The Harp that Once, Lyrics

Look what I found, right in time for tomorrows’ afternoon concert…

Your D B

The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls

THE harp that once through Tara’s halls

The soul of music shed,

Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls

As if that soul were fled.

So sleeps the pride of former days,

So glory’s thrill is o’er

And hearts that once beat high for praise

Now feel that pulse no more!

No more to chiefs and ladies bright

The harp of Tara swells;

The chord alone that breaks at night

Its tale of ruin tells.

Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,

The only throb she gives

Is when some heart indignant breaks,

To show that still she lives.

Thomas Moore

The Harp That Once at The Dock

No point in making yer mouth water and announce or introduce Cherish The Ladies to you as their concert on Wednesday night is absolutely and frightfully sold/ booked out and The Ladies will be playing to a full house! Although there is always hope, and for the hopeful ones we do have a waiting list in case of cancellations! So yeah, this is the little clip for ticket holders and hopeful ones!

http://youtu.be/XfaNYgDsnrI

If you won’t make it there don’t forget that we have a wonderful afternoon show of harp music, story and song on this Thursday with Cormac De Barra and Glynnis Casson at 2pm! Great way of breaking the day and doing something rather unusual with your Thursday afternoon, and if you look into the programme, a magic kind of afternoon The Harp That Once promises! Good news for the lovers of their creature comforts: special pre or post show deal for ticket holders – enjoy a delicious tea or coffee and cake for only 2.50Euro. I certainly would not mind that in the slightest, especially that time of the day!

Maybe see you there,

Your D B

On My Radar 3, Monday Morning

Good Morning folks, it is the Monday of a long week ahead for me, so if you even remotely feel the same, pause here, take about 3 minutes, click on the link below, draw a stickman and see what happens…

Worry not, there is a mini message in all that too!

And yes, absolutely, if you are on top of the world this morning, you too pause here, take about 3 minutes, click on the link below and draw a stickman and see what happens…

www.drawastickman.com

 Have fun,

Your Dock Blogger

Culture Night at The Dock, the after-effects

Culture Night is done and dusted, pity I missed most of the workshops, I saw some amazing vintage hair-bands being done, damn, but somehow I got chatting to people and it slipped my mind to join the girls. DJ-ing Paul Cunningham got the teenagers going, turning records like in the olden days and testing the newest of the new equipment to be a shock jock as well. DJ Sweet Cup aka our Natalia took over from there, sweetly, gently, and people just relaxed into the surroundings, you know, when you kind of should go home but then again you don’t really want and need to.

The fashion show was over far too quickly for my liking, I had just grabbed a seat and ended it was, I had not realized that Rock&Roll Tea Party Co and Dirty Fabulous may be new aspiring businesses with a small range of products yet, lets wish them all the best and good luck on their way to success!

Regarding Audrey’s conversation with Philip Delamare I heard she got involved in a rather lively discussion about art and carpets in general, but it became more transparent to some how dimensions are perceived, what art tutors hold dear and important but it might not really matter in the end, how to see objects with one eye and what Audrey’s two and a half dimensions may mean to her. Anybody who heard what Bayard Eade as the title of her current work means, please feel free to comment here, I’d rather gladly know! Otherwise there is one more chance to get close to the work of Tracy Hanna and Audrey Reynolds as The Docks’ curator Alice Lyons will lead a walk through the galleries for us to gain insight in the exhibitions in an informal and friendly setting on the 20^th of October at 2pm, and everyone is more than welcome and admission is free.

The absolute highlight of this years’ Culture Night for me is the photo exhibition in the Jury Room Café, shots of outstanding quality presented in a very professional manner, it is hard to believe that this work is coming from so to speak amateurs, a lot of those pictures deserve to be in the limelight, well, in my humble opinion at least! Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think! If you are interested in photography yourself it might be worth to look even into joining the Boyle Camera Club,  http://boylecameraclub123.blogspot.com/ they are meeting once a month for a slide show of their work and use Flickr as a website for tips and tricks on the trade, to share and jury the shots amongst themselves and learn from one another hands on. Gosh, I am thinking of joining them myself right now!

I didn’t stay on for the life drawing workshop and the saxophonist as I had a hard days’ work ahead of me, but anybody who did please let us know how that went! Its your turn now, comment, let us know, share what you got out of and thought of our Culture Night!

Your Dock Blogger

The Dock for Culture Night

Culture Night, 23^rd of September, an evening crammed with things to do, to hear and see, to join in, where do I start? I better stick to The Dock only for now, even though I am aware there is the Poetry and Prose Stroll on in Drumshanbo at 7.30, a group walk around the town with readings from the organizers and guests, and members of the public are strongly encouraged to join in and read their own or someone else’s work along the way. So much for my little advertisement for The Written Word Weekenders AKA organisers Eileen O Toole and Stephen Rennicks.

Anyway, back to The Dock, Culture Night really starts at 4.30pm with a kids craft workshop What are you made of?, 6pm is Writers workshop with Belinda Mc Keon, We love Vintage Workshop, Djing Workshop (aimed at all age groups so bring your teenager along as well!), and Life Drawing facilitated by Laura Gallagher. That is only the workshops so far, take your pick and get creative, Culture Night is for free, quite brilliantly so, an opportunity not to be missed for sure!

The Photo Exhibition of the Boyle Camera Club will be opened at 5.30, if my memory serves me right from now on the Jury Room Café will provide wall space for exhibitions too, all the more reason to have a cuppa there!

In the theatre space you’ll find the Teen spirit productions running from 6pm onwards, meaning that the film and music created by participants during our recent Teen Spirit Music Summer Camp will be on show throughout the evening.

And there is always more, 6 till 10.30pm DJ Sweet Cup will be keeping the vibe very Rock n Roll, and at 8.30 Saxophonist Cathal Roche will be on the scene as well.

And yes, there is more again: Vintage fashion Show and Makeovers at 8pm, if you are looking for a ‘special one of a kind’ dress, this event is not to be missed! I know at least two of my girls getting married this winter, girls I hope you are reading this, there is DRESSES to be chosen yet!

Last but not least, the previous mentioned artists’ talk, Audrey Reynolds in conversation with Arts Officer Philip Delamare at 7pm, so if you want to find out more about Bayard Eade, join Audrey and Philip up in the galleries and ask those questions of yours!

Hustle bustle ahead, lets conquer the colder season with those colourful antics that we’ve got planned for you  and all of us! I most certainly can’t wait!

 Your Dock Blogger

Culture Night in Leitrim

From live performances, workshops and gallery tours to talks, drama, dance and a whole range of other creative activities, Culture Night offers a cultural form to appeal to all tastes…

Watch this space for more! Your D B

Fight Night at The Dock

Ha, this nearly slipped my mind, before Culture Night on Friday there is Fight Night on Thursday, 8.30pm the usual at The Dock.

Set in the boxing world, the ancient story of fathers and sons and the sons becoming fathers and a wheel turning full circle and the road to redemption travelled once again in history of mankind.

 http://youtu.be/44tuOEPBoGk

 Winner of Best Actor and Bewley’s Little Gem award, at last year’s Absolute Fringe, this fast paced and engaging solo performance combines intense physicality with a classic Dublin wit (always loved tha’!) in a storytelling experience that will leave the audiences both exhausted and exhilarated. (Hope not too exhausted, but then again, for the sleep-troubled amongst us this may be a cultural solution!)

Fight Night performs at The Dock for one night only, just before its run at Dublin Theatre Festival this October.

One Chance. One Shot. Fight Night. No Excuses.

Enjoy, Your D B

Audrey Reynolds, Bayard Eade, and Culture Night at The Dock

Well, I did ask Audrey Reynolds what the title Bayard Eade of her current exhibition at The Dock means, I kind of can’t believe that none of you has asked this yet! And would you believe it, she is like so not telling me! Instead she is inviting me and definitely all of you along to her conversation with Leitrim Arts officer Philip Delamare where she will be discussing her work on Culture night 23^rd of September at 7pm in The Dock. In my humble Google research I found only something like Victorian male names, the auburn-haired-one, and a notable English family name emerged in the county of Worcestershire… lets see if that even remotely hits the spot, and have a look at Audrey’s work in gallery 2 and 3 of The Dock too!

Culture Night looks busy, happy, creative, full of stuff to see and do around town, I’ll be telling you all about that tomorrow! Look at the What’s On programme in the meantime, make your plans for Friday night, don’t forget that there is kids stuff to be doing too, and check back with me tomorrow for many more details on all of that!

 Your Dock Blogger

Jape live at The Dock, an afterthought

And for the ones much younger than the ones still remembering Pat Benatar’s Love is a battlefield have a glance at those glorious Eighties!

http://youtu.be/CjY_uSSncQw

Your D B

Jape live at The Dock

Good morning folks, the sky is clearing up making room for the odd sunny spell and I am telling you all about Friday night now! Jape at The Dock, to fill in the ‘late-comers’, but most of you know that by now!

That night’s gig was very very good, I dare to say splendid if not glorious!  Driving rhythms both acoustic from an excellent drummer and electronic from an array of synthesisers, samplers and drum machines were woven through washes of melody and melancholia realised through intricate electric guitar and bass playing.  Wow, what a sentence! The set was upbeat and at times really funky. It veered into crunchy electronic territory with twisted baselines but also contained infectious electric guitar lines.  Not surprisingly the best received tune of the night was ‘Floating’ reworked for the live context with samba style percussion. But that song from the foyers’ laptop gently hounded whoever hung out at The Dock in the last couple of weeks, so it found in earwigs’ manner its way into our brain! Richie Egan likened one of Jape’s new tracks to Pat Benatar’s 80’s hit ‘Love is a Battlefield’, which drew some laughter from an attentive and enthralled audience, but for me as an Oldie that twist seems rather cute! You can tell that a wide range of music influences members of Jape as their new material is littered with opaque and sometimes transparent references to rock, indie, dance, pop and world music styles.  Some of the new material is slow and thoughtful, some full on funky but instantly memorable with some very catchy hooks and clever lyrics.  It was all delivered with energy, great playing and no small amount of good humour.  If their drummer doesn’t collapse some time in the future from the lack of an on stage supply of water they are surely heading for the big time! Sorry for the folks who missed out on that one!

Have a great week ahead,

Your Dock Blogger