Totally Dublin 79

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April 2011 // FREE // totallydublin.ie

Carnival Spirit with... Webcomics Black Metal ASIWYFA Dinosaurs Chicken

FAVELA OF THE MONTH TOTALLY DUBLIN

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it’s what’s inside that counts

contents 79

8 Entry Level

62 Barfly

The best hugs are probably from hagfish

Edwouldn’t

10 Roadmap You’d be lost without us

Why did the semolina chicken wing cross the road?

16 Threads

72 Print

Wherein a dinosaur eating chickenbone ring makes our issue collapse in on itself

Reverting the pyramid

64 Gastro

74 Film

18 Rio

Emotional moments on screen just don’t movie anymore

Brazilian Carnival > Irish Carnivals

76 Games Duh. You poke him on.

24 Norwegian Black Metal Bus Tour The wheels on the bus go KILL! KILL! KILL!

28 Tristan Perich

77 Audio In which The Strokes get a new protractor

78 Wake Wood

1-bit 2-bit 3-bit 4.

Right ‘orrorshow

32 Listings What you will be watching from afar this month

56 Dinosaur Comics T-Rex, you’re so down with these old fairy tales.

first things first

Sadly, class, this month’s editorial will be short of heartwarming tales about my ma and stories about friends that don’t exist. We’ve simply been too busy starting a quintrigintillion new projects (and playing with matchcats.com big numbers generator) to steal anecdotes from other people. What have we been doing, in a neatly categorized, easy-to-follow 200 word nutshell? Well, since you asked. a) Totally Dublin’s Date Night. Starting this spring, Totally Dublin’s going to create a little more love in the world. We are donning our Cilla Black wigs and matching up Dubliners we think might have a little something something to go on (or something). Every fortnight we’re going to play matchmaker and send a couple we’ve paired up (with a little help from our definitely in-depth application form) to one of Dublin’s most candle-lit restaurants or various datey sites we’ve dreamed up, and catch up with the pair shortly after to find out if love bloomed or love’s doomed. Check the TD blog for more.

credits where credit’s due Totally Dublin 56 Upper Leeson St. Dublin 4 (01) 687 0695

Art Director Lauren Kavanagh lauren@hkm.ie (01) 687 0695

Publisher Stefan Hallenius stefan@hkm.ie (01) 687 0695 087 327 1732

Arts Editor Rosa Abbott rosa.abbott@gmail.com

Editorial Director Peter Steen-Christensen peter@hkm.ie (01) 687 0695 Editor and Web Editor Daniel Gray editor@totallydublin.ie (01) 687 0695

Advertising Stefan Hallenius stefan@hkm.ie (01) 687 0695 087 327 1732 Distribution Kamil Zok kamil@hkm.ie

b) The Dublin Tourist Guide. Tourists love us, and we... we like tolerating them. For the duration of the summer we’ll be launching a very, very pretty, very, very useful guide to the city for n00bs. Because rookies need love too. c) Pillow Talk. We planned to run this event in January, but apparently insurance companies aren’t used to offering rates for an en masse pillow fight soundtracked by some very bouncy bands in aid of a youth advisory network. But it’s finally happening. Keep your eye out for details on our big feathery pajama party with ReachOut.com soon. d) Thermonuclear weapon-fuelled takeover of 90% of Europe by June 2012. Don’t worry about that one, you’ll learn more about it as we go on. Daniel Gray

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Contributors Sean Breithaupt Dan Dennison John Doran Ollie Dowling Eamon Frankie Ciaran Gaynor John Hyland Zoe Jellicoe Roisin Kiberd Ian Lamont Fuchsia Macaree Karl McDonald Aoife McElwain Yvette Monahan Oisín Murphy Aine Pearl Pennello Conor O’Toole Derek Owens Megan Specia Utahraptor

All advertising enquiries contact (01) 668 8185 Read more at www.totallydublin.ie Totally Dublin is a monthly HKM Media publication and is distributed from 500 selected distribution points. 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.

Totally Dublin ISSN 1649-511X

Cover image: Yvette Monahan and Sean Breithaupt Contents image: Dan Dennison

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gocar.ie GoCarTotallyDubAW.indd 1

18/03/2011 16:37:27

Situated on the ground floor overlooking the Georgian splendour of Pembroke Street, Dax CafĂŠ Bar offers French flair in stylish and informal surroundings. With an extensive breakfast menu, superb evening Tapas, cheese boards, charcuterie, a well selected European wine list and a wide range of international beers - you will be spoiled for choice. In addition we provide free Wi-Fi, making Dax CafĂŠ Bar the perfect location for social or business dining from early morning until late. www.dax.ie 23 Pembroke Street Upper, Dublin 2 olivier@dax.ie 01 662 9381 www.totallydublin.ie

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Webcomics Words Zoe Jellicoe Picture Hark, A Vagrant We’ve all seen daily or weekly comic strips in newspapers (everyone loves Doonesbury, right?!) but you might be less familiar with webcomics. These comics – some hand-drawn, some drawn with computer programs or using pictures – are self published and hosted on their own websites. Free from the restraints of publishers or page size, webcomics come in all sorts of weird forms. Almost all webcomics are free to read, (only merchandise or advertising make any money for successful authors), so a strange spectrum emerges. There will be the onehit wonders: comics that had potential but were abandoned. Then there may be the fanatical webcomic-maker who, bless him, will update every single day but will be entirely unaware that his drawings are dreadful and his dialogue is derivative. Though haters gonna hate, he soldiers on, because even on the perilous seas of the webz, there will be those who take pity and encourage him, either out of pure compassion or seeing potential. And finally we have that rare bird, a comic which is not only great but consistently updated. The sheer number of comics on the Internet is staggering, but once you start following a couple different comics you become aware of close communities within the cosmic expanse of webcomics. Ryan North, creator of Dinosaur Comics (interviewed further up in the magazine this month), has a theory about the webcomics community. He asks us to imagine Jim Davis, author of Garfield, who might love Peanuts, the comic strip by Charles Schulz. But if Jim starts telling people that Peanuts is great, then the newspaper might drop Garfield and start running Peanuts instead. On the Internet, though, there’s no shortage of space, so comics aren’t competing to be on the same page. This means that webcomics writers can, and do, link to all the other comics they like. So when readers find one that they really enjoy they can follow links from that page to more webcomics that they’ll probably like as well. There is a lot of chaff to be sorted through before you can find that delicious wheat, but it’s worth the reward: a serial (cereal?!) you’ll want every morning. Or maybe just every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

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xkcd Not everyone will understand Randy Monroe’s über science references, but this is probably one of the better-known webcomics – strips can even be seen printed on t-shirts and in campus newspapers. Although the computer science strips might be lost on many people, when xkcd gets it right, it gets it spot on. The x/y chart which plots fruit based on deliciousness versus ease of ingestion is a favourite. xkcd often feels strongest (especially for those who don’t know their programming, physics, and maths) when doing simple whimsy. This comic transcends the nerd world. A Softer World A Softer World uses photographs which are often quite unrelated to the actual content, but which work well to complement the dark and sometimes bitter humour of the comic. In this way Emily Horne and Joey Comeau have created a comic that does not rely on sketches to accompany its short, snappy writing which is sometimes touching and frequently hilarious. Hark, a vagrant Hark, a vagrant combines surreal literary and historical humour with some of the best comic sketches to be found online. With pencil and pen, and occasionally markers and watercolours, Kate Beaton creates delightful expressions. Her art is uncomplicated, and is the perfect accompaniment to her broad range of subject matter. Beaton pokes fun at Jane Austen’s fans, Kierkegaard’s appearance, suffragettes, and even saucy mermaids. Beaton’s artistic range is wonderfully appealing – she captures daft expressions and pouty frowns with neatly curling sketches.

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Diego Rivera, Portrait of Mrs. Natasha Gelman, 1943, oil on canvas, 115 x 153 cm Collection Vergel Foundation. Š 2011 Banco de MĂŠxico, ‘Fiduciario’ en el Fideicomiso relativo a los Museos Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo. D.F. Photograph Gerardo Suter

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Geeks

If you’re heading to UCD on the 15th of April, make sure to pack your comics, Klingon dictionary, and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. There’s some serious geekery going done at FanSciCon this year - we’re already working on our lightsaber battling skills.

Art

Designer Dietmar Rams gets a retrospective courtesy of the Exchange Gallery and the Goethe Institut this month. Less But Better runs from the 7th til the 21st, and will feature a range of his classic designs with Braun.

Shops

Whitefriar Place is now home to Dublin’s newest metal venture. Into The Void records is a multi-disciplinary space taking in an independent heavy metal stockist, a gallery space, and a tattoo parlour. Worth a look even if your beard isn’t down to your Prince Albert.

Literature

Be an active member of this city of lit. this month by taking the time to read Joseph O’Connor’s Ghost Light. If you don’t, you might look a bit silly - it’s the designated reading for this year’s 1 City 1 Book and everybody else will have.

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Beautiful and bold contemporary dance from Ireland and the world. Enjoy even better value in 2011 with lower prices and great deals! BOOK AT WWW . DUBLINDANCEFESTIVAL . IE OR

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Dublin Dance Festival May 13-28 2011

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Songs of the Wanderers Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan Photo by Yu Hui-hung

Now there are three more reasons to love a Mac. It’s easy to do amazing things with your photos, movies and music on a Mac. Share your photos in new ways and turn them into treasured projects. Make a Hollywood-style trailer. Create a great-sounding song and even take piano or guitar lessons. Visit Compu b and let us show you everything you can do with the new iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand software.

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Design

Combine one of our favourite authors with one of our favourite design companies and you’ve got the formula for some serious book lust. It’s Nice That’s new DeLillo sleeves mean we’ll be rereading Underworld for the duration of April.

Eggs

Hate chocolate, but still want an oval surprise at Easter? The Eggbot is a mechanical, computerized egg-painting tool of head-hurting complexity. Put anything from a ping-pong ball to a grapefruit in, and the Eggbot will let you design it in any colour of Sharpie you have lying around.

Comics

The most postmodern Spidey experiment gets the most postmodern Spidey treatment in the Village Voice’s stupidly funny Spidey Super Theatre Stories series, Ward Sutton’s take on the current super-sized Spiderman stage version taking over New York right now.

Games

Once you’ve conquered Angry Birds and dope wars, the smartphone quickly runs out of gaming potential. The new Sony Experia Play Phone combines the Android platform with Playstation-quality games, so now you can sneakily play Final Fantasy VII on your desk and pretend you’re updating your calendar.

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Bike-cons

Rides A Bike is one of those Tumblrs you’ll spend six good hours of your life perusing the archives of once you’ve found. Easy concept - famous people throughout history riding really, really nice bikes. Make Marlene Dietrich your wallpaper. http://ridesabike.tumblr.com

Momocars

With Dublin Bikes now as much part of the fabric of our city as kids spitting on trucks from motorway bridges, a new enterprise has been set up for low-impact urban transport. GoCar offers shortterm car rentals for Dubliners who more regularly walk, cycle and public transport their way across the city. Cars are all low emission vehicles, cheap as chips, and available in some of the most accessible locations around town. We talked to GoCar’s Marc Rafferty about his entrepreneurial venture. Where did the idea for GoCar germinate? The idea for GoCar started in 2008 when the four founders witnessed the rise and rapid success of ‘car sharing services’ worldwide, particularly in US, UK and cities like San Francisco, New York, Berlin, London, Amsterdam and Brussels. We also got some support from Cork city council and the EU to start looking at this service for Ireland. How did you go about setting up such an ambitious business independently? Initially with the help of Cork city council and the EU fund for ‘Smarter Travel’. However, as of now we have expanded the service with the individual private investment from the four entrepeneurial directors that started GoCar. No help as of yet from banks or government. This goes to show you that with our country in a recession and bank credit non-existent for small businesses looking to grow, entrepeneurs in Dublin are still trying hard to bring their ideas to better the city to the public. This is a great time for young entrepeneurs in Dublin to come together, not to emigrate but stay and make things happen. At GoCar we have paid some professionals for help but also our friends, girlfriends, wives have helped us all the way through. Is Dublin behind the times when it comes to urban transport? Yes, Dublin is behind most modern cities when it comes to smarter transport options in our cities. We rely to much on the private ownership of cars which

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leads to congestion and pollution in our cities and a too high percentage of urban land given over for car parks and spaces. Dublin could use this wasted space to make the city more liveable in, with more facilities like playgrounds, green areas, street markets, bike routes, pedestrian ways and community facilities. The worldwide research shows each ‘car sharing’ car takes eight cars off the streets. Think of all the great things we can add to our city with that car park space reclaimed for the urban dweller. With the success of the bike scheme we know that Dublin is ready for GoCar. Why own a car and deal with the hassle and expense of ownership when you can get one on an hourly basis whenever you need one. GoCar is environmentally sustainable and cost effective.

Campervan Beethoven

Festival season chugs into second gear this April 29th when a fleet of campervans will descend on Co. Louth’s Dunany Estate for the second annual Vantastival. Noted VW Camper-fans Whipping Boy have reformed just for the occassion, and don’t worry - if you don’t have a van, there’s a more traditional campsite available. www.vantastival.com

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Pret a Porter

Pack your prized travel-swag up in this exquisite black leather luggage, the product of a collaboration between Japanese accessory designers Swagger and Porter. Very modern and very classical all at once, the line caters to skaters and yuppies (and skater-yuppies) alike, featuring both a backpack and the most subversive briefcase we’ve ever seen. The line is united by its use of black leather, and the addition of a printed bandanna included with every piece. The bum-bag has its flamboyant charms, but we’d advise you to invest in the more low-key briefcase, suited as it is to carrying your laptop or hip-hop style bankrolls. www.swagger-co.com

Supreme

We’ve not been this excited about skater clothing since first playing Tony Hawk 3 as chizzlers. Rarefied Skate brand Supreme first came to our attention on the backs of Swag-fiend rappers Odd Future, who flaunt the LA company’s name on their shirts and in their lyrics. As it turns out, the brand is mysteriously hard to get hold of, the closest outlet to Irish shores being Dover Street Market in London. However the brand promises that their E-shop will

soon be up and running. The line is a mix of neat, almost-preppy cord jackets, primary-coloured trenches and short sleeved button-down shirts, Sunday best clothing for the ragged and debauched. We look forward to their unique brand of swag becoming more widely available, and in the meantime must content ourselves with their lookbook at www.supremenewyork.com

Let’s Hear It For The Boys

Art-tee

The collaborative work of self-confessed ‘group of creative outcasts’, Altamont Apparel are the t-shirt company those in the know know about, while those not-in-the-know look on in awe. Less clothing brand than design collective, the Lake Forest, California brand invite artists of all disciplines to create prints for their t-shirt series, including No Age, skater Andrew Reynolds and creepy artist NeckFace. The results are limited edition and fly like flying hotcakes. Available at www.slamcity.com

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Hands up anyone who’s ever wanted to wear a tyrannosaurous eating a leg of fried chicken around their neck. A litter of gold-brass bulldogs spread across a knuckle-duster? A gold pendant in homage to the Viking god Woden? Now you can, thanks to a jewellery line based in Brooklyn. VeraMeat is the creation of Vera Balyura, a former model and consummate storyteller with a love of the macabre and absurd. Inspired by memories of childhood, and made with ecologically sound materials, her designs are tiny sculptures, taking in mythology and mysticism as well as pop icons like Godzilla. Here we ask her about the thought and work behind each of her tiny shrunken fairytales. What’s in a name? And how is your jewellery ‘meaty’?! It’s the meatier side of jewellery in that we use better materials, more interesting subject matter. I’m a little bit meat-eater also though I only eat local free-range meat. Does New York impact on your work? Yes of course, just seeing so much great fashion out of the side of your eye walking down the street gives me great subconscious ideas. When I sit down to design a new VeraMeat I find no problem in just coming up with something right then and there. Usually it’s what I’d like to wear myself. How did you first learn to do all the technical stuff, and how do you make such teensy-weensy pieces? I interned for three designers in New York and went to school for jewellery in CA. I also studied small-scale sculpture in art school and did wood carving with my grandfather. So everything just came together after that. I love the pictures of your dog with a cast on its paw; how did Fred break her paw? She was a couple months old and sitting on a very small pillow. I walked five feet away from her and that was too far. So she tried to leap towards me onto one paw and it just broke. She didn’t cry, but I on the other hand did. But she’s all better now.

Butcher Bling Verameat

You seem to really focus on the animal world - what are your favourite animals? I love the concept of power animals. It’s a Native American tradition that I really believe in. If you are drawn to a certain animal or see a certain animal around a lot that’s your power animal and you have something to learn from them. I feel different animals really strengthen the human vibe. I like to empower my customers and myself through animal jewellery; when customers stop by my studio I read them their power animal traits from old books I have. I’ve been lucky to have horses as a kid and was around animals all my life in my travels so that’s mostly where I draw inspiration.

Viking Taking Over the Sky or the Giant Lady with Dog? A lot of guys have actually used the Dino Eating Fried Chicken ring as their wedding ring! I’ve always written short stories for my friends and family since I was ten. It’s just the way my mind works. I see three normal things like a tall lady, dogs and a Godzilla movie, and my mind comes up with it’s own story about a giant Godzilla like lady who just adores dogs. She goes around trying to help them… Stories are usually a lot longer with more twists and turns. I’m going to start writing little books to include with customer orders, watch out for them!

Are there stories behind the odd pieces like the Dino Eating Fried Chicken, the

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Words Roisín Kiberd

VeraMeat are about to open a flagship store in New York, and can be ordered online at VeraMeat.com

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HER NAME WAS RIO Rio is a place that oozes sex. The people are hot, clothes are tight and hips are always moving. There seems to be an innate sense of celebration in the Cariocas (rio locals). Inequalities are rife and there are many problems but if there is a beat happening, the Cariocas are dancing. We shared nights with no common language, got pick-pocketed in the hills and danced with old men in the rain. There is a sense that anything could happen, Rio de Janeiro is a wild place.

Pictures Yvette Monahan and Sean Breithaupt

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HELVETE AND BACK SOME TWO DECADES AFTER ITS INCEPTION, YOU CAN NOW TAKE AN OFFICIAL TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL COACH TRIP ROUND OSLO, VISITING THE SITES OF ARSON, MURDER AND MAYHEM. JOHN DORAN BOOKS A SEAT TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH THE SCENE HAS CHANGED.

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Words John Doran Pictures Dan Dennison “IS THIS TOO LOUD?” shouts Anders Odden at ear-splitting volume. “Yeah? Oh fuck, sorry! I’m used to being on stage, not being a coach trip tour guide…” A comfortable double-decker is driving us slowly through Oslo towards the Northern outskirts. Odden is the perfect choice to be the host on this inaugural trip around the Norwegian capital taking in the sites of church burnings, murder and music. He was one of the few to be part of the so-called Black Circle – a disparate group of teens obsessed with violent and extreme art/culture - which coalesced round the Helvete record store and the bands Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum in the early 1990s. Add to this his membership of such extreme acts as Cadaver and Satyricon and you know you’re in good hands. Odden never once apologizes for any aspect of True Norwegian Black Metal (TNBM) but he does enjoy having a chuckle at its expense, while relishing the chance to upset people’s expectations. Standing at the front of the bus, dressed in black fatigues and baseball cap, with the kind of huge boots not usually seen outside of Brian Bolland’s drawings of Judge Dredd and the kind of plaited beard not usually seen outside of the Mines Of Moria, he looks more like the member of a baroque S.W.A.T. team than a musician. One look around the coach shows that it is taking some people time to adjust to his bone dry sense of humour: “Black Metal is a type of music that became inextricably linked to Norway in the early 1990s. I should say that Black Metal doesn’t mean heavy metal made by black people, I’m afraid. It refers to the darkness of the night and of the spirit. There aren’t that many black people making Black Metal. There should be though, that would be cool. Hopefully that will be the next big thing in metal.” The coach snakes slowly up hillside roads towards Holmenkollen, a vantage point from which you can see the entirety of the Norwegian capital. At the top we

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descend from the bus and trudge through knee-deep drifts of snow toward a jet black timbered, stave church. This chapel is a faithful reconstruction rather than an original. A pair of arsonists, Bård Eithun and Varg Vikernes, burned the first chapel to the ground on August 21, 1992. We get within 50 yards of the church but a makeshift fence with ski company branding blocks the way. A tiny church warden who barely meets the tips of Odden’s beard comes out and addresses him briefly in Norwegian before beating a hasty retreat back inside. He laughs and tells us that because it is the most important day of the Norwegian sporting calendar tomorrow – the national ski-jump competition – security has been tightened so no-one can get any closer to the beautiful wooden building. He sighs and heads back for the coach: “I don’t think we’re going to be allowed to restage the arson today which is a shame.” People are slowly beginning to catch on that perhaps not everything he says should be taken at face value. Over the brow of the hill is the Holmenkollen ski-jump which looks like one giant concrete rib, jutting out hundreds of feet into the painfully blue sky. Odden adds: “No one cares about Black Metal in Norway. They care about skijumping. When you win the ski-jumping in Norway you are the second most popular guy in the country after the king.” When the wooden chapel was set ablaze, no matter how ill-judged and abhorrent an act, it was part of a heavily symbolic attack on the power structures of Norway, not a mindless act of vandalism. The conflagration was viewed all over the nation on television news but could be seen with the naked eye all over Oslo. The desecration of the capital’s most visible church next to the site of Norway’s favourite pastime, meant it was not only an attack on Christianity but more importantly, an allout assault on the country’s national pride. After the 1970s, when it started exploiting its bountiful reserves of gas and oil, Norway became the second richest country in the world. Tony F. Wilson, an AngloJamaican, musician and DJ who has lived in Oslo for five years has an interesting

take on TNBM: “I’d say it was born of the same economical frustration and under representation of the underclass that gave way to Hip Hop in the 80s.” “I see a lot of parallels between the emergence of NWA and Mayhem. I’m sure Varg Vikernes would disagree but there are definite similarities between the way that in the early 80s America has its first black middle class (epitomized by the Cosby Show) and Norway’s nouveaux-riche, that I believe, sprang-up around the same time. Remember, Norway was essentially a nation of farmers for untold centuries before they became oil rich. Norway had Christianity forced upon it in the same way as African slaves did, so it’s no wonder that both Blues and Black Metal are rich in Satanic imagery.” Wilson adds: “Paradoxically, Black Metal is now one of Norway’s biggest cultural exports but the effects of the country’s rapid financial expansion on young people, particularly men, who don’t adhere to the required social model is much the same. Given Norway’s wealth, there is massive pressure not only to be successful but also to be-in-shape and to look good. There are many great things about Norway such as genuine equality for women… but [there is still] an alarming rate of heroin use, mental illness and suicides for such a small nation.” Back on the coach Odden waits until everyone is seated before announcing with mock pomposity: “Now we go to Hell!” Helvete Records, Schweigaards Gate 56 is barely a shadow of its former self. Now named Vårt Daglige Brød (which translates deliciously into English as Our Daily Bread) it is a Vietnamese run coffee shop, which, if you’re ever in the area does a mean espresso and a delicious bagel. Disappointingly at first it looks like there isn’t a trace of the misanthropic hub of TNBM left. But then Odden leads us through the shop, down some dank steps, along a dimly lit corridor and into a cold basement space which is bare apart from the words ‘BLACK METAL’ scrawled on the wall. The ‘T’ of metal has been replaced by an upside down cross. This was where the scene coalesced. From the start Mayhem were always the key group. They were fuelled partially by a desire for extremism but also by chaotically divergent ideas and philosophies about how to achieve this. Nihilistic frontman Per Yngve Ohlin, known simply as Dead was preoccupied with mortality – especially his own. To give himself a cadaverous air he would wear corpse paint and even bury his clothes, digging them up just before a gig, so he would look and smell like he had just been disinterred. He would go into trancelike states while singing, often cutting himself with knives and broken glass. ››

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During 1990 the band moved into a remote house together to begin work on what would become their most notorious album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Perhaps unsurprisingly Ohlin, partially spurred on by the deeply misanthropic world view promoted by all band members, took his own life in April 1991. He cut his wrists with a hunting knife and then turned a shotgun on himself. His suicide note apologized for all the blood and for firing the weapon indoors. On finding his friend’s body, the band’s guitarist and owner of Helvete, Øystein Aarseth aka Euronymous, took photos (one would end up adorning the front cover of bootleg album Dawn Of The Black Hearts). Then he gathered up skull fragments which he would later clean and make into necklace pendants to give to musicians he admired. The suicide got the band thrown out of the house, meaning they spent more and more time hanging out at the basement of Helvete. There were odd codes of conduct that sprang up around the metal shop. Odden says: “If you turned up wearing white trainers, he [Aarseth] would throw you out. He actually didn’t want to sell any records. He only had about 50 on one shelf and he wanted to keep them all for himself.” At one stage he wanted the store in complete darkness, saying that people who wanted to look at his precious albums would have to navigate by candlelight. When asked what his mother and father made of their son’s pastime, Odden laughs: “They were proud of him. His mum bankrolled the store so they weren’t shocked by what he was doing.” It was these ideas that informed the music of the original TNBM acts such as

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Mayhem, Burzum and Darkthrone: “It was music designed to be as anti-commercial as possible. To sound unlistenable. They were dead against having fans. Which is really cool, but as a consequence, some of the music is truly awful.” And it wasn’t just the punters who had to beware the peculiar wrath of Aarseth: “If you turned up for band practice with your stuff in a plastic bag you would be sacked. They would get rid of you if you had a steady girlfriend or had a kid. He used to fantasize about having an all-gay Mayhem, so women wouldn’t get in the way of the group and ruin it.” But to Odden, all of this was pure teenage heaven: “We used to go and hang out there and sleep over in Hell. It was where we would all meet up to drink beer and watch snuff movies back in the day. This was before the internet ruined everything. If you wanted to see a sawn off head you would all have to meet up and you would have to know someone who had the right tape. It was an occasion. Now you can see a sawn off head on the internet without leaving your bedroom.” The wistfulness in his voice is only partially affected for comic value. Back on the coach Odden introduces the other key player to the narrative: Varg Vikernes aka Count Grishnakh, who still records as Burzum: “Everywhere I go around the world I see people wearing Burzum T-shirts even though they’ve clearly never heard the music. Now I will play you some Burzum and you will see why no one ever listens to them.” Vikernes was a neo-Nazi and the main instigator behind the country’s church burnings. As well as making music as Burzum he also joined the ranks of Mayhem as bassist after Dead’s suicide. He was a notorious publicity fiend and this angered Aarseth greatly who thought that the movement should remain a secretive society based on the Hell’s Angels or Free Masons. Aarseth began telling people that he planned to torture his rival in the middle of a forest and leave him there to die. Whether it was this threat or the less prosaic idea of a squabble over a record deal or the more prosaic idea that Vikernes couldn’t stand the idea of not being the “most evil” member of the Black Circle, the result was murder. Vikernes visited Aarseth on August 10, 1993 and didn’t leave until he had stabbed the guitarist 23 times – once straight through the forehead. Despite the fact Aarseth was Odden’s friend, he remains philosophical about the killing: “If you threaten the wrong guy and he takes it seriously, well, you die. It’s you or him then.” The final destination of the coach is

the Neseblod record store. Odden’s voice loses all of its humour when he describes the murder, the suicide and church burnings as an “intense shadow of bad things” that fell across the music he loved, forcing him to turn his back on the scene for six years. He pinpoints the catastrophic tipping point: “As l remember, it the suicide of Dead was the starting point of things going darker. Until then it was like it is in other countries: young people into extreme music and imagery finding their own way of expressing their teenage angst. It haunts me still and I wish it had never happened. It was a tragedy, not a marketing strategy.” His other point about the music is very convincing as well: all of these acts of violence detracted from the simple truth that TNBM was not just heavy metal but an extremely new avant garde musical form. He says: “Aarseth loved Kraftwerk. He loved any kind of music that was not commercial. Metal heads were into AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Metallica… Black Metal was something else.” He cites the involvement of Conrad Schnitzler of Tangerine Dream and Kluster in the creation of the early 1987 Mayhem track Silvester Anfang as evidence. Later that night, we are back in Oslo waiting to watch unreconstructed and awesome TNBM act 1349 (named after the year the Black Death arrived in Norway). Before the gig we take a pew in a hipster dubstep bar over the road from the venue and see the odd sight of all of Ulver nodding along to Zomby’s Hyperdub banger, Tarantula. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, given how much they appear to be influenced by bands such as Massive Attack these days. Then, for the length of a pint at least, Necrobutcher from Mayhem joins them. The 1349 gig is really awesome. They’re all wearing corpse paint apart from the bass player who is dressed like a Halloween grim reaper. They praise the dark one and a mixture of industry types in town for the By: Larm music conference, curious drinkers and headbangers all throw the horns in the air. But in the guitars you can still clearly hear just how unusual, berserk and unique Black Metal is and how it still has the power to transform, transcend and transport. The best thing about good Black Metal is it’s like watching KISS - if KISS actually sounded as good as they looked, instead of being dull, corporate hogwash. At the end of the gig the singer bows theatrically to the cheering audience signalling that the performance is over and it’s time for him to leave the stage and take his make-up off. ■

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ALGORITHM

METHOD Words Ian Lamont

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“Randomness is very different from creativity. I’ve found over the years that I’m much more interested in algorithms when they don’t do anything interesting or surprising, a simple process is usually the most interesting. Those are the things that we can conceptualize and maybe build a model of in our own minds.” Monster Truck Gallery is bringing New Yorkbased artist and composer Tristan Perich’s Interval Studies to their Temple Bar gallery this April, and in some way it feels like a suitable follow up to last June’s successful show The Sound-Sweep which featured sound-artist Lesley Flanigan amongst others. But while The SoundSweep revolved around a theme of feedback loops, Interval Studies instead centres on Perich’s fascination with lo-fidelity digital sounds and coded information. He explains: “Onebit sound is a waveform that is restricted to only on and off values – 1 and 0 – and it comes out of binary representation of information. Comparing that, for instance, to 16-bit sound of a CD, you have 16 ones and zeros that can represent the soundwave at any moment in time so you get 216 possible values and thats around 63,000 different possible values. One-bit is the opposite. All that extra information doesn’t exist with the soundwaves that I work with.” Perich’s aesthetic both sonically and visually can seem abrasive and even chaotic on first impression. However after time, the sense of order and reason emerges from the aggregated ones and zeroes. “What I like about the one-bit stuff is that it comes from code, because I’m a programmer and I’m interested in the expression of code in sound, in visuals. The one bit waveform has an incredibly meaningful tie to code and information and mathematics. I’ve been using it in various media both in sound and also in video and at a more conceptual level in my work for a number years now.” “It has a very particular primitive electronic sound, a very gritty, raw sound that I love. In college I was exposed to a lot of new electroacoustic and electronic music and it never had the teeth of a violin. The unlimited capability of electronic sound didn’t really mean anything. Starting to work with the one-bit stuff changed that. All of a sudden electronics became interesting because there was some meaning behind what was happening.” “One of the things I’m trying to do is emphasize some degree of transparency in technology. It’s similar to a nostalgia for old technology, back when things had a physical aspect to them that we could understand. Back in the day you could

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repair a radio and now its entirely beyond our level of expertise as the average consumer. So there’s a social aspect to this, which is about how technology and abstraction of technology especially is totally running rampant.” Perich’s one-bit music bears the influence of American composers and artists that emerged in the 1960s, such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, whose music often arose from strict use of patterns and process. “I played piano since a really

young age and my composition came from being bored playing classical music at the piano. I always thought of the piano as an incredibly patterned intstrument. It had all these notes that represented pitchs but it also had this shape built into it. If you played a chord it had a certain shape to it and the shape translated into different sound if you moved your hand. And when I started scoring for other musicians the ideas I think came from these almost geometric patterns at the piano.” “I don’t write any of the music in code exactly. I use code to develop a framework for writing music for realising a sequence of numbers as notes in a score and the code is able to capture those simple repeating patterns and intersecting lines very directly. In a strange way I almost feel like I was lucky to already be writing music that could be expressed in code in a very simple way. “I grew up with Reich’s music and with Sol LeWitt. I loved all that early minimalism and I think that their conceptual stuff is the stuff I really respond to. LeWitt and Phil Glass especially, somehow they’ve touched this incredible thing where something that’s entirely conceptual also has so much emotional content. It becomes a very personal thing when you dive so strongly into an idea. In my own work I think that content is always the basis of the framework, but I always try to have all of the content itself written by hand. The bottom level of the music or the drawings, even though they are made algorithmically, come out of some composition that’s done by hand. I don’t literally mean pencil on paper, but something that I create instead of an algorithim.”

This code-driven modus operandi has seen him move back and forth through different media. “I started working with electronics with the idea of creating kinetic art. In Machine Drawings I use two motorized pens controlled by code. If I want to make this drawing a certain size, I set up the system, measure it, input those parameters and then describe the visual composition. The drawing will be an entire rectangle of randomness and in the middle of that there’ll be this polygon that corresponds to straight lines with zero randomness. Then I let go and the drawing process is essentially just an infinite loop. The machine has no sense of what it’s doing or how long its been going, it’s just executing this one small step of the algorithm over and over again until the drawing feels done and then I interject again and stop it. “I have no idea what the drawing will look like on a precise level. But, since randomness is built into the code I also know exactly how the drawing will be made and so basically any possible drawing that comes out of this code will look like a drawing that comes out of this code! In a way I think it’s similar to a John Cage piece of music that involves indeterminacy. If he tells the performer to randomly turn the dial on a radio, the piece will be entirely different than the last time it was performed but at the same time, its clearly the same piece.” The centrepiece of the show, Interval Studies uses one-bit tones in a sound-art installation. “I love that piece [La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela’s Dream House], I’ve spent a lot of time in it. What I’m doing [with Interval Studies] is essentially a very banal transformation of pitch by taking an interval and splitting it into smaller pieces and then presenting all of them together. In that sense, the composition is the interval and the number of divisions that I want, it’s really not about the mathematical ratio between the pitches, the fine-tuning, the cluster that comes out of that.” “I think it was a nice mechanism to explore this idea of pitch and to spatialise in some meaningful way. There’s no way to create a perfect system, you can’t be equidistant from everything always. Our world is very, very rich, so whenever we put a system into it, whether that system is a string quartet, or the Dream House, it suddenly takes on the richness and the biases of the real world. So presenting pitch, which is a linear idea in a two dimensional system was something interesting to me.” ■ Tristan Perich’s exhibition Interval Studies runs from April 7th for three weeks in Monster Truck Gallery Temple Bar. The opening will feature a short musical performance.

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Gangs Stars ASIWYFA Words Karl McDonald And So I Watch You From Afar’s selftitled debut set the Belfast instrumental four-piece apart from much of the pack in terms of the sheer emotion and ferocity therein. It was a reflection of a live show that feels like the band are pouring every last drop of themselves into each note and hit, bringing a certain humanity to sometimes alienating prog-hardcore. For their second album Gangs, they’ve followed Northern Irish brethren Not Squares onto Dublin’s Richter Collective, and they’ll launch that record in the Button Factory on April 30th. You have a reputation for being an intense live band. Would you say you’re a live band first and foremost? Well yeah, we try to put as much effort as we can into being a really good live band and not just standing there playing the songs. We want people to be excited

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about seeing live music. You hear people complaining about crowds not coming to shows any more, but if a band is good enough, people will want to come and see you play. But we did put a lot of effort into making this album. It was more of a studio album than the previous one. If you do it right, the energy of the live show will come across on the recording. You’ve signed to Richter Collective for the next album. What was the thinking behind that? We just wanted to do something new for a new record. We’ve known the Richter guys for a long time, since we started out as a band, and it made sense to work with them. There wasn’t really any more to it than that. They’re really good guys and I know they’re going to do a really good job. Do you think it’s a coincidence that you came through at roughly the same time as the Dublin Richter bands like Adebisi Shank and BATS? I don’t know about coincidence. We were really happy when we found out about them. When we first saw Adebisi Shank it was such a relief that we weren’t just these strange Northerners making this

weird music by ourselves. We met them early on and made friends with them. They’re one of our favourite bands in the world. BATS are a great band too, all of those bands are great. How did you end up making such proggy music when you talk about having your background in punk? I don’t know, actually. We’ve always thought of ourselves as a punk band. You know, we were listening to things like At The Drive-In and stuff growing up. But I suppose eventually we had to realize that we were pretty prog. How did you feel about Two Door Cinema Club winning the Choice Music Prize? We were really happy about that. We’re good friends with those guys. It’s good to see a northern band win it. I just wish we’d won it last year. There was a bit of anti-northern backlash down here actually. Was there? That’s brilliant. I’m glad they won. I just wish they’d given the money to the charity of And So I Watch You From Afar. We’re all pretty broke at the moment.

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Words Rosa Abbott

Words Rosa Abbott

Diarmait Grogan at the Severed Head The photography gallery Severed Head on Mount Street puts on consistently good exhibitions, and this month’s offering, opening on the 11th, is no exception. Eschewing colour for the ever-poignant simplicity of the black and white image, Diarmait Grogan’s works often border on abstract. Undefined, hazy forms intrude the space, or vaguely lurk in shadowy frames. This lack of clarity and certainty lends his images an ethereal and supernatural quality, yet the action suggested by the blurred movements of his figures points to a specific time and place, Each of Brooklyn artist Ray Sell’s layeredrooting them in the here and now; the upeveryday. and multiply sourced collage creations mimic the New high-speed, multi-tasking, flashTitled Way Home, the collection loading, micro-blogging, brain-frazzling, is the result of two years’ work explorsocial media meltdown we Following experienceon on ing the human condition. a from day tothe day basis,of and manage to passthis success previous projects, Grogan’s solo exhibition, aptly offis as ‘modernfirst life’. Highly saturated in taking place of oncelebrity the Dublin-born many aspects and popphotogculture, Transient, herapher’s satirisesnative all thesoil. things societyintuitive values and subjective, his monochrome simply by arranging them artfully images together are one at once and brimming withto onto pageghostly (who knew all you had the essence and energy of life. Swing do to make pop culture look ridiculousby at on closing day, theplace 26th,and andletyou’ll is 2pm to gather it all in one it catchfor theitself?). artist in conversation with felspeak Several works focus on low photographer, lecturer and the models of male behaviour putwriter forAdrian Reilly. ward by the media – a phantasmagoria of cowboys and Indians, racing cars, grizzly bears, rockets, bare-breasted beauties, booze, guns and more guns are all jumbled together before a wide-eyed boy looking on in confusion. On the other hand, expectations of females are epitomised by a Sir flock of swimsuit-clad models, swooping James Frazer outlines the unlikely down to an assortment of cherry-topped link between kings and adolescent girls cupcakes, trifleswork and jellied delights: ‘gorge in his seminal The Golden Bough. onInthese, like throughout this’. The messages laid manylook cultures history, and down by Sell’s collages are rarely things around the world, he explains, both were we’ve never forbidden heard before. ofplacing us have frequently fromMost either picked up on, and rolled eyes cynitheir feet upon the bare our earth, or in standing cism, at the media’s impossible, and unshielded beneathoften the rays of the sun. Thus, in amoronic, bizarre consequence social sometimes demands of of society both thenew. world’s andrest puber– taboo, this is nothing Butkings you can ty-stricken ladies were “suspended, assured thereyoung are few times when such satto say, between and earth�. It iresohas taken on suchheaven a visually dynamic, is this chapter of Frazer’s infamous witty and aesthetically pleasing form.and Get controversial work that the Tyrone-born down to the Blue Leaf Gallery on Sir John artist William McKeown has chosen to Rogerson’s Quay between April 14th and explore in the next installment of the May 6th to catch them in person. You Golden at thebut Hugh Lane. may haveBough seen itseries all before, trust me, it Perhaps more well known for his twodidn’t look as good as this. dimensional works (paintings, drawings

Ray Sell

William McKeown at the Hugh Lane

and watercolours), McKeown will be creating an installation for this exhibition, which will be on display from February 3rd until May 1st. The philosophical, spiritual and anthropological themes prescribed by the Golden Bough topic Famed for taking on subject matter as are perfectly suited to McKeown’s work. subversive and His subtle and understated pieces are the provocative as his vibrant expressionistic product of great contemplation, and are style, Brian Maguire is the chronicler of alienation and usually inspired by nature, air,ultimate light, and socialsuch oppression in Ireland. From conhumanity’s relationships with convictsdelicate, (he spent years as ‘artist-in-residence’ cepts. With his characteristic meticulous approach, thisinexhibition a medleyisof prisons) to disaffected set to explore that which Crumlin is - like ancient yooves, Maguire’s portraiture is kings and girls on the cusp of womanpainted with a sincerity, ironic wit and hood - suspended, somewhere between directness. However, recent years have heaven and earth. seen him branch out from the portraits which comprise the bulk of his artistic oeuvre, taking on new subject matters and also media, including photography and video art. The increasing diversity in At first, one might think Neil Carroll’s his approach has been catalysed by his works are about the structures. However leaving the post of ‘Head of Fine Art’ at this is not the case - his sculptural instalNCAD – a move that has allowed him to lations are more concerned with space; travel and work in Europe and Central the space created by his structures. Think America. The fruits of this stint abroad about it. When an architect plans a buildwill be on show at the Kerlin Gallery ing, he should design the structural from April 8 until May 14th. The all-new elements around the spaces he wants collection of works in this exhibition them to contain; not vice-versa. should stand as testament to the uniCarroll’s works ask us to take this conversality the specific - Maguire’s art cept as a metaphor for our thoughtofprocepitomises pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland esses: like an architecturallargely structure, our (and largely, by extension, post-crash thoughts are a “mechanical response to a Ireland), his approach to the subject given environment�. What’s more, yet these matter and concepts this socio-economic automatically generated thoughts, determined by societal values, environment can contain oroffers seems to synthesise restrict us like the walls ofseamlessly the buildings with the new global, diverse in which we sit. situations presented with on his travels. In this light, his upcoming exhibition A flurry andatflicker of expressive brushthe Joinery - running fromstrokes February 17th are tornado-ing across the world, until the 26th - could be seen as andown attempt tearing many social inequalities as to break down these constraining they go:structures Brian Maguire has gone global. placed on our thought processes. In it, Carroll manipulates his usual constructionrelated materials of wood, paint and blocks to push the boundaries of architecture, structures, space.... and yo mind. Whoa.

Brian Maguire

Neil Carroll at Joinery

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo has grown to become one of the most enduringly popular figures in modern art. One suspects this has as much to do with the fact that her love life was as colourful as her paintings – her work here is presented alongside that of her equally pioneering Modernist husband, Diego Rivera, but she also is said to have enjoyed dalliances with everyone from Leon Trotsky to exotic dancer Josephine Baker. Yet Kahlo’s real appeal probably lies in the powerful voice she gave to the underrepresented ‘Other’. A Communist, proud Mexican, bisexual and, not least, outspoken woman (her statement “I was born a bitch: I was born a painter� is the perfect feminist antithesis to Picasso’s “I paint with my prick�), she has become a sort of heroine to social groups as diverse as her artistic heritage. Dubliners will now be treated to an exhibition of some of her most exquisite artistic creations over at IMMA, including Self Portrait with Monkeys and Diego on my Mind. A selection of Diego Rivera’s works form the second focus of this exhibition, and though his fame hasn’t reached the dizzy heights of his wife’s, his work can be just as rich, evocative and awe-inspiring. The collection is supplemented with photographs of the two painters, diary entries and other personal paraphernalia, offering a rare intimate glimpse into the lives of Mexico’s most enigmatic power couple. The exhibition runs from April 6th until June 26th.

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Setting The Stage Alight Matchbox Theatre Words Aine Pearl Pennello

Just under the elegant Café des Irlandais, the newly founded Matchbox Theatre offers busy Dubliners the chance to see short enjoyable shows while relaxing with a free lunch, glass of wine or beer all for €10-20. Gavin Logue, founder of the theatre sat down with TD to talk about the difficulties and excitement of setting up his very first restaurant theatre. Is there a story behind the name Matchbox Theatre? I always had the notion of opening up a theatre to cover a little shop unit in George’s Street Arcade and putting on shows for maybe eight to nine people. But it just wasn’t viable for things like insurance. The opportunity just arose here and while it’s a little bigger, the space is still quite miniature.

Can you explain why you wanted to set up a small-scale theatre? Yes I can actually, and I won’t even be lying or rambling. From my point of view, I personally find theatre quite difficult to go to as an audience member. I find the physical distance really detaches me from what’s going on, I’m always aware that I’m spectating rather than being involved. But that’s not to say that in a performance here you’ll be brought up on stage, I hate things like that as well. But I think there’ll be more of a shared experience in this slightly more casual audience layout where you can have a few drinks, rather than sitting rigidly side by side. And it’s so intimate the performer can’t ignore the audience. If the audience is restless they’ll have to engage with that, they can’t hide behind the lights. Also, because there won’t be any sets of any great size or scale, it really will be performance led and performance driven. But to sum it up, for me the most important aspect of theatre is the relationship with the audience, not art. I don’t think there’s any point in doing a show that you’re really happy with that no one wants to come and see. So I think for performers to be aware of that relationship coming in to this space will be better for them and in our own little drop-in-the-ocean kind of way, will be better for theatre. How does the theatre/dining experience work with Café des Irlandais? We do lunch time shows at 1.10pm and the idea is to get people on their lunch hour. The shows are only forty-five minutes so it’s not the biggest time sacrifice. For those shows it’s ten euro a ticket and you get a free bowl of soup and bread. Then we have early evening theatre at 6.30pm, which is a really good time since it’s not going to take up the rest of your evening. You can catch a show on your way home and be in in time for Coronation Street. That’s ten euro as well and you get a free beer. And then at night

the price depends on the performers but that includes a free glass of wine. What kind of shows are you putting on at the minute? Sean O’Neil is organizing a singer/songwriter night called the 50 Cent Sessions, which works really well. We have a Cabaret Show on Saturday night at the moment. The space lends itself really well to a cabaret environment so I think cabaret might feature quite predominately, providing there’s an appetite for it. We also have a female only comedy night with female comediennes for a female only audience so I have no idea how that will go since I won’t be able to see it. And then we’re going to try an experimental type of long-form improv where the actual content comes from the audience. I also think it important that Matchbox be part of the theatre community so we have two charities lined up to help fund theatre companies free of charge. It’s a hard model to programme and it’s very ambitious - it’s a little bit Michael O’Leary. It’s a challenge but it’s possible and it’s exiting. What was it like to set up the theatre and what plans do you have for it? It was a lot harder than I thought it’d be but the rewards will come. It’s an exciting space and the artists who’ve come in seem genuinely excited about the potential of it. I really want people involved in theatre, music or comedy, to see it as a resource for them. I really want people to use the space and try things out. Even if it’s not right for what they think they want to do, if they could see it as a stepping stone to a bigger production or as an incubation for ideas and works. I’d love it to be known for clever, new ideas and those great ideas you never got around to doing before. www.facebook.com/ TheMatchboxTheatre

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Come join us on April 8th 10am – 2pm free of charge and celebrate our 1st birthday! With Free Tours 11.30am & 12.30pm In 2010 Glasnevin Museum & Cemetery Tours won the following awards:

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY GLASNEVIN MUSEUM!

Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement, from the Themed Entertainment Association, Burbank California Digital Media Awards, Best Digital Design and Overall Grand Prix Winners Institute of Designers in Ireland, Highly Commended, Best Exhibition Design OPUS Design Award, Highly Commended, Architectural Design Launching April 8th 2011 - Census 1911 This year’s Census will provide a picture of Ireland as it emerges from recession. The information gathered will hopefully provide vital information to help us plan for the future. Through its Census 1911 Exhibition, Glasnevin Museum is offering a unique opportunity to look at Irish life during 1911.

Glasnevin Museum, Finglas Road, Dublin 11 t: 01 8826550 e: museum@glasnevintrust.ie www.glasnevintrust.ie www.totallydublin.ie

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Live gigs April

Fri 8th Apr

Cry Before Dawn Vicar Street, €28, 8pm Catching an early Ryanair flight Esben & The Witch Crawdaddy, €14, 8pm Danish fairytale rock Brad Pitt Light Orchestra + Norabella Upstairs in Whelans, €10, 8pm Local big band theatrics Westlife The O2, from €54.80, 6.30pm Pronounce their name like a German would

Westlife The O2, from €54.80, 6.30pm Mon 11th Apr Africa Unite (with Fred and Bob) Whelans, €15, 8pm Reggae time Tue 12th Apr Oneohtrix Point Never The Button Factory , €16, 7.30pm High-class synth dronescapery Tír na nÓg Whelans, €15, 8pm Ageless folk duo

Napolean IIIrd Workman’s Club, €12, 8pm One man kitchen sink indie

Adele Olympia Theatre, €30, 8pm

Sat 9th Apr

Wed 13th Apr

The Unthanks Vicar Street, €25, 8.30pm Folkin’ hell

J Mascis Whelan’s, €23, 8pm Legendary Dinosaur Jr. distortion warrior

The Airborne Toxic Event The Academy, €18.50, 7.30pm State of emergency declared

The View The Academy, €23, 7.30pm More Scottish indie rock

Portugal The Man The Academy 2, €13.50, 7.30pm From Sarah Palin’s hometown - they can see Russia from there. Today Is The Day Whelans, €tbc, 7pm Veteran grindcore rockers Westlife The O2, from €54.80, 6.30pm

Know your role Michale Cole jabrone! Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band Vicar Street, €30, 8pm Moscow-born neuroscientist

Sun 10th Apr The Low Anthem Vicar Street, €21, 8.30pm Ireland’s Call

O Emperor The Academy, €18.50, 7.30pm Choice Prize nominees Beady Eye Olympia Theatre, Dublin, €36.60, 8pm Sat 16th Apr Agnes Obel Sugar Club, €15, 8pm Cale-covering Danish songbird Lykke Li Tripod, €20/24.50, 8pm And her Scandinavian competition Steve Mason The Button Factory, €17, 8pm Beta Band brainstrust

Clare Maguire The Sugar Club, €15, 8pm Another BBC Sound of 2011 contender

India 9 Nine Crawdaddy, €5, 8pm Local hindi-rock A Plastic Rose Upstairs in Whelans, €5, 8pm With Paul Shevlin & Levity Breaks

Dinosaur Pile-Up The Academy, €15, 7.30pm Northern nu-grunge

Fri 29th Apr

We Go Go & The Vibes Upstairs in Whelans, €5, 8pm Mullingar’s greatest emo export The Rubberbandits Olympia Theatre, from €19.45, 8pm They’re artists, but they love money Fri 22nd Apr

Buck 65 The Academy, €16.50, 7.30pm Prolific hip-hop Nova Scotian

Enemies Whelans, €tbc, 8pm Presented by Richter Collective

Sat 23rd Apr

The Martin A. Egan Band Whelans, €12, 8pm With Suzanne Walsh, Brian Conniffe & Thingumajigsaw

Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band Vicar Street, €30, 8pm

Beady Eye Olympia Theatre, Dublin, €36.60, 8pm Parka and sunglasses art project

N-Dubz Olympia Theatre, from €30, 8pm Hip hop comedy act

Fri 15th Apr Architecture In Helsinki The Button Factory, €18.50, 7.30pm Australian Alvar Aalto acolytes

Big Country The Academy, €26.50, 7.30pm Veteran folk-rockers

WWE Revenge Tour The O2, from €33.60, 7.30pm

Brother The Academy 2, €13.50, 7.30pm “Who’s this Hermano guy?”

Fri 8th Apr

Mon 11th Apr

Fri 15th Apr

Mairead Buicke NCH, John Field Room, €13, 1.05pm Soprano accompanied by Anthony Byrne

CDVEC Music Centre Celebration NCH, €10, 7.30pm Featuring students from Kylemore College

The Marilyn Monroe Show NCH, John Field Room, €20, 1.05pm Derby Browne & the Some Like It Hot Band

Glasvegas The Academy, €23, 7.30pm Er… Glaswegian alt-rockers James Vincent McMorrow The Pepper Canister Church, Mount Street €20, 8pm

Thu 14th Apr

Sage Francis Whelan’s, €20, 8pm Featuring Rosemary and Thyme

Twin Atlantic The Academy 2, €13, 7.30pm Glaswegian alt-rockers

Thu 21st Apr

Dublin Gospel Choir Olympia Theatre, €30, 8pm Like Ronseal, does what it says on the tin

Tue 19th Apr Paul Heaton Whelans, €19.50, 8pm Beautiful South and Housemartins frontman

Thu 28th Apr

Jody Has A Hitlist The Academy, €15, 7.30pm But Janey’s got the gun

Fighting For Jane + Eamon Brady Upstairs in Whelans €10/€8, 8pm Singer-songwriter stuff

The Pepper Canister Church, Mount Street €20, 8pm Sensibly bearded singer-songwriter

Wed 20th Apr A Hawk And A Hacksaw The Workman’s Club, €16, 8pm Quixotic Elephant 6 survivors

Sun 17th Apr Brooke Fraser The Sugar Club, €13.50, 8pm Whure’s yuur fush und chups shup?

Ken Zazpi + Guests Upstairs in Whelans, €5, 8pm Basque rockers

The Harlem Globetrotters The National Basketball Arena, €39.20, 1.30pm & 8pm They’re due a loss Edan with Paten Locke The Sugar Club, €tbc, 8pm With Kutmah and guests Tue 26th Apr Hello Monroe The Academy, €10, 7.30pm Goodbye Norma Jean The King Blues The Academy, €16, 7.30pm Political ska Wed 27th Apr Lisa Germano The Grand Social, €20, 7.30pm Alt-era songstress James Vincent McMorrow

Baths (Anticon) & Solar Bears The Workman’s Club, €15, 7.30pm Washed (out) chillwave sounds Jack L Vicar Street, €35, 7.30pm Special piano and strings show

With guests Mon 2nd May Katzenjammer The Academy, €16, 7.30pm He sounds like he plays a keytar Wilko Johnson Whelans, €26.50, 7:30pm Tue 3rd May John Grant The Button Factory , €19.50, 8pm Thu 5th May Ryan Sheridan Whelans, €12, 8pm Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival Grand Canal Theatre from €21, 6pm M-I-C, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E! Fri 6th May

Funeral Suits The Academy, €10, 7.30pm Wake me up before you go go

Max Tundra & Toby Kaar The Workman’s Club, €15, 8pm Hyperactive electronica

Japanese Popstars The Button Factory, €17.50, 11pm Not big in Japan

My Passion The Academy 2, €12.50, 7.30pm …is doing listings

Mary Gauthier Whelans, €23, 8pm With Ben Glover

Disney Live Grand Canal Theatre, from €21, 6pm

Low Sea Upstairs in Whelans, €tbc, 8pm Bum note

Rakim The Button Factory, €22.50, 7.30pm Paid In Full Tour Sat 7th May

Sat 30th Apr The Wave Pictures Crawdaddy, €14, 8pm Oceanographic rock Lunasa Whelans, €20, 8pm Trad family with guests Sun 1st May Scuba Dice The Academy, €12, 7.30pm Irish pop-punk

Drive-By Truckers The Button Factory, €20, 7.30pm Cowpunks present their “R&B Murder album” The High Kings Vicar Street, €33.60, 7.30pm A singing Carrolls shop Talvin Singh & Niladri Kumar Crawdaddy, €20/24.50, 8pm MacArthur Park on the tabla Disney Live Grand Canal Theatre, from €21, 6pm

Fred Cooke Whelans, €tbc, 8pm

Classical April

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra NCH, €10-35, 8pm Sat 9th Apr Cheek to Cheek – The Pasadena Roof Orchestra NCH, €40-55, 3.15pm, 8pm Extravaganza with dancers and singers galore

Tue 12th Apr Beethoven’s Great Piano Sonatas NCH, John Field Room, €20, 8pm 13 (Pathetique), 27 (Moonlight), 81a and 57 – all the hits!

Wed 27th Apr RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra NCH, Free, 6.30pm Part of the Early Evenings Program RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra NCH, €10-35, 8pm

Wed 13th Apr

Sat 16th Apr

National Chamber Choir – Tristes Tropes NCH, Kevin Barry Room, €14, 7.30pm A selection of choral works

Natalie Clein & Julius Drake NCH, €20-40, 8pm Cellist & pianist as part of International Concert Series

Dublin County Choir NCH, €20-25, 8pm Present “Together As One”

Sun 10th Apr

Thu 14th Apr

Siansa Gael Linn 2011 – Craobhchómortas NCH, €12, 7.30pm

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RTÉ Concert Orchestra NCH, €11-38, 8pm The Essential Italian Opera Evening

Fine Girl Ye Are: The Legendary Story of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Maken NCH, €30-35, 8pm

Sun 17th Apr DIT Ensembles All Together Now NCH, €15, 3pm, 8pm Students of DIT Conservatory of Music Wed 20th Apr

European Masterworks Series NCH, €20, 8pm Featuring Hugh Tinney playing Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit Fri 29th Apr Lunchtime Piano Classics 3 NCH, John Field Room, €15, 1.05pm Featuring Veronica McSwiney RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra NCH, €18-35, 8pm Sat 30th Apr Friends Supper & Met Opera Screening of Verdi’s Ill Trovatore

Movies@Dundrum, €50, 4pm Early supper at Harvey Nichols followed by live screening RTÉ Concert Orchestra Signature Series 2011 NCH, €20-45, 8pm Karl Jenkins conducts his The Armed Man Tue 3rd May RIAM BA in Music Final Year Performance NCH, €10, 8pm Concerto performance from final year students

Blow The Dust Orchestra Bealtaine Concert NCH, €5, 1.05pm Celebrating creativity in an older age Thu 5th May An Evening with Brian Kennedy & His Musicians NCH, €30-35, 8pm Doing a greatest hits how Fri 6th May Songs From The Harp Room NCH, John Field Room, €12, 1.05pm Featuring Claire Roche

Wed 4th May RTÉ Concert Orchestra NCH, €11-38, 8pm Let There Be Love – A Celebration of Nat King Cole Kaleidoscope Night The Odessa Club, €8, 8.30pm Thu 5th May

John O’Connor, Piano and Friends NCH, €25-40, 8pm Sat 7th May And The Band Played On – 150th Anniversary of RIC Band NCH, €15-20, 8pm Celebrating history of Irish police force band

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Trad April Thu 7th Apr

Sunday

Wicker Bones Ball Alley, Lucas Free, 8pm Bawdy ballad session every Thursday

African Drumming Workshop Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre €5, 10am Adults workshop as part of National Music Day Sun 10th Apr

Fri 8th Apr Steph Geremia & Friends Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre €5, 7.30pm

Wicker Bones The Pint, Eden Quay Free, 6pm Songs of love and hate, Irish style, every

Tue 12th Apr Tír na nÓg Whelans €15, 8pm Leo O’Kelly & Sonny Condell’s legendary 70s folk duo return Sat 16th Apr

The Wiyos Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre €16, 7.30pm Americana, recommended by Dylan and Seasick Steve Sun 17th Apr

Sun 24th Apr Clanntraí Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre €5, 7.30pm Monthly trad regulars

Piper In The Parlour Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre €5, 2.30pm Sunday session

Sat 30th Apr

International Bar, Wicklow St. 9pm, €8

Apr 22nd Closed (Good Friday) Apr 29th Petra Odlozilikova 9pm, Free

€20, 8pm Famous musical family plus guests Ger Wolfe Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre €16, 7.30pm

Lunasa Whelans

Jazz April Sundays The Merrion Gates Fitzpatricks Castle, Killiney 12.30pm, Free Stella Bass Trio Cafe en Seine, Dawson St. 2pm, Free Zinc Jazz Club Pacino’s (Cellar bar), Suffolk St. D2. Daniel Jacobson Trio feat. Guests Apr 3rd Lauren Kinsella Apr 10th Georgia Cusack Apr 17th Sarah Buechi Apr 24th Sandra Melos 5.30pm, €8/6

Jazz Globetrotters Purty Kitchen, Temple Bar 6pm, Free Globetrotter Quartet Shebeen Chic, South Great Georges St 10.30pm, Free MONDAY Hot House Big Band The Mercantile Bar, Dame St. 9.15pm, €8 18 Piece Big Band Essential Big Band Grainger’s Pub, Malahide Rd. 9.30pm, €5 17 Piece Swing Orchestra

WEDNESDAY Live Jazz O’Reillys Bar, Seafort Ave. Sandymount 8pm, Free Jam Session Centre for Creative Practices, 15 Lwr. Pembroke St. 8pm, €7 THURSDAY Isotope JJ Smyths, Aungier St. 9pm, €10 Alex Mathias Quartet

Project Bewley’s Cafe Theatre Sun Apr 10th, 8pm, €10

FRIDAY La Cuvee Bistro and Wine bar, Custom House Square, IFSC. Apr 1st Emily Cole Apr 8th Milla Clynes Apr 15th Joan Shields Apr 22nd (Closed) Good Friday Apr 29th Kevin Morrow 6pm, Free La Dolce Vita, Cow’s Lane, Temple bar Apr 1st Sandra Melo Apr 8th Suzanne Savage Apr 15th Kevin Morrow

SATURDAY Kevin Morrow Quartet Mespil Bar, Burlington Hotel, D4 7.30pm, Free

Madame Anne and the Teasers (8 Piece Jazz/Swing band) Tease Burlesque night Break for the Border Fri Apr 29th, 9pm, €20

APRIL (ONE OFFS) Swiss Indian Orchestra feat. Sarah Buechi Kevin Barry Room, NCH Fri Apr 8th, 8pm. Edel Meade’s Swoo-Beh

Theatre April Honest

Synge’s fiancé. Abbey Theatre, April 5th, 8pm, €4-6

Back of the Hand theatre company presents DC Moore’s hit from last year’s Edinburgh Festival. This one-man comedy follows one drunken night in the life of Dave, a disgruntled civil servant, who has decided to opt out. Matchbox Theatre , Until April 3rd, 6.30pm, €10 Racoon Saoirse never knew she needed to be found, until he came into her life. As she examines the events of their relationship, Saoirse comes across a secret, leading to a shocking revelation and a choice between becoming the woman he lost or going on forever alone. Matchbox Theatre, April 5th- 17th, 6.30pm, €10 Moment On a seemingly ordinary evening, an Irish family sits down to tea. Tonight though, Nial is home, back from prison having committed a dark crime many years earlier with some news to share and a conscience to clear. An Draíocht, April 5th-6th, 8pm, €16-20 The Music of Ghost Light: An Evening with Joseph O’Connor and Friends Featuring live performances from Fishamble: The New Play Company, Sinead O’Connor and others, The Music of Ghost Light celebrates Joseph O’Connor’s Ghost Light as part of this month’s ‘Once City, One Book’ event. Abbey Theatre, April 3rd, 7.30pm, €20-25

Céim Eile The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly Starring Louis Lovett, the play follows the adventures of off-key singer young Peggy O’Hegarty across snowy lands and dangerous seas as she goes in search for her family and friends as the inhabitants of the city have all mysteriously left with the first snow of winter. Abbey Theatre , April 12th – 30th; 2, 4 & 7pm, €10-15 Pygmalion An Abbey Theatre premiere, Bernard Shaw’s popular play will be performed late this month at the Abbey for the first time ever. Linguistic professor Henry Higgins accepts a bet to transform Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a lady in this play, later adapted into the famous Broadway musical and Audrey Hepburn film My Fair Lady. Abbey Theatre , April 27th – June 25th, 7.30pm, €15-40 Across the Boundaries: Talking about Thomas Kilroy Directed by Patrick Mason, a reading of Thomas Kilroy’s scenic play Blake will be presented as part of the Abbey’s tribute to the Irish playwright and novelist. Abbey Theatre , April 30th, 8pm, €4-6 O’Sullivan Beara – The Last Gaelic Chieftain

Deirdre of the Sorrows A public reading of Synge’s Deirdre of the Sorrows will be held at the Abbey Theatre as part of this month’s ‘One Book, One City’ celebrations. The play, based on popular Irish mythological characters Deirdre and Conchobar, was unfinished at the time of Synge’s death but later finished by Yeats and

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(tenner on Tues)

Written and performed by Aidan Dooley, this one man show follows the story of O’Sullivan, the last Gaelic chieftain after the Battle of Kinsale, as he tries to save the Beara clan from the angry forces of the Tudor Queen who wants to ensure the Irish won’t aid Spain again. Civic Theatre , April 5th – 9th, 8pm, €10-20

Choreographed by Irish dancer Ronan McCormack, Céim Eile presents three original and innovative productions which put a new spin on the tradition of Irish step-dancing. Civic Theatre Noctú Featuring international world-renown Irish step dancers Noctú uses comedy, parody, narrative, text and dance to tell the story of Irish dance from the dancer’s point of view. Part of RTE’s new series ‘Dance Off’, Noctú allows the audience to get a behind-the-scenes look of a traditional dance in a very new light. Civic Theatre , April 18th – 23rd; 2.45, 5.30, 6.30 & 8.30pm, €15-20 The Bad Arm – Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer An antidote to Riverdance, this one-woman play follows the story of a scowling, ugly duckling Irish dancer from London as she recounts her adventures and mishaps of sex, drink and rock n’ roll. Civic Theatre April 18th – 23rd; 4, 8.15 & 8.45pm, €12-16

Rockaby, A Piece of Monologue, Play and Catastrophe – director Cathal Quinn and Mouth on Fire production company offer audiences a rare chance to see some of the famous Irish playwright’s most infrequently performed works. Focus Theatre , April 13th – 23rd

In this Edinburgh Fringe hit, former Royal Shakespeare Company actor Trevor Smith offers a poignant and comic telling of dementia from the victim’s own experience of the condition to how others perceive it and act towards those afflicted. The Helix, April 28th – 29th, 8.15pm, €12.50-15

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

Life – A One Woman Show

In celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of Tennesse William’s birth, director Mark Brokaw offers a new production of the American writer’s Pulitzer Prize winning play which follows the journey of Maggie ‘the Cat’ as her wealthy Southern family gathers to celebrate her dying father’s birthday. Gate Theatre , April 5th – June 11th, 2.30 & 7.30pm, €20-35

Written and performed by Amy De Bhrun with music from local singer/songwriter Bairbre Munnis, this play marks the first performance to be put on in the Terenure restaurant which is offering dinner, a glass of wine and a show for only €20. The play includes a mixture of theatre, poetry, comedy and song as Grainne, a young girl living in London, learns that life isn’t so much about your destination but the journey that takes you there. Mayfield Eatery, April 4th – 20th, 8pm, €20

Between Foxrock and a Hard Place

Encore! Showtime 2011 Based on the novel from Paul Howard’s Ross O’Carroll-Kelly series, self-obsessed D4 caricature Ross learns his parents have decided to divorce and sell the family mansion. While the family is learning just how much they earned after the sale, a gunman watches the house, intent on kidnap in this otherwise comic play. Gaiety Theatre April 4th – 16th, 2.30pm & 7.30pm, €25 – 49.50

Featuring students of Encore! School of Performing Arts, dramatic song and dance performances include highlights from Oliver!, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Jungle Rhythm and HappyLand. Mill Theatre, April 1st – 9th; 2.30, 5, 7 & 8pm, €12-15 An Inspector Calls

Up & Over It The Big Fellah As seen on the Late Late Show, Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding offer an alternative Irish dance show influenced by electro-pop. The production has also been seen on CNN, Good Morning America and The Rachael Ray Show in the States as Up & Over It became a viral sensation last year with over six million YouTube hits. Civic Theatre, April 19th – 23rd; 1, 6.30, 8.30 & 9pm, €15-20 Silence & Darkness

A New York fireman joins the IRA in this Richard Bean play which was highly acclaimed during its tour last year. Starring Finbar Lynch in the title role, this psychological thriller tells the story of the IRA in the Bronx over three decades as events unfold back home in Ireland. Gaiety Theatre, April 19th – May 7th, 2.30 & 7.30pm, €15-45 An Evening with Dementia

Featuring four of Beckett’s short plays –

J.B. Priestly’s famous murder mystery tells the story of a mysterious inspector who interrupts dinner at an upper class English family home when a girl, known to all present, mysteriously dies. Directed by Moira Walsh, the play will keep audiences guessing and on their toes. Mill Theatre, April 12th – 16th, 8pm, €15-18 Boolabus Youth Theatre Directed by Jed Murray and Gillian McCar, the youth theatre company presents an evening of one-act plays from new pieces to adaptations and old classics.

Mill Theatre , April 19th – 21st, 8pm, €5-10 Eden A Midlands couple tell the story of their failing relationship in this humorous play which uses colloquial language and comic storytelling to describe the different ways in which both characters go about finding love. New Theatre, Until April 9th, 8pm, €12-15 One for Sorrow/Bad Sunday Irish Times Theatre Award winner, Bairbre Ni Chaoimh will be directing the two productions of One for Sorrow and Bad Sunday performed by college graduates of the Inchicore College of Further Education. One for Sorrow sees small town girl Doreen unable to forget her past as she moves to Dublin while Bad Sunday follows the comic misadventures as a dysfunctional Irish family goes out for a Sunday drive. New Theatre , April 11th – 16th, 8pm, €10 Language UnBecoming a Lady Nominated for Best New Writing at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival, with the music of Barbara Streisand, Judy Garland and Billie Holiday, this play explores the life, loves and struggles of an ageing drag queen in Ireland over the past forty years. New Theatre, April 18th – 23rd, 8pm, €12-15 The Parting Glass In this on-man show, Eoin returns to Ireland from Germany where he emigrated to in the 1980s to find work and make a new life for himself with his wife and son. However the Ireland that Eoin returns to doesn’t seem to have changed much for the better as the renewed Celtic Tiger dies out once more. Project Arts Centre, April 4th – 16th, 8pm, €16-20

www.totallydublin.ie

La Peniche is Dublin’s most unique restaurant 2011 voted by eat magazine

Join the Crew for dinner and canal cruise 7 days of the week! The only restaurant to open on Good Friday with a full bar! Don’t forget: 3rd April - Mother’s Day

Treat your mum with a lovely cruise along the Grand Canal, combined with a delicious 3 course meal

VOUCHERS AVAILABLE Booking recommended at all times

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TOTALLY DUBLIN

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Clubbing weekly April Mondays

Chart, pop, and dance with a twist

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

Piss-up with Peaches The George, George’s St., D2 Free, 9pm All drinks €4 or less 3 Jagerbombs for €10

Sound Mondays The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D1 Indie, Rock, Garage and Post Punk 11pm, Free

Tuesdays

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/ Mashed Up Monday The George, Sth. Great Georges St, D2 Chill out with a bowl of mash and catch up with all the soaps 6.30pm, Free The Industry Night Break for the Border, 2 Johnstons Place, Lr Stephens Street, D2 Pool competition, Karaoke & DJ 8pm Make and Do-Do with Panti Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel Street, D1 Gay arts and crafts night 10pm DJ Ken Halford Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Indie, Rock 10pm Euro Saver Mondays Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 DJ Al Redmond 11pm, €1 with flyer 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

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 Play with DJ’s Dany Doll & Eddie Bolton Pravda, Lower Liffey Street, D1 Soul/Pop/Indie/Alternative. 8.30pm - 11.30pm. Taste Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Lady Jane with soul classics and more 8pm, Free Rap Ireland The Pint, 28 Eden Quay, D1 A showcase of electro and hip hop beats 9pm, Free Groovilisation South William, Sth. William St. D2 8pm, Free DJs Izem, Marina Diniz & Lex Woo Tarantula Tuesdays The Turk’s Head, Parliament St & Essex Gate, Temple Bar, D2 Disco, House, Breaks 11pm Sugarfree Ri-Ra, Dame Court, D2 Soul, Ska, Indie, Disco, Reggae 11pm, Free Le Nouveau Wasteland The Dice Bar, Queen St, Smithfield, D7 Laid back French Hip Hop and Groove Free Star DJs Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 Disco, House, R’n’B 9pm 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

n Dolly Does Dragon, The Dragon, South Georges St, D2 Cocktails, Candy and Classic Tunes 10pm, Free

The DRAG Inn The Dragon, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Davina Devine presents open mic night with prizes, naked twister, go-go boys and makeovers. 8pm, Free

Oldies but Goldies Ri-Ra, Dame Court, D2 Blooming Good Tunes 11pm, Free

Glitz Break for the Border, Lwr Stephens Street, D2 Gay club night with Annie, Davina and DJ Fluffy 11pm

Austin Carter + Company B + DJ Dexy 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

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TOTALLY DUBLIN

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 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 Hump Pravda, Lower Liffey Street, D1 DJ’s Niall James Holohan & Megan Fox. Indie/ rock/alt/hiphop & Subpop 8.30pm - 11.30 pm Dublin Beat Club Sin è Bar, 14 Upr Ormond Quay, D Showcase live music night 8pm, Free

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

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

Rob Reid + EZ Singles + DJ Karen G Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Free, 9pm – 1.30am DJ Darren C

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

DJ Darren C Fitzsimons Club, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 Chart, pop & dance with a twist Free, 11pm

Beatdown Disco South William, Sth. William St. D2 Stylus DJs Peter Cosgrove & Michael McKenna - disco, soul, house 8pm, Free

Space N’Veda The George, George’s St., D2 Free, 11pm Exquisite Mayhem with Veda, Davina & Guests

Wild Wednesdays Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 Frat Party €5 entry, first drink free

Music on the Rocks South William Swing, jive, cabaret 8pm, Free

Shaker The Academy, Middle Abbey St, D2 11pm, €8/6

Thursdays

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 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

Sounds@Solas Solas, Wexford St, D2 9pm-1am, Free Soul @ Solas Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Mr Razor plays the best in Soulful beats and beyond. International guests too! 8pm, Free CBGB Pygmalion, Powerscourt Centre, D2 Megan Fox & Niall James Holohan 9pm, Free Extra Club M, Blooms Hotel, D2 Kick start the weekend with a little extra 11pm, €5, Free with flyer Off the Charts Twentyone Club and Lounge, D’Olier St, D2 R&B with Frank Jez and DJ Ahmed 11pm, €5 Muzik

The Button Factory, Curved St, Temple Bar, D2 Up-Beat Indie, New Wave, Bouncy Electro 11pm Thursdays at Café En Seine Café En Seine, 39 Dawson St., D2 DJs and dancing until 2.30am. Cocktail promotions. 8pm, Free CBGB Pygmalion, South William St, Dublin 2 Crackity Jones & Readers Wives on the decks 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 House, Electro, Bassline 11pm, €8/5 Alternative Grunge Night Peader Kearney’s, 64 Dame St, D2 Alternative grunge 11pm, €5/3 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 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 n Mofo + One By One + DJ Jenny T 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 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 DJ Jim Kenny Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm Chewn Crawdaddy, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Mincey indie music 11pm, €5 The Beauty Spot Dakota Bar, 8 South William Street, Dublin 2. A new night of Fashion, Beauty, Shopping and Drinks in association with Style Nation and sponsored by Smirnoff. 7pm, Free The Odeon Movie Club The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Classic Movies on the Big Screen at 8pm. Full waiter service and cocktails from €5. June Dark Comedy. 8pm, Free Tanked-Up Tramco Nightclub, Rathmines Student Night, Drinks From €2 10:30pm, €5 Jugs Rock O’Reillys, Tara St. Late Rock Bar, All Pints €3.20, Pitchers €8 9pm, €5 Thirsty Student Purty Loft, Dun Laoghaire Student Night, All Drinks €3.50 10pm, €5 entry Davina’s Club Party The George, George’s St., D2 Free, 11pm Davina Divine hosts with Peaches Queen, Bare Buff Butlers & Special Guests M*A*S*H South William DJs Matjazz, Baby Dave, Lex Woo 8pm, Free Fridays Housemusicweekends Pygmalion, Sth. William St., D2 House music magnet with special guests each week 12pm, Free NoDisko Pravda, Lower Liffey Street, D1 Indie/Rock N Roll/ Dance 10pm – 2.30pm. 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

www.totallydublin.ie

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 10pm, Free Strictly Handbag Bodega Club, Pavilion Centre, Marine Rd, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin 80s with DJ Mark Kelly 10pm, €10

Pygmalion, Sth. William St., D2 House and techno til late, with special guests each week 10pm, Free DJ Karen @ The Dragon The Dragon, Sth Great Georges St, D2 House music 10pm n 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

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 Rocked O Reillys, Tara St. Launching 9th October with LLUTHER, Rock DJ,All pints €3.20, Pitchers €9 9pm, €5

Jitterbop The Grand Social, Lwr. Liffey St, D1 DJ Oona Fortune. Rockabilly/Swinging Sounds. 8pm - 11pm. (2.30am on bank holidays) The Matinee Brunch Club The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Super family friendly brunch club. Kids movies on the big screen 3PM. 12pm – 6pm, Free Sundown Bia Bar, Lwr. Stephen’s St., D2 Chill-out house, funk, electronics and acoustic 10pm, Free

Saturdays @ Purty Loft Purty Loft Nightclub, Dun Laoghaire Funky House & RnB DJs, 10pm, €10

The Latin Beat The Odeon, Old Harcourt St. Station, D2 Learn to dance Salsa & Samba from some of the best instructors in Ireland. Classes from 6pm, club from 8pm - late, Free

Saturday @ The Wright Venue The Wright Venue, South Quarter, Airside Business Park, Swords, Co Dublin Rock, Pop, Hip-hop, Dance 10pm

Late Night Live Gaiety Theatre Live music 11pm, €TBC

Dancehall Styles The Button Factory, Curved St, Temple Bar, D2 International dance hall style 11pm, €5

Punch The Good Bits Indie/Disco in one room and Techno/House and Electro in the main room 11pm, €2 between 11-11:30

Ragin’ Full On The Button Factory Everything from Thin Lizzy to Wu Tang Clan, Van Halen, The Damned & Prince. 8pm, Free

The Workers Party Sin, Sycamore St, Temple Bar, D2 With DJ Ilk 9pm

Sundays

Saturday @ The Village The Village, 26 Wexford St, D2 Pete Pamf, Morgan, Dave Redsetta & Special Guests 11pm

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

Whigfield

Eardrum Buzz

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

Basement Club Panti Bar, 7-8 Capel St, D1 Pop and Electro

9pm, Free Gay Cabaret The Purty Kitchen, 34/35 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2 Gay cabaret show 9pm, Free before 11pm 12 Sundays The Bernard Shaw, 11 - 12 Sth Richmond St, Portobello, D2 Funk, Disco, House 6pm – 12am, Free DJ Karen The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Pop Commercial and Funky House Free before 11pm, €5 with flyer, €8 without The George Bingo with Shirley Temple Bar The George, Sth Great Georges St, D2 Bingo & Cabaret with Shirley Temple Bar 8.30pm, Free

Soul to Rock n Roll to Punk 7pm, Free 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 DJ Paul Manning Buskers, Temple Bar, D2 Chart Pop, Current Indie and Rock Music 10pm Sunday Roast The Globe, Georges St, D2 9pm, Free Magnificent 7’s 4 Dame Lane, D2 w The Ultimate Single’s Night Free, 7pm

Elbow Room South William, 52 Sth William St, D2 Jazz, Soul, Disc & Latin 8pm, Free

Hang the DJ The Globe, 11 Sth Great Georges St, D2 Rock, Indie, Funk, Soul

Alan Keegan + One By One + DJ Darren C Fitzsimons Bar, 21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2 9pm, Free 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 FM’s DJ’s playing

South William, 9pm, Free With special guest DJ Dean Smith (Soulshare, UK) and Billy Scurry

The Bernard Shawm, 8pm, Free People from all across Dublin gather to slag Orlando’s dinosaur tattoo.

Pygmalion, Details TBA

Friday April 15th

Tom Lowe’s Audio Sunshine South William, 10pm, Free With Adam F, Dazboy, and Marcus Dunne

Pogo Twisted Pepper, 10pm, €13 With Ambivalent and Andre Lodemann

The Japanese Popstars The Button Factory, 11pm, €17.50 Rave refused

Digital Mystikz, Twisted Pepper, 10pm, €15 Digracefully influential dubstep duo, with Sacha Dieu of Balkan Beat rounding out the bill.

Pogo: Record Store Day Twisted Pepper, 10pm, Free With Earwiggle, Discotekken and Quarter Inch collective

Latinafrodiscotech South William, 9pm, Free As it says on the tin

Best Foot Forward South William, 9pm, Free Choice Cuts DJ Rizm and Colm K play hip-hop, afrobeat, funk, disco and house

Juice Box South William, 9pm, Free Chewy and friends

Thursday April 21st

Filthy! South William, 10pm, Free DJs Mark Kelly and Mark Alton

Forward/Slash Holy Thursday Special, The Bernard Shaw, 8pm, Free

Sunday April 24th

Ear Candy Solas Bar, 31 Wexford St, D2 Disco tunes and Funk Classics to finish the weekend. 8pm, Free

Session Pygmalion, Powerscourt Centre, D2 40% off all the booze all day & Mr. Ronan spinning only the best Indie, Rock & Roll. Free in before 4pm, €5 after.

Clubbing once-offs April Thursday April 7th

Dave Salacious and friends

Thursday April 14th

Scribble: All City Presents 33/45, Bernard Shaw, 8pm, Free

Saturday April 9th

Mr Jones, Twisted Pepper, 10pm, Free With Westway Flyover and Juice

Mr.Jones Twisted Pepper, 10pm, €8 With Bugged, Anatomy and house DJs Friday April 8th Scribble presents: Tom Beary & chums, Bernard Shaw, 8pm, Free Mud Twisted Pepper, 10pm, €10 With Artificial Intelligence and Fuck Art Let’s Bass Pleasurekraft Crawdaddy, 11pm, €12 All aboard the Love Boat. Family South William, 9pm, Free

ToeJam: Graphic Score Music Session Bernard Shaw, 8pm, Free With Orlando and Shortie POGO: Ridim Fest Twisted Pepper, 10pm, €18/12 The Beat, Barry Redsetta, Firehouse Skank and more Pow Wow South William, 9pm, Free DJs Mark Kelly and Brian Cuddy Sure Shot South William, 11pm, Free Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Dub, Bossa, Samba and Tropical Kiki (BPitchcontrol) Pygmalion, 11pm, €5 With Fratboy Babe-Stealer in support

Bizarro 2.0 South William, Free, 10pm DJ Fassman and friends. Chicago & Ibiza house, classic disco Saturday April 16th Toejam: Melodee & Shortie, The Bernard Shaw,, 8pm, Free

Mr Jones The Twisted Pepper, 8pm, €8 Flashlight, Northern Drones & Absys Records Saturday April 23rd

Laurent Garnier Presents… Tripod, 9pm, €25 LG with mates Benjamin and Stephan in tow. Ressaca Brasil South William, 1pm, Free An all-day, all-night samba party

Fever

Toejam: Orlando’s Super Saturday

Easter Sunday Session

Mon €75+5 Texas Holdem Freezeout 8:30pm

Wed €20+5 Texas Holdem Rebuy 8:30pm

Fri €55+5 Texas Holdem Scalps 8:30pm

Sun €50+5 Texas Holdem Freezeout 8:30pm

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

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

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

Special Event Last Thursday of every Month - €250+20 Freezeout. Biggest

and actress Molly Allgood. There will also be performances of Synge’s plays and those of his circle, exhibitions, guided walks, art shows and films. For more information visit: http://www. dublinonecityonebook.ie

A one-man performance showcasing Ireland’s best literary talent, using a minimal set. G.B. Shaw, Wilde, Swift, and Heaney are just a few who have been chosen. For further information visit: http://www. writersmuseum.com

Mysterious death set in the 1930s, directed by José Luis Guerín. For more information visit: http://www.dublin. cervantes.es

Française.

Franco-Irish Literary Festival

En la ciudad de Sylvia (In the city of Sylvia) (2007)

The Writers Entertain

Tren de sombras (Train of Shadows) (1997)

8th, 9th, 10th April This year’s festival is centred upon the theme of Generations. Events will be held in the Chester Beatty, Dublin Castle, and the Alliance

Friday April 29th

Kelp South William, 10pm, Free DJ Shane Hall and guests play deep and progressive grooves. Saturday April 30th Stefano South William, 9pm, Free Disco Outcasts DJ, with Billy Scurry

Poker April Fitzwilliam Card Club

Online booking www.fitzwilliamcardclub.com

Festivals April Dublin: One City, One Book 1st – 30th April Dublin In its sixth year of encouraging the city of Dublin to read one book for the month – this year Dublin City Council have chosen “Ghost Light” by Joseph O’Connor. Readings and music will take place in the Abbey Theatre to celebrate O’Connor’s novel, which is based on the love affair between Irish playwright Synge

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TOTALLY DUBLIN

2nd – 25th April, Dublin Writers Museum, 13:10 – 14:00, €11 - €13

Wed, April 6th, 6 pm, Instituto Cervantes, Free

For more information visit: http://www. francoirishliteraryfestival.com/

Wed, April 13th, 6 pm, Instituto Cervantes, Free A young man follows a girl into a city, José Luis Guerín

regular poker tournament in Dublin with 140+ players. 8:30pm

For more information visit: http://www.dublin. cervantes.es Wrestlemania 15th April, O2, €33.60 – €76.25 Come and see people bashing themselves off each other in a choreographed fashion. For more information visit: http://www. theo2.ie/

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Visual Art April Blue Leaf Gallery The Observatory, 7-11 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, D2 Line of Fire A solo show by New York artist Ray Sell. April 14 – May 6 Cross Gallery 59 Francis Street, D8 Simon English April 7 – 30 Douglas Hyde Gallery

designers of the 20th century. As head of the design team at product manufacturer Braun for 40 years, Rams’ detailed and controlled functionalist approach saw him translate the theoretical approach of the Bauhaus into over 500 commercially successful designs for a mass market. The influence of his defining ‘Ten Principles’ guidelines can be seen in the work of many of his followers, including Apple’s Jonathan Ives. This exhibition – which takes place at The Exchange, in Temple Bar, Dublin – features a selection of original products from throughout his career, alongside photographs of some of his iconic works, and a series of specially commissioned information graphics, which were inspired by Rams. April 7 – 21

Nassau Street, D2 Gallery of Photography Shiva Linga Paintings These rare Tantric images by anonymous modern painters from Rajasthan in northwestern India were intended to further the practice of meditation; they are part of an unbroken tradition in which originality is not considered important. Nevertheless, as in many forms of traditional art and craft, there are subtle and beautiful differences between the touch and sensibility of the individual paintings. Although the exhibition includes a few examples of other imagery from the Tantric canon, most of the paintings depict ‘Shiva linga’. The Sanskrit word ‘lingam’, originally meaning ‘mark’ or ‘sign’, often refers to the phallus or symbol of male creative energy that is complementary to the ‘yoni’, which means both ‘source’ and ‘female’. The term ‘Shiva lingam’, however, describes one of the forms of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and transformation and one of the trinity of deities that also includes Brahma and Vishnu. It shows him in his unborn and invisible state. April 1 – June 1

Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, D2 Steve McCurry Worlds of Colour Steve McCurry is one of the finest documentary image-makers working today. His images capture the essence of human struggle and joy. A member of Magnum Photos since 1986, McCurry’s images have become modern icons. Steve McCurry’s work focuses on the human condition and the documentation of cultures around the world. McCurry is driven by an innate curiosity and sense of wonder about the world. He has an uncanny ability to cross boundaries of language and culture to capture stories of human experience. In addition to his personal work, McCurry has covered many international conflicts in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. February 17 - April 24 Goethe Institut

reflect the unparalleled technique of one of Scotland’s most gifted painters and finest printmakers, a recognised master of colour. March 10 – April 9 Green on Red Gallery Lombard Street. D2 Fergus Martin: Photographs Fergus Martin makes use of the world around him as a source for his paintings, sculpture and photographs. His work reflects things seen or even fleeting moments from the everyday. The geometric forms that consistently appear in his work give shape to his preoccupation with space, form and materials. Recent projects have taken the form of spatial and environmental pieces. These sculptures and paintings are a journey towards a moment of recognition which Martin thinks of as a meeting of form and energy. They mirror the world around him - the colour and shape of things. He wants them to feel the density and weight of things - their sense of compression, or their opening out. Their placing in relation to one another and their relation to their architectural surroundings is a conversation about distance and nearness, centre and periphery. Ideally, it is a journey without end. Each work will initiate its own time and space while always having a sense of movement, of going on. March 11 - April 9 Ronan McCrea April 15 – Mat 14 Hillsboro Fine Art 49 Parnell Square West, D1 Anthony Caro: The Figure March 16 - April 23

Merrion Square, D2 Spiritual Voices (From the war diaries) This beautiful documentary by the celebrated film-maker Alexander Sokurov is structured like a diary; the narrator records and comments on the lives of Russian soldiers guarding the frontier of Tajikistan and Afghanistan in 1994. It is bleak mountainous terrain, the source of some of the highest peaks in the world. Despite the specific social and political context of the film, Sokurov draws the viewer’s attention to the inner spiritual world that lies at its heart. Nothing violent appears on screen; the film’s slow pace, which is both inexorable and gripping, reflects the boredom and anxiety that fill the lives of the soldiers. They are in limbo, with little to do but wait until they can go home to Russia. In every sense this is a film about borders and liminality; the soldiers live in no-man’s-land, in the shadow of continual, if distant, awareness of death. It is not, however, a disheartening story; Sokurov’s commentary is intimate, and the tone of the film is elegiac and dreamlike. April 1 – June 1

Swimming in the Field Caoimhe Kilfeather’s show is made up of a collection of interconnected drawings and sculptural works. Caoimhe chose the title of this exhibition because she felt it to be “descriptive or indicative of a search for or relationship with a field of ideas.” This brilliantly summarizes the processes and thinking involved in Caoimhe’s work. The works integrate a range of intersecting formal, spatial, material, art historical and political interests. These precise analytical works each beautifully articulate the complex combination of elements that combine to make up a form and the manner in which one may engage with and understand it. Caoimhe works with specific types of utilitarian and industrial materials to engage one’s associative and fundamental relationships with materials. She employs specific processes in her manipulation of these materials to partly detach them from their customary associations and as a means to ascertain the potential that can be discovered through her intervention. March 10 – April 21

Draiocht

Michael Canning: New Works April 28 – May 21 Hugh Lane Gallery Charlemont House, Parnell Square North, D1 Richard Tuttle Richard Tuttle ‘Triumphs’ at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane is a site specific exhibition and collaboration with the artist. Responding to the local as encountered in the early Georgian architecture of the main gallery Charelmont House (designed by Sir William Chambers in 1765) and to the Hugh Lane collection (established in 1908), Richard Tuttle will install a Polysemous multipart horizontal installation in the galley’s new wing (2006). In works such as the shaped plywood wall reliefs of the 1990’s to recent handmade printed paper assemblages, Richard Tuttle will configure his artworks in new forms that have emblematic meaning to his interest the Augustan era and its polysemous aesthetics. November 19 - April 10 IMMA

Graphic Studio Dublin Blanchardstown, D15

Military Road, D8 Cope Street, Temple Bar, D2

Michael Wann Wann’s work is specifically drawing-based and juxtaposes arbitrary or transient images of cleared landscape, with more thought provoking depictions of the dereliction of habitation. The work is as much about a process of mark-making as it is about representing a seemingly neglected landscape. April 8 – May 28 Exchange Gallery Exchange Street, Temple Bar, D2 Less But Better is an exhibition about – and inspired by – the industrial designer Dieter Rams. The German is regarded as one of the most influential

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Barbara Rae: New Works Rae has made prints in a number of different studios, responding to the ambience of each environment and the interaction with printmakers. She is returning to Graphic Studio Dublin following this exhibition to create a suite of new prints with our master printer Robert Russell, which will exhibit in October 2011 as part of our Visiting Artists show. The works in this exhibition evolve from her relationship with the landscape especially that of the west coast of Ireland and Scotland. They reveal her skill at manipulating form and colour and portray specific features in the landscape, which she uses as departure points for a flight of colour and sweeping primordial shapes. These rich, vibrant images

Romuald Hazoume Winner of the Arnold Bode Prize at documenta 12, Romuald Hazoumè is one of Africa’s leading visual artists. He has worked with a wide variety media throughout his career, from discarded petrol canisters, oil paint and canvas, to large-scale installation, video and photography. The exhibition at IMMA focuses on his iconic sculptures made from discarded plastic canisters which resemble the primitive tribal masks that were so influential to the early Modernists, such as Picasso and Braque. February 9 - May 15 Philip Taaffee - Anima Mundi This survey exhibition of the work of the American painter Philip Taaffe, features 34 mixed media, mostly abstract paintings from the last ten years. Taaffe’s work has been cel-

ebrated in museums around the world for its rich fusion of abstraction with ornamentation, combining elements of Islamic architecture, Op Art, Eastern European textile design, calligraphy and botanical illustration. The exhibition includes many of the most striking examples of the vivid, complex images that result from Taaffe’s highly individual use of line and colour. March 23 - June 12 Janet and John Banville select from the Madden Arnholz Collection The collection at the Irish Museum of Modern Art includes 4500 works and has been extended since 1990 by purchase, donations and loans of further works. It includes prints dating from 1500 to the late 19th century by such masters as Pieter Brueghel, Albrecht Dürer, Francisco de Goya, William Hogarth, Honoré Daumier and Rembrandt van Rijn. Many of these works from the 18th century onwards criticise the mores and habits of that society. They thus open up the genre of caricature to a wider audience for the first time. Caricature in the 18th century was a form of enlightenment which it basically still is today - a form of art which exaggerates, exposes and demands moral with the pencil. The exhibition is curated by the celebrated Irish novelist John Banville and his wife Janet. Supported by the GoetheInstitut Irland. March 23 – June 26 Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Masterpieces of the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection Masterpieces of the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, presents the iconic paintings of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, the two central figures of Mexican Modernism. Few artists have captured the public’s imagination with the force of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954) and her husband, the Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera (1886 – 1957). The myths that surrounded them in their lifetime arose not only from their significant body of work, but also from their active participation in the life of their time, their friendships (and conflicts) with leading figures, their imposing physical appearance and spirited natures. The paintings exhibited include key images by Kahlo such as Self Portrait with Monkeys, and Self Portrait as a Tehuana or Diego in My Thoughts, and the major work by Rivera, Calla Lily Vendors (all 1943). The paintings are supplemented by other works including diaries, lithographs, drawings, pastels and collages – all offering a rich visual experience for the visitor. Also included are striking photographs of Kahlo and Rivera by Lucienne Bloch, Héctor García, Martin Munkacsi, Nickolas Muray and Bernard Silberstein. April 6 – June 26 Instituto Cervantez Lincoln Place, D2 Through My Eyes A series of black & white portraits of Spanish film directors. The intention is no other than show a human map of several generations of filmmakers who appear and disappear leaving their work for the History of Cinema. To show the presence of those responsible for so many films that form part of our culture. To document their existence. February 10 – April 30 The Joinery Arbout Hill, Stoneybatter, D7 EverythingSoon: Sarah O’Brien, Brian Harte & Reamonn Byrne “The new cultural landscape,” writes curator and critic Nicolas Bourriaud, “is marked by the twin figures of the DJ and the programmer both

of whom have the task of selecting cultural objects and inserting them into new contexts.” EverythingSoon is an amalgamation of three varied practices in a site-specific installation tackling the mechanics of context. Without extensive prior collaboration, the artists will come together to curate, experiment and install the show, interrogating approaches and probing connection and relationship both formal and personal. April 7 - 12

concept to making. The exhibition focuses on the sketch as the starting point and gives a back story of the inspiration and ideas behind each design. Raunkjaërs work focuses on the field between design and art, design and space and design and language. He is especially interested in the chair as a significant cultural object, and as a sculpture that relates directly to the human body, therefore one of the ultimate challenges for a designer. February 25 - April 16

Kerlin Gallery Oliver Sears Gallery Anne’s Lane, D2 Molesworth Street, D2 Brian Maguire Through a reading of history and economics Maguire finds entry points that ask us to look again on what constitutes public endeavour. Since leaving his position as Head of Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin early last year, Maguire has spent time developing work in Europe and Central America, and this is borne out by the broadening themes emerging through this new body of work. April 8 – May 14 Kevin Kavanagh Gallery Chancery Lane, D8 Mark O’Kelly April 7 – 30

Peter Davis, New Works This will be Peter’s first solo exhibition in Ireland having participated as a guest artist in Now and Then (Oliver Sears Gallery, 25th November 2010 – 31st January 2011). The present body of work will include a dozen new paintings that bring a fresh perspective to his highly personal take on the discipline of gestural painting. According to the artist “The paintings still remain the product of image making through the removal of paint rather than its application, though the movement has in recent years become more complex rather than the simple top to bottom drag it was for some time. If I have a mantra it’s always been to create as much as possible with as little as possible. I’ve always limited the language I work with.” March 15 - April 21

The LAB Project Arts Centre Foley Street, D1 Temple Bar, D2 ‘Our on the sea was a boat full of people singing’ and other stories Michelle Browne’s first solo show presents a series of public performance works made over the last four years. Browne has become synonymous with public event based work, and here she looks at how to translate these works to the gallery setting. Presenting past performance work is an oft-sited challenge and Browne grapples with the inherent difficulty in documenting temporary and performative artwork. For this show she creates a series of works revisiting a variety of public performance projects to see how the memory of these events lives on to the present. Created through a series of interviews with witnesses to these events, Browne tries to determine the experiential legacy of this work. In conjunction with this, Browne has curated a group exhibition of work dealing with the challenges of documentation featuring Amanda Coogan/Simon Keogh, Trace Collective, Susanne Bosch and Ella Burke. March 3 – April 9 Mother’s Tankstation Walting Street, Usher’s Island, D8 I Want to go Somewhere Where the Weather Suits my Clothes – a fall of light on fabric April 13 – May 28 NCAD Gallery 100 Thomas Street, D8 CHAIRS: The Sketch and the Chair In the context of 2011 – Year of Craft [Craft Council of Ireland], the NCAD Gallery is pleased to present CHAIRS: The Sketch and the Chair, an exhibition by Danish furniture designer Hans Thyge Raunkjaër, opening at the NCAD Gallery on February 25th and running until April 16th 2011. Raunkjaër ‘s design company Hans Thyge and Co, have put together this touring exhibition showcasing the creative process of furniture design, from initial concept sketch through to the finished product. The exhibition combines largescale sketches and working drawings with the finished product; the chairs themselves, covering all aspects of the process, from

Ceal Foyer, Things The gallery is filled with a collection of identical plinths – a wonderful white, endless sculpture. These structures are commonly used for the display of objects and items, things that demand our attention on top of their isolated, white pillars. But Ceal Floyer’s plinths stand empty, starkly white in a starkly white room, and the objects and items are replaced by a beguilingly simple aural representation of their mass: by isolating one single item from a range of pop songs – the word thing – Floyer has assembled a multi-channel playback of dissonant edits, pinging and chiming all over the room. Embedded in the plinths are speakers, while running neatly along the floor are symmetrically aligned speaker cables, creating a comedic relationship between the stiff-necked, monumental white orchestra and its more random, disharmonic musical production. March 10 - April 23 RHA 15 Ely Place, D2 Abigail O’Brien, Temperance In 2007, Abigail O’Brien RHA spent a three month residency in the Oatfield Sweet Factory in Letterkenny County Donegal as part of a Percent for Art Scheme of Donegal County Council. O’Brien was determined that the work produced there would have a metaphorical reach far beyond the documenting of the sweet making process and for that ambition she took the Cardinal Virtue of Temperance as her guide and theme. Temperance can most simply be defined as ‘self-restraint in the face of temptation or desire’ and in these sumptuous photographs of the manufacture of confectionary’s desire the artist succeeds in moving us into the moral realm. January 14 - April 25 Brian Fay, Broken Images or When Does Posterity Begin” “My work is concerned with using different drawing technologies to record and mark time. My drawings are intended to act as records of the gradual deterioration of original artworks

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and cultural artefacts. They are produced to remind us that a piece invested with the time of its own making is also deteriorating in slow motion once it is made. They attempt to visualize the action of time on things popularly presumed to be preserved in a state of something approaching permanence. The drawings for this exhibition are hand tracings of distressed film stock from early silent cinema, old master paintings and contemporary

conservation x-rays. The ongoing intention of my work is to register and map the effect time has on the materials and supports of early film and iconic paintings. March 17 - April 25 Rosemary Trockel An art scene that has been largely male-dominated, even into the 1980s, spurs Rosemarie Trockel to dissent. She

medicine, cognitive enhancement, or genetic manipulation change us into something other than human? Will converging technologies in robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and aesthetics create a new race? April 15 – June 24

Pearse Street, D2

Human + HUMAN+ is an interactive exhibition experience looking into the future of the human race. Will enhancement of humans become the norm? What types of enhancements will we choose? What is our genetic future? Will computer technologies continue to change the way we socialise? HUMAN+ will explore the implications of enhancement on how we define ourselves. Could smart pills, personalised

Mondays, 9.00pm, Free

Saturdays, 9.00pm, €8/€10

Whelan’s, 15th April, 8pm, €17.45

Middle Abbey St, D1, 11th February 7.30pm, €5

Anseo

Shebeen Chic

Camden St., D2

South Great George’s St., D2

Jenny Talia From Australia Sugar Club, D2, 17th April, 8pm, €17.50

Laugh Out Loud Resident MC Aidan Killian Wednesdays, 8.30pm, €5/€7

Comedy Crunch Stand-up comedy Sundays & one man Mondays Sundays & Mondays, 9.00pm, Free

persistently formulates counter positions in which she confronts the male artist-genius with feminine roles and subject matter. The various groups of works reflect her standpoint within a decidedly feminine artistic realm and are unstinting in their fundamental critique of the prevailing art system. One of her earliest masterpieces, Malmaschine from 1990, which is shown in the exhibition, takes to the absurd, in virtuoso style, the commonplace about

the complaisant handcrafted-mechanical nature of art created by woman’s hand. With its mechanical production of the painterly Gestus, Malmaschine reads well as a parody on the topos of the artist-genius. March 17 - April 25 The Science Gallery

Comedy April The International

Sunday, 8.45pm, €5 Ha’penny Bridge Inn

Improv night Mondays,8.45pm, €8/€10

Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, D2

Andrew Stanley’s Comedy Mish Mash There’s free biscuits Tuesdays, 8.45pm, €5 The Comedy Cellar with Andrew Stanley Ireland’s longest running comedy night Wednesdays, 9pm, €8/€10 The International Comedy Club Resident MC Aidan Bishop Thursdays & Fridays, 8.45pm, €8/€10 The International Comedy Club Early and late shows Saturday, 8pm and 10.30pm, €8/10 What’s New at The International New material night

jazz

Battle of the Axe Dublin’s long standing open mic night Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9.00pm, €9 Capital Comedy Club Hosted by Simon O’Keeffe Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9.30pm, €7/€5 The Wool Shed Baa & Grill Parnell Street, D1 The Comedy Shed Resident MC Damien Clarke Mondays, 9.00pm, €5

Comedy HaHa Free shot on the door Wednesdays, 8.30pm, €5 The Bankers Trinity St., D2

Inn Jokes with Colm O’Regan Andrew Stanley, Greg Marks & Guests. Patriots Inn Pub, Kilmainham, D8 Wednesday, 20th April, 9pm, Free Des Bishop My Dad was nearly James Bond Vicar Street, D2, 30th April, 8.30pm, €28

Pantibar Capel Street, D1 A bear, a bull and a chicken walk into a bar Gay comedy night every Monday.

Words Ollie Dowling

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COMEDY ONCE-OFFS

Jarlath Regan Sugar Club, D2, 21st April, 8.30pm, €15

Dame St., D2

News reaches me this month, that the Friday night jazz session at La Dolce Vita, Cow’s Lane, is proving so popular that from next month, they will have jazz on Saturday nights too. To be guaranteed a table in this very intimate jazz spot, it’s best to book at (01) 7079786 and watch out for the jazz sessions going outdoors in the terrace area during the coming summer months, bringing a little bit of Rome to Temple Bar. Another venue which opened it’s doors recently to jazz is, La Cuvee bistro and wine bar, situated on Custom House Square, down in the IFSC. With a working and living population of 20,000+ surrounding them, they have seen a big gap in the market for live jazz after work on a Friday. It begins at 6pm upstairs in the bistro area, with top food on offer, in their wine shop on the ground floor they have possibly one of the best wine selections I’ve seen anywhere. More details from www.lacuvee.ie or call (01) 6360616. Look out for Colette Cassidy and her group playing JJ’s on April 15th and monthly at the same venue. This is someone who has been part of Dublin’s jazz scene for ten years now and who is working closely with Drazen Derek (guitar) at

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Sweeney’s Bar

Rubberbandits Olympia Theatre, D2, 21st April 7.15pm, €19.45 – €21

Comedy improv with The Craic Pack Thursdays & Fridays, 9.00pm, €8/€10 Stand Up at The Bankers Resident MC Peter O’Byrne

Between Foxrock and a Hard Place Gaiety Theatre, D2, 4th – 16th April 7.30pm, €25 – €42.50 Maeve Higgins

the minute, and a news summer. Talking of new releases, April 8th will see the launch of the debut album from Colette Henry at 4 Dame Lane (upstairs) from 7pm with her full band in residence as part of her showcase night . The album is called You Stole My Heart and to my ears, is without a doubt the best Irish jazz release in many years. Check www. colette.ie. A new 8 piece jazz and swing band have formed in town, called Madame Anne and the Teasers and they are the resident band at the monthly burlesque and cabaret night called TEASE, which happens the last Friday of every month (this month it’s April 29th) at the basement club of Break for the Border. Expect to hear everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Nina Simone as well as international and local talent teasing everyone, in the unmistakable way that is Burlesque performance. Check www.tease.ie. Over on Suffolk street, there are dance floor jazz Dj sets every Friday and Saturday night from 9.30pm at The Counter, so if you like your jazz on the more funky side of things, and with Gourmet burgers, Cocktails (1 per customer as they’re truly lethal!), and music that is similar to those early days of acid jazz when Patrick Forge, Snowboy and Gilles Peterson ruled the turntables, then this is the place to explore for the cooler set. Look out also, for new jazz sessions starting at a new bar and club around the D’Olier street area in the coming weeks,

Peter Kay The O2, 28th April, 6.30pm, €44.20 Fred Cooke Whelan’s, 1st May, 8.00pm, €12 Voicebox Hosted by Cian Hallinan Twisted Pepper,Middle Abbey St, D1 4th February, 9.00pm, €5

Auntie’s Establishment Alternative comedy w/ Damon Blake & George Fox Twisted Pepper,Middle Abbey St, D1 18th February, 8.00pm, €5 The Rubberbandits Tripod, D2, 19th February, 9.00pm, €17/20 Comedy at the Step Inn Andrew Stanley, Chris Kent & Simon O’Keeffe Stepaside, Co. Dublin 24th February, 8.30pm, €10/€24 with 3 course meal David O’Doherty The Helicopters and Smoothies Tour An Draiocht, Blanchardstown, D15 25th February, 8.00pm, €16

Chairman LMAO’s Comedy Blah Blah With David ‘Pagliacci’ Reilly Twisted Pepper,

and I should have more news on this, in the next issue... Finally, Jazz Fm (the UK’s leading jazz radio) and the legendary jazz record label Blue Note have just collaborated on a new 2-CD compilation (30 tracks in total) called ‘Jazz Fm Presents Blue Note Legends’ and features music from Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Lee Morgan and many more. I have 6 copies to give away and all i need you to do is, tell me what year the Blue note jazz label was formed?. Send your entry to jazzindublin@gmail. com before April 29th and you could be a winner. jazzindublin@gmail.com

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While You’re There...

Bailey Lighthouse

Situated on the headland of Little Baily – an area familiar with a number of shipwrecks from Prince in 1846 to the PS Queen Victoria in 1853 – Baily Lighthouse has been a fixture of the location since 1814. The last lighthouse in Ireland to be manned by a Keeper in 1996, Bailey lighthouse is still looked after by an attendant while artifacts from the lighthouse’s almost 200 year history can be viewed at the National Maritime Museum.

Howth Castle Howth Castle’s storied history has roots that stretch back through the dark mists of time and yet remains the private residence of the same folk, the St. Lawrence family, who conquered the land from Norse settlers in the 12th Century. Local legend maintains that the pirate Gráinne O’Malley, upon being barred from visiting at the castle gates, abducted the heir to the Barony of Howth and returned him only upon the condition that the gates remain open to visitors and that an extra place is set at the table – a tradition that remains in tact today, at least if you make an appointment or on their summertime Charity Open Days. Once inside the house you are free to let you imagination roam through history, trying to imagine the scenes that have unfolded over the centuries elapsed since

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the castle, in main part, was built in the 15th century. Amongst the paintings, furniture, china, daguerreotypes, photos and books accumulated by the family over the years, one of the prize contents of the house is an epic long sword wielded by Sir Almeric Tristram. The Sword Of Howth was used by Almeric when conquering the land from Norse settlers in 1177 at Evora Bridge. Indeed the family’s name comes from the victory having been secured on the feast day of St. Lawrence, the 10th of August. Not to mention that Almeric himself was said to have descended from Sir Tristram of the Round Table, so history clearly abounds. Years later, the castle, and its environs, were established as the setting of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and the continuity of the castle and family over time seems to ring true with Joyce’s theme of life’s eternal cycle. On the grounds of the castle, today’s visitors can find the Kitchen In The Castle, a unique cookery school located in the Georgian era kitchens, marrying contemporary cooking with the old world atmosphere while more the more horticulturally inclined can revel in the sweeping Rhododendron Gardens. And the history doesn’t stop indoors – a dolmen tomb, known as Aideen’s Grave dates from either AD 184 or the 5th Century, depending on how attached you are to the romantic notion that the tomb’s dweller died of a broken heart.

Fisher’s Cross

Howth day-trippers can learn the tale of pirate Grace O’Malley upon the inscription of the Fisher’s Cross monument. Rebuffed for making a courtesy call to Howth Castle in 1576, the insulted O’Malley retaliated by abducting the Earl’s heir until the Earl promised always to welcome unanticipated guests and keep the gates of Deer Park open to the public as they remain today.

National Transport Museum

Home to Ireland’s only collection of commercial transportation, the National Transport Museum in Howth contains passenger, commercial, fire, military and utility vehicles spanning over 100 years from 1883 to 1984. The museum, which is now a registered charity, has sixty of its one 100 vehicles on display with the rest available for viewing upon request.

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icons

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What makes Dublin Dublin? TD’s new guide to the best bits of the city...

National Museum (Collins Barracks)

IMMA

Collins Barracks is home to the Decorative Arts & History leg of the National Museum. Featuring a wide range of objects, which include weaponry, furniture, silver, ceramics and glassware as well as examples of Folklife and costume in one of Dublin’s most historically important buildings, Collins Barracks is an essential spot for any visit to the city. Benburb Street, Dublin 7

Kilmainham’s Royal Hospital has been the home of Irish modern art since 1991, but it stands as the country’s most spectacular 17th century building. Indebted Paris Les Invalides, IMMA’s sprawling grounds and super-maintained cloisters and courtyard are as fascinating as the art contained within. Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8

Glasnevin Museum

Powerscourt Estate

Mulligans

Seeped in Irish national history, Glasnevin Cemetery is an interactive visitor attraction offers a fascinating view of Ireland’s many renowned figures that shaped the country we live in today. The adjacent Glasnevin Museum also offers guided tours of the cemetery - a must see for anyone interested in Irish Heritage and Genealogy. Glasnevin Museum, Glasnevin Cemetery, Finglas Road, Dublin 11

The Powerscourt estate, probably one of the most beautiful in Ireland, is comprised of an absolute mammoth of a house with heaps of history, Italian and Japanese gardens, a golf course, and even a pet cemetery. This place is well worth your while to visit, no matter what season. Avoca provide the food for the Terrace café, where you can sit by the tall windows and admire the loveliness of Wicklow. Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow

A magnet for both tourist and native, traditional pub and sometime Bachelor’s Walk set Mulligans is as renowned as watering holes in town come. Mulligans perfects the basics and in the grand Irish tradition avoids ‘yer fancy stuff’. It’s nonetheless a welcoming refuge for all patrons. 8 Poolbeg Street, Dublin 2

The Shelbourne Hotel

GAA Museum

Teddy’s Ice-Cream

One of the city’s classiest hotels, the Shelbourne has been puffing up pillows since 1824. Home to the drafting of the Irish constitution, the Shelbourne also boasts some non-historical attractions in its Horseshoe and Oyster bars, and steak-lovers paradise The Saddle Room. Or just go and stare at the building from Stephen’s Green. 27 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2

The GAA Museum at Croke Park houses trophies, cups and medals won by sporting stars Christy Ring, Sam Maguire, Jimmy Doyle, Jack Lynch and Liam MacCarthy to name but a few. Hurleys, jerseys, publications and banners also document the history of the GAA and its unique role as an instrument of Irish nationalist fervour. Croke Park, Jones Rd., Dublin 3

Satisfying the sweet teeth of South Dublin since 1950, Teddy’s Ice Cream hasn’t had to change its formula an iota. A red, white, and blue must for ice-cream eaters of all seasons. 1a Windsor Terrace, Dún Laoghaire

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LEO BURDOCKS If you like some history with your chips, Leo Burdocks has as much backstory as it does salt and vinegar. Its Werburgh St. branch has been chopping potatoes for almost a hundred years now, and the chips are only getting better. Pay a visit, and ask about their celebrity fans. 2 Werburgh St, Christchurch, Dublin 8

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REGULARS Pubs and bars

James Toner’s

J. McNeill’s

139 Lower Baggot Street

140 Capel Street

Featuring perhaps our favourite snug in Dublin, if you’re ever lucky enough to get it, Toner’s is a Dublin fundamental. When its petite interior reaches capacity (and it often does) you can spill out onto Roger’s Lane for some fresh air and maybe even an auld sing-song. The perfect launch or landing pad for a visit to Lansdowne Road but still just a hop, skip and a jump from the Green, Toner’s is one of Dublin’s most tried and trusted public houses.

In a former life, McNeill’s plied its trade as a one of Dublin’s most famed musical instrument shops, and a window full of banjos, bazoukis and bodhrán’s still belies that image to the world outside on Capel Street. Inside however, the place has been reborn as the home of some of Dublin most highly-regarded trad sessions with music on a nightly basis, as well as a daycent pint of plain to go with it, as you’d rightly expect.

t: 01 676 3090

t: 01874 7679

The Duke

Neary’s

A classic post-office haunt if ever there was one, barely hidden just between Grafton Street and Nassau Street, the Duke is one of the best places in Dublin to indulge yourself with that well-earned pint of a Friday (or indeed any) evening. Combining a prime location with all the fundamentals - plenty of comfy seats, wholesome carvery grub and honest pints - let The Duke be the recipient of your blown-off steam.

There’s a reason that Neary’s has remained so consistent over the last few decades – the formula works. Housed in elegant slice of Edwardian Dublin with its old-world interior still in pride of place, the early evening buzz in Neary’s is a rare sight to behold. With a crowd ranging from theatre-goers to thespians from the nearby Gaeity to local suits and Grafton shoppers, Dave and his team of old-school barmen will take care of all your needs.

8-9 Duke Street, Dublin 2

t: 01 679 9553

1 Chatham Street, Dublin 2

t: 01 677 8596

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Kehoe’s

Madigan’s

9 South Anne Street, Dublin 2

16 Lower O’Connell Street

Decorated in the traditional Irish pub style with parts of the original pub in tact, a small snug at the front and a larger one in the back, Keogh’s isn’t just for the tourists. A lively place full of banter and conversation, this is the place to be for Dubliners relaxing after a long week. Just be sure to get there before the best seats in the snug are taken.

A popular haunt on GAA match days with live coverage available on a large technicolour TV, Madigan’s is a cosy home away from home with all your mother’s cooking you could want available down stairs from bacon & cabbage, Irish stew, and bangers & mash to salmon with Cajun spices for the more adventurous.

The Bankers

McDaids

An old-fashioned pub nestled off Dame Street, The Bankers is best known for its comedy nights. One of Dublin’s more shy and retiring spots, the perfect site for claiming your own secret spot.

McDaids is, if we’re honest, the kind of place where you’d call yourself lucky if you’ve nabbed a seat early in the night. Its much cosier, shoulder-to-shoulder affair where an unbeatable Guinness is only a quick shuffle away and commenting on overheard banter is de rigeur. The perfect place for whiling a night away righting the world’s wrongs with a few close friends or quiet pint in Brendan Behan’s memory.

Trinity Street, Dublin 2

t:01 6793697

t: 01 874 3692 t: 01 677 8312

3 Harry Street, Dublin 2

t: 01 679 4395

Camden Palace 84/87 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2

Based in the old Theatre De Luxe from which it takes it’s name, the Palace lives in the original lavish theatre auditorium of the old Dublin institution. After dark, the Palace is one of the most packed-out clubs in Dublin - if you want to spend a little more quiet time, arrive early and bag yourself a pool table. t: 01 478 0808

The International 23 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2

Famed for both its earnest singersongwriter nights, as a great place for a close-quarters guffaw with local comedic talent and even as a small theatre venue, the International has always been a bit of an off-beat, if not quite bohemian place. It has served many patrons in its many guises but has always maintained its understated, proper pub vibe. No fancy makeovers here, just an endless stream of stories and laughs to behold. t: 01677 9250

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The Long Hall

Mulligans

The Oval Bar

Memorabilia-hung and unerringly popular, George’s Street’s Long Hall is the epitome of traditional Irish pub. Just that little bit out of tourist HQ, the Long Hall caters to a healthy percentage of natives, and is best known for one of the highest levels of conversation in town - or maybe the Guinness is just stronger.

Originally a shebeen, Mulligan’s has been legit since 1782, making it one of the oldest premises in Dublin city. A magnet for both tourist and native, traditional pub and sometime Bachelor’s Walk set Mulligans is as renowned as watering holes in town come. Mulligans perfects the basics and in the grand Irish tradition avoids ‘yer fancy stuff’. It’s nonetheless a welcoming refuge for all patrons with an unbeatable back story.

The Oval Bar is an authentic Irish Pub situated idyllically in the heart of Dublin City. Housed by a beautiful Victorian building with most of its period features still intact, The Oval is the perfect place to escape from the hectic hustle and bustle of the city outside.

51 S Great Georges St., Dublin 2

t: 01 475 1590

8 Poolbeg Street, Dublin 2

78 Middle Abbey St, Dublin 1

t: 01 8721264

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How does writing the comics work as a job? I write the comic in the morning. That takes three hours – kinda embarrassing considering it’s only six panels. That’s how long it takes! Then I answer emails, design merchandise or work on a book. My last book had an index based on themes, so you can look up all the references to masturbation, for example – there are a lot of references to make-outs actually, so I started breaking them down in types of make-outs. The new one has an index based on trigram frequency – trigrams are three word phrases. If you take a big chunk of text you might find “I don’t know” showing up a lot. This index will be the top trigrams in the comics in the book and there are some odd ones that you don’t think you say that much – “for the sex” pops up a few times. I wrote some linguistic software to analyse the text and generate it for me, which was also kinda fun. How did you start Dinosaur Comics? I started full time in 2005, finishing the comic by about one or two in the afternoon. I dunno if you’ve ever been unemployed or underemployed but the first couple of weeks was all “yeah man free time spring break woooo” but then after a while it feels like you’re wasting your life, so I started up a lot of side projects. Ohnorobot is a search engine I wrote, Project Wonderful is an advertising network for comics I wrote – all in the afternoon. It lets me use the computer science stuff that I’ve actually studied at university, along with the comedy stuff in the morning. I did a graduate degree in computational linguistics, which is a

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LAUGH ‘TIL YOU’RE SAUR Dinosaur Comics is a webcomic at qwantz.com – we spoke to the author Ryan North about comedy, programming, and really bad puns. Words John Hylandaraptor Pictures Ryan Northasaurus

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field of AI concerned with getting robots to talk – like the robot ALICE in the 70s. But she really just does basic analysis and asks you back stuff that you’ve said – and knows some pretty bad puns. Are puns doomed to be bad? I think the reason people don’t like puns often is the way they’re presented. My Dad would have entire conversations where you’d realise he’s trying to get you to say a certain phrase and when you say it then out comes a pun. If you present them naturally they might be better. For my thesis I almost wrote some software: you would feed it a document, it would figure out what you were talking about, and then replace words in that document with pun-based synonyms. It didn’t go ahead because my supervisor wanted “productive research” and it wasn’t an interesting enough problem – but the puns would be awful. Say if you were doing an article about bicycles and you had a piece that read “He said hello” it would change it to “he spoke hello”... because spokes on wheels, right? Terrible, but you can generate those so easily with a machine. This is bad software, and I hope no one writes it. What other marriages of programming and comedy could there be? The dream is to build a program that could automatically generate new Dinosaur Comics. Some jokes we can pinpoint why it’s funny and others the way it’s funny seems more idiosyncratic, it’s hard to figure out a way to generate jokes on the fly. I’d love to have that software because I could just press “go” every day and then have my joke and write the comic. The good news is that’s a hard problem – no one has programmed me out of a job yet. So do you use your own life for comic ideas? People presume that I’m T-Rex – I get in trouble with that. I try to have it both ways: I always say T-Rex isn’t me, he’s a fictional, separate character, but then I’ll have stuff happen to him that’s happened to me. The danger there is that people think it’s all you. When I was doing my thesis, I did a comic about T-Rex having a threesome. My supervisor had decided that T-Rex was me, so she thought that I’d had a threesome. It’s not a conversation you want to have with your thesis supervisor how you actually haven’t had a threesome. It was really awkward, fun in retrospect. T-Rex is a filter - I say all sorts of

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things, and he just says the good stuff. Utahraptor is me too, they’re all different aspects of me, really. T-Rex is that initial spark of enthusiasm when you encounter something new and you’re like “this is amazing! Look at all the stuff we can do with this” and then Utahraptor is reality saying it won’t work. Is it easier to update daily when you don’t need to draw? There are daily updated comics that have gorgeous art, but those ones take a lot of work. I’m amazed when people can whip off sketches that look like real life and comics that are expressive and evocative. I really admire visual artists because it’s far beyond my means. I can write a joke, but I can’t draw someone telling that joke. Luckily xkcd and A Softer World found a way around that, and so did I. There are lots of ways you can work in a visual medium without having to draw. My initial idea was to change the pictures every day and tell the same story over and over. That’s boring, so I switched it around: use the same pictures to tell different stories. I was going to change the pictures every month but at the end of that first month it seemed like finding new pictures was really hard, so

I decided to keep them. I didn’t have any drawing software, only this really ancient clip art programme with dinosaur pictures – but dinosaur parts: arms and legs so you could pose them. You’d think the same images every day might get repetitive, but you can bend and twist it so much that it’s really not a disadvantage. I don’t work on a blank sheet of paper every day, I know tomorrow’s comic is probably gonna have T-Rex in it. Captions like “earlier that day” or “in an alternate universe” change the visual narrative of the strip. I did one comic - “we should get married: a web card” - I got emails from several who used it to propose!” Every Dinosaur Comic has three secret jokes, right? Most readers notice the extra joke in the hover text quite quickly. I get emails from people saying they read all the comics, clicked “contact” to tell me this, and found the subject line was an extra joke – so they have to go back and read them all again. If they’re really happy about all the new little jokes I won’t tell them there’s one in the RSS title feed, too – but if they sound sad, I’ll let them know there’s one more thing they can look for. ■

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design: info@sansstudio.ie

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PACINO’S RESTAURANT BAR & VENUE 18 SUFFOLK ST. DUBLIN 2 WWW.PACINOS.IE

companyd.ie

1"6-3:"/ 130.05*0/4 !(."*- $0.

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History is littered with noble families that have fallen on hard times. Sure, being born to a baron or earl traditionally gave someone a better chance of reaching their twenty-fifth birthday than most people enjoyed (inbreeding permitting) – and it’s still a cushier number than having parents who need to work for a living. Still, there are plenty of people who have a grand title but can’t even hire a peasant to bow before them. That phenomenon seems like a fitting metaphor for The Lord Edward, which bills itself “as Dublin’s oldest seafood restaurant and tavern” on its distinctly pre-web 2.0 site. The bar is named after an Irish revolutionary killed in the fallout from the 1798 rebellion, though it could credibly claim to precede that date – it’s the kind of place that guidebooks and charitable reviewers call “old school”. More cynical folk might observe that pubs of this sort are ten a penny in Dublin, and that the décor is almost obnoxiously lazy. There’s no use complaining about the diddly-aye tat scattered around the poky lounge, or the fact that the proprietor isn’t fussed about clashing colours (one half of the floor has a deep green liner, another has a

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An Old Sea Dog The Lord Edward Words Derek Owens Picture Fuchsia Macaree lighter green carpet. Nobody has any idea why). This is, let’s face it, part of the deal with any “old school” bar. But is it really too much to expect chairs with backs on them, or for the benches set into the walls to be remotely comfortable, in twenty-first Century Dublin? Perhaps I am just too coddled, because the general sense of ricketyness didn’t seem to concern a sizeable group of punters who made the pub feel full on a weekday afternoon. Most of the clientele – particularly the middle-aged men at the bar – looked like they’d been there some time, and had no plans to leave anytime soon. It’s nice to imagine that at closing time, they fall asleep on their stools as the barman gently drapes a dust cover over them, only to unveil them in the morning for a solid day’s drinking.

The crowd, with the exception of an American tourist and a woman who’d probably describe herself as “sporty” at a singles night, is male. The choice of what appears on the TV screens is also instructive – as a nuclear catastrophe plays out in Japan, the focus is firmly on the racing at Cheltenham. There are advantages, of course, to this kind of set up. For starters, it’s nicer hearing a whoop of delight when some nag comes good on an each-way bet than listening to tearful people wondering where their families have gone – or indeed to some of the hipster nonsense spouted at a trendier place. Moreover, a genuinely pleasant-tasting pint of Smitchwicks costing €4 is good going for a place that’s just off Dame Street. The barmen typically define the character of pubs like this – a surly sod can render an otherwise charming bar joyless, while someone with a bit of charm can make an otherwise dreadful establishment seem bearable. The Lord Edward’s man is closer to the latter, though one of the regulars holding forth on a tabloid-friendly murder case clearly tries his patience. You can escape the hipsters, it seems, but you’ll never get away from people with more opinions than sense. At the risk of sounding like one of those people, it’s initially puzzling that The Lord Edward has stuck to a seafood-and-pub-grub based food selection, gamely ignoring an internationally famous fish-and-chipper around the corner. Still, they’re nothing if not accommodating: in addition to the restaurant upstairs, they serve food in the bar until 9. The menu is also a cut above the deep fried delights being sold just a few feet away, and it seems all the creativity that was lacking in the decor has gone into the kitchen. Can a place offering a sole cooked in Bailey’s cream and orange juice (and garnished with kiwi fruit and orange segments – as you do) really have that vile lino/carpet combo underfoot? It can indeed, and it’s no surprise that seafood partisans are happy to pay prices here that seem over the odds before one actually tastes the results of perfect culinary techniques applied to freshly-caught fish. Still, those results are probably best enjoyed upstairs: even if you can get a table and a chair that’s comfy for more than ten minutes, The Lord Edward pub’s charm – such as it is – wears off by dessert. The Lord Edward 23, Christchurch Place Dublin 2 t: 01 454 2420

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national irish visual arts library

Gaolbait The Royal Oak

Public Research Library of 20th Century and Contemporary Irish Art & Design

Words Zoe Jellicoe Picture Fuchsia Macaree

I was told to keep this a secret. But just between you and me, the small lane that runs to Kilmainham Gaol is home to one of the best little pubs in Dublin. Originally opened in 1874, the pub was bought by the current owner, Della, 39 years ago. Since then it has been catering to all sorts – broke students, sandal-clad lefties, the occasional IMMA visitor, but mostly the sort of local that looks like they’ve not been two miles from Inchicore their entire lives. The mix of the clientele is reflected in the décor. A dusty purple sombrero rests above the entrance. A Cork flag sags from the ceiling. A Munster banner hangs over the door leading down to the delightfully grotty loos. Countless bank notes from defunct or obscure countries adorn the wall behind the bar – the 10 trillion Rhodesian dollar note has pride of place, right next to the Peterson Pipes. The floor looks like it’s seen its fair share of rí-rá and rince, and the horrible tiled ceiling is so typical of country pubs that it makes me nostalgic for something I’ve not even had much experience of. Inside The Old Royal Oak you do feel as if you could be in any pub in any little town in Ireland. The bar even has the old green Smithwick’s tap, which won my heart fairly quickly. On quiet days, this is the perfect place to come for a solitary afternoon read and a sit, either at one of their pleasantly mushroomoid bar stools, or nestled up in the corner of their candlelit snug, which has its own carved sign. This is a proper separate room with its own door, used to serve port and lemon to women and

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priests, while keeping them separate from the revelry of the main bar back in the day. You’ll even have your own private access to the bar, so Pat will still be keeping an eye on your drinks, ready with a fresh pint of stout or ale. Heaven. As the crow flies, The Old Royal Oak is about 1.4 km from James’s Gate, so for those of you concerned with the ‘bruising’ of the Guinness, this could explain why they always serve a perfect pint. That or the tap is always running. Take your pick. Impromptu sessions like the one that I walked in on are commonplace at The Old Royal Oak. I am by no means a trad connoisseur, but if talent can be measured by the enjoyment of the crowd when rowdier tunes are struck up, and the reverent silence given to sean-nós song, then the musicians did have something special. There’s also a fairly credible rumour that Thom Yorke sat in on a hooley the last time he was in Dublin. This place will strike a special chord if it’s authenticity you’re in search of. If you’re in IMMA, then The Old Royal Oak is the perfect place to end your stint in Kilmainham. But if you’re lucky enough for it to be your local, there’s really no better way of winding down an evening over a pint here, discussing the various merits of Steven Pinker, or the facts and myths surrounding the giant squid with whoever’s behind the bar or one of the lovely clientele. The Royal Oak Kilmainham Lane Dublin 8

National College of Art & Design 100 Thomas Street Dublin 8 T: 01 636 4347 romanod@ncad.ie http://nival.ncad.ie

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gastro

Daxing Lyrical Dax Café Bar

Words and picture Aoife McElwain

Meh. Tuesdays. They’re the worst. It’s often Tuesdays that bring the type of mundane yet thoroughly annoying events that make one want to cry out with irritation. Being caught in drive-by-puddle incidents, for instance, or dealing with unutterably poor service in your local bank branch leaving you with a mere five minutes for lunch ARGH! First World Problems, yes, but agitating none the less. If I were in charge of the world, Tuesdays could well be re-branded as National Tapas Day. I wouldn’t make it compulsory, but rather strongly suggest that citizens treat themselves to a modest evening out after work. A few small plates of food to keep one’s appetite at bay while a sup of a good glass of wine would work to alleviate the rubbishness of the day that’s in it. It was on a Tuesday that myself and my dinner date arrived at Dax Cafe Bar on Pembroke Street, just off Leeson Street, and upstairs from the more formal res-

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taurant of the same name. This particular Tuesday had brought with it its usual brand of bleurghness so we wandered in to the plush Georgian building that houses Dax, ready to be given a tapasand-wine-shaped hug. And what a warm and welcoming hug we got. We were greeted at the door of the simultaneously generously-sized and cozy room by our waitress, and walked past the bar tables towards a cushy and brightly-lit cranny in the room. This housed a few of those dark red oldfashioned study-esque sofas, perfect for catch-up chats. Once settled into one of these sofas, we were brought over the extensive wine list, as well as beer and tapas menus. The beer list offers a good range of specialist beers, including the hard to find Brooklyn Lager. We ordered two cold tapas and two hot tapas, and let our waitress choose our wines for us. She chose the 2009 La Vendimia Rioja for me (€7.50 per glass) and the 2009 Vin de pays du Gard (€6.50 per glass), which is the house wine and the cheapest on the list. Throughout our stay, the room was quiet but not empty, with four other tables occupied. This meant that the three members of staff had a lot of time to devote

to us, and they were supremely attentive without ever over-crowding us. They treated our cold tapas as starters, which were promptly delivered to help us wash down our already-soothing glasses of wine. We had gone for the anchovy crostini (€6.50) and the stuffed aubergine with goat’s cheese and ham (€6.00), and both proved to be good choices. On the toasted bread sat a sweetened tomato sauce, perfectly balanced with the fresh anchovy that complimented rather than over-powered every bite. The stuffed aubergine suffered only by comparison, with the goat’s cheese not being as strong as I personally go in for. Both were well presented and made for sharing. Once our cold choices were finished our hot tapas soon followed, which were the beef bourguignon (€8.50) and sautéed duck and mushroom with garlic and parsley (€6.50). The duck dish could be renamed mushroom with duck, as the duck was a little thin on the ground, but nevertheless the dish packed a flavour and left behind it a wonderful garlic and parsley oil to mop up with the fresh bread provided. The beef bourguignon was a hit, however. Tender pieces of beef fell apart at the very sight of our forks, while delicate pearl onions, cubes of carrot and lardons of bacon swimming in the rich red wine sauce added bite and depth to this flavoursome dish. Total win. As we were in Dax for your benefit (ahem) it was only right that we tried a dessert. I know. What troopers we are. We went for the deliciously childish and retro peach melba (€6.50), which was a sundae dish full of fresh peach, vanilla ice-cream, fresh cream and almonds, with a generous drizzle of raspberry coulis taking us both back to circa 1992. It was lovely. As lovely as it was, Dax Cafe Bar is not really about desserts. It seemed to me to be more about spending a few splendid hours with friends, having a glass of wine over a shared platter or dishes of food. Our entire bill, which also included a bottle of sparkling water (€3.50) and a machiatto (€2.90), came to €54.90. The French house wine was delightfully easy to drink and a perfect accompaniment to our food. I would suggest sharing a bottle of that (€26) and a platter of cheese (€15 with a choice of either Irish or French cheeses) on a lazy afternoon. The tapas are filling and would absolutely suffice as a light-ish meal before a theatre date or taking in a gig at The Sugar Club around the corner. As well as renting the room for special occasions, Dax offer gift vouchers so have a look at their website (www.dax.ie) for more info. Be sure to peruse their lunch, full tapas and drinks menus and get down there the next time your Tuesday goes bad. Dax Café Bar 23 Pembroke Street Upper Dublin 2 t: 01 662 9381

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gastro

Pop-up restaurants are so over in London and New York, where citizens yawn at the very idea of a temporary eating spot housed in a hitherto unused glorified closet in a forgotten part of their metropolis. Most of us in Dublin, however, reeling from the closure of establishments like Gruel on Dame Street, are in serious need of fresh (and reasonably priced) eateries to check out. Ephemeral pop-up restaurants could be the way forward for Dublin’s restaurateurs to pique our interest in new ventures, without having to invest huge amounts into getting them off the ground in (groan) These Troubled Times. Kicking the city off on its latest culinary adventure is Crackbird of Crane Lane, brought to you by the patty-happy people of Jo’Burger in Rathmines. The decor is urban shack chic, all picnic benches and booths, hanging lights and lots of red. The food is simple: fried chicken done in six delicious ways. My lunch date and I ordered half a skillet-fried buttermilk chicken (€9.95), chilli chicken crunch and semolina chicken crunch (both at €4.95 including a

No Cold Turkey Crackbird Words Aoife McElwain

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side sauce). To balance our meal we got a side of slaw (€1.75) and a four pack of Pilsner beer (€4 per bottle). The meat of the chicken itself, although succulent and tender, played second fiddle to the incredibly crispy and flavoursome skin wrapping itself around each fillet like a blanket of lusciousness. The accompanying dips of chipotle and viet mint chilli, plus a complementary Wexford honey and thyme dip along with a little spritzer bottle of apple cider vinegar (a nice touch), helped take each morsel onto higher plains of fried chicken heaven. Our visit was in the early evening and we got the impression by the relaxed approach of the staff that patrons are welcome to actually hang out not “eat

Crackbird 19 Crane Lane Dublin 2

Opening April 2011

The only Chinese restaurant in Ireland featured in the MICHELIN Guide

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and GTFO”. The pricing of food and drinks encourages large groups to get better value by buying more, whether it be chicken by the bucket and beer by the crate, thus creating an affable meeting point between restaurant and bar. There are two negatives to an otherwise very welcome, however temporary, addition to Dublin’s food scene. The first one, and it may prove to be a rather prohibitive one for a few potential customers, is that although the chicken is fully traceable back to a small co-op farm in Cootehill, Co. Cavan, it is not free-range. The second is that Crackbird is not veggie friendly. Sure, one could endeavour to make a meal out of the side dishes - and our slaw really was delicious - but not much effort has been made to charm the veggies among us. Our final bill, after indulging in a wondrous Red Velvet cake (€4.95), should have come to €42.55. However, we had booked through Crackbird’s inventive Twitter campaign using the #tweetseats hashtag. There are 54 regular seats in the restaurant filled on a first come first served basis, as well as the Tweetseats allocated for tweeters who can book for two to eight people to eat chicken for free. We left Crackbird stuffed to the brim with chicken, but only €20.95 lighter in pocket. Crackbird will be with us every day from 12 noon to 12 midnight until the 22nd of May so pop in before it flies the proverbial coop. For more details, check out @crackBIRDdublin.

Located on Mulberry Lane, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 mulberrygarden.ie

01 4979428 www.zenrestaurant.ie 89 Upper Rathmines Road, Rathmines TOTALLY DUBLIN 51

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bitesize

Words Aoife McElwain

Supper Clubs For the last year or two, Dublin’s supper clubs have catered for those of us hungry for a dinner experience with a difference.

Fabulous Food Trails

Fancy a virtually guilt-free food tour? Try the city’s Fabulous Food Trails walking tours which take in the best food spots and hidden gems of the city centre. Walk off the tasting treats you indulge in on the way as you visit bread-makers, cheesemongers, butchers, fishmongers and more of Dublin’s food heroes. The tour takes in the history of our food culture on an almost weekly basis, costs €45 and lasts for two and a half hours. Have a look at www.fabfoodtrails.com for more info on the walks, as well as other delectable events like their Chocolate Making Day on 9th April.

The Cook Book Club has been with us since October of last year and is run by Elaine Walsh, a West Clare woman with a passion for storytelling and good food. Each month, a well known cookbook is chosen as the theme for a three-course meal in Ely Bar and Brasserie in CHQ. At €35 a ticket, the night includes a choice of three courses taken from the featured cookbook and cooked by the Ely chefs. The biggest treat of the evening is that the author of the cookbook is present on the night to chat to the diners and enjoy the grub for themselves. And no doubt make sure everything is going smoothly in the kitchen. Past cookbook authors who have joined in are Darina Allen, Clodagh McKenna and Kevin Dundon, with Donal Skehan, Brenda Costigan and Conrad Gallagher on the way in the next couple of months. See www.thecookbookclub.ie for more details. Lilly Higgins’ Loaves and Fishes Supper Club has been held in Higgins’ home in Dublin city since last November. Her

home just so happens to be a converted church which lends itself to the atmosphere of the evenings. Guests attending the monthly events number at around 30 and are encouraged to mingle by being seated at a few communal tables. The latest addition to the supper club scene is The Supper Club Project, run by Sandy Sabek and her partner John Wyat. John, from Cork, was the Head Chef at L’Ecrivian up until last October, while New Yorker Sandy was a pastry chef in the same establishment. Having taken a break to pursue other projects and maternity leave, the pair have decided to start a monthly supper club in different restaurants around the city. For €65, you’ll enjoy a ten course tasting menu, accompanied by a glass of bubbly upon arrival and two glasses of wine with your meal. The inaugral Supper Club Project was held at the end of March in The Ormond Wine Bar on Ormond Quay but keep an eye on www.popuprestaurant.ie for the location of April’s event.

Dublin Bay Prawn Festival and Connemara Mussel Festival

Howth will host the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival on the 1st to the 3rd of April (http://bit.ly/dublinprawnfest). The event includes wine and prawn matching, cookery demonstrations, prawn shelling competitions, fireworks, music and walks around Howth, including one led by Fab Food Trails. But perhaps bivalves are your shellfish of choice, in which case it’d be worth making a trip to Connemara’s Mussel Festival happening at the end of this month. From the 30th of April til the 2nd of May, the Renvyle Peninsula in Co Galway will celebrate all things mussels so why not make a weekend of it? Have a look at www.connemaramusselfestival.com to see if it’s the festival for you.

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Make it yourself Pickled Onion: The Perfect Bar Snack? By Seaneen O’Sullivan

This is the cold method, in which the onions take longer to mature, but I think is more mellow and flavoursome than the warm method, and retains the crispiness of the onion. Equipment Large saucepan Large dinner plate, or similar that fits just inside the saucepan 2 large kilner jars or similar

Groced Out L Mulligan Grocers Words and picture Aoife McElwain If a new customer comes in, what do you usually recommend that they try first, drink and food wise? We always offer tasting of the range of beers we have on draft or our wine list and to the extent possible whiskeys. We have recently started doing tasting trugs of beer, which is four different beers and tasting notes designed for sharing between 2-4. It is a nice experience to share with friends, and a chance to taste some different beers without taking too much of a risk! At L Mulligan you’re passionate about small breweries and local food. Where does this instinct to support the small producers come from? Pubs in Dublin by and large serve the same four or five beers, produced by multinationals. We are proud to be serving beers brewed in Ireland by Irish companies. We name our suppliers on our menu. We have met the people who brew the beers we sell. Their passion and commitment is inspiring. To support these breweries is to support the production of beers that are local, distinctive, unique. We try to source as much as possible directly from the producer. There are people, like Jack McCarthy and his black pudding or David Teirnan and his Glebe Brethan cheese doing some really wonderful things with local produce. We are really passionate about this. You should see our staff meetings- a melee of tasting and ideas and cheesy puns. Supporting these producers directly supports what makes Irish produce special and people really engage with our passion for that.

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What do you see for the future of Irish food and drink? The future of Irish food is local, and it has to be seasonal. There is no point eating out of season, it just doesn’t make sense. I do believe over-regulation is strangling small producers and hopefully the new government will make changes in that regard. You’ve been open since 1 July 2010. What has been your greatest achievement and your biggest disappointment in that time? Our greatest achievement was getting the doors open for the first time, and I don’t say that lightly. To be honest, it has been a brilliant nine months, though there are so many things that we want to get happening, for example our herb garden and smoking area that we had thought we would have done by now, but haven’t because we have been busy but that is a great complaint to have!

Ingredients One kilo of pickling onions (silverskins are great) or shallots 150 grams of salt 100 grams sugar 1 litre of water 1 litre vinegar ½ teaspoon of each coriander seeds, mustard seeds, pink peppercorns and chilliflakes Make a brine by boiling salt and sugar in the water, until all has dissolved. Leave to completely cool before using. Peel the onions (I do this by removing the dry outer skin and then blanching the onions in hot water for a few seconds and then rubbing the skins off). Soak in the brine overnight, using a weight to keep the onions bobbing happily below the surface of the brine. A plate slightly smaller than the bowl works well for this. Rinse well. Boil the vinegar and spices together in a pan for 10 minutes. Leave to cool completely. Pack onions into clean, sterilized jars and cover with cold spiced vinegar. Cover and label with contents and date. Leave for two months before using.

Pop in to L Mulligan Grocer to sample their unique beers, wines or spirits and delicoius food, perhaps taking advantage of their board games, free wifi and library while you taste. Apart from their fortnightly beer tastings, you can join them for special events such as their Japanese whiskey tasting on the 12th of April. Tickets are €25 per person and the event is in aid of the Unicef Japan appeal. See www.lmulligangrocer.com for all further details. L Mulligan Grocer 18 Stoneybatter Dublin 7 t: 01 670 9889

www.totallydublin.ie

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25

Y L L A T O T

FOOD

Restaurant Guide

Kafka

Odessa

Le Bon Crubeen

On the doorstep of the Swan Centre lies one of Rathmines’ best kept secrets. Kafka offers affordable, wholesome, and well-made brasserie fare at a reassuringly reasonable cost. The sparse, minimal décor goes hand in hand with the delicious diner-style food; free of pretence and fuss. With a varied but not overstretched menu, Kafka touches enough bases to cover most tastes. Appetizers range from delicious chicken wings to golden breaded brie, while the main menu offers up anything from hearty bangers and mash, to porcini mushroom risotto. While their prices are easy on the pocket, Kafka cuts no corners with quality of their food.

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.

236 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6

14 Dame Court, Dublin 2

t: 01 670 7634 www.odessa.ie

81- 82 Talbot Street, Dublin 1

www.leboncrubeen.ie t: 01 704 0126

t: 01 497 7057

The Best Western Dublin Skylon Hotel

Upper Drumcondra Road

The Rendezvous Room Restaurant is open for both breakfast and dinner. Enjoy a delicious meal in the relaxing and pleasant surroundings, with both A La Carte and Table d’Hote Menus available. The Skylon also boasts a superb selection of wines to choose from. Enjoy a drink or a meal in the Cosmopolitan Bar, newly decorated in traditional Irish style. This is the ideal meeting point for any occasion and is a favourite with locals and visitors alike. Evening menu is also available.

Eddie Rocket’s City Diner

Zen

Eddie’s manages to escape the trappings of restaurant franchising - its 100% fresh Irish beef burgers are consistently as excellent as most designer burger joints in town, and its (brilliantly-designed) menu diversifies seemingly by the day, making it the perfect stop for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night munchies, parties, and family days out - we couldn’t hope for a whole lot more from an Irish-owned business.

Celebrating its 20th year of serving imaginative, authentic Sichuan food in the unique setting of an old church hall. Real Sichuan cooking is unlike Cantonese, eastern or northern Chinese styles, and unlike any other outside China. Zen is the only Chinese restaurant in Ireland listed in the MICHELIN Guide. Using only the finest ingredients, favorites such as prawns with wild Sichuan pepper and fresh chilli and fillet of beef in hot bean sauce with broccoli have maintained a very loyal following. An early bird menu from Sunday to Thursday, 5:30 to 7:30 offers excellent choice and incredible value.

Citywide

www.eddierockets.ie

t: 01 808 4418

Mexico to Rome

Teddy’s Ice-Cream & Grill

Salamanca Tapas Bars and restaurants, offer fantastic value, great quality food, service and atmosphere. They pride themselves on a wide variety of menus and great value deals, that offer creative, innovative, delicious dishes. Visit either Salamanca and be prepared to be whisked away from the mundane to the excitement of the warm continent ,in either of two prime city centre locations. Salamanca Dame street offers the €10 lunch and the €15 early bird 7 days, Salamanca Andrew st offers the €11 lunch and the Tapas tower early bird menu. Exciting new Tapas launches in both restaurants in Feb 2011.

Mexico To Rome restaurant over looks the historic cobbles of Temple Bar, and is ideallly situated across from the world wide known Temple bar pub. It’s renowned for its combination of Mexican and Italian dishes and its newly introduced grill menu adds to its popularity. At Mexico to Rome they boast friendly, efficient and extremely helpful service. Their unique dishes are prepared in full view of the customer, which adds to the attraction of the restaurant. Great for a group reservation or an intimate meal for two. Best lunch deal around, starter, main + glass of wine or soft drink all for €8.95.The Early bird menu is a starter, main + dessert all for €14.95.

99-cone institution for nearly 60 years in Dun Laoghaire, Teddy’s Dundrum Grill offers another side to one of Dublin’s most-loved establishments – Teddy’s offers steak, spare ribs, and burgers par excellence, without destroying your wallet in the run-up to Christmas. And yes, they still do the best ice cream in town.

t 01 6774799 f 01 6774795 email info@salamanca.ie

t: 01 6772727 f: 01 6774795 mexico2rome@hotmail.com www.salamanca.ie

Eden

Venu

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

63 - 64 O’Connell Street, Dublin 1

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.

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

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!

Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

t: 01 670 5372 www.edenrestaurant.ie

TOTALLY DUBLIN

t: 01 4979428 www.zenrestaurant.ie

Salamanca

1 St Andrew st, Dublin 2

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89 Upper Rathmines Road, Rathmines

23 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

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

Dundrum Town Centre

t: 01 2964799 ek@teddys.ie

Café Carlo

t: 01 888 0856 www.cafecarlo.net

www.totallydublin.ie

The Butcher Grill

Coppinger Row

Bloom Brasserie

The Gravediggers

A new venture from the successful Dillinger’s of Ranelagh, the butcher Grill is a more meaty affair than its sister restaurant. The Butcher Grill offers a wide spread of carnivorous meals cooked on wood-smoked grills, from veal striploin to grilled halibut. With an excellent starters menu featuring oysters, beef carpaccio and Irish rabbit, the Butcher Grill excels in its variety - but don’t worry, the dessert menu is decidedly meat-free. A new jewel in the Ranelagh culinary crown.

The Bereen brothers from the South William Urban Lounge have created an exciting new option for dining out in Dublin: fresh, simple Mediterranean dishes, perfect for diving in and sharing with friends, family and work colleagues alie, in the funky laid-back atmosphere of Coppinger Row, slap-bang in the middle of the coolest quarter of south city Dublin

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.

John Kavanaghs, The Gravediggers is a part of Dublin since 1833. One of Dublins finest and genuine bars, and best pint of plain, now offers fine food in their lounge. Lunch, Monday - Saturday 12 - 3pm, evening tapas, Tuesday - Friday 6pm 8.30pm. Tapas start from €2.50 to €7.50, all freshly made to order. Fresh oysters every Friday evening, €5.00 for half a dozen, a true dublin tradition. Still in the Kavanagh family today, you’ll often find three generations working together in this Dublin hidden treasure.

92 Ranelagh Village, Dublin 6

t: 01 498 1805

Off South William St, Dublin 2

Mon - Sat Lunch Menu 12 - 3pm Afternoon Menu 3 - 6pm Dinner 6 - 11pm Sunday Brunch 12.30 - 4pm Evening 6 -9pm

11 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 4

www.bloombrasserie.ie t: 01 668 7170

t: 01 672 9884 www.coppingerrow.com

Prospect Square, Glasnevin, D9

t: 087 2963713 thegravediggersdublin@gmail.com

Tante Zoe’s

Bang Cafe

Diep Noodle Bar

Temple Bar, Dublin’s own French Quarter - is an appropriate home for this lively Cajun/Creole restaurant where great music meets great food. Try the gumbos, Jambalayas and blackened dishes... You won’t find better this side of the Mississippi. Originated from Louisiana, and is a combination of American Indian, African, French and Spanish cuisines - and it’s Tante Zoe’s speciality.

After a brief hiatus, Bang Cafe is back. Known for its sumptuous Euro-cuisine, superb service, and extensive wine and cocktail list, Bang is one of the city’s finest restaurants. Dine at Bang Cafe and you’ll be always be in the company of artists - with walls adorned with original artwork and rare prints by leading Irish and international artists such as Patrick Scott and William Crozier, Bang stands apart in the Dublin dining scene.

Tante Zoe’s also has private rooms to cater for parties of 20, 40 and 100 people.

t: 01 400 4229 www.bangrestaurant.com

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.

1 Crow Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

11 Merrion Row, Dublin 2.

Ranelagh Village, Dublin 6

t: 01 497 6550 www.diep.net

t: 01 6794407 www.tantezoes.com

The Chili Club

The Counter

Salamanca

Just shy of its 20th birthday Dublin’s Chili Club has had a welcome restyling and is now under new management. Quietly hidden away in Anne’s Lane opposite Kehoe’s Pub, the Chili Club was Dublin’s first Thai restaurant and has since its heyday been consistently serving, delicious, authentic Thai food. A recent makeover of cool greens and vibrant fuschia, along with a new bar breathes fresh life into the premises. It has long been a popular spot with local stockbrokers and visiting celebrities and continues to draw an eclectic clientele. A two course lunch is €9.95, three course €12.95 and a recessionary early bird menu is priced at a tempting €14.95. Combine these reasonable prices with cool tunes, friendly staff and a carefully selected wine list, this makes the Chili Club an ideal place for after work supper or a great night out.

Counter’s two outposts in Dublin represent an alternative dining future - patrons are offered complete control over their burger’s fillings. The variety of options is bewildering - you’re in safe hands with the expanded menu of Counter’s own recipes. Their shakes, beer and wine menu is nicely expansive too - if you want to make sure you never eat the same meal twice, Counter’s your Mecca.

Salamanca Tapas Bars and restaurants, offer fantastic value, great quality food, service and atmosphere. They pride themselves on a wide variety of menus and great value deals, that offer creative, innovative, delicious dishes. Visit either Salamanca and be prepared to be whisked away from the mundane to the excitement of the warm continent ,in either of two prime city centre locations. Salamanca Dame street offers the €10 lunch and the €15 early bird 7 days, Salamanca Andrew st offers the €11 lunch and the Tapas tower early bird menu. Exciting new Tapas launches in both restaurants in Feb 2011.

1 Anne’s Lane, South Anne Street, D2

Suffolk Street/Dundrum Shopping Centre

38 - 40 Parliament St, Dublin 2

www.thecounterburger.com Suffolk St: 01 611 1689 Dundrum: 01 2164 929

t 01 6719308 f 01 6774795 email salamancadamest@salamanca.ie

t: 01 677 3721 info@chiliclub.ie

Pacino’s

Il Primo

The Farm

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.

Il Primo is one of the longest-established Italian restaurants in Dublin’s city centre. For over a decade, Il Primo has been serving rustic Italian food paired with some of the best wines that Tuscany has to offer. Most of its wines are imported directly to Il Primo and cannot be found anywhere else in Ireland. The restaurant is located in a romantic period house, which has been converted into a lively, homely bar area and a cosy and intimate dining room, located five minutes from St. Stephen’s Green. The emphasis throughout Il Primo is on providing some of the finest wines from Tuscany with a range of simple and delicious Italian dishes in the heart of Dublin.

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.

18 Suffolk St., Dublin 2

t: 01 677 5651 www.pacinos.ie

16 Montague Street, Dublin 2

t: 01 478 3373 Email: info@ilprimo.ie

www.totallydublin.ie

3 Dawson St, Dublin 2

11 am to 11 pm 7 days a week

t: 01 671 8654 hello@thefarmfood.ie

Le Cafe Des Irlandais

12-13 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2 Located in one of Dublins oldest and most beautiful dining rooms, Le Cafe Des Irlandais serves French style rotisserie food using the best of Irish ingredients. Open from 8am for a delicious Irish breakfast and brunch at weekends. Lunch from 12-5 serving reasonably prices soups and roast sandwiches. Our a la carte dinner served nightly from 6 with fresh fish and vegetarian specials. Open Tuesday- Saturday 8am-11pm. Sunday 11am to 10pm.

t: 01 677 1584. www.lecafedesirlandais.com

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71

The Blizzard - Issue 0

Available digitally from www.theblizzard.co.uk

Flick

Michael Cunningham [Farrar Strauss and Girroux]

By Nightfall By Nightfall gropes for a philosophical exposition of the tensions governing the life of New York art-dealer, Peter. Truth and Beauty are constantly referenced, as are various literary figures, but Cunningham lacks subtlety. His own fixations are reflected in his protagonist – obsessively self-analytical and full of self obsessed insecurities. An art world of pseudo-intellectuals populate the novel. Peter observes Hirst’s shark in formaldehyde, fittingly titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, and his companion’s observation of it gaining significance only by being in an art gallery feels indicative of some flaws plaguing the text. Cunningham’s writing seems a weak attempt at profound impressions, but at times could be a sly wink at those fed up with pretentious ‘art-talk’. Let’s hope it’s the latter. It’s difficult to sympathise with Peter’s insecurities – when he looks for reassurance from his wife and does not immediately get it, he suddenly notices how old and unattractive she looks in the morning, drifting into a reverie about art’s obsession with youth. Though some writing is vivid and strong, the heart of the novel lacks enough real substance to make any claim to profundity. It is with too much neatness that the central issues are clarified through a gradual sequence of interactions that illuminate Cunningham’s obsessive symbolism. - ZJ

The baby of the Guardian’s chief Eastern European expert and tactics nerd Jonathan Wilson, The Blizzard, a magazine-cum-book quarterly represents the most definitive and defiant statement against the grain of ever-agglomerating swarm of blogs, message-boards and retweets. In an era where copy is regularly filed before the final whistle has blown, the idea here is to free some of football’s most talented writers to write to their whims for as long they want, rather than constantly cowing to editorial constraints and curating hit-generating bun-fights between United and Liverpool fans. The first edition (Issue Zero) was recently made available for a Radiohead-esque pay-what-youwant fee and features many of the journalists/ authors who have excited enthusiastic readers of football literature over the last decade, such as Uli Hesse (Tor!), Simon Kuper (Football Against The Enemy & Why England Lose) and Wilson himself, whose tactical history Inverting The Pyramid, set the era of football’s New Seriousness in motion. Presenting a near 200-page tome of solid text certainly presents a drastic change from the formats many will be used to. Gabriele Marcotti’s philosophical analysis of football’s ethics is one such venture into relatively unknown territory, the kind that begs greater examination, whereas the Hesse’s more traditional piece on counter-culture heroes St. Pauli lacks the power of images that a print publication could usually afford it. Elsewhere we can find histories, tactical treatises, theoretical arguments, a humourous denunciation of Roy Race as the root of evil in English football and a typically Kuperian comparison of Dutch society and football. Somewhat inevitably on the first try, this new format will occasionally miss the mark so the quality is a tad mixed. However the question remains, how will football culture, fiercely traditional and fond of convention, react to this attempted highbrow hijack? - IL

Felicity, or ‘Flick’ as her friends call her, leads a relatively uncomplicated life for a teenage girl – partying on school nights, hiding hangovers and hickeys from her parents and (cringe) practicing Snow Patrol’s latest hits on her guitar. But when her older brother Kevin brings stunning girlfriend Beck home, Flick finds herself a little too infatuated by her coy sexiness than she feels comfortable with. After the two share a secret kiss Flick is sent into a tumult of emotions which can only best be described as ‘puppy love’. When Beck and Kevin break up, Flick becomes determined to pursue the girl of her dreams and, as only fiction would have it, the two miraculously bump into each other at a bar where they kiss again. This time unfortunately, the whole affair is all caught on camera and put up on Facebook for the whole world (read school) to see. Afraid her family and friends won’t understand, Flick opens a Word document, types out a one word explanation to her family and friends – ‘sorry’ – and proceeds to take an overdose; the ever popular teenage phrase ‘my life is SO over’ really does get a whole new meaning. But of course no amount of pills can break this heroine and, after narrowly escaping a stint in the psychiatric ward, Flick meets a counselor who provides her with the emotional outlet she needs. While ‘Flick’ can be melodramatic and cringeworthy at times, the book is incredibly well written and gives voice to an issue which can be difficult to discuss. Even if you’re not a teen anymore and have left those experimental days behind, ‘Flick’ makes a pretty good guilty-pleasure read. - APP

ZJ - Zoe Jellcoe IL - Ian Lamont APP - Aine Pearl Pennello

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Geraldine Meade [Little Island]

www.totallydublin.ie

Dermot Healy Words Zoe Jellicoe

Seamus Heaney called Dermot Healy the natural successor to Patrick Kavanagh. I spoke to Dermot about his influences and his work.

The documentary The Writing in the Sky went on for a year, but I was working on my poem, A Fool’s Errand for ten. It was used as a source. Gary Keene (the director) would come down first thing in the morning to catch the geese. At the same time I was finishing Long Time No See. Much of the time was spent watching me working and going out to look at the birds, going up to a music session, to London to help the novel, and then walking back to Cavan where A Bend For Home was set. The migration of the birds is like a clock, in the way they come and they go, they set the hand of time. Much is set mentally to music. The V-shape they make in the sky and their sound is like a huge orchestra. I started calling it the orchestra of memory. When I moved here, I couldn’t believe it when I first saw the birds coming over. That feeling built up over the years, mostly in little poems written late at night, then all of a sudden I would put it all together. I wouldn’t think there’s much difference between rural and urban writing. Either has to be lived through. A locale can be a city; it doesn’t have to be a country place or a rural place. Mentally, when I’m up in Dublin I could be back here, or when I’m here I could be in London. It’s sometimes the isolated business of writing that sends you off somewhere else. A lot of the time when I was writing Long Time No See, which is based in Ballyconnell, I would write it on the train going up to Dublin. Sometimes being away from a locale doesn’t mean

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you can’t write about it. The thing about I Could Read the Sky was that the entire film was done in one week in a shed. I was freezing – sick for weeks afterwards. I never saw any of the other actors, just the soundman and sometimes my wife, Helen. I was into Beckett in a big way. I did five or six of his plays over the years. Waiting for Godot came by pure chance. I remember a priest getting up in Cavan and saying it was the best thing he’d ever seen, so I was fixated on it. It was an amateur group that we had at the time, and the next thing we knew it took off. I was in my early 20s, and would have published some short stories, but the theatre was what interested me at that time. I’ve done more of that than collections of poetry or novels. Beckett taught me an awful lot. To an extent, when I’m writing I’m acting. You walk in a character’s personality, taking on their traits. I use quite a lot of dialogue in the new novel. I began to rely on dialogue to discover the characters. I’d sit here at night sometimes and read it off to see if the sound was alright. So a lot of it would become a form of acting. When I do workshops I try to get the writer to start reading the piece that they’ve writ-

ten, then hand it on to somebody else so that you hear it in other voices. I think it helps enormously. I used to pass by this bed of reeds down about a quarter of a mile from the house. I would pass them, write a little note about them, and then forget. Two years had passed before I suddenly realised I’d written a poem about them. I wrote the poem about forgetting; about the thing that you saw that stirred your eyes. The visual world is sent back to me in verse. And so it was looking at the reeds and then forgetting about them. You look at something, visually you’re stirred, and then you forget. Sometimes it may lay dormant in the consciousness for a while, and then suddenly ‘ahh!, that’s it!’. I’ve loads of notebooks where I might find old things that I didn’t know I’d written down. That’s one of the things about poetry – for prose, you have to get in there and sit down every day, you have to knock at the door of consciousness every day, you have to start. And if you let go, when you come back to it you could actually not know who you are. Dermot’s new novel, Long Time No See, was launched in the Powerscourt Gallery on March 31st

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Oranges and Sunshine

Director: Jim Loach Talent: Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving Released: 1st April

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Director: Ken Loach Talent: Mark Womack, Andrea Lowe, John Bishop Released: 18th March Intense, angry and polemical, Route Irish marks a move towards the genre-based mainstream for Ken Loach. A revenge tragedy in the classical mould, Loach’s film depicts the ‘unsung heroes of today’, namely former Iraq war mercenary Fergus (Mark Womack), whose friend Frankie has died on Baghdad’s most dangerous road, the eponymous Route Irish. Convinced his friend was ‘born lucky’ and suspicious of his death, Fergus sets about a private investigation that will necessitate housebreaking, direct contact with Iraq victims and a spot of DIY water-boarding. A funeral eulogy in early scenes sings the praises of the humble soldier, but what if this man is a mercenary hired for £10,000 a month? Loach’s film intrigues because it withholds direct judgement on war itself, which is accepted as inevitable and universally destructive. His grizzled males are scarred and uncommunicative, carrying a catalogue of horrors in memory. The solitary female character, Frankie’s widow, Rachel, is emotionally battered and blinkered, and given to bouts of violence herself. The assertion is that war does not make killers of innocent men; from family brawls at a funeral wake to the bizarrely operatic S&M sex scene, Route Irish implies that violence and rage are within us from the start. Though directly critical of hired mercenaries and contractors, Loach’s film ultimately loses touch with the bigger picture to focus on one man’s madness. The actors are juxtaposed with snippets of real Iraq footage, a collage of Mondo awfulness, charred children’s bodies and widows’ wails. To do so seems a chilling and tasteless comment on voyeurism, but also emphasises art’s role as a mediator, making sense of human tragedy. The American troops blast jazz music as they slaughter; footage of a sniper at work resembles a morbid computer game. And as the film comes to its bombastic, implausible conclusion, it becomes apparent that the only way to erase the memory of violence is with yet more lurid destruction. Roisin Kiberd

Limitless

Director: Neil Burger Talent: Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro, Anna Friel Released: 23rd March

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Limitless, a thought-provoking thriller, follows a downand-out writer as he enters a world of drug-induced success. Eddie Morra’s world flips when a “smart drug” opens his brain (somewhat unconvincingly) to its full potential, literally casting a fresh light on his reality. A degree of suspended disbelief is essential as Morra (Bradley Cooper) turns from a shabby, struggling writer, into a sleek financial genius overnight. However, the film is unimaginative when it comes to where complete intelligence might take us, and fails to push the idea very far. However, the film does deliver when Morra’s world falls apart, and as he struggles to stay on top his character becomes quite realistic. Flashing through his drug-fueled blackouts, there are moments of true quality. Unfortunately, the film is dragged down by huge holes in the script. Expectedly, it doesn’t delve into any deep commentary on drugs or present an allegory on the vastness of human potential. With that said, Limitless delivers what is expected, with the added bonus of a strong cast and unique storyline. - MS

Essential Killing

Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D

Set in the midst of an unidentified conflict in the Middle East, Essential Killing is a shocking and unsettling film, which explores the lengths man will go to, simply to survive. It follows a prisoner of war, captured by Americans, who manages to slip through their seemingly feeble grasp while being transported to a nameless place in Eastern Europe. Lost and desperate in the snowy wilderness, the (also nameless) man fights to elude his captors by taking out everyone in his path. Though the film is visually interesting, the plotline drags. A strong connection is never made with the lead character, due to his lack of any real identity (or the fact that he never utters a word), and it is hard to invest any real emotions in his story. Importantly, there seems to be nothing “essential” about the random killing of every stranger that crosses his path. Though the film is unpredictable, it ultimately comes off as unbelievable, with far too many unrealistic twists thrown into the mix. - MS

Granted unprecedented access to the oldest artworks on Earth, Herzog finds ample fuel for favourite themes - man amongst the elements, inhospitable landscapes and the odd close-up of a particularly photogenic reptile. The Chauvet Cave is explored, first from the outside with an extraordinary crane shot soaring along the mountain face, then later by handheld cameras inside the cave’s clammy tunnels, severely restricted not only by low ceilings and narrow walkways, but by the fact that even the condensation of a single breath might alter the cave’s environment. Queasy and hypnotic in equal measure, the 3D camerawork is at times irritating, another gratuitous Herzog challenge, but it does make an event of what might otherwise be just a rather idiosyncratic nature film. Art becomes nature becomes art again, in a cycle spanning 32,000 years yet newly experimental every time. Science and speculation sit side-by-side, and the Platonic cave becomes a ‘landscape of the mind’, a testing ground for spirituality and ritual. Informative, yet brimming over with unanswerable questions (‘we will never know’, Herzog opines in his soft, umlaut-ed voice), Cave of Forgotten Dreams is glittering, rare and slow-moving as a stalactite. - RK

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski Talent: Vincent Gallo, Emmanuelle Seigner Released: 1st April

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Oranges and Sunshine brings to light the scandalous organized deportation of British children in state care to Australia throughout the last century. The film follows the true, albeit shocking, tale of Margaret Humphreys, who uncovers the scheme and tirelessly tries to right the wrongs done to these forgotten children. Actress Emily Watson plays a beautifully compassionate and driven Humphreys, who sacrifices everything and becomes the only person who is willing to address the emotional trauma that these children suffered. Her performance as Humphreys really propels the film, and drags the viewer in. The film is honest and straightforward, both brilliant and simple, and tells the story with closeness and care. Shockingly, over the course of several decades, 130,000 children living in state care suffered this compulsory deportation and were literally ripped from everything they knew. Much like the systematic child abuse scandals that have come to light in Ireland, this is also a cautionary tale, not to be overlooked. - MS

Director: Werner Herzog Talent: Bison, Oxen, Homo Sapiens Sapiens Release Date: 25th March

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MS - Megan Specia RK - Roisin Kiberd

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For more album reviews, videos, mp3s, single reviews, live previews, interviews, music news and comprehensive gig listings throughout the month, visit our new website www.totallydublin.ie

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games

Words Zoe Jellicoe de Blob 2

THQ – Xbox360, Wii, PS3

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de Blob’s Wii exclusive first outing was promising, but far from perfect. de Blob 2, unfortunately, fails to build on this. Doing away with the heinous motion controlled jumping is definitely an improvement, but little else is. Once again, de eponymous Blob has to lead the revolution against some unbelievably adorable fascist oppressors by splattering paint on all the buildings in the monochrome city. Different paint colours add different jazz instruments to the background music, which gets more animated as Blob fills the town with colour. This is a great concept and makes certain sections a joy to play, but the game as a whole is let down by other issues. A glitchy targeting system and scarce checkpoints mean that you will often have to repeat large sections if you die due to a control error. Fun as the puzzle-platforming is, de Blob 2 becomes very repetitive. This is all the more shameful because there are times when you see how great this game could have been with some different design choices.

Bulletstorm

People Can Fly – Xbox360, PC, PS3

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Me and Pikachu Down By The Schoolyard The jewel in the Nintendo crown, second only to Mario in terms of financial success, the Pokémon franchise has sold 207 million games worldwide – more than all the FIFA and Final Fantasy games put together. This comes down to Nintendo sticking to a winning formula. The same basic game has been re-produced since 1996, continually updated with more complexity added to the gameplay and is soon to be on its 18th installment. Pokémon’s impact was immense – school yards hadn’t witnessed this much of a cultural revolution since the advent of Pogs. It spawned a manga as well as an animé, and enough merchandise for many schools to feel the need to have the trading cards banned. Sprawling as the Poké-empire is, the games have always been central. It took relatively complicated systems of other RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons or Final Fantasy and stripped these back to a few easily understood variables. Battles are won through a kind of rock-paper-scissors strategy, with each of the Pokémon types being strong or weak against others. Electric beats water which beats ground which beats electric, and so on. It doesn’t require the dexterity that a platforming game might, rather you exercise your tactical skills. This deep but comprehensible battle system with cutesy

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monsters made Pokémon a hit. There were some duds (Voltorb?) but these were outweighed by Vulpix, Gengar, Mudkip and so many others. It’s the infectious element of collection that explains the Tangela-like grip these games have on fans. The game’s focus is summed up in its tagline “Gotta catch ‘em all” – but this is impossible in any one game. Some Pokémon are exclusive to particular versions, and others are unavailable through choices made in the game. The final battle is never really “the end” unless you’ve caught all the Pokémon, making it necessary to trade with other players to complete your collection. The groundbreaking Gameboy Link Cable foreshadowed the interconnectivity that is now standard in the gaming world. You could battle friends, of course, but more time was spent finding someone with a Weedle to swap for your Caterpie. With the complement of new Pokémon coming in Black and White, the new total number will be close to 600 – necessitating a much bigger trading network to fill you Pokédex. What makes Pokémon more than a passing mania is the way it offers players the possibility of a shared adventure in which people work together to create the best Pokémon teams.

It feels like half the production team thought Bulletstorm was a parody of the lumbering-space-marineFPS genre, but the other half don’t understand the concept. Any intended irony is ruined by a story that feels like the writers took “parody” to mean “lazy cliché with humour fit for a nine-year-old”. Cookie cutter characters threatening to kill each other’s dicks soon looses its charm. Bulletstorm has all the FPS staples – rifles, mine throwers and the now obligatory gravity gun – but does try to do something new. New weapons and upgrades are bought with points earned for skillshots: dispatching enemies in different ways – electrocution, explosive barrels, kicking them off cliffs. This skillshot conceit is Bulletstorm’s saving grace as it puts an interesting spin on what is an otherwise pedestrian shooter. Unfortunately, weapon upgrades feel unnecessary – a combination of sprinting and kicking can win most battles – so points are no real incentive to boot someone into a giant cactus, just your own appetite for mayhem. Pro tip: If you mute the character voices and skip every cutscene, finishing Bulletstorm becomes bearable.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn Nintendo – Wii

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Very reminiscent of the N64’s Yoshi’s Story, with its pop-up book art style, Kirby’s Epic Yarn is achingly cute. The Wii’s hardware may lack muscle, but the wool and cloth graphics look deliciously soft. Kirby has been turned into yarn by a voodoo wizard and transported to Patch Land, which has been torn apart and needs Kirby to sew it together. Kirby’s yarn form doesn’t have his traditional floating and eating powers, but can transform into car and parachute shapes, among others, to get around. He also has a whip attack to ball enemies up into yarn and pull zips and loose buttons to alter the terrain. For once Nintendo has done away with the archaic lives system they’re usually so attached to – Kirby can’t die, he just gets bumped back a bit and looses some collectables. This does make the main story easier to complete, but this isn’t a bad thing. The game remains well paced and there is plenty of challenge for those looking to unlock all the levels. Epic Yarn doesn’t chart much new territory but it is a solid platformer and beautifully presented.

All reviews John Hyland

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Hammer Horror gets a green makeover in this month’s film release Wake Wood, a low-budget but decidedly high-impact Irish horror with a plot that draws on everything from Polanski to Pet Sematary. A recently bereaved couple arrive in the friendly, oddly claustrophobic town of the title, where the locals offer solice but at a terrible price. You know what comes next. Gritty, grimy and gloriously stomachchurning, the film nods to Hammer’s kitschy past in a decidedly modern way, with a subtext pondering the nature of loss and what happens when modernity and progress trespass on ancient ritual. Here director David Keating discusses the making of his film, and how best to carry out witchcraft with a tractor engine.

revolves around animals, the kind of grossout moments vets encounter on a daily basis... We wanted it to be very incidental, to come from the world of vets, hunters and farriers. Early on in the development of the script, we were working out ways to create the ritual on screen, considering CGI, and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to go back and do the all effects for real in front of the camera.

So is Wake Wood very much in the classic Hammer mould, or something new entirely? Hard to say. If you look at the two big ones Hammer have lately done, Let Me In and The Resident, they’re not much like the old films. Whereas with Wake Wood, before even beginning our dealings with Hammer we wanted to make a contemporary film with 1970s sensibilities. Was that as much to do with the film’s budget? It’s what I’m into; I admire so many films and filmmakers from that period, and the script lent itself to the look of that era. Obviously as a horror film, there’s the guts and there’s gore, but it’s also very much about how we love our kids, the lengths we’ll go to for them. I know that the script came to you prewritten, but did you have any personal experiences of rural weirdness to draw on making Wake Wood? I think the film was in it’s second draft when I saw it. Brendan was on a screen writing MA course, and I was an outside assessor, and that’s how it came about. And then after we decided to collaborate I ended up writing a bunch of drafts, though Brendan was still very much involved. Both of our fathers were qualified veterinary surgeons, and Brendan’s mother was a pharmacist, like the characters in the film. So much of the horror in Wake Wood

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So those were real animals you used? The bovine caesarean section, at the beginning of the film, is a real cow being cut open. That was actually documentary footage that we shot in pre-production. From the age of nine until about sixteen I was living on a farm, and I remember there was this way that people have of being around livestock. I wanted Aiden’s character to seem this way.

Hammered Wake Wood Words Roisín Kiberd

What are the hallmarks of seventies horror, to you? The framing of shots, in particular. And the colour. I’m really interested in how it can tell a story. Wake Wood is a green film; there’s an awful lot of green. It’s the countryside, there’s green in the trees, the grass, and in clothing. And not a whole lot of red, so that when you do see the gore it really has impact. But those are old techniques people have been using since colour first came in - there’s a book called If You See Purple Someone’s Gonna Die. Also in terms of creating a seventies feel, I kept in mind stuff like Rosemary’s Baby, Polanski’s films. Horror but also very much about an idea. Read the full interview at www.totallydublin.ie

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iPad 2 is here.

The device that started it all now leaps further ahead. iPad 2 is thinner, lighter and even faster than the original, with the same 10-hour battery life.1 The new front and back cameras let you make FaceTime2 video calls and capture HD video on the beautiful, 9.7-inch Multi-Touch display. And the optional iPad Smart Cover3 attaches magnetically and aligns perfectly. Discover the amazing iPad 2 at Compu b.

Compu b www.compub.com Dublin 111 Grafton Street, Dublin 2. Email dublin@compub.com Phone 01 5079101 Swords Pavillions, Swords, Co.Dublin. Email swords@compub.com Phone 01 5250631 1 Compared with previous iPad. Battery life varies by use and configuration. See www.apple.com/uk/batteries for more information. 2 Requires a FaceTime-enabled Mac with an Internet connection or a FaceTime-enabled iOS device with a Wi-Fi connection. Not available in all areas. See www.apple.com/uk/mac/facetime for more details. 3 iPad Smart Cover sold separately. Some colour may rub off leather covers during use. TM and Š 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

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