Category: Uncategorized
-
The king and the heir
And so it’s down to two. Argentina and France. Messi and Mbappe. The king of football lines up against the man who looks to replace him. Sport rarely falls into simplistic categories but just maybe on Sunday afternoon these two great gladiators will both shine and the best man will emerge with the spoils.My head…
-
Down to four
From the point of view of the armchair football addict it has been a great World Cup. Entertaining matches, some surprising results, a lot of really good goals. 28 teams have departed, only 4 remain. Reigning champions France are looking good. Argentina have one of the greatest players of all time Lionel Messi. Croatia have…
-
A question of tone, another gig
As I wander along the road of musical learning I am becoming increasingly aware of the importance of good tone when it comes to the playing of my classical guitar. Angling my fingers into the strings in a consistent manner allows me to create a little extra pressure which brings about a better sound. The…
-
Joanne and Bill
Although there are several reasons why Qatar is an inappropriate venue for hosting the 2022 World Cup I have to admit that I have been somewhat glued to it. And the RTE coverage, to my mind, has been excellent. Star of the show is presenter Joanne Cantwell. Knowledgeable, provocative, never afraid to voice her opinion,…
-
Another great night
And so the second gig in The Great Institution of Chatham Street has come and gone, and by all accounts it was a big success. The quality of music was higher than the first time, the number of punters seemed increased and most importantly of all, more pints were probably knocked back. We had the…
-
They’re out to get me
It’s a relatively short walk home from The Great Institution to The Ranch, however there are times when it does have a certain marathon-like feel to it. And so it happened last night. After settling my affairs for two pints of the good stuff I made my way to the exit door and somehow managed…
-
Throwing mud
If you throw enough mud at something, then some of it will inevitably stick. And so it goes with the journey of mindfulness and awareness. I have been on this journey for over a year now and it remains a daily challenge. The whole thing of disconnecting from random thoughts, mostly from the past, is…
-
Dusting off the clarinet
So there I was, doing a bit of guitar practice with The Diligent Drumcondra Man and The Santa Dude. We got to chatting about the upcoming gig in The Great Institution of Chatham Street and before I had time to say that Acker Bill is your only man for clarinet, I had agreed to dust…
-
A second gig
The first one went really well and so the green light has been given to do another gig upstairs in The Great Institution of Chatham Street. Wednesday November 16 is the big night, kicking off at 8.30. A few changes will be made to the line up with a view to keeping things fresh. All…
-
A lovely evening
Over the years I’ve been involved in the organising of many events. Most have gone well, the occasional one has not. And so it was particularly pleasing to be able to put on what proved to be a very successful little musical gathering last night in The Great Institution of Chatham Street, the best pub…