefully soon they will be working and moving towards independence someday soon, freeing up some family finances. But then there's the potential for grandchildren. I hear they can cost some money out-of-pocket also.
So, funny guy, what is "pooteen"? I actually don't drink anymore because I'm a recovering alcoholic. I almost killed myself in a car accident in 1973 when I ran into a tree, and I still have a metal plate and 8 screws on my thigh bone, but that didn't stop me drinking then. I kept at it until 1981 when I finally got treatment, and I've now been sober for 30 years. Don't let that scare you, as sometimes when people seem to back off when I tell them I'm sober. Seems like they might think it's contagious.
I don't want to lose my only known living relative in Ireland, as you're my only connection to Niall of Nine Hostages. And I might be able to make it to my Irish homeland someday, and I might need some directions in how to find the bathroom or a headstone or something.
Regarding good old Niall of Nine Hostages, you think you can find some time away from your hooch to send some more information on your family lineage before you go to prison, or you are under one of those headstones?
I'd really like to keep this line of communication open and share more information on our family. Maybe in case you’re having a hard time focusing on this, I can start with some specific questions, like, can you tell me about your own living family? Your wife and kids? Your parents? You have any brothers and sisters?
(I do intend the tone of my e-mail here to be funny here, and I hope you take it that way!)
Cheers! From your cousin,
Todd Neel from Idaho (or "Spudhead Todd")
3/28/2011
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
Good to hear from you. Hope you're not in prison when you receive this. You're a funny guy.
We're actually not "healthy as a butcher's dog", as my wife and I joined "The Biggest Losers" competition at our health club, trying to lose weight. (I don't know if you get that TV show, but I actually hate the show). I've lost about 10 lbs. so far, and I'm feeling better.
Yes, the Irish financial situation sounds pretty bad. Does it make daily living bad? We've been in financial hard times here for awhile, but not like you've got there. In my family, we've got 2 parents working full time (me and my wife), and our 2 boys are almost done with high school, so hopefully soon they will be working and moving towards independence someday soon, freeing up some family finances. But then there's the potential for grandchildren. I hear they can cost some money out-of-pocket also.
So, funny guy, what is "pooteen"? I actually don't drink anymore because I'm a recovering alcoholic. I almost killed myself in a car accident in 1973 when I ran into a tree, and I still have a metal plate and 8 screws on my thigh bone, but that didn't stop me drinking then. I kept at it until 1981 when I finally got treatment, and I've now been sober for 30 years. Don't let that scare you, as sometimes when people seem to back off when I tell them I'm sober. Seems like they might think it's contagious.
I don't want to lose my only known living relative in Ireland, as you're my only connection to Niall of Nine Hostages. And I might be able to make it to my Irish homeland someday, and I might need some directions in how to find the bathroom or a headstone or something.
Regarding good old Niall of Nine Hostages, you think you can find some time away from your hooch to send some more information on your family lineage before you go to prison, or you are under one of those headstones?
I'd really like to keep this line of communication open and share more information on our family. Maybe in case you’re having a hard time focusing on this, I can start with some specific questions, like, can you tell me about your own living family? Your wife and kids? Your parents? You have any brothers and sisters?
(I do intend the tone of my e-mail here to be funny here, and I hope you take it that way!)
Cheers! From your cousin,
Todd Neel from Idaho (or "Spudhead Todd")
3/29/2011
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
hello todd,
good day to you, and thanks for the irish humour and the fact
that we can laugh and fine no offence in our banter.
a bit of my history, born 08/08/56 one of 9 children and it was
a case of ''first up best dressed'' after that it was various
degrees of nudity till all the rags were gone. berries and nuts
were our staple diet we always had hunger pangs but we were regular.
my father sold funiture for a living, unfortunately it was ours,
we were so poor our mother would send us out with a shopping list to
chase the garbage truck, we went to kfc to lick other people's fingers,
i asked for a yoyo one christmas, my parents could only afford a yo,
we lived on the poorer side of town, toilet paper was all you would
see hanging from clotheslines, our house was so small if we got a large
pizza we had to go outside to eat it.
i am the father of two daughters 19 and 16 years old, my wife of 25 years is
celine we live in geashill co offaly, about 20 miles from moneygall, the
homeland obama's ancestors hailed from, and is due to visit in may of this
year.
so todd if i have,nt put you sleep with my long and winding tales of
hardship and poverty i will finish with a take care of yourself
and your family
tom
two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
hello todd,
good day to you, and thanks for the irish humour and the fact
that we can laugh and fine no offence in our banter.
a bit of my history, born 08/08/56 one of 9 children and it was
a case of ''first up best dressed'' after that it was various
degrees of nudity till all the rags were gone. berries and nuts
were our staple diet we always had hunger pangs but we were regular.
my father sold funiture for a living, unfortunately it was ours,
we were so poor our mother would send us out with a shopping list to
chase the garbage truck, we went to kfc to lick other people's fingers,
i asked for a yoyo one christmas, my parents could only afford a yo,
we lived on the poorer side of town, toilet paper was all you would
see hanging from clotheslines, our house was so small if we got a large
pizza we had to go outside to eat it.
i am the father of two daughters 19 and 16 years old, my wife of 25 years is
celine we live in geashill co offaly, about 20 miles from moneygall, the
homeland obama's ancestors hailed from, and is due to visit in may of this
year.
so todd if i have,nt put you sleep with my long and winding tales of
hardship and poverty i will finish with a take care of yourself
and your family
tom
two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do
3/29/2011
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
Do you also currently live in the poverty you were raised in, as it appears you (or your Dad) sold the Caps key on your computer. Laughing to keep from crying seems to be your case. You could be a writer, except for the Caps key. (Although there was a poet who didn't use Caps either, I think ...) So you had a KFC in your home town where you grew up? What town?
I also have 2 kids, boys age 17 and 18 (Joshua is a Junior and Nathan is a Senior in high school now). This is spring break, and I'm taking a vacation day today to go skiing with them, then back to work tomorrow. My wife, Mary, and I have been married since 8/1989, so that makes it 21 years for us, although we have been friends since college since about 1978.
Looks like you are about one year younger than me, as I was born on 7/25/55. I am the second youngest of 4 kids, with our oldest brother having been adopted into our family, and he has had a very troubled life (we're out of touch with him, and not sure if he's still alive).
I wasn't raised in poverty, as we were pretty middle class. My dad was in the Navy for 32 years, which provided stability for us. He was at the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 12/7/1941 (his ship was the Shaw, a Destroyer in dry dock, and Dad was home mowing the lawn on that Sunday morning when the "funny looking" Japanese planes flew overhead).
What do you do for a living? Still gathering nuts and berries? Would you like me to send you a fresh roll of American toilet paper?
Todd
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
Do you also currently live in the poverty you were raised in, as it appears you (or your Dad) sold the Caps key on your computer. Laughing to keep from crying seems to be your case. You could be a writer, except for the Caps key. (Although there was a poet who didn't use Caps either, I think ...) So you had a KFC in your home town where you grew up? What town?
I also have 2 kids, boys age 17 and 18 (Joshua is a Junior and Nathan is a Senior in high school now). This is spring break, and I'm taking a vacation day today to go skiing with them, then back to work tomorrow. My wife, Mary, and I have been married since 8/1989, so that makes it 21 years for us, although we have been friends since college since about 1978.
Looks like you are about one year younger than me, as I was born on 7/25/55. I am the second youngest of 4 kids, with our oldest brother having been adopted into our family, and he has had a very troubled life (we're out of touch with him, and not sure if he's still alive).
I wasn't raised in poverty, as we were pretty middle class. My dad was in the Navy for 32 years, which provided stability for us. He was at the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 12/7/1941 (his ship was the Shaw, a Destroyer in dry dock, and Dad was home mowing the lawn on that Sunday morning when the "funny looking" Japanese planes flew overhead).
What do you do for a living? Still gathering nuts and berries? Would you like me to send you a fresh roll of American toilet paper?
Todd
4/1/2011
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Hello Todd,
In Tullamore town a lad named Tom
use of cap keys he frowned upon
till his cousin todd in amerikay
begged and pleaded use the keys (i'm no oscar wilde)
now i use them i've changed my ways
all long the days, all long the days
now that is epic, pure epic poetry
i paint and decorate with my brother and we are artistic OR should that be
auspicious, i do hope it's one or the other. we are not doing much AT the
moment, things are very quite. But it will IMPROVE,
My home town is Tullamore Co Offaly but i live in Geashill about 8 miles
away. Geashill is a very small village as is the natives.
I worked in London Heathrow for 17 years with Aer Lingus or air fungus
as we would call it, but returned to Ireland in 2011, since then myself
and my younger brother Micheal have painted and sometimes decorated
our way through life. We lead a very colourful and bohemian expensive
sorry that should be existence not expensive (just in case revenue is watching)
well todd enough of my waffle,
take care
tom
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Hello Todd,
In Tullamore town a lad named Tom
use of cap keys he frowned upon
till his cousin todd in amerikay
begged and pleaded use the keys (i'm no oscar wilde)
now i use them i've changed my ways
all long the days, all long the days
now that is epic, pure epic poetry
i paint and decorate with my brother and we are artistic OR should that be
auspicious, i do hope it's one or the other. we are not doing much AT the
moment, things are very quite. But it will IMPROVE,
My home town is Tullamore Co Offaly but i live in Geashill about 8 miles
away. Geashill is a very small village as is the natives.
I worked in London Heathrow for 17 years with Aer Lingus or air fungus
as we would call it, but returned to Ireland in 2011, since then myself
and my younger brother Micheal have painted and sometimes decorated
our way through life. We lead a very colourful and bohemian expensive
sorry that should be existence not expensive (just in case revenue is watching)
well todd enough of my waffle,
take care
tom
4/8/2011
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Greetings, Tom,
I hope you're writing all this down, because, yes, you do write epic poetry! (Wait, I guess you are writing this down!)
And thanks for responding with CAPS. I'm so glad you've still got that option. You don't have to use it, as it's not a NEED of mine, just a concern that it wasn't stolen or sold out from under you by your father.
Now, is that artistic, auspicious, or autistic?
And Bohemian - isn't that a brand of beer?
Are you into music? I have done hand drumming for a number of years, and in the last 6 months or so I have been playing with some friends (almost) every Monday night playing Celtic music (currently called the ID-WA Celtic Fiddlers, because Idaho musicians sometimes get together with Washington musicians playing Scottish and Irish music). I ask the fiddlers the difference between Irish and Scottish music, and they have an answer, but I couldn't repeat it.
I’m curious – so you can move back and forth between Ireland and England and work in both countries? You live in the Republic of Ireland (as opposed to Northern Ireland, correct?)
I'm a social worker by profession, working for the state of Idaho for the past 21 years. I also am a volunteer ski patroller and do other stuff as well.
When am I going to get to hear more from you about your/our connection with niall of nine hostages?
Your cousin in Amerikay,
Spudhead Todd
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Greetings, Tom,
I hope you're writing all this down, because, yes, you do write epic poetry! (Wait, I guess you are writing this down!)
And thanks for responding with CAPS. I'm so glad you've still got that option. You don't have to use it, as it's not a NEED of mine, just a concern that it wasn't stolen or sold out from under you by your father.
Now, is that artistic, auspicious, or autistic?
And Bohemian - isn't that a brand of beer?
Are you into music? I have done hand drumming for a number of years, and in the last 6 months or so I have been playing with some friends (almost) every Monday night playing Celtic music (currently called the ID-WA Celtic Fiddlers, because Idaho musicians sometimes get together with Washington musicians playing Scottish and Irish music). I ask the fiddlers the difference between Irish and Scottish music, and they have an answer, but I couldn't repeat it.
I’m curious – so you can move back and forth between Ireland and England and work in both countries? You live in the Republic of Ireland (as opposed to Northern Ireland, correct?)
I'm a social worker by profession, working for the state of Idaho for the past 21 years. I also am a volunteer ski patroller and do other stuff as well.
When am I going to get to hear more from you about your/our connection with niall of nine hostages?
Your cousin in Amerikay,
Spudhead Todd
4/11/2011
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Good afternoon Todd,
I hope you are well and also your family, we paddy's are doing ok.
Music, yes you know why bagpipers walk when they play?
to get away from the noise. My kind of music is very varied from Van
Morrison, Rod McKuen, Don Williams, Elvis Presley, my favourite
Irish balladeer is a guy called Frank Harte, look him up on Google
to me he is a legend. I love a good rousing rebel song, Clancy Brothers,
Dubliners, Paddy Reilly and one of the greatest, Christy Moore.
i'm really impressed that you are involved in Celtic music, nice one
Todd.
Irish nationals have alway had free movement between UK and Ireland
and British people also have the same freedom. I think we have the best of
both worlds and our past history maybe a bit dodgy but all in all we do well
as neighbours.
Now Todd about this unspeakable Niall of Nine, what would you like to know,
we Irish don't like to speak ill of the dead, and maybe after what knowledge
you gain you may decide to disown myself and the entire clan Molloy.
What's the difference between a banjo and a Harley Davidson?
you can tune a Harley Davidson
TaKE Good care
your cousin in irroland
Tom
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Good afternoon Todd,
I hope you are well and also your family, we paddy's are doing ok.
Music, yes you know why bagpipers walk when they play?
to get away from the noise. My kind of music is very varied from Van
Morrison, Rod McKuen, Don Williams, Elvis Presley, my favourite
Irish balladeer is a guy called Frank Harte, look him up on Google
to me he is a legend. I love a good rousing rebel song, Clancy Brothers,
Dubliners, Paddy Reilly and one of the greatest, Christy Moore.
i'm really impressed that you are involved in Celtic music, nice one
Todd.
Irish nationals have alway had free movement between UK and Ireland
and British people also have the same freedom. I think we have the best of
both worlds and our past history maybe a bit dodgy but all in all we do well
as neighbours.
Now Todd about this unspeakable Niall of Nine, what would you like to know,
we Irish don't like to speak ill of the dead, and maybe after what knowledge
you gain you may decide to disown myself and the entire clan Molloy.
What's the difference between a banjo and a Harley Davidson?
you can tune a Harley Davidson
TaKE Good care
your cousin in irroland
Tom
4/16/2011
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hello Tom,
Elvis, really? Did you know he has left the building?
I’m looking up Frank Harte now as I’m writing this. Thanks for turning me on to him. I just watched a YouTube video of him singing Valentine O’Hara, and in the introduction it says he sings it in English. (I take it he sings in Gaelic or some other tongue also?) I heard him in another recording introducing the song Spanish Lady, and I have to adjust my ear to make out his accent. (Do you have an accent? I don’t).
By the way, I saw Van Morrison play a concert with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell at The Gorge, in Washington in 2008. Van the Man is one of my favorites also.
Well, Tom, I hope I’m not waking you up, as I woke up early this morning (4 am). One of those nights. And while I was drinking my second cup of coffee, I started exploring the Internet for Frank Harte, Niall Noígíallach (our great-great-great-etc. grandpa), and other things. I’ve wanted to get the lyrics to one particular song that really touches me and almost brings me to tears by David Wilcox, one of my favorite musicians. The song is called Ireland. I'll paste it at the end of this e-mail. And as these are getting to be a long string of e-mails between us, I'm going to erase other communications tagged on the end.
It's now time for me to shower up, get breakfast, and get out the door to do my ski patrol duties. So check out these lyrics:
Ireland
By David Wilcox
From the album “Reverie”
Ireland
Someday I’ll sing in Ireland. I’ve dreamed it for so long
The motherland of balladeers and home to orphan songs
Where someone who loves music can feel like they belong
I’ll see those ways before these days are gone
When I was a kid in Cleveland, music got me through
I sang my songs to give me hope, and now it’s what I do
Some have called me a troubadour, as if the word was new
A thousand years of history breaking through
From far across the ocean, on that midwestern plain
My ballads and my story songs long for whence they came
It feels like finding family, though I have no Irish name
My heart is here in ways I can’t explain
The man who made my old guitar formed it on these shores
From trees that whispered in the wind three hundred years before
There’s secrets that the forest knows, and there’s places to explore
I’ll bring that Irish wood back home once more
I’ll find the pubs where people sing, I’ll listen to the bands
I’ll walk those busy city streets, and see it all first hand
Guitar case on the sidewalk where the singers make their stand
I’ll sing my songs on their own family land
‘Course I know so much has changed. The future’s come to stay
Show me life the way it is, not some Paddy’s day cliché
I’ll offer up my songs to you, and we’ll see the way they play
My orphan children may get turned away
But still I’ll show them where they’re from. It’s not just history
I’ll speak the words of poets gone: my music’s ancestry
We’ll hear the voice of Ireland in the wind beside the sea
In waves of music far as I can see
The voice of every poet singing free:
Singing bring your orphan children home - to me
My e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hello Tom,
Elvis, really? Did you know he has left the building?
I’m looking up Frank Harte now as I’m writing this. Thanks for turning me on to him. I just watched a YouTube video of him singing Valentine O’Hara, and in the introduction it says he sings it in English. (I take it he sings in Gaelic or some other tongue also?) I heard him in another recording introducing the song Spanish Lady, and I have to adjust my ear to make out his accent. (Do you have an accent? I don’t).
By the way, I saw Van Morrison play a concert with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell at The Gorge, in Washington in 2008. Van the Man is one of my favorites also.
Well, Tom, I hope I’m not waking you up, as I woke up early this morning (4 am). One of those nights. And while I was drinking my second cup of coffee, I started exploring the Internet for Frank Harte, Niall Noígíallach (our great-great-great-etc. grandpa), and other things. I’ve wanted to get the lyrics to one particular song that really touches me and almost brings me to tears by David Wilcox, one of my favorite musicians. The song is called Ireland. I'll paste it at the end of this e-mail. And as these are getting to be a long string of e-mails between us, I'm going to erase other communications tagged on the end.
It's now time for me to shower up, get breakfast, and get out the door to do my ski patrol duties. So check out these lyrics:
Ireland
By David Wilcox
From the album “Reverie”
Ireland
Someday I’ll sing in Ireland. I’ve dreamed it for so long
The motherland of balladeers and home to orphan songs
Where someone who loves music can feel like they belong
I’ll see those ways before these days are gone
When I was a kid in Cleveland, music got me through
I sang my songs to give me hope, and now it’s what I do
Some have called me a troubadour, as if the word was new
A thousand years of history breaking through
From far across the ocean, on that midwestern plain
My ballads and my story songs long for whence they came
It feels like finding family, though I have no Irish name
My heart is here in ways I can’t explain
The man who made my old guitar formed it on these shores
From trees that whispered in the wind three hundred years before
There’s secrets that the forest knows, and there’s places to explore
I’ll bring that Irish wood back home once more
I’ll find the pubs where people sing, I’ll listen to the bands
I’ll walk those busy city streets, and see it all first hand
Guitar case on the sidewalk where the singers make their stand
I’ll sing my songs on their own family land
‘Course I know so much has changed. The future’s come to stay
Show me life the way it is, not some Paddy’s day cliché
I’ll offer up my songs to you, and we’ll see the way they play
My orphan children may get turned away
But still I’ll show them where they’re from. It’s not just history
I’ll speak the words of poets gone: my music’s ancestry
We’ll hear the voice of Ireland in the wind beside the sea
In waves of music far as I can see
The voice of every poet singing free:
Singing bring your orphan children home - to me
4/17/2011
My e-mail to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
I did my day of skiing yesterday (wet spring conditions, heavy snow, rained much of the day). Glad the season is almost over. Just one more duty day to take care of my responsibilities. While at the top patrol shack of Silver Mountain, I brought my Zune (music player) and speakers, and played Martin Hayes (Irish fiddler often with Tom Cahill, on guitar), which was appealing to the ears of my friends. Have you heard his music? (he's on YouTube)
This morning I was listening to a YouTube mix of Frank Harte again, and it took me to a lot of other Irish music. One song about Joe McDonnell, Bobby Sands and a lot of men who were killed, apparently in the conflict with Northern Ireland, the IRA, etc.
Now I'm downloading music of others that you suggested (Christy Moore, Clancy Brothers, Dubliners).
Is this the kind of e-mail that bores you? Don't want to do that, so I'll keep this short.
Your DNA Cousin,
Todd
4/17/2011
My e-mail to Tom Molloy
Subject: Grandpa Niall
Hi Tom,
So, on Wikipedia, I can look up lots on Niall Noígíallach (some of which I
have difficulty pronouncing):
"Niall is placed in the traditional list of High Kings of Ireland. His reign
dated to the late 4th and early 5th centuries. The Annals of the Four
Masters dates his accession to 378 and death to 405.[2] The chronology of
Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn broadly agrees, dating his reign from
368-395, and associating his raiding activities in Britain with the
kidnapping of Saint Patrick (ca. 390-461).[3] However, the traditional roll
of kings and its chronology is now recognised as artificial. The High
Kingship did not become a reality until the 9th century, and Niall's
legendary status has been inflated in line with the political importance of
the dynasty he founded. Based on Uí Néill genealogies and the dates given
for his supposed sons and grandsons, modern historians believe he is likely
to have lived some 50 years later than the traditional dates, dying circa
450".
And then there's his early difficulties:
"A legendary account of Niall's birth and early life is given in the 11th
century saga Echtra mac nEchach Muimedóin ("The adventure of the sons of
Eochaid Mugmedón"). In it, Eochaid Mugmedón, the High King of Ireland, has
five sons, four, Brión, Ailill, Fiachrae and Fergus, by his first wife
Mongfind, sister of the king of Munster, Crimthann mac Fidaig, and a fifth,
Niall, by his second wife Cairenn Chasdub, daughter of Sachell Balb, king of
the Saxons. While Cairenn is pregnant with Niall, the jealous Mongfind
forces her to do heavy work, hoping to make her miscarry. She gives birth as
she is drawing water, but out of fear of Mongfind, she leaves the child on
the ground, exposed to the birds. The baby is rescued and brought up by a
poet called Torna. When Niall grows up he returns to Tara and rescues his
mother from her labour".
So we can go on VOLUMES on what is publically known (or unknown as much
history was not written back then). What is your take on Niall?
Todd
P.S. I hope it's not disrespectful to call him "Grandpa"
My e-mail to Tom Molloy
Subject: Grandpa Niall
Hi Tom,
So, on Wikipedia, I can look up lots on Niall Noígíallach (some of which I
have difficulty pronouncing):
"Niall is placed in the traditional list of High Kings of Ireland. His reign
dated to the late 4th and early 5th centuries. The Annals of the Four
Masters dates his accession to 378 and death to 405.[2] The chronology of
Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn broadly agrees, dating his reign from
368-395, and associating his raiding activities in Britain with the
kidnapping of Saint Patrick (ca. 390-461).[3] However, the traditional roll
of kings and its chronology is now recognised as artificial. The High
Kingship did not become a reality until the 9th century, and Niall's
legendary status has been inflated in line with the political importance of
the dynasty he founded. Based on Uí Néill genealogies and the dates given
for his supposed sons and grandsons, modern historians believe he is likely
to have lived some 50 years later than the traditional dates, dying circa
450".
And then there's his early difficulties:
"A legendary account of Niall's birth and early life is given in the 11th
century saga Echtra mac nEchach Muimedóin ("The adventure of the sons of
Eochaid Mugmedón"). In it, Eochaid Mugmedón, the High King of Ireland, has
five sons, four, Brión, Ailill, Fiachrae and Fergus, by his first wife
Mongfind, sister of the king of Munster, Crimthann mac Fidaig, and a fifth,
Niall, by his second wife Cairenn Chasdub, daughter of Sachell Balb, king of
the Saxons. While Cairenn is pregnant with Niall, the jealous Mongfind
forces her to do heavy work, hoping to make her miscarry. She gives birth as
she is drawing water, but out of fear of Mongfind, she leaves the child on
the ground, exposed to the birds. The baby is rescued and brought up by a
poet called Torna. When Niall grows up he returns to Tara and rescues his
mother from her labour".
So we can go on VOLUMES on what is publically known (or unknown as much
history was not written back then). What is your take on Niall?
Todd
P.S. I hope it's not disrespectful to call him "Grandpa"
4/21/2011
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Good day Todd,
How are you? hopefully in good health. Myself, I'm fine.
This Niall, sometimes I ask myself, do we want to be associated
with this character of low morals and debauched activities, whose
standards are far below what is expected of a clan of our proud heritage.
Without any hesitation I bellow to the very heavens, Yes!!, Yes!!, by God
let us rejoice, Hossana, and as Martin Luther King said '' I have a dream''
Who would want an upright, full of good intentions and asskissin relative,
not me. Let us build a temple to this false God and sacrifice fatted goats
and even fatter calves and enormous turkeys, let every day be Thanksgiving
Day '' I have a dream''.
Frank Harte is a great balladeer and was never fully appreciated as a great
voice of Irish songs and ballads. I have some great albums of his and love his
interpretation of songs we don't hear any more, and that need to be kept safe
for a new generation. It's the same as old photos keep them safe, our children
need to know about the past.
About whether or not I have accent, yes I do, what is known as a broad midland
of Ireland accent. Just a monotone that neither rises or fall except when drink is
consumed in very large quantities and a fight start or a song needs to be sung
and Brendan Behan is alive and well, and we stare at the stars and howl for a past
long gone,a song unsung, to clasp a hand and dance with maidens until cock crow.
Well Todd,
Take care
Tom
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Good day Todd,
How are you? hopefully in good health. Myself, I'm fine.
This Niall, sometimes I ask myself, do we want to be associated
with this character of low morals and debauched activities, whose
standards are far below what is expected of a clan of our proud heritage.
Without any hesitation I bellow to the very heavens, Yes!!, Yes!!, by God
let us rejoice, Hossana, and as Martin Luther King said '' I have a dream''
Who would want an upright, full of good intentions and asskissin relative,
not me. Let us build a temple to this false God and sacrifice fatted goats
and even fatter calves and enormous turkeys, let every day be Thanksgiving
Day '' I have a dream''.
Frank Harte is a great balladeer and was never fully appreciated as a great
voice of Irish songs and ballads. I have some great albums of his and love his
interpretation of songs we don't hear any more, and that need to be kept safe
for a new generation. It's the same as old photos keep them safe, our children
need to know about the past.
About whether or not I have accent, yes I do, what is known as a broad midland
of Ireland accent. Just a monotone that neither rises or fall except when drink is
consumed in very large quantities and a fight start or a song needs to be sung
and Brendan Behan is alive and well, and we stare at the stars and howl for a past
long gone,a song unsung, to clasp a hand and dance with maidens until cock crow.
Well Todd,
Take care
Tom
4/21/2011
e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
I was listening to Christy Moore (love his music!), and I was reading about him and saw he played with a band called Planxty, so I downloaded some of their music also, and I am now listen to them as I write this. And as this is going on, at your suggestion I searched for Brendan Behan, and I'm downloading an album from him as well. (This is not the same as preserving that old music through albums like you were talking about Frank Harte - but I do have a ton of old records saved, but I don't use the turntable much anymore. My sons are curious about the records sometimes, and we spin a disc sometimes).
Your writing about grandpa Niall seems like a cautious embrace of the darker side of humanity, of family. We might sometimes want to be careful about holding in high esteem the darker behaviors, as others might fear us as being the same dark side. But there is a fine line between the murders and rapists who are in prison who acted out their darker side, and those of us who might have those same murderous passions and didn't act on it (or didn't get caught doing it!). Our civilized society tries to distance our civilized culture from those criminals by locking them away. But there's a lot we can learn from them. I agree, we shouldn't act on some of our passions (we shouldn't crap on the carpet!), and we should have morals that keep us from murdering, raping, kidnapping, and crapping in the wrong places. But that potential is in all of us. Many of us just deny it.
Someday I’ll tell you of my adopted brother who was in prison.
More later ... I need to get another cup of coffee, and have to go take a crap ... (or maybe we shouldn't talk about that darker side?)
Your Cousin,
Todd
e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Hi Tom,
I was listening to Christy Moore (love his music!), and I was reading about him and saw he played with a band called Planxty, so I downloaded some of their music also, and I am now listen to them as I write this. And as this is going on, at your suggestion I searched for Brendan Behan, and I'm downloading an album from him as well. (This is not the same as preserving that old music through albums like you were talking about Frank Harte - but I do have a ton of old records saved, but I don't use the turntable much anymore. My sons are curious about the records sometimes, and we spin a disc sometimes).
Your writing about grandpa Niall seems like a cautious embrace of the darker side of humanity, of family. We might sometimes want to be careful about holding in high esteem the darker behaviors, as others might fear us as being the same dark side. But there is a fine line between the murders and rapists who are in prison who acted out their darker side, and those of us who might have those same murderous passions and didn't act on it (or didn't get caught doing it!). Our civilized society tries to distance our civilized culture from those criminals by locking them away. But there's a lot we can learn from them. I agree, we shouldn't act on some of our passions (we shouldn't crap on the carpet!), and we should have morals that keep us from murdering, raping, kidnapping, and crapping in the wrong places. But that potential is in all of us. Many of us just deny it.
Someday I’ll tell you of my adopted brother who was in prison.
More later ... I need to get another cup of coffee, and have to go take a crap ... (or maybe we shouldn't talk about that darker side?)
Your Cousin,
Todd
5/3/2011
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 3:19 PM
To: Todd Neel at Frontier.com
Subject: Re: Grandpa Niall
Hello Todd,
Sorry I have'nt replied sooner, lots of celebrating and family gatherings,
bank holidays, school holidays and great weather.
Dolores Keane, now that woman is the voice of Irish ballads, Mary Black
another great sound. Look up The Johnsons, Margaret Barry, Peeker Dunne,
Sarah Makem, Paddy Tunney, Joe Heaney, Sean MacDonnchadha, John Reilly,
John Lyons, The McPeake Family from Belfast, Tom Lenihan, Len Graham
and groups like Four Men and a Dog, Patrick Street, The Ludlows, Emmet
Spiceland, Sweeneys Men, Diarmuid O' Leary and the Bards, Barleycorn,
The Dublin City Ramblers, The Black Family and The Fureys and Davy Aurthur,
The Hughes Band, Goats Don't Shave and The Pogues. More and more, lots and
lots from this great nation of ours that was scarred and torn by famine and
war, losing our young to far off shores on coffin ships, and others transportated
to lands in desolated places to slave '' Oh the shot them in pairs coming down the
stair in the valley of Knockanure''.
Keep the Tricolour flying
Tom
e-mail reply from Tom Molloy
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 3:19 PM
To: Todd Neel at Frontier.com
Subject: Re: Grandpa Niall
Hello Todd,
Sorry I have'nt replied sooner, lots of celebrating and family gatherings,
bank holidays, school holidays and great weather.
Dolores Keane, now that woman is the voice of Irish ballads, Mary Black
another great sound. Look up The Johnsons, Margaret Barry, Peeker Dunne,
Sarah Makem, Paddy Tunney, Joe Heaney, Sean MacDonnchadha, John Reilly,
John Lyons, The McPeake Family from Belfast, Tom Lenihan, Len Graham
and groups like Four Men and a Dog, Patrick Street, The Ludlows, Emmet
Spiceland, Sweeneys Men, Diarmuid O' Leary and the Bards, Barleycorn,
The Dublin City Ramblers, The Black Family and The Fureys and Davy Aurthur,
The Hughes Band, Goats Don't Shave and The Pogues. More and more, lots and
lots from this great nation of ours that was scarred and torn by famine and
war, losing our young to far off shores on coffin ships, and others transportated
to lands in desolated places to slave '' Oh the shot them in pairs coming down the
stair in the valley of Knockanure''.
Keep the Tricolour flying
Tom
5/4/2011
e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Subject: Music
Hi Tom,
Thanks for sharing all of these suggestions for music. I have been
listening a lot to Christy Moore, and I'm especially loving his album "Live
at the Point". I am downloading Dolores Keane now, and I found a lot of
albums by Mary Black, but they're not available through the music service I
use (Zune Marketplace). I can find some of the artists you suggested, some
I can't. One problem I'm having is my hard drive is getting full, and I
have to erase stuff.
Where do you get your music? Radio? Music stores? Online?
Wow, you used Capitol letters!
How's your family?
Todd
e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Subject: Music
Hi Tom,
Thanks for sharing all of these suggestions for music. I have been
listening a lot to Christy Moore, and I'm especially loving his album "Live
at the Point". I am downloading Dolores Keane now, and I found a lot of
albums by Mary Black, but they're not available through the music service I
use (Zune Marketplace). I can find some of the artists you suggested, some
I can't. One problem I'm having is my hard drive is getting full, and I
have to erase stuff.
Where do you get your music? Radio? Music stores? Online?
Wow, you used Capitol letters!
How's your family?
Todd
5/5/2011
e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Subject: Diaspora
Hi Tom,
Do you have any affection, or disdain, for Scotland? I may have told you that I was going "gun ho" for studying up on Ireland, hoping to visit there last summer when my family was planning our trip to Europe. But as I was losing out on Ireland, and saw we were going to Scotland instead, I studied up on Scotland (and still am). (I have family roots in Ireland, Scotland, and England).
One of my friends who I play music with travels to Scotland often, so she sends me information on it. She recently sent me a link to the following quote and I'm wondering if there aren't similar issues with Ireland about Irish "diaspora", those who left the homeland and the feelings about it:
"There are three Scotlands: (1) the never-never land of Brigadoon, where kilted Rockettes dance in the moonlight on heather hills, and men, having greeted the dawn with a quaich of Scotch, sally forth to shoot a deer or two for breakfast; (2) the Scottish Homeland, an area of just over thirty thousand square miles inhabited by five or six million people on the northern part of the island we call Britain; and (3) the Scottish Diaspora, consisting of the vast millions of people of Scottish birth or ancestry dispersed throughout the world (in the United States alone an estimated five times as many as in the Homeland) who look to the Homeland with that deep affection and occasional exasperation that people never bestow on anyone but their mother" (from Geddes MacGregor, Scotland: An Intimate Portrait, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980)
When I look up "disapora" on Wikipedia, it says "A diaspora (from Greek διασπορά, "scattering, dispersion")[1] is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland"[2] or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location",[3] or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands"
Your cousin,
Todd
e-mail reply to Tom Molloy
Subject: Diaspora
Hi Tom,
Do you have any affection, or disdain, for Scotland? I may have told you that I was going "gun ho" for studying up on Ireland, hoping to visit there last summer when my family was planning our trip to Europe. But as I was losing out on Ireland, and saw we were going to Scotland instead, I studied up on Scotland (and still am). (I have family roots in Ireland, Scotland, and England).
One of my friends who I play music with travels to Scotland often, so she sends me information on it. She recently sent me a link to the following quote and I'm wondering if there aren't similar issues with Ireland about Irish "diaspora", those who left the homeland and the feelings about it:
"There are three Scotlands: (1) the never-never land of Brigadoon, where kilted Rockettes dance in the moonlight on heather hills, and men, having greeted the dawn with a quaich of Scotch, sally forth to shoot a deer or two for breakfast; (2) the Scottish Homeland, an area of just over thirty thousand square miles inhabited by five or six million people on the northern part of the island we call Britain; and (3) the Scottish Diaspora, consisting of the vast millions of people of Scottish birth or ancestry dispersed throughout the world (in the United States alone an estimated five times as many as in the Homeland) who look to the Homeland with that deep affection and occasional exasperation that people never bestow on anyone but their mother" (from Geddes MacGregor, Scotland: An Intimate Portrait, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980)
When I look up "disapora" on Wikipedia, it says "A diaspora (from Greek διασπορά, "scattering, dispersion")[1] is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland"[2] or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location",[3] or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands"
Your cousin,
Todd
5/7/11 from Tom:
Hello Todd,
My music is obtained from the traditional section in music shops, but then again
we have a bigger range of local/traditional music to call upon. Radio stations still
play a range of "Irish" music over here and we hear it every day. It has'nt got a vast
audience but a few old "traddies" like myself still like the lure of it. A lot of people
I mentioned to you are well known names over here but may not be so well known outside
of Ireland.
Scots and Irish, now thats a monkey puzzle of an issue. We have a lot in common, Celtic
blood, Celtic language, a history of occupation, of fighting for independence, but yet we
don't share a great love for each other. We as a nation of Irish people have suffered a great deal and a million pages have been written on this issue, yet we have come out of this hard past with our wit, language, song, poetry, a "fighting Irish" mentality. The Scots are seen as a dour lot, who whine a lot and speak of independence, but are afraid to do much about it. We Irish have been there, and done it and have done well for ourselves as a small nation on the edge of Europe.
Take care of yourself and your family.
Tom "the Cap king"
Hello Todd,
My music is obtained from the traditional section in music shops, but then again
we have a bigger range of local/traditional music to call upon. Radio stations still
play a range of "Irish" music over here and we hear it every day. It has'nt got a vast
audience but a few old "traddies" like myself still like the lure of it. A lot of people
I mentioned to you are well known names over here but may not be so well known outside
of Ireland.
Scots and Irish, now thats a monkey puzzle of an issue. We have a lot in common, Celtic
blood, Celtic language, a history of occupation, of fighting for independence, but yet we
don't share a great love for each other. We as a nation of Irish people have suffered a great deal and a million pages have been written on this issue, yet we have come out of this hard past with our wit, language, song, poetry, a "fighting Irish" mentality. The Scots are seen as a dour lot, who whine a lot and speak of independence, but are afraid to do much about it. We Irish have been there, and done it and have done well for ourselves as a small nation on the edge of Europe.
Take care of yourself and your family.
Tom "the Cap king"
5/8/11 to Tom:
Subject: Irish language and stuff
Beannachtaí, Tom,
(Did that come out properly? I mean to say "Greetings" in Irish. I looked it up on Google)
I'm reading a book "Ireland - A Short History" by Joseph Coohill. It says "Irish" is a more accurate term for the language because "Gaelic" covers a family of languages. And that "Irish" became the official first language of the Republic of Ireland in 1937, and is taught in schools. I'm open to a brief exposure to your native tongue, but the possibility of learning to speak "Irish" is not likely for me because there is no one here that I can regularly practice with. My friend, Jan, (that I play music with) does speak some Scottish words and terms, and it's really baffling to me.
I'm listening on my headphones as I write this an album called "Martin Hayes" that I wrote to you about previously. YouTube says he is Irish fiddler who often plays with Tom Cahill, on guitar. And the next book on my list to read is "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill. I wonder if this guitarist and book writer are one and the same?
Do you listen to AM or FM radio stations? How do you get the news or do you just ignore it? Is there still talk of Obama coming over there this month of May?
I'm still digesting/listening to the music suggestions you gave me. Yes, you do like a lot of the old traditional stuff, don't you?
Regarding the Scots and Irish "monkey puzzle", I guess I've got both in my blood, so this monkey is puzzled. Ancestry.com says there are 2 Scots and 1 Irish person (you) that I'm related to genetically that's in their data base. (I'm having the most interesting conversations with you!) The one Scot person that responded to me (Adam Smith) didn't seem to want to exchange too much information through e-mail, so I thank you for these on-going exchanges, Tom.
There is some value in thinking about "us" and "them" - there's a reason for national borders and differentiation - and sometimes it creates divisions and wars and deaths. Can't we just all sing together?
Now I've got Mrs. Sarah Makem, Ulster Ballad Singer in my ears, and it's hard to write while I've got her words in my ears, so I sign off now.
Great job on the Caps!
Todd
Subject: Irish language and stuff
Beannachtaí, Tom,
(Did that come out properly? I mean to say "Greetings" in Irish. I looked it up on Google)
I'm reading a book "Ireland - A Short History" by Joseph Coohill. It says "Irish" is a more accurate term for the language because "Gaelic" covers a family of languages. And that "Irish" became the official first language of the Republic of Ireland in 1937, and is taught in schools. I'm open to a brief exposure to your native tongue, but the possibility of learning to speak "Irish" is not likely for me because there is no one here that I can regularly practice with. My friend, Jan, (that I play music with) does speak some Scottish words and terms, and it's really baffling to me.
I'm listening on my headphones as I write this an album called "Martin Hayes" that I wrote to you about previously. YouTube says he is Irish fiddler who often plays with Tom Cahill, on guitar. And the next book on my list to read is "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill. I wonder if this guitarist and book writer are one and the same?
Do you listen to AM or FM radio stations? How do you get the news or do you just ignore it? Is there still talk of Obama coming over there this month of May?
I'm still digesting/listening to the music suggestions you gave me. Yes, you do like a lot of the old traditional stuff, don't you?
Regarding the Scots and Irish "monkey puzzle", I guess I've got both in my blood, so this monkey is puzzled. Ancestry.com says there are 2 Scots and 1 Irish person (you) that I'm related to genetically that's in their data base. (I'm having the most interesting conversations with you!) The one Scot person that responded to me (Adam Smith) didn't seem to want to exchange too much information through e-mail, so I thank you for these on-going exchanges, Tom.
There is some value in thinking about "us" and "them" - there's a reason for national borders and differentiation - and sometimes it creates divisions and wars and deaths. Can't we just all sing together?
Now I've got Mrs. Sarah Makem, Ulster Ballad Singer in my ears, and it's hard to write while I've got her words in my ears, so I sign off now.
Great job on the Caps!
Todd
From: Todd
Sent: May 11, 2011
To: Tom
Tom,
Was that you that invited me to the O'Molloy Clan group DNA site? I posted a photo of me and my son there, posted a couple of discussion comments (including mentioning you and Niall of Nine Hostages, and asking you to comment in the discussion group). I also uploaded my family tree there.
Did you say you have lineage back to 300 - 400 AD from you back to Niall of Nine Hostages? Are you able to tell me more about that?
Thanks,
Todd
P.S. We're leaving for Europe very soon. We will be in England and Scotland, but didn't fit Ireland into our trip (a big disappointment).
From: Tom
Sent: May 12, 2011
To: Todd
good morning todd,
welcome to the omolloy association.
we don't engage in secret handshakes or blindfolded
one trouser-leg rolled up initiation rite. we do on occasion
sacrifice the odd goat, well at least the goat finds it odd
but not for long!!!
i will look up the info i have on our slave trading relative
niall and will forward some info soon.
take care todd,
tom
ps. i saw the photo on omolloy association of you goodself
and your son. really nice, we do look alot alike grey hair,
glasses and a big smile
Sent: May 12, 2011
To: Todd
good morning todd,
welcome to the omolloy association.
we don't engage in secret handshakes or blindfolded
one trouser-leg rolled up initiation rite. we do on occasion
sacrifice the odd goat, well at least the goat finds it odd
but not for long!!!
i will look up the info i have on our slave trading relative
niall and will forward some info soon.
take care todd,
tom
ps. i saw the photo on omolloy association of you goodself
and your son. really nice, we do look alot alike grey hair,
glasses and a big smile
5/13/11 from Tom:
Subject: Irish language and stuff
Topofthemornin' Todd,
Garlic!!, don't talk to me about Gaelic, beaten not bestowed on us as children.
Nuns with large canes and they slapping the bejesus out of us as young children
to speak the Garlic, no fond memories there. Taught in schools you say, we thought
we were in school but more like a torture chamber, it still sends a shiver down my
spine when i see a penguin. I don't care much for my native tongue after years of
slapcrazy nuns.
As for Obama, it's so well security closed we natives won't see much of our famous son.
He will be surrounded by nasty men with large dark glasses and even larger guns, so no
thanks. I hope nothing bad happens as he has so many groups baying for his blood and like
any other country we have lots of nutters, some even became nuns!.
I'm glad you have had a chance to listen to some good and great Irish singers and musicians,
we produce them like bunny rabbits, we could pack them like sardines and export them on coffin ships to far flung corners of this outpost in space. oops!! we might have done so already.
So Todd me auld comrade and bosum buddy I've you given enough blarney to pack into sardine tins and export!! good God I can't stop, as Sigmund Freud said about the Irish "This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever" and remember God invented alcohol to stop the Irish from ruling the world.
Take care
Tom
5/21/11
e-mail to Tom
Hi Tom,
Sorry I'm slow in responding to you here. I love getting your e-mails from the other side of the world.
At the risk of offending you (but I doubt I will), my friend who travels to Scotland said to ask you what they do with pee in the UK? (The risk being the last time I wrote about body functioning, i.e. "crapping on the carpet ..." you didn't respond for awhile, but I think that was because you had a family gathering. Or maybe talking about crap offended you?)
Did you have your Molloy/O'Molloy Clan Association gathering?
Todd
e-mail to Tom
Hi Tom,
Sorry I'm slow in responding to you here. I love getting your e-mails from the other side of the world.
At the risk of offending you (but I doubt I will), my friend who travels to Scotland said to ask you what they do with pee in the UK? (The risk being the last time I wrote about body functioning, i.e. "crapping on the carpet ..." you didn't respond for awhile, but I think that was because you had a family gathering. Or maybe talking about crap offended you?)
Did you have your Molloy/O'Molloy Clan Association gathering?
Todd
5/24/11
e-mail to Tom
Subject: Pee and Obama
Topofthemountain to you, Tom.
Yes, the topic is pee. I asked my music friend who travels to Scotland about
this joke, and she claims it's no joke, and send me this link:
http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/209469-life-of-pee-sally-magnusson-writes-a-book-about-urine/
On this page it says:
“And yet within living memory in Britain there were horses and carts going
round people’s houses and people were handing out buckets of urine to be
taken back to fool the cloth. I didn’t know that and I don’t think that people do.”
And it has links to some of this information in it:
Wee whisky
"James Gilpin collects his diabetic granny Patricia's pee, boils it, cleans
the sugar crystals which are left and then adds them to grain, malt and
water to create the alcoholic drink.
He came up with the unusual brewing idea after reading that sufferers of
diabetes have a lot of sugar in their urine because of their high blood
sugar levels.
James - who is studying at the London Royal College of Art - said: "The
urine produces a very nice drink."
He has also used the wee from a number of volunteers and he puts their names
and ages on the labels of his Gilpin Family Whisky, however, he insists he
has no plans to sell his odd liquor."
I was watching Obama on TV last night speaking to a crowd in Dublin, talking
about being in Moneygall. Did you hear anything about it?
Your cousin,
Todd
5/25/11 from Tom:
Subject: Pee and Obama
Todd me auld pal,
On the subject of pee, we have in this fair country of ours, politicians actively
engaged in taking the piss out of the people all of the time, and these so called
politicians are getting well paid for pisstaking, and I do believe that diuretics
are been given to us in our foods and also been told to drink more fluids!! oh my
God!! what is happening to us, we are been used by super intellectually superior
beings to produce pee for the drinks industry. So what we drink we pee and what we
pee we drink. Is this what flower power and free love and San Francisco with Janis
Joplin and that hippy Sob Dylan done to us, made us pee producers, my mother did
say no good would come of all that poncho and beads. Woe! Woe! Whoa.
Obama made us feel good about ourselves, we did need that and now all we Irish need
is money, cos we is broke, we have'nt got what would jingle on a tombstone, but we
are happy because we can now consume large volumes of our own piss.
Todd remember, Honesty is the fear of being caught
So I must retire, time to lay a grey head onto a pillow and dream of hope and song
and days long gone and absent friends and silly kamikaze pilots who wear helmits!!
WHY
Take care
Tom
Subject: Pee and Obama
Todd me auld pal,
On the subject of pee, we have in this fair country of ours, politicians actively
engaged in taking the piss out of the people all of the time, and these so called
politicians are getting well paid for pisstaking, and I do believe that diuretics
are been given to us in our foods and also been told to drink more fluids!! oh my
God!! what is happening to us, we are been used by super intellectually superior
beings to produce pee for the drinks industry. So what we drink we pee and what we
pee we drink. Is this what flower power and free love and San Francisco with Janis
Joplin and that hippy Sob Dylan done to us, made us pee producers, my mother did
say no good would come of all that poncho and beads. Woe! Woe! Whoa.
Obama made us feel good about ourselves, we did need that and now all we Irish need
is money, cos we is broke, we have'nt got what would jingle on a tombstone, but we
are happy because we can now consume large volumes of our own piss.
Todd remember, Honesty is the fear of being caught
So I must retire, time to lay a grey head onto a pillow and dream of hope and song
and days long gone and absent friends and silly kamikaze pilots who wear helmits!!
WHY
Take care
Tom
5/26/11
e-mail to Tom
Subject: Re: Pee and Obama, moving on to St. Patrick
Mornin', Tom.
Hope that last subject didn't piss you off. Hope this one doesn't either.
In spite of, or because of our Grandpa Niall's kidnapping of the Patrick who became the St. Patrick (let's forgive Grandpa, since that's just what they did in those days - no moral judgment on his soul or our DNA), tell me what you think of this man, Patrick. I don't know if Patrick had any offspring or not, but his actions did affect those abusive Penguins who fed you the Garlic!
Todd
e-mail to Tom
Subject: Re: Pee and Obama, moving on to St. Patrick
Mornin', Tom.
Hope that last subject didn't piss you off. Hope this one doesn't either.
In spite of, or because of our Grandpa Niall's kidnapping of the Patrick who became the St. Patrick (let's forgive Grandpa, since that's just what they did in those days - no moral judgment on his soul or our DNA), tell me what you think of this man, Patrick. I don't know if Patrick had any offspring or not, but his actions did affect those abusive Penguins who fed you the Garlic!
Todd
From: Todd Neel To: tomandceline
Sent: Thursday, 2 June, 2011 5:24:40 PM
Subject: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hi Tom,
You can see me drumming (mildly) with our music group last weekend here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ6p7eMXsMo&NR=1
How's it going with you?
Todd
From: tomandceline
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 1:58 AM
To: Todd Neel
Subject: Re: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hello Todd,
Great music from you and your pals, very nice tone and tune, it had my feet tapping and I enjoyed it. All of you should be proud to be keeping traditional celtic music alive and well.
We "O'Molloy clan" are still putting together our clan rally progmamme for August,
lots of last minutes details and we hope to have a great weekend of "ceol agus craic"
We have a great group of people and we work well together.
Now Todd I must away and busy myself Bee like with my nose to my shoulder
and my grindstone to my wheel, keep up the music and song and enjoy all of it.
Take care
Tom
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 1:58 AM
To: Todd Neel
Subject: Re: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hello Todd,
Great music from you and your pals, very nice tone and tune, it had my feet tapping and I enjoyed it. All of you should be proud to be keeping traditional celtic music alive and well.
We "O'Molloy clan" are still putting together our clan rally progmamme for August,
lots of last minutes details and we hope to have a great weekend of "ceol agus craic"
We have a great group of people and we work well together.
Now Todd I must away and busy myself Bee like with my nose to my shoulder
and my grindstone to my wheel, keep up the music and song and enjoy all of it.
Take care
Tom
From: Todd Neel
To: tomandceline
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June, 2011 1:47:41 PM
Subject: Re: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hi Tom,
Good to hear from you.
Thanks for the compliments about our music. We were scheduled to play for
one hour last Sunday night at a "Ceilidh Benefit For Spokane Highland
Games". We had 12 musicians from Spokane and Coeur d'Alene show up, but
there was a 7 member rock band outdoors who moved up their timing because of
threatening rain, so we only got to play for 1/2 hour.
This weekend we're expecting family from Montana for my son, Nathan's, high
school graduation this weekend. Lots to do to get ready for that.
Good luck with your O'Molloy Clan gathering! (I tried to translate ceol agus
craic through the computer but couldn't figure it out. What does that mean?)
Be careful with which body part you put against that grindstone!
Peace,
Todd
To: tomandceline
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June, 2011 1:47:41 PM
Subject: Re: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hi Tom,
Good to hear from you.
Thanks for the compliments about our music. We were scheduled to play for
one hour last Sunday night at a "Ceilidh Benefit For Spokane Highland
Games". We had 12 musicians from Spokane and Coeur d'Alene show up, but
there was a 7 member rock band outdoors who moved up their timing because of
threatening rain, so we only got to play for 1/2 hour.
This weekend we're expecting family from Montana for my son, Nathan's, high
school graduation this weekend. Lots to do to get ready for that.
Good luck with your O'Molloy Clan gathering! (I tried to translate ceol agus
craic through the computer but couldn't figure it out. What does that mean?)
Be careful with which body part you put against that grindstone!
Peace,
Todd
From: tomandceline
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 3:03 AM
To: Todd Neel
Subject: Re: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hello me auld buddy,
How is life treating you?, I hope gentle and kind.
Our weather here at the moment is in par with monsoon type, lots of "feckin"
rain, more like what you would encounter in October, moisty and misty.
"ceol agus craic" is translated as music and chat (ceol "keol" /agus as in august without the t/
craic "krack") but craic has come to mean jokes, banter, jibes, and having a good time, people you meet would say "how is the craic" rather than "how are you". Sometimes "ceol, craic agus ol" which is translated as music, chat and drink, ol meaning drink, "ole" without the e, so thats
todays lesson in speaking gaelic.
I hope you and yours enjoy Nathan's big day and have plenty of ceol, craic agus ol, family time
is very important as is family, and if you do feel the urge to sing, sing an Irish song
" step it out Mary my fine daughter
step it out Mary if you can
step it out Mary my fine daughter
show your legs to the country man"
remember this "never tell a man with a chainsaw he has bad breath"
and so with those words of wisdomism, I will arise and go now
and go to inisfree to a bee loud glade.
Take care and enjoy your son's day and life
Tom
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 3:03 AM
To: Todd Neel
Subject: Re: link to brief video of our Celtic music group
Hello me auld buddy,
How is life treating you?, I hope gentle and kind.
Our weather here at the moment is in par with monsoon type, lots of "feckin"
rain, more like what you would encounter in October, moisty and misty.
"ceol agus craic" is translated as music and chat (ceol "keol" /agus as in august without the t/
craic "krack") but craic has come to mean jokes, banter, jibes, and having a good time, people you meet would say "how is the craic" rather than "how are you". Sometimes "ceol, craic agus ol" which is translated as music, chat and drink, ol meaning drink, "ole" without the e, so thats
todays lesson in speaking gaelic.
I hope you and yours enjoy Nathan's big day and have plenty of ceol, craic agus ol, family time
is very important as is family, and if you do feel the urge to sing, sing an Irish song
" step it out Mary my fine daughter
step it out Mary if you can
step it out Mary my fine daughter
show your legs to the country man"
remember this "never tell a man with a chainsaw he has bad breath"
and so with those words of wisdomism, I will arise and go now
and go to inisfree to a bee loud glade.
Take care and enjoy your son's day and life
Tom
6/21/11
e-mail to Tom
Subject: can’t sleep
Top o'the Monsoon to you, Tom,
How are you doing? Been a little while since I chatted with you. It's early right now where I am (about 3 am), as I drank too much water when we played music last night with the Id-Wa Fiddlers practice. A young man (Junior in high school) joined us with his mandolin (making 5 players total) last night, and it added new energy to the jam. He was wearing a t-shirt with the band "Blood or Whiskey" on it, so I found and I'm downloading and am now listening to an album by them on the headphones this morning. They're great! He also suggested the Dread Naughts, and The Pouges, but I can't find these on my Zune Marketplace.
Nathan's graduation and our family gathering was great. My sister and brother and their families came over (total of 9 added to our family of 4 made a crowded house). I shared some of your e-mails.
I think I've written to you before about this book I'm reading called "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill. On one page it states "In the slavery business, no tribe was fiercer or more feared than the Irish. They were excellent sailors - in skin-covered craft that they maneuvered with consummate skill. Just before dawn, a small war party would move its stealthy oval coracles into a little cove, approach an isolated farmhouse with silent strides, grab some sleeping children, and be halfway back to Ireland before anyone knew what had happened. The Irish moved in larger war parties, as well. One day in 401 or thereabouts a great fleet of black coracles swept up the west coast of Britain, probably into the Severn estuary, and seizing (according to an eyewitness) "many thousands" of young slave prisoners, returned with them to a slave market in Ireland. We still have the testimony of one of the captives, a boy of sixteen who called himself Patricus. ... as a shepherd-slave in the Irish district of Antrim, as the property of a local "king' named Miliucc. What became of Patricius will form the subject of a later chapter ..." (So, captured by our grandpa Niall and sold to Miliucc? What do you think about this story, Tom?)
I've got a joke for you:
A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I'll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back."
The room is quiet and no one takes up the Texan's offer. One man even leaves. Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. "Is your bet still good?", asks the Irishman.
The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses drinking them all back-to-back. The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement.
The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, "If ya don't mind me askin', where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?"
The Irishman replies, "Oh...I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first."
Peace, Tom, and sleep well!
Your cousin,
Todd
e-mail to Tom
Subject: can’t sleep
Top o'the Monsoon to you, Tom,
How are you doing? Been a little while since I chatted with you. It's early right now where I am (about 3 am), as I drank too much water when we played music last night with the Id-Wa Fiddlers practice. A young man (Junior in high school) joined us with his mandolin (making 5 players total) last night, and it added new energy to the jam. He was wearing a t-shirt with the band "Blood or Whiskey" on it, so I found and I'm downloading and am now listening to an album by them on the headphones this morning. They're great! He also suggested the Dread Naughts, and The Pouges, but I can't find these on my Zune Marketplace.
Nathan's graduation and our family gathering was great. My sister and brother and their families came over (total of 9 added to our family of 4 made a crowded house). I shared some of your e-mails.
I think I've written to you before about this book I'm reading called "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill. On one page it states "In the slavery business, no tribe was fiercer or more feared than the Irish. They were excellent sailors - in skin-covered craft that they maneuvered with consummate skill. Just before dawn, a small war party would move its stealthy oval coracles into a little cove, approach an isolated farmhouse with silent strides, grab some sleeping children, and be halfway back to Ireland before anyone knew what had happened. The Irish moved in larger war parties, as well. One day in 401 or thereabouts a great fleet of black coracles swept up the west coast of Britain, probably into the Severn estuary, and seizing (according to an eyewitness) "many thousands" of young slave prisoners, returned with them to a slave market in Ireland. We still have the testimony of one of the captives, a boy of sixteen who called himself Patricus. ... as a shepherd-slave in the Irish district of Antrim, as the property of a local "king' named Miliucc. What became of Patricius will form the subject of a later chapter ..." (So, captured by our grandpa Niall and sold to Miliucc? What do you think about this story, Tom?)
I've got a joke for you:
A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I'll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back."
The room is quiet and no one takes up the Texan's offer. One man even leaves. Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. "Is your bet still good?", asks the Irishman.
The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses drinking them all back-to-back. The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement.
The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, "If ya don't mind me askin', where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?"
The Irishman replies, "Oh...I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first."
Peace, Tom, and sleep well!
Your cousin,
Todd
6/21/11
e-mail from Tom
Subject: can’t sleep
Halo Todd my little angel,
How are things at your end of the tunnel?, at my end a faint light has appeared,
it either the bright majestic lights of heaven or a spark from a mega fire of hellish
proportion, now where did I leave my crystal ball.
I am pleased to hear my emails went down well, humour is very good medicine and if taken
in very large doses can heal a host of ailments, but not halitosis.
Patrick was a nice sort of a lad, full of good cheer and going mad to convert Irishmen.
He was at it morning noon and night, never stopped it was said, could'nt get enough of
telling us about purgatory, hell and sins of all sorts, genuflecting and crying for
forgiveness, sure we did'nt know whether we were coming or going, and Niall called him
aside one day and just to have a quiet word saying " go easy on them Paddy, next thing
you know that lot will take to the drink" and no sooner had he said that when we was off
drinking and dancing and fighting, curseing and swearing and we have'nt stopped since.
That my good friend is what that boyo Patrick did for us, begeeus if I could only get me
paws around his drinkless neck I'd murder the bum.
Is it the Pogues that you were looking for, a great group of musicians led by Shane McGowan
what fantastic lyrics he has written, a musical Brendan Behan or Patrick Kavagnagh, he truly
is a great song writer, all hail Shane McGowan.
night Mary Ellen, John Boy sleep well
Take care
Tom
e-mail from Tom
Subject: can’t sleep
Halo Todd my little angel,
How are things at your end of the tunnel?, at my end a faint light has appeared,
it either the bright majestic lights of heaven or a spark from a mega fire of hellish
proportion, now where did I leave my crystal ball.
I am pleased to hear my emails went down well, humour is very good medicine and if taken
in very large doses can heal a host of ailments, but not halitosis.
Patrick was a nice sort of a lad, full of good cheer and going mad to convert Irishmen.
He was at it morning noon and night, never stopped it was said, could'nt get enough of
telling us about purgatory, hell and sins of all sorts, genuflecting and crying for
forgiveness, sure we did'nt know whether we were coming or going, and Niall called him
aside one day and just to have a quiet word saying " go easy on them Paddy, next thing
you know that lot will take to the drink" and no sooner had he said that when we was off
drinking and dancing and fighting, curseing and swearing and we have'nt stopped since.
That my good friend is what that boyo Patrick did for us, begeeus if I could only get me
paws around his drinkless neck I'd murder the bum.
Is it the Pogues that you were looking for, a great group of musicians led by Shane McGowan
what fantastic lyrics he has written, a musical Brendan Behan or Patrick Kavagnagh, he truly
is a great song writer, all hail Shane McGowan.
night Mary Ellen, John Boy sleep well
Take care
Tom