HE’LL BE PLAYIN’ THE <i> REAL</i> STUFF COME ST. PAT’S DAY

St. Patrick’s Day at most bars and clubs typically calls for green food coloring in the beer and endless off-key choruses of Irish tear-jerkers such as “Danny Boy” and “Mother Machree.”

Irish-born singer and musician Patrick Kennedy, who has been promoting authentic Irish folk music since leaving the Emerald Isle in 1975, expects plenty of requests for those Americanized Irish songs when his Paddy West trio performs at Chicago Joe’s in Irvine on St. Patrick’s Day. But he’s learned how to handle them tactfully.

“I tell people, ‘I don’t know that song well enough to play it right. But I’ll tell you what--I’ll play another song that I know you will like,’ ” Kennedy said during an interview this week at Chicago Joe’s, which, like much of America, will turn Irish for a day on Tuesday.

In Paddy West (the name is taken from an old Irish folk song), Kennedy, guitarist Devitt Feeley and bassist Chris Chalfant emphasize traditional and contemporary Irish ballads, jigs, reels and rebel songs.

“The real stuff,” Kennedy, 43, said with his soft brogue. “I’m playing what I would be playing in Ireland.”

Kennedy left his homeland and came to the United States because he “wanted to get out and see the other side of the world. Ireland is mostly an agricultural country--there’s not much opportunity for a musician. But I’ve been back a number of times--you never really leave it. It’s nice to have the best of both worlds.”

When he first began performing in Irish-theme pubs in Orange County, Kennedy said he had offers to join American country music groups--he plays acoustic guitar and mandolin--and even rock bands.

“One woman who managed a lot of Top 40 groups said she wanted my voice in one of her bands and told me I could make all kinds of money,” Kennedy said. “But money is not the bottom line. If it was, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Always in great demand around St. Patrick’s Day, Irish music is often restricted to that day, although Kennedy said opportunities are improving. The Huntington Beach-based Paddy West plays throughout the year at folk music festivals, special events such as the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival and private parties.

One segment of the growing audience for traditional Irish music comprises young rock fans who, having discovered American folk music, move on to exploring the traditional music of other countries.

“We have a mailing list of over 500 names,” said the group’s manager, Rita Corpin, “and a lot of those are from Mission Viejo--a lot of yuppies.”

Kennedy listens regularly to recordings by other Irish folk artists, such as the Wolftones and the Chieftains, but said he also enjoys Irish pop and rock performers, including Van Morrison and U2 as well as non-Irish middle-of-the-road acts such as Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Diamond.

“I have nothing against the commercial music. I like a lot of it. I just can’t perform it myself and feel at home with it,” Kennedy said.

Feeley said he welcomes the chance to perform Irish music as a contrast to the amplified jazz and rock he often plays when not performing with Paddy West. “Acoustic music can be just as rocking as 120-decibel rock ‘n’ roll--you just have to have a rhythm. And Irish music definitely has that.”

Chalfant is a music major at Chapman College in Orange and during the last year has made two trips to China with the college’s orchestra. So what’s he doing in Paddy West? “I’m a big fan of pre-Renaissance English music, and Irish music has a lot of similarities. It’s very beautiful.”

Kennedy, who by day works as a structural engineer so he doesn’t have to depend financially on his music, isn’t predicting such an upsurge in demand for songs such as “The Belfast Mill” that Paddy West will ever become a full-time occupation for him.

“I’d just like to be playing two to three times a month,” Kennedy said. “What I’d really like to do is a bit of songwriting and get somebody who is interested in hearing what I have to say to back us.”

JACKSON BROWNE BENEFIT: Bonnie Raitt joined fellow Southern California folk rocker Jackson Browne for a touching duet on “The Times You’ve Come” during Browne’s benefit concert Tuesday at the Bren Events Center in Irvine.

The event netted more than $25,000 as well as several bins of donated children’s clothing and school supplies, said Suzanne Thompson, development coordinator for El Rescate (“The Rescue”), a Los Angeles-based organization that provides food, shelter, medical, legal and other aid to Central American refugees living in the Southland.

The show was the first full-fledged sit-down concert in the new $15-million Bren Center, although the Untouchables played a UC Irvine homecoming dance there on Feb. 13. Sound remains slightly tinny, particularly in the upper seating levels, but overall was much warmer and better focused than in Crawford Hall, the older and smaller gymnasium that has served as the university’s main concert site in years past.

Besides Raitt’s guest appearance, another celebrity was spotted offstage during part of the two-hour show: actress Daryl Hannah, whose relationship with Browne has been hot gossip column material in recent months.

HATS OFF TO CRAZY HORSE: The Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana picked up its first “Hat” award from the Academy of Country Music this week after being named nightclub of the year.

The award, from country music’s second most important organization (behind the Nashville-based Country Music Assn.), previously has gone to larger clubs such as Billy Bob’s and Gilley’s in Texas.

Winners of the major talent categories in the ACM’s annual music awards will be announced April 6 during a nationally televised ceremony held at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

LIVE ACTION: Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe will play the Bren Center on April 17. Ticket information will be announced next week. . . . Joe Ely returns to the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on April 9. . . . Peter Case’s performance Saturday at Mugsy Malone’s in Anaheim has been canceled, but the former leader of the Plimsouls will play March 24 at Goodies in Fullerton on a double bill with Rank And File. . . . Social Distortion will be at Goodies in Fullerton on March 22.