Do

Do not miss the show at Raglan Road Irish Restaurant and Pub Thursday night. Just don't. Postpone your surgery, let the kids take a cab to summer camp, Tivo the new episode of Real Upholsterers Of Beverly Hills. Don't let anything stand in your way. Thursday night, in their only K.C. appearance, it's the pride of West Cork, The Fuchsia Band. And on top of that, if not actually on top of them, it's Eddie Delahunt & Friends. And there's no cover charge. And the show being on a school night starts at the reasonable hour of 7:00 PM so you can get your beauty sleep after. And of course it's at Raglan Road, a pub so beautiful you'll think you've died and gone to heaven, assuming that heaven looks like an Irish pub, which I do.

Here's my plan and I encourage you to follow it to the letter. Go down to Raglan (downtown, corner of 14th and Grand) early. Say Wednesday. Oh fine, around 5:30 Thursday then. Park in the garage off 13th Street which is conveniently close and only 2 bucks. Get a table in the big main room where you can see the stage. Order a pint of Raglan Road Stout (brewed by Boulevard) and an order of the scallops. Peruse the menu for your dinner options. Try the salmon, which I would run away with and marry if I could. The fish and chips. The shepherd's pie perhaps. The loin of bacon...which could possibly make me leave the salmon. Dessert, just before the band comes on: bread and butter pudding. As they say in west Cork, aye carumba. A cup of coffee or what the hell another pint and we're ready.

The Fuchsia Band, which made its American debut at the Kansas City Irish Fest and is now bigger than U2 and Bob Geldof and Carmel Quinn combined. Eddie Delahunt, a Kansas City treasure so valuable they should charge a cover just to talk to him. Thursday, together at Raglan Road. If you're not there...well, we're going to have problems you and I.