They approach me at work, in pubs, on the street. They sidle up to me with furtive glints in their eyes, pause for breath, and utter the words that have become their mantra: Hey, Jonathan, what odds do you reckon you d get on Man United winning nothing this season?
Well, absolutely, as anyone who's seen the gifted young Manchester United midfielder crack home a patented 30-yard rocket will testify. But off the pitch, as Jonathan O'Brien discovers, it's that little bit harder to get DAVID BECKHAM overly excited about anything. With the possible exception of discount designer clobber!
Now happily settled in the west of Ireland as commercial manager of Eircom League side Galway United, 38-year-old Londoner Nick Leeson will forever be remembered as the 'rogue trader' who brought about the collapse of Barings Bank in Singapore. He talks frankly, and affably, to Jackie Hayden about his long, strange trip.
Irish legend, Arsenal loyalist and now manager of Champions League surprise package Leeds United, DAVID O'LEARY knows the game of football inside out. Here he talks to STUART CLARK about money, agents, Après Match, Eircom Park, Man Utd., Robbie Keane, Mick McCarthy, his rows with Jack Charlton and Brian Kerr, and why he definitely wants to manage Ireland - at 50!
RTE are set to screen a documentary series about Carlisle United football club. But the fly on the wall had better keep his ears covered since the team’s manager, Dubliner Roddy Collins, is no shrinking violet. And, as Stuart Clark discovers here, even on subjects unrelated to football, the brother of boxing champ Steve doesn’t pull his punches. Images Liam Sweeney
As Foul Play writes, the public houses of London, Dublin and Oslo are in euphoric uproar following yet another jammy last-minute winner for the long-distance lags of Manchester United.
Leeds supporters are up in arms after star defender Rio Ferdinand's 'defection' to Man United. But since when did club loyalty apply to the multi-million quid industry that is the Premiership?
Tony Cascarino: While Manchester United fans protest at Malcolm Glazer's take-over, one of their most celebrated old boys has performed a miracle at West Brom
Currently in dire financial straights and playing with what is effectively a second string xi, Leeds united have a massive job on their hands if they are to avoid a prolonged residency in the nationwide league.
Currently in dire financial straights and playing with what is effectively a second string xi, Leeds united have a massive job on their hands if they are to avoid a prolonged residency in the nationwide league.
Papers released through the Bloody Sunday Inquiry show that, as far back as 1972, even a Tory government in Britain could contemplate the idea of a united Ireland. EAMONN McCANN reports on bad news for the Unionists
ON THE official Newcastle United FC website, a stylish and well-constructed piece of work, there is a Magpies team group photo in which all the players are standing instead of sitting on benches.
The fascinating story of how four Tallaght schoolfriends – and unofficial fifth member Shuggy – made a new home and a career playing music in the USA. All with a little help from their many friends.
Why do so many people hate manchester united? stuart clark thumbs through two new books which suggest that there s more to ABUism than just plain envy.
In the first instalment of a regular new column for Hot Press, former Irish international PAUL McGRATH remembers Italia 90 and looks forward to the season ahead
The bombing of Serbia is not about the fate of Kosovar Albanians. Rather, the colossal NATO military machine has been unleashed to establish the right of the United States, as the sole remaining superpower, to impose its will on the world.
By EAMONN McCANN. Pics Courtesy: The Star
Having watched Shay Healy hold tightly onto his little camera as he, and the Music City USA crew, travelled thousands of miles across the United States this summer, believe me, I know he is driven by a sometimes infuriating "fundamental impulse" to capture beauty. Plus ugliness, pain, poverty, poetry in static form or in motion and humour - in one word: America, in all its twisted glory.
A mere six months after taking on the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern has been appointed by Kofi Annan as one of four envoys to assist in the reform of the United Nations and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals. Jackie Hayden spoke to him last week in his Dundalk office about this key appointment, as well as a range of key issues including the war in Iraq, political bribery, Shannon refuelling stops, Gerry Adams and the IRA, our immigration policy, the Health service, his real hopes for the Peace Process and the influence of Dave Fanning on his musical tastes. Photography by Emily Quinn.
Mary Robinson's frustration with the obstacles placed in the path of the struggle for human rights reflects a deeper and wider world problem - the spread of a new inTolerance which places profit before people and is even prepared to go to war to defend its supremacy. here, Michael D. Higgins TD makes an impassioned plea for change
The recent incredible scenes from the United States, where the Mississippi river and its tributaries ran amok, may have seemed a peculiar but just recompense to a vast area which only a couple of years ago suffered a disastrous drought. Water was all they asked for then. Now they have it, but in quantities so enormous that it all seems like some huge global joke.
BARRY FRY is to football management what Keith Moon was to hotel rooms. During his spells at Barnet, Southend United, Birmingham City and now Peterbough, he s turned upsetting people into an art form. STUART CLARK shares a half-time Bovril with the man who once used 46 different players in a season and is proud to include ticket-touting for Johnny Giles in his C.V.
Main pix:
Cathal Dawson
Employing naked female man-slashers in their videos, hanging out with Lee Renaldo, Alex Kapranos and Rosanna Arquette – there's never a dull moment with The Cribs.
AS OLD Blue Eyes might have put it – another season, another reason, for makin’ money. Foul Play is actually approaching this season with rather more trepidation than usual, because . . . well . . . just because.
There may be growing opposition to the impending war in Iraq, but the British and American governments seem unwilling to learn from their predecessors’ mistakes.
The current treaty debate says a lot about the make-up of modern Ireland. But we have to look beyond that and recognise the extraordinary achievements of a united Europe
Following a collapse in the numbers of students taking up the J1 Visa in 2004, the US Ambassador, James C.Kenny, has gone on the campaign trail in Ireland.
STUART BAILIE recalls some of the social and political movements that have occupied U2's hearts and minds down through the years... not least, the Springfield Garbage Dump campaign
They come from Los Angeles, support Rotherham United and have a lead singer who loves Andrew Lloyd-Webber as much as he does Arcade Fire. Stuart Clark meets Orson's rather peculiar Jason Pebworth.
. . . she was reet petite! That's not true, actually. Instead, the maverick motorbike-riding DUP councillor and former Lord Mayor of Belfast talks about loyalist paramilitary violence, the assassination of prison officers, the indifference of London, his hostility to Mary Robinson, his scorn for the Official Unionist Party - and his own willingness to take up arms in the cause of keeping the six counties out of a united Ireland. Interview: JOE JACKSON. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
And even worse, they took it to heart. Thus was Sebastian Horsley refused entry to the United States for the launch of his book Dandy In The Underworld.
and didn’t like what he saw... Fatboy Slim tells Stuart Clark about an encounter with Man Utd so unpleasant that even Zoe Ball is thinking of switching her allegiance to Brighton. Plus: the highs of Normstock and the lows of So Solid Crew
Dennis Wise may be facing the sack, but Leeds’ problems are mainly down to Peter Ridsdale and David O’Leary. Plus: Sam Allardyce’s departure from Bolton and candid views on Gary Lineker and Eamon Dunphy.
After the heroics which marked the finish of last year‘s International Championship, Irish rugby was brought back to earth with the defeat by France a fortnight ago. In a match that was closer than the twenty-point difference in the scoreline suggested, Eric Elwood notched up all of Ireland’s fifteen points. Paul O’Mahony talks to the cool Number Ten about rugby, sacrifices – oh, and Manchester United.
The world was united in condemnation over the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. In a rare print interview Israel ambassador to Dublin Zion Evrony says the campaign was justified and that his country was motivated by the desire to bring peace to the Middle East. And he tells us why comparisons between Northern Ireland the Middle East are fatuous
WHAT IS the connection between The X Files, massive drinking bouts, Man United fans and top ten hits? CATATONIA, that s what. The Welsh guitar popsters are currently nestling in the upper reaches of the charts with their hit Mulder And Scully , and JOHN WALSHE talks to vocalist CERYS MATTHEWS about their meteoric rise to the top.
Alphabetical certainly picks up where United left us; the Americana idiom is still there, juxtaposed with drum machines, synths and playful pop structures.
The year began with contrasting and contradictory alignments. On the one hand, the United States were about to invest a new president, a young, rock’n’roll-loving sax-playing boyo from the south called Bill Clinton, offering the possibility of America as the last great hope again.
SO YOU reckon dance music is dull, repetitive and only marginally more fun to listen to outside of a club environment than a Black & Decker power drill.
Well, if 2 Unlimited and their thousand zillion beat per minute chums are your yardstick, I'd have to agree.
Thanks to medical advances, horrendous injuries, such as the one suffered by Mancester United's Alan Smith, need no longer spell the end of a footballer's career.
Superstars, rock stars, movie stars, sports stars, tv stars, authors, actors, artists, comedians, politicians, broadcasters, astrologers, chefs, outlaws, weirdoes, dingbats and Lee Scratch Perry...
This release sees minimal techno united with underground house. Luke Solomon sets Frankie's atonal howl to a jacking backing and US hotshot Claude Von Stroke uses a primal Relief-style rhythm, while Ziggy Kinder drops an acid-coated groove and vocals that sound like Cajmere on crystal meth.
The former editor of the Sunday Tribune on the tough task of replacing Eamon Dunphy in the hottest seat in radio, The Last Word. plus: the Dunph, hook, O’Reilly, war, politics, sport, media, sex, drugs, rock’n’roll and, of course, that much-missed coiffure. Joe Jackson has the first word.
The woman who reared that would drown nothing, roared one of the wags sitting behind Foul Play in the pub on Saturday morning, as the handsome features of Manchester City s Danny Tiatto filled the screen.
OKAY, SO Manchester United may have been held to a 2-2 draw by David Elleray last week, but there can be no doubt as to the biggest story of the footballing fortnight.
Alan Smith’s equalizer against Man Utd. looks to have put paid to the title hopes of Alex Ferguson’s charges. Plus Foul Play’s view on Ireland’s unexpectedly encouraging performance against Brazil.
At the time of writing, Foul Play is resting up and gathering his thoughts after yet another rip-roaring night of mayhem on the carousel of chaos that is Manchester United s 1999-2000 Champions League campaign.
“ANOTHER great night for Swedish football” was the verdict of controversial rock critic George Byrne on the European demise of Manchester United at the hands of IFK Gothenburg, last seen being thrashed to within an inch of their lives by a League of Ireland selection.
Our columnist feels that the press furore over Ashley Cole’s recent arrest was much ado about nothing. Plus: an assessment of Brian Clough’s legacy ahead of the release of The Damned United.
The Faltering Flame is a collection of poems and songs united behind the common theme of striving for peace in Northern Ireland. All the profits from the sale of this CD go to the Cornerstone and Currach projects, two bodies working with mixed community groups on the peace line in Belfast. Needless to say, it's a very worthy cause and deserves your support.
His eight album in a decade sees the Toronto-based troubadour re-united with producer Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Costello etc), who helmed his first couple of albums.
The Dreamtime of American life has been mapped out with loving delicacy and accuracy by Randy Newman during his career. His circus of characters, his small-ads style absurdities, his prompt wit have created an alternative vista of the United States.
The Corrs sign up with the planet's leading "sports, entertainment and lifestyle" marketing agency (other clients: the Williams sisters, Man United) - and, in other news, get barked at by Iggy Pop
LOYALIST paramilitaries have announced that they would not cease firing even if the IRA did. They will continue to kill until Articles Two and Three are dropped, and until nationalists North and South give up even the desire for a United Ireland. They have not said how thought-police will monitor people’s unwritten, unspoken desires.
THAT WAS a bad old vibe in the United States recently, when that babe cut off her husband’s pecker with a kitchen knife after he had allegedly raped her. A bad vibe . . .
While my own, personal sporting highlight came in the unlikely shape of a Scottish Premier League fixture in August (see below), there can be no doubt that Euro 2000 was the main dish on the year s sporting menu.
Boasting a truly diverse line-up that united house music in all its various hues, as well as some good old fashioned rave attitude courtesy of Orbital, this was an extravaganza that lived up to the hype.
Rev. James Porter was a Presbyterian Minister who wrote savage satirical tracts for the United Irishmen's newspaper in 1798 - and was hanged for his efforts. There's a lesson in his story, 200 years on, for Catholic, Protestant and dissenter alike.
As all the major competitions are drawing to a close – and bearing in mind the bewildering choice of Ryan Giggs as PFA Player of the Year – I thought now would be an opportune moment to select my team of the season. So, let’s take a look at the candidates for goalkeeper. When Shay Given has lined out for Man City he’s done very well, but he’s not played enough football overall – he had a few injuries early on in the season when he was still with Newcastle.
Though the tendency of western governments towards corruption and warmongering can induce despair in even the most optimistic of people, it is important to remember that change can be achieved – albeit incrementally.
Who’d be a football manager? Well, actually, I wouldn’t mind being one myself, if it would mean assuming the mantle of Alex Ferguson at Man United, or Fabio Capello at A.C. Milan.
Heartiest congratulations are in order to the men from the United Kingdom who, for the second time in three years, have prised the Sam Maguire cup from the clutches of the Southern Ireland representatives.
If we can force the Western armies out of Iraq then we will have put a halt to the gallop of those who are using the might of the US military to impose their brute agenda on the world.
There is an inherent problem in employing an anonymous actor (one Jim Curley) to play the President of the United States and having Clint Eastwood play his bodyguard.
On this, the occasion of my last Demo Parade (yes, readers, the sad truth is that by the time you read this I will be back home in the United States) I thought it would be appropriate to look back on my reviews and pick out the ten best demo tracks of my year at Hot Press.
With Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea all in Champions League action last week, Tony Cascarino takes a look at how English clubs might fare in Europe this season.
Bosnian ex-pat Aleksander Hemon has found modern resonances in the century-old tale of the murder of Jewish immigrant Lazarus Avenbach by the then Chicago chief of police.
With Ronaldo and Torres the toast of the Premier League, what better time to run the rule over some of the overseas stars who could soon be lighting up English soccer?
Duffer’s move to Newcastle is a boost both for the Toon Army and Ireland boss STEVE STAUNTON. But if you’re looking for dark horses in this year’s Premiership, stick a few quid on Everton.
The suggestion that Roy Keane lost the dressing-room at Sunderland has been questioned by England legend Peter Beardsley who also talks about Paul Gascoigne’s woes, Paul McGrath and the tackle that gave the world a glimpse of his tackle!
Dubliner Anita Thoma was arrested in New York city on St Patrick s Day last while protesting against the ban on gays and lesbians taking part in the city s parade. Stephen Robinson reports.
ADRIENNE MURPHY reports on the sacking of scientist DR ARPAD PUSZTAI following a recent World In Action TV special on genetic engineering and talks to The Guardian’s environment editor, John Vidal, about his sometimes vexed encounters with the Monsanto group.
Philip Watt, director of the National Consultative Committee On Racism and Interculturalism, outlines the urgent and necessary response to racism in ireland
The opportunities to move forward are presenting themselves to all sides in the North. Now all we need is for everyone to do what the Irish do best - Talk!
With Ruud Van Nistelrooy possibly about to leave for Chelsea and Arsenal nine points ahead in the premiership, things are growing increasingly precarious for Alex Ferguson and Man Utd.
They've been steadily losing ground to a resurgent Sinn Féin - and now there are rumours of a merger with Fianna Fáil. So does the SDLP really have a future? Mark Durkan clears the air.
Following his Man of the Match performance against the Czech Republic, Paul McShane has been hailed as one of the finest young Irish players of his generation.
After what seemed like an eternity of enduring processed boy/girl band hell, 2003 was the year that pop became exciting again. Finally, we got a long hot summer soundtracked by Beyoncé (song of the year – hands down), 50 Cent’s awesome ‘In Da Club’ and even a band from my own ‘hood whose debut album was the feelgood hit of the season.
She claims to wander about in the nude in her spare time. But British model-turned-TV presenter Jayne Middlemiss is fully clothed and respectable when Hot Press pays her a visit.
Welsh singer Jem Griffiths has become a firm favourite in the US purely on the strength of word-of-mouth. And if her debut album Finally Woken is anything to go by, audiences this side of the Atlantic are likely to follow suit very soon.
When he landed in Dublin for the first time, three years ago, he thought he was in the United States. But for Olukunle Elukanlo, Ireland is now home. Following the extraordinary events surrounding his deportation and return, he is enormously grateful to be back – where he belongs.
David McAlmont (left) and Bernard Butler have re-united after seven years, following their ill-received eponymous debut in 1995 and their subsequent falling out. The result, according to Butler is the pair's "true debut"
Mary Bannoti, Ireland's goodwill ambassador for the United Nations population fund, visited Afghanistan in March. Here, she records some lasting impressions of a place at once brutal and beguiling, and describes her often moving encounters with men, women and children, many still in refugee camps in Pakistan, who are struggling to return home and rebuild their lives.
LAURYN HILL s debut album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was the fastest selling album ever by a female artist in the United States. What s more it s just garnered her five Grammy Awards, confirming her status as one of American music s most important new icons. OLAF TYARANSEN went to London to hear the singer talk frankly about success, motherhood, the future of The Fugees and her father-in-law, Bob Marley.
East Timor may be out of the headlines but for those on the ground the problem in that ravaged country is less one of re-building than of almost total construction from scratch. MACDARA DOYLE reports.
Many Irish holiday-makers will be heading for the United States this year. But there’s much more on offer in that vast playground than the dubious prospect of sweltering in the crushing heat of an Orlando football stadium in June. Jackie Hayden travelled with a bunch of media types to the small town of Lynchburg in Tennessee and visited the source of one of the world’s great spirits, Jack Daniels, making some musical connections along the way.
Twins Ellie and Louise – aka Heathers– are one of the most exciting new Irish acts around. Ahead of a marathon US tour, they talk about overnight success and explain why rumours of their love for Tegan and Sara are greatly overblown.
Having started out busking on the rainy streets of Dublin, 747s have lately struck up a friendship with Arctic Monkeys and nearly triggered an international terrorist scare.
In a surprise change of direction, Green Day’s latest album American Idiot sees the punk three-piece coming out fighting against a certain George W. Bush.
When former IRA prisoner Marion Price decided to go public about the intimidation she claims to have suffered,
she did so on Radio Free Iireann. STUART CLARK reports on the New York station that s providing a focal point for dissident Republican opinion.
Just returned from his latest visit to Baghdad, Labour TD Michael D. Higgins reports on an already embattled people braced for more suffering – and argues that there is a moral imperative to oppose the proposed war
As Gerry Adams and friends bask in the glory of another public relations triumph, EAMONN McCANN analyses the historical context of the current ceasefire, and assesses the scepticism surrounding the IRA s motives in calling it.
He’s made the Man U and Ireland right-back positions his own this season, and is playing what he admits is the best football of his career as a result. As the Republic gears up for a play-off crack at World Cup qualification, JOHN O’SHEA talks about life under Trapatonni, and reflects on another successful year at Old Trafford.
tomais o saoire is an Irish immigrant living in New York. He is also HIV positive. This is his heartrending story a tragic tale which includes brushes with alcoholism and depression. Tape: DYLAN FOLEY.
The Republic of Ireland's pallid 2-0 defeat by Argentina in last week's international friendly showed that
MICK McCARTHY's time and resources are becoming increasingly limited, as Yugoslavia and Croatia loom
over the horizon in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. NIALL STOKES asks: "What is to be done?"
When it was first published, very few people would have predicted the extraordinary, best-selling success of Fever Pitch. Now, NICK HORNBY s winning story of a chronic football obsessive has been elevated to the big screen. But, in a world of bungs, bootboys, bandwagon-jumpers and the relentless hype of Sky Sports, is he still in love with the (sometimes not so) beautiful game? Interview: CRAIG FITZSIMONS.
When it was first published, very few people would have predicted the extraordinary, best-selling success of Fever Pitch. Now, NICK HORNBY s winning story of a chronic football obsessive has been elevated to the big screen. But, in a world of bungs, bootboys, bandwagon-jumpers and the relentless hype of Sky Sports, is he still in love with the (sometimes not so) beautiful game? Interview: CRAIG FITZSIMONS.
A MAN U DON'T MEET EVERY DAY
Oui, c'est Eric Cantona: le nouveau enfant terrible de la Premièreship or ze man vu
'stud up' zu de football yobs? Mise-en-scène: Neil McCormick.
LIAM FAY investigates the strange phenomenon of the RAINBOW PARTY, a pseudo-democratic movement dedicated to the abolition of politics and politicians , and meets its leader, the enigmatic RAINBOW GEORGE.
Over the past decade in ‘The Hot Press Political Interview’ the subject of Northern Ireland has, not surprisingly, surfaced time and time again. What follows is but a small selection of these quotes, specifically those that look to the future rather than to the past.
The Price is widely regarded as playwright Arthur Miller’s most personal work. Joe Jackson speaks to actor Lorcan Cranitch about brotherly love and hate and his co-star, ex-Hill Street Blues veteran Robert Prosky
Fresh from winning the IMPAC literary award for his acclaimed novel My Name Is Red, the Turkish writer talks about censorship and self-censorship, east and west, Christianity and Islam and the U.S. versus them. Photography: Roger Woolman
She may have a reputation as an actress who has a penchant for getting romantically involved with many of her leading men, but Julia Roberts is guarded about her personal life. She has been romantically linked to Matthew Perry, Daniel Day Lewis and Pat Manocchia, a friend of the late John F Kennedy Jr. among others, but she is constantly surrounded by a loyal staff, whose job it is to preserve her privacy. However, she has been involved in some very public liaisons,
as Stephen Robinson reports.
A spell in jail and another working in the music biz helped push Ollie Byrne in the direction of running a football club. The colourful Shelbourne chairman offers some typically forthright views on Dunphy, Racism, the FAI and the National Stadium as the new domestic season gets under way.
On Belfast's Royal Avenue, there's a genuinely stirring event taking place. It's Saturday afternoon, the rain has held off for an hour, and the fourth Belfast Carnival is kicking in. Roll on the floats, the dance troupes, the chi-chi costumes, the giant skeletons and the enormous Picasso masks.
In a place where any parade - from St Patrick's Day to
The long, barren post-World Cup drought is almost over as the promised land of yet another footie season hoves into view. Jonathan O’Brien assesses the contenders and no-hopers for the 1998/99 Premiership
In Istanbul as a "curious neutral observer" of the Champions League Final, Ed Power was unimpressed by the Irish contingent’s putatively genuine support for Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool side.
Their name may be derived from a river that runs through the Scottish capital of Glasgow, but the word on the streets is that like Wimbledon Scottish second division leaders Clydebank are considering a controversial move to Dublin. Report: stuart clark.
The Dublin Theatre Festival celebrates its 45th birthday in 2002 with a quality combination of classic and more recent works in musical theatre, comedy and drama
The Dublin Theatre Festival celebrates its 45th birthday in 2002 with a quality combination of classic and more recent works in musical theatre, comedy and drama
Australia s the churcH have survived nearly 20 years of changing fads and fashions by maintaining their commitment to pure pop. siobhan long takes a pew.
Annual article: War, famine, pestilence, plague and death...it’s been a cheerful 2005. Here is the Hot Press summary of the events that shook the world.
Fifteen years on and still in a league of his own, Dan Oggly talks to Mark E. Smith about fame, footie and the truth behind his 'difficult' reputation.
In fiercely conservative Jerusalem, few crimes are more unforgivable than a homosexual relationship between a Palestinian and an Israeli – as Ezra Yitzhak discovered.
From indie shy-boys to multi-platinum chart toppers, it’s certainly been a long, strange journey for The Shins. By now, we all know that Natalie Portman played a part in their success – but what’s Elliot Smith go to do with it?
Since 1914, the PRS has administered the rights accruing to Irish songwriters, composers and publishers from the use of their music in public places throughout the world. However, the campaign to establish Ireland as a separate territory, with its own independent music rights organisation, has been gathering momentum. Now in a controversial move the PRS have declared that this change can only take place with the approval of two-thirds of the Society’s members in Ireland. Niall Stokes – himself a member of the PRS – examines the issues and concludes that subsidiary status is no longer enough for IMRO.
Bomb materials made in Northern Ireland are killing people in the Middle East while the PSNI arrest protesters against the manufacturers, including this HotPress columnist.
Despite sub-standard displays against Israel and the Faroes, Tony Cascarino remains confident that the Republic of Ireland will qualify for Germany 2006. Even if Clinton Morrison can't get to grips with the offside rule!
So you thought the Religious Right had all but disappeared? Wrong! NIALL STANAGE gets that sinking feeling as he witnesses the Dublin leg of Human Life International s Call To The Nation Tour. Photographic Evidence: CATHAL DAWSON
In the definitive life of two halves, GEORGE BEST has been both the supreme footballer and a raddled alcoholic . With a new paperback biography just published and a movie version of his life on the way, LIAM MACKEY reflects on the genie who got trapped by the bottle.
Since making it's debut in 1964, Match Of The Day has become a national institution watched by an average six million football addicts a week. Paul O'mahony goes behind the scenes at the BBC's longest running sports programme and discovers that the people piecing it together are every bit as commited to the 'beautiful game' as those on the terraces.
As well as forcing Ireland to reassess its attitude towards Europe, the second Lisbon referendum was a reminder of just how nasty British euroskeptics such as UKIP really are
Nationalism is still alive and well at least on the walls of toilets. Then again, football and genitalia seem just as popular. Last issue, we looked at the writing on women s walls; this time STEPHEN ROBINSON finds out what men are scrawling in their own convenience. Pics: Paul Connell
And you will know him by the trail of defenders... almost as elusive off the pitch as he is on it, the 23-year-old from Ballyboden is being tipped by many to be one of the sensations of the forthcoming World Cup. But away from the pitch, you're unlikely to find 'the duffer' turning up in the pages of Hello. Though you may bump into him at a u2 gig...
Controversial Irish webmaster Stephen Ryan caused a bit of a stir recently when he circumvented the rules on website name registration with his p.orn.ie website.
Not all refugees who seek asylum in this country are granted it. Niamh Connolly talks to some Cubans who have been lucky enough to squeeze through the rigid vetting process in operation and teases out some of the political issues that lie behind some of the decisions as well as the social implications for the successful ones.
What happens when the lead singer of Soundgarden gets together with three quarters of Rage Against The Machine? Answer: the high-IQ post-grunge of Audioslave.
She’s an acclaimed novelist – but Emar Martin is fast earning a reputation as a visual artist also. As her latest exhibit opens, she talks about moving between the two media
In the first of a new Hot Press series, in which we ll be asking well-known Irish people to step onto a national podium, author and
publisher dermot bolger delivers his state of the nation address.
As the RUC continues to undergo serious changes, STUART CLARK meets RICHARD LATHAM, a former officer who has a story of danger, death, politics and sex to tell
Before head-butt infamy finished off his career, the world’s greatest living midfielder served as an unlikely muse to the documentary maker Philippe Parreno. Ahead of the film’s Irish premier, the director talks about the making of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
The fall of the Republican party in the US has been hailed as good news, but perhaps we should not be too optimistic about what the future holds as the Democrats prepare to take over Capitol Hill.
The fall of the Republican party in the US has been hailed as good news, but perhaps we should not be too optimistic about what the future holds as the Democrats prepare to take over Capitol Hill.
Exiled in America when war erupted in his hometown of Sarajevo, author Aleksandar Hemon taught himself to speak and write english – with stunningly powerful results. Portrait Mick Quinn
Perfect weather has been promised for the next year’s Olympics Games thanks to a man called Zhang Qiang who is in charge of the city’s artificial rainmaking and prevention programme.
They’ll never win any prizes for speaking the Queen’s English but, with a number one album under their belts, mop-topped Dundee rockers The View aren’t too bothered.
Tobias Wolff’s new novel returns him to his schooldays and memories of classmate Oliver Stone and the towering influence of Ernest Hemingway. Interview by Peter Murphy.
So what does the arab world really make of Saddam Hussein and the threat of war? En route to Baghdad, Peter Matthews stops off in Amman, Jordan and hears the word on the street.
The Charlatans throw a curve ball on their ninth record, which sees the former baggy heroes go reggae. Frontman Tim Burgess talks revealingly about the record’s difficult gestation.
You're right, that's the not so original headline that we used when Jackie Hayden - who signed U2 to CBS Records in Ireland in 1978 and is now General Manager with Hot Press - spoke to the bearded one about further adventures at the Fab Four's mixing desk, and his growing involvement in
Súlán Studios in Cork.
A decade of
decadence down the line, and Limerick popsters the hitchers show no signs of going away. Frontman
niall quinn yes, really talks to Kevin Barry.
The chattering classes express revulsion at Young Ireland's spitting, shouting and shagging, but their piety masks a disgust at anything youthful and working class.
Pre-Christmas unrest in the Balkans brought unpleasant memories of late '90s ethnic cleansing back to the soldier turned singer-songwriter James Blunt.
An icon of the radical left, Noam Chomsky has long been one of the fiercest critics of US foreign policy. During a rare visit to Ireland, he explains why the Bush Presidency might be the most dangerous yet.
With paranoia running rampant among US immigration officials in the wake of September 11, even a seemingly straightforward holiday in the land of the free can turn into a Kafka-esque nightmare.
Yes, you've read that headline somewhere before! But referendum on the Belfast Agreement gets into full swing in the North. Diary: NIALL STANAGE. Pix: peter matthews
Yes, you've read that headline somewhere before! But referendum on the Belfast Agreement gets into full swing in the North. Diary: NIALL STANAGE. Pix: peter matthews
When Patti Smith came up with Rock N Roll Nigger in the 70s, she marked herself out as one of the most articulate and confrontational performers of her generation. On the eve of her visit to Ireland, the High Priestess of American Punk Poetry talks to Peter Murphy about art, music, the people she s lost and why she ll never give in to political correctness
Martin McGuinness was one of the key figures in the troubles in Northern Ireland . Many unionists believe that the one-time IRA man was at the heart of much that was wrong and divisive in Irish life. But ultimately the quiet Derryman has taken on the role of peacemaker – and he is now the Deputy First Minister in the new power-sharing administration at Stormont.
There's been too much bullshit about the state of the economy. But pissing on the shoes of our friends or moving closer to the anglosphere isn't the best way out of recession.
A defining personality of the seismic changes in Northern Ireland, Billy Hutchinson is a paramilitary turned politician, a convicted UVF murderer who spent 16 years in the Maze and who will now represent the PUP in the new Assembly. But if Hutchinson has abandoned violence, it hasn’t altogether abandoned him. As he reveals in this interview with niall stanage, there have been three attempts on his life by the INLA in the last 18 months.
Pics: Michael Taylor.
Historian and broadcaster ROBERT KEE is best known for his acclaimed series Ireland – A Television History. He talks to LIAM FAY about the Northern conflict and the role of censorship in prolonging it.
Despite the IRA’s declaration of a ceasefire, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the Provos, like their Loyalist counterparts, are still engaging in “punishment attacks” and in the issuing of expulsion orders. Report: Liam Fay. Pics: Alan O’Connor
Well, not this man perhaps. He s EGIL OLSEN, the new manager of Wimbledon, which means he ll most likely to as much of a spectator as the rest of us, as the new Premiership football season gets into its stride. Our Foul Play columnist, JONATHAN O BRIEN, presents his annual eve of the campaign form guide.
There are those who believe that the Downing St. Declaration offers the best hope of peace in Northern Ireland for twenty-five years. But as Sinn Féin’s consideration of the fine print drags on, Bill Graham accuses them of theological nitpicking and argues that their negotiating position makes impossible demands on reality.
After examining the strange world of outsider conspiracy theorists in 2001’s acclaimed Them, chronicler of cultural weirditude Jon Ronson has now turned his attention to the murkey milieu of covert US military ops and sinister, Pentagon-sanctioned psychological experiments. Peter Murphy switches on the interrogation lamp and probes the Cardiff-born author for details on Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, the tactical deployment of Barney the Dinosaur, and the men who attempted to kill goats simply by staring at them.
Having their budgets slashed three times in 18 months has made it harder than ever for Irish aid organisations to help the world’s poor and displaced. Despite Mr. Martin’s axe-wielding, Concern worldwide are determined to continue their work in what can be life-threatening circumstances.
In the wake of the IRA’s complete cessation of violence, the Unionist community must engage in a process of re-defintion – because while they have been clinging to the last vestiges of the British Empire, the world around them has been transformed. By Bill Graham.
Danish This is Your Life specials; Bob Monkhouse game shows and seling petrol to Bobby Robson . . . Nick Kelly hears the untold story of Prefab Sprout from Martin McAloon bassist, founder member and sibling of songwriting genius, Paddy.
A new book gives vivid voice to Irish women's experience of abortion. Here we publish Michele s story a harrowing account of the circumstances in which termination became one woman s choice.
With the Dutch having just taken over from Ireland as EU President, paul o mahony looks at their liberal domestic drugs policy and visits Amsterdam s unique hash and marijuana museum.
Law enforcement agencies are worried it could be the new ecstasy. In the fourth part of Hot Press investigation into drugs STUART CLARK reports on the new breed of super-amphetamines
BERNADETTE SANDS-McKEVITT, sister of Bobby Sands, is vice chairperson of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, a body which has taken the lead in offering public opposition to Sinn Féin's peace strategy. Over the course of an historic weekend in Ireland north and south, NIALL STANAGE spoke to her about life as a Republican dissident.
These words of wisdom belong to jim kerr, a working-class boy from Glasgow who proved that he was as good at scamming it as the next man. Now he's back for one more shot with the new Simple Minds album Neapolis. Interview: colm o'hare.
Over 2,000 Northern Irish women leave the province every year to have abortions elsewhere usually in England. STUART BAILIE examines the many anomalies in the law on this subject, and talks to some of the people fighting to change it.
Not content with corrupting the youth of America with his music, the God of Fuck has diversified into painting, acting and writing. Plus: the singer’s encounters with literary outlaws JT Leroy and Hunter S. Thompson.
WELL. It’s here again. The shopping, the stamp-licking, the mad social whirl, the parties, the receptions, the reunions, the idiotic games, the enforced cheerfulness . . .
"When did Ireland ever take a stand on anything?" Niall O'Dowd, leading Irish-American and author of a new book on September 11, attacks Ireland's "moral superiority"
Robert Fisk is one of the most insightful war correspondents on the planet, his reports from Iraq and elsewhere the scourge of spindoctors, warmongers and tin-pot dictators alike. Craig Fitzsimons finds him on the frontline.
Matisyahu is a rapper with a difference. As a Hassidic Jew he lives a strictly orthodox lifestyle. Whatever you do, don’t describe his music as ‘heeb-hop’.
SHAMPOO are famous for looking cool, sounding cool and throwing large, heavy objects at interviewers who aren’t up to scratch. Risking his life for his readers: NIALL CRUMLISH.
FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM is a major new six-part RTE series. Directed by DAVID HEFFERNAN, and featuring new interviews with the major players including Van Morrison, Bob Geldof, U2 and Siniad O Connor it traces the history of Irish music, from showbands to boybands and beyond. By PETER MURPHY.
SUSAN McKAY has just published a startling book about Northern Protestants. Here, NIALL STANAGE meets the Dublin-based journalist and, below, relates his own experiences of life as a Belfast-born Prod. Portraits: Cathal Dawson
helena mulkerns travelled deep into the heart of indian country to encounter the Choctaw Nation and discovered not just a place of stunning beauty, but a people with unique and lasting links to Ireland.
Pix: helena mulkerns
His father, the Rev. Ian Paisley, has been one of the dominant figures in Irish politics over the past 40 years. Now Ian Paisley Jnr is a Junior Minister in the new Northern Ireland administration. So how different is he from his father? And how does he feel about cross border co-operation, education, abortion and homosexuality?
From Belfast, NIALL STANAGE reports on the still-growing controversy surrounding Brian Nelson, British Intelligence and the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
He may have done time in Long Kesh for possession of explosives but Progressive Unionist leader DAVID ERVINE has left behind his terrorist past and embraced a future based on shared social democracy which, he says, the peace process can bring about. Interview: JOE JACKSON.
Dana may be trying to shunt him into the background, but TCG O?Mahony is adamant that it was he who inspired the former Eurovision winner to run for the presidency. And while he is confident that ?she will win if it is God?s will?, he warns of serious repercussions from above should one of her opponents triumph in the race to the Aras. Our man with the locust repellant: liam fay.
Ahead of the European Championships in Portugal, the England and Arsenal full back on another great year for the Gunners, discipline and indiscipline, football scandals, money and, of course, Roy Keane.
Cecilia Peck, director of music documentary-political travelogue Dixie Chicks: Shut Up And Sing reminisces about her Dingle childhood and explains what it’s like being part of a great Hollywood dynasty.
They’re the hottest thing in British rock, four working class kids done good from the wrong side of the Glasgow tracks. At the start of what is shaping up to be a whirlwind year GLASVEGAS talk fame, football and fisticuffs.
There was a time when the associations of Irish culture were such that those of a radical, progressive outlook automatically turned the other way. Not any more. Irish culture is alive and kicking. Report: Chris Donovan.
With their Adventura Majestica album currently enjoying critical and commercial success, Sack explain what a long, strange trip it s been. Stephen Robinson holds the tape recorder
Maggie Gyllenhaal has ridden out controversy and kept her private life to herself while carving out an impeccably cool career in Hollywood. No wonder all the girls fancy her.
As well as being a rising actress and Playboy cover girl, Dumplings starlet Bai Ling has at least eight spirits currently inhabiting her body, one of whom is so shy it insists she has sex with the lights off. Alrighty then.
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.
The creator of Bowling For Columbine, this year’s most devastating big screen documentary, shoots from the hip on violence, gun control, Charlton Heston, George Bush, satire and the Canadian solution to an American problem
While the senior team have been stumbling their way through the World Cup qualifiers, the Ireland Under-20s have been making back-page headlines for all the right reasons.
In an interview that's guaranteed to ruffle blazers in Merrion Square, youth supremo BRIAN KERR tells Jack Charlton exactly where he can stick his long-ball and outlines his masterplan for future international glory. Slight groin-strain: STUART CLARK.
When a gang of Ireland’s finest musicians, media stars and political types gathered in the Central Hotel for pre-Christmas drinks, there were fun and games aplenty. reporting: Stephen Bailey, Stuart Clark and Roisin Dwyer. Photos: Mick Quinn and Graham Keogh. Costumes: courtesy of The Dublin Costume Company.
The current moral panic over binge-drinking is borne out of a 19th century Protestant ethic. Plus, The Hog’s Six Golden Rules for having a good Christmas.
World AIDS Day will take place on December 1st. In an effort to raise awareness of issues surrounding the virus, Stephen Robinson offers personal reminiscences
Just one meeting with Scottish anarchist phil kay is enough to convince barry glendenning that when a tree falls in the forest and nobody s there, it lands with a thunderous
crash.
Ang Lee mightn’t have been the most likely candidate to put the jolly green giant on the big screen, but he has rendered Stan Lee’s Incredible Hulk as a greek tragedy.
No-one could contemplate using a headline like that in Hot Press unless of course it was to sum up an article about Howard Stern, the New York DJ who credits himself with having invented the concept of penis jokes on radio. Tape: craig fitzsimons.
Fresh from his recent success with the Xpress-2 collaboration 'Lazy', David Byrne reflects on a musical journey that began in 1977 with the legendary Talking Heads
There is a political dimension to what most development agencies refer to simply as ‘famine’. Here mary van lieshoUt of Oxfam outlines the critical issues which must be confronted if the brutalisation and exploitation of the developing countries is to be adequately addressed.
In his most revealing interview yet, Dick Roche explains why he doesn't trust Libertas' Declan Ganley and shares his thoughts on the use of Shannon airport by US military.
You could hardly describe it as just another day at the office when we sent Joe Jackson to talk to the Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, peter robinson. In a rancorous interview, they still manage to cover the party’s attitude to Catholics, homosexuals, Albert Reynolds, The Pope, the IRA, loyalist paramilitaries – oh and the small matter of an impending civil war. Pix: Colm Henry.
Or perhaps that's 27 under the present squad numbering system. JEFF KENNA may be living in Garry Kelly's international shadow but that doesn't mean the former Palmerstown Rangers full-back isn't one of the Premiereship's brightest prospects and a genuine contender for the Ireland team as the Green Army advances towards the European Championships. Interview and bollocking from Jack Charlton: STUART CLARK
Pix: COLM HENRY
I’ll have at least one foot in the grave – or at least that’s the dominant feeling as JOE JACKSON joins the Country Music U.S.A. crew on their visit to BRANSON – a bizarre small town in the Ozark Mountains that now rivals Nashville as a centre for country music tourism, of the blue-rinse variety.
While Zinedine Zidane's return makes the task considerably more difficult, Ireland have both the players and mental strength to beat France in next week's crucial World Cup qualifier. That's the verdict of our panel of celebrity fans who tell Killian Murphy why they're looking forward to another night of international footballing glory.
Powerful evidence of both early experiences of racial prejudice and the premature ending of her relationship
with her father is still to be found in the work of
NINA SIMONE, one of the few artists alive who gives equal weight and force to the political and the personal. In this rare interview, conducted during her recent visit to Dublin, JOE JACKSON meets a lover and a fighter. Pics: CATHAL DAWSON.
They may be one of the hottest bands of the year, but Las Vegas synth fiends The Killers are planning to cool off this Christmas with some well-earned down-time and a skiing holiday in Utah. But not before they’ve discussed texting Charlize Theron, hanging with Elton John and that David Bowie tribute with Stuart Clark.
He’s the seventh son of a seventh son, he adores beautiful women, he doesn’t have a million in the bank and he couldn’t sew a button on a shirt. fashion designer Paul Costelloe reveals all this and more to Stephen Robinson – and also explains what he really meant when he made that infamous observation about irish women and style.
WITHOUT A shadow of doubt, the figures revealed in the Hot Press/Classic Hits 98FM survey will give politicians, priests, lawyers, legislators, educators and gardai pause for thought.
Western spin depicts it as a blow for democracy, but for Raied Al-Wazzan, an Iraqi doctor based here for 15 years, the occupation of his country is illegal and must be resisted.
When the IRA ceasefire began in the early minutes of September 1st last, nationalists in Belfast and Derry rejoiced in the streets. In the South Armagh village of Crossmaglen, however, there was barely a murmur. Over the past 25 years, the sniper’s bullet and the mortar bomb have claimed the lives of more soldiers and RUC personnel in this small area than anywhere else in Northern Ireland. Anne Connolly visits what has become the most militarised zone in western Europe and takes the post-ceasefire pulse of a stubbornly resilient little town. Pics: Jason Clarke.
The latest wave of right-wing attacks on US musicians is likely to have a knock-on effect here, with the words and actions of our own artists coming under increased scrutiny. In a special hotpress report, Ed Power enlists the help of Marilyn Manson and a number of major Irish players to pick his way through the censorship minefield.
Twelve years since he retired his blood-stained Die Hard vest, Bruce Willis is back for another bite at the franchise. He talks about his see-saw acting career and why he and ex-wife Demi Moore will always be friends.
He's been described as the 'intellectual powerhouse of Fianna Fail'. As the party goes into electoral meltdown special advisor to the Taoiseach turned Junior Minister Martin Mansergh talks about George Lee, the Government's unpopularity and the prejudices faced by a member of the Anglo-Irish community who dared go into politics.
Could the legal status of E soon change? In the third part of Hot Press continuing investigation into drugs, STUART CLARK reports on the clubbers pill of choice.
There is nothing more odious, to paraphrase a famous quip, than the British press in one of its fits of moral outrage. And it’s true. Nothing can compare. And I’m not just referring to the tabloids . . .
There was a significant Irish presence at the recent intel festival in
New York an event which was broadcast worldwide via the Internet.
Report: helena mulkerns.
Jools, Letterman, platinum discs, fan hysteria – it’s all very nice and much appreciated, you understand, but for Damien Rice the bottom line remains the song – and doing things his way.
Three-in-a-bed romps! drunken footballers on the rampage! and they’re just the questions! however, given that the interviewee is Ireland’s most beloved player Damien Duff you won’t be surprised to learn that the answers are rather more down to earth – including why, with hindsight, he can now chuckle at being on the inside track for the Roy Keane saga in Saipan. “I’m just a big kid at heart,” he tells Barry Glendenning, as he prepares to play a man’s role in Ireland’s crunch game against Switzerland
He’s the PT Barnum of Rock, with Irish blood coursing through his veins and a penchant for encasing himself in translucent space bubbles. Ahead of THE FLAMING LIPS’ much-anticipated visit to Portlaoise, true believer Peter Murphy gets the gospel according to Wayne Coyne.
MORE PEOPLE SMOKE IT IN THE UK THAN GO TO CHURCH, THE AMERICAN LAW JUDGES ADMIT THAT IT'S THE SAFEST THERAPEUTICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN BUT STILL THE WAR AGAINST CANNABIS RAGES ON. OLAF TYARANSEN EXAMINES THE VESTED INTERESTS WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF ITS LEGALISATION.
Over the past twenty-five years, attitudes and experiences in the North’s two biggest cities, Belfast and Derry, have been markedly and vitally different. To understand why may help us to define both the opportunities for and the obstacles to peaceful change. Report: BILL GRAHAM
For the second year running, Hot Press and Heineken have despatched music business professionals to the far corners of the country for one-to-one meetings with local bands. The mission? To help Ireland's new talent make progress in the music business. IAN CAMPBELL reports.
As the dust settles on the Northern Peace deal and Sinn Fein gears up for an election in the Republic, Gerry Adams talks about his journey from political outcast to statesman, Bono's knighthood and what’s on his iPod.
Thirty nine years ago a British soccer team won the European Cup for the first time: Glasgow Celtic veterans Billy McNeill and Tommy Gemmell look back at their triumph in Lisbon.
There’s more to our national holiday than drowning the shamrock you know. In fact, no matter what your interest, St Paddy’s Day has something to offer.
Almost unheralded, in "Raintown" Scotland's Deacon Blue have made one of the year's outstanding albums. Despite extensive critical kudos, however, the first two singles from the album - "Dignity" and "Loaded" - failed to make any inroads into the charts. A third single, the excellent "When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)" looks as if it might enable Deacon Blue to prise open the door. Nevertheless the band must be perturbed at their relative lack of success to date.
Older and wiser but still mad for it, Oasis have delivered their best album in years. In an exclusive – and expletive-filled – interview Liam Gallagher holds forth on fatherhood, brotherly love and explains why Coldplay and The Killers are limp-wristed also-rans.
Recent legislation creating a new offence of drinking to excess is just the latest of a campaign against the free consumption of alcohol in this country. Is it too late to stop the moral majority?
One of the government’s most vocal and effective critics, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte could well be the next Tánaiste. He talks about iPods, happiness, gay marriage, breaking the law - and Enda Kenny’s hairdo.
Having been dogged for years by sectarianism, Northern Irish sport has finally found a team that everyone can support. Colin Carberry reports on the phenomenal rise of the ice hockeying Belfast Giants
Bloodied but unbowed by press smears, Scottish socialist firebrand George Galloway is one of the most vocal anti-war politicians in Britian. In a characteristically frank interview he discusses Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Resepect, and why Shannon could be considered a terrorist target.
Not only do the FAI's own figures show that they do not need the Sky TV money but relying on television revenue to develop football in the current climate is a risky strategy
The young Carlow-based actress Saoirse Ronan is on the brink of Hollywood stardom, thanks to her Golden Globe-nominated performance in Atonement and her upcoming starring role in the next Peter Jackson movie, The Lovely Bones. In her first ever in-depth interview, she spoke exclusively to Hot Press about her sudden rise to fame.
Veteran agitprop folk-rocker Steve Earle talks to Peter Murphy about kicking against George Dubya, jamming in Galway and revamping Shakespeare for the 21st century.
The creator of cinema’s lost peyote sacraments, mime master, graphic novelist, the man who married Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese, and the secret architect of Dune and Alien, 78-year-old Alejandro Jodorowsky is a counter-cultural legend.
With even the comparatively tranquil Euro 2004 marred by trouble on the Algarve, the issue of football hooliganism remains a live one. Now, one of its definitive texts has made it to the big screen. Craig Fitzsimons meets the men – and learns about the hard men – behind The Football Factory
A member of one of the most famous political families in the country, Conor Lenihan gave up a career in journalism to follow his late father brian into politics. Tipped for promotion in Bertie Ahern’s September reshuffle, the rising star talks to Hot Press about Charlie McCreevy, Charlie Haughey. His father’s political downfall and the future of Fianna Fail. [Photos: Liam Sweeney]
He has strong views on Republicanism, Israel, George Bush and Steve Staunton. But, as a TD for Dublin South Central, Michael Mulcahy also reveals how much he loves Fianna Fáil – and how he wouldn’t mind a coalition with the Greens.
When Mick McCarthy became manager of the Republic of Ireland, he enjoyed a honeymoon period as one of the Irish media s favourite subjects. But it didn t last long. Results fell below the grandiose expectations of a nation grown accustomed to success under Jack Charlton and McCarthy became a somewhat embattled figure. Now the team is fighting back and the manager is beginning to relax again, confident in his own ability to deliver. Interview: Stuart Clark. Main pix: The Star
David Baldacci‘s unsavoury contacts within the vast American military-industrial complex have lent authenticity to his tangled tales of insider dealings in the corridors of power
From song contest to presidential contest, the most unlikely candidate for Aras an Uachtarain continues to face down her detractors in RTE, in Hot Press and elswhere and give voice to what she believes is the forgotten silent majority in this state. dana rosemary scallon interviewed by joe jackson. Pix: colm henry.
It is both a strength and a weakness that print journalism is so governed by the deadline. There is no ambiguity, as the courier sweeps away with the final proofs, or film or discs. Anything else is for the next issue, for tomorrow, for next year.
It is an old Republican principle. But it could also be applied to the attitude the authorities have taken to Ireland’s longest serving political prisoners, Paddy McCann and Colm O’Shea. Jailed for the killing of two Gardai during a bank raid in Roscommon in 1980, as the peace process reached its final stages they were asked to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement. They subsequently put their names on the dotted line. That was ten years ago. So why have they not been released in the meantime, like dozens of other former Paramilitary activists? In an extraordinary, confessional interview, PADDY MCCANN makes his case against the State.
One of the finest white soul voices Britain ever produced, Rod Stewart reminisces about the sozzled Faces days, discusses Bob Dylan, his penchant for blondes, and recalls the thyroid cancer that almost robbed him of his voice seven years ago.
[oops this was mis prompted as oxegen video interviews in our e-zine - they're here ]
With the Five Nations Championship up and running again, Paul O’Mahoney discusses the state of the union game with Scotland’s straight-talking captain, Gavin Hastings.
The new year, according to some astrologer or other, was a very good time for making resolutions, as long as you got on with them from the start. If you’ve left it ’til now, forget it. Depending on your particular weakness, you might be just as well off.
Razorlight have catapulted to superstar status with their No. 1 single 'America'. As they prepare to wow Oxegen this weekend, we talk to mainman Johnny Borrell about cricket, saving the planet and dating Kirsten Dunst.
Fifty Nigerians were forcibly deported last month. On their return to west Africa, they will face intimidation and violence. Why is the Government doing nothing?
To DECLAN LYNCH in Foul Play it's "bogball" but to GERRY McGOVERN it's a thrilling sport "created out of the imagination and genius of the Irish people." Here he writes in praise of gaelic football and declares: "I'm a bogman and proud of it."
It may well be wall to wall war on our tv screens but for all the
spectacular images and crazed punditry, we’re getting very little sense of
the truly brutal reality of violent conflict. Jonathan O’Brien found it
elsewhere
The recent murder of
the notorious b.i.g., following the killing of Tupac shakur six months ago, has been linked by many to the prolonged East Coast-West Coast feud which threatened to tear the US hip-hop community apart. jonathan o brien reports on how life
chillingly imitates art in the gangsta rap wars.
The angry young(ish) man of Irish preacher-punk is back, bleeding righteous indignation from every pore. Jinx Lennon tells us why it's time for a revolution.
He debuted in East is East, became a household face in Eastenders and has finally gone west to star in the bollywood meets hollywood movie, The Guru. The son of an Indian father and Irish mother, he talks here about his thrash metal past, the difficulties of being an Asian actor and why Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson are his spiritual gurus.
Sarah McLachlan has been invited to the Vatican to perform in a huge Christmas gala. But His Holiness may get more than he bargained for. Patrick Brennan meets the Canadian songstress whose new album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, encompasses themes as diverse as a troubled mother-daughter relationship and eye-opening travels in Cambodia and Thailand. We recommend that the Pontiff pay careful attention to the final paragraphs.
He’s one of the last great orators in Irish politics. But there’s more to Joe Higgins TD than firebrand socialism. In this candid interview, the man once described as a ‘nitwit’ by an enraged Bertie Ahern talks about his childhood, the role of the church in his life and explains why the Celtic Tiger has let Ireland down
He’s one of the last great orators in Irish politics. But there’s more to Joe Higgins TD than firebrand socialism. In this candid interview, the man once described as a ‘nitwit’ by an enraged Bertie Ahern talks about his childhood, the role of the church in his life and explains why the Celtic Tiger has let Ireland down
Self-styled sex siren Diablo Cody has moved into the mainstream with the acclaimed, Oscar-nominated Juno. What’s more, the movie is so good, she might just prove to be a winner.
The Ministry of Defence will have to come out of its hiding place declared Eilis MacDermott QC for the family of Bloody Sunday victim Patrick Doherty, at the Saville Inquiry. Here we reproduce the bulk of her powerful and hard-hitting opening address
Dundalk-born director John Moore has produced one of the most gung-ho portrayals of the US military in recent cinema history in behind enemy lines, yet Craig Fitzsimons discovers a film-maker who finds flag-waving unacceptable
Why they really should have been called Super Feathery Birds, the pleasant job of signing breasts, how Don Henley bought their tank and the worst welsh swear words ever. Hannah Hamilton pops the readers’ questions...
Why they really should have been called Super Feathery Birds, the pleasant job of signing breasts, how Don Henley bought their tank and the worst welsh swear words ever. Hannah Hamilton pops the readers’ questions...
Whether starring in popcorn blockbusters or thoughtful art-house movies, Gabriel Byrne is a reassuring presence on our screens. But he reserves his deepest passions for keeping alive the flame of Irish culture among the diaspora.
PETER TAYLOR is one of the most experienced journalists to have covered the Troubles. Midway through the screening of his most recent TV documentary, Loyalists, he spoke to NIALL STANAGE about the North s pivotal personalities, his hopes for a peaceful future, and why Provos was keenly watched by Loyalist paramilitaries.
He helped invent disco, funk, r 'n' b and hip-hop. And when he wasn’t changing the face of popular music, Chic leader NILE RODGERS found time to chin-wag with pop’s best, bravest and weirdest. Here he talks about hanging with David Bowie, Slash and Madonna and reveals his oft-overlooked hippy leanings.
Dublin's unlikely new Lord Mayor, Tomás MacGiolla, gets a lot off his chest on subjects as diverse as pomp and ceremony, government discrimination against Dublin, the re-zoning scandal, violence and prostitution on the streets of the capital, conspiracies to undermine the Workers Party and, inevitably, his palpable bitterness towards Democratic Left. Interview: Liam Fay. Pics: Colm Henry.
Grant Lee Buffalo's debut album Fuzzy was the best record of last year - Michael Stipe said so, so it must be true. Its successor, Mighty Joe Moon, has just been released, and while everyone else may expect them to be apprehensive about its reception, the band seem happier and more confident - and in Grant's case, more bonkers - than ever before. Interview: Lorraine Freeney
The MTV Europe Music Awards 2002 may have been a bit of a damp squib, but an electrifying Foo Fighters, a boards-sweeping Eminem and a nekkid Christina Aguilera prevented it from being a total washout.
JONATHAN O’BRIEN (real name) meets
WREKKED TRAIN DAVE (not real name) of the
LO-FIDELITY ALLSTARS (real name) and finds out how CLAUDIO GENTILE (real name) fits into their chaotic scheme of things.
Christmas is the time of the year when thousands of Irish emigrants return home to link up again with families and friends. All over the country, for a brief interlude, towns and villages will come alive with stories, songs, drink and craic. And then all will be quiet again. Gerry McGovern examines the impact of emigration on Irish society – and the sense of alienation which many emigrants feel about their treatment by the authorities here.
What links Richard Harris with Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel with The Supremes, and Frank Sinatra with er, Ghost Of An American Airman? Why, the music of Jimmy Webb, of course, one of the most widely-respected songwriters of all-time. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his friendship with Richard Harris, his encounters with Elvis and his deep-rooted love of Irish music.
You wanted the best, you got GENE SIMMONS. Here, the motormouth frontman of KISS, the world s greatest showband, talks about sex and women at length (quelle surprise), discusses his Jewish heritage, explains why Kierkegaard and Nietzsche obviously never got laid, and announces to an increasingly bemused JOE JACKSON that he Gene, that is possesses the world s smallest penis.
Alright, there’s more to student life than scrimping and saving – but a bit of it is the order of the day for the vast majority. Recent graduate Louise Hodgson has tips on that, and a whole lot more besides.
Re-telling the story of September 11 with a measured hand and lightness of touch hithertoo unhinted at, director Oliver Stone proves a more serious thinker than his paranoia-soaked canon would suggest. Here, he explains how his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam framed his outlook on life and art.
Once renowned as the doyen of new queer cinema, Far From Heaven director Todd Haynes has long since infiltrated the Hollywood mainstream. In a wide-ranging interview, he speaks about updating Douglas Sirk, seeing Pulp in Dublin and the parallels between American society today and in the 1950s.
The inside story of Veronica Guerin starring Joel Schumacher, Gerard McSorley, Ciaran Hinds and Cate Blanchett. Rolling tape Tara Brady and Craig Fitzsimons
In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, a growing number, including respected foreign correspondent Robert Fisk, are starting to ask uncomfortable questions about September 11 and the War on Terror it provoked.
Origin of Symmetry? Freak of Evolution more like. The common response to Muse’s Showbiz debut in 1999 was akin to a primitive people’s first glimpse of a spacecraft over the prehistorical landscape. Here was an unlikely but hugely accomplished hybrid of prog-rock flash, quasi-symphonic attack and ferocious virtuosity, spearheaded by Matt Bellamy’s soaring tenor and Dick-ian lyrics. An impressive sound, even if you didn’t know what the hell it was.
For the indigenous peoples of Central America, peace does not always mean prosperity. Nowhere is this more true than in Guatemala, where even ten years after the end of a brutal civil war, the wounds remain raw.
Criminologist and author of The Irish War On Drugs, Paul O'Mahony was one of the few voices of reason in the recent, hugely impressive Prime Time report on the subject.
He is the grandson of Éamon De Valera – one of the founding fathers of the State and a former Taoiseach and President. So has his unique lineage had anything to do with the success of EAMON Ó CUÍV? These and other issues are teased out in a remarkable interview with Ireland’s Minister for Community Affairs.
It’s been 25 years since the legendary Dr. Strangely Strange last toured. Now they’re back on the road, in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Tim Booth kept this diary.
It’s no rest for the wicket, as Stuart Clark gets bowled over by the DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD. Musical odd-couple Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh explain why they decided to record a musical homage to cricket and talk about hanging out with Blur’s Damon Albarn, the Governor of the Bank of England and Sir Tim Rice.
When Alan McLoughlin scored in Belfast on November 17th he not only set the entire country off on an orgiastic rampage but allayed the fears of a pair of filmmakers who’d gambled heavily on Ireland’s qualification of USA ’94. So, it’s happy endings all round as Robert Walpole and Paddy Breathnach of Treasure Films release our official World Cup video The Road To America and detail the trials, tribulations and traumas of the venture to a suitably impressed George Byrne.
History is likely to remember FW de KLERK as the man whose most significant political accomplishment ensured his own political downfall. Peter Murphy meets the last South African President to hold power in the era of apartheid. Pic: COLM HENRY.
With the opinion polls predicting a tight finish in the upcoming General Election, there is an increasing likelihood that the Greens will play a part in the next Government. So what is their leader Trevor Sargent really made of?
MICHAEL NOONAN may be the most follicularly-challenged member of the Fine Gael front bench but he is also seen by some as the party's leader in waiting, the only person capable of bringing about the kind of revitalisation which has so conspicuously eluded John Bruton. Now aged fifty, Noonan was for years known as the man who as Minister for Justice in the mid-eighties exposed the Sean Doherty bugging scandal and ordered the release of Nicky Kelly. More recently, however, he has achieved real fame as a Scrap Saturday caricature. Interview: LIAM FAY.
BLOODHOUND GANG might not be paragons of good taste, but they do live out the rock n roll lifestyle like no other band. JIMMY POP talks to STUART CLARK about swearing, drugs, porn stars and amusing Germans! Pop Pic-er: Declan English
After an undoubtedly slack 2003, 2004 was the year in which TV comedy once again came into its own. In addition to to further series from Monkey Dust, Peep Show, Little Britain, 15 Storeys High and Curb Your Enthusiasm, there were also excellent new shows in the shape of The Smoking Room, The Mighty Boosh, Nighty Night and Catterick. In particular, the forum for alternative humour provided by BBC3 and BBC4 continued to provide an invaluable creative outlet for the oddballs, misfits and mavericks of British comedy.
If having your music featured on every TV programme from TFI Friday to England v Morocco is a measure of success, then CORNERSHOP are now one of the biggest bands in the world. Multi-instrumentalist BEN AYRES talks to STUART CLARK about Noel Gallagher collaborations, festivals, royalties, The Blind Boys Of Alabama and that Fatboy Slim remix.
LIAM FAY talks to writer
TIMOTHY O GRADY and
photographer STEVE PYKE about
their new book, I Could Read The Sky, which chronicles the lives of quiet
desperation lived by the forgotten
members of London s
Irish community.
A breathtaking variety of acts have come together - as Lennon might have put it - to focus attention on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, under the auspices of Amnesty International.
Sinn Fiin s first sitting TD since 1918 chooses his words carefully for the Hot Press Political Interview. I m not measured or calculating, he explains, this is me. As I am. LIAM FAY fires the questions. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
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
The inside story of Veronica Guerin, directed by Joel Schumacer and starring Gerard McSorley, Ciaran Hinds and Cate Blanchett. Rolling tape Tara Brady and Craig Fitzsimons
He created great songs out of the good, the bad and the ugly and earned the respect of people as diverse as Bob Dylan and Hunter S. Thompson. In this previously unpublished interview Warren Zevon, who died last week after a long battle with cancer, reflects on his sweet and dirty life and times.
Sinn Féin’s first sitting TD since 1918 chooses his words carefully for the Hot Press Political Interview. “I’m not measured or calculating,” he explains, “this is me. As I am.” Liam Fay fires the questions. Pic: Cathal Dawson
Tales of high profile solicitor Gerald Kean's astonishing ability to make truckloads of money - and spend it - have become the stuff of tabloid wet dreams.
Ross Fitzsimons goes to Portugal’s Euro 04 in search of the beautiful game and the perfect bowl of cataplana, and discovers more than he bargained for – including the ribbon of death.
Joe Jackson sneaks a peek at Wayne Studer’s new book Rock On The Wild Side, which gender-bends its way through three decades of gay imagery in rock music from Jimi Hendrix’ first kiss to George Michael’s shuttlecock.
The most momentous journalistic event of the decade nay, the millennium has come to pass. They said it could never happen, but after months of careful pre-planning and tense negotiation, nick kelly has finally interviewed NICK KELLY. Here, the Stars Of Heaven fan remorselessly grills the former Fat Lady Sings mainman about his long sabbatical from the music industry, his perception of modern culture, and his cracking new album Between Trapezes. Pix, gimmicky t-shirts and
unfeasibly large trousers: mick RAGING PUFF QUInn.
And our wombs. Under the cloak of so-called free trade agreements, and using genetic engineering as a weapon, a small number of corporations are not only seeking to control and exploit the global market they have also begun to establish a patent on life itself.
Report: Adrienne Murphy
Yes, it's the long-awaited return of the world's greatest politically incorrect headline. Michael Hutchence of Féile headliners INXS explains why he's flying a flag for the old-fashioned values and going back to his musical roots. All this plus: condoms, Mick Jagger at 50 and the best-hung member of INXS. Interview: Neil McCormick.
As Barack Obama gets ready to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bob Geldof, Josh Ritter and Laura Izibor offer their views on his presidency. Plus what the rest of the rock ‘n’ roll community including Bruce Springsteen and Ani DiFranco are saying about the new man in the White House.
With close to forty TDs in the Dáil, and Labour in government with Fianna Fáil, the parties of the left have undergone something of a renaissance in Ireland over the past few years. There are those, however, who view this as a grand illusion, arguing that the cause of socialism is being ill-served by our elected representatives. Meanwhile, following the collapse of the East European model of communism, the left is experiencing a crisis of its own. GERRY McGOVERN talks to the activists who see themselves as carrying the socialist torch and profiles the parties who have yet to make an impact at the polls. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
After an initial reluctance to tell the outside world about his predicament, author and poet PAT TIERNEY this year went public about his HIV-positive status, and encountered a far more compassionate response than he had anticipated. Interview: LORRAINE FREENEY
How Bubba Sparxxx went from being nose-down in a bowl of coke to becoming hip-hop's greatest white hope since Eminem. Peter Murphy hears how the southerner fell and rose
Irish rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll waxes lyrical about his sporting heroes, Ireland’s hopes for the Rugby World Cup and admits to liking Justin Timberlake.
IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN WHEN THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE THAT OFTEN DAUNTING LEAP FROM SCHOOL TO COLLEGE. HERE, THE HOT PRESS STUDENT SPECIAL OFFERS ITS OWN INIMITABLE SAFETY NET.
EVERY YEAR, AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, HUNDREDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE SOUTH DECIDE TO GO ON TO THIRD LEVEL EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND. EMMA FLYNN REPORTS ON THE REALITIES OF ACADEMIC LIFE OVER THE BORDER.
FRANCIE BARRETT rose to public acclaim in 1996 when he became the first member of the travelling community to represent Ireland at an Olympic Games. Now a documentary, Southpaw, has been released which relates the Galway boxer s story. CRAIG FITZSIMONS met him and was impressed.
The end of the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign was deeply unimpressive, not so much for the poverty of the results as for the manner in which they were achieved. And just when everyone was breathing a collective sigh of relief at the whisker-fine nature of our qualification, worse was to follow with the news of Niall Quinn’s critical knee injury. So what is the best way forward for Jack Charlton’s embattled troops? Analysis: Niall Stokes
It took 277 attempts at cloning to create dolly the genetically engineered sheep that took the world by storm during 1997. Here adrienne murphy attempts to explain just what the hell is going on in the bizarre world of biotechnology, with a little help from dr. ian wilmut the man who made Dolly what she is today (out of another sheep s breast).
Sorry, we couldn t resist it! But then PETER KELLY
is that rare figure in Irish life an openly gay
mainstream politician. NIALL STANAGE meets the Cork Progressive Democrat who believes that the liberal agenda is far from finished. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Rabble-rousing controversialist and after hours man, sure. But one time devoted mass goer who now drinks once or twice a month and finds Stringfellows seedy? Welcome to the other side of Eamon Dunphy.
With preparations well underway for Cork city’s hosting of the European City Of Culture festivities in 2005, the indigenous music scene is already rising to the challenge
He wrote speeches for Bertie and then criticised him in the press using a pseudonym. He turned down an offer to party with Bono. And Richard Boyd Barrett once nicked one of his crass albums. All this plus the importance of economics, the threat posed by the Bush administration and the truth about power are on the agenda, as Paul Nolan meets David McWilliams.
Apathy as much as manipulation has allowed the globalisation myth to flourish. Michael D. Higgins explains the urgent need for economic alternatives and stresses the importance of political activism
As World AIDS day approaches, Stuart Clark travels to Swaziland to witness the devastating impact the virus is having on the country, and discovers how overseas organisations like Skillshare International Ireland are helping Swazis to help themselves.
“I grew up in a tough neighbourhood, and we used to say, ‘You can get further with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word’.”
- Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables
ANI DiFRANCO is one of contemporary music's most impressive originals. Without compromising her independence or political radicalism, she has scaled the heights of commercial and
critical success. In this, her only Irish interview, she speaks candidly to NIALL STANAGE about TAFKAP, her battles with the music industry, American 'gun culture' and the troubled family life which lies behind one of her most moving songs.
As the FAI's chief executive and the public face of Irish football, John Delaney has come in for savage public criticism over the last couple of years.
But who started it? Olaf Tyaransen went to the final protest march against Britain’s repressive criminal justice bill and found himself reading helpful hints on how to throw a brick with maximum effect before a full-scale riot broke out. This is his report . . .
I was living fast, planning to die young and I was probably gonna take a few people with me, says Fatima Mansions firebrand Cathal Coughlan of his descent into a personal and creative nightmare. Now back stronger, healthier and with an acclaimed new album, Lost In The Former West, under his belt, he retraces the highs, lows and kicks in the teeth of the last few years with Liam Fay.
Michael Franti has taken a personal stand against George Bush by leading a peace delegation to the Middle East. Now back in the States where he’s vigorously campaigning against the president, he talks to Danielle Brigham about his experiences in two of the world’s most deadly war zones.
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN FREQUENTING THE LATE-NIGHT HOSTELRIES OF DUBLIN, YOU’RE UNLIKELY TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE IN A BATTLE OF WITS, ER, MANO A MANO, WITH ACE QUIZ MASTER GEORGE “I KNOW A LOT MORE THAN YOU DO” BYRNE. WORRY NOT. THAT’S WHAT THE HOT PRESS QUIZ OF THE YEAR IS FOR. NOW GO FOR IT. SECONDS OUT!
At a time when public disillusionment with politicians is arguably at an all-time high, Cork Fianna Fail MEP BRIAN CROWLEY continues to buck the national trend by commanding a huge personal vote. But then, this is not a man who fits easily into any obvious political mould. A former rock singer and still a passionate music fan, he has survived a near-fatal car crash and learned to live with a permanent disability resulting from an earlier life-changing accident in his teens. Here, the man many tip to be a future President of Ireland, talks candidly to JOE JACKSON about matters personal and political. Pics: COLM HENRY.
No mere actor boy moonlighting as a rock star, Billy Bob Thornton is steeped in music and also in the kind of brooding Southern gothic aesthetic which informs his compelling album of song and story, Private Radio. Peter Murphy meets a singular man of stage and screen
Ex-IRA man Gerry Kelly talks to Jason O'Toole about his run-ins with the British Army, his near death experiences, the part he played in inflicting civilian casualties and his time on hunger strike.
A win next week and we're there - but what lies in store for Irish supporters if Big Jack's men do qualify for America? Long suffering England fan Stuart Clark was in the States this summer for US Cup '93 and found that if the dress rehearsal is anything to go by, the World Cup Finals should be a sporting event to savour. Main pix: Simon Parry.
“I was living fast, planning to die young and I was probably gonna take a few people with me,” says Fatima Mansions firebrand Cathal Coughlan of his descent into a personal and creative nightmare. Now back stronger, healthier and with an acclaimed new album, Lost In The Former West, under his belt, he retraces the highs, lows and kicks in the teeth of the last few years with Liam Fay.
The Government recently launched its National Anti-Racism Awareness Programme under the slogan "Know Racism". JACKIE HAYDEN talked to the Chairman of its Steering Committee, JOE MCDONAGH
LIAM FAY not a man who subscribes to Shaved Orientals swallowed his pride and morality recently to attend the PLAYBOY magazine 1st-anniversary-in-Ireland celebration bash.
There he met Miss December 1996, VICTORIA SILVSTEDT. Did he succumb to her boundless, eh, force of personality? Read on and find out . . . Pix: MICK QUINN
TRACY CHAPMAN S eponymous debut album was one of the biggest sellers of last year more than ten years after its release.
She spoke to PETER MURPHY about her life before and after fame, that album and the race issue.
There is only one way to combat AIDS and that is to resist it - with information, education, safer sex, condoms, awareness, agitation and solidarity. We're all in this together - and we're in it for the long haul. Report: Liam Fay.
How the mafia did Noel a favour by twatting Liam; the U2 song Oasis might cover; the most he’s spent on cocaine; a great night out in Ireland’ and what it will say on his tombstone. Noel Gallagher answers the reader’s questions. Turning up the heat Stuart Clark.
Johnny Ray invented rock ’n’ roll. Elvis Presley marked the beginning of the downfall of popular music. The Beatles only ever wrote one great song. Cranky stuff maybe, but when the speaker is Tony Bennett – the man Sinatra called “The best singer in the business” – you have to listen. Joe Jackson does and, in this exclusive interview, hears how a Jewish-Italian New York kid grew up to be a musical legend, a respected painter and a man who, at 67, can still kick ’90s rock off MTV.
They blasted into the public consciousness at the end of 2005, when 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' became the year's biggest breakthrough No.1. Since then it's been an extraordinary rollercoaster ride for the Arctic Monkeys, with bass player trouble, celebrity fans, EastEnders appearances and a row with fellow newcomers The Feeling to show for their efforts. Oh, and then there's the small matter of shifting nearly two million copies of their debut album...
As the body double for Saddam Hussein's son, Latif Yahia suffered several assassination attempts. Having escaped to Offaly, the controversial figure is now seriously at odds with his adopted country.
The case for and against Holocaust Revisionist and Nazi apologist DAVID IRVING being allowed to speak on a public platform in Ireland. For: GERRY McGOVERN. Against: EAMONN McCANN
To some, he’s the last true socialist left in Ireland. In a forthright interview Michael D. Higgins reflects on Bono's knighthood, expresses his horror at America’s conduct in the Middle East and explains why the PDs are bad for Ireland
To some, he’s the last true socialist left in Ireland. In a forthright interview Michael D. Higgins reflects on Bono's knighthood, and explains why the PDs are bad for Ireland.
Michael Stipe talks about REM's new album Accelerate, looks back at their 'working rehearsals' in Dublin and explains how their Irish-born producer helped them through their mid-life crisis.
John Walshe talks to Irish rugby captain and Munster stalwart Keith Wood ahead of the most important game in Munster s history, and hears his views on the media, sex before a game and his love for bellybuttons and pregnant women.
Pictures: DECLAN ENGLISH
The ace bass in the STONE ROSES and PRIMAL SCREAM, MANI is the living embodiment of the concept of largin it . In Ireland to dee-jay and hang out, he sinks a few beers and offers his uniquely colourful thoughts on music, Man U, drugs, Thatcher, Reagan, Blair and Bill Clinton s blow-jobs. Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
During the late eighties, Aslan were among the most celebrated of Irish rock acts, immensely popular at home and signed to EMI, a major multinational label, on which they released their debut album, Feel No Shame. And then it all came unstuck, amid squalid tabloid accusations of drug addiction, egotism and recrimination. Now they re back, older, wiser and more resolute but with their musical batteries recharged, a new contract with BMG under their belts and that old emotional band intact. Report: Liam Fay (with additional reporting by George Byrne).
As the General Election looms, many polls suggest Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is the next Taoiseach in waiting. So what is he really like? And where does he stand on the issues that matter to Hot Press readers?
25 years after the publicaton of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, doctor hunter s. thompson remains the originator and unequalled exponent of Gonzo journalism, an author as famous for his own high-octane, outlaw lifestyle as he is for the remarkable series of books and articles which made him a rock star of the written word.
Tracked down to his lair in the Colorado mountains, Thompson lives up to all expectations in this exclusive interview and story by daniel senstius and jurrien dekker. Photography: chris van houts.
ARDAL O'HANLON is back in anti-hero mode in a new BBC sit-com. But before that, there's more stand-up, a movie, another book and the small matter of football, football. NICK KELLY hears all about a busy life after Ted. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
ARDAL O'HANLON is back in anti-hero mode in a new BBC sit-com. But before that, there's more stand-up, a movie, another book and the small matter of football, football. NICK KELLY hears all about a busy life after Ted. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
JASON PIERCE of SPIRITUALIZED comes on down to talk about mythology versus reality, art versus autobiography and the economy inherent in a cast of hundreds.
Interview: PETER MURPHY
Leaving behind his desk job, Paul Oakenfold has enlisted a galaxy of stars to perform vocal duties on hs new album Bunkka including Tricky, Nelly Furtado and, uh,
Hunter S. Thompson
During the late eighties, ASLAN were among the most celebrated of Irish rock acts, immensely popular at home and signed to EMI, a major multinational label, on which they released their debut album Feel No Shame. And then it all came unstuck, amid squalid tabloid accusations of drug addiction, egotism and recrimination. Now they’re back, older, wiser and more resolute – but with their musical batteries recharged, a new contract with BMG under their belts and that old emotional band intact. Report: LIAM FAY (with additional reporting by GEORGE BYRNE). Pix: MICK QUINN
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
FIFTEEN YEARS after his death Elvis Presley is probably having the toughest year of his career. Not Elvis the guy who works down at the chipper or at the local A&P, obviously, but Elvis the social construct and cultural phenomenon. Elvis the quintessential folk hero.
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?
The mainman in Tenacious D and scene-stealer in High Fidelity, Jack Black is now at the heart of a box-office phenomenon in School of Rock. But who does he really want to be – Laurence Olivier or Ronnie James Dio? Tara Brady asks the tough questions.
As the CEO of YouTube, Chad Hurley has been lauded and criticised for the video-sharing site's content in almost equal measure. Paul Nolan speaks with one of the world's richest men.
Great slogans, great scams, great music and wreckless eric too. 20 years after the label first saw the light of a record shop, richard balls gets some of the key players to reminisce about the glory days of stiff records.
Ahead of the reformed Pistols' Electric Picnic set, we caught up with the guitarist, Steve Jones, who spoke about kicking heroin, his dislike of Malcolm McLaren, his on-air confrontation with Jerry Lee Lewis, and why he'd love to do an album with Cliff Richard.
Politician, law & criminology professor, activist, abortion information campaigner and labour party candidate in the forthcoming european elections… all this and Ivana Bacik once served a pint of vodka to Perry Farrell, shortly before he fell over on stage at Glastonbury.
Forget Oxegen or U2 at Croke Park – the biggest shows in town this summer are the All Ireland Championships. With the crowning of the provincial championships, the season is entering its most competitive stage.
Contrary to the negative way in which it's so often portrayed by the national media, Limerick is a city that combines a rich sense of tradition with an eye for innovation and in recent years has developed into one of Ireland's leading cultural centres. Kevin Barry takes a look at the people - and the places - breathing new life into the mid-western capital.
Television s best-known wearer of colourful jumpers turned Conservative politician has reinvented himself yet again this time as a writer of credible fiction. PETER MURPHY hears the nice Tory s vice story. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
TV presenter, stand-up and all-round gifted wit and raconteur Dara O'Briain has quietly become one of the major Irish success stories in Britain over the past few years. In a rare in-depth interview, The Panel presenter here discusses stardom in the UK, The Killers, Colin Farrell, Michael Parkinson, RTE, Sinn Féin and that ringing endorsement from a certain Samuel L. Jackson. interview Tanya Sweeney photos Liam Sweeney
Running a marathon, writing the folk-pop equivalent of Dante’s Divine Comedy, buying a house, releasing the finest record of his career. All in a year’s work for Josh Ritter. John Walshe travelled to Boston to meet the young songwriter.
They re the biggest new band in Britain, but
all saints didn t always inhabit a world of no.1 singles,
million-selling albums and media limelight.
shaznay
and melanie
talk to jonathan o brien
about stardom, tattoos, tabloids and why they definitely aren t a bunch of porn obsessives.
Massive Attack explain why they are outspoken opponents of the proposed war in Iraq, give high praise to Sinéad O’Connor and reveal how a porn soundtrack left them gasping for airtime.
Five years after the collapse of The Irish Press Group, CON HOULIHAN suffered a fall of his own. Here, he reflects on broken hips, broken dreams and the road to recovery. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG
In all of Ireland s hydra-headed entertainment industry, no other act simultaneously inspires as much love and loathing as The Wolfe Tones, a band who, annually, attract huge support at Siamsa Cois Laoi, while, no less vociferously, their detractors continue to dismiss them as the musical wing of the IRA, and worse. On the occasion of The Wolfe Tones celebrating 25 years together as a group, Eamon McCann went to meet them.
