The Dublin Community Blog

Happy Bloomsday everyone. Bloomsday, the day when the people of Dublin commemorate and relive the events in the novel Ulysses. I’m sure the papers and the media this evening and tomorrow will be full with coverage of Bloomsday events but I have to ask, how many people have actually read the book Ulysses? I’ll admit I haven’t and I’m unlikely to read it anytime soon. Does it represent Dublin? Did it ever? Does anyone who is not currently wearing a funny hat, standing outside a Georgian house and reading quotes from the book actually care? On the other hand should we all be wearing hats and quoting Bloom?

For the 4th time, the “Let’s French”-festival will be happening in selected venues all over Dublin next week. To give Dubliners an overview of French music (and culture) and to celebrate this year’s Fete de la Musique,  the Alliance Francaise of Dublin has invited some interesting contemporary French artists, and there are also screenings of French music movies at the Denzille Cinema and an open mic day.

Kick-off will be a show of Parisian HipHop-three piece DSL at the Andrews Lane theatre on Thursday, 18.06., and my personal highlight of the festival, a show of Housse de Racket at the Twisted Pepper on Abbey Street follows up on Saturday 20th. Concluding all the events will be a free (! – its the Fete de la Musique) show of Singer/Songwriter Marie Cherrier at the Village on Wexford Street Sunday evening. Alors, on y va, dear Frankophiles. And watch out for reviews here on the Dublinblog.

SYNTHE TEASER Р(( Housse de Racket РSynth̩tiseur )) from Housse De Racket on Vimeo.

And did I mention that there’s a free Henessy-cocktail included when you purchase a ticket for one of the shows?

I’m Roseanne Smith, a newly recruited blogger to the Dublin Community Blog. Actually I’m not that newly recruited having been moved to volunteer when Red Mum was collecting the blog’s award at the Irish Blog Awards in February and mentioned that they were looking for some actual Dubliners to blog. So I’m an actual Dubliner. You can find out more about me on my own blog because I’m here to talk about what’s going on in Dublin not in my head (as a general rule…). I’m hoping once I get into the swing of things and have lulled you into a false sense of security to contribute the odd blog in Irish. Enough of the intros, here goes!

I am a cyclist. I wouldn’t say avid or fanatical while I’m just sitting here at my laptop. Not at all.

But get me onto the saddle and I become something else. Half woman, half bike: melded with my machine, senses heightened, coordination controlled, I’m a dynamic dynamo and I’m getting there faster than all of you.

Well except for anyone who’s running. Really I’m a very average cyclist. I always stop at red lights. I wear nerdy hi-viz clothing on all my limbs and a helmet. I have front and rear lights and I move at a leisurely pace.

I do cycle everywhere. I cycle to and from work, the kids’ school and creche, to meetings, out at the weekend; come rain or shine. I even sometimes bring our bikes on holidays. I do lots of  thinking on the bike when I’m not avoiding potholes or pedestrians. I find it’s a great way to start the day.

Dublin is a grand place to cycle. Okay it’s no Amsterdam or even Groningen. It’s fairly flat, there are new bits of bike lane all the time. (I’m trying to accentuate the positive here, folks! It’s my first post – I don’t want to come across as crabby on Day 1) As you will see I live close to the canal and there’s nothing like zipping along the canal no matter what the weather.

One of the main reasons people often give for not cycling is the weather: they are worried that they will get drenched on their way to work. As another cyclist puts it on his blog “it’s the prospect of getting wet that puts people off.” Well I’ve been doing a little experiment since January. Everyday I get stopped on Sally’s Bridge on the canal on the way home. It’s just not possible to get from one set of traffic lights to the other at my pedestrian pace. So every day I take a snap and post it to my Flickr account. You can see the set here. Or better still:

Now I’ll admit straight off that due to the fact that I was in Santry for work recently I failed to take a photo between the 20 and 23 May when there was some torrential rain. This is also just snaps from weekdays and there’s some days when I’d be so deeply in thought that I would forget to take a photo.

So even adding in, say, about five wet days that I missed, that is not a lot of wet in nearly six months. And, as your mammy would say (and I am a mammy so I know about these things), there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad dressing. A good set of raingear will get you to and from work dry as a bone. Although I will admit to getting a bit cheesed off lugging my raingear around and unlike my other half I haven’t gone as far as gaiters so I keep dry footwear under my desk for days that I am caught on the hop.

So why have I chosen now to out myself as a wannabe fanatical cyclist? Next week is National Bike Week. Two years ago we took part in the Dublin City Cycle and it was a great day. As proof of my very average cycling, I was the very last back to the finish – I blame the youngest for my poor performance as he fell asleep which slowed me down something rotten! Here are a few of my snaps.

So I was delighted when I read that the activities have been extended to not only a full week but they have gone national. Among the events are free bike check-ups, charity cycles, cycling workshops and family fun days. I love the idea that Parnassus theatre company have: show your bike light at their production of Abigail’s Party in the Samuel Beckett Centre in TCD and you’ll get 33% off on the 16th, 17th and 16th June. Bargain! And it’s a very entertaining play so win-win!

This year the Dublin City Cycle takes place on Wednesday 17 June and while it may not be so family oriented it will draw more Dubliners’ attention to the cyclists in their midst. This was actually my biggest gripe with the Dublin City Cycle two years ago: it happened on a Sunday so there was no real impact on the rest of the citizens. I think a city cycle like this should remind other road users that cyclists are really there.

So keep an eye out for me at the Dublin City Cycle or taking pics on Sally’s Bridge of an evening!

Every year, the month of June is packed with festivals and other events here in Dublin. At DublinBlog, we may not be able to be at everything, but we’d like to alert you to as many as we can and then ask YOU to give us feeback on your experience of these events.

This weekend sees the end of Trinity College’s first annual Shakespeare Festival, which has offered both free open-air (the way Shakespeare was meant to be performed!) and indoor ticketed performances, as well seminars and other related events. CLICK HERE to see the event calendar on Google. Read the rest of this entry »

Well worth a visit if you are in the Thomas St area. The exhibitions are open to the public from 6th June to 14th June.

Degree and postgraduate Exhibitions are located on the NCAD Campus at 100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8.

Fine Art Postgraduate Exhibitions (MFA and MA) are located at the Digital Hub, James Street, Dublin 8.

The times of opening are: Saturday 10 am – 5 pm Sunday 2 pm – 5 pm Monday to Friday 10 am – 8 pm. Closed Bank Holidays.

Further information on the NCAD website.

“Discovered in Dublin” is the new regular feature on the Dublinblog, were we present the newest and freshest up-and coming bands and musicians from the dirty old town. With no limits concerning genre, style, or age; featuring signed and unsigned artists – the main purpose is to show you that the Dublin music scene is alive and kicking, and that there’s more to it than Beyonce at the O2 or fake trad-sessions in Temple Bar.

The first band we allow us to introduce are: Friend?

Hailing from north Dublin, this extraordinary outfit combines different musical backgrounds (post rock, -hardcore and downtempo) into an outstanding instrumental  soundtrack for the times we live in. Having won the “Demo of the month” of Phantom 105.2 and Connected magazine in April, the 4 lads and 1 lass also played the Sibin Festival in May.

Dublinblog asked, guitarist Josh answered:

Tell us sth. about the band – how you got together, how you write your tunes and how do you plan to achieve world domination?

Well, myself, Colm and Sean started writing bits and pieces of music together around May of last year, and eventually decided that we would try and arrange them together in some conceiveable order. Having lost our previous drummer to the film industry (he will now be making our first video for us) we subsequently realized we quite liked the sound of various pots and pans being assaulted by a deranged young man named Dave… so we all moved into a dilapidated house together. Then, because most of us need a female in the room in order to behave (dynamically)… we were then joined by Margie, our lovely violinista. With regards to the writing process, Myself, Colm and Dave are the only ones without full time jobs so we spend a lot of time in the house working out rhythms and arrangements. Myself and Sean then generally separate the guitars from the rest of the mix and work on them together to find the right frequency balances, and then Margie comes over and adds a thick, translucent layer of class over everything. I think it might be better for everyone if we didn’t achieve world domination… we’re very silly people.

Do you think it is an advantage to hail from Dublin (or at least being labelled so)?

We’ve only ever played in Dublin, so i’ll let you know when we play Galway if they’re throwing bottles of piss or bottles of compliments written on tiny bits of paper.

How important is the liveshow for the band and your sound?
Crucial. Recordings can be so static, it’s really tough (especially on our budget of fuck all) to properly convey the energy and dynamic of a live show. Being in a band isn’t what I thought it was when I was 14, it’s 50 hours of playing the same 32 bars of music to get it tight during rehearsals, 150 hours to record one song because your mixing desk insists on shitting the bed every 20 minutes, 300 hours of giving out to each other and 45 minutes of bliss and adrenaline on stage. The live show is the real reason for the band at the end of all the repetetive tiresome bullshit.

What do you think about the current discussion about downloading, filesharing and copyrights? Is the web an advantage for new bands (without deal)?

Keep stealing music. Everybody. It’s pushing the industry in new directions, keeping bands on their toes. It’s forcing us all to produce something you can’t reproduce on some shitty mp3 that fell off the back of a truck! A small example… we gave free cakes out and had an art and photography expo during our last gig. Why? Because we’re just cool… but also because we know we will make little or no money on our recordings, we all need to do something different for our audiences now, it’s time for a shift in the way people think and I really believe that filesharing and downloading will spur this change in new and exciting directions. The web is obviously an excellent tool for new bands, it enables them to become the type of bands who don’t need a label. Of course, these will be the bands that the labels will want to sign…

Where can we find more information about your band? And, is there anything the world needs to know about you?

You can find us at myspace.com/weshouldbefriends, our demo, “Take A Bath In Public” is available for download… steal, steal , steal away. I suppose the world should know that we’re playing Andrew’s Lane Theatre on Saturday the 6th of June and we’ll also be setting up our own mini festival during the summer, the details will be on the myspace… Toodles x

As statet above, Friend? will be playing at the Andrews Lane Theatre tomorrow evening – see you there!

If you are an artist/musician/band/busker who wants to be featured on “Discovered in Dublin”, please send an email to authors@dublinblog.ie

Normally moored on the Grand Canal at Mespil Road, La Peniche was the venue for our little gourmet gang’s latest dinner. Normally we have an “early bird menu, house wine only” rule to keep the costs down, but this time we went all-out in search of a different dining experience.

We started off on deck, relaxing with a drink in the beautiful summer evening before being escorted below to our table. The decor has an old-world maritime charm to it, but since the boat was designed to fit inside a standard Grand Canal lock, its 18.5 metre overall length makes for a cosy dining experience. In the end this wasn’t a problem; the close quarters combined with the eclectic music playlist (I don’t think I’ve ever heard “Return to Sender” and Van Halen’s “Jump” sharing the same musical bill before!) just added to the experience.

Although a restaurant, it is also a fully-functional barge so it does move, just not very far! The standard dinner cruise (€10 pp supplement) takes you west through one lock before mooring outside the Hilton at Charlemont bridge. It’s enough to give you a taste of travel on the canal, but those expecting a Rick Stein-style epic journey will be disappointed. Still, it means you avoid the perilous badlands of D8 and D12 further west.

And so to the food. I’m happy to report it was of a very good standard, though for a restaurant touting itself as “the premium dining experience in Dublin”, one would expect no less. I had a smoked salmon starter with an avacado and capers salsa, which was both generously-sized and delicious. The garlic mussels and cured meats were also both hits, but my favourite starter was the black pudding. Served with apple and a strip of bacon, it was one of the nicest puddings I’ve tasted.

For mains I opted for the lamb shank; again a generous portion, and tender to the point of falling off the bone. Another hit was the duet of prawn and smoked mackerel, which is served fish pie-style in a creamy sauce. Possibly the weakest of the mains we tried was the confit leg of duck. Still lovely, but it suffered from comparison with the other dishes.

Things finished off strongly with desserts, with praise all round for each dish that was offered: a chocolate tart, a pear and almond tart, and the selection of cheeses. Service throughout was friendly, though slightly haphazard. It would be churlish to complain, however, as the staff were uniformly pleasant and happy to chat about the barge and its operation.

The only surprise was when the bill came. Three courses are available for €35, which is reasonable enough, but when you add the cruising supplement, wine, a tip, and of course the pre-dinner drinks, we were suddenly looking down the sharp end of €75 a head. It is tempting, though perhaps a little unfair, to compare this to places like Green 19 which offer excellent value and good food for much less, but in the end I think the unique experience and quality of the food on La Peniche just about justifies the price of admission, particularly if it’s for a special occasion.

Overall, I’d give it 7.5 marks out of 10, a happy customer, albeit much lighter of wallet!

The Back Loft is an ‘artist playground’ located in St. Augustine st, just off Thomas St in the Liberties. The bright former factory hall sees a constant stream of exhibitions and other art-related events, such as live art performances, video art, music, theatre, salons and much more interesting stuff.
I have been to a few of their events and it is refreshing to see how a place like this can really provide for a stage for new artists. It’s a true hidden gem!
Have a look at their website on http://thebackloft.blogspot.com for more info on future events.

There’s a convenient new way to pay for parking in Dublin city centre. On the 21st of May, Dublin City Council started a new service that allows registered users to pay for street parking without having to dig under your car seats for change or worry about rushing back to your car before the time expires. You can register for free and even get €5 free credit if you register online (CLICK HERE).

When you register with your credit card or bank details, you get a parking tag with a bar code sent to you in the post to be placed on the windscreen of your car. Then when you park in designated “pay and display” areas of Dublin, you just call or text to pay for the parking.

Fathers-to-be will find this particularly helpful while pacing around in Holles Street maternity hospital awaiting the arrival of their child since there’s no designated parking for patients other than the “pay and display” parking around Merrion Square. (Speaking from personal experience here.)

So if you’re a bit disgruntled by the fact that you live in Dublin but there’s no reliable public transportation near you (and especially if you find yourself getting rather red in the face about all the talk of introducing congestion charges in the city centre), at least the council have made it a bit more convenient for you to take your car into the city centre.

Congratulations to Rosemary Ryan winner of the 27th Flora Women’s Mini Marathon. Congratulations also to the over 40,000 entrants who took part on a blisteringly hot Dublin bank holiday weekend.

 

Some more photos can be found in my flickr stream, but if anyone wants to add more please do so.