“It’s no rumour ’cause its the same all over Dublin,
whether Blanch, Finglas, Ballymun,
Tallaght,Clondalkin to Crumlin”
I don’t own much in the line of Irish hip hop. Scary Éire, Collie’s excellent Is Ainm Dom and a few other albums are up on the shelf. What I like about these lads is the positivity of what they’re doing, and the fact they make no effort to hide their Dublin accents or backgrounds. These lads are releasing their music under the title ‘Working Class Records’ and there is a sense of pride at the centre of what they’re doing. There’s a lesson in there.
Good luck to you lads, and hopefully we’ll be hearing a lot more of you down the line. The video for ‘Products Of The Environment’ is well worth a look.
Without me even knowing it for a number of years, Glen E. Friedman had long been one of my favourite photographers. I only came to realise it was one bloke behind so many of my favourite images when I was given a copy of his work on Fugazi, the wonderful Keep Your Eyes Open.
Some of his images made their way to my teenage wall, and others featured inside magazines strewn across a bedroom floor. Images of Public Enemy, RUN DMC, Angelic Upstarts, The Misfits, Beastie Boys and Black Flag among others. Iconic images. Even if one isn’t familiar with the music of the artist featured on occasion, the images are wonderful in their own right.
Most of Friedman’s work covers the subcultures of skateboarding, hip hop and punk. To snap acts as diverse as Minor Threat and RUN DMC, but perfectly capture the rebellious spirit of both, is Friedman’s skill. His anti-war exhibition at New York City, featured in the excellent boingboing video posted above, was a new departure and acclaimed in it’s own right.
The exhibition of Friedman’s work is taking place as part of the Photo Ireland Festival.. It will host more than twenty completely free exhibitions. Excellent.
That time of the year again, when the Irish Film Institute roll out their annual Stranger Than Fiction festival. “Four days of documentaries that promise to entertain, inform and inspire” You can check out the complete line up over on the official IFI website, here.
Among the latest in the IFI Archive screenings, I am very, very excited about The Irish or the Memory of a People. Commissioned by French broadcaster ORFT3 in the early 1970s, this one was filmed at the height of the folk and trad revival in this country. It features performances from the likes of The Dubliners, Tony MacMahon, Willie Clancy and even Planxty. The Planxty footage was recorded at UCD Belfield campus, so bad jumpers and beards can be expected from the student folkies. The documentary features footage from inside Dublin trad and folk haunts like the Pipers Club, but indeed is much broader in scope than just the capital city.
The film will be shown on the 18th April (a Sunday) at 12.15
I’m also really excited by this one, which is getting its International Premiere in Dublin. I’m sure it will appeal to our own jaycarax and other fans of subcultures like it. From the time I heard ESG and Talking Heads in the trailer to when I read that Debbie Harry of Blondie fame is narrating the documentary, I’ve been on a google quest over this one.
“In the late 1970s New York City was teetering on the edge of total chaos. A failed economy, crime and en masse housing corruption gave way to a city in crisis. Yet, as is often the case, out of the economic and social strife that held the city hostage, a family of homegrown cultures that would forever change the world began to emerge and thrive”
This one will be shown on Friday the 16th April, with a 18.45 start. The producer, Michael Holman, will be on hand for a Q&A session afterwards.
Two very different documentaries.
Two very different cultures.
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 