Ladyfest Cork: April 25th - 27th

go here for more info, or check out their MySpace. Gonna try and make it down for this:

Monday Club

You’re Only Massive

The Suicidal Birds

Tap Tap Click Click

Lazik

We Should Be Dead

KVX

Michelle Brennan

Janey Mac

Ophelia

Bela Emerson

Queen Kong

Estel

Happy Homemakers

Oh my God!...(it might be him)

DIT

DJ Ixindamix

Clinton feels like she is being "bullied" by the "big boys"

or maybe not...

Adam Green drunk on German TV

Fight Like Apes @ SXSW

Downloadmusic.ie to release USB album

clicky

un-funny

McSavage threatens to rape heckler. (via Mulley.)

Dirty Dozen: Vol 85

1. The Breeders - 'Here No More'

2. Ben Mono feat. Yo Majesty - 'Hit The Bit' (Lorenz Rhode remix)

3. Hadouken! - 'Get Smashed Gate Crash' (Station X remix)

4. The Presets - 'Are You The One' (Simian Mobile Disco remix)

5. Goldfrapp - 'Happiness' (Metronomy remix feat. The Teenagers)

half a dozen. Talking Heads V Trick Daddy, Ludacris - 'Sugar On My Tongue'

7. The Octopus Project - 'Truck'

8. I Was A Teenage Satan Worshiper - 'Tampere Kicks'

9. The Libertines - 'Time For Heroes'

10. Ham Sandwich - 'Click Click Boom' (live and acoustic) (via Fabulist)

11. Nouvelle Vague - 'Too Drunk To Fuck'

dozen. The Crystals - 'He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss)'

baaaaaaaaacksies

Well, I'm back on Irish soil. Got in about two hours ago, and already in worksies. Grr.

Sipadan

Me and Tiger did our first dive at Sipadan yesterday, and our last two today. They were AMAZING. Probably one of the most amazing things I've ever done anyway.

Yesterday, we dived at Barracuda Point off Sipadan. The island itself is ridiculously beautiful. The reef juts out and then disappears, with an 800 metre drop, so the whole thing is just a wall really. But further out, a lot of the reef slopes, which makes for interesting diving.

When we descended at Barracuda Point, at about 10 metres, there were five white tip sharks right in front of us. We dived for nearly an hour, and saw so much stuff. The whole place is just so full of marine life that you don't know where to look. The funniest things were the turtles, there were so many of them. Plus, they don't move for nobody, so would swim right up to your mask and wait for you to get the fuck out of the way. Which is probably why I bashed into one when it was swimming a few centimetres below me. There were LOADS of sharks (prompting me and Tiger to use the under water sign for 'scaredsies' quite frequently.) The best one was a massive grey reef shark. I mean HUGE. Pretty amazing. I'm glad it was a little further away from me than the smaller ones though (the average size of the white tips was about five or six foot I'd say. The grey reef sharks were much bigger.) We saw snake eels as well, and loads of really cool fish.

Today, we dived at South Point and Mid Reef off Sipadan. Again, more turtles, barracuda, and so on. On the first dive, a white tip shark swam quite close to me, circling around and eventually swimming by under me. Awesome. On our second dive today we saw a giant clam! It was like a cartoon. Our dive assistant Suzie (aka Malaysian Ragin) poked it, and it opened its mouth a bit and then closed again. We saw some tuna too.

Speaking of tuna, last night, we had fresh tuna sashimi. Yumsies.

We fly from Tawau to KL tomorrow morning and then to Amsterdam over night and then get into Dublin on Monday morning. But I'll be back here for sure. It's such an amazing place - has to be seen to be believed.

Rock.

Kapalai

Me and Tiger have just done our first proper open water dive with a group of divers. We went to a reef off Kapalai which is an island near Mabul. It was really cool. We saw a blue ribbon eel, black frog fish, a trigger fish (which was V aggressive and also hilarious, prompting Tiger to use the underwater sign for 'McGinty'), Tiger saw two turtles but I missed them, but I saw an octopus!

Our dive assistant is Suzie, but me and Tiger call her 'Malaysian Ragin' because she IS Ragin Spice in Malaysian form.

We just had some peanut butter and bananas on toast there and after lunch we are going for two dives in Sipadan - yaysies!

Last night, we had drinks with our dive instructor Patrick who is really cool. He was telling us that the drop off at Sipadan's reef is about 800 metres deep. Crazy. He was also telling us about the people who live on Mabul. Loads of them are sea gypsies who live, cook, sleep and eat on their boats. They only go to land to buy supplies and what not. Very interesting stuff.

Anywhoo, I'm off to try and make my ears feel less weird after diving.

RE: Electric Picnic. RoRo sent me a txt saying Christy Moore was playing, which I assumed was a joke. It's not, apparently. WTF?! But yaysies for Sex Pistols - which I called ages ago, lest we forget - (just for the spectacle factor. And also, I've just finished 'England's Dreaming' so am on a bit of a Sex Pistols re-visit buzz, although it could be a tragic mess) Sigur Ros, My Bloody Valentine, Goldfrapp, Wilco, The Gossip, Foals, CSS, Cathy Davey, The Breeders (even though I'm going to see them in a couple of weeks @ Vicar St) Sinead O’Connor (she was wasted - on the crowd not in her own mind - at Oxegen last year), The Roots, Kila, Juana Molina, Hadouken! (yes! even though I will have seen them in the Village before the festival), Silver Apples, Adrian Crowley, Dawn Landes (woohoo!), Jape and The Noisettes.

Yesh, a bit of an alright line-up, not earth-shattering by any means. But The Gossip, MBV, Foals and Dawn Landes should be great. There are a few whoareyiz down too though - must do my reasearch.

Rock.

Greetings from Borneo!

Hisies,

me and Tiger have been here for three days now learning to scuba dive. We just did our open water exam this evening, and I beat Tiger because I am amazing and he is stupid (I am only typing that because he is looking over my shoulder impatiently waiting to check his Facebook. He says "I don't care." Yeah, right.)

Anywhoo, we are on an island called Mabul which is V small and also awesome. It kind of looks like a movie set. Actually awesome, not just in the throwaway sense of the word. When we arrived here on Monday by boat, me and Tiger were actually laughing at how beautiful it is. The water is crystal clear and there are starfish EVERYWHERE. The ones we saw most often was a fat pinky one with dark spots. Then there's a neon blue skinny one, which from now on will be known as the 'new-rave starfish.'

It only takes about 15 minutes to walk around the whole island, which gives you an indication of how tiny it is.

We have been doing some confined water dives in the pool to learn all the breathing stuff / buoyancy / hand signals / emergency stuff etc and then we did two open water dives today. We saw a GIANT shoal of jet fish (I think) and a snake eel (Roisin, are you listening?) and a leopard eel which was v ugly, but cool. Beautiful in an ugly kind of way. Like Tiger (who is still reading this and now giggling.) "I don't care," he says.

I fucked up twice on the open water dives. Floated totally to the surface on the first one and then nearly did the same thing again on the second one, which wasn't very smart because we were quite far down. I hope I don't get the bleedin bends or something. Also got a bit of reverse block coming out of the second dives which makes your ears sore and makes me freak out. Me and Tiger also invented an underwater hand signal for "scaredsies" but are too afraid to use it in case we laugh and eh, drownsies.

Food is great too, at the moment, outside of the small room I'm in, they are frying fresh squid. YUMSIES. Also, we have been told that when they catch yellow fin tuna, the chef makes sashimi. I hope that happens soon.

Ok, Tiger is chomping at the bit to use this computer (this is the only one here and we have no phone or TV, so not much communication going on) so I better leave it over to him.

Can't wait to do my first proper dive, but a bit nervous all the same
*makes underwater sign for scaredsies*

Rock on,

Una

heading for Borneo tomorrow morning...

... and as a result, blogging will probably be non-existant because I don't think there's Internet access where we are going. We will be staying on an island off Borneo called Mabul and diving at Sipadan, which, according to most people here, is one of the best spots for diving in the world.

Wikipedia sez: "Normally rare diving scenes are frequently seen in the waters around Sipadan: schools of greenback turtles and hawksbill turtles nesting and mating, schools of barracuda & big-eye trevally in tornado-like formations, pelagic species such as manta rays, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whale sharks. A mysterious turtle tomb lies underneath the column of the island, formed by an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that have become lost and drown before finding the surface."

Jacques Cousteau said that it was the best place in the world to dive and actually made a documentary about the reef called 'Ghost of the Sea Turtles'.

I'm mostly looking forward to seeing some sharks. They have hammerheads, white tips, grey reef sharks and leopard sharks mostly. But there are whale sharks swimming in these waters too. I would fucking love to see one of them, but I'm not sure how likely that is. Those bad boys can be between ten and twenty metres long - AWESOME. They don't eat you though, they filter feed like basking sharks. Cutesies. The reef sharks and white tips can be pretty aggressive and have been known to munch on divers, though, but hopefully that won't happen to me! That said, nothing can be scarier than the cage dive I did with great white sharks in South Africa last year, so these puny little reef shark boyos can go and whistle if they think they're gonna take a bite. Still, if they do have a nibble, at least I'll have a cool scar.

Righty-ho, must get ready for wedding party #3.

Rock.

For those of you who haven't bought 'Frend' yet

It's available in Road Records on Angel She's A Killer records, of course.

Here's the blurb:

FREND, ANGEL SHES A KILLER VOLUME ONE [FEATURING ADRIAN CROWLEY, GOODTIME JOHN, MORE TINY GIANT AND MENOFEMBO]
a really beautifully presented package curated by artist sarah fox. the 10 inch record comes packaged in 16 page book with an introduction by fox and a selection of modern irish visual art from laura buckley, arni hoffman, ben mullen with caromy corcoran, john cowhie, adrian crowley, sarah fox, una mullally, lili foberg and aoife de burca. the book is printed on lovely soft recyled paper. the 10 inch record inside the book features swedish room by adrian crowley, tiny chancer from goodtime john aka john cowhie, wolves at the door by more tiny giants and sit on my face by menofembo who also feature artist una mullally. these things are limited to only a few hundred copies so for only €15 you are getting a real feast of both audio and visual art. destined to be a real collectors item so get one while you can as these will not last very long here.
march 2008
angel shes a killer 10" e14.99

Now, go buy it!

FYI, Angel She's A Killer has a new blog.

why do breast cancer awareness campaigns always have to involve women getting naked?

Amy Winehouse is the latest to strip off. I know they're probably thinking "if we get some slebs naked, then we'll get more coverage and thus increase more awareness," but at the same time, I doubt a few shots of Amy Nakedhouse in the Sun with dodgy puns (just like the one I've made) are going to make women turn around and check for lumps - are they?


On a similar topic, Dante and the Lobster blogs about some new Pink Ribbon campaign ads:

"Even if your body is riddled with cancer, you still better be fuckable!"

In Defence of Heather Mills

If I was working this week, I probably would have written my column on Heather V Paul. But I'm not. But I've still been talking a good bit about it with Tiger and watching the verdict of their divorce on TV.

No doubt, Heather Mills is probably a bit of a cow. The judge seems to think so, and any journalist I've ever spoken to who has had dealings with her has said she's a pain (to say the least). And of course, everyone else in the world seems to have a strong - negative - opinion of Millsy. "Bitch, whore, weapon, total psycho, nutjob, fucking cow, geebag," are just some of the insults used to describe her. And that's only coming from Tiger in the last five minutes.

BUT. Right, BUT. If she is so awful, then isn't Paul McCartney the biggest dumbass in the world for hooking up with her? Joke's on you dude; no pre-nup, marrying the woman whose name seems to have become shorthand for the devil incarnate. IDIOT.

However awful Mills is, surely the stupidity of McCartney outweighs her deviousness?

But you can't say this, because there's McCartney's can-do-no-wrong-national-treasure status. And of course, we shall not even go into the fact that Mills is the woman here, who always gets a rawer public deal; the 'bitch', the evil stepmother, 'haha, she's only got one leg' and the assorted jokes that surround that. And, I guess, that she came after Saint Linda McCartney, and set out to ruin and plunder poor innocent Paul. But if she was such a cow, then WHY DID YOU MARRY HER? Thicko. You reap what you sow, homie.

So I guess now we can add McCartney's union with Mills to stupid things he has done:

1. Letting Michael Jackson buy the rights to Beatles songs
2. Marry Heather Mills
3. Wings
4. ?

ha! thieving feckers

Starbucks has to cough up tips they stole from workers. The theft of tips from cafe and restaurant staff is widespread. Hopefully this will make employers slightly more sketchy on nicking them.

on my hatred of shopping...

here.

That said, I have done a lot of shopping here in Malaysia, but that's because the shoes are SO CHEAP. And one of the shopping centres is modelled on Egypt. I would still prefer if people just went out and bought me stuff. And fed me grapes. And stole me monkeys so I wouldn't get arrested. And so on.

weddings, monkeys

Last night was the first part of the wedding I'm in KL for - the religious ceremony. It was really interesting and colourful, totally different to any wedding I've been at before. They had TV cameras broadcasting the ceremony to other guests outside and it was cool to see how everyone acts and the clothes they wear and what not. After the ceremony bit, we had dinner in these cool tents outside with traditional Malaysian music perforance and then went back inside for a blessing that comes from the Hindu tradition but has been incorporated into Muslim Malay weddings. Tomorrow and Sunday there will be two further celebrations hosted by both families, which should be fun.

There is a sticker on the window of our hotel room that says "please do not feed the monkeys" which means there has to be some monkeys around the grounds, so I'm going to chill by the pool, read 'England's Dreaming', and then go find my monkey friends.

Rock.

our new hotel in KL has pedal boats

that is all.

Envy

I should really stop reading Jim and Johnnie's reports from SXSW. Serious jealousy going on (even though I could hardly be further from Austin, here in Malaysia.)

BAH HUMBUG!

Next year. I'm there.

Monkeys!

Yo. Long time no blog. Me and Tiger went to the Batu Caves yesterday to try and see us some monkeys. The caves basically involves a giant limestone rock on the edge of KL that doubles as a Hindu ceremonial type gaff. There are GIANT statues of various important Hindu gods and then about 300 steps up into the main cave.

Along the steps are loads of monkeys hanging out. They are pretty evil in fairness, cheeky as hell and ready to nick anything that isn't nailed down. Then in the main cave part, there are really high walls, and this is where they all chill. The place is covered in rubbish from food and drinks and all that kind of stuff the monkeys steal from tourists.

While we were there, one of them was playing with a scarf (stolen, I would imagine. Don't think the monkey would have rocked into a shop and bought it himself) and then another monkey decided he wanted the scarf and then all hell broke loose and they started scrapping. I think there was a bit of a love triangle subtext to all of this, making it a little more vicious. I have a pretty funny video of one of the fights that me and Tiger nearly got caught up in, which I'll try to upload soon.

Apart from that, we've been to a GIANT shopping centre (that's modelled on Egypt; huge pyramid and cheesy Vegas type architecture - brilliant!) where I shopped forever. I hate shopping, so this is of some importance. We also went to Chinatown and have been chilling a lot too. Last night we went for cocktails in a bar called Alexis and then another one called... um, can't remember.

The hotel bar's obsession with Irish pop music continues. Yesterday they were playing Sinead O'Connor and this morning, The Corrs. It's Forumla One weekend in Malaysia this weekend, and a couple of teams are staying in our hotel. Toyota is one of them I think. This means nothing to me except they are all Spanish and walking around in black racecar-tastic Red Bull t-shirts (did you know that racecar is spelt the same backwards as forwards? ta da!)

So apart from all that gas, it has been about preparing for Tiger's cousin's wedding. It's pretty interesting stuff. I've never been to a Muslim wedding before. There's loads of stuff that you just wouldn't think of; like women and men being seperated throughout the ceremony, and where to position your feet when you're sitting so as not to offend anyone, and the fact that the bride and groom aren't even in the same room when they're married, the groom essentially marries the brides father. Bit different from ye Irish wedding.

Anywhoo, that's all from me, hopefully there won't be as big a blogging gap as last time.

Any goss?

Una

KL

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur!

Last night me and Tiger went for dinner across the road from our hotel and had yumsies food for about a euro. Although I'm not entirely sure what meat was in my curry. But I'm not going to think about that right now.

Then we went out to a couple of bars - Hush and somewhere else. The bars here kind of remind me of Cape Town, quite cool and understated. But it's tame enough which I guess is what you have to expect when it comes to the nightlife of a (albeit liberal enough) Muslim country. We were kind of tired, but were trying to overcome jet lag so stayed out and ended up having pints of Heino outside an Irish bar called Finnegans.

Then we saw a cockroach, and then we saw a dead rat. There were mad thunderstorms yesterday evening. It's around 90 degrees, super humid and at the tail end of the rainy season, so there's a bit of a stormy buzz.

When we got back to the hotel, there was hilarious Lost In Translation-type entertainment in the bar with two birds in gold dresses and a guy with a keyboard and a guitar singing 'Rehab' and 'Unbreak My Heart.' They also keep playing Westlife and Boyzone CDs in the bar too, which is quite unsettling.

Was up early this morning because Tiger was yelling "do not stand between a man and his breakfast buffet." It was quite nice actually.

Ok, off to watch CNN and chill the max.

Byesies!

Am off to Malaysia with Tiger for a couple of weeks; a wedding, diving, stealing monkeys, discovering newfangled cocktails - that kind of thing.

Anyway, blogging will probably be sporadic, however if I am blog-absent for a considerable amount of time, just presume I have been eaten by a shark - either that or have been adopted by a friendly family of orang utans and making a new life for myself in the tree tops of Borneo.

LATERZ!

Una

OMG!

90210 is BACK!

Breakfast TV report

MTV: Hogan Knows Best still sucks

TV3: Report from Rwanda on Ireland AM ruined by elevator-type music that may or may not have been already on the tape when the footage was recorded, then couldn't be erased during the edit so just left on instead. The reason has to be something like that because it just sounded weird.

RTE One: repeats of Seoige & O'Shea in the morning unacceptable, campaign for PROPER BREAKFAST TV FROM THE STATE BROADCASTER ongoing.

RTE Two: weird acid trip flashback cartoons that get more random by the day.

Sky News: it was budget day in Britain yesterday. God, budgets are boring. Plastic bag levy to be introduced next year. Cue freaking out and a report from some arseend town of Devon where they banned plastic bags after some bird who runs a gallery watched a movie about how plastic bags eat baby dophins in Hawaii or something. Isn't it funny watching the reaction to an unfolding news story that has already happened here? (for ex: plastic bag levy, smoking ban etc.) Makes me feel strangely smug.

BBC One: they appear to have switched the male breakfast show presenter with a much craggier version overnight. Not sure how I feel about this.

E4: more good music, this time, Estelle. I also like the way that their series of music videos in the morning are themed.

further proof that Britney has become a cartoon

remember when Foo Fighters were good?

I used to listen to this song ALL the time when I got 'The Colour and the Shape' around a decade ago. Anyway, it came on shuffle on my iPod this morning (and oddly, 'February Stars' came on right after), and brought me back.



from Foo Fighters FAQs
"Can you tell me what Dave's whispering towards the end of Everlong?

Apparently Dave scrambled three audio tracks together so as to distort
what you, the listener, hear. To this date, no one has been able
to decipher exactly what is being said, but we do know that one track
is a love letter being read, one track is a technical manual being
read, and the last track is a story about one of the studio technician's
father."

State launch video

Nialler has a great video of the State magazine launch feat. Ham Sandwich and co.

Really nicely shot.

Vote for Ham Sandwich

HAM SANDWICH have a chance of getting "Keepsake" on the BBC 6 Music playlist; go here & scroll down to the bottom of the page and follow the instructions

:::or:::

Send an e-mail to: lamacq.6music@bbc.co.uk with "Track1" in subject line ... that's it! Voting closes on Sunday.

Do it! Do it now!

gig binge

Plenty of shows being announced this morning/yesterday evening:

Lupe Fiasco @ Tripod
April 5th, €36.50

Unabombers @ Button Factory
May 3rd, €12

Adele @ Vicar Street
May 16th, €14

John Cooper Clarke @ Crawdaddy
May 16th, €15

Ewan Pearson @ Kennedys
June 27th, €15

Nouvelle Vague @ Tripod
November 29th (yes, that's right, NOVEMBER), €22.50

delorentUS (see what I did there?)

"To break the silence I told him how bigfoot ate some m&ms in my bath and that there was a transsexual john Lennon watching me sleep but he looked at me like i was insane and left. i decided to return to bed til we had to soundcheck."

Check out the excellent Delorentos State-side tour diary.

bad start to the morning

As I was blown across Amiens Street on my way to work, I nearly got hit by a van with a massive logo on it saying 'VANTASTIC'.

Not so much.

I also appear to have put on 2 stone over night, have no clothes, no time to shop, a sore knee and my eyes keep closing.


*update* - have realised all of this may be due to the fact that I haven't had my first coffee yet. Am about to drink this now, so maybe that will solve everything...

UnaRocks video of the day

Roisin Murphy - 'You Know Me Better'

RTE has a TV blog?

I did not notice this before.

Madonna makes her speech as she is inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame

It can be summed up as "I am amazing". The muscles on her arms are strangely hypnotic. It's hard to watch Madonna speak and not see the ghost of Carrie Bradshaw's pre-column-writing monologues (and vica versa).

She seems quite sweet (if scary).

wasn't the Ambassador meant to close...

... and be turned into a library? Yet I keep seeing gigs announced for that venue.

What's the story?

I think I may have found the most annoying paparazzo in the world

hassling Pink of all people!.

Twat.

average song for an average Tuesday

(part one)


(part 2)

Chequerboard - 'Konichiwa'

Chequerboard.net

Portrait a Day

I love this feature on GingerPixel's blog.

DEVASTATION

"'The L Word' is set to take its final bow. Showtime has renewed the lesbian drama for a sixth and final season, which will make it one of the premium network's longest-running series.

Eight episodes have been ordered, targeted to go into production in early summer for an early 2009 premiere."

more here: The end of the L Word

Noooooooooooooooooooo. 'The L Word' is one of my favourite TV programmes ever. Crysies.

*spoiler in the comments section for those who haven't seen past season 3 (aka Dee)*

breakfast TV report

(this feature will continue until I stop getting up early. I don't know why I'm getting up so early these days.)

TV3: Brian Kennedy is a very good looking chap. His hair looked fluffy but lovely on Ireland AM this morning. He has a stalker too! Mental.

4Music: great of a morning. A little less Radiohead would be nice though. The rain is depressing enough.

MTV: Hogan Knows Best is SO RUBBISH

GMTV: the dude in the pinstriped suit pronounced 'snoring', 'snurrring': how they laughed

Sky News: how many bloody weather reports can you fit into one morning? Also, that Shannon Matthews thing is awful. I feel especially sorry for her natural father. Desperate stuff.

BBC Breakfast: I like the 'beep, beep, beep'. Oddly comforting.

Why the hell don't RTE have a breakfast programme? It's stupid. They're the national broadcaster, it's ridiculous that all they show in the morning are the Flinstones, trippy cartoons and a repeat of the Afternoon Show. They should definately have a breakfast newsy programme (how about 'Hisies!: With Vincent Browne'?) I know they figure that they probably couldn't compete with Ireland AM, but that's not the point. If I were a production company, I'd propose one along the lines of the BBC one. Featurey news reports, two presenters, a few guests, loads of weather and events of the day, the papers etc. And have it broadcast from somewhere other than Dublin too.

something to brighten up your Monday

Band watch: John and Mary Trilogy

Check out John and Mary Trilogy made up of my homies Niamh De Barra, Ed Devane, Killian Redmond (you may know him as Kaboogie's Redmonk) and Fionn Wallace.

Amazing stuff.

two new members for Bonde Do Role

Marina Vello may have bailed, but the Brazilian band is back as a foursome after recruiting two new members through an MTV programme. The new folks are Ana Bernardino and Laura Taylor. According to your friendly local Wikipedia: "Laura was chosen mainly due an audience election. Ana got the position after taking a piece of meat from her genitals in the final's show; "it's the spirit of the band" said Pedro."

Riiiiiiight.

They are back on the road with a pretty healthy (or unhealthy, depending on your idea of fun) lookin' North American tour through April and May.

new blog alert

Katie-Lilga is back and this time she has brought her mate Ailbhe. Check out their new blog Bluebirds Are So Natural - "like the Olsen twins. Except with better hair."

Mission statement:
"we'll be taking photos of people in pretty clothes with a camera i cannot use... and telling of music that makes you want to dance about and sing into your hairbrush. maybe other things too."

I look forward to it muchly.

UnaRocks video of the day

Girls Rock, the trailer:


official movie site

the camp

UnaRocks articles of the day

Indie Cribz: how musicians really live (video) - Village Voice

Latina characters on the L Word - AfterEllen

Kurt Cobain's estate defrauded by nearly €50 million - NME, but maybe not - TMZ

the importance of superheroes - New Yorker

The world's 50 most powerful blogs - The Observer

the perfect novel you've never heard of - Slate

the public fall of Britney Spears - Guardian

New Yorkers work harder - New York Magazine

Vampire Weekend hit the big time (and they don't care) - Spin

Who says women aren't funny? - Vanity Fair

OMG, Tallaght is so hot roysh now - Dubliner

The Last Shadow Puppets' first video - State

Trimble says Hillary is 'silly' when it comes to making peace - Telegraph

it's just so fucked up isn't it?

I think there has been sort of muted and sparce coverage of this story simply because people don't have the stomach for it. I certainly don't.

Super Extra Bonus Podcast

State mag's second podcast features The Boners talking Choice awards and more.

I LOVE RAGIN

I have just received a delivery. A giant box from my homie Ragin Spice, and inside, an exact replica of my much missed crown.

Dude, you rock!

The crown is back, y'all!

Ze Weekend

Bah! It's so cold and wet this morning. I was up early today watching breakfast TV, which is one of my favourite things to do. Thoughts on such:

1) MTV: Chris Brown spent far too much on diamonds for his birthday
2) TV3: Andrea Roche is probably the only person in the world who could discuss the VIP Style Awards with a seriousness usually reserved for debating the construction of peace in the Middle East
3) Sky News: I feel sorry for those poor reporters they make stand on beaches when there's a storm coming. Since when is wind and rain news?

I had a lovely weekend. The Angel She's A Killer launch in Spy on Friday was brilliant, well done to Sarah and thanks to everyone who came down. You all rock. It was so great to see so many friends in one place. Speaking of friends, you can buy the album 'Frend' right here. Trying to avoid being one year older failed when I got a giant pre-birthday cake/brownie (which is awesome actually) and which I have been eating for breakfast ever since.








Saturday was my birthday so I hung out with my family and then went to dinner in L'Gueuleton which was yumsies. I got some nice presents especially a MONKEY that Dee got me. YAYSIES. It's a baby orang utan called Koyah. I might visit her when I am in Malaysia next week. Or at least leave her a note stuck to a tree to say hisies or something. J-Wolf also birthday blogged me a very sweet post. Chilled the max on Sunday. Had a giant burger in the Millstone and went shopping in the Loft.

Photees from the Lili.

Una
listening to: Lines Drawing Circles
reading: 'The Semantics of Murder' - Aifric Campbell
watching: Sky News
eating: Special K Sustain
drinking: cranberry juice

Wobble, tonight @ Traffic

Wobble is hitting Traffic tonight. It's consistently the best dubstep night in town, so get down there for some rib-cracking fun. Richie !kaboogie and T Woc are playing a grime and skank set, Don Rosco is doing a 2 step set and my homie Redmonk is doing a mashup set.

€8 at the door from 10pm. Hit it!

Sex Pistols for Electric Picnic?

There is growing speculation that The Sex Pistols - pictured here, approx 496AD - will hit up the Electric Picnic festival. The 'Pistols are already playing the Isle of Wight festival, the Exit festival and Live at Loch Lomond.

Rumour or truemour?

do not click this link if you are trying to have a productive day

seriously

Angel She's A Killer on Phantom

Tune into Edel Coffey's show on Phantom this morning (right now!) where Sarah will be talking about her new art and music label.

*update*

Phantom are always first with Irish music, and this morning made the debut play of MeNoFemBo's 'Sit On My Face'

Rock on! See y'all at the launch in Spy tonight.

*another update*
The Chancer knows whaddup.

a cautionary tale about lesbian werewolves

(starring Ellen Page)

Dirty Dozen: Vol 84

1. The Whip - 'Divebomb' (Crystal Castles remix)

2. We Are Wolves - 'Fight & Kiss'

3. Adam Tensta - 'My Cool'

4. Telepathe - 'Chromes On It' (Kingdom remix)

5. M.I.A. - 'Boys' (DJ Doc Rok remix feat. Ludacris & Chamillionaire)

half dozen. Goldfrapp - 'A&E' (Hercules and Love Affair remix)

7. Klaxons - 'Golden Skans' (Switch remix)

8. Burial - 'Ghost Hardware'

9. Cut Copy - 'Lights & Music' (Superdiscount remix)

10. The Emperor Machine - 'No Sale No ID' (Simian Mobile Disco remix)

11. Betamax Format - 'You Are Welcome In My House'

dozen. Operator Please - 'Leave It Alone' (New Young Pony Club remix)

cause a scene

Just thought I'd alert y'all to this great post from Off Her Rocker on the Irish scene, bands, promoters etc.

Read it.

One Republic? Maroon 5?: WHOAREYA

"This is a whole new brand of Celtic Soul, blending hip hop lyrical flow with pop melodiousness, state-of-the-art R'n'B production with anthemic rock dynamics, classic song construction with gritty contemporary narratives.

It's got all the emotion and passion you would expect from across the Irish sea, but it is glittering in its modernity, universal in its singalong addictiveness and global in its syncopation, music for the feet, heart and head. Think U2 versus Timbaland, Van Morrison remixed by Teddy Riley.

"Irish people have soul," according to Danny. "It comes from generations of pain, and generations of understanding emotion to be able to physically get that in a solid sound.""

Yes kids, it's The Script, currently on tour with the Argos Kooks aka The Hoosiers and signed to RCA. Having previously toured with Newton Faulkner, The Script-osporidium (sorry) will play The Academy as support to The Zutons on May 6th.

Cosmopolitian magazine - in between telling you how to pleasure your man - interviewed The Script and labelled them one of their favourite bands of 2008.

How come all these massive Irish bands with record deals and hype and press and everything never actually gig here?

Here's the video for their catchy little ditty, 'We Cry'

March Madness: Thursday (as in today. As in, right now.)

Yaysies! It's the weekend (I changed my personal calender to mark Thursday as the start of the weekend a while ago.) Last night I went for a drink in Whelan's with Ragin and caught some of Adrian Crowley's soundcheck. Then I went to see Ragin's new gaff which is scarily near where I lived a few months ago. I revisited by own Mecca, Chicken Hut, where me and Ragin transcended dumb conversations.

Me: so, what do you think you're getting?
Ragin: uh, chicken?
*laughter*
Me: do you want spicey or normal?
Ragin: spicey or normal what?
Me: uh, chicken.
*laughter*

and so on.

There are loads of things to do today. You could buy the first issue of State, and skip off work to catch some of the gigs in Tower Records promoting the magazine.

Or go see Gavin Glass at the Cobblestone in Smithfield. €10 at the door.

Murphy's Live is on tonight in Crawdaddy, with a great line-up including Stagger Lee, Ham Sandwich and Story of Hair.

If you're around Wexford Street, The Radio play Whelan's.

Crystal Castles: Andrew's Lane Theatre, April 22nd

Yes! They play in Cork @ Cyprus Ave the day before.

Really looking forward to this. Enjoyed their last (very short) set at Kennedy's a while ago, but haven't seen them live since.

Tickets for the Dublin gig are €15 and on sale this Friday here.

Alice from CC broke two ribs in a car accident yesterday and they have cancelled ten dates on their tour. Hopefully she'll be better for this gig.

mp3s:Love And Caring
Magic Spells

more praise for Rymus

From me: great photees dude!

Check out his Blog Award snaps.

Ham Sandwich teams up with State to play special covers set

Ham Sandwich will play a set comprised of covers from artists featured in the first edition of State at 1pm in Tower Records tomorrow as the magazine hits the shelves.

Later, Sarabeth Tuckek will play at 3pm followed by Carly Sings at 6pm.

listen to the new Republic of Loose single 'I Like Music'

right here.

Piano riff - curveball!

Thoughts?

UnaRocks articles of the day

Co-creator of D&D dies - RTE

Why do Italian men grab their crotches? - Slate

The Last Shadow Puppets play first show - NME

Dancepig: new EP, gig - Hotpress

The Machinery of Hope: inside Obama's grass-routes operation - Rolling Stone

The one-inch champagne rule - New York Post

Shark eats tourist during 'controlled' dive - Time

Californian Supreme Court considers gay marriage - Reuters

Michael Musto as Lindsay Lohan as Marilyn Monroe - Village Voice

The month in grime / dubstep - Pitchfork

Trent Reznor, giving his music away - National Post

Gemma Hayes; new gig, new record, new words

As Becs pointed out earlier, Gemma Hayes is back.

She has just finished recording her third album, 'The Hollow Of Morning' and will play Dublin's Tripod on April 29th.

A message from Gemma:
"Forgive my self-indulgence as I tell you a bit about myself. I released an album called Night On My Side in 2002. I recorded it at Blackbox, France with David Odlum and also at Tarbox, New York, with Dave Fridmann. I didn't expect the album to get much attention so it was very exciting when it received so many honors and was nominated for a Mercury Award in the UK. So, I toured that album extensively and enjoyed every moment of it. I had the privilege of supporting bands like Sparkle Horse, David Gray, Mark Eitziel and lots more amazing people. Anyway, I wasn't prepared for the spotlight and I honestly didn't feel comfortable in it at all. I reached a point where I needed to take some time off. So, I headed home to Ireland, then left for France for a bit. And after I'd cleared my head, I slowly but surely started writing again.

Bla bla bla… fast forward to Los Angeles where I recorded my second album The Roads Don't Love You. The title is taken from one of my favourite songs from Magnetic Fields called "Long Vermont Road." I wanted to make it super slick and even thought about doing a duet with Michael Mc Donald but I chickened out (not that he would have agreed as it was just in my head). I was very proud of the songs on this album as they were pulled out from my gut over two or three years. But looking back, I wish I either went super slick or super raw with the production as it seemed a little middle of the road in hindsight. But hey, no experience is wasted. So, yep… back on the bus. I toured for a while again, ate lots of ploughman sandwiches and sour cream and onion crisps. When I finally got off the road I slept for what seemed like a couple of years.

This all brings me to this moment, today being January 25th, 2008. It's rained for four days solid and I've loved every bit of it. I wish people walked in the rain more in Los Angeles, that way I wouldn't look like such a loser. Anyway, I have finished recording my third album! I made it with my dear friend David Odlum. He co-produced and engineered it with such dedication and love. He was willing to work into the wee hours of the night and morning everyday for months. I must have driven him crazy as I remember him hitting his head off the wall a few times. Joe Chester sang and played some guitar on it and Kevin Shields played some guitar too, which seriously blew my mind. Karl Odlum and Paul Noonan also contributed their amazing talents to the album. It's called The Hollow Of Morning. I stole the title from a poem by Samuel Menashe. It refers to that time, just before you fully wake, when everything is as it should be and you are at peace, something that only lasts a second before your daily thoughts kick in and pull you out of the silence. And the silence is an important part of this album, perhaps just as important as any instrument. Anyway, I hope when, or if, you listen to my music that you make it a soundtrack for your days, especially the rainy ones! Well, I guess that's it. It's weird writing a broad, sweeping summary of your musical life. Words just scratch the surface, like a nail on the side of a mountain. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Slan agus beannacht

Gemma X"

Cam got her Blackberry back!

I was informed last night that Cam from Uh Huh Her got her lost Blackberry back when some kind soul handed it into the management at the George.

Yaysies!

Singing kittens!

it takes a while to load, but it's worth it.

falling slowly (like money into a big bag marked, um, 'money')

The Oscar pays off: Glen and Marketa sign with Warner...


"Warner/Chappell Music announced a worldwide publishing agreement with singing/songwriting duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova,
winners of the "Best Original Song" Oscar for "Falling Slowly" from the critically acclaimed independent Irish musical film, Once, at the 80th Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles on February 24.

Under the agreement, Warner/Chappell Music will administer Hansard’s and Irglova’s catalog of work, including songs written by Hansard as a member of the band The Frames, music from Hansard’s and Irglova’s debut album, The Swell Season and songs from the Once soundtrack, as well as their future compositions.

Their Oscar victory was the latest in a string of awards the pair have captured in the wake of Once. Most recently, the film Once won the Independent Spirit Award for "Best Foreign Film" on Saturday, February 23 and in January, "Falling Slowly" was named "Best Song" at the Critics' Choice Awards. In December the Once soundtrack was voted "Best Music From A Film" by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The album also garnered two Grammy nominations this year. In 2007, the film won the "World Cinema Audience Award" at the Sundance Film Festival.

In making the announcement, Glen Brunman, Executive Vice President and Head of Creative (U.S.) for Warner/Chappell Music, said, "Glen’s and Mar’s songs have touched so many who have seen the film Once. Now that they have joined the Warner/Chappell family, we are excited to help their songwriting partnership flourish. Glen’s work with The Frames will continue to rock and we’ll make sure that it reaches an even wider audience.""

I was there!

Are you as excited as I am about Guilty Pleasures airing this Saturday on ITV? Well, you should be, because it's great.

And it airs on my birthday and I was at the filming (remember? The time Dee nearly laid the smackdown on Sophie Ellis Bextor?)

Perez has a post here with a clip of Kelly Osbourne's performance.

mp3: Bonnie Tyler - 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'

State

So I went to the State launch last night. Nice room with plenty of whiskey and loads and loads of music industry and journo heads (was hanging out with Lili, YoCo, Tiger, Anthony, Dee my sis, Sarah, RoRo, Screamer, Louise and Derek from Phantom, Bernie, Aoife McIndieHour, Rick, Cait, Nadine, Sinead, Dan Friction, Michael, Fiona McC from the Times, Jenny, Tanya, Cormac, Dan D, Nialler9 and FLApes and others - basically it was kind of like the Choice Music Prize drinkies all over again.)

So the mag looks and feels great. Design is spot on and although I haven't read it cover to cover, the standard of writing and photography seems very good.

A couple of things; writing about music is both a very serious and hilarious occupation, so humour is important. Obviously when a magazine is taking its initial tentative steps, it's not going to be a barrel of laughs. There are nods to a mainstream audience all over the place (which is obviously necessary to sell copies, yo); Mario Rosenstock, Adele, Mr Stipe, The Kooks getting the main album review. And I don't really understand the colourdy review system (but that's probably because it's before noon.) There are shit loads of album reviews which is great, and the Ham Sandwich feature is excellent. Jenna's column is VG but the '50 Words On' feature is a perfect opportunity to be biting and smartarsed lost.

So yeah, am looking forward to the rest of it - B+ so far.

I was speaking to a journalist this morning who said the reason he stopped buying Uncut etc is because "they kept putting old fuckers on the cover" and was lumping in Michael Stipe to this 'old fucker' category, which I have to agree with. It's not like REM are breaking ground in '08. So I hope State pushes 'it' regarding their cover stars.

And I was talking to a friend last night who was saying the only way it will survive (at €5.50) is if it is seen as a cool thing to have in your hand or on you coffee table. With Mongrel and Foggy Notions biting the dust (the latter dying just in print form) it might be able to fill that vacuum (although there is another cooler-than-cool freesheet on the way.) Certainly, Hotpress is seen as a magazine to hide rather than display, so if State can tap into that cool, then it will do well. So no more baldies on the cover then (even though, that said, the design of the cover and the photo are both excellent.)

In conclusion: (1) poor fucking State. Because people are so interested in it, it's going to end up being reviewed more than the bands it covers by twats like me. (2) best of luck to everyone involved with it, and well done!

Lili has some photees from the launch, along with this one of my sis Dee and I.

Wanted

eh... AWESOME!

Go Hillary!

that is all.

March Madness: Felix Kubin tours Ireland

There are an INCREDIBLE amount of gigs happening around the place in March (promoters must know it's my birthday month, although I will be out of the country for half of it - foiled again!) and I'll be throwing up a few choice ones over the next while.

First up is Hamburger Felix Kubin who plays two Irish dates next week; Friday March 14th in CrawDaddy in Dublin, and the next day in Cork @ Ping Pong. So if you like your electro bleepy, deconstructed and just plain weird, then you should probably hit these gigs.

Did the West Wing predict the 2008 election? - SPOILER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION

the rather excellent Blog Award intros starring George W Bush

Adrian @ Whelan's

Choice Music Prize nominee Adrian Crowley begins his March residency in Whelan's tomorrow (Wednesday) night. If you're not going to catch him at the Angel She's A Killer label launch at Spy on Friday, then you should totally check out one of these gigs. 'Walk On Part' from his latest album 'Long Distance Swimmer' is one of my favourite songs of the year. Go Adrian!

New CDs I got today

I Was A Cub Scout
I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope
XL

The Death Set
Worldwide
Counter

Billy Brag
Mr Love & Justive
Cooking Vinyl

Operator Please
Yes Yes Vindictive
Brille Records

Neon Neon
Stainless Style
Lex Records

Robert Hood
Fabric 39
Fabric Records

Youthmovies
Good Nature
Drowned In Sound Recordings

Bauhaus
Go Away White
Cooking Vinyl

Paul Hourican
Let The Enemy In
Hurricane Records

Black Francis
Svn Fngrs
Cooking Vinyl

Best of the Pete Doherty video library

Subscribe to his YouTube account here.

We suck

Kathy Foley gets the blog-shaped knives out, and makes a lot of good points in the process (although I haven't started reading Twenty's book yet, so I can't comment on that).

Then there's this follow-up post.

Well done to Kathy for being brave enough to question the quality of blogs and bloggers in Ireland. It's a tough thing to do in a relatively back-slapping environment. Personally, I think there are two types of blogs; those who aim for quality and are serious about the content and those who don't and aren't. (I'm in the latter camp, given that I rarely put any thought into what I'm blogging about or how I'm blogging about it.)

Then Twenty talks blogging, US V IRL and then Richard talks blogging and journalism.

Jive talkin'

Check out some words from these bands:

Super Extra Bonus Party shed light on February and Delorentos talk about winning and losing.

the RTE news poll strikes again

Will Russia's new president merely be a Putin pawn?

- Da
- Nyet
- I am a KGB agent and I suggest you stop asking such questions

vote here

Blogs on the Radio

Yo, to hear more about the debauchery and goss from the Irish Blog Awards over the weekend, tune into Phantom at around 3.15pm when I'll be lifting the lid on the sordid world of the Irish blogosphere ;)

UnaRocks articles of the day

Why is the Saturday Night Live Obama white?
- Chicago Tribune

Doherty and Barat to write musical - NME

The magical world of Warcraft porn - Village Voice

People who were spanked as kids more likely to be into masochistic, unprotected, or coercive sex - Slate

Hell's Angels tried to kill Mick Jagger - Yahoo News

Fight Like Apes to record debut album in Seattle with John Goodmanson - Hotpress

Jack Nicholson *hearts* Hillary Clinton - AP

The other Obama: reinventing the political spouse - New Yorker

Robyn interview - Pitchfork

MSTRKRFT are hot shit - Spin

Noel Gallagher: seedy homosexual - GCN

Tie-dye is officially back - Fader

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, how George Lucas plans to revolutionise the video game - Vanity Fair

Get this Uh Huh Her mp3 - State

Cathal O Searcaigh defended - The Dubliner

Was Ellen Page at Uh Huh Her too?

kind of looks like it.

(and by Ellen Page, I don't mean Lucy, who is just her twin, and not actually her. But nearly.)

Angel She's A Killer launch - this Friday

Hey yo! Angel She's A Killer, an awesome new Irish record label that will released limited edition 10" vinyls every few months, will launch on Friday. Every few months, ASAK will release an album of songs from an assortment of very different artists. A booklet of artwork, poetry and photography will accompany every release. How awesome is that?

The first album - 'Frend' - features Choice Music Prize nominee Adrian Crowley, MeNoFemBo, Goodtime John and More Tiny Giants.

At the launch in Spy on South William Street, there will be friends, live music, beer and tea. If you would like to come along, and haven't yet received an invite, mail me at jacksgraff@hotmail.com and I'll get on it.

(click image to get the full picture, so to speak.)

Uh Huh Her @ the Village

*important notice*
Cam from Uh Huh Her lost her Blackberry in Dublin on Saturday night. If you found a Blackberry phone (possibly in the George or Dragon) then it could be Cam's. Return it, and be a hero!

Anyway, moving on. Uh Huh Her was great last night. It was sold out and the place was more or less wall-to-wall Leisha fans. I was upstairs with Bernie, Ragin, Rosie, Tainer Bang, Mishy, Lucy, Brian and Fionn. Before that, I watched their soundcheck and had a chat with Cam and Leisha who are both so lovely, and then went for a couple of pints in Whelan's with Bernie, Cooney and Ragin.

'Explode' and 'Say So' were the highlights for me. Such great tunes, check them out.

Becs hassome pics from the gig.

The Blog Awards

Had a great night at the Blog Awards on Saturday with Lili, YoCo and Iano MeNoFemBo. Congrats to all of the winners, you rock! Everything was going swimmingly until I got embroiled in a tequila drinking contest and then it all went downhill really. Spy afterwards was a bit of a blur. There was a lot of dancing though. I don't know what got in to me, really (apart from tequila and champagne, that is.)

Anyway, it was great to hang out with the bloggers; Twenty, Sweary, Mulley, Rick, Rapture Ponies, Aoife, Nialler and all the rest. It's really good to see that each year the number of people attending is doubling. Well done to Mulley for putting the whole thing together!

The winners are here.

Me with Rick's award:
His account of the night is heresies.