'An infrequent conversation between fans of music, some of it long-lost’
The Frank and Walters, Into Paradise, Serengeti Long Walk, Kooky, Blink, We Cut Corners and Bawl: just some of the numerous Irish groups I’ve spent far too much time obsessing about over the many decades I’ve put in as a hanger-on. In the great, untouchable traditions of popular culture, they’ve all triggered my brain enough... Continue Reading →
The American singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan, who turns 80 years old today, is no stranger to Ireland and to Irish popular culture. So we’ll begin with an obvious reference to the Clancy Brothers, from Tipperary, and Armagh’s Tommy Makem who, in Greenwich Village’s clubs and coffee houses, played re-imagined Irish folk songs that so influenced him... Continue Reading →
Forty years ago, next month, a fire that broke out during a Valentine’s weekend disco at The Stardust nightclub in Artane, on the northside of Dublin, resulted in the deaths of 48 young women and men. As Kathy Sheridan reminded Irish Times readers in a 2006 feature piece, ‘of the 48 who died, half were aged 18... Continue Reading →
One of the few positive aspects to the last six months has been the melding of the creative arts and music with science, technology and opportunity. I’m not equipped to capture this in a mathematical formula but, were it not for the spaces and gaps opened by the lockdown, and the ready availability of personal... Continue Reading →
Guest post by Mick Duggan, keyboard player, Serengeti Long Walk Every band, large or small, famous or otherwise, has its own geography, a little network of places in which they came to be, that is theirs and theirs alone, for the rest of time. This occurred to me recently when I was reading Nileism, Allan... Continue Reading →
The Blackpool Sentinel 
Recent Comments