LUCK of the IRISH

It's been centuries since St. Patrick (long since elevated to mythical status by throngs of inebriated St. Patty's revelers) escaped slavery and spoke to Irish Catholics of visions divinely inspired. Yet the folklore underscoring everyone's favorite day in March perpetuates, and we at Weekend feel it only proper to clue the St. Patrick's Day faithful in to what's happening in Indianapolis and Bloomington next Wednesday. \nFor anyone who will be in the Circle City next week, X103 will sponsor a St. Patty's concert featuring Fuel, Lo-Pro and Devil to Pay, winner of the 2003 Indianapolis Battle of the Bands. Tickets are $22 in advance and $25 the day of the show and can be purchased at any Ticketmaster outlet. \nIf the great outdoors is more your style, the Indianapolis Athletic Club will kick off its fourth annual Shamrock Walk/Run at 6:50 a.m. Mar. 17 at the Indiana War Memorial Plaza. The Canal Walk will be dyed green to accommodate hundreds of sneaker-clad feet, and the Indy St. Patrick's Day parade will start shortly after the 4-mile jaunt finishes up, at 11:30 a.m., at the corner of North and Philadelphia Streets.\nCladdagh Irish Pub, with locations downtown and in north Indianapolis, will have their fourth annual tent parties beginning Downtown at 1 p.m. and on the north side at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Five bucks gets you in, and the draft beer, mixed drinks, food and live music will likely make it hard to leave. \n"There'll be three bands, dancers and bagpipers," general manager Carl Miller says. "There are no specials, but we expect to be packed. The turnout is always great."\nIf the thought of hiking up Highway 37 makes you green (pun definitely intended), stick around B-Town and live it up. Kilroy's Sports Bar and Kilroy's on Kirkwood will be serving 32-ounce pitchers of green Bud Light for $2.75, says owner Linda Prawl, and Guiness will be on special all day.\nWhile Sports won't be offering any out-of-the-ordinary entertainment, Prawl says the bar staff promises "a good time" on Wednesday evening.\nSports and Kilroy's will also be serving the ever-popular drink you'll likely never get if you ask for it by its un-PC name at a traditional Irish pub -- an Irish Car Bomb. It packs a half pint of Guinness stout, a half ounce of Bailey's Irish Cream, and a half ounce of whiskey.\nScotty's Brewhouse, located across from Sports on Walnut Street, is also featuring Guinness and Harp as the month's beer specials, as well as the Half and Half consisting of equal parts of each. And when you've had your fill, head across the square to Bloomington's perennial favorite, the Irish Lion.\nOwner Larry McConnaughy says the Lion "plans to be packed" Wednesday. A bagpiper will wander through the restaurant, though McConnaughy says "it's usually hard to hear much of anything" on St. Patrick's Day. \n"It's sort of like a busy weekend," he says. "Even if we have other entertainment, you probably wouldn't be able to enjoy it."\nThe Lion doesn't take reservations, and McConnaughy thinks the rush will start at around 6 p.m. They'll highlight the restaurant's traditional Irish menu -- specifically, oysters, mussels and fish or lamb dishes. \n"Thirty-five percent of our menu is traditional Irish, but people tend to order the typical corn beef and cabbage things," he says. "They envision those things as being Irish, whereas in Ireland they eat more pork than anything." \nHe recommends starting out with Irish puff balls as an appetizer and moving on to potato or cabbage soup with fish and lamb entrees, with traditional favorites like whiskey pie and Irish apple walnut cake finishing things off. And of course, a yard of authentic Irish stout is requisite.