Field of Tents

Actually, I have to bow out of this one, but dammit it sounds good.

Luvius was asked to take part in ... something going on in the "Field at Gurranabraher" on Sunday July 3.

No I don't know where it is, and yes I've heard the jokes abut every stolen car in Cork showing up there.

I do know that it's pretty clost to being a summer festival type event with all the trimmimgs.

I'm not too sure if I'll be able to make it... if I do, I'll tell you what I saw.

take care,
Will

Quotable Quotes

"Never believe anything until it's been officially denied" -- Claud Cockburn

Dark Week - Review

Part of the problems with being in a show is that there is sometimes something else on that you want to go to. This week had the Spiegeltent and Dark Week.

I genuinely want to know how they pulled Dark Week off, mainly because I'd like to use the same format for a thriller or a murder mystery.

You walk in the back door of the Everyman Palace Theatre where the "box office manager" explains how it works.
Barge in, open every door, watch what's going on, don't mess with the cast. Feel free to follow any character around (all the characters had full stage make-up on so it was easy to identify them). Just don't spend all your time in the bar.

Actually, you could. Annette Buckley was performing music hall and jazz classic in there, so it wouldn't be a waste.

And so we see the "last days" of the Palace (shortly before it got turned in to the Everyman Cinema ... or the last days of the Everyman shortly before it got turned in to the Palace Cinema. Not too sure on the order).

And I have no idea what happened.

I mean I could have stayed in the auditorium and enjoy the "rehearsal", but I'd have missed the backstage gossip. Well apart from the explosions of emotional breakups.

If it is being done again... I'm sticking with a character and sticking with them... then coming back for another character!

Part of the "design" is that you don't see the full picture. So it would work great for a thriller set in a theatre.

I hope it's possible to repeat it, or at least the genesis of it...

take care,
Will

The Pied Piper of water softners

Awoke this morning bright and early.... I really need curtins damit.

Actually I have curtins. It's curtin poles / rods that I need.

First off, Larry showed up. Larry does water softners. The most amusing thing about this was that Larry's arrival had a pied piper effect on the builders around the estate (the estate isn't finished, but most of the house is). For some unknown reason, everyone in the area is really interested in water softners? It wouldn't have something to do with the really limey water in the area?

The unit itself is roughly 30 cm wide and fits in the press under the sink (where the mains comes in. It works by ion exchange. I'm not too sure how brine causes a change in calcium rich water in order to negate each other but the end result is fresh unlimey water.

There is a residual sodium level. If anyone knows about 3 way taps on sale in Cork, please let me know. At the moment however it looks like the outside tap is going to have an occasional jug attached to it.

If there is interest in Larry, I'll post his details on the blog...

Then he left and my floors arrived. Most people seems to think I was getting laminate flooring. No...
Carpets and lino.
Carpets don't need much of an explanation, but the lino... well, after I've finished the move, and I get part of my life back I'm intending to go cycling again.

This means that I'll be cycling in all weathers. Arriving home, a dripping bike and a sodden rider will make their way in to the kitchen. I need floors which can handle water. Laminate can't.

Dar O'Mahony also gave me a tip for the limescale. Stick half a lemon in the kettle and it should stop the scumy tea.

I'll try it out.

Oh well, off for the last night of the show...

take care,
Will

Something wicked this way comes

A pall of smoke hung over the City as we left the old church.
Fires blazed around the hill sides, and I left the flames behind me as I drove North in the darkness and entered the door.

In a less dramatic sense... I left the show in the Vision Centre on bonfire night and went "home". I'm now a resedent of Fermoy. I'm still going to be moving things for a while but this is it. I'm moving.

take care,
Will

Go way ye Tarry Boy

Do ye know the expression "Go way ye Tarry Boy"? Well someone told me that years back a priest up by the Lee Fields felt very strongly about couples carrying on behind the bushes. So, he put black tar on the branches, and of course fellas got tar on their ars... Their backs. The next day, sure people would see it and the saying was coined "there's a tarry boy for ye".
-- Excerpt taken from 'The Girl from Blarney Lane' written by Frank McGee. It will be performed as part of Corkonians in the Cork Vision Centre opening tonight and closing on Friday 24 June.

Mix it up

One of the nice things of MP3 blogs is that you discover complete unknows.

Or in this case, a relative unknown.

Gavin Hardkiss, appart from having a name designed to be a Bond character is a producer and DJ and, well he does good sh/t.

He also seems to like mash-ups (be warned 100mb downloads).

However he dosent have a style. Most, er, electronic artists / groups have a style to themselves, Gavin doesn't (compare "ooh ooh ooh" with "makes me sad", actually go listen to "makes me sad", it's on the little player in the GavinHardkiss.com site. That track should be released as a single (or covered) right now). I think he's worked a little too long in advertising.

However, it means he's perfect for soundtracks... after all, you want the music to fit the picture, not the other way around.

take care,
Will

It's a smoke alarm on a string

Ever had a "I should have thought of that" moment?

Well it's the case for me with the Snap Alarm Smoke Detector. This little gadget is, well it's a smoke alarm. It open up and grips on to the central light cord found in most rooms.

So you have a smoke alarm mounted near (almost on, but the ceiling rose sort of stops that) the ceiling. And no holes in the ceiling.

The english language pages are borderline funny in a badly translated way, but maybe that's just me.

Take care,
Will

Michael Jackson got off.

Really? With whom?
Overheard - Cork City

Blog the business

Well I barely made the Blogging for Business event. Finally the Admin and the Bellringer got the timing right, and a couch made it's way from the Admin's house to mine via the Bellringer's van.

I'm not too sure why he has a camper van, but even the evidence of hound of the Bellringer didn't put me off. (For the record, a golden labrador. A very friendly in a lick you to death way dog). Of cource, it now turns out that I should have waited as I have to empty the room the the floorfitters.

When I made it to the meeting, I milled around in the atrium for a little while, wondering if I had missed everything and why there were lots of forty-something women there. (I now know that the atrium was double booked with an artist launch. Does not really explain the ladies who launch). Then I thought I recognised someone, and sure enough it was a rep from I.T.@Cork and followed her to find the event.

I missed Maura McHugh's and John Breslin's presentation, but I caught Richard Delevan's and Tom Raftery's. Copies of the presentation are available here.

To be honest, blogging for business (not quite the same thing as a business blog) is great thing if, and mostly if, you are a small to medium company. It is really true of you rely on the internet to drum up business. I'm not saying that you are an internet based business, after all Fota House is not exactly a hot bed of techdom.

For something bigger, Tom's talk on having a customer service rep scan a blog roll for complaints sounds like a good idea. But most big businesses don't trust initiative, and the contact sparked from the rep to the customer blogging the business is not something I see most banks doing. Especially of the "conversation" is going to be available for all to see in the comments.

take care,
Will

p.s. No I didn't go to college with John Breslin. We do have mutual friends, which is how my confusion began.

I'm often confused.

How stupid is this...

The arrival of the Spiegeltent La Gayola is a big deal for the Cork Midsummer Festival (which strangely enough seems to be unrelated to the City of Culture despite it showing up on their site).

However since Cork seems to have different licensing laws to the rest of the country, they have to opperate under a club license.
Which means you have to be a member of the club for at least 24 hours before you can go in.
Which means you have to buy your tickets at least 24 hours in advance.

This thing is turning in to a mess.

take care,
Will

A pocket full of Posies

I've gotten word of a mojor comeback, bu tI can't remember them at the height of their powers. The Posies hit the comeback trail with an Irish tour including a stop in the Cruiscin Lan on July 22.

Yup, album promoting, Every Kind Of Light. Oddly enough the band's lead will be in Ireland before the tour as part of REM's touring band.

It probably pays for the tour.

Take care,
Will

If it's not one thing it's another

Looks like I won't be facing the tunnel on Thursday. The Blogging for Business event is on Thursday in the National Software Centre at in Cork at 6pm.

And I'm going. (Just finished registering).

The strange thing is I think I know the speakers.

I think I might have gone to school with John Breslin.

Strangely enough I've never thought of blogging in a business. I can see a few applications, but the problem with saying something on the net is that you might say something you shouldn't.

And that something will be cached and used against you.

On the other hand, deep behind a bunch of firewalls, I can see it used to document how something is working. What's being seen. When things stopped happening (for good or bad).

As a marketing tool, maybe not. A press release is a press release (I've posted enough of them over the wires), reformatting it doesn't help it much.

A blog also works best when others can comment, add their two cents.
In anyone knows how I can turn that thing on here, let me know please.

take care,
Will

too much information

There have been a scarcity of posts from this direction for a while.

Normally when a blogger stops posting for a while, it's because nothing has happened.

In my case it's because I'm too busy to post.

There was a bit of a crisis at work, which meant late nights.
To complicate matters, I was also in the Cork Arts Theatre one act play competition. Acting in one play and directing another.

The funny things about a play is that, well, when the show is on, the night goes smoothly. You start about an hour before hand to get ready (as an actor, most of the technical end of things, you end up starting earlier), do the show and you leave. During the rehearsals, that's when all the late nights begin. And the later they get the closer to the opening night you get.

I'm also a bastard of a director, I keep people in a little too late.

Well, we won the production prize. And the cast are still talking to me.

So that's why I haven't been posting.
That and the fact that my machines are carefully split up and packed in to boxes for the house move.

I'm leaving the city and moving to Fermoy. Soon I'll experience the 'joys' of the tunnel during rush hour.

Don't worry. You'll all get the boring moving stories (moving stuff up to the house over the weekend, no really tales of a capital of culture eh?).

take care,
Will

Deep (link) throat

Yesterday Damien Mulley wrote about the geeker side of the "unmasking of Deep Throat... "This leads me on to the idea that Amazon and other online stores should have a Google Zeitgeist style frontpage where people can buy merchandise based on today's and this week's main news stories."

Actually such a thing almost exists.
The Weblog Bookwatch searches weblogs that pass through the Recently Changed list at weblogs.com looking for links to books at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Powells. If a newsworthy story has a book attached to it, then if someone blogs about it (and in this case links to a relevant site) then it shows up.

It shouldn't be that hard for example NewsMap (currently the "Deep Throat" story is the largest) parses news stories to "lump" them together. In theory you could cross link the news stories with searches in Amazon (or pick your web shop of choise) and there you go. The topical shop.

Given how oftern saw G.W. Bush is in the news, which of the many books about him (both for and against him) would be linked to his stories?

And here's hoping that "Deep Throat" links are connected to "All the President's Men" and not the namesake...

Take care,
Will

Listings

Tuesday May 31 - Saturday June 18
Bouncers by John Godber in the Everyman Palace Theatre. 8pm It had to come back. Centering around a Friday night out in Cork City, this play is an hilarious parody of the nightclub scene in Cork....giggly girls, lads on the make, lager louts and smooth talking DJ's all set against the glitzy glamour, flashing lights and pulsating beat of the dance floor. Directed by Neil Pearson, with music mix by Stevie G.

Monday June 6
Sons & Daughters (with British Sea Power) play Cyprus Avenue The La's, which today comprises Lee Mavers, John Power, Jay Lewis and Nick Miniski, play in the Savoy Tickets priced from €22.50 (Cork)

Thursday June 9
The Amazing Pilots head out to Cyprus Avenue in support of Hello My Captor bringing Iain Archer with them for support.


Friday June 10 – Sunday June 12
The Cobh Maritime Song Festival at the Sirius Arts Centre
A weekend of events celebrating our Maritime Heritage.

Tuesday June 14
Camille O’Sullivan plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Wednesday June 15
Fred & Ian Whitty plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Thursday June 16
Elephant plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Friday June 17
Manu & His Latino Band plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Friday June 18
Stanley Super 800 & Jape plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Sunday June 19
A new label, Faction, will be shaking its fist at you very soon. The brainchild of Ken Allen (former A&R man for Polydor and Independiente), the first fruit of its Irish loins will be a compilation album of already up and up-and-coming Irish artists from Hal and Republic Of Loose to Marshal Stars and The Immediate. And there are two launch parties in the Half Moon Theatre.
All Ages Daytime Gig feat... Republic Of Loose, The Marshal Stars, The Blizzards, and the BLAST.ie Band
and
Evening Gig feat...Republic Of Loose, The Marshal Stars, The Blizzards and Director.

Monday June 20
Paddy Keenan plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Tuesday June 20 - Saturday June 25
Luvius Theatre co. presents Corkonians in the Cork Vision Centre.
The Tailor and Ansty welcome you to their cottage for a night of song and story telling as the neighbours drop by.

Tuesday June 20 - Saturday June 25
Playgroup, Everyman Palace Studio and Cork Midsummer Festival present Dark Week. A large cast, haunting music and film projection, live singing and dancing fill the nook and crannies of this historic theatre and take us on a journey through the performances, character and backstage dramas of the building's past.
Doors open 7.30pm, no entry after 8.30pm. PLEASE NOTE ENTRANCE TO THE PERFORMANCE IS THROUGH A DOOR AT 17 ST. PATRICK'S QUAY (NEXT TO MACAU CASINO) - all tickets must first be purchased from Everyman Palace box office on MacCurtain Street.

Tuesday June 21
Sumu & Wiggle plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Wednesday June 22
John Spillane & Louis De Paor plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Thursday June 23
North Cregg plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Friday June 24
Shades & Waiting Room plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.
gather apace with the famous Spiegeltent taking up residence next month on

Saturday June 25
Sister & Boa Morte plays as part of the Cork’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in The Spiegeltent setup on Kyrls Quay.

Tuesday June 28 - Saturday July 2
Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer written and performed by Aidan Dooley in the Everyman Palace Theatre. The heroic tale of Tom Crean (1877-1938), the intrepid Antarctic explorer, is brought to life in this dramatic solo performance. Tickets: EUR23 / EUR15 conc.

Thursday June 30 - Sunday July 17
A star-studded season of music and comedy, taking place in a specially designed marquee in the Cork Showgrounds. Some of the biggest acts in Ireland and from abroad will perform live between June 30 - July 17, ensuring that this lavish, purpose-built marquee will be the city's entertainment hub for the duration. Instead of listing the acts I'm just foing to link the the Ticketmaster site for tickets to the shows and the details.


Sunday July 31
DJ Tiesto headlines at the first Global Gathering festival in Millstreet, Co Cork.