Crack open a cold one and pull up a seat at our St. Patrick's Day table where the drinks flow as freely as the conversation! I'm your host, Mike Bono, and on today's Ride Home Rants podcast, we're toasting to tradition with a pint of banter, a dash of history, and a spirited panel that includes the likes of Wendy, a wee bit Irish, and Collin, who's half a leprechaun by blood. Together with the rest of our motley crew, including a vampire coach who's seen more St. Paddy's Days than Dracula's had victims, we're serving up a discussion that's as rich and hearty as a bowl of Irish stew.
Now, we all love a good yarn, and this episode spins a tapestry of tales from the emerald isle's descendants. Feast your ears on the family recipes that have journeyed from old-world kitchens to our modern-day celebrations, and join the debate: has St. Patrick's Day kept its cultural heartbeat, or has it morphed into just an excuse to sport green and sip whiskey? From the perfect day for festivities to how we weave the threads of our ancestry into the fabric of today's merrymaking, we explore the personal side of this global jubilee.
To cap off our craic, we've got stories that'll have you dreaming of Dublin, laughter that could wake the snakes St. Patrick banished, and a nod to South Bend's local customs that rival the authenticity of a peat fire in a Connemara cottage. Big thanks to Brandon, Wendy, and Collin for their blarney and brilliance, and a hat tip to Fiddy, our podcast manager, for keeping the show as smooth as a good Irish whiskey. Share these stories 'round, and may your St. Patrick's Day be as joyful and safe as the laughter in our voices. Sláinte!
Crack open a cold one and pull up a seat at our St. Patrick's Day table where the drinks flow as freely as the conversation! I'm your host, Mike Bono, and on today's Ride Home Rants podcast, we're toasting to tradition with a pint of banter, a dash of history, and a spirited panel that includes the likes of Wendy, a wee bit Irish, and Collin, who's half a leprechaun by blood. Together with the rest of our motley crew, including a vampire coach who's seen more St. Paddy's Days than Dracula's had victims, we're serving up a discussion that's as rich and hearty as a bowl of Irish stew.
Now, we all love a good yarn, and this episode spins a tapestry of tales from the emerald isle's descendants. Feast your ears on the family recipes that have journeyed from old-world kitchens to our modern-day celebrations, and join the debate: has St. Patrick's Day kept its cultural heartbeat, or has it morphed into just an excuse to sport green and sip whiskey? From the perfect day for festivities to how we weave the threads of our ancestry into the fabric of today's merrymaking, we explore the personal side of this global jubilee.
To cap off our craic, we've got stories that'll have you dreaming of Dublin, laughter that could wake the snakes St. Patrick banished, and a nod to South Bend's local customs that rival the authenticity of a peat fire in a Connemara cottage. Big thanks to Brandon, Wendy, and Collin for their blarney and brilliance, and a hat tip to Fiddy, our podcast manager, for keeping the show as smooth as a good Irish whiskey. Share these stories 'round, and may your St. Patrick's Day be as joyful and safe as the laughter in our voices. Sláinte!
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rance podcast. This is, as always, your host, mike Bono. I have a great and special episode for you all. This week. It is our St Patrick's Day episode. We're gonna be talking all things St Patrick's Day, all things Irish, and I have a great panel of guests for this show. I'm gonna let them introduce themselves. So, wendy, let's start with you.
Speaker 2:
Sure, hi there, I'm Wendy Kunies and I'm from Cleveland Ohio and I have about less than 1% Irish in me.
Speaker 1:
Alright, Brandon, let's go to you, brandon. My thing wasn't going out there.
Speaker 2:
How are you doing?
Speaker 3:
everybody, my name is Brandon Wiley. I am. I live in Uri, pennsylvania, but originally from Sharon, pennsylvania, and as far as I know, I don't have any Irish in me. So nothing, I move around. Okay, so unless I do a 23 in me and it tells me something different, I got you, let's go to the vampire coach himself.
Speaker 4:
Yes, sir, mr Askew, from Cincinnati, ohio, and, like Bono said, aka the vampire coach. And you know what the vampire coach? You know, I got some type of Irish in me, so I want to tell you what the percentage is, but just know it runs deep in the blood.
Speaker 1:
Last but not least, here Colin round us out.
Speaker 5:
Hey everyone, my name is Colin Pope, I'm from Fort Mid Ohio and I'm a solid 50% Irish that we can trace back to the homeland, so Alright.
Speaker 1:
Finally, someone with more than one or 2%. I know I have 0% in me, so we're going to talk all things Irish here and all things St Patrick's Day, but first and foremost, brandon. To start with you, what is the best type of Irish drink? It can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic.
Speaker 3:
I'm a big Irish car bomb, so I will this Saturday I will be indulging in that type of activity, so that's my favorite type of Irish drink there.
Speaker 1:
Alright, Wendy, what about you?
Speaker 2:
Second I seconded, I had a feeling this might be the bottle of drinking.
Speaker 1:
Let's go, mr 50% Irish Colin, what about you?
Speaker 5:
I'm a classic Guinness guy. So you know, mate the darker, the better.
Speaker 1:
I can't do but like one Guinness that's heavy for me, I'll drink them. I'm not saying I won't, I'll drink it, but it's a lot, mr, round us out here on this one.
Speaker 4:
Well, I tell you what, man, when we was in Bethany College, we came up with this one drink man me bump and lead, and you can probably ask 50 about this. He might know of this, but we call this drink the pink panther and I'll just you know, I'll leave it at that the pink panther man, I'm mad that you were there after my time at Bethany we were making up drinks called the pink panther, Like that.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, but, mister, this is Dave with you. You're in Minnesota now up there. So what is something unique to your area to do on St Patrick's Day?
Speaker 4:
Well, I tell you what, man being up here, they really do have a lot of different festivities. That goes on, you know what I'm saying, with the season, you know you get the crazy rabbit. You guys are very old, you know. They really deck it out, you know, with the drinks and with the different food selection that they have. So those two places and even the jail, they have a lot of different, you know, activities and different food. But you know, one thing that I will do and make is a green rice, a green wild rice, and I'll give you the ingredients about that one later on.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I'm definitely going to need that one. But, colin, what about you?
Speaker 5:
So, being around Youngstown, you know you're smack dab between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, so you got both of them cities where they find it festive to dye the rivers green in both of those towns. So you can always you can take your pick on either one to go and be a part of those festivities.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I always think it's interesting when they dye an entire river green, like just to do it for that day and like have it wash itself out in like a day. To me I'd mess that up so bad it'd be green forever, like there'd be no more other color other than green.
Speaker 5:
I don't know how the fish feel about the green water for a week after that, but apparently they're all right with it.
Speaker 1:
Apparently they got to be. That's what I mean, wendy. What about you up at Cleveland?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, in Cleveland we have a big parade downtown. That's usually what everyone's doing and most of the time they're pre-gaming. If they're going to pre-game, they'll probably find themselves in downtown Willoughby. You know a lot of our bars and restaurants which are all independent, by the way, which is amazing. We don't have chains down here, but they're mostly owned by Irish families, so a lot of them are open really early, like five, six o'clock in the morning, and you can stop them there, and it's packed in downtown Willoughby all through the whole day, all night. But yeah, most people head downtown for the parade and come back.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, especially if we got Irish-owned bars and pubs. That seems to be the place to be the St Patrick's Day, brandon. What about you?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, we do a lot of bar crawling around here, so we always have some type of vending all the bars downtown. Sometimes we'll get together and we'll put together a little bar crawl. We have our parade, of course, but really one of the hot spots to start at is a place called Celevence. So it is like a premier Irish bar type. I've been going there since I was a college kid. We used to get it in Back then $1.75 makes drinks. That's where we used to start the party. But I was pre-gaming before $1.75 drinks and then we got there for the $1.75 drinks and then pre-gaming some more before it went to the club clubs. So we started at Celevence and we'll go up in there. So it's always a staple in the city.
Speaker 1:
I mean, if we got $1.75 cocktails, I'm about that life, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:
Look you bring $20 a year to your EPA to go out drinking you're good, and even with the inflation in our economy it's still that way.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. For sure, brandon. We're going to stay with you, though, but if you had to pick one city in the US to celebrate St Patrick's Day, where would you pick?
Speaker 3:
Oh, that's a good question. For some reason I feel like I've heard Chicago is a really great time on St Patty's. I have a couple of friends out there that they said they really enjoyed they have a blast during St Patrick's Day, and I just visited Chicago for the first time this past summer and went to the Drake concert. It was all a blur tour and we spent three days in Chicago and I loved it. So it'll be on my list to visit St Patrick's Day one day.
Speaker 1:
Okay, wendy, what about you? Any city in the US?
Speaker 2:
In the US. All right, Well, just hot. So I want to be pretty toesy Arizona, Texas. I need warmer temps, like really really warmer temps. I don't even know if they'd be warmer in Texas right now. Probably Arizona, Probably.
Speaker 1:
Arizona. Okay, so you're just going for the warm fit.
Speaker 2:
Yes, if you're going to be out and about on the whole entire day and you're going bar to bar, you want to be comfortable, you want to enjoy yourself, you want to be walking around, you know, even checking out the parades. You don't want to be doing it in 50 degree weather and heavy winds.
Speaker 1:
I'll tell you, I hope it stays like it did today here in Ohio. It was about 73 degrees, sun was shining. I was All about that. Like that's perfect for me. Anywhere where there's that for me, I'm cool with it. But, colin, what about you? Any city in the US?
Speaker 5:
So I've never been. But I do know that Boston has a pretty heavy Irish heritage and I've heard they know how to get down on St Patrick's Day or there in Boston. So I think that would be prime candidate.
Speaker 1:
That definitely would be a prime spot to go Boston. There is a lot of Irish up in Boston, from what I hear, and I hear St Patrick's Day can get crazy up there.
Speaker 4:
But Mr Round us out. Oh yeah, man, I tell you what the best place you want to be is in Savannah Georgia. That is absolutely unreal on St Patrick's Day for the whole week. When St Patrick's Day come up just in a couple of weeks, just look at Savannah Georgia, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1:
Never would have thought Savannah Georgia, but that's yeah, we'll have to check that out.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, it goes down. I mean every everywhere. I was down there for two years and it was side to side. I mean you butt the butt side to side. There's nowhere to go in the streets.
Speaker 1:
Okay, absolutely so. I want to switch it up. We've talked a little bit about the drinking, but let's get into a little bit of Irish food. So, mr, what about you on this one? Do you like corned beef and cabbage?
Speaker 4:
Oh man, I love that. Oh yeah, corned beef and cabbage. I can get down with that man. Like I said when I was down in Savannah I can't remember who made that or what place, but I had that probably for the first time in a long time down there and I like it. I can get with it, okay, colin what about you?
Speaker 5:
Oh, I'm a big fan. My two grandparents that are on my Irish side. They do a traditional dinner every year Corned beef and cabbage soup, soda bread, all the traditional dishes that come along with that and they do it really well. So I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1:
Okay, wendy, what about you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, we grew up having the same thing too. So we were corned beef, we were mashed potatoes, we were the cabbage, we were sauerkraut, everything laid out roasted veggies, and then when I became an adult, I carried that through raising my girls as well. So it's just, it's one of those traditional, like staple meals that you have. We don't usually have it any other time in the year other than that time.
Speaker 1:
All right, brandon, what about you? Yeah?
Speaker 3:
one of my good friends. I mean, I didn't really get into the, nor really when I came to college, but I know what a traditional Irish meal was until I met one of my boys and my best friends. He's hardcore Irish, he's half and his family. They do a big dinner and I've been going there for these almost like 16 years now to their family dinner and they make the whole spread. So we drink beer, we eat corned beef and cabbage and the whole thing. So, yeah, I enjoy it. I love for my foodie though, anyway. So I like to eat a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I wish I could just say I'm a foodie, I'm just a fat kid at heart. I give you, put food in front of me, it's going to disappear. So, and with my full-blooded Irish wife, yeah, we definitely have traditional Irish food. We have potatoes with every meal, regardless of what we're eating. There is potatoes with every meal, and I'm wrong with that. I'm about it, I love it. We've been together nine years. She's put 60 pounds on me. So yeah, we're fine, we're good.
Speaker 1:
But, brandon, do you think St Patrick's Day has become an overhyped drinking holiday in society today?
Speaker 3:
I mean, yeah, I mean for the, for the. It's a good time regardless, I mean, but I mean that's all that I've, you know. But I'm, I'm, I'm old school. Well, I'm not a practicing Catholic anymore, but I used to be heavily involved in my Catholic faith. So I knew the origins of the story, you know. And so, again, when I came to here because here here's a party, a party city, you know, and so they like to, there's nothing here but bars and churches. I don't know if you ever heard that, but that's all that you'll see in here. So I do think it's it's.
Speaker 3:
It's become maybe that's like the overshadowed concept of what St Patrick's Day is. Obviously, we know it's a lot more. There's a lot more deeper meaning to it and I think that needs to be obviously discussed as well. It's not just a drinking day. There's, there's substance behind St Patrick and his mission and vision. You know what he did. So, yeah, I think it does get over hyped as a drinking holiday, but nonetheless, you know, we still have a good time. I'm never going to, I'm never going to hate on a good time.
Speaker 1:
So absolutely, Wendy. What about you? Has it become overhyped?
Speaker 2:
Yes, yes, yes. I think I think a lot of people are planning their days, or you know, their work days, around it and calling off work and skipping school so they can go out, drink in, meeting up early, pre-gaming, going down to the parade, trying to make it back, yeah.
Speaker 1:
Got it, Colin. What about you?
Speaker 5:
Yeah, I think. I think Brandon pretty much hit it right on the end. I would have to agree 100% with with how he put it. Others definitely if you're in the know and you know the deeper meaning, you you understand what the whole holiday is about. But at the same time I'm never going to fault anybody for for having a good time.
Speaker 1:
So Absolutely, mr. Round us out on this one.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, you know, I think it is most definitely. You know it's overshadowed with all the indulging of the drinking, for sure, but I think it's also important. You know that you also must understand I mean just the whole substance, the meaning behind any holiday. You know this is no different. So yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely the deeper meaning for us here in the Bono household, Like we actually have an entire wall dedicated in our living room and it is all about Irish heritage, St Patrick's Day and Italian heritage in America. Being an Irish, Italian household, like that's probably our favorite wall that we did in our house Nothing but news articles and old, old clippings and stuff like that. It's pretty cool to see my wife put it together because she is way more creative that way than me. But yeah, it is. It's a staple in our household. Knowing the meaning behind your heritage I think is a big thing for any culture. But yeah, it's become overhyped. I've had people talk to me like as soon as March hit, like, oh, what are you doing for St Patrick's Day? I was like that's 17 days away, I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. So like let's calm it down on the St Patrick's Day. But, Mr, with St Patrick's Day coming this Sunday, what is the best day for St Patrick's Day for you for it to fall on?
Speaker 4:
The best day for it to fall on, If you can't go wrong with Sunday, man. You know, depending on how you look at it, man, it's the beginning of the week, start the week off. You know, it just all depends on how you look at it. So I got no problem with that. I have no problem with that at all.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Colin, what about you?
Speaker 5:
I'm going to have to agree. I think Sunday is a great day. I think it gives you plenty of opportunity to get rockin' Friday night all day Saturday, Saturday night if you want to, and then you can start to pull it back together Sunday and you're ready to go for your week after that All right, wendy.
Speaker 1:
what about you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. That way, you have the weekend before the Friday and the Saturday before Then Sunday. You've gotten it out of your system, You're ready. You're ready for the day.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely Brandon, round us out.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you know, I think, obviously, being an eerie Sunday, everybody you know they're celebrating on Friday is going to start. I mean, people are taking them off Friday and treating it like it's you know they're ready to go. So I mean, it's you know, saturday I'm going to take my son to the parade in the morning, you know, and we have a parade on Saturday too. So we have a Saturday parade and then I'll be joining in other festivities that I will be not be bringing my son with me on. So we'll be, we'll be, we'll be doing that. But I like, I like the Sunday, st Patrick's Day, because then I'm going to go to my boys' dinner and we're just going to have a relaxing day and just chop it up and prep myself for the week. So I'm a Sunday fan too.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I got to say Sunday. That's kind of a perfect day for the fall on Is a Sunday, because you get it all out of you during the weekend and then you can actually celebrate the true meaning of the holiday on Sunday and kind of recoup from the weekend festivities, what we'll say and everything like that. But last but not least, last topic here I want to get into Brandon is being Irish, living in South Bend, Indiana, and being a University of Notre Dame fighting Irish fan as Irish as someone can be. If not, what could top that?
Speaker 3:
Whoa. First of all, I don't even know what you just said right now. Okay.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, that was a lot to unpack.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, let's run that back.
Speaker 1:
I'm not going to lie when Johnny and I were coming up. This is, this is all a Johnny question, just keep that in mind. Okay, okay, fitty question Is being Irish living in South Bend, indiana, and being a University of Notre Dame fighting Irish fan as Irish as someone can be, and if not, can anything top that?
Speaker 3:
Man, this is an interesting question.
Speaker 1:
This question just loaded, we should have the entire show on this question, because this is.
Speaker 3:
Right, right, right. I mean I wish I knew. Honestly, I don't even know how to answer. I don't know, I don't know this, I don't know this. I mean to me, like I said, being around the people that I do know who go really hard for this, I mean I feel like there's always more that you can do, but I mean that sounds pretty Irish to me, but we'll roll with that. We'll roll with that.
Speaker 1:
Oh, wendy, do you need me to repeat the long conversation? I don't know if it's a long, polluted question. That this is, or you're good.
Speaker 2:
Well, so being Irish, if I heard it right, so being Irish in Indiana, right. And being a Notre Dame fan, right.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Can someone top that? Yeah, is that what the question is? Do I think it could be topped by somebody else?
Speaker 1:
As I read it. Yeah, that's how I would take this question.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean down where we're at over here downtown Willoughby, we have people in full on kilts with I mean we've got bagpipers lining up on the streets and the sidewalks here. These are die-hards. We've got dancers the Irish dancer clubs come out. When I say we are littered with Irish-owned bars and restaurants, I mean it's like 80 percent of downtown Willoughby. So it's a lot. It's a lot. You got every other Irish person and non-Irish people like us coming down there to be like, yes, we're all here to enjoy it. So, yeah, I think it would be topped.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Colin, Mr Most Irish on the show here right now. What do you say to that?
Speaker 5:
I think the only way you're going to beat that whole situation is if you just happen to be Irish and you find yourself in downtown Dublin on St Patrick's Day. I think that's the only way I could get any way better.
Speaker 1:
I was going to say. I mean, the only thing that I think you'd top this question and, mr, we're going to get to you. I've seen you with the money and everything. We're going to get to you here in one second. But the only thing I think you'd top that is actually being from Ireland. That's the only thing that I think tops that whole scenario that Johnny came up with there. But, mr, I got to hear your take on this one.
Speaker 4:
I agree with Colin, though man, you got to be saying from the motherland, saying of Ireland, that can top that, I imagine being from Ireland and coming over here and going to Notre Dame and see how some of the student body act and that type of situation, but especially if you're from Ireland, so I think one thing that can top that, you know what I'm saying, being from Ireland, coming over here and going to Notre Dame Now that right there can top it. Other than that, man, you got to have a whole bunch of other stuff in you Absolutely To top that. What he said, what he came up with that question, what was the thing on?
Speaker 1:
that one. Leave it to Johnny to have that be the last question that we have to ask, because now my head is spinning with this question, like in one that was the hardest question to read in the frickin' world right now. Like just trying to sit there and play out that scenario for y'all so that you understood it. Yeah, I mean somebody who's been to South Bend toward the campus of Notre Dame. I got to see it from somebody. One of my buddies actually got married there in Notre Dame to his Wife, who I believe is a little bit Irish too as well, and you know, here in the history and everything like that, it was a surreal experience.
Speaker 1:
But yeah, you know, being from From Ireland, coming here and doing that I think is the only, because I thought there was one guy that I know of that I, I think might be able to top this and I'm sure my wife's gonna chime in from the background here, but it's actually one of her best friends. He is full-blooded Irish and he was born on St Patrick's Day. Oh, like I, yeah, you want to talk about somebody that just Bleeds, please, green he it is. It is him. And yeah, he is one of my wife's best friends and I thought my sister being born on St Patrick's Day Was a big deal. No, he takes the cake being full-blooded Irish, bored on St Patrick's Day.
Speaker 1:
I don't know if it gets more or short. I don't know if it gets more Irish than that, other than being from the motherland. But that's all the questions we have, and I do want to do this, since I do Like what do we have guests on? Solely to give just a final take. So I'm gonna go around the horn, I'm gonna give you all just a final take. If you want to say anything, whether it be about St Patrick's Day or again, just a good message. We're gonna start with Brandon and we're gonna work our way around the horn. So, brandon, floor is yours.
Speaker 3:
Oh, yeah, well, no, I'm just. You know, for everybody out there listening over, everybody has a safe St Patrick's Day. You know, the biggest, the biggest goal is to just keep yourself safe, keep yourself healthy, keep your family healthy. You know, as we navigate, you know, through our base, I always got to throw my business out there. Open eyes if you want to visit my, my website for a consultant base, group leadership development. We do corporate trainings, consulting visit us at wwwopen-eyesorg. Check us out, look us up on Facebook and I just hope everybody has a wonderful day and has wonderful days that they have coming up ahead.
Speaker 1:
So thank you for having me on, but I appreciate you, brother, not a problem, and Wendy, let's go to you next.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, everyone, please be safe out there this weekend. Call an Uber, call a friend, call somebody to come grab you. It's not worth driving. Check on your loved ones and just be kind. Be kind to be kind to as many people as you possibly can. That's it. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:
No problem, always a pleasure to have you on Wendy Colin, what about you?
Speaker 5:
Yeah, I'll keep it short and sweet. I hope everybody has a good holiday. Um, keep you know, keep a level head being, be good to everybody you meet and not make sure you drink a green beer at least once On Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1:
So Absolutely, mister. Round us out here.
Speaker 4:
Well, you know, man, like they say, man, a party hard, play hard, but be safe. You know, hope everybody enjoyed myself, man. You know, like you say, you know, you know we know we vampire mode, so vampire mode being full effect. You know, just want to let y'all know, you know, but I ain't no have fun, you know it's around. I told you man run deep, baby. We got all type of stuff in our blood system. Baby run deep. But you guys be safe, man. Thank you, bottom for always having me on man, you 250 crazy. But but love, love the show that is.
Speaker 1:
Crazy, for Fitty is definitely putting it lightly there, mister. Yes, we all love the wonderful manager of the podcast, johnny Fitty, foul Cody and everything like that, but that is going to do it for this very special st Patrick's Day episode of the ride home rance podcast. I want to thank my panel of guests, brandon, mr Wendy and Colin for coming on and sitting down and taking time out of their evening to sit and talk with me here. As Always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend, tell a friend. If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it. Just because you didn't, that's gonna do it for me and I will see y'all next week.
