US Route 1 in Salisbury MA used to be lined with roadhouses as in NH, at that time, only hotel lounges and private clubs were allowed to serve spirits and wine. All one could do otherwise was to drink bad beer in a cafe. Now these roadhouses were not exactly "seed,y" y but rather were more like C & W honkytonks - not folk friendly. So when an agent asked me to perform solo for a St. Patrick's Day Saturday afternoon in this dive with a mechanical bull, I politely turned down the offer.

Years later, during St. Patrick Season, this same agent got me and my partner to perform at the Biddeford ME VFW. We were promised a sound system and were scheduled to play for an hour in the dining room, and an hour in the lounge . There was no sound system, just a group of elderly Franco-Americans eating corned bef and cabbage and expecting to hear Bing Crosby style Irish music. They were polite though. When we got to the lounge, we were offered some Corona, the best beer in the house. The bartender asked if we'd like lime with it. Unfortunately we assented, whereupon she opened two bottles and topped them off with Roses Lime juice. That must be the only time in my life that I made it through a whole hour on less than one beer - Tom