What have the Oxfam Shop, Kilkenny Castle, Cleeres, MacDonagh Junction, St Canice’s Cathedral and the Castlecomer Estate Yard got in common?
A varied bunch, but they are all venues during this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival. There are over 50 venues listed in the programme, so there’s no excuse for not sampling what’s on offer over the 10 days.
Contemporary music gets it’s strongest outing to date, with shows in the Parade Tower, Cillín Hill, St Canice’s Cathedral and Cleeres.
The big names here are Spiritualized, Mercury Rev and Lisa Hannigan, but there’s also a series of shows featuring some of the more interesting Irish bands, plus a chance to check out a bunch of talented acts from the local scene.
Davy Holland has been working on his Good Tiger project for a couple of years now and their debut album, ‘The Dynamics of Alcatraz’, has received very favourable reviews. They support Lisa Hannigan at the Parade Tower on Saturday, August 9, so make sure to get along early for their set.
The other bands from the Kilkenny area will all perform at the ‘Wired at Cleeres’ series during the festival. The bands selected are Jazz Panda, A Safe Dry Place, House of Cosy Cushions and Supernova Scotia. They all play music as imaginative and entertaining as their names suggest and will share the stage with some of the more cutting edge acts performing in Ireland today.
WHAT ELSE?
There’s 66 pages in Arts Festival programme, offering an immense range of events over the 10 days, with attractive offerings every day.
I don’t know what the long range weather forecast is like, but if the rain does fall a day at the movies on Saturday August 16 might be a good call.
This is a marathon day at the Cineplex and the four films, plus a reading by Paul Durcan are a tribute to the late Donal McCann. It starts at 10 am and is due to finish sometime around 5 pm, although you can break it up and catch just a couple of the films if a full day is too much.
We’re finally down to the business end of the hurling championship with Cork sneaking in the back door for a tilt at Kilkenny on August 10. The following evening there’s a symposium called ‘The GAA and the Creation of Modern Ireland’ in Hotel Kilkenny at 6 pm. This is a great chance for hurling lovers to get together to celebrate, hopefully, a win the previous day. As well as the discussion there’s some rare hurling footage from the 1940s to the 1960s.
There’s an impressive panel of speakers at the symposium, including Ballyhale native PM O’Sullivan, a one man encyclopaedia of information on Kilkenny hurling and single malt Scotch whiskies.
Later on that night at the same venue the magnificent Hayes and Cahill are performing. You can get a two-ticket package for both for €28, sounds like a great deal to me.
I often wonder why Kilkenny hasn’t made more of it’s literary connections and ran one of those summer schools that attract visitors from all over the world. We have the Jonathan Swift and George Berkeley connection and now the great American playwright, Eugene O’Neill. His father, James O’Neill, was born in Kilkenny and was married to a Quinlan, another name that’s fairly common here. I’m not quite sure where exactly he was born, but all should be revealed at the talk by Fintan O’Toole on Thursday August 14, entitled, ‘Eugene O’Neill and Kilkenny’.
This is being held in the new Heritage Council building up beside St Canice’s Cathedral. I’ve never been in behind those great walls, so this is a chance to have a look around and learn something new at the same time.
Yes, it should be a great 10 days and tickets for all shows are available from the box office in Parliament Street. There’s a huge range of visual art exhibitions also, always a good excuse for a ramble around town, stopping off for a pint or a coffee in the middle of the day.
MOMMA, I JUST KISSED A MAN!
Brian Cowan could adapt the old Queen song for his next gig on the back of a lorry in Offaly. Had nobody told him what to expect when he met the French Prime Minister?
Could Bertie not have told him that a lot of these European fellas, especially the French, Spanish and Italians go around kissing everything in sight, be it man, woman, child or animal. Lots of them carry handbags and use moisturiser also, for God’s sake.
Now this may be all new to the citizens of Clara, Tullamore or Edenderry, but he’s going to have to do a lot more of it during his reign as Taoiseach.
I got used to this kissing business during my two month spell in France last winter. All it takes is a little practice and it will become as natural as shaking hands or a slap on the back. He could practice with an old football or maybe even Mrs Cowan.
The good news for Brian is that there is never, ever any tongue involved. In fact when he gets more expert at the technique there needn’t even be any lips involved. A quick brush of stubble to stubble is all that’s required, but this takes precision that only comes with practice, so get working with that football.
