Pop Life: Una rocks (again)
Say hello to the newbie on The Irish Times’ blogging block. Una Mullally has joined the team and you’ll find her blogging at Pop Life.
On The Record »
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Ch-ch-ch-changes
As and from this morning, there’s a new system in place across irishtimes.com regarding commenting on articles and blog posts and how these comments are moderated. All the changes are oulined here by online editor Hugh Linehan. The two big changes are (a) users will now need to log in using their social media account – Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn – in order to comment and (b) all comments will appear immediately, with registered users able to use the system to flag comments they feel breach the new Community Standards.
UPDATES: (1) yes, we’re aware that all previous comments on posts are no longer there, but I’m told that we can expect them back presently. (2) The new system is a bit of a prude so if your comment will not appear if it contains certain “obscene” words. Please feel free to list any other SNAFUs you find below and I’ll pass them on to the hard-working tech team.
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Electric Picnic – Irish Times’ supplement and The Daily Ticket
Yes, you’re right, it’s Electric Picnic week all week here at OTR.
Tomorrow (Wednesday), there will be a special Electric Picnic supplement published with The Irish Times. Hear why it’s taken Arcade Fire so long to get back to Stradbally after their legendary 2005 show. Lykke Li talks about why being a touring musician is not as glamorous as she imagined (contains reference to electric kettle). Interpol tell all about their formative festival experiences. Zach Condon of Beirut claims he’s no longer a dictator when it comes to band affairs. Conor Pope does the Electric Picnic taste taste, from Pieminister to Rathmullan House. Plus 3epkano, uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, Leviathan, readers’ favourites from Electric Picnics past, stage times, site map and much, much more.
For the fifth year in a row (hey, we should have called it the Drive for Five but, then again, look what happened with that one last year), The Daily Ticket will be published at the Electric Picnic on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Containing reviews, previews, features, news updates, line-up changes, funny bits and tons more, the Daily Ticket will be your essential guide to the Picnic’s gigs and happenings and the only daily mag produced in a shed in the middle of a big field in Co Laois.
The supplement will be available on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10am. You can pick up your free copy from our distribution staff who will be covering the campsites and main arena.
For those of you who won’t be in Stradbally next weekend, all reviews will be published online and there will also be regular updates on this blog.
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Electric moments: the best of the Electric Picnic to date
This year’s Electric Picnic is just around the corner, but we want you, the OTR readers, to rewind your mind and remember top Picnic moments from years past for an upcoming feature. It could be the performance of a headliner like Beastie Boys, LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, Sigur Ros, Sex Pistols, New Order, Kraftwerk, Flaming Lips, Leftfield, Elbow, My Bloody Valentine or Massive Attack. It could be an act who were near the bottom of the bill but who stormed the festival like Janelle Monae last year. It could have been one of those surprise hits like Chic or Grace Jones. It could have been someone or something who impressed you in the small hours or afternoon in the Body & Soul universe, Hell, it could have been Mumford & Sons or James Blunt. And how many of you were in the big tent when Arcade Fire played in 2005 (the gig which Irish indie music’s equivalent of those who claim to have been in the GPO in 1916)? We’re also looking for electric non-music moments, from arty stuff to debates to readings to those random moments which the Electric Picnic always seems to provide. Get picking.
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The Irish Times’ Culture podcast
The longest-day-of-the-year podcast was hosted and presented by arts editor Shane Hegarty and features Hugh Linehan, Laura Slattery and myself discussing the future of media, The Guardian’s brave new world, press barons, new media ecosystems, the influence of Britsh media on Irish audiences and the late, great (or not so great, according to one cloth-eared participant) Clarence Clemons. Have a listen to what we have to say here.
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The Irish Times’ Culture podcast
This week’s Irish Times’ Culture Podcast was hosted and presented by arts editor Shane Hegarty and features Hugh Linehan, Sinead Gleeson and myself yakking about Queen Elizabeth, Barack Obama, Irish media coverage of these visits, Primavera and summer festivals. Have a listen to what we have to say here.
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Introducing: the Irish Times Culture Podcast
The very first Irish Times Culture Podcast was hosted and presented by arts editor Shane Hegarty and featured Fintan O’Toole, Rosita Boland and myself yakking about such subjects as Record Store Day, Aosdana and a history of Ireland in 100 objects. Have a listen to our collective wisdom, as recorded earlier today, here.
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What shops have to do when their products go digital
Some of you may already have read my piece from Saturday’s Irish Times about how stores selling books and music will have to find new ways to attract customers through the doors if they are going to survive in an increasingly competitive environment.
The feature was written on the back of last week’s news from the HMV Group which will see it shut down 60 HMV and Waterstone’s shops in 2011 (there was some unconfirmed online chatter about redundancies in HMV’s Dublin stores over the weekend, but the tweet from the band Sweet Jane which kicked off this speculation has since been deleted without explanation, though the retweets remain). It includes contributions on future retail models from Irish Publishing News’ editor Eoin Purcell and Mindshare consumer researcher Finian Murphy.
This is a topic which has been discussed here many times in the past and few readers will disagree that innovation involving a better customer experience is probably the only way for music and books’ retailers to go to futureproof their business. However, as Eoin points out, “it will be tough to be innovative in a retailing environment where customers are not being flaithiulach with the cash”.
It’s also worth differentiating (again) between the fanatical music fans (ie probably those who read OTR on a regular basis) and the more casual music fans (the five albums a year brigade, for instance) when it comes to discussing the future – Eoin made reference to “the heavy reader”, the book world’s equivalent of what Finian called “the music junkie”. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough of the big-hitting music and books’ fans flashing the cash to ensure that life can go on as normal for the retail sector or, indeed, that we can go back to how things once were. You’ll also find that any exceptions to this state of affairs – Rough Trade London reported a rise in sales over Christmas, for instance – are the ones who already have embarked on a process of in-store change and innovation.
As both Eoin and Finian alluded to in the piece, selling books and music must also incorporate some sort of social aspect, something which Willie White from Dublin’s Project Arts Centre picked up on in his tweet about the piece: “books & music are social artefacts. Future is in social not artefact”.
Piece after the jump and, as always, your comments are welcome.
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2010, the cultural review
It’s (nearly) the end of the year as we know it so how do you feel? Next week in The Irish Times, we’ll be rounding up the cultural highs and lows, hits and misses, ups and downs of 2010 and we want YOU to join in the fun.
If you’re up for it, let us know about your year in culture. What was your cultural highlight of the year? What was the biggest disappointment? The biggest surprise? What will you be glad to see the back of? And did you see the future, and what was it?
Get musing.
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This week in The Ticket – and your plugs
Villagers: Conor O’Brien talks about the maddest year of his life as Villagers went from local heroes to global Villagers and are now a band even German radio DJs are now writing songs for.
Our favourite Irish acts: Ticket music hacks pick their favourite Irish acts from 2010 and talk about the who, why, what, how, where and when behind their choices.
Babybeef: a Q & A with Sarah Carroll Kelly on everything from Judge Judy to why session musicians feel sad when they’re brushing their teeth.Plus: reviews of music releases from Not Squares (CD of the Week slot for the excellent “Yeah OK”), Black Eyed Peas, Duffy, “Oh Yeah Contenders”, Olly Murs, N.E.R.D., Jimmy McCarthy, “Township Funk”, P!nk, Jim Sullivan, Dave Liebman and more, plus new movies on the block including Unstoppable, The American, Leap Year, Machete, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and London Boulevard.
All this and more in The Ticket, in print, online and the best of The Ticket on the app.
Discussion on copyright plug: as part of Temple Bar Gallery & Studios’ Open Day and to coincide with Alan Butler’s current solo exhibition, the gallery have organised a panel discussion on “Intellectual property and new Internet technologies”. The speakers are Keith Donald (Chairman of the Irish Music Rights Organisation and musician), Conor McGarrigle (internet artist) and myself. It happens tomorrow (Saturday, November 27) at 3pm and admission is free.
How to get your music into film & TV plug: a discussion panel about this very subject with Gary Calamar (music supervisor for True Blood, Six Feet Under, House, Dexter, Men of a Certain Age and many other hit US TV shows), Jim Reid (Warner UK Senior VP of Synchronization and previously Senior Manager, Music Acquisitions and Development, BBC Worldwide and BBC Radio & Music), Rob Hope (songwriter, member of Seneca and in-house music writer for Athena Media, whose clients include RTÉ, BBC, Newstalk and Setanta Sports) and Ciaran Hope (Irish composer, orchestrator, songwriter, producer and film mixer). Your host is Anne Cecere (Director of Film/TV Relations for BMI, the US organisation looking after songwriters and composers). The date, time and venue: Science Gallery (Pearse St., Dublin 2) on December 14 at 6pm. The admission fee: free. Advance booking is essential and can be done here.
The OTR plugs service is now open for business. Please feel free to plug and recommend stuff away to your heart’s content, but remember some simple rules. Declare an interest where one should be declared. Plugs are accepted on the whim of OTR and may be edited for length/clarity/common sense. Plugs which mention a commercial sponsor are really ads and will probably not be published in this slot. Plugs which plug the same stuff every week will also be deleted – if people ain’t interested by now, you should really get the message. “I am Irish, you are Irish, we are all Irish, aren’t we? Yeah!”
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From the editor’s desk…
Two great posts over at irishtimes.com editor Hugh Linehan’s blog this weather. The first asks readers for their suggestions to improve commenting, debating and all-round interactivity on the site and there’s already been a ton of comments about this. The second, meanwhile, will be of interest to readers of this blog. It’s Hugh’s response to a fuming OTR reader who took umbrage at how I reacted to one of his comments (the poor, delicate, wee lamb). Regular OTR readers will know that there’s a certain amount of give and take with comments here – as in, if you have a pop at me, don’t be surprised if I have a (much better written) pop at you – so it’s worth reading the post to get my editor’s take on things especially on how “the disadvantages of anonymity far outweigh the advantages when it comes to providing a forum for online debate conducted with some civility”. All comments to Hugh’s blog please.
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Why Vella’s Cauliflowers are the best band in the world…ever
Today in the newspaper, a bunch of writers have selected their dream bands, their musical five-a-sides, so to speak.
The rules for selection were simple: one front person, drummer and bass player and two others; No more than two dead people for the starting five; No more than one person from one band (players in crossover bands are allowed); Each band must have a name and a short explanation as to why this is the best band ever. This is not a list of the best musicians – this is the best band as a unit working effectively together
My band, Vella’s Cauliflowers, features Ella Fitzgerald on vocals, the mighty Elvin Jones on drums, Tina Weymouth on bass, Steve Cropper at the guitar and Flying Lotus doing other stuff. Now, that’s a line-up I’d happily pay Ticketmaster fees to see.
If you want to tell us what you think of the selections or give us the line-up for your dream combo, head over to Laurence’s blog to have your say.
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The Best of British – the 50 Best British Acts Right Now
Oh yes, it’s another one of these list yokes which I know you OTR readers love so much.
In The Ticket tomorrow, we will be counting down the 50 Best British Acts Right Now. The list was compiled by Lauren Murphy and myself and featured a couple of heated exchanges and some magnanimous concessions on both sides. I think it’s a cracking list, but I would say that, wouldn’t I?
Anyway, as happened when we ran down the Best Irish Acts Right Now last year, there will be fun, games and fuming all round tomorrow so let’s get a head start on that by asking you, the readers of this blog, who you think will be at number one.
(You can also use this post to tell me what I’ve missed since I was last in these parts. And yeah, I know all about our glorious leader and his grand night out)
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“Seamus Heaney? I’m not bothered”
Today in The Irish Times, a bunch of writers ‘fess up to the greats we’re supposed to like, but don’t.
There’s Fintan O’Toole on why he’s not a member of the Noel Coward fanclub, Brian Boyd dissing The Wire, Arminta Wallace shrugging her shoulders at Seamus Heaney, Rosita Boland talking about why she finds the work of Francis Bacon to be “ugly and aggressive”, Sara Keating going off one about Arthur Miller, the one and only Donald Clarke frowning about Charlie Chaplin and Peter Crowley explaining why he doesn’t mind mobiles going off in the theatre. Me? I write about how, despite my best efforts, I still loath Radiohead with a passion.
The piece is here and your views and sacred cows are welcome below.
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The Ticket app – we’re in business
The Ticket’s app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad is now live. Please post all comments and feedback about the new app here.
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The Ticket: there’s now an app for that
Tomorrow morning at 9am, The Ticket app for the iPhone will go live at the Apple App Store. It will be free of charge and give users access to The Ticket’s music and movies’ news, reviews and features. Check it out tomorrow and, as if OTR readers needed to be asked, tell us what you think.
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RB: What would you do to make The Irish Times better?
Head over to Hugh’s blog post and have your say.
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Bridging Vladimir and Estragon
A few people have emailed me this morning singing the praises of Ruadhan Mac Cormaic’s story in today’s paper about the new Beckett bridge. Please feel free to join the chorus.
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Hear the new Duke Special album on irishtimes.com
The Duke’s latest album “I Thought This Day Would Never Come” is now streaming on irishtimes.com. Click here for more.
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New Irish Times blog – On The Fringe
Fiona McCann has kicked off a new blog covering this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. Enjoy.
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