Totally Dublin 68

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TOTALLY DUBLIN May 2010 ADMISSION FREE totallydublin.ie

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GJSTU UIJOHT GJSTU Call me shallow, but I always judge a book by its cover. Okay, the text to the right might proclaim that it’s what’s inside that counts, but would you be bothered to find out if there wasn’t a lovely shiny (or matt newsprint) cover to attract your attention? This issue is jampacked with all things disco-bright and beautiful, and the main attraction, an interview with Chic, deserves a glitterball of a cover that would catch any disco-loving magpie’s eye.

Coincidentally, this month we were also kindly given a load of tickets for their gig at the end of May, and as most of the office is off to Primavera then, we thought what better way to offload them, than to run a design-a-Chic-cover competition, and give them away to the best entry? So we did.

We got some amazing entries in, ranging from painterly-splashy-sketchy pieces to vectory-graphicy drawings, with a couple of typographic illustrations thrown in. It was a tough choice, but the illustration that fitted the brief best was a mixture of these - a collaboration between an illustrator and designer. So, thanks a million, Dave Darcy and Sarah Brownlee, for a loverly coverly. Sarah’s sketchy drawings and Dave’s graphic style bounce off each other to make a Chic-tastic offering. You can have a look at the rest of the entries on our blog at totallydublin.ie.

Also in this issue - another gorgeous shoot by dynamic duo Rich Gilligan and Aisling Farinella, an exploration of NYC’s hipster capital LES* by intrepid adventurer Peter Steen-Christensen and an chat with the ‘loveliest man Daniel Gray has ever interviewed’, Caribou.

Oh, and some poo. Enjoy.

8 6 Lauren Kavanagh

*like, you don’t know? OMG WTF ETC

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6 Roadmap Because Satnavs know shit.

12 Threads Hats, bags, lashes, and a load of faff.

28 The Absolut Gay Theatre Festival It’s here, it’s queer, it’s dressing up as King Lear 31 Listings Upsettingly Jedwardfree this month.

14 Niamh A fashion shoot with one girl, lots of sun, and no errant ice cream cones.

44 The L.E.S. Taking New York one gentrified district at a time

20 Everybody Dance Chic, rollerblades and all the other good things about disco

50 Waterworks A pretty fluid piece with its bowels in the right place

54 Barfly Kids and coppers 56 Gastro Now on edible, dinnerflavoured paper 66 Audio What’s frazzling our pound-shop headphones this month?

68 Cinema It’s Chris Morris fanboy time 70 Drawings Straight downtown on the L.O.L-Train

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Emma Brereton Sarah Brownlee Blu Cantrell Conor Creighton Carl Cullinane Dave Darcy Aisling Farinella Ciaran Gaynor Richard Gilligan Anna Hayes Caomhan Keane Roisin Kiberd Charlene Lydon Fuchsia Macaree Karl McDonald Alan Moloney Padraig Moran Oisín Murphy Paddy O’Mahoney Aoife O’Regan Steve Ryan Beaufort T. Wilderbourne

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without the permission from the publishers. The views expressed in Totally Dublin are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. The magazine welcomes ideas and new contributors but can assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations.

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Cover image: Chic by Sarah Brownlee and Dave Darcy Contents image: Ringsend by Steve Ryan

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Shamomufuckas :: Ex Bloc-Party frontman, former TD cover star, and newly-out gay icon has pretty spot-on taste (despite what you might have inferred from the last two Bloc Party albums) – his glampuss support as he embarks on his first solo jaunt is Mama Shamone, a Berlinvia-London electro gyal whose pop is as bright as her flash colour scheme.

Catch the pair in action on Sunday 16th June at the Academy.

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Doctor’s Orders :: We were going to rave about how rapid the sick new club night from Synth Eastwood’s Simon and Al, Sicknote is, but it’s Monday morning right now and nobody’s shown up to the office. Lauren’s off with something called the Spring Vomiting Bug, Paddy’s come down with a nasty case of volcanic ash respiratory syndrome, and I broke my face on a windowledge. It’s true. We’ve all got notes to prove it.

(Hahaha, don’t tell anyone but we’re on the mitch. We were at the Sicknote launch in the Village last night and got totally airtight written excuses from a certified resident. Now if you’ll excuse, Jeremy Kyle’s back from the ads.)

Sicknote sets up in the Village from 8pm on the last Sunday of every month. Make your excuses early.

Give Us A Twirl :: You know how while watching Bring It On (because your 16 year old sister and her giggling friends made you, and certainly not on your own, in the dark, at four in the morning on Megavideo) your sympathies lie not with the Kirsten Dunst cheerleader team of perfectly-groomed whitebread pansies, but with the finger-snapping, shit-talking City of Compton girls? We’ve yet to have the pleasure of viewing Anne Maree Barry’s Rialto Twirlers, a video exhibition of a majorette troupe from everyone’s favourite LUAS stop, but we’re fairly certain its subjects are about to join the Compton Clovers in our hearts. A collage of image, sound and music, Rialto Twirlers is an experimental film-making project with a most substantial core – its socially explorative goals as intriguing as the process and presentation.

Rialto Twirlers runs from the 6th until the 29th of May at The Lab, Foley Street, from 10am to 6pm.

Bring your own batons.

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SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY. 3-16 MAY 2010. ABSOLUTGAYTHEATRE.IE Visit

Pogo Agogo :: A Skillz, Adam Beyer, Alex Smoke, Alex Under, Ame, Andrew Weatherall, Andy Smith, Andy Stott, Apparat, Audion… That’s the As out of the way. If we unravelled the Pogo Hall of Fame all the way to Z we’d have to kill another few endangered Amazonian trees to find the pages. After a sweet five years of monopolizing the most inspired electronic acts going (and the Ting Tings), and the successful transition of their buzz from Harcourt Street Train Station to the Twisted Pepper, the young, well-bred men of Pogo deserve a good clatter on the back.

They’ve assembled one of their better line-ups for their birthday bash for this 15th May, with the we-know-a-thing-or-two-aboutthrowing-a-good-club-night Optimo boys on deck duty, Berlin’s Shed playing some heart-bothering techno with his Technobox 2000, and two of the island’s most rhythmically razor-sharp acts, Not Squares and the Cast of Cheers joining the birthday kids on the bill.

The Pogo brand will continue to mutate like a Stan Lee superhero thereafter, with promises of vinyl releases and visits from Marcel Dettmann and Redshape before the smoke’s cleared off their blown-out birthday candles – they’ll be making their Communions and putting baby teeth under their pillows before long.

The Pogo 5th Birthday hip-hip-hoorays at the Twisted Pepper from 9pm on the 15th May. Tickets are €10 – see www.bodytonicmusic.com for more.

TGTD :: How many transgender people do you know? How many can you name that aren’t the feverish invention of a daytime American soap opera? Well forget about Haroldina Glamourpuss and friends for a minute, because we need to have a serious, serious chat. Monster Truck Gallery and Studios are reopening this month after a round of renovations, with an audiovisual exhibition featuring a number of transgender activists.

The work of photographer Anja Weber and sound artist Sabine Ercklentz, Serious Game comprises larger than life portraits of transgender individuals, displayed with a backing track of personal testimonies. The testimonies and portraits were captured at a conference in Berlin in 2008, but are presented here in a way that obfuscate the relationship between voice and body. When you can’t figure out who’s doing the talking, the artists argue, you’re forced to confront your need for certainty, as well as your reliance on the binary system of gender identification. The individual is foregrounded above the socialized attributes of their gender, which is above all emphasized as an accident of birth. The interplay between sound and image creates a dynamic exhibition, which bears endless rereading as the patterns of the portraits and testimonies continuously criss-cross. What emerges is a challenging study, that makes the viewer question their own perspectives and prejudices.

Hosted by the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, Serious Game will run until the 14th May, so pop down and check out the newly refurbished Monster Truck. Don’t bother making any jokes about renovated basements though; they’ve heard them all before.

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words // ROISIN KIBERD

Faffster :: The sultry, pouty-faced cartoon pin-ups by graffiti queen Fafi have a following burgeoning on cult; ‘Fafinettes’ pop up on walls, in magazines, on clothing, makeup... we’ve even seen them tattooed on the arms of several particularly rabid fans. For her second year working with Adidas Originals, Fafi has taken the collaboration to new level with clothes and accessories designed by the artist, in addition to her usual cartoon-decked hi-tops. The results are quirky, idiosyncratic and cartoon-cute, and wholly unlike what you would normally expect of Adidas. Highlights include a lunchbox-shaped mini handbag, a smock dress inspired by Mexico and a psychedelic-printed pink jumpsuit; what’s not to love? http://shop.adidas.co.uk

Give It A Lash :: They’re fiddly, sticky and they sometimes fall off into your drink, but for a look that’s pure disco-ready drama, a good pair of fake eyelashes can’t be beat. And these ones, inspired by the Chinese art of paper cutting, certainly ain’t your average stick-ons. Available from Boots, design house Paperself created a limited number of these surreal face accessories, cut from paper into the shapes of tiny creatures from the Chinese Zodiac. It’s only a matter of time before they’re seen on Lady Gaga. Get yours by post from tiny Shoreditch boutique Luna and Curious, the only stockists in Europe, for wallet-friendly price of £12. www.lunaandcurious.com

Sick Bags :: Remember the politics of school-bags, the way the cool kids always wore their JanSport, Quiksilver or Roxy bags slung low and distressed-to-perfection, with names of former flames and Green Day lyrics scrawled down the sides in Sharpie? It’s time to bring out your inner Junior Cert student, because the backpack is back in fashion. In a concession to festival fashion, functionality and chiropractors everywhere, designers sent out knapsacks and squashy duffel bags in everything from leather to parachute silk for Spring and Summer 2010.

We like Topman’s beat-up denim version, and the cutesy manga-heroine school-bags by Korean brand Sechuna, but the backpack holy grail has got to be Paul Smith’s faded blue number. Ticking all the right boxes - oversized, slouchy shape and large front pockets- it’s by far the most stylish way to lug around your life, your lunch and your laptop.

Available at House of Fraser

You Stay Here, I’ll Go On A Head :: It’s rare that hats can be said to be ‘in fashion’; rather they never really went away, living on the heads of eccentrics like the late Isabella Blow, and dragged out of more pedestrian wardrobes for weddings and the occasional day at the races. But with venerable French milliner Maison Michel’s latest collection, the proverbial Spring Bonnet is back and commanding centre stage. Founded in 1936, the house of highfashion headwear made news recently with their lace-and-wire animal ears, seen atop many celebrity heads last season. Their Spring/Summer lookbook, rendered in luscious fashion illustrations by artist Cedric Revrain, features fashion darlings Lara Stone, Sasha Pivivarova and Lou Doillon complete with her signature top hat (though wearing little else). The hats may be priced a head above the reach of anyone but red-carpet regulars, but for artistic merit alone this gorgeous campaign is worth a look. www.michel-paris.com

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Wholesome, fresh, simple food accompanied by a concise but exciting cocktail menu, an extensive range of worldly beers and delicious wines, served in casual, relaxed and comfortable surroundings.

3-5 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2 P: 016706787 F: 016706856 www.theexchequer.ie info@theexchequer.ie

Try our Sunday roasts to share – roast rib of beef (for 2), roast rib of pork, or whole chicken (for 4), with a bottle of house wine for €39.95… Just remember to book in advance!

3NFRM photography // RICH GILLIGAN styling // AISLING FARINELLA

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Photography Rich Gilligan, www.richgilligan.com Styling Aisling Farinella, www.aislingfarinella.com Hair Isis Godfrey-Glynn at SitStil Make-Up Natalie Kinsella Model Niamh O at Morgan The Agency Page 1 Rachel Comey ‘St. Vincent’s dress’ from Smock; lace flower print top from Topshop; Celine Conan gold and crystal earrings from Rubanesque.

Page 2 Mattie Doody beaded head piece from Bow; Tsumori Chisato print t-shirt from Smock.

Page 3 Eilis Boyle full-length dress from Bow; stripe swimsuit from American Apparel; Future Classics silk scarf from Dolls.

Page 4 Manley studded dress; Stella Nova star patch jacket and Comfort Station silver necklace from Dolls; feather, worn in hair, from Rubanesque.

Page 5 Tim Ryan fringe jacket from Bow; polka-dot Mini for Many by Mini Market dress from Dolls Page 5 inset image Outfit as before with socks from American Apparel and shoes from Topshop.

Stockists American Apparel, www.americanapparel.net Bow Boutique, Ground Floor, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Dublin 2 Dolls, Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, www.dollsboutique.ie Manley by Emma Manley, emma.kate.manley@googlemail.com Rubanesque, Unit 14, Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin 2, www.arubanesque.ie Smock 31 Drury Street, Dublin 2. www.smock.ie Topshop, www.topshop.com

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how I approached that. Every time you hit that stage you’ve got to be prepared to give the best show you possibly can. I see that as my job”.

With six top ten hits in the UK as a member of Chic and many more as a producer for Sister Sledge, David Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran and countless others, not many people can claim to have influenced modern pop to the extent Nile Rodgers has done. Rodgers never stood still for long enough to really appreciate the success those records delivered. “I know what the sales figures are, but we never got the chance to live it as it was happening. It only took a matter of weeks to record each record - it took six weeks to make the entire Like A Virgin album with Madonna and Bowie’s Let’s Dance took seventeen days. By the time a record came out it was like ‘oh right, that record we made a while back. Onto the next one!’”

With an apparently endless list of production duties to his credit it must have been difficult to maintain the quality control, and it transpires the only way out of this trap is to leave notions of being a super-producer behind. “I’m always thinking of the person I’m working with.

At that time they’re the most important person in the world. I remember working with Sister Sledge - we thought they were so important, and we just gave them our all. And if you look at that record We Are Family, pound for pound it was probably the single best record we ever made.” It’s a surprise the equally great follow-up Love Somebody Today is hardly remembered at all. Did it suffer from the disco backlash? Rodgers has no doubt about it: “I’m positive that’s what it was due to. In fact when I think about my career, the highlight was Good Times going to number one while the entire American music industry hated us. I mean we were persona non grata because of the whole “disco sucks” thing. Good Times came out in the summer of ‘79 during that whole disco melee - which looked to me like book burning.”

During the summer of 1979, DJ Steve Dahl organized something called “Disco Demolition Night” in a baseball stadium in Chicago. Thousands of people wearing t-shirts adorned with the legend “Disco Sucks” turned up to throw things like The Trampps’ Disco Inferno onto, well, a disco inferno. Wasn’t that all a bit dubiously racist and homophobic? “It was incredible. I have a pretty good sense of humour and I used to wear ‘disco sucks’ buttons too, but I didn’t realise that they were tapping into this undercurrent of visceral racial hate. The DJ who organized it was just pissed off because the radio station he worked for fired him when they changed their format. He was associated with rock and roll, and disco was so popular they felt if they dumped him they would seem like a credible radio station. It was a bad managerial decision and he protested – but what he didn’t know was he was tapping into that whole undercurrent of racism, homophobia, and all that other stuff. That was the negative by-product of what was, basically, a

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To call Chic a disco band would be a disservice akin to calling the Beatles “a Merseybeat band” or calling Kraftwerk “that novelty group – you know, Germans, did that funny song about driving down the autobahn”. So let’s be clear from the off; without Chic’s influence it’s impossible to imagine what modern pop would sound like. Their sound has influenced Daft Punk, house music, LCD Soundsystem and Kylie’s disco-pop; the records they had a hand in as writers and producers have been covered by Robert Wyatt (At Last I Am Free) and The Fall (Lost In Music). Even eternal indiebloke Johnny Marr named his son Nile after Chic’s legendary rhythm guitarist Nile Rodgers: producer to Bowie and Madonna, and the man I’m here to interview today. Rodgers is in Dublin this month with a new line-up of Chic to play dance venue par excellence Tripod.

Chic played Electric Picnic last year, a performance that Rodgers describes as “outrageously unbelievable and incredible. We could have just let the rhythm section play and the audience would have sung along and done the rest for us.”

Having smash hit singles is no longer the driving force of what Rodgers calls The Chic Organization, but a similar quest for excellence informs everything he does.

“It’s almost like performing in your living room for relatives”, he tells me, “the only way I can do work is to try and give it my all every time - almost like an athlete.

That’s also how I treat writing songs and the possibilities of riffs and chords. I’ve just worked on Bryan Ferry’s record doing 30 songs in a few days, and that’s

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Incredibly, the president of Atlantic Records was so keen to work with Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards that he offered them his entire roster of acts to pick from. I ask why they chose to work with the relatively unknown soul act Sister Sledge. “We had known a little bit about them because they had a record we liked called Love Don’t You Go Through No Changes On Me but we didn’t really know who they were. When we sat down with the president of the record company we tried to handle ourselves like we were real record producers.

We went into his office and effectively interviewed him! We wanted to know what his vision was and he offered us artists like the Rolling Stones and Bette Midler. I always mention those because they were the names we remember that made us go “wow!” But we thought if we made a hit record with them no-one would know who we were, we’d just be faceless producers. We wanted to have an opportunity to show what we could do. I mean, what are we gonna tell Mick Jagger: “oh we’re gonna write every song on the next Rolling Stones record”?

That’s not gonna fly!” It’s tempting to imagine what a Chic-produced Rolling Stones album would sound like. “It would have been great!” asserts Rodgers, “but at that point in our careers it wouldn’t have done for us what the Sister Sledge record did. We were able to use pop and fashion iconography and apply it to them. They probably hadn’t even heard of Gucci or Fiorrucci and so on because they were very religious girls from Philadelphia and we decided to play Pygmalion and we created a version of them which we believed was relevant for the times.”

After the success of Chic you could

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be forgiven for thinking Nile Rodgers was given carte-blanche to do whatever work he wanted with anybody even tangentially connected with pop. Work with The B-52s, The Dan Reed Network and even bonkers performance artist Laurie Anderson stretched into the 90s; an incredibly eclectic bunch, I’m sure you’ll agree. How on earth did Rodgers decide who to work with? “99% of the artists I’ve worked with have all come about by happenstance or a chance meeting. Duran Duran were the opening act for Blondie, and we fell in love with each other. INXS were opening for Hall & Oates, who I was working with at the time. Actually I got Hall & Oates to sing back-up on the INXS single Original Sin, a lot of people don’t realise that. The only artist I can remember pursuing was Peter Gabriel.

Everyone else I met in a night club or you know, walking down the street.” So now you know, aspiring musicians of Dublin.

Hang about the stage door of Tripod towards the end of May and seize your chance.

A track from an unreleased collaboration with Johnny Mathis (I Love My Lady, recorded in 1981) surfaced recently on the internet. Time to shed some light on this obscure aspect of the Chic back-catalogue. Spill the beans, Nile. “Ah, that brings back some of the greatest memories of my life – too many to mention. One thing I can say is that out of all the people I’ve ever worked with in (world-famous studio) The Power Station, no-one ever caused the tumult that Johnny Mathis caused - and I’m talking David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Madonna - the only one who people asked for their autograph was Johnny Mathis - he was that magical.

The record we made together was really

brilliant and I don’t usually brag about my products. If I were to produce it again though, I’d probably try to make it a little less Chic-centric and a little more Johnny Mathis-centric. We could probably have done for him what we did for Diana Ross but because he was so iconic we felt like pushing the envelope like we did with Diana and I think we probably pushed the envelope a little too far this time. We felt we’d let him down and let ourselves down, which is sad, but it is a great record.”

Is it true that Diana Ross didn’t know what the phrase “I’m Coming Out” referred to? “She knew what it was about, but we denied it! Heheheh!

She asked us ‘isn’t that what gay people say when they come out of the closet?’

We said ‘I don’t know! How would we know what gay people say - we’re just record producers and songwriters.’ We didn’t want to make the same mistake we made with Sister Sledge. Even though that record was a hit, there was a little bit of friction between us because they didn’t know what we were talking about - they didn’t like that we’d write a song like He’s The Greatest Dancer and make them sing the line ‘my creme de la creme, please take me home’ like they were loose women, when really they were ‘good girls’. Up to this point (Diana, 1980) we’d never produced anyone from outside our own label. So we decided we needed to know everything about her life and then chose the bits we found interesting which could go along with the current culture. But it still had to be something that Diana could pre-approve. The album is like a documentary about the life of Diana Ross as we saw it. It’s highly subjective.” It’s also a highly brilliant record and one of the best things recorded under

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Dating Diep Noodle Bar and Totally Dublin have joined forces to bring you a fun evening of food, music and dinner dating. Dinner Dating at Diep Noodle Bar will be held on Wednesday May 26th and will kick off at 7pm. Places are limited to 54 people and the evening will be hosted by Larry David Jr who, aside from hosting the evening's events will be spinning the very best in yacht rock. Each date will last 4 minutes and there will be ten dates per person throughout the evening.

The evening will start with a complimentary cocktail and the sign in. There will be a great selection of Thai bites served before, during and after the dating to keep energy levels high and we will be putting the theory that Chilli is an excellent aphrodisiac to the test!

This event is limited to 25 to 40 year olds and places are on a first come first served basis. The total cost for the event is â&#x201A;Ź21; this price includes Diep cuisine throughout the evening, a cocktail on arrival and covers your speed dating. To book your place or if you have any questions please email dinnerdating@diep.net.

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:PKL <OL ?OP[L 0VYZL ,PZJV Z *LZ[ *P[Z the Chic Organization banner.

So what is The Chic Organization now? “The Chic Organization is what it always has been - a wrapper or a picture frame that Bernard and I came up with for our ideas. I’ve decided that from now on I’m devoting the rest of my life to producing what I call The Chic Organization Box Set. Recently I found thousands of lost tapes, things we worked on but were never finished, out-takes done as a joke but which are fantastic and I’d forgotten about all of them. They will be released for the rest of my life as I discover them.”

Bernard Edwards died in 1996 and took the secrets of his inimitable bass sound with him – how did Chic go about finding someone to fill his place? It must have been entirely impossible. “Anyone who wants to play bass with me has two tests - they have to play Everybody Dance and Dance Dance Dance - if they can do something on those songs that makes me feel good, that’s it.”

So much for pop’s past, what does Rodgers think of pop now? “The most innovative music now is pop - which is funny because thirty years ago pop was the vital proving ground for music that had come from the underground. I mean I look at a Lady Gaga video and in the old days that would have been something underground.”

So what do you think of when I say the word ‘Madonna’?

“Drive, determination and dedication more than anyone I’ve ever worked with.

I’ve worked with some pretty determined people, but no-one to match her.”

And do you ever feel the urge to compete for chart space with Gaga, Beyonce and Rihanna?

“That’s not the fuel that drives my interest. Performing is what drives me now. When The Chic Organization disbanded for those years I recorded a massive amount of stuff - there were things that sounded like hits but I never put them out. I also did soundtrack work where the film came out and bombed so the music never got republished. There’s a ton of that stuff. Every tour from now on will be called The Box Set Tour and every record I release from now on will be part of The Box Set. I’d love to see outtakes from The 39 Steps or something. This will be like that. Plus I’m doing video game soundtracks.”

How does a hot-shot producer find the time to play videogames, I wonder.

Don’t they usually involve drawing the curtains for eight hours? Turns out they can oil the creative wheels, so to speak.

“When Chic started out we did most of our recording during the graveyard shift from midnight until six or seven am and Bernard and I would go to video arcades to clear our grey matter pallets - you felt refreshed after doing that.”

Chic play Tripod on Saturday 28th May (sold out) and Sunday 29th May. Tickets for 29th May still available at €37.50/42.50

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TOTALLY DUBLIN

<0- A-): " " Disco’s commercial zenith. The UK charts were overrun with disco singles throughout the year from the Village People’s YMCA to Ian Dury and The Blockheads Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. By the year’s end ska and synthpop were paving the way into the new decade but ‘79 is still all about what Ray from 2 Unlimited might have called “discodiscodiscodisco”. ):<0=: :=;;-44 As happy collaborating with serious composer types like Phillip Glass as he was concocting “disco’s answer to The White Album”, Russell is an often overlooked figure. Sadly he died in 1992, but reissues have helped find his music a wide audience in recent years. /17:/17 57:7,-: )6, ,766) ;=55-: Moustachioed Italian knob-twiddler, based in Germany meets US soul siren.

Result: some of the most glittering pop singles in history. I Feel Love and Love To Love You Baby were incredibly bold and brilliant, but as a general rule of thumb all of their collaborations are essential. :7+3 *)6,; /716/ ,1;+7 It didn’t always work but you had to love the rock purists’ facial expressions when they were confronted with Rod Stewart in a blouse and make-up. Hands in the air for Blondie, Sparks, The Bee Gees and even The Stones’ marvellous disco makeovers. Hands over the face in despair for Mike Oldfield’s useless Guilty and The Beach Boys’ disco version of Here Comes The Night. :744-:,1;+7; Amazing to think that once upon a time people risked life and limb by skating about to the strains of Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry. And yet, it happened. Early issues of Smash Hits even had special reports on rollerdiscos from someone called Disco Barry. But you try telling the kids that now and they won’t believe you etc. *1)6+) 2)//-: 76 ) ?01<- 07:;- 16 ;<=,17 Nothing sums up the hedonistic spirit of disco and its most famous nightclub than this ridiculous gesture. Inevitably the dancefloor got covered in dung, but that didn’t dent the glamour enough to prevent Goldfrapp from writing a song about it. Still a familiar pop-cultural touchstone, someone even made a rubbish film about it with Mike Myers (54). <0- 8):),1;- /):)/The “slebs” of the disco era showed their faces at Studio 54, but The Paradise Garage - presided over by legendary DJ Larry Levan - was arguably more influential over club culture. Cher’s “Take Me Home” was a floor-filler here, and Levan would sort of invent remixing by cutting records up to sound the way he wanted them to.

;A6,:=5; That daft percussion sound that goes “boooooo” throughout Anita Ward’s splendid 1979 number one hit Ring My Bell. Kelly Marie’s less lovely Feels Like I’m In Love rather overdoes it a bit, but the syndrum is synonymous with pop music at the very end of the seventies. ,1;+7 ,1;+0):/- +75814)<176; Sixteen discs of sometimes ultra-obscure, sometimes world-famous disco records: all of them brilliant, if you’re even remotely interested in the history or sound of disco you need them now. Each volume covers a specific aspect of the scene; Classic Disco, Euro Disco, Gay Disco/Hi-NRG and Disco Ladies made up the first four releases. The next four are out this month.

67>-4<A ,1;+7 :-+7:,; The Heebeegeebees parodied The Bee Gees on Meaningless Words In Very High Voices, The Evasions’ Wikka Rap featured an Alan Whicker impersonator intoning a run down of every disco cliche available. But there were brilliantly silly singles like Ottawan’s D.I.S.C.O. - featuring Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk’s dad! ;76/; )*7=< ,716/ 1< ?1<0 )41-6; )6, 7: :7*7<; Sylvia Love’s Extraterrestrial Lover, Dee D Jackson’s Automatic Lover and Hot Gossip’s I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper are all ridiculous of course, but no less brilliant for that. The italo-disco trend which swept through Europe in the 1980s is awash with songs about lonely ladies “doing it” with E.T. and Marvin The Paranoid Android. Anouschka Remzi’s Robot Love is typical.

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RATHMINES Robin Hood May 12th

Ridley Scott’s take on the classic tale of Robin Hood.

Oscar winner Russell Crow plays the 13th century legendary figure, as he and his band of marauders lead an uprising against the crown for the freedom of his people.

Lady Marian, is played by fellow academy award winner Cate Blanchett, in this big budget production

Sex And The City 2 May 28th

The sequel to 2008’s smash hit Sex And The City, based on the hugely popular HBO series, hits cinemas on May 28th. All of the girls are back, with their tumultuous love lives in tow. Although the plot has been a closely guarded secret, rumour has it there will be several high profile cameo appearances. Tickets for opening night have been selling like hotcakes.

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IF YOU MAKE SURE YOU’RE CONNECTED // AND WRITE UPON OUR WALL // BUT IF YOUR MIND’S NEGLECTED // STUMBLE YOU MIGHT FALL (STUMBLE YOU MIGHT FALL)

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words // CAOMHAN KEANE NAKED HOMO Written and Starring Martin Lewton Directed by Andrew McKinnon A show looking at contempory gay life, Naked Homo is a one-man piece performed completely in the nip by writer Martin Lewton.

“It came out of the fact that I was working on a series of plays which dealt with how people saw themselves, life models and women dieting, etc,” says Lewton. “I wanted to connect it with the gay world. There are a wide number of gay men who aren’t out, gay men cheating on their wives, homophobic homosexuals, a guy cruising in the showers at the gym.

There’s one set at Gay Pride and another guy looking back on his lover who died of AIDS. Some are humorous but they all say something about the Gay world today.”

R E E U Q

HOW

THE ABSOLUT GAY THEATRE FESTIVAL ����

28

TOTALLY DUBLIN

The Boy’s School, Smock Alley 10 May (21:30), 11 May (21:30), 12 May (21:30), 13 May (21:30), 14 May (21:30), 15 May (16:00, 21:30)

TENNESSEE SUITE Written by Tennessee Williams Directed by David Kaplan Written by Tennessee Williams in 1980 just before his death, Tennessee Suite is the title to a pair of plays that are erotic, funny and play with the passage of time and ponder the endurance of desire. The first, The Traveling Companion, is set in a hotel and depicts a standoff between an aging writer and a young man picked up at a gay bar and hired as a travelling companion.

“It is a distorted self-portrait,” Kaplan tells me “with a certain amount of selfmythologizing. It deals with loneliness and it’s very unusual for him to be this direct about himself.”

Chalky White, meanwhile, imagines a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by older men and younger men, younger men and their protectors. “The language is very beautiful and very strong and it’s different to the lyricism of his early plays.”

The Studio Theatre, Smock Alley 10 May (20:00), 11 May (20:00), 12 May (20:00), 13 May (20:00), 14 May (20:00), 15 May (14:30, 20:00)

www.totallydublin.ie

What applies to Dublin’s busses applies to Dublin’s gays it would appear. You wait around to see a gay on the Irish stage and three festivals full of them come at once. As we await to hear if the Queer Notions Festival gets some much needed funding to make its second journey out of the closet and into the Project Arts Centre, this month sees the welcome return of the 6th annual Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, taking place at venues all over Dublin City Centre’s north side. It faces some stiff competition from the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival that runs concurrently and which, in spite of this being its first time, avoids the awkward fumbling that may be expected of it with a theatrical line-up so diverse it puts the repetitiveness and groundhog plays that litter our main stages and our fringe to shame.

But do we need it? Is there a need for even one festival that services the LGBT community in

Ireland? Elizabeth Moynihan, writer and director of Slaughterhouse Swan believes there is. “We obviously still need a specific festival because there are no representations of gay life on the main stages.

You just get the token characters on television and film and no representation at all in theatre.

“It’s great for me, having lived through the 80s, to see young gay couples embracing openly and holding hands, like heterosexuals have done since the dawn of time, but we still have stuff to say and stuff to do. There is still queer bashing going on.”

“We envy you for having such an event,” says Roy Horovitz, star of the Timekeepers. “To have two festivals that are competing with one another… I think that’s wonderful. We don’t have anything like that in Israel. We have plenty of plays dealing with gay matter but nothing that brings them all together.”

There aren’t that many arenas in which LGBT performers and writers get the opportunity to portray their work and Martin Lewton from Naked Homo thinks it’s essential to be able to see other gay theatre and meet other gay theatre practitioners. “None of the English festivals or the European ones have these great banners up or have the involvement of people from the council. That’s a really good thing.”

The festival features a mixture of traditional theatre, musicals, cabaret and comedy with all aspects of gay life represented, though that rare Irish bird, the Lesbian, seems to be unusually quiet yet again.

Totally Dublin has cast its overly-critical eye over this year’s Absolut Gay Theatre Festival and picked its tips for you to splurge your pink pounds on.

THE TIME KEEPERS

SLAUGHTERHOUSE SWAN

WEEPIE

Written by Dan Clancy Directed by Lee Gilat

Written and Directed by Elizabeth Moynihan

Writer Chris Goode Director Donald Pulford

The Time Keepers is an hilarious drama focusing on an unusual bond formed in a concentration camp between an elderly, conservative Jew and a shrieking homosexual, who in normal circumstances would never cross paths, but having been thrown together form a friendship in a time of horror.

“We are second- and third-generation so we are very sensitive to the issue of the holocaust – The Time Keepers is not by any means a mockery of the event,” Roy Horovitz, one of the actors tells me.

“There are many studies and testimonies where they say survivors used humor to survive and we found a very large book by a well-known researcher from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which collected the caricatures and jokes that were told in the camps and ghettos. People stayed there for years and years and continued to live within terrible surroundings.”

A tale about love and obsession set in a small town, Slaughterhouse Swan is one of the few original Irish productions at this year’s festival. Written by the awardwinning Elizabeth Moynihan it deals with a butcher and his wife, the parents of twins. The father is a cross dresser and the story begins as their son comes back unannounced after a ten year absence.

We don’t know why he has left and we don’t know why he is home and his twin, who feels terribly abandoned, is just out of prison after having an affair with her piano student, who was under age.

Amongst its themes the play challenges debatably repressive laws that govern underage sex.

Moynihan doesn’t believe that Irish theatre meets the needs of the LGBT community. “Dolly West’s Kitchen by Frank McGuiness is, to my memory, the only play to have a gay character in a mainstream production at the Abbey.

There is something wrong about the picture that plays with gay characters are confined to a gay festival. This isn’t a gay play. It’s a drama. It’s about a woman who falls in love with someone the law says she shouldn’t.”

In reviewing Moynihan’s Walnuts Remind Me of My Mother last year, Peter Crawley raised the point that her work was the only original piece of writing in the Festival dealing with lesbian issues by an Irish writer. “I wonder why there aren’t more young twentysomething lesbian writers writing about women’s issues or gay women’s issues. I mean, I am a middle-aged woman. No one is coming forward. They’re not being rejected. I don’t know what it says about us. It’s not good.”

In November 1994, two nineteen-yearold, upper-middle-class students were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mohammed el-Sayed. There was no obvious reason for the murder. The victim was unknown to the perpetrators and there was no racial motive. The British public, who explained the Jamie Bulger case to themselves by saying that these boys were from the criminal classes, couldn’t put the el-Sayed case down to class nor deprivation. Weepie, written by Chris Goode, attempts to find an answer to the case - one area the play explores is the type of masculinity that men are encouraged to adopt. Another is the temptation to chase an experience which is sublime, out of the ordinary.

“One of the hundred reasons I love this script is that it isn’t a beginning, middle and end kind of story,” says Director Donald Pulford, who stalked writer Chris Goode after first seeing Weepie’s first showing in Edinburgh, directed by the author, and knew he could do a better job. “The script is full of texture and rhythm and imagery and if you try and connect them you’ll probably drive yourself crazy. It’s more of an aesthetic event.

We are looking at rhythm, space, and scale of action, atmosphere and weaving of a pattern. For me the greatest challenge is to make something as ugly as I can and as beautiful as I can.”

The Studio Theatre, Smock Alley 3 May (20:00), 4 May (20:00), 5 May (20:00), 6 May (20:00), 7 May (20:00), 8 May (14:30, 20:00)

TWO LOVES Written by John Martin Stephens A musical drama that merges modern-day dialogue with Shakespearean sonnets and the American songbook, this original drama follows the seduction of a young man by a poet and his mistress.

“I didn’t want to write an appraisal of the Sonnets because so many other people have done that.” Says Martin Stephens. “What I was more interested in was how 400-yearold source material could make a modern and compelling drama. I tried to stay as true to the themes of the sonnets themselves, taking as little license as possible.”

The New Theatre 3 May (18:45), 4 May (18:45), 5 May (18:45), 6 May (18:45), 7 May (18:45), 8 May (13:00, 18:45)

www.totallydublin.ie

The New Theatre 10 May (18:45), 11 May (18:45), 12 May (18:45), 13 May (18:45), 14 May (18:45), 15 May (13:00, 18:45)

The New Theatre 10 May (20:00), 11 May (20:00), 12 May (20:00), 13 May (20:00), 14 May (20:00), 15 May (14:30, 20:00) €10.00 / €13.00 / €15.00 For a full program of the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival see www.absolutgaytheatre.ie

TOTALLY DUBLIN

29

words // DANIEL GRAY We took a vote, and the results confirmed suspicions: Caribou’s album is the best thing ever. Infectious, viscous dance music with an unprecedented emotional depth, Swim is impressive in its self-contained otherworldliness – the minor flaws in certain songs do not deny the album’s status as a work of genius whose influence is bound to leave a volcanic ash cloud over the flight paths of the rest of 2010’s home-produced records. Daniel Snaith, the Caribou daddy, gave us fifteen minutes of tour-van goodness.

Hello Dan. It’s Dan. Hey Dan. We talked to Kieran Hebden [Four Tet] recently and he talked about how DJing in Plastic People, the London club, had the biggest influence on his new album - are the club music flourishes on Swim sourced from your experience of clubbing, or are you very much at the headphone appreciation end of the dance music scale?

Definitely from clubbing, and DJing a lot in the last year. Myself and Kieran are really good friends, we actually live right beside each other, so we’re the first people to hear what each other do. We’ll play each other’s songs while DJing. If I’m trying to bash out a track I’m working on, he’ll play it while he DJs and sees how it fits. Club music has definitely had an influence. We’ve both been to Theo Parrish at his residency in Plastic People, I think certainly our two albums are aligned because of that.

Definitely. They’re not structurally similar, or even overly aesthetically similar, but they’re both more soulful than your average laptop record.

I totally agree, for me it comes from listening to…

[5 minutes later] Oh shit, sorry, we went under a tunnel.

We’re driving through industrial France, and they really like tunnels. But yeah, I’m really interested in DJs who present dance music that’s very much sourced in soul music, this more human sort of dance music.

I’m actually recording this interview on Ableton because a banana exploded on my dictaphone. It’s funny how Ableton is seen as this tool for sparse, bleak minimal techno, but when applied in a different way it can make something as warm and

www.totallydublin.ie

Oh Deer CONVERSATIONS WITH CARIBOU

weathered sounding as Swim, or [Four Tet album] There Is Love In You. I hear people use the term ‘Ableton record’, which I think means you’re not using it as a tool very well. It’s something that’s really accessible, but really powerful, and I think its capabilities should be pushed a lot more.

It is in a sense. It’s not anything to do with me making it under the influence of drugs, the whole thing was recorded, you know, totally sober… Actually, this is quite funny, there’s been a lot of speculation about me releasing it on April 20th, i.e. 4/20. I don’t know, does that have any significance in Ireland?

The remix competition for Sun has entirely taken up my weekend, and I still haven’t come up with anything a tenth as interesting as the actual song…

Oh come on, man. You’ve got to send it in. Did you send it in?

Let’s say it doesn’t.

OK, well for the uninitiated, 4.20pm is like the international time to smoke a joint, as the sort of midpoint between morning and evening, and 20th April is like Cannabis Day. So, if you consider that my record could… arguably… be enjoyed a little more having smoked some…

Maybe. Have you, say, had any particularly interesting remixes since 11.35am on Monday morning?

Well the few I’ve heard have been really surprisingly inventive. We’re a little overwhelmed, we’ve already got 70 or 80 remixes, and we’ve been on the road, but it’s going to be fun to go through them all when we get some free time.

James Holden’s remixing one of your tracks, right?

He is, he’s remixing Bowls. He hasn’t finished it yet, but he said he thinks it’s ‘quite good’ so far. And ‘quite good’ by his standards… well, it’s pretty promising.

Is Swim a drug record?

…And with that psychedelic album cover…

You can see why people thought it was not a coincidence. But it was definitely a coincidence. I don’t think those rules even make sense!

It’s stoner mythology. When you’re stoned all makey-uppy rules make sense. Andorra was almost entirely made without samples, and would I be right in saying a lot of Swim is sample-based? I heard you visited Africa for some record shopping?

Yeah, that’s totally true. I went to Ethiopia for a couple of weeks. Ethiopian records are incredibly hard to find, they don’t

TOTALLY DUBLIN

31

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Beckett plays, The End and The Calmative. started doing our own work but under that

Oscar win this year is a reflection of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appreciation for whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening within the Japanese film industry. There is more variety in Japanese film now. Our films arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t falling into certain stereotypical categories. The new generation of film-makers are quite keen to explore the outside market and are taking an international audience into consideration when making their films. In that respect itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very different kind of filmmaking to what we had in the 1950s. It certainly is an interesting and encouraging time for Japanese cinema.

Henry and Sunny, Dublin-based writer/director together twenty years after their original setting Fergal Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;melancholic tale of true love against and they meet for the first time in a cafĂŠ in Moscow all oddsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, is a unique vision quite beautifully realwhere they discuss each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives. ized. Shot in high-contrast black and white, Henry and Sunny imagines a complicated relationship Can you tell us about the programme and why you one particular note and it into are notname. relatedSo though are they?

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between an unemployed clown and his high-profile have chosen these particular films?

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I was put together from completely different plays.

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Lovett. shows, is Little Gem, the debut to say that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inaccessible, in award factreception in winning the fish have to be familiar with Chekhov to enjoy writing but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a kindthem of anhave aesthetic that to the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s positive onbowl the festival necessarily circuit. been very positive. We have Ponyo, the latof play acclaimed Frenchman Laurent GaudĂŠ, that experience because I thought it was a fantastic frombyactor/writer Elaine Murphy.

Ever since its Totally, totally.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s criminally misunderofaDublin city, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just past the little plastic diver, You have quite a strong affiliation with Here he discusses the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s depiction of a love less the play. weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found has formed for us over the animation Miyazaki who is quite well known FouĂŠrĂŠ rises from the settled ashes encased in salt, to opportunity and now, more and more, I want to work costumes. much-raved-about appearance as part the Fringe In Little Gem the role ofest Amber provedfrom the most tucked away between Stoneybatter Smithfield. stood.

People think Ethiopia, they think ordinary, and how they and stumbled across lead actor I or semi-drowned childany in the localfor this First things first, can you tell usofapiece little bit Beckettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work.asIsathere reason from Spirited Away and Howlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Moving Castle. Ponyo years.

But, if you like, in the last 10 years relay her account of the event.

A provocative of with this inbetweeness.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I find that a lot of the time when I go into a in 2008, it has played to sold out audiences in EdHas the new experience Dublin had a significant difficult to cast. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This playThere has aseems reallyto bigbeelderly If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re willing toBraganca. go slightly off road with your a strong sense of fragility in your Have you worked with Brian Frielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in the past? famine, famine, famine, butinto itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sup got one college swimming pool.

Went secondaboutPaulo the plays coming in its Project other than admiration forplays histowork? was huge hit in Japan. quite a deceptive film as it work, Sodome, Mytwo Love, by was inon Paris a producing? year ago FouĂŠrĂŠ first theatre I almost donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recognise thewhen characters on stage. weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve because done three plays by other writers. inburgh, London andatranslated New York, snaring scribe It effect what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re fanbase, the Kay role isaparticularly so much fun, andWe toIt is the city centre strolling, take lookey-loo in English this month, work, concerning grammar of urban my first Brian Friel play was in admiration.

1966, as aWith kid in appears toold be has aimed at a younger audience but we can ofsome the richest cultures in the world.

It hu- Yes, ary school.

Everybody else could swim FouĂŠrĂŠ herself, notartists only poses questions about the stumbled across GaudĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s script.

Printed on the some Arts Centre â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The End and The Calmative?

It would be about 200% Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t meet them in my everyday life. serious accolades ranging from the Fishamble Typically our work is a response to both physiget them to listen to what a 19 year to say where Australian Pat Foster and Jen Berean architecture, does all of this relate back to that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;indid the The Good Thief by Conor MacPherwork to doofwith costumes andHowever, props so our choice cast it. Two Portuguese plumbers turned up at our The concept of clowns as the latest casualtiesthe of the Abbey The Loves Cass McGuire. always expect Miyazaki to deliver a deeper message man condition magnifies mankindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inherent need random publication, the title ma douce in Little Gem, Ibothered think, the audience members has allWriting these different eras ofCarol historyâ&#x20AC;Ś nobody teaching me.

Sorecognise Isothings on that and New award the 2009 Tambor and social structures of a(Sodome, given environment, to really care aboutdoor it,built you really need someone Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re short written bywith Samuel be big ofin Beckett, question.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have opened a but new exhibition to coincide their anxietyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;?

tofans shoot black andno white simplified producer Orlaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one day to re-fit her bathrecession isstories a to unique one.

What made you settle cal on so son, we did Swallow by Michael Harding, than the surface suggests.

A Stranger of Mine is a very one of the greatest acting experiences I have ever to destroy all that he fears.

French) intrigued her.

Immediately she set about findthemselves more in the characters, particularly if In response to the level of interest shown in last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best of Edinburgh.

Not bad for a woman who only as soon as we landed Dublin weweâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve quickly started in the role.â&#x20AC;? international studio residency.

This senseone of fragility in the work is intended to well, I mean, cradle of civilization! paddled around thinking about life while level.

I also think it looks much more atmospheric. strong room.

Sheyear, textedwe me saying of them Beckett and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re from same interesting about what done, while that ideaitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s as the the basis forthe your film? kind of and then last did andreaming adaptation of interesting film from awould youngbedirector named Kenji â&#x20AC;&#x153;For me, theitwell Sodome of this play represents a state to had ing a copy of the text, read inwalking one sitting was playing Casimir init another Friel playdecided called you see it all in one of the suburban theatres like the event theand Japanese Film Festival has broadened its the wrote because she couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t benative arsed walking researching the city, through around, As a perfect writer and an actress is she the uphim any Already established in their Melhighlight inherent lack of stability within the It goes back to that almost Farside-like idea of for part of Henry and asked if heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d I actually wrote the script while I was doing a But then,greatest you know, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the period of everybody else played polo.

I period as when wrote First Love, we have in our repertoire, 3And or and 4then Beckett Uchida.

Iton is The his first film, shot on a low budget and of consciousness which weBeckett have completely lost any without delay to put piece production.

FouĂŠrĂŠ Arguably Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s living playwright, Brian Herman Melvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dick. same took that playinto toof London then Civic inrobbing Tallaght.â&#x20AC;? horizons, now taking in three locations across the the library. talking to We locals andthe digging through images. juicy roles for herself He to Moby bring toof life stage? bourne, Foster and Berean employ vocabulary of inAristocrats. fabric urban space, that in-built anxiety. The the clowns their color and distinctive be interested. was really surprised because heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d masters in DIT. At one the stage Iso was working a call intense Orthodox Christianity, there uses no famous actors.

The brilliance of this film is its became a journalist and everybody else which is a started piece we also did plays, of the last 11 Beckett things connection to.design When theappraise last survivor ofrecently. the ofIn is Attempting wary ofAstranslations since â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every act translation Friel turned 80 January, celebrate his the latest in a long, long line Irish writers New York, which it allthe sorts ofofof awards.

This a welcomeaesthetic country before making return to Dublin â&#x20AC;&#x153;I last initially writing the piece ascity a vehicle to10 getearned a grasp on workings of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;mactually playing with have it.

You write aact piece and of you would applied toof each architectural to how we underconstant trying achieve has traits. made a feature film in Portugal atofew yearsthis stability centre and a and lot oftothe people working there with clever script and unusual structure.

It has a great twist Sodome speaks to us, she is speaking to the descenis an act of interpretation.

[GaudĂŠ] writes with amazare all these amazing churches, and their became successful businessmen and sportfinding their voice in monologue form I wonder fact, as a theatre company we have done weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done have been prose works.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an milestone birthday the Gate Theatre are presentin the latter half of November.

Festival programmer for myself,â&#x20AC;? she tells me when I meet her for tea in isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t my first time playing Andrey however, we took about whether can see in rendering it or famous stand and utilize our involved built environs. the affect, social spaces even more to bethink interpreted.

Afterplay is aadverse bityourself of amount aas gem, and earlier.

He hadyou aagreat career a want relatively me were in the In artspreparing and looked like theycity and also its significant history. We were lucky those three pieces, minimal of which Ibetter donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t to say too much about. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the kind dants of the people who eliminated her people.

So it ing poetic simplicity.

What was difficult was to mainwhat itAustralia istaken about this mode ofyear theatre that makes Shinji Yamada has a schedule reflective ofpreformed the would Abbey. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had audition and IStability, was too lazy enough to beWere on a fantastically tourcompiled whether somebody else befew offtoin in the ing three ofThe his greatest works inprose succession: Faith Afterplay to early this with Francesca their residency show, The Problem with music and food isan just fantastic, but speople. fragile.

Our work suggests that this lack of stability 10 Samuel Beckett pieces, pieces thatoften interesting distinction but Iinsightful think there isit a although you being satirical about the entertainment it has been a times Ireland, fado singer over there, was signed David Byrneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s were better suited to other jobs.

My writing scenery if youJapalike. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sofkind of developed filmabout you will want Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d toas see twice! Kamikaze Girls is a touches on to a and whole load of issues like ethnic cleansing tain this simplicity because thereplaywrights? are certain things that so attractive to that emerging imagination andto forward thinking that has made to go get abeen new monologue.

I Best had this idea a Annis local historian really helped us start role.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always thenot question whether their process has ideally positioned between should be understood asHe a it. key in how we Healer, Afterplay The Yalta Game. known and now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ma it with Frances industry? record label and toured around America. wentfactor involves taking something familiar andfor putting itby inaYouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve nobody knows anything about it. many Friel fans will still be overly familiar with got good narrative arcto right werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t actually written for the stage.

The indoing hisand prose writing ofBarber. the work beautiful coming-of-age story about teenage friendship and genocide, but primarily for me it represents a state you cantradition say very directly simply ininform French that our aesthetic.

When youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing the work â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was talking to Abi Spillane about it, whose nese cinema an institution, affording Irish audiences script.

The youngest character came from that.

Then understand the layers of history that Dublin. be able to have enough distance from the piece to Stoneybatterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PCP and the IFSC-based Fire Station shape the built environs. for the classic Philadelphia Here I Come and DancI think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gentle satire.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not taking pot-shots to London to pursue a music career but it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a slightly different context.

I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where the

there.

The thing for me was holding in two shows are a very good introduction to you being byfeatured anversa.â&#x20AC;? actor stage. and Japanese fashion subcultures. Shall We Dance, of consciousness that wethe nothing canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say inpresented English, and vice own debut Punk three actors deliveryou donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily stop and ask questions the opportunity totwo appreciate thedounique cinematic I had this idea for grannyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s character.

I started yes, the city has affected theon work we it justice.â&#x20AC;?

Studios, allowing toknow experience a aboutâ&#x20AC;?. crossmenial section at anybody.

I think fact that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re surrounded out so he came toto Ireland to do idea ofthem having clownsa working jobs where ing at Lunasa he has also translated number of AndSohow different iscertainly itGirls doing thethe same part with Have fans work of Chekhov warmed theconfused play orbathroom dis- the Hollywood re-make, has not to be with Born inmakes the and West of Ireland of Breton parents, FouĂŠrĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s FouĂŠrĂŠ refers to a phobia or disinterest of of Irish theatre Itthinking industrial France sound boring. breath and being really uncomfortable, Beckettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prose.

The End has been described ing monologues, and we agreed that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just athe matoutput one of worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest and oldest film about how I was going to bring them have produced. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do miss acting though.

I have a small part in aany of the city, the seismic-shifts that recent trends So have you come across buildings or infrabut then you look back and say â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gosh, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve by over-the-top characters who are motivated by installation with his brother.

The moment he walked they stand-out visually came from.

The clowns Chekhovâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plays into English, giving them a to new lease different actors? credited it? become a modern classic in Japan. Departures is a fasfluency in and French her the freedom splash in exploring European playwrights and the creative terAs of the piece upImakes and getting it out If industries. together in play and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how came to There are aaffords lot tunnels. romantic comedy called Happy is and wanting air.

But started doing itthere. so sympaagetting company, you use very little set dressby Christopher Ricks, international of boom bust haveof wreaked.

Ininthe midst ofwrite allwe started structure inAfter Dublin that youHe think could benefit fame and money the clowns more in I knew that Paulo wasEver perfect forwhich the role. are symbolic of artistsan aIactor way.

When been doing this the whole timeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

But no, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of life.about Totally Dublin spoke to esteemed Niall Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great because it keeps one fresh.

Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re both cinating film about Japanese death rites. It has become Well I have only ever done it in Australia where there in mother. a sea offro-ing, endlessArtsdesk literary possibilities, as opwaves currently setting the stage of places like Paris you doand something really simple, with no set changes, the Is itmuch fair say your work also experiments with the that out in January andempathized its nicefrom to just walk in, get your this to-ing and caught upwhole with the a few cracked spending so much time in water thetic.

Their natural instinct isdecision to entertain and completely with Henry as windows? he was also of its Oscar win so we shooting theperfect film last year the global financial ingto or even effects.

Was this afriends, scholar, as introduction to BeckBuggyposed aboutto his role in the Afterplay, and his history wonderful actors and both of them are itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more widely available because not a statement about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nothingnessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or anywas a very warm response to it.

Friel has translated a the majority of Irish actors who are confined and Germany alight. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There seems to be so little just three actors who can literally set up shop in The 1950s is often regarded as the golden age of When I finally finished writing it I was too old to built form inprovide the aftermath ofThereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design,real where users involved in script, get dressed up and Well off you go.â&#x20AC;? pair to sussare outyou whatlistening they had in foritusâ&#x20AC;Ś there does appear tohim be up some newer develophumour. generosity trying to resurrect his career.

So we signed meltdown had just started so seemed silly not tostore atbut the moment?

I started liking it, andâ&#x20AC;Ś you know, you was consciously made or is itlikely designed ettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sAmber work.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;stoo very funny itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got the with Frielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s works. very important to get on with your because are delighted that we managed to secure it for the festito aWhat more restricting pool of scripts and crossover and that is something that Ico-stars would like beto number offinds Chekhovâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plays so knows thestrong material likeas that.

When thehe words are living room, people are more to to take athe Japanese cinema but have selected show play andpaddling young or Lorraine â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;readâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and reconfigure their environShe writing quite lonely. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Your cast create that certainly have suffered both poor what they do, which isown in direct opposition tofilms otheryouthing and soon as we ments posted about him on our are blog we from to comment on it buttoitplay wasKay a love story we wereoftenyour val.

I think all five films good representations of the A proviso that I see a really, really big tuncan get these iPods that play underwater naturally you have to spend a lot of time together. theatre work.

Was it always her intention to exploit part of rectifyingâ&#x20AC;?.

For now though, her focus is on tie in with the idea of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nothingnessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that underbelly aswell. and characters inside out and knew how to respect risk on you.â&#x20AC;? such imagination and innovation.

Do you think that last thing I wanted, after spending so long ments? this bond and the production have this bond, and Whatand canthe we expect from your new show? enough then you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to put anything planning and the recent economic downturn. Big charactersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; more selfish values. started getting comments from hiscapabilities Portugueseoffans. making and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what we decided to concentrate diversity and Japanese cinema. her heritage regard? next few weeks at the Project Arts Centre performCan you us a in bit ofup. the background Itwork also provides new writers with aJapanese much greater nel coming Oh Jesus.

Well, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been so I her now.

Put the album on of how those, them. modern cinema may have intopart ahuge writing thethis thing, wasfor to of be inPallas itplay? myself, percolates so much ofone Beckettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work?

Yes, our specifically focuses upon we climb there is He a little of you thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s looking on,Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve waving Wetell have produced allend. new works thethe new empty buildings withbeen vacant has adistract following over there. verypublic spaces on inbloody the upentered that will from them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was something that happened organically.

I wish ing what mayideas seem like small step on can the trodden Well the play has borrowed two was written inone 2002, why do you think the to present their voice. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You tell soofmuch period rival that decade? meeting the standards left it in Paul Meadeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hands.â&#x20AC;? understand of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;useâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;misuseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; terms of piece goodbye.â&#x20AC;? show over the past month we been indance Afterplay attached.Hopefully the next few fascinated lately acharacters lot of have different invehicle poolâ&#x20AC;Ś Can you tell usby a whilst bit about thetaken background Ithe suppose our philosophy ininto that regard You had an interesting, diverse group people Is it the lucky all the way through.

The Japanese Film Festival takes place in Cineworld that I had done so earlier.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve only twice performed boards of the stage but is also, more significantly, a moresuch ofinteraction a story and goFriel anywhere. forget that from two different Chekhov plays.

Andrey Gate a modern celebrate his set bytoPeople the likes of Kurosawa and Ozu? is Gem is London ayou simple story, based onpostthree thechose publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s builtplay environments.

We residence atYoung the Fire Station studios.

The show will Afterplay playing Faith Healer and Yalta onboard forwith the film.

How did they all become will be the alongside same!

Why did chose aI play monochrome color Caribouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sweet sweetback badass album music. producers, ofLittle Gare St Lazarre, Ireland and how youscheme? would beactor tothe â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;travel lightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

First all, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on November 20-22the in French was inand 1986 when myworks first very solo giant leap ofinterested faith for future ofbecause theatre inof Ireland.

Gare St. Lazare park up at the Project itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just one speaking they are preI think that we have entered into a new phase and that generations of women from Murphyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s native from Two Sisters, and the other character is Sonya are really in how public space is designed Little Gem runs at The Peacock Theatre from lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work? consist ofâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;aonce sculpture wall-based that are The Problem with Stability runs in Pallas ContemGame in The Gate Theatre, from the 9th 19th involved?

We wanted the film toBlakeâ&#x20AC;Ś have a unified style so Swim isDeparturesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; out right now.

Hismore, full-band ren-â&#x201A;Ź15 dubstep stuff like James Stoned, atin-built 4.20 in amazing the For seebetween www.accesscinema.ie and to Judy ended up incommissioned the driving seat of it?Writers presenting a have play in aafternoonâ&#x20AC;Ś theatre so youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll start has changed. show went we aA transwith all images going through the value ofdidnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Japanese Artane.

ItAvignon chronicles aimages year in their lives. simple withsented aalways certain anxiety predicated 19between January-27 February.

Tickets priced 12th and of April from Uncle Vanya.

Friel hasand these characters an abstracted response tobrought and relating likeidea tothese theiranmost recent work porary 30 January until 13 March, The ofanxiety, auditioning people reallyfilm appeal Morethe information on17th the Projects film is tofrom bewith found at everything had to have thetexts same palette throughout.

September Sodome, my love runs atasthe Project Arts Centre fromfind lation of itin into French soform, I did with itaone night in English, dering of the hits this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Electric Exactly, and everything will suddenly heads.â&#x20AC;?

There was originally group called Gare the text the main Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll play, no extravagant sets St awith fear and of misuse. and to how social spaces are designed and controlled.

Thursday to Saturday, 12-6pm.

to meexpectation so we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t surething. how

we were going to http://henryandsunny.blogspot.com/ theâ&#x201A;Ź18.

End andalbum the Calmative.

For more ticket Ifmonologue we had shot in color we would have had a lot upon of their

16-27make March.

Tickets cost â&#x201A;Ź15 - â&#x201A;Ź25 one Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night playing in French here for two weeks.

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where do you think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going?

Live gigs Saturday 1 May â&#x2013; Black Eyed Peas The O2 â&#x201A;Ź54.80/59.80, 8pm Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotta feeling, that you should avoid this like the plague. â&#x2013; Willard Grant

Conspiracy Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź17.50, 7.30pm With Hired Hands.

Sunday 2 May â&#x2013; Gil Scott Heron Tripod â&#x201A;Ź25.50/32.50, 8pm First Irish show in ten years for American icon after a recent creative rebirth. â&#x2013; Black Eyed Peas The O2 â&#x201A;Ź54.80/59.80, 8pm â&#x2013; Felix da Housecat The Academy â&#x201A;Ź30, 8pm Cats like Felix â&#x2013; Florence and the

Machine Olympia Theatre â&#x201A;Ź28, 7.30pm Fingers crossed her machine wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get clogged up with volcanic ash â&#x2013; Jogging Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź10/15, 7.30pm Album launch plus afterparty â&#x2013; The Hundred in the

Hands Crawdaddy â&#x201A;Ź14, 11.30pm Worth Two Hundreds in the Bush

Monday 3 May

â&#x2013; Oddsocks Revival Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;ŹTBC, 8pm Who knew odd socks were even in need of reviving?

Upstairs.

Tuesday 4 May â&#x2013; Nerina Pallot The Sugar Club â&#x201A;Ź16, TBCpm â&#x2013; Nik Kershaw The Academy â&#x201A;Ź25, TBCpm Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t request â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;that Chesney Hawkes oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x2013; Pavement Tripod â&#x201A;Ź34/38.50, 7.30pm Eagerly awaited comeback from a legendary band without a legendary live reputation.

â&#x2013; The Show Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź5, 8pm Upstairs, with support from Relief

Wednesday 5 May â&#x2013; High Places Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź14, 8pm Psych-dance duo play upstairs.

Thursday 6 May â&#x2013; The Slits Crawdaddy â&#x201A;Ź16, 8pm With support from Wounds, and various other synonyms for female genitalia. â&#x2013; O Emperor Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź15, 8pm Waterfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest.

â&#x2013; Florence and the

Machine Olympia Theatre â&#x201A;Ź28, 7.30pm

â&#x2013; Joel Plaskett Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;ŹTBC, 8pm

Upstairs

new album

Friday 7 May

â&#x2013; Talulah Does the Hula Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź7, 8pm Not from Hawaii. Ex-Chalets and Neosupervital.

â&#x2013; Hope Sandoval and the

Warm Inventions Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź28, 8.30pm The thing with feathers, that perches in the soul. Also in Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

â&#x2013; RTE National

Symphony Orchestra National Concert Hall â&#x201A;Ź10/18/24/30/35, 8pm Performing a new work by Jennifer Walshe, plus Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich â&#x2013; Shakedown Pacinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Free, 11pm Rock nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll with the Angelus â&#x2013; Deadmau5 Olympia Theatre â&#x201A;Ź39.20, TBCpm â&#x2013; Jerry Fish and the

Mudbug Club Vicar Street â&#x201A;Ź25, 8.30pm Fish on a Friday â&#x2013; Randy Newman Grand Canal Theatre â&#x201A;Ź59.80/65.70, 8pm Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a jungle out there, disorder and confusion everywhere. Presumably about the DDDA. â&#x2013; Kiss The O2 â&#x201A;Ź49.20, 7.30pm Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure the ladies will be pawing themselves with excitement â&#x2013; The Divine Comedy The Sugar Club â&#x201A;Ź25, xpm Hannon returns from cricketing adventures in support of

Wednesday 12 May

Saturday 8 May â&#x2013; Ted Leo & The

Monday 10 May

â&#x2013; Mission of Burma Crawdaddy â&#x201A;Ź19, 7.30pm Reknowned and grizzled post-punkers

â&#x2013; Real Estate Crawdaddy â&#x201A;Ź15, 8pm New Jersey psychedelic surf-pop, compared to Yo La Tengo.

â&#x2013; Rod Stewart The O2 â&#x201A;Ź65.70/81.25/91.25, 7.30pm Sailing, an activity very much back in fashion thanks to the Icelandic volcano.

â&#x2013; Alice Jago Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;ŹTBC, 8pm Upstairs

â&#x2013; Austin Lucas & El

Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź14.50, 8pm Teddy Boys touring excellent new album The Brutalist Bricks. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go near the turlet, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to miss anything. â&#x2013; The Story of Motown Olympia Theatre â&#x201A;Ź25, TBCpm Once upon a time in the Midwest...

Morgan Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;ŹTBC, 8pm Upstairs

â&#x2013; Tumbleweed Love

Sessions â&#x2013; Ray Davies Grand Canal Theatre â&#x201A;Ź49.80/54.80, 8pm Portaloo Sunset. Which would work if this was an outdoor gig. Which itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not. â&#x2013; Think About Life Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź12, 8pm Ok, maybe I will. Upstairs, with Crayonsmith and Patrick Kelleher.

Sunday 9 May â&#x2013; Jamie Cullum Olympia Theatre â&#x201A;Ź44.20, 7.30pm Jamie, Cull â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;im. Quite. â&#x2013; Trilogue and Lupo JJ Smyths â&#x201A;Ź10/8, 8pm A double jazz bill

The Cobblestone â&#x201A;Ź9, 10pm Roots music which branches to country, folk, bluegrass, rockabilly and also influences new styles of rock that have a homegrown feel. â&#x2013; Midori & Charles

Abramovic National Concert Hall â&#x201A;Ź30/40/45/50, 8pm Performing Beethoven, Janacek, Sallinen, Strauss

Tuesday 11 May â&#x2013; Dinosaur Jr. Vicar Street â&#x201A;Ź29, 8.30pm Featuring Built to Spill, if thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a better double bill in town this month Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll eat a hat of some sort.

â&#x2013; The Lightning Seeds The Academy â&#x201A;Ź24, 8pm Goal of the Month has never been the same.

â&#x2013; Rod Stewart The O2 â&#x201A;Ź65.70/81.25/91.25, 7.30pm Sailing, an activity very much back in fashion thanks to the Icelandic volcano.

â&#x2013; Don McLean Grand Canal Theatre

â&#x2013; Crevecoeur Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

SOLAS www.totallydublin.ie

â&#x201A;Ź5, 8pm Upstairs, supported by The Hounds.

â&#x2013; Neon Flea Circus Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;ŹTBC, 8pm Upstairs

Pharmacists â&#x2013; Discoteque with Kistar The Sugar Club â&#x201A;Ź5, 11pm Live funk

â&#x201A;Ź44.50-49.50, 8pm Note to support act, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play American Pie, Don might want to do that one.

â&#x2013; Delaney Davidson The Cobblestone â&#x201A;Ź7/5, 8.30pm A world-travelling hobo playing singing saw, lap steel, drums and vocals. â&#x2013; RTE Concert Orchestra National Concert Hall â&#x201A;Ź25/40, 8pm With Sir Willard White.

Thursday 13 May â&#x2013; The Minutes Academy 2 â&#x201A;ŹTBA, 8pm â&#x2013; Mark Geary Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź20, 8pm Middle name â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Topâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. â&#x2013; 60 Persons Whelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x201A;Ź10, 7.30pm Dividing up gig fees must be a nightmare. Upstairs.

Friday 14 May â&#x2013; Knights of Leon The Academy â&#x201A;Ź13.50, 11.30pm Somewhat premature tribute

78-6 ,)A; =6<14 )5 <0=:;,)A <7 ;)<=:,)A

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33

act. They could have at least waited until one of them died.

■ Cathy Davey Olympia Theatre €26, 7.30pm The perennially lovely Cathy returns to celebrate new album The Nameless ■ Boy George Tripod €28.50/40 11pm He brings the handcuffs, you bring charges.

■ Simon Fagan Whelan’s €15, 8pm Debut album launch party ■ Howlin’ Dowlin Whelan’s €10, 8pm Upstairs.

■ Manteca The Cobblestone €6, 9pm Pupils of Cuban master-percussionist & composer Juan “Cuco” Castellanos.

■ Shakedown Pacino’s Free, 11pm Rock n’ roll with the Doo Wrongs ■ RTE National Symphony

Orchestra National Concert Hall €10/18/24/30/35, 8pm Performing Brahms, Dvorak and Beethoven

Saturday 15 May ■ The Last Waltz Tribute Olympia Theatre €25, 8pm ■ 65daysofstatic Crawdaddy €14, 8pm Instrumental post-rocker eschew traditional notions of capitalisation and punctuation as they do song structure.

■ Ham Sandwich Whelan’s €16, 8pm I’ve never been to Meath.

Luckily Hang Sangwich celebrate new single release in Dublin ■ Voodoo Fire in Haiti Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm You have to have a certain amount of admiration for a band sticking with a name like that ■ Peter Baxter The Cobblestone €10, 9pm Irish-Australian songwriter

Sunday 16 May ■ Eskimo Joe The Academy €16.50, 8pm Australian rockers ■ Peter Green

34

TOTALLY DUBLIN

Olympia Theatre €33, 7.30pm Band leader of once mighty group makes a solo appearance.

■ Kele (Bloc Party) The Academy €20, 8pm Band leader of once mighty group makes a... hold on.

■ Communion Whelans €7/5, 6.30pm With the Last Tycoons, Anthony Furey and more.

■ Faithless Olympia Theatre €44.20, xpm I can’t get no sleep, due to this upsetting bout of tinnitus.

Festival rabble rousers return.

Ticket prices aren’t exactly Fallin’

Monday 24 May

■ No Roller Crawdaddy €10, 8pm Emerging Dubliners.

■ The Antlers The Academy €16.50, 8pm Will give you the horn.

■ Ingrid Michaelson Academy 2 €13.20, 8pm

■ Boyz II Men Tripod €36/40, 7.30pm Use of Roman numerals that would surely never fly in this day and age

■ Hefty Mondays Whelan’s €FREE, 8pm.

Gigs and DJs until late.

Upstairs.

■ Mark Knopfler The O2 €54.80/59.80, 8pm Guitar hero before that involved being good at pushing plastic buttons.

■ NY Now: Peter Van

Huffel Group JJ Smyths €12, 8pm Melodic saxophonist ■ Jace Everett Whelan’s €17.50, 8pm Nashville pussy

Monday 17 May ■ Sandi Thom Whelan’s €20, 8pm.

Nothing short of a disgrace to humanity.

■ Hefty Mondays Whelan’s €FREE, 8pm.

Gigs and DJs until late.

Upstairs.

Tuesday 18 May ■ Lostprophets The Academy €25, 8pm The Welsh Linkin Park still dreaming of the heady days of the early noughties.

■ Pendulum Olympia Theatre €33.60, 8pm ■ A Sunny Day in Glasgow Whelan’s €12, 11pm Highly rated dream-poppers.

Upstairs.

■ Dum Dum Girls Whelan’s €15, 8pm The missing link between the Ramones and the Ronettes, with a singer called Dee Dee to boot.

■ Angela Hewitt and the

■ I Phoenix Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm.

Not to be confused with the pronoun-free ‘Phoenix’ ■ Double Dagger Whelan’s €14.50, 8pm Upstairs

Thursday 20 May ■ Wolf Parade Vicar Street €19, 8.30pm Return of the Boeckner/Krug juggernaut ■ Hurts Whelan’s €14.45, 8pm ■ The Brian Jonestown

Massacre The Academy €23, xpm They’re not just from that documentary you know ■ Wailing Souls Crawdaddy €22.50/27.50 Grammy nominated skareggae veterans ■ Lou McMahon Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Clare singer songwriter.

Upstairs.

■ Mike Shannon Pygmalion €6, 8pm Cynosure and Revolver label boss makes his Irish debut.

■ Gavin Mee The Cobblestone €10, 8.30pm Folk songwriter

Kammerorchesterbasel National Concert Hall €30/40/45/50, 8pm Present Bach and Frank Martin

Wednesday 19 May ■ Venetian Snares Crawdaddy €14, 8pm Electronic experi-mentalist

■ Former Ghosts/

Parenthetical Girls Twisted Pepper €12, 8pm Synth pop and noise rock

The Academy €16, 8pm

■ Le Galaxie Whelan’s €5, 8pm Insert your own space reference here. Support from Megaphone and Adeyhawke.

■ Dan Sartain Space 54 €10, 8.30pm Rockabilly.

■ Shakedown Pacino’s Free, 11pm Rock n’ roll with Triple Drop

Saturday 22 May ■ Rihanna The O2 €43.70-52.30, 6.30pm Barbadian pop superstar ■ Seven Days Academy 2 Take you for a drink on Tuesday, we’ll be making love

by Wednesday.

■ Small Cars Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Upstairs.

■ Lucia Di Lammermoor National Concert Hall €30/35/42, 8pm Vocal virtuoso in concert

Sunday 23 May ■ Steve Harley and

Cockney Rebel The Academy €31.80, xpm Come up and see them, make their accountants smile.

■ Cocophone Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Upstairs ■ Soledad Barrio & Noche

Flamenca

Friday 21 May ■ Craig Walker Academy 2 €15, 7pm

Vicar St. €30/26, 6.30pm ‘The Baryshnikok of flamenco’ in an evening of dance.

■ Matthew Berrill

European Quintet

■ Eli Paperboy Reed and

the Trueloves

■ Ganglians Whelan’s €14, 8pm Clarification: the Californian purveyors of psychedelia, not the often painful cysts.

■ Alicia Keys The O2 8pm €44.20-76.25

JJ Smyths €10/8, 8PM Dutch jazz.

Tuesday 25 May ■ Enter the Haggis Whelan’s €10, 8pm Bruce Lee’s planned film set in Scotland tragically abandoned due to his untimely death.

Celtic rock.

■ Shove Whelan’s €6.50, 8pm.

Upstairs, support from The Buzz and Josh Mahedy

Wednesday 26 May ■ Rihanna The O2 €43.70-52.30, 6.30pm ■ Brendan Perry (Dead

Can Dance) Tripod €24.50/29.50, 7.30pm With Dead Can Dance dead, can Dead Can Dance’s Perry still dance?

■ Nick Kelly Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Gestation 9- The Finale ■ Achilles Sound Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Upstairs

Thursday 27 May ■ Marina and the

Diamonds Tripod €19.85, 19.30pm Diamantis a girl’s best friend ■ Gavin Glass Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Album launch

Friday 28 May ■ The Joy Formidable Academy 2 €13.50, xpm Presumably not named after Dublin’s favourite prison ■ Sleep Thieves Whelan’s €TBC, 8pm Featuring Crayonsmith and Silhouette. Upstairs.

■ Fusion Family Whelan’s €12, 8pm A fission of the future (of indie pop).

Ngoni Ba Button Factory €25, 7.30pm Malian associate of Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate.

■ Shakedown Pacino’s Free, 11pm Rock n’ roll with the Bonnevilles

Saturday 29 May ■ The Rags Whelan’s €12, 8.30pm Supported by The Riches.

■ Chic Tripod €37.50/42.50, 7.30pm Apparently this is Chic’s first ever gig in Dublin. Get on it.

■ New Young Pony Club The Button Factory €22.50, 7.30pm Promoting their second album. Less new, less young, still pony.

■ The Music of Joy

Division Crawdaddy €10, 8pm Tribute to Ian Curtis, marking 30 years since his death.

Sunday 30 May ■ Kassidy Whelan’s €15, 8pm Kool for kats ■ Teenage Fanclub The Academy €25, 8pm Fannies pack out Academy ■ Keywest Academy 2 €12, 8pm ■ Billy Ocean Vicar Street €45-50, 8pm The going gets rougher.

■ Nell Bryden Crawdaddy €14/17, 8pm Dixie chick (note: not a Dixie Chick) ■ Ronan Leonard & Band Whelan’s €10, 8pm Upstairs

Monday 31 May ■ Powderfinger Vicar Street €39.70, 8.30pm Rescheduled date ■ Hefty Mondays Whelan’s €FREE, 8pm.

Gigs and DJs until late.

Upstairs.

■ Bassekou Kouyate &

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Weekly clubs Mondays ■ Upbeat Generation @

Think Tank Think Tank, Temple Bar, D2 Pop, Rock and Soul 11pm

■ Oldies but Goldies Ri-Ra, Dame Court, D2 Blooming Good Tunes 11pm, Free ■ Austin Carter + Company

B + DJ Dexy ■ Hugh Cooney Don’t Like

Mondays Pygmalion, Sth William St, D2 Cabaret + weekly video showcase of work followed by guest DJs 9pm, Free ■ Sound Mondays The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Indie, Rock, Garage and Post Punk 11pm, Free ■ Island Culture South William, 52 Sth William St, D2 Caribbean cocktail party Free ■ Dice Sessions The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 DJ Alley Free ■ King Kong Club The Village, 26 Wexford St, D2 Musical game show 9pm, Free ■ Soap Marathon Monday/

Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 9pm – 1.30am ■ DJ Darren C Fitzsimons Club, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 11pm Chart, pop, and dance with a twist

Tuesdays ■ C U Next Tuesday Crawdaddy, Old Harcourt St Station, D2 A mix every type of genre guaranteed to keep you dancing until the wee small hours.

11pm, €5 ■ True Stories The Bernard Shaw, 11-12 Sth Richmond St, Portobello, D2 House, techno, hip-hop, B-more and loads more at the Shaw 8:30pm, Free ■ Taste Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Lady Jane with soul classics and more 8pm, Free

Mashed Up Monday

open mic night with prizes, naked twister, go-go boys and makeovers.

8pm, Free ■ Glitz Break for the Border, Lwr Stephens Street, D2 Gay club night with Annie, Davina and DJ Fluffy 11pm ■ Trashed Andrews Lane Theatre, Andrews Lane, D2 Indie and Electro 10.30pm, €5 ■ DJ Stephen James Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Indie 10pm ■ Funky Sourz Club M, Temple Bar, D2 DJ Andy Preston (FM104) 11pm, €5 ■ Hed-Dandi Dandelion, St. Stephens Green West, D2 DJs Dave McGuire & Steve O ■ Takeover Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 Electro, Techno 11pm, €5 ■ John Fitz + The K9s + DJ

Mick B Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 9 – 1.30am

The George, Sth. Great Georges St, D2 Chill out with a bowl of mash and catch up with all the soaps 6.30pm, Free

■ Rap Ireland The Pint, 28 Eden Quay, D1 A showcase of electro and hip hop beats 9pm, Free

■ The Industry Night Break for the Border, 2 Johnstons Place, Lr Stephens Street, D2 Pool competition, Karaoke & DJ 8pm

■ Groovilisation South William, Sth. William St. D2 8pm, Free DJs Izem, Marina Diniz & Lex Woo

■ Make and Do-Do with Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel Street, D1 Gay arts and crafts night 10pm

■ Tarantula Tuesdays The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D2 Disco, House, Breaks 11pm

■ DJ Ken Halford Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Indie, Rock 10pm

■ Sugarfree Ri-Ra, Dame Court, D2 Soul, Ska, Indie, Disco, Reggae 11pm, Free

■ Dublin Beat Club Sin è Bar, 14 Upr Ormond Quay, D Showcase live music night 8pm, Free

■ Euro Saver Mondays Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 DJ Al Redmond 11pm, €1 with flyer

■ Le Nouveau Wasteland The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 Laid back French Hip Hop and Groove Free

■ Galactic Beat Club The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Disco, Boogie, House, Funk and Balearic 11pm, Free

■ Star DJs Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 Disco, House, R’n’B 9pm

■ Blasphemy Spy, Powerscourt Town Centre, South William St, D2 Upstairs Indie and pop, downstairs Electro 11pm, €5

Panti

■ Recess Ruaille Buaille, South King St, D2 Student night 11pm, €8/6 ■ Therapy Club M, Blooms Hotel, D2 Funky House, R‘n’B 11pm, €5 ■ Lounge Lizards Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Soul music 8pm, Free ■ Dolly Does Dragon, The Dragon, South Georges St, D2 Cocktails, Candy and Classic Tunes 10pm, Free

■ Juicy Beats The Village, 26 Wexford St, D2 Indie, Rock, Classic Pop, Electro 10.30pm, Free ■ Jezabelle The Purty Kitchen, 34/35 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2 Live Classic Rock 7pm, Free before 11pm ■ The DRAG Inn The Dragon, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Davina Devine presents

■ DJ Keith P Fitzsimons Club, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 11pm Classic hits & party pop

Wednesdays ■ Songs of Praise The Village, 26 Wexford St., D2 The city’s rock and roll karaoke institution enters its fifth year.

9pm, Free

■ Beatdown Disco South William, Sth. William St. D2 Stylus DJs Peter Cosgrove & Michael McKenna - disco, soul, house 8pm, Free ■ Wild Wednesdays Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 Frat Party €5 entry, first drink free

■ Rob Reid + EZ Singles + ■ Shaker The Academy, Middle Abbey St, D2 11pm, €8/6 ■ A Twisted Disco Ri-Ra, Dame Crt, D1 80s, Indie, and Electro 11pm, Free ■ Synergy Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 All kinds of eclectic beats for midweek shenanigans 8pm, Free ■ Gaff Party Wax, Powerscourt Centre, South William St, D2 Electro/Tech House Party 11pm ■ Antics POD, Old Harcourt Station, Harcourt St, D2 Indie student night with live music slots 11pm, €5 ■ Dean Sherry Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 Underground House, Techno, Funk 9pm ■ 1957 The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 Blues, Ska Free ■ Soup Bitchin’ Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel St, D1 Gay student night ■ The Song Room The Globe, 11 Sth Great Georges St, D2 Live music 8.30pm, Free ■ First Taste Crawdaddy, Old Harcourt St Station, D 2 A new weekly party playing all new and advance music in The Lobby Bar 7pm, Free ■ Unplugged @ The Purty The Purty Kitchen, 34/35 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2 Live acoustic set with Gavin Edwards 7pm, Free before 11pm ■ Space ‘N’ Veda The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Performance and dance. Retro 50s, 60s, 70s 9pm, Free before 10pm, after 10pm €8/€4 with student ID ■ DJ Alan Healy Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm ■ Mud The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey St, D2 Bass, Dubstep, Dancehall 11pm, €10 (varies if guest) ■ Sexy Salsa Dandelion Café Bar Club, St. Stephens Green West, D2 Latin, Salsa 8pm, Free

DJ Karen G Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 9pm – 1.30am DJ Darren C ■ DJ Darren C Fitzsimons Club, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Chart, pop & dance with a twist Free, 11pm

Thursdays ■ Jam Think Tank, Temple Bar, D1 Student night 10:30pm, Free ■ Soul @ Solas Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Mr Razor plays the best in Soulful beats and beyond.

International guests too!

8pm, Free ■ Extra Club M, Blooms Hotel, D2 Kick start the weekend with a little extra 11pm, €5, Free with flyer ■ Sidetracked Crawdaddy, Old Harcourt St Station, D2 Indie, Disco, Loungey House 8pm, Free ■ Off the Charts Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 R&B with Frank Jez and DJ Ahmed 11pm, €5 ■ Tea-Time Thursdays Howl at the Moon, 7 Lower Mount St, D2 Complimentary Captain Morgan’s and BBQ. Karaoke with Cormac and Stevo 9pm ■ Muzik The Button Factory, Curved St, Temple Bar, D2 Up-Beat Indie, New Wave, Bouncy Electro 11pm ■ Noize Andrews Lane Theatre, Andrews Lane, D2 Student night with live bands, Indie and Electro 9.30pm, €5 or €8 for two people with flyer

House, Electro, Bassline 11pm, €8/5 ■ Alternative Grunge Night Peader Kearney’s, 64 Dame St, D2 Alternative grunge 11pm, €5/3 ■ Krash Spy, Powerscourt Centre, Sth William St, D2 Pop/80s/Disco/Hip Hop 7pm, Free before 11pm, €5 after ■ Monkey Tennis Thomas House, 86 Thomas St, D8 Live DJ 9pm, Free ■ Eamonn Sweeney The Village, 26 Wexford St, D2 10pm ■ Jason Mackay Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 Dance, R’n’B, House 9pm ■ Fromage The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 Motown Soul, Rock Free ■ Control/Delete Andrews Lane Theatre, Andrews Lane, D2 Indie and Electro 11pm, €3/4 ■ Davina’s House Party The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Drinks Promos, Killer Tunes and Hardcore Glamour 9pm, Free before 11pm, €4 with flyer ■ After Work Party The Purty Kitchen, 34/35 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2 Live Rock with Totally Wired.

6pm, Free before 11pm ■ Big Time!

The Bernard Shaw, 11 - 12 Sth Richmond St, Portobello, D2 You Tube nights, hat partys... make and do for grown ups!

With a DJ. ■ The Panti Show Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel St, D1 Gay cabaret.

10pm ■ Mofo + One By One + DJ

Jenny T ■ Thursdays @ Café En Seine Café En Seine, 39 Dawson St., D2 DJs and dancing until 2.30am.

Cocktail promotions.

8pm, Free ■ Guateque Party Bia Bar, 28-30 Lwr Stephens St, D2 Domingo Sanchez and friends play an eclectic mix 8.30pm ■ The LITTLE Big Party Ri-Ra, Dame Crt, D1 Indie music night with DJ Brendan Conroy 11pm, Free ■ Mr. Jones & Salt The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2

Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 9pm – 1.30am ■ The Bionic Rats The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Dance, Jump and Skii to Reggae and Ska Free, 10pm ■ DJ Dexy Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Energetic blend of dancefloor fillers Free, 11pm ■ Eamonn Barrett 4 Dame Lane, D2 Electro Indie Free, 10pm

MAY

T H I S M AY AT P YG MALI ON

For a good laugh and a good pint...

M. O’Brien’s

8-9 Sussex Terrace, Upr Leeson St, Dublin 4 Tel: 01 676 2851

Sat 1

Wed 12

WIGHFIELD

PY GMALION MEETS

WIGHFIELD

House music until 3am.

Free in.

Pygmalion Meets...

Kid Karate. Free in.

Michita Okuna plays House & Techno from 11pm. Free in & open late.

Sun 2

Thur 13

PYG MALION RE SIDENT’S PARTY

PY G’S WILL FLY

Sun 23

Pyg’s Will Fly presents Ryan Crosson & Nicolas Jaar. Support from JC. €10 after 10pm. Open Late

FR. VI NCENT HALF PRICE

Fratboy Babe-stealer, JC, Will Kinsella, John Mantis.

Free in & open late.

Fri 14

Mon 24

HUGH COONE Y DON’T LIKE MONDAYS

HOUSEMUSICWEEKENDS

HUGH COONEY DON’T LIKE MONDAYS

Wed 5 Ross from The Chapters plays a mix of music that inspires. From 9pm. Free in.

Fri 7

• Late Bar Friday and Saturday • Live Music Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday - no cover charge

1 Fownes Street Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

All drinks are half price all day! Free in before 6pm, €5 after.

Mon 3

1/2 Price Drinks all day & Hugh Cooney’s Comedy Cabaret from 10pm.

Free in.

FOGGY DEW

Sat 22

HOUSE MUS ICWEEKENDS Aaron Dempsey Kick starts the weekend with the deepest of House from 12-3 am. Free in & open late.

Sat 8

WIGHFIELD Pyg resident Fratboy Babe-stealer & the new kid on the block, Con Allen, team up for a serious night of House & Techno. Free in & Open Late.

Javier Delorient is fast becoming a favorite here at Pygmalion. Check him out while you can. Free in & Open Late.

Sat 15

Wed 26

WIGHFIELD

PYGMALION MEETS

Pyg resident Sex Shop & Belfast boy Steven Garreth (Miniminds) take control from 11pm.

Minimal & Techno all night long. Free in & open Late.

Pygmalion Meets...

The Uglies. Live music from 10pm. Free in.

Sun 16

FR. VINCENT HALF PRICE All Drinks are half price all day! Free in before 6pm, €5 after. Al Killian makes his return to the booth from 10pm.

Dave & Derek Fear play indie/Rock/Hip Hop/80’s & Classics!

Free in.

Fri 28

HOUSEMUSICWEEKENDS

Mon 17

Sat 29

Hugh Cooney performs his very special brand of comedy from 10pm.

Thur 20

All drinks 1/2 price all day and Hilary Rose behind the decks from 10pm. €5 in after 6pm.

PY G’S WILL FLY

Hugh Cooney performs his very special brand of comedy from 10pm

CLUB FE A R

HUGH COONEY DON’T LIKE MONDAYS

FR. VINCENT HALF PRICE

HUGH COONE Y DON’T LIKE MONDAYS

Thur 27

Lil’ Dave & Rubio get the party started from 11pm.

Free in & Open Late.

Sun 9

Mon 10

Hugh Cooney performs his very special brand of comedy from 10pm.

Pyg’s Will Fly presents...

Mike Shannon (Wagon Repair - Berlin / Montréal) entry is €7 from 10pm.

Sett & Calvin James in support.

Fri 21

HOUSEMUSICWEEKENDS Cork boyos Adrian Dunlea & Boochy are back for their monthly binge. Free in & open Late.

WIGHFIELD Sex Shop brings another of his mates along for the ride, John Barry joins him in the booth from 11pm.

Free in & open late.

Sun 30

FR. VI NCENT HALF PRICE All Drinks are half price all day long! Baz Hickey spins a few tunes too... Free in before 6pm, €5 after.

Mon 31

HUGH COONEY DON’T LIKE MONDAYS Hugh Cooney’s Comedy Cabaret. Curtains at 10pm. Free in.

pygmalion powerscourt townhouse south william st | d2 — www.pygmalion.ie

■ Global Zoo Hogans, 35 Sth Gt Georges St, D2 Groovalizacion bringing their infectious and tropical selection including Cumbia, Samba, Dub, Reggae, Balkan, Latin and Oriental Sound 9pm, Free

■ NoDisko The Academy, Middle Abbey St, D2 Indie Rock with regular guest DJs €5 after 11pm

■ DJ Jim Kenny Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm

■ Hells Kitchen The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 Funk and Soul classics Free

Fridays ■ SUPAFAST The Good Bits, Store St., D1 House, techno, and electro 11pm, €5/€8 ■ Housemusicweekends Pygmalion, Sth. William St., D2 House music magnet with special guests each week 12pm, Free ■ T.P.I. Fridays Pygmalion, South William St, D2 Pyg residents Beanstalk, Larry David Jr. + guests play an eclectic warm-up leading up to a guest house set every week.

9pm, Free ■ Hustle The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Dance floor Disco, Funk and favourites. All Cocktails €5/.

Pints, Shorts & Shots €4 10pm, Free ■ Friday Hi-Fi Alchemy, 12-14 Fleet St, D2 Rock, Funky House and Disco 10.30pm ■ Disco Not Disco Shine Bar, 40 Wexford St, D2 Disco, house, funk & soul 9.30pm ■ Fridays @ The Turk’s Head The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Live guest bands and DJs 11pm, Free ■ Rotate Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Oliver T Cunningham mixes it up for the weekend!

8pm, Free ■ Friday Tea-Time Club Break for the Border, Johnston’s Place, Lower Stephens St, D2 Karaoke with Cormac and Stevo from 6pm. Budweiser promotions. DJs until late.

■ Fridays @ Café En Seine Café En Seine, 39 Dawson St, D2 DJS and dancing until 3am.

Cocktail promotions 8pm, Free ■ Cosmopolitan Club M, Anglesea St, Temple Bar, D1 Chart, Dance, R&B 11pm, €9 with flyer ■ Afrobass South William, 52 Sth William St, D2 Dub, Ska, Afrobeat 9pm, Free ■ Foreplay Friday The Academy, Middle Abbey

St, D2 R ‘n’ B, Hip Hop, Garage 10.30pm, €10 after 11pm

■ Friday Night Globe DJ The Globe, 11 Sth Great Georges St, D2 DJ Eamonn Barrett plays an eclectic mix 11pm, Free ■ Ri-Ra Guest Night Ri-Ra, Dame Court, D2 International and home-grown DJ talent 11pm, €10 from 11.30pm

■ The Bodega Social Bodega Club, Pavilion Centre, Marine Rd, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Soul and Disco with Eamonn Barrett 11pm, €10 (ladies free before midnight) ■ Scribble The Bernard Shaw, 11 - 12 Sth Richmond St, Portobello, D2 Funk, House, Dubstep, Hip Hop 8pm, Free ■ Room Service Feile, Wexford St., D2 Latin, Funk, Disco, uplifting Choons and Classics 9pm, Free ■ Frat Fridays Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 Student night with drinks promos and DJ Karen 10pm ■ John Fitz + The K9s + DJ

■ Late Night Fridays The Sugar Club, 8 Lwr. Leeson St, D2 Residents include The Burlesque and Cabaret Social Club & Choice Cuts 11pm ■ War Spy, Powerscourt Centre, Sth William St, D2 Indie, Electro and Pop 10pm, Free before 11pm, €7/€10 ■ Al Redmond Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 R’n’B, House, Chart 9pm ■ Fridays @ V1 The Vaults, Harbourmaster Place, IFSC, D1 Progressive Tribal, Techno and Trance 10pm, €5 before 11pm, €10 after ■ Sticky Disco The Purty Kitchen, 34/35 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2 A gay techno electro disco in the club and indie, rock, pop, mash and gravy in the main room 10pm, Free before 11pm, €7 after ■ Sub Zero Transformer (below The Oak), Parliment St, D2 Indie, Rock, Mod 11pm, Free ■ Stephens Street Social Club Bia Bar, 28/30 Lwr Stephens St, D2 Funk, Soul, Timeless Classics ■ Panticlub Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel St, D1 DJ Paddy Scahill Free before 11pm, €5 with flyer, €8 without ■ Music with Words Pravda, Lwr. Liffey St, D1 Indie, Ska, Soul, Electro 9.30pm, Free ■ Processed Beats Searsons, 42-44 Baggot St. Upper, D4 Indie, Rock, Electro 9pm, Free

Darren C and DJ Mick B Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 8pm – 2.30am ■ DJ Ronan M and DJ Ross Fitzsimons Club, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Funky Friday and music mayhem Free, 11pm ■ Green Sunrise The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Funky club house, Elektronika and Disco with some guilty pleasures Free ■ Fridays @ 4 Dame Lane 4 Dame Lane, D2 Rock n Roll with Rory Montae in the bar while Aoife Nicanna and Marina play House and Latino Breaks and Beats in the club 10pm, Free ■ Basement Traxx Hogans, 35 Sth Gt Georges St, D2 Freestyle club with DJ’s Half Dutch and Dejackulate spinning funk breaks, hip hop, ska, reggae and party nuggets 10pm, Free ■ Let’s Make Party The Village, 26 Wexford St, D2 With DJ Mikki Dee 10pm, Free ■ DJ Barry Dunne Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm

11pm, Free ■ Squeeze Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St., D2 Aidan Kelly does his thing.

Expect the unexpected.

8pm, Free ■ A Jam Named Saturday Anseo, Camden St., D2 DJs Lex Woo, Mr. Whippy, Matjazz, Warm DJ & friends.

Jazz, disco, breaks, latin, hip-hop, house, afrobeat, funk, breakbeat, soul, reggae, brazilian, jungle.

7pm, Free ■ Strictly Handbag The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Music with words for your dancing pleasure with an alternative 80s feel.

11pm, Free ■ The Matinee Brunch Club The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Super family friendly brunch club. Kids movies on the big screen at 3PM. 12pm – 6pm, Free ■ Dizzy Disko, Andrews Lane Theatre, Andrews Lane, D2 11pm, €10 ■ KISS Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 Keep It Sexy Saturdays with DJ Robbie Dunbar 10pm, Free before 11pm, €8 after ■ Saturday with Resident DJ Club M, Blooms Hotel, D2 Chart, Dance and R&B 10:30PM, €15/€12 with flyer ■ Viva! Saturdays The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Retro club with house, electro and 80s 11pm, free ■ Saturdays @ Café En Seine Café En Seine, 39 Dawson St, D2 DJs and dancing until 2.30pm.

Cocktail promotions 10pm, Free ■ Guest band + DJ KK and

DJ Keith P Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 New live band plays every Saturday night 8pm, Free ■ DJ Dexy and DJ Aido Fitzsimons Club, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Dublin’s biggest party night 11pm, Free ■ Saturdays @ Break for the

Saturdays ■ Shindig Shebeen Chic, Georges St, D2 Each and every Saturday you’ll find the Shindig Crew rocking Shebeen Chic’s quirky Bar with an eclectic mix of music to move to.

Free, 8p ■ Solar The Bull and Castle, 5 Lord Edward St., D2 Soul, Funk, Disco

Abbey St, D2 House, Funk, Techno 11pm, €10 (varies if guest) ■ Pentagon POD and Tripod, Old Harcourt Station, Harcourt St, D2 Access all areas at the Pod complex with local residents and special guest DJ slots over five rooms 11pm, €12 ■ Gossip Spy, Powerscourt Centre, Sth William St, D2 80s, Disco, Hip Hop, House Free before 11pm, €10 after ■ Flirt Alchemy, 12-14 Fleet St, D2 Sultry, Funky and Sexy Beat alongside Chart Hits 10.30pm ■ The Weird Scientist Eamonn Doran’s, 3a Crown Alley, Temple Bar, D2 11pm, €8/5

■ Transmission The Button Factory, Curved St, Temple Bar, D2 Indie and dance with international guests 11pm, varies ■ Pogo The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle

■ Strictly Handbag Bodega Club, Pavilion Centre, Marine Rd, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin 80s with DJ Mark Kelly 10pm, €10 ■ Toejam The Bernard Shaw, 11 - 12 Sth Richmond St, Portobello, D2 Afternoon: Car boot sales, film clubs, music lectures, t-shirt making etc.

Later on: Resident DJs playing Soul, Funk, House, Electro ■ Sidesteppin’ Bia Bar, 28/30 Lwr Stephens St, D2 Old School Hip Hop, Funk 45s, Reggae 8pm, Free ■ Saturday @ The Village The Village, 26 Wexford St, D2 Pete Pamf, Morgan, Dave Redsetta & Special Guests 11pm

■ Laundry Hogans, 35 Sth Gt Georges St, D2 Bumpin House, Techno, Disco, Nu Disco 10pm, Free

■ Whigfield Pygmalion, Sth. William St., D2 House and techno til late, with special guests each week 10pm, Free

■ Sugar Club Saturdays The Sugar Club, 8 Lwr. Leeson St, D2 Salsa, Swing, Ska, Latin 11pm, €15

■ DJ Karen @ The Dragon The Dragon, Sth Great Georges St, D2 House music 10pm

■ Reloaded The Academy, Middle Abbey St, D2 Commercial Electro 10:30pm, €5 before 12, €8 after

■ Beauty Spot Karaoke The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Karaoke and DJ Miguel Gonzelez playing super sexy Spanish House.

9pm, Free before 10pm, €10 after

■ Saturday Night Globe DJ The Globe, 11 Sth Great Georges St, D2 DJ Dave Cleary plays an eclectic mix 11pm, Free ■ Space... The Vinyl Frontier Ri-Ra, Dame Court, D2 Soul, Funk, Disco, Electro with DJ’s Glen and Gary from Beatfinder Records 11pm, Free ■ Irish Reggae Dance Peader Kearney’s, 64 Dame St, D2 Reggae 10pm, €5 ■ The Promised Land The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 Soul, Funk, Disco Free ■ Saturdays @ V1 The Vaults, Harbourmaster Place, IFSC, D1 R ‘n’ B, Soul and Hip Hop with regular guest DJs

Border Lower Stephen’s St, D2 Current chart favourites from DJ Eric Dunne and DJ Mark McGreer.

1pm, Free

10pm, Free

■ Wes Darcy Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 R’n’B 9pm ■ Basement Traxx Transformer (below The Oak), Parliment St, D2 Indie, Rock 11pm, Free ■ Downtown Searsons, 42-44 Baggot St. Upper, D4 Indie, Soul, Chart

■ Basement Club Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel St, D1 Pop and Electro ■ Saturday @ The Wright

Venue The Wright Venue, South Quarter, Airside Business Park, Swords, Co Dublin Rock, Pop, Hip-hop, Dance 10pm ■ Punch The Good Bits Indie/Disco in one room and Techno/House and Electro in the main room 11pm, €2 between 11-11:30 ■ Saturdays @ 4 Dame Lane 4 Dame Lane, D2 Goldy mixes beats/breaks/ hip hop and funk in the bar and Gaviscon plays everything under the sun in the club 10pm, Free ■ Eardrum Buzz Hogans, 35 Sth Gt Georges St, D2 House party vibes with Thatboytim playing mix of dance floor classics with of hip hop, reggae, ska, rock, electro and teenage memories.

10pm, Free ■ DJ Stephen James Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm

Sundays

â&#x2013; Ear Candy Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Disco tunes and Funk Classics to finish the weekend.

8pm, Free â&#x2013; The Matinee Brunch Club The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Super family friendly brunch club. Kids movies on the big screen 3PM. 12pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6pm, Free â&#x2013; Sundown Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St., D2 Chill-out house, funk, electronics and acoustic 10pm, Free

â&#x2013; Salsa v Samba The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Learn to dance Salsa & Samba from some of the best instructors in Ireland. â&#x201A;Ź5, Classes from 5pm, club from 8pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; late â&#x2013; Dancehall Styles The Button Factory, Curved St, Temple Bar, D2 International dance hall style 11pm, â&#x201A;Ź5

St, D2 Jazz, Soul, Disc & Latin 8pm, Free â&#x2013; Alan Keegan + One By One + DJ Darren C Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 9pm, Free â&#x2013; M.A.S.S (music/arts/sights/

sounds) Hogans, 35 Sth Gt Georges St, D2 Power FM curates a night of sights & sounds with Dublin based Arts collective Tinderbox providing visuals and Power FMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DJâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing Soul to Rock n Roll to Punk 7pm, Free â&#x2013; Get Over Your Weekend Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel St, D1 Lounge around with Penny the Hound. All drinks half plrice all day.

1pm, Free

â&#x2013; Sunday Roast The Globe, Georges St, D2 9pm, Free â&#x2013; Magnificent 7â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 4 Dame Lane, D2 The Ultimate Singleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Night Free, 7pm

â&#x2013; Father Vincent Half-Price Pygmalion, Sth. William St., D2 Half-price drinks and guest DJs All day, Free/â&#x201A;Ź5 after 6pm

Once Off Listings

â&#x2013; Gay Cabaret The Purty Kitchen, 34/35 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2 Gay cabaret show 9pm, Free before 11pm â&#x2013; 12 Sundays The Bernard Shaw, 11 - 12 Sth Richmond St, Portobello, D2 Funk, Disco, House 6pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12am, Free â&#x2013; DJ Karen The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Pop Commercial and Funky House Free before 11pm, â&#x201A;Ź5 with flyer, â&#x201A;Ź8 without â&#x2013; The George Bingo with Shirley Temple Bar The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Bingo & Cabaret with Shirley Temple Bar 8.30pm, Free â&#x2013; Elbow Room South William, 52 Sth William

Saturday 8 May â&#x2013; Dig Deep Sessions Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St., D2 Deep house Free, 10pm â&#x2013; Best Foot Forward South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With DJs Rizm and Colm K Free, 9pm

Friday 7 May â&#x2013; Deadmau5 Olympia Theatre, Dame St., D2 The hugely popular Canadian, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dead mouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; swings by The Olympia with his own brand of progressive electro house â&#x201A;Ź39.20, 11pm â&#x2013; Beardyman The Button Factory, Curved St, Temple Bar, D2 The inimitable Beardyman kicks off his â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;open sauceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; tour at The Button Factory. Incorporating Kaoss pads and samplers, his beatboxing is a sight to behold â&#x201A;Ź15, 7pm â&#x2013; Galactic Beat Club Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St., D2 Featuring Subject DJs Free, 9.30pm â&#x2013; Shortstuff and James Blake The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 A dubstep double-bill with the innovative James Blake squaring off against Shortstuff.

Both acts represent a new wave of psychedelic, IDM-infused dubstep.

South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With Dave Salacious and friends Free, 8.30pm

Saturday 15 May â&#x2013; Go 4 It South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With DJs Matjazz, Jazzbin and Handsome Paddy Free, 9pm

Friday 14 May

â&#x2013; Pogo 5th Birthday: Shed

â&#x2013; Boy George DJ set Tripod, Old Harcourt Station, Harcourt St, D2 Former Culture Club front man Boy George gets behind the decks at Tripod to play the camper side of funky house. â&#x201A;Ź28.50, 10pm

The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 Bodytonic have amassed a great line up to celebrate the 5th birthday of Pogo. Shed will be playing live in the basement, while Glasgow legends Optimo man the stage room. Not squares and The Cast Of Cheers are on support duty. â&#x201A;Ź15, 10pm

â&#x2013; Scribble presents â&#x2013; DJ Paul Manning Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm

â&#x2013; The Workers Party Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 With DJ Ilk 9pm

â&#x2013; Hang the DJ The Globe, 11 Sth Great Georges St, D2 Rock, Indie, Funk, Soul 9pm, Free

â&#x201A;Ź10, 11pm

Handsome Paddy and Daz Boy The Bernard Shaw, 11-12 South Richmond St, D2 Scribble residents Dazboy and Handsome Paddy headline the Bernard Shaw 7pm, Free â&#x2013; Pangaea & Boxcutter The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 Co-owner of the brilliant Hessle Audio record label, Pangaeaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s releases have been pushing the boundaries of Dubstep. With last years â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Routerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; named by many as their Dubstep tune of the year, his is a star in the ascendancy. Support from Northern Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Boxcutter â&#x201A;Ź10, 8pm

Wednesday 12 May â&#x2013; Sophie De Vereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strictly

Bangers South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 Eurofunk, soul, disco, jungle Free, 8pm

Thursday 13 May â&#x2013; Pygs Will Fly present...

Ryan Crosson and Nicolas Jarr Pygmalion, Sth. William St., D2 Ryan Crosson makes his second appearance in the Pyg, after tearing it up b2b with Lee Curtiss last October. Ryan is supported by the gifted new kid on the block Nicolas Jaar, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sure to live up to the well-deserved praise heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been receiving over the last year. JC kicks things off early.

10pm, â&#x201A;Ź10

Friday 14 May â&#x2013; Family

(Live), Optimo

â&#x2013; Groovement Soul Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St., D2 House, hip-hop, and disco Free, 10pm

Sunday 16 May â&#x2013; Tim Hecker The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 This born and bred Canadian brings his atmospheric, leftfield, electronica to the Twisted Pepper on Sunday May 16th. â&#x201A;Ź12, 7pm

Thursday 20 May â&#x2013; Scribble Soundsystem South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With Tom Beary, MC Little Tree, Chucky and G-Frequency Free, 8.45pm â&#x2013; Pygs Will Fly Present...

Mike Shannon Pygmalion Sth. William St., D2 The Wagon Repair label boss, rather than the Major League Baseball hero. Probably an ice hockey kinda guy. Sett & Calvin James support.

10pm, â&#x201A;Ź7

Friday 21 May â&#x2013; Dave Spoon and

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www.totallydublin.ie

â&#x2013; Climaxxx South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With DJ Chewy and friends Free, 8.30pm â&#x2013; Drumbeats South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With Keith Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly and Bongo Jason Free, 11pm

â&#x2013; Fabio The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 Drum and Bass pioneer Fabio

mezzanine floor. â&#x201A;Ź10, 11pm â&#x2013; Steve Rachmad The Underground @ Kennedyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, 31-32 Westland Row, D2 Amsterdamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Steve Rachmad brings hefty portions of Chicago house, Detroit techno, and acid to The Underground.

Support on the night from Rubio and Doug Cooney â&#x201A;Ź15, 11pm â&#x2013; Vamos Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St., D2 Mark Kelly and guests Free, 10pm

Saturday 22 May

â&#x2013; Zombie Circus South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With the Weekend Breaks 8.30pm, Free

â&#x2013; Derrick May/ Giles

â&#x2013; David De Valera and

Armstrong

Friends

The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 A mouth-watering night of techno, as Test continues their string of great bookings.

Local legend Giles Armstrong warms up before Detroit pioneer Derrick May locks in to a 5-hour set in the Twisted Pepper basement. Donal Dineen commandeers the stage room. â&#x201A;Ź15, 10.30pm

South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 House in the South William basement Free, 11pm

â&#x2013; Lex Woo South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 An Afronova DJ set with afrolatin rhythms and afrodiscobeat Free, 9pm â&#x2013; Nightflight Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Street, D2 Monthly residency from electro lads and former Serbian Eurovision winner.

Free, 10pm

Thursday 27 May â&#x2013; Funk 45s South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 Funk soul latin hip-hop dancefloor-jazz afrobeat disco & breaks Free, 8.45pm â&#x2013; Deep South South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 House, deep and tech.

Free, 11pm

Funkagenda Tripod, Old Harcourt Station, Harcourt St, D2 Commercial dance producer and Radio 1 DJ Dave Spoon teams up with rising star funkagenda for a night of dirty electro house. â&#x201A;Ź20, 11pm

/BUJPOBM -FQSFDIBVO .VTFVN Tufq!joup!bopuifs!xpsme///

takes over the Twisted Pepper Basement. The former pirate radio Dj now mans the decks on BBC radio 1. He brings his self titledâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; liquid Funkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to Dublin for Breakdowns 4th birthday. â&#x201A;Ź10, 11pm

Friday 28 May â&#x2013; Onra/ Kaboogie The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D2 French- Vietnamese beat smith Onra launches his new album for Dublinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s All City.

Records. Elijah and Skiliam are representing Rinse FM in the basement, while the tribe crew lash out drum and Bass on the

Saturday May 29 â&#x2013; The Revenge The Ormond Wine Bar, 6 Ormond Quay upper, D7 Glasgowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disco edit king makes his Dublin return, with a one off gig in the Ormond Wine Bar; Expect slinky disco and house. â&#x201A;Ź10, 11pm â&#x2013; Joey Beltram Tripod, Harcourt St., D2 Techno pioneer and releaser of seminal records on Warp, Trax, and Caliber. â&#x201A;Ź15/12, 11.30pm â&#x2013; Signal Flow Bia Bar, Lwr Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St., D2 Featuring Matjazz and Handsome Paddy â&#x2013; Mr Whippy South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 Latin-soul, afro-disco, and Jamaican versions Free, 9pm â&#x2013; Discorotique South William Bar, Sth William St., D2 With DJs Mark Kelly and Kelly Anne Free, 10pm

Sunday May 30 â&#x2013; Handsome Paddy (disco

set) The Bernard Shaw, 11-12 South Richmond St, D2 Choice Cuts DJ Handsome Paddy reveals his disco side when he takes over the Bernard Shaw 4pm, free

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xxx/mfqsfdibvonvtfvn/jf TOTALLY DUBLIN 39

Festivals/Events/Workshops/Bits/Bobs ■ Dublin Writers Festival June 1 – 6 International writers Antony Beevor, Hanif Kurieshi, Yann Martel and multi-award winning Ian McEwan will join Irish writers Jennifer Johnston, Joseph O’Connor and Tom Murphy and dozens more at this year’s Dublin Writers Festival.

The 6-day literary Festival, now in its 12th year, features over 40 writers who will read from their most recent works and take part in curated conversations about their writing.

HYPERLINK “http://www. dublinwritersfestival.com/” http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com/ ■ Dublin City Soul

Festival

May 27 -30 Merrion Square Park A free soul picnic for the city. www.dublincitysoulfestival.ie/ ■ Dublin Dance Festival May 8 - 23 There is a real panoply of work within the 2010 Dublin Dance Festival – beautiful and bold, wondrous and wild, smart and funny. Over the course of Dublin Dance Festival’s 6th edition, you can see 24 artists/ companies from 9 countries over 15 days in 8 Dublin city venues. All are Irish premieres. www.dublindancefestival.ie ■ Gallery Drawing Day

Visual art Alliance Francais 1 Kildare St, D2 ■ John Minihan - Beckett’s

Paris Portraits of Beckett and of his surroundings in Paris, together with portraits of contemporaries like Jean-Louis Barrault and Nathalie Sarraute, who worked and spent time with Beckett in Paris.

13th April until 25th June

Douglas Hyde Gallery Trinity College, D2 ■ Alfred Jensen Collection of work that operates a sophisticated and unique fusion of metaphysics, sign systems, and the vigorous application of brightly coloured paint.

26th March - 19th May ■ Tibet’s Tibet and

Mongolia’s Mongolia Selection of documentaries about Tibet and Mongolia by

Saturday 22 May National Gallery of Ireland The day will consist of a morning art session for adults between 10.30am-1pm comprising Still Life and Life Drawing, and an afternoon session for children and families between 3pm-4.30pm. There will also be drawing demonstrations given by professional artists. All welcome. No booking necessary. Admission is free.

Bring along A3 sketch pads, pencils and an eraser.

■ Seventh Annual Inter-

national Gay Theatre Festival

Thursday 3 May – Sunday 16 May This year’s festival includes twenty seven productions from Ireland, UK, USA, Spain, South Africa and Australia with a particular emphasis on writing from emerging playwrights.

Highlights include The Laramie Project (USA) a play which recounts the brutal kidnap and murder of Mathew Sheppard, Kiss the Women (South Africa), a brave and deeply moving exploration of growing up as a black lesbian in South Africa, Loaded (USA) a no-holds barred look at internet sex, identity and ageism, Exiles (UK) a fresh and unique perspective on James Joyce’s only play, Under the Rainbow (Ireland) a musical journey through the many lives of actress and entertainer Liza Minnelli and

Wolfgang Kahlen, with new groups of film being shown each week in rotation as the exhibition progresses.

26th March - 19th May

Draiocht The Blanchardstwon Centre, D15 ■ European Baskets Featuring work by almost 80 of Europe’s leading basket-makers in materials ranging from wire to willow and including examples of both contemporary, sculptural work and traditional techniques.

9th April - 29th May ■ Holly Dungan - Woodstock New series of drawings, in ink and Caran D’ache crayons, showcasing Dungan’s interpretation of the quiet notions of the everyday.

16th April - 29th May

Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery Charlemont House, Parnell Square North, D1

Poker

Drags Aloud (Australia) part Glee, part Scream, with a health dose of Priscilla Queen of the Desert!

For full programme details and booking visit www.gaytheatre.ie ■ Absolut Gay Theatre Festival Thursday 3 May – Sunday 16 May Playwrights and thespians take over a host of venues including The Button Factory, Boys School Studio, The Front Lounge, The George, Smock Alley Studio and The New Theatre to name a few. With its participants as diverse as its audience, this year’s programme is set to further cement Dublin’s reputation as one of Europe’s literary platforms as well as a recognized centre for gay theatre.

For full programme details and booking visit www.absolutgaytheatre.ie

Dancer with a background in dance and physical theater (www.thistorsion.com) Book Now: Call Niamh on 087 6370567 or thistorsiondance@gmail.com ■ 5 Rhythms Dance 1st Friday of Every Month (8-10pm) Space 54 Run by Dublin Dance Co-Op - Irelands first dance group to practice the 5 ryhthms dance(dance meditation) Drop-in (€10) ■ Liveset Workshop Friday 14th May Space 54 For anyone interested in learning about Ableton & knowing a bit more about the tech and music side of running an event.

Free, 7pm ■ From Inspiration to

■ Dance Meditation

Publication, Publishing Seminar

Saturdays 11.30-1.30pm Space 54 Be Dance class investigates your relationship to self, others and the space around you. There is an emphasis on somatic sensing, articulation of joints & skeletal alignment in relation to gravity.

We compose creativity in the moment while allowing the entire being to become playful instruments of expression.

Run by Niamh Condron -

Saturday May 8th Irish Writer’s Centre Dermot Bolger, celebrated writer and founder of New Island Publishing House, will join the Irish Writers’ Centre (IWC) in hosting an information day on publishing that will include literary agent Jonathan Williams and publicist Cormac Kinsella.

The day will feature talks from industry experts and will offer the opportunity to pose questions to the speakers. Due to

Workshop

■ Ellsworth Kelly Drawings Exhibition of drawings executed between 1954 and 1962, personally selected by the artist himself.

17th March until 20th June

IMMA Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham, D8 ■ Vertical Thoughts with

Morton Feldman Vertical Thoughts comprises music scores, record covers, photographs and documents, and works of art by fourteen artists associated with Feldman, including Jasper Johns, Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollack.

31st March - 27 June 2010 ■ Francis Alys: Le Temps du

Sommeil Ongoing series which now comprises over 100 artworks, some still in progress. Accompanied by instructions and postcards which resemble a diary, the work relates in an oblique way to visions of games and exer-

cises seen in many of his actions and films.

26 February - 23 May 2010 ■ Altered Images Accessible, interactive and inclusive in ethos, Altered Images aims to stimulate engagement with the visual arts for the general public and particularly for people with disabilities.

19th May until 5th September ■ Collecting the New An exhibition of artworks acquired by the Irish Museum of Modern Art since 2005, concentrating mainly, but not exclusively, on painting.

19th May until 15th August

Kerlin Gallery Anne’s Lane, South Anne Street, Dublin 2 ■ Barrie Cooke No information at present 6th May until 5th June

The Mill Theatre Dundrum Town Centre, Dun-

the demand for the previous seminar in March, many of the speakers have agreed to give their talks again.

Registration is from 10.30am; tickets are €50 and must be booked in advance by paying online or calling the Centre ■ Dance Arias Sunday 30 May A celebration of dance and opera for people aged 50+ in six venues city-wide as part of Bealtaine 2010 for people with a passion for opera or who love to dance, and for those who may wish to try something just a little different.

Dance classes will take place at six venues across Dublin city throughout April and May as part of the annual Bealtaine Festival. Working with CoisCéim’s professional choreographers, participants will create original choreography and perform to their favourite opera arias. The two-month long programme concludes with an extravaganza performance by the participants at the Round Room adjacent to the Mansion House on Sunday 30th May at 3.00 pm.

■ Sahaja Yoga Meditation Mondays/Fridays 11th May – 22nd May Crowne Plaza, Blanchardstown Centre/The Bell, 4/5 Eustace St., Temple Bar A simple and natural way to

drum, D16

■ John Murray - Borderland Drawings and paintings from Ukraine, a nation that defines itself by opposition to its bordering states.

1st May until 3rd June

Monster Truck Gallery and Studios 73 Francis Street, D8 ■ Serious Game -

Transgender Portraits Audiovisual installation by Anja Weber and Sabine Ercklentz, part of “… And Others! Argumentation Training For Transgender Inclusion in Europe.”

24th April until 14th May

National Gallery of Ireland Merrion Sq West, D2 ■ Taking Stock A decade of acquisitions at the

meditate, working on the body’s subtle system to bring balance and a greater sense of wellbeing. Visit www.sahajayoga.ie for details on weekly meetings.

Free, from 7pm ■ Africa Day Dublin Sunday, 16th May Iveagh Gardens (off Clonmel Street), Dublin 2 12noon – 7pm Africa Day Dublin is a free, family-friendly day out, featuring interactive cultural and educational activities for both children and adults that celebrate and showcase the diversity of African cultures and societies. There will also be a Main Stage, with an exciting line-up of African and Irish performers such as Jape, Discovery Gospel Choir, Niwel Tsumbu; a sports and play area, and an African Bazaar, giving a flavour of the food, clothing and customs of over 20 African countries.

Other elements of the event include a book club discussion on Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ featuring Irish Times’ Roisin Ingle, a competition for best dressed man, woman and family, drumming workshops, a music tent, story telling and cooking demonstrations with celebrity chef Donal Skehan.

There will also be a panel discussion on Ireland’s relationship with Africa chaired by RTE presenter Bryan Dobson.

National Gallery of Ireland will be showcased in an exhibition reflecting the different areas of the Collection.

13th March until 25th July

Rubicon 10 Stephen’s Green, D2 ■ Patrick Michael Fitzgerald

- Bihotz Paintings that employ very direct approaches to picture making, from the often difficult to classify Fitzgerald.

29th Apr until 29th May

The Science Gallery Trinity College, Pearse Street, D2 ■ Hyperbolic Crochet Coral

Reef A woolly testimony that celebrates the hyperbolic geometry of coral, Crochet Coral Reef also draws attention to how global warming and pollutants are threatening this fragile ecosystem.

20th March until 11th June

Fitzwilliam Card Club Online booking www.fitzwilliamcardclub.com

Wed

Sat

■ €20+5 Texas Holdem Rebuy 8:30pm

■ €120+5 Texas Holdem Freezeout 8:30pm

Mon

Thur

Sun

■ €75+5 Texas Holdem Freezeout 8:30pm

■ €95+5 Texas Holdem Double Chance 8:30pm

■ €50+5 Texas Holdem Freezeout 8:30pm

Tue

Fri

Special Event

■ €50+5 Texas Holdem Double Chance 8:30pm

■ €55+5 Texas Holdem Scalps 8:30pm

■ Last Thursday of every Month - €250+20 Freezeout. Biggest regular poker tournament in Dublin with 140+ players. 8:30pm

comedy weekly Ha’penny Bridge Inn

9.30 , €8/10

The Bankers 16 Trinity St., D2

Wellington Quay, Temple Bar., D2.

■ Thursday & Friday Comedy improv with ‘The Craic Pack’.

9pm, €10/€8 with concession.

■ Tuesday & Thursday Nights Battle of the Axe Dublin’s much loved open mic night.

9:00pm, €9

■ Saturdays Stand Up @ The Bankers 21:00, €10/8

■ Wednesdays & Sundays Capital Comedy Club The club’s flagship night.

9:30pm, €7/5

Anseo Camden St, D2 ■ Wednesdays ‘Laugh Out Loud’ Comedy Nights with resident MC Aidan Killian.

8.30pm, €5/7

Peadar Kearneys 64 Dame St., D2 ■ Fridays ‘The Comedy Gaff’ promises drinks specials and comedians from around the world.

9pm, €10/Conc. €8/Students €5.

Sheehan’s Chatham St., D2 ■ Tuesdays Comedy Dublin: A night of improv and stand up. €8/6. Students €5.

The Belvedere Great Denmark St., D1 ■ Sundays Sunday improv session hosted

by Comedy Dublin.

8pm €8/6. Students €5.

The Flowing Tide 9 Lwr Abbey St., D1 ■ Fridays Neptune Comedy Night 8.30pm, €8

The International 23 Wicklow St., D2 ■ Mondays Comedy Improv night.

8.30pm, €8/10 ■ Tuesdays Andrew Stanley’s Comedy Mish Mash (Brand new comedy showcase) 8.30pm, €8/10 ■ Wednesdays The Comedy Cellar with Andrew Stanley

www.totallydublin.ie 5% 3$ 7' ),1$/ LQGG

■ Thursdays & Fridays The International Comedy Club with resident MC Aidan Bishop 8.45pm, €8/10 ■ Saturdays 8 & 10.30pm The International Comedy Club. Early and late shows added due to popular demand.

■ Sunday What’s New @ The International New material night.

8.45pm, €5

The Woolshed Baa & Grill Parnell St., D1 ■ Mondays.

The Comedy Shed hosted by Australian import Damian Clarke. €5

Hedigans, The Brian Boru 5 Prospect Road, Glasnevin, D9 ■ Tuesdays Hedigan’s comedy features some of the best improv and comedy talent Dublin has to offer.

9pm, €5

Slattery’s 217-219 Lower Rathmines Road ■ Thursdays Farlmeister’s comedy box is a student friendly comedy night with up and coming stand ups

and student / unemployment discounts 9pm, €5 / Students €2

Twisted Pepper 54 Middle Abbey Street ■ Fridays Comedy Ireland holds their weekly Voice Box, Zocorro, and Street Justice Showdown nights 8pm, Free

once-offs

■ Flight Of The Conchords Olympia Theatre, 72 Dame Street, D2 Having crowned themselves as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo”, the Flight Of The Conchords take in Dublin on their world tour. €39.20, 7pm May 5th ■ Bob Mills The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay, D1 Comedian–cum–sports pundit Bob Mills performs a two night stint in the Laughter Lounge. €28, 8.30pm May 6/7th ■ Fred Cooke The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D1 The co-host of Comedy Mish Mash, Meath man Fred Cooke unleashes his guitar laden approach to comedy on the Twisted Pepper €5/8, 8pm May 8th ■ Neil Delamare Vicar Street, 58 Thomas St, D8 Since performing his debut

show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004 Delamare has amassed an enviable following which has seen him perform on 5 continents and sell-out venues nationwide. The former Panel star presents his show Bookmarks. €28, 8.30pm May 8th ■ Jack Wise The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay, D1 Jack Wise commandeers the Laughter Lounge for a threenight stand. His magic-infused comedy has won over critics across the country. €28, 8.30pm May 13/14/15th ■ Jarlath Regan The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, D1.

The Just For Laughs alum and The Panel regular rolls in to the Twisted Pepper with his ‘Not So Common Sense’ show. €5/8, 8pm May 15 ■ David O’Doherty Vicar Street, 58 Thomas St, D8 Armed with his muse, a second hand Yamaha keyboard, the brilliant Dublin comedian performs his latest offering David O’Doh-Party. €25 8.30pm May 15th ■ Addy Van Der Borgh The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay, D1 Comedian and clown college graduate Addy Van Der Borgh brings his high tempo brand of stand up to The Laughter Lounge. The Moustachioed comedian is booked for a three-

night stand. €28, 8.30pm May 20/21/22nd ■ Simon Amstell Vicar Street, 58 Thomas St, D8 Having stepped down as the host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Simon Amstell has refocused on his stand up routine. He trots out his new material for a two night stint in Vicar Street. €28, 7pm May 21/22nd ■ Frankie Boyle Vicar Street, 58 Thomas St, D8 Glaswegian Frankie Boyle is a regular on every panel show under the sun. He takes over Vicar St for three nights. Expect heaping portions of Scottish pessimism. €28, 8pm May 26/27th

■ Matt Reed The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay, D1 Winner of the 2009 Bulmers Comedy Festival in Cork, Matt Reed turned his back on a law career to follow his stand up dreams. He has two nights in the Laughter lounge to convince the crowd he made the right call €28 , 8.30pm May27/28 ■ Gift Grub Live Grand Canal Theatre, Grand Canal Square, Docklands Breakfast radio legends and impersonators extraordinaire Gift Grub perform for a sold out crowd at the Grand Canal Theatre five nights on the hop. €39.70 , 7pm May 25/26/27/28/29th

TOTALLY DUBLIN

41

Theatre ■ Werk The Abbey Theatre Presented by Thisispopbaby In a late-night haze of neon and performance, live art and discotheque, the belly of the Abbey Theatre is being put to Werk. Underground club and performance roulette – this new monthly cocktail of ideas is an epic night our in the making.

Irreverent, bold and trashy; Werk is the house of outrageous investigation, abnormal talent and unnatural beauty. It’s a party.

10pm, €10 8th May

■ Day The Abbey Theatre

By Tere O’Connor The Abbey Theatre and Dublin Dance Festival are delighted to present Jean Butler in an engaging new work by Tere O’Connor (USA).

Jean asked Tere to create this solo for her, one which departs from her long history and training in Irish Dance. Entitled DAY, the piece explores the ways we come to know a person beyond the narrative of his/her life. It questions how much we can really know someone and if our projections constitute our knowing more than the actual truth.

2:30pm, 8pm, €22/18 19th May – 22nd May

■ Bookworms The Abbey Theatre

By Bernard Farrell World Premiere Skeletons leap from suburban closets in Bookworms, Bernard Farrell’s hilarious and razor-sharp vision of a household savaged by the Celtic Tiger. Opinions are challenged, suspicions aroused and tempers flare as their daily

lives unravel into a saga to rival even the most outrageous fiction.

2pm, 7:30pm, €13-€28 22nd May – 10th July

■ The Shawshank Redemption The Gaiety Theatre

By Owen O’Neill & Dave Johns Following a hugely successful season in the Gaiety Theatre in May 2009, where it received an almost unbroken run of standing ovations, and a West End Premiere, this iconic story inspired the award-winning film and will be seen on stage in an adaptation by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns, directed by Peter Sheridan.

2:30pm, 7:30pm, €22.50 - €55 4th May – 29th May

The Fuck You Gonna Do About It? Project Arts Centre

By Theatreclub It’s not their first time, but it could be their last chance. THEATREclub are ruining lives all over this city. They’re breaking hearts, stepping on toes and pissing over dreams in college lecture halls. Just as they got to an age where they could finally start making something of themselves; the whole country crashed down around them. Now, they’re talking about being young, about not being young, about being too old to care, and about not caring that you don’t care and not caring that you stole a clock radio.

8:15pm, €12/8 4th May – 8th May

■ Arcadia The Gate Theatre

By Tom Stoppard Arcadia, Tom Stoppard’s undisputed masterpiece, is a dazzling and comic tale of misunderstanding and quest for knowledge, reverberating across centuries. In a stately home in Derbyshire in the early 19th century, Thomasina, a gifted pupil, proposes a startling theory beyond her understanding. Around her, the adults, including her tutor Septimus, are preoccupied with secret desires, illicit passions and professional rivalries.Two hundred years later, academic rivals Hannah and Bernard, are piecing together puzzling clues, curiously recalling these earlier events, in their quest for an increasingly elusive truth.

However, the closer they get, the less comprehensible it is.

2:30pm, 8pm, €15 - €35 20th May – 3rd July

■ TheatreClub Stole Your Clock Radio What

■ Same Difference World Apart Project Arts Centre

By Michael Collins A young Traveller woman is forced to flee her home because of domestic violence, and finds a new home in England and a new love in the arms of an African man. When she becomes hospitalised her partner Tiga enlists the help of her brother Miley. With so many similarities and differences in their strong cultural backgrounds, will Miley and Tiga be able to pull together in the face of tragedy?

8pm, €15/12 24th May – 29th May

■ The Passion of Jerome Axis Arts Centre

By Dermot Bolger Jerome Furlong is a successful businessman whose life has been carefully constructed from layer upon layer of lies. That is until one night in a squalid Ballymun

Something scuttles across my peripheral vi-

intros, each broadly different depending

sion, not necessarily green but most definitely

on the audience - variously a group of very

small, and possibly mischievous. Lit with a

young children, a hen party, some hectic

glad expectancy, my eyes swivel round to be

tweenie kids, a group of twenty-something

met only with a child. A boring, human child.

Italian tourists and, in one case, a trio of

How disappointing. I am in the National

middle aged folklore enthusiasts. Unflap-

Leprechaun Museum on Jervis St, and hav-

pable and well-informed, the guides were

ing no luck finding what I'm looking for.

well-equipped to deal with all comers and

Obviously, I don't expect to see an actual

showed that while they had the scare stories

leprechaun, but ever since I heard the place

and gross out humour for the kids, they also

was opening, I'd been quietly wishing my trip

had some pearls of obscura for the seasoned

would be furnished with waxy, lifeless and

folklore vets.

presumably terrifying, animatronic characters,

Tower flat that he is using to have an affair, when he is suddenly faced with a supernatural power beyond his understanding and control. Intrigued? Come along and see for yourself what really happens on the 12th floor.

8pm, €15/12 4th May – 8th May

■ The Parting Glass Axis Arts Centre

By Dermot Bolger Before its world premiere in June, axis presents an exclusive run of previews of the new play from acclaimed writer Dermot Bolger.

Even before it’s opening, ‘The Parting Glass’ has been invited to take part in the Underground Zero Festival at the PS122 venue in New York this coming July!

Shot through with caustic wit and sharp home truths, ‘The Parting Glass’ is an examination of Ireland over the past two decades, and Thierry Henry’s left hand!

8pm, €12/10 18th May – 22nd May

■ Finders Keepers Axis Arts Centre

By Peter Sheridan ‘Finders Keepers’ is the coming of age story of Pancho, his best friend Redser and their urgent young lives spent on the Royal Canal. Set in North Inner City Dublin, against the background of the declining Dublin Docklands of the early 1970’s, the play gives insight into the larger than life world of teenage imaginations.

8pm, €12/10 25th May – 29th May

■ The Third Policeman The Civic Theatre

The Civic Theatre

By Pete Townshend Tommy the musical tells the story of a young boy who, after witnessing a murder, becomes traumatised which leads him to becoming deaf, dumb and blind.

This disability sends him on an amazing journey of self discovery, where he uncovers a unique talent for playing pinball and becomes an international pinball superstar.

8pm, €19/16 18th May – 22nd May

■ The Marriage of Figaro The Civic Theatre

By Mozart Filled with love, The Marriage of Figaro tackles that deepest of human emotions with the lightest of comic touches. Directed by Annilese Miskimmon, Figaro bubbles joyously with Mozart’s enthusiasm for life. While charming melodies and gorgeous harmonies ripple across the surface, dark undercurrents of sexual ten-

The Caretaker The Pavilion Theatre

By Harold Pinter Davies, an elderly drifter, is given shelter by the kindly but vulnerable Aston, but an uneasy peace is fractured by the arrival of Mick, Aston’s quick-witted, streetwise younger brother. As the three men reveal more about the past and themselves, a battle of wits begins that will have irrevocable consequences in Pinter’s classic tale of manipulation and menace.

8pm, €23/20 31st May – 1st June

■ Whistle Down The Wind The Grand Canal Theatre

By Jim Steinman & Andrew Lloyd Webber In a twist of fate the bright-eyed and youthful Swallow discovers a mysterious man hiding in her family’s barn. When she asks for his identity the first words he utters are ‘Jesus Christ’…and it’s as though her prayers have been answered. While the rest of the townspeople are searching for a fugitive escaped from jail, Swallow gathers the town’s children who make a pact to protect their new found saviour from the cruelties of the outside world.

7:30pm, €25-€55 11th May – 22nd May

Intro over, the visitor is shown through a series of captivating enclosures including,

appropriation of dwarves in suits. Like most

among others, a tunnel that makes kids eight

people who've heard the name, I had com-

feet tall and their parents the size of elves, a

pletely misjudged the nature of the venue and,

short but memorable trip through a rainbow,

although I do think there's room in Dublin

an underground journey through the giant’s

for a horribly exploitative, potentially racist

causeway and a private tour through Finn

degradation of Irish culture, the National

McCoul’s living room. While the guides do

guides. Perhaps the greatest measure of the

Leprechaun Museum isn't it. At heart, it's a

pop up again once or twice to regale you with

museum’s success is this room, where having

thoroughly engaging and interesting journey

stories and info, you’re mostly left to your

been open for just four weeks, the walls are in

through Irish folklore, mythology and story-

own devices. There’s no doubt that the appeal

the process of being adorned with the 2-3,000

telling that’s a great deal classier than you’d

in the Museum skews toward the younger

pictures they’ve had drawn in that time.

expect.

side of the audience but there is definitely

help of some attentive and well-informed

The Museum launches officially in June,

Before you even go into the belly of the

information to be gleaned here for everyone,

and they intend to add more here and there

museum, the new wood smell and impeccably

and at journey’s each participant is greeted by

before then, certainly a little more reading

rendered 1960s-commercial-art map design

the chance to learn more about the origins of

material in some of the rooms wouldn’t go

strike an impressive chord in the small open-

Irish mythology, and the function of mythol-

amiss, and there’s room for expansion on the

ing room where your guide – or seanachai

ogy throughout the world, in the end room.

massive Jervis St site, which could beef up the

– gives you a quick introduction. The guides I

There’s also a good selection of reference

running time beyond the 25-30 minute mark.

saw - Mike, Treasa and Chris - were likeable,

material, and of course, a specially dedicated

At the moment, however, it’s a diverting and

engaging and refeshingly adept at tailoring

series of drawing tables where kids can hap-

charming experience that’s definitely worth a

their introduction to the crowd. I saw a few

pily sit and crayon about their experiences

look, dwarves or no dwarves.

TOTALLY DUBLIN

■ Tommy

sion and class resentment swirl beneath. The predatory Count Almaviva, bored with married life, has cast his aristocratic eye upon his wife’s servant, the enchanting Susanna, who is about to marry the Count’s factotum Figaro.

8pm, €28/25 25th May

with the

or - hope against hope - the entirely ill-judged

42

By Flann O’Brien Murder mystery, hilarious comedy, romantic love, village policemen and lots of bicycles! Adapted for the stage by Jocelyn Clarke, The Third Policeman features bicycles that are half- human, a murder, a most unusual village police force, the writings of an eccentric philosopher and a man who doesn’t know his own name as he travels through the surreal world of O’Brien. Directed by Niall Henry with design by Jamie Vartan, The Third Policeman offers sinister smiles, weird words, macabre melodies, curious characters and much laughter.

8pm, €22/18 4th May – 8th May

"5 5)& &/% 0' 5)& 3"*/#08 5)& /"5*0/"- -&13&$)"6/ .64&6. words // PHONSIE KINSELLA picture // ROS KAVANAGH

www.totallydublin.ie

Mark Rothko, The Green Stripe, 1955, Oil on canvas, 170.2 x 141.7 cm, The MÊnil Collection, Houston. Š 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko ARS, NY and DACS, London 2010

(

RYAN CROSSON + NICOLAS JAAR 13.05.10

(SPECTRAL/M-NUS/WAGON REPAIR)

(WOLF + LAMB/CLOWN AND SUNSET)

$ & " " ! # % ' ! ( & # $ ' % ' ) % # "

pygmalion powerscourt townhouse south william st | d2

Vertical Thoughts Morton Feldman and the Visual Arts 31 March - 27 June 2010

Rothko Guston Pollock de Kooning Mondrian Reinhardt Johns Twombly Rauschenberg Newman admission free

Irish Museum of Modern Art Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin 8 t 01 612 9900 e info@imma.ie w www.imma.ie

- & 4 *4 .03&

WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;VE GOT WHEELS IF YOU WANT TO GO FOR A RIDE

44

TOTALLY DUBLIN

www.totallydublin.ie

words and pictures // PETER STEEN-CHRISTENSEN

A view from the Hotel on Rivington rooftop terrace

www.totallydublin.ie

“This neighbourhood died the moment people started to come to the restaurant.”

Harry Steele, restaurant mogul in urban novelist Richard Price’s Lush Life, was despondent about the Lower East Side and New York as a whole. The last ten years or more of gentrification has, according to purists, turned the Lower East Side, not so much the setting as the lead character in Price’s novel, into an Andy Warhol quote - “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”.

Ever since some daring hipsters started to move into the area around ten years ago the neighbourhood has gone through a makeover. The Lower East Side has become shiny, the Lower East Side has become safe. And traditionalists don’t like it. In the early 2000s activists painted crossed-out cocktail glasses on the pavement - to no avail, bars rule the street corners in the L.E.S. now, and I, as a visiting foreigner, fail to see much wrong. A study on gentrification by researchers from the universities of Colorado, Duke and Pittsburgh has come to the same conclusion. The negative impact on residents is minor at most. On the contrary, according to this study comprising of 15,000 American areas over ten years, while not asserting to have all the answers they come up with a number of somewhat unsuspected stats, concluding that a broad demographic of residents in the neighbourhood benefits financially and that gentrification actually does not push out long term residents. Accordingly, the negative connotations of the word gentrification are wholly unjustified. In the case of Lower East Side, street life is dominated by the opposite of the chains that usually move into a gentrified area. The slew of small, original, independent boutiques and bars is never ending. For a European, used to exactly the same coffee shops, fast-food chains, clothing stores and the same type of bars on every high street of every city on the continent, the L.E.S. provides the perfect antidote.

This modern day image of the Lower East Side wasn’t always as is, though. It was the first stop for immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and China. Likewise for Jews, African-Americans and Puerto Ricans. All and everyone coming for one reason alone - to find a better life. It became the most densely populated area in the world. A polyglot maelstrom of cultures, occasionally boiling over. It was a rough place to live, but filled with love and local pride.

There was a strong sense of community and people extended their living rooms onto the stoops and the streets. Streets that

were alive, full of activity.

All through the 20th century the L.E.S. was a traditional lower working-class area which over time attracted a large Dominican and Puerto Rican presence.

And when the area began to change around the turn of the century (much like the East Village during the sixties), the transformation was rapid. All of a sudden, south of East Houston, east of Chrystie became the definition of cool. Streets like Orchard, Ludlow, Rivington and Stanton were among the hippest in town. So cool it attracted wannabe scenesters and fake posers that inspired Santigold to write the song L.E.S. Artistes. She explained “they are just pretending to be. They’re all about just being seen”.

Author Richard Price describes Schiller’s Liqour Bar – the model for Café Berkmann where the main man in Lush Life works – as a stage set, remodelled to look like a pharmacy that’s been there forever using parts found in old warehouses.

Again, I struggle to find much wrong.

Much like a hundred years ago, these streets are still full of activity. The average living standard has been raised, who says that’s not a good thing? It’s an excellent place to shop and an excellent place to drink. It might well be the novelty in it all, but I enjoyed the neighbourhood immensely. As a first time visitor, for a couple of days I surely felt the luckiest guy on the Lower East Side.

The Daytime Her name is Lola. She’s a dog. I first met her after entering the enchanting world of James Coviello. Second time was a couple of doors up, at By Robert James, another of the many little boutiques that line Orchard Street, a street that has been one of the main arteries through this eclectic area of New York since the 1800’s when horse-drawn carts trundled down the street selling fresh fruit and vegetables during summertime. The street was the heart of the Jewish enclave residing in this south east corner of Manhattan, and before that it briefly had the name Kleindeutschland.

Now, it’s one of the best places to shop in New York. Once New York’s first discount retail district, Orchard Street has become a prime victim to the gentrification that has seen plenty of designer wear boutiques move in, and Lola moves about freely between them.

Both James Coviello and Robert James (incidentally Lola’s proud owner) are designers selling their own lines, and have studios behind their retail space. Robert James’ vintage gunslinger style of hand

TOTALLY DUBLIN

45

some menswear design dug a hole in my wallet, before he sent us across the street to the eco-friendliness of Kaight. Behind this boutique we find Kate McGregor who specializes in independent and emerging designers who use organic, recycled and sustainable materials. Green is the new black as we all know and my travel companion wouldn’t leave without a pair of Melissa Campana shoes that seriously smelled of candy. Other womenswear boutiques in the vicinity like Pixiemarket, Mint Julep, Marmalade and the Dressing Room to name but a few continued to put a serious dent in our travel budget.

The Dressing Room, which is half boutique and half bar (open 12-12), is run by Cyndi Lauper’s stylist and also stocks second hand in a small basement.

In true L.E.S. style they offer occasional film nights but above all they provide the welcome chance of a bottle of Red Stripe while you wait for someone trying on outfits.

Last fall, in a gallery space on the Lower East Side, the three day market Pop Up Flea with the tagline Get Handsome! brought traditional, high-quality gentlemen’s goods to a wider audience. The concept, coming to London soon, took us back to the rustic and manly American industrial-era when real men worked with their hands. The market catered for the same clientele as Freeman’s – where you can get a burger and fries seated underneath a hunting trophy. Next door is the equally manly Freeman’s Sporting Club, in which you’ll find both a barber shop and a sutlery.

Someone said that New York is on the same latitude as Naples, Italy. It’s early April and we’re in a 32 degree heat. It feels more like the Ivory Coast, and boorish establishments with wooden furniture will have to stand back in favour of a seat outside Inoteca on the corner of Rivington and Ludlow, across the street from our indelibly cool Hotel On Rivington. The glass facade hotel, the best in New York according the The Times in 2008, is situated above the trendy bar Thor and is quite a contrast from the surrounding buildings which are as old as they are low, confirming an astonishing view over Manhattan’s skyline from the rooms. With floor-to-ceiling windows and the Empire State Building in the view both from the bed and from the shower, there was actually no need to send someone to the room with cupcakes every day. They so had me at the view.

The Nightlife “Speak easy, boys! Speak easy”. Kate Hester hushed the customers in her saloon in McKeesport outside Pittsburgh. Since the state fee for a saloon license was suddenly hiked from $50 to $500, Kate’s saloon did the then-common thing and went illicit. The New York Times two years later, in 1890, wrote that the expression had spread, and speculated “some day, perhaps, Webster’s Dictionary will take it up”.

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The speakeasy phenomenon didn’t come into full bloom until the Prohibition era when according to common guesstimates Manhattan boasted over 30,000 illegal bars and clubs. Today the need for hidden dens of vice aren’t as urgent due to the legality of drinking alcohol, but the speakeasy spirit lives on. After growing tired of the glamorous velvet-rope club scene the exclusivity of being in the know was, for many, a welcome replacement. Anyone who went to the secret, unnamed bar beside Hogan’s in its early weeks knows the feeling.

The Lower East Side has got the biggest share of the modern day “speaks” – even offering a secret sushi bar (Uo, an unmarked black door on the second floor at 151 Rivington – although perhaps not so secret anymore after being nominated

by Timeout as Best Sushi in New York).

The whole trend started back in 2000 with Milk & Honey on Eldridge Street, on the fringes of Chinatown. Arguably more of a member’s club, it was founded by Sasha Petraske, who tired of Manhattan’s celebrity-obsessesed culture and only let mellow non-famous folk in through the door. Much like Dublin’s Odessa Club you first have to be buzzed in at the door and their house rules read “no name dropping, no star fucking. Gentlemen remove their hats, hooks are provided”. Milk & Honey has now opened up a member’s club branch in London and another, even harder to find, spot in L.E.S. called the East Side Company Bar – with the added upside of the actual possibility of getting in.

Playing hard-to-get has always been a good sell. And we‘ve seen the trend catch on. Inside a certain Dominican restaurant

Lola outside By Robert James

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you can go through an unmarked door, duck under a drainpipe and suddenly experience a white-walled room with blue light open itself up. And in close vicinity to Lower East Side are the attractive P.D.T. and Mexican La Esquina. The latter is located on Kenmare Street (106) on the NoLIta side of the Bowery. At the back of the street-level café-restaurant (Fish Tacos anyone?), through the door with the “Employees Only” sign, down the stairs and through the kitchen, you find a dungeon-like hideaway. Someone likened it to the old Studio 54 but with chipotle instead of cocaine. And if you stroll north, up into the East Village – and if you’re lucky - you’ll find P.D.T. The name stands for Please Don’t Tell so I guess I’m not supposed to, but if you head to 113 St. Marks Place you’ll find a fast food hot dog joint.

Inside you enter through the vintage phone booth and you’ll suddenly find yourself in a small but stylish bar with great cocktails and the bonus of hot dogs on order from next door.

Although there’s no real need to leave the Lower East Side to find a spot for some secretive drinking. What turned out to be an immense contrast from our stylish Hotel On Rivington, we set out to find the nearby Back Room. Supposedly only a two-block walk towards The East River, a right turn on Norfolk Street by Schiller’s Liquor Bar and we’d more or less be there. But although we knew where it was supposed to be we still couldn’t find it. I knocked on a random door to no avail.

Then we saw the little half-open wroughtiron gate with a rugged old sign saying “Lower East Side Toy Co”, albeit with a couple of letters missing. Inside the gate was a narrow steel staircase leading down into some sort of tiny backyard. The bottom of the stairs was guarded by a couple of rats so we made a bit of extra noise on the way down. At the end of the back garden there was another staircase, this time leading upwards to a black door. We knocked, and bingo - a couple of drinks, served in tea cups in case the place was to be raided, were soon in our hands.

The red and gold velvet paisley wallpaper, fireplace and sundry Victoriana sits well with the clandestine drinking era they’re trying to recapture.

It was midweek, so the bar was quiet.

Illegal gambling restricted to a couple of guests staking bets on which chocolate Easter bunny was from this year and which was last year’s, with the barmaid providing the bites that would tell the dif-

48

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Thor and Hotel On Rivington

ference.

The L.E.S. offers a vast array of not-sosecretive drinking spots too. Just walking up and down Orchard and Ludlow you fall upon numerous bars, many seemingly with no other name than the address, and most with the huge windows facing the street all open. Rob Shamlian, owner of five of them – Mason Dixon, Darkroom, Fat Baby , the new tequileria Los Feliz and Spitzer’s on the corner of Rivington and Ludlow – mentions the “energy on the street. People live in such tiny places they have no choice but to get out”.

Finally an honourable mention has got to go to Grand Opening, a space that changes face every three or four months.

Apart from throwing the Lower East Side Ping Pong Cup, they have had everything from a drive-in movie theatre to a Las Vegas wedding chapel throwing fake weddings. Right now though, it’s a dinner party.

www.totallydublin.ie

TOILET READING Totally Dublin’s first scatological guide to Dublin City and its outer rims

Words // CONOR ‘CHOCOLATE SUPER HIGHWAY’ CREIGHTON Pictures // STEVE ‘SONIA ‘O SULLIVAN’ RYAN

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In Germany, you don’t find books or magazines in the bathrooms. Neither do you find crude etchings of Roman bath times or witty warnings to wipe the seatie, sweetie. Germans go to the Kino, the Bierhalle and the nudist park to be entertained; when they go to the bathroom, they’re only interested in self-discovery.

You see German toilets are built with shelving units, unlike ours which are modelled on deep wells. When a German pushes one out they get to see the fruit of their womb, and all we get’s a plop and a splash as the pee, remarkably, tries to climb back from whence it came.

The Germans know their shit. And because of that you’ve got to say they’re some of the healthiest people in Europe.

Not only are they 65 years without a genocide, but they emerged from the last

recession debt free and with the keys for half a dozen Greek islands in their pockets.

In light of this revelation maybe Ireland could benefit from some anal gazing?

Perhaps there are messages in the mud, smoke on the water, gold in the brown?

In order to verify this, we took a strange ride out to a rare and mostly unpeopled patch of Dublin called East Ringsend, to the capital’s sewage treatment works. If you’ve made it to the bathroom, then it’s made it here.

The complex is remarkable, but it wasn’t always like this.

Sanitation arrived late in Dublin.

Remember the Viking Experience on Essex Street? It operated out of a church back in the glory days of Temple Bar, when it was full of squats and crack dens and served

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as ample fodder for parents who wanted to warn their kids of the consequences of not doing their ekker before Home & Away. The highlight of that tour was the smell. Early Dubliners shat where they ate and made no bones about it. And it wasn’t until the British arrived and taught us shame that we introduced sanitation to Ireland.

And then we put it on a pedestal. Not only is Ireland one of the only countries in Europe to not charge – directly – for water, it also has one of the most sophisticated sewage treatment networks in Christendom. In other capitals, waste travels along rickety Roman basins monitored by rats and pederasts; in Dublin, it’s like the Tube on a rare day when good services are operating on Central, Circle and District lines. Yes, we Irish have daily

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movements like any other nation but we manage to sweep it under the carpet with alarming speed and efficiency. Maybe an afternoon at the sewage plant would help explain why?

Like dating someone out of your league, the first thing you notice when approaching the plant, is that its shit doesn’t smell.

The lack of stink nearly floors you. Last month there was a grand total of one odour complaint recorded. As recent as two years ago they could get as many as 30 in a month, but caps and seals have been rigorously employed to deal with gas leaks.

It’s larger than five football pitches with giant swimming pools that you know only too well are full of leftover Dublin, yet amazingly, even in the belly of the beast, there’s minimal reek. You establish that the air contains a heaviness and a warmness and a vaguely perceptible dampness, but it’s not unpleasant. And in fact, situated as it is, by the sea, you’d go so far as to say it feels positively Mediterranean. Ask the O’Connor family who live in trailers next door. They don’t mind, and they’re not going anywhere fast. The kids have fields full of stones to throw at the cars and Mrs. O’ Connor never runs out long stretches to erect washing lines. It’s a little corner of paradise. And if living beside a sewage plant is the price you pay for peace then so be it. Travellers in Ireland don’t live very long anyway.

Paddy and Ciaran run the show at the sewage plant. Both are engineers. Paddy’s from the old school and Ciaran’s the young buck on the prowl. They’re the classic Donnie Brasco twosome with a little less shine and polish. They’re engineers.

Their names are bookended with acro-

nymns.

“Some people might call us shitheads,” says Ciaran, “But they wouldn’t try it to our face.”

Ciaran’s a Dub and he wears it on his sleeve like a gay who’s just moved up from the country. Paddy comes from Dublin, but he’s no Dub. “It’s a very complex process,” he begins but I interrupt him immediately to ask when’s their heaviest period of the week.

“Well, you’d think Sunday morning after a night on the Guinness, wouldn’t you? But it all evens itself out.”

I had a sit down on Parliament Street this morning, by what time should it be worming its way to you?

“The city’s shaped like a basin,” he says, “It could be here already.”

It’s comforting to know that. A frantic reunion, like when you catch a glimpse of your luggage doing turns on the airport carousel while you’re walking into baggage claims.

Paddy chuckles in the background and offloads most of the answers to Ciaran.

It’s a bond reinforced by the strangeness of their work. They’re a good team, and it’s going to be heart breaking at the end of this movie when Paddy shops Ciaran to the police. Maybe it doesn’t have to end up that way?

“It wouldn’t exactly be the first thing you tell a girl on a night out,” says Ciaran and jerks and dives dodging photo opps like they were blossom bullets.

Dublin got serious about sewage back in the 1880s and started to build the plant at Ringsend. Back then the boys would climb right into the pools and scrape the dookie into a tanker that brought raw sewage a few miles off shore then dumped

TOTALLY DUBLIN

51

it. And they wonder why, for an island nation, have the Irish such apathy towards swimming in open water. The men grew so immune to the smell that they’d even have their sandwiches on the edge of the pool.

Marvelling at the sun flashing rays across the North Side, horsing into a Brennan’s batch with their feet dangling in filth below. It was a decent job at a time when there weren’t many. On windy days, of which there were many, residents from as far north as Howth could sometimes catch a whiff of the plant in their back gardens.

There are plant-facing windows along the bay that had signs glued to the inside saying ‘never ever open’.

Today, however, the plant is almost odourless and clean as a whistle. Solids reach a 6mm mesh where they are filtered into a settlement tank. Anything that isn’t at least 95% water rises to the top inside the settlement tank. A metallic jaw then scalps the solids and begins sterilizing thus reducing them to methane gas and biological fertilizer. This type of fertilizer is like steroids for crops. It’s so strong that the government allocate it in rations, but perhaps at heart they’re just afraid that if Irish vegetables are fertilized by Irish people, it might encourage widespread cannibalism.

The leftover water is filtered through twenty-four sequencing reactors, which are stacked six stories high like a car park.

Bacteria go to work and chew what’s left into liquid. Then a UV machine performs the coup de grace before your piddle is released into Dublin Bay. But don’t panic.

It’s safe to go back into the water. The treated pee actually helps clean Dublin Bay. The colours on those blue flags don’t run.

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After an afternoon at the plant, you re-enter the city with a certain spring in your step. The air’s fresher. You no longer feel like you’re using the shower after someone’s taken a dump. The city’s OK. Dublin’s not so bad. It’s had its share of embarrassments and a murky past that comes back to life when Ciaran talks about the unwanted babies they used to find at the plant. They were tiny enough to be flushable. The workers had a graveyard for them. Nowadays, condoms block the pipes. And that’s a great improvement.

We are a nation of shit generators. Be it the conventional sort that comes out our bottom holes, or the more theatrical brand that colours our speech. But if that shit can be turned into something that actually cleans our capital and makes it a better place for our grandchildren, and their chil-

dren and their robot masters, then maybe the only thing we need to take from those over-achieving, continent-grabbing, Dirty Sanchez-loving Germans, is some more muesli.

www.totallydublin.ie

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48*/(%"/$*/( 41: 4 40/(4 '03 48*/(*/( $)*-%3&/ words // CIARÁN GAYNOR A Friday night just before spring breaks.

I’m in Spy bar and am surrounded by hundreds of teenagers who are dancing manically to the Backstreet Boys’ 1996 hit, Everybody. The music is at ear-splitting volume, the bass makes my stomach feel like I’m being repeatedly punched in the gut. You expect this from a gabba club but it is rather surreal to watch the city’s teengagers engaging with pop in this way. Tim Westwood would probably describe the place as “a zoo”. The club is split by floor into three distinct DJ sets. In the basement the dancefloor is jammed with people dancing to 80s pop. Upstairs in War, staff are applying warpaint to the revellers’ faces, making everyone here resemble Adam Ant. The ground floor hosts Songs For Swinging Children – where only the very best pop from the 60s to the present day gets a look in. I hear Gwen Guthrie’s Ain’t Nothing Goin On But The Rent, Shakira’s She Wolf and Mini Viva’s Left My Heart In Tokyo in the space of 15 minutes. It is, in the parlance of pop megawebsite Popjustice.com, LITERALLY AMAZING.

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A week later I speak to Songs For Swinging Children DJs Katie and Aine in a quiet city centre pub. “We go to college together. Everything is really casual there.

Things are organized at the last minute”, says Katie, nursing a pint of Bulmers.

So how did you get into Djing? “It was because I have a blog and Spy had a night where they had bloggers come in and do a set. We both kind of fell into it. The girls giggle when I suggest their club night is fizzy and Pop with a capital P. “Yeah we do like older stuff as well though, not just recent girl-pop things”, Katie declares. “If it still sounds fresh today we’ll play it” adds Aine. “We’ll only play pop stuff we consider to be good. We like when there are just a few girls or two or three lads there starting off on their night out, and we’re playing for them getting them in the mood. We get lots of groups of girls coming in. But even in one night there can be such a cross-section of different people.”

Do you ever get hassle off “proper music” bores for playing ace pop? “One guy used to come in demanding 70s and 80s rock,” says Katie with a shrug of her shoulders,

“but we have pretty much free rein to play what we like. We play a lot of disco.

We love Fever Ray…” Fever Ray’s dark concept album about motherhood doesn’t strike me as being particularly club-friendly. “It’s not obviously nightclub music but we’ll play remixes of her stuff. Or we’ll play one-hit wonders from the 90s.”

There are bugger all places in Dublin where you can have a night out like Songs For Swinging Children. Katie agrees: “The only places to go when we started this were places like XXI and Whelan’s and then the older nightclubs, so it’s great that a younger crowd have a place to go.” You can hear chart-pop playing in the background in any pub during the daytime but now that chart music is receiving wide critical acclaim the culture is there to make pop clubs thrive. “Some people kind of look down on pop music and there is a lot of crap out there”, says Katie, “but I love the whole thing where women are making pop and putting their own stamp on it, people like Lady Gaga. People want to have fun, and some places can be really snobby.” Shortly after our interview took place Songs For Swinging Children was moved to a later slot, a reflection of its popularity.

Who do you hate in pop? They can’t think of anyone. After a while Katie pipes up: “Um… There are a few female artists coming out now in pop who are not good, I’m thinking of one in particular....”

Do you mean Kesha? “Yes!” But she’s great! “We do like the idea of girls doing it for themselves...” Is it her conspicuous consumption that puts you off? “Yes, maybe that’s it. Although my friend met her and liked her. Madonna’s last album was terrible, but I still like her. When people are around as long as Madonna they can get away with slipping a bit.” What other music do you like then? “I love The Strokes and all their side-projects.” says Katie. “I play the violin,” says Aine, and true enough she has it with her as she’s just finished a class. “I’m really NOT musical”, says Katie. Aine meanwhile seems uneasy with being watched while she DJs. “I kind of like being in the dark,” she tells me, “it’s weird when everyone’s facing the DJ, as if they’re a band or something”. Mulling over their experience at Spy, Katie concludes “I don’t think there would be many venues that are happy to put on a night like ours, or who realize there’s a market for it and we’ll do it for as long as they want us there.”

Songs For Swinging Children Spy Bar South William St., D2 Fridays, From 11pm, fortnightly

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#3"44 +"9 $011&3 '"$& 5"$, words // OISÍN MURPHY picture // EMMA BRERETON I left Anton and his friend Roy back in the 206, rubbing cocaine on their penises and listening to Outkast, to make it into the club before the queue got too big.

“We’ll see you in there, man,” Anton shouted after me, “just making sure we’re all set, you know? Ha ha!” (Supposedly their experiment would provide for an “all-night boner”, the practical applications of which would surely be undone, in the grand scheme of things, by having to walk around with an erection all night).

This was Anton’s 21st birthday and we were going to Copper Face Jack’s.

I should preface what I am about to write with a sincere and solemn declaration that Copper Face Jack’s is the worst venue I have ever visited. I don’t want anybody to think that the criticisms I make of the place are of the affectionate, indifferent variety favoured by college satirists - somewhat condemnatory but ‘sure isn’t it all just a laugh and why take yourself so seriously anyway man ha ha’. There is nothing funny about Copper Face Jack’s. Nothing at all. As a microcosmic amalgamation of the ills of “youth culture” and the responsibility to be and do good that is collectively denied or ignored, it is unparalleled, though why one would actively want to experience such is beyond me. It’s the last days of Rome, Caligula’s urethra is being stretched by a bottle of Desperados and Rihanna’s Rude Boy is being played for the second time of the night. A girl dances in front of me by grabbing her crotch (like a can of Pepsi Max) and thrusting her hips violently forwards. I was expecting the Rapture, and I don’t even know what it is.

I feel I must be imagining it, but somebody is tickling the gusset of my trousers from behind. I turn to see Anton and Roy, sipping their Millers-with-lemon with gusto and imploring me to “use my ‘periphs’” to identify attractive women who could potentially be enthusiastic about their excessive penile ardour. This is awful. It’s Megafobia in 2001 all over again and I just want to go home. You Can Call Me Al has got the older sections of the crowd dancing (the demographics here are very broad - mostly collegestudents but there were men and women up to fifty or so) and I’m just reminded of how painfully shit the song is in the first place (not that a Barfly review is the place to single out Paul Simon for individual

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'2/'!.3 criticism, even if he is a twat.)

“You know he married Edie Brickell?” chimes in Terry, one of the more reserved characters attending the festivities tonight, all in honour of a man I can’t explain why I’m friends with. I didn’t, but she was also rubbish. Even though these things aren’t particularly interesting to me, they allow for momentary, dream-like diversions from the brutal reality of our surroundings. Even Edie Brickell wouldn’t come here, and she thinks philosophy is something to do with breakfast cereal.

The DJ fulfills a lot of song-requests for “the nurses from...”, which is a worrying thought, as far as the standard of medical care in our republic is concerned.

I cannot reconcile any objective morality, however broad, with frequenting this place. The Guinness, in case you were curious, or in any doubt, is utterly woeful. I hope you won’t have to experience it yourself at any point, dear friend. As the night draws to a close (at 3.55 or thereabouts), I watch the dancefloor from a couch, where Anton, whose tumescence has caused his chinos to become makeshift capris, is in a state of embrace with a girl - I can’t see her face - grabbing her crotch in an unmistakably familiar way, to the poignant accompaniment of Bad Romance. Generation Next, man.

7HERE TIME STANDS STILL (OST TO A CONTINUOUS CHANGING ART EXHIBITION

3OUTH 7ILLIAM 3TREET 4ELEPHONE

Copper Face Jack’s Harcourt St., Dublin 8 T: 01 4758777

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55

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words // KATIE GILROY picture // EMMA BRERETON

#"3 '03 5)& $0634& %",05" words // KATIE GILROY picture // EMMA BRERETON If you’ve never stepped foot in Dakota before, it’s likely that your cologne-swathed body clad in freshly ironed pulling clobber has at least once formed part of the highly populated queue that snakes its way up South William Street every Friday and Saturday night. Because despite its enormity and impressive capacity for packing them in, when the weekend revellers descend upon this sizeable venue for après work fun and frolics there’s a chance that after 10pm you won’t get a toe through the front door.

There’s no doubt that Dakota’s formula for drawing in punters at playtime would make Einstein’s knees tremble in his grave if it could be translated into a simple equation (and if the German scientist hadn’t been pulverised and sprinkled in an ocean some-

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where). But the question remains: can their new menu attract similar volumes at meal times? A tempting lunch offer of soup, a hot drink and a choice of one tasting plate from a selection including sticky BBQ ribs, fresh hummus with pitta bread and rocket salad and confit duck leg with braised cabbage for an economical €7.50 might just do the trick between midday and 5pm but what about dinner?

When we embarked upon the former fabric factory for Switzers on a surprisingly sunny Monday evening the place was an unrecognisable oasis of calm. In a booth in the corner, comedian David McSavage had his nose in a rag. Two twenty-something females conspired in hushed tones over their Sauvignon Blanc, sunglasses pushed back on their heads marking the advent of summer.

We were in the mood for cocktails. Dakota’s ‘5 at €5’ include a Black Russian, Whiskey Sour and a Bay Breeze. We raised a glass to farmer’s tans with a Sex on the Beach (also one of the 5 at €5) and splashed out on a Melon Cooler (€8.50) from the broader cocktail list which dazzled our taste buds with refreshing bursts of vodka citron, lemon and lime and tropical pineapple.

The lunchtime tasting plates all priced at €5 make for decent starters at dinner. Topped with Mediterranean roasted vegetables, the crunchy focaccia was a tasty bite and its accompanying olive tapenade a treat. We

also enjoyed the other plate of lithe, crisp peppered squid and lime battered prawns whose flavour along with the sweet chilli sauce reverberated like bolts of lightning on the tongue.

Amongst options of pasta, burgers and sandwiches served with hand cut chips, the Irish pork sausage with champ potato and onion gravy stood out (€13.95). A stalwart dish, the piping hot sausage oozed flavour and worked well with the sweetness of the gravy. The traditional Irish mash was soft and creamy and speckled with spring onion for a welcome boost of brilliance. Less noteworthy was the bouillabaisse (€9.95) or fish stew which consisted of salmon and cod pieces in a tomato-based sauce. Not only was the quantity lacking but so too was the quality of the fish which we felt was rather poor.

The addition of mussels and clams as well as an injection of sweet vegetables, we felt, could lift this lifeless dish from the doldrums.

Dessert’s chime brought pleasure in abundance with an adequate apple and berry crumble with vanilla ice cream and custard and a stellar sticky toffee pudding that could melt any heart with its delicious gooey goodness. Was it the best sticky toffee pudding we’ve ever had? Possibly. Was it homemade?

“Probably”, according to the indifferent waitress who did little else to answer this paying customer’s relevant query.

Dakota is ‘probably’ best as a bar first and a restaurant second. It is a great spot however to indulge in some cheap cocktails, snack on a few inexpensive tasting plates and catch up with friends. Our bill came to €62 including tea and coffee.

8/9 South William Street Dublin 2 t: 01 6727696

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$36;; $0/530$36;;0 words // KATIE GILROY picture // EMMA BRERETON There’s something quite romantic about the affluent coastal village of Malahide - the cosy restaurants, the quaint traditional pubs, the inescapable close proximity to the slurping Irish Sea. Once ensconced in its bosom, there’s a sense of being far removed from everywhere else, insulated in a high spec cocoon where privilege and posh North Dublin accents are simply par for the course. Cruzzo Restaurant is located in the Marina, tucked away from the main hub of village activity and entered via a quiet residential enclave.

When we happen upon this hidden harbour that boasts panoramic views of both land and sea, it is an unexpected delight. Assuming a prime position on the water amongst scores of docked yachts, Cruzzo specializes

in seafood and steak and with a three course lunch Wed-Sat at a reasonable €24.50, it’s as good a time as any to launch your anchor and berth for a bite.

Set out over two floors, Cruzzo’s décor on arrival echoes that of a health club or fitness centre. Aquatic-themed mosaic tiles covering every inch of the reception desk reflect the light like a swimming pool floor and the lounge area at ground level is dotted with garish red leather armchairs. Beneath the wide, nautical style staircase that leads to the upper deck where we will dine, there is a shiny black grand piano whose keys, I imagine, are only tickled at private functions or after dark. Our chatty waitress informs us that it’s raining in Spain as the sun outside casts a glossy cheer over everything. From our table, we can see out to Howth and beyond through the large picture-frame windows.

While the lunch menu isn’t particularly exciting, it does cater to the average palate.

Shunning the soup of the day and Caesar

salad, we began with the seafood chowder and spicy chicken wings. The latter proved themselves worthy of sticky fingers; the piquancy of the hot sauce somewhat countered by the accompanied garlic aioli dip, while the creamy chowder harboured substance in a bowl with generous helpings of haddock, cod and salmon. Again, the list of main courses consisting of safe but stalwart dishes like chicken supreme, pork chops and a vegetarian option left us with limited choice but my fillet steak served with shoestring fries and pepper sauce was pink and tender and took scant effort to devour. Similarly, the battered cod with chunky chips and pureed peas warranted no complaints. Two great staple dishes that did more than fill a void. A plumy Chilean Merlot sufficiently complimented my slab of meat and my companion’s Sauvignon Blanc of the same origin was fresh, elegant and full of citrus flavours.

Dessert did not bowl me over. The almond and pear tart tickled my partner’s fancy a tad more than it did mine. Barely heated and served with a dollop of cream the tart just didn’t do it for me. Likewise, the three scoops of homemade ice cream that qualified as our other sweet – strawberry, vanilla and mixed berries, had wooed me with their ‘homemade’ tag but weren’t quite decadent enough to win my heart. With tea for two (overpriced at €6) our bill cruised in at €66. An overall enjoyable meal for reasonable value, we could be lured back again perhaps not by the tart but by the steak and scenery in this spectacular little spot in Malahide.

Malahide Marina Malahide Co. Dublin t: 01 8450599

Dublin Citi Hotel presents

Dublin’s finest bar and restaurant in a unique waterside setting Function rooms available

The Only Irish-style tapas bar in Ireland Nominated for best tapas restaurant in Dublin Taste the wide selection of fine Irish produce at recession busting prices Midweek entertainment & late license Thursday, Friday & Saturday Playing the best tunes in town

www.totallydublin.ie www.totallydublin.ie

Next issue 1st June.

Listings deadline 19th May

Millenium Tower Charlotte Quay Dock Dublin 4 01-668 8862 www.oceanbar.ie

TOTALLY DUBLIN

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#*5&4*;& 5"45& 0' %6#-*/ words // KATIE GILROY

Celebrating its fifth year as one of the world’s greatest outdoor food festivals, Taste of Dublin is back at the Iveagh Gardens for four fabulous food filled days from 10-13 June. Offering live chef demonstrations, al fresco dining, superb wines and over one hundred artisan producers as well as exciting live entertainment, this year’s festival is a must for all foodies with a healthy appetite for a great day out. Taking part in the event are some of Dublin’s finest restaurants including Chapter One, Bon Appétit, Pichet, Roly’s Bistro, Town Bar & Grill and The Cellar Restaurant at the Merrion Hotel.

Ready Steady Cook chef Gino d’Acampo’s live demo will add some Italian flavour to the weekend while some of our best home-grown culinary talents such as Darina and Rachel Allen, Nevin Maguire, Kevin Dundon and Derry Clarke will treat you to the secrets behind some of their delicious signature dishes. Tickets start at €15 and can be purchased from www.tastefestivals.ie.

Rachel Allen

Chef, author, TV presenter What will you be doing at this year’s Taste of Dublin?

I am hoping to create a wonderful variety of seasonal dishes from starters to main courses to desserts. I will also be giving a sneak preview of some of my recipes from my new entertaining book which will be launching at the end of September.

Why is Taste of Dublin such a hit every year?

I travel to food events all over the world from the UK to South Africa to America and there is just something special about the atmosphere at Taste of Dublin. The Irish like to let their hair down and really get into the food and enjoy a glass or two of wine, and you can’t beat the jovial atmosphere in the unique setting of the Iveagh Gardens.

Are there any chefs in particular you are hoping to get a few tips from at the festival?

It is always great fun seeing all of the chefs in the one place and it is a great place to catch up but for any tips I might be in need of they would have to come from my mother in law, Darina Allen.

What do you look forward to most about summer?

My busy schedule means that I work nearly all year round which is why I always take the months of June and July off.

The boys are off school and so we might go for two small holidays where I can just

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TOTALLY DUBLIN

relax with my family.

My favourite snack on a hot summer’s day is...

I am lucky enough to have my own greenhouse where I grow wonderful sun-dried tomatoes and so I like to make a fresh batch of gazpacho for those hot summer days.

Besides Taste of Dublin, what have you got planned for the coming months?

We have just completed the Rachel Allen Apple application which is very exciting and will be available from July onwards.

It will offer over 60 recipes which can be read or dictated by myself and I’ve included my special tips, shopping lists, menu planning and much more. I am also preparing for my next TV show and have been asked by Universal Studios to launch the DVD campaign for the fabulous movie Julie & Julia which should be great fun.

www.totallydublin.ie

4 5 24 . *6 7 14

Chai Yo offers Japanese and Thai food in the friendly settings of its Baggot Street restaurant. With three Teppenyaki areas for group bookings and a wide, varied menu, Chai Yo offers affordably good food in a laidback environment.

Chai-Yo 100 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2 T: 01-676 7652 W: www.chaiyo.ie

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Offering a full hot-plate cooking experience,Yo Thai gives visitors not just fantastic Thai food, but the buzz of open-kitchen cooking for those looking for more entertainment from dining out.

Great for both special occasions and quieter meals,Yo Thai is accommodating and friendly.

Mount Merrion At Kielyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of Mount Merrion

Deerpark Road Dublin 18

01-288 8994 // www.yothai.ie

Chrysanthemum

Situated in Rathfarnhamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Old Orchard complex, Chrysanthemum is known for its excellent service and even better Chinese menu, stuffed with options for any lover of Oriental cuisine.

Unit 1 Old Orchard Inn ButterďŹ eld Avenue Rathfarnham Dublin 14 of 12 months. See application form for full terms and conditions. *MinimumT:subscription 01-493 4938

Donal Skehan

Chef and author of Good Mood Food What kind of food puts you in a good mood?

Really fresh and healthy dishes always leave me in a great mood. I get oddly excited about visiting fruit and vegetable markets and checking out new ingredients and I always leave with lots of great ideas to take over the kitchen with. Generally food that’s easy to prepare, not too fussy and tastes great makes me really happy!

This is your first Taste of Dublin Festival.

What will you be bringing to the table?

I’m hoping to bring a fresh take on some really easy dishes that will hopefully woo those who might be a bit afraid of the kitchen so they see that it’s not so tough to make something really tasty and healthy!

Which Irish chefs do you look up to?

Well I’m a home cook so I’ve always looked up to Darina Allen who is my Irish food hero, I grew up watching her Simply Delicious series on RTE and her recipe for shortbread biscuits were one of the first things I learned to cook. I love her ethos on food; fresh and local (the way it should be) and she has written some really fantastic and detailed books.

The best thing about summer is....

Eating outside! I love making food to eat alfresco. My pièce de resistance is my BBQ spatchcock chicken which always goes down a storm and really funks up boring old BBQ food. Hopefully after such a rough winter we’re going to get an amazing summer. I am growing my first proper vegetable garden this year which will need as much sun as it can get!

and gratinated green asparagus, stuffed with Fergusson smoked bacon and lemon butter.

The Festival is a good opportunity for food lovers to sample the wares of some top notch restaurants like your own, Chapter One. What are you looking forward to most about the event?

The chance to chat with regular customers and chew the fat in a nice congenial relaxed atmosphere. I also like to enjoy the camaraderie between restaurants and all the fabulous food diversity on offer.

What seasonal ingredients will you be incorporating into the Chapter One menu and your kitchen at home this summer?

I am a big fan of white asparagus and morel mushrooms which will always feature both in the restaurant and at home.

Crab lobster from the sea is another favourite and there is always a dazzling array of soft fruits starting with cherries in May and going onto apricots, blood peaches, strawberries, raspberries, and Chanterelle melons to name but a few. Great colours and flavours abound this time of year.

Ross Lewis

Chef Proprietor, Chapter One You’re well seasoned when it comes to demonstrating at the Taste of Dublin Festival - what treats have you got in store for us this year?

It looks like a lobster and clam cocktail with tomato jelly, avocado, coriander oil

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My dream holiday destination would be…

Port Douglas, Queensland - the Barrier Reef meets the rainforest, great beaches, restaurants. It has everything a restless soul like myself needs on holidays.

For me, summer means…

Lobster and asparagus, swimming at Seapoint and holidays!

www.totallydublin.ie

Y L L A T O T

FOOD

Restaurant Guide

Bloom Brasserie

Odessa

Le Bon Crubeen

Bloom Brasserie is a restaurant with lofty ambitions. With an excellent head chef well versed in the traditions of French cuisine, Bloom’s offers up accessible cuisine that accentuates their quality local ingredients. Head chef Pól Ó hÉannraich has lovingly assembled a menu that sees Angus Beef carpaccio alongside Caramelised King Scallops, and Roast Seabass. All dishes are freshly prepared and cooked to perfection.

Odessa is Dublin’s original dining lounge, a mesh of style and substance. Thanks to its newly-popular Fivers menu, its defining quality has become offering affordable sophistication. The restaurant offers a mouth-watering menu renowned for its tapas-style offerings and an unparalleled cocktail menu, all in a chilled-out atmosphere.

A relative new comer to Dublin’s restaurant scene, Le Bon Crubeen is a refined yet unpretentious brasserie. With food quality at the forefront of their philosophy, the people behind this Talbot Street establishment serve up honest, well sourced, brasserie fare. Impressive rotations of weekly specials accompany a menu that offers up among other things, pork belly, and Steak frite, the benchmarks of any brasserie worth its salt.

11 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 4

www.bloombrasserie.ie t: 01 668 7170

14 Dame Court, Dublin 2

t: 01 670 7634 www.odessa.ie

Café Novo

Brasserie de Verres en Vers is a new, modern interpretation of the French brasserie. Quietly glamorous and sedately cool, design is an integral part, with clean lines, dark wood finishes and an elegant contemporary floral detail. With an all-day menu, the emphasis at Brasserie de Verres en Vers is on classic French bistro fare, with ever-changing plats du jour, staple and signature dishes and a focus on fresh quality produce. The menu at Brasserie de Verres en Vers is complemented by a carefully chosen list of French wines and champagne and a great selection of aperitifs and digestifs.

Café Novo, a chic new international bar and brasserie opened it doors in October 2008. This fun and flirty eatery will woo diners with a carefully selected menu that offers traditional favourites with a twist - making it the perfect brunch stop for peckish shoppers or evening dinner and drinks spot for city slickers. Conveniently located on Harry Street, just a few steps from Grafton Street, Café Novo offers informal-style drop-in dining, whether you want to grab a modern take on a club sandwich or to simply sip on a cocktail.

Mon-Sun 10am-10pm, bar open to 12.30am

Breakfast: Dinner: Sunday Brunch:

Harry St, Dublin 2

06.30-10.30 Mon-Fri 07.00-11.00 Sat-Sun 17.00-22.00 Mon-Sun 13.00-4pm

www.radissonblu.ie

t: (01) 6463353 dine@cafenovo.ie

The Exchequer

Café Carlo

A bright addition to Dublin’s growing ‘gastro pub’ scene, The Exchequer abides by its mission to provide fresh, simple, and wholesome food to accompany its impressive selection of cocktails, wine, and imported beers. The stylish and plush surroundings encourage relaxation, but their approach to cuisine is anything but lax. Their well thought out lunch and dinner menus are outdone only by the Sunday roast, which is fast becoming a weekly institution.

The relaxed and intimate setting of Café Carlo, coupled with its high-quality, reasonably priced food and friendly, attentive staff has made this restaurant a huge favourite with Dublin diners. Not only is it a popular choice with visitors to our fair city, it's also found a place in the hearts of the discerning locals, who return time and again to soak up the Cafe Carlo atmosphere and enjoy some genuinely delicious food. Free glass of wine with every main course when mentioning this ad!

63 - 64 O’Connell Street, Dublin 1

3-5 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2

www.theexchequer.ie t: 01 670 6856

Eden

Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 The acclaimed, award-winning Eden restaurant serves contemporary food with a distinctive Irish flavour, overlooking the vibrant Meeting House Square in Temple Bar. With a set of mouthwatering dishes available for mains, from mushroom tarts to duck confit, and a stunning location, Eden is one of Dublin’s must-eat experiences.

t: 01 670 5372 www.edenrestaurant.ie

TOTALLY DUBLIN

www.leboncrubeen.ie t: 01 704 0126

Brasserie de Verres en Vers at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Dublin

62

81- 82 Talbot Street, Dublin 1

t: 01 888 0856 www.cafecarlo.net

Venu

Punjab Balti

Venu has enjoyed a loyal following since it opened in 2006 and it has been renowned for its well-executed, varied food menu and for its award-winning cocktail bar. If you are looking for a vibrant place that serves great cocktails and quality ‘home-made’ dishes at reasonable prices it is hard to look much further than Venu Brasserie.

Tues - Sat: Dinner 5.30 til late Saturday Brunch: 12pm til 4pm

Old favourite Punjab Balti retains its popularity and success after 13 years by consistently serving authentic Punjabi cuisine, prepared in the same traditional manner as in the Indian subcontinent's Punjab region for centuries. Over the years this famous Ranelagh restaurant has won major recognition for it's top quality food, intimate ambience, excellent value and service. You can bring your own beer or wine and there are also takeaway and delivery services available that are perfect for a Balti night in. For current special offers check out www. punjabbalti.ie

Anne’s Lane, off South Anne St, Dublin 2

t: 01 67 06755 www.venu.ie charles@venubrasserie.com

15 Ranelagh Village, Dublin 6

t: 01 496 0808 /01 491 2222 info@punjabbalti.ie

www.totallydublin.ie

SoHo

Coppinger Row

La Mere Zou

Chrysanthemum

Unpretentious cooking, laid back surroundings, nice sounds, reasonable prices, easy dining and a friendly welcome. Bang in the middle of Dublin city centre - right where you want to be. One all day menu, whether for a quick bite, or a shared platter, or lunch, or casual dinner with friends or colleagues. We offer simple classics and staples prepared using the best ingredients, and executed with style..What you want, how you want it. Laid back eating at SoHo.

Don’t be an April fool, 1/2 price Tuesday lunches for all of this month.

A solidly French restauramt offering bistro classics with a moden touch, La Mere Zou opened in 1994 and specialises in Classic French cuisine. They also offer a large selection of seafood directly from the local fishmarket. At La Mere Zou you can relax in a warm, familial atmosphere while enjoying the very best in cuisine and service.

Attached to the Old Orchard Inn, this Chinese restaurant on Rathfarnham’s Butterfield Avenue has an extensive menu, which couples traditional Chinese cuisine with several house specialties. Cantonese style fillet of beef and black pepper spring lamb head a thoroughly enticing menu.

17 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2

Open: Mon-Fri 12pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am Last Orders: Sun- Wed 10.30pm, Thurs-Sat 11pm

Off South William St, Dublin 2

Tues - Sat: 12noon - 11pm Sunday: Brunch 12-4, Dinner 6-10 Closed Monday

t: 01 672 9884 www.coppingerrow.com

22 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2

Lunch: Monday - Friday 12 -3pm Dinner: Monday - Sat 6 - 11pm

Unit 1 Old Orchard Inn, Butterfield Ave, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14

t: 01 493 4938

t: 01 61 6669 www.lamerezou.ie

t: 01 707 9596 www.sohodublin.com

Diep Le Shaker

Diep Noodle Bar

Prices dropped... Standard still very high. To ensure absolute authenticity in Thai cuisine Diep fly all essential ingredients in fresh from Bangkok. Diep Le Shaker make no adjustments in the chilli content of their fare. This stunningly designed restaurant is the recipient of the prestigious Thailand Brand Award awarded by the Government of Thailand and the Thai Select Award awarded by the Ministry of Commerce, Thailand for authentic cuisine.

Thai and Vietnamese food experts, Diep, offer a great value noodle-based menu with an exciting and exotic range of dishes including soups, salads and stir-fries. Diep Noodle Bar’s Bangkok Street Food menu is a steal and includes three courses of soup, appetiser and main course for €16 available Monday to Sunday until 7pm. With it’s fresh and genuine approach to cooking alongside it’s popular cocktail bar, warm hospitality and it’s releaxed but vibrant atmosphere. Diep Noodle Bar is a firm local favourite.

55 Pembroke Lane, Dublin 2

Ranelagh Village, Dublin 6

t: 01 661 1829 www.diep.net

t: 01 497 6550 www.diep.net

DAX

Yo Thai

23 Pembroke Street Upper

Deerpark Road, Mount Merrion, Dublin 18

A welcoming bar area offers a post-work winddown or light evening meal, perfect for you and your colleagues to enjoy with hot and cold tapas, available Tuesday to Saturday. Ideal for business and perfect for pleasure, or to dine privately for groups of between 10 and 14 people, Dax Restaurant is only a stones throw away from you and your business so why not take the time to visit a restaurant of refreshment, rejuvenation and reinvigoration.

This much loved fusion restaurant marries traditional Thai food with the energy of Japanese Teppanyaki tables. Whether you want their highly skilled chefs to put on a show cooking at the table, or simply order food to you table, Yo Thai is a reliable source of good quality East Asian cuisine.

t: 01 288 8994

Tuesday to Friday from 12.30pm to 2pm Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm to 10pm

t: 01 676 1494 olivier@dax.ie www.dax.ie

Pacino’s

Ukiyo Bar

The Farm

Chai Yo

For over 15 years Pacino’s has been a family-run restaurant known for its delicious ‘Classic & Gourmet’ pizzas and pastas, steaks and salads. It serves traditional, fresh, quality Italian cuisine. Its beef is 100% Irish, and sourced from reputable suppliers, and its pizza dough made fresh, inhouse, daily. Pacino’s offers a modern dining experience, with an old world vibe – stylish brickwork, wooden floors and soft lighting all combine to create a relaxed, rustic, informal atmosphere.

Ukiyo Bar is Dublin’s premier late night bar, restaurant and entertainment venue. Open from 12pm till late 7 days a week, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday when we keep our kitchen open past midnight. At Ukiyo we strive to provide our customers with a unique dining and entertainment experience - from the best value lunches to great sushi and sake in the evening, attentive and knowledgeable service, top shelf cocktails and some of the best club nights in Dublin at the weekend. Not to mention our private karaoke booths, making Ukiyo the immediate choice for a first date, a birthday party or a corporate bash.

The Farm is about tasty homemade locally sourced free range, organic and fresh food.

Healthy vegetables and fresh herbs. All their food is freshly prepared and cooked to order.

Famed for their Teppenyaki tables creating a unique and interactive eating experience, as well as meals made from the freshest, highest quality ingredients and a great party opportunity, Chai Yo perfects the balance between fun and food. For the less party-inclined of visitors, there is a quieter downstairs section. Something for everyone!

18 Suffolk St., Dublin 2

t: 01 677 5651 www.pacinos.ie

7-9 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2

t: 01 633 4071 www.ukiyobar.com

www.totallydublin.ie

3 Dawson St, Dublin 2

11 am to 11 pm 7 days a week

t: 01 671 8654 hello@thefarmfood.ie

100 Lower Baggot St, Dublin 2

Mon-Fri:12.30-3pm, 6pm-11.30pm Sat: 5.30pm-midnight Sun: 3pm-10pm

t: 01 676 7652 www.chaiyo.ie TOTALLY DUBLIN

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HOWTH Howth is a vibrant and beautiful fishing village situated on the scenic Howth Peninsula.

As well as to locals, Howth plays host to visitors all year round from all over the world. The suburb is situated just 10 miles north of Dublin city center and 5 miles from Dublin airport.

The Howth Peninsula with its picturesque harbour, lighthouses, beaches, walks, martello towers and portal tomb, lays claim to some of the finest scenery in Ireland, with magnificent panoramas over Dublin Bay. ‘The finest view west of Naples’ is how H.G. Wells described the vista enjoyed from the Ben of Howth, looking southward along Ireland’s east coast.

Ireland’s Eye, with its everchanging hues, and in season boat trips, guards the entrance to the harbour of Howth.

Howth takes its name from the Norse “hofuth” meaning “a head”, duely christened by the Great Danes. The earlier gaelic name, Binn Eadair, translates as The Hill of Edar, a chieftain of The Tuatha De Danaan, Ireland’s legendary people.

Originally an island, Sutton Cross joined SuttonHowth to the mainland, giving the world “The Big Tombolo”. Howth is a place where the past meets the present, mixing its history and legend with the vibrancy and originality of today.

Its an ideal place to come and stay for the week, or visit for the day. Howth’s leisurely ambience, wonderful scenery, friendly people, restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars, ensure you’ll want to come back, time and time again.

At its heart is Howth Harbour with its pod of seals, fishing trawlers, yachting marina and Howth Yacht Club. At its head is Howth Village with its magnificent church overlooking the town and sea.

Howth is best discovered on foot - the waterfront and piers are a good starting point on your exploration of the area. They afford a great view of the enchanting Ireland’s Eye, offshore, and of the village itself.

46550/ Sutton is a scenic and neolithic residential dublin suburb connected to Howth and located 12 kilometres from the city centre.

The original village of Sutton was situated on south-side of Howth mountain but the middle is now centred on Sutton Cross, where “The Big Tombolo” begins. It is surrounded by burrow beach and sutton creek and is a popular hotspot for golf, rugby, and dinghy sailing. The Burrow Beach is a magnificent beach with its fine views of Ireland’s Eye and Lambay Island and on a clear day, the mountains of Mourne. It is easily accessible from Dublin city using the main road to Howth, DART, and Dublin Bus Route 31 and 31A, both taking you to The Summit where some wonderful cliff walks are to be found. It is home to one of Ireland’s many Martello Towers.

Red Rock. Well worth a visit. The Jameson Irish Whiskey family home at Sutton Castle still stands.

61$0.*/( &7&/54 */ )085) Irish Traditional Music Festival

Howth Pipe Band Festival

25-27th June 2010

23rd-25th July 2010 St. Lawrence Howth Pipe Band, in association with the irish Pipe Band Assoc. and the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Assoc Northern Ireland, will celebrate the 50th East of ireland Pipe Band Championships from 23-25 July 2010 with a weekend Pipe Band Festival in Howth.

Contact: howthpipes@gmail.com

Hospice Homecare for Children Howth Walk 26th June 2010

Boat of Hope - Variety Club Ireland 27th June 2010 from : 10am to : 6pm The Children’s Charity for the first time in Ireland is taking to the high seas to treat over 100 children who have special needs and their Families - from three communities - to an forgettable day of boating and adventure.

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Sailing - Etchells World Championships 21-28 August 2010 www.etchellsworlds2010.org

Howth Yacht Club welcomes you to the Etchells World Championships 2010 Howth Yacht Club is located in the beautiful and picturesque village of Howth in north County Dublin and are proud to be hosting your 2010 world championships. They are more than a year into their preparations and are on track to giving you a huge Irish welcome and some fantastic sailing. They have assembled the best possible race management team to guarantee excellent sailing and their onshore crew will make your stay easy, pleasant and above all enjoyable.

August is a great sailing month in Howth, and we expect August 2010 to be no different.

www.totallydublin.ie

DOCKLANDS

."3*5*.& 50 13&5&/% This year’s June bank holiday weekend sees the return of the Maritime Festival to Dublin’s Docklands. Now in its seventh year, it promises tall ships, street theatre, live music and an open air market in a veritable smorgasbord of family entertainment. Running from the 4th to the 7th June, after a record attendance of over 150,000 to the event last year, this year’s festival will take place along both north and south quays of the Liffey.

Pride of place, of course, will be the Jeanie Johnston, which will be open to all-comers, along with a number of other tall ships including the Atlantis, the Lord Nelson and the Loth Lorien, offering a glimpse into the past, and, given the potential for further Icelandic volcanic activity, future of international travel.

The quays themselves will see street entertainment from various sea-themed characters, apparently including (hopefully genuine) mermen. One can only presume that mermaids are an expensive luxury and yet another casualty of the recession.

Mariners, divers and lifeguards will also be on hand to spin tall tales, and possibly less tall ones, along with various other forms of street theatre and amusements. Last year’s music stage saw performances from a variety of acts from rock ‘n’ roll to traditional Irish to jazz, and this year will be no different.

The festival also promises the best summer outdoor market in the city, featuring over 50 stalls, offering crafts, jewellery, art, clothing and flowers, to the more edible delights of ‘gourmet’ meats, cheeses and breads. A boon for the parents there, while their little terrors amuse themselves noisily re-enacting ancient battles on the ships. www.dublindocklands.ie/maritimefestival Times:

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- Friday 29 May 12:00 - 19:00 - Saturday 30 May 11:00 - 19:00 - Sunday 31 June 11:00 - 19:00 - Monday 1 June 11:00 - 18:00

With Ireland in the grip of the second or third running boom, depending on how you count them, every Tom, Dick and Citywest have new road races springing up. The Docklands, however, can claim a bit more precedent than these joggy-come-latelys, with the Fun Run in its tenth year. Run over an 8km course, starting at the Grand Canal basin, heading out towards Ringsend, Irishtown, and then looping back over the river to run along the quays down to the Custom House, before returning to Hanover Quay, it provides asomewhat rare opportunity to run on city centre streets unencumbered by pesky traffic and pedestrians.

The race is open to joggers, walkers and racers, with the latter category catered for with chip timing which was successfully introduced last year. Festivities begin in Grand Canal Square at 6.30pm on Tuesday May 18th with the promise of music and a ‘full warm up’.

With the numbers participating increasing precipitously, entries have been capped at 2,700 and May 7th is the final date for registration.

Entry is 20 euro (10 for students and seniors), which includes the timing chip and a goody bag containing the obligatory t-shirt along with the usual miscellany. Road races are presumably single handedly keeping the t-shirt industry in business. This year’s featured charity is UNICEF, who receive a proportion of every entry fee.

The race itself begins at 7.45pm, and if the current spell of weather holds up, it should make for a very pleasant evening indeed. http://www.dublindocklands.ie/funrun

www.totallydublin.ie

TOTALLY DUBLIN

65

Foals Total Life Forever [Transgressive] Foals’ debut Antidotes descended on my ears like a plague of locusts - scratchy, scritchy, and annoying as chronic livestock failure. Total Life Forever, thankfully, doesn’t make me want to shoot all pregnant horse-mares in the womb. While its indebtedness to Battles and the more progressive end of mathrock and post-punk is worn on sleeve, their second effort passes the personality test with flying colours. Measured, multi-faceted, and not short of magic. - DG

LCD Soundsystem

Crystal Castles

This Is Happening [Polydor]

II [Fiction]

Antithesis to the truism that nobody likes a smartass, everybody likes James Murphy. He molded the most ripped, most hip sound of the decade with DFA’s crate-digging consolidation of New York’s entire dance music history.

He rediscovered the platform of the vocalist as wry wit, gazzumped grump, and the carrier of message over melody (though his lyrical idiosyncracy oughtn’t be perceived as covering up for vocal shortcomings – his range of voices would put Peter Serafinowicz to mimetic shame). He even wrote shitting All My Friends. Indeed, James Murphy was the most convincing punk of the noughties – LCD Soundsystem is the most self-reliant hit vehicle going, and a law unto itself. For every Nike soundtrack on the vinyl rack there exists a Suicide-covering 12-inch.

Being still submerged in This Is Happening’s enviously deep hype cycle, the view of LCD’s third album is difficult to view in undistorted totality. The album’s first leaked taster, Drunk Girls, was gimmicky, block-headed – but then so was Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, which in retrospect is irritating in its shallowness but acted essentially as a mousetrap for hostile new fans.

Likewise, Drunk Girls is poohed by LCD diehards, and loved by n00bs. No matter, in album context it is less jarringly dissimilar to the rest of Murphy’s canon – it is the party song on a significantly more subdued album.

As aesthetically indecisive as Sound of Silver (which if listened to as a set of instrumental tracks would fail to cohere on any level), This Is Happening is Murphy trying to juice the very, very best song out of the multiple niches dug out over LCD’s career. You Wanted A Hit is a culmination of the sarky scenester character first encountered in Losing My Edge and the locked grooves of Watch The Tapes – on a technical level it bests both, but fails, in reality, to connect for all the contrivance. All I Want takes his Bowie/Eno adoration a step too far, pilfering the guitar line from Heroes and everything else bar the vocals from Here Come The Warm Jets – the wailing, fuck-shit-up last minute of the song redeems it in a capricious kill-your-idols fashion (even if that’s not the intent). Pow Pow? Beat Connection, the intergalactic dub. Indeed, only commonly-accepted woah-what-the-fuck? moment Dance Yrself Clean explores a new species of song, a sort of inverse version of The Knife’s Deep Cuts that somehow transcends even Heartbeats as a triumph of yearning, nostalgic gorgeousness, free from epochal categorization, tugging on a direct line to your emotional fiber. Every listen is a nine minute black out.

So why not an album of ten Dance Yrself Cleans? Because iTunes has a ‘repeat’ button. This Is Happening is certainly noble in its attempts to create a grand work, an emphatic career-definer, a definitive answer to self-posed questions. The weight of those challenges is too much for the muscular build of a band dedicated to the comparatively lighter lifting of the perfect single, but the strain is still worth listening to, owning, and for some, surely, living their life by.

Daniel Gray

Crystal Castles have always looked and sounded like third year NCAD students after a night with their head down the Thomas House jax. This second night out with Ethan and Alice is more rollover than hangover – perception is a little blearier, the razor-edge screams blunted, the arpeggio attacks less set to aural genocide, but the arty party still kick-drums along. Sweet 80s moments like Not In Love and sleazy tranced-out pillmagnet Baptism offer enough variation to eschew the lingering suspicion of total vacancy. - DG

See also: David Bowie - Heroes [RCA], The Juan Maclean - Less Than Human [DFA], Various - Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation of the Norm [ZE]

The Continuous Battle of Order Pttrn Skrs [Richter Collective] Let’s focus on the most important thing first: semantics.

This album’s title has no vowels in it, and its song titles are in the form of catalogue numbers. We’re dealing with something proggy here, even by Richter Collective’s standards. The ground level guitar riffs are as involuted as a pre-water packet of Koka noodles, and the absence of Adebisi-style face-searing moments makes it mostly for the beat-counting post-everything nerds, though it’s not totally without merit. - KMcD

Booka Shade More! [Get Physical] Booka Shade’s newie smacks of reinvention. Five years on from the Movements LP that saw their stock rise meteorically, Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier seem desperate to recapture their popular acclaim. Nobody told them that half cooked electro-trance is not the way forward. The horrid vocals of Bad Love encapsulate a horribly misconceived effort. It’s difficult to equate this MTV Dance fodder with the Booka Shade of old. This roll of the dice sees them abandon all previous merit. - POM

Race Horses Goodbye Falkenburg [Fantastic Plastic] Goodbye Falkenburg is the debut album from ever-soslightly eccentric Welsh psychedelic popsters Race Horses.

They have borne comparisons with fellow countrymen Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, but there’s no little hint of the Super Furry Animals’ brand of indie pop here as well. Good fun from start to finish, who could fail to be charmed by lyrics like “I want to be your pony/ I want to be your one and only”? - CC

Scuba

Wiley

Triangulation [Hotflush]

Avalanche Music 1: Instrumentals [Avalanche Music]

PO Box 49644, London N8 9YN. Budding young postdubstep producer? That’s where to send your demo.

Hotflush Recordings is the brainchild of Paul Rose (superhero name: Scuba), a label which appears to have in its possession the key to dubstep’s future. Where his signees Joy Orbison, Mt. Kimbie and Untold push bass music into bewildering new territory, Scuba’s own creations are more conservative, verging on a spliffed-out, reverb-drenched Drexciya throughout. Pure daycent. - DG

This collection of instrumentals from the so-called ‘Godfather of Grime’ is a strange one. If you fancy yourself as a budding MC, I have no doubt you’ve been crying out for such a compilation. You can spit hot lyrics to your heart’s content; complete with requisite gun shot samples. The guttural bass on standout tracks like Igloo and Jam Pie are testament to Wiley’s skill behind a mixing board, but a large chunk of the 22 tracks assembled are anaemic at best. - POM

soundbite “Talking like a jerk except... you are an actual jerk/And living proof that sometimes friends are mean” - LCD Soundsystem’s Dance Yrself Clean

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Music Go Music

Paul Weller

Expressions [Secretly Canadian]

Wake Up The Nation [Island]

Music Go Music’s dayglo pop is indebted to ABBA, The Carpenters and ELO, so their debut album Expressions is obviously ace. The tunes here are solid and the mood is, by turns, wistful and ecstatic. Explorers Of The Heart and I Walk Alone are like Scissor Sisters at their most lovable, and Warm In The Shadows is ten minutes of disco bliss.

These songs will brighten any record collection so snap it up, readers. - CG

Squeaky noises, plinky-plonk pianos, nonsensical lyrics: everything but the sound of men-in-white-coats kicking down the studio door can be heard on Waking The Nation. Most tracks are over in less time than it takes to boil a kettle, but there’s no sense of being short-changed because the range and quality of the material on show here is hugely impressive. - CG

Jogging

Broken Social Scene

Minutes [Richter Collective]

Forgiveness Rock Record [Arts & Crafts]

If first impressions were all that went into album reviews, this debut would have so many gold stars on it you’d think it was space. Threadbare would’ve been an anthem to scraggedy-looking kids in Dischord t-shirts everywhere had it emerged two decades ago. The pace stays fast as the album wears on, though such variables as “mathiness” and “ballsiness” change, and with no ironic eyebrows raised, Minutes is a genuinely watertight rock record of impressive quality. - KMcD

It’s been almost five years since the Canadian collective’s eponymous third album, the disappointing yet curiously popular follow up to the excellent You Forgot It In People.

While opening track World Sick offers a note of familiarity, Forgiveness Rock Record mostly sounds shiny and new, without ever truly convincing. The driving guitars, orchestral adornments and quirky lyrical flourishes are all there, but it’s often difficult to escape the suspicion of indie-bycommittee. Like their increasingly tiresome live shows, the bombast is ultimately boring. - CC

You Say Party! We Say Die! XXXX [Paper Bag] There’s a specific category in the music fan’s brain for albums whose release coincides with the death of one of the musicians involved. Joy Division’s Control, released two months after Ian Curtis’ suicide, is the obvious example. Well, on April 18th, YSP!WSD! drummer Devon Clifford died of a brain haemmhorage suffered onstage.

As such, XXXX is now an artefact. Its moody dance-punk is now outmoded, but that probably won’t matter to fans.

- KMcD

The Futureheads The Chaos [Nul Records] It must be frustrating for the Futureheads’ generation of NME bands to see every new rave band anyone ever dismissed in 2006 coming back to streamers and praise for their intelligent new direction. Futureheads, though darker now, mostly stuck with Geordie-accented power-pop. It’s not boring, but it’s hard to see why someone would prefer this album’s highlight Heartbeat Song to, say, Jay Reatard’s worst ever song. Unnecessary in the extreme. - KMcD

Alex Smoke Lux [Hum and Haw] Alex Smoke’s first LP on his new self-run record label sees the Glaswegian explore the freedom that accompanies owning your own imprint. Lux sees Smoke further flesh out the soundscapes he’s been developing since his emergence as a prodigious talent with 2005’s Incommunicado. The painstakingly delicate structure of tracks like Uncern and Equate stand wonderfully at odds with the jagged and industrial sounds they arise from. Smoke’s mumbled vocals are twisted to breaking point and encased within wandering melodies, and Lux perpetuates his rich vein of form. - POM

The National High Violet [4AD] The National are nothing if not a paragon of consistency in a climate of bright explosions and rapid burnouts, and their fifth LP High Violet continues that purple patch (ho ho). They are painting with the same colours as ever, having mastered the art of taut melancholia, but this is a more diverse set of songs than the arguably one-paced Boxer, from the elegiac stumbling of Runaway to the building squall of Terrible Love and the urgent Bloodbuzz Ohio. - CC

Villagers Becoming A Jackal [Domino] Behold the anointed one. Just as Rafiki once lifted Simba to show the pride, the Irish scene has pinned all of its usually self-deprecating hopes on Conor O’Brien’s ability to convince the outside world that he, and by extension we, are capable of something empiricially impressive. With the rug swept from under The Immediate before they’d had their fair shot at infiltrating the international indie rock consciousness, O’Brien solo ended up on Domino, being lauded on Jools Holland and raved about in the New York Times.

But beyond his ordained position as the Boy Most Likely To, is Becoming A Jackal really everything it’s cracked up to be? It depends what you’re cracking it up to be. Strummed guitars, piano plinks, unstrained vocals and a discernable smell of log cabin are the order of the day. O’Brien is patently talented, to a degree that even a die-hard country ‘n’ Irish grandmother couldn’t fail to recognise. And he writes some genuinely touching songs. The title track’s tosses and turns create an uncanny beauty.

The roots go deepest on two tracks that are carried over from last year’s Hollow Kind EP. Pieces is a period piece, a desolute consideration of a life fallen apart, set to music and delivered from the corner of a smoky bar on the set of hammy black and white gangster movie. It’s beautiful and crystalline, even if it is poisoned a touch by about a minute of unnecessary wolf-howling over the outro. The Meaning Of The Ritual, however, is untouchable. Over an understated organ, O’Brien scrapes the brain nodes of sadness in a new and devastating way. But in between these peaks, he does nod knowingly at the AOR devil, and recognizing this is the first step towards sleeping happily with the hype.

Karl McDonald See also: Bright Eyes – Fevers and Mirrors [Saddle Creek], Francoise Hardy - The Yeh Yeh Girl From Paris [BMG], Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago [4AD]

DG - Daniel Gray KMcD - Karl McDonald CG - Ciaran Gaynor POM - Paddy O’Mahoney CC - Carl Cullinane

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Vincere Director: Marco Bellocchio Talent: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Timi, Corrado Invernizzi Released: 14 May

Four Lions Director: Chris Morris Talent: Kaycan Novak, Julia Davis Released: 7 May Everyone loves Chris Morris, don’t they? With the exception of The IT Crowd, everything he touches turns to gold, or is indeed gold from the very outset. I expected that Four Lions would show the great man overstretched, removed from the somewhat more comfortable stance of ironic, withdrawn satire that has coloured his unparalleled television and radio work up to the present. I was entirely mistaken. Four Lions is one of the best comedies I have ever seen (even bearing in mind, as a friend of mine often points out, the unusually low critical standards with which people often seem to approach comedy, as a broad genre): provocative, at times shocking, surprisingly poignant and never anything less than hilarious.

We are in skilled hands here, as Morris shuffles rapidly between absurd farce and polemical discourse, utilising the linguistics of both to either end with rare and brilliant craft. Rather than point fingers, demonise or otherwise attack any individual ideology or mores, the film’s broad and substantial target is fundamentalism, in its many incarnations, and the narrowness and illiberality it inevitably breeds. Laughter is not used as a ‘softener’ for the loaded diegesis, imbuing in the film’s plaintive and climactic moments a self-critical reflectiveness that forces, rather than requests, active analysis - both of the film’s constituent properties and the linguistics within which our reactions seem to be invariably constructed. A comedy about Islamist terrorism is always going to set off alarm-bells, but here it is handled with such unique skill and vision that you wonder why it hasn’t been done before.

Oisín Murphy

Centurion Directed by: Neil Marshall Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko Released: 23 April If you thought 300 was the awesomest testosterone-fest ever then perhaps you will find something to admire in Neil Marshall’s lazy, dull Centurion. Starring men’s men (and 300 alumni) Dominic West and Michael Fassbender, Centurion follows the Picts, a poorly organised but vicious English resistance against the Roman army. Unfortunately this potentially interesting story is given a backseat to Marshall’s attempt to make a film more awesome than 300.

Needless to say it didn’t work. Having said that, I must say that I did enjoy the passion with which Marshall treats his gore. All of the battle sequences are enjoyable because when it comes to blood n’ guts, Marshall is like a kid on Christmas morning. Apart from the odd delicious decapitation, there’s little to enjoy here. Not entertaining enough to be a blockbuster and not original or smart enough to be “cult”.

Disappointing. - CL

Laced with archival footage, a booming opera soundtrack and some excellent performances, the first half of Vincere offers audiences a well-captured insight into the choking ambitions of Benito Mussolini. The second half of the film follows Ida Dalser, Mussolini’s lover (and wife, speculatively speaking), as she leapfrogs from one insane asylum to the next while her son is taken to a boarding school.

Vincere manages to feel longer than its two hour running time, (a recurring trait in Italian film). There are excellent performances from Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi (looking nothing like a younger Mussolini) but embodying all of his power and what we’ll later believe to be madness as we see his son imitating him in a few chilling scenes. A well-realised story of passions, one of a woman in love; the other of a man harbouring dangerous ambitions.

- AH

Furry Vengeance Directed by: Roger Kumble Starring: Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Matt Prokop Released: 6 May This is a family comedy about a businessman who is tormented and tortured by animals in the forest he is destroying to make way for a mall. This film is way too silly to really connect with grown-ups but its heart is definitely in the right place and for this kind of fare, the writing is slightly above average. There is no end to Brendan Fraser’s talent for physical comedy and he saves some pretty terrible jokes simply due to the fact that he is a naturally funny guy.

I mean, how many times can a guy being “skunked” be funny? At least four times, that’s how funny Brendan Fraser is! This is strictly a kids-only film but it makes some good moral points about seemingly “eco-friendly” corporations and it does boast a few guilty giggles. Not as bad as it looks. – CL

Extract Director: Mike Judge Talent: Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck Released: 26 April Mike Judge’s latest film is a flawed affair - uproariously funny in places, but lacking any competently-executed cinematic backbone onto which its often transcendent comic set-pieces are stitched. Ben Affleck’s performance as Jason Bateman’s insouciant bar-tending friend is nothing short of sheer genius, but the formulaic and derivative narrative (in which it occupies, sadly, only a minor role) suffers from its own calculated aimlessness. Bateman’s marriage crisis coincides with a potentially cataclysmic personal-injury lawsuit at the flavouring factory he manages, triggering a series of amusing episodes which rarely fail to amuse, but equally rarely transcend into ‘comedy gold’ territory. If such things excite you, the film also features the largest bong I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, however, even Affleck’s effortless kickflipitude can’t raise it beyond not-unpleasant mediocrity, as Mike Judge shows once again that he probably isn’t actually able to make films properly. - OM

AR - Aoife O’Regan AH - Anne Hayes CL - Charlene Lydon OM - Oisin Murphy

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SUMMER BLOCKBUSTIN’

Salt

Sex and the City 2

Twilight: Eclipse

ETA: 20th August Originally a story about Edwin Salt starring Tom Cruise, the script was adjusted when Cruise dropped out and Angelina showed interest. Now a story about Evelyn Salt, a female secret agent on the run after being accused of being a Russian spy, this looks like this years’ Wanted or a less classy Bourne movie. This one is sure to get you to the end of your bucket of popcorn and Angelina sports all kinds of wigs and costumes which is always good for the boys.

ETA: 28th May Parade out in Prada. Crack out the cosmos. Just when you thought they’d finally been put to bed the girls are back again in another feature-length outing. This time they’re on a faaaabulous trip to Morocco where Carrie runs into old flame Aidan.

Will she be tempted from Big? Who cares? Millions of women across the world, who are most likely Googling swanky hotels in Northern Africa at this very moment, that’s who. Expect drama, romance and judging from the trailer... karaoke.

ETA: 9th July This third installment of the Twilight franchise might just be a step up from its predecessors. Not only is this book allegedly much darker than the first two but the presence of director David Slade also indicates that we might be in for a less saccharine affair. His previous film 30 Days of Night is arguably the slickest vampire flick of the past decade, maybe Slade can give us some of the sex and blood this franchise desperately needs. Expect sullen Cullens and shirtless werewolves.

Toy Story 3

Knight and Day

Inception

ETA: 23rd July If Toy Story 2 was anything to go by, there’s much to be excited about in this upcoming third outing for Woody, Buzz and Co. This time Andy is off to college and the toys have been donated to a kindergarten. Judging from the trailer this could just be the best threequel of all time. And colour me excited about Michael Keaton’s role as a Ken doll.

ETA: 14th July One of the few summer films not based on previously published material, Knight and Day follows Cameron Diaz as she is unwittingly embroiled in a deadly game of espionage because of a chance encounter with Tom Cruise. Neither character is called Knight or Day so you have to watch the movie to understand the moniker. Vanilla Sky this ain’t.

ETA: 16th July Christopher Nolan goes back to his tangled roots as inducer of cinematic headaches. Judging from the trailer, Inception will see Leonardo DiCaprio challenge Nolan’s title. After Shutter Island, it seems Leo has a taste for messing with audiences’ brains and Inception’s futuristic mind-melt seems likely to satisfy his craving. The film is set in a future where technology can steal data from the human mind so when you have an idea that you need to keep strictly guarded, where can you turn? Intrigued? Me too.

The A-Team

Predators

Shrek Forever After

ETA: 30th July A team of upstarts go AWOL from the army and solves crimes in a van. Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley and some huuuge black guy recreate the show that encapsulated so many of the charms of 80’s television. The best we can hope for is that it keeps its sharp sense of humour. I guess from the director of Smokin’ Aces this one is bound to have its tongue firmly in its cheek.

ETA: 22nd July A re-imagining of Arnie’s 80’s sci-fi actioner. What’s there to be excited about? Well, friends, the fact that Robert Rodriguez is producing it is reason enough for me to be at least a little bit worked up.

Perhaps he can give it the injection of schlock that the original lacked. Starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace and Danny Trejo, surely there’s a possibility it might improve on the original or at least stand as a fun horror movie on its own merit.

ETA: 9th July They have assured us that this is the final outing for the franchise that has been dragging its heels since its first sequel. Financially this one will undoubtedly be a roaring success and fingers crossed this time out the film will do justice to its fantastic array of characters. Donkey, Shrek, Puss and Fiona really deserve a decent movie. This time Shrek makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin and the plot begins to resemble recent episodes of Lost. In a parallel universe, Shrek’s friends don’t know who he is, Puss is fat and Fiona is a resistance warrior who thinks Shrek is an idiot.

Expect dancing animals, spirited tunes and pop culture references aplenty.

words // CHARLENE LYDON It’s that time of year again. As those scared of sunlight, untrusting of picnics and, well, Twilight fans look for refuge from the summer outdoors Hollywood offers a slew of big-budget, action-packed rehashes to crowd the dark, welcoming coldness of our cinemas. Here’s a run-down of the biggest of the big.

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drawings

Fuschsia Macaree

B.T Wilderbourne

Alan Moloney

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