The Cedar Lounge Revolution

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Sun Jr. May 4, 2024

A kind of mix between bluegrass, Rock and other genres, Sun Jr. hail from Bolder, Colorado in the US. I love a good banjo in tune. It’s a nice genre.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Trá Pháidín April 20, 2024

From Cork and Galway, Trá Pháidín, are a largely instrumental band with roots in Irish trad, post rock and jazz improvisation. I saw them last year and was mesmerised by them.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Sprints April 6, 2024

Sprints were one of a number of Irish artists who withdrew from the recent SWSX festival in support of Palestine after the festival’s links with the US Army and defence companies emerged. Have seen them a few time and love their energy. Their debut album ‘Letter To Self” was recently released.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin March 23, 2024

Probably equally known in these parts as a People Before Profit activist and as a musician,
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin has an amazing voice and plays many instruments too. He was also part of the excellent Skippers Alley.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Chin Up Chin Up February 24, 2024

From Chicago, Chin Chin were an American Indie band around from 2001 to 2009 during which they released two albums and an EP.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Lemoncello February 10, 2024

Was “Why Are All the Good men” that first brought Lemoncello to my attention. I had heard of them but never actually listened. What a beautiful tune it is. STarted listening to other material by them and really liked it…. Anyhow, got tickets during the week to see them in Whelans on the 15th of May. Looking forward to it.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… The Bothy Band January 27, 2024

Am due to go and see these soon. Hadn’t realised that they were initially around for just the bones of 4 years before disbanding in 1979. Yet they had so much influence and of course had influential musicians involved, Donal Lunny, Kevin Burke, Matt Molloy, Paddy Glackin , Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and so on. Looking forward to seeing them.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to…Kathryn Tickell January 13, 2024

Kathryn Tickell plays primarily the Northumbrian pipes. They are smaller than Uileann Pipes and not quite the same range of sounds. Indeed they sound a bit like the music you’d hear in films of medieval times.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… T-shirts worn by ‘Mister Rock n Roll’ December 30, 2023

For many years I drank in Foleys (which became “The Grange”) in Deansgrange. Three or four nights a week we’d be down there for a few pints. There was various characters that frequented the place and one in particular used to catch our eye. We called him “Mister Rock n Roll”.

He’d turn up just before closing time wearing the T-shirt of whatever band had been playing Dublin that evening. The T-shirt was nearly always over an existing garment, sometimes he even wore the T-shirt over a shirt. On occasion he’d even be wearing a baseball cap produced by the band. We sneered in the corner, at his taste in music, the T-shirt not being too complementary of the beer belly. We thought he was old, yet thinking back he could have been in his mid 30s – which these days is young! As for the belly…

The RDS Simmonscourt was a regular venue for gigs back then. I suppose it was the biggest ‘hall’ in Dublin; there was no Point Depot/ 3Arena. As a venue it was handy enough as you’d leave the gig and get a 45 bus and be in Deansgrange in no time. How he got from the SFX or Olympic Ballroom for closing time was a bit of a mystery. The funny thing was we’d never see him there normally – it was only after gigs.

I think I saw REM, AC/DC among others there. Some of the T-shirts I remember. There were bands such as Queen, which I couldn’t stand, and Ones I wasn’t too keen on either.

This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Bring Your Own Hammer December 16, 2023

Bring your own Hammer is a project where musicians and historians collaborate to interpret Historical sources in creating music. You can read more about it here . It’s an interesting list of musicians that have collaborated in the project and I gather they have further releases planned.