Ireland Music News
Kerbside to play with Mundy!
Yes indeed, we just got the call a couple of days ago that they needed one more act for the charity gig for Sarah Ryan with Mundy on September 2nd here in Athlone!
Not only will it be pretty great to share the stage with the big man himself, but it will be the first time since we played Athlone Castle that Kerbside will be appearing in our full rock’n roll glory. Personally, I can’t wait.
Date: August 18th, 2007 |
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Kerbside on the radio
Yes, the Athlone Castle gig and the triathlone are this weekend and the midlands are a-buzz with anticipation.
In this vein, myself (as half of Kerbside)and the other local original bands playing Saturday night in the castle were invited by Midlands Radio 3 DJ June Carley to drop in during her Sunday Best of Irish broadcast to discuss the concert and maybe play a song on the air. Wifey wasn’t feeling up to it, so I joined the lads from Makewait on my own and headed down to Tullamore Sunday evening.
Date: July 10th, 2007 |
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New culinary kid in town
Happy Valentines, everyone!
So I was walking into town yesterday evening when I saw the windows above River S were lit up. Curious, I took a closer look and discovered that a new restaurant has opened up in a juicy piece of real estate right above the waters of the river Shannon.
Having been derelict for some time, I wondered why such a choice location with a view of the castle at the footprint of the bridge hadn’t attracted some sort of restaurant or cafe. Wonder no more - an Italian place has opened up in the old SNoooz premises (I always thought that was a bizarre choice of shops for that location).
Date: February 14th, 2007 |
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Songwriter.ie - Irish songwriters in the midlands
I have been incredibly fortunate in moving to Ireland and, particularly, Athlone, in that I’ve found myself in the smouldering heart of a breathtakingly talented musical community.
After a couple of years here myself and other musical acquaintances realised that, while there was music in most pubs most nights, that finding live, original music was not common. This needed to be rectified.
To that end we organised an evening in The Palace Loft featuring six original songwriters in the community. We recorded the night and released a CD later that year. The response was so overwhelming we have continued the non-profit event with new songwriters taking the stage every year. We also set up a website, www.songwriter.ie, on which to host information about the event. We hope eventually have saved enough money from the event to be able to put it into recording and performance gear that can be utilised by local musicians who haven’t access to such things.
I am pleased to announce that this year’s songwriter CD is done.
Date: January 18th, 2007 |
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Murphy’s Live festival
Above you see The Blizzards, a local band from Mullingar making good. They are performing the headlining slot at the Murphy’s Live 2007 contest showcase in Cork next year. Murphy’s Live is a series of 6 live heats that start with the Blizzards gig next January 18 in Cork. The competition is geared to expose up and coming Irish bands by pitting them against each other for the privilege of performing with some of Ireland’s most successful live acts. Oh yeah, and they could win some money and a 6 month recording contract. Six heats with two bands each will strip the contestants down to 4 final bands with only one grand prize winner.
Date: November 7th, 2006 |
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Californian dialect for the Irish masses
Yes, I’ve been quoted in a local paper using the word “stoked.”
I guess it just shows you can take the boy out of California but you can’t take the California out of the boy.
In a slightly embarassing, but very flattering, article I’ll have to send home to mom along with the Westmeath’s article on this blog, the Athlone Advertiser has run a story on tomorrow’s
Date: July 13th, 2007 |
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songwriter.ie Midland Songwriter Concert announced
It’s the time of year again, folks!
The 2007 Midland Songwriter Night is set for the end of this month, 29th of April here in Athlone.
I spent a good deal of time last week ringing around to this year’s songwriters and updating the website. I discovered that my mobile phone records, so I was even able to record my interviews with the lads and put the mp3 interviews up on the artist pages. Given my recent experience in teaching songwriting, I asked a few pointed …
Date: April 2nd, 2007 |
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Songwriter CD release night
Last night was the release night for the 2006 Songwriters CD and The Shack was the place to be.
We had all but two of our songwriters with us on the night, plus the regular Tuesday crew. A few members of the press were even in attendance. The music flowed fast and furious and I sold out of all but 11 of the CDs I had brought along to the night - a good sign for this year’s disc!
I headed down early, stopping in at Alfredos for some filthy chips and a 10″ pizza on the way. Just as I arrived, the bean pulled into the car park. Grinning, he emerged from his newly acquired vehicular transportation, “I thought you said you were leaving at 7.30pm?”
D’oh!
Date: January 24th, 2007 |
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Jackson sighting confirmed
Oh, it’s true. Back in October I mentioned that Michael Jackson was in town and the US show Access Hollywood has just released an interview they shot with the king of pop in Grouse Lodge studios, Westmeath last month. It was released in a local paper and here are the videos, for your celebrity viewing pleasure:
Date: November 11th, 2006 |
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Michael Jackson in Westmeath?
So I picked up one of the local papers and the front page states that “sources” have revealed that Michael Jackson is recording his next album here in Ireland at Grouse Lodge Studios. Grouse Lodge is an extremely posh recording studio boasting such clients as Bonnie Rait and The Frames. It doubles as a spa and hotel for recording studio clients. Jackson, however, the article claims, is not staying at Grouse Lodge, he’s rented out Luggala Castle for a whopping €30,000 a week.
Must be nice to be rich and weird.
Speaking of weird, there were news reports …
Date: October 29th, 2006 |
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