Christmas, Light and Dark
An assortment of Christmas songs I have recently listened to and enjoyed. Some light, some heavy, all festive. The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl, Fairytale of New York – In honor of its 25th birthday this week, and because it is a holiday song I listen to year ’round. August Burns Red, Carol of … Read more
Strummer Week: The Pogues
We continue our week-long Joe Strummer tribute, leading up to the 10-year anniversary of his death on December 22, with a bit about the Pogues. The lives of the Pogues weaved around Joe’s for a number of years, beginning before the Pogues even existed. In the late ’70s, young Shane MacGowan was a visible … Read more
Saturday Matinee: If I Should Fall from Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story
This documentary about the lead singer of Irish-by-way-of-London band the Pogues paints a complex, heartrending, and ultimately frustrating portrait of an artist who could still be contributing so much to music if he could just get his shit together. But it’s never as easy as that, is it?
Postcards from the Pit: The Pogues
The Pogues’ last tour, which I caught as they rolled through New York during St. Patrick’s Day (really St. Patrick’s Week, or Month), was titled “A Parting Glass” and meant to be the last one. For a lot of reasons, I hope that’s not actually true. Not least because St. Patrick’s Day in New York … Read more
The Ghost of Ronnie Drew
That’s right, I’m going to do an Irish music post for St. Patrick’s Day. Bite me. I’ve always loved traditional Irish music, and my favorite voice in that genre, by far, is that of Ronnie Drew. If you know this classic performance of “The Irish Rover” by the Pogues and the Dubliners, you know Ronnie … Read more