The sign on the wall at Iggy's says simply "Every Sunday - Ceann na Caca - From 9pm 'til whenever they stop". I'm not sure they ever did.

Three and half hours after arriving at this cozy little Irish enclave, I finally found time to speak with members of the band. I had made the incorrect assumption that any band that would start at 9pm would surely be done by midnight. Usually a three-piece out fit this nights lineup was singer/guitarist Patrick Halloran and bassist/fiddler James Telfer. The band's third member Mark Wisnosky is a graduate student in Pittsburgh, PA, the bands original stomping ground.

I arrived a few minutes before their scheduled start time and I was surprised to see the duo already on stage. The bar was scarcely populated, which was strange since I was turned on to this act by a friend who told me that they "pack the joint" and to expect "absolute drunken madness". Halloran explained to me:

"The rowdy folks usually don't show up until after ten. I'm not sure where they are before then, but I'm sure there's beer involved... It's New York, every needs to be fashionably late, even your fans. We like to get up early if there are people here. We like to win over people that have never heard us or didn't come to hear us"

What appeared to be a very straight forward performance with some Irish classics like "Whiskey in the Jar" "Four Green Fields" and "The Foggy Dew" slowly turned into exactly what my friend had prompted me to expect. It started with a song called "Hey Paddy" an Irish send up that I later learned they borrow from a Wisconsin based singer. They began to win over the unsuspecting crowd just as their regulars began to arrive and before 10pm they had the bar singing along. And it didn't matter to what either. One minute it was Finnegans Wake, the next it was one of their call and answer originals (Band: Do You Want Beer? - Audience: Yes We Want Beer!), the next minute it they spun a strange audience request for Black Sabbath's War Pigs into a reality.

As I walked out the door, Ceann na Caca we're still going strong at 1am.

132 Ludlow St. Between Stanton and Rivington

Keith Rosenberg
Stage Left