Thoughts and Videos.

I seem to be feeling an attraction to blogging again, after a number of years. I don't know if it's strong enough to actually get me writing regularly or even non-regularly but I'm thinking about it. Anyway, it's a chance to blow some of the digital spiderwebs from this dusty corner of the internet.

Perhaps it's the need to find some sense of purpose at the moment as Covid19 has just been making me feel like I'm drifting even more aimlessly than is usual. 

One of the 'projects' that I have been pursuing is making videos for old songs by my band and putting them on Youtube. (I've actually been trying to write and develop a bunch of new songs but that will not be complete until we can actually get back together as a band when this current situation has ended..)

Anyway here are some of the recent videos I've assembled, mostly using silent films. This first one, however, uses footage I shot myself. 

Cold

Airwaves

Toothache

El Mariachi

Resurrection

Worse

 

Derek Mahon.

Today, the death of the great Irish poet Derek Mahon was announced. It inspired me to try and capture the passing relationship I had with the words of his poem A Disused Shed in County Wexford. I read it when I was young and felt a poet was something to be. 

Although the ambition has borne little fruit, it remains a fascination. It seems to call me back but I am aware that I am an amateur versifier - while Derek Mahon made phrases that change how you see the world.

Thoughts upon hearing of the death of Derek Mahon

 

"Web-throated, stalked like triffids, racked by drought

And insomnia, only the ghost of a scream

At the flash-bulb firing-squad we wake them with

Shows there is life yet in their feverish forms." 

 

When first I read these words there was a shiver 

of recognition.

Once, opening the small door 

into the unconverted eavesliding attic

Confusion turned to fascination

And a slight unease.

 

The creeper from the front of the house

Had grown into the dark

White, grasping,

like roots above ground

searching for sustenance in the air.

 

Triffids, I thought 

Reaching for my sleeping throat

Marooned in the bloodless dark. 

 

Now it feels that I have sprouted

In the dark

Poems without soil. 

 

As you enter the wordless mouth-shuttering clay

I wonder will my unflowered stems

Ever feel the sun. 

Homelessness in Dublin

 “Homeless Jesus”  by sculptor, Timothy Schmalz of Canada at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin.

Homelessness in Dublin

This is way off my usual posts (which have recently consisted mostly of silence, it has to be said). However I feel strongly about this subject so I'm going to put this out there.

The visit of the Pope to Dublin this weekend has brought attention to the homeless crisis in the city. The many families who rely on emergency accommodation in Hotels; B&B's and Guesthouses are possibly going to be moved out of the city to make way for the crowds attending the events over the weekend. Recent pictures of families sleeping in Garda (Police) Stations have recently brought this issue home to many in a powerfully visual way.

Liam O'Flaherty - Four Books

Liam O'Flaherty - Four Books
Skerrett / Return of the Brute / Famine / Insurrection

I have long been aware of Liam O'Flaherty and a huge admirer of what short stories I have read. Indeed, when picking four short stories to write about HERE I chose one by O'Flaherty. For some reason, however, I never moved on to reading any of his novels, until this year when, having read one, I ended up reading four.

From snow covered Ireland.

From Snow Covered Ireland.

The weather, and the shortage of bread due to panic buying have dominated the news in Ireland for the last few days.

I've even taken to doing some reporting myself.

You can see my first news story here - https://www.facebook.com/seamus.duggan/videos/1861192673890909/

Songs for Cities

Songs for Cities

Every so often I get the urge to make a mixtape and, having been long ago released from the constraints of the C-90 these have tended to become long sprawling beasts which, if released into the wild are too unwieldy to be of much interest to anybody else. Doesn't matter as long as I enjoy them though, so nothing changes this time.

I had started a playlist on the theme of cities and there were around ten songs and I decided to listen to it - but by the time I had played the ten songs I had added another 100. I've been messing around with the order and after a few attempts at finding thematic or musical links I moved to geography, focussing on Dublin, London and New York in a sort of anglophone ascending order of distance. After that there is whatever remained of my earlier attempts at organisation, in other words a mish-mash.

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community - Part 4

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community - Part 4
This post has been sitting in my 'drafts' folder for a while so I thought I'd let it go. It's more of my imperfectly remembered tales of gigs in the eighties.

Iggy Pop - National Stadium Monday, 12th December, 1988
I thought this gig was circa 1990 but have recently discovered that it, too, was in the 1980's. This was Iggy with Steve Jones on rhythm guitar and my memories are shot through with vivid moments like when Iggy shoved the microphone in my face during Wanna Be Your Dog and my head turned into some sort of mush; the faint tracery of scars all over Iggy's torso; the sheer excitement of being so close to such abandoned shamanism, his zipper open far enough to suggest exhibitionism; the sheer physical exertion - At the time I thought "He's 41 and he's still like this!" Now I think "He was only 41!"

This crowd picture seems to feature me in the top left. I remember the position and the shirt...

Me

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community - Part 3

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community - Part 3

These posts are becoming like a trip through my memory designed by Escher. Once again I finished with the eighties only to be tripped up by further memories as I tried to make my way into the nineties...

The Fall - Sadler's Wells Theatre, September 1988

This was my first time seeing The Fall and remains possibly the strangest 'rock gig' I ever attended. This is largely because it was NOT a rock gig but a ballet, with The Fall playing live while the Michael Clarke dancers performed a ballet.
A choreographed dance representing a football match between Rangers and Celtic; Brix being wheeled around on a giant hamburger and Mark E. walking forwards and backwards declaiming as if there were no distractions.
The scene where the dancers 'played' a football match was the visual highlight and New Big Prinz and Dead Beat Descendant the remembered aural ones.
I would see more Fall gigs, some better, some worse, but none quite as memorable as this one. Perhaps you can see why in these photos - http://thefall.org/news/pics/88oct08_photos.html

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community - Part 2

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community - Part 2

I woke up the next morning after writing the first part of this post and realised that there were at LEAST three or four gigs from the eighties that I had omitted that really couldn't be omitted. So my plan to do the next post from the 90's onwards is being parked while I do a further return to the eighties.

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community

In Concert - Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community

This book came out last year and I've been meaning to get it ever since. I finally got around to buying it this week and am enjoying dipping into it.

I remember when I was younger there were many conversations about who would win if Ali fought Dempsey, or if Superman fought Batman... The very fact that these were unanswerable questions was what made them interesting.

Best gig is one of those questions. I can't really answer it for myself let alone hope to come to a consensus with any group of people. The other question is what gig would I go to if I could travel through time? This book asks people to name their favourite gigs and provides ample material for me to consider when I think upon these things.

I know some of the contributors and was at some of the gigs. The book is probably mostly of interest to people who have some familiarity with the Irish rock scene of the seventies, eighties and nineties. It brings up feelings of envy, nostalgia and sometimes, bafflement. Rather than try to review it in any objective way I am going to spend some time reminiscing about some of my favourite gigs. A infamous pub bore like myself doesn't do one favourite, this will be many favourites.

From a Box of Cassettes

From a Box of Cassettes

I'm returning once more to the dusty corner of the world which is this blog to share something from the dusty corner of the accumulated mess of things that I have gathered over the past fifty years.

At our last rehearsal the band (The Knocking Shop) were trying to put together one of our old songs from twenty years ago with a poor live recording as the guide. When Dave, the guitar player, told me a couple of days later that he had a better recording on cassette, plus some other 'forgotten' songs I decided to go through my own pile of cassettes with a bit more rigour. And I was rewarded with a copy of what was a work in progress towards a third demo.

Top 102 Albums, No Minus 18 - No Such Place

Top 102 Albums, No. Minus 18 - No Such Place

No Such Place - Jim White

In the early 21st Century this was the album that dominated my listening more than anything else and while it has never left my playlist I haven't listened with quite such intensity until these last few days as I prepare to see Mr White play live for the first time.

I have previously written about White as a filmmaker - his documentary, Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus is a trawl through the south of Harry Crews, Flannery O'Connor, Raptures, Snakes and Mr White.

I've been searching for the right word to describe him and I keep coming back to fatalist. There is a richly humorous and life affirming fatalism that permeates these songs. Life may be bad, you may be at an all time low, but hell, it could always be worse, as in the opening song, Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi:

Top 102 Albums, No Minus 17 - Teens of Denial

Top 102 Albums, No. Minus 17
Teens of Denial - Car Seat Headrest

"I am freaking out in my mind / In a house that isn't mine
My end goal isn't clear / Should not have had that last beer"

Sometimes age feels like a fog. Everything becomes less distinct, and those things that are distinctive are often only so because they are aided and abetted by memory / nostalgia for eyes that were less cynical and more full of the pulsing expectations of youth.

Live Tonight! The Re-Animation of The Knocking Shop continues.

Live Tonight! The Re-Animation of The Knocking Shop continues.

The Knocking Shop are supporting the rather wonderful Mik Artistik's Ego Trip tonight in The Grand Social in Dublin City Centre. There are worse ways of spending your Friday night and all for a measly €12!

We'll be dedicating this one to President Trump!

Books Read 2016 - Part One

Books Read 2016 - Part One

2016, despite being a bitch of a year for heroes and an ominous year for politics, has been a pretty good year for reading, even if my blogging muscles have largely withered away.  I started this post on December 31st in order to try and have one final post before the years end and to clear the decks somewhat for 2017, when I hope to get back to writing a little more regularly. However, it has since been sucked into the purgatory known as the 'draft' folder.

Rather than group my reading as many have done, or select my favourites I thought it might be interesting/easier just to list the books in the order I read them and add whatever few thoughts (if any) come to mind as I go through them.
 Perhaps when I get to the end I will highlight a few as my 'Best Books of 2017", but really I see all as part of the same book somehow, a larger sprawling multi-referential, oddly interlinked, post-modernist roman fleuve.

Rossmore Road

Rossmore Road - Barry Andrews

"White and yellow lines and street signs"

A love song to a song.

LIVE!! TONIGHT!!

LIVE!! TONIGHT!!

This blog and the blogosphere in general has suffered some neglect recently as all my focus has been on tonight's gig in The Grand Social in Dublin. Somewhat more activity may start taking place next week...

It will the first Dublin gig in twenty years for The Knocking Shop and at the moment my nerves are making it feel a bit like Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum but I'm sure it'll be a great night.

There's an event page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/events/1045545818885717/

and you can like the band page here - https://www.facebook.com/knockingshop/

Here's one of the songs we'll be playing, taken from our comeback gig in January in London. Hope some readers will make it along..

The Knocking Shop to hit the Dublin Stage.

The Grand Social

The Knocking Shop to hit the Dublin Stage!

The revival of The Knocking Shop hits a high point with our return to the Dublin stage at The Grand Social  on August 27th

The Literary Conference & An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter

The Literary Conference (translated by Katherine Silver) & An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (translated by Chris Andrews) - by César Aira
"In my case nothing returns, everything races forward, savagely being pushed from behind by what keeps coming through that accursed valve. This image, brought to its peak of maturation in my vertiginous reflections, revealed to me the path of the solution, which I forcefully put into practice whenever I have time and feel like it. The solution is none other than the greatly overused (by me) "escape forward.""

Having started a long translated novel and lost interest as it seemed opaque to me (perhaps the original, perhaps the translation, perhaps just me) I decided that I would reread the César Aira novellas I had read and enjoyed last year but never made it to a blog post apart from a listing in my Books of the Year. This would allow me to contribute something further to SpanishLitMonth..

I started with The Literary Conference as it was the one that had left the greater trace. I had really enjoyed both books but neither had left as much of an impression as their companion in the three novella set I had purchased Ghosts. This may have a lot to do with the fact that I had posted on Ghosts. It is as if blogging has become an essential part of fully digesting a book I've read and committing it to memory.

Top 102 Albums, No Minus 16 - Suicide

Top 102 Albums, No Minus 16
Suicide - Suicide

"Frankie put the gun to his head
(Inarticulate visceral howling of demons)
Frankie's Dead"

The death of Suicide frontman Alan Vega has me listening to Suicide and remembering the key part they played in the development of my musical 'taste'. I first came across Suicide on a mixtape that was made for me when I was repeating the Leaving Certificate and which also included Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground and John Cale. I already knew The Velvets through my early Bowie obsession leading to Lou Reed and Patti Smith and John Cale I had vague intimations of. However, even if I had heard of Suicide I had not heard them and had never even imagined their pulsing, echoing, synth heavy rock 'n' roll.