Monthly Archives: September 2011

The Comedy Interview: Neil Curran

  By Amanda | September 5, 2011 - 9:00 am | Comedy
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Neil Curran is 1/7th of the Laughalot Improv Group that are currently causing a storm in Dublin. He is also chairman and founder of NoDrama amateur drama group. I caught up with him before Laughalot’s recent resident gig in the Duke Pub to chat about the beginnings of Laughalot and improv in Ireland in general. Tell me about the Laughalot Improv Group? How did it form? Well Laughalot is a subsidiary of NoDrama Theatre group. NoDrama is an amateur drama group which I formed because I realised there were limited opportunities in Ireland for these types of groups. I asked around and went on various websites including Boards.ie and someone on there suggested I start my own group so I did and NoDrama was born. It’s something I have a big passion for. Do you have an acting/comedy background? Yes, there is a lot of acting in my background with … There’s more →

Literary Belfast launches on Tuesday

  By Ronan | September 2, 2011 - 12:00 pm | Books
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The biggest ever gathering of Belfast’s writers is to be held to mark the official launch of a series of new initiatives to highlight the city’s rich literary heritage and vibrant contemporary scene. On Tuesday, September 6, Belfast City Council and its various partners will officially launch ‘Literary Belfast’, with a gala evening at the Ulster Hall, featuring 14 writers reading from their works. These writers include Colin Bateman, Ciaran Carson, Patricia Craig, Leontia Flynn, Marie Jones, Michael Longley, Martin Lynch, Bernard MacLaverty, Owen McCafferty, Sinead Morrissey, Paul Muldoon, Frank Ormsby, David Park and Glenn Patterson. “The United Kingdom currently features as number one in a list, compiled by TripAdvisor, of the top ten literary destinations in the world, and literary tourism contributes up to £2.6 billion a year to the British economy,” explained Alderman Christopher Stalford, Chairman of BCC’s Development Committee. “To help us capitalise upon this massive market, … There’s more →

Album Review: Coastal Grooves by Blood Orange

  By Lisa McInerney | September 2, 2011 - 9:00 am | Music, The Culch
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Let me make this instantly, unequivocally clear: you’ll have read more objective reviews in your time. I have come to Blood Orange’s Coastal Grooves pre-convinced that Dev Hynes is a musical hero. If I could replicate his fidgety creativity in a my own literary endeavours, I would be a scribe fulfilled. Dev Hynes doesn’t sit still. He plays around with music. He chases sounds and pins them down and then bounds for the next target. He’s best known as Lightspeed Champion, but Dev’s latest project, Blood Orange, isn’t just a side venture, taken to knit various half-songs together until it’s time to start recording seriously again. Coastal Grooves is a fantastic album from start to finish: tight, cohesive and compelling. It’s not a sidenote on Dev’s discography. Lo-fi funk with an understated cool, Coastal Grooves is an album for late-night chilling and headphone grooving. There’s a dash of oriental influence, … There’s more →

Andy’s ‘Top Five Lovely Scenes of Lovely People Acting Lovely’

  By Andy Gaffney | September 1, 2011 - 3:00 pm | Movies & TV, The Culch
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Ain’t love grand? Well, it all depends really. For about seventy percent of people it’s a dark hole of pain where your one hope is that someone looks at you with a little less disgust than how you look at yourself and that their fear of being alone is just as soul destroying as yours. Of course, even then, happiness is probably out of the question as you never got over your best mate who you claim not to be in love with though even as you read this you have one eye on their Facebook praying that it’s their cousin telling them “can’t wait to see you, I’ll bring the vodka XD !”. Though for the other thirty percent, yes it is, it’s blooming fantastic. Apart from all the butterflies, hand-holding and that first moment the lady doesn’t ask you to leave after you ask could she do the … There’s more →

Review: LJ & The Treesleepers - Phantasmagoria

  By Lisa McInerney | September 1, 2011 - 12:30 pm | Music, The Culch
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When I first heard LJ Devlin, at a gig down in Sherkin Island, I testified that I’d pay to hear her sing in the shower, she was so bloody good. Perhaps alarmed by my wanton disregard for the privacy of her ablutions, LJ recorded an EP and sent it to me instead, thus protecting her modesty and bathroom door lock. Phantasmagoria is the debut EP by LJ and her band, The Treesleepers, and it’s available now. Making a name for themselves, particularly in the thriving West Cork scene, LJ and the Treesleepers have appeared on the bill with the likes of Fred, the Frank and Walters and Cathy Davey. Garage rock with a definite bluesy swagger, theirs is a sound well-suited to the re-Commitmentsisation of Ireland and … What? Re-Commitmentsisation is a thing! It refers to Ireland’s return to its spit n’ sawdust past, when life had a little less … There’s more →

You HAVE to hear: Ed Sheeran

  By Dermot | September 1, 2011 - 9:00 am | Music
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Ed Sheeran is an awesome “new” musician. I say new, yet Wikipedia says he’s been gigging over 5 years now. Wikipedia also says that Janis Joplin speed-walked everywhere and was afraid of toilets. Nonetheless, he’s fairly new to me. Most people will recognise him from his hit song “The A-Team”. If you don’t, go listen to it. Loike, now. He’s got a new album out very soon. It’s titled, “+”, and is released for digital download in Ireland on September 9th and generally on September 12th. The video below is a live studio recording of one of the songs on the album, and also new single, “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”, which is out now. This is all recorded on the spot, with a loop pedal. It’s, like, acoustic hip-hop, guys! Personally, I think it’s genius. Very fresh. Like menthol. It’s like a beautiful fresh breeze of menthol, … There’s more →