Episode 50: Ireland, Part II — Improvisational Travel

Well, we finally made it to fifty episodes! And then we waited nearly two weeks to post Episode 50. But life is kind of busy, so here we are.

Anyway, in this episode we answer the question we left you with at the end of Episode 49: Where do we want to retire, if, God willing, retirement is in our future? 

Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. Gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way. That’s where. Is it any wonder why?

Beyond Kinsale, we continue our recap of our latest trip to Ireland, including some hidden gems in Cork City: Thompsons Cork Restaurant & Microbrewery, and a bar called Sin É, where we listened to a wonderful singer and guitar player named Tony Milner.

And we talk about another pleasant surprise we discovered in Cork: a Mediterranean/Turkish restaurant called Nosta. Modern Ireland is far more diverse than you might expect.

We also spend a good part of this episode discussing the virtues of not over-planning vacations, which we call improvisational travel.

And speaking of improvisation, we talk about our wild weekend of June 7 and 8, which included our local PrideFest, a tribute concert for our old high school jazz band director on the occasion of his 80th birthday, and reconnecting with friends we haven’t talked to in quite a while.

We hope you enjoy the show, and please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave). You can also follow us on the site formerly known as Twitter, where our joint account is @JennandDave1 and the podcast account is @itsotetPodcast. Until next time! 

Episode 49: Twenty-two Songs, Seven Encores and the Power of … Maybe?

In our first episode back from our vacation hiatus, we begin our recap of this year’s trip to Ireland, a country that is near and dear to us. We briefly talk about our visits to Dublin and Cork, using GPS to navigate, and the many (many) modes of transportation we used.

But we spend most of the episode talking about Bruce Springsteen’s fantastic show at Croke Park on May 19. Bruce’s 2023 show at Dublin’s RDS Arena was great and will always be a special experience, but this year’s show was really something. In front of 80,000 adoring fans from Ireland and around the globe, Bruce had a renewed energy, a strong voice, and a seemingly invincible spirit. The 2023 show, while uplifting and life-affirming as always, had somber, introspective moments that simultaneously made you feel glad to be alive but appreciate how fleeting it all is. This year’s show, on the other hand, convinced us that Bruce and the rest of us will live forever. 

Figuratively, at least.

Some highlights from his twenty-two song, seven-encore performance in Dublin:

  • Opening the show with “Lonesome Day” from The Rising, a pleasant surprise in its own right, and following it immediately with “Night” from Darkness on the Edge of Town, a diehard fan’s favorite.
  • Bringing back “Darlington County” from Born in the U.S.A., a song he might have left behind because of its comical (obviously pre-9/11) reference to the World Trade Center.
  • Giving Nebraska’s “Reason to Believe” a full E Street Band/ZZ Top-inspired treatment.
  • “Wrecking Ball,” the only song he played off of that album, which the crowd always goes crazy for.
  • “She’s the One.” Nothing else to add here, really. It’s simply one of the best songs ever recorded.
  • “Nightshift” from Only the Strong Survive, Bruce’s 2022 album of soul covers. This song lets the E Street Band’s great backup singers step into the spotlight.
  • A rousing, emotional “My City of Ruins,” a song he originally wrote for Freehold, NJ, that became a New York City anthem after 9/11.
  • An incredible set of encores featuring “Land of Hope and Dreams/People Get Ready,” “Born to Run,” and a cover of the Isely Brothers’ “Twist and Shout” (Dublin did not cut the power half-way through, unlike London when Bruce and Paul McCartney sang it at Hyde Park).
  • And the emotional crescendo of the evening: closing the show with a cover of the Pogues’ “A Rainy Night in SoHo” as a tribute to the late Shane MacGowan. We knew it was coming, but that did not lessen the impact.

We then talk (half-jokingly and half-seriously) about the power of saying “maybe” instead of “yes” or “no.” You know, we really might be onto something here!

And finally, we think we found the place where we will ultimately retire (God willing). But you’ll have to tune in to our next episode to find out where that is.

We hope you enjoy the show, and please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave). You can also follow us on the site formerly known as Twitter, where our joint account is @JennandDave1 and the podcast account is @itsotetPodcast. Until next time!