Trad Story-Telling in Temple Bar

On Saturday, my family and I ventured in to the city centre to see a friend from Prague. While we were there, we caught some of the traditional story-telling that was happening in conjunction with the Irish Trad Festival. It was interesting, but not really much more than your typical street performer. In fact, there was a busker in Temple Bar Square doing observational / improvisational humour in between the story-tellers and he was actually far more entertaining. With that said, it worked well for the trad festival and seemed to be a hit with the kids.





After having a chat with our friend in The Joy of Coffee, we headed West to the edge of Temple Bar for Dublin's finest kebab at Zaytoon's (arguably also Dublin's dearest kebab - a tenner and some change for a meal combo.) After dinner, in my pre-fatherhood days, it would've been straight across to The Porterhouse for a pint and some Irish trad. But alas, a 4-month-old can only take so much action in the city.

(Note to parents: Bit of a rough ride taking a pram through Temple Bar, unless it's got big wheels and state-of-the-art suspension.)

Street Performer

Walking down Grafton Street on a clear day, you're likely to run in to a crowd surrounding a street performer outside Stephen's Green shopping centre. Usually, I peer over the heads of the onlookers for a moment and decide it's not worth my time as I head back to the LUAS or to whatever meeting I'm already running late for.

Today, however, I stopped briefly for a routine glance at the unofficial "Grafton Street Performers' Stage" - and got hooked. It wasn't the fact that your man with a Kiwi accent was doing an impressive job of juggling basketballs or that he could also balance himself on a unicycle 3 meters high. I think I was most impressed with the way he made people a part of his act.

For example, at one stage, he called on a 5 year-old boy to hold the basketballs. Now, the sight of a small boy holding 3 basketballs, each one twice the size of the boy's head, is funny enough. (See picture below.) But as he interacted with the boy and joked around with him, he cleverly made the boy a participant in the act without patronizing him. He did the same with the other 3 adults that he pulled from the audience.

Brilliant stuff. Makes me look forward to the next Street Performance World Championship next summer!

A Walk Thru Dublin Culture Night

Kristy and I were out for Dublin Culture Night on Friday. First, we met up with a friend for a quick bite to eat at Zaytoon – THE BEST kebab place that I’ve found in Dublin. From Camden, it was over to play tourist at St. Patrick’s Cathedral where they were offering free entrance and guided tours. (Yes, I know they need to revamp their website!) The choir rehearsal that was happening during the tour was a nice touch. It’s a beautiful cathedral, but I’m glad we were able to bypass the €5 entrance fee that’s usually required.

From there, it was over to a brilliant new art gallery called Gallery Number One on Castle Street, directly across from Leo Burdock’s chippy. The folks at Gallery Number One have given the place a very cool vibe conducive to just chilling out in one of the sofas, surfing the internet or reading one of a handful of art books laying around. There’s a collection of live concert photography, as well as a few paintings hanging on the walls. Next door is a design agency called Ebow which seems to be run by the same artist(s).

Next, we strolled down Lord Edward Street to Parliament Street where we popped our heads in to the Oxfam bookshop. They had some live music going but it was bit crowded so we took off for Meeting House Square where they were supposed to be showing a film in the open air called “About Adam.” We're pretty sure it was some other slower-moving film that was actually showing.

After that, it was beginning to get difficult for my wife, who’s now 37 weeks pregnant, so we headed over to O’Neill’s for a seat and a few drinks. So, in the end, we only made 4 out of the 100 events, which we were okay with. I wouldn't think that the organizers would expect people to do much more than that. Everywhere we went in the city centre, we saw people pulling out their Dublin Culture Night brochures and maps, so it was obviously a big success. Looking forward to it again next year!

Shakespeare in St. Stephen's Green

It was a warm, dry (though humid) day in Dublin. Having come into town in search of WiFi and good coffee, I discovered the city bustling with activity.

The buskers were out, of course, taking advantage of the favourable weather.

Dave was also out, doing his chalk art thing, though shifted from the corner of College Green and Grafton to the median in the middle of College Green. When he explained to me that the Guards had kicked him off the corner, I told him he’s doing the city a great service and that they should know better! I also informed him about Dublin Culture Night (and, later in the day, delivered a brochure to him). He wasn’t sure if he would take advantage of the evening’s “cultured crowds” moving through the city and keep up the chalk drawing, or try to attend a few of the free events for himself.

Later, in St. Stephen’s Green, Public Shakespeare were putting on a free performance of The Taming of the Shrew at the W.B. Yeats memorial. It was an absolutely brilliant show and the performers often walked through the crowd and interacted with the audience, evoking both laughter and applause. It’s been on twice every day, at 1 and 4pm, since 26^th August. This Saturday will be the final performances.

Also in St. Stephen’s Green is an installation of wildlife photos by South African photographer, Steve Bloom. CLICK HERE for a sampling of some prints that are for sale from his website.

A Walk Through Dublin

Seems like every time I walk through town these days, something interesting is happening, especially on a beautiful day like today.

I stopped by to chat with Dave (chalk artist in the picture below) and mentioned THESE GUYS. He said that he was thinking about doing some 3D chalk art himself. I also noticed a guy on stilts on the same corner as Dave. I think he was part of a promotional thing for a bank or something.



At the top of Grafton Street, something else got my attention: A life size Halo action figure. It was a promo for Halo 3 and for an XBox Live Gaming Centre on S. William Street. Didn't have a chance to check out the gaming centre, but it's now on my radar.



And finally, when I got to the LUAS at St. Stephen's Green, I noticed a group of TV cameras crowding around someone. I think he's a politician, probably chatting about the upcoming elections. He looks familiar. I should probably know who he is. Ooops.

A Saturday in Dublin

Kristy and I went into the city centre to explore today. In particular, I wanted to visit Café Irie for lunch in the Temple Bar District. This month's issue of The Dubliner magazine has them listed as the top café in the city. It's a small, second-story place across from Luigi Malones and Urban Outfitters. There's only seating for about 15-18 people or so, but the people are very friendly and I was quite impressed with the food, including the coffee. In fact, it might need to become a regular stop-in whenever I'm in the city. (No Starbucks for this Yankee.)

After lunch, we sauntered over to check out the Saturday Food Market. The smells and sights made us wish we hadn't just eaten! We already have plans to go back next Saturday afternoon, only this time with empty stomachs.

Next, we stopped by the Oxfam book shop on Parliamant street and picked up “The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats” for €6. Then it was back through Temple Bar where we dropped in at the Project Arts Centre just in time to see a group leaving for The Rain Party. In keeping with the art theme, we wandered down to the Temple Bar Gallery and Studios for a look through Matt Stokes' documentary exhibition on early 90's “cave raves” in the UK's Lake District.

For the first time, we also finally stopped in at the Dublin Tourism churchy-looking building. I picked up the Dublin International Film Festival programme and got really tempted to purchase the required membership to the Irish Film Institute in order to get in to some of the showings. As I was looking through the schedule, I realized that it's happening during the same week that I'll be out of town visiting my brother on business in Spain. DOH! Maybe next year.

Finally, before heading back to the LUAS, we stopped in at St. Teresa's. Always a peaceful break from the hustle and bustle of life in Dublin.