A good question, Christina. Answers on a postcard to Christina Aquilera, who originally posed the question.
It was a big weekend for festivals in Kilkenny with Rockfall rockin’ it out in venues all over town in aid of the O’Neill centre and raising over €25,000 much needed funds.
Then there was Savour Kilkenny bringing the best of local food to the menu all around the county and out in Freshford the Conker Festival enjoyed the best of weather on the Green.
I’ve had to rely on my highly paid group of Cleere Thinking scouts for the lowdown on the goings on locally as I spent the weekend in Cork, working with the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival and the various venues on the Music Trail. Life is a rollercoaster, as Ronan Keating sang once, and working with a jazz festival was never something I expected to do. I’ve been hitting the road to Cork for the last two years and have got to know (I think ) the place pretty well.
I visited over 40 pubs and venues over the weekend and sipped more coffee than I want to see again in the next 12 months. The Titanic film, with the orchestra playing as the ship sunk, came to mind. People from Kilkenny to Cork were whooping it up and having a good time. If the economists are right we’re doomed, so let’s forget about our troubles and relax, seemed to be the theme of the weekend.
Just when you thought the festival season was over...
What’s the best antidote to all the doom and gloom? How about a festival about the doom and gloom and how we’ve reached this point?
It looks like that what’s on offer at the upcoming ‘Kilkenomics Festival,’ running from November 11 to November 14. The event is the brainchild of Richard Cook, who previously brought Bickerstaffe Theatre Company and the Cat Laughs Festival to Kilkenny.
The thought of running a festival based on economics would have been laughed at during the Celtic Tiger days, but now, with the best seller book lists dominated by David McWilliams, Shane Ross and Matt Cooper it looks like economics is the new rock’n’roll. Add some comedians like Barry Murphy, Colin Murphy and Des Bishop to the mix and it should lead to some intriguing debates. In the words of the organisers, “Money is serious. Comedy is funny. This could be seriously funny.”
We heard of local councillors heading off to Killarney for a course on Facebook last week. This conveniently coincided with the Friday of the bank holiday weekend allowing the Facebook students to enjoy the benefits of a long weekend in the Kerry air after spending an arduous hour or so learning how to set up a Facebook account. Sean O Hargain and Andrew Mc Guinness are keen Facebookers locally, so I’m sure there was no need for any of our local representatives to face the long and tiring journey to Killarney for the weekend. Just give Sean or Andrew a shout and they’ll have you Facebooking and Tweeting in no time.
I will be expecting Brian Lenihan to round up all his Fianna Fail troops for the Kilkenomics Festival in a last ditch effort to learn something about the subject before finalising the budget. I hope he’s ordering a copy of "Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay" by John Lanchester (one of the participants at the festival ) , as the title just about sums up where we are right now.
I’m assured that use of phrases such as ‘going forward,’ ‘it’s not rocket science,’ ‘we are where we are’ and ‘best/worst case scenario’ will all be banned from the festival and will be punished by having to do five laps of the Castle Park with a large bag of unsold copies of Bertie Ahern’s memoirs strapped to your back.
The organisers are also planning to launch their own currency for the weekend and maybe by Sunday night we will have declared our own independent state. The currency is called the Marble and will be exchanged 1:1 with the Euro. They say it will actually be worth €1.10 and will have this magical quality to buy more stuff in Kilkenny (in pubs, restaurants, gigs, bookshops etc ). For one weekend only The Marble will be the strongest currency in Europe. The currency, it’s claimed, “ like Anglo-Irish bank is regulated by the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank of Ireland.”
I don’t see any plans for a soccer match similar to the comedian’s game during the Cat Laughs. It’s probably a bit late in the year for that, but maybe we could have a darts match with various bankers, developers and politicians pictures on the dartboard?
We all know we’re in an almighty mess and Kilkenomics promises to “Look for a way out with insight, humour and originality rather than depressing analysis of how we’re all going to hell in a hand basket.” It’s worth giving it a try. Full details of all events are on the website, www.kilkenomics.com
