The Explorers' Club Special: April 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
In April 1916, the "world blood-pump" at Verdun continued & Irish nationalists rebelled against the British Empire; in the "Chemists' War," offense (poison gas) still held the advantage over defense (gas masks); & the Anglo-Indian force besieged at Kut surrendered to the Ottomans, who treated the defeated commander as a celebrity & let most of his men die of maltreatment.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: April 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCII: The Battle of Verdun, Part III: "They shall not pass!" (10 April-31 May 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCIV: The Easter Rising (24-29 April 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCIII: Poison gas cloud attacks near Hulluch, France (27-29 April 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCV: The Siege of Kut, Part IV: The British surrendered (29 April 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Saint Patrick's Day

The Optional Memorial of Saint Patrick, Bishop
Johnny Cash, "Danny Boy" from American IV: The Man Comes Around (Mike Papa Irish Whiskey)

Commentary:

"But if you come, and all the flowers are dying,
And I am dead, as dead I may well be,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Pogues, "The Body of an American" from the The Best of The Pogues compilation (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"I'm a freeborn man of the U.S.A.!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the 2nd Day o' Christmas

The Feast of Saint Stephen, the First Martyr
The Irish Rovers, "Good King Wenceslaus" from An Irish Christmas (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: "Good King Wenceslaus" needn't be performed by The Irish Rovers, but there really is no other choice for the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. on the Feast of Saint Stephen.

"Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even,
Brightly shone the Moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Cranberries, "Dreams" from Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Not Us? (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Sweet fancy Moses, Dolores O'Riordan's voice was phenomenal!

Bonus! Song o' the Day after Saint Patrick's Day

Flogging Molly, "Drunken Lullabies" from Drunken Lullabies (Mike Papa Irish Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Saint Patrick's Day

The Optional Memorial of Saint Patrick, Bishop
Dropkick Murphys, "(F)lannigan's Ball" from The Meanest of Times (Mike Papa Irish Whiskey)

Commentary: Based on the Irish folk song "Lanigan's Ball."

Bonus! Song o' the Day: 45 Jahre

The Pogues, "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" from the The Very Best of the Pogues compilation (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Bury me at sea,
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me,
If I rock upon the waves,
No corpse shall lie upon me…"

Bonus! Song o' Saint Patrick's Day

Flogging Molly, "Sentimental Johnny" from Swagger (Mike Papa Irish Whiskey)

Commentary: Above is Bridget Regan, the actress, not Bridget Regan, the fiddler in Flogging Molly.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday

Freitag, 9. Februar
The Pogues, "A Pair of Brown Eyes" from The Best of the Pogues (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Song o' the Day: In Memoriam

The Pogues, "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" from If I Should Fall from Grace with God (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: In memoriam Shane MacGowan (25 December 1957-30 November 2023). Requiescat in pace.

Bonus! Song o' the Day after Saint Patrick's Day

Denis Leary, "Traditional Irish Folk Song" from No Cure for Cancer (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: For the first time since 2019, a local family's Saint Patrick's Day party is back! A feast featuring corned beef is the centerpiece o' the festivities, which is why the party is being held today, rather than on Saint Patrick's Day, which this year fell on a Lenten Friday.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Saint Patrick's Day

Optional Memorial of Saint Patrick, Bishop
Flogging Molly, "Sentimental Johnny" from Swagger (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday

Montag, 6. März
The Pogues, "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" from The Very Best of the Pogues (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXIX

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Irish Civil War, Part V
6 December 1922: The Irish Free State—In accordance with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Southern Ireland was proclaimed the Irish Free State, a dominion of the British Empire; Northern Ireland remained in the United Kingdom; an Oath of Allegience to the British sovereign—as King in, not of, Ireland—was unpalatable to the anti-Treaty Sinn Féin, who refused to be seated in the new bicameral Oireachtas.

Bonus! Song o'the Day: The Irish Free State
Flogging Molly, "Black Friday Rule" from Swagger (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"The buildings they shake, but my heart it beats still,
O mother of Jesus, I feel pretty ill!
I want to go home where my feet both feel safe,
But there ain't no jobs in the old Free State!…"

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CM

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Irish Civil War, Part IV
22 August 1922: The Assassination of Michael Collins—Anti-Treaty I.R.A. ambushed Collins's convoy as the National Army commander-in-chief toured his native County Cork; the local National Army commander ordered Collins's car to flee, but Collins preferred to stay & fight; he was the only fatality; his body lay in state for three days & an estimated 500,000 persons attended the funeral in Dublin.

Commentary: Michael Collins was both a soldier & a terrorist, a politician & a spymaster. He had returned to the practice of his Catholic faith during the last months of his life & in preparing this episode I couldn't help but think of Saint Matthew's Gospel, 26:52:

Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXCVI

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Irish Civil War, Part III
25 July-5 August 1922: The Battle of Kilmallock—The Provisional Government's National Army, having taken Limerick from the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, pursued the I.R.A. to a triangle between Bruff, Bruree, & Kilmallock; the I.R.A. counterattacked, but retreated when National Army reinforcements arrived; the war's conventional phase soon ended, giving way to guerrilla warfare.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXXXVIII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Irish Civil War, Part II
28 June-5 July 1922: The Battle of Dublin—The Provisional Government's National Army, under the command of Michael Collins, assaulted the anti-Treaty I.R.A. occupying the Four Courts; an explosion in the Public Record Office destroyed records dating back to the Norman conquest (1170s); fighting centered around O'Connell Street continued for a week; this was full-blown civil war, Irish killing Irish.

Lest we forget.

Bonus! Song o' the Most Sacred Heart o' Jesus

Flogging Molly, "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" from Drunken Lullabies (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXXXVII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars—The Irish Civil War, Part I
22 June 1922: The Assassination of Sir Henry Wilson—A former Field Marshal & sitting Northern Irish member of the Westminster Parliament was killed in Liverpool by Irish Republican Army terrorists; the British, who still had troops in Southern Ireland, threatened revenge & pressured the Irish Provisional Government to reclaim Dublin's Four Courts, occupied by anti-Treaty partisans since April.

Lest we forget.