Tag Archives: Ireland

Vagabond of the Western World

It’s the fiftieth anniversary of Ireland’s national television broadcaster this year and amidst all the backslapping I’m sure there’ll be one or two shows worth checking out. One of the highlights so far was a tribite to one of Ireland’s first and finest rock stars. The Phil Lynott Archive was produced and directed by David Heffernan and featured already existing footage of the former Thin Lizzy frontman as well as new interviews and film. The near hour long programme didn’t contribute anything too new to his already well-documented story but it was wonderful to relive some of his finest moments again. We got to see clips of Phil’s early days with Taste, Lizzy’s heyday in the seventies and his solo work in the eighties. It was also interesting to compare the less coherent interview of a stoned Lynott backstage with the more gregarious fella on The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne. The interviews with the great and the good were mostly padding but I quite enjoyed the discussion of Lynott’s songwriting abilities by contemporary musicians. Even though Lizzy were lumped in with the hard rock and heavy metal crowds, Phil was equally at home writing a melodic ballad like Sarah or Dancing in the Moonlight. I had a look through my collection to see what if I had any versions of Phil’s songs by other artists and I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a few

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The Humours of Galway

National Geographic recently published its list of Top Ten Literary Cities in the world. I was quite pleased to see that the first three spots were taken by ones that I particularly like. They all happen to be capital cities and I try to visit each at least once a year. Edinburgh made it to number one, closely followed by Dublin, with London in third place. As well as visiting these cities, I’ve also read novels set there and have spent lots of happy hours browsing the shelves of the many fine bookshops located on their streets. The list got me thinking about my favourite Irish bookstores and the recent fine weather made me decide to go and visit one of these a couple of days ago

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Mixing Pop & Politics

“It’s surprising how quick a little rain can clear the streets,” sang Billy Bragg on a wonderful rendition of The Saturday Boy at Dolan’s last night. The Limerick streets are used to rain, of course, and if they were empty on a Monday night it was because everyone was at the Warehouse to welcome the Bard of Barking to town for the first time. It’s hard enough to get people to come out any night to see a solo singer backing himself on guitar, but it was a testament to his standing that he attracted a full crowd on a cold and wet Monday night in October. I got to Dolan’s early and filled my stomach with some tasty Guinness stew and later washed it down with pints of porter in the Warehouse as I joined some friends to check out the opening act. Paddy Nash hails from Derry and he did a fine job warming up the crowd. He was quite comfortable with the audience and explained that he had walked out on his job in the film industry when they wouldn’t give him the week off to follow Billy around the country. A song called Billy Bragg Jeans was inspired by a story Paddy heard about Billy buying a pair of jeans for a few quid in a charity store. He also gave us a song called Rubber Bullets that was sung from the perspective of a child growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. His best song, and the one the audience enjoyed the most, was called Ballad of a Nobody. This was a witty song that told the story of an average man with an average life and had everybody in stitches as its key line was repeated each time

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Three Is The Magic Number

It had been a while since my friend John and I had been to a gig in Limerick, but we made that right last Wednesday night. John’s a big fan of British and Irish folk music and I quite like singer-songwriters. Both categories were catered for at the Belltable on October 5th as three talented musicians from the British Isles came to town. James Yorkston, Adrian Crowley and Alasdair Roberts were the trio and Limerick was their first stop on a four-night tour that would take in Cork, Dublin and Kildare on the subsequent nights. It was my first visit to the Belltable since its refurbishment earlier this year and I must say I was impressed with what they’ve done to the foyer and the theatre area. Fife native James Yorkston was first up and he tried out a load of new songs on us. I’ve been a fan of his music ever since I heard his song Woozy with Cider and it was a pleasure to finally hear his wonderful voice in person. I’m afraid I can’t recall any of the titles of the new songs, but his quiet delivery and plucked guitar on one was reminiscent of Thom Yorke. He’s no Jimi Hendrix on guitar and spent some time tuning it between tunes, but also engaged in a bit of banter with the audience while fiddling with his strings. Yorkston was joined by Alasdair Roberts at the end of his set as the two paid tribute to a folk legend. Bert Jansch had passed away that morning and Yorkston revealed that his very first paid gig was supporting the Glasgow-born musician. He last met him when he supported him in Paris a few years ago. He admitted that he didn’t know him that well, but you could tell that Jansch’s music meant a lot to him. He and Roberts delivered an emotional version of a traditional ballad about a sailor who takes advantage of a servant girl that brought the first half of the show to an end

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Dancing at the Zombie Zoo

This weekend, the streets of Limerick will be filled with hundreds of revellers dressed in shabby clothing and wearing badly-applied makeup. What makes this weekend different to others, however, is that everyone’s going to be dressing as zombies on the occasion of the city’s first celebration of these ghoulish spirits. The Outbreak Zombie Festival runs from today until Sunday and will feature a host of events around the city. These include film screenings, band performances, flashmobs and even parades. The festival is a non-profit event and its proceeds will benefit a local charity named the Cliona Ring Foundation. This organisation assists families with children who require long-term treatment for serious illness. The event is bound to attract interest from all over Ireland and you can find more information about the festival at their site

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Wastin’ Time

Yesterday my friend John and I took a day out to see a wonderful Ron Sexsmith gig at The Academy in Dublin. After a nice late breakfast at The Wild Onion in Limerick, we got into John’s car and headed out on the new motorway from Limerick to Dublin. We listened to Ron’s fine new album called Long Player Late Bloomer. I think it’s his best album since the first two he released about fifteen years ago. It’s full of his trademark hooks and melodies as well as witty and poignant lyrics. It also sounds really good and a lot of this is down to its producer, Bob Rock. The appropriately named Rock didn’t just produce the record, however. He also acted like a coach to the Canadian songwriter and urged him to work on his songs and make them even better than they already were. As we listened to the CD, John mentioned that he was actually looking forward to hearing these new songs even more than Ron’s already impressive back catalogue. I had to agree. There’s always new product to be pushed at any gig and usually a selection of tracks from the new release is something the audience politely listens to while waiting for the earlier favourites to make an appearance

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Guitar Jamboree

Ireland has produced one or two great musicians over the years and Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore, The Edge and Jim Corr would surely be some of our most renowned guitarists. Okay, maybe not Jim. Well, you can now add the name of Dave Browne to that list. Yesterday, Dave set a new world record by playing his guitar non-stop for over 114 hours at Dublin’s Temple Bar pub (pictured). He set out at 4.00pm last Sunday with the intention of beating Argentinian Guillermo Terraza’s previous record of 100 hours of continuous play. According to the Guinness World Record rules each song had to be a published work and had to be at least two minutes long. He was allowed to take a 30-second break between each tune as well as a five-minute break every hour or a forty-minute one every eight hours. Dave went for the latter. He was due to break the record on Thursday night before it was discovered that Terraza had actually reached 113 hours on his attempt. So, Dave finished before noon yesterday morning after playing a grand total of 1,372 primarily rock and blues numbers for nearly five days. Well done, Dave, and I hope you enjoy your rest. I don’t know how many of the eight songs below that you played, but it mightn’t be a bad idea to learn a few of them. I’ve got a feeling that you haven’t heard the last of Senor Terraza


Goofy Guitar – Kenny & the Ho Daddies

Solo Guitar With Tin Foil – Brian Eno & David Byrne

Fender Stratocaster – Jonathan Richman

This Guitar Can’t Keep From Crying – George Harrison

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Beatles cover) – The Drowners

Guitar Man (Jerry Reed cover) – The Jesus & Mary Chain

The Guitar Man (Bread cover) – Cake

Guitar Boogie Shuffle (Arthur ‘Guitar Boogie’ Smith cover) – Bert Weedon

There Goes a Tenner

Today is Bloomsday, an annual celebration of the work of James Joyce. June 16th is the date on which the action of his most famous novel takes place. Like many Irish people and lovers of literature, I’ve never actually read Ulysses. However, I’m a big fan of Joyce’s collection of short stories named after the his native city and also A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Perhaps one day I’ll find some time to tackle it. In the meantime, here are half a dozen songs with a connection to Joyce and Ulysses. Kate Bush has been in the news recently as she has finally received permission from the Joyce estate to quote part of Molly Bloom’s closing soliloquy from Ulysses in one of her songs. In 1989, Bush wanted to use Joyce’s words on the title track and lead single from The Sensual World. She was refused back then, but was successful this time with a reworking of the song now called Flower of the Mountain. The Sensual World is one of selection of songs from The Sensual World and its 1993 successor, The Red Shoes, that she has re-recorded for a project called Director’s Cut. I wonder if the decision by Joyce’s estate to allow Bush to use the original text had anything to do with the fact that the copyright is about to run out on Joyce’s work. Personally, I don’t hear much difference between the two versions, so I’ve included both Flower of the Mountain and a cover of The Sensual World by Susan Voelz

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