George Bush’s victory in the US presidential election is likely to usher in a swing back to religious dominance. We shouldn’t let the same thing happen here.
Seems like downtown Buncrana and upstate New York aren't so far apart after all. At least not on Kevin Doherty's map. He manages to tiptoe between both with a dexterity that'd have been the envy of Astaire.
In a world infatuated by the loud, the obvious and the immediate, it would have been easy for this tender collection - intimate, lo-fi and humble as it is - to have been lost in the ether of the too-ethereal. But then, seminal London Irish independent Setanta have a long and distinguished history of listening closely.
With a year’s worth of grandiose orchestral gigs behind him, Ireland’s sweetheart and son of Idaho Josh Ritter was enveigled into celebrating Whelan’s 20th birthday with three shows in a stripped down acoustic format.
There are times when listening to traditional albums, you sense a melting of one into another, with players' identities being lost, or at the very least, diluted in the mix. Kevin O'Connor is in no danger of falling prey to that particular malady, having an ear for arrangements that sparkle and shine in their originality.
In the pantheon of fine female folk singers, a handful stand out.
Sandy Denny, June Tabor and Pentangle's Jacqui McShee have been flagbearers for more than a few generations. And their circle can now be widened to include Niamh Parsons, a singer who has quietly carved a reputation for herself throughout the singing clubs of Dublin and well beyond.
Unsurprisingly, we’re straight into dramatics with Ms. Goldfrapp delivering Kate Bush proportioned vocals over Connery Bond themes that never got made.
Whilst Ireland’s hopes of a first grand-slam win in 55 years were being unceremoniously dashed in Lansdowne Road, your correspondent jostled for viewing space in a crowded D4 hostelry.
Not content with the several bizillion pounds already languishing in the (possibly spooky but undoubtedly large) bank vaults at Potter Inc., the franchise that felled a million trees continues its Great Leap Forward with a third big-screen outing for the lovable though disconcertingly popular miniature-magus.
Happy in both her personal and professional life, DOLORES KEANE has learnt the wisdom of doing things for herself. Following the release of her latest album, Solid Ground, SIOBHAN LONG gets to meet her - at the second attempt.
After making their name with the glacial atmospherics of Felt Mountain, Goldfrapp work up a sweat on their new album Black Cherry. John Walshe hear how they “defrosted” their sound
There's a girl who, over the past few months, has taken to sleeping in the doorway of our offices here in Trinity St. It's hard to tell what age she is she looks all of fourteen years, though she claims to be older. In the morning on the way in, when she's there, you step over her sleeping body. It's a moment that's always fraught with a feeling of dread. It seems somehow heartless, walking past and literally over her prone body as if she wasn't there. And yet there is also a genuine sense that you feel that you should tiptoe by, in case you might waken her before she is ready to face the world. Let her rest, you
It is 15 years, almost to the day, since sound engineer JOE O'HERLIHY did his first gig with U2. SIOBHÁN LONG profiles the man with the longest beard in rock'n'roll (well, nearly) . . .
Arguably, the most contentious and controversial Irish political commentator of the last 25 years, Conor Cruise O’Brien’s analysis of Anglo-Irish affairs has always followed its own unique path. However, the scepticism with which he greeted the paramilitary ceasefires as well as his hardline stand on censorship, have led some to question the relevance of this most conservative of political observers. Interview: JOE JACKSON.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
Shane MacGowan interviews Sinead O’Connor for hotpress, with Olaf Tyaransen acting as referee. On the day, Victoria Clark also sat in. What followed turned into a wide-ranging and often hilarious exchange of almost Beckettian dimensions.
