Boston Phoenix references to Shane & the Pogues

[Dosgatas]

The Boston Phoenix has a piece titled
Set ’em up, knock ’em back: 15 people who could (or can) drink more than you [link to full article: http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid6691.aspx]

So, of course Shane MacGowan is included in this article. What I find a bit puzzling is that the writer seems to express such disdain for Shane’s drinking, while almost championing the legendary excesses of many of the others who are mentioned. It’s apparently hysterical that Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was so drunk that he wound up in Buffalo, rather than Boston (granted, that is kind of funny!), and Behan’s “plastered appearances on The Jack Paar Show are the stuff of legend”. Yet the reference to Shane states, “this great, bloated, slurring lump of a man is also an object lesson in the ravages of continual inebriation on the body and mind.” What the…?!?

Okay, sure, many of us view Shane’s drinking with some measure of concern, in that he’s a uniquely talented songwriter/musician and we’d really, really like for him to stick around (and keep touring!). But I have to say, he seemed in fine form at the Orpheum on Tuesday, and most of the reviews I’ve read on these message boards indicate the same – whether or not he’s half (or wholly) in the bag, he seems to be doing quite well, thank you very much. I'm just not seeing him as this tragic, pitiful figure, I guess.

I was amused by the Faulker paragraph though. My grandfather spent some time teaching law at the Univ. of Mississippi in Oxford, and my Dad apparently hung out with Faulkner’s stepson when they were boys. Dad told us about going to the Faulkner estate to watch the fox hunts, and when I scowled in disapproval, he said “don’t worry, they all just got drunk and rode around on the horses until they fell off. The foxes were never in any real danger.”

On a related note, the same writer also wrote an article titled 30 Songs To Spill Beer On Your iPod To: The Greatest Drinking Songs of All Time [http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid6692.aspx], which includes a photo of Shane and this reference to “Streams of Whiskey”:
“Streams of Whiskey” — the Pogues (1984). In theory, of course, pretty much any song in the Pogues catalog could have made this list. This one has it all: drunken abandon, rousing sing-along chorus, a Behan shout-out. Have you no Shane?

Frightenly enough, this article also lists “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”. That song always makes me think of the George Bernard Shaw quote: “music is the brandy of the damned”, which I tend to alter to “’Brandy’ is the music of the damned”. Truly. That song comes on the radio and I’m in hell.

[Quincy Dan]

I love the fact that the Great One is on there. This is the man who borrowed $1000 from Milton Berle as they walked into Toots Shor's place in NYC and then gregariously bought for everyone in the joint and needled Berle for being cheap!

I want a copy of the illustation for my home bar....should I ever get one.