'KDKA Morning News' Celebrates St. Patrick's Day With Visit To Irish Pub, In Studio Performance
PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) - The "KDKA Morning News" with Larry Richert and John Shumway had their annual St. Patrick's Day celebration filled with Irish jokes, stories, a trip to the oldest pub in Ireland and a performance from one of Pittsburgh's premiere musicians, live in the studio.
Father Naos McCool, who is the assistant dean for student formation at Duquesne University, is originally from Ireland. He celebrates St. Patrick's Day with, "Mass at noon at St. Patrick's in The Strip and then, I'll join the Irish community at 6:30 for mass at the Irish Center in Squirrel Hill."
He adds he'll finish the day by, "sharing a pint with my friends."
Father McCool talked about what St. Patrick's Day means in Ireland.
"It's both a religious holiday and a civil holiday. People go to church and they go to parades. It's a great family day," he said.
When asked who St. Patrick was, Father McCool says he was, "a very honest to God man who told it as it was."
He adds that in Ireland, Patrick is the most common name for a boy and Patricia for a girl.
Larry and John then took a trip to Ireland - albeit by phone - to the Brazen Head Pub in Dublin. They talked to Ashley, the women behind the bar, on St. Patrick's Day.
The Brazen Head is officially the oldest pub in Ireland and dates back to 1198.
Ashley says one of the Brazen Head's regular performers has a girlfriend from Pittsburgh, so a Terrible Towel hangs in the oldest pub in all of Ireland.
Mike Gallagher has been performing all around the Pittsburgh area for decades and is one of the area's most well-known singers when it comes to classic Irish tunes.
Mike has a busy day every St. Patrick's Day and this one is no exception. After performing in studio live with Larry and John, he headed to St. Patrick's Church to canter followed by an appearance at Riley's Pour House in Carnegie and ends the night at The Grove Irish Pub in Ross Township.
Gallagher talked about his Irish-American family and how growing up he and his seven brothers and sisters would perform on St. Patrick's Day for the neighborhood.
Gallagher played a few of his favorite Irish songs including one called "Ramblin' and Rovin'."
"There's about 400 songs about ramblin' and rovin' in Ireland. They do a lot of that," he said.
He also performed a song called "I Had a Dream," which he wrote with his brother, Dan, about the unification of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
"Shortly after we wrote the song, they started the peace talks in Northern Ireland," he said. "So, we take full credit for that!"
Gallagher also played his newest song called "The White Renault," which is about Pope Francis.
Mike says he got the inspiration for it when he heard, "there was an older priest who was too old to drive and he gave him his car. A 1984 white Renault with 190,000 miles on it and the (Pope's) security people were horrified when he got in the car and actually drove away."
For more information on Mike and when he's playing visit www.Mike-Gallagher.com
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