From New London to New York

We left town at 1400 to drive to New Haven, and caught the Metro North Train to Grand Central. Diarm, Will, Max, Jimmy, Joe, Catherine and Myself were on a mission to see Mr. Damien Dempsey in Red Hook a part of Brooklyn, NY. With a 12 pack in hand, we arrived in New Haven. No one drank 'til we got on the train, but then we drank. We got to New York, and were as always amazed by the vastness of the city. Its so big, with so many people, even the smell of the subway, everyone rushing everywhere, walking down the sidewalks surrounded by monsterous buildings with millions of people heading every which way. We stopped into Patrick Conway's, just outside Grand Central, but the Guinness was tangy so we only had one. We then took the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge, and then grabbed taxis to Rocky Sullivan's. Arriving in Red Hook was remenicient of Dublin in the 1980's; its a good idea in the planning, but right now the area looks bleak at best. It is a place of urban decay, broken windows, broken houses and most importantly broken dreams. It looks sadly desolate now, but I'm sure it will get better.

Into Rocky's we went; exposed red brick, marble bar, barrels stood on end to greet us as we entered. It was the old school bar atmosphere, and the beer was great. Service at Rocky's was great, the waitstaff were wonderful, and good looking too. The food was fantastic, particularly the brick oven pizzas. After dinner, we moved into the back room where the Music was going to start.

Danny Burns played first, and just to hear this singer was a treat. He had great original songs sung with such power and heartfelt enthusiasm that it was a pleasure. Danny was such a nice person as well. How can you be so cool with so much talent? Danny, you have skills. New London would love to host you.

After Danny finished, the crowd slowly started to fill the music room, and then the man appeared. No fanfare, no introduction, he just showed up in a black shirt and short hair, with a big Takamine guitar and a big heart. That's how I saw Mr. Dempsey.

Ireland, Dublin, North Dublin, Raheny, Donaghameade, Killbarach, Suttan, Howth, St. Annes, The old Shilling, The Donaghameade Inn, The Cedars, Its all in the songs. I left in 1986 to join the US Navy, and I was excited to leave and start something new. Damo was 11 years old when I went through boot camp, 22 years later we would meet in Brooklyn. How strange, I lived in Donaghmeade, 109 Ardara Ave. It was a happy time, of coal deliveries and getting the bus to work in Aston Quay, but I left, and here we meet.

Max was persistant and waited to talk with Damien, I'm too old to wait for anybody, but Max said hold on so I did, and we finally got to speak with Mr. Damo- and you know what? He is just the same as he is when he sings, enthusiastic, energetic and his core of music is what drives him. I'm sure the ballads intrigue him (he should meet my mother, she knows them all and more.) Onstage, he was a Celt with a voice, an Irishman with a voice and a Dubliner with a voice, and if you ever get to meet him a very nice person who has time for all.

He finished his set and left, no person present could have asked for more. He put 200% into his performance as he always does. We submitted our request for Damo to come and play for our American audience at Hanafin's. And we have a dressing room with a BAR. The ball's in your court Damo.

PS. I'll take you for a ride in the new Challenger.

Small Parade Big Party

We begin 2008 in good form, our new T shirts have arrived and the pub quiz is still a great hit. We are also working on a new game standby for details to be released soon …
We are very close to getting our challenge coins for Hanafins and this will be a very unique item as we have limited production to 100. We will be asking for a donation
for the coin and we will be using that money to fund a proposed trip to the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Spring. We will decide how much the donation should be when the coins come in.

Last St Patricks Day we had a small parade this year we would like to make it a little bit bigger. I have asked general groups to attend and I ask you or your group to think about marching. Although there has not been a St Patrick's Day parade in New London we could soon start a nice tradition with our very own parade. We would of course hold it on St Patricks Day. All suggestions, ideas and help would be greatly accepted.

The Pint is still the best at Hanafins, compare our pint to anywhere else and you will see why we take such pride in our Guinness..

Diarmuid Hanafin

First word back from overseas.

After months of looking at all the donated goods that people brought in, we finally got them sent to our troops. In less than 5 days. I got an e-mail saying thank you for the package from some of the troops in Afghanistan. It was a surprise to hear back so quick and it seems they received all the goods we sent. So, our perseverence paid off in the end, many thanks to all of you who made this all possible. Today is the 20th of March, the Tuesday after Saint Patricks day. We had great crowd, even though the weather did not cooperate, Flowers and Kain played a great set and a good time was had by all. The weather prevented the tent being set up so I am thinking August would be a great time for tent outside the pub, so, i will work on that. Time is coming for the boats to go back in the water, it would be nice to see them off Ocean Beach, anybody interested please contact us at the pub 437 9724. Please check out the photos attached, They were taken by Staff Sargent Joe Phaneuf who was killed in action in Afganistan Thursday, December 14th 2006. We will mat and frame four of these pictures to hang in the Pub. I would like to hang them all so we dont forget the sarcrefice others are making. I look forward to the time when we dont have to send care packages any more.
DH

Road Trip to Afghanistan

This past week we decided that if we were ever to get all the donated goods to our troops in Afghanistan, we had better do it ourselves. That being said we contacted DHL and they gave us a price. I spent monday afternoon making up packages, that included popcorn, slim-jims, candy, toothpaste, toothbrushes, batteries, tee shirts, black tape, lip balm, wipes, cheese crackers, peanuts, compasses, brownies, and more tee shirts. At the time of this writing I still had not finished. I am about 80% done, I still have a lot of stuff to package. The thought of our troops opening these packages in Afghanistan and finding all these home treats makes me persevere. We were told by DHL that they would be delivered in 5 days, so 5 days and our troops can see what we collected in 
November, we have tried every contact, including the Government, National Guard, Red Cross, ect, but no help was forthcoming, so we are doing this on our own. Here we are, ready to go. Hopefully by the next blog will be able to tell you of our successful delivery to Afghanistan. So, if you stop by the pub enquire from the bartender if 
Diarmuid Hanafin has finished the job.

The Great Hanafin's Guinness Toast

Friday the 16th of feb was the first ever Guinness toast at Hanafins, t shirts and other Guinness stuff was given out to our wonderfull customers. New London legand John Duddy was toast master, and at the designated hour he read the toast and all glasses of guinness were raised, all this took place as the great band from Boston Los Diablos won the crowd over. Josh Leaderman and the lads played 3 blistering sets, we look forward to St. Patricks day as Los Diablos will once again play for their New London fans. Also on St. Patricks, we will have the Hoolies and the hip ceile band so it should be a good show. The new Hanafins scorecards are now being given to customers make sure you ask for yours.

Thirsty Bloaks Head to Hanafins

Work lets out and everyone heads to the pub

The Hanafin's Sign