by Tomm Carroll

Friday, March 16-Thursday, March 22--Top o’ the mornin’ to ye! It’s never too soon to make plans for St Patrick’s Day, and with the Green Day falling on a Saturday this year, you can expect bigger crowds than usual -- and earlier in the day too -- since most folks are off from work. If you wanna get an early start, consider O’Brien’s Pub on Main Street in Santa Monica, where the doors open at 6 a.m. (that’s ay-em, people) for some hearty Irish breakfast and the party keeps goin’ til 2 a.m.

According to owner Paul Diskin, the breakfast will be limited due to the ban on import meats, thanks to the Hoof-and-Mouth crisis in the UK and Ireland, but the constantly flowing beer and all-around good craic (Gaelic for fun) will more than make up for the bacon and sausage shortage. And then there’s the music. Irish lass Ann Marie Montade will serenade the throngs with her contemporary Irish folk beginning at 1 p.m. Celtic rockers -- and O’Brien’s regulars -- The Lads take over at 4 p.m. to pick up the pace a bit. Then at 9 p.m., Hibernian headliners Ken O’Malley and the Twilight Lords (also fixtures on O’Brien’s stage) take over. Equally well-versed in American roots music, rock and roll, ethnic folk and traditional Irish songs (the latter thanks to O’Malley’s Dublin ancestry), the Twilight Lords include O’Malley (lead vocals, mandolin and guitar), Billy Watts (guitars, vocals), Tony Zamora (bass, vocals) and David Raven (drums, vocals). The Lords have a new CD out, The White Seahorse, so you can expect songs from that as well as all the usual St. Paddy’s Day requests. Slainte! (Gaelic for cheers!)

Other Paddy Day action includes The Sweet and Tender Hooligans (a Morrissey and the Smiths tribute band), along with Supertone, the Irish-sounding Barely Ryan and (Band Name of the Week) Teenage Girls & Good Lawyers as the four-leafed bill over at Santa Monica’s 14 Below on Saturday. Santa Monica’s Irish-named Temple Bar welcomes Sonja Marie and Eyedentity on Saturday, while Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier celebrates the Green Day with Irish lad Tom Nolan. Over at Harvelle’s, Santa Monica’s blues central, Blowin’ Smoke and the Fabulous Smokettes perform their show-stopping revue. The M-80's revive the hits form that decade on both Saturday and Friday nights at The West End in Santa Monica this week.

Elsewhere around town, the great singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes returns to McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica for two long-sold-out performances Sunday evening. On Wednesday, 14 Below welcomes Go-Go Kathy Valentine’s side project, The Delphines. Also on the bill that evening are Velvet Alex, Stuck in the Groove and Steakhouse. The Beastie Boys’ DJ, Mix Master Mike, makes a special solo appearance -- along with some special guests -- at Lush in Santa Monica Sunday night. Guitar whiz Rick Holstrom strums into Harvelle’s on Sunday and surf bands Banned from the Beach and The Fabulous Planktons provide an early dose of summer sounds at Rusty’s on Friday.

On the jazz front, singer-saxophonist Suzanna Grzanna lives up to the lyricism of her name at Lunaria in Century City Friday night, while The Catherine Jackson Quartet performs at the supper club on Thursday. Pianist Benny Green certainly has the right name for this weekend, and he’ll be performing at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City Friday through Sunday evenings. In addition, as a tribute to next weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony, Judy Wolman will sing a set of Oscar-winning songs on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Bakery.

Former Foreman frontman Roy Zimmerman is just as zany asocial and political satirist on his own, and he returns to McCabe’s for a solo show this evening. His characteristic wit, wily wordplay and amazing, rapid-fire rhyming skills have drawn favorable comparisons to the great pop music satirist Tom Lehrer. In fact, Lehrer himself is a fan of Zimmerman’s, and even has been quoted as saying, "I congratulate Roy Zimmerman on reintroducing literacy to comedy songs. And the lyrics actually rhyme, they don’t just ‘rhyne.’"

Listen for such Zimmy classics as "Jesus Was a Good Lookin’ Man," "Multinational Anthem," One World, One Bank" and the Pro-Choice favorite, "Kill a Doctor for Christ." And don’t forget to laugh a lot and clap loudly as this show will be taped for a forthcoming live CD.

Opening the show are The Waybacks, kindred souls who have been described as a

bluegrass/country/Celtic/blues/folk/swing outfit. They describe their music as "acoustic mayhem." Wonder if inciting that is a citable offense at McCabe’s?