West crosses genres with wilful and speedy abandon, taking the listener on an epic quest where the journey is just as enjoyable and unpredictable as the destination.
WHEN I was in England, recently, at a graduation ceremony, the scope and sweep of those who will enter the millennium, degree in hand, and those just enrolled, who will be the educated children of the year 2,000, sent ripples of pleasure up this Northern-educated spine.
Head Automatica’s 2004 debut Decadence was a dance-rock extravaganza. For the follow-up, former Glassjaw frontman Daryl Polumbo has crafted an altogether poppier affair, full of Fall Out Boy-style harmonies, meaty riffs and powerful choruses.
The sceptics might argue that for a group with such a troubled recent past to preach of increasing the peace is a touch hypocritical but, as that cover suggests, this has been something of a learning experience for all involved.
THERE IS a town in California called San Luis Obispo. I arrived there one rainy day to discover that smoking had been banned in all indoor places where the public gather, including bars, restaurants and hotels. Things got even worse, I learned, since that awful day in 1992 when a few of us lit up under a dripping tree on the sidewalk.
Her international upbringing in Switzerland, Germany and the US influenced her creative tendencies and cultural outlook. “You need to be constantly curious and informed of what is going on in the world”
Budgeting can be difficult if you are not used to looking after your own finances but with a little hard work you'll soon get the hang of it. Amanda Allen shows you how.
The superstars of today are inevitably the unknown newcomers of yesterday. In the final countdown to Oxegen 09, we trace the journey of two of the New Band Stage’s previous headliners, who have gone on to have glittering careers – and who feature at this year’s event.
MEN OF HONOUR
Directed by George Tillman Jr. Starring Robert deNiro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Michael Rapaport
Lame, formulaic and just a teensy shade on the schmaltzy side, Men Of Honour is one of these excruciatingly dull, quasi-topical based-on-a-true-story affairs that the US public lap up so eagerly.
Since coming to Ireland, IZABELA CHUDZICKA has seen her compatriots arrive in droves and establish a thriving immigrant community here. As the presenter of Ota Polska on City Channel, she has an inside track on the Polish experience in Ireland.
Never ones to be left behind the times, Bono and chums have gone 3D with the release of U2 3D. Director Catherine Owens gives us the inside track on the historic project.
David bickley, aka Mobius of hyper[borea], tells Olaf Tyaransen about dance music as gaeilge, Bronze Age atmospheres and how he came to throw his Hot Press Award off a cliff.
With the demise of his former band, In Tua Nua, the future may not have looked too bright for Martin Clancy. Now, however, with the critically acclaimed Serious Women project under his belt, and a key role in the Advanced Technology College, the forecast is looking good. Interview: Colm O’Hare
Flora Montgomery is one of Ireland's brghtest stars of stage and screen. She may have achieved a career high as the curvaceous criminal lead in When Brendan Met Trudy. But, as Stephen Robinson discovered, you don’t want to ask her about her nude scenes
Actor Ray Liotta has a jaundiced view of the film industry and the media that feeds off it. But, as he proves in Wild Hogs, he can turn on the comedy too.
While Mary Robinson falls foul of the new accepted definition of “anti-semitism” in America, in dear old Ireland a republican can joke about “the black ’n’ prams”.
The murder of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson sent shockwaves throughout Ireland and beyond. As was the case with the murder of Pat Finucane almost exactly ten years before, there are suspicions of security force collusion, and a feeling that anyone who speaks out for the beleaguered nationalist community is putting their own life in Danger. Report: Niall Stanage.
In Dublin for the Brown Thomas International Fashion Show,
supermodel CHRISTY TURLINGTON
meets OLAF TYARANSEN.
On the agenda: drugs, sleaze in the fashion
industry and the pressures of celebrity.
With a series of new books due for publication and Johnny Depp set to star in a film adaptation of The Rum Diary, Olaf Tyaransen recounts the turbulent life and times of a literary outlaw.
Jack Johnson may be a regular dude, but with his latest album simultaneously at No.1 in the UK and the US he is one with a vast world-wide fanbase. So how did this happy-go-lucky surfer suddenly become a hero to millions?
As Albert Reynolds basks in the post-ceasefire glow and Dick Spring’s Labour party strives to assert its
independence in government, BILL GRAHAM believes that the real losers in the new political landscape are the Progressive Democrats.
In a candid interview, Sylvester Stallone talks about his lost years and explains why he’s happy that America’s Christian right has embraced the new Rocky movie as a ‘spiritual’ film.
Elstree, remember me, went the old Boggles tune. The location is a far-flung suburb of north London, former nerve centre of an entire B-movie industry, now home to television shows like East Enders, Holby City (wandering through the corridors, your correspondent comes across a room identified by the rather ominous notice: Make-up - GUTS), and of course Top Of The Pops.
Now that the Leaving Cert results have been fully digested, people are looking afresh at their options. colm o’hare explores some interesting opportunities for career advancement.
As the new leader of the SDLP and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland, MARK DURKAN will have plenty to occupy his mind in 2002. Here he talks about the early death of his father, politics and paramilitaries in the North, the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, his opposition to Sellafield and membership of Greenpeace – and what Mo Mowlam might have piped into the Good Friday talks!
Words: JOE JACKSON
from reagan to bush; from radio free europe to clear channel; from green to reveal; from the sfx to marlay park. REM call time out and Peter Buck fills in the gaps from 1983 to 2003. interview Peter Murphy
He is one of our highest profile broadcasters and journalists. Now in his new book, Last Word host MATT COOPER looks at the rot and corruption that festered beneath the surface of the Celtic Tiger. He talks about the sense of anger he feels over the mismanagement of the economy, the damage wrought by the Bertie Ahern years and the apparent unwillingness of RTE to give him any publicity
It’s a different world than it used to be! In this special extended birthday column, The Hog takes a necessarily selective – and typically colourful – look at the 30 most important influences on the process of change that has brought this country all the way from there to… well, where else but here?
They love Ireland and Ireland loves them. As the Arcade Fire ramp up for world domination, the band talk about love, death, war and making music in churches.
Sex and sanctity, grit and glitter, penthouse and pavement, God and the Devil, and all conical points in between!
PETER MURPHY dials M for ADONNA, the pre-eminent pop icon of this and every other year
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
