“It’s been near on 20 years since 4 young bucks showed up in Trenton New Jersey searching for a bit of work and a good time. Well, by God we got them both in spades, due in no small part to the hospitality of one Billy Briggs. While we sit thousands of miles away now, back in Ireland, we have been known to greet each other with his “What it is Bro, What it is?” opening line. Hardly a night will go by when Shag, Figgs, Noel (when he is back from Spain) and I won’t reminisce about Billy’s and how we were always welcomed like family,
I was privileged to have been able to reciprocate his generosity in a small way when he and Bill O’ Neal visited us in Ireland. Irony of ironies, they were barred from singing rebel songs in The Patriot bar in Kilmainham of all places. Instead they resorted to a few hearty renditions in the house that to this day my folks recall with a mixture of enjoyment and nervousness (God could those 2 men belt out a song nice and loudly)
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to know Billy for long, but if the short period of time we got to enjoy his company has left such an indelible mark on us, I can only imagine the enormous loss to all those close to him, to whom I extend my deepest sympathies.”
Please God, we’ll get to meet him again when I’m sure he’ll greet us… “What it is Bro, what it is?””
Posted by Bill O’Neal for Colum O’Connnor, pictured below in 1990 on the Trinity College campus.
- Colum O’Connor and Fergal
