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When I was in grade school, I remember one of my teachers, Miss Cavers talking about her grandfather being an ambassador to some exotic country.  The name of where he was slips my mind.  But the one thing she said he had to do was eat with some dignitaries some local dish that consisted of some plant that was premasticated by the people preparing it. 

Naturally all of us thought that was pretty gross and I filed my ambassador ambition in the “probably not” drawer.

So it was great to find out that my first cousin Brian McFeeters was appointed US Ambassador to the great nation of Malaysia.  Brian has spent three decades in the diplomatic corp and has been stationed around the world.  Most notably he was stationed in the Green Zone in Iraq when the embassy was attacked by some radical militant groups.  

It’s a long way from when we would all meet out in Wyoming and hike in the foothills as kids.  And Brian was extremely gracious to take some time out of his settling into his new role in Kuala Lumpur as ambassador.  I had a lot of questions to ask, but most importantly, I wanted to find out exactly what one does as an ambassador. 

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On this episode of Strung Out we interview two great Chicago Irish musicians, Jackie Moran on bodhran (the Irish drum) and Seán Cleland (fiddle) both of whom teach at The Irish Music School of Chicago (irishmusicschool.org) and were part of the legendary band The Drovers during the mid-late 1980's, when Chicago was at the forefront of a renaissance of Irish music, dance and culture.  

But Chicago had an amazing role in the preservation and propagation of Irish music that predates such bands as The Drovers, Midnight Court, The Wailin' Banshees to name a few of the day.  About 80 years earlier, one Chicago policeman, Chief Francis O'Neil, took it upon himself to save all the tunes that were rapidly being dispersed and lost due to the great famine and immigration.  O'Neil went about hunting down Irish musicians and with the help of colleague James O'Neil, meticulously recorded note for note the melodies that each musician had in his or her recollection.  This became the standard "bible" of Irish melodies and it can be argued that this single action, created in the Windy City, was responsible for maintaining the rich level of Irish music we enjoy today. 

Fast forward to the 1980's again, and the rise of such stars as Michael Flatley, a Chicago-plumber-flautist-dancer and schools like the Trinity School of Irish Stepdancing lead another wave of Chicago infused Irish music and dance.  With amazing traditional players on the scene from the old country as well as new Windy City stars like Liz Carroll, John Williams, Jimmy Keane, Martin Hayes and many others, Chicago becomes the hotbed of Irish music.  Rising through this rich soil of Midwestern Celtic Sound comes the Big Shouldered energy of bands that delivered a driving, devil-may-care, hammer swinging energy that was uniquely Chicago. That sound thrived throughout the 80's and well into the early 2000's when that era slowly ebbed away.  What it was replaced with is up to debate.  Which is the reason for the podcast.

Martin McCormack joins Jackie and Seán as they play some of the signature sounds captured by  Chief O'Neil and talk about Chicago Irish Music, where it has been and where it is heading. 

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This episode of Strung Out centers on our spiritual wellbeing during the pandemic.  To help us we welcome Drew Jacques.  Drew is a Presbyterian Minister, as well as  spending years counseling in mental health as well as child services in the province of Ontario, Canada.  Drew became pastor of St. David's of Campbellsville, Ontario, right before the outbreak of the pandemic.  Pastor Drew uses all of his previous life experiences in healthcare as well as the ministry to help us discover what meaning and purpose there is to the pandemic, as well as offering advice on finding inner peace and dialogue with the Universe.   Pastor Drew will be a regular contributor to Strung Out.   His personal story is below as well as in the transcript of the show.

 Drew Jacques: A personal Reflection I have every reason to believe that where I am today was planned before I was born in September 1958. (Yes, I’m a Libra!) Within several weeks of my birth I was baptized by Rev. C.K. Nicol. What is important to know about him is he was the Chaplain for the 48th Highlanders and hit Juno Beach on D. Day. I was baptized by a Warrior. I always went to church. But then, those where the days when churchgoing was pretty much expected of everybody. Mine was the first generation to really walk away. That is not a condemnation, simply the truth. I remained, for the most part in. By the age of 2 I knew how to work a record player and had “The Kingston Trio - Close up”, “Camelot” and “My Fair Lady” albums completely memorized. Some foundational theology in these. At the age of four I participated in a Fashion show a ladies group put on in the church. I was modelling shorts. I don’t know if I was traumatized by it, but to this day I don’t wear shorts. The story goes I walked down the catwalk and back. When I get back to the change room I said of the experience; “I didn’t know what to say”. I hadn’t quite pieced together the path to being a preacher, but I suspect there was some inkling of the direction I was headed. Around about the same time I heard the Mother Superior sing “Climb Every Mountain” in the sound of music. It has stuck with me. Roughly then my dad bought me a crystal radio. It began a life long love of radio. Through the radio the music the songs of the sixties and early seventies became foundational to my theology. If you look closely at the Billboard Top 100 from 1968 to 1972 you will understand the impact and influence on an absorbing mind. Those four years touch all of our spirits, who were around of course. The other supreme influence was spending every summer from the last day of school to the first day in the fall at a cottage for the better part of 12 years. On a crystal clear lake in a forest of old growth Hemlock, with a canoe, a tent the freedom to explore and experience a wonderful corner of creation. In 1972 my parents moved from Oakville, essentially a quintessential small English “seaside” town on the shore of Lake Ontario to the farthest reaches of the suburbs in Toronto which I quickly began to refer to as “Scarberia”. (Revisit the opening of the Blues Brothers). It was my first sojourn into a spiritual wilderness, the first great “uprooting”. But the one constant that remained, through all the years, was music and it's transcendent power to sooth and strengthen. A quick side note. I remember the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I remember all the kids in the neighbourhood growing our bangs long like the Fab 4. I remember us being asked by a delivery driver; “What are you, a bunch of hippies?” I have a very clear memory of Linus saying; “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward all”. I wanted to learn to play guitar. My parents world view demanded one take piano and learn theory before getting a guitar. Thus began eight years of misery: Piano Lessons It wasn’t until I left

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[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Martin McCormack: [00:00:00] I'd like to welcome John and Patricia Kennedy to Strung Out.  It's great to have you on the program. 

[00:00:06]Patricia Kennedy: [00:00:06] Thank you, Marty. 

[00:00:07] John Kennedy: [00:00:07] Thank you, Marty. Good to be here. 

[00:00:08]Martin McCormack: [00:00:08] This is an  important topic that we are talking about tonight.  I am so grateful that you are willing to talk about it because I think a lot of people are in the dark as far as just how serious COVID can be.  The experience that you both went through and going through is quite amazing.  I'd like to start. by John, you telling the story.

[00:00:31] John Kennedy: [00:00:31] Yeah. All right. I think I have a pretty good memory of it. Back in November the middle of November, the second week we traditionally gather at my brother's farm over in Missouri for deer camp.   I had already thought that with the COVID raging that I would decline, but my brother had received a doctor's diagnosis last summer that he had a rare intestinal cancer and he wasn't going to be around too long. So I decided to take the risk [00:01:00] and head over to deer camp.  My other two brothers joined our fourth brother over there. And one of them that cares for my father brought him along.  We arrived there on a Friday afternoon and found Dad Saturday morning with a fever and we ran him down to Hannibal, Missouri for a COVID test.  That came out positive.  I think we found that out on Monday, but his fevers persisted, and he was just not acting normal. He was 91.

[00:01:28] He was struggling with breathing and always struggled with the first day or so, being away from home, which was this familiar environment. He never wanted to leave there and more recent years.  He spent that week with us and we noticed him getting weaker and Friday a week from the day he had arrived there, my brother took him back to his home . The rest of us left deer camp on the following Tuesday and ended up going back to dad's home because they had put him into hospice. On the Monday after he'd gotten [00:02:00] back. 

[00:02:00]Martin McCormack: [00:02:00] John,  any idea how he might've come down with COVID since he was at home?

[00:02:04]John Kennedy: [00:02:04] His care taker, we believe. She had been tested a few days before dad came over to camp and she was negative according to the test. But the day that they brought dad over, she found out that her taste was going. So I think she realized then that. The test had been wrong. It was false negative.

[00:02:23] She, and I believe one of her young children also ended up with it, but we expect that's where dad picked it up.  Deer camp being what it is, a collection of family and friends, all huggers and not really mask wearers. We all got, together, we really wondered what would happen with the COVID and Dad having that in terms of spreading. But we really only had one other person, a nephew ended up with COVID and his was not a serious case.  He lost his taste and probably had a mild fever.  I don't believe he was ever confined to bed. 

[00:02:54]Martin McCormack: [00:02:54] And how old is that nephew?

[00:02:55] John Kennedy: [00:02:56] Mid twenties, maybe?

[00:02:57] Martin McCormack: [00:02:57] Mid twenties, so young.  

[00:02:58] John Kennedy: [00:02:58] There were a number of folks [00:03:00] in there of all ages and nobody hesitated to hug dad or Patrick under the circumstances they knew they wouldn't have a lot more opportunities.  These were folks that were used to seeing them every yearat deer camp. . But it was pretty amazing. Only one person came out of that whole week with COVID other than dad.  Then when we went back to dad's house, we gathe

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A lot of people are wondering if the dynamic duo has met its final end.  Does Batman and Robin, Green Hornet and Kato, David and Goliath, Gilbert and Sullivan, Sonny and Cher...well you get the drift.  None of these folks.  But Switchback!  Brian FitzGerald is our guest today on the podcast.  Marty interviews Brian so we can see just what sort of Covformation he has gone through.  Also a special announcement about a special Switchback Saint Patrick's Day special, "Live from Nilles Hall" that will be available for view before the high holy day.  Sit back and listen to Brian explain how he's found a new fondness for cucumbers. 

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George Washington wrote his farewell address in 1796, when he finally served a second term in office.  Weary and wary of politics and politicians, Washington (with the help of Alexander Hamiliton) crafted what could be considered a "how to survive as a republic" guide.  One of the main warnings he had was about the factionalism of political parties and how those political parties can give rise to a despot.  As the History Channel noted in its story on Washington's speech:
According to Washington, one of the chief dangers of letting regional loyalties dominate loyalty to the nation as a whole was that it would lead to factionalism, or the development of competing political parties. When Americans voted according to party loyalty, rather than the common interest of the nation, Washington feared it would foster a “spirit of revenge,” and enable the rise of “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” who would “usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
It could be argued that the presidency of Donald Trump, his subsequent defeat to Joe Biden, January 6th insurrection, impeachment and acquittal by the Republican majority is exactly what Washington was warning us about.   Joining Martin is politician and analyst of all things political, David Heuvelman.  Together they walk through Washington's address, apply it to the current political climate and ponder if we are indeed witnessing the very thing that  GEORGE WASHINGTON WARNED US ABOUT!

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If history is to be our guide, we have to look at the Republican Party as something that has gone through a great deal of transformation.  More so, in many ways, than the Democratic Party.   Rising from the ruins of the Whig Party in the 1850's, the Republican Party has undergone attempts at schisms in the past--most notably the 1912 creation of the Progressive, or Bull Moose Party under Theodore Roosevelt.   The impeachment trial of Donald Trump is not only a  trial about the events of January 6, 2021, but in the weeks that have followed has now become a referendum on the state of the Republican Party.   The slow metastasizing cancer that has arisen in the party has many possible causes.  Marty points out that the most recent symptoms of radical right (Trumpist) apologists seems to have its start in the scorched earth, winner-take-all mentality of Newt Gingrich and his fellow absolutists.  Coupled with an angry "outrage for profit" obfuscation of the airwaves by partisan radio and television shows, this sort of anger at the world and Democrats in particular seems to have become the boil that now is in need of lancing.  Will the conventional stalwarts of the party prevail?  Will the Trumpists coalesce into a full-blown political philosophy of "Christian-Conservative-Nationalism"? We are to witness a more subtle battle play out in the background of the second impeachment trial---the battle for the survival and soul of the Republican Party. 

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This week's episode is about a friend of mine, the late, great Dave Lyon.  I had the privilege to help produce his last album, called Black Pearl, that was named in honor of his beautiful Creole, Louisiana-born and bred, wife, Evelyn.   Dave passed away on September 19, 2020 from stage four liver cancer.  Unbeknownst to him at the time of the recording and producing, the album work was conducted by all involved with an intensity mainly due to the tour schedule of Switchback.  That intensity really "was being in the moment" and the joy that resulted of that moment was the legacy of bliss that ended up being Dave's posthumous album.   

In many ways, Dave's last few months on this plane set him up for what is known as "A Happy Death."   A happy death is described by the Roman Catholic Church as having "all your spiritual ducks in a row" before checking out.  In other words, being in a state of contentment, joy and bliss.    Coincidentally, in researching this podcast, I came across the book Albert Camus wrote called The Happy Death.  Camus describes the Happy Death in his book (a sort of introspection into his own yearnings) as "will to happiness," the conscious creation of one's happiness, and the need of time (and money) to do so.   One of his characters in the novel, a man who is an invalid and has a great deal of wealth, mourns the fact that he is facing the end of his days by not pursuing Joy/Bliss.   "Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience. And in almost every case, we use up our lives making money, when we should be using our money to gain time." 

Four cuts are featured on this podcast from  Black Pearl.  Due to David's illness, much of the final production was done by his friend, Ron Gordon, in Evergreen, Colorado.  Ron had the unenviable task of putting the final touches on the album, while bearing witness to the decline of Dave's health.  What the final result of the album is, is a strong tribute, a fine performance and an album bubbling with optimism.   Enjoy the podcast. 

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A huge snowstorm is coming.  You have done everything to prepare for it.  The logs are stacked for the fireplace, the shovel is handy by the front door.  Salt for the sidewalk.  There's really nothing more to do than hunker down and watch the flakes fall.  But wait!  What about making sure you get the right materials to create some fantastic comfort food?  The first of our food series for this year, COMFORT FOOD FOR CABIN FEVER is all about some of the more exceptional dishes that are easy to make, wonderful to eat and are even better re-heated and served as leftovers.  Perfect if you are really snowed in.  And with Covid raging, doesn't every day feel like being stuck in a cabin?

Herbalist, food adventurer and writer ANNE DE COURTENAY, joins Marty as they discuss some of the mainstay winter dishes that keep their household happy and warm during the coldest, snowiest and covidiest days of this winter.   

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Marty brings in his political analyst, Sandeep Gopal, to comment about the pre-inaugural state of the nation.  The last two weeks have seen seismic changes since the attempted coup took place on January 6.  Sandeep references Isabel Wilkerson, the author of the Oprah Book of the Month selection Caste and how America has been suffering under a system that was brutally re-established after the Great Compromise of 1877.  How the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s despondency about white complacency still rings true today: 

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens’ Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

The new administration is faced with real racism, exposed as never before.  They also are facing a media, that left unchecked since the Fairness Doctrine of 1947 was repealed in the 1980's has led to the rise of talk radio and in turn the rise of extremism.  How this in turn has been used by the Trump campaign to create a following that is ignorant to the truth about the vote and angry about a caste system designed by the very elite like Trump. 

How will the new administration, in the midst of a pandemic, clean up this mess?  And what is our role in helping engage those who still do not believe the results of the election?  It's a pretty jam-packed STRUNG OUT.

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