The Social

Sometimes, you don’t need words

Editor: Steven O’Rourke Music Editor: Claire Dalton Features Editor: Kate Varvos Design: Hannah Montague Cover Image: Ross Cositgan

HIGHLIGHTS five: Something fishy six: Art in crisis eight: Cian Nugent ten: Popical Island eleven: Folk in Ireland fifteen: Listings twenty3: Reviews twenty8: Food thirty: LGBT thirty6: Rising stars

All clothes modeled available at the Ha’Penny Flea Market Every Saturday 11am - 5pm at The Grand Social

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Photographer: Sean Jackson Assisted by: Ali Lynch Stylist: Roisin Kiberd Hair: Maureen Smith Make-up: Jewels GroganModels: Pixie De La Mer @ Morgan the agency & Aaron Davies-Jones

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words- James Hendicott

SOMETHING FISHY

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or a brief period on a Wednesday night, my feet became heavily laden with Garra Rufa. They stay about 30 minutes, swarming and squirming their way around the twingy running injury that still bugs my medial plantar, and brushing up against the back of my talus. Eventually I shoo them away with a quick lift, wipe down my toes and leave; it’s all far less unpleasant than it might sound.

Otherwise known as the Doctor Fish, Garra Rufa is normally found in the rivers and streams of some particularly dangerous (and the odd safer) corners of The Middle East, where it feeds on – amongst other things – small fungi growing on the skin of animals. There’s a similar species found off the shores of the notorious Thai party island of Koh Phan Ngan; a tiny specimen that picks at any weak points in your body and confuses the post-rave swimmers as they struggle back from offshore bars.

If the economic crisis leaves you less inclined to fly half way around the world for a hungry fish and a rave, though, the

Jervis Centre’s Coral Bay now offers a similar, sedate experience.

On arriving at the refined Jervis Centre office, I’m accompanied to a leather seat in a flush room that’s like a microaquarium invading a Nordic rest stop, complete with natural aquatic decor. I remove my shoes, roll up my jeans and contemplate the sizable fish that – at first glance – appear to occupy the conveniently positioned tank. It turns out these are tank-bottom pictures; the actual Doctor Fish is typically an inch long, and there are dozens of them pushing in to the folds of my toes within second of my feet dipping into the water. The sensation’s initially jarring, but comfort sets in after a few seconds.

The result is surprisingly affective: soft skin, a slightly delicate pedis disposition, but an overall feel that’s not unlike being scrubbed with that other great foot-fixing sea creature, the cuttlefish. Silky feet, plus plenty of novelty along the way.

S http://www.coralbay.ie/ six

words- Sara Marilungo

ART IN CRISIS

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o each one his own. Venice, Berlin, London, Paris, Moscow, Prague, Liverpool and many others: each one of them has got its own Biennale of Art. For years now, the capital that gave birth to some of the 20th century’s most revolutionary artists has been lagging behind other leading European cities in terms of contemporary art. It’s finally time to get back on tracks.

From September 6th to October 31st, 2011, Dublin will host the most ambitious art exhibition ever staged in Ireland, titled Terrible Beauty – Art, Crisis, Change and the Office of NonCompliance, a title that stems from Yeat’s poem, “Easter 1916”.

“When Jota and I came on board it seemed to us necessary and obvious to directly address ‘the elephant in the room’, that is, the current economic state of both Ireland and the world today,” said Christian Viveros-Fauné, one of the curators. “An exhibition like ours might speak to how crisis and change can serve as catalysts for creativity, possibly even cultural renewal, and the significant new possibilities that can be squeezed out of tough times.”

According to Viveros-Fauné, Ireland has incredible artists and galleries that have and are making significant strides in the international art scene, “but the art market here is not as robust as it is in other European countries. This is not

a reflection on the talent but on the health of the visual art industry here. We have strong ambitions to change this.”

For a newly exhibition, Dublin Contemporary 2011 is every bit as good as its continental predecessors, with more than 90 Irish coming from the seven continents.

Moreover, “Dublin Contemporary includes a much larger national representation than any other global biennial I can think of,” said Viveros Fauné. “Frankly, we thought that contemporary Irish artists deserved to have their work sit cheek by jowl with that of major international artists.”

The main location of the exhibition will be within the historical grounds of the National Concert Hall, on Earlsfort Terrace. “When DC2011 was in the early planning stages we always said we wanted to be a truly city-wide exhibition and we knew we wanted to do something you don’t get at other biennials,” commented Lesley Tully, six Thirty1

Project Director. She remarked that a lot of time was spent investigating all types of spaces from warehouses on the docks to underused city-centre spaces. However, “as soon we knew that Earlsfort Terrace was a viable option a natural exhibition foot print began to emerge.”

Outdoor sculptures will be displayed in the adjacent Iveagh Gardens, while The Annex will be the setting of an array of sound works and partner institutions in the city will host specific exhibitions.

It is not coincidental that curators Viveros-Fauné and Jose Castro were chosen for an audacious project like this: “I knew the projected needed a person with much more than just curating skills.

They were exceptionally daring and counter-intuitive in their approach – they are established but not part of the establishment,” said Tully.

The Office of Non-Compliance at Earlsfort Terrace “will function as a promoter of ideas and include ad-hoc, accessible structures for discourse

around art and its place in society”, said Viveros-Fauné. The idea of the Office is to plug into the significantly liberative power of art to talk to issues that both inhere within the premises of the exhibition and overflow the natural limits of any show, according to Viveros-Faunè.

Dublin Contemporary 2011 will run from September 6th to October 31st.

A full-day ticket will cost €15, while it will be €35 for a three-day ticket. More details are available at http://www. dublincontemporary.ie/. S seven Thirty1

words- Claire Dalton

Cian Nugent

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ian Nugent unleashed his debut album, ‘Doubles’ this year to an appreciative audience and a wealth of rave reviews. Having released two prior works under his own name, Nugent says of ‘Doubles’ that it was far more planned than his previous undertakings and made in the traditional sense of an album.

“The idea was brewing for the album for a long time and initially it scared me as I started to notice there were some people actually listening. It was pretty much written in 2009, but the actualisation of it was a massive challenge. The tracks started out as around 12 minutes each but the more I played live, the more the tracks became lived in. As a result, the spaces within the pieces got longer and they became far more confident. That idea of leaving them to develop and come into their own took a long time maybe because they were long pieces or because I was hesitant to commit to recording them.”

The album was essentially recorded twice and the process from start to finish took close to three years in total with the first attempt taking place in a church in Kilternan in the middle of a cold March.

“There was nothing nearby and no bathroom, and we were in there recording for 13 hours, not really knowing what we were doing. I remember trying to mix it and thinking it wasn’t terrible but it just wasn’t great.

The drummer, David, listened to it and

called that we needed to do it again.

It was tough as it took so much work the first time, but I wanted it right. We started looking into studios in the sense of what would be good and who would have a real understanding of what I wanted. The name that kept coming up was Jimmy Eadie and a studio on Bow Lane. We needed isolation between different instruments, as the issue with the church was instruments were spilling into each other constantly.”

The record was released earlier this year on American label VHF based in Virginia, who have artists such as Alexander Turnquist and Æthenor on their books.

“After recording, the next step was finding someone to release it. VHF had released some work by friends I had toured with in the past. The artwork also took ages. The whole process was a weighty one partly because it was the first time I had done an album coupled with my stubbornness as to how I wanted it to turn out. It took a long time but I feel it needed that.”

The album is comprised of two tracks both over 20 minutes long entitled ‘Peaks & Troughs’ and ‘Sixes & Sevens’. Reviews of the album described it as ‘epic’ and Pitchfork featured it as a 7.7 rating.

“It received a lot of press attention, but I felt confident that I’d made it as well as I could. As a result of that, I wanted to push it and wanted people to hear it and not let it just sit there.

It’s interesting when you get different reactions and really interesting that nobody so far has had the same opinion eight

of it as I do.”

“The titles had a certain aesthetic in my head. I wanted them seemingly not loaded but with a possibility of being interpreted. I started thinking of the term ‘doubles’ and liked that it wasn’t striking at all but had a multitude of connotations. When I researched the word, things like ‘doubles tennis’ came up and that sport image struck a chord with me, the idea of endurance. The slightly abstract idea of the balance between two opposing forces featured a lot around the attempt of balance of the album as well as a balance between social and personal. The guitar represents something personal, unaccompanied and that compared to playing with other people is interesting.

The notion of self and self in relation to others is something that has always played on my mind. But, they are just my own thoughts and I wanted the titles to be somewhat open ended for people to take what they wanted from the album.”

Nugent’s live shows are impressive whether he is playing solo or more recently with band members. The album itself was collaborative featuring four others with Nugent playing guitar and organ.

“It’s nice to play the album live with the band. Although this piece has been knocking around for three years it’s constantly changing and evolving and I am a bit afraid that if we keep going I’m going to want to record it again. Most of the touring I have done in the past has been on my own. I was talking with an American guitarist called Matt Baldwin recently about the perils of playing solo.

He said he thinks playing solo is like walking a tightrope, the thrill is addictive but you can fall off easily. Sometimes if people aren’t enthusiastic or you just don’t feel like playing it can be difficult

to not question what you are doing.

When it works though, it’s amazing. The ups and downs of solo gigs are far more heightened.”

Starting out playing bass, Nugent’s influences are a mixed bag and have included some surprises in recent times.

“Starting out back then, I remember feeling great about liking a song and then being taught to play it. In music, I feel the sense of capability is important.

I never expected it, but a big influence lately has been ‘Canned Heat’. I kind of liked them, but thought they were really gumpy and conventional. Now the more I listen to them the more I see a lot of weirdness in their music. I have been listening to an Italian composer called Roberto Cacciapaglia and a piece called ‘Sei note to in logica’. It’s a small orchestra, an early computer and a bunch of female voices. It’s become one of these things that I have just become totally addicted to. It has a really unique atmosphere and that thing I liked about music before I understood it. When I didn’t know what different instruments really were, music sounded like an entity. It was cohesive. That feeling of listening to music and not understanding it was magical in a way .When you start to analyse it you lose some of that.”

Nugent feels the next album is a long way off although he has begun collecting songs and sketches of ideas for the future which seem to be going down a more rock route.

“I have the same feeling for the next album as the first in that I want to make it good. Things need to be ambitious to excite me.”

Cian Nugent ‘Doubles’ is available now on iTunes, directly from VHF Records and all good records stores. S nine

Popical Island words- Claire Dalton

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ere at The Social we love Irish labels doin’ it fo themselves and doin’ good stuff while they are at it... as a result and we want you to know all about them...

This month ... Popical Island Popical Island is a small, but incredibly hard-working pop collective based in Dublin entirely focused and hopelessly devoted to injecting super-indie-poploveliness into our otherwise dreary lives.

Formed by the bands Land Lovers, Yeh Deadlies and Groom in 2010, it also is home to some of Ireland’s most exciting pop bands, including Tieranniesaur, Squarehead and Pantone 247.

Popical released two awesome compilations’ aptly named Popical Island #1 and funnily enough Popical Island #2 in an attempt to introduce the world to many’s the poptastic upstart, like Rhino Magic, Goodly Thousands and Feed the Bears, while featuring gems from the catchiest indie tune-slingers from across the country including So Cows and Grand Pocket Orchestras.

They throw amazaballs all-dayers to celebrate said compilations’ making us foam at the mouth in anticipation of their upcoming releases. Yeah !

Popical Island has put out new releases

by Yeh Deadlies, Groom, Tieranniesaur, Walpurgis Family, Big Monster Love and

Jonny Fun and the …Hesitations. Next on the Popical Island plate in 2011 is the brand new album by Land Lovers, entitled Confidants, followed by a very special split 7”.

The collective also curates a savage monthly club night on the first Friday of the month called ‘Popicalia’ in Shebeen Chic, where attendees according to a Retatrded Cop’s song, dress in their ‘best cardigans and slacks and sometimes have sex in the jacks’.

Nice one.

Check out their site for loads more info. S Ten

words- Claire Dalton

Different Folk T

he definition of ‘folk’ is as elusive as it gets and the phrase ‘folk music’ is just as blurred. Described as music by word of mouth, of the lower classes, and as music by unknown composers it is a genre banner straining under its own weight. Meaning most literally ‘music of the people’ it is traditionally about community. This makes ‘folk music’ near impossible to define in purely musical terms and instead is relies on cultural and evolutionary processes. ...and it’s not all about warm stout, patterned jumpers and bearded people.

In this sense the idea of ‘folk music’ being a modern genre is one that is all encompassing with many reinventions of ‘folk music’ repopulising the genre over recent decades.

I read a great publication some time ago called The Vacuum – a themed publication who focused one issue (No.49 to be exact) on ‘Folk’ – it came out of Belfast and I found this aforementioned issue on a Dublin cafe floor and it has n’er been seen again.

It was packed with folk funness (including a folk food section – nettle soup and dulse bread anyone?) as well as an interesting article on the transformation of ‘new folk’ music and its ever increasing popularity.

The writer, Stuart Watson – seemed a charming and knowledgeable fella and connected this surge in interest to a desire to return to a mythical bucolic utopia – the ideal of the rural idyll as a response to dissatisfaction with the pressure of living in an urban and industrialised society.

This notion was followed up by addressing the ignorance to the fact that this type of ‘idyllic lifestyle’ is often filled with isolation and alienation and this longing for a rural paradise is a fallacy that never actually existed.

But it does sell well.

Whatever the reasons and whether you like it or not ‘folk’ and traditional music is part of our Irish make-up. Gone are the days when a bit of ‘diddly- i’ in the corner made everyone under forty groan and sup a little quicker. Traditional music has always been important to a section of people but it is now, once again, reviving itself to the masses.

Thank folk. (sorry) Eleven

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words- Claire Dalton

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eminiscent of venues such as The Meeting Place on Dorset Street where trad greats such as Christy Moore and Paul Brady used to play, drink and converse, The ‘Sessions’ is a welcome addition to the live music scene in Dublin.

Curated by talented flutist Conor Byrne, September’s line-up proves they are taking the cream off the top of the long list of both native and international musicians in traditional Irish music.

The son of Eilish Moore, a prominent figure in the traditional scene of the 70s, Conor Byrne is embarking on a crusade to establish a similar musical aesthetic inspired by the beloved halls of days gone by.

Running every Tuesday night in The Grand Social the club is a welcome addition to Dublin’s live music scene, providing a club for music lovers by offering quality traditional folk music on a weekly basis where listeners and players can reminisce on music of the past and be excited by a surge of new emerging talents.

The Liffey Banks Sessions kicks off with a performance from ‘Cherish The Ladies’ – ominously named – but impressive to the ears. The American all female group is fronted by the highly entertaining and gifted flute player Joanie Madden. This highly charged band are celebrating twenty-five years on the road and are planning on throwing one hell of a do for

the Sessions opening night.

September also hosts KAN featuring Brian Finnegan & Aidan O’Rourke, I Draw Slow and Fidil with special guest Cork native, Sean-nós singer Nell Ní Chróinín respectively every Tuesday throughout the month of September and onwards.

The Liffey Banks Sessions @ The Grand Social, Liffey Street, D1.

Cherish The Ladies – 6th September KAN featuring Brian Finnegan & Aidan O’Rourke – 13th September I Draw Slow – 20th September Fidil with special guest Nell Ní Chróinín – 27th September Tickets can be purchased pre-sale at entertainment.ie and on the door @ The Grand Social.

See out listings section and www. thegrandsocial.ie for more details. S Twelve Thirty1

words- Claire Dalton

LGBT

Trad Albums

Planxty If you haven’t ventured into trad The Well Below The Valley (1973) before here are a few of the The Bothy Band best albums both old and new 1975 (1975) to get you started.

Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples, Paul Brady (1976) Andy Irvine & Paul Brady (1976) Kevin Burke & Micheal O Domhnaill Portland (1982)

Noel Hill & Tony McMahon I gCnoc na Graí (1986)

Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill The Lonesome Touch (1997)

Liz Carroll

Lost in the Loop (2000)

Aidan O’Donnell & Kieran Munnelly In Safe Hands (2006)

LAU

Lightweights & Gentlemen (2007) S

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words- Claire Dalton

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ooking for a way to ease yourself out of the festival season whirlwind without too much of a crash landing? The Spirit Of Folk Festival is happening in the lush green fields of the Royal Country (that’s Meath...) from the 23rd to 25th September and could be the upper to all your downers.

Nothing like some good, wholesome folk fun to help block out your misguided decisions over the past few months. Just because you were in a field doesn’t make that shit OK. OK. Anyway, pick up your liver and anything else you might need and make your way down there - for folks sake.

Offering up some stellar musicians from the Irish folk scene such as Lisa O’Neill, Fiach, The Young Folk, Lisa McLaughlin, Ownsie and Rhob Cunnigham as well as some stand out international acts such as the legendary 70s folk king, Dr.Strangely Strange (yeah, that’s right. Dr. Strangly Strange – folk hero AND name hero) Event organisers have promised a weekend to “rival Bilbo Baggins’ birthday bash” with an endless list of weird ass activities like archery, falconary, battle re-enactments, storytelling, burning effigies (yuss), fireworks, shamanism AND

a Mind, Body and Soul area.

This means it may be possible to shoot an arrow, holding a massive bird on your leather covered arm, in the midst of the ‘Battle of The Boyne’ (Meath reference there), burn a doll representation of your ex with a firework and tell all of this in an elaborate story to some lad in the spirit word through the medium of shamanism.

All hilarious joking aside – this festival looks to be a winner.... and you can bring your own booze.

If this isn’t enough ... all profits from the festival go towards the Oaktree Charitable Trust which runs Dunderry Park.

A very worthy cause – for more info on the charity see www.dunderrypark.org Tickets e95 for weekend camping pass, e59 for Saturday Only.

Kids under 12 go free.

Tickets are available online from tickets. ie or directly from Dunderry Park by calling 046 90 74455.

Please be advised that no alcohol will be sold on site so those who enjoy the odd tipple should bring their own. S 4teen Thirty1

REGULARS & LISTINGS

REGULARS

REGULARS

The Hep Cat Club

Mondays, 8pm, The Ballroom, €8 The Hep Cat Club swings to fabulous music from the jazz era while the dance floor sways to the oscillating rhythms of the swing dancers. A relaxed night it features a beginners swing dance class as well as regular guest DJs playing a range of jazz, jump jive, blues and lounge music.

The joint will jump!

The Jazz Kitchen Wednesdays, 8pm Free(donations welcome suggested €5) Moving nights to fill those mid-week blues is The Jazz Kitchen at TGS. Featuring the brightest emerging talent on the Irish Jazz scene, The Jazz Kitchen presents two contrasting bands every Wednesday night.

Hosted by Edel Meade, September’s events won’t disappoint with an eclectic line up in store for jazz fans.

Check the website for more info www. thegrandsocial.ie

Loaded

Thursdays, 8pm, Free Three female DJs working a weekly rotation play The Ballroom at TGS with a fresh take on your run of the mill indie night. Guest DJs join the girls week to week.

Twist

Fridays, 8pm, Free Starting in the Front Bar and moving upstairs as the night progresses to The Ballroom – ‘Twist’ is a gorgeous mix of indie/r&r/soul/disco to kick off the weekend. Drinks and cocktail promotions are rife so it’s a night not to be missed.

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REGULARS

EVERY FRIDAY

indie/r’n’r/disco/soul Indietronic

Saturdays, 10pm, Free DJ Eamonn Barrett creates the soundtrack to your big Saturday night. As enigmatic and energetic as it gets – Eamonn is one of Dublin’s busiest DJ’s hosting residencies in Rí-Rá, The Globe and The Morgan hotel. However, his heartbeat thumps loudest when he mans the decks here, spinning a hands in the air mix of classic rock, indie anthems and bigbeat electro tunes.

Saucy Sundays

Sundays, 4.30pm, Free Roll out of bed and head to The Grand Social for the perfect antidote to a heavy weekend. The brainchild of Lisa McLaughlin and Joey Sauce (The Hot Sprockets) - Saucy Sundays hosts a line-up of fantastic musicians from around the country.

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Listings

Listings Scullion & Sabrina Dinan

DUB INVESTIFATION

Dub Investigation

8th September, 9pm, €5 Dub Investigation are an Irish roots, reggae and dub outfit. Dan Taliras and Larry Ojelade met in 2007 and released their first EP, Dub City Vol.1 online in 2009 under their own label, DI Studio.

12th September, 7pm, €18 The opening night of the Scullion residency promises to be a good one and features Sabrina Dinan as the guest performer. With a voice that is aptly described as ‘smoky’ and a style that straddles folk, soul and roots, the Irish songstress has gathered a dedicated fan base with a combination of cutting, heartfelt lyrics, intricate guitar work and a compelling voice. This combined with the brilliance of Scullion – the night promises to be a treat and a regular one to mark on your calendar.

Sonny Condell the creative core and inspiration for Scullion continues to invent innovative and write music and songs that are powerful, poetic, soulful and joyful. He is one of Ireland’s most enduring creative artists and with Robbie Overson and Philip King creates the signature sound that is Scullion.

Scullion’s back pages include the anthems, ‘Down In the City’, ‘Eyelids into Snow’ and ‘John the Baptist’.

Recent Scullion performances have sold out in a heartbeat and they have just finished recording a new collection of songs on the side of a mountain in Killarney, including their summer hit ‘Come Sunday Morning’, which is one of the tracks from their new album due for release in Autumn 2011.

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Listings KAN

Liffey Banks Sessions- KAN

feat.Brian Finnegan (Flook) & Aidan O’Rourke (LAU) ^^^ 13th September, 9pm, €15

Brian Finnegan and Aidan O’Rourke, front men with possibly the two most revered bands ever to have thrilled the folk scene, Flook and Lau, join forces with two of the brightest stars in the world of rhythm and accompaniment to travel a daring and innovative new musical path.

Irish flute and whistle genius Brian Finnegan has just released a solo album since the legendary, BBC Award Winning Flook took an extended break at the end of last year.

His new album, “The Ravishing Genius of Bones” is a collection of almost entirely his own compositions and has been released to rave reviews.

Aidan O’Rourke has been electrifying audiences across the world these past two years in the company of the mighty Lau who continue to push the frontiers of acoustic music with their creative collective power. His latest solo album An Tobar is work of sheer beauty. Both men are composers held

in the highest regard and here they bring their new compositions to life with scintillating style, in the company of ace young guitarist Ian Stephenson, and master Manchester drummer, Jim Goodwin. These four have an alchemy that is wonderfully hypnotic, the perfect balance between grace and power, sunlight and shade - a uniquely thrilling union.

body Dublin City FM with Codes and TKO 16th September, 7pm, €11 Dublin City fm launch their autumn schedule at The Grand Social and to celebrating a host of new shows being broadcast across the airwaves of 103.2 and the 6th birthday of Live Drive, Dublin City fm has lined up two of the best live acts in the city with Codes and TKO. body

Elavator E.P Launch

17th September, 8pm, €10 Elavator will be releasing their brand new debut E.P with support on the night coming from The Syndicate and Warren McCarthy.ody 9teen

Listings I Draw Slow

Liffey Banks Sessions I Draw Slow ^^^ Scullion & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh

19th September, 7pm, €18 This week Scullion are joined

by Dublin-born Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh who plays traditional and contemporary folk music on fiddle, 5-string viola and hardanger fiddle.

As a traditional fiddler, he has performs duos with dynamic Kerry accordion player Brendan Begley and Dublin uilleann piper Mick O’Brien.

His Kitty Lie Over album with O’Brien was described in the Irish Times as “a niftier mood enhancer than any drug therapy”.

Caoimhín has recently been studying the work of contemporary folk fiddlers from other countries, including Nils Okland, Dan Trueman and Johan Hedin, and has been writing new material that continues to explore that region where Irish traditional music begins to disintegrate.

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20th September, 9pm, €15 The Liffey Banks Sessions hosts ‘I Draw Slow’ who have been described as “Captivating and achingly beautiful” (Hot Press) Dublin-based ‘I Draw Slow’ totals five members comprised of siblings Dave and Louise Holden together with violinist Adrian Hart, double bassist, Konrad Liddy and claw hammer banjo player Colin Derham.

I Draw Slow have been drumming up enthusiastic reviews in Ireland since the release of their top 10 selling second album, Redhills.

However, their impact abroad is redrawing the map for these Irish/ Americana songwriters. They have been described in the UK press as ‘American top league equivalents’ destined “to blow the opposition away”, drawing favourable comparisons with Gillian Welsh and Alison Krauss. The band has been invited to tour Europe in 2012 so catch them while you can.

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Arthurs Day

(Acts to be confirmed on the day) 22nd September, All day This year’s Arthurs Day will have plenty of surprises in store and the event at The Grand Social will be no exception.

IMRO Showcase

23rd September, 8pm, €5 The IMRO Showcase features Danielle Harrison, Ghost Estates, IM YOUR VINYL and The Hot Sprockets.... all for only a fiver and the night will be followed up by...

Doug Paisley

The Danger Is & We Cut Corners ^^^

21st September, 8pm, €13 Canadian songwriter and performer Doug Paisley will be joined at The Grand Social by Rhob Cunningham for an intimate double-headliner. Paisley’s second album ‘Constant Companion’ was recently released, with Rolling Stone hailing it as one of the best singer/songwriter albums of the year.

Joining Paisley in this double-header will Rhob Cunningham, the Dublinbased singer/songwriter who has made an indelible mark on the Irish music scene by touring the length and breadth of the country on countless occasions. Cunningham is currently working on new material, so expect plenty of new songs.

Listings

Doug Paisley & Rhob Cunningham >>>

24th September, 8pm, €10 We Cut Corners and The Danger Is come together for a one-off show to celebrate the release of a split 7” single. The limited-edition clear vinyl will include ‘The Leopard’ from We Cut Corner’s forthcoming debut album and ‘Nothing Stranger’ from The Danger Is’ forthcoming EP. The Danger Is..is the musical moniker of Dublin based artist Niamh Farrell.

Niamh released her debut E.P. in October 2010 to critical acclaim and is set to release her highly anticipated second EP this October.

We Cut Corners are a Dublin-based two-piece who write short songs on drums and guitar. They recorded their debut LP, ‘Today I realised I could go home backwards’ with Jimmy Eadie (David Kitt, Valerie Francis), due for release in autumn 2011.

Firehouse Skank

23rd September, 10pm-2.30am, €3 before 12,€5 after Dublin’s roots reggae veterans Firehouse Skank (estd.1994) are wheeling out their mighty soundsystem again for a full night of the best in roots reggae alongside the Roots Corner collective.

All tribes welcome

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^^^

Listings

Scullion & Noriana Kennedy

26th September, 9pm, €8 Scullion are joined by Noriana Kennedy who’s recent release of her album Ebb’n’ flow featured Cleek Schreynard and Stephanie Coleman (Uncle Earl), a peerless fiddling duo from the US and Christof Van Der Ven, an emerging singer/songwriter.

Liffey Banks Session FIDIL special guest Nell Ní Chróinín 27th September, 9pm, €15 Comprising three Donegal fiddlers (Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, Aidan O’Donnell and Damien McGeehan), Fidil released their debut ‘3’ in 2009 and it was hailed as, “a masterclass in the marriage of tradition and musical exploration, and a milestone in traditional music” (The Irish Times).

Aidan O’Donnell has been described as one of the finest young Irish musicians and his debut album with Mayo flute player Kieran Munnelly, called ‘In Safe Hands’, was released in 2006 and described by Chieftain Matt Molloy as ‘a salute to the players who have gone before’.

Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, a three-time Oireachtas fiddle champion. Damien McGeehan has built on the distinctive fiddling style of his native Donegal and has performed alongside acts such as The Chieftains, Niall Keegan, Frankie Gavin, and The World Youth Chamber Orchestra.

Fidil will be joined by the brilliant Sean-nós singer, Nell Ní Chróinín.

Aslan

28th & 29th September, 6pm The ‘Aslan Facebook Fan Festival’ features two shows per night in The Grand Social being streamed live worldwide via Facebook. Tickets are only available through the Aslan Facebook page.

White McKenzie EP Launch

Noriana Kennedy

30th September, 8pm ‘White McKenzie’ has spent the last year creating their E.P entitled ‘Absence’ and will launch the E.P tonight at The Grand Social.

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REVIEWS

REVIEWS Is Made Of This

The Former Soviet Republic Self-released

Before you even listen to this album, you know it’s already won your song title of the year award for the opening track ‘Lessons Learned Under Umbrellas And Over Pints On A Rainy December Night In Dublin’.

On a whole, the album is a melancholic affair in the style of Eels or Tom Waits.

They’re not comparisions I make lightly either. What The Former Soviet Republic – the chosen moniker of Kildare-based musician Ian Wright – has achieved here is to create a record that fills the soul with joy, despite its darker themes.

While Is Made of This loses some of its cohesion towards the latter part of the record, it is definitely an album best enjoyed as a whole.

That said, tracks such as ‘Black Suited Man’ and ‘PS2’ are worthy of individual mention; the latter for its looped melodies and the former for its lyrical intricacies.

There’s more that a hint of Radiohead on Is Made Of This but, you know what, that’s not always a bad thing.

Ellie Smyth

Easy Meat

LaFaro Label: Smalltown America

LaFaro describe themselves as a ‘wrecking ball of a band’ and on this, their second album, they live up to that introduction.

There’s no delicacy here, instead we have an incessant, 18 track – yup, EIGHTEEN track – march through post-hardcore, brain-melding, rock.

And it’s an incredibly enjoyable experience.

Fair enough, it’s not as strong an album as the band’s eponymous debut, and Johnny Black’s vocals – one of the band’s strongest assets – are incredibly low in the mix but they are faults that are easy to forgive.

For a start, despite the number of tracks, LaFaro fly through the album as if they’re trying to match the speed of sound itself.

Then there’s the energy that exudes from the band which, if collected, would be enough to power a small city for millennia.

A ferocious album and one you can’t help but rock out to.

Steven O’Rourke

Twenty3

REVIEWS Yeah Nothing

Squarehead Richter Collective

We’ve a lot of things going for us in Ireland but the weather sure as hell ain’t one of them.

Kudos then to Dublin trio Squarehead who have shunned their rain-sodden roots and delivered a debut album that’s bursting with sunshine-infused pop hooks and buoyant choruses.

The re-recorded ‘Fake Blood’ remains their finest moment but the entire construct shines via varying degrees of fuzzy guitars, slack vocals and good vibes.

Sure, there’s little by way of variation but this is undoubtedly a perfect pick-me-up record and one that’s guaranteed to meet your daily Vitamin D requirements.

Bryan O’Hanlon

Push Buttons Modern Skins Self-released

I always worry when an act describe themselves as ‘a musical project’.

So you mean you’re a band then, yeah?

That pet-peeve aside, there’s a lot to like about Modern Skin’s debut long player.

Clearly a band not lacking in confidence, there’s a swagger about Push Buttons that harks back to a golden age of rock when bands could actually afford hotel rooms never mind trash them.

‘Hail to the Chief’ was my favourite track and was perhaps the only one that benefited from the decision to record the album live.

Indeed, as enjoyable as Push Buttons is, you’d have to wonder how much it would have benefited, the vocals in particular, from the full studio treatment.

That’s shouldn’t take anything away from what is, in parts, an accomplished and encouraging debut.

Steven O’Rourke

Twenty4

Monthly Mix Neil Dexter from Spies lists the tracks that he has on repeat.

Under My Thumb The Rolling Stones

You Said

The Horrors

Moonlight Drive The Doors

Oye Como Va Santana

Long Flight (Undressed ep version) Future Islands

I Might Be Wrong Radiohead

Maggot Brain Funkadelic

Blank Slate The National

Mushroom Cloud Tandem Felix

Turnin’ on the Screw

Queens of the Stone Age

Haile Selassie Bright Eyes You can catch Spies at their next gig at Odessa Club on the 8th September e10 - Doors 8.30pm

Moving Further Away The Horrors

Slow

Twin Shadow

Glass Case

Little Green Cars

Perth

Bon Iver Spies ‘Liars Call Me King’ 7’’ and Barricade (single CD) are available from R.A.G.E Records and download on Spies bandcamp. http://spies.bandcamp.com/ http://www.facebook.com/spiesdublin Twenty5

words- Ken Fallon

Come As You Are Nirvana’s Nevermind revolution twenty years on.

I

still clearly remember hearing Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time simply because it sounded like nothing else I had ever heard before. At first, my teenage brain couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with Kurt’s strangulated vocal-style, those elliptical lyrics, that punk-rock sensibility married to a Pixies-influenced loud/quiet dynamic, but when I got it, it blew my mind.

In fact, it changed my life. It was, as they say, an anthem for a generation.Teen Spirit was the first single off their majorlabel debut Nevermind, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with the obligatory deluxe reissue treatment.

That album sold a staggering 10 million copies when it was released and knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the charts. Yet, the reissue comes at a time when the conditions in the rock industry are vastly different now to what they were in 1991.

People are not buying as much music these days and many new bands don’t see a rock n’ roll adventure ahead of them but a ‘career’ to make a living from.

Thusly, they have to play the game, be sensible, keep everyone on board and don’t offend anyone - in short, the complete antithesis to Nirvana.And

that’s why I loved Nirvana because they behaved in a way that seems unimaginable now. They had an endearingly mischievous streak, a devilmay-care attitude rarely found in any band since. Throughout their existence they had a fondness for smashing up their equipment and shows would end with Kurt diving into the drum-kit, even at the height of their fame, as at the 1992 MTV Music Awards.

When they appeared on Top Of The Pops, Kurt mocked the miming policy of the show by singing in a ridiculously low register. When the band headlined the Reading Festival in 1992, Kurt was wheeled on-stage in a wheelchair.

Yet, behind all the tomfoolery, Kurt was wrestling with his own personal demons, only finding succor from them through an increasingly destructive heroin habit.

Almost three years after Nevermind kicked off a revolution, Kurt was dead and Nirvana were no more.

We will probably never see their likes again. S Twenty6

words- Steven O’Rourke

M

Much like the belief that you can’t really consider yourself an Irish writer until you publish your Great Famine novel, there are many who feel that you can’t consider yourself an Irish theatre company until you tackle The Field or Dancing at Lughnasa.

However, there’s an emerging pool of vibrant young theatre companies who are daring to shift away from the status quo and are putting on works aimed at both challenging the audience and encouraging them to engage with up and coming writers.

“When you’re in your early twenties, you have very much a punk ethos,” says John Morton of The Devious Theatre Company. “You know that no one is going to hand you anything on a plate so you’re more inclined to do it for yourself.” Morton thinks this is especially true in Dublin.

“When we worked on ‘The Theatre Machine Turns You On’ in Dublin earlier this year (a concept devised by THEATREClub) we could see the huge amount of young companies who were making do with what they have and pooling their resources, that’s really good to see,” says Morton.

One company intent on making use of the facilities around them are the Corkbased Corcadorca.

Their latest work, Request Programme, which stars the IFTA-winning actress

image- Pat Moore

INDIE MIX Eileen Walsh has just completed a sell out run at both the Galway and Kilkenny Arts Festival and is set to come to the capital in October for the Dublin Theatre Festival.

The show, a one woman affair, is set entirely in a rented apartment and the audience, approximately 20 people per performance, are invited to browse the books and CDs on display, essentially ghosts whose presence is never recognised by the play’s star. It’s that use of public space, without breaking the fourth wall, which makes Request Programme such a riveting affair and celebrates all that is good about independent theatre in this country.

However, Devious’ Ken McGuire is also keen to point out that the established outlets are beginning to recognise the value of new Irish companies and writers. “You look at somewhere like the Abbey Theatre. They’ll put on a big production, something like Pygmalion, which will sell out for weeks on end.

“But once that’s finished they’ll put on a smaller production which gives young writers and actors a chance on a bigger stage.”

With that sort of backing, it can’t be too long before more people realise that there’s much more to Irish theatre than musicals and Dancing at Lughnasa. S Twenty7

words- Elaine Murphy

FOOD

KEEPIN IT NORTHSIDE

(AND REAL!)

SOME OF THE BEST FOR A BITE ON DUBLIN’S NORTHSIDE

B

ack in the day, when Margaret Duffy and Pascal Bradley opened their (now iconic) 101 Talbot restaurant on Dublin’s Talbot Street, folk said they were mad. A start up, first floor eatery on what was considered a shabby and unfashionable street in the middle of a recession was clearly a risky decision. But risks are what dreams are made of and the dynamic couple ignored the naysayers and forged ahead with what is now a true stalwart of the Dublin dining scene and one, at that, often copied and never since equalled. Today, the 101 still follows Margaret’s original dictum of offering great, Mediterranean inspired food, cooked simply at decent prices. There is always a decent vegetarian option, like the wonderful crispy turnip rosti with Fivemiletown Irish goat’s cheese, wilted summer greens and salad and at least one great pasta, currently, the classic Italian linguini vongole with clams, white wine, shallots and chilli and with a decent selection of well sourced beers and wines and some great early bird menu deals, this old reliable is still in our

top faves for northside nibbles.

Closer to The Grand Social and for an altogether more chilled experience, is the charming Foam café on Great Strand Street. With an ever-changing, bag-of-sherbet meets Pop Art meets Mad Hatter’s Tea Party vibe, this new kid on our block is fresh and cool and charmingly haphazard but still manages to serve up yummy homemade lunch fare (think black pudding and blue cheese omelets or tomato, fennel and chickpea soup) and a decent evening tapas menu ( we love the calamari with garlic and the gambas al ajillo)along with a simple beer and wine offering and THE MOST amazing cakes and pastries.

Just around the corner on Capel Street live the world’s best spaghetti al’polpette ( spag and meatballs) at Romano, the most unsung pasta joint in the city. Unpretentious and definitely styled like an eighties living room, Romano’s also serves some of the best pizza in town. Here, you can indulge the owner’s Tour De France obsession (check out the paraphernalia!) or just tuck into the wonderful homemade pasta and herby lamb and beef meatballs and imagine it’s 1988. S Twenty8

words- Steven O’Rourke

T

en years ago Ryan Adams released ‘Gold’ in hopes to “invent a modern classic.”

He may have not achieved quiet what he set out to do, but a decade later Gold is still as griping as the day it was released.

It’s hard to believe that Gold is ten years old. It seems like only yesterday that I walked into the long-since-gone Virgin store in The Square, Tallaght on my way home from college to pick up a copy.

I hadn’t been a huge fan of Heartbreaker from the year before but I’d read enough about Gold from the time of its US release in September 2001 to be one of the first in the queue to buy it when it came out here in December that year.

Indeed, thinking back, it may well have been the last ever album I bought with Irish Punts.

The first thing you notice about Gold is its value for money. None of this ‘here’s seven tracks, let’s call it an LP’ malarkey you get from some bands. Instead, there are no fewer than 16 tracks on Gold.

Amazingly, despite its length, it remains one of the few albums I own that doesn’t contain either a ‘filler’ or a track I dislike The opener, ‘New York, New York’, remains particularly poignant given the events in that city three months previously. The video, shot with the Twin Towers in the background just days

REWIND

GOLD

before the September 11 attacks, still gives me chills.

There are so many tracks on it that I could rave about though; I’m going to have to limit myself to my top three.

Firecracker The album’s second track, Firecracker is one of those alt-country-pop songs that sticks in your head for hours after you hear it. Yes, is does contain a couple of harmonica solos but that takes nothing away from this ode to one-night-stands.

Sylvia Plath Having a soft spot for the work of Sylvia Plath helps but this piano-driven piece contains some of my favourite lyrics framed very much in the style of Plath’s The Bell Jar. For example ‘And maybe she’d take me to France/or maybe to Spain and she’d ask me to dance/In a mansion on the top of a hill/She’d ash on the carpets and slip me a pill/Then she’d get me pretty loaded on gin” Wild Flowers For a couple of weeks, this track was in the running to be the first dance at my wedding but, given the opening line, we thought better of it. This tale of lost love is a work of earnest beauty and yet, in typical Adams fashion, contains more than enough melody to keep you hitting repeat.

Ryan Adams may have lost his way in the ten years since Gold was released, but the world of music would be a much worse place without this record. S Twenty9

words- Caroline Barry pictures- dykehaircuts.tumblr.com

LGBT

I

Sex & the Liffey

do realise that some conform to gay stereotypes, the way we are expected to act, talk and behave according to people who have never actually met a gay person.

I realise that some people conform to gay stereotypes, the way we are expected to act, talk and behave according to people who have never actually met a gay person.

As a lady who likes ladies, I am expected to have short hair, check shirts and Doc Martins but instead, I have long hair, a collection of Mac lipsticks and no room for another skirt in my overflowing closet. I’m happiest when in Brown Thomas in the company of a Marc Jacobs handbag (if I can’t afford one then god damn I will go to BT and fondle one for a bit).

On a recent night out to the city, I stopped for a nightcap (or six) while wearing a Run DCM T-shirt, sequinned hot pants and leopard print tights - oh and six inch stripper heels – I must admit, it wasn’t exactly a quiet nightcap.

I was quietly minding my own business with Marlboro in hand when a lady screamed in my face, “are you gay?”

“Yes,” I stammered nervously, after all, she had at least two stone on me.

I wasn’t about to argue. “I’ll be back for you later,” she said practically licking

her lips in a manner more predator then person. It got me thinking though, what about me didn’t look gay?

What had I done that suggested I was anything less then lesbian?

I was standing in a gay bar, flirting with women, surrounded by all my gay friends, all I was missing was the check shirt. Thing is, I’m a femme and I’m happy like that. I tried the short hair, baggy jeans and over sized shirts but it just didn’t work. After all, I was the girl who used to wear heels to college and have successfully avoided trainers since the age of twelve.

It stands to reason, I also like femmes.

I like girls with long hair, heels but I also like girls who rock out on guitar, like going to festivals and consider moshing a competitive sport. I like girls who hold pints, eat steak (rare - always rare) and know a thing or two about motorbikes.

So, I suppose I like a bit of the antifemme too. After all it’s just not fun to spend your lunchbreak listening to someone talk about the calorie count of their cous cous.

However, I would never judge someone for wearing what makes them comfortable and if that happens to be baggy jeans or jeggings then so be it.

We could all do with letting a little bit of Thirty

A Gay in the week 7 LUAS stops Monday Mill Theatre, Dundrum shopping Centre, Dundrum Stop, Green Line - Enjoy a bit of culture and book yourself in for a bit of theatre.

Tuesday Irish Museum of Modern Art, Military Road, Heuston Station Stop, Red Line Why not visit the works of Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander which include paintings, sculptures, photography and film. The exhibition runs until January 29.

Wednesday National Leprechaun Museum, Jervis Street, Jervis Stop, Red Line - Be a tourist for a day in your own city and stop in to learn more about Irish folklore, mythology and erm, leprechauns.

Thursday The Odeon Bar, Harcourt Street, Harcourt Stop, Green Line - You can walk to this one. Harcourt is five minutes from

LGBT

the judgment go.

While we complain about gay girls or boys being stereotyped by d’media, television or the straight community - we are just as bad at placing judgments on ourselves and others. Just because I love a good label and am growing out my ill advised Mohawk, it doesn’t make me any less gay then anyone else.

So I think we could benefit from loosening up a bit an enjoying mixing up our personal style every once and a while. After all, it’s uncomfortable to wear heels all the time.

the city center but why not stop off at the Odeon bar to catch one of their old movies? The movie club meets every Thursday and you can enjoy your dinner or a pint or both while you sink into one of their comfortable armchairs.

Friday Iveagh Gardens, Harcourt Stop, Green Line - Take a nice relaxing stroll around the Iveagh Gardens with a hot coffee enjoying some of the beautiful greenery in the well designed gardens.

Saturday National Museum of Ireland, Museum Stop, Red Line Enjoy walks, tours and exhibitions showcasing artefacts’ from 7000BC to the 20th century housed in seven galleries.

Sunday Dublin Docklands, Red Line It’s always worth taking a trip out to the Docklands as they have a great selection of festivals, exhibitions and workshops. S Thirty1

Provide your name and details below, pull out the page and drop it in to The Grand Social and you’ll enter a draw to win a free pitcher of beer from The Grand Social.

Name:

on.fb.me/TheSocialDublin

Email:

@TheSocialDublin

thegrandsocial.com

words- Philip Pilkington

OBAMA O

bama in the eyes of the Irish continues to be a legacy, yet across the pond Americans could not be more disappointed in their failed hero.

Never meet your heroes – or so the old saying goes. The idea is that if we were to meet our heroes we might be disappointed as they might turn out to be rather normal, perhaps even flawed individuals. Well, it’s one thing to avoid meeting your heroes, it’s quite another to pretend that someone is a hero when they are clearly not.

This is what the Irish have done with Barack Obama.

Elected in the hope that he would pave a new way forward for America, to many Obama has just continued the policies of his predecessor, George ‘Dubya’ Bush.

Yet, if you say this in Ireland to anyone of a vaguely liberal disposition you are generally met with incredulity.

In the minds of many Irish people Obama remains a shining beacon of hope in a world of immeasurable turmoil.

When Obama visited Ireland I was in the Trinity College bar with some friends.

People crowded around the television and cheered as Obama gave his speech.

I couldn’t fathom this. His speech was cold, detached and sorely lacked any real substance. He joked, he quipped, but he didn’t really say anything.

Queen Elizabeth’s visit the previous week

was far more impressive – one felt one was watching a genuine historical event rather than a slightly dry stand-up comic.

In the wake of the debt ceiling debate, Obama seems to have alienated even more of his base.

It appears that he might cut into Social Security and Medicare – two sacred calves of American liberals – in order to please what now appear to be his Republican overlords.

In a statement that sums up the general feeling among American liberals Congressman Eliot Engel said: “If you had told me that this was the package a month ago, I would’ve asked you what you had been smoking.”

In addition, the cuts also look likely to send the already weak US economy back into recession – bad news for everyone.

Yet the illusion of ‘Obama-the-Great’ continues to live on in the minds of many Irish people.

To many, Obama has secured himself a place in history as a complacent, mediocre and weak president.

Meet your hero: Obama, the latest Millard Fillmore.

Who? Exactly. S Thirty5 Thirty1

words- Pierce Gleeson

Temple Cottages S

he caught sight of him through the dappled window, a smudge of white flesh against the dark stone of the wall of King’s Inns. He was standing straight and still in a gap between overhanging trees, neither turning his face up towards the rain nor hunching his shoulders against it. Pulling an umbrella out of the hall stand, she went out into the dusk.

‘How’s Davey?’ she said. ‘What about this for ducks’ weather?’

Davey nodded. ‘Hello, Mrs. Lynch.’ He wore chequered boxer shorts. She could see the crease against his thigh where his mam had ironed them.

‘Out again, is it? I thought of you when this rain started.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, Mrs. Lynch.’

‘I wish you’d wear something more than your underwear, Davey. You’ll catch your death.’

‘It’s warm tonight.’ His toes were spattered with black muck from the wet concrete. The night smells of the park came over the wall, almost as loud as the trees dripping on parked cars.

‘You could borrow my brolly.’

‘No, thank you,’ he said. ‘I like the rain.’

His hair was soaked through, and water ran unchecked down his chest.

‘Does your mammy know you’re out?’

He nodded. ‘I think so. I’m not in.’

She laughed, never quite sure if he had joking in him. ‘I might go and tell her anyway. If you don’t mind, David.’

‘I don’t.’ Neither of them moved.

‘Davey?’

‘Yes, Mrs. Lynch?’

‘What’s nice about it? The rain?’

‘It feels nice when it’s warm. In the summer.’

‘I’ll go have a chat with your mammy, so.’ She crossed back to the cottages and Davey, unbidden, followed after her.

She knocked, and spoke to the shape that appeared behind the glass. ‘How’s Annie? Look who I’m after finding!’

‘Ah, Davey, what are you doing? It’s not warm enough tonight. Come in, would you? Where’d you leave your clothes?

Not on the road I hope.’

‘Sorry Mam. They’re in the kitchen.’

‘Get a towel from under the stairs, I don’t want to see one drip on the floor.’

He squeezed past his mother into the dark hallway.

Annie sighed. ‘What will I do with him?

He’ll come in dead some evening.’ She stooped and picked up a handful of takeaway leaflets.

‘Thanks, Mary.’

‘Not a bother. Sure wasn’t his father the same? A great man for taking the air.’

Annie laughed. ‘He was, alright. It’s in the genes.’

Mary made her way back down the row, stepping around puddles. At her own door she paused and lowered her umbrella for a moment, face turned upwards. She was unable to prevent herself hunching, but found that it was, as he’d said, quite warm. S Thirty4

words- Hap Fry

Letter from america

W

e have heard of U2 to be sure and know all about the traditional forms of Irish music. Sometimes you’ll hear Morrissey blaring from the speakers at a bar – I mean pub – and you most definitely will hear Van Morrison at any wedding reception. But to say most Americans are hip to the present music scene in Ireland would be a misnomer.

I should know. I just returned to America – Fort Collins, Colorado – after spending arguably the greatest two months in life in your tremendous country. Not surprisingly, the music scene was a major contributing factor in why my stay was so enjoyable.

I entered Dublin thinking all I would hear would be folk and U2 cover bands. Man, was I wrong. I left on Aug. 7 knowing all about The Hot Sprockets, Noise Machine, New Secret Weapon, The Cold 100, The Barley Mob, Favourite Sons, Markas Carcas and of course my good friend Lisa McLaughlin to name a few.

When my buddy Karl picked me up from Denver International Airport on Aug. 10 – I lost myself for three days in Amsterdamage before returning to the states – one of the first questions out of my mouth was what came to his mind when he think of the Irish music scene.

His response – “I think of folk” – was pretty much the same as everyone else

back home I’ve raised that question to.

I responded by saying that’s what I initially thought of too. I then proceeded to tell him and everyone else that the rock scene Ireland not only is plentiful but strong. I told him the two biggest things that stood out for me was the sheer volume of good bands and acts in Ireland, and the fact that covers are rarely if ever played at gigs.

It’s almost the exact opposite here in America. Shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent place covers on a pedestal while helping sap the creativity out of the arts. I could even make a strong case that my favorite band Widespread Panic, at least since the death of lead guitarist Michael Houser, now is nothing more than a glorified cover band.

So be proud of yourselves, Ireland! For a country of 4.2 million, you certainly have an appreciation, ear and passion for all things music that seems unrivaled.

Thanks a million for allowing me to sit in for a couple of months and for an education I never will forget. I am forever in debt. S Thirty5

RISING STAR

Craig Cox, 26, has always been a bit of a comic junky. His appreciation grew from a love of early classics like Calvin and Hobbs and Bloom County. Craig eventually began to produce his on work soon selling it from flea market stalls.

He is currently entering his final year of Visual Arts at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, where he specializes in Media and 4D.