Temple Bar Irish Trad Festival

One of my favourite bits of Irish culture is the Irish traditional music session where typically you'll have up to 10 extremely talented musicians sitting in the pub with their drink of choice, jamming together to a host of traditional Irish music. Instruments range from the bodhran, fiddle, banjo, guitar, and a small accordian-like instrument called a concertina, among others. My favourite spots in South Dublin for such craic are Johnnie Foxes pub (a well-known tourist stop), which features a whole range of Irish trad, including the folk singing and Irish dancing, and The Wishing Well in Blackrock (Monday nights).

This evening, the Temple Bar Irish Trad Festival kicks off with a host of concerts, workshops, children’s activities, and other events. For some of the shows, you must book tickets, but a good number of the pubs in Temple Bar (more than usual, anyway) will be hosting trad sessions at no charge. Festival goers will also have opportunity to meet the various musicians and performers each night at 11pm in the Project Arts Centre for conversation and craic.

My family and I are also looking forward to the action out on the street where there’ll be bagpipes and traditional storytelling. Hopefully the Dublin weather forecast will stay favourable!

Here's some rough footage of a trad session at a pub called The Celt here in Dublin:

Irish Baby Adventures

Having our first child here in Ireland was a great experience, as I mentioned several months ago. One of the best parts about it was that it was FREE! In the States, medical insurance would have paid for much of the expense, but certainly not the whole thing. There still would have been a big chunk o' cash coming out of our own pocket.

But then there's the cost of living in Dublin . . .

We received a gift voucher from Mama's & Papa's, a British maternity and babywear shop. It's a very nice, high-end shop with clothes and baby "equipment" at costs much higher than we would ever be willing to pay. Last night, my wife stopped by the Mama's & Papa's shop at the top of Dundrum Shopping Centre and was shocked to see a cashmere cardigan priced at 78EUR. SEVENTY EIGHT EURO! For something that will get spit up on and only used for three months anyway! I won't even bother to translate that number into American dollars.

Fortunately, we have lots of friends and family around us who've given us enough baby clothing for a small army of babies. That is, a small army of babies that don't spit up and explode beyond the reach of their nappies. Otherwise, it's only enough clothing for a small army of ONE baby. (I believe Caitlyn's personal record is 4 different outfits in one day.)

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!

School Demolition

Just got this video/audio track from a friend today. Hilarious, even if it isn't really an 8 year old girl. I don't know who it really is, but my guess is that it's a radio DJ speaking through some digital effects or something.

Dublin Babies

Late last month, our daughter Caitlyn was born at Holles St. maternity hospital. Needless to say, I haven't given a lot of time to blogging since then. I will say this however - Dublin is a great place to have a baby! We used the community midwives scheme through the Irish national health service and we were very impressed. Not only were the midwives really helpful in the months leading up to my wife's delivery day and during the labour, but they also dropped by our house for a visit every day afterward for a week. Those of you who've gone through the experience of having a baby understand how helpful that is for clueless first-time parents!

Irish Breakfast Blog

I'm a big fan of the Full Irish Breakfast (even manage to swallow the black pudding down these days!) Sometimes I'll even order it for lunch, if it's on offer. That's while you'll understand my excitement about a great blog that I found today that will assist me in my search for the perfect breakfast in Dublin - Rashers and Eggs. Never imagined a blog could make my mouth water so much.

Cartridge Green

Here in Dublin, there's a brilliant way to both save money and be environmentally sound in your use of computer printer ink. It's called Cartridge Green and there are four shops in Ireland (three in Dublin). I took my black ink cartridge in to the shop in Leopardstown Road today and it cost me only 10 euro to refill it. That's about half as much as it would cost to drive down to PC World and replace the cartridge with a new one!

Cartridge Green are also promoting franchising opportunities. So if you're an entrepreneur type, have a look at those options as well.

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.

Dublin Culture Night

The second annual Dublin Culture Night is happening next Friday (14th September) involving 82 venues (museums, galleries, theatres, libraries, etc.) and 100 free events. Events will include such highlights as free tours of Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Croke Park, lectures on Dublin literary figures, art exhibitions, a film making workshop for kids, and loads more. Whether or not you decide to attend any of the free events, Dublin Culture Night will be difficult to avoid with guides and street entertainers spreading out across the city to answer questions and point people in the right direction.

As a preview to Culture Night, The Dubliner Magazine are holding a debate this Friday night exploring the notion that Ireland has lost its cultural identity. The lively banter will involve writers and musicians such as Mik Pyro from Republic of Loose and Sunday Independent journalist Victoria Mary Clarke.

Once in America

So it turns out that the independent Irish film "Once" is having loads of success in the U.S. It played at the Dublin Film Festival last winter, but sold out in a matter of hours. Critics are raving about it and Bob Dylan even asked The Frames to tour with him in Australia. (CLICK HERE for Channel 4's report.)

Can't wait for the film to make it's way back to Ireland at some point!

Indeed, the Sun DOES Show Up in Ireland!

It's the end of August, and summer has finally agreed to show up! The sun is out, it's 21° (70°F), and it's meant to reach a blistering high of 22° by Friday. Aaaaah, the Irish summer.

Just in time for the late summery weather, the Festival of World Cultures is happening this weekend in Dun Laoghaire. Also, on Friday evening, rumour has it that Fionn Regan will be playing Grafton Street in front of HMV. Looking forward to that! In recent weeks, I've really come to appreciate Fionn's music. Later, Friday night, I'll head over to the Crawdaddy to catch DeVotchka.

Should be a great weekend here in Dublin!

New Organic Restaurant - The Farm

On our way to Lemon Crepe & Coffee Co. (Dawson Street) for lunch the other day, Kristy and I noticed a new restaurant across the street called The Farm. After taking a quick look at the lunch menu, we decided that the pricing seemed reasonable and it would be good to try something new. Turns out, it was a great decision!

The Farm boasts all natural, organic food on the menu, including a coffee bar with organic Bewleys brand espresso drinks. I decided to go with the hamburger off the lunch menu (admittedly, not a very adventurous choice) and I must say, it was probably one of the tastiest burgers I've had. I don't know if it was the seasoning they used or the organic nature of the beef or a combination of both, but the flavour of that simple hamburger will have me going back for more! Kristy had a pasta dish (penne) with meatballs and really liked it as well.

Between the two of us, our lunch bill came to about €28, which included a half pint of Heineken for myself and a bottle of fruit juice for my wife. Considering that most organic food vendors put a premium on the “organic” label, I'd say it's a great value. The staff were also very friendly and helpful, which is always a big plus.

As impressed as I was with The Farm, however, it's not to say that the Calzone crepe at Lemon will lose it's place in the top rankings of my favourite lunch meals in the city!

Sand Sculptures

Upon arriving in Dublin this time last year, my wife and I stumbled across an excellent sand sculpture exhibition in the courtyard of Dublin Castle, put on by Duthain Dealbh. This year, they've done it again with an Irish literature theme. (Last year's theme was "the 5 senses.") The exhibition reflects the works of such literary figures as James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Flannery O'Brien, and Samuel Becket. (Click on one of the pictures below to see more.)