get down on it!

Following receipt of the RSAG album, Organic Sampler, and having listened to it a number of times, I can now tell you what I initially suspected about it. It’s brilliant. It has the same edginess to it that the live shows do. It’s the bee’s knees and the dog’s bollocks all mixed in together and appearing as one giant mutated organic form. It reminds me of Talking Heads in places, Was Not Was in other places and like stuff I’ve never heard at all, in other places.

In terms of new vinyl coming my way it’s been a slow few days. I picked up a couple of things in the last while but never got round to writing about them.

There have been very rich pickings on the second hand vinyl front. There was a deluge of second-hand stuff into Oxfam on Georges Street today. At one point myself and about five others were acting like some humanitarian packages had been dropped in to the shop. There was a bit of pushing and shoving between us in order to get what we need to survive. As it turns out the crush between people need not have happened. We were all after very different stuff. It truly is the case that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Or one man’s Prefab Sprout is another man’s James Last. I was looking at the shit records other people were picking and sniggering to myself. I imagine that they were doing the same when they saw I had the following:

Fables of the Reconstruction – REM
This is the third studio album from REM and was released in 1985 on IRS Records. Along with Murmur and Reckoning this charts the earlier sound of REM. It certainly bears little resemblance to the most of the albums that followed. I like it exactly because of that. I’m a big fan of the first three albums but that said I also like most of the stuff that followed. Actually that’s a bit of a fib, the only ones after this that I like are Document and Green.

Love and Dancing – The Human League
This is the famed collection of 12” remix instrumental versions of the Dare album. I already have it a couple of times so I gave this copy to a mate. It turns out he already has it so he’s giving it to someone else. It’s a gift that just keeps giving. Super.

Steve Mc Queen – Prefab Sprout
I had this on vinyl and then it disappeared. Thankfully I now have it again. This is without doubt the best Prefab Sprout album ever, which in real terms isn’t actually saying much because all their other ones are pretty bad (except maybe ‘Swoon’). It includes some of their best ever tunes such as ‘When love breaks down’ and ‘Faron Young’.

Duel – Propaganda
This is taken from their album ‘A Secret Wish’ released on Trevor Horn’s ZTT label in 1985. The band themselves hailed from Dusseldorf in Germany and included amongst them an ex-member of Die Krupps. This was their only tune worth talking about and I bought it today in a fit of nostalgia. As it turns out, it’s not as good as I remembered it. Oh well.

Sidewalking – The Jesus & Mary Chain
This little seven inch was hidden amongst a load of albums. I always took JAMC with a pinch of salt and never bought into the wall of sound shit that they peddled. This same marketing technique is currently being used by Glasvegas. Put simply, some Phil Spector style production and some whining Scottish vocals does not equal great music. It usually equals something bad. This wasn’t always the case with JAMC. They did release some good tunes in the course of their early years but these truly were few and far between. ‘Sidewalking’ which featured on the ‘Barbed Wire Kisses’ album is one of the few that’s good.

The Story of Tron – Readalong adventure
This seven-inch was released by Walt Disney Productions in conjunction with Buena Vista Records back in 1982. It is a seven-inch piece of vinyl with an accompanying 24-page illustrated booklet. It’s a reminder of the type of merchandise that would be released in conjunction with movies back in those days. The wonderful innocence of a record and story that you would read along to is probably not something that today’s kids would be interested in. I have a passion for this kind of tat so I’m delighted with it.

I also bought a new seven inch release from an Icelandic songstress, Emiliana Torrini, which happens to be very nice. The b-side has a remix by Manasseh.

I hit the bargain basements in some record stores and unearthed the following seven inch gems for minimal cash. 'Out come the Freaks' by Was Not Was was the first up. It's an old eighties tune by a bunch of mad dudes led by the Was brothers. Next out was Quadrophonia by Quadrophonia. This brought back memories of a dance off between myself and a bloke called Stef years ago. It's fair to say that Stef won the dance off but he also introduced me to a lots of rave and breakbeat music. Another find was 'America: What Time is Love' by The KLF. The last two were for the wedding collection of seven inches that I'm building. Two dancefloor classics in 'Tainted Love' by Soft Cell and 'Get Down On It' by Kool & The Gang.

my news. today is monday.

I'm trying to keep in the blogging groove with this post. Its easy to lose your way and every now and again you just have to knuckle down and write something. As any regular reader will attest, this blog is very much more about quantity than quality. If there was an ISO audit for this blogging stuff I'm not sure I'd reach the pass mark. Somehow that makes me a little proud inside.

Given my dearth of ideas I'll kick off by poaching news from other sources. Nialler9 brings attention to a new musical effort by my man of the moment Richie Egan aka Jape. It's a cover of the Toto tune 'Africa'. The original tune evokes particular memories for me, mostly centred around MT USA and Jack Palance in Ripleys Believe it or Not. It also brings to mind another classic by the same band, Rosanna. This tune probably holds more significance for my older brother who had a brief dalliance with a yound English girl of that name over the course of a summer in Bettystown. Apologies for the digression, lets get back on song here. I'm not sure what to make of this version, its probably a bit too similar to the original. There's a peculiar karaoke feel to it at times. It also doesn't help that the original singer of the chorus, Bobby Kimball, can sing about two octaves higher than Richie. I mention Bobby Kimball there because the verses of the song are sung by David Paitch. There's one for all you Toto fact fans out there. Anyway, its well worth a listen so go and make your own minds up. Then go and feel the velvet original here. Mind you, the words of the tune have to be the most ridiculous I've heard in ages. They obviously wrote the words first and the tune after because there's loads of instances where they're trying to squeeze the sentence in. Schoolboy songwriting error on Toto's part.

For those of you who might depend on this blog for any upcoming musical news I'd advise that you get a good grip of yourself. But in case you haven't heard, the Kraftwerk gig scheduled for Luggala in Wicklow this weekend, has now been moved to the grounds of IMMA in Kilmainham. There are other gigs scheduled by POD for the same place in October that include Seasick Steve and Human League. I just happened to bump into Eamon Doyle (DEAF, D1, Dead Elvis) today and D1 are involved with the gig this weekend. He was also getting very excited about the forthcoming DEAF 08 festival which takes place on the October Bank Holiday weekend. There's some great gigs on the schedule. Check it here. Anyhow this is a very longwinded way of telling you about the Kraftwerk story he told me today. It relates to a time when a mutual friend, Donnacha Costello was over in Berlin in the early nineties. He somehow met Kraftwerk, whether at a gig they were playing or out somewhere else altogether. When they found out he was Irish they spent the whole night wanting to talk about Sean Kelly. Not Stephen Roche or Paul Kimmage. Sean Kelly. Fair play to those Kraftwerk boys, they know the real deal when it comes to cyclists. As it turns out they're just crazzzzy about the cycling. See for yourself.


Jaysus, now I can't stop banging on about stuff once I've started, so I'll keep the rest of this short and tell you about two cultural highlights that I had last weekend. The first involves the confusingly named St Michans Church here in Dublin. Confusing because its the name of two churches within spitting distance of one another. Myself and my current wife got married in the not so well known St Michans on Halston St but my journey at the weekend brought me to the better known St Michans on Church St. The reason for the visit was to see the by now infamous mummified remains that are in the vaults of the church (Have a look here at the Blather article on it). Being a concerned and conscientious parent I thought that the remains of dead bodies would be suitable fare for my eight, six and four year old children. And so it turned out. They loved it. You even get to go in and rub a mummy's finger if that's your thing. The whole occasion reminded me of that Spider Baby episode of Father Ted.

Another cultural highlight was the annual 'Sculpture in Context' exhibition in the Botanic Gardens. Take a load of sculpture. Take a big garden. Put the former in the latter. Hey presto a great way to look at art. This exhibition has been held in the Botanic Gardens for the last seven years and at various locations prior to that. It's always great. Check it out if you get a chance.

beats and pieces

Right so. I've picked up a few bits and pieces so its actually worth writing something. So let's get busy with this weeks round-up of vinyl gems.

First up is a seven inch from the Jack to Phono label. It's by Tombee, a DJ, producer and film-maker from Newcastle in the UK and its entitled 'Sticky Rhythm'. The b-side has a Phase 5 Stereo remix thats also the business. The samples used and the way that its stuck together make the a-side somewhat reminiscent of the early sampling techniques used by the likes of The Prodigy. There's an almost childlike feel to the creation of the tune. I think that's what I like about it.

The next tune I picked up was for €1 in Oxfam. It's by Dream Warriors and it's called 'Wash your face in my sink'. These guys hailed from Toronto in Canada. The group comprised of King Lou, Capital Q, Spek and a DJ, L.A. Luv. This tune was the follow up to their more famous "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" which featured the widely known sample from "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones.


Another old piece of vinyl that I got is the Fall EP by Ride. It was released in 1990 on Creation records and comes with a nice piece of artwork on the cover. It was swiftly followed by their debut album 'Nowhere' which managed to achieve some acclaim. I saw them a couple of times back then and I always liked them. This EP features 'Dreams burn down' which was always a favorite of mine. Get busy gazing at your shoes for this.


Next up is Rockers Hi-Fi with their 1996 album 'Mish Mash'. It comes on triple vinyl to fit all the goodness in. These guys came from Birmingham and by the mid 90's were becoming widely recognised for fusing dub, hip-hop, a bit of jungle and whatever you're having yourself. They released a clatter of albums and also mixed and compiled an album for the now infamous K7 DJ-Kicks series. One of the members, Glyn "Bigga" Bush, continues to produce music as BiggaBush and Lightning Head and he released a great album a few years back called Studio Don.

going underground

I think I might have mentioned it before here but I've more info on it now and its closer to the mark, so I'll bring it up again. It's nice to have mates that do interesting things, that way you can save yourself all the creative heartache and hang on to their coat tails instead. One such bloke is the ubiquitous Dennis Mc Nulty. He's at it again and this time I was determined to get a piece of the action.

Underground takes place in the basement of Road Records. It begins on the 27th of this month and ends on the 6th of July. The exhibition and accompanying publication look at the changes in independent music culture in Dublin over the last 15 years, tracking the relationship between the local and the global, society and technology and charting the erasure of the boundary between the public and the private. Some of you will note that I've just robbed that last sentence from the blurb as I'd never write anything as complicated as that myself. Contributors to the collaborative project include such artistic heavyweights as droid + slug/weareie, David Lacey, Daragh McCarthy, Dennis McNulty, Naptha, Stephen Rennicks, Dave & Julie Road and of course , me! There's a host of others involved but by giving you a short list it appears that I've contributed much more than I actually have.

When I started to look back at the rock scene in Dublin just over ten years ago I came across a movie by the above-mentioned Daragh McCarthy called 'The Stars are Underground'. I find it brilliant that such a snapshot in time exists on the interweb. It post-dates my own involvement in the band scene here in Dublin. I was fortunate enough to be in a couple of second rate bands where I met lots of interesting people. As one of Jubilee puts it in the film, we were a bands band. Only bands liked us. The film is that much more fascinating because I know so many of the people in it. You can check out a youthful Lee Casey from Jubilee (later the Jubilee Allstars), Conzo and Dave from Female Hercules, Rocky and Dennis from Cruiser, Dylan and Kevin from Pet Lamb. The sad thing is that most of them never went on to achieve the fame or cash that they deserved, but the rock worlds loss has been Dublins record and clothing stores gain.

Check out the film in three parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

johnnys balls

Every year I promise that I'll go and every year I forget. It wasn't going to happen this time around. Fishamble St has been the venue for the last number of years. An orchestra stuck on the back of a truck and a choir on the ground below. All there to give a rendition of Handel's Messiah. You know the one I'm on about. Everyone knows the Hallelujah chorus. The ensuing downpour of rain didn't even scare any of the crowd away. This lot are hardened gig goers by the looks of things, not like the whinging shites that turned up for the Barbara Streisand gig and complained because they got a bit wet. This lot of classical music lovers are not averse to some inclement weather. Unfortunately the same can't be said for my kids. They have the attention span of goldfish. So as I started to shoo them out from the crowd I turned around and lo and behold it's bleedin Johnny Ball behind me. Readers of a certain vintage will know who Johnny is but for those who don't, read on.

Johnny Ball used to be a stalwart of childrens television when I was a kid including Playaway and Think of a Number. He was one of the more entertaining personalities that they had back then. Others might know Johnny Ball's famous daughter, Zoe, who is married to Fatboy Housemartin, Norman Cook. Here's Johnny.

The 80's Pop Pickers Podcast

This podcast was inspired by a post over at www.nialler9.com From nowhere people started to admit to certain a guilty pleasure they got from listening to particular tunes from the 1980's. Always a keen member of the nostalgia brigade I decided to dig through some boxes of seven inches from the eighties. This isn't a favourite top ten by any means but is instead intended as a representation of the stuff that really defined the charts during the period in question. Enjoy the trip down memory lane. If you enjoy it then go and buy one of those cheap compilations available in all good supermarkets. Better still you could offer to buy all mine from me.

The 80's Pop Pickers Podcast


1. Pop Musik – M

This one just manages to sum up the eighties for me. Perfect pop.

2. Living it Up – Level 42

I used to hate this band when this was released. Some pasty faced blokes trying to reinvent white soul music in the UK. That said I’ve revised my thinking considerably. It’s great.

3. Owner of a Lonely Heart – Yes

A great rock-pop crossover at the time. The production is great. The sound is set in a distinct time and place, a place that Yes never really managed to revisit. Pity.

4. Teardrops – Womack & Womack

The girls always loved this one. That’s enough reason to merit its inclusion.

5. Dancehall Days – Wang Chung

This reminds me of MT USA. I’m sorry that I didn’t include the Safety Dance by Men without Hats. I always associate the two songs together for some reason. Don’t know why.

6. All Night Long – Lionel Richie

The original soul-glo star of the eighties, Lionel really had it going on for a while. He had a succession of huge hits like that ‘Hello’ tune. In the video the chick made a hilarious bust of Lionel out of clay. It was a toss-up to include this tune or Dancing on the Ceiling but this one won out on account of it being just cheesey and great. But so is the other one you say!

7. I can’t go for that – Hall & Oates

I’m not sure how this one snuck onto the podcast but I decided to leave it in. I was never a huge fan of these chaps. The blonde one always reminded me of a mulleted mate and the little one always reminded me of one of the guys from Cannon & Ball. That doesn’t quite paint a delightful picture in the mind but the tune is good in a typical eighties kind of way. We were satisfied with less in those days.

8. State of Independence – Donna Summer

This tune really owes everything to the Quincy Jones production on it. The guy was on fire back in the eighties producing stuff like this as well as the Thriller album by Michael Jackson. It’s not really fast enough to get a dancefloor rocking but it still deserves its place in pop history.

9. Joe Le Taxi – Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa appeared on Top of the Pops singing this and I was smitten. I harboured thoughts of marrying her for several years but when you’re vying against Lenny Kravitz and Johnny Depp you realise you’ve got to give the game up. I learnt all the lyrics to this and its only recently I translated them. As it turns out its brilliantly nonsensical.

10. Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel

Although Peter Gabriel put out an unholy amount of shite back in the eighties he did manage to release this piece of genuine brilliance. It was accompanied by a groundbreaking video that was the toast of MTV for a long time. I’ve never really wondered what the lyrics are about so I must give them a proper listen one of these days. Or else someone else might want to listen and leave a quick synopsis in the comment box.

a head like a sieve

I was listening to a lot of the stuff that I've bought and blogged about in recent days. All sorts, from the Numero compilations to a whole host of new seven inches. And there they were; two other seven inches that I'd completely forgotten about. I bought them last Thursday in Road Records but I stuck them on the shelf when I got home and I forgot to listen to them. The items in question are the new releases from The Death Set and Vampire Weekend.

The first tune is 'Negative Thinking' by The Death Set. It reminds me a little bit of the Irish band The Chalets but with a slighty rawer feel. It's all urgent guitar riffs with a little bit of shouty vocal thrown in for good measure. It's a pop-punk sensation to be honest. It even ends with an obligatory random guitar chord that doffs it's hat to old crappy punk recordings. The b-side is a tune called 'Intermission' and its more of the same with a bit of Gary Numan style keyboard and techno bass thrown in. For some reason I thought of the old Irish rock band called Interference. Intermission, Interference, that's how my mind works. They only released one album and I can't remember too much about it. I did see them play live once and I thought they were deadly. What sticks in my mind is that the guitarist/singer, Fergus O Farrell, was in a wheelchair. I think they reformed a couple of years back but I'm not sure what became of the reunion. Anyway, I don't know anything about The Death Set because I've never seen them or heard of them until now.

The other tune is called Mansard Roof and its by Vampire Weekend. When it starts out it sounds like its going to be some poor Beatlesque quality music but instead it turns into a string laden, ragga beat groovin epic. It's the business. It sounds like they've been hanging around with Baaba Maal. It appears that the 7" was supposed to be released in November 2007 here but I never saw it until Thursday. In the meantime (i.e. since November) they've released an eponymously titled debut album and I reckon it could be worth a punt if you're in an adventurous mood.

the groundswell continues

When I return to my desk after lunch following my daily vinyl trawl, I'm always asked by workmates why I'm buying vinyl. Isn't it a dead format? Well for me it's not. It's always been a part of my life since I was a kid. I remember getting my first piece of vinyl when I was about six. Someone gave me a present of a nursery rhyme called 'Ten Little Indians' on 7". Fortunately things picked up after that and being lucky enough to have older siblings there was no shortage of new music in the house. I can also clearly remember spending my confirmation money on vinyl in Crumlin Shopping Centre when i went to visit my Aunt May. Some of the gems I picked up that day included something by Dan Hartman and something else by Five Star. I'm not going to embarass myself by revealing the names of the tunes, I've done that with the band names. In my teens it was de rigeur to bunk off school on a Friday to go shopping in Comet Records and then go to the free lunchtime gigs in the JCR in Trinity College. There were a number of schoolmates who'd slag us off about our record bags from Comet and Freebird and our peculiar choices of sock colour. Those were innocent times. One regretful instant occured in my late teens when I sold off loads of vinyl to provide for my social habits. Secondhand record stores highlight the crueller aspects of depreciation but moreso when you're selling them the records that you've saved hard to buy. These days I spend a lot of money replacing the very records that I sold. Anyway this is a circumlocutory way of saying that vinyl is alive and well. Hooray. May I present my case:

The Don Rosco made it his business to inform me about Trensmat Records. They're an Irish label who specialise in transmitting drone, noise, oscillations & grooves according to their blurb. All of their releases are on limited edition picture sleeve 7" vinyl. I love them already. I love them so much I've signed up and I can't wait to get their next two releases which are due out in March. One release is by Astral Social Club and the other is by The Shining Path. Most peculiarly, Trensmat are based in Trim, Co.Meath, home of a nice castle. I don't think they're based in the castle though.

I also heard about the new selection of seven inches due for release by All City Records. They have a forthcoming 'Beatstrumental' series that will feature seven different producers releasing a seven-inch record each over the same amount of months. More here.

Whilst I'm on the subject of All City Records, I was in there yesterday and I picked up another of the Numero compilations. I haven't heard a bad one yet. This one is a gospel themed one and its called Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. Its number ten in the series and was released a good while back but there are restocks in All City. Get a copy while they're hot. I also picked up the new seven from the producer Diplo and its called 'Bandida'. Once again it's apparently a limited edition of 500 copies but I just can't believe that. It doesn't really matter about its collectability because its a good tune. He's been making some great rhythms over the last couple of years. Rock on Diplo.

And finally, I picked up a new picture disc seven inch by Goldfrapp for the tune 'A&E'. i haven't bothered listening to the a-side because I've been quite taken all evening with the remix on the b-side. It's an instrumental remix by Maps and its just great.

Vinyl is dead. Long live vinyl!

here comes the small hours

I hadn't popped into the Brooklyn Vegan site for ages so I thought I'd pay it a visit this evening. Whilst there I stumbled upon a remix of El Manana, the Gorillaz tune, by TTC. He in turn had found it over on the Genevan Heathens blog. It's a rather nice remix of it I have to admit. Nothing out of this world but very pleasant. The Parisien hip-hop producer, Para One, also seems to have had a hand in the tune.

The Genevan Heathen blog seems to have an obsession about using movie stills from 80's American movies and he appears to have an unhealthy interest in Corey Feldman. I realised that I've seen an awful lot of bad movies as i recognised most of the stills on his blog. He also shows an interest in music that I'd never really listen to, but I thought others might, if their attention was drawn to it. Consider it drawn.

As one blog led on to another, I came across this remix of last years favourite whistling laden ditty, Young Folks, by Peter, Bjorn & John. The first few bars remind me of the theme tune to sixties TV programme Daktari, which made a star of Clarence, the cross-eyed lion. Then it starts to funk it up proper. It's not bad either.

I kept lurching forward from website to website, by this stage I was getting a crick in my neck but it was all worthwhile when i found a real gem. This one takes me back to my youth when I was rocking out in a second-rate band (ok maybe third rate!). It's 'Don't want to know if you are lonely' by Catherine Wheel but it also featured on the Husker Du album, Candy Apple Grey. The song was written by Grant Hart who also turned out some great solo stuff. As it turns out the lead singer with Husker Du, Bob Mould, is back on the trail and is releasing a new album next week.

Last but by no means least. Naphta, flavour of the month on the national airwaves, makes an appearance on Donal Dineen's radio show tomorrow night (Thursday) where he'll be bringing along some tunes that he's picked up over the years. Donal and Naphta will be chatting about the stuff that's influenced Naphta in his deejaying and music production. If breakbeat, jungle and other electronic music genres are your bag then you'd be a fool to miss it. If breakbeat, jungle and other electronic music genres aren't your bag then you'd still be a fool to miss it. Now I wouldn't want you looking the fool. Tune in on the wireless at 102 FM or on the other type of wireless. If you are a fool and you miss it then it should be archived here afterwards.

Update: The link to the archive is bust for the last few days. Fix it you lazy shites.

be my lucky number seven

Today was the birthday of my eldest son and he has reached the grand old age of seven years old. It doesn't seem that long when I look back and I can clearly remember the night he was born. He arrived about 1.30am in a bit of a whirlwind. It was a quiet night in the hospital and not too many women went into labour that night. As such there was a surplus of student nurses and firemen who had to see a delivery in action as part of their training. Because of this my son had an audience of about a dozen people when he arrived. He didn't seem to get phased by it.

I left the hospital around 5am to go home and get some sleep. Because it was so late I didn't think it was appropriate to ring people with the good news, however I couldn't contain myself from telling the taxi driver who was bringing me home. He didn't seem too bothered.

I remember that he was pretty small (a lot smaller than now anyway!) and if I held his head in my hand he didn't even stretch down to my elbow. It's hard to believe that he's the same little fella.

Happy Birthday son.

let's have those boys around for tea

I was strolling into town a few nights ago and as I walked down Capel Street I was reminded of several venues that were the mainstay of my youth. (Cue nostalgic rant for the rest of the post). Since then I've been trying to list as many of the places as possible where I would have seen gigs or played gigs over those formative years. I'm sure that I've left out a number of them but here they are in no particular order:

The Earl Grattan (On Capel Street where Jack Nealons pub is now)
The Fox and Pheasant (just off Capel Street across from where GUBU is)
Barnstormers (At the junction of Capel Street and Parnell Street, not sure what's there now)
The Underground (Dame Street, I think there's a lap-dancing club there now. It was run by the rather young and rather surly Jeff)
Charlies Bar (This was on Aungier Street and the building was knocked into next door to create that new bar on the corner that no-one drinks in)
The Rock Garden (Crown Alley, where Eamonn Dorans is. It also used to hold the Gardening Club outside the fire exit)
The Castle Inn (Lord Edward St. Now a steakhouse and bar)
The Waterfront (This was Columbia Mills for a while and then shut down.)
Teachers Club (On Parnell Square. Still in existence. Not sure about gigs there though)
McGonagles (South Anne Street. It became The System nightclub but only for a short time.)
City Arts Centre (Moss Street. Sold for loads recently but nothings happened with it)
The SFX (Sherard Street. In the process of being developed into apartments.)
Olympic Ballroom (Pleasant Street. Better known for its raves but it also held gigs for many years)
Sides (Also more famous for its raves but was home to the 'Live at Three' gigs for a time)
The Attic (above The White HorseBurgh Quay. The booker for this was a ponytailed fucker called Robbie who used to lord it up in his dingy office on the top floor.)
The Funnel (this cropped up out of nowhere in the early nineties. Its star burned brightly for a couple of years and then disappeared.)
The Electric Ballroom ( This was in the Tea Rooms in The Clarence for only a few weeks in order to record some television shows)
The Crypt (Christchurch Cathedral. Unlike The Clarence Tea Rooms there was a regular club there for a while. It also hosted the TV Gaga show for a while)
The TV Club (On Harcourt Street. Knocked down in 1984 but not before my eldest brother brought me to an EBTG gig there.)
The Top Hat (Dun Laoghaire. I passed by it on Sunday and its now apartments. It was also a roller disco for a while.)
The JCR (Above the archway in Trinity. Cheap pool and bad seats. Great free gigs)
The NCAD Canteen (Cheap coffee. Bad art. Jukebox. Great lunchtime gigs)
Kevin Street DIT, Bolton Street DIT, Mountjoy Square DIT (Apprentice electricians. 10 spots. Great lunchtime gigs)
UCD Bar (The suburban collegiate lunchtime/nighttime option)
DCU Bar (The other suburban option that was a little too like a hospital for my liking)
SU Bar Maynooth (The rural option.)
The Wexford Inn on Wexford Street (now home to The Village)

Between this lot I saw some of the great and not so great bands who played in Dublin over the years. If I had a Euro for every great gig I've seen then I'd have near enought to twenty quid at this stage. I've tried to find pictures on the web for all of the above and have failed miserably. It was an innocent age back then. No mobile phones. You actually had to meet people when you said you were going to meet them. What were we like?

Whilst zipping around the internet world I came across this website that's a kind of who's who of Irish bands over the last thirty years. The site's lead story was about Mama's Boys, who by a strange coincidence had tea in the family home one day many years ago when their tour van broke down outside. What a lark that was. Granny didn't know herself.


NEWS JUST IN:
Slatterys on Capel Street (still there but nowhere near as ragged as it was)
The New Inn on New St. Smiley 'face like a worn leather handbag' Bolger used to do the bookings.
The Da Club on Clarendon St - A corker of a venue in its heyday.
The Furnace off Aston Quay. - This was in the USI building.

those were the days my friend

I've been noticing things in the last few days that I hadn't noticed before. All of those 'Subway' shops around Dublin have the same peculiar fake smell about them. It's rotten. I've also been wondering why every block of old corporation flats have those strange white plaster statuettes in their windows? There were lots of other things that I noticed but now I can't remember anything about them.

I was back in the suburbs where I grew up over the last couple of days and i remarked on how everything seemed smaller but still much the same. This area would have played a huge part in my musical development. I first learnt to read music and play a trombone in the local brass band hall. A few metres on and I passed by my old primary school and saw the conker trees I'd spend hours throwing sticks at every September. I also passed the community centre where the local disco took place. This hall bore witness to several gigs I played with my first ever band. It was a wonderful time. It was also where I decided that I'd like to be a DJ. There was a guy who'd DJ after the bands had played and he'd often need a hand setting up his gear. He was a nice bloke but he was your run of the mill Wedding/Special occasion DJ who'd lob a few teen favourites into his set list for our benefit. I also remember him throwing in a bit of heavy metal to pander to the many rockers that would show up. Peculiarly enough, this community centre was the place where my mother thought it might be nice for me to attend disco dancing lessons when I was eight years old. My abiding memory of those lessons was Joe Dolce's 'Shaddap you face'.

Anyhow, things have moved on in the intervening years and I'm no longer forced to dance to that tune. Instead I'm still delighting in bringing music into my life and others. I'm trying to do the MP3 hosting thing for the first time so here's hoping. It's New Zealand's finest, Fat Freddys Drop.

Hope - Fat Freddy's Drop

don't let them up for the FA Cup

I watched the FA Cup final today. Contested between the current top two teams in the English Premiership, Chelsea and Manchester United. The two teams with the most expensive squads. The first final in the new Wembley Stadium. It was always going to be something special for the neutral spectator. Except it was shit. One of the worst finals that I can remember. For god's sake they didn't even have an FA Cup song between the two of them to mark the occasion.

Gone are the days of an FA Cup song with Chas and Dave. It's a pity really as I always got a good laugh out of them. Footballers and pop music always make for an interesting combination. Think 'Diamond Lights' by Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle. Think of John Barnes rapping on 'World in Motion' by New Order. As an Arsenal fan myself I'll always hold dear the 1993 collaboration with Tippa Irie and Peter Hunnigale entitled ‘Shooting For The Gunners'. It really must be the effort from Liverpool in 1988 which is the worst ever. The 'Anfield Rap' once again featured the lyrical styling of John Barnes. Grandmaster Flash he ain't. Check out the state of Ian Rush, Bruce Grobelaar et al. It also contains the following peculiar line:

I'm from Jamiaica, my names John Barnes,
When i do my thing the crowd goes bananas

the vintage dj

I bumped into an old college friend whilst wandering the streets of Dublin city today. She's involved in the world of theatre and has been to-ing and fro-ing across the globe for the last couple of years. We were chatting about our respective lives and it turns out that's she's recently married. I enquired about the status and background of her husband and it turns out the he is no other than the Vintage DJ. Known to his friends and presumably his wife as Jonathon Jacobs, this New Yorker dj's with a little twist. He plays his classic vinyl on two Audiotronics Classroom record players from the 1950's. He goes so far as to get dressed up in his vintage gear for the gigs he plays. This fella sounds like a real buzzer. You can check him out on his website

I'd love to get something like this going in Dublin. Peculiarly enough I met DJ PCP at a party a few months back and he mentioned that he was getting a gramophone set together. It looks like I've missed the boat again.

come and have a look at what you could have won

Here's a blast from the past. It's Jim Bowen on Bullseye and this particular episode features darts legend Jocky Wilson throwing for charity. This brings me back to Saturday evenings in the early 1980's. This was the closest it came to reality tv back in those days.

In this clip Jocky fails to throw more than 301 in nine darts. In the interview with Jim afterwards, Jocky is quizzed on a recent match with the 'Crafty Cockney' Eric Bristow. Jocky was 5 sets up going into the break. After the break Jocky started to fall apart and Jim asks what happened. I broke my arse laughing as Jocky immediately goes on the defensive and tells Jim that he wasn't drinking during the break in sets. Yeah sure Jocky, pull the other one. In 1997 Jocky was declared bankrupt and eventaully ended up living in a council house on the estate he grew up in.

The best bit of trivia relating to Jocky (and the one that is constantly trotted out) is the time when the Top of the Pops production crew put a picture of him behind Dexys Midnight Runners as they performed their hit 'Jackie Wilson Said'. Classic stuff.

Memory lane becomes an increasingly attractive place as i grow older.

bloggers, get smart

Friday night. My good lady wife is out with some friends so I'm at home leading the charge on the domestic front. The three children are safely tucked in. This must mean its time to imbibe various intoxicants and type into my computer.

I was a bit wary of this blog business until I started my own of course. Obviously now that I'm doing it its only a matter of time before the hoi polloi join in. Only today the Irish Times journalist Jim Carroll started his own online musings with accompanying musical snippets. Jim has served the Irish musical underdog well for several years now and was only recently bigging up my mates blog weareie and my new online compadre mp3hugger. (Jim's blog entry today outlined a few possible acts for this years Electric Picnic but to be honest I'm not bothered anymore, they could have Joe Dolan and The Indians playing and I'd still go for the buzz.) Alternatively some might argue that its newcomers like myself who may have missed the blogging bus. Apparently this gig is due to peak around about now. Ah shite, blogging is now akin to wearing last seasons wardrobe.

I was out and about for lunch today and picked up a few seven inches to feed to the turntables. First up was 'Keep the car running' by Arcade Fire. To be honest i was more interested in the B-side, a track entitled 'Broken Window'. It was altogether more like the Arcade Fire that I'm familiar with.

Next up was Bromhead Jackets 'What if's and maybe's. I know shag all about these except that I have a remix they did for The Streets. Anyhow, as per Arcade Fire I was initially keener on the flip-side of the record, a tune called 'Number 1 Groupie'. However I have had a couple more listens and I'm reserving judgement until a time yet to be decided.

Finally, I picked up a freaky Pt 1 of 2 Part Set (these things are becoming far too common, just like blogging and chav chic) of 'Green Fields' by The Good, The Bad & The Queen. In order to keep the theme running, I believe the b-side 'England, Summer (in Black & White) Dog House' to be far superior. The a-side is a bit too maudlin for my sensitive musical palate, whereas the b-side is a pleasure. It appears to feature a number of African musicians who have previously collaborated with band member Tony Allen. Watch 'Green Fields' here on a video that looks and sounds like it was filmed with Maxwell Smart's bow-tie.


It appears that the intoxicants have kicked in so lets go crazy and watch the opening sequence to Get Smart. What a great show. Ah jaysus it was a golden age of television, mostly in black and white though.