I hope you all enjoyed the lovely Winter Market, the smell of baked goods and mulled wine, the handcrafted goodies. I had a ball for sure, lots of chats, small little presents for my gang, and to put icing on the occasion I caught my beloved sneakily buying the vintage skirt I had looked at beforehand and put away again, being good and all that! I know that he doesn’t know that I know, so I will have to wait till Santa puts it under the tree I guess!
Back to Friday night at The Dock, I so love Open Season, the different colours, textures, and how every one of the artists translates a glimpse of a moment, an idea, a feeling or whatever notion into his or her own piece of work, into art… Looks like the first pictures have been bought already, Christmas pressies are being wrapped, the hustle bustle of Friday night in The Dock was a joyful one, the opening words all about hope during gloomy times, the choir songs resounding through the foyer full of warmth and excitement, well done kids! Familiar faces in the crowd, nice to keep bumping into John Mc Dwyer all the time now after having interviewed him, people staying behind chatter boxing about the new exhibition or taking a second and third look at a particular piece of work.
Good few of the crowd stayed on for Ailie Blunnie’s –AND BAND – gig, and I have to say the sisters are getting even more funny by the day, I didn’t think that possible! It’s all about not mentioning the band, Roisin just being there for the sweets anyway, the golden boyfriend getting his bass solo in and the back vocalist being handed a dictionary for the French songs. The stage looked all christmassy and white and glittery, how do the Blunnie’s make even Wispy’s snowmen look beautiful and classy? My daughter thought the whole show most hilarious and almost a comedy as well as unbelievably good and catchy songs, two for the price of one, even though she was rather embarrassed by her mother clapping for additional songs at the end of the night! All in all, a brilliant night at the Dock, delighted that the bar was open for drinks at the interval, as my Dock Blogger ears picked up concerns about that in the crowd beforehand, and yes, I love my interval drink too, even though you’d probably chuckle at my choice of beverage! Davy and Andy are getting used to it by now though, and it is lovely to feel part of the gang even in those small ways.
As you noticed, the Dock Blogger Identity didn’t get revealed on the night, somewhat due to unforeseen chock-a-block business during the week, but more importantly for the poll results on the blog – the majority of you wants to keep the mystery going for a while, even though it was close nose-to-nose, but nevertheless the mystery callers made it to the top!
Now, all we’re waiting for is for the new website layout to hit our screens, the minute that happens I can press send on this post, upload my pictures from the night and let you in on my secret mystery clip of 23seconds Ailie Blunnie sound-checking before the gig! The light at the end of the video is Keith in the sound box, once you know it it’s obvious, and he didn’t want to be filmed anyway! But yes Keith, brilliant job on the night, mesmerizing lights, as well as sounds, this time Roisin was busier slagging Ailie, so she forgot some of the elaborate praise that you deserve! Keith you rock! On a technical note: Right now the clip needs one rotation clockwise, so you need to adjust your neck and head at 52 degrees to the left at the moment, till I figure out how it’s done!
Check out the programme for December, there’s smashing performances ahead of us for big and small people, our new website at http://www.thedock.ie/ and the Open Season exhibition in the galleries, foyer and Café Bar! Have a great week,
Your Dock Blogger
ps: I sneak this post in for you due to personal impatience, lets see if it works or gets lost in the process of transferring the website!
