Happy St. Patrick's Day!  In 5 minutes or less, you can read through several feel-good stories and St. Patrick's facts or fiction to wow all your friends through the celebrations today.  St. Patrick's Day is an annual fun celebration; put it on a Friday, and you might as well call it "St. Patrick's Weekend."  However, you celebrate and bring joy and laughter wherever you can see today.

Green rivers, shamrocks, and booze – nothing says Irish Catholic like St. Patrick’s Day.  As an Irish Catholic, a more profound question is why St. Patrick's Day typically falls within Lent, forty days punctuated by fasting and deeper reflection, two things I consider the opposite of the hangover associated with a good St. Patrick's Day celebration.  A little more thought, and that isn't the only St. Patrick's Day paradox.

According to our “Internet Research," St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat in England, kidnapped in his teenage years, and taken to Ireland.  He escaped his captors in Ireland and became a priest.  Legend says St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (3 persons in one God) to the pagans of Ireland.  Blue was the original color used to celebrate St. Patrick until 1798.  The first parade was held in 1903 in Waterford, Ireland.  Or so the Internet says!

Wear green or get pinched; tradition is that wearing green makes you invisible to Leprechauns.  Given the number of pinches that will be given on St. Patrick's Day, many Leprechauns are running around.

If it makes us feel better to celebrate Saints, Legends, and traditions that may or may not be accurate, so be it.  St. Patrick's Day in the U.S. is celebrated with parades, communities coming together, and digging green things to wear out of your closet.  Now, go find a bar or parade and celebrate!

With an embarrassment of riches, Brett Goldstein is similar to his character on Ted Lasso, “He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere, he’s Roy Kent.”  Goldstein is also writing and producing a new show on Apple TV called Shrinking, and if you saw the last Marvel Thor movie, he is also Hercules.  NYT reporter Jeremy Egner writes a longer piece on the everyday angry man, and the article opens with Goldstein showing Egner a video from his time on set at Sesame Street.

Goldstein is also a standup comedian and still performs despite being an; actor, writer, show creator, and part-time Muppet guest star.  His next standup gig is in Washington on April 8th, 2023.

He also has a podcast where he interviews stars and talks about the movies that inspired them.  Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein.

As legend has it, an Austin, TX restaurant called Cedar Door brought an excellent combination of martini and margarita, the best of the brine of a martini and the best of the sweet of a margarita.  Once you've had a Mexican Martini, a margarita will always look different.  It is green – drink it today!

A Chicago tradition every St. Patrick's Day, a portion of the Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.  A local Chicago website - Block Club Chicago has the details and an excellent picture of how the city turns the river into something that resembles lime Jell-O.

Boston’s House.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Here’s one for the road!

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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