Not Good For My Rage

Review: Hush War Cry/Moscow Metro, Thursday Nights at Bourke's

2012-02-12T21:37:00.001Z

I caught the latest gig for Thursday Nights @ Bourke’s duringthe week (February 9) and the headline act was Hush War Cry from Corkwith support from local outfit, Moscow Metro.

Hush War Cry’s music has a wistful, ambient quality but witha dramatic twist. There are powerful piano and guitar elements but it was thesynthesiser that stuck with me. I was getting a bit of a Depeche Mode vibe off thesound so I wasn’t surprised to see that band and The Smiths among theirinfluences. One of the singers has a voice like Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet),which gives the band a distinctive sound too. Blogger, Nialler9, compares theband to Wild Beasts and Kate Bush.

So, there’s lot of nuances going on with Hush War Cry. Theirset was quite layered and atmospheric. Although it’s not the kind of music I’dlisten to, it was enjoyable. They are due to release an EP shortly.

Sample here:

The support act—a four piece based in Limerickcalled Moscow Metro—was brilliant. I had heard one of their songs before, ‘Spiritof the city’, on the New Reindeer Age charity album but I'd never seen them live. For a relatively new andyoung band, they seem to have built a nice following.

In terms of genre, I’d call them indie rock but you getflashes of their influences—Joy Division, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, The Nakedand famous etc—in one track or other. But make no mistake; they have their own soundand it has whatever magical trait makes music lodge in your head. I was hummingbits of their music all weekend.

The songs were guitar driven with keyboard and rich harmoniesfilling out the sound. The set was a mix of original material, which is heartfeltand mature beyond their years, and two cracking covers. One was their own spinon Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny love’ (one of my favourite songs) and the other was abeautiful reworking of ‘Tunnel vision’ by another great Limerickband, Tuesday Blue.

They’re on the cusp of releasing their debut EP and MoscowMetro is definitely a local band that could go on to great things.

Sample here:

Review: The Field, Quarry Players, Limerick

2012-02-12T17:54:00.000Z

I went to see The Field by the Quarry Players on Fridaynight last, February 10.

John B Keane’s play is a heady mix of comedy, tragedy andincisive social commentary. On its most basic level, it is about a farmer’sdesire to own the field he has toiled over for years and secure the livelihoodof future generations. An outsider threatens that ambition and ‘Bull’ McCabe respondswith terrifying force. Everyone around him is pulled into a maelstrom of fearand harsh truths. What will be left in the aftermath?

It’s a powerful play, not least for the portrayal of hungerfor land but also for its depiction of the class divide in 1960s rural Ireland.It is also loosely based on an actual case in the fifties, which shocked thecountry. Taking on possibly Keane’s most complex play is a bold choice for anamateur company and I think it was obvious that a lot of effort went into it. Director,John A. Murphy’s experience in acting and stagecraft, made for a mostly tightperformance.

The set—most of the action taking place in an authentic Flanagan’sPub—was excellent. This was disguised to great effect for the field and churchscenes. The sound and lighting design were also very good. The device of thewireless playing music to establish the era and certain scenes was clever. Thestriking lighting on the closing scene brought the show to a dramatic close.Credit is due to John Ryan (set); Loren Hartnett (sound) and Jay Kavanagh(lights).

The ensemble was good as a whole but there were a fewstand-out performances. Paul McCarthy was convincing as the domineering Bull—importantbecause the entire play hinges on him. The farmer is a frightening, viciousbully but when McCarthy let the façade slip, he showed an equally pitiablefigure with a skewed sense of social injustice. Beena Day as Maimie Flanaganwas great as well. Her feisty demeanour and strong comic delivery brought thecharacter to life, particularly in the closing scenes. As a mother she has aterrible moral dilemma between protecting her family and doing the right thing.The audience got a real sense of this anguish.

Jaime King as Leamy Flanagan did well portraying theteenager tortured by his conscience and struggling to understand the crueltiesof the world. Tim Evans gave an energetic performance as Bird O’Donnell. Theother cast members included: Finbarr Stanton, Jim Deery, Mark O’Connor, MaeveO’Donovan, Noel Dillon, Kirean McAteer, Jimmy Leonard, Bernie Doyle and JonGibbons.

The Field is a true Irish classic. I think the Quarry Players staged itwith sensitivity and enthusiasm.

The Fieldcontinues from Wednesday, February 15 at 8pmand will continue nightly until Saturday 18. Tickets are €12/15/17; concessionsavailable. They can be booked on 061-319866 or www.belltable.ie.

The Field at the Belltable this weekend/next week

2012-02-10T12:54:00.001Z

The Quarry Playerswill eschew the boards and tread the grass with The Field, when they perform theJohn B. Keane classic this weekend and next week at the Belltable Arts Centre.

It opened last night(February 9) and will play tonight, Friday 10 and Saturday 11. It will thentake a break until next Wednesday, February 15 at 8pmand will continue nightly until Saturday 18.

The Field isthe Kerry playwright’s best known and most powerful play. It became morerenowned after the film adaptation won Richard Harris an Oscar nomination forhis iconic performance as ‘The Bull’ McCabe. According to the description: “TheField is astory of land and one man's need to own it. Set in 1965 and based on trueevents, Keane's play tells the story of McCabe and the field he has worked for manyyears. The play examines what occurs when his livelihood is threatened; alivelihood that is his very survival. Violence ensues and a community is caughtbetween truth and fear. Poetic in its depiction of a man and his ties to theland, it is a play rich in the humour and tragedy.”

I saw an excellentproduction of the play last year in the Olympia Theatre, which starred Hollywoodgreat, Brian Dennehy. The play is very different from the film—which leansheavily on the tragic elements and changes the ending (among other things)drastically. The play is lighter and its subtleties creep up on you to createthe emotional impact.

The Quarry Playershave been a fixture on the city’s theatre scene since 1969 and have developed areputation for quality productions. The play is directed by a founder member ofIsland Theatre Company, John Murphy. Quarry performed The Field 25 yearsago and hopefully, will do it justice again this time around.

Tickets are€12/15/17; concessions available. They can be booked on 061-319866 or www.belltable.ie.

Library love

2012-02-08T16:01:00.002Z

I’ve been meaning to do a post singing the praises of thelibrary for a while and this week I have a great excuse. The Limerick City librarian, Dolores Doyle, isretiring this week and soon two others will leave too. City councillors at the Arts, Cultural and Sports SPC meeting on Mondaypaid tribute to Ms Doyle’s tremendous work over the years running andconstantly improving the libraries at The Granary on Michael Street and Watch House Cross in Moyross. Best of luck to all of them in their future ventures.

I can’t say enough about the library…yes, I know I’m a big nerd! It provides a brilliant service for free and a lot of people just don’t realisehow good it is. Aside from access to thousands of books, the city libraryoffers a vast music library—with constant new additions. There is also agrowing collection of DVDs, audio books and resources like Driving Testprep/language/reference materials. It has computers for members’ use, freewi-fi and a selection of newspapers (updated daily) and periodicals. The backissues of local papers are archived and on microfiche.

The libraries run regular events like lectures, classes,story time for kids/Children’s Book Week and book clubs. All the staff areextremely helpful and come up with themes and challenges to mix things up. MsDoyle’s final report included an outline of the ‘Start Now’ initiative, whichencourages parents to read to their children from the time they are born.Librarians will visit the Regional Maternity Hospital and everything.

Anyway, I could go on for ages about how I love reading (seriously,Enid Blyton practically babysat me as a child!) but I’d urge you to visit thelibrary for yourself and take a look around. It has a lot on offer besidesbooks…plus a s**t-load of actual books!

For more information on opening hours, membership and thecatalogue, see www.limerickcity.ie/Library/.

Theatre review: Bouncers at the Belltable

2012-02-04T16:20:00.001Z

The cast of Bouncers by Orchard Theatre
Company, Limerick. Picture: Eva Birdthistle.

I went to see the play, Bouncers, by Orchard Theatre Companyin the Belltable Arts Centre Thursday night (February 2). It was great to see thevenue bustling and the auditorium nearly full, especially for a local company.

Bouncers, by John Godber, isa parody of the nightclub scene with the four doormen playing over 20 partsillustrating the various characters out for a good night at Tropics—the hottestspot in town. These range from the tetchy bouncers to group of girlscelebrating a 21^st to a bunch of teenage lads aiming to score. Butwill it be a good night for all?

It’s a brilliant premise fora play and there are plenty of observations about the human condition. The 70minute piece was fast-paced, morphing constantly from one group to another punctuated by interludes like a speech by philosophical bouncer, Lucky Eric, aself referential cry of “social comment!” or a spiel by the cheesy DJ.

The physical comedy was really well choreographed andexecuted. Whether fighting or dancing, the cast tackled it with energy. Thatmomentum is an essential part of Bouncers. Theensemble cast—Stefan Barry, David Collins, Zeb Moore and Pius McGrath—had achallenging task. They approached it with enthusiasm and an admirable shamelessness! The best moments wereprobably when they were playing the giggling young women. You can't help butlaugh at men in suits portraying tipsy women, provocatively dancing aroundhandbags. The set was simple buteffective, beer barrels doubling up as chairs, bar counters and a DJ booth. Theprops were minimal, like handbags for the ‘ladies’. The lighting design wasvery good, seamlessly creating scenes and settings. There were undoubtedly touches of brilliance.

The actors did their best butthe performance was uneven in parts. The dynamic between the bouncers wasn’t convincing;they’re joking one minute and fighting the next. I felt the script didn't liveup to the promised hilarity. I didn’t like the glib spoken characterdescriptions, for example, and the rap at the start was awful. All the characters were stereotyped vignettesand obnoxious ones at that. There wasn't one redeeming quality among the hardmen, lager louts and ditzy female characters. The humour was fairly low browand obvious, aimed at easy targets. I’m not a prude nor do I have an issue withswearing. But there are only so many smutty jokes and crass observations aboutsex or bodily functions even I can take. On the whole, I found the playmildly amusing with a few laugh out loud moments.

As for social commentary,it’s all been said! We all know nightclubs are full of pissed up people. Sometimes,they make fools of themselves. Without the benefit of beer goggles, bouncers arefully aware and often don’t like what they see. They have to put up witheverything thrown at them while hoping it’ll be abuse and not a glass. Nothingnew there. The attempt to inspire empathy with references to Eric’s maritalbreakdown was too vague to make an impact. The play was first performed in

England

in the eighties and the play was advertised as beinga “nineties remix”. I didn’t see anything to suggest that with all the Whamsongs and talk about perms but then again, I don’t think it matters too much.

Now, before you get the pitchforks out...Although it was abit too Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown-stylefor me, the majority of the audience seemed to be laughing throughout. Bouncers was entertaining in parts but definitely not a play forthe easily offended.

The show is moving on to other venues shortly.

Cork:

Camden Palace, Feb 9 and 10at 8pm.
Bookings 086-1086767.Tickets €15 and €12 conc.

Cork Arts Theatre, Carroll’sQuay. Feb 19 at 8pm.

Bookings 021-4505624. Tickets€15 and €12 conc.

Kerry:

Chapel on the Hill,Kilorglin, Feb 23 and 24 at 8pm.

Bookings 086-1086767. Tickets €10.

TONIGHT ONLY (Feb 2)! Art exhibition, Amorphous

2012-02-02T16:51:00.000Z

A member of Ormston House, Mike O'Brien, will stage an exhibition tonight, Thursday February 2.

Successful first meeting for Limerick Local Heroes

2012-01-31T12:18:00.000Z

I attended the first public meeting of the Limericklocal heroes initiative, chaired by actor and broadcaster, Aonghus McAnallyyesterday. LHL is an RTÉ-supported project focused on dealing with unemploymentthrough citizen-lead initiatives and after its success in Drogheda,a group of local people decided to set up here.

There was a fantastic turnout for the ‘town hall style’meeting in The Strand Hotel-a few hundred people. It was really well organised so kudos to the steering group who put it together.

It was great to hear ordinary people give suggestions on how tomake the city a better place to live and work. The best ideas were simple andpractical. Many of them involved ways to get individual groups and sectors towork together i.e. the first speaker suggested contacting supporters’ clubs ofvisiting sports teams to let them know in advance about attractions/deals; otherpeople thought all the arts venues and organisations should collaborate,whether on theatre packages or on a big festival encompassing allartforms.

Ideas ranged from setting Limerick up as a gateway forAfrican trade to Ireland to exploiting the potential of the River Shannon; frommaximising 2013 as ‘The year of the Gathering’ to holding the largest fourth ofJuly party outside America; from marketing the city as a science/technology hubto organising an international busking festival. Some ideas are already inmotion such an effort to prepare the city centre for entry into the Tidy Townscompetition (volunteers needed!) and city hoteliers forming a group to attractbusiness. No idea was dismissed. Someone even suggested building a monorail outto UL (an idea he may well have gleaned from an old episode of The Simpsons).

Highlighting the positives and ways to energise the city aregreat but I think the real challenge lies in creating jobs. One of the ideasfor improving footfall in the retail sector was creating a smartphoneapplication for that purpose. Drawing people into the city by any meanspossible will create, or at least maintain, jobs in several sectors. RayO’Halloran of Speedline Engineering suggested adjustments to the tender processfor construction projects, for example, so local companies get more business.He said a similar initiative in Glasgowhas had great success. Hopefully, the ‘Ideas Summit’—the next LHL meeting at Thomond Park on February 13—will yield moresolutions in that area.

I found three audience contributions particularlyinteresting. Mike Fitzpatrick, the head of Limerick School of Art and design(LSAD), complimented the Creative Limerick scheme and pointed out that althougheva International has been running for years it is still a bit of “a secret”. Ithink there are more things in Limerick that we’re notshouting loud enough about- not just to visitors but among ourselves! The great success of the Drogheda campaign was getting people to shop and do activities locally.

One man said an acronym in his contribution, whichwas ITP or “Ignite The Passion” and he also said that he thought the slogan“Yes We Can” should be changed to “Yes I am”. Limerickshould be comfortable in its own skin and identity. A representative fromOccupy Limerick made some very valid points. Community gatherings, no matterwhat the event or cause, are essential. Local people have the power to changethings. Although commercial gain is good, people and quality of life are moreimportant than profit.

Noel Toolan, one of the mentors in Drogheda,made some brilliant remarks at the end. He praised everyone for being sopositive but saw a lack of urgency. He said there are lots of opportunities likemaking the most of the world brand of Munster Rugby and "re-occupying" the city centrewas crucial. He bluntly outlined the fact that relying on non-existent fundingis not an option and this dearth of money will only get worse. He pointed outthat there are plenty of ideas but the initiative should decide on a few soonand focus on executing them well. He finished by saying LHL needs to set“unreasonable targets” to ensure that the effort will maintain momentum. Iwould re-iterate that point because as they say, fine words butter no parsnips (and I should know ha ha). Thomas Edison once said that "What it boils down to is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration".

Then LHL presented their piéce de resistance, their suckerpunch—‘Limerick, you’re a lady’ sung by the song’swriter, Denis Allen, who then led the room in a song-song. I know it soundscheesy but it was quite emotional!

Keep spreading the word on Facebook(@LocalHeroesLimerick), Twitter (@LmkLocalHeroes) and www.limericklocalheroes.com.

Kate O'Brien house finally sold!

2012-01-29T19:37:00.000Z

SOLD! Boru House in Mulgrave Street.

The former home of Limericknovelist, Kate O’Brien, has been sold for just over the €85,000 askingprice. Can I get a hallelujah?!

As I outlined in a previous post,Boru House in Mulgrave Streetdeteriorated rapidly after a fire over two years ago. It was a target foranti-social behaviour and was in danger of being damaged further, or destroyed completely. Citycouncillors, Limerick Civic Trust, Limerick Writers’ Centre and many others all appealed for its preservation. Now,hopefully, someone will take on that task and bring the house back to its former glory.

Though technically derelict, it still hasmany of its original period features (it was built in 1880). The “substantial detached two storey red brickedresidential building” spans 3,000 square feet and has six bedrooms. Many civicuses have been suggested but it would also make a gorgeous home if restored.

I don’t know who the buyer is; he/shewasn’t named in The Sunday Times Home supplement item. Auctioneers de Courcy’s turneddown an offer of €75,000 for the property in early December. Before propertyvalues crashed, the house and the parcel of land behind it were on sale for€1.4 million. The house was valued at €350,000 at the time—a far cry from€85,000.

The timing of the sale is impeccablebecause the 28^th Kate O’Brien Weekend will take place next month, February24-26. This year’s theme is ‘Tell it slant’ (from the Emily Dickinson poem,which starts “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant…”) All the events are on inthe Belltable, including a music recital, lectures and discussions. The weekenddoesn’t just focus on the author’s work but also on society and culture. Thisyear’s speakers include Nobel prize-winner, Séamus Heaney; author, John Boyne; IrishTimes journalist, Frank McNally and sociologist, Dr Niamh Hourigan. A voluntarycommittee organises the whole weekend and it is always a stimulating, creativeprogramme.

Kate O’Brien wrote novels such as TheAnte Room, Mary Lavelle and The Land of Spices. The latter two were banned forreferences to homosexuality so she was considered an early feminist. She livedin Spain for atime and wrote a book about Theresa of Avila,among other subjects. Two Spanish towns have named streets in her honour.

The full programme is available here and for more information, see www.kateobrienweekend.com.

Moll by Newport Drama Group (Jan 27-29)

2012-01-29T10:41:00.000Z

I had the pleasure of seeing Newport Drama Group performMoll by John B Keane Friday night (January 27).

Community halls play host to many things nowadays butunfortunately, amateur drama is becoming a rarer sight. Newporthas a strong tradition of local theatre and the Newport Players were a fixturein the community calendar until several years ago. Judging from the largeattendance, plays have been badly missed in the North Tipperarytown.

The play itself—one of the Kerry playwright’s laterdramas—is a lively comedy about life in a rural parochial house and in theseventies. The natural parish order is somewhat challenged when the Canon hiresa new housekeeper, Moll. She quickly makes her mark on the house and thecommunity, much to the distress of the two curates.

The play was well chosen; it got plenty of laughs and wassuitable for all ages. The production values were very high, probably owing tothe experience of producer, Tim McInerney. The set could have rivalled manyprofessional plays.

The acting, all by enthusiastic amateurs, was great allround. Their comic timing was spot on. The trio of priests—Paraic Kennedy,Kieran McCabe and James Collins—interacted well. All their individual quirksshone through; the gullibility of Canon Pratt (Kennedy); the frustration ofFather Brest (McCabe) and the easy, trusting nature of Father Loran (Collins).Mary McCabe, as the conniving Moll, was hilarious. Let’s just say she’s theopposite of meek Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted…although the bumbling priests bearmore than a passing resemblance to the characters in that particular sitcom!The supporting cast of Jimmy Clery, Cathríona O’Brien, Olive Buckeridge andPaul Dunne also made for some very funny moments.

Most impressive of all was the community spirit in theorganisation of the production. It was obvious that a lot of time and effort went intoit from the cast, crew and front of house staff. Hopefully, the rejuvenatedtheatre group will continue for many years to come.

The final night of Moll will be tonight, Sunday January 29. The play is in Newport Community Hall and tickets are €10.

Limerick Local Heroes meeting next Monday, Jan 30, at 6pm

2012-01-25T19:10:00.001Z

The Local Heroesinitiative—an RTÉ-supported project focused on dealing with unemploymentthrough citizen-lead initiatives—now has a Limerick branch and will have apublic, town-hall style meeting next Monday, January 30 at 6pm in the StrandHotel.

The inspirationcomes from an initiative in Drogheda (which wasdocumented in a TV series) where citizens came together to jump-start theirlocal economy and create jobs. They came up with some interesting solutions anda group of local people have decided to apply that innovative spirit here.

The LimerickLocal Heroes initiative “aims to energise Limerick people from all walks oflife in order to first and foremost create new and sustainable jobs for thepeople of Limerick” and “is not for profit and thesteering group behind the initiative is made up of individuals from allsections of Limerick society, business, sports, arts, community, education allof whom are giving their own time to developing an environment for job creation”.

The group isurging people to attend the meeting and spread the word. The campaign isgaining legs on Facebook (@LocalHeroesLimerick), Twitter(@LmkLocalHeroes) and www.limericklocalheroes.com. You canregister in advance and representatives will be at the Limerick Milk Marketthis Saturday (Jan 28) to give information.

I thinksomething like this is worthwhile. There’s a lot of big talk from theGovernment about creating thousands of jobs but the Live Register is massiveand it’s going to be a slow process, especially with our ailing economy. Peoplegetting together to talk about the difficulties facing them and how they cancontribute can only be a good thing. Active citizenship and volunteering are vital, especially in challenging times.

Hopefully, lotsof new perspectives and positive things will come out of the meeting.

Bouncers at the Belltable next week

2012-01-25T16:01:00.000Z

The latest production byOrchard Theatre Company, Bouncers written by John Godber, will take to theBelltable stage next Wednesday February 1 until Feb 4 at 8pm.

The play is adapted for an Irish audience, directed by Simon Thompson and the cast includes Stefan Barry,David Collins, Zeb Moore and Pius McGrath.

The blurb reads: “Bursting with imagination and wit and presented by justfour actors, Bouncers is an outrageous and hilarious parody of the nightclubscene. The four brutish bouncers of the title portray over 20 differentcharacters as we are invited for a night out on the town. We see them as gigglygirls and lads on the make preparing for the big night out as we follow theirprogress to the dance floor. There, we also meet an entire cross-section ofrevellers, including Hooray Henrys, pogoing punks and drunken slobs! Theevening’s events arc set against the tatty glitzy glamour, flashing lights andpulsating beat of the nightclub scene.”

Exploringthe secret life of bouncers sounds like a great idea. Since I don’t drinkanymore, I’ve developed a new appreciation for the amount of crap door-staffhave to put up with!

OrchardTC has made a real impact on the local theatre scene since it was founded and I’msure its first production of the New Year will impress. Limerick is only the first stop ona tour of venues in Cork, Kerry and beyond. Ticketprices at the Belltable are: €12, €14 and €16. Bookings on 061-319866 or www.belltable.ie/.

Here’sa sneak preview:

Gig alert: Cloud Castle Lake/Paul Brady/Crayonsmith and Elk

2012-01-24T21:44:00.000Z

There are some interesting music gigs on this week.

Thursday Nights @ Bourke’s will continueon January 26 when Cloud CastleLake will play. Bourke's is really taking off as a venue (review here). The Dublinfour-piece have gotten good reviews and have played the likes of ElectricPicnic, Castle Palooza, Body and Soul festival, Hard Working Class Heroes andWhelan's Ones To Watch 2011. They are currently working on their debut album.According to Breakingtunes.com, “they carve out a large, unwieldy sound andseek out the relatively uncharted territory between a wide range of genres,arriving at an atmospheric and intense sound that grips and enthralls overlong, intricate songs”. Doors at 9pmand admission is free.

You can listen to a sample http://breakingtunes.com/cloudcastlelake.

The legendary, PaulBrady, is playing Dolan’s that night too. According to the website, there arestill tickets available at €21. His two Limerick dates (the 27^th is sold-out) are but astop on a world tour.

Out On A LimbRecords will present the bands Crayonsmith and Elk at Ormston House, onSaturday 28. The Limerick company released OOAL0020, a split 7"featuring the bands, in November followed by launch shows in Dublinand Cork. The homecoming show willtake place in the atmospheric surroundings of the Patrick Street gallery space. The event is BYOB (if onlyall gigs were like this…ahem, officially anyway). Doors: 7:30pm; First band on stage: 8pm.Tickets are €5 OR €8 w/copy of the record.

One side features ‘Heaven In An Aeroplane’, the first release from Crayonsmithsince 2008's acclaimed sophomore album, White Wonder. The release alsomarks the first released recording of the new Crayonsmith line up—founderCiarán Smith is joined by Richie O'Reilly (Koalacord) and Wayne Dunlea (exWaiting Room/Hooray For Humans). It gives a taster of what to expect as thetrio prepare the third Crayonsmith album, due for release in 2012. The otherside features a previously unreleased track from Corkoutfit, Elk.

Both tracks are now available for a listen at OOAL'ssoundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/OOAL

Silent but deadly: Film review of The Artist

2012-01-23T19:55:00.001Z

When I heard the hype about The Artist—a black and whitesilent film about the silent film era—it had ‘gimmick’ written all over it. Butthe reality is a romantic comedy which proves that you don’t need dialogue inthe face of a charming story.

The film starts in 1927, when dashing silent movie actor, GeorgeValentin, is at the pinnacle of his career. Young actress, Peppy Miller, istrying to break into the industry. She idolises George and he gives herinvaluable advice but the age of ‘talkies’ intervenes. George’s popularitywanes because of his reluctance to embrace the change where Peppy’s star isonly ascending. The film then follows their respective fortunes.

Firstly, it’s bizarre to watch a film with no speech but thescore is fantastic. It conveys the mood perfectly. Following the structure of asilent film, the sporadic dialogue in subtitles appears after the actors speakso that adds an element of suspense along with the plot points. The plot has afew twists to keep things interesting so the novelty of the format never wearsoff and the running time isn't too long. The film also has a brilliant, self deprecating humour. It reminded me mostof Charlie Chaplin’s work but it has nods to all the genres that excelled in celluloidsilence i.e. romance and adventure. George’s second name is surely a referenceto actor, Rudolph Valentino; one of George’s films has actual footage of aDouglas Fairbanks swashbuckler and Peppy even utters one of Greta Garbo’sfamous lines “I want to be alone”. It struck me as a fond homage to that eraand classic Hollywood glamour.

French writer and director, MichelHazanavicius, is obviously very clever, and not just for having theballs to make a silent film in the age defined by acronyms like CGI and 3D.Without dialogue, the direction hinges on visual cues. To this end, there areshots of George passing in front of a sign/storefront saying ‘Lonely Star’ orlooking at his reflection ‘dressed’ in a tuxedo in the window display of amenswear shop or the swift cutting together of Peppy rushing to save Georgefrom himself ending in the climactic “BANG!” I don’t want to spoil anything butone of the best scenes is an excellent dream sequence. He does it all with theenviable flair associated with French cinema. The cinematography and productiondesign were exceptional too.

The cast deserves the highestpraise; while they are forced to over-act—exaggerating gestures andexpressions—the performances don’t seem forced. Jean Dujardin, as George, lookslike he could have been a silent film star; it must the moustache and/or the teeth. He’s funny, ‘mugging’ for thecamera, but still brings depth to the role in the moments of despair and rage.Bérénice Bejo is instantly likeable and gives a lively, passionate performance.Jack the dog, mainly played by a talented pooch called Uggie, is an outrageousscene-stealer. No joke; the dog is amazing! He’s cuter than ALL the cat videoson Youtube combined. The strong supporting cast includes John Goodman and JamesCromwell.

The Artist is being touted for abig haul at the Oscars next month after its recent success at the GoldenGlobes. When the nominations are announced later this week, I would besurprised if it doesn’t get nominations for Best Film, Best Director, BestOriginal Screenplay, Best Score and Best Actor at least (along with a few ofthe technical awards). I reckon it’ll do well because it’s different and takes risks.The Academy love those traits in a film. The Artist made me feel like I waswatching something 90 years ago, when pure entertainment ruled and there was agenuine frisson of possibility. It gives an insight into a lost art and asimpler time. It’s not the kind of film that’ll change your life but it’s very enjoyableand the ideal remedy to the January blues.

PS: Aside from the film, thehighlight of the night was the ticket seller in the Omniplex in Limericktelling us that the film is silent. “D’uh, we know!,” we said. Oh, how welaughed BUT apparently people have been coming out complaining that there wassomething wrong with the sound and demanding their money back when told thefilm was all silent. The cinema is planning to put up a sign to avoid futureconfusion. He didn’t see the funny side when my friend approached him after thefilm to ask for a refund…

PPS: Did I mention The Artist is a silent movie? Well, it is.

PPPS: Seriously, that means no spoken dialogue/sound effects bar music for the vast majority of the film. You have been warned! :)

Live opera, The Enchanted Island, in the Omniplex tomorrow, January 21

2012-01-20T16:44:00.000Z

The first Met: Live in HD opera broadcast, the world première of The Enchanted Island, will bebeamed from New York from Limericktomorrow, Saturday January 21 at 6pm.

The opera is “a contemporaryrevival of the 18th century pastiche form by British librettist Jeremy Sams, conducted by William Christie”. The music is by Handel, Vivaldi,Rameau and others. This modern Baroque fantasy, with stunning sets andcostumes, stars Plácido Domingo, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, Danielle de Niese and Luca Pisaroni.

The story finds the four loversfrom A Midsummer Night’s Dream landed on an island where Sycoraxand Prospero from The Tempest are embroiled in a supernaturalbattle.

The Enchanted Island continues the sixth season of The Met: Live in HD series, which now reaches morethan 1,600 venues in 54 countries.

For more information see www.classicalarts.ie or www.omniplex.ie.

Meanwhile, the Arts Council has adopted a newpolicy on opera which,according to chairperson Pat Moylan, “is rooted in enablingthe public to see the work of opera artists and those involved in producingopera and to widen the availability of opera to Irish audiences”. The newpolicy is distinct from previous policies “because it is focused on buildingpartnerships in Irish opera in the short to medium-term that in the long-term,will benefit the sector”.

TheAC will support the work undertaken by two key funded organisations, WexfordFestival Opera and Opera Theatre Company, while providing additional andcomplementary opportunities that aim to encourage the opera sector to explorenew ways of working.

New funding opportunities include: a new Opera Production Award and anOpera Projects Award. The new Opera Production Award will be offered twiceduring 2012, with the first round of funding decisions due in March 2012.Starting in 2012, the Opera Production Award funding decisions will be takenonce annually in July. For more information, see www.artscouncil.ie.

City museum to be temporarily housed in Opera Centre site

2012-01-20T16:14:00.000Z

The new temporary home for the city museum

The Jim Kemmy Municipal Museumis to get a new, if temporary home, within the Opera Centre site. I hoped thecity council would consider the site for cultural uses but didn’t think itwould happen as soon as the next few months. The museum will move into theformer AIB building on the corner of Patrick and Ellen Street while work is being done around Castle Lane for a €5.7 million revamp of King John’sCastle this year.

A new home for the museum has been under discussion for some time butit has to move soon because of the building works. The old bankbuilding was one of the more recently vacated in the large site and so will nottake much to bring it up to standard.

The museum was founded in 1906 and has had several homes sinceincluding the Carnegie Buildingwhere the Limerick City Gallery of Art is now. The museum has over 50,000 itemsin its collection and its visitor numbers—footfall and to the online catalogue—arequite impressive. The museum is very involved in conserving the old city walls,among other projects. Acting curator, Brian Hodkinson, does a fantastic job.

The current home of the Jim Kemmy Municipal Museum

Director of service for Limerick City Council, Pat Dowling, said theultimate aim was to find a permanent home for the museum in the city centre buthe was anxious that the temporary location “would not be tucked away or hard tofind”.

I was surprised to see in a Limerick Leader article that city hall “hasbeen paying rent to Shannon Development for the use of Castle Lane since 1998”. That’s a bit rich from theregional authority; if anything the council was doing them a favour byproviding an occupant in the period-themed development.

I was down in the castle for Culture Night in September and it wasvery shabby looking. The environs were dirty and the exhibition spaces aretired and outdated. The history of that site is incredible but it’s not beingmaximised. I’m happy it is being revamped again, 20 years after it was lastgiven a makeover. Some of the planned improvements are outlined here. Incidentally,a lot of people didn’t like the last attempt—particularly the modern glass/PVCvisitors’ centre (think giant porch). I just can’t wait to see what nearly €6million buys in today’s climate…answers on a postcard.

See museum website.

Tango and ballet classes in Limerick

2012-01-18T20:53:00.000Z

Limerick Tangois holding beginners classes every Thursday at 7.30pm and for the more experienced, thereare improvers classes after at 8.30pm. The venue is the Ecotree Space on Thomas Street (opposite Tadhg Kearney Jewellers).On the second Saturday of every month, there is a tango social night—El GatoNegro. You can start any week and the price list is: Individuals, €10 and €15for couples. For more information, see www.limericktango.com;email limericktango@gmail.com.

Just Breathing is a dance arts company formed in late 2010 with the aimof promoting dance in Limerick. They are particularly interested in getting non-dancers interested indance, and provide a platform for new and emerging artists. They hope to make ballet a more accessible art formthrough a series of workshops, classes, photo projects and performances.It’s great to see a new dance company fill some of the void left by Daghdha. This coming Saturday, January 21, it will start two sixweek courses in ballet at Studio 21, 84 O'Connell Street, Limerick (under Café Noir).

The first is course is called Ballet:Power and Fitness and there’s no actual dancing involved! “Instead weuse ballet exercises in a low impact one hour long workout. The course willstart from the very basic principles like how to hold your posture in neutralposition to a very simple workout and will break down and explain each exerciseand counter it with stretches to train your muscles to develop in length andstrength. As you progress within the course the classes will become more fluidand as your stamina increases the exercise intensity will increase with you. Theclasses are based on progression and are a fun way of keeping fit, flexible andtoned.” This runs from 11.30am to 12.30pm.

The second is CompleteBeginner's Ballet for Adults. This course is “for adults who never gotthe chance to do ballet as a kid or who always wanted to do ballet but neverdid for whatever reason. We really believe it's never too late to startlearning any form of dance! Over the course you will learn the terms andexercises that ballet dancers use every day in their training. We'll start at avery basic level and build things up gradually over the course.” Thisruns from 1-2pm.

Thecost is €60 for six weeks (€48 for 3rd level students/unwaged). A discount is available for anyone who signs up to bothcourses. Drop-in classes are available at a cost of €12 per hour. However,since courses are based on progression they would encourage you to sign up forthe six weeks to really get the most benefit out of the classes. For more information see justbreathingarts.blogspot.com or see the Just Breathing Facebookpage or email justbreathingarts@gmail.com.

The Value of Water exhibition at Raggle Taggle

2012-01-18T19:15:00.000Z

Art Links Limerick (ALL) will unveiltheir latest project, The Value of Water, tomorrow (Thursday January 19) and itwill run until January 22 in the Raggle Taggle Studios Space on Sarsfield Street.

Proceedings will start with ascreening of Water Rising at 8pm—a filmby Aisling Crudden and Muireann de Barra. Inthe wake of mass protests against water privatisation in

Bolivia

, Water Rising documents a community in crisis andtransition inthe early 21st Century, where private control over water failed to meet basicneeds. The film addresses issues suchas global privatisation and commodification of water and theimportance of water in everyday life. The film makers will be present atthe screening for a Q&A session after the film.

Inresponse to Water Rising, Art Links Limerick has initiated primaryresearch into how

Ireland

utilises water as a finite resource. ALL will presentongoing research about Irish water to the public using the as an InteractivePublic Studio. ALL will disseminate current research while continuing workingin the gallery-as-studio space over three days.

The public are encouraged to give feedback on this preliminary research andinvited to submit their own research to this Interactive Public Studio—tocreate a dialogue and stimulate exchange about water and its use. The Value ofWater aims to establish Art Links Limerick’s “practice as a collaborative andengaging process within the public sphere and to highlight theemerging prevalence of socially engaged art in Limerick City”.

More information at www.artlinkslimerick.blogspot.com.

Limerick City Gallery of Art reopens with two exhibitions

2012-01-17T22:21:00.001Z

Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA)has officially reopened after 18 months and a €1.7m refurbishment.

Minister for fun, Jimmy Deenihan,did the ribbon cutting yesterday (January 16). I was going to go but then Iremembered that I don’t like art exhibition openings. D’oh! I did, however,have a look around today and the Carnegie Building looked beautiful—inside andout.

The works include the addition of a new wing and a café space looking onto People’s Park. The expansive windows give the gallery a light and airy feel.I also noticed new bathroom facilities; general modernisation/fixtures and newsignage with a revamped logo. Behind the scenes, there is an educational spaceand a purpose built storage facility to ensure the collection if preserved. The work respected or restored a lot of the amazing period features of the building too.

The entrance with the new signage.

The building dates back to 1906 andit was a library and museum before it became a home to the city’s municipal artcollection in 1948. The permanent collection now has 800 pieces. The ministersaid LCGA was “one of the key galleries in the country” and play a part in Limerick’smarketing as a city of culture, as well as sport.

There are also changes at the helm.New director/curator, Helen Carey, will be taking over from actingdirector/curator, Pippa Little. Ms Carey was formerly director of the CentreCulturel Irlandais in Paris. The opening also saw the launchof two exhibitions—both of which will run until early March—in the form of AVivid Imagination and Transitive Relationships (more on them below). There was a large range of artwork on display in a mix of media including paintings, video, photography, sculpture and performance art.

It’s lovely to see the gallery openagain and hopefully its visitor numbers will on the up. For all you Limerick people, when was the last time youwent to LCGA, if ever? It’s free AND now there’s a café, that’s the perfectexcuse to go. I took a few snaps today too. I didn’t take the names in mostcases; the photos are only intended to give an idea of the artwork and thespaces.

The new wing extension

A Vivid Imagination is where 40 people were invited to select engagingpieces from the gallery’s collection. Most of the selections are accompanied byexplanatory notes by the likes of artist John Shinnors, Minister JanO’Sullivan; several LCGA MA scholars; city librarian, Dolores Doyle etc. It’san eclectic exhibition which makes a vital local connection. There was atremendous sense of ownership from the pieces chosen.

The main exhibition space for A Vivid Imagination. The gorgeous floor and doors really add character.

Limerick, you're a lady. Local icons- opera singer, Catherine Hayes, after whom the infamous 'Opera Centre' is named and ground-breaking novelist, Kate O'Brien.

Bronze sculpture with her hack to People's Park.

Another unusual piece, highlighted by the spotlight in the new wing.

Transitive Relationships (upstairs) is a contemporary exhibition where nationallyestablished artists, Bea McMahon and Mark O’Kelly, were invited to presenttheir own work and choose the work of three emerging artists. These artistsare: Lucy Andrews, Kevin Kirwan and Magda Marysia Wieckiewicz and Ramon Kassam,Emmet Kierans and Laura McMorrow. The description reads: “Further relationshipshave emerged between the artworks, with threads of interest involvingabjection, sinister undertones and materials poised on a moment of change and aprocess based interest in gathering, saving and selecting implied in some ofthe artworks. Transitive Relationships considers the artists’ engagement withthe surrounding world and the notion that these interactions and process basedinvestigations have a universal element.In mathematics the term notates aseries of equivalent relationships.”

An example of one of the mixed media pieces in the show.

This was probably my favourite piece of what I saw at LCGA today. It's called 'The same thing, again and again' by Emmett Kierans. It's placed for maximum impact, facing you across the balcony as you walk onto the first floor. It's cool. I loved the colours and the contrast between the materials-wax on brushed metal. Along with Ramon Kassam's work, Kierans had some of the stand-out pieces in the exhibition.

The largest exhibition space upstairs with lovely light coming from all the windows.

There is a definite shift from the traditional with the content in this exhibition. No, this ISN'T a hoodie a workman left hanging on a rad; it's contemporary art. Several other works in this room flummoxed me too. Maybe I'm just a philistine after all...

Review: Yeh Deadlies/MO'C soundsystem, Thursday Nights at Bourke’s

2012-01-16T21:17:00.000Z

Live music fans can now congregate in their natural habitatat the continuing gig series—Thursday Nights @ Bourke’s. It might well be thebest €0 you never spent. Last Thursday, January 12, local rockers ‘MO’C soundsystem’ playedsupport to Dublin band, YehDeadlies.

Yeh Deadlies made a few ‘ones to watch in 2012’ lists AND theirdebut, The First Book of Lessons, is included in Tony Clayton Lea’s 101 IrishRecords you Must Hear before You Die. Having given it a spin, it’s easy to seewhy. Their quirky blend of indie, pop and folk is brimming over with catchytunes and personality. It takes some skill to make songs sound rough around theedges and that cobbled together feel makes their live act very charming.

I liked all of the energetic set but as far as I can tell bylistening to the album the names of the songs I liked best were ‘LearningChinese’, ‘Best Man Speech’ and ‘No rock n roll dreams (in empty beds)’. One ofmy friends said their music reminded her of Kimya Dawson (you might know herfrom the Juno OST) and I’d agree. That association is largely down to AnnieTierney who plays guitar and melodica as well as singing. Her husband, PádraigO’Reilly, also plays guitar and sings; their vocals really complement eachother. Dave Green had a field day on drums and Republic of Loose frontman, Mick Pyro, did adecent job of his guest-spot on bass. I’d go to see Yeh Deadlies again in aheartbeat…or in a pub, whatever.

Mark O'Connor and his band—Benny Armstrong (onduffelcoat/vocals), Barry Brien (bass) and David Carroll (drums) kicked offproceedings. O’Connor is a veteran on the local scene and he released awell-received solo album, Espero, in 2011. He also acts and recently performedin Doubt and Two Gentlemen of Lebowski (review here). As he is starring in anupcoming production of The Field in the Belltable, he turned up in character tothe gig which made the banter between songs more colourful.

Don’t let the gentle title (which means ‘I hope’) fool you,Espero is a break-up album swinging wildly between anger and sadness. Many anartist has produced their best work in the throes of emotional despair; thereis even a nod to one of the great heart-rending records, Fleetwood Mac’sRumours, on the album. The set was mostly raw guitar driven rock including songslike ‘Kate Bush Hunting’, ‘Guilty’ and ‘the Bells of St Mary’s’. The solid outfitalso did well on some very new material. O’Connor’s guitar skills, fine-tunedas a member of bands like Headgear and Tooth, produced moments of brillianceparticularly on solos. The back-up harmonies complemented his drawling leadvocal. He joined us for a chat afterwards and very kindly left a copy ofEspero. The album features a guest turn by the Rubberbandits and a coup ingetting J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr tocollaborate on the uplifting closing track, ‘Roll back the Years’.

Bourke’s is quite an intimate venue for a full electric bandbut it really works. John Hennessy, a former booker for Whelan’s, is the manbehind these gigs and they seem to be drawing the crowds. The atmosphere wasbrilliant and that was down to an appreciative audience as well as the greatentertainment.

There were several photographers snapping on the night and oneof them, Aaron Corr, took some cracking shots available here.

This coming Thursday, January 19, ‘The Certain Three 2012’tour will stop at Bourke’s. The acts are: Katie Kim, The Lost Brothers andPuzzle Muteson. There’s plenty more to come too so add that to your reasons tobe cheerful in 2012.

The Joy of Books and what they get up to when you're asleep

2012-01-12T17:51:00.000Z

The charming film below is called The Joy of Books and it inspired me to do a blog post and a little photo project today. Sean and Lisa Ohlenkamp made it by spending“many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type Bookstorein Toronto”.

They were inspired to make the video after re-organisingtheir bookshelves. After all, books can’t organise themselves…or can they?Maybe they just choose to do other things. I even have photographic evidence of this rare event. It only happens in The 25^th Hour in Twilight when Everything isIlluminated…

The Horse Whisperer and The Book Thief try toget off with Porno…

Hannibalthinks We Need To Talk about Kevin…

The Reader is writing Four Letters of Love…

Orlandowants to break up with Jane Eyre. Subtlety is not his strong point….

The Crying of Lot 49is so loud it’s driving Rose Madder to violence…

The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest has taken itupon herself to compile a new Schindler’s List…

A Short History of Nearly Everything is learning Howto Talk about Books you Haven’t Read…

Afterword

“Catch me if you Can!!!”, the books tease. They're making such a racket I can’t wait for TheHours to pass before dawn. They’re drivingme to Insomnia! The television is all White Noise and the radio offers only TheShipping News. I long for Nightmares and Dreamscapes. At this rate, I’ll behaving Breakfast at Tiffany’s before long…

PS: All the words in italics are book titles from my veryown bookshelves. I wish the books could organise themselves! No books were harmed inthe making of this photo essay.

Interesting film screenings/deadlines for Fresh Film Festival

2012-01-10T17:34:00.002Z

For all you film buffs out there…

The Belltable CineClub 2012 season kicks off tonight, Tuesday January 10, at 8pm with Woody Allen’s romantic comedy, Midnight in Paris.I loved the film (review here) so if you’re at a loose end, tickets areavailable from the Belltable’s box office and www.belltable.ie. The special Cine Club Ticket (5 tickets for theprice of 4 for €34) is also available on request.

The Cine Club has some brilliant stuff on in the comingweeks including the adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s brilliant book, We need to talk about Kevin, on January 17; anotherliterary adaptation, Wuthering Heights, on January 24 and French family drama, The Well Digger’sDaughter on January 31. I’ll outline the February screenings in a few weeks.

Tomorrow, Wednesday January 11 at 8pm at Friar’s Gate Theatre, the documentary Congo–An Irish Affair will be presented in association with Access Cinema. Thefilm is “a penetrating and poignant study of theIrish-led 1961 UN peacekeeping mission to Katanga, a province that wanted tobreak-away from the newly independent Congo and the two Irishmen who were keydecision makers in the country during that time, Gen. Seán McKeown, commanderof the UN military force and Irish diplomat, Conor Cruise O’Brien, the UN’scivil representative in Katanga”. Tickets are €7; www.friarsgate.iefor more details.

Fresh Film Festival

For young filmmakers, the Fresh Film Festival deadlines are fastapproaching. If you are under 18 and havean idea for a film or have a ready-made film that you would like to havescreened, you can enter the search for

Ireland

’s Young Filmmaker 2012. You have to fill in anapplication and enter your film(s) to the festival by Friday January 27 (from

Ireland

) or Friday February 3 (from other countries).

See www.freshfilmfestival.netfor more information. The festival is on in Limerick from March 26-30.

Travel Photography exhibition at Friar's Gate Theatre opens this Friday

2012-01-10T16:42:00.000Z

Travel Photography, an exhibition by local amateur photographer, SiobhainDanaher, will open in Friar’s Gate Theatre, Kilmallock, this Friday (January13) at 7.30pm.

The exhibition willshowcase work from Siobhain’s recent travels in Cuba,Venice and the remote Himalayancountry of Bhutan. Entryis free but any contributions/proceeds from sales are in aid of a very worthycause, The Hope Foundation. THF is a Corkbased charity that works with street and slum children in Calcutta, India. Theexhibition will be opened by local professional photographer, Cormac Byrne.

By the way...

If you’re looking for more nice photographs to admire ormaybe buy prints of, some of the guys from Limerick Camera Club produce somefantastic work of Limerick and beyond. You might want toperuse their websites:

www.nevillegawley.ie/photography/

www.johnhickeyphotography.com
www.kevoto.com/

Art exhibitions and new gallery in Limerick

2012-01-09T18:23:00.002Z

The Celtic Zoo

The Celtic Zoo—an exhibition of works by Tom Fitzgerald—is currentlyon display at the Bourn Vincent Gallery in the Foundation Building, Universityof Limerick until February 23.The Limerick native is a former Head of Sculpture at theLimerick Schoolof Art & Design.

His work practiseincludes drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and temporary environmentalinterventions. Tom has exhibited widely in Irelandand abroad and was elected to Aosdana in 2001. The Celtic Zoo includes 24drawings and five slate wall works. The exhibition of satirical drawingsexplores the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger.

A Pitch for Shane

A Pitch for Shane—an exhibition of clay figures in memory of murderedGarryowen RFC player, Shane Geoghegan—will be on display in Istabraq Hall, City Hall until the end of January. Inspired by the ancient ‘terracottaarmy’, the initiative involved 21,000 figures being hand-craftedby members of the public all over Irelandand then collected together into a public art installation. The aim of the exhibition,which also includes photographs, is to make an appeal for a safe society, showsolidarity for innocent victims of violence and was an important event in theyear of Limerick’s reign as European City of Sport.

Shane’s mothersummed up the project saying: “From the day welost Shane, we have being fighting for his memory. Fighting for his memorybecause of the danger that he may be remembered only by the manner of his dying-that would be another tragedy. We, his family, want Shane Geoghegan to beremembered for his life and the way he lived it. He was a contributor. He madeother people’s lives better. His name should continue to remind people of thatwonderful quality.”

The exhibition will need a new venue/ homeafter that and any suggestions or offers can be made via the website, www.pitchforshane.com. Istabraq Hall isopen Mon-Fri, 9-5pm.

Location

Occupy Space islaunching a new exhibition, Location, with a preview this Thursday (January 12,7-9pm).It will start officially the day after and run until February 4.The artists include Lisa Flynn, Michele Horrigan, Elaine Reynolds and JonathanSammon. It is curated by Ruth Hogan.

The blurb reads: “Sites, places, locations: everyone has aplace of origin, a locus from where all things begin. Spaces where we interact,live and thrive. Yet what role does this space play in determining asense of self and how does one negotiate a sense of identity in an unfamiliarenvironment?”

“The phenomenon of 'psycho-geography' as defined by theSituationists has been used to describe the practice of spatial engagementwithin natural and urban landscapes. The environment as a reflection of the self,it's influences on perception and how it comes to effect and characteriseemotional and mental states becomes the narrative for this exhibition.”

'People can see nothing around them that is not their ownimage; everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape isanimated.” –Guy Debord, On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather BriefUnity of Time.

For more information, see www.occupyspace.com;opening times are Wed-Fri, 1-5pm.

Sadhbh Lyons Art Gallery

Limerick is on its well on its way tobecoming the art gallery capital of Irelandwith another new addition thanks to the good people at Creative Limerick. Thescheme allows vacant retail spaces to be used for creative endeavours; it takesaway the literal and metaphorical emptiness of the city!

The Sadhbh Lyons Art Galleryis on Bedford Row, next to Limerick Travel. It exhibits paintings by selftaught local artist, Sadhbh Lyons as well as photography by her son, Eoghan.There are also photographs by Mark Lyons and pieces by wood-turner, Barry Lewison display. It aims to offer affordable art and photography—ideal for giftsetc. I’m nearly sure I went to secondary school with Eoghan (but even if I didn’t ha ha),I wish himself and his mother the very best of luck with the venture. Thegallery opens Tues-Sat 10am-5pm andSun 2-5pm.

For more details see, www.slyonsart.com

On the Nail literary event on tomorrow, Tuesday January 10

2012-01-09T17:02:00.000Z

Tomorrow night, TuesdayJanuary 10, the first ‘On the Nail’ literary evening of 2012 will take place inFoley’s Bar from 8pm.

This month will feature the Clare Three Legged Stool Poets including Arthur Watson, Peter Kay,Patrick Stack and Brian Mooney. Clare Three-Legged Stool was founded in 2003 to celebrate the poetic work ofmen and women from North, South, and East—the so-called three “halves” of Clare.There are at present around 16 members in the group which, to date, hasproduced two anthologies, a broadsheet, and Hidden Burren, a photographic essayon North Clare by Ilsa Thielen, accompanied by verse.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-micafter the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers. Even if youdon't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. Admission isfree. The Limerick Writers’ Centre special authors book table will again be inoperation, so if you want your book, CDs etc represented on the table, contactDominic Taylor at 087-2996409.

Upcoming LWC Courses

LWCis also having two courses in the next few weeks. One is titled Releasing The Poet Within-A Creative Writing Coursein Poetry, Lyrics and Versification with Fiona Clark Echlin starting fromJanuary 25. The course is 7-9pm one night a week over six weeks. It is “designedto inspire writers to discover/extend their poetic voice. Existing poets andlyricists may explore new directions while those seeking to write poetry forthe first time will find a springboard for their ideas and style”. See www.limerickwriterscentre.comfor more information.

There will also be a film ‘Script Doctor’ workshop onSaturday February 4 from 1-5pm. This is an intensive one day‘advanced’ film script workshop for people who already have their scriptscompleted and want to get them ready to submit for funding or to a productioncompany. Participants will send in a one paged synopsis of their idea (250words) and either a full short film script (10-15 pages) or the first 15 pagesof a feature script. These need to be emailed a week in advance of thecourse. The workshop will entail: script format, treatments, pitching andthe finishing touches that are needed to get your script ‘funding’ ready! Places must be paid for in advance. The coursefee is €50; concession €45. Booking is essential; contact Dominic on 087-2996409 or email limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com for further details.

Cadbury's Roses tins: An analogy for modern Ireland

2012-01-08T22:43:00.001Z

Behold! Here we have that Christmas food staple: tins ofCadbury’s Roses. We were putting away the Christmas decorations and my motherkeeps some stuff in a old Roses tin so I did a comparison between the 2007 and2011 versions. I think this picture illustrates an analogy for Ireland.

<------For one, 2007 is bigger and bolder. The tin is 1.5kg; thedesign is more vivid and colourful. I think the tin cost at least a tenner (I’mgenerally right about random info like that because of my freakish memory forthese things). I remember the selection of sweets was larger and the ratio of‘nice’ sweets compared to say less popular options like fudge seemed to befairer. If I wore my rose-tinted glasses, I could say the sweets even tastedbetter…less like fear because we were all blissfully unaware of scary acronymslike NAMA and IMF.

2011 has obviously been downsized. ------------->

Two words: austeritymeasures. The tin was cheaper—as low as €5 in some supermarkets—but it is alsosignificantly smaller at 850g. I wonder how many Cadburys sold, because a lotof people can’t afford luxuries. The tin is a bit drab in its appearance. Thecolours don’t pop because the finish on the metal is matte. The shine is goneoff everything. There aren’t as many pleasant choices…you could say the (sweet)situation is totally fudged up.

I read a very good feature in the Irish Independent lastyear, which provided actual proof that a Twirl bar 10 years ago was bigger thanthe ones on sale today. Did cocoa prices take a leap? Yeah, I know it’s a smallthing BUT all those small things (insert own example >here<) add up toour lovely ‘Rip-Off Republic’.It’s a slippery slope. I bet Hitler started with reducing the size of Germandesserts and then BANG! World War II. I can't prove it but maybe, just maybe...

In the next instalment of “Is it just me or is everythingsh*t?” (There’s a book of the same title which bemoans foibles like the Rosestin debacle)=why are mobile phones so flimsy now?! Remember the first mobilephones? The Nokia ‘brick phone’ as it was fondly called could survive totalimmersion in water and being bounced off the ground with force repeatedly. Ifnuclear winter happened only cockroaches and Nokia 1611s will survive! Christ,I’m actually starting to say the words “In my day…” That's even more depressing than the Roses tin scandal.

Film review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2012-01-05T00:59:00.000Z

Remaking a film in English when a perfectly good foreignlanguage version already exists is a gamble but like all bets, sometimes itpays off. This is the case with David Fincher’s adaptation of the Stieg Larssonnovel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The books are superb crime fiction (Dragon Tattoo is onlythe first of the ‘Millenium Trilogy’) and I would highly recommend them. I thought the three Swedish films didtheir native Larsson proud. I was sceptical when the remake wasannounced—thinking it was surely an indulgence for dimwits who complain aboutsubtitles. Annywayyyyy, what a difference a director makes. Not to take awayfrom Niels Arden Oplev’sskills but the man behind Seven, Fight Club and The Social Network takes DragonTattoo to another level. The Bond film-esque opening title sequence with apounding cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song by Karen O (singer with theYeah, Yeah, Yeahs) was a sign of good things to come.

The story is the same. A disgraced journalist, MikaelBlomkvist is hired by a wealthy industrialist to investigate a 40 year oldfamily mystery. The case of Harriet Vanger’s disappearance has Blomkvisttearing skeletons out of closets so he has to enlist the help of LisbethSalander. Salander is a unique investigator—an anti-social computer hacker—butcan she and Blomkvist catch the killer?

The book’s plot is convoluted because of its multiplecharacter arcs but the film has two and a half hours to tie it all together,which it does well. The script makes minor adjustments i.e. the location of onemajor plot point at the end is adjusted drastically BUT it simplifies oneaspect of a complicated ending. Steve Zaillian, whose previous writing creditsinclude Schindler’s List, adds some punchy and shocking dialogue as well as welcome lighter moments to break the tension. Healso glosses over anything too Swedish i.e. cultural references, which mightalienate the (American?) viewer. The Swedish films are more loyal to the detailin the books but I’m not sure that’s the most important thing. Novel and film are asdifferent as languages as English and Swedish.

Fincher thinks outside the box in terms of perspective. Iremember watching Panic Room and thinking that the shots of the inner workingsof locks/walls etc were clever. He has touches like this again i.e. whenBlomkvist has his head in a plastic bag and he shows his laboured breathingfrom inside the bag. The whole film just screams ‘Cool!’ It’s a long film butnicely paced with a few adrenaline pumping scenes at all the right moments. Thereare graphic sexual and violent scenes, which tells us Fincher isn’t one to shyaway from reality. The chilling revenge scenes illustrate the book’s originaltitle: Men Who Hate Women.

The acting was good all round but Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander is a revelation. As a relative unknown, she was a bold choice. She looks more like Lisbeth as described in the books and underwent an extreme physical transformation to do so. In the Swedish films, Noomi Rapace is amazing but Mara is more convincing. She has to endure horrible things, which is probably why she’s cold, distrustful and hostile when provoked. She’s also highly intelligent, moralistic and loyal. Salander is an unlikely heroine but you can’t help admiring her spikiness. I suppose you’d call her feisty…at the risk of her kicking the living sh*t out of you.

Daniel Craig is easy on the eye as noble hack Blomkvist. Iimagine Craig enjoyed playing the anti-James Bond because in comparison to Salander,he’s a wimp. The chemistry between him and Mara is slow-burning but they seem to complement each other very well. Stellan Skarsgård plays the secretiveMartin Vanger subtly; Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright and JoelyRichardson are adequate in their supporting roles. The rest of the cast areonly bit players in the Salander/Blomkvist show. Mara recently got a GoldenGlobe nomination and I’d say she’ll get an Oscar nod too.

Two more noteworthy aspects of Dragon Tattoo are: overallproduction design and soundtrack. It was shot in Swedenand is a tourism advert for the beauty of the country. The sets arestraight out of an Ikea catalogue and the costumes look great (not a surpriseH&M have launched a Lisbeth-inspired fashion line). My one argument wouldbe that journalists rarely have such opulent houses and lead such interestinglives *lol* so they slipped up on the facts there! Trent Reznor (of band, Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross have provided a perfect score—industrial and spartan for the most part.

The director said he wantedto make a mature, ‘grown-up’ film and he has achieved that, in content as wellas complexity. It’s not one for the faint-hearted but it was in my top threefilms of 2011. Not that the Swedish ones weren’t good but I can’t wait for theremakes of books two and three of the trilogy. To paraphrase Casablanca, I think Fincher and Larsson have begun a beautifulfriendship, not to mind Salander and Blomkvist…

Is the world's most expensive photo overrated?

2011-12-13T21:30:00.000Z

Look at this photograph closely. It’s called Rhein II byAndreas Gursky. Now, guess how much it’s worth or rather, what someone paid forit in an auction?

Rhein II

The actual number is $4.3 million, or €3.2 million. Now payingthat amount FOR A F**KING PHOTOGRAPH is crass enough. But to add insult toinjury, it’s not exactly eye-catching or heartbreaking or executed withextraordinary skill. It is big—80x140 inches, but they say size doesn't matter. My first impression wasthat it has very strong lines but it’s still only a picture of a river on adull day. It is, allegedly, the photographer’s favourite photo and “an allegorical pictureabout the meaning of life and how things are”. I think it shouldhave been called The emperor’s new clothes.

Untitled #69

Florence Waters in The Daily Telegraph said “his image is a vibrant,beautiful and memorable – I should say unforgettable - contemporary twist on

Germany

’s famed genre andfavourite theme: the romantic landscape, and man’s relationship with nature”. Really?!Maeve Kennedy in The Guardian said it was a “sludgy image of desolate, featureless landscape”.Guess which one I agree with?

It has ousted the previous record holder, Cindy Sherman's Untitled#96, which sold for $3.89 million price point last May. I think this photograph is 10 timesmore appealing…still not €2.3 million good, but slightly better.

White Center

It reminded me of when I saw the painting, White Center, by Mark Rothko. It was besidea news item explaining how the painting had been sold for $73 million (€55million). Granted, it’s contemporary, simple and colourful. I like Rothko’swork but is it €55 million good?!

No. 5

Incidentally, the world’s most expensive painting at the minute is called No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock and it set some crazy art lover back $140 million, or a cool €105 million smackers. Any painting by Pollock is sought after and he has some fine work. I like his frenetic and vibrant style BUT on the other hand, if I didn’t know the artist and you told me a five year old had painted this, I’d have believed you. You’re essentially paying over €100 million for an autograph.

It’s hard to put a monetary value on art and hard to quantify an individual emotional reaction to a piece of art. But there’s a global recession on, for everyone except art dealers ha ha. I can’t help thinking €3.2 million would go a long way toward oh, around 3.2 million things A LOT more meaningful than a photograph. It’s like Nero fiddling while (a photograph of) Rome burns.

PS: If you like photographs, Time Magazine released its Top 10 Photos of the Year here.

Public meeting on development of Opera Centre site on December 19

2011-12-13T18:01:00.000Z

Anorganisation called Transition Limerick are organising a meeting to discuss thepossibilities for the development of the Opera Centre site next Monday,December 19. It will take place at 8pm in the Raggle TaggleConsortium on the corner of Sarsfield and Henry Street. Everyone is invited to comealong and share ideas on creating a new heart for Limerick city.

TransitionLimerick is part of the worldwide Transition Movement whichaims to build local community resilience in order to meet the challenges ofpeak oil and climate change.

The Opera Centre site is a personal bugbear of mine. I’vedone several posts on the subject on this blog—this one on possible uses for it, just after I broke the news that it had been bought by the local authority.Seemingly, city manager, Tom Mackey, is already working on plans and seekingexpressions of interest. But there will also be a lot of public consultation byLimerick City Council before a master plan for the site is drafted by April2012.

Let the debate begin…

Short film screening based on stories by Bock the Robber tomorrow, Dec 14

2011-12-13T17:02:00.000Z

Therewill be screening of four short-films—based on stories by local blogger, Bock theRobber—made by the MA students in Interactive Media at the University ofLimerick tomorrow, Wednesday December 14 at 8pm.

Therewill also be an exhibition of student photography on the night and thephotos will be auctioned/people can make donations on the night with allproceeds going to Irish Cancer Society's Action Breast Cancer.

Bock’s acerbic witand sharp social commentary are renowned; check out his musings at www.bocktherobber.com. He had this tosay on the subject: “I’ve been writing stories all my life. Someare good and some are rubbish, as with so much else, but one way or another, Ican’t help writing. It’s in my nature. I write stuff, and while much ofthe shit I write is political, some of the stuff I write is fiction. Iwrite stories endlessly, short and long stories, which have been shoved away indrawers or performed by wonderful actors or simply forgotten.”

“All of the above. Anyway,let us not digress. Out there in the University of Limerick, somebody decided thatthe drivel produced by Bock would be a good basisfor postgraduate shit. Make a film out of that crap, saidthe course leader, or whatever he calls himself, and the students respondedaccordingly. I supplied a load of crap and they made films, sometimes closelybased and sometimes derived loosely. Either way, I can’t claim anycredit. The films are all theirs, but they’ll be showing them inBourke’s Bar…and with any luck they’ll also be shaking the bucket for breastcancer research. Go along, why don’t you, and call Bock a jerk? This isyour chance, provided you stick a fiver in the bucket for breast cancerresearch.”

LAST opera in the cinema of 2011: Faust on December 10

2011-12-08T17:26:00.001Z

The final Met: Live in HD opera performance of 2011, Faust, willbe shown at the Omniplex cinema, Dooradoyle, Limerick this Saturday, December 10 at 6pm.

The broadcast of the new productionwill be beamed live from New York.According to the blurb, French composer, Charles Gounod’s, “dramatic, melodicand heart-rending opera is one of the most enduringly popular operas everwritten”.

"The Faust story is of adisillusioned doctor’s bargain with the Devil—his soul in exchange for theeternal youth he imagines will win the heart of a beautiful and innocent younggirl—with disastrous results. With star German Tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, in the title role; German Bass René Pape as the devil and Russian soprano, Marina Poplavskaya, as Marguerite, Gounod’s classicretelling of the Faust legend couldn’t be better served. Tony award winningdirector, Des McAnuff, updates the story to the first half ofthe 20th century, with YannickNézet-Séguin conducting hot on theheels of his great success with DonCarlo last season."

The Met: Live in HD broadcasts reach more than 1,600cinemas in 54 countries including Ireland.The series is presented in

Ireland

by Classical arts Ireland inassociation with eth Sunday Times and RTÉ lyric fm. The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by agenerous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation.

For further information, see www.classicalartsireland.comor email communications@classicalartsireland.com.

Limk Printmakers/eva International call for 2012 proposals

2011-12-08T16:45:00.001Z

LimerickPrintmakers Studio & Gallery and eva International are inviting proposalsfor their respective programme and exhibition in 2012.

The closing datefor 2012 proposals for Limerick Printmakers is December 16 2011.

“In the past fewmonths Limerick Printmakers have relocated to a new home on 5a Sarsfield StreetLimerick, the former home of O’Sullivan’s Shoes which was a cityinstitution. The Gallery is to the front of the building (street facing)while the studios are at the back. This location is a prime retail area inthe city centre and visitor numbers have significantly increased due to thelocation and visibility. The back gallery wall separating the gallery fromthe studio is movable, which allows the public direct access to thestudio. So artists can direct which option they would prefer. Imagery andGallery dimensions are available on the gallery section of our website www.limerickprintmakers.com.”

eva International and AnnieFletcher are inviting artists from all over the world to propose new orexisting works for inclusion in eva International 2012. The deadline in January 31 2012.

“Proposals can be made in anymedium. Selected artists will be supported to produce new or show existingworks in Limerick City, Irelandfrom May 19 to August 12 2012.Proposals should be made through the onlinesubmission process. Supporting materials can either be uploaded through the online submissionprocess, sent by post to Limerick City,or delivered by hand to Limerick Cityor Dublin. Artists can make up totwo proposals and there is a submission fee of €20 for one proposal or €30 fortwo proposals. Please note: eva International is a not-for-profit organisation.Submission fees support selected artists and contribute directly to production,transportation and exhibition costs. If you have any questions please contact info@eva.ie.” eva has a revamped website too.

Theatre review: Love, Peace and Robbery at the Belltable

2011-12-08T16:11:00.001Z

I went to see Love, Peace and Robbery by local company, Magic Roundabout Theatre Company, at the Belltable Arts Centre two weeks ago. I wrote a review but didn't post it at the time but you see, there was method in my madness. The review was earmarked for Irish Theatre Magazine and you can read it here.

Lola Montez Cabaret, Daghdha Space Limerick, December 8-10

2011-12-08T15:48:00.001Z

A cabaret show basedextraordinary life of dancer and actress, Lola Montez, returns to Limerick forthe next three nights in the former St John’s Church—starting with a previewtonight (Thurs Dec 8) and running Friday and Saturday. The show has had astring of sell-out dates in the likes of Dolan’s Warehouse, the Sugar Club and the Pop Up Playhouse. It is a melting pot of musical theatre, burlesque, cabaret, jazz, soul,rock, pop and punk. Organisers, Music in the Glen, promise an “incredible castof singers, actors, dancers and musicians producing a spectacular night out”.

Tickets for tonight are €8; Fri/Sat €12 (group discountsavailable). Pizza, anti-pasti and wine will be available. Bookings or furtherinfo on 087-2104583. www.lolamontez.ie

See a taster video here:

Her name was Lola, she was ashowgirl…

Just a bit of back story on Lola's fascinating life. Shewas born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in either 1818 or 1821. She herself insisted shewas born in Limerick in June 1881—which is on her headstone—but this isdisputed because a birth cert has also turned up claiming she was actually bornin Sligo three years later. I’d take Limerick over Sligoany day! Either way, she has very strong local connections. Her grandfather wasCharles Silver Oliver, an MP for Kilmallock. He lived at Castle Oliver in Co. Limerick. Eliza Oliver, Lola’s mother, washis youngest child. Her father was an army officer. The Gilbertfamily settled in Boyle, Roscommon in 1823 and later moved to

India

Eliza returned to the

to attend school but eloped at 16 with a soldier herself and returned to

India

. It was there she began dancing professionally. Shedubbed herself Lola Montez, the Spanish Dancer when she started performing in London but when people found out she was separated from herhusband there was something of a scandal. She left to dance her way around thecontinent.

Whatever Lola wants, Lolagets…

Lola reportedly had an affairwith Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt. When she eventually settled in Paris,one of her contemporaries was the novelist, Alexandre Dumas (with whom she was rumouredto have had a relationship). After the 1845 death of her lover in a duel, she left Paris—settlingagain in Munich. There she was the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her a Countess. She used herinfluence to institute liberal reforms (I bet she did) but at the startof the revolutions of 1848in the German states, she was forced to flee. She went back to performingaround Europe and while living in London, she married again. Unfortunately,that violated the terms of her divorce so the newlyweds had to hotfoot it to

France

. Fleeing and maritaldisarray seemed to be habits of Lola’s so when her second marriage collapsed,she went to the

USA

America

, she reinvented herselfand toured around performing. She was famous for her trademark ‘Spider Dance’ whereshe would shake imaginary tarantulas out of her clothes and stamp on them. Thiswas thought to be a take on the ‘tarantella’—a frenetic Italian dance. She settled in San Francisco in 1853 where she married again. It lasted two yearsand she embarked on a tour of

Australia

after that before returning again to the

west coast. She moved to New York where she died from an illness in 1861 aged just 42.

An extract from the book, The Gentle Tamers: Womenof the Old West by Dee Brown (1958) said: “No western stage performer ever equaled the glamorousLola Montez in creating an aura of seductive mystery and exquisite scandalaround her personality. Whether or not Lola was an actress is debatable-she wasmore in the class of modern burlesque queens-but the dubious legends of delicioussinfulness which she deliberately spread abroad and carefully nourished havespun down through the years until they are a part of the fabric of westernhistory.”

“Atigress,’ said one newspaper writer, ‘the very comet of her sex’. Lola'scelebrated spider dance shocked and titillated her audiences; the spiders wereingenious contraptions made of rubber, cork, and whalebone. She gave aspectacular benefit for an audience of San Francisco firemen, and they showered the stage with theirfancy helmets and almost smothered her with enormous bouquets of flowers.”But she made an impression on more than just firemen! Lola Montez’ former homeis a landmark; she has a lake named after her in the Tahoe National Forest and a 9,148ft mountain named in herhonour, Mount Lola—bothin California.

Lola's often controversial adventures are well documented so if the show is a fraction asinteresting as Lola’s real life exploits, it should be a smash.

On the Nail Xmas literary bash/LWC Flash Fiction Slam Final

2011-12-05T17:18:00.001Z

Limerick Writers’ Centre will present the Christmas ‘On The Nail’ Literary Bash tomorrow(Tuesday, Dec 6) at 8pm, Upstairs@Foley’s Bar.The event will incorporate the 2011 LWC Flash Fiction Slam Final.

The blurb promises“a festive feast of fiction, poetry and a merry miscellany of all sorts ofliterary guff”. In the 2011 LWC Flash Fiction Slam, the field is narrowed downto just 10 stories. Audience members will get the opportunity to vote for theirfavourite. The theme was '2011' and the shortlist ranges from the saccharine tothe bizarre. The 10 short-listed writers will read their pieces, short andattention-grabbing at just 500 words.

A crack team of judges has been assembled, including Bob Burke (Bisto awardwinner for The Third Pig Detective Agency), Roisin Meaney (Love in the Making),William Ryan (The Holy Thief), Anthony Galvin (Baby Steps) and Helena Close (TheClever One). This is the second year that the competition has been run and the organisersreport that "the standard of entries was very high".

Following the award of the judges’ prize there will be a 10 Minute Play fromGabhar Theatre Company called Good Fences by Sheila Fitzpatrick O'Donnell PLUSan open mic where anyone and everyone can bring poetry and prose to the party. Peopleare welcome to bring along something you’ve written or a piece that moves youand share it with the audience.

More info on this and upcoming events/courses at www.limerickwriterscentre.com.

Oscar Wilde's graffiti-daubed grave gets a makeover

2011-12-04T20:07:00.001Z

I saw a news item during the week and it’san appropriate follow-up to my posts on graffiti last month (one and two). One of the pictures in the second photoessay was a photo of the grave of famous Irish writer and wit, Oscar Wilde, in Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

PLC is the final resting place of many aluminary and allegedly the most visited graveyard in the world. It’s a rathermacabre tourist destination but very interesting. Most graves I’ve seen aresombre but Wilde’s grave—a suitably flamboyant Egyptian looking sculpture—wasalmost completely covered in graffiti. There were quotes, messages, quips,initials, lipstick kisses. They were mostly daubed in red and occasionallyobscene. I was torn. I like graffiti but when it comes to graves, it's best said with flowers I reckon. See what I mean below...

Guess which are the genuine quotes...

I'm glad I got to see it before the makeover but it typifies the basic conundrum ofgraffiti. Graffiti is art-ful or art-less depending on a personal opinion. One comment I got on the graffiti essays was from legendary local blogger, Bock the Robber, and it explained how his friend's freshly painted wall had been the victim of graffiti. He asked should his friend be happy at the art or annoyed that he'll have to repaint his wall! Fair point and touché! Theopinion of the Parisian authorities is that the grave's integrity should bepreserved. Also, the chemicals in the lipstick etc are actually eroding thestone. That headstone is relatively new, replacing the original in the eighties after it was damaged. It was last renovated in the90s. According to an article by Reuters, “decades of graffiti had promptedWilde's descendants to secure a historical monument listing for the tombstone,in the hopes that it would discourage vandalism.The graffiti stopped but then the kissing started”.

Jim Morrison's grave

The authorities have cleaned it and put upglass around it. That’s in keeping with Doors frontman, Jim Morrison’s grave, which is cordoned off to prevent graffiti etc. My friend asked a security guard why Wilde's grave wasn't blocked off and she just shrugged her shoulders in that nonchalant way French people do!

The grave is “no stranger to controversy”, like the man himself who was put on trial for being gay, had to leave the UK and passed away destitute in the City of Lights. Whenthe tomb's original crowning sculpture of an angel in flight was made in theearly 1900s and transported to Paris, officials at the cemetery “immediately covered it up witha tarp to hide the angel's genitalia from public view”.

You would think maybe Oscar Wilde, wholoved to raise eyebrows, would enjoy having the most scandalous grave in theplace but how can we be sure? The actor, Rupert Everett, who spoke at the grandre-opening said: “I think he'd be thrilledthat he was still attracting so much attention. I don’t think he would like graffitivery much because he loved perfect clothes, perfect houses. I think he'd like his statue to be clean andbeautiful.”

Graffiti can be great when executed well, in anappropriate place and time but sometimes, things are just better “clean andbeautiful”. Opinions welcome as always.

The newly cleaned tomb

The New Reindeer Age charity album

2011-12-02T17:50:00.001Z

The New Reindeer Age—a special charity album featuring 22 ofLimerick’s top musical acts— is being launched tomorrownight (Sat Dec 3) in Dolan’s Upstairs. There will be performances by some of those featured on thealbum as well as a chance to buy it.

The album was masterminded by Keith Kelly, who runs a greatmusic blog at indielimerick.blogspot.com, and it’s in aid of Learning HubLimerick. The project’s background is interesting. In1990, an album was put together by the Limerick labelXeric records, showcasing local talent. The Reindeer Age featured well-known nameslike The Hitchers, Tuesday Blue and the O’Malleys. It'sinscribed in the historical annals of the Limerickmusic scene (original recording available here).

According to Keith, The NewReindeer Age “is trying to recreate the magic of this great compilation withsome of the original cohort and showcasing some new talent, with the majorityof the album made up of unsigned young Limerickbands”. I think this has a bit of Waynestock ‘If you build it, they will come’magic about it. It may be a labour of love but there’s no doubting that the 22acts represent some of the stellar musicians around today, not just in Limerickbut nationwide.

Actsinclude: 202s; Animal Beats; Birdthistle; Brad Pitt Light Orchestra; Dead RedLight; dREA; Eamonn hehir; Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters; Fred; Hermitage Green; KeithForde; Moscow Metro; Peter O'Malley; Protobaby; Randolf; Seneca; SiobhánO'Brien; Supermodel Twins; Theme Tune Boy; Vertigo Smyth; Walter Mitty &The Realists and Windings. What a line-up!

The 500limited copies will be available to buy in various places in Limerick for just €10. It’s a bargain, an idealChristmas gift (even for yourself) and all for a good cause. I strongly urge people to support it…I’mpretty sure if you came across Jim Morrison in a desert dream sequence, hewould tell you to buy it too.

Keithadded that “all of the tracks on this album are the original work of local Limerickbands and it just shows the amazing depth of talent the city holds. I amvery grateful to have some of my favourite songs from local artists on therecord. Their generous approach towards this project gives an insight into thegood-natured sense of community present in the Limerickmusic scene”.

“Themoney raised from this album will go towards the wonderful work being carriedout at the Learning Hub Limerick. The work the hub is carrying out with theyoung people in Limerick is invaluable and it’s a real asset to the city. Find outsome of the amazing work over at their site www.learninghub.ie.”

Stockistsconfirmed so far include HMV, Limerick Self Storage, Aubars, Foleys, Tuscany Restaurant, Dolans and O'Connell’s Bar. The production cost of the album was kindly funded bythe following local businesses and organisations: Limerick City Council, Limerick Self Storage, Aubars,Foleys Bar, O’Connells Bar, Tuscany Bistro, iAcoustics and Dolans Warehouse.

December art exhibitions-remain[s]/CAVES; new curator for eva International

2011-12-02T15:02:00.001Z

There are two newart exhibitions for local art connoisseurs this December to enjoy. In other news, eva hasappointed a curator for 2012.

remain[s]

remain[s], an exhibition of works by Patrick Fitzpatrick, opened yesterday and runs until December 10 at Ormston House. Gallery opening hours: Wed-Sat 12-6pm, or by appointment. The exhibition is part of a research masters at Limerick School of Art and Design.

“The exhibition examines memory and nature: in this case why memory is important to us and the role nature plays as the source of memory and meaning. We all gather things from our journeys: postcards, pint glasses and bills, and in the artists’ case flowers, plants and earth.” It explores associations through memory and nature that add depth to understanding and experience.

CAVES

CAVES, a soloexhibition by Anthony Murphy, opens from today to December 22 at Occupy Space.The gallery opening hours are Weds-Sat 1-5pm.

Three large scale projection mapping works have been created by Murphy; thesepieces are based on explorations of simple 2D shapes, a different shape isexplored, dissected and manipulated in each of the three rooms that make up thegallery.

The premise is: ”Plato's allegory of the cave describes prisoners, inhabitingthe cave since childhood, immobile, facing an interior wall. A large fire burnsbehind the prisoners, and as people pass this fire their shadows are cast uponthe cave's wall, and these shadows of the activity being played out behind theprisoner become the only version of reality that the prisoner knows.”

Each piece is “designedto immerse the viewer, and then to confront the audience with a questionregarding how far they, as privileged viewers of the shadows and reflectionsbeing played out upon the walls, are willing to allow themselves to believewhat they know to be a false reality”.

eva International appoints new curator

evaInternational, formerly ev+a, will run from May 19 to August 12 2012 and will be curated by Annie Fletcher. Ms Fletcher isthe Curator of Exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and tutor at De Appel, Amsterdam.

She saidof her appointment: “Everywhere we look and everything we read right now seemsto tell us we are at a new juncture. We are at an unprecedented moment ofchange – whether teetering on the precipice of financial ruin, or witnessingextraordinary new articulations of protest. This year eva International willattempt to tap into this feeling of imminence by understanding how artistsdefine and explain the status quo in relation to global events. What are we onthe verge of? How do artists envisage what is to come and what is to be done?”

Foundedin 1977, eva International is an artist-centred biennial of visual art thatworks with acclaimed guest curators to present innovative exhibitions acrossthe city of Limerick. Artists’ projects are selected through an internationalopen call for proposals and exhibitions take place in both gallery andnon-gallery spaces.

WoodrowKernohan, Director of eva International, added: “eva International is delightedthat Annie Fletcher will be the Curator for the 35th edition of Ireland’s biennial of visual art in 2012. We are looking forwardto working with her to create an exciting programme of exhibitions andassociated events that will animate the city and forge links across Limerick and beyond.”

Aninternational open call for proposals will be launched in early December with thedeadline for submissions: January 31 2012.See www.eva.ie or email info@eva.ie for further information. The exhibition is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Limerick City Council,Limerick City Gallery of Art and is in partnership with the Van Abbemuseum andVisual Artists Ireland.

Opera in the cinema: Rodelinda on December 3

2011-12-02T14:51:00.001Z

Classical ArtsIreland will present Rodelinda, the opera by Handel from the New York Met: Livein HD at the Limerick Omniplex cinema tomorrow, Saturday December 3 at 5.30pm.

The running timeis nearly four hours, with two intervals. The blurb reads: “Renée Fleming returns to The Met: Live in HD in one of her greatest roles, thetitle character in Handel’s Rodelinda.In this Baroque showpiece, Fleming plays a queen who must fight treacherousenemies to keep her son safe and the memory of her exiled husband alive.Handel’s score gives her the opportunity to sing some of the most beautiful andchallenging arias in her extensive repertoire. The all-star supporting castincludes two of the world’s most prominent countertenors, Andreas Scholl and IestynDavies; versatile mezzo-soprano StephanieBlythe; Joseph Kaiser and Shenyang.Baroque specialist Harry Bicket,who led the 2004 Met premiere of StephenWadsworth’s fast-paced, fluid production, conducts.

The Met: Live inHD is presented by Classical ArtsIreland in association with RTÉLyric fm and the Sunday Times. For more info, see www.classicalartsireland.com.

Live opera beingbeamed across the world is becoming quite popular and it’s an opportunity tosee top quality performances by foreign companies. Less ballgowns, more popcorn!

The state of opera in Irelandhas been the subject of fierce discussion in the past year. Opera Ireland—whichhad been staging regular work in Dublin—kindlystepped back in 2010 to make way for a new national venture. But unfortunately,the Irish National Opera Company was wound up after two years last May withoutstaging a single production. That’s seemingly what happens when you let aGovernment department take responsibility for something that the Arts Councilwas handling. Surprise, surprise. The WexfordOpera Festival and Opera Theatre Company continue to be funded by the AC. It isa minority art-form but it would be a shame to see it completely decimated too. The last I heard was that the AC is now forming a plan for future development of opera.

Polish history: Phenomenon of Solidarity exhibition

2011-12-02T13:50:00.001Z

There is an exhibitionrunning in St Munchin’s Church commemorating the 30th anniversary of the birthof the Polish Solidarity Movement.

Phenomenon of Solidarity—running untilDecember 23—is organised by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN),Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation and the Limerick-based Polish Art Festival. It “presentsthe important events from the strikes of August 1980 to the imposition ofMartial Law in December 1981. The exhibit also depicts the path which led tothe Solidarity Trade Union’s establishment”.

The solidaritymovement, using the methods of civil resistance advanced the causes of workers’rights and social change. This resulted in the Round Table Talks between thegovernment and the union which led to the first semi-free elections in 1989 andthe erosion of communist political power. The radical series of politicalchanges in the Eastern Bloc directly influenced the fall of the Berlin Wall. In1990, the union’s leader Lech Walesa was elected the President ofPoland which is considered the official fall of the Communist era in thatcountry.

This is a pivotal period in that country and if you’re interested inhistory and politics, this free exhibition is worth a look. Limerick has a vibrant Polish community and it's a good way to show a new kind of solidarity with them.

The exhibition is supported by the likes of Doras Luimní and local Polish-owned businesses like the shop, Wiska. For more info, contactJustyna Cwojdzinska at polishartfestival@gmail.com.

SCRATCH at the Belltable December 2 and 9

2011-12-02T12:58:00.001Z

If you want to get a sneak peak at exciting performance projectscoming down the pipeline in Limerick and beyond, SCRATCH, willreturn to the Belltable tonight (Friday December 2) and next Friday, Dec 9. Theevent, curated by Duncan Molloy, is for new work and works in progress. Therewill several new pieces of theatre/dance etc on each of the two nights and you can have coffee/meet themakers after—all for an outrageously low sum of €5.

I think we can allagree what good value that is, especially given that two pieces from theinaugural SCRATCH event last May went to show at the ABSOLUT Dublin FringeFestival in September and got seven award nominations between. Follow, won the coveted ‘Spirit of theFringe’ award. This is an ideal opportunity to boast that you saw it first. Everyone likes an exclusive...but it needn't get you into trouble like one national broadcaster who shall remain nameless.

The line-ups are:

December 2:

undergroundby Stefan Barry, which will be directed by Simon Thompson and presented byOrchard Theatre Company.

Peter & theBody (Guards), choreographed by Angie Smalis with music by Peter Delaneyand it will be performed by Katarína Mojžišová.

The Death of aCharacter by Dermott Petty, which will be directed by Myles Breen.

December 9:

My First Friend was a Cat, written and performed by Crissy O’Donovan.

Getting to know You, choreographedby Mary Hartney. It will be performed by Lisa Cahill and Sultan Ahmad Kakar andpresented by Spoken Dance.

No Particular Night or Morning, written and directed by Jamie Walters.

Pop by KarlWatson and presented by Comeassoonasyouhear.

More info at www.belltable.ie.

BTW Karen Underwood and her band present SINGING NINA -The Life andMusic of Nina Simone, also at the Belltable, on December 3 at 8pm. Tickets from €15.

Upcoming literary events and launches

2011-11-22T22:22:00.001Z

Iwant to flag some upcoming workshops, readings and book launches for the WhiteHouse Poetry Revival and Limerick Writers’ Centre respectively.

Tomorrow(Wednesday November 23), there will be a poetry afternoon and workshopin the Hunt Museumat 2.30pm. “All poets and their friends are welcome—those whowould like to read and those who just want to sit, listen and enjoy.” For moreinformation, see www.huntmuseum.com or contact MCBarney Sheehan at barneysheehan1@gmail.com or086-8657494.

The White House Bar will host theirweekly reading/open-mic night that night at 9pm.It’s been on almost every Wednesday night for years now and is still goingstrong. There’s a great atmosphere. It generally features a guest poet, who is Christy O’Donnell tomorrow night and then otherpoets will read aloud too. Christy O’Donnell was born andraised in a family of 13 in Limerick City’sNorthside. “Growing up we were neverencouraged to write at all, instead we were expected to go into the workplaceas soon as we finished school. Christy likes to write rhyming poetry that hassome humour in it but which is also true to life with an emphasis on the punchline. Writing is both for pleasure and the need to deal with human pain on adaily basis and has found that Kilkee is a good place to ‘chill’ and to gatherone’s thoughts for a poem or a short story". His most recent book was ongangland

Ireland

and he is currently working on a humorousbook of poetry which is set for release in 2012. www.christyodonnellhumourinpoetry.blogspot.com

For more information, check out thelocal press and the Whitehouse Bar is also on Facebook.

From The Rib—acollection of sonnets and villanelles by Fiona Clark Echlin—will be officially launched thisSaturday, November 26 at 5pm in Upstairs@Foley’s Bar, Sarsfield Street, Limerick. The collectionwill be launched by Dr John McDonagh of Mary Immaculate College.

Born in London, Fiona Clark Echlin (Newcomb) has lived and workedin London, New York, Istanbul and finally Limerick. As well as being a poet, Fiona Clark Echlin is anaward-winning playwright and story teller. Her poems, plays and stories are allcoloured by her background, which has strong roots in the theatre. Best knownas a Performance Poet, she has read and performed her work at a wide variety ofvenues, occasions and festivals in both

Ireland

and the

. Her distinctive delivery will be familiar to manyand her voice has also been heard on radio, reading, performing and discussingher poetry and radio drama. Her one-act play, Builders was recently staged atThe Source theatre in Thurles as part of The Inkubator project with AsylumProductions (Cork). She is currently writing a novel.

The Limerick Writers' Centre will also launch REViVALLiterary Journal No. 21 on Wednesday November 30 at the White House Bar at 8pm. This issue is a special‘Michael Hartnett at 70’ edition and all are welcome to attend.

Upstairs@Foley’sis also the setting of the popular ‘On the Nail’ readings on the first Tuesdayof every month at 8pm. These events alsohave guest readers but writers (from beginners to veterans) can also readpoetry, fiction, stories and play music. Gabhar Theatre Company often presentsa ’10 minute play’ for the audience too.

For further information on all these events, contact Dominic Taylor at limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com.

'Pitch your Project' opportunity at Occupy Space this Thursday, Nov 24

2011-11-22T21:10:00.001Z

Artists of all kinds are welcomealong to an interesting event called ‘Pitch your Project’ down in Occupy Space,Thomas Street, Limerickthis Thursday, November 24 from 2-4pm.

My image of this is a version ofDragon’s Den for artists, but probably more entertaining for all involved. The idea is that “the modern dayartist is half creator half business commodity” so artists are invited to pitchan art project or idea to the Magisters Panel—made up of three qualified ‘MagistersArtium’ (or MAs for short) offering expertise in art and design.

The Magisters panel is a once offart event that will give feedback, advice and critique the project or idea.They are essentially investing their interest in your project. The panel is aperformance based art piece which aims to help other artists and professionalsbut also engage in discussion about art and design. This performance will befilmed and used in future projects by the Art Links Limerick collective.

Justwhen you thought “Surely there can’t be ANOTHER art group in this city”, ArtLinks Limerick is “acollective of experimental visual artists, designers and social practitioners”.Not that I’m complaining, the more the merrier.

Participants will have five minutesto pitch a project or idea. They will receive 10 minutes of feedback andsuggestions from the panel. Successful project pitches will be offered theopportunity to further their project with the help of the panel. All projectsand ideas remain the property of the artist who pitch them.

Please email artlinkslimerick@gmail.com with your name, contact info and thetitle of your project. They will then email you your pitch slot. Alternatively,you can drop in on the day and avail of any free spots.

For more information, see www.artlinkslimerick.blogspot.com or on Facebook, search for Arts Links Limerick.

Theatre: Love, Peace and Robbery at the Belltable, this Thursday to Sat Nov 26

2011-11-22T20:26:00.001Z

MagicRoundabout Theatre Company will present Love, Peace and Robbery at theBelltable from this Thursday, November 24 to Sat Nov 26. The play by LiamHeylin—starring Myles Breen, Jay Red and James Moroney—is a “hilarious andmoving play about a post office heist”.

The description reads: “Two ex-cons, Darren and Gary, are just out of Limerick prison and required toattend a daily substance abuse program. This, along with a pair ofcourt-ordered curfews, leaves them with limited opportunity to reconnect withthose they’ve wronged in the past: girlfriends, stepsons and one particularlyput-upon terrier.”

“Overcans of Dutch Gold and the occasional spliff , the men reassess their lives,their relationships and the personal responsibility that they bear for thosearound them. The mantra is ‘never again’ but that’s a long hard road beset onall sides by thwarted desires: Darren’s desire to emigrate and reconnect withhis ex and Gary’s desire to regain therespect of his stepson. Both desires could be fulfilled. If only there was a wayto make some quick and easy money…”

The play was first produced by Cork’s Meridian Theatre Company in 2007 and waswell-received when it played at venues around

Ireland

. The Magic Roundabout production debuted in July lastand is now returning to the Belltable stage. MR was founded in 2010. Their first production was the intense “stand-uptragedy”, Spinal Krapp by Darren Maher—which went on to show at the Electric Picnic and Body& Soul festivals after a run in the Unfringed Festival (review here). Thecompany did a fantastic rehearsed reading of cult play, Two Gentlemen ofLebowski back in June (review here).

Unfortunately I missed thefirst run of Love, Peace and Robbery because I was on holiday so I’m reallylooking forward to seeing it Thursday night. The director is local playwright and actor, Darren Maher and the play's producer is another veteran of the arts scene actor/director, Zeb Moore. And remember, there’s a specialplace in Heaven (or insert own derivative of the afterlife >here<) forpeople who support local theatre.

There’s a short video promo here. Tickets are€12/10 and available on 061-319866 or www.belltable.ie.

Limerick Jazz gig: ReDiviDeR this Wednesday at Dolan's

2011-11-21T19:28:00.001Z

Limerick Jazzwill present the band, ReDiviDeR, at Dolan’s (Upstairs) this Wednesday, Nov 23.

The “two-horns-no-chords quartet was established bydrummer Matt Jacobson in 2007 as a creative outlet for his compositions as wellas his somewhat perverse fascination with anagrams”. While he failed to findsuch avid fellow followers of wordplays, he enlisted the help of creative andrhythmic specialists Derek Whyte (bass) and Nick Roth (alto sax), with trombonistColm O’Hara arriving later.

The band play all original compositions fromJacobson—dubbed “one of Ireland’s most exciting young talents” by The IrishTimes with influences including artists such as Charles Mingus, Steve Coleman,Deerhoof and Phil Ivey. Apparently “the formula for putting all this togetherin one palindromical setting is downtown grooves with catchy melodies andcollective improves”. Sounds good!

Recent performance highlights for the band includesupporting Chris Potter’s Underground at the GalwayJazz Festival 2010 and representing

Ireland

at the 12Points! Festival 2011.The band also recently recorded their debut album Never oDD or even.

ReDiviDeR will be supported by vocalist/composerDorota Konczewska, a well known performer on the Limerick jazz scene who is now based in Dublin. Dorota will be accompanied by Joe O’Callaghanon guitar and John Daly on percussion.

Doors open at 8.30 pm with the gig at 9pm. Ticketsare €13/10 and available on 061-314483 or www.dolans.ie. See more details on this and other forthcoming events on www.limerickjazz.com.

UL Graduate Medical School appoints artist in residence

2011-11-21T18:56:00.001Z

If you thought the only contactdoctors have with art is making plaster casts, the University of Limerick wants to prove youwrong. It was announced last week that the Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS)at UL is the first medical school in the country to appoint an artist inresidence.

Professor Daniel Duffy was born in New Jersey and is an academic as well as being anaccomplished artist who has exhibited his work widely. He will take up theposition—the first Lundbeck Visiting Fellow in the Humanities—later this month. Third-year medical students do acompulsory three-week module in the ‘Humanities in Medicine Programme’ andprojects can include critiquing a novel or body of poetry; creating originalworks of art; creative writing and dance.

The founding head of GEMS, Prof.Paul Finucane, said that the artist will work with students and staff to furthertheir interest and knowledge of the humanities. Prof. Duffy was quoted in the IrishTimes last week, speaking about his module in fine art said: “The aim of thiscourse is to improve medical students’ visual acumen through drawing workshopsand by observing elaborate narrative paintings.”

The basic idea is to get studentsto examine detailed works of art and draw the human form so they will be morecomfortable looking at patients and seeing them as people with an illness,instead of just an illness in a patient. “Studies of medical students whohave participated in such programmes in the United States found that they improved in their diagnosticskills by about 10%. The workshops also give them a break from the intenseoverload of information and a chance to do something other than absorbinginformation,” Prof Duffy added. If the fellowship works out, Prof.Finucane said that UL would hope to welcome writers or poets in residence inthe future.

I think the initiative is veryworthwhile. Medical students have a large workload and their fair share ofstress so any outlet is brilliant. The fact that the university acknowledgesthat a scientific mind isn’t the only thing that makes a good doctor puts itahead of the curve. I’ve had more contact with GPs, consultants and surgeons inthe last year and a half than in the 25 years before that! I can honestly thatunderstanding of human nature and what makes a patient tick, is one sign of a greatdoctor.

I’m pretty sure this is the artistin question, www.danielmarkduffy.com...I fricken hope so because the images are from the gallery on his website!

MA-Curatorial Studies Shinnors Scholarship/StudentZINE Makers award

2011-11-21T17:02:00.001Z

Shinnors Scholarship

Applications are being invited for the prestigious MA-CuratorialStudies Shinnors Scholarship at the Limerick City Gallery of Art. Applications can be made to LCGA, Limerick City Council,Limerick School ofArt and Design and Limerick Institute of Technology.

The scholarship isa “unique opportunity for practice based research with Limerick City Gallery ofArt, a leading Irish institution for the curation and celebration of artisticcreativity, past, present and future. The Shinnors Scholarship model has runsuccessfully at Limerick City Gallery of Art for over six years”.

The successfulapplicant will undertake an MA by Research at Limerick School of Art and Designover a two-year period and be based predominantly at LCGA. It provides opportunitieson a day-to-day basis to study and engage with all aspects of the city gallery'score activities including the exhibition programme, the permanent collection,the outreach and education programme. The culmination ofthe scholarship provides for the submission by the student of an MA thesisbased on the development of some aspect of the gallery's programme by thestudent as a personal project.

Award deadline

The next deadline for theOnline MAKERS Award is November 30. Interested parties can log-on/create anaccount at www.studentszine.com and upload your latestwork to the platform to be in with the opportunity of being the next recipientof the MAKERS Award along with getting a full feature in the next issuealongside some leading international artists.

Sale of the Opera Centre site: An ending and a beginning

2011-11-21T15:06:00.001Z

As you may have gathered from posts below, the Opera Centresite has been acquired by Limerick City Council with funding provided by theDepartment of Environment, Community and LocalGovernment. The Limerick Regeneration Agency was closely involved in theprocess and it is now hoped that this strategic site will be used for housing,civic, and commercial uses. There is a perception that regeneration only takesplace in the four targeted, disadvantaged areas in the city but for the threestrands of the process—social, physical and economic—to work, everything iscontingent on a strong, vibrant city centre. Now for a story more dramatic than La Traviata…

The road to nowhere…

Limerick City Centre has beensteadily declining over the last few years. There are a growing number ofvacant units on main thoroughfares such as Cruises Street, William Street and O’Connell Street as retailers go under or move. These shops sometimesrelocate to suburban centres or retail parks such as the Crescent ShoppingCentre or the Childers Road Retail Park. This ‘doughnut effect’ is literally strangling the city.And at very root of it was when a massive site spanning over Patrick Street,Rutland Street, Bank Place, Ellen Street and Michael Street was earmarked to bethe home of the ‘Opera Centre’ AKA "Munster’s largest shopping centre".

In 2005, Patrick Street was a busy street with lots of shops and other businessessuch as the Limerick Post Newspaper. Then the Celtic Tiger roared, somedevelopers saw potential in the site and started putting together a plan.Tenants gradually moved out and within a short time, one of the main approachesto the city seemed like a ghost street. One of the most historically richstreets in Limerick started its descent into shabbiness. It housed the formertown hall and the birthplace of lauded opera singer, Catherine Hayes, in whose‘honour’ the doomed development was named.

The plan grew ever more ambitiousand a short time after, the entire site was sold for a whopping €110 million tothe ironically named, Regeneration Developments. The planning process for aproject so vast and complex takes time. The original plans got planningpermission in 2006 but the merry-go-round of objections, revisions and appealsto An Bord Pleanála followed. BP eventually granted permission for a biggerdevelopment in 2009—in the throes of recession with the bottom falling out ofthe property market. That year, as a reporter with the Limerick Independent Iwrote a mildly ominous blog post (including an article from the paper) doubtingthat the €350 million centre would ever come to pass.

Over the last two years, theentire site has lain idle while gradually deteriorating. The mirage of artist’simpressions of the site evaporated into the depressing visage of an eyesore. JPMcManus even contributed to improve the desperate appearance of Patrick Street. In the meantime, Parkway Valley, another partially completed development on the city’soutskirts had also stalled. The examples mirrored the situation of ghostestates and developments around Ireland. Like many others, the developers’ loans were taken intoNAMA and the site went on sale again a month ago for €12.5 million.

What now…

The Opera Centre site’s zoning—itsdesignated use—is ‘commercial’. I anticipate a portion of the site to be usedfor retail still but because the remit is now for ‘regeneration’ the use couldbe much more diverse. I think getting occupants for at least some of thecommercial units in that stretch is important, not just with shops but perhapsoffices. The plans allowed for one/two anchor stores and it is understood thatMarks & Spencer’s still have an interest in setting up in Limerick. Ifa brand of that strength set up in the city centre it would be a coup and avote of confidence that we sorely need. But rates revenue isn’t everything andthe retail sector is facing significant challenges. I think the original planswill undergo major adjustments.

If I’m not mistaken, under thePlanning Act, the council can re-zone the site for housing and/or civic usewithout having to go through An Bord Pleanála. The city housing list is stillmassive. Some of the buildings along Patrick Street would make remarkable homes; they’re spacious, four-storeybuildings. If those houses had gardens/a communal garden, the location isgreat. They could be used for sheltered housing i.e. for the elderly or housingfor homeless people. They could be transitional or permanent homes for people in theregeneration areas.

The Granary building, whichcurrently houses the city library, is bordering the site and as the council isresearching possible sites for a new library anyway—that might be one of the civicuses. The Jim Kemmy Municipal Museum also needs a new home and the site has a rich history. Itis part of our Georgian heritage and close to King’s Island, oneof the oldest areas in Limerick (King John’s Castle and its surrounds are also poised tobe redeveloped for 2012). The home of Catherine Hayes (3-4 Patrick Street) was always meant to be preserved so perhaps the citymuseum could be housed there or in an adjacent spot? I also think there isfantastic scope for the University of Limerick and/or the Limerick Institute of Technology to have apresence in the city centre at the site. The council could offer it as amulti-purpose space for the arts, community and voluntary sector. It could be ashared base for innovative business start-ups. The possibilities are limitless,as is the potential.

That’s all folks…

I love Limerick, incase you haven’t noticed! The Opera Centre site has long blighted our faircity. It was a monument to Celtic Tiger folly and excess. The redevelopmentwill take imagination and vision. As many people as possible should beconsulted for what will be a gargantuan task. I feel better knowing thatLimerick City Council will be driving it, not a money hungry developer. LCCnever stop getting slated, even for things they are not responsible for or haveno control over. The default reaction when something is wrong in Limerick isto blame the council and they don’t always deserve it!

I’ve had a lot of dealings with local politicians andcivil servants through reporting on local issues. They have often stonewalledand frustrated me at every turn ha ha BUT I respect them and in my experience,they work very hard and they care. They have a thankless and unenviable task tomake things better for all of us. So I’m putting my faith in the council to dotheir best with this site. All eyes are on them and they carry the heavy weightof expectation on their shoulders. I sincerely hope they succeed and we can allsee the curtain come down on this, to a satisfying end on a high note.

Opera Centre site bought by Limerick City Council for regeneration

2011-11-18T17:01:00.001Z

BOOM!!!!Not Good For My Rage can now categorically confirm that the Opera Centre sitehas been bought by Limerick City Council. I'm delighted that I got to break it; mystory was published a full hour before The Limerick Leader’s take on it (it's pride, not gloating!).

I'm going to write a comment post shortly because I feel strongly about it and it has been the subject of several blog posts.

I flagged this very press release:

Mr. Phil Hogan T.D., Minister forEnvironment, Community & Local Government today (18 November 2011)announced that he would be providing funding for the purchase of a strategicdevelopment site in Limerick City for regeneration.

“Theredevelopment opportunities for this site are immense and will positively impacton the lives of the people and businesses in the city centre,” the ministersaid.

LimerickCity Council and the Limerick Regeneration Agencies, who were instrumental inthe purchase of the site, indicated that they are considering a range of newuses for the site including housing, civic, and commercial uses.

“Thissite is of strategic importance for the regeneration of King’s Island, ofthe city centre, and of the wider city,” City Manager Tom Mackey said,indicating that he saw this site as an important first step in the restorationof the residential and commercial functions within the city centre.

The site consists of 1.9 hectaresbetween Michael, Ellen and Rutland/Patrick Street, in close proximity to the Hunt Museum, City Hall and the regeneration area of St. Mary’sPark/King’s Island. Its redevelopment will be considered as part of theoverall implementation plan for the Limerick Regeneration Programme and willseek to enhance the social, economic, and physical regeneration of thearea.

The siteis currently unoccupied with many of the original buildings in relatively poorcondition. The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan T.D., a resident ofthe city, expressed his satisfaction with the announcement, adding

“Iwelcome the purchase of the old opera site by Limerick Regeneration fromNAMA. This purchase will be a positive development for the GeorgianQuarter in Limerick city. The regeneration of this site will turnthis run down area into an area of vibrancy, which will improve the economic,social and cultural life of both the Georgian Quarter and the City as a whole.

Ihave worked very closely with Denis Brosnan, the Chairman of the LocalGovernment Implementation Group to ensure the site was kept in publicownership. The risk was that a private developer could have acquired thesite and it could have lain fallow for many years. The site can now beregenerated as part of the overall renewal of Limerick city.

Iwould like to thank the Minister for Environment, Community and LocalGovernment for providing the funds to acquire this site. I have alwaysbelieved that the concept of regeneration involves more than just theregeneration of city suburbs with social problems. One of the biggestregeneration challenges is the need to revitalise the city centre and to turnour city into a vibrant centre of social and cultural activities.”

Ministers Noonan and Hoganindicated that they would be working closely on the plans for the redevelopmentand would be seeking the support of all public, private and philanthropicagencies working in Limerick City to ensure that the new development would be sustainableinto the future.

MinisterHogan concluded that “Regeneration is built on partnership – partnership withthe community, with business and the public sector, and I intend to workclosely with all partners including our colleagues in Shannon Development tosee this project successfully delivered”.

A fat lady is gettin ready to sing at Limerick's Opera Centre site

2011-11-18T15:30:00.001Z

It is understood that a bid has beenaccepted for Limerick’s controversial 3.2 acre Opera Centre site, which had an asking price of €12.5 million when put up for sale by private treaty several weeks ago.

The bid was made in the last week and the amount is notknown but it is thought to be closely connected to Limerick City Council. Laterthis afternoon, there will be a joint announcement by Limerick Minister forFinance, Michael Noonan, and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government,Phil Hogan on the subject.

Yesterday, Director of Service for Limerick City Council,Caroline Curley; City Mayor, Jim Long and Regeneration Chief, Brendan Kenny allrefused to be drawn on the subject when questioned.

Ms Curley said she could not “confirm or deny” that thecouncil had made a bid.

“I have no comment to make. The site is for sale and Iunderstand that a number of bids have been put in on it. We would look forwardto it. Whoever buys it would have plans for the redevelopment of it, which isthe main thing and we’d look forward to working with whoever the new owner ofit is,” she said

When asked if the Limerick Regeneration Agency was involvedin the process, she replied “Again, I’m confirming or denying nothing. We areworking with a number of agencies to find a satisfactory solution to the OperaCentre situation”.

On the subject of the fact the there were four partiesinterested in the site, she said: “There’s lots of activity happening out thereand there’s lots of interest and we’re delighted the activity and hopefullyit’ll all happen very quickly, as in the city can move on.”

Mr Kenny said:

“I wouldn’t like to make a comment just yet. That’s an issuefor the city council. My understanding is that the process is not finished yet.Without acknowledging that we have any involvement in the process whatsoever,the work in the four regeneration areas in Limerick isongoing. The economic wellbeing of the city is a major task. What we’re tryingto do has three planks in regeneration—social, physical and economic. Theamount that we could economically as an agency would be very limited. It is inour interest in terms of regeneration that the city is strong and as strong asit is now, it has been declining.”

Mayor Long said:

“I can’t confirm that this is correct because I heard thismorning [Nov 17] that it was a businessman. All I can say to you at the momentis that we have to stay tight-lipped to make sure that we get it right thistime because it was sold and got planning permission for a major developmentthat fell flat. It’s a very sensitive area at the moment because there iscompetition with Parkway Valleyand other areas of the city. It would be remiss of me to give my opinions onit. I can’t honestly confirm that it was Limerick City Council that put in thebid.”

“If it came under the remit of the city council we wouldhave to offer it back out to someone to develop it…I’m not ruling itout….That’s as I speak to you on the 17^th of November; that couldchange next week.”

Peter O’Meara of Savills (the agents of sale) in Corksaid yesterday that “Some have expressed an interest in the form of a bid andothers haven’t. It’s good; there is positive interest. It’s a private treatysale where we’re seeking offers in the region of €12.5 million and as soon aswe get to a price at which we’re happy we’ll be selling. That could be anytime; it could be before Christmas and it could be before Christmas 2013. Wejust don’t know. We have to get to a level at which we’re happy but I’mconfident we’ll do that in the short to medium term rather than in the longterm.”

The Opera Centre has planningpermission for a multi-storey shopping centre with 38,541sq m (414,855 sq ft)of retail space and an underground car park. The current zoning of the site iscommercial but the council has the power to re-zone it.

The site—spanning most of a blockon Patrick Street—has been largely vacant since 2005 and was sold five yearsago for €110 million to a company called Regeneration Developments—whose loansare now in NAMA. The site was earmarked for Munster's biggest shopping centre before the market collapse

Exciting news. That press releasewill reveal a lot and more to come as I have it…

Limk City Gallery of Art re-opens with 'of de Blacam and Meagher' exhibition

2011-11-17T00:24:00.001Z

The first exhibition toshow in the newly refurbished Limerick City Gallery of Art will be of De Blacamand Meagher, which opens today (Thursday) Nov 17 at 7pm.

Commissioned by the IrishArchitecture Foundation, the exhibition represented

Ireland

at the 12th International ArchitectureExhibition 2010 in Veniceand it will be opened by Merritt Bucholz, Professor of Architecture at UL. Ireland’sparticipation at Venice,and the exhibition’s return to

Ireland

for this national tour, is aninitiative of Culture

Ireland

in partnership with the Arts Council.This is the last venue in the national tour of Ormeau Baths Gallery in Belfast,Lewis Glucksman Gallery in Cork and Dublin City Gallery: The HughLane.

of de Blacam and Meagher examinesthe built and un-built portfolio of the Irish architecture practice, de Blacamand Meagher, over the last 33 years. It was curated by Tom dePaor, PeterMaybury, Alice Casey and Cian Deegan, and commissioned for the VeniceArchitecture Biennale in 2010. The exhibition takes the form of a book unbound,containing volumes of drawings and photographic reproductions from the archive,contemporary photography and readings of the works with commentaries.

The blurb reads: "As both archive and reading room,the space is furnished with items from the de Blacam and Meagher archive.Members of the public are invited to read the work and take it away. Over time,the stacks of paper are depleted, until finally we are left with only thefurnishings. The archive will, in essence, be consumed. Two short films by RuánMagan, one about the installation in Venice,and the other with interviews from the commissioner and curators, will also bedisplayed during the exhibition."

The new opening hours are Mon-Wed, 10am-5pm; Thurs-Fri, 10am-7pm; Sat, 10am-5pmand Sun, 12-5pm. For information onthe talks programme see www.gallery.limerick.ie and www.irelandatvenice.ie.LCGA is now on Twitter: @limerickgallery.

Worth the weight? The mystery of the moving sculptures

2011-11-16T18:29:00.001Z

Imagine, for a moment, that a group of thievescame to Bedford Row one night and carted off the statue of Richard Harris. Orperhaps the gang crept onto Merchant’s Quay and ripped up the Wild GeeseFountain or maybe they went down to Spokane Walk and dug up the new Dockers’Monument. And then, these people melted down a carefully crafted piece of artand sold the metal as scrap. It might seem far fetched but this has beenhappening all over

Ireland

.The fact that the Limerick sculptures are located in the city centre mightbe only thing saving them from the melting pot.

Several pieces of Irishpublic art have gone missing, mainly from remote spots by motorways, in thepast few years. Two massive sculptures were stolen within days of each otherlast March. The seven metre bronze/stainless steel statue ‘Gráinne Óg’ took aproverbial walk from Moate in Westmeath and a bronze piece called ‘TheHitchhiker’ caught a lift (most likely from a crane) from near Monasterevin inKildare; both weighed a tonne or over. Their cost was €64,000 and €54,000respectively.

All of these robberieshad an element of loss, both to the general public and to the artists who puttime/effort into making them. But on Monday, there were media reports of a communityin Laois appealing for the return of a stolen monument commemorating over 30young people from their area who died in tragic circumstances. If you neededany more proof that nothing is sacred, this is it.

The 10-12ft sculpturemade of brass, copper and bronze was stolen from the riverbank in Castletown.The RTÉ report had some very emotive statements from relatives of the deceasedincluding siblings of people who passed away in road traffic accidents and fromillness as well as the father of three kids who perished in a fire—all of whosenames were engraved on the monument. The theft was described as “sick” andworse than stealing a “headstone from a graveyard” because it affected so manypeople. Most obviously, it was said that while it is valued €30,000, “the valueit was likely to achieve as scrap is nothing compared to the sentimental andemotional value".

We can safely say these people aren’t daring artthieves, looking for an interesting garden feature. Collecting pieces obviouslyisn’t the intention because the sculpture in Kildare was sawn off near the baseand clumsily dislodged. The prices for certain metals including copper, bronzeand stainless steel have increased because of a shortage. People have beenstealing copper wire from the ESB, among other things. So it was only a matterof time before thieves started targeting sculptures to sell on as scrap. Thevolume of new building/road projects in the boom times coupled with the Percentfor Art Scheme, has resulted in a lot more public art. There are an estimated700 pieces of art on Irish roadsides alone and these are well-documented.

I read a great article in the Irish Independent about this phenomenon. British police report a 500% increase in the theft of public art sculptures since 2005. In one famous incident six years ago in the

, a two-tonne Henry Mooresculpture, ‘Reclining Figure’, was stolen from a park. Police concluded the €4 million statue had been melted down and sold for less than €2,000. That’s a pretty awful return given the effort and risk!! In one article I read, a Garda pointed out that there are many easier, smaller and more saleable things to steal.

Laois-Offaly TD Sean Fleming “called for newlegislation to be introduced to regulate the activities of scrap dealers and forcethe industry to be licensed so they can answer for the ownership of thematerial that was being brought into the smelters and avoid a situation wherestolen property was being destroyed”. I’m surprised that’s not already the casebut I’m totally in favour of making moves toward it. It’s unlikely that theother sculptures will be recovered but hopefully the Garda will still trackdown the most recent example. Someone with a conscience might turn in the gangwho stole it.

I feel sorry for thieves who can’t see past theprice of materials to the true value of something, which is probably theessence of art. It makes me think about the vast difference between artappreciation and art appraisal. What’s the world coming to at all? Answers on apostcard…

PS:If you see anyone suspicious hanging around sculptures, you know what to do!

Launch of National Dance Archive of Ireland/dance performance at UL

2011-11-15T21:37:00.001Z

The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick is surely one of themost vibrant and active faculties on the campus, perhaps in the country. Thereare regular performances of both disciplines—by students, lecturers and invitedguests—in the beautiful, state of the art building. It has also made moves tocollaborate in the community i.e. an event in the Belltable Unfringed Festivallast January was masterminded and hosted in the academy (Absence and Loss/FlatPack by Nigel Rolfe). A few friends are based in UL and I’ve often visited thecafé in the building; I love hearing the faint strains of music coming fromopen windows on the way in!

This Monday (Nov 15), the academy had the honour ofhosting the official opening of the National Dance Archive of Ireland by JimmyDeenihan, Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The archive is thefirst of its kind in

Ireland

and is the mostcomprehensive in the country. It has old photographs, letters, newspaperscuttings and programmes from private collections, which were not accessible tothe public before now.

Minister Deenihan commented that “all aspects of

Ireland

’s dance history can befound in this wonderful archive which highlights the broad range of styles and genresof this diverse art form”.

“The National Dance Archive of Ireland will raise theprofile of dance at home and abroad and will give us all a greater sense of howdance in

Ireland

has developed in thepast and how it may evolve in the future. Such an interactive resourcewill ensure that everyone can experience and enjoy the richness, diversity anduniqueness of dance in

Ireland

.”

The archive is hometo over 40 collections of dance generously donated by individuals, companiesand dance organisations including the Dance Theatre of Ireland and the CorkCity Ballet. Over 5,000 dance items, spanning a period of over 100 years,and multimedia materials (print and audio-visual) are stored in the archive.

Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Director of the Irish World Academy said the archive “is adirect follow on from the inspired and inclusive vision of Dance Research Forum

Ireland

, across ballet,contemporary, traditional, popular and world dance genres”.

Dr Catherine Foley,Director of the archive, said the establishment of the archive took around six years—pioneeredby Dance Research Forum

Ireland

in partnership with theGlucksman Library and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. It ishoused in the Glucksman Library at UL and works in partnership with thefounding organisations and the Arts Council.

“I think an important characteristic of the archive isthe fact that it is inclusive of all dance forms and, therefore, dancers, nomatter what their dance background and experience, have something to contributeto the archive. These can be anything from scrap books and photographs to DVDsand books. Some of these documents are retrieved from storage in attics,basements, people’s bedrooms and so on and it is great for people to know thattheir valued material will be taken care of in the archive and will be madeaccessible to the public as part of the history of dance in

Ireland

,” she added.

The archive iscommitted to collecting, preserving, digitising and cataloguing multimediadance material, and to providing access and guidance to the collections,including traditional dance, social dance, contemporary dance, ballet, urbandance and world dance. This resource is very valuable and it’s great tosee the efforts of so many, for so long, finally come to fruition. Congratulationsto all involved.

For further information, see www.nationaldancearchiveireland.ie. To visit the archive,phone 061 202690 or email: ndai@ul.ie to arrange anappointment.

Incidentally, there will be a lunchtime performance ofcontemporary dance this Thursday, Nov 17 at 1.15pmin Theatre 1 of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Students ofthe MA in Contemporary Dance Performance will perform and the programme willfeature a new ensemble choreography by Berlin-based choreographer CharlesLinehan and a new work-in-progress by choreographer Liz Roche. Both of theseworks were commissioned especially for this group of students. Theprogramme will also feature a series of original solo compositionschoreographed and performed by each of the students.