Doyle’s Pub in the centre of town is the end of party destination whenever the theatre group in which I am a member,  finishes the run of a play. Regardless of where the performances have been held – be it in Players Theatre; Teachers’ Club or the Pearse Centre – without fail on the final night, when the wrap party occurs, the cast and crew will wind up in a snug in Doyles, after midnight, in a state of some inebriation. The fact that it stays open until ridiculous o’clock in the morning is only partly the reason. It’s also quite a pleasant establishment – cosy; friendly; unpretentious, and only slightly let down by the fact it has city centre inflated prices. Continue reading To the theatre: ‘Paint’ →

On this day, thirty five years ago, Ireland held its first ever gay rights protest

The previous September, a gay man – Declan Flynn – had been kicked to death in Fairview Park, Dublin, by a gang of youths, who’d been ‘enjoying’ an evening of queer-bashing. Continue reading Fairview March Memorial – March 19th 2018 →

Last Christmas I was given the gift of a concert ticket – which tends to be a fail-safe option for me, thanks to my inclination towards live music. The gig was for The Stunning. The venue was the Cork Opera House. The date was St. Patrick’s Night. The company was La Famiglia. This was ideal.
Continue reading A little St. Patrick’s Day break in Cork →

This morning I had a job interview. For the very same job I have been doing for the past two years. This may appear slightly surreal and bizarre, but when you are as hardened to the deranged workings of a multi-national corporation as I am, then you tend just to shrug your shoulders and go through the motions, regardless of how ludicrous they might appear.

Some months ago a thrilling, and exhilarating announcement was made. In the interests of accelerating growth; harmonising potential and unleashing synergies, a ‘redesign’ of how we work was announced. Continue reading A job interview – for my own job →

After the disappointment of the last minute, opening-night concert postponement in January, I was keeping my expectations realistic. If the truth be told I was expecting a cancellation. A band like Erasure which is on a multi-date tour, and a venue like the Olympia, which is consistently busy, must both schedule their events with the precision of an obsessive-compulsive homing pigeon. A three night stint of gigs isn’t so easy to reschedule. In a worst case scenario you’ll be left in a Red Hot Chili Peppers situation where your night out will switch from the opening night show, to the closing night show almost a year later. Continue reading Erasure: ‘World be gone’ – concert of the year →

Continue reading ‘There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.’ →

In preparation for my Sunday evening routine – watching  ‘Dancing with the stars’ – I popped out to the Spar for some snacks. In particular popcorn. Continue reading Under the tree at Spar – some drunken racism →

The challenge with old films concerning ‘issues’ is to divorce yourself from the modern lens. Opinions on hot topic issues evolve over time, so you need to be aware while watching these films, that the 2018 view on things was reached, as part of a long and winding process of education and compromise. Continue reading Black and white film night: ‘Victim’ (1961) →

As avid readers of this journal will be aware I suffer from the deeply glamourous, chronic condition of Type 1 diabetes. At the age of four, my pancreas declared itself uncooperative, refused point blank to cooperate with my body, and stopped producing insulin. (I like to imagine it threw a massive tantrum and then flounced off in a sulk). Meaning that every day since, I have taken a series of injections (originally of pig’s insulin; more recently of synthetic insulin) and blood tests to regulate my sugar levels. Continue reading To the hospital →

I have just finished reading ‘A slanting of the sun’ – a 2015 collection of short stories written by Nenagh native Donal Ryan – the Tipperary author who exploded onto the literary scene in 2012 with his book ‘The spinning heart’. That book explored the impact of the economic crash on the local population of a mid-sized country town. I have not read it, but saw the stage adaptation in Smock Alley Theatre in January 2017,and was impressed. That book was followed by ‘The thing about December’ – written before, but published after ‘The spinning heart’ – a novel set in the same town. It was about a Johnsey Cunliffe – a damaged man unable to deal with the pressures forced on him as the Celtic Tiger descends on him, when he inherits a great deal of wealth. It was an unsettling book, told with humour, but with an underlying sense of dread and darkness. I wrote about this book PREVIOUSLY. Continue reading Bookworm: ‘A slanting of the sun’ by Donal Ryan →