Come Here To Me!

This is a great watch. As Patrick Cooney from the campaign to save Moore Street asks, in 2016 will visiting world leaders find the laneways of 1916 or a shopping centre?

While I find it difficult to pay too much heed to politicians of green or blue stock, the relatives and campaigners, along with ordinary Dubliners going about their business, make this video an excellent insight into the issues. Lord Mayor Gerry Breen seems more concerned about a retail gap on O’Connell Street than Moore Street. “I come from a business background” he notes, before asking “how relevant is 1916 to the Facebook generation?”

This is the same Gerry Breen who recently welcomed anti begging laws in the city centre by noting:

I would have encountered eight beggars on a short walk through the city now I’m seeing just one. Begging is much more random now and it is not as pervasive or aggressive as it was before the new Act came into force.

Over 4,000 people have joined the ‘Save 16 Moore Street’ group on Facebook. Why don’t you become 4,013?

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The annual ‘Anarchist Bookfair’ is always a great event, taking place this year once more at Liberty Hall. In the past, the event has seen visiting speakers as diverse as historian Martha Ackelsberg and former blackpanter Ashanti Alston.

This year another diverse range of stalls and talks will make up the bookfair. PM Press, AK Press the Irish Labour History Society and more besides will be there on the day selling books, but the talks are always the real highlight of the event.

Among them will be a talk from Gabriel Kuhn, author of Soccer vs. The State, a work which provides a very different look at The Beautiful Game.

More details on the event are available here.

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8ft by 5ft. Can also double up at musical performances, though the choir aren’t up to much these days.

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…..and this is the League Cup!

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I’m literally about to hop in a car to follow my beloved Pats up to Derry, will this lad be there? Who knows.

Taken on the northside of the Liffey, I’m calling this one an agent provocateur!

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Previous ‘Plaques of Dublin’:
The Eagle Tavern, Lord Edward Carson.

With the weekend that is upon us, the latest in the ‘Plaques of Dublin’ series is a plaque related to the 1916 rebellion.

Sean Healy is one of the most remarkable characters in the story of the Easter rising, being the youngest casualty on the republican side. Born in Phibsboro in 1901, he was to lose his life in the same corner of the city he hailed from. He had been educated at Saint Peter’s National School in the area, and as early as thirteen was working as an apprentice to his father in the pluming trade.

Today, one finds the Volunteer hat of Sean Healy in the Soldiers and Chiefs exhibition in Collins Barracks. At fifteen, it is difficult to picture any youngster as a ‘soldier’ of course.

There is great detail of Sean’s experiences in the rebellion on the website of the National Graves Association where it is noted:

All day on Monday he waited expectantly for his mobilisation order. But he waited in vain, as the Fianna executive had decided that the younger boys were not to be called upon. On Tuesday morning he decided to go out and fight without orders. So he made his way across town and reported for duty to Commandant Thomas MacDonagh in Jacob’s Factory, near Aungier Street.

Some hours later he was given an urgent dispatch to carry to the officer commanding at Phibsboro Bridge. On his way he stopped at his home to let his mother know that he was safe and well. He left home within a few minutes and he had travelled only a short distance when he was shot at Byrne’s Corner, Phibsboro.

In Ben Novik’s excellent Conceiving Revolution, a study of Irish nationalist propaganda during the first World War, it is noted that early in 1917 a work entitled The Fianna heroes of 1916 was published by Cumann na mBan. This work featured an image of Sean on its back cover, and it was noted:

Young boys, little more than children, cheerfully offered their services and their lives in the sacred cause.

Image of Sean Healy from Ben Novik's Conceiving Revolution

Today, young Sean is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, not far from his home.

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Ci is off to Yeats Country on Friday, but for me it’s Derry. Our northside and southside clubs are both out of town. Any visit to Sandino’s, the Bogside and Derry city is worth taking so I’m excited about that. The Irish Taliban have seen to it you can’t enjoy a drink tomorrow, so if you’re one of us red and white Dublin 8 types hop in a car and come north.

The highlight of this weekend in Dublin has to be the Tivoli Jam. Graffiti, DJ’s, fun in the sun and some of the best Irish and international artists in the field. It runs Saturday in the Tivoli carpark from 12-6, I’ll be there post-work from about 3. Say hello.

The good people at Crackbird are running their new Saturday night special again. 2 quid beers and 5 quid for chicken AND beer? Crackbird, never leave us.

For those lucky enough to still have jobs and money to waste on nice things, Urban Outfitters are doing a Good Friday Party, with 20% off all clothes and free beers in the shop. Can’t go wrong with that really.

If you can over the weekend, get down to The Art Park, “Dublin’s largest outdoor visual arts screen”, which is showing ‘Maser is Home Made’ – a six-minute graffiti projection by Maser. It’s down by the back of the Convention Centre.

With the weekend that is in it, there are events around the city to mark the anniversary of the 1916 rising. My picks of these would be the new ‘Blood Upon The Rose’ exhibition at Kilmainham Gaol, the walking tour of Dublin with Bill O’Brien on Good Friday organised by éirígí and the unveiling of a plaque on Monday to Patrick Heeney, with a midday meet up at Liberty Hall. That plaque is being unveiled by the North Inner City Folklore Project, a group I have a great deal of time and respect for. Researching my own family, I’d love someone on this side of the Liffey to match their passion!

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As a Saint Patrick’s Athletic fan, I’ve had some mixed Euro match experiences. I don’t think I’ll ever forget getting a phonecall when abroad to tell me we’d defeated Elfsborg in Inchicore, or being on the edge of my seat watching Keith Fahey and the lads take the fight to Hertha Berlin in the R.D.S. Likewise, I’ll never forget Zimbru. Zim-fecking-bru, and the ’10 Nil To The Refugees’ chant that followed us everywhere for a while!

We might not lift the Europa League trophy for a while, but I will. If they let me touch it. The trophy is in Dublin now and there are plans to exhibit it for members of the public. Below are the dates. The trophy will be on both sides of the Liffey over the course of its stay. This time that is!

Airport Terminal 2………………………….April 20th – 25th
The G.P.O………………………………………April 26th – 28th
Dublin City Council Civic Offices……April 29th
Dublin City Hall………………………………April 30th & May 7th
Ilac Centre City Library…………………..May 9th – 15th
Dublin City Hall………………………………May 16th

Some memorable League of Ireland Euro nights:

(more…)

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I wouldn’t be a keen reader of Woman’s Way, what with being a man and all that, but someone in the house is.

Skimming it, I noticed a sizeable section dealing with the soaps:

And looking at Fair City, RTE’s wonderful and moving account of what it’s like to live on the northside of Dublin, I noticed this:

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Credit to ‘Sean Ryan’ on vimeo, who uploaded the video.

There was considerable controversy when eirigi announced their intention to behead an effigy of the Queen at the General Post Office. The above is a video of the event.

The guillotine has been chosen to make a very serious political point. It is closely associated with the French revolution, when the people of that country threw off the chains of monarchy in favour of freedom and republicanism based on equality, liberty and fraternity. And that was over two hundred years ago.”

“Yet two centuries later our people are still expected to bend the knee to a woman who was born into her role as head of the British state and commander-in-chief of the British military – a state and a military which continue to occupy the Six Counties.”

“The mock guillotining of Elizabeth Windsor symbolises that which needs to happen to all of those political and economic systems which are based upon inherited privilege, imperialism and class. The time of monarchy, imperialism and exploitation is well and truly past. Nothing makes that point quite as clearly as the guillotine.”

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“Do any of you know who I am?” she asks.

The roar suggests they do. It’s half one and I’m in a packed Tower Records, with hundreds of people standing around the shop to listen to Lykke Li. She’s just one act on the bill, with A Hawk And A Hacksaw and more besides joining her. The shop is packed with collectors (everyone from Toots and the Maytals to Roxy Music have limited edition records out for the day), music lovers and the generally curious who come in from the street upon hearing the noise.

Following Lykke Li, we pop into Freebird where my friend Jim has an order to collect. It’s a Nirvana record re-issued for the day that’s in it, extremely limited. eBay this morning suggests Jim had a brainwave there, though he makes it clear he won’t sell it. It will likely take pride of place on a mantlepiece.

Fade Street was buzzing, with R.A.G.E (Records Arts Games Emporium) hosting live acts through the day, not to mention sticking a DJ outside in the lovely weather. From about 5pm on, crowds gathered to chill out and relax to the sounds of sweet soul. Soul fans in particular will love the downstairs of R.A.G.E.

Image from R.A.G.E Facebook.

It was far from soul when we popped down to see Squarehead. An excellent live performance, you know a band are good when their live act involves passing a bottle of Buckie into a crowd. They’d already performed in Tower prior to making it to R.A.G.E. Passion is what we call that.

By the time we wrapped the day up via The Oak, Crackbird and the Workmans, we had a fine assortment of 7″ and 12″ records to boast of. What a beautiful format, and thankfully- what a beautiful day to celebrate it on.

Bring on next year.

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