A Lucky Irish Lad

Submitted by Amanda Rae Busch on January 28, 2010 - 4:24pm

The Irish, we know how to party.

That was my first thought when a friend—none other than the impish Pittsfield storyteller Kevin O’Hara—popped into my office the other day, declaring in his sly Celtic brogue that this Sunday’s launch party for his new collection of childhood memoirs, A Lucky Irish Lad, published by Forge Books, will stretch from noon to midnight.

Really?

Oh yes, he hopes that the all-day event at his favorite local hangout, Patrick’s Pub, will be “nothing but bands and bedlam.”

Four acts, in fact, will score the celebration with a soundtrack fitting for any tangential tribute to the Emerald Isle: New York City-based Mary Margaret and the Shamrocks (the songstress is a distant cousin of O'Hara's); Boston singer/songwriter/mandoline ace Jimmy Ryan; Dublin’s Porter, a group that may sound familiar to repeat patrons of the Olde Forge; and the celebrated SoBerk trio, The Housatonic

Philharmonic.

In between the music and madness, sometime around 3 p.m., O'Hara tells me, Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto will bestow upon him the key to the city—quite the honor, as just a handful of other people over the past six years can boast the same.

Though Chapters Bookstore on North Street will host a separate reading and book signing at a later date—as will the the Heritage House in Lenox, through The Bookstore, on February 4; the Bookloft in Great Barrington on February 5; and Barnes & Noble in Pittsfield on February 6—stacks of fresh copies of A Lucky Irish Lad will be available for fans old and new.

O’Hara and crew drew more than six hundred heads to Patrick's in 2004 to celebrate his first book, Last of the Donkey Pilgrims, an autobiographical novel about his 1979 walkabout circling the perimeter his native country with a just a cart and a stubborn mare (which I discovered as I wrote a profile of him in the May 2007 issue of Berkshire Living.)

He’s got his fingers crossed for an even bigger turnout on Sunday.

“Will I be standing after twelve hours of Guinness specials ($4 a pint that day)?” O’Hara asks, as if an answer is really necessary.

“Yes, no problem. I'll pace myself nicely.”

Spoken like a good Catholic boy.

Kevin O'Hara's Book Party

Sunday, January 31 at noon to midnight

Patrick's Pub

26 Bank Row.

Pittsfield, Mass.

413.499.1994

[PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA LANE]

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