Come Here To Me!

Maser/Damo Ballymun mural will be knocked Friday morning

-Image and above from MASER ART Facebook.

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This looks excellent, a really good idea.

Hollywood Babylon -Dublin’s Midnight Movie Film Club Running Saturdays fortnightly April to October 2011 and devoted to our favourite ‘disreputable’ movies.

Roughly speaking- movies best seen after Midnight, in company and with beer.

Curated guest screenings, re-imagined film posters by some of our favourite artists and designers, BYOB, intervals, trashy trailers, cigarette girls…

Hollywood Babylon, of course, is one of the best Misfits songs. Hollywood Babylon, we salute your name.

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Last night I attended the launch of a new exhibition at Kilmainham Gaol, centered around Gerry Hunt’s excellent 2009 graphic novel ‘Blood Upon The Rose’.

Of course, the title of the work came from a poem of Joseph Plunkett’s, one of the men executed for putting his name to the proclamation drafted by the leaders of the 1916 uprising.

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

Gerry Hunt gave a brief, excellent and very modest talk on the work, noting that he wished to tell the story of the insurrection rather than get tied down with individual heroics, yet stating he was drawn to the character of Plunkett. This is evidently clear to the reader of the work. It was more than fitting that Honor O Brolchain, grand-niece of Joseph Plunkett, was also present to deliver a fine talk on Joseph Plunkett, Grace Gifford and the importance of the jail among other things. It was interesting to hear that O’Brien Press are currently working on sixteen books on the leaders of the insurrection, one looking at each of the executed men. Fittingly, O Brolchain is the author of the upcoming work on Plunkett. I remember my first visit to Kilmainham as a youngster, and being drawn to the story of Grace Gifford, a woman with a story to tell that goes on long after her tragic wedding.

The exhibition at Kilmainham is made up of large panels which show a selection of scenes from the book, ranging from the last meeting of the signatories of the proclamation at Liberty Hall to the battle of Mount Street Bridge. Along with the panels however there are many items on display which have not been on display before in the jail or elsewhere. Among the items displayed one finds a shell fired from the Helga and one of the final letters of the executed Con Colbert.

A similar exhibition around the work took place recently in the Pearse Museum, but the items displayed here are new to this presentation, meaning a visit is worthwhile even for those who visited the ‘Blood on the Rose’ exhibition at Scoil Eanna.

The launch last night was well attended, with many relatives of those featured in the work present. Be sure to get in for a look.

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Jesus, with these examinations, I’m living under a very uncool rock.

Record Store Day, an international celebration of real music shops, takes place this Saturday.

A few days ok we posted up the details for what looks like an excellent Record Store Day party at R.A.G.E on Fade Street. All City have a great night planned in Twisted Pepper too.

Up on Wicklow Street, it looks like Tower are going all out. Hawk & A Hacksaw and Lykke Li should see the place jammers. I look forward to it. Say hello.

TOWER LIVE STAGE (Wicklow St) PRESENTS

Hawk & A Hacksaw 12pm
Steve Mason 12.45pm
Lykke Li 1:30pm
Enemies 2:15pm
Kanyu Tree 3pm
Squarehead 4pm
Ham Sandwich 5pm
The Answer 6pm

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I actually popped into R.A.G.E today for a look, and the vinyl section makes me wish the bank balance had a few extra 0’s on the end of it. The best present I was ever given was a vinyl player, and an international day to celebrate those who continue to operate shops where the format is paramount is most worthy of celebration.

R.A.G.E have lined up a great day of music, giveaways and fun for International Record Store Day. Drop in and say hello.

Squarehead- Fake Blood.

Sweet Jane-Bleed.

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An honest and natural slum dialect is more tolerable than the attempt of a phonetically untaught person to imitate the vulgar dialect of the golf club; and I am sorry to say that in spite of the efforts of our Academy of Dramatic Art, there is still too much sham golfing English on our stage, and too little of the noble English of Forbes Robertson.

George Bernard Shaw writing in the preface to Pygmalion.

It is pretty remarkable that is has taken 100 years for Pygmalion to make its way to The Abbey. After such a long wait, it’s about time Eliza Doolittle made her way to the stage.

My introduction to Shaw was, unusually enough,John Bull’s Other Island. His satires and humour greatly appealed to me, and I’ve read a great deal of his works, letters and social commentary. Class, of course, is a reoccurring theme in Shaw’s work. Shaw laid down many of his thoughts on the structures of capitalist society in writings collected for The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism. Women’s independence, as much as class struggle, was something which greatly interested Shaw.

It is useless to pretend that religion and tradition and honor always win the day. It is now a century and a half since the poet Oliver Goldsmith warned us that ‘Honor sinks where commerce long prevails’; and the economic pressure by which Capitalism tempts women grew fiercer after his time. We have just seen how in the case of the parents sending their children out to work in their infancy to add a little to the family income, they found that their wages fell until what they and the children between them could earn was no more than they had been able to earn by themselves before, so that in order to live they now had to send their children to work whether they liked it or not.

Of course while Pygmalion triumphs as romantic comedy, Shaw’s play takes aim at the British class system and the role of women in the society of the time.

It is perhaps Shaw’s most celebrated work. After 100 years, it’s great to see it arrive at The Abbey, which has delivered such excellent works in recent times. I look forward to attending.

On the Abbey stage Wednesday 27 April – Saturday 11 June
Previews
Wednesday 27 April – Tuesday 3 May
No performance Monday 2 May

Monday – Saturday evening 7.30pm, Saturday matinee 2pm
Tickets: €13 – €40

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A quick repost here, I saw this featured on the website of Liberty, the newspaper of the Siptu union.

Notice of Public Protest Say no to the trivialisation of rape!

Protect the rights of women and migrants to protest with dignity and respect!

PROTEST AGAINST RAPE COMMENTS BY GARDAI

Dáil Éireann – Friday, 8th April at 1pm

If like many people in Ireland you were shocked by the recordings of Gardaí in Mayo making disparaging and threatening comments about two women protesters – including the threat of rape and deportation – come join a silent protest this Friday 8th April at 1pm at Dáil Eireann.

The gathering will:

Stand in solidarity with the women concerned
Support the right of women everywhere to protest without fear of rape or violence
Demand an end to the trivialisation of rape
Support the right of migrants to protest without the threat of intimidation or deportation
Voice our solidarity with victims of sexual violence
Call for a promptly delivered, robust and transparent enquiry into the behaviour of the Gardaí concerned
This protest is being organised by an ad hoc group of organisations and individuals concerned with justice, equality, and women’s and human rights.

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