My plans were noble for this Sunday. I was going to visit the Irish Jewish Museum on the South Circular Road. Sadly, by the time I had pulled myself together it was already 3pm – and almost closing time.
Wanting to have a somewhat productive Sunday I decided that a coastal walk would be an enjoyable alternative excursion. I had once heard loose talk in some sleazy tavern, that the Dalkey to Killiney coast walk was a pleasant stroll. Continue reading Seaside on Sunday
Each year in Ireland there is an event called ‘Culture night’ – an evening where museums, galleries and exhibition spaces are open late, and free for all and sundry. Tonight was that night.
I am a lucky boy in the sense that I finish work at 4pm on a Friday and I live in the city centre. My last quarter of an hour at work was spent clicking on the website, to find cultural things to do on the way home.
The plan was simple. My bus stops at the top of O’Connell Street – I was going to try my luck at getting a backstage tour of the Gate Theatre, and mosey over to the Writers’ Museum to see if I could draw inspiration from other authors’ pain.
I arrived in town at 5pm. The lovely woman at the Gate box office told me that their event was starting at 7.30pm. Too late for my carcass. I wandered over and investigated the Writers’ Museum which was reasonably engaging.
Then I had a brainwave. I’d head towards the Customs’ House which – for one night only – was open to the public.
En route I passed the Abbey Theatre – the national theatre of Ireland. There was a queue outside. My interest was piqued. What could this be? Continue reading Theatre times: ‘Katie Roche’
It has been a long time coming – this Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at the 3Arena. So long – thirteen months – that I have in fact written blog posts about the gig on two previous occasions.
The first post (which you can read HERE ) describes my excitement last August getting the tickets, my memories of the Chili Peppers covers band who introduced me to Amsterdam in the year 2000, and the impure thoughts I used to have about the lead singer Anthony Kiedis.
The second post (which you can read HERE) details how a mere days before the Christmas gig – the opening night of the world tour – my Anthony got the flu, and postponed the concert until last night – the closing night of the tour.
I was ready. I had been ready for over a year. I was late leaving work so I didn’t have a chance to go home to dress for a rock gig. I would not be wearing a bandana this evening. I would be eating a big, greasy burrito from ‘Burrito Blues’ in the IFSC, on the way down to the concert though. Continue reading Concert: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Shakespeare is the godfather of the English language. Writer of plays and sonnets; inventor of words and phrases now in everyday use in the language; international man of mystery – who was he really, and how could he know the interior design of Helsingør castle in Denmark – where Hamlet is set – unless he had visited himself?
What he also is, is a man of the sixteenth century. Meaning that his classic plays can be quite difficult to follow unless you are well acquainted with his writing, or the production is staged in a manner where the explanation clear from the movement rather than just the words.
I know that Shakespeare was a genius. I know of his importance in the development of the English language. However I have never enjoyed watching his plays on stage. They are a bit too much like hard work for someone of such lightweight intellect as myself. In other words, I don’t enjoy spending 50% of my time in the theatre translating what is being spoken onstage.
It was therefore with some trepidation that I attended my old home of The Teachers’ Club last night to see Thirteenth Floor Theatre’s production of ‘Lear’ – an adaptation of ‘King Lear’ directed by Bruno Theodoro. Continue reading ‘King Lear’ because I am classy
This blog post will not be new to anyone sees my Facebook updates.
However seeing as it concerns my bus journey to work, I want to store it in a more permanent and accessible location than Zuckerberg’s platform – I have vague notions of turning these accounts of my daily trek to the wastelands into a musical (called ‘Why Me?’ – the theme song will be a voiceover, by the angelic Linda Martin – aged 39.)
That last paragraph is not remotely true, except for wanting to compile stories of my bus journeys in a central location. People seem to enjoy these journeys far more than I do. And I can smell potential.
On Thursday morning I had a dental appointment. Afterwards feeling all tender, I made my way to the top of O’Connell Street, to reach the bus, to whisk me away to the nothingness of my work location. I turned left onto Parnell Street.
The gathered crowd and the wailing shrieks on the pavement outside the electronics store Cash Encounters, drew my attention. Continue reading Dirty old Dublin town
It was like a convention of men who maintain a personal skin-care regime, so it was.
What I hear you ask?
Well the Pet Shop Boys – who played a gig in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin last night – of course. I had acquired tickets when they had gone on sale some months earlier.
I have always liked the Pet Shop Boys. I’d never been a huge fan of the group though. They were a constant presence in the soundtrack of my youth, emerging in the mid 1980s when I was becoming a pop music obsessive. I was about ten years old when ‘West End Girls’ became a smash hit. I liked the song very much, but at the same time was a little bit intimidated by how sophisticated and arch the band appeared and sounded. How very posh they looked. Continue reading Concert review: Pet Shop Boys in Dublin
I know that I often moan about my journey to work in the morning, and about how I find it to be lengthy and tiresome. Well that’s my own choice I guess, thanks to my desire to live close to town – even though I work in the industrial wastelands of county Dublin.
That said, it is rare that I make comment on how difficult the job of the bus driver can be. And how they can display an admirable patience in the face of some blatant hostility. Continue reading The hero of Dublin Bus – and the speccy-four-eyed b*ll*x.
There are 8,000 homeless people in Ireland (of which almost 3,000 are children).
78 families became homeless in Dublin in June 2017.
800 people aged between 18 and 24 are homeless.
Almost 50% of homeless people in Ireland are under the age of 24.
On 1 August 2017 there were 2,930 properties available for rent in all of Ireland.
The number of available rental properties in Ireland on 1 August 2017 is the lowest number in recorded history.
Continue reading Home sweet home.
It’s back to school time for the children of Ireland after their summer holidays. I know this – but not from any interest or involvement in these people’s lives. I have figured it out because of my bus journey to work this morning. I am alert to change, despite being barely conscious until after my second cup of coffee each day. There were teenagers in school uniforms present on the bus today. My scientific analysis indicates that primary school children are not back just yet – thanks to their continuing absence from public transport. I expect them to reappear by the end of the week. Continue reading Back to school
The atmosphere was jovial as I entered the Pearse Centre. The previous evening’s run-in with audience members seemed to have given us fresh resolve. Having a pair of rowdy drunks in the audience hadn’t affected the performance of the pieces. At the same time, people were slightly on edge about our final show. Continue reading Closing Night
midnightmurphy 