Category Archives: Featured Post

Buskers Required for the Laya Healthcare SPWC 2013 Buskers Stage

  By Peter | June 10, 2013 - 3:38 pm | Featured Post, Festivals
Leave a comment
#spwc12

This year we have added a busker’s stage to the bill at the 7th annual Street Performance World Championships in Merrion Square and we are looking for YOUR participation.  This in from Rob of The Laya Healthcare Street Performers World Championships This year we have added a busker’s stage to the bill at the 7th annual Street Performance World Championships in Merrion Square and we are looking for YOUR participation.    Are you a musician, comedian, circus act, can you engage a crowd through spoken word or burn up a dance floor with your moves? We want to know what tricks you’ve got up your sleeve and we’re open to suggestions, maybe what you do is so out-there that nobody’s put a word on it yet! There’s just one thing this is a family friendly event so keep it PG folks.    The Street Performance World Championship (SPWC) is Ireland’s 2nd … There’s more →

Spark and Line Exhibition @ Gallery Zozimus

  By Peter | June 5, 2013 - 7:08 pm | Featured Post, The Arts
Leave a comment
heidi wickham, michael budd

Spark and Line, says sculptor Michael Budd is a joint exhibitionism with the illustrator Heidi Wickham that opened at Gallery Zozimus, Frances Street, Dublin, on the 23rd of May at 6pm and runs to the 7th of June. Heidi has based her work around images of the forge and my work in a response to how I feel working as an artist in Ireland today. This is the first time Heidi and I have worked together on a project and it has been extremely enjoyable. I love Heidi’s evocative, playful work. Attached are photos of Heidi and myself at the opening and one piece of Heidi’s work and acrylic painting called Blacksmith’s block. Also a photo of one of my sculptures, The Gift that keeps on oppressing, which is 500mm square and has over 30 meters of forged steel in it. 30 metres. Three. Zero. That’s wider than your house. … There’s more →

Feel the power(boating)

  By Anto | May 25, 2013 - 6:20 pm | Featured Post, The Culch
Leave a comment
cisne-branco-tallship

I was looking for an alternative gift for a friend last Christmas and came across a deal for powerboating with Adventure Training Ireland. The lads run city kayaking, powerboating and sailing from their base at North Wall Quay by the Jeanie Johnston. We booked in for last Saturday morning and on the stroke of 11am, made our way out onto the river for the two hour experience. Jonathan, our guide, ran us through the basics of powerboating and then handed the controls over to us. We cruised up the Liffey as far as the Ha’penny, getting to see a few bridges as we went but the low tide wouldn’t allow us to venture further. Turning around and heading for the harbour, we got some practice at slaloming through the dolphins that protect the Samuel Beckett bridge and passed the Lauren L luxury yaucht moored by Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. The … There’s more →

Competition: Tickets to Gardiner St Gospel Choir in concert

  By Anto | May 22, 2013 - 9:31 pm | Events, Featured Post, Gigs, Music, The Culch
Leave a comment
GSGC - Lift Your Voice

Peter posted about Gardiner St Gospel Choir’s upcoming gig in the O’Reilly Theatre and they’ve been in touch to offer us a pair of tickets to Friday’s gig (8pm, €15 with tickets here). As you know, the choir are launching their album Raise Your Voice, and raising much needed funds for Headway and Temple Street Children’s Hospital. They’ve also got some fantastic raffle prizes including; tickets to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Delorentos, Robbie Williams, a digital camera, dinner vouchers, craft goods and lots more. COMPETITION CLOSED: Congrats to Hugh Fahey! Enjoy So, how do you win tickets? All you need to do is send us an email to competitions[at]culch.ie with the name of one of the album tracks (you’ll find them here) and make sure to include your name. We’ll choose a random winner tomorrow (23rd May) at 7pm. Best of luck!

Saint John The Gambler – Five Miles to Vaudeville

  By Peter | May 21, 2013 - 4:50 pm | Featured Post, Music
Leave a comment
st john the gambler

I first heard of St John The Gambler around 2 years odd years ago now at year 1 of The Spirit of Folk festival. Before I go any further, it is at this point that I may now add their name to a small list that also contains The Pixies, The White Stripes and Nirvana. Bands I could have gone to see, had tickets to or was there [in SJTG's case] and never made it to the gig. Further, they are gigs I missed and now deserve a good flogging for, in the village sqaure of some random hypothetical french 17th century town whilst the locals lash rotten fruit at me and call for my head. Hindsight, you bastard. Saint John the Gambler is an exciting original Gypsy-Swing band with a dance-inducing spirit. This Dublin-based band have melded sounds from by-gone eras and distant lands with modern songwriting taking in … There’s more →

Gardiner Street Gospel Choir @ The O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin 1

  By Peter | May 13, 2013 - 11:40 am | Featured Post, Gigs
1 Comment
The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir 2013

May 10th 2013, The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir launched their 2nd album Lift Your Voice. Word on the grapevine is it’s an absolute corker, but fair being fair, I’ll review that just as soon as I give it a full and proper listen to.  In the meantime, Friday May 24th sees them officially launch album no. 2 as they play The O’Reilly Theatre Dublin 1. Tickets for the gig are priced just €15 and a fine evenings entertainment mildly resting to one side, the bi-product of a cracking night out is that proceeds raised will be split between two fantabulous charities namely Headway and Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Can’t catch ‘em May 24th ? Not to fret, as the choir will be opening The Soul Picnic at The Dublin City Soul Festival on the May 26th @ 12pm. Never heard The GSGC before and maybe wondering if they are any … There’s more →

Star Trek: Into Darkness

  By Anto | May 7, 2013 - 2:16 pm | Featured Post, Movies & TV
Leave a comment
star-trek-into-darkness

This is basically a stream of consciousness seen as I saw it this morning. It doesn’t contain spoilers. Star Trek: Into Darkness is the follow up to J.J. Abram’s 2009 film which introduced a time travelling element, skilfully avoiding pissing off the fanbase and setting a clean slate. As the name suggests, things get a bit darker in this one with Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison the baddie that is out to get Star Fleet. Cumberbatch’s performance is gripping and he provides a menacing presence whenever he shares a scene. Chris Pine’s Kirk is the man in pursuit of Harrison and Pine gets the opportunity to really add some meat to the character’s bones this time around. Speaking of “Bones” McCoy, I really liked Karl Urban’s portrayal of the Doc in the first movie and he gets some brilliant lines this time around too. The rest of the Enterprise crew are … There’s more →

The Harleys @ The Slaughtered Lamb

  By Peter | May 5, 2013 - 6:46 pm | Featured Post, Gigs
2 Comments
The Harleys

Without question, The Harleys have to be one of the finest outfits I have ever seen. And it was last night just pure adrenalin spine tingling old school hard rock that you just cannot help but wanna drink a bottle of Jack Daniels to and throw a telly out of some random hotel window. Or something like that…. that I loved every second of. listen to ‘The Harley’s @ The Slaughtered Lamb’ on Audioboo Even the brutal bit of audio I recorded makes me wanna close my eyes and bounce some imaginary random object off a wall; and in that context it sounds genius; though its only brutal by the default fact that the place was jammers as grown men and women rolled the clock back and literally let it all out of their system. I saw them play The Slaughtered Lamb in Swords who, credit where it is due … There’s more →

A Good Day to avoid Die Hard

  By Darren Byrne | February 18, 2013 - 9:35 pm | Featured Post, Movies & TV, The Culch
1 Comment
AGoodDayToDieHard002

This will be short. The film was so poor, it doesn’t deserve many words. However, I do feel the need to warn you off it. Bruce Willis’s latest visit to John McClane’s insane life is A Good Day to Die Hard. Presumably they couldn’t fit Sam Jackson or Justin Long into the budget, so this time McClane is joined by his son, poorly acted by Jai Courtney. There is no plot. No really, I looked and couldn’t find one. I did however find plenty of explosions and car chases and explosions and fire and jumping through CG windows and explosions. There was also a shed load of awful dialogue. If McClane said “I’m on vacation” one more time, I was going to hurl my overpriced Maltesers at the oversized IMAX screen. Life of Pi belongs in IMAX, The Dark Knight Rises belongs in IMAX, Prometheus, The Hobbit, Ghost Protocol, they … There’s more →

New Irish RADIO: 8Radio.com

  By niallok | January 31, 2013 - 10:32 am | Featured Post, Music, Radio, The Culch
Leave a comment
Simon Maher (2nd from right) with northern rockers "Therapy?"

That’s right, yes indeed, while there may be a veritable articulated truck-load of radio stations already populating the Irish FM and digital airwaves, vying for the attention of your poor, confused and battered ears, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one more… does it?

New Irish Music Video: Kodaline – High Hopes

  By Peter | January 23, 2013 - 6:29 pm | Featured Post, Music
Leave a comment
kodaline, high hopes

This via Broadsheet, who note: And then you might like a nice cup of tea.The genuinely gripping High Hopes by Kodaline.Mike Donnelly writes: A New Kodaline video by the same writer/director as All I Want. Starring Liam Cunningham & Niamh Large. Directed by Stevie Russell; Edited by Tony Kearns; Cinematography by Piers McGrail; Produced by Michael Donnelly It was just too great a video not to reblog….  Like that ? Try this one: All I want.  

New Irish Music: Superstar Tradesmen

  By Peter | January 15, 2013 - 9:56 am | Featured Post, Music, The Culch
1 Comment
superstar tradesmen

Superstar Trademen are a Dublin based rock/ indie band made up of Connor Quinn, Brian Donnelly and Paul Moran. With gigs already under their belt in venues such as Whelans, the Academy, The Tara Rocks Festival and support to none other than Damian Dempsey, they are I think its fair to say [quite obviously] making fine tracks in the Irish music scene. Keep Writing by Superstar Tradesmen  That said, new Irish music is the title and that pretty much leaves the next bit over to you. In the go forth and listen department and highly recommended is the bands soundcloud page where you’ll find the likes of my favourite track Keep Writing and others like One Night Stand. More than that, the big Q has always been would I spend my hard earned dollars on their first album [?]: you’re damn right I would. Wanna find out more: Superstar Tradesmen … There’s more →

The Dicks Who Came In From The Cold

  By Anto | January 3, 2013 - 4:21 pm | Comedy, Featured Post, The Culch, The Internet
1 Comment
Vultures_InTheNickOfTime3

As you may have read before, we’re fans of Irish internet sitcom ‘Vultures PI’, and the lads rounded out the final season with “The Dicks Who Came In From The Cold” last week. This series has dealt with the lads and their mundane lifestyles after retirement but are they about to be pulled back together to fight crime once again? This episode sees Janine Drew finally going through with her promise to quit college. After watching Janine’s detective documentary, crime novelist Kate Marple hires the ambitious young sleuth to help her write an expose of rumoured crime boss Johnny Curragh (guy you shouldn’t mess with). In the meantime, former dicks McGrain, Vultour and Tennyson have been brought together for a Christmas reunion by an unknown party. Everything comes to a head in this festive finale which should answer the question posed by the first episode of the new series ‘Where … There’s more →

5 Christmas Covers We’d Like To See…

  By David Sheehan | December 14, 2012 - 11:30 am | Featured Post, Music, The Culch
Leave a comment
ChristmasMusic

It’s that time of year again, the same old – mostly dire – collection of Christmas songs being played to death on the radio. What we really need is some reworking of these tired old tunes by some of those who made headlines in 2012… 1. Crystal Harris – All I Want For Christmas Is Hugh (Original by Mariah Carey) Or to give it its full title “All I Want For Christmas Is Hugh…Hefner’s Fortune”. It’s easy to make fun of the 86 year old’s planned marriage to someone 60 (SIXTY) years his junior….which is probably why so many media outlets have done just that. The old “So Debbie Magee, what first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels?” chestnut certainly springs to mind. Each new fiancée must feel like a slot on a roulette wheel, hoping Hef pops his clogs just after they tie the knot. All that being said, … There’s more →

Competition: NYE Dublin – This is what you should be doing

  By Darren Byrne | December 11, 2012 - 12:00 pm | Featured Post, Festivals, Gigs, Music, The Culch
1 Comment
NYE Dublin Festival 2011 concert

I am mad about New Year (far more than Christmas itself). I buy into the symbolism of it – out with the old and in with the new. So, I love to mark each one differently. This year, now that I’ve returned to city centre living, I’m embracing the New Year in Dublin. NYE Dublin, Dublin’s New Year’s Festival, marks the start of The Gathering Ireland 2013! To celebrate, we’re offering 5 pairs of tickets to the NYE Dublin Countdown Concert, featuring the delicious Imelda May and the brilliant Bell X1. Dublin’s New Year Festival is even bigger this year and now that I’m living in city centre, there will be no better place than Dublin’s city centre streets to celebrate the arrival of 2013. Even Lonely Planet has named Dublin as one of the Top 5 places in the world to spend New Year, so you don’t want to … There’s more →