Jim Carroll

• Food
• July 31, 2007, 08:46

The best pies at the Electric Picnic (and as Una points out, at the Ben & Jerrys Sundae Festival in London at the weekend) are always at the Pieminister stall. Mmm, we can taste that Arriba Bandito pie already… And, …

• Media
• July 30, 2007, 12:45

It seems that the best way to ensure a huge pay-day, a contract extension and some management love in RTE is to keep losing listeners (51,000 in 2005 and 15,000 in the first couple of months of 2006, according to …

• Randomiser
• July 30, 2007, 12:01

(1) Belvedere House in Co Westmeath is a fantastic location for a festival. Maybe this is where Latitude and Bestival will be held when they come in 2008? (2) Gillian Welch rocks. Her performance at the Midlands Festival yesterday was …

• The Far Side
• July 30, 2007, 11:45

As some of you know, I do a weekly radio show on Phantom 105.2 in Dublin on Saturday nights from 10pm to midnight. The playlists are on the station’s site, but a few people have suggested that they should also …

• Festivals
• July 27, 2007, 08:54

After the weather endurance test of the last two months, more and more Irish music fans are probably planning to decamp to Europe for their festival kicks in 2008.

• Festivals
• July 27, 2007, 08:48

Julie Feeney’s appearance on the main stage at Italia Wave marked the Galway singer’s debut on the European outdoor festival trail. She had been spotted by the Italia Wave bookers at the influential Eurosonic festival in Holland in January and …

• Festivals
• July 27, 2007, 08:47

With his Blur mate Alex James content to make cheese, helm a Classic FM radio show and shill his autobiography to whoever will listen, Damon Albarn’s musical CV continues to bloom. Recent strings to his bow include the “Monkey: Journey …

• Festivals
• July 27, 2007, 08:44

For European acts seeking exposure on the European festival circuit, it would appear that Eurosonic is the showcase that matters. Italia Wave acts Julie Feeney, Enter Shikari, Shitdisco, Tunng and the good-time, vodka-soaked, klezmer-ska of Russia’s 14-strong Leningrad were first …

• Media
• July 26, 2007, 08:42

What amazes me about the ongoing interest in the whereabouts of Blogorrah is the failure by anyone to actively try to replace it. Yes, Blogorrah is fantastic, but it’s far from unique. I mean, they shamelessly ripped their stylebook from …

• Festivals
• July 25, 2007, 11:35

I really hope someone is keeping count because I think we’ve gone over 60 music festivals and outdoor shows in Ireland this summer. I like the sound of Knockanstock, happening this weekend at the Ballyknockan Inn just outside Blessington, Co …

• Media
• July 25, 2007, 09:31

Frank Rose at Wired magazine has taken a close look at Second Life and, well, it doesn’t look great from where he is sitting. For a start, the numbers don’t stack up. Second Life partisans claim meteoric growth, with the …

• Media Music business
• July 24, 2007, 09:01

From the Pot Kettle Black department. Per the Beeb, 50 Cent is taking ye olde legal action against an internet advertising firm for an online promotion which allegedly shows him being shot. Right. And Fiddy has never glamorised that kind …

• Babs
• July 23, 2007, 19:41

Yeah, yeah, I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either if you had told me when I started this blog that I’d write several posts in July 2007 about Babs. I mean, the singing Babs as opposed to the hurling …

• Festivals
• July 23, 2007, 10:57

For some reason, there are no drunks of any age at Italia Wave.

• Festivals
• July 22, 2007, 21:27

Even more unlikely surfers have emerged for September’s Cois Fharraige music and surf jamboree in Kilkee, Co Clare. Both Paddy Casey, who will be plugging his “Addicted To Company” new album, and Badly Drawn Boy, who may have to ditch …

• Festivals
• July 20, 2007, 09:31

They said it couldn’t be done but what the hell do they know anyway? We have had our first sighting of GAA county colours at an Italia rock festival. All will be revealed below the fold.

• Festivals
• July 20, 2007, 09:23

Festival of World Cultures director Jody Ackland’s memories of the event’s first outing in 2001 are still clear. “What I remember most are the hundred people or so down at the Harbour Plaza dancing to a local Nigerian group.”

• Live music
• July 20, 2007, 09:18

Those who wonder how Irish music fans can afford all those summer shows will have some more pondering to do when they see the extent of the autumn/winter event calendar. Leaving aside what will be happening in tents at Imma …

• Live music
• July 20, 2007, 09:13

Live Earth organisers in Germany admitted this week that their event lost nearly €1 million. The financial woes occurred because just 29,000 tickets for the 45,000 capacity venue were put on sale, with 2,500 going to sponsors and VIPs. The …

• Tune of the Week
• July 19, 2007, 15:23

The drums, the drums, the drums.

• Festivals
• July 19, 2007, 15:19

Walking towards the festival, that Hold Steady line, “they came from miles around to get messed up on the music”, seems apt when you see the lines of scooters and cars. Then you realise that the Scissor Sisters are headlining …

• Festivals
• July 18, 2007, 18:25

The Italians are complaining about the weather. It’s too hot, they say again and again. Having just left a land where Noah was unwilling to anchor his ark for the last six weeks for fear of getting stranded, On the …

• Festivals
• July 18, 2007, 10:02

On the Record has moved to Tuscany for the rest of the week. Yeah, the weather and Barbra Streisand took its toll in the end. Anyway, we’re here for the Italia Wave festival which started last night with Nitin Sawhney …

• Babs
• July 17, 2007, 15:08

MCD have announced that they’re setting up a specialist commitee to look into the Barbra Streisand concert debacle. The committee will be chaired by Pat Byrne, former Garda Commissioner. It will also include Health and Safety Officer, Michael Slattery of …

• Music business
• July 17, 2007, 12:35

And the nominees are: Jamie T “Panic Prevention Bat For Lashes “Fur And Gold” Arctic Monkeys “Favourite Worst Nightmare” Amy Winehouse “Back To Black” Klaxons “Myths Of The Near Future” Dizzee Rascal “Maths & English” Maps “We Can Create” The …

• Festivals
• July 17, 2007, 12:19

Reports on Thumped and Boards from last weekend’s Mantua Project shindig in deepest Roscommon would indicate that there were a number of problems with toilets (or lack of), joyriders on tractors, security (or, again, lack of), generators and all-round organisational …

• Babs
• July 16, 2007, 17:46

If it’s Monday, it must mean that Irish concert-goers are fuming. No-one fumes as well as we Irish and there’s never been a better time for it than this summer.

• Media Music business New releases
• July 13, 2007, 09:06

Who said that print was dead? Prince’s decision to give away copies of his new album with a Sunday newspaper in the UK has unleashed a huge wave of music industry navel-gazing.

• Festivals
• July 13, 2007, 09:02

Oh yes, it’s another festival. The latest addition to this summer’s never-ending run of fun is the Big Bang Festival of Rhythm, which will be responsible for a barrage of noise in various Dublin city venues from July 27th to …

• Media New releases
• July 13, 2007, 09:00

Since it first went on air in May 1999, Raidió na Gaeltachta’s An Taobh Tuathail has gathered many accolades and positive notices for the breadth and depth of the electronic, ambient and other sounds featured on the show. The time …

• Festivals
• July 13, 2007, 08:58

Anyone for some Oxjam? Following on from the huge success of The Cake Sale album, Oxfam are planning a month-long music festival to raise cash and awareness. Oxjam has already enlisted the support of DJ Shadow, Klaxons , The Kooks, …

• Tune of the Week
• July 12, 2007, 10:39

My favourite quote about the forthcoming album? “It’ll rip your face off”.

• Media
• July 12, 2007, 09:57

The Times – Good news: music sales are down, but the joint is jumpin’: I think cultural historians may look back on the six or seven years either side of 2000 as a period of aberration, when people temporarily became …

• Festivals
• July 11, 2007, 14:15

40,000 tickets for next year’s T In The Park festival went on sale this morning. They were sold out within 65 minutes. The police statistics from last weekend’s T in the Park were as follows: Tayside Police made 66 arrests …

• Live music
• July 11, 2007, 09:48

A couple of confirmed shows and a couple of shows we’ve heard about accompanied by a nod and a wink. The ones which are happening: Feist! Yes, Leslie Feist herself will be singing tunes from her wonderful album “The Reminder” …

• Live music
• July 10, 2007, 10:10

We arrived at Vicar Street expecting a night of pedigree soul music. We left with Smokey Robinson’s satin trousers as the main topic of conversation.

• Festivals
• July 6, 2007, 09:18

As if you needed telling, it’s Oxegen time again, and 80,000 Irish music fans will be invading Punchestown Racecourse in Co Kildare this weekend. Next week’s Ticket will carry a report from Ireland’s biggest music festival. We’d like to hear …

• Festivals Live music
• July 6, 2007, 09:17

MCD and POD Concerts both now plan to host music shows in large tents in October. It’s a remarkable coincidence that both promoters had the idea of putting a tent in Dublin 8 at the same time. The question is …

• Music business
• July 6, 2007, 09:10

It really seems as if every week brings more bad news for the record industry. The closure of UK record chain Fopp, with the loss of 700 jobs, coincided with the publication of figures showing a slump in CD sales …

• Classical
• July 6, 2007, 09:05

Kudos galore to veteran Irish composer Roger Doyle. The godfather of Irish electronica won the Magisterium Award at the Bourges International Electro-acoustic Music Competitio in France. The prize, which is awarded to composers with at least 25 years of professional …

• Tune of the Week
• July 5, 2007, 11:03

You know this one.

• Bruce Clubs Live music Media Politics
• July 4, 2007, 10:47

An Eyebrowy slam-dunk as they set the scene for Bell X1′s show at Malahide Castle last weekend. More of this kind of thing please chaps. Corker! A new website looks at the early days of club culture in Cork with …

• Live music
• July 3, 2007, 10:01

George Michael has rescheduled his nixed Dublin show (the show, you will recall, was cancelled because of a truck crash on that notorious stretch of tarmac from Bucharest to Prague) with two Point shows on August 1 and 2. Even …

• Hip-hop
• July 2, 2007, 16:56

This week’s Clipse show at Dublin’s Vicar Street has been cancelled. No reason given in the press release, but we’re guessing that “poor ticket sales” might be one. Anyone want to guess how many tickets were sold for this show?

• Live music
• July 2, 2007, 12:56

Last week, as sometimes happens, a post about one thing quickly became about something else entirely. In this case, a post about how fans across Europe were abandoning dinasour and heritage acts became, via reader comments, a tirade by folks …

• Live music
• July 2, 2007, 07:56

Sometime this week, Arcade Fire (or rather their agent because it is a band’s well paid Mister Ten Percent who says yes or no to this kind of thing) will decide which Dublin show they will play this autumn. There …