Looking Down The Cross
There’s new videos on the way from Clive Barnes, the first of which appeared online last night. We caught up with Clive at a recent show in Cleere’s where he’d been joined by Eugene Donegan. In the wind up, we went home with 16 videos instead of two or three so we might get five or six up over the course of the week.
The videos themselves are appearing on Clive Barnes’ own YouTube page and were recorded during the gig in Cleere’s. The first video, Looking Down The Cross, is available above in HD. You can also check videos of Clive performing with Taj Mahal and Eric Bibb in France a few years back.
Twilight In Kilkenny: Gig Rig On Parade
It’s been too long since we’ve had a gig rig installed on The Parade but that’s the plan for tomorrow as Lords Of Strut, Kilkenny Samba Band, Starlight Stage Productions Pyrotechnix, Joanna Ryde, Von Bizmark, The River Valley Band and more entertain the masses in the centre of Kilkenny from 4pm on St. Patrick’s Day. Music should be starting from 4pm with the parade itself getting underway proper from 2pm. What are the organisers calling it? Well, Twilight, of course.
The green-themed parade, which will be led by Grand Marshal Helen Caroll, will begin at MacDonagh Junction at 2pm and travel the same route as the hurler’s homecoming – down John Street, over John’s Bridge, up High Street, past the reviewing stand at the Tholsel before finishing in the Market Yard. After the parade, a music festival will take place on the new Parade, complete with a ‘Gig Rig’ and a great line up of musicians from 4pm to 7.30pm. There will also be plenty of activity at MacDonagh Junction throughout the day, including music by the St Patrick’s Brass and Reed Band from 1.30pm and the Kilkenny and District Pipe Band after the parade. There will also be singing and dancing by Starlight Stage Productions, Dancewise and the Evelyn White Irish Dancers.
Fans of Von Bizmark will get the chance to hear new single Address The Silence performed in the open, the single and new video being released next month. Busy too are The River Valley Band who will have just enough time to get their city gig done before heading to Thomastown to join in the festivities out there with a night show in the Bridgebrook Arms. From what we know in advance of the running order of tomorrow, there will be two 40-minute sets from both bands with other acts getting from 20 minutes upwards on stage.
There are plans afoot for large video projections during the gigs onto the side of the Eircom building on The Parade but we’ll be keeping our eyes fixed on the music side of things. Fingers crossed too that the weather holds up for what will be the first large scale music production in the space since its redevelopment. Hopefully, it won’t be the last.
Redevelopment Of KKM Underway
We’re redeveloping KKM. The whole online kit, top to bottom and back again.
Work has already started on a new design for the site, improvements for the forum (both on a user side and security side to prevent spam posts popping up during the week), improvements for gig listings, video and a whole lot more. It’s taken us a lot of time this month already, the first part being the move from the US servers to new Irish-based ones, but we’re almost there.
The plan is to unveil the new site in April and we’re going to open the floor to contributers at local level to both the site content and podcast which, after much pressing and probing from listeners of old, is in the final stages of planning for a 2010 return.
We’ve got the first of the live series kicking off in two weeks time with the return of the One Take Sessions, now taking place on the last Friday of the month (as opposed to Thursdays) in Cleere’s Theatre on Parliament Street and we’re organising a string of weekend shows as well, as mentioned earlier in the year. So while the ‘Sessions fill up for the months ahead, we’re turning our attentions back towards the site for some much needed improvements. Your feedback is always welcome and don’t be afraid to drop us a line on hello@kilkennymusic.com with your thoughts.
Free Gig With Von Bizmark Tonight
VON BIZMARK return to Kilkenny tonight with just one month to go to the release of their second single Address The Silence. The followup to 2009’s summer release of London, Address The Silence marks the first of three planned releases by the band in 2010 and gets its release in shops locally and via iTunes in early April.
The local boys, basing themselves in Dublin, are currently finalising plans for their single tour across the month of April before flying out over to the UK in a few weeks time to start work on their third single.
The band returned to Jam Studios in Kells at the beginning of the year to lay the foundations for their latest single offering and in recent weeks have linked up with two Kilkenny businesses – Event Media and Mycrofilms – to promote and distribute the single, as well as produce a brand new music video for the band. Shot on location in Kilkenny over two days last week, fans of the band will be treated to the video on the day of the single release.
Von Bizmark take to The Pumphouse on Parliament Street tonight from 9:30pm. Admission is free. For more on the band, visit VonBizmark.com.
Haiti Child Official Video
Local filmmaker Andrew Clancy has just released the official HD cut of Haiti Child, a charity single released in the wake of the devastation in Haiti. All proceeds of the single are going to “Haven”, an organisation committed to building houses in Haiti.
Haiti Child charity cong was written on the 26th January 2010 by Elaine Doonan, a 25 year old, full time nurse from Killarney, Co. Kerry.
The inspiration for the song came from a story Elaine had heard about a 22 day old child, found alive beneath the rubble 7 days after the earthquake. The story struck a chord with Elaine as she saw it as a powerful example of how hope could be derived from such a disaster. The single features Elain Doonan, Pete Fagan, Davey Cashin, Davey Long and Tony Coy.
Check out haitichildcharitysong.com for more information.
Music And Punk Poetry With Chunky Planet
KICKING OFF their live calendar for 2010, CHUNKY PLANET in collaboration with Performance punk poetry from Wasps vs Humans play a series of live dates across the country. The show promises a mash up of music and spoken word and is not recommended for the easily offended. This Saturday they’ll be taking their show to Cleere’s Theatre on Parliament Street with Wasps vs Humans. Doors are 9 bells, admission is only five Euro and there’s a free CD (limited) to earlycomers to the gig.
WASPS vs HUMANS, usually a one man performance poetry project takes on a commentary based style observing snap shots of life; political and humorous, his take on the world is delivered with a growl and a smile.
Originally a playwright, the man behind Wasps vs Humans has written plays for theatre, all produced, including a UK national tour and taking in the Brighton International Arts Festival. Musically, he released an L.P and Single with UK based 80s avant garde/experimental band, 4,000,000 Telephones, with a tour in Germany, previously gaining interest from national UK press and radio 1, including John Peel.
In 2009 Wasps vs Humans made his debut at Cork’s midsummer’s festival and has since performed around Ireland and more recently spotted performing Dublin’s sugar Club with Jinx Lennon, Christy Moore and Captain Moonlight.
CHUNKY PLANET continue to promote their recently released E.P, ‘Walking in my Shoe’s which received HOTPress pick of the fortnight back in October as well as earning them national airplay and rave reviews.
A husband and wife collaboration, Chunky Planet’s commentary style lyrics and alternative indie/folk sound is no recipe for nostalgic love songs. A ‘tell it how you see it’ approach, they switch from the sweet to the absurd, always bringing a certain edge and rawness to their music.
The EP is out now and is available at Road Records in Dublin, as well by download through most major digital sites including iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody and downloadmusic.ie. The E.P can also be ordered direct from the band’s website www.chunkyplanet.com.
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Stage Set for The Minutes
The Minutes arrive into Kilkenny for their first city showing this weekend and in making the most of their Marble City trip you’ll be able to catch them on KCLR96FM, live in Rollercoaster Records on Saturday afternoon and live in Set Theatre on John Street for their show on Saturday night. Five Euro is all it’s going to cost you on Saturday night, doors opening at 10pm in Set and the rock n’ roll trio will be followed by Davy Holland’s Gold Soundz indie night. Can’t argue with that really, can you?
For the in store, the lads take to Rollercoaster Records at 3pm on Saturday where they’ll have a four-track CD available to buy, including a track from the band’s debut album. From there they go to Set Theatre with the band playing a late show, followed by Gold Soundz into the wee hours of the night.
Their recent promotion and warmup for SXSW 2010 has been steady and solid, cramming in nights in Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny, Waterford, Drogheda and more before jetting to Austin for a string of gigs over the few days of the music festival.
They made the most of a year-long residency in Whelans in Dublin, shared the stage with The Von Bondies and Supergrass, become “one of Dublin’s must see live acts”, and last autumn headed to upstate New Yrok to record their debut album, Marcata, with producer Kevin McMahon, the disc set for release in the coming months.
Take a listen to a few tunes here on Muxtape and if you like what you hear, get yourself to Set on John Street this Saturday from 10pm.
The band were interviewed recently ahead of their upcoming trip to SXSW, check it out on their MySpace.
All Ages Gigs Return Today
The first in a new planned series of all-ages gigs takes place today in Bambrick’s at Troy’s Gate. Their back room venue (formerly a restaurant) was being transformed last night to host Itchy Trigger Finger, Chemical Addiction and Pyrotechnix (featured on the All-Ireland Talent Show).
Trig Promotions are behind the gig who, with the aid of Essaness Music and the Drum Youth Cafe, hope to give young bands a new platform to show off their skills, songs and hopefully capture an audience for their work.
Since the wind down of the Underground gigs last year and no 2009 Battle Of The Bands event, young acts in Kilkenny (those U18) have been, for the most part, without a venue to perform in.
For those of you unfamiliar with Bambrick’s, you might know it as “the pub at the roundabout near Dominos”. The back room venue holds quite a large number and while the event is being billed as all-ages, alcohol will be available in the main bar to those old enough.
There’s a six Euro cover charge, doors open at 4pm and music gets underway shortly after.
Scheduled Downtime Planned
We’re scheduling downtime of KilkennyMusic.com, access to the podcast archive, the One Take Sessions site, forum and everything else attached to KilkennyMusic.com between midday Sunday and 6pm Monday. This is to facilitate the move of KilkennyMusic.com and all associated sites to new servers.
It takes a lot to move a collection of sites that have between them gigs of data and four years of content so please be aware that service might well be interrupted over the next day or so.
We won’t be long, promise.
Twitter Comp: Win Tickets for Clive Barnes this Friday
This Friday night, as mentioned before the weekend, Clive Barnes returns for his first full live show in Kilkenny this year. Joining him on the bill will be Eugene Donegan.
We’ve got two tickets to give away, and we’re doing so on Twitter. Friday night’s gig takes place in Cleere’s Theatre on Parliament Street with doors open from 9pm. Tickets are priced €15 and can otherwise be booked in Cleere’s by phoning 056-7762573.
Win The Tickets
To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets for this Friday’s show, you must tell us – via Twitter – what the name of Clive Barnes’s current album is. As a bonus, you could also bag yourself a copy of the album by tuning in this week to the Edwina Grace Show on KCLR96FM (she’s got a few copies to give away before Clive’s on-air set on Friday afternoon).
Let’s say that the competition opens… now… and we’ll close applications by midday tomorrow. See tweet here.
e.g. entry on Twitter: @kilkennymusic [ALBUM NAME]
Your entry must start with @kilkennymusic to send the message to us, must include the full album title and you must be able to attend the gig on Friday night.
Get to it…
