Happy Birthday, Shane

Like his idol, Brendan Behan, Shane MacGowan lives life in a slurry of whiskey and words. He's just finished another round of Christmastime gigs in Britain and Ireland with his bandmates, the Pogues, and he's left critics with no shortage of words to describe his self-destructive auto-auto de fe. MacGowan has created some beautiful songs, which he now tramples like lilies fallen beneath the wheels of commercialism.

MacGowan turned 51 this Christmas Day, and we all wonder how. How has he escaped the damage he's swallowed. How has he not fallen victim to one of the many accidents he's been a party to. How has his body not refused, even once, to mount the stage and bellow those songs that his audience now knows better than he does.

MacGowan and the Pogues return to America in 2009 for a St. Patricks season set of gigs on the East Coast.

The boys of the NYPD choir were singing "Galway Bay"

Helen on Christmas, Jesus and upside down Christmas trees, with a little RE Keen thrown in for good measure

If you haven't been following the essays of Margaret and Helen, shame. Here they are on the topic of the winter holidays. Makes good sense.

And here's Helen's fellow Texan, Robert Earl Keen, on the holiday.

New teeth for Shane

Shane MacGowan turns 50 tomorrow, miraculously. A Christmas miracle, in fact.

The Daily Mirror, surprised at his coherence, delivered the most surprising news for the new year. Teeth.

The Pogues return to America in March to help us celebrate St. Patty's.

Fairytale of New York made it to Number 4 on the British charts based on the BBC censoring some of the song lyrics. The same kind of censorship helped get the Pogues attention at the beginning of their careers. Their original name was Pogue Mahone, which means, "Kiss my arse," in gaelic.