Tag Archives: ireland

Events

Luka Bloom at the NCH this Saturday

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I heard this song on the radio this morning and have probably listened to it 20 times since. I’d forgotten how much I love his voice, his lyrics, his interpretations of the songs of others and above all his style of guitar playing which happened about when he had to alter his method due to a serious round of tendonitis.

So who is Luka Bloom? Well he’s the younger brother of Christy Moore born Kevin Barry Moore in Kildare in 1955. The stage name is a marriage between Luka from Suzanne Vega’s song ‘My name is Luka’ and Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses.

He has released a stack of albums over the years with his own rather unique flavour of folk/soul/jazz running through them. Luka is live in the National Concert Hall this Saturday with Eddi Reader as part of the ESB BEO Celtic Music Festival 09. Check out more of his music on lukabloom.com or say howdy on Facebook.

I happened upon this video below earlier when indulging in some of his live clips on YouTube. It was filmed as part of a documentary about him called ‘My Name is Luka’ a stone’s throw from my house in Ballyvaughan, Co.Clare where he apparently spends quite a bit of time. He talks about how songs can connect people and places even if they’ve never been there before. Got some gorgeous shots of the beach in too – look forward to visiting it at the weekend.

Random

5 things I learned today

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In no particular order…

  • Virginia Agricultural Show (Cavan) is 68 years old, has over 400 judging classes and €50,000 prize money up for grabs
  • Damien has a chocolate allergy but can handle the lower cocoa value stuff
  • You can do the local lotto for many GAA clubs in Ireland online at locallotto.ie
  • Microsoft will support IE6 until 2014
  • Gmail has been putting a lot of genuine emails into the Spam folder lately and it is rather annoying
Events

Playhouse – Daft.ie get funky with Liberty Hall

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The blurb goes like this:

“We will turn Dublin’s tallest building into a giant public canvas—and we want you to play with it. Our simple tools allow you to animate your thoughts and broadcast them on the city skyline.”

Today’s article in the Irish Indo says that 330 windows combined with some sophisticated LED lighting will turn Liberty Hall into a huge, electronic canvas as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival which runs from September 24th to October 11th.

Sounds wicked, and I’m loving the really cute n sexy website. Full info will be available on August 24th according to the www.daft.ie/playhouse page. In the meantime you can keep tabs on developments via Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and Flickr.

Thoughts

U2 360 countdown: post #6 – POP Music!

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U2 - POP
U2 - POP

While Achtung Baby remains my favourite U2 album, 1997′s Pop comes in at a very close second. I’ve heard U2 describe it as something like ‘their greatest unfinished piece of work’ and I agree entirely.

I think some of their best work is on that album from lyrics to riffs & beats to the gorgeous artwork.

Mofo – Live in Mexico

The accompanying PopMart tour was one of the most elaborate and iconic stadium shows to tour the world featuring a huge LED screen, a 100ft high golden arch and a huge mirrorball lemon. Similar to the previous Zoo TV tour, the lavish set & imagery were all parth of a theme designed to poke fun at consumerism, materialism & popular culture.

Gone – Live in Mexico

U2 brought the PopMart tour to Sarajevo becoming the first major band to play there after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina following a series of controversial satellite links to aid workers there during their Zoo TV tour.

Do You Feel Loved – Live in Las Vegas

The show was recorded in Mexico City in 1997 and was re-relased on DVD in 2007. If just for the spectacle alone, it’s worth a watch. I can still remember the first time I saw the video for Discotheque on TV & just loving the sound they were creating. I was in my last year of primary school at the time & remember wishing I had an older brother or sister to take me along on the bus trip to Dublin for the concert. I had to settle for watching the PopMart video once it was released & I watched it so often that it eventually wore out! Here’s hoping for one or two Pop classics this weekend in Croke Park :)

Discotheque – official video

Thoughts

U2 360 countdown: post #5

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360 stage at Croke Park, taken by @gavreilly
360 stage at Croke Park, taken by @gavreilly

First off, props to Gav for TwitPic-ing progress on the 360 stage construction that’s going on up at Croker – looking epic!

Today I’m picking out another song from Achtung Baby today, which is my favourite U2 album by a mile. When rooting around on YouTube for a video, I learned that the ‘single version’ was quite different and not nearly as raw & punchy as the original. According to U2.com, the single released was the ‘Temple Bar Edit‘. Recorded after a night in Dorans or The Mezz eh lads?

So forgive the visuals and enjoy the sounds, a compromise worthwhile I think you’ll agree :)

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (album cut)