2021-08-14 Mike Hanrahan - Moat Theatre, Naas

Another weekend, another great gig in the Moat Theatre. This weekend I got to see Mike Hanrahan of Stockton's Wing fame, albeit it with Covid restrictions in place with attendance being limited to just 50 people.

I'd seen Mike perform before, I even had one of my photos appear in his book 'Beautiful Affair', so I knew what to expect and I wasn't disappointed.

Mike started his set with the old Ralph McTell classic, 'From Clare to Here' and finished with another classic, Stockton's Wings 'Beautiful Affair'. In between, the audience were treated to a collection of both old and new songs, and were urged to sing along if they knew the words. They did!

These Covid gigs are not like gigs of old. They're a more sedate affair due to the regulations in place, but it is safe to say that the audience enjoyed every minute of the gig. Some were just delighted to be at a gig after so long without one!

It would be nice if our Govt. could come up with a road plan to re-open the live music /arts / theatre industry though. It's over 500 days and still there are no plans. It's heart-breaking for those involved.

Anyway, go buy Mikes book 'Beautiful Affair' and catch him live when you can. I promise, neither will disappoint.

I grabbed a video of Mike performing 'Beautiful Affair' which you can watch below and you can also check out some photos of the gig also:

@irish_mj
##MikeHanrahan of ##StocktonsWing playing ##BeautifulAffair in the ##MoatTheatre ##Naas tonight. ##Gigs ##LiveMusic ##IrishMusicParty
♬ original sound - IrishMJ

2022-03-26 Buskers on Grafton Street, Dublin

I took a walk around Dublin today, thought I'd check out the buskers on Grafton Street. There's a fine history of busking in Dublin, acts like Hothouse Flowers , The Frames , Rodrigo y Gabriela , Damien Rice , Paddy Casey , Kodaline and a host of others all cut their teeth on and around Grafton Street. It stands to reason that some of those busking today will be successful in the future! So, who did I get to see today? Well, check out the photos below: Zoe Clarke Allie Sherlock Paul Jenkinson

Bye Bye Spotify...

I ditched Spotify Premium this weekend. Why? Well, I read an interview with Daniel Ek , the CEO of Spotify, and I profoundly disagreed with what he said and his attitude towards musicians in the interview. So I said 'F*ck it', and closed my premium account. I still do have a free account* as many bands choose Spotify to release their music, so I'll keep it for that reason. What now though? Well, I'd created a large library of music on my home server over the last 20 years or so. Every time I bought a CD, it got ripped to the server. Every time I bought digital music from Bandcamp , Google or 7 Digital , they too got stored on the server, and that was fine for home use, it worked well. But now I'd dumped Spotify, what could I do, how could I access my music outside the house? I'd played around with software called Plex a few years back, but had no use for it. I ended up doing nothing with Plex, but for this project, I decided to revisit it. I knew that i

Pete Kavanagh - Mercy Video Shoot

I've been asked a few times if I'd be interested in shooting a music video. Each time I said no because, well, I'd no idea what to do. I'm not technical behind a camera. I know the look I want, I take my photos and, that's it. I honestly don't know what I'm doing, it just works for me, sometimes (they're the photos you see!). I've known Pete Kavanagh a long time. We both grew up in the same Kildare town and know many of the same folk. Over the last few years we became friends through music. He played, I listened and or photographed. So, when he asked me if I'd shoot his video for 'Mercy', I said yes, albeit a hesitant yes, one filled with self doubt! Day one of shooting came around all too quickly for me. I'd looked in to shooting video, read up a bit on how to do it on my camera, what settings to change and so on, just so I wouldn't look clueless on set! I charged all the batteries and lights, packed all the gear away an

IrishMJ

Search This Blog