Beware of Irish Bearing Gifts

What did you do today Pat?

Well I went down to South Street Seaport and played bagpipes on the pier in the cold while a Greek Orthodox priest threw a cross into the East River and shirtless men dived in to retrieve it. You?

 Greek and Irish bearded sages meet.


Winner holding cross and wearing shirt.

This is an annual event for the band and the first time I got to do it. I have no idea why bagpipes is part of this tradition, but the Greek contingent is so nice and we all love to do it. Last year it snowed and there were ice floes. This year was downright balmy by comparison.



Here is the write up from the church's press release that explains all:

THEOPHANIA (Epiphany) at South Street Seaport

The Holy Metropolis is pleased to announce that for the ninth time since 2001 the blessing of the waters for Theophania (Epiphany) 2010 will again occur at the South Street Seaport, in New York City.

On Tuesday, January 19, 2010, following Divine Liturgy at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Markella, His Eminence PAVLOS, the Metropolitan of America, will lead the clergy and faithful to the seaport where he will conduct a service to bless the waters of the great city. He will complete the blessing by casting a Cross into the icy waters. This symbolizes the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan at the hands of St. John the Baptist. Dozens of young men will dive into the harbor hoping to reach the Cross first and return it to Metropolitan PAVLOS.

This ancient, Holy Christian ritual, dating from the time of the Emperors in Constantinople, will be witnessed by the people of New York through the cooperation of the local authorities, and NYPD, FDNY, US Coast Guard harbor launches and scuba divers.


Bagpipes, shirless divers, Greeks. It is all here baby!

Busking NYC

Desperate times lead to desperate measures.

I, like so many others, have been looking for work for a long time. I once was a successful media executive. I had a career! Now I am pounding the pavement like so many others. But why not tap the pavement instead of pound it?

In the film "Fun with Dick and Jane" starring the excellent Jane Fonda and George Segal, Dick loses his corporate job and his house gets repossessed. He and his wife turn to a life of crime in order to get by. Others turn to prostitution and others gambling. I was thinking "What else can I do?" I don't have the stomach for crime and I don't have the stomach, pecs, abs, etc. for prostitution and then I thought, "I can play pipes! I will be the weddings and funerals piper for New York City!"

But first I decided to busk on the streets of New York.

I started out the other day in front of the Museum of Natural History and today went down to South Street Seaport. I learned fast to DO and ask questions later. Good idea as I got stopped by security (but not before raking in some good dough) and was told I needed a permit and there were auditions in January! Auditions to busk. Okay, I will do that. On to Times Square!

Here I was (and the excellent photo is kind of small here) playing in the crossroads of the world RIGHT in front of the master showman himself, George M. "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" Cohan!!




That was all worth it to get stopped again by security. Another bloody permit!

"But isn't this public property?"

"You need a permit"

"C'mon, can't I just play here? The people dig it."

Then New York's finest...

A nice young cop came to my rescue and told me to come play over by his beat on Times Square! Wow, I had NYPD protection. Another officer even bought me a bottle of water. Irish policeman. You gotta love 'em.


My friends.
Tourist posing for a photo op.

Then it was onto St. Pat's!!!!