If ever there was a band that proved that you can push the bounds of music and sobriety at the same time, it is surely the Jaywalkers and I can confirm that they will play their customary Christmas Party in Baker Place in Limerick on the 21st of this month. Last year they put on an incredible display of drunkeness and played a few tunes into the bargain. My fellow blogger Bock was there and I think he can vouch for the madness merriment and general craic that ensued on the night.
No one really knows who the Jaywalkers are. Most bands can list their members on one hand but the Jaywalkers can’t do that as they’ve had most Limerick musicians in their ranks at one point or another. Many were heard to admit that you know when you’ve been Jaywalkered. Whoever turns up this...
Yes, it arrived. My spanking new guitar arrived and it is a thing of beauty.
For those guitar enthusiasts amongst you, it has two humbuckers, 24 jumbo frets, a push pull pot to split the pick ups and is strung with finger killer tens. It is a thing of joy, beauty, madness, beauty and beauty. I’ve played it quite a bit now and I love it love it love it. It will never take the place of Sunny, my beloved Strat, but it is an able assistant and I intend to terrorise audiences with it in the very near future. Fuck it, I’m getting a semi just thinking about it....
I’ve just bought myself a Schecter guitar. WHAT???? Well, if you’re a music head, you’ll know. They’ve been off the radar for the last few years but I placed my order today and hope to take delivery of it during the week. Should all go well, I’ll tell you a bit more about it. Should all not go well, I’ll be telling you a hell of a lot more about it....
If you’re in the vicinity of Limerick City this Bank Holiday Monday 27th of October, you’re in for a treat if take yourself to Foley’s pub. Limerick gets bad press - mainly from Dubliners trying to shine the unwanted spotlight anywhere but there - but there is a veritable plethora of musical legends in the City. Sunday night, same venue, sees the amazing Eamon Hehir and his band, who count my favourite guitar player, Dessie O’Dwyer amongst their ranks and on Monday, you have the return after many years of Joe and John Browne.
These brothers have played in many bands ranging from the original Reform to the O’Malley’s the Bootleggers and of course, Joe Browne and the Durty Dawgs. I’m not going to pigeon-hole them because they’ve such a unique...
As you all know, AC/DC are back. For years they were a guilty pleasure of mine but I don’t care to hide it anymore. I am an AC/DC fan. Sometimes you’ve just got to put away the soapbox and flow along with the riff. Here’s a great take on AC/DC by a band called Hayseed Dixie.
Hayseed Dixie - Hell’s bellsby......
I’ve posted this list before but, after rereading it, I had to post it again. I just know that Mule Taker, The King’s Bard, Bock The Robber and many more of you will love this list. Feel free to leave additions in the comments section and I’ll add those fuckers on.
• Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through The Goalposts Of Life
• Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed
• Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth ‘Cause I’m Kissing You Goodbye
• Her Teeth Were Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure
• How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?
• How Can You Believe Me When I Say I Love You When You Know I’ve Been A Liar All My Life?
• I Been Roped And Thrown By Jesus In The Holy Ghost Corral
• I Changed Her Oil, She Changed My Life
• I...
Why is it that, every time U2 are about to release an album, someone gets hold of the tracks in advance. Masters were left in a cab for Achtung Baby, a laptop was - ahem - misplaced prior to the release of another album and something else happened for the last album and, yet again, U2 have - ahem - accidentally leaked tracks to their new album prior to its release. Now, obviously the lads are running out of excuses for this so the latest leak happened when someone who was on holiday in the South of France next door to Bono, overheard U2 tracks he hadn’t heard before. He dashed home and recorded the tracks. What kind of fucking copies would they be if he was standing outside Bono’s holiday home recording the songs?
Here’s my theory - and it may come as a shock; Bono and...
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Dana via pygment May 13th, 2008 at 00:12
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Just a short post to say farewell to a legend. Pavarotti died today at the age of 71 and, though you might not think that a pirate would care for classical music or opera, I can assure you I loved the guy. He had a honeyed voice that set him apart from the rest - who, to be fair all sound the same to me. He was also a rebel, shirking the more urbane conventions of the opera world, he gave his talent to everyone. Sleep will Luciano....
I am in the process of building a guitar. Now I don’t want you to go off with images of my gently carving a shape from wood. I don’t want you to visualise your resident Irish pirate with a spokeshave and a pensive look on his face. No, I have bought a cheap guitar, gutted it and am in the process of turning it into something unique. I do, however, need help. I have the pick-ups and general sound stuff sorted but I am an apprentice novice’s apprentice’s admirer when it comes to the machinations of design.
I’ve spoken at length about the criminally forgotten brilliance of some Limerick musicians. My intention is to get newspaper clippings of these bands and glue them to the body of the guitar in a kind of hap-hazard way but I need to seal them in. It is at...
I’ve been a little remiss and sporadic in my rantings of late and I apologise for this. The reason is that I have purchased a guitar effect called “The POG” and it’s kind of addictive. I don’t normally write reviews of gadgetry and this isn’t one but I must say, this yoke is the most fun I’ve had since that time I stapled Slimey Pete’s scrotum to the deck while he was sleeping and yelled, “YYYAAARRRR THAR BE TYGERS”. Slimey Pete hated misspellings.
So, the POG. It stands for Poly Octave Generator, which might not mean anything to you but I assure you tis a wonder of modern madness. My knowledge of piano is limited at best but I have been playing the Hammond Organ for the last few days without ever having to swap my instrument. I...
I hate Country & Irish music. It’s kind of hilarious for a while until you find out that these guys are actually fucking serious. My one abiding nightmare is seeing the legendary Johnny Cash sitting on a stairs and singing a duet with the nauseating Sandy Kelly. Fuck me, I needed months of therapy after that one.
That said, there are some really good country artists out there. Steve Earle, James McMurtry… fuck it, there are too many to mention. I’m not talking about the whiny crap that the Alan Jacksons and Garth Brooks of the world sing but real music. I never thought I’d admit that I liked country music but, after sitting through a concert with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Emylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson, I was converted. I was so convinced that I...
Whether you like to admit it or not, music plays an important role in your life. It makes up the soundtrack. You can choose to support contrived and meaningless morons like boybands, girlbands and people whose only creative thrust comes from sampling other people’s music but is that the music you would want in the soundtrack to your life? I’m not telling you that you should like what I like but people should place more importance on the music they listen to. There is incredibly beautiful music out there that is just waiting for you to discover it. Before I took to the decks of the Thirsty Kipper, I was a musician. I wasn’t a particularly gifted or unique musician but I wasn’t bad. My problem was that I simply couldn’t go down the road of playing songs simply...
I love John Prine. Ok, this is a bit too “down by the campfire” for my musical taste but it’s simple lyrics say what Dubya should hear. I should throw Sam Stone in there too because you just know that, when the troops eventually come home, their needs are going to be completely ignored - as usual. I’m not an American. I’m Irish. I, like most other kids, grew up thinking that America was some kind of utopia, where everyone wins, everyone is honest and everyone gets the girl. Well, I don’t know about the latter but I have come to know America as something else entirely. One man is responsible for the rest of the world resenting America. I don’t hate America but I’m fucking disappointed in America. I’m sure that most Americans are now...
On one side, you have Alan Jackson coming up with songs for every tragedy and appearing more sad, serene and sincere than a boyband singing about some other guy’s unrequited love. On the other side, you have Steve Earle, writing quality songs and telling like it is. He doesn’t need to appear in profile, looking off into some doomed horizon, he just tells it like it is....
As I have already explained, I’m getting way too many “refers” from people who are looking for porn. I entertained changing the name of the site but someone for whom the word great is wholly inadequate has led me to believe otherwise. I intend, with this post, to confuse the issue. Let me explain. Today, I had a record number of visitors to my little site. Many of them, thankfully, looked for the site but the majority; sadly, were perverts whose idea of multi-tasking is wanking and moving the mouse at the same time. In other words, there are a handful of people who actually deign to condescend to my rantings and there are a large number of people who are expecting to fill their hands when they cum across my site. It’s funny that, since I wrote about the scam that...
I’m not too proud to say that I loved and still love Mark Knopfler’s style of guitar playing. If it wasn’t for Brothers In Arms, I think Dire Straits would still have the respect they deserve. I’m mad at Mark. How can you make such beautiful music and then come out with such shite as The Walk of Life. Sorry, but t’was a load of ol bollox. Still, I remember wanting a red Schecter stratocaster simply because it looked so cool. I got a red Fender Stratocaster. Dunno what happened to it. Anyway, another of my childhood favourites was Thin Lizzy. If there was a cooler musician than Phil Lynott on the face of the planet, I never discovered them. Ok, there was Lou Reed. Well, back in 1980, Phil and Mark got together and I’d forgotten how much I love this...
Life wasn’t easy for me, being the son of a famous pirate. I had to put up with all sorts of ridicule. “You’re only a pirate because of your father. “You think that you’ve got a right to pillage simply because your father was the an average - yet well known - pillager? “Who do you think you are; Johnny Depp?“Would you please take your foot off my throat?
These are all terms one hears when one has become enamoured with one’s father’s occupation. Ok, my motives aren’t as pure as Captain Felonious Purplehead’s. Yes, a true pirate wouldn’t write about his exploits for the sake of nonsense. You’re right; I’m a poor pirate. I’m lacking in the essential ingredients that go into the recipe for being a good...
I must admit that I didn’t watch an awful lot of the “Concert for Diana” because I’ve been trying hard not to expose myself to shite lately. I did, however, attempt to watch a bit of it on the off chance that I might be completely wrong. I wasn’t.
I had nothing against Princess Diana and I have nothing against people celebrating her life. In fact I admire the way she rose above the hypocrisy of an institution, which has long passed its sell-by date. My problem is with the typical line up chosen for the event. Elton John, Status Quo, Joss Stone? Puh-lease. She may have liked these people but there is no way that they should be the subject of a global simulcast. I switched over to it for a minute and heard Joss Stone doing a really shite version of Under...
As I explained in an earlier post, I passed on a night in the pub last Thursday night. Now, I didn’t go into this at the time because I wanted to allow it to sink in but I watched T.V instead of going out. The human mind is like a search engine. It picks up on keywords when searching through text. As I perused the T.V. guide, one of my keywords jumped off the screen at me: “Hendrix”. I instantly checked this out and discovered that a biopic of Hendrix was been shown. Now there are those who say that Hendrix didn’t have any impact on modern music but I’m definitely not one of them. While the Beatles opened all kinds of doors in terms of lyrics and melody, Hendrix gave us the sound of modern music. He transformed the guitar from a jangly backing instrument...
Yaarrrr, tis not too often a pirate admits defeat but thar be occasions when we do. I have had to admit defeat in my quest to get to number one by writing a crap song - not because it is an impossible goal - because I can’t bring myself to inflict more crap than there already is upon you all.
I actually sat down with a plan. I took down about forty Pop clichés on bits of paper and put all the bits into a bowl. My aim was to randomly pull out the lyrics for the song. I had a typical melody, a bridge and, of course, a key change. The process took me all of ten minutes but as I played it back to myself, I felt decidedly sullied. It just felt wrong. I still maintain that, if you can get past the cringe worthy embarrassment of even singing this kind of shite to yourself, you could get...
Well, my hangover hasn’t yet thrust its barbed lance into my brain so I still have the strength to write. I did something this morning that I rarely do; I switched on the radio. Now, normally, I’d prefer to staple my nuts to a horses arse and yell, “giddyup”, than listen to the turgid, spineless, soulless, plastic shite that they play on most radio stations in this country but a momentary lapse led me to press a button that should forever remain unpressed. After hearing a cliché-laden piece of shite, I decided that something needs to be done.
I am going to write a classic and you can help. Now this song will not be a good song. It will be a song that will be poison to the ears of music lovers. Lyrically, it will be the worst kind of drivel known to man but it will follow a...
Sorry about the title but I’ve just spent the last hour talking to a fucking tosspot who seems to think that an awareness of Shakespearian language equals intelligence. What made it worse it that the conversation took place between my mobile phone and his. There’s nothing like listening to a pseudo-intellectual on a moblie phone. I won’t quote the conversation… yet … but suffice it to say that I have made the mistake of sending a little piece of my work to several different production companies - well, you have to chance your arm. I’ve had one solid and reputable response and several really pathetic responses. I need to qualify this slightly.
Since my forties are hurtling relentlessly towards me, I have gotten to that half complacent stage that you...
I am posting this because I spoke to a few people who hadn’t seen this video. As a music video, I don’t think there ever has been one so effective. Love him or hate him - and I definitely love him - Johnny Cash never shirked away from his soul. He did have one embarrassing moment singing with Sandy Kelly on her live show for RTE but you can forgive a multitude of mistakes for the legacy that he left behind. For anybody who loved Johnny Cash, this can be a hard video to watch but I honestly think it’s a work of art....
Ok, last one, I promise. I can’t put up these videos without including the legend that is Stevie Ray Vaughan. Apparently George W. Bush has Stevie Ray on his Ipod. How can he hear such beauty and still be such an evil prick?
Denis Leary said it best when he said, “Stevie Ray Vaughan is dead and we can’t get Jon Bon Jovi into a helicopter. Come on Jon, there’s a hairdryer in there.”
Again, there is no justice.
Fuck it, nine posts in one day, I gotta get some sleep - or a life....
Just heard that a good friend and legend, Mick Noonan has passed away. Mick was one hell of a funny guy. He was, what’s known in Limerick, as a “sound skin.” I’m not going to go on all night about him becasue it would be easy to do so. He will be sadly missed by all that knew him. I can honestly say that some of my fondest memories are of being in his company. Sentimental for a pirate, I know, but it had to be said. Mick was big into rugby and, as such, delighted in a singalong. I could never stand singalongs but hearing Mick sing, the veins on his neck straining, always brought a smile to my face. I doubt that he owned many CDs and I doubt even more that any of those in his possession were by Tom Waits but this song reminds me of him.
This is for you Noonan - you...
Thought I’d share a little bit of classic Grant Lee Buffalo with you.
Nuff said....
I don’t mind tribute gigs. In fact, they can be quite enjoyable because bands generally try different things to the norm but one thing about them really fucking annoys me. It goes back to the Last Waltz by The Band. It worked then because it was relatively new but it is done and done and done to death now. I’m speaking, of course, of the end of gig choir. This is when every member of every band on the bill gets up at the end to sing a song. It’s normally, as it was in the beginning, I Shall Be Released. There’s nothing wrong with the song and there’s nothing wrong with the musicians who sing it and there’s certainly nothing wrong with the senitment behind it but the whole idea seems kind of, well, cheesy.
Y’know how it is. The whole arms around...
Whilst awaiting some long overdue dental work recently, I picked up a magazine - as you do - and began to peruse its contents. T’was a music magazine, whose name - for legal reasons - escapes me, and I couldn’t really concentrate on reading an article on the magnificent Beck because of the drilling noises coming from the surgery. I decided to move on and came across a ridiculous article on Madonna.
The author of this article extolled the virtues of the pop princess, whilst warning that you can’t just say that Madonna is shite because people may not know about which Madonna you are speaking. In the interests of clarity then, I would like to point out that I am speaking about Madonna Cicconne - now Madonna Ritchie - the same over-played slapper who had hits with Like a...