Following a year that saw them share the stage with the Dropkick Murphys at the Tweeter Center before a sold-out crowd, the Bunker Hill Pipe Band K of C #62 is preparing their second full-length CD for a St. Patrick’s Day release.
“If you listen to any pipe band, it’s going to sound the same,” said Pat McClellan, who founded the band in 1995. “This [CD] is different because it incorporates instruments that haven’t been played with a pipe band before.”
Last week, the Bunker Hill Pipe Band laid down the 16 tracks for their sophomore effort entitled “Sounds of the Neighborhood” at a Union Street studio. McClellan describes the self-financed and produced CD as “a labor of love on the part of the whole band.” It was inspired in part by the recent documentary film “Green Square Mile: History of the Charlestown Irish” and proceeds from CD sales will benefit that project.
The songs that range from barroom rock to Celtic chanting, McClellan said, but what really sets the CD apart from other pipe band releases is its eclectic guests musicians.
Besides fiddler Maureen Brown, the CD also features a number of vocalists, including punk rockers Mark Doherty of Nowhere U.S.A. and Mike Marsden, a former member of the Ducky Boys who now fronts an outfit called Evil City Venom. But perhaps the most notable cameo is the inclusion of Kate McD, who has performed with both the Chieftains and the Dubliners.
One track, “Last Call at Old Sullys,” was recorded at the Knights of Columbus Hall to lend it a true barroom feel. Instead of traditional percussion instruments, musicians playing on the song utilized beer bottles and vinyl seat covers for rhythm.
The CD also features a cover of the religious standard “Here I am Lord,” which is dedicated to Fr. Daniel Mahoney of St. Francis de Sales Church.
One thing that makes the release truly unique is that it doesn’t include linear notes that identify the musicians playing on each track.
“I taught the band, and they’re all better than me now,” McClellan said. “There are no solos identifies. It’s just the band. That’s what we’re all about.”
And apparently the sense of camaraderie between the band members comes across in the recordings.
“People who have heard some of the songs have loved them,” said Keith Wallace, the band’s piper/manager. “I think the overall consensus is that the public is going to love it.”
Meanwhile, the Pipe Band is looking forward to playing two upcoming dates as the “official pipe band of the Dropkick Murphys.” The two bands will share the bill at the Avalon in Boston and will appear together the following night at Boston University’s Agganis Arena.
These days, the Pipe Band count the Dropkick Murphys among their biggest fans as well.
“They said they have never heard a pipe band sound like us before. We said, ‘Not bad for a group of kids from Charlestown,’” McClellan said. “We have a lot of attitude in our music, and people respond like you wouldn’t believe.”
For more information on the Bunker Hill Pipe Band K of C #62 and their upcoming CD, visit www.myspace.com/bunkerhillpipeban or call 617-

CAPTION: CAPTION: Lt. Jim O’Brien of the BFD and Engine 50.

As an Engine 50 firefighter, Jim O’Brien puts his life before others every day, but perhaps his most heroic deed came when he braved battle to save a severely-maimed fellow soldier in Iraq last fall.
On Sept. 4, 2006, O’Brien, a Navy corpsman with the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, was conducting routine patrol in Fallujah in the Anbar province of Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded beneath an armored Humvee carrying three Marines. O’Brien and the other members from his platoon secured the area and attempted to collect the wounded who were thrown from the vehicle. As the enemy fired on them from an unknown direction, O’Brien returned suppressing fire and helped drag two of the injured Marines to safety from the burning vehicle.
Both soldiers — Sgt. Terence “Shane” Burke of Dorchester and Cpl. Pat Murray of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines — suffered massive injuries and were bleeding profusely. Each also lost a leg in the explosion.
After the two wounded Marines were loaded into an EVAC vehicle en route to the Camp Fallujah Medical Facility three miles away, O’Brien treated Burke’s injuries, while another corpsman, “Doc” Jordan, tended to Murray.
“When you’re operating in a hostile development, we’re their only medical assistance,” O’Brien said. “We provide the first level of first aid, and there’s no doctors or hospitals until we transfer them.”
He turned Burke over to Navy doctors and others trauma specialists at Camp Fallujah and didn’t see him again until he visited him in Dorchester upon his return to the U.S. on Dec. 6.
O’Brien, 42, of Melrose was a Boston firefighter for seven years before enlisting as a Navy corpsman reservist in 2000. “I was at the age limit, and they were looking for corpsman with the Marines,” he said. While still working for the Boston Fire Department, O’Brien completed his training during vacation time.
In 2003, he was deployed to Nasiriyah, an Iraqi city located approximately 225 miles southeast of Baghdad. As a member of the Marine Corps Infantry Battalion, O’Brien spent five months conducting combat operations until December of that year. Back home, he returned to the fire department and eventually earned a promotion to lieutenant, which brought him to Engine 50 three years ago.
O’Brien was recalled to military duty in December 2005. After he underwent additional training at the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California, he was deployed to Fallujah, where he served until October 2006.
With all his accomplishments, O’Brien looks back at his days with the Marines as his greatest accomplishment so far. “The proudest thing I’ve ever done is serve with the Marine Corps, and serving with the Marine Corps just validated everything I believed about them and myself,” he said.
And while O’Brien said his work today isn’t as perilous as daily life in a combat environment, he sees many parallels between serving with the Marine Corps and the Boston Fire Department.
“We’re there to protect the guys we work with, and mission accomplishment is the primary goal,” he said.
Perhaps most importantly, O’Brien has found a sense of camaraderie among his fellow Engine 50 firefighters, many of whom are also veterans.
“Working in a firehouse is the closest thing I could imagine to working with a group of Marines,” he said.

As CEO of Beacon Hospice in Sullivan Square, Betty Brennan is committed to providing patients with the utmost comfort during the inevitable final stages of their lives.
“The whole service is about quality of living,” Brennan said. “At some point in everyone’s lives, there’s having to deal with end-stage diagnosis.”
When Brennan came to Beacon Hospice in 1999, the struggling healthcare provider had just 14 patients and a handful of part-time employees. Brennan previously worked for Vistas Hospice, the largest hospice in the country. Using her healthcare background and business acumen, Brennan was able to transform Beacon Hospice into the largest provider of end-of-life services in New England, which today has 1,000 patients and 480 employees.
“In 1999, Boston was one of the largest healthcare communities in the country but, at the time, had the lowest utilization of hospices,” she said.
Brennan soon set forth on her mission was to educate the community about hospice care, which, as of 1982, is completely covered by Medicaid and Medicare during the final six months of a patient’s life.
“Hospice seemed like it was this great secret that wasn’t being shared within or understood within the healthcare community,” she said. “All of our services are physician-ordered, which is why this educational piece is so critical.
She began calling hospitals, long-term care facilities and physicians to explain how the services worked and how it could assist them in delivering healthcare. But this education wasn’t limited to others: Brennan also realized that Beacon Hospice employees must be expertly-trained to remain viable in a thriving healthcare community like Boston.
“In order to be a hospice that’s recognized by physicians, long-term care facilities and facility nurses, there has to be a certain level of competency,” she said. “Our healthcare providers need to be recognized as being experts in pain management, symptom management, psychological/social needs and spiritual needs, so we’ve developed state-of-the-art training internally.”
As a result of this, Brennan said one-third of the nurses employed by Beacon Hospice are certified in hospice, as well as home health-aide.
Brennan’s achievements haven’t gone unnoticed, either. In June, she was the recipient of Ernst & Young prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
As thrilled as she was to receive the accolade, Brennan is more concerned with future growth of Beacon Hospice. She hopes to open five more sites by the end of 2007, bringing the total number of offices in New England to 22. At this time, she estimates that the Beacon Hospice would serve 1,300 patients.
But with this growth comes the challenge of ensuring that each new Beacon Hospice site lives up to the company’s overall standard of excellence.
“It’s really important that there is consistency from one location to the next,” Brennan said. “Each location must have the exact same level of treatment, as well as consistent policies and procedures as to how we handle end-of-life care.”
But above all else, Brennan wants Beacon Hospice to provide patients with the best possible care at the time they need it the most.
“We believe that while hospice has a terminal diagnosis that comes with it, we hope that every day left can be a good day,” she said.

In the aftermath of the Jan. 31 publicity stunt that was meant to promote the upcoming Cartoon Network “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” feature film but instead ignited a bomb scare at the Sullivan Square MBTA station that quickly spread throughout the entire city, a top Cartoon Network executive resigned last week.
Jim Samples, general manager and executive vice president of the cable channel owned by Turner Broadcasting Systems, stepped down last Friday. In a statement, he cited the “recent negativity and expense” as his reason for resignation
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who had previously expressed outrage over the incident that cost the City of Boston an estimated $1 million, was pleased with Samples’ decision.
“I applaud Turner Broadcasting for taking full responsibility for the marketing campaign that caused major disruption in our city last week,” Mayor Menino said. “I am pleased to know they have taken the incident seriously and action has been taken against the people who authorized it. The resignation of their top Cartoon Network executive should serve as a message to all that these types of marketing tactics will not and should not be tolerated.”

Despite rumors to the contrary, the Residents Association of Bunker Hill is alive and well, but it will undergo some changes in an effort to better serve constituents.
“To paraphrase Mark Twain, ‘the rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated,’” said Bill McGonagle, deputy director for the Boston Housing Authority, in regard to the newly-formed tenants task force for the Bunker Hill Housing Development. “They’ve experienced some growing pains, which isn’t uncommon with fledgling organizations.”
In November, nearly 100 voters took part in the organization’s first general election and 10 residents were chosen to serve on the task force. This followed months of planning by the group’s election committee, which was determined to provide residents with the voice in the community that they have been sorely lacking in recent years. Less than a month after the election, on Dec. 17, the Residents Association of Bunker Hill organized a holiday party that drew nearly 400 guests and was called one of the most successful events that has taken place in the development in recent years.
Since that time, however, there was little news of the group’s activities, leaving some to wonder if the Residents Association had disbanded. Last Thursday, members met with BHA representatives and Peter Looney, who served as president of the election committee, to discuss plans for the future.
“The core group of six or seven are committed to hanging in there, and they are committed to the community,” McGonagle said.
One of the biggest challenges they have faced stems from the fact that many of their constituents don’t understand the group’s function, but they are taking steps to change this.
Residents Association members will participate in training that will teach them how to better organize themselves and hold meetings, as well as what their responsibilities are as a tenants organization. The group also hopes to publish a newsletter to help clarify its role in the community. And in the spring, they are planning an open house that would provide an informal setting where residents can voice their concerns.
In addition, the Residents Association office at 76 Monument St. was recently renovated, which McGonagle said would make them feel more grounded.
Meanwhile, Looney said that the group would focus on basic services issue going forward, such as how tenants can go about getting a leaky facet or a broken door repaired.
“They’re working through the problems they had,” Looney said. “They’re not well known so they have to do some basic stuff to make the residents more comfortable with them.”