ciaran – was that documentary Alan Yentob’s Homage to New Orleans which was screened back in Jan 2006? It was realy, really good. I think Toussaint is also featured in When The Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s powerful four-parter on Katrina and New Orleans which is a must-see.

woo! the drones in galway…
i fancy some more deerhunter, i believe it’s at the end of their tour? should be celebratory stuff

What? No mention of the Nolan Sisters playing the 02 in Nov? Tut

saw the drones in the lower deck a couple of years ago and they were great.
may go to see them in galway this year cos the dublin gig clashes with motorhead!

this is happening tomorow night in cork in the pav. it should be great.

GET THAT MONSTER OFF THE STAGE
- 20TH ANNIVERSARY GIG FOR FINBARR DONNELLY
Live Upstairs
Thu, June 18th, 9:00pm
€10 – on sale now!/€12 on the door on night

Tickets for this event are available on http://www.tickets.ie and Plugd Records Washington St.

eaturing…Get That Monster Off The Stage, Los Langeros, Don for Chickens. With guest appearance by John Spillane.

(taken from http://www.getthatmonsteroffthestage.com)
Finbarr Donnelly was born in Belfast and moved to Cork city in the mid seventies with his family. By the late seventies he had formed Nun Attax, a rock and roll band, who played their first gig on Valentine’s night 1978 in a community hall in Mayfield.Nun Attax are synonymous with the Arcadia Ballroom, the lynchpin of Cork’s post-punk music scene, where they shared the stage with U2, The Virgin Prunes, UB40 and Microdisney.

Their live performances were unforgettable, incendiary events an example of which can be heard on the Kaught At The Kampus EP released by Reekus Records in 1980. In the early eighties the band changed its name to Five Go Down To The Sea and recorded the Knot A Fish EP for Kabuki Records which contains the infamous “There’s A Fish On Top Of Shandon Swears He’s Elvis”. Soon after the band left recession-ridden Cork for London. Margaret Thatcher’s Britain provided a stark backdrop for the music of FGDTTS.

As new immigrants to London, the band scraped a living but gradually gained critical acclaim, earning a reputation for astonishing live gigs and recording for Abstract Records (The Glee Club EP) and Alan McGee’s fledgling Creation Records (singing in Braille EP). In 1988, FGDTTS changed name to Beethoven and provided Setanta Records with its first release (Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem EP). This single would go on to be named NME single of the week.

A few weeks later on 18 June 1989 Donnelly drowned in a swimming accident in the Serpentine Pond in Hyde Park. He was 27 years of age. Finbarr Donnelly left a far-reaching musical legacy despite his early and tragic death. His life and work also offers much insight into the role of the outsider in pop culture and of artistic expression during times of economic hardship

Is it Friday?

I see the oxegen website has reopened it’s forums after the online carnage of 2006/7.

JC – expalin further. what carnage?

i’m going to the 3 Drones gigs. they are excellent. the gig in the lower deck was legendary. new album is top class. i love them.

I think derek m has lost a day, the Donnelly gig is the day after tomorrow. Some nice soul has posted the Five Go Down To The Sea material on YouTube for anyone unfamiliar with Cork’s finest no-wave band.

Also, re Katrina docus – “Saving Jazz” is another good un – it tells the story of snapper Herman Leonard, who basically invented jazz photography, and who lost 10,000+ prints in the flood. It also features some fab musicians and OTR fave Lenny Kravitz.

Broke my knee two days before the Drones gig in the lower deck. Was gutted I couldnt go, Gala Mill was one of the best albums out that year, understated and sparse like neil young’s best effort “On The Beach”. with a sweat cover of Karen Dalton’s tune “Are You for The Country”. Not sure on the new one though.