OUR IRISH PUB is so much more than booze.

Let’s say you quit drinking. It just wasn’t any good or fun for you anymore. Was it ever? But you had to stop. And celebrating St. Patrick’s Day gave you the heebie jeebies. You just couldn’t take it anymore. The crowds of micks marching. The inbred Irish chicks in their white sweaters and toothy grins nursing their mewling infants with a green plastic derby on their heads and a shawl to hide their boobs, they just make you want to run screaming from the pub.

I get it. I hear ya.

But you still loved being in an Irish Pub. Forget about the booze, an Irish pub still feels like home, with the smell of spilled porter, the soft glow of a fire, and above all, the music. Ah the music, live music with real live Irish musicians in an Irish pub. It’s enough to erase every bad dream of every St. Joseph’s day hangover you’ve ever had.

And if connecting with your heritage these days has been reduced to staying home on the high holy day and watching Sean Thornton and Mary Kate Danaher on Comcast, then I have news for you my friends!

What if you could visit a trio of Irish pubs with a gorgeous young blonde, who is also a world class fiddler, from the comfort of your living room without spilling a drop? What if she introduced you to some legendary Irish musicians playing their hearts out, singing, dancing, and having the craic? And it wouldn’t cost you a dime!

Lizzie McNeill’s Irish Pub is featured on OUR IRISH PUB.

Then let me tell you about OUR IRISH PUB, making its debut Sunday night March 31st on WTTW, Channel 11 at 11PM. Set your DVRs now!

OUR IRISH PUB is a television program created, produced, and developed by Hibernian Transmedia starring international Irish fiddler Katie Grennan, as she invites the audience to join her for a visit to three of her favorite Irish pubs in Chicago; Lizzie McNeill’s Irish Pub at 400 North McClurg Ct., Chief O’Neill’s Irish Pub at 3471 North Elston, and The Galway Arms, 2442 North Clark Street.

Katie Grennan has performed all over the world as a fiddler, step dancer, and most recently as a member of the electrifying Irish band Gaelic Storm. She tells the history of each pub along the way and joins all the musicians in a series of very lively Irish tunes.

The show features some of Chicago’s most prominent Irish musicians and performers, including Jimmy Moore, Siobhan and Brendan McKinney, Lexia Kennedy, Jimmy Keane, John Williams, Patrick Quinn, Laurence Nugent, Ian King, Francis “Francie” Campbell, with some bravura vocal performances by singers Paddy Homan, Catherine O’Connell, and Pat Broaders. Our Irish Pub is a musical feast for the ears and eyes as these local masters play some of their favorite, rousing, heart-pounding Irish tunes. Tune in on Sunday March 31st and you will find your toes tapping to the delightful music in OUR IRISH PUB.

The Galway Arms Irish Pub is featured on OUR IRISH PUB.

And if you’re tempted to crack open a pint of the dark stuff in the comfort of your own home, who’s to say you can’t have just the one? Enjoy OUR IRISH PUB this Sunday night on WTTW Channel 11 at 11PM. The show is also set for re-broadcast on Tuesday morning April 2nd at 4AM. Set your clocks! Watch it before you go out to vote!

No Elephants in Our Irish Pub

Katie Grennan and John Williams in OUR IRISH PUB

Paddy my bartender used to love telling the story of the guy who came to his saloon every night and cried in his beers about how much he hated his job. Finally Paddy asked him, “Well what kind of work are you in pal?” Your man explained that he’d been working in the circus for the last several years following the elephants with his shovel and bucket and cleaning up their shite. Paddy finally asked, “Well why don’t you quit?” To which your man replied, “Are you kidding? And give up show biz?”

Those who have never worked in show biz might find that hard to believe. But there is much to be said for the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd. It gets in your blood, and before you know it you’re calling it “culture”.

Defining culture has been tough for most folks over the last thousand years or so. My cultural epiphany came a few years ago at the Irish American Heritage Center listening to Irish President Michael D. Higgins give a speech before the reception.

When the President finally spoke he talked of Irish and Irish-American culture and how it unites us all. I’m paraphrasing, but what hit home for me was when he said culture was a living, breathing thing, constantly changing and morphing into an ever evolving celebration of the society that creates it. And right there, at that moment I could feel it. We were all a part of it, our Irish culture: mystical, spiritual, and enveloping us all in the love we share in our communal heritage.

President Higgins liberated Irish culture for me that night and reminded all of us that it starts in the heart of our very being and should be celebrated with music, song, dance, laughter and conversation. It’s the craic!

And what better place to celebrate our culture but in an Irish pub, with a pint in your hand and some music, singing, and even dancing to elevate our spirits?

Later this summer I’ll be shooting a special for Chicago Public Television with the very snobby title of “Our Irish Pub.”

We’ve been working on this show for the last few years, trying to get it right, and now we are right on the brink. Our host is the telegenic Irish fiddler Katie Grennan, currently on tour with the great Irish band, Gaelic Storm.

Katie takes us on a tour of three pubs to meet a variety of musicians sharing the history and music of each pub along the way. The craic will be mighty!

We’d love to have you join us on this adventure! We need our friends to help with small donations to help us reach our goal and finance the production. We’re almost there so please get on board. You can learn more about the show, watch clips and sizzle reels and get information on each of our pubs online at OUR IRISH PUB.

Please join us as together we celebrate our culture in OUR IRISH PUB.

And we promise there won’t be an elephant in sight. Thanks!