Photos

Celebrating Paddy Kilrain. Sunday, April 23, 2006.

In late March, Albany singer-songwriter/sweet-spirit Paddy Kilrain was hit by a car on Madison Avenue just outside Tess' Lark Tavern - smashing the windshield, bouncing off the hood and slamming onto the ground. The good news: she miraculously suffered only a broken leg. The bad news: the broken leg put her out of commission at her day job for a couple of weeks. So to help out with her rent and day-to-day expenses, Albany artists and poets and songwriters and musicians rallied for a two-day benefit and celebration at Lark Tavern.

Our cameras were there the first night. And it went a little something like this.

UPDATE: AlbanyPoets.com was there the next night. And they have the podcast of the parade of Paddy poetry. (Follow the link and click "Albany Poets Podcast Fourteen: Poets Speak Loud: April 24, 2006.)

paddy kilrain benefit at lark tavern albany ny april 2006

Photos by TheHiddenCity.com.

Singer hurt, but feeling lucky

A Nassau man faces DWI charges after Paddy Kilrain was struck Friday

By KEN THURMAN, Times Union staff writer

First published: Monday, April 3, 2006

ALBANY -- Paddy Kilrain knows she's lucky.

It was about 10:30 p.m. Friday night when the well-known local singer and songwriter was struck by a car while crossing Madison Avenue.

The incident left her with bumps and bruises and a broken right leg -- but not a broken spirit.

"I was walking across the street to play a gig at the Lark Tavern when it happened. All I remember is hitting the windshield, doing a somersault and hitting the ground ... twice. I got pretty banged up."

Police a short time later arrested a man on drunken-driving charges and leaving the scene of the accident.

Kilrain, 30, is well-known in local music circles as an "anti-folk artist" and leader of the self-named Paddy Kilrain Band. She is a fixture on the Lark Street music scene, and when she's not playing her music, she's busy working at Mild Wally's Pizzeria on Quail Street.

Kilrain, who was treated at Albany Medical Center Hospital for her injuries, said she spent much of the weekend sleeping and taking scores of phone calls from concerned friends.

"I think I took 35 calls yesterday and another 25 today," she said, adding that she's had many visitors, as well.

Kilrain said she was about two steps from making it across the street when she was struck, and she said she never saw the car, which then left scene. After she was hit, several people told her to keep still and called for emergency help.

"One woman even looked down and recognized me," she remembered. "She said, 'Aren't you Paddy Kilrain?' "

Police arrested the driver about five minutes after the incident near the corner of Madison and Eagle streets.

Kilrain knows she'll be on crutches for a while and won't be able to work, but she said she will spend the down time writing songs and preparing for her next gig.

Underground Arts | Albany, New York

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Singer hurt, but feeling lucky

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