Joe Healy and Ciarán Ó Tuama are important documentarians who have now become regular go-tos for anoraks, buffs and collectors. In dipping into the collection of stills and Super 8 videos they took around the streets of Cork city from the late 1970s onwards, and publishing digitized versions of that work on-line, they’re doing God’s own work for those of us who grew up during the decades when successive governments often forget that we existed. Their photos and film clips, many of which capture the heart or cardo of the city, are increasingly valuable resources to social historians and their work.
CYPRESS, MINE !: TRASH TALK
Jim McCarthy’s photograph on the front of ‘Exit Trashtown’ could have been taken in Cork at any point during the 1980s. In that snap, a lorry’s fog-lights pop the mist as it passes an abandoned fishing boat that’s run aground on the banks of The River Lee. Take your pick of the metaphors: you’re spoilt... Continue Reading →
THE HARVEST MINISTERS TAKE DUNDALK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxxGaDzLD_o It’s over twenty-five years ago now since, one Saturday evening, Ken Sweeney set his mother’s runaround for Dundalk and sped the pair of us up the road, out of Glasnevin and onwards to Mister Ridley's. The two of us were softly obsessive about one of our many favourite bands, The Harvest Ministers, a Dublin outfit who’d been making... Continue Reading →
THE FRANK AND WALTERS #1
A version of this post originally appeared on-line in conjunction with Sir Henrys 2014. I first met The Frank And Walters in Cork in the summer of 1990, back when I was rapt and ready to roll into the breach on their behalf, whatever the job. The years since have taken all of us to places... Continue Reading →
WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE STATE OF US ? MUSIC IN CORK, 1992.
As a college student in Cork between 1985 and 1989, The Triskel Arts Centre was where I believed some of the more off-beat cultural stuff in the city was going down. Located in an alleyway off of the junction of Washington Street and The Grand Parade, it was a bespoke venue that was certainly on... Continue Reading →
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