Parents Irish Holidays - Part 1 Dublin

Dublin, Temple Bar

Temple Bar Pub

Local drink: Guiness

A pint of Guinness on top of the storehouse

Side of a Pub in Temple Bar

Old dubliner painting

On the liffey

Tall ship on the liffey

A good start for the Month of May

Bank May Holiday, with his now traditional Riverfest, was planned to be a busy weekend. The weather at times was menacing, but everything turned out great.

All started out with a chill out session on Friday night in the infamous Wicked Chicken, all with good tunes and excellent company (K & P )

The infamous Wicked Chicken....

We could not end up the night like that, so off we went finish ourselves to the Costello, his sticky carpet, and relax dance-floor, made some brilliant encounter down there, from past DJ (now teacher of the place) to Mr Scruff gig's friends.

Costello godess overlooking the dancefloor...

Water the drink of legends ;)

Definitely the perfect warm up for the long weekend.

On Saturday the big BBQ cook off, took place on Arthur Quay's, we manage to preserve ourselves a table, well guarded by bubbles gun.

Almost shining on a busy Arthur Quay...

Nice free food, and free music along with great people, mostly musician and psychology student, with the odd intrusion from work colleagues.

After an afternoon baking in the - at times - sun, it was time for me to go to Thomond Park, to enjoy a game of Rugby (Munster vs Ulster )

Munster Mascot

Munster on the attack....

This end up my day, but from what I heard the festivities were to continue long after my departure.

I had an excuse to leave early (10pm), as I was going diving in Doolin the following day.

On sunday morning, I arrive in Doolin, after escaping the gates in place for the Great Limerick Run.

Stoned view from Doolin pier

It did not take long to launch the boat, and off we went to the Aran Island ( Inis Mor ) to dive the wormhole ( I am still in the process of editing the video, so wait for the next post ).

In the afternoon we went for another one, along the Cliffs of Moher, under the sun.

The Cliffs viewed from the sea....

Once we were done, we had to take care of the boat, and after complicated exchange with some locals ( not facilitated by the foreigner accent of our diving club - including mine ), we ended up finding a suitable place to park it overnight. And it was time for fulfilling dinner.

A bit later, I had the extreme pleasure to be join by G&T in McDermott pub , around some nice guinness, enjoyable trad music session, for a nice chat. And it was not till well past 1AM that we had to say goodbye.

Guiness for strength in McDermotts

The legendary G&T

Up came monday, after a restful night - not enjoyed by everybody due to the weather conditions. 

And we were off, for another dive, this time  the club boat was hosting many guests from different clubs ( Cork SAC, Burren, and Ennis )

Aughinish Boat

Delightful dive, starting with an impressive wall of Anemones displaying all their colors in patches ( Orange, Yellow, Purple, blue.... ).

Aughinish Diving boat making way for the happy hooker.

And on our way back, we were greeted by a jumping dolphin, following us up to the pier.
You can actually read a bit more about this May dive weekend on the Aughinish website:
http://www.aughinishdivingclub.com/news/159-dolphin-the-cliffs-and-worm-hole


Some more....

Happy Hooked in Doolin ... ( the ferry  name ;)

The Cliffs viewed from Doolin....

Senakah launch album - Dolans - 1

Another good gig in Dolans, Senakah for the launch of their single ( Human Relations available on itunes )


Additionally you can check out the video for the song on youtube, which features nicely Limerick city (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvY4qh6l3w )

Limerick Music Scene

I have spend my first thursdays evening of 2012 in the quite decent Limerick pub called: Bourkes ( website: http://bourkesbar.com ), enjoying some delightful and various musical acts. From electronic DJ Toby Kaar, to pop band "yeh deadlies", every night have been a joyful discovery.

Limerick is full of nice pubs where you can listen music, live bands and discover artists. The main venue for artist would be The Dolans ( http://dolanspub.com/ )  with the big warehouse but also a more intimate venue upstairs.Upstairs in the intimate atmosphere I have discovered Vertigo Smyth, James Vincent Mcmorrow, Maria Doyle Kennedy amongst other... while in the big concert room I have enjoyed The Answer, Lisa Hannigan, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mick Flannery...



There is also a concert hall in the University ( http://www.uch.ie/ ) , and The Daghda Space - sadly now defunct - use to be another alternative venue.

But beside the musical venues, the pub are showing great activities: Cobblestone Joe and Nancy Blake have regular live band on wednesday and sunday nights. The Curragower pub and Foleys allows you to listen to some blue grass.

Interesting DJ's can be heard in Mickey Martins, but also in my favorite funky bar: The Wicked Chicken.
The Wicked Chicken also entertain some concert downstairs or in combination with Baker Place.
In my head I am still bopping to some 50s song, thanks to show hosted by DJ Andy Smith.



And lastly Bourkes have started a series of great quality musical acts.




Limerick has a very much alive music scene, with passionate listeners and sound enthusiasts.
An interesting blog delivering gig reports: Indie Limerick ( http://indielimerick.blogspot.com )

Read here last thursday gig report:
http://indielimerick.blogspot.com/2012/01/certain-three-tour-2012-bourkes-bar.html


As a conclusion lets' finish with the lost brothers as seen on Other Voices:

Concert - The Answer in Dolans

Brilliant concert last night in Dolans, featuring the Northern Ireland band: The Answer.

The two support band were let's say entertaining, the first one though not bad, reminded me of spinal stap through their outfit ( head bandana, cut jean, leather trouser, goth style singer.... ), the second paid a lot less attention to its outfit, but as soon as the guitar started, they meant business, the energic singer performed the perfect warm-up to the leading act.

The first I saw The Answer , was at The Who concert in Cork, about 2-3 years ago, at the time I was really impressed by their style and their energy.

:D :D :D

Favourite Pubs in Limerick

After 6 years, in Limerick city, it's about time I compile the list of my favorites pubs in town, though the order might vary from year to year, month to month, mood to mood...

• Mickey Martin: Funky and convivial, great music and amazing people.
  

• Costello tavern: The best fiver you can spend on a Saturday night in Limerick, relax and calm for intensive talk downstairs, or even some beer-pong ... after just follow the red carpet (the mythical sweaty carpet ! ), and your feet will be able to do some crazy dancing on the tune of the Smyths, Radiohead and other RATM...
  
• Bourkes: A new old place, which has been revived last year, very pleasant, with like in the country a good mix of different age group mixing happily.
• Tom Collins: relax and quiet, perfect for a French talk in front of a pint. Used to have good traditional band on Wednesday:
• Wicked Chicken: For many years my favorite in Limerick, small dark and wicked usually great DJ mix, ideal for a round of 2 of Jägermeister, I miss Phil the barman though ...
  
• Curragower: Good, perfectly place on the way home on a Friday night, on the way to the Thomond park for the weekends...
  
• Baker Place: The wicked chicken twin older brother ( sharing the same bathroom where naked men can slap their butt ), excellent to see young new band performing.
  
• Dolans: the place for concert in Limerick, also great for a breakfast on Munster game day. Checkout the Gig listing on their website.
• SinBin only on a salsa night ( as a replacement of Daffys): Well since Daffy's disappeared (RIP), we needed a place for the salsa party and the Clohessys nightclub turn to be a more than okay place.
• Nancy Blake: Well this is a non-controversial pub ( the least objectionable pub for anybody), the classic always reliable, i probably prefer the smallest warmer room than the outback.
  

Special mention: The White House, Flannery's ( the one ion catherine street), The WindMill Bar, Clohessy's ( for the 6 Nations), The Locke Bar, Glen Tavern

Halloween 2009

Mickey Martin Halloween party brilliant as every year



And Mister Pumpkin was there....


....
see you next year

Rodrigo y Gabriella ... summer 2009

Oh god i miss the free summer concert in Grenoble, fortunately there is some good bands playing in Limerick, most notably in Dolans, last night it was Rodrigo y Gabriella, absolutely brilliant.

UnionHall

Just finish a quite typical Irish diving weekend down west cork. Here's the recipe:



- a big slurp of salty water

- 2+ pint of Murphys
- a rugby game ( to be watched at the local pub )
- some seals
- crabs, loybsters and anemones



- and finally meet and greet old and new friends

Tom Crean

English: Photo of Tom Crean taken aboard the Endurance, 1914.

I went to the theater last night to see a wonderful performance about Tom Crean, at the Belltable. I've already talked about him in a previous post.

He went three times to the South Pole with Scott and Shackleton, and survive all of them.
Terrific story, remarkably brought to life with some humor by the comedian Aidan Dooley. The piece is called : "Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer" (Written and Performed by Aidan Dooley).

There is a highly recommended book by Smith, Michael: Tom Crean: Unsung Hero ( Mountaineers Books ).

And if you're on your way to Dingle, don't forget to stop in Anascaul, and have a pint in the blue pub after the bridge: the South Pole Inn.