The Ceasefire broke the night of Altan's showcase gig in Donegal. This weekend's story of light in darkness finds little echo in that tragedy; but in Mairead's, it does: "I'm really happy it hasn't all been negative. All our friends are around me. He leaves his presence."
The thing about 2FM is this: with 8FM and FM104 shamelessly toeing the "here's three in a row from Maria Carey" - line the national "pop" station has the run of the airwaves and could radically change its programming policy. Over at BBC Radio 1, Matthew Bannister brought in DJs like Steve Lamacq and Mark Radcliffe, who turned the moribund station into something a whole lot more contemporary and cutting edge.
Radio 1 simply looked at the demographics of the situation, realised that indie had gone mainstream and started giving day time play to the sort of bands which were previously relegated to late night specialist shows. Sweet irony, then, that the best Irish radio show in years add years should find a home on mainstream, middle of the road, 98FM - and not on the national station.
Tom Dunne's Totally Irish (98FM, midnight - 2am, Monday to Thursday) succeeds in being as wide as it is deep, despite the constricting brief that all the music he plays is Irish. "It's not as bad as it sounds," says Tom. "First we invoke the parent rule, which allows in bands like The Smiths and Oasis, and then we indulge in tenuous links." Such as? "Well, not many people know that Frank Black, ex of the Pixies, is the brother of Mary and Frances Black - or that both Radiohead and Massive Attack have strong Irish links." What type of links? "Strong ones."
Fortunately for his playlist there has been a mini explosion of quality Irish acts over the last few years, spanning the spectrum from Joyrider to Picture House; and, not content with picking the pops that other Irish DJs wilfully ignore, he also roams around the streets of Dublin hoping to bundle bands into the back of his van, so he can bring them down to the station to do a session.
"The sessions are proving very popular and so far we've had the likes of Mary Coughlan, Dr Millar, Junkster, The Bedhangers, Picture House and Engine Alley in. There's talk of us editing down the best bits and putting the highlights on a special Totally Irish album some time later in the year," he says.
"As someone who's still involved with Something Happens, I understand all the arguments about playlisting and the huge need for new Irish bands to get airplay," he says. "What you quite often find is that radio stations fulfill their obligation of playing 30 per cent Irish music by putting it all on from three to six in the morning - so the only people out there who are hearing new Irish bands are shift workers."
Along with Dave Fanning on 2FM (8-10 p.m., Monday to Friday) Eamonn Carr on FM104 (Sundays, 6-7 p.m.) and all the relevant local radio heads, Tom Dunne is proving that quality broadcasting has a place on Irish radio. Please sir, can we have some more.
JUST as a post script on that: Something Happens have written series of hardcore nights have started down in the Ormond Multiblah blah-media centre. Kicking out the jams next Monday are Female Hercules, Pincher Martin and Bambi. Admission is a mere £2.50 and you can get pissed on cheap cider at £1.80 a pint (if you want) ... Joining Sewing Room at the Mean Fiddler next Wednesday are Grasshopper, who will be unveiling their new Harrington Street EP ... Something very special indeed up in Whelan's on Monday night when Will Oldham's Palace (as in The Palace Brothers, as in lo fi country blues) take to the stage. They've just released a new album, Arise Therefore, produced by noise king Steve Albini of all people ... Sack are back. They've got a new guitarist, a new EP out shortly, (called Cheap Fare) and they've also got a live performance for us next Thursday night in the Da Club at 10 p.m.
