Northside Learning Hub and Sunday Times Host Leviathan Political Cabaret

THE THOMONDGATE based Northside Learning Hub are to co-host the city’s second Leviathan Political Cabaret event this Wednesday. The event is being held in association with the Sunday Times and takes place in Dolan’s Warehouse.
Late Late Show band leader Paddy Cullivan (of The Camembert Quartet fame) will host the evening of musical satire and lively discussion, with a debate to be held under the heading “Is Music Worth Paying For?”, to form the central part of the evening.
Among the panel to discuss this topic are Spin South West DJ Michelle McMahon, Mick Dolan of Dolan’s Warehouse, Kathleen Turner of the ICO, Alan Owens of the Limerick Leader and Chronicle, David O’Connell, principal of Limerick School of Music, James Blake of the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra and the Learning Hub and David O’Donovan of Eightball.ie and the Limerick Event Guide.
This event is to mark the launch of the Learning Hub’s brand new Music Hub at Kileely House, which will house a fully equipped recording studio and music rehearsal space.
For more information see here. Please come out and support this event if you can.

Local band to open Bob Dylan Thomond Park gig

LEGENDARY singer songwriter Bob Dylan has personally requested that an “up and coming local band” open up his Thomond Park concert on July 4.

Entry forms carried in today’s Limerick Leader and this week's Limerick Chronicle offer a local band the chance to open for Bob Dylan at his July 4 Thomond Park concert.

Aiken Promotions have teamed up with the Limerick Leader and Chronicle newspapers, plus Live 95FM and Dolan’s Warehouse, to offer an up and coming local band the chance to share a bill with the legendary singer-songwriter.

Concert promoter Peter Aiken revealed on Friday that Dylan had personally requested that a local band open the show, which will also feature Alabama 3, Seasick Steve and David Gray.

“We are going to get a local Limerick band, an up and coming band to open it up. Dylan wants it to be a young band to open up the show - a good band,” said Peter Aiken.

A shortlist of acts will be compiled, with entries closing on May 28.

A showcase night will be held in Dolan’s on Friday, June 25 to select the winning act.

Mick Dolan said: “It’s an amazing opportunity for a young band. It doesn't get any better than sharing a bill with Bob Dylan”.

Peter Aiken also revealed that Dylan, who he called “one of the greatest icons of the 21st century”, was looking forward to coming to Limerick.

“He is looking forward to coming here. They have been looking up Thomond Park on the internet - he knows exactly where he is going,” said Mr Aiken.

Mr Aiken also revealed that he had “made a commitment” to John Cantwell, Thomond Park stadium director, to keep returning to the €40m stadium to stage two gigs a year.

“It is our intention to keep coming here and we are going to keep doing two gigs a year,” said Mr Aiken.

Mr Cantwell said Peter Aiken had “provided the goods again in terms of headline acts”.

“It doesn't get much bigger in terms of names, and the reaction has been very positive. It is going to be a great day out and the city can put its best foot forward in terms of profile and image and positive publicity,” he added.

Gates to Thomond Park will open at 2.30pm on July 4, with the first band on at 3.30pm. For tickets - priced at €60, €70.70, €81.25, and seated at €67.50 - check out www.ticketmaster.ie and other usual outlets nationwide. Booking line: 0818-719300. See page 3 of the Leader 2 section for entry forms for the chance to perform on the Thomond Park stage on July 4 with Bob Dylan.

Delorentos - You Can Make Sound album review

Delorentos
‘You Can Make Sound’
(Delorecords)
RATING 4/5

AGAINST all the odds, Delorentos have produced a follow-up to 2007’s excellent debut, In Love With Detail. Following a ‘will-they, won’t-they’ shaky period in the life of the Dublin band, the quartet are set to release You Can Make Sound this Friday, amidst a quiet sigh of relief in several quarters.
The news that the band were to split at the beginning of the year was greeted with universal shock in Irish music circles, the Malahide band seen as one of the stronger outfits on the go.
The band, who were feted here and particularly abroad as the leading light among modern Irish rock bands, all jangly guitar hooks and killer choruses - declared that lead singer Ronan Yourell was to leave the band.
This followed a period where the band suffered record company setbacks and were, by their own admission, “burnt out”. However, before Yourell left, there was the matter of recording another album and playing some farewell gigs, and, as that progressed, he decided the output was too strong to walk away from.
It seems Irish super-producer Gareth Mannix was the glue that kept this band together, guiding them through a “cathartic process” and allowing them to re-discover their love for recording and playing music, and You Can Make Sound is the result.
Bassist Níal Conlan told this reporter that the album would contain more depth, reflect broader influences and concentrate more on structure as a result.
Although they have moved slightly from the more generic, 4X4 stadium rock that impressed on their debut, Delorentos have not gone and reinvented the wheel on this album, mining influences as broad as early Bloc Party, Editors and particularly, The Bravery.
Several songs on this album sound uncannily like that New York band, notably the opener Sanctuary, Hallucinations and Leave Me Alone.
The catchy riffs on Secret, the first single released from the album, make it more of a Delorentos song, and you will be doing well not to be humming the chorus for days after hearing it.
There is a nice change of pace on You Say You’ll Never Love Her and Leave Me Alone, delicate, emotional songs both - the latter on which Yourell sings “it’s a little too late for us to change”.
We don’t agree, as these songs demonstrate, Delorentos can take the tempo down, a fear that presented itself after their first album, which was mostly pepped up on youthful exuberance. The engaging Editorial and Body Cold are somewhat let down by Let The Light Go Out and the ill-advised Soulmate, but the album finishes on a high with the piano-driven, harmony filled I Remember.
However, it is the penultimate track, which the album is named after, that impresses the most, the distinctive rhythm and effortless cool of You Can Make Sound reinforcing the notion that this is one of the best Irish bands around. Let’s hope they can stay together for album number three. www.myspace.com/delorentos
Download: Sanctuary, You Can Make Sound

Review of Arctic Monkey's new album 'Humbug'

Arctic Monkeys

Humbug

(Domino)

HERE’S A question. What to do after releasing the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, scooping the Mercury Music Prize and a nomination for your second album, both reaching number one in the charts and having already moved in a different direction with your side project the Last Shadow Puppets?

The answer for Alex Turner and his fellow Arctic Monkeys was to take themselves into the desert with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and record a much more considered and deliberate third album than the frenzied Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not and Favourite Worst Nightmare, the first two Monkeys albums, the latter which Turner has admitted they “banged out in two weeks”.

Homme brought the band to Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree to record the bulk of this album, before it was finished with James Ford in New York, who worked with the band on album number two.

Turner has revealed that the band listened to Hendrix and Cream while writing the album and this is apparent. There is an old-school scuzzy rock feel to this album and fans of the pepped up offerings of the first two albums might be put off by the spacey rock on offer here, the only throwback to the style of those albums appearing on ‘Pretty Visitors’ and the early parts of ‘Potion Approaching’, which descends into a Doors-esque space out for a finish.

Turner’s songwriting is also as lyrical and imaginative as ever, plumbing deeper depths here than ever before, allegories and dark themes twisting their way around and through the ten tracks on offer. However, while he is at pains to dismiss the notion of him as merely cheeky chappy, his wry wit still abounds here - ‘What came first, the chicken or the dickhead?’ he sings on Pretty Visitor.

But it is the eerie menace of this album that is eye-opening, plus the liberal use of keyboards and guitar solos, the latter in particular which have never graced a Monkeys offering before, beyond short two or three second bursts.

This is clearly Homme’s influence at work.

It is clear from the opener My Propeller that Homme has steered the Sheffield unit away from the urgency of Riot Van and Mardy Bum, the song growling with reverb and thumping bass - oozing decadence.

The first single, Crying Lightning, shows the influence of the Shadow Puppets, an eerie wail in the background while a military style drumbeat greets Turner’s hushed vocal – “I hate that little game – twisted and deranged, I hate that little game you had called crying lightning”.

‘Dangerous Animals’ boasts the most obvious classic rock influence, a deliciously dark riff pumping through the song.

It is ‘Secret Door’ that might cause jaws to drop however, as Turner hits higher notes than heard before, definitely a follow on from the vocal heights hit with his pal Miles Kane on the Last Shadow Puppets album. There are echoes of the Doors Unknown Soldier on this, Turner warbling as his band mates ‘ooh and aah’ in the background.

The rattlesnake opening of Fire and the Thud is chilling, evocative of the desert location it was recorded in. Out of nowhere the song tears into psychedelic rock territory before slowing to a satisfying crawl – guest vocalist Alison Mosshart of the Kills helping out on vocals.

This is one of the highlights of the album.

The shimmering guitars and heavy drums of Dance Little Liar cover more harmonies and hushed vocals; this, the second longest track on the album boasting yet more guitar solos.

The album climaxes in the opaque rock offering of The Jeweller’s Hands, all tingly xylophone keys and military drums - a jaunty, almost strangely hope-filled offering, considering its menacing beat.

The infectious throb of the song will ring in your head for days, but while clocking in at nearly six minutes, there is no over-indulgence here, rather a dizzying climax to a most unexpectedly different album from the Sheffield band.

Who would have thought the Monkey’s would evolve to this point when they first blazed onto the scene?

Thankfully for us all, they have, and how splendidly.

RATING: 4/5

'Humbug' is available in shops this Friday, August 21.

Cois Fharraige to go ahead - Doves to headline

This hot off the press, with barely a month to go before it is due to take place, Cois Fharraige is to go ahead and Doves are to headline the three day festival, taking place September 11,12,13.

Also included in the line-up are The Zutons (returning again), Newton Faulkner, Noah & The Whale, The Hold Steady, Stereo MC’s, Lightning Seeds and Jerry Fish - with more acts to be announced in the coming days.

As exclusively revealed on these pages and in the Limerick Leader, the festival has been in the pipeline for the last weeks and months, but sponsorship and licencing issues and recession problems have meant it was touch and go to go ahead.

With the support of local businesses and all relevant parties on board, MCD have today announced that the hugely popular festival - which has drawn in excess of 15,000 people into the seaside village in the last two years - will go ahead, with a rather impressive line-up.

More from the blurb:

Early bird weekend tickets are priced 89 euro inclusive of booking fee up until September 1 and 99 euro incl. booking fee after. Tickets go on sale this Tuesday August 11 at 9 am.

Please note: There is no on site camping available. For further information please contact Western Tourism on www.discoverireland.ie/west

Keep it here for more updates, interviews, giveaways to come.

Album reviews - Wallis Bird and Mos Def

FROM Tuesday's Limerick Chronicle: Many thanks to guest reviewer Ger Fitzgibbon for his interesting insights into the world of Mos Def...

Mos Def - ‘The Ecstatic’

(Downtown Records)

IN the past ten years, the mainstream has chewed away at the edges of some of hip hop’s finest craftsmen, and the genre has suffered because of it.

In 2006, when he released the utterly uninspiring ‘True Magic’, Mos Def forced many purists to gasp a sharp breath and avert their eyes. Once the finest exponent of the cut-and-paste sample with the hard political question, Dante Smith seemed to be on a greasy slide to the middle.

Thankfully, ‘The Ecstatic’ has tethered the thinking man’s hip hop leviathan back to his base. Mos Def’s fourth solo album is a masterful return to form, and one that has come not a moment too soon.

The overlapping production of Madlib, Oh No and Mr Flash (plus another posthumous appearance from J Dilla on ‘History’) pulls the sound of the record in different angles, with Bollywood samples in ‘The Embassy’ contrasting with the bombastic synth in ‘Life in Marvellous Times’.

But throughout ‘The Ecstatic’ there is a simmering energy that is driven by some of Mos Def’s finest lyrical flow in years. He, like Q Tip before him in 2008’s opus ‘The Renaissance’, seems invigorated by the pragmatic joy of the world view of Obama’s America - ‘And we are alive in amazing times/delicate hearts, diabolical minds’.

‘The Ecstatic’ may not reach the stratospheric heights touched by ‘The Renaissance’, but it takes a admirable shot nonetheless. It is, however, a tad unsettling to think that the skill required to execute such a polished hip hop record today lies in the hands of probably less than two dozen men, many of whom are scraping 40.

Still, if Mos Def can continue to summon this sort of prolificacy, we will not have to wrestle with the death of hip hop just yet.

RATING 4/5

GER FITZGIBBON

Wallis Bird - New Boots’

(Rubyworks)

IT CAN’T be easy to be Wallis Bird; acoustic guitar-toting dynamo, a whirlwind of energy and whitticisms - leading the way for the new batch of Irish singer songwriters in her inimitable style.

It can’t be easy because of her very obvious independent streak; this is the type of girl who would likely tell some big-wig record company exec to go and jump if she was asked to bend her music to some mainstream bent.

Bird, from Wexford, surfed into 2008 on the back of some gushing reviews for her debut album Spoons and strong word of mouth on her exuberant live performances, before playing sold out tours of Ireland, the UK and Europe, and supporting acts as diverse as Gabrielle and Billy Bragg.

Spoons was a triumph to her individuality; a superbly crafted acoustic pop album that was often whimsical but also capable of erupting with a harder edge, and there was plenty of bite to her lyrics.

Bird had already recorded Spoons when she signed with Island Records - a deal that fell apart last year, a marriage destined not to work, the spiky singer reckoning that they did “f*ck all with it”.

Now, after much soul searching, Bird is back with excellent follow-up New Boots. An album that is at times overwhelming due to it’s incredible energy, it nonetheless firmly underlines the potential displayed on her debut.

The theme running through this 13-track offering is of a performer living on the edge, one searching for love, that may be just beyond her reach. Capable of running the gamut of memorable female front women from Joni Mitchell to Chrissie Hynde in the blink of an eye, there is affection and anger here in equal measure.

Unsurprisingly there is a harder edge to this second album; see the bassy-funk of La La Land and the visceral energy of opening track Can Opener, which features a spine-tingling yelp from Bird. The jazzy Travelling Bird has plenty of bite, while first single To My Bones screams of radioplay potential.

By contrast the whimsical acoustic groove of An Idea About Mary, the emotional When We Kissed and soaring Measuring Cities showcase a singer and songwriter capable of combining the sweet with the sour.

This Bird is too wild to be caged up - and more power to her.

RATING 3/5

ALAN OWENS

Album reviews

The Chapters
‘Perfect Stranger’

THE SIREN call of 'Juice', the opening track on the debut album from hotly tipped Irish band The Chapters, is an immediately affecting one, dispelling preconceived notions about this outfit.

I had fears that the album in my hand was going to be a proto-pop/rock offering, a la the Blizzards - as is the wont of many Irish bands out there, seeking to follow in the footsteps of that bizarrely popular band.

Not in this case.

"I don't know why you hurt yourself so/I just don't get it," croons lead singer Ross McNally, his gravelly timbre a refreshing one, revelling in its impurities. These gruff tones remind one more of The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon.

The short, sharp opening track is followed by the keyboard/synth-driven tones of 'Videotapes' - clearly a summer hit waiting to happen, the harmonic efforts of McNally’s fellow bandmates filling the listener's ears with beautiful melodies. No surprises that this is the first single off the album.

Several tracks continue in this vein, ie 'Automobiles', but it is when the Chapters display their range that you find yourself being sucked in by their music.

Particularly 'Moving' and the foot-stomping acoustic-punk of 'Ukrainian Gymnast', featuring a superb closing barbershop-quartet effect.

Original single 'Looking For Love' is still bursting with energy, throwing up all sorts of Talking Heads comparisons but sounding fresh, bouncy and like a band having fun.

That is the key here; rather than banging out some run of the mill, moody rock and roll, the Chapters have combined a retro synth sound with some well crafted songs and an all pervading sense of a band happy with their sound.

This is an excitingly catchy and engaging album that will require, nay demand, to be listened to over and over.

Let's catch hold of ourselves here; these lads are not the saviours of Irish rock and roll, but there is enough here that sounds fresh and exciting to lift the spirits of this oft-beleagured reviewer.

RATING: 3/5

Tinariwen
‘Imidiwan: Companions’

IF SOMEONE told you that an eight-piece electric guitar group, hailing from the bowels of the Southern Sahara Desert, had released one of the albums of the year, would that sound far fetched? Well it’s true.

The “band” is Tinariwen, a rag tag collection of Tuareg guitarists, poets and rebels - members of a nomadic people who inhabit the Sahara. It is clear that their environment is a crucial ninth member of the group, forming and shaping the sound on their fourth album “Imidiwan” or Companions, like the wind shapes the dunes in that expanse of desert.

This beguiling 13 track album has been produced by Jean-Paul Roman, who worked with Tinariwen on their debut album The Radio Tisdas Sessions, which was rapturously received in world music circles.

Let me say, I hate that genre-definition, “world-music” - and find it hugely condescending. Surely all music is world-music? The problem is that anything slightly left of centre - or sung in a foreign language - is labelled as world music.

This is an album that Hendrix fans and sean-nos chant lovers alike should love in equal measure - the album containing a magnetic quality that makes it simply intoxicating.

Intoxicating is a word that keeps recurring; opening track Imidiwan Afrik Tendam (My Friends From All Over Africa) containing a fabulously intoxicating melody, fixed over a chorus of guitars and bongos. Tenhart (The Doe) features the most gorgeously repetitive, simple blues guitar lick, transposed with a sort of Malian rap, while the incessant throb of Enseqi Ehad Didagh (Lying Down Tonight) is eye-opening, despite its raw simplicity.

The album was recorded in the Malian desert village home of band members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Hassan Ag Touhami and is such a simple, yet devastatingly effective offering, that you can simply close your eyes and see the windswept village and its inhabitants.

An astonishing album.

RATING: 4/5

Dolores O'Riordan speaks to the Limerick Leader - confirms Cranberries to reform

Alan Owens
A RELAXED Dolores O’Riordan has given a rare interview in advance of the release of her second solo album and has confirmed that the Cranberries are to get back together in the near future.
Speaking exclusively to the Limerick Leader in advance of the release of her album, No Baggage, later in the summer, O’Riordan revealed that she got together wit her former band members as recently as last week.
“It was great, I saw them last week when I was down in Limerick, we all got together with all of our kids and had a nice time hanging out,” said a happy sounding O’Riordan.
In fact, the band, who sold more than 40 million albums worldwide before going on ‘hiatus’ in 2003, loosely discussed plans to reform earlier this year, but Dolores has instead insisted that they will return to both the stage and the recording studio in the near future.
“Oh yeah, I would see it on the cards in the future,” she said.
“With this (solo album) being out I will probably do a tour and in the next year or two it would be a really nice thing to do. I think creatively we (the Cranberries) would have to write some amazing music and go where we haven't gone before and make an album that is totally different to what we have done before.”
Dolores, who divides her time between Dublin and Ontario, where she lives with her husband Don Burton and their three children (aged 3 to 12) and a 17-year old son from Burton’s previous relationship, said that living ‘in the forest’ in Canada and bringing up a family has made her much more relaxed.
“I am very relaxed really and I think it was essential to step out of the equation of being in the Cranberries and take my four years in the forest being a full time mom and getting away from it all,” she explained.
“For so long there was so much pressure, when I was young I felt like there was too much focus on me, for any kid, when you are 20 years old and that many people are looking at you, of course you are going to screw up, everything is under a microscope, everything is magnified, every mistake that you make is publicised.
“But when you move away and get away from it all and start to have kids - suddenly it is not all about me, it is about life and you have this real love and this reality that perhaps is something that I craved for so long.”
The famous singer still feels a deep affinity to her home-town.
“Oh yeah, my parents being there is my biggest connection, when I go back it is like as if time hasn't elapsed. I go off walking and I fall right back into some of my childhood moments, which is nice. It is where the journey began.”
No Baggage is set for release on August 21 and Dolores has revealed she hopes to play in Limerick when she goes on tour in Erurope later in the year.
A full interview with Dolores O’Riordan will appear in the Limerick Leader closer to the release of her album.

Elton John in Thomond Park - from today's Limerick Leader

A HUGE crowd of 22,000 brave souls packed Thomond Park on Saturday night to see one of the world’s biggest music superstars deliver a storming set, despite the inclement weather.

After two weeks of glorious sunshine the heavens erupted on Saturday afternoon, but there was to be no ‘tantrums and tiaras’ from Sir Elton John, who blasted through a muscular 27 strong set of his greatest hits from his 40-odd year career, playing for just under two hours and twenty minutes on the hallowed turf.

The rocket man’ acknowledged the efforts of the crowd and his surroundings after his second song, the memorable Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, declaring himself “very happy to be here – thanks for turning out in this rugby weather”.

Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions, who began formulating the idea for concerts in Thomond Park several years ago, told the Limerick Leader that Elton John had been “very emotional” after he left the stage.

“Elton is a trooper and he put on a great show, he was very emotional at the end. I was at the far side of stage when he came off and he said, ‘that was amazing’,” said Aiken, speaking in the ‘Away’ dressing room in the bowels of the newly developed €40 million stadium after the concert.

“The great thing for us is that the audience were so good. We have a 100 percent satisfied artist, his manager was here tonight and was blown away by it.”

Over 400 people were employed on the night, and Peter paid tribute to the stadium and its management. “You can have a great venue but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have good people and there are good people here. This is one of the most accommodating venues we have worked in. This is one of the great stadiums,” he added.

Fans young and old, wet and dry, from the wheel heeled to poncho-wearing revellers, all danced their way through a tremendous set that showcased Elton John’s status as one of the best entertainers in the business.

Classics like Rocket Man and Tiny Dancer came early in the set, as did a number of songs from the seminal ‘Tumbleweed Connection’ album, while Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Candle In The Wind, a rarely heard Skyline Pigeon and the upbeat Are You Ready For Love whipped the crowd into a frenzy. 22,000 voices joined in unison for the Crocodile Rock, which closed the set, before Elton returned for a two-song encore of I’m Still Standing and Your Song.

“You’ve been an amazing audience, you must be freezing, but what do you expect from the Irish? It’s always a pleasure to come here, you’ve been so warm and welcoming, thank you Limerick,” declared Elton John as he walked off stage, before being whisked away immediately to Shannon Airport to fly home.

Watching proceedings keenly was John Cantwell, Thomond Park director, who heralded the stadium as a world class venue.

“It was a brilliant show, he really went for it and didn’t hold back, I thought the sound was excellent,” said John. “We are used to superstars here in Thomond Park and we had another here tonight. This was a great occasion for the stadium and for Limerick and hopefully this will have highlighted what a truly world class venue we have here.”

Mid West Arts, Media and Culture Awards

The nominations are in for the Mid West Arts, Media and Culture Awards, which take place in the Radisson on Saturday night. The Limerick Leader received a whopping 18 nominations, whoop!!

Got me a nomination in the Best Entertainment Piece category for a piece I wrote last year in respone to Hot Press magazine's decision to feature local Limerick rapper(!) Nailerz in their magazine. Needless to say I was less than impressed. It's reprinted below, truly I thought some of the other stuff I entered was better, but what can you do? Looking forward to a good old knees up now!

From the Limerick Leader, printed April 18, 2008.

Too hot off the press?

LIMERICK rapper 'Nailerz' - real name Martin Patrick O'Neill from Moyross - featured in an interview with one of Ireland's foremost music magazines last week as Senior Editor Jason O'Toole travelled to the estate to discuss "guns, drugs and life in Moyross". ALAN OWENS asks why Hot Press took everything the young rapper said at face value?

READERS may or may not remember when the Limerick Leader originally carried the story on February 15 last about Nailerz and several other rappers who performed at the recent Unfringed festival in the Belltable and caused a significant number of the people in attendance on the night to walk out in protest to the "offensive lyrics" being used.
On the night Nailerz (pictured below) lyrically documented his own brushes with the law, the death of his friends and claimed that a certain crime novelist put a picture of his three month old daughter in his book.
In the aftermath of that incident, Nailerz himself called into the Leader offices on several occasions looking to tell "his side of the story" - but we decided not to give him a pulpit from which to make his unverifiable claims.
On that occasion a small media storm brewed as national media organisations carried the story about the controversial rapper, but the dust seemed to settle in the aftermath, until last week that is.
In the midst of one of the worst weeks this city has seen - two young men were brutally executed - Hot Press decided to join the media bandwagon and carried a photograph of the self-styled Limerick rapper on the front cover under the tagline "Drugs, Guns and Hip-Hop in Limerick".
The 24 year old father of three claimed in the Hot Press interview that several attempts had been made on his life.
"The gun jammed not once but twice," he said. "They came back the next night and tried to do the exact same thing. The two of them got stabbed in the arse, I only got slashed in the face."
The young rapper, who has songs with titles like "This is where it hurts" and "My name is Nailerz", also claimed that he doesn’t believe carrying guns is a good idea, "because you’re gonna get ten years straight away in prison. A small little blade can do the same job, know what I mean? I still have guns but I have a license. I like stabbing people in the arse. I don’t like shooting people at all."
The focus of the piece was to ostensibly portray the troubled young man as having discovered rap music and how it changed him from a drug dealing thug into a bone fide musician - but the underlying, and unwritten, sentiment of the article was one of joyousness on the magazine’s part that they had secured an exclusive with someone from Limerick’s troubled estate who was willing to "reveal all".

While the veracity of the young man’s claims cannot be accounted for, the fact that Hot Press would willingly accept everything he said at face value is not a pleasant one.
Also, the article began with a dynamic statement that the troubled Moyross estate would later be "thrust back into the national headlines after a drive-by shooting in which the facades of seven houses were riddled with machine-gun fire" - an interesting claim considering that this incident in fact took place in the estate of St. Mary’s Park, which is of course across the River Shannon from Moyross.
The piece was an unfortunate exercise in lazy journalism, merely an excuse to grab some of the bright media spotlight shining on Limerick in the current climate, and while it may have boosted Nailerz already semi-notorious profile, it did little to serve anyone else’s interests outside of the magazine that carried it.

One seriously cool mofo, plus a seriously good gig..

Pictured above is iconic folk singer and Woodstock legend Arlo Guthrie, who is Limerick (Dolan's) next Wednesday for a gig. EXCLUSIVE interview in the Limerick Leader this weekend.. read about Woodstock and Arlo's solo tour. In the shops now.

Heading to the Belltable Sessions on this fine evening, Limerick's premier acoustic/music-lovers gig.. No mics, no amps, just performers in the spotlight of the Belltable's off-site venue of 36 Cecil Street (the venue formerly known as Red Cross Hall).

Featured tonight are the rather good Vertigo Smyth, the Swingettes, Dave Irwin and South African Emma Small.

On at 8pm, admission a recession busting 10 bobs. For four acts? Come on, you won't do better than that...

Tap, tap, tapping away...

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, dah.. brewing up a storm..

Etc etc. Heading along to The Stunning tonight, you might have guessed. It's sold out though, so anyone without a ticket, well, I can ring you at the required moment if you want?

Daghdha host their White Christmas Mamuska nights as well this evening. Free and all welcome, dance and fun in the fabulous St. John's Church. It's rare that there is a reason to go there so we would recommend a trip. Go on, brave the horrible night there.

Speaking of sold out, Franz Ferdinand's Dolan's gig sold out in about 30 seconds this morning. Well, maybe not that quick but quick enough. Good work by Mick and his crew down there, and we have heard snippets of other acts to be announced in the near future. Yes please is all we will say for the time being. Keep an eye out in the paper.

I'm expanding

What a week. I've expanded my creative abilities to the blogosphere, the world of video-journalism and to agricultural reporting. Yup, two lead stories - on our county and city editions - about the return of Irish pork products to butchers in Limerick. Check them out.

In my other role I have an interview with the Stunning in this week's Leader 2 that is worth a read (if I do say so myself). You'll have to buy the paper for that though I'm afraid. Go on, you know you want to.

Al

Franz Ferdinand to play in Dolan's Warehouse

On The Beat can reveal that Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand are to play a one-off gig in Dolan's Warehouse on Saturday February 28.
In a major coup for the Dock Road venue, the band are to play just two dates in Ireland, one in Limerick, followed by one in the Olympia in Dublin the following Sunday night.
We understand that the close links between Kasabian and FF, and the fact that Dolan's have hosted the likes of Roisin Murphy and the Charlatans in recent times, were all factors in helping the venue secure what is - regardless of your preference for the band or not - undisputedly a massive gig for Limerick.
FF are to release their third studio album at the end of January, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the lead single from which - Ulysses - will be released on January 16.
You know the rest - they released their eponymous debut in 2004, which scooped them the Mercury Music Prize, and was widely lauded as one of the releases of the year. 2005's follow-up was not as enthusiastically received and lacked a little of the spark of the original, but still had its moments.
Tickets for the gig are priced at €35 including booking fee and are available from Dolans Pub and Ticketmaster outlets from 9.30am this Friday morning (at least that is what it says on the press release, probably should be 9am). I would imagine that you would want to move fairly fast to secure a ticket, and purchases are limited to four per person.
First ageing rockers Elton John and Rod Stewart, now indie-darlings Franz Ferdinand, who knows what might be next?

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