Took myself and the visiting Australian off to the Black Box’s Open House Festival last night to see Luka Bloom. Because I enjoy random bits of his stuff and she was up for a gig sold with: ‘well, they put him down as folk because … oh never mind, you’ll see ( Read more... )

It has been a very, very busy day. Week. Month. Year? I'm being eaten by my own life. Mainly in a very enjoyable and entertaining way, but still. The filing is building right up, and I'm not sure where the summer went.

Actually that's a lie.

Bletchley Park, claims, tiny demanding dogs, new interns, taking Amy and Mike round the Ards Peninsula, ( Read more... )

This is the other post I owe Mike.

This is the one about the Saw Doctors, this bunch of nice lads from Tuam who've spent the last couple of decades writing bouncy commentary on the more hilarious dangers of, for starters, being alive, Irish, Catholic, male and really, really liking girls, interspersed with gorgeous love songs, surprisingly sweet ( Read more... )

 Amid the invasion of English at the start of November, I fulfilled a long-held desire to see Neil Hannon live. This is one of those things that you keep wanting to do and being thwarted by complex intersices of money and tour dates. It was, however, no ordinary gig.
What it was was Tim Wheeler taking on to do a fundraiser for the Alzheimer's ( Read more... )

I owe Mike two gig posts, and I need to upload pictures for this, but I want to get my thoughts down now ( Read more... )

Electric Picnic.
33,000 people being very silly in the grounds of Stradbally Estate and some of them were the St John's Ambulance.


( Read more... )

About three years ago, Neil Hannon and Duke Special, full-time musicians and part-time drama queens, decided they were going to have a feud. John Kelly, presenter for RTE, decided to enable them. Thus, an episode of The View was dedicated to a climactic duel, involving duets, covers, ungentlemanly behaviour, getting kicked out of the Iveagh Gardens ( Read more... )

I spent the morning, the morning with which I was going to do very many productive things, hunting down and obsessively listening to every cover of Nick Cave's 'The Ship Song' I could find. Sydney Opera House and their gloriously demented promotions people have an awful lot to answer for. I suspect they're also hoarding good-looking young men in ( Read more... )

Because I was out dancing Saturday night, because it's summer, because we walked home with no jackets, because there's a good chance it all might kick off tonight, because I have a new job and no access card, because I think I need to remind myself that the weather just might last.

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( Mundy - July )

I do listen to other music, honestly, but these guys have that direct line to the back of my mind. The one that right now is hunting for jobs and attempting to have a life and wondering how you look like you know what you're doing while the world spins on into the long hot summer and you wait for the real show to start.

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(It has a companion piece ( Read more... )