The Church of the Holy Spook. Shane McGowan of the Pogues once wrote a song of that title. All about the Holy Ghost don't ya know? The Holy Ghost is kind of like a mystery pidgeon, or a holy dove, I mean, I have this image of a bird, but really I think the bird was just a stand-in for a spirit, it's a visualization of the spirit of the Lord, part of the Holy Trinity. I'd say the Holy Ghost is the most mysterious of the three. Now Shane, is Irish, Catholic, and a serious drinker. He has a lyrical bent - check out some of his work with the Pogues for some definitive raucous Irish rock as well as some very powerful and poetic imagery. Shane has a little problem, the same one I've had from time to time, he likes to indulge in the old demon alchohol, it's a demon that will drive you into the dirt, and like Tom Waits, I think all three of us, at one time or another could say: "I don't have a drinking problem, except when I can't get a drink." Sometimes it's best to abstain. To show a little discipline, to teetotle, to just say "no." I find that now when I drink, even if I drink in moderation, I wake up that old demon and deep, primal feelings of guilt and pain rise up into my consciousness. I come from a long line of drinkers from all branches of the family tree - Irish, Polish, German. Man that's a combustible mix. I find that if I don't drink, those feelings stay buried in the deep. So anyway, Shane is back on the road with the Pogues after a long breakup - the drink had gotten him kicked out the band many years ago. And well, from what I've read in the press and seen on YouTube, Shane is living the debauched, rock and roll lifestyle to the hilt, with a little D.H. Lawrence and Dylan Thomas thrown in to boot. I wish him good luck. I think I'll offer up a few kind words to the Holy Spook upon Shane's behalf. The world needs it's mad, sodden, poets. Yes it does. And the Spook works in mysterious ways. Sometimes you happen to find the inspiration in the strangest places...
