July 30, 2007 by Dan.

On what we hope will be a sunny, Sunday afternoon next month, Patrick will be joined on stage by trad Irish band Drift and rock/reggae group Sunking at the Boarding House Park in Lowell. The event is meant to generate some interest in Patrick and his ideas, to give the public a better, unfiltered view of him, and to connect with what we expect will be a very large audience. Patrick himself may play a few tunes with his sister’s band from NYC. His sister (and mine), Grainne, is an international award-winning Irish fiddler (and the true musical talent in our family.) She’s performed widely across the United States and Ireland, including playing at President Clinton’s final St. Patrick’s Day at the White House. She will be joined by a distinguished group of traditional Irish musicians, including the great accordion player, John Redmond from Co. Wexford. Grainne now plays regularly at sessions and events down in the Big Apple after deciding to end her career as a corporate lawyer. She graduated from Duke University with an A.B., MA, and JD, but has made all of us and herself happy by following her bliss as a musician.

The other band, Sunking, plays a sort of lulling rock that is hard to describe. You can listen to them yourself and give them your own description: www.myspace.com/sunkinglive. Patrick and I went to high school and are close friends with the drummer, Fred Carleton. Like Grainne, Fred’s graduated from a top school but has pursued his love of music. These guys are really good and the big break is just around the corner.

If you follow the local blogs at all, Marie Sweeney (www.richardhowe.com) had a good post on Patrick and some of his musical and familial connections that you can check out here: http://richardhowe.com/?p=363#comments. I would add to her post that we’d played on the Boarding House Park stage many times in our youth–the most notable when our group opened for the Clancy Brothers well over a decade ago. Grainne’s also won the Annual Banjo and Fiddle contest every time she’s entered. And you can listen to two recent recordings of her, myself, and guitarist John Brennan on her myspace page. Click here: http://www.myspace.com/grainnefiddle

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July 25, 2007 by Dan.

A profile on Patrick will air tomorrow morning on WBUR 90.9 FM, Boston’s National Public Radio affiliate. Audio, transcripts, and photos of this piece, “BRICKLAYER BUILDS CAMPAIGN,” should be available on the WBUR website, www.wbur.org, sometime after 10:00am tomorrow. You may preview this story here: http://www.wbur.org/news/archive/

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July 21, 2007 by Dan.

Well we didn’t set any world records, but Patrick beat me again at last night’s road race in Haverhill, though failing in his earlier claim to make me look pokey. Getting sick of seeing the back of his t-shirt for most of the race, I sprinted late only to come up short. Patrick finished at a pace of about 7 1/2 minutes/mile, but promises that number will shrink. (I’ve threatened to do some random drug testing if he finishes below 5 min/mi.)

I do think there’s something in the water in Haverhill though. After working all day, I was happy to finish with a decent time. No sooner did I finish patting myself on the back, I was told the winner of the 70 and over division had me by two seconds. I can still hear the echo of my friends’ cruel laughter.

But it was a good night despite my dwindling ego. We met a lot of supportive runners there and won a coffee cake at the raffle. I’ve brewed my instant coffee for the morning, and I’ll be enjoying that shortly.

Our next race is this Tuesday, July 24th, sponsored by Hookslide Kelly’s. Feel free to join us, laugh at how slow I am, or share a beer after the race. No not my beer, but having one together like.  I’ll be having a Guinness, because it’s good for you.

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July 20, 2007 by Dan.

The campaign’s been busy the past few weeks. We’ve been petitioning Congressmen and Senators alike for Patrick’s “Shared Sacrifice” bill. We’ve been engaged in collecting signatures and speaking with the people of the Fifth, and Patrick has been busy articulating his views on a number of issues. Soon Patrick’s idea’s page will represent a more comprehensive look into those issues, how he arrives at his views and proposed solutions (i.e. not by a Majority or Minority “Whip”), and there’ll be some attention given to problems that have been neglected by the rest of the congressional candidates. Ours is a campaign funded and fueled by the depth and breadth of ideas and we hope that you will add to that discussion. For now, I’ll promise that this, the campaign’s blog, will be much more active and fresh for the remainder of this race. I’ve personally been energized by the support Patrick’s been given recently, by the interviews and answers he’s delivered to the press, and by the number of volunteers cropping up from all parts of the district to help promote the ideas for which Patrick stands and is running. As it turns out, tonight he is literally “running” for Congress in the Sapienza Memorial Race in Haverhill. Patrick’s last race, on the 4th of July in Lawrence, caught him recovering from a broken toe. Unfortunately for me, he still beat me by over a minute. Tonight, apparently, he claims he’ll make me look “pokey.” Me, I just want to finish the four miles. Patrick? He wants to win.

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