Culture Northern Ireland: CNI Blog

Heaney vs Morrissey

Both Seamus Heaney and Sinead Morrissey have been nominated for the 19th Forward Prize for Poetry, Morrissey for Through a Square Window and Heaney for Human Chain.

The Forward Prizes were founded in 1992 to raise the profile of contemporary poetry and it's a coup to have two such distinguished Northern Irish poets shortlisted. They share the shortlist with what Forward Judge Ruth Padel discribed as 'international luminaries, much-loved British voices and exciting newcomers'.

She went on to say that the quality of poetry collections had been particularly good this year. 'It was tough, whittling a rainbow down to a shortlist, and giving up many books we really loved, which in other years would have certainly been on the shortlist. But what we have got represents the quality and brilliant variety of poetry and poetry publishing in Britain today.'

But with £10,000 on the line will a poetry battle royale rage through the halls of the Seamus Heany Centre of Poetry at Queen's University? Will the two opposing poets, the reigning champion and the young pretender, spit crafted couplets of contempt at each other in lecture halls? Will their conflict spill out into the School of English, dividing brother from brother and academic from student?

Probably not, unfortunately. No one wants to encourage conflict but a Battle of the Bards in the New Library at Queen's would be something to see.

So which poet do you think should win the prize?

Free Photography At the Waterfront

‘The whole free art idea isn't a new one,’ admits Belfast-based photographer John Baucher. ‘Anders Petersen, who took the famous front cover photo for Tom Waits’ album Rain Dogs, staged an exhibition in Cafe Lehmitz, Hamburg in the 1960s. He tacked portraits that he had been taking of the clientele to the walls. All the photos disappeared in a few days, all except his own…'

But what really inspired Baucher to do something similar was last year's It's Yours, Take it, an exhibition organised by artist Alice Burns, aka Dogtired, and featuring work by artists from across the globe, tacked to the iron grilles at City Hall and given away to the public for free.

Now Baucher – and a host of other photographers – are staging a ‘first come, first served’ exhibition of their own in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast as part of this year’s Trans Festival. The exhibition features 960 portraits by Baucher, and many more by international artists, and will be taken down and given out to the public this coming Saturday, from 7pm.

‘In a word, Belfast & Beyond: Through the Viewfinder is about sharing,’ says Baucher. ‘Sharing photographs on the internet led me to find the Through the Viewfinder (TtV) group on flickr. There, information was shared regarding the various aspects of the sub genre, which entails photographing subjects via a mirrored viewfinder.

‘Once I'd been asked to exhibit by Adam Turkington at the Trans Festival I invited other TtV'ers to be involved with the TtV takeaway night. I received just under 600 photographs from as far a field as India, Canada, Australia and Yorkshire.’

Evidently, the artists who did send in their work had no misgivings about giving their photographs away to the public. ‘All the work was sent with the knowledge that it would be given away free. The exhibition is as much about the diversity of Belfast and it's visitors as it is about the collaborative possibilities of the net. Local TtV'ers also helped in the setting up of the exhibition, as well as contributing their own photographs.’

To be in with a chance of getting your hands on one of Baucher’s intriguing photographs, head to the Waterfront this Saturday – because free art is hard to find!

Hairy Bikers Want Your Mum's Recipes

The Hairy Bikers, Simon King and Dave Myers are once again undertaking a nationwide search for Britain’s most cherished and treasured recipes for the second series of the acclaimed BBC Two programme Mums Know Best.

Do you have recipes that have been handed down through generations using tried and trusted methods and ingredients to create dishes which are firm family favourites?

Do you love to cook and feed people?

Do you own a dog-eared cookbook you wouldn’t be without?

Do you have nostalgic memories of cooking with your Mum, Grandmother or Great Grandmother?

If you have an amazing story behind your family recipes that you would be willing to share with other people and you would like to cook on national TV, the Hairy Bikers would really like to hear from you. They are looking for Grannies, Mums, Dads and Daughters of all ages to take part.

Please fill out the form below and email it to mumsknowbest@bbc.co.uk or send it by post to The Hairy Bikers, Mums Know Best, BBC Birmingham, Level 9, The Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RF.

Mums Know Best
Application Form

Name:
Address:
Daytime telephone:
Evening telephone:
Your occupation?
Relationship Status:
Do you have children?

Can you give us examples of the recipes you would like to pass on? (Please use additional pages if necessary)

What are the stories behind these recipes? (I.e. Why are they so special to you? Who would you want to pass these recipes on to and why?)

Can you provide as much information as possible about the history of these dishes or can you provide a ‘family account’ of their origin?

What is your dish called? Was the dish given this name by you or your family?

In what form are these recipes written? (i.e. are they written in a book, on loose sheets of paper or memorized)

How old are these recipes?

Do you or any members of you family own a kitchen ‘heirloom’. A gadget that is old fashioned, sometimes unidentifiable or simply indispensible?

How would you describe your style of cooking?

Describe yourself in one sentence:

And 5 words your family and friends would use to describe you:

Do you consider yourself to have a disability? Yes/No

If ‘yes’ please provide details:

How many generations of your family would be willing to take part if you are selected? Please give details of their names and ages:

Have you, or anyone detailed above, appeared on any other TV shows?

If yes please give programme details and dates:

Please provide a recent photograph of the people who are likely to be taking part. If you are sending your application form via email then please attach a photograph. (Separate photographs of each family member are fine) If you are posting your application form please enclose a photograph of your family in the envelope and write your name clearly on the back of each photo.

You may send copies of photographs if you prefer as we cannot guarantee being able to send back any photographs submitted.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this application form. Please note that due to the number of applications submitted we may not be able to contact those applicants who are unsuccessful and we apologise for this in advance.

Disclaimer
The details you supply will be treated in strictest confidence and only used by BBC staff for the purposes of this programme. Your personal information will be treated in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Please visit the BBC’s Privacy and Cookies Policy (www.bbc.co.uk/privacy) for more information.
Please note if any information is found to be false on this application form the BBC have the right to terminate your application.

VOID are in the Charts

Never mind the marching season, July has been the art season for Derry. Not only did the city win the bid to be named UK City of Culture 2013, but the VOID Gallery in Derry - located on Queen Street and renowned for its ability to attract the best of international artists - made a much deserved entrance into the charts when it was name-checked in The Guardian as one of the top 15 galleries in the UK.

Journalist Stuart Jeffries praised the gallery for its 'outstanding' shows, in an article about the thrilling work available in smaller gallery spaces. Read the rest of the article here or check out VOID's website for upcoming exhibitions.

Quench Your Creative Thirst

Are you thinking about setting up your own business in the Creative Industries? Or perhaps making a little extra income with your creative skills?

If so, Strule Arts Centre, Omagh and the WEA might have the programme for you. They are offering a short, intensive, accessible programme aptly named ‘Creativity Thirst’ to help anyone who is considering self employment or gaining additional income in the Creative Industries develop the necessary skills.

'Creativity Thirst' is made possible due to the Creative Industries Innovation Fund which is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, (DCAL).

This project is offered free to the learner and will commence in September but applications are currently open. The programme, has already ran successfully in Belfast, Portstewart and Derry and is included in the 'Blueprint for Northern Ireland', issued by the Creative and Cultural Industries Skill Sector.

Content is accredited by CCEA and the Open College Network Northern Ireland. Anyone with a level 2 qualification or above in their skill area, and who is considering self employment or gaining additional income in the Creative Industries is welcome to apply. Skills can include: music, film, photography, textiles, craft, digital imaging, gaming etc.

All sessions have been scheduled outside office hours to allow maximum accessibility. An additional two taster sessions will also take place later in the autumn. Further information about these will be made available on the WEA and Strule Arts Centre websites (www.wea-ni.com, www.struleartscentre.co.uk com).

Elaine Hill, Photographer who participated on a previous project said: 'Prior to starting the course my work revolved around PR shots, weekly gigs and the occasional wedding. I was lacking focus. “Creativity Thirst” has given me this focus and has helped me think outside the box and now my weddings have doubled. My understanding of self promotion and finance has increased: as has my confidence. I would recommend this programme to anyone who wants to make the lost of their career'.

For further information or to apply to the programme contact Carole Kane on (028) 9032 9718 or email carole.kane@wea-ni.com.

City of Culture Winner Announced on July 15

The winning city for UK City of Culture 2013 will be announced in Liverpool on Thursday, July 15. Sheffield, Birmingham, Norwich, and, Derry/Londonderry, are all in the running, and CNI knows who it is backing to win...

So while keeping everything crossed, why not check out 'Voices', the official film produced to support the Derry~Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013 bid. The film was produced by the Nerve Centre, with contributions from Willie Doherty and Seamus Heaney, amongst many others.

Art Fund Prize for Ulster Museum

Congratulations to the Ulster Museum who have just been named as the 2010 winner of the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries. Garnering praise for its all-round excellence the museum beat the Ashmolean Museum, Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. The £100,000 prize was awarded to the Ulster Museum in recognition of Opening up the Ulster Museum, a three year, £17.8 million project.

Tim Cooke, director of National Museums Northern Ireland, said, ‘We are delighted on Northern Ireland’s behalf. This is the first time in Northern Ireland’s history that a prestigious cultural prize of this nature has been awarded to an institution in the region. This prize will encourage us as we endeavour to play a meaningful role at the heart of our changing society.’

He went on thank all the visitors and supporters, their funders and the Museums Northern Ireland Staff. Kirsty Young, chair of the The Art Fund Prize judges commented on moved and invigorated they had been by their visit to the Ulster Museum. ‘Here is a museum that shows how much can be achieved, and one that is building a lasting legacy.’

The Ulster Museum’s major project Opening up the Ulster Museum represents the first substantial development of this national museum in almost 40 years and makes an important contribution to the cultural rejuvenation of Northern Ireland.

The three year project has radically reconfigured the Museum’s listed building, offering a series of new galleries including interactive Learning Zones, a stunning new Applied Art Gallery and state-of-the-art, 3 storey-high 'Window on Our World' display.

Since its redevelopment, the Ulster Museum has become Northern Ireland’s busiest visitor attraction.

Glasgowbury Goes Green

Glasgowbury Music Group and Chambers Coach Hire have teamed up to support greener initiatives and to encourage public transport during the festival by offering return bus services from throughout the province.

The return bus services will operate from selected points throughout the north, departing on Friday July 23 to allow campers to avail of two nights camping, before returning to the designated locations on Sunday after the festival.

Buses will run from the following locations from Friday July 23 at 7pm and will be charged at £20 for a return journey including unlimited shuttle bus service within the festival site:

- Ballymena

- Belfast

- Coleraine

- Derry

- Limavady

- Newry (with stops in Armagh & Dungannon)

- Omagh

- Strabane

- Magherafelt (this service will cost £12)

All buses will depart from the festival site on Sunday July 25 at approximately 12 noon, giving campers enough time to make themselves look respectable.

Eugene Donnelly, Business Development Manager for Chambers, says he is excited to be working in partnership with Glasgowbury while encouraging the use of public transport.

'Chambers and Glasgowbury share a common goal that fans get to the festival safely, securely and on time,' he said.

'We are excited to be working with the local festival to offer festival-goers the opportunity to travel to the event with their friends in a worry free environment.'

Festival organiser Paddy Glasgow urges the public to help support greener initiatives being introduced by Glasgowbury and avail of the bus services.

'With so many people travelling to a rural area we want to try and encourage public transport where possible and are excited that Chambers will be offering this wide reaching service,' he said.

Glasgowbury 2010, the tenth anniversary of the Small But Massive festival takes place on Saturday July 24 and tickets are on sale now. See www.glasgowbury.com for more information.

To book a place on any of the bus services or to find out more information, contact Chambers on 028 867 48152 or email mail@coachireland.com.

A Rose d'Or Nomination for Alexander Pearce

The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, which stars acclaimed Northern Irish actors Adrian Dunbar and Ciaran McMenamin, has received a nomination in the Best Drama category of the prestigious Rose d'Or Festival.

The film has already collected nominations at the 2009 Irish Film & Television Awards, the Australian Film Institute Awards, won at the 2010 European Independent Film Festival in Paris and received critical acclaim from press in both Australia and Ireland for it’s grim depiction of the final days of convict Alexander Pearce’s life in Van Diemen’s Land.

Northern Irish born Producer and co-writer Nial Fulton is thrilled at the prospect of the film reaching a wider international audience.

'This film never ceases to amaze me. We always knew it was a little bit special but it just keeps punching above its weight. Getting a nomination for the prestigious ROSE D’OR Festival is a fantastic acknowledgement and testament to the efforts of a stellar cast and crew. I’m so proud our film is sitting in there amongst the cream of international television drama.'

New Belfast Music Website and iPhone App launched

Music fans heading out in Belfast have now got the latest gigs and music news at their fingertips with the launch of the new BelfastMusic.org website. For the first time, potential gig goers will be able to quickly find hundreds of music events across Belfast, from intimate singer-songwriter nights to classical recitals to rock concerts.

Web users can also listen to tracks from the latest bands and watch exclusive music videos, as well as signing up for regular e-bulletins to make sure they don’t miss a note. The new website has been produced by Culture Northern Ireland in partnership with Belfast City Council, as part of a series of new tourism initiatives to profile Belfast as a cultural tourism destination.

David Lewis, director of Culture Northern Ireland, said: 'The Belfast music scene is alive and kicking, but sometimes it can be difficult keeping up with what’s going on.

'Audiences are increasingly switched on to the digital world. It’s now second nature for many people to find information on their computer or mobile phone. BelfastMusic.org is simply responding to that need.'

Users of the site will be able to interact by giving their views on gigs, entering competitions to win tickets, and joining in through Facebook and Twitter.

The site also features an online version of the Belfast Music exhibition at the Oh Yeah centre. By clicking on memorabilia such as Ash frontman Tim Wheeler’s Flying V guitar and a shamrock-shaped Horslips LP, tourists will get a taster of Belfast’s exciting musical heritage before they arrive.

Lewis added: 'As well as news and reviews from Culture Northern Ireland, we’re also featuring content from some of the top websites around, including the BBC’s Across the Line and AU magazine.'

With videos from Bandwidth and NvTV, and a sample of the amazing Wall of Fame exhibition at the Limelight and Spring & Airbrake, there’s something for every music lover to enjoy.

Log on to BelfastMusic.org for the latest Belfast music events, news, reviews, audio and video, and download the Belfast Music app from the app store.

Arts And Business Meet At Stormont

Arts and enterprise came together at Stormont today (June 7) to promote the benefits of partnerships between arts and business organisations.

Arts Minister Nelson McCausland and Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster met with business leaders and leading figures from the arts sector to learn of their experiences of arts and business organisations forming partnerships and the benefits gained.

Speaking during the event Minister McCausland said: 'This event has been an excellent opportunity for some of our top businesses to hear about the benefits of partnering with an arts organisation. Skills transfer between the organisations can bring invaluable expertise that can only help in these tough economic times.'

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, provides funding of £445k for Arts & Business NI, whose aim is to promote these mutually beneficial partnerships, in order to increase private sector investment into the arts.

Minister McCausland added: 'Partnership between our business and cultural sectors is key to growing a vibrant and dynamic economy for Northern Ireland. I would encourage any business, large or small, that is not already partnering with an arts organisation to consider engaging with Arts & Business NI who run various programmes to facilitate the process.'

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said: 'By sharing knowledge, experience and skills, partnerships have been proven to deliver significant advantages to industry. By encouraging similar collaborative practices across both business and arts, benefits to both sectors can be maximised.'

Kenneth Brannagh Joins Lyric Funding Push

The Lyric Theatre has to raise £150,000 within the next four weeks in order to secure a £500,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation in Michigan, USA. It will be a nail-biting finish to a long-running capital campaign, launched in 2003, to raise the funds to build a new state-of-the-art producing theatre for the people of Belfast and Northern Ireland. The Lyric is appealing for help from the public and the business community to help get the project over the line by the challenge deadline of June 30.

Belfast-born actor, writer and director, Kenneth Branagh, first made his mark on local audiences in the 1980s with his powerful portrayal of the title role in Graham Reid’s Billy Plays. Branagh, who plays the title role in the popular BBC detective series Wallander, has offered his personal support to the Lyric at this critical stage in the campaign.

'There is an enormous wealth of creative talent in Northern Ireland, and I have worked with many great actors, directors and writers throughout my career who learned their craft at the Lyric. Young artists need the creative and spiritual home which the Lyric provides – a crucible in which they can experiment, innovate, take risks, and push boundaries.

'And for audiences, nothing can beat the thrill of great live theatre. I hope that everyone gives the Lyric the support that it truly deserves, and I look forward to seeing the new theatre stand tall in Belfast’s new skyline.'

Hundreds of people from all walks of life have already made donations to help build the new theatre, and individual donations have ranged from ten to 1,000,000 pounds. The Lyric’s ‘Name a Seat’ campaign has proved particularly popular, with 200 seats already named by donors in the main auditorium of the new theatre.

Commenting on the scale of the fundraising challenge, the Lyric’s Development Director, Angela McCloskey, said: 'The Lyric has had a particularly high mountain to climb in terms of the percentage of private funding we have had to raise. Backstage working conditions at the old Lyric were described as the worst in the UK; shows had to be cancelled due to flooding; front of house facilities were cramped and run-down, with poor disability access; and we couldn’t accommodate the huge demand for training and workshops.

'These are just some of the reasons why we have left no stone unturned in our quest to raise the funds to build a new state-of-the-art producing theatre, of the type and quality that is long overdue in Belfast and Northern Ireland. With the continued support of the public and business community, we are confident that we can reach our target and continue the great tradition of the Lyric within our community.'

For full details of ways to help the Lyric reach its target, check out the campaign website www.supportthelyric.com or phone 028 9038 5679.

McCausland Requests Creationist Changes at Ulster Museum

Nelson McCausland, Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, has written a letter to the Board of Trustees at National Museums Northern Ireland requesting that they allocate more space in the Ulster Museum to the historic role of the Orange Order, Ulster-Scots culture and alternative views on the origins of the universe.

McCausland, a DUP MLA, argues that the museum’s exhibitions are not representative enough of the ‘views, beliefs and cultural traditions’ of certain sections of society in Northern Ireland, and has asked the trustees to consider implementing ‘practical’ changes to existing exhibitions before the summer.

In his letter, McCausland gives advice on how trustees might improve upon the Museum’s ‘Plantation to Power Sharing’ exhibition by giving more prominence to the Grand Lodge of Ireland therein; suggests that they recognise the Hamilton and Montgomery Settlement in the local history exhibition – a landmark event in Ulster-Scots history – and requests that the fossils and evolution gallery be adapted to reflect contradictory notions of the origins of the universe and the origins of life, presumably those shared by religious literalists, theists and creationists, amongst others.

Although the Ulster Museum recently won the award for Best Permanent Exhibition in the UK at the annual Museums and Heritage Awards in London – beating off stiff competition from the Natural History Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford – McCausland believes that, in the interests of the shared future agenda, trustees can work to make the Museum more impressive still.

In response to McCausland’s letter, a spokesperson for NMNI said: ‘I can confirm that the Board of Trustees for National Museums Northern Ireland has received a letter from Culture Minister Nelson McCausland and will give it appropriate consideration.’

In an interview on the Good Morning Ulster programme on BBC Radio Ulster this morning, Mark Taylor, Director of the Museums Association – the oldest of its kind in the world – stated his belief that ‘the Ulster Museum belongs to the people of Northern Ireland and not the minister’.

He went on to say that ‘throughout my long experience working with museums I’m not aware of anywhere in the UK - possibly in Eastern Europe 20 years ago - where this sort of thing has happened before… I absolutely do [believe that the minister has crossed the line]. I was at the Ulster Museum a few months ago and I saw the stunning Sean Scully exhibition that they opened with after their spectacular refurbishment. Does the minister have a view on that? Will he be telling the Museum what exhibition they should carry next?’

Let us know your views by commenting below.

Golden Thread Gallery Appoints a New Chair

Writer and broadcaster Dr Fionola Meredith has become chair of Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery. A former academic, Fionola contributes features to the Irish Times, where she specialises in gender issues. She supplies comment and review to BBC Northern Ireland television and radio programmes, and is a regular contributor to The Guardian's Comment is Free site. Fionola is also reviews editor of Belfast's arts and culture magazine, The Vacuum, and a frequent contributor to CultureNorthernIreland.

She commented: 'I'm proud to be associated with the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast's leading contemporary visual arts space. It's a unique place that combines the very best local and international art with challenging and innovative outreach work.'

Meredith has come on board at the Golden Thread Gallery just in time for two exciting new exhibitions. Venice@Golden Thread Gallery features a joint presentation of the art that represented Northern Ireland and Ireland at the world’s most prestigious visual arts showcase, the Venice Biennale. It runs from May 28 to July 24. The Small Wonder exhibition, exploring the space between the imaginary and the miniature, runs from June 3 - 17.

Belsonic 2010 Acts Announced

Belsonic in association with Absolut Vodka returns to Belfast's Custom House Square for it's third year this August and with artists like Paul Weller, 2manydjs and Biffy Clyro already confirmed, organisers promise events to be even bigger and better than before.

Annoucements of confirmed acts so far were made last night at Belfast's Stiff Kitten Bar:

August 26
2manydjs (live) and Soulwax (live) + full supporting bill TBC

August 27
Paul Weller and The Courteeners + more TBC

August 28
Biffy Clyro and Lost Prophets + full supporting bill TBC

August 29
David Guetta + full supporting bill TBC

Stay tuned to www.belsonic.com for further announcements.

Campaign for the City of Culture

As you'll hopefully all know, the Derry City of Culture bid is being hand delivered to the judges on May 21.

With that in mind, Derry needs one last big online push to make as much noise as possible on Twitter, Facebook and in the blogosphere.

The idea is that everyone supporting the bid spends ONE HOUR doing anything they can to promote the bid online - ideally around lunchtime tomorrow.

There are plenty of things you can do (and you'll find a good list here) but however you choose to support the bid please:

1. email campaign@cityofculture2103.com to let them know
2. invite anyone and everyone you can to get involved and give 1 HOUR to making this happen.

People have been making a great racket online all week, so let's keep it up

New Music 20x12

The PRS for Music Foundation and partners which include the Arts Council of Northern Ireland launched an exciting new programme on May 18 to place new music centre-stage of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

New Music 20 x 12 invites composers, ensembles, festivals and music organisations from across Northern Ireland to submit ideas to create new music to feature in UK-wide celebrations of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The works will enable audiences to enjoy exceptional music inspired by this once-in-a-lifetime celebration of our culture with the world.

Rosa Solinas, Head of Music, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented:

'New Music 20 x 12 mirrors our commitment to delivering high quality musical experiences to local people as both participants and audiences.

'The programme offers significant prospects for our music sector, offering a unique opportunity to showcase local talent on an international stage and providing a lasting legacy to the Olympic and Paralympic Games here in Northern Ireland.'

Nelson McCausland, Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, and Chair of the NI 2012 Leadership Group said: '20x12 provides a further opportunity for Northern Ireland artists to showcase their excellence on a world stage and once again demonstrates Northern Ireland moving forward. It is a unique experience which allows our best composers to contribute to a local legacy from London 2012.

'The culture sector in Northern Ireland has risen to the challenge and grasped all the opportunities presented to them by the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming to the UK and has situated itself at the centre of the Cultural Olympiad programme. 20 x 12 is an exciting moment for the music sector to continue these ambitious achievements and will contribute to a lasting legacy from the Olympics for Northern Ireland.'

Each of the selected projects will be allocated on average £8,000. A panel of experts, chaired by Roger Wright, Controller BBC Radio 3 and Director, BBC Proms, will be announced later this year and will select the best 20 works following the deadline for applications on October 1, 2010. All selected works will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and some may be considered for inclusion in other official events relating to London 2012. In addition to financial support for the commissions, New Music 20x12 will include networking and professional development opportunities for the selected composers and musicians.

The programme has been created by private patrons, David Cohen and Jillian Barker and it is also supported by committed patrons and funders from across the UK including the Arts Councils in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For more information about New Music 20x12 and how to apply see www.prsformusicfoundation.com

For further information please contact Jane McKee, Media and Communications Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland on Tel: (028) 9038 5246 or E: jmckee@artscouncil-ni.org

Old Vic Seeks Emerging Talent

Kevin Spacey and his colleagues at the Old Vic theatre in London are encouraging the best emerging theatre talent in Britain to apply for their annual 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices project. Playwrights and other theatre practitioners aged between 18-25 have just under one week to successfully get their applications in for what is deemed the ultimate theatrical challenge, not be missed.

As a successful actor you will be able to perform on the same stage as Jeff Goldblum, David Suchet, Kevin Spacey, Rosamund Pike and Jessica Hynes. As a writer you will have your work showcased in the same theatre as David Mamet, Alan Ayckbourn, Bernard Shaw and Maria Goos.

As a director you will work on the same stage as Anna Mackmin, Trevor Nunn, Peter Hall and David Grindley. And as a producer you will work in one of the most iconic theatres in London and have the chance to produce seven brand new plays on the Old Vic stage.

The audience will be made up of agents, producers, staff members of the Old Vic and industry professionals, and winners will play to a packed house of over 1,000 people. 'If you are committed to a career in theatre then this project is for you. I strongly encourage you to apply,' said Spacey, Artistic Director at the Old Vic.

Check out the Old Vic site for more information. All applications should be sent to ovnv24@oldvictheatre.com. Applications close 10:00AM Monday, May 24 2010. Remember to follow all the instructions and when you send you application in you make sure the subject bar of the email has your name and chosen discipline in it.

Ulster Museum Wins Best Permanent Exhibition In UK

The new Ulster Museum has won the top award for the Best Permanent Exhibition in United Kingdom museums.

The award was announced in London at the annual Museums and Heritage Awards against stiff competition from the Natural History Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The judges said they were particularly impressed by the Ulster Museum’s striking interpretative mix. The Ulster Museum was also highly commended for its marketing campaign promoting the relaunch.

Tim Cooke, Director of National Museums Northern Ireland which runs the Ulster Museum said: 'The public reaction to the new Ulster Museum has been very encouraging. You can see the sense of pride among our visitors and the sense of ownership in our community. It is also encouraging to see the wider museum and heritage sector acknowledging the quality of our galleries and exhibitions across history, science and art.

'We set out to provide Northern Ireland with a refurbished museum of national and international quality. I am grateful to all our staff and our partners who helped us achieve this award.'

The museum accepted the award alongside its partners in the redevelopment project, Patton Heritage and Haley Sharpe Design.

Pictured at the prestigious ceremony at London’s Church House, Westminster are Roy Service and Arlene Bell from National Museums Northern Ireland, Simon Calder of The Independent, and John Gilmour from National Museums Northern Ireland.

Pulitzer Prize Poet at the University of Ulster

Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, has been appointed a visiting professor at the University of Ulster.

Paul Muldoon is a professor at Princeton, one of the USA’s top ‘Ivy League’ universities, luminary of a generation of Irish poets whose works are celebrated worldwide and 1999 to 20004, he was professor of poetry at the University of Oxford.

Now the University of Ulster announced that he has agreed to be a visiting professor in the School of English, History and Politics.

Professor Muldoon, speaking from his New Jersey office, said: 'I'm really glad to be establishing an academic connection with the University of Ulster, particularly at a time of such opportunity and optimism. It will be a pleasure to try to help some students make sense of their lives through literature and to try to reconnect critical commentary with a critique of a community.'

Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, says Professor Muldoon’s acceptance of the role adds a new dimension to the University’s stature in creative arts and will expand the student experience at Ulster.

He said: “It’s great to see a willingness on the part of an Armagh man like Muldoon, who has lived in the USA since 1987 and is a professor at Princeton University, to come back and give something to young people on his home patch.”

The poet, who was born near the Moy, Co Armagh in 1951, gained recognition with his first collection New Weather in 1973. Prolific output in a range of writing forms has established him as a distinctive and versatile voice. He has won a string of prestigious awards and is in demand for public readings and lectures on both sides of the Atlantic.

Professor Ó Dochartaigh said: 'Paul Muldoon is among the foremost poets that Ireland has produced in any era and both students and the wider public will benefit from his visits to the University.

'The Faculty of Arts is delighted that Professor Muldoon has accepted this invitation. Creative writing is a strong element in our English courses at Coleraine and seminars by Paul Muldoon, a Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, will tremendously enhance the student experience at Ulster.'

Muldoon has been described by The Times Literary Supplement as 'the most significant English-language poet born since the second World War'.

Everything and the Belfast Sink

To celebrate its milestone 10th anniversary the Belfast Film Festival launched the ‘Belfast Sink’ Awards. Ceramicist Steven Farnan even designed a special award, inspired by the iconic jaw-box sink.

Laurence McKeown, filmmaker, writer and founder of the Belfast Film Festival, kicked off proceedings by presenting a 'Lifetime Achievement' award to the irrepressible filmmaker Haskell Wexler, who was at the festival to attend a screening of his seminal 60’s film ‘Medium Cool’.

Another recipient was Belfast actor Ciarán Hinds who won a 'Belfast Sink' for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to Cinema & Television’. He accepted his award at a special event honouring key moments in his career, and with a screening of ‘The Eclipse’, starring Ciarán as a grieving widower who experiences some ghostly goings on as he volunteers on a Literary Festival in Cobh County Cork.

Best Short Film Award at this year’s Belfast Film Festival was presented to ‘ The Chronoscope’, directed by Andrew Legge. This 20 minute short is in the form of a faux documentary about a beautiful scientist who invents a machine that can see into the past. The film is narrated by Jeremy Irons.

The documentary 'October Country' directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher.

There is still one final award to be announced, ‘The Audience Award’. This award goes to the most popular film or event of the Festival and will be announced after the closing night premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Tetro’, on Friday 30th April.

Space for the Arts on BBC NI

Art Space starts on BBC One Northern Ireland on 28 April with the aim to inspire, involve and enthuse people about the lively, local art scene.

Presented by Joe Lindsay and Donna Legge the six-part series will celebrate all that’s exciting and dynamic about local arts and culture with a mixture of films; studio guests, exclusive music performances and regular features.

'The arts scene in Northern Ireland is so vibrant at the moment that it’s going to be extremely difficult choosing who and what to feature on the show,' says Legge. 'We’re going into this with the intention of shining a spotlight on the incredible talent coming out of the country. There’ll be no chin-stroking pretentious analysis; we’re hoping to celebrate the arts in a very accessible way.'

For the first programme Arts Space interview Belfast-born DJ David Holmes on the eve of the launch of his new Best Of album, take a look at the new arts buildings springing up across Northern Ireland and discuss rise in popularity of Northern Irish crime writers with top crime writer, Lee Child.

Poetry Wins Prizes!

The 2010 National Poetry Competition is now open for entries and this year, like the petrol prices, their prizes have gone up; the first prize is £5,000, the second has increased from £1,000 to £2,000 and third from £500 to £1,000. There are also seven commendation prizes of £100.

This is the Poetry Society’s 33rd National Poetry Competition. It is one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious poetry competitions in the world. Winners include both established and emerging poets and with your entry you could add your name to a roll-call of winners that includes Carol Ann Duffy, Ian Duhig, Philip Gross, and Jo Shapcott.

The winner will also have their work published in the Poetry Society’s leading international journal, Poetry Review.

The judges this year are poets George Szirtes, Deryn Rees-Jones and Sinéad Morrissey.

The deadline is 31 October. Enter online or download an entry form.

Public Urged To Vote For Ulster Museum

The Northern Ireland public has been urged to get behind the Ulster Museum for its chance to win £100,000 in the prestigious Art Fund award. The museum is the only institution in Northern Ireland to reach this stage in the competition and is up against ten other museums from across the UK.

Chairman of the Art Fund in Northern Ireland, Mark Donnelly, said: 'The Art Fund is in place to recognise and reward excellence in museums and galleries across the UK and the Ulster Museum thoroughly deserves to be long-listed in this award. It is a hugely important part of Northern Ireland’s cultural landscape and the redevelopment has entirely revitalised the museum, drawing new and returning visitors to the museum.

'The Ulster Museum should be congratulated for offering its visitors such a diverse and extensive range of events and exhibitions and I would strongly encourage the Northern Ireland public to vote online for this very special museum.'

The Ulster Museum is up against some of the UK’s best known institutions, including the Natural History Museum’s Darwin Centre and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Staff at the museum are encouraging the public to vote online for the museum.

Dr Jim McGreevy, Director of Collections & Interpretation for National Museums Northern Ireland, added: 'We hope that the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have enjoyed their experience of the museum will get involved and help us in our pursuit for this award. It is a most prestigious accolade and to win it would be a huge accomplishment for the Ulster Museum and indeed, for Northern Ireland.'

You can vote for the Ulster Museum by visiting www.artfundprize.org.uk and following the simple instructions. As part of the Art Fund initiative, a ‘Love Your Museum’ weekend will take place on from April 10-11, with special events taking place at the Ulster Museum during that weekend.

New North Street Artwork Mirrors Warhol

For those curious pedestrians wondering why a series of Warhol-inspired soup tin stencil paintings have appeared on Belfast's North Street, CultureNI is here to provide some answers.

Artist Deepa Mann-Kler, one of Northern Ireland's most visionary practitioners, got in touch from her base in Killyleagh to shed some light on the project, entitled The Product, before 'the paintings are vandalised beyond all recognition', an eventuality that Mann-Kler seems entirely unfazed by.

'I completed The Product on March 21, 2010 on North Street, Belfast, on the wooden facade in front of the burnt out Arcade,' Mann-Kler explained. 'The artwork was commissioned as part of the Trans Urban Street Art Festival 2010 through an open call, which was a Belfast City Council initiative. There was a set all inclusive fee of £250. The final art piece is a stencil image replicated 11 times.

'The story of The Product is a play on Warhol's 'Campbell's Soup' with a Northern Irish twist - it picks up on political themes that were vocalised during the recent devolution of policing here, when Gregory Campbell of the DUP repeatedly used the terms that policing would only be devolved when there was 'community confidence' and that the community needed a 'product'.

'Both these terms were and continue to be fairly abstract concepts. Hence this reworking of 'Campbells Condensed Community Confidence'.'

Audience Members Wanted for Superstar Ding Dong

Superstar Ding Dong (yes, you read it correct) is a new family gameshow with singing tribute acts at its heart. The show is being recorded in Belfast’s Blackstaff Studios on March 30 as a one hour special and will be broadcast on TV3, and the production company behind the show are looking for audiences members.

The show mixes game play, showbiz and musical performances from a host of household names. Tribute acts from all over the world have signed up to appear. Singers with physical and vocal resemblances to Madonna, George Michael and Kylie will be given the chance to showcase their talents during the game.

If you would like to be part of the live studio audience for Superstar Ding Dong, email superstar@vipmg.tv or telephone 00353 1864 1444.

Please note: all audience members must be 16 years and over.

Belfast Twestival 2010

On Thursday 25th March, people from every corner of the globe will come together for the fourth annual Twestival. There will be celebrity bowling in New York City, a cupcake and magicians’ party in Edinburgh, and Belfast will host their very own Twestival at Slide on Ann Street.

Organised entirely by volunteers, there will be live music from the Cutaways, Ram's Pocket Radio and Seven Summits, and raffle prizes from QFT Belfast, , Adventure Team Ireland, Black Box, Little Wing Pizzeria, Oodles loves Noodles and Marshmallow Grove. Chess, Connect 4 and Jenga tournaments will also raise crucial funds for the Twestival charity for 2010, Concern.

Concern was chosen as the Twestival charity for 2010 because of their comprehensive approach to education and its dedication to ensuring that 100% of the money raised goes directly into projects, which can have an immediate and profound impact. Capturing the impact that media can have, Concern actively blog and tweet.

Karen Gallagher from Concern Northern Ireland comments:

‘All of us at Concern Worldwide are very excited to be involved with the fourth annual Twestival and would like to thank everyone involved across the world for helping to raise vital funds and awareness for our education programmes. Twestival is such a fantastic example of the difference that can be made when individuals join together to volunteer and take action.’

Although originally set up through twitter and for twitterers, Twestival 2010 is open to anyone and everyone.

Tickets are £5 and can be purchased online at www.belfast.twestival.com.

Belfast Galleries set to open on Sundays

As part of Belfast's ‘Sunday In The City’ programme a selection of city centre art galleries will be opening from 10am – 4pm. Participating galleries are the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s, PS2, Queen Street Studios, Catalyst Arts, Belfast Print Workshop, Golden Thread Gallery, Gerard Dillon Gallery and Belfast Exposed. This initiative follows on from the successful Late Night Art tours, which take place on the first Thursday of each month.

‘Sunday In The City’ has been a hit with music, tours, markets and video gaming. Old favourites and new experiences combine to provide a range of activities and entertainment designed to appeal to all ages and tastes, countering the argument that there is nothing to do on a Sunday.

Councillor William Humphrey, Chairman of Belfast City Council’s Development Committee explains:

‘We’re really keen to keep on adding to and enhancing the visitor experience in Belfast. The ‘Sunday In The City’ programme is really helping to build a critical mass of affordable activities for Belfast people and our ever growing numbers of visitors to enjoy – and it’s energising our city centre like never before.’

Some of the programme’s activities include:

• Rehearsed readings of new plays from some of our finest theatre companies every Sunday in the Ulster Hall for just £1
• Circus acts at the Belfast Circus School
• An Electronic Creche at the newly refurbished Crescent Arts Centre
• Free performances from local musicians at the Oh Yeah Music Centre

This project has been part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland and administered by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

More details on Sunday In The City can be found at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/sunday. Information on Late Night Art can be found at www.belfastgalleries.com.

Chris Agee Shortlisted For Ted Hughes Award

Chris Agee, editor of the Irish Pages, has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for his third collection of poems, Next to Nothing (Salt Publishing, Cambridge, England).

Written as a response to the death of Agee's four year old daughter Miriam Aoife in 2001, Next to Nothing is a powerfully personal piece of writing that has been lauded by critics. John F Deane described the collection as 'masterful' while Thomas McCarthy of the Irish Times called it 'a chronicle of the heroism of lost parenthood, a handbook for the bereaved'.

The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry aims to recognise excellence in poetry and the outstanding contributions made by poets to the cultural life of the United Kingdom. The £5,000 prize has been donated by Carol Ann Duffy, funded from the annual honorarium which the Poet Laureate traditionally receives from HM the Queen.

Agee shares the Ted Hughes short list with poets Andrew Motion, Danny Abse, Paul Farley, Jackie Kay, John Glenday and Alice Oswald. The winner will be announced on March 30, in London.

In addition to Next to Nothing, Agee has written two other books of poetry In the New Hampshire Woods (The Dedalus Press, 1992) and First Light (The Dedalus Press, 2003) and has edited a number of poetry and essay collections.

For further details about Next to Nothing, visit www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/9781844714896.htm.

The Belfast Blitz - A Lecture On The 60th Anniversary

Historian and author Jonathan Bardon, OBE is to give a public lecture at the NI War Memorial on the impact of the Belfast Blitz on the 60th anniversary of the bombing.

As a result of the Luftwaffe bombing of Belfast on the night of Easter Sunday, April 15, 1941 - when 200 Luftwaffe planes targeted the city - nearly 1,000 people were killed. Half of the houses in Belfast were damaged and 100,000 occupants were left homeless.

Outside of the city of London, the Belfast Blitz saw the greatest loss of life in a single night raid during the German bomber campaign.

Jonathon Bardon has written many books on the history of Ireland, but is best known for his critically acclaimed text A History of Ulster.

He has also written numerous radio and television programmes, including A Short History of Ireland in 300 Episodes - an ambitious and far reaching radio documentary series for the BBC, which finished in March 2007.

Bardon, an authority on the subject, will give his lecture at the NI War Memorial (beside Belfast Cathedral) on Thursday April 15 at 8pm. Admission is free. Tickets can be obtained from the NI War Memorial, 21 Talbot Street, Belfast BT1 2LD or by emailing info@niwarmemorial.org.

Griff Rhys Jones is a Playhouse Patron

Griff Rhys Jones has joined fellow actors Gabriel Byrne, Bronagh Gallagher, and writers Jennifer Johnston and Frank McGuinness in pledging his support for the Derry theatre.

The actor and comic first visited the Playhouse in 2004 when he was presenting the BBC Two programme Restoration. With most of the 21 buildings he visited during the programme derelict the organized chaos of the Playhouse Theatre was a welcome change.

Playhouse founder Pauline Ross and general manager Niall McCaughan secured Rhys Jones support in a meeting in London last week. The pair were in London to accept an award for Best Practice in Regeneration from the British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA) and afterwards dropped by to present Rhys Jones with a print of the city. They left with a pledge of his continued support for the Playhouse.

Perhaps we'll see him there soon.

Belfast Film Festival Needs You

Got a passion for film that just can't be quenched? A desire to expose Belfast audiences to some of the best movies and documentaries in the world? A car? The ability and willingness to lift heavy items?

If you can say yes to any or all of the above, then why aren't you volunteering for the 10th Belfast Film Festival? It runs from April 15 - 30 and like any other festival depends on those volunteers willing to give their time and expertise for the cause.

If you're interested go to the 10th Belfast Film Festival website and sign up.

Four Disco Lights: Plaza/Delta Reunion

The Oh Yeah Music Centre will hark back to the 1980s at an event in March when the glory days of Belfast nightclubs The Delta and The New Plaza will be celebrated.

The clubs, in Donegall Street, which originally opened to cater for the city’s gay community, became the favourite haunt of punks, goths, psychobillies and all manner of other disenfranchised and disillusioned youth in mid 1980s Belfast. The members-only nightspots provided a haven in a troubled province with their eclectic music style.

The reunion was the brainchild of Gavin Bloomer, Patricia Prosser and Lyndon Stephens. Bloomer was a nightclub promoter and DJ in the city during the 1980s and 1990s, and Lyndon is still behind the decks.

Bloomer’s recently launched Facebook page 'My Jeans Got Bogging at the Delta and then at the Plaza' has proved to be something of a phenomenon with over 400 members to date. Fans are encouraged to post pictures from the time, as well as their favourite tunes and memories. It has formed an archive of a very special slice of the city’s cultural life.

Now, those who enjoyed the Delta and the Plaza will celebrate some of the old magic with a special one-off night at the Oh Yeah Centre on Saturday, March 27 - organised by Bloomer.

'All you needed for a good night out was a carry-out. Some of the best tunes in the city were played there with everything from punk to pop and northern soul. Sectarianism was left at the door as you lost yourself in a haze of cider and hairspray.'

'What you've also got to remember is that back then this part of Belfast was a no-go area after dark. It was a world away from the Cathedral Quarter we're familiar with now. And it’s fair to say that many prominent figures in the city’s creative community emerged from the scene at the Delta and the Plaza.' says Bloomer.

And here’s what some others had to say about the clubs –

'Chambre shirts, kipper ties, Grolsch bottle tops, great haircuts, poppers, cheap lager, suits from St George's market, Bass Weejuns ... Levi's, black eye liner, a dud bus ticket, Brillcream, Dax Wax ... a sprung dance floor - and the most amazing mix of music you ever heard ... an education without even realising it ...... oh, and it only cost £1.80 in a taxi to get home ...' David Holmes, Music Producer

'The Plaza was an almost subterranean club with an edgy vibe where only the most creative and rebellious fitted in. It was all about music, any kind of music and none of us discriminated against your taste in music never mind got bogged down in politics or religion. And that was both very cool and unusual in 1980s Belfast.' Helen Carson, Journalist, Belfast Telegraph

All proceeds from the night will be donated to Oh Yeah, for new artist development. Gavin said, 'We see that as our generation investing our love of music into today’s young talent'.

Get back to the 1980s with Four Disco Lights, at the Oh Yeah Centre on March 27. Tickets £7, from Ticketmaster here.

Libraries NI Celebrate World Book Day

Libraries NI, the public library service for Northern Ireland, has parents and children to take part in World Book Day 2010, the biggest annual celebration of books and reading in the UK and Ireland, on Thursday, March 4.

A aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading first-hand.

Libraries throughout Northern Ireland will be holding special World Book Day Rhythm & Rhyme sessions as part of the World Book Day celebrations, giving babies and toddlers the opportunity to enjoy stories, songs and rhymes with their parents/carers. Almost 80 libraries throughout Northern Ireland hold free regular Rhythm & Rhyme sessions.

In addition to these, there is an array of other children’s events planned to celebrate World Book Day in local libraries across the country.

For details of these Rhythm & Rhyme sessions and all other free children’s events taking place in Libraries NI, check out the events calendar at www.librariesni.org.uk.

For further information about World Book Day, go to www.worldbookday.com.

Vacuum Up Your Dreams

The Vacuum newspaper is preparing a special issue consisting of dreams of people from Northern Ireland. You can help by submitting your dream and passing the details of the project on to anyone else you think might be interested - friends, colleagues, parents etc. The Vacuum is interested in dreams from all ages, professions and backgrounds.

Record the dreams when they are still fresh in your mind, either by writing them down (preferably in less than a page) or by describing them onto tape.

* All the dreams will be published anonymously
* Dreamers are asked to identify themselves by occupation and age (eg. student, aged 20; fisherman, aged 40 etc.)
* If people or places are mentioned in the dreams it may be helpful to contextualise them, (ie. my friend John; St. Joseph's, where I went to school)
* The idea is to record the dreams just as they happened, but The Vacuum may have to edit them for length and comprehensibility.

To send them your dreams either email them to info@factotum.org.uk or write to:

The Vacuum,
9-11 Lombard Street
Belfast, BT1 1RB

The deadline is 5th March 2010.

http://www.thevacuum.org.uk
http://www.factotum.org.uk

Glasgowbury Scoops Festival Awards

Draperstown's 'small but massive' music festival Glasgowbury picked up four Irish Festival awards at a ceremony last night in Dublin's Sugar Club, doubling it's haul of silverware from last year's event.

Since its foundation in 2000, the festival has continually grown in size and stature, drawing larger crowds each year. But far from being a once a year celebration, Glasgowbury has become synonymous with local music culture as a hub for musicians and artistic thinking people alike to express themselves through workshops, seminars and events.

Festival Organiser Paddy Glasgow said he and his team were over the moon with the Glasgowbury's success.

'Glasgowbury is entering its tenth year this year and it's an honour at this time to be recognised on a national scale for having the Best Small Festival in Ireland as voted for by the festival-goers themselves,' he said.

'When we started back in 2000 we never envisaged that the festival would grow into the mighty ship it is today and it's testament to the ever-growing strength of the music scene in Northern Ireland that we've been able to continue doing what we love to do.'

The Irish Festival Awards were set up in 2007, 'to honour the organisers and people behind the scenes that make every Irish summer such an eclectic celebration of music, art and performance.'

The awards taken home by the Northern Ireland festival were for 'Best Small Festival', 'Best Line-up', 'Best Family Festival' and 'Best Service', meaning the event claimed four out of the five categories nominated.

'Retaining the Best Family and Best Service awards from last lear while also becoming the country's Best Small Festival with the Best Line-up is a massive milestone for the festival to reach', Glasgow said.

'Of course we have to thank the people who voted for Glasgowbury and the thousands of people who have attended and supported the festival over the years without who the awards wouldn't have been a reality.

'With that support we go into the our tenth birthday with our eyes firmly set on the goal of providing another top quality music festival, brimming with memorable moments for people of all ages to enjoy.'

The gong Glasgowbury missed out on this year you ask? 'Best Toilets'. Bummer!

Glasgowbury 2010, the festival's tenth anniversary, has been set for Saturday 24th July and the submissions period for aspiring bands and artists remains open until the end of March - full details can be found at the Glasgowbury website.

Feile An Earraigh City Cemetery Tour

Last year CultureNorthernIreland took a fantastic Belfast City Cemetery tour as part of Féile an Phobail - click here to play our audio tour with former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Tom Hartley MLA.

The popular event is happening again this year, featuring in the Féile an Earraigh lineup on Saturday, February 6. The 130-year-old cemetery tells the story of finance, empire, the rise of northern Unionism and the golden era of industrialisation in Belfast through the graves of its citizenry.

For more details of this and other events as part of Féile's Spring festival Féile an Earraigh, check out www.feilebelfast.com

Frock Around The Clock!

You might remember Frock Around The Clock Fairs from CNI fashionista Tammy Moore's vintage makeover last week. Well, they're back again.

No back-combing of the CNI staff this time though. Instead they are announcing 'Vintage Sundays at the Empire'. A smaller, but no less fabulous, version of the Holiday Inn Event.

Showcasing around 18 exhibitors selling vintage clothing, accessories, jewellery and décor items it will be held at the Empire Music Hall, Botanic Avenue, Belfast.

Dates for 2010 are 7th March, 11th April, 4th July and 1st August. Doors open from 12 - 4.30pm, and entrance costs £2.

Visit www.northernirelandvintage.com for more details.

Indian Culture Celebrated at St George's

Belfast will experience a taste of culture when Holi – The Festival of Colours, one of the most colourful and vibrant festivals in India, is celebrated in St George’s Market on Sunday, February 28 from 1-6pm

‘Holi’ signifies the spirit of brotherhood and unity, and uses colour to symbolise equality. The festival, organised by ArtsEkta, is a family friendly event. Although traditionally an Indian festival, visitors will participate, learn and experience the vibrancy of all cultures living in Belfast.

There will be a plethora of international entertainment on the day, including one of the UK’s most popular Bhangra groups, Gabhru Punjab. There will also be a showcase of local artistic talent, a spectacular world food market, crafts and a mini fun fair. Visitors will also receive a traditional free Indian milk punch called ‘Lassi'.

Nisha Tandon, project manager for ArtsEkta, commented on the festival saying, 'The Holi festival brings all cultures together in a high-spirited event that highlights the value of cultural exchange as a medium to promote communication and harmony. ArtsEkta proudly showcased this event for the first time ever in Northern Ireland last year and was overwhelmed by its popularity. We are looking forward to an even larger and more exciting event this year.'

Rehearsed Readings For A Quid

In today's climate a quid won't take you far, but for just one you can get an exclusive first peek at rehearsed readings, works in development and exciting experiments from some of Northern Ireland's finest Theatre Companies.

Rehearsed Readings for a Quid kicks off this Sunday 31st Jan at 1:00pm with an exciting first glance at Dancing Shoes , The George Best Story, a new play by Marie Jones and Martin Lynch with songs by JJ Gilmour and Pat Gribben.

GBL Productions will present scene excerpts and songs from the play.

For a quid, what more could you ask for?

Rehearsed Readings for a Quid
Group Theatre Space, Ulster Hall, Belfast
31st Jan - Ever Sunday following until Apr 25
Tickets: £1 - available on the door

Facebook Group: Rehearsed Readings for a Quid

Indian SF From NI Writer

Northern Ireland SF writer Ian MacDonald has been collecting prestigious nominations again, this time for his short story collection about a gritty, near-future India, Cyberabad Days.

The collection has been put forward as Best Original Paperback of the Year for the Philip K. Dick Awards. A novella from the collection, 'Vishnu at the Cat Circus' has also been shortlisted for the BSFA Short Fiction award.

Cyberabad Days is a captivating and uncompromising collection of short stories set in the world of Ian McDonald's award winning River of Gods

Good luck, Ian.

Liam And The Lyric

Liam Neeson has fond memories of the Lyric. It's where he got his first big break, after all. And now the big man from Ballymena - who is, rather strangely, set to play Hannibal in the new Hollywood remake of The A Team - has a chance to pay the theatre back by helping raise money for the new state-of-the-art theatre facility.

Hosting a dinner in New York for his famous friends - including Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, Ciaran Hinds and Brian Kennedy, as well as members of the arts community - Neeson urged one and all to support the Lyric raise the final £800,000.

The glitzy partygoers came through with nearly $400,000 towards the costs of the rebuild. Mark Carruthers, chairman of the Lyric, was there too and spoke passionately in support of the fundraising campaign.

Celebrity chef Paul Rankin provided the menu of traditional Irish fare and described the evening as 'a stunning event' on Gerry Kelly's Saturday morning programme on BBC Ulster. The new theatre will cost in excess of £17m.

Belfast Gigs In Aid Of Haiti

A group of musicians, promoters, artists and photographers have quickly organised events to raise money for the victims of the Haitian earthquake, the largest ever recorded in the area. Listen to a podcast with organiser and member of punk outfit Tin Pot Operation, Anto O'Kane, here.

The Stiff Kitten will be joining forces with The Limelight Complex's ‘Belfast 4 Haiti’ event on Sunday January 31, presenting an all-star cast of Northern Ireland's biggest electronic artists to help contribute to disaster relief in Haiti. The artists, ranging from Hollywood soundtrack legend David Holmes to techno superstar Phil Kieran, will be donating all of their services for free, while the venue will donate all proceeds from both the bar and tickets to this extremely worthwhile cause.

‘Belfast 4 Haiti’ at the Stiff Kitten will be an access all areas event from 8pm and will also feature DJ sets from The Japanese Popstars, Alan Simms, Simon McDermott, Col Hamilton (Lush), The Jet Project, Psycatron, Miniminds, Twitch, Space Dimension Controller, Boxcutter, Sketchy DJs, Revolver DJs, Radio K DJs, La Musique DJs (Derry) and General Fiasco DJ Set.

All proceeds from the show goes to the Disaster Emergency Committee and a minimum donation of £5 is asked. Tickets are available from The Stiff Kitten bar.

The Limelight Complex will be hosting their event on the same evening from 3pm to midnight; tickets are available from Katy Dalys priced £10, with a huge lineup of 50 acts to be confirmed. For more details log on to the Belfast 4 Haiti Twitter or Facebook page, and for a direct donation log on to Just Giving.

Doherty To Return

The day before he was due to play Belfast last October, Peter Doherty was forced to cancelled his Irish tour after falling ill at his Wiltshire home. Only last month the Babyshambles front man found himself escaping a jail term, having to pay a £2,050 fine and been given an 18-month driving ban after admitting careless and drink driving.

Clearly, Doherty is not going to shake off his enigmatic profile anytime soon, but beyond the tabloid stories and the controversy, as he has shown through his solo album Grace/Wastelands, Doherty has the potential as an artist to realise the hype garnered by former band The Libertines and Babyshambles.

It's without a doubt then that the singer’s rescheduled return to the Mandela Hall this Friday 22nd January should not be without a surprise or two. Despite a trying few months he still commands an adoring legion of fans always ready to welcome him with open arms.

We are told the ex-Libertine will be playing songs spanning his career but concentrating on his debut solo album, which was released to critical acclaim last March.

There are a limited number of tickets still available for the show priced £18.50. All original tickets for show remain valid.

AU Goes Free

AU editor-in-chief Jonny Tiernan has answered queries from readers regarding the future of the magazine by announcing via their messageboard that from its next issue the music publication will be distributed free throughout Ireland.

Launched in 2003, Belfast-based Alternative Ulster (named after a song by Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers) has seen many changes including a redesign and rebranding to AU in 2007.

Although dominated by coverage of the local music scene, in recent years it's editors have developed more content on other topics such as movies, television, comics, games and the arts. The team at AU will be be hoping the move next month will build a keen fanbase outside of Northern Ireland and in turn, more business.

‘We could have gone through this year in the same way as in the past, but we're looking to achieve growth for 2010, rather than run things at the same level. The idea is that this will increase our circulation across Ireland in the most cost effective and high impact way, and as a result we'll be more attractive to a wider range of national and regional advertisers.’

Tiernan insists changing distribution so the magazine is available gratis in venues such as bars, cafes and clothes shops is best for all concerned, ‘It also means that more people will have access to the mag, more people will get to appreciate the artistic contributions, and hear about what is being featured. Everyone wins.’

Local music fans will be hoping AU sees more success than Dublin-based magazine State, which around this time last year announced that the previously free print would only be available for free from their website. Details to follow from iheartau.com.

I'm Not That Peter Robinson

Crime writer Peter Robinson would like to point out that he's not THAT Peter Robinson. He's not embroiled in a political scandal. His wife isn't unfaithful and she certainly doesn't need a 'good slapping around' as one delightful correspondent suggested. He has visited Northern Ireland in the past, but that was to read at No Alibis bookstore, not visit Stormont.

Eager to pass on their opinions on the First Minister's current difficulties people found the writer Robinson's website instead. The site is named after the main character in an award winning series of novels - www.inspectorbanks.com - but that didn't seem to give the game away.

Perhaps people thought the First Minister was starting a second career as a writer. Or, as the writer Robinson suggests, 'I guess people who send rude and insulting emails or push religion at the vulnerable were not, alas, at the front of the queue when the brains were handed out.'

Either way he'd like to send a simple message to the people sending him the First Minister's emails: Please, cease and desist!

Michael McLaverty Short Story Competition

The 2010 Michael McLaverty Short Story Award is now open and looking for new writing talent. This year's competition will be judged by Northern Irish writer Glenn Patterson and Anne Tannahill, freelance editor and former MD at Blackstaff Press.

John Killen, librarian of the Linen Hall Library, says: “This is a tremendous opportunity for new writers to receive recognition and a little financial encouragement. The competition first ran in 2006 and has become very popular. It is fitting that the Linen Hall Library, which holds an incomparable collection of the published works of Michael McLaverty should continue to be instrumental in encouraging Irish writing talent through this award.”

The prize is £2,000 and the writer’s work will be published by the Linen Hall Library.

Closing date for entries is June 30, 2010.

For more information about entry guidelines please contact the Linen Hall Library on 028 9032 1707, or visit their website.

Lagan Canal Trust Creative Competition

Capture the Lagan Canal in words or images and win a prize. The Lagan Canal Trust are running a Photographic and Creative Writing competition to capture the essence of the Lagan Canal. It's free to enter and the winners will receive cash prizes and publication on the Lagan Canal Trust website.

And if you're capturing the essence of the Lagan this week: wrap up warm!

All the details of the competition and the entry forms are here.

Colm Wins Costa

Colm Tóibín’s novel Brooklyn, a low-key, elegantly told story about Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey in New York, pipped Booker winner Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall at the post to win Costa Novel of the Year yesterday - a long awaited first for Tóibín, whose previous five novels received numerous plaudits from critics and reviewers alike, but never made the leap from short-list to winner.

Tóibín’s story about clever, quiet Eilis, content in small-town life until her sister and the charismatic Father Flood convince her to go to New York, is now up against other Costa catergory winners for the overall prize. A judging panel consisting of Josephine Hart, Marie Helvin, Caroline Quentin, Dervla Kirwan, Gary Kemp and Tom Bradby will announce the final winner on January 26. Brooklyn is the current favourite, with 6-4 odds at William Hill.

The other finalists are A Scattering by Christopher Reid for poetry; a biography of the life of quantum physicist Paul Dirac by Graham Farmelo; the children’s book The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, and Beauty, winner of the first novel award, by Raphael Selbourne.

((CC) Larry D. Moore)

OBE Conductor Calls For Additional Arts Funding

Kenneth Montgomery, the Ulster Orchestra's principal conductor, was recognised for his services to music in the New Year honours list and used the platform to call for additional funding for classical arts in Northern Ireland.

'As one of very few artists in Northern Ireland to be recognised this year, I think it shows the importance of the Ulster Orchestra in cultural life here,' remarked Montgomery. 'And I hope that this recognition will move the Assembly and DCAL to consider extra funding for the orchestra in these dire economic times. Other orchestras in Britain have received additional funds and this award shows the importance of classical music to the people of Northern Ireland.'

An internationally respected conductor, performing in cities throughout Europe, Mexico, America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, Montgomery has never neglected his roots in Northern Ireland. In the 1980s he worked with the Belfast Philharmonic and in 1985 he was artistic director of Opera Northern Ireland. More recently he has been appointed principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra.

David Byers, chief executive of the Ulster Orchestra, said that the OBE 'clearly honours Kenneth Montgomery's international career, particularly in opera, including the initial championing of Opera Northern Ireland.'

When he called Montgomery to congratulate him, however, the conductor preferred to say that the award 'honoured the work of the Ulster Orchestra,’ adding: 'It was an enormous pleasure to hear that I had been given the OBE and I am very much looking forward to receiving the award at Buckingham Palace in due course. But it’s equally important to continue to provide the highest standard of classical music to the people of Northern Ireland.'

Montgomery’s next appearance with the Ulster Orchestra will be for one of its concerts in the Chopin Festival, which opens on January 29 and features the outstanding pianist Nikolai Demidenko.

(photo by Marco Borggreve)

Ulster Museum To Show Masterworks

A new exhibition of some the best Irish art in the world is to be staged at the Ulster Museum in the spring of 2010. It will feature major works by 20th century artists Jack Yeats, Paul Henry, Gerard Dillon, Sir John Lavery and Louis Le Brocquy as well as paintings dating back through the 19th, 18th and 17th centuries.

The exhibition, featuring some 170 paintings from the Museum’s own collection, will also include important British and international art.

Among the highlights will be JMW Turner’s 'Dawn of Christianity (Flight into Egypt)', Sir John Lavery’s celebrated 'Under the Cherry Tree', and Francis Bacon’s 'Head II'.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a major publication providing details and illustrations of 100 of the paintings.

Tim Cooke, director of National Museums Northern Ireland, said: 'We were delighted to headline the museum’s reopening with a landmark retrospective exhibition by world famous abstract artist Sean Scully. This exhibition, which runs until mid-February, has established Belfast as a leading venue for outstanding international art exhibitions.

'We are now preparing an inspirational selection of work from the Ulster Museum’s Irish and International art collection to be launching in the spring. It will showcase world-class art to visitors from home and abroad.'

Kim Mawhinney, head of art for National Museums Northern Ireland, said: 'The Sean Scully exhibition, which ends on the 14th February, has achieved widespread international acclaim and showcases Scully’s work from his early beginnings in the 1970s through to present day.

'It is fabulous to have such a major exhibition in Belfast – and all free of charge. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it yet to take the opportunity over the next few weeks. Details of guided tours are available on our website www.nmni.com.'

Over 140,000 people have visited the Ulster Museum since its reopening on October 22, 2009. Admission to the Ulster Museum is free.

An Arts Journalist in Muck

So farewell Dr Peter Geoghegan, CNI's esteemed content developer who is leaving for Scottish shores and the editorship of a new political magazine.

For the last 12 months Peter has braved the wilds of NI culture, interviewing the likes of Damian Gorman, Horslips, Miss Ireland pole-dancing champion Joanna Robinson, and the Orange Order. In the call of duty, he's had a go at stand-up comedy, been tempted by a job offer in LA from internet mogul Josh Harris, and endured many a dire electro gig.

Here he is pictured at the Glasgowbury Festival, with all the vital tools of the festival reviewer's trade - flowery Tesco's tent, can of cheap lager and LIDL bag. As the saying goes, happy as an arts journalist in muck...

All at CNI wish Peter the best of luck for the future.

Christmas Has Done Nothing Wrong

Tired of 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree'? Had your fill of Wizard, Cliff Richard and Band Aid? Well when it comes to riling against the tired old Christmas tunes, Belfast-born composer Jules Maxwell is one step ahead of you.

Featuring the vocals of Frances Thorburn, 'Christmas Has Done Nothing Wrong' is his lamentation on the fact that we have to endure the same songs endlessly at Christmas every year.

Maxwell himself has enjoyed anything but a traditional career path. The composer studied politics at Queen's in Belfast but while at university he hooked up with the drama soc and began producing music for their productions. He was a founding member of the influential Tinderbox theatre company, and between 1988 and 2002 composed music for 15 of their plays.

But Maxwell's big break came in 1997 when he made the soundtrack for Tim Loane's oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. Now living in London, Maxwell continues to produce soundtracks and also plays piano for numerous leading lights including Brian Houston and Iain Archer.

'Christmas Has Done Nothing Wrong' is Maxwell's own creation, and who knows maybe we will all be singing it in years to come.

Altogether now...

Spare me, Mr. DJ, from those endless, godforsaken Christmas songs.
I've had my fill of Jona Lewie, Paul McCartney, Elton John... and most of all Slade.
It's not that they're bad songs - please don't get me wrong,
but hearing them over and over again can only end up driving me mad at Christmas,
when Christmas has done nothing wrong.
I don't want to be mad at Christmas when Christmas has done nothing wrong.

Every year at Christmas I'm tormented with all this ringing in my ears.
I'm getting sick and tired of Wizard and Cliff Richard, Mariah Carey and Chris Rea
...but most of all Slade.
Don't think that I'm a killjoy. Please don't get me wrong.
It's just hearing them over and over again can only end up driving me mad at Christmas,
when Christmas has done nothing wrong.
I don't want to be mad at Christmas when Christmas has done nothing wrong.

Oppenheimer Release Statement Ahead Of Final Gig

On December 19th at 11pm, Rocky and Shaun plan to take to the stage together as Oppenheimer for the last time. There will be a farewell EP, a digital release at the start of 2010. A snapshot of where we had arrived at this point, as we have recently been working on new material.

Further ideas that have been worked on will accompany Rocky on his journey to a new band, which in some ways has already started, as the songs and plot lines are already underway, as anyone who has witnessed Oppenheimer recently can no doubt testify.

The reasons for this announcement are multiple yet highly intertwined. Ultimately, to be in any band you allow the band to consume you, becoming every particle of your existence, every aspect of your being, every thought that wakes you up early and every task that keeps you up late at night.

The reward for such dedication and commitment, not to mention the hardship that goes hand in hand with making music for a living is the unrivalled joy and honour that fills your mind, body and soul by getting to do all the things that you can.

The moment this joy falters, rocks or is jolted out of existence, the struggle is of no consequence or purpose. After five years together, recording and releasing two albums, playing hundreds of shows and touring with some of the greatest bands in the world, the level of commitment, passion and drive that one of us can give to the band has changed.

It's an understandable occurrence and one that we're both delighted to address at this time. Shaun has realized that in order to fulfill his hopes and dreams he needs to take a new and different path in his life. Rocky's ideas, dreams and notions for writing, recording and touring are more alive and vibrant than ever. Due to these changing circumstances, we have decided to part ways.

We have no idea if we will ever work together again, recording movie soundtracks, making ambient albums or even making indie pop songs. Who knows what tomorrow holds? For now, Oppenheimer have no plans to write, record or play together again after December 19th 2009.

Our thanks and respect for every single person in the world who has done anything to help us is overwhelming, it always has been, it always will be.

Rocky O'Reilly & Shaun Robinson

Queen's Recognise Naomi Campbell's Talents

Singer, pianist and visual artist Naomi Campbell is one performer who believes in sharing her talents. As a composer and singer with Toccata, Campbell has been helping young people across Northern Ireland, India and Africa and, on Friday December 11, her achievements will be recognised by Queen's University in Belfast.

Campbell, 25, is set to graduate with a MA in composition from Queen’s school of music and sonic arts. The young performer is both composer in residence and a soprano singer with Toccata - a group of the UK’s brightest young musicians who perform around the world to raise money for street children in India and Africa. Toccata’s next project is to travel to India in March 2010, where Naomi and her colleagues aim to raise over £60,000 during two weeks of performances.

Speaking before her graduation, Campbell said: 'Toccata is a fabulous organisation, bringing together young musicians from around the UK and performers from London’s West End through a common love of music and a vision of how we can use our talents to help others. I am proud to be a part of it.

'As well as my work with Toccata I have also been a musical director and vocal coach for theatre and pantomime productions by the Community Arts Forum, bringing together teenagers from across the religious divide in Northern Ireland through music and drama.

'My latest project involves vocal coaching for Stranmillis Colleges’ annual pantomime where I am privileged to collaborate with talented theatre producer and director Steven Condy and his team. I have been a guest jazz vocalist for Queen’s Big Band for the last three years and do a great deal of musical performance around the UK. I also teach music privately across Northern Ireland.'

Aside from her musical talents, Campbell is also an accomplished artist and has won various awards for her exhibited art work. Speaking about her art she remarked: 'My artwork is inspired by music and explores the relationship between visual art and music. My latest collection Musique Sur Toile (Music on Canvas) has received a lot of interest, and I hope to exhibit the collection locally in 2010.'

Here at CultureNorthernIreland we now talent when we see it - we featured Campbell as a Rising Star way back in June 2008.

To read our interview with Naomi Campbell click here. For more information about her work contact naomicampbellmusic@gmail.com.

Glasgowbury Nominated In Irish Festival Awards

For the second year running, Northern Irish music festival Glasgowbury has been nominated in several categories at the Irish Festival Awards. The 'small but massive' festival which takes place in Draperstown, County Londonderry, last year picked up the Best Service Award and Family Festival Award.

After the sell-out success of Glasgowbury 2009, the festival has been nominated in six categories including Best Small Festival, Best Line-Up, Best Service, Best Toilets, Best Family Festival and Social Responsibility.

In order for the festival to win, festival goers and fans of Glasgowbury must register their vote on the Irish Festival Awards website. Festival organiser Paddy Glasgow said Glasgowbury’s nominations were testament to the success of the acts and the festival goers who make Glasgowbury what it is.

'It’s the second year in a row that we’ve been nominated in the Irish Festival Awards and we’re all very proud that Glasgowbury is being recognised on a national scale. It’s because of the people who have stuck with Glasgowbury over the last ten years that the festival continues to go from strength to strength.

'Winning another award from the Irish Festival Awards would be the icing on the cake of a successful year for Glasgowbury so far. It’s a great achievement to still be here after ten years and the group has diversified in many ways over that time.

With the tenth anniversary of the festival approaching in 2010 plans are already in motion to make it another magical, colourful and fun packed musical extravaganza. For now, we’d really appreciate it if the supporters of Glasgowbury could take the time out to vote for us in the Irish Festival Awards and help us be recognised as one of Ireland’s leading music festivals.'

To vote for Glasgowbury, log on to www.irishfestivalawards.ie and select Glasgowbury from the drop down menus.

Stop Climate Chaos Rally In Bank Square

Environmental activists and music fans will converge on Bank Square in Belfast city centre this Saturday (December 5), for a family-friendly, free outdoor concert and mass action in support of a strong international climate change treaty at UN talks in Copenhagen.

Singer/songwriter Ken Haddock, folk songstress Juliet Turner, violinist/composer Ruby Colley and multi-cultural music collective Beyond Skin will all perform at the event, compered by Radio Ulster DJ Joe Lindsay.

'I’m happy to help bring awareness to this critical situation,' comments Turner. 'It doesn’t matter what background you’re from, what country you’re from, everyone will be affected by climate change if the right decisions are not made at the UN Conference.

'I’m thrilled to be asked to participate in the concert, it’s a great demonstration of Northern Irish people showing the world’s leaders and local government at Stormont that we care about the world we live in. I hope to share a great mix of songs, and with face painters and a Mexican wave, everyone will definitely be entertained.'

The afternoon’s entertainment will culminate in Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long encouraging everyone in the crowd to hold aloft something blue in order to form The Wave, a vast, undulating sea of colour, representing the rising tides caused by climate change, but also the rising tide of support for global action to reduce CO2 emissions.

The event has been organised by Stop Climate Chaos, a coalition of over 20 environmental and development groups who all wish to see Northern Ireland play its full role in combating runaway global climate change.

Joe Lindsay, presenter of the eclectic After Midnight radio show, added: 'We all have to do our bit for our planet and Stop Climate Chaos is going a long way to help us achieve this. I'm very proud to be involved with The Wave project. It’s getting an important message across the best way, with a bit of fun and music – and to be honest I've always wanted to orchestrate a Mexican wave.'

Similar events are taking place in Dublin, Glasgow, London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin. There will also be various rallies, marches and other actions taking place across the world, all putting pressure on governments meeting in Copenhagen.

Frances McCandless of Stop Climate Chaos said: 'Come along and bring your friends. The Wave will be an enjoyable occasion for all — maybe even a welcome break from some Christmas shopping. It will also demonstrate that the people of Northern Ireland are looking for leadership on climate change from politicians in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and around the world.'

Bank Square is behind Tesco and Primark in Belfast city centre. Entertainment starts at 1pm and the event will finish at 3pm. As well as music, there will be face-painters, jugglers and stilt-walkers. Everyone is asked to bring and/or wear something blue.

For more information, please visit www.stopclimatechaosni.org. Stop Climate Chaos would like to thank its sponsors: Belfast City Council; The European Commission; RES; and Translink.

Humanist Ad Campaign Launches In Belfast

Northern Ireland’s first ever humanist advertising campaign launches this week, on a billboard at 74-76 Great Victoria Street, Belfast, featuring a picture of a young girl with the slogan: 'Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself', with background watermarks saying 'Catholic child', 'Protestant child' and Atheist child'.

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is also running the billboards in each of the UK’s other capital cities: London, Cardiff and Edinburgh. This promotion follows on from the atheist bus campaign run throughout Great Britain earlier this year with the controversial slogan 'There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life'.

Brian McClinton, a spokesperson for the Humanist Association of Northern Ireland (Humani), which is an affiliated organisation of the BHA, said: 'Northern Ireland needs this kind of awareness-raising exercise more than anywhere to counter the extreme level of religiosity that has been shown to go hand-in-hand with insularity, xenophobia and bigotry.'

The billboards are being unveiled to coincide with United Nations Universal Children’s Day on November 20, a ‘day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children’.

'Preparation for life in a diverse society is best achieved in inclusive and secular schools, where children from different backgrounds and belief systems learn with, and from, each other rather than in the sectarian system we currently have.

'Moreover, the billboard provides opposition to the near ubiquitous ‘Consider Christ’ ads that are currently covering most of our Translink buses throughout the city,' added McClinton.

At the last census in Northern Ireland a total of 14% or 233,000 people said they had no religion or did not state their religion. This is a largely silent minority whose rights are generally ignored by religious lobby groups and politicians.

By contrast, Humanism claims to support a secular, non-superstitious worldview and campaigns for the equality rights of the non-religious as well as campaigning on other social issues such as plurality, acceptance, tolerance and rationality.

For more information on Humani and the humanist movement, visit http://nireland.humanist.org.uk/.

Sole Purpose To Perform At Scottish Parliament

Derry-based theatre company Sole Purpose Productions have been invited to perform their new play, Don't Say A Word, at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on December 2.

The company were invited to perform by Cathy Peattie, Falkirk East MSP, on behalf of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Men’s Violence against Women and Children. The performance will be the highlight of a tour that includes performances in Ayrshire, Fort William, Glasgow and Dumbarton.

Don’t Say A Word, written and performed by Sole Purpose co-founder Patricia Byrne, is a powerful one-woman play that depicts a situation of domestic violence, from both the male and female perspective. It was first produced by Sole Purpose in February 2004 and was nominated for an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2008.

Byrne has also recently been nominated for an Emma Humphries Memorial Prize. This annual prize is awarded to an individual woman who has, through writing or campaigning, raised awareness of violence towards women and children. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on November 21.

Sole Purpose Productions have made a name for themselves throughout Ireland and beyond over the last 12 years as a company operating at the crossroads of where art and society meet. Recent productions include See No Evil, which portrays the issue of elder abuse, and The Shadowmen by Debbie Caulfield and Rea Curran, a musical theatre piece on climate change.

The current Don't Say A Word tour is supported by Awards for All Scotland, organised to mark the annual 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women campaign, an international campaign that raises awareness of the issue of domestic violence. Individuals, groups and organisations worldwide use the campaign to call for the elimination of all forms of male violence against women and children.

All the performances in the tour, with the exception of the Scottish Parliament, have been booked by Women’s Aid Organisations. The play will be directed by Shauna Kelpie.

Seacht Shocks

Think Skins crossed with a particularly risqué episode of Hollyoaks. Think a campus novel penned by Alan Warner with a cast of characters that owe more to Trainspotting than Trading Places. Throw in a cúpla focail Gaeilge (for the non-Gaeligoirs out there, that’s a few words of Irish) and you’ve pretty much got Seacht, BBC NI’s Irish language soap.

Seacht (pronounced shocked) is set in and around Queen’s and follows a group of inordinately attractive university students as they while away their youth taking drugs, having copious amounts of sex and, er, speaking lots of Irish.

It’s Irish, Jim, but not as we know it.

I’d seen ads for Seacht (apparently now in its second season) but had to wait until Monday night for my first taste of the action when it appeared after the excellent Into the Storm. I was still digesting Brendan Gleeson’s virtuoso turn as Churchill when Seacht’s tumultuous opening salvo hit – a shot of a couple of scrawny teenagers popping pills cuts to a girlfriend stumbling on her SO in bed with her sister the morning after.

I’ll confess I was rapt for the rest of the 25-minute long episode not so much by the quality of the drama but its sheer, undeniable WTF factor. Buckfast in Botanic. Check. An Irish-language call girl agency. Check. A raunchy modelling shoot. Check. On top of that were enough sex scenes (nude free, of course) to satisfy any reader of Nuts and a fair whack of dope smoking and heavy drinking.

My extensive research (aka a quick Google search) suggests Seacht is a joint production between BBC NI and TG4, the Irish language station based in Galway. As a Mexican (proudly born and raised south of the border) I’m well used to TG4’s worthy but dull Irish language programs and dramas, but Seacht is as far removed from Ros na Rún - the station’s stalwart soap offering - as the Holylands is from Connemara.

Whether Seacht, which airs on both BBC NI and TG4, will succeed in making Irish cool in the north remains to be seen. Certainly the depiction of Queen’s as a red brick institution brimming with effusive – not to mention insatiable – Irish speakers is apocryphal. But perhaps that’s the point. While most college students survive on baked beans, carry outs and late nights in the Bot, the cast of Seacht enjoy no end of wild parties, hot sex and Irish patter.

I’d hazard a guess that Seacht isn’t quite what De had in mind for the Irish language, but then again neither was the Good Friday Agreement. As for me, I’ll be watching again, if only to spot the Irish speaking PSNI officers and see how the (excuse the pun) shocking bizarre love triangle turns out.

Peter Geoghegan

Have you seen Seacht? What did you think? Give us your opinions.

A Night of Glitter and Sparkle in the Spiegeltent

It shows just how much of a perennial fan of the Glitter and Sparkle Ball I am that I was prepared to leave the house at 8:45 on a Friday evening.

Thankfully, Kelly White from Miss Ashby did my hair - while muttering darkly through gritted teeth about having to go to a Man Utd match for her husband’s 30th birthday and thereby missing the Glitter and Sparkle festivities - saving me many hours with rollers and hairspray.

Some friends had bravely ventured out an hour earlier than ourselves and arrived at the Spiegeltent just as the doors opened, thereby procuring the all important and much coveted booth from which we could base ourselves for the night.

The Spiegeltent was looking splendid, with a glorious Art Deco, Mucha-esque sign sprawled above the entrance proudly proclaiming that we were entering Le Salon Perdu. The lost room, eh? An invitation to lose one’s inhibitions if ever there was one and in the gaudy liminal space the lay beyond the doorway, the good people of Belfast were doing just that bedecked in sequins, feathers, masquerade masks, tuxedos and taffeta.

We arrived just as the hula hoop performance was coming to a close and it looked very much like you would imagine. DJ78 then took to the decks, spinning a selection of old style tunes evocative of a prohibition-era speakeasy crossed with a 1930s Parisian cafe featuring some of my all time favourites like Louis Armstrong and Nina Simone.

We perused the wine list on our table and seeing the long queues at the bar decided that the thing to do would be to order bottles of prosecco and enter into the swing of things, while our dashing male companions all plumped for pints of Erdinger.

Here we encountered our first problem – prosecco glasses were in very short supply and while we were all given the appropriate flutes to quaff from, those unfortunate enough to be behind us in the queue were offered a motley selection of ordinary wine glasses or plastic pint glasses to go with theirs, which rather detracts from the atmosphere of opulence and decadence at the ball.

Similarly, the requisite heavy glass tankards for the Erdinger were absent, with several gents being served theirs in plastic pint glasses which might be just about ok for sinking cheap lager at a music festival or student night in Laverys, but in the Spiegeltent?

This might make me a snob but stepping into Glitter and Sparkle is like stepping into a party in an Evelyn Waugh novel and, I can assure you, nobody drank of out cheap plastic glasses in those.

Alas, the toilet situation caused a similar problem. Friday night was mostly dry but had it been wet, the limited number of (sigh) portaloos were located at some distance from the Spiegeltent itself.

The toilets themselves were fine, surprisingly clean and well lit, but, given the fact that there was a queue of at least three or four ladies at all times throughout the night, bucketing rain would have made this whole experience horrible in the extreme.

Unfortunately, weather in Belfast in October is not at all reliable so for an event like this more toilets might be an idea for next year and some kind of shelter against the weather for those who have to queue might be rather nice.

Next up were dance troop act, Ponydance. I'm not a huge fan of burlesque for burlesque’s sake. It has a niche, kitsch appeal, granted, but it’s not really everyone’s cup of tea to watch a striptease involving bloomers and nipple pasties. The acclaimed Ponydance, however, impressed muchly with cute retro outfits, synchronised dance moves and a self deprecating humour and sassy attitude that hit the right note.

The sexy, swaggering, sleazy Swingin’ Lovers took to the stage at 10:30pm with a set of drawled swing and jazz numbers as couples and groups of friends got their groove on up on the dance floor, ourselves included.

Named after a Sinatra album and described as ‘the hobo counter-culture of the 1930s, music as it was away from the glitzy world of Hollywood’, the lyrical highlight of the night for me had to be the sordid standard about the man with the big trombone (who liked to bone and the ladies moaned, etc). Pure filth, very funny to try and dance to and brought to mind swinging of another variety altogether.

The night finished with a charleston danced by the event organisers with everyone in attendance was invited to join in - which we did with gusto before pouring into a taxi outside and heading homewards.

All in all a fabulous night at one of Belfast’s most stylish events. See you there next year!

Maeve O'Lynn

Maeve O'Lynn is a regular arts blogger, click here to check out her blog.

Macbeth - Who Is That Bloodied Man?

Last weekend I went for a wander beside the Lagan in between cloud bursts and ended up down at Barrow Square at the docks to watch Macbeth – Who is That Bloodied Man, produced by Polish theatre company, Teatr Biuro Podrózy, as part of the Belfast Festival.

A cold wind blew in off Belfast Lough as the audience assembled and helpful front of house staff dispensed practical white waterproof capes. The rain grew heavier, the sky grew darker, and the stern statue mounted on the facade of St Joseph’s church stared implacably down at us all.

Macbeth has always been one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. It has ambition, manipulation, treachery, deceit, greed and hubris in spades, as well as sly nods to questions of predetermination that have plagued 20th century sci-fi: if the witches had never told Macbeth he was going to be king, would he have remained Duncan’s loyal subject and Banquo’s best friend? Or would his own seething ambition eventually have prevailed anyway, with the witches the excuse he needed to put his fiendish plans in action?

In other words, did the witches have a genuine ability to see into the future, and if so, did Macbeth have the ability to alter what they had seen, or was his fate predetermined? A conundrum that regular viewers of Lost and FlashForward will be intimately familiar with by now.

One of the key issues in any production of Macbeth is the role the witches play. In Teatr Biuro Podrozy's take the witches are styled as veiled women dressed head to toe in black, flowing garments that are unmistakably Islamic. The choice of cultural iconography is a strange one – is Islam being used as a trope for otherness? At first sight this collision of traditional female Islamic dress with the hag figures of Shakespeare’s play seems questionable at best.

There are further war on terror connotations to be found in the language of Macbeth itself: Sadaam Hussein, so-dubbed ‘the butcher of Baghdad’ and Macbeth, the ‘dead butcher’, for example.

Aside from being dressed like Muslim women, what else can be said of Teatr Biuro Podrozy’s witches? At the point when Banquo and Macbeth meet them on the moor they are weaving thread around black posts in a nod to the Norse concept of the fates, in an unmistakeable web-like gesture. Macbeth enters this web and his fate is ensnared. Within hours of first hearing the witches' prophesy that he will be king, Macbeth is contemplating stabbing his sleeping friend, writing to his wife to share the news and literally snatching Duncan’s crown for his own head.

Lady Macbeth is satisfyingly vampish in this production, sidling up to Duncan, before turning the full force and thrust of her physical charms on her husband to persuade him to go through with Duncan’s murder.

Macbeth’s discovery of his wife’s body hanging from a noose is a chilling touch effectively staged, but, alas, the famous ‘out damned spot’ speech does not quite lend itself to the high camp of this production. And, although excellent in every other scene, Wiki Nowikow’s soundtrack of plaintive, melancholic violins jars at this point also - Lady Macbeth is the ultimate villain and while there is some pathos to be found in her eventual undoing, a swelling soundtrack of sad violin music is rather unwarranted.

The design, choreography, set and use of motorbikes, sidecars and stilts all combine to make this al fresco production extremely memorable. Fire is another big visual signifier. The play opens with a witch on stilts, bearing a flaming torch, which she uses to light beacons on the stage; Macbeth’s coronation as king is marked by fireworks; Banquo’s murder is carried out with flaming torches; and the sticky web of fate the witches ensnare Macbeth in is also set alight.

When Macbeth’s castle is finally stormed, his death is signified by him setting himself alight and sitting in his throne, burning to death behind a screen while the ghost (or perhaps the memory?) of Fleance capers around on a bike in front of the besieged castle.

The whole scene is somehow reminiscent of the death of Jan Palach, a student who set himself on fire in Prague in protest at the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, promptly becoming something of a revolutionary hero in Eastern Europe, honoured by having streets named after him in Prague and Varna, not to mention Croatia’s oldest rock club in Rijeka.

Maeve O'Lynn

Maeve O'Lynn is a regular arts blogger, click here to check out her blog.

Calling All Belfast Buskers

Finally Belfast’s buskers have something to really sing about. This year, Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce has teamed up with the Cloth Ear and Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival to present the second annual Belfast Busking Festival.

If you have ever felt the urge to sing on the street (without the aid of a skinful of pints, a Sambuca and the prospect of a trip to Thompson’s) this could be the moment you've been waiting for. From Wednesday 18 through to Friday 20 November at various locations around Belfast city centre buskers will be given the opportunity to pick up a guitar and play for the public.

And for all the wannabe buskers out there the prizes couldn’t be greater. There's a performing slot at the Belfast Nashville Festival, an entry to the Songwriters Convention and a meal for four at the Cloth Ear. Not bad for a few hours spent straining your larynx on the streets.

There are five categories: best busker (individual and group), best young performer (individual and group), and most creative performance. All the winners will be decided by public vote, with the exception of most creative performance which will be decided by a panel of independent judges.

If you think you have what it takes to make it on the music scene why not apply by contacting Michelle Corr at Belfast Chamber of Commerce and Trade on 028 90 242 111 or by email at m.corr@belfastcentre.com. For more information check out www.buskni.com.

All acts are considered and entry fee is just £5. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday 6 November. Good luck!

World First for Derry Play on Climate Change

The Copenhagen conference is only months away, and the issue of anthropogenic global warming - that's manmade climate change to you and me - is once again dominating the news. With so many conflicting facts, figures and arguments about climate change it's often difficult to get the full story, but a groundbreaking new musical theatre production in Derry aimed at young people hopes to do just that.

The Shadowmen by Debbie Caulfield and Réa Curran premieres this week at the newly refurbished Waterside Theatre. Produced by Sole Purpose Productions the play raises questions through theatre, music and movement about our changing planet and our ability to survive and share the planet's resources.

The show also marks a world debut for a unique musical instrument, the mondophone. Created by musician Réa Curran - who regularly performs with Duke Special - the mondophone is essentially a reconstructed piano with all the strings exposed. 'Mondophone means 'the sound of the world' which will be reflected in its big size and big sound. It will be used to create atmosphere in the production,' Curran explains.

The show will be performed by a stellar cast, including Abby Oliveira who is a performance poet with The Poetry Chicks, Jack Quinn who recently appeared in Big Telly's stage production of Spike Milligan's Puckoon and Sean Donegan who has just returned to Derry from training at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

'It's about climate change and the environment,' says producer Patricia Byrne. 'It's about how human beings are going to survive climate change - though with lots of live music to really energise it.'

The show is aimed at young people age 12+, schools, youth groups and the general public. Each performance will be followed by a panel discussion with environmentalists and scientists.

There will be a matinee performance at 1.00pm each day from October 13 to 16 and an evening performance each day at 8.00pm from October 14 to 17. Tickets cost £7 for adults (£5 concs) and £3.50 for children with group discounts available. To book tickets, call the Waterside Theatre box office on 02871 314000 or book online at www.watersidetheatre.com.

Join the One and Only Chesney Hawkes for Rockaoke

Everybody wants to be a rock star. The bright lights, the screaming fans, the full band wigging out... If this sounds like what you've been dreaming of then Rockaoke will be right up your street.

As the name suggests, Rockaoke takes traditional karaoke and turns the volume all the way up to 11. Backed by a professional rock band consisting of session musicians who have played alongside the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Def Leppard you'll have the chance to perform everything from classic rock covers to disco and cheese.

Rockaoke's Belfast premiere was a massive success in 2008, selling out to an enthusiastic crowd and raising over £4,000 for the charity. This year's event, in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society, promises to be even bigger and better, not least because of the addition of two celebrity judges.

Cool FM’s Pete Snodden is to be joined by none other than 90s pop icon Chesney Hawkes, who is taking time out of his recording and touring schedule to lend his support to the evening.

'I am really pleased to be a on the judging panel for Rockaoke and of course to be supporting such a wonderful charity. The Alzheimer’s Society is very close to my heart so I hope we'll make lots of money and have a great time doing so!' says Hawkes.

The event’s third judge will be local girl Rachel Tucker, a finalist in the BBC’s talent show I’d Do Anything. 'I'm really excited to be coming home to join the judging panel for Rockaoke and support the Alzheimer's Society. I know how nerve wracking it can be to sing in front of a big crowd so I'll be rooting for all the aspiring rock stars!' Tucker remarks.

Since they were last in town Rockaoke have had a jam-packed year that included them being chosen as BBC Radio One’s official house band for Chris Moyles’s karaoke tour. Last month they helped Moyles celebrate becoming the longest running BBC Radio One Breakfast Show presenter of all time by playing to a huge crowd in the O2 Arena and performing on stage with various celebrities including Peter Andre and Justin Lee Collins.

If you've ever felt the urge to live the rock 'n' roll dream then get on down to the one and only Rockaoke in Belfast’s Empire Music Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday October 15. Tickets are priced at £12.50 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

They Came, They Saw, They Conkered

It may be frowned upon in schools these days, but the game of conkers is alive and well outside of the playground - thanks, in large part, to adult enthusiasts from all corners of the country.

On Sunday, October 11, Belfast will go bonkers for conkers when the third Annual Conker Championship takes place in the Cathedral Quarter's Cloth Ear bar, at 3pm. The championship will be monitored by judges and adjudicators from the All Ireland Conker Championships, based in Kilkenny.

For all those interested in taking part, conkers will be supplied and there will be games and conker competitions for competitors of all ages. A face painter will also be there on the day.

Below are a list of official championship rules all competitors are expected to abide by. May the force (of gravity) be with you.

1. All conkers and laces are to be supplied by the Cloth Ear Conker Committee.

2. The game will commence with a toss of a coin - the winner of the toss may elect to strike or to receive.

3. A distance of 8"or 20cm of lace must be between knuckle and nut.

4. Each player then takes three alternate strikes at the opponent's conker.

5. Each attempted strike must be clearly aimed at the nut - no deliberate miss hits.

6. The game will be decided once one of the conkers is smashed.

7. A small piece of nut or skin remaining shall be judged out, it must be enough to mount an attack.

8. If both nuts smash at the same time, then the match shall be replayed.

9. Any nut being knocked from the lace but not smashed may be re-threaded and the game continued.

10. A player causing a knotting of the laces (a snag) will be noted, three snags will lead to disqualification.

11. If a game lasts for more than five minutes, then play will halt and the 'five minute rule' will come into effect. Each player will be allowed up to nine further strikes at their opponent's nut, again alternating three strikes each. If neither conker has been smashed at the end of the nine strikes, then the player who strikes the nut the most during this period will be judged the Winner.

12. If a contestant qualifies to the next round they must make themselves aware of the time of the next round. Failure to present themselves after three announcements will result in disqualification.

13. All competitors in the adult competition must be over 17 years on the day. No substitution of players will be allowed as named entrant must complete in every round.

The Cloth Ear is at 33 Waring Street, Belfast, BT1 2DY, telephone 028 9026 2719.

Think You Can Dance? Now's Your Chance

Ever watched Strictly Come Dancing and thought 'I could do that'? The dancing bit, mind, not the Bruce Forsyth gig. Well if you know your tango from your rumba (or even if you don't), then So You Think You Can Dance could be your chance to twist and twirl your way to the top.

So You Think You Can Dance is a new BBC One show aimed at dancers aged 18-35. And don't worry if you've little or no dancing experience, the show is open to amateurs and professionals - it's talent, personality and raw potential that matters.

Nigel Lythgoe will be leading the search for the nation's hottest dancing talent. Known as 'Nasty Nigel' for his acid tongue as resident tough judge on Popstars, Lythgoe says: 'I couldn't have imagined that dance would become a global phenomenon that would ultimately be responsible for this, my very special homecoming. It's good to be home.'

Nasty Nigel will be joined on the panel by award-winning choreographer Arlene Phillips, and together they'll be running the would-be Ginger Rogers' and Fred Astaire's. The prizes up for grabs couldn't be bigger: a chance to appear on the Hollywood finale of So You Think You Can Dance, £100,000 in cash and a massive first step on the road to success.

If you have a passion to perform, hip hop, ballet, Latin, ballroom, exotic, traditional, musical theatre, salsa, pop routines, classical and contemporary styles, or your own creative fusions then head along to one of the regional heats being held across the country. The Belfast audition takes place on October 18.

For more information visit www.bbc.co.uk/soyouthinkyoucandance or call 020 8225 6193.

Derek Mahon - An Ekphrastic Reading

Some of the less literary-minded members of the audience attending the Derek Mahon reading at the first night of this year’s Aspects Irish Literature Festival learned a new word.
Ekphrastic.
Not the latest teenage expression of delight, nor related to a medical complaint, but the graphic, often dramatic description of a work of visual art; in the case at hand, poems written about paintings. From the Greek ek (out) and phrasis (speak), but then you knew that anyway.
Mahon said he used such poems to 'keep the engine ticking over. It’s the easiest thing in the world to write a poem about a picture... although my ekphrastic poems aren't central to what I'm trying to do'.
The petit-grandiose setting of the Council Chamber (dark wood vaulted ceiling, electric candelabras and portrait of the Queen) in Bangor Town Hall was a little incongruous for a poet of Mahon’s modern sensibility, described accurately by interviewer Kenneth Irvine as 'a truly international poet'.
But the audience, studded with well-known literary faces including the poet Harry Clifton, who is appearing with John Boyne on Thursday, didn’t seem to mind.
A bearded Mahon, looking debonair in an open-necked shirt and far younger (at a distance) than his 68 years, talked of how his poetic life began, explaining modestly: 'It wasn't the thing I could do best, it was the only thing I could do.'
Recalling his time as a chorister in St Peter's Church of Ireland on the Antrim Road, he said that to this day he hears his poems in his head as song: ‘I find it hard not to rhyme. It seems to me that rhyme is what it's all about.’
It being the Aspects Festival, the evening had a Bangor theme. Mahon read his version of 'The Blackbird of Belfast Lough’, a scrap of Irish syllabic verse from the 9th century, interpreted and reinterpreted by John Montague, John Hewitt, Seamus Heaney and Ciaran Carson, amongst others.
Ever the oppositionist, Mahon takes issue with the title, pointing out that a monk sitting in a monastery in Bangor could hardly hear a blackbird calling over Belfast Lough. So he calls his poem simply ‘The Bangor Blackbird’.
He also read Moyra Donaldon's delightful poem 'Bangor Girls 1960’s’, spoke of playing snap by the light of a Tilley lamp with Maurice Wilks and family as a child, and highlighted the contribution of Ulster poet James Simmons.
Towards the end he told a story of a pilgrimage to Louis MacNeice's grave in Carrowdore churchyard with 'Seamus, Michael and Davey Hammond' in February or March 1964. MacNeice had only recently died. 'They hadn't actually installed the stone yet. But we knew he was in there...'
David Lewis
Aspects Irish Literature Festival continues until September 27.

Channel 4 Plans Fresh Push In NI

Channel 4 has tasked three commissioners with finding returnable series from Northern Irish independent production companies in a bid to reverse the 'endemic' lack of commissions from the nation.

The broadcaster has singled out comedy, specialist factual and factual entertainment for special attention and incentivised commissioners Shane Allen, Julia Harrington and Alistair Pegg respectively to meet NI indies and encourage developments with scale. All three will remain London-based.

Currently less than £1m of the £115m that C4 spends out of London goes to Northern Irish commissions and there are no returnable series from NI on the channel. Recent NI projects include Bafta-winning film Hunger, which was backed by Northern Ireland Screen and which has just turned a profit.

Channel 4 director of nations and regions Stuart Cosgrove said: 'It’s no secret that we have been frustrated by slow progress in Northern Ireland. We have some promising projects but need more scale and returning shows. To do that we need to build more consistent contact with companies.'

Cosgrove noted that NI indies Green Inc and Double Band produced some of the biggest shows in that country, but remained low-profile in the UK. 'It takes them off the development radar at C4 because they’re so busy,' he said.

Channel 4’s move follows two recent joint ventures between English and Northern Irish indies, with Kudos teaming up with Generator and CTVC partnering Green Inc. Cosgrove said two projects from Channel 4’s £1m Nations Pilot fund were currently in development in Northern Ireland.

Alternative Academy Artist Pledges Profits To Charity

Upcoming artist David McDowell has announced plans to donate part of his latest exhibition profits to Diabetes UK, as he looks forward to debuting at Belfast's annual Alternative Academy from September 24-28.

The 23-year-old Limavady artist, whose entry for the prestigious Alternative Academy was accepted last week says: 'If my latest art work sells at the Academy, I'll donate £100 of the profits to Diabetes UK.'

Jennifer McGivern, national fundraising manager for Diabetes UK Northern Ireland, is thrilled with the news.

'There are currently 62,000 people living with diabetes in Northern Ireland and a further 12,500 who have the condition but do not yet know it,' commented McGivern. 'Diabetes is a life-long, serious condition and we are delighted to have such a high-profile artist offering his support and raising awareness for the charity. The money raised will go towards funding research into diabetes, campaigning for better services and offering support, information and advice to those living with diabetes in Northern Ireland.'

McDowell took a personal interest in the condition when family members were diagnosed 14 years ago. 'My sister and grandmother both have diabetes, so I understand the seriousness of the condition. Hopefully using the Alternative Academy as a platform, I can help raise funds and awareness for the charity.'

The 5-day show providing a stage for both emerging and established artists is expected to attract art enthusiasts from all over Ireland. 'This year's show is predicted to be quite a spectacle and we don't like to disappoint,' remarked Academy director, Mo McDevitt.

McDowell, a University of Ulster Fine Art graduate, sparked controversy on the Irish art scene back in April by initiating the ‘Against the Grain' clique, a group of Irish Realist Artists who countered critics' claims that Realism is obsolete. Currently represented by Canvas Galleries, Belfast, he has just confirmed a string of exhibitions across Belfast, Houston and Madrid over the next few months.

The Alternative Academy ‘09 will be hosted by Studio 23, Derriaghy Ind Estate, Dunmurry, Belfast. The show will open on September 24 at 7:30pm and will run thereafter until September 28. Admission is free. For further information, log on to www.davidmcdowell.co.uk.

Foyle Books Is Second-Hand Heaven

Since the rise of the chain bookstore and supermarket, small second-hand book shops are becoming things of the past, and it’s understandable. Buying the latest bestseller with your milk and cornflakes is now almost commonplace. How can independent book shops compete with a newly opened Waterstones, Tescos or Sainsburys nearby, with their plush cafés and brand new stock supplemented daily via the internet? 'If its not on the shelf, just ask and we can have it in 24 hours.’ (Cue blinding smile from well-trained member of staff).

All this may sound appealing to those of you who can’t bear the thought of reading a book that has been sullied by someone else marking their place with a dog-eared page. The new germophobic culture makes keeping old books seem unsanitary, conjuring up images of snot-covered, withered hands turning the pages; when actually most avid library users are very particular in their care of books.

As a library assistant myself, chain book stores terrify me. In my opinion, supporting the local second-hand book shop or library is the smartest way to read. Why spend money on a brand new book that you may never read again, and leave to lie on your shelves for years feeling sorry for itself, when you can borrow a copy or buy one for a quid in a second-hand bookstore?

Aside from the money issue, what will we bibliophiles do without our fortresses of solitude once all the ‘I must have a new book’ buyers have killed off our second-hand shops for good? They are the perfect place to wile away Saturday afternoons, sifting through the unsorted sale bins, breathing in that wonderful old book smell and forgetting that outside the world is still a big old corporate mess.

Being from Derry, I have my own favourite haunt. Foyle Books is a second-hand and antiquarian bookstore nestled next to the Magazine Street entrance of the beautifully quaint Craft Village. It was established in 1993, just as Derry was back on the rise after years of sectarian conflict and non-investment. Foyleside shopping centre opened in 1995, so Foyle Books had two blissful years without the threat of Easons.

Just recently another well loved independent bookstore in Derry called Bookworm was forced to close after 30 years of business and move on to selling books via the internet. Owner Peter McKenzie was quoted as saying: 'The likes of Amazon and Tesco are able to sell lead titles with discounts of 30-50% - we just can't compete with that. The industry is in chaos. The massive discounting by bigger shops has made it difficult for us to provide a service.'

Possibly the only saving grace for a store like Foyle Books is that its second-hand stock can be sold cheaply without a massive financial hit. But it goes to show that our beloved independent, family run stores are being priced out and killed off with every new chain that opens up. Foyle Books has somehow survived so far in the price war, but for how long we can never be sure.

Growing up in Derry it became something of a haven for me as a teenager with a penchant for the master of macabre, Stephen King. Wet Friday afternoons meant another trip to the Craft Village, knowing that my next terrifying journey into the fictional unknown would cost only £2.

Owner Ken Thatcher would be quietly reading behind the small desk, littered with piles of books, and would only look up once you had cleared your throat a few times or jangled your handful of change. The silence of the shop was not uncomfortable, rather a peace you never wanted to leave. The only sounds were the creak of the floorboards under your feet and the gentle purring of the fat cat I remember lolling beside the electric fire.

Mr Thatcher always seemed to know what his customers would come in for, and your book would invariably be staring you in the face as you walked through the door.

One Saturday afternoon, my best friend Danielle and I were walking to Foyle Books in search of a book on Tarot (we studied drama and wore black, and were convinced we were natural witches). To our surprise the first thing to greet us on the sale table directly in front of the entrance was a Tarot beginners pack, complete with cards. Danielle was of course convinced that this was a sign of her destiny in all things occult, but I knew it was just the magic of the shop. I never made a journey to Foyle Books without leaving with exactly what I went there for in the first place.

My favourite section was right in front of the till, a small bookshelf packed with horror novels, and (best of all) older editions of King, with ominous pictures on their covers and jagged fonts warning potential readers that these books were not for the faint-hearted. They had character. Unlike those shiny new editions lined up neatly in Easons or Waterstones, the second-hand books that I love so much have been read a thousand times over, their spines creased like smile lines on an elderly man's face.

This is the way books should be, a bit tired and rough around the edges but still in pretty good shape. In fact, you could say the same for Foyle Books and other second-hand bookstores like it.

Next time you’re in Derry take a walk to the Craft Village and you can't miss it. The red window frames and door are a beacon to all book-lovers. Once you step inside and smell that musty scent and hear that beautiful silence, the noise and grind of coffee beans in a Waterstones will forever grate. And when you leave, after having bought a book for £1 that you might otherwise have spent £9.99 on, remember that you’re keeping the little guy alive.

For those of you who may have read this blog thinking that there is nothing worse than a bookstore with old books and no frappalatteachino to drink, and nowhere for you to set up your Mac and type your next ‘screenplay’ in front of other ‘writers’, I damn you all to hell. You are Satan's concubine, as Mr King might say.

Mairead Walsh

Oscillations Record Fair Seeks Stallholders

Ever watched High Fidelity and thought to yourself 'I fancy a go at that'? ('That' being running a record store, not starring in a major Hollywood motion picture). Arranging the vinyl alphabetically, sorting the Belle and Sebastian badges from the Minor Threat ones, chatting to fastidious record collectors...sound like your cup of rum laced cocoa?

Well now's your chance to find out if you have what it takes to be the next Geoff Travis (head honcho of Rough Trade dontcha know) - the Oscillations festival are currently looking for stallholders for their Record and Zine Fair in Belfast's Black Box on September 13.

Billed as a celebration of those with dusty fingers and inky palms, the event is all about the little guys, the cottage industries and labours of love that ensure that the production of music, literature and art will always be about more than simply commerce.

The Oscillations record fair will feature stalls from some of the finest homegrown record labels and distros, as well as wax from the extensive collections of numerous vinyl vultures.

And you can be among them - stalls are free of charge and still available. They aren't limited holders to records and zines either: you bring your cds, tapes, dvds, tshirts, badges and any other kinds of music paraphernalia....even those old ticket stubs and dodgy leather jackets.

Anyone who wants to get involved should email mark@oscillationsfestival.com

The Belfast Mela In All Its Colourful Glory

It might have been something of a washout this year - with heavy rain making it a Sunday to forget for most of Northern Ireland - but that didn't stop the organisers of the 2009 Belfast Mela from putting on one of the most colourful Melas of recent years in Belfast's Botanic Gardens.

Featuring a fashion show, ethnic music, food stalls, performances and more, the Belfast Mela is a welcome addition to the round of festivals and events that keep Belfast buzzing throughout the summer. Check out our Belfast Mela picture blog below.

Were you at the Mela? Tell us what you thought of this year's event in our comments section below.

The National Poetry Competition Needs NI Entries

The Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition has launched an appeal for more entries from Northern Ireland, as poems submitted from NI have been strangely scarce this year.

With a £5,000 top prize, the competition offers one of the UK's largest sums for a single poem. Prizes of £1,000 and £500 are awarded for second and third place, with ten commended poems receiving £50 apiece.

In addition to prize money the winner's poems are published in The Poetry Review and read at the Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2010. This year's judges are Ruth Padel, Daljit Nagra and Neil Rollinson.

The lack of entries is made all the stranger by the fact that Northern Ireland has been well represented amongst the winners – Medbh McGuckian in 1979, Colette Bryce in 2003 and Sinead Morrissey in 2007.

'My life was completely changed by the award,' said McGuckian. 'I became a professional writer and have been able to earn a living from poetry and teaching poetry ever since. It was the most wonderful thing to happen in my life, apart from my children and meeting Gregory Peck.'

Bryce is similarly enthusiastic. 'When the news was relayed to me on the phone I think I blushed. To win seemed such a public thing to do. In such a solitary line of work, to have a poem singled out for praise in this way is hugely affirming.'

Click here to download the National Poetry Competition entry form, or here to visit the Poetry Society's website. The deadline for entries is October 31, 2009.

City Hall Café Named The Bobbin

The new coffee shop in the refurbished Belfast City Hall will be called The Bobbin. More than 1400 people voted in an online poll to name the new coffee shop, which will open when the City Hall itself re-opens at the beginning of October.

The Bobbin topped the poll with almost half the votes cast via the Belfast City Council website. White Linen proved the second most popular choice, with almost 460 votes, followed by The Foundry and then The Blackstaff.

The new name was inspired by the city’s history as a centre of the linen industry, which was the first in Belfast to become mechanised during the industrial revolution in the 1820s.

The bobbin - a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which yarn or thread is wound - was a lowly but essential part of the linen industry. The were produced in their tens of thousands, and used in all looms, powered and un-powered. Bobbins were also used on a larger scale in other industries like the Ropeworks, another of Belfast`s world beaters.

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Naomi Long, welcomed linking the title of the new coffee shop to the city’s proud industrial heritage.

'It is important that we recognise the contribution of ordinary working men and women who helped shape Belfast into the city that it is today,' commented Long.

'Thanks to the hard work and creativity of her citizens, Belfast was recognised on a world stage for its industrial innovation. Now, centuries later, another chapter in history is being made, built on those same strengths - and this vote was a great opportunity to let people have their say in the naming of what undoubtedly will become an important attraction for both local people and visitors alike.'

Belfast City Hall has been closed since October 2007 for major refurbishment. The £11m renovation project included re-roofing, asbestos removal, drainage improvements, the installation of computer/ network systems and the replacement of heating, mechanical and electrical systems.

A full programme of activities for all the family to celebrate the City Hall re-opening is being planned for mid October. The packed line-up of events will run from Saturday, October 17 through until the end of the month.

Did you vote for the naming of the cafe? If so, are you happy with the outcome, or unhappy? And have City Hall missed a trick - are there more appropriate names out there, in your opinion?

Ash Offer Free Download

County Down indie-rock heroes Ash are experimenting with a new way to release music, beginning with a free download of the single 'Return of the White Rabbit'.

Since the release of album Twilight of the Innocents in 2007 the trio, made up of Tim Wheeler, Rick McMurray and Mark Hamilton, have decided not to work with the established CD/album format.

Beginning in September 2009, the band plan to release single songs every fortnight in an A-Z series of digital downloads and collectible 7" records. They plan 26 songs in total (one for each letter of the alphabet).

Each song, produced and released on the band's own Atomic Heart Records, is available by subscribing over at Ash's official website.

The series is preceded by a song entitled 'Return of the White Rabbit,' which you can download for free by clicking the box below.

The song, written by bass guitarist Mark Hamiton, has pleased fans with its groovy, bass-heavy sound.

In order to generate support for their independence, Ash encourage fans to copy and re-post the download widget to as many websites and blogs as possible.

Three Irish Authors On The Man Booker Longlist

The longlist for the 2009 Man Booker Prize was announced this week, with three Irish writers in the running for potential inclusion in the final shortlist, to be announced on September 8.

A total of 132 books (11 of which were called in by the judges) were considered for the Man Booker Dozen longlist of 13 books.

Irish prose heavyweight Colm Toibin caught the attention of the five-strong Booker Prize judging panel with his blockbuster novel Brooklyn, whilst first-time novelist Ed O'Loughlin and seasoned practitioner William Trevor see their novels Not Untrue & Not Unkind and Love and Summer respectively, also included.

Aside from the Irish writers chosen, other inclusions of note are authors AS Byatt, JM Coetzee and Sarah Waters, to name but a few.

Chaired by broadcaster and author James Naughtie, the 2009 judges are Lucasta Miller, biographer and critic; Michael Prodger, literary editor of The Sunday Telegraph; Professor John Mullan, academic, journalist and broadcaster; and Sue Perkins, comedian, journalist and broadcaster.

'The five Man Booker judges have settled on 13 novels as the longlist for this year's prize,' commented Naughtie. 'We believe it to be one of the strongest lists in recent memory, with two former winners, four past-shortlisted writers, three first-time novelists and a span of styles and themes that make this an outstandingly rich fictional mix.'

Check out the full list below, and let us know if the Booker judges were wrong not to choose your favourite novel of the past year, and what you think of those you may have read on the longlist itself...

The Children's Book, AS Byatt (Chatto and Windus)
Summertime, JM Coetzee (Harvill Secker)
The Quickening Maze, Adam Foulds (Jonathan Cape)
How to paint a dead man, Sarah Hall (Faber)
The Wilderness, Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape)
Me Cheeta, James Lever (Fourth Estate)
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate)
The Glass Room, Simon Mawer (Little, Brown)
Not Untrue & Not Unkind, Ed O'Loughlin (Penguin - Ireland)
Heliopolis, James Scudamore (Harvill Secker)
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin (Viking)
Love and Summer, William Trevor (Viking)
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters (Virago)

Belfast To Compete In Europe With 'Culture Night'

Belfast is set to join the ranks of other great European cities when it shows off its cultured side in a unique event taking place this coming September.

Inspired by the success of annual events held in capitals such as Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Dublin, Belfast’s very own Culture Night ’09 will see venues, artists’ studios, galleries, historic buildings, cultural organisations, churches and more in the Cathedral Quarter throw open their doors for what promises to be a magical night time experience.

The first Culture Night will take place on September 25, 2009 and will totally transform the Cathedral Quarter as public areas and streets are turned into performance spaces. Free performances, events, talks and tours will be taking place throughout the evening.

Organisers believe that the success of the inaugural event will lead to the future citywide expansion of Belfast Culture Night. Culture Night manager Kresanna Aigner also explained the choice of location for the first Culture Night:

'The Cathedral Quarter has a very strong international reputation and is widely perceived to be the creative and cultural hub of the city, so it’s the ideal location to host the first ever Culture Night. This unique night will open up the city’s cultural life on an unprecedented scale and offers tourists and locals alike a fantastic and free opportunity to experience all it has to offer.'

Among the many organisations already taking part in Belfast Culture Night ’09 are St Anne’s Cathedral, New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, Belfast Film Festival, The Black Box, Oh Yeah Music Centre and Belfast Circus School.

The final line-up for Belfast Culture Night ’09 will be revealed at the programme launch on September 3 (time and venue to be confirmed).

Have you been to other Culture Nights throughout Europe? Are there any highlights that stayed in the memory?

From A List Of 100 Books, How Many Have You Read?

From a list of 100 books chosen by the public in a recent poll organised by the BBC, the public broadcasting corporation have suggested that the average reader will only have read a measly six.

The list is not without its faults. For example, it includes The Complete Works of Shakespeare alongside Hamlet separately.

Of the 100 books polled, this particular web editor has read 29. See the full list below, and let us know how many you've read and whether or not you agree with Auntie Beeb's findings...

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – X
6 The Bible - X (though I may have skimmed the begats)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X+
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (started but didn't finish)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - hahahaha! About 5 or 6 of them
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X+
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - X+
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll – X+
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis – X+
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini – X
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne – X+
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X+
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood -X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X+
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding -
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville -
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X+
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - (I tried, oh how I tried!)
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - (I tried this one in French but didn't finish)
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - X (I think so)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

The Specials To Play St George's Market

Ska legends The Specials have confirmed that they are to play St George's Market in Belfast this coming Autumn, ensuring that Belfast will be anything but a ghost town as the winter weather moves in.

Having recently reformed to play a Britain-wide series of concerts, the group have announced two Irish dates, including St George's Market on November 16 and the Olympia in Dublin on November 15.

Led by singer Terry Hall, and writers of such classic ska numbers as 'Gangsters, 'Too Much Too Young' and, of course, the royalty-spinning 'Ghost Town', the 2 Tone icons are sure to get St George's jumping with their unique take on the ska sound.

Tickets go on sale Friday, July 17 at 9am. Tickets to the Olympia gig in Dublin cost €49.20 including booking fee and €54.80 including booking fee, and tickets for the St George's Market gig cost £35.50 including booking fee. Tickets are available from 100 Ticketmaster outlets nationwide, by calling (ROI) 0818 719 300; (NI) Tel: 0870 243 4455, or online at www.ticketmaster.ie.

Artists' Sweatshop Seeks Factory Workers

Charlotte Andrew, managing director and head of recruiting of Art Conveyed Ltd, writes:

'Dear ladies and gentlemen,

I am doing a project in Belfast from August 22-29 at the S.H.A.C. which is on Writers Square opposite St Anne's Cathedral. It is part of Capitalyst Arts and will run in conjunction with the Catalyst Gallery.

'I plan to turn the little disabled flat into a sweat shop with a bunch of sweaty artists working as if on a conveyer belt, each making their own mark on the paper which moves down the line and so on, producing at the end of the line a multiple original art work. You will of course be paid for your labours, in line with the basic sweat shop pay scheme, which after tax, national insurance, pension and devaluation is 2p per day, 1p for half a day. Hours will be 1000-1500 with I hour for lunch. Split shifts available. A rota will be set up, please clock in and out on arrival.

'The work which is now owned by the company will be put up for sale. Seconds will be sold in the factory shop outlet at a reduced price. The best work will be packaged and exported to the Catalyst Gallery.

'Profits from sales will go to the Managing director (me) and probably be spent on expenses such as large lunches with the board (you).

'Applications for factory workers will be assessed on grounds of equal opportunity disregarding race, colour, religion and sex. All applications to charlotteandrew@mac.com, please mark the form S.H.A.C.'

Children Urged To Text Their Concerns To NICCY

Local rock heroes The Answer helped to launch a campaign encouraging young people to show and tell the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY), Patricia Lewsley, about what is good and bad about things to do in their area.

At an exclusive under-18 gig at the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, local acts Shotgun, Dead Vito and Escape Fails performed for the young crowd while The Answer, fresh from touring with rock royalty AC/DC, made an impromptu guest appearance.

The ‘Here we are… Nowhere’ campaign is part of NICCY’s ‘Play, Leisure and Things to do’ priority and includes a photo and video clip competition where the two best entries can win an 8GB iPod Touch.

'Over the last three years children and young people told me that play, leisure and things to do should be one of my top priorities,' admits Lewsley. '’Here we are… Nowhere’ gives young people the opportunity to show me what is good and bad about leisure activities where they live and why areas are safe or unsafe to spend time in.

'I want to know what it is that stops them from having fun, whether lack of amenities, broken equipment, or facilities that aren’t appropriate. One of the issues young people have raised with me is that they cannot see live music as many venues are strictly over 18. This gig is giving them the opportunity to do just that in a safe environment.

'I am asking young people to use their mobile phone, camcorder or camera to take pictures of activities they do, where they live. The images will then appear on www.niccy.org and be presented to government officials later this year.

'The information gathered over the next three months will help influence government’s play and leisure strategy and ultimately improve play and leisure for children and young people across Northern Ireland.'

To be a part of the 'Here We Are... Nowhere' campaign, email your images and video clips along with your name, age, address and contact number to herewearenowhere@niccy.org or upload them to www.niccy.org/herewearenowhere. The competition, and this part of the campaign, closes on September 30, 2009.

Belfast To Host Final Of Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge

This summer, Belfast has been chosen to be the finish port for the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge, an international event that links Europe, the Caribbean, North America and Canada.

The Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge is a spectacular odyssey around the North Atlantic Ocean of more than 7,000 nautical miles following the traditional route taken by sailing ships of a by-gone age.

The fleet will gather in Vigo on the northwest corner of Spain (April 30) and race across the Atlantic, stopping at various points along the way, before finishing in Belfast itself.

The finishing event will be staged between August 13-16, when the port of Belfast will play host to a magnificent grand finale of celebrations as the final port on the challenge roster.

Belfast will welcome crew from far and wide, as well as thousands of visitors and residents to see the ships transform the famous quaysides and provide the backdrop to four days of festivities. The Festival will take place around the port on both sides of the River Lagan – at the Odyssey and from Customs House Square right down through Clarendon Dock to Ballast Quay, York Dock and Pollock Dock.

Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge has also received a message of support from astronauts on board the International Space Station to the crews taking part. Commander Gennady Padalka and Michael Barratt recorded a special message for the crews, sending their greetings and congratulations.

For visitors to the finale celebrations there will be plenty of activities to enjoy along the quayside, with music, street theatre, a fireworks display and a variety of magical performances for the whole family to enjoy.

Ulysses Visits Derry City

The University of Ulster has teamed up with two schools in the north west to bring a ground-breaking summer musical production to the stage next week. Ulysses - A Musical Odyssey marks the launch of the Walled City Performing Arts Foundation, a major new charity for young people in the region.

The project represents a collaboration between the University’s school of creative arts based at Magee campus and two school’s with special arts status - St Cecilia’s College, Derry and St Columba’s Comprehensive School, Glenties, County Donegal.

Since last autumn, pupils from St Cecilia’s and St Columba’s have been involved in an extensive music outreach project with staff from the University of Ulster’s music department and members of the University Choir.

Ulysses - A Musical Odyssey was written by the university’s lecturer in composition, Dr Laurence Roman, and is a snappy rethink of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. The production is conducted by Dr Shaun Ryan, lecturer in music at Magee, with tenor John Porter in the title role, supported by a cast of 65 - the Walled City Theatre Company.

'I’ve taken a classic tale and given it a modern make-over,' commented Roman. 'There’s plenty of fast action and a new score which I hope will capture the audience’s imagination and get their feet tapping. After a year of fundraising, planning and a tremendous amount of effort by the cast and production team, Ulysses is finally ready to hit the stage.'

The first performances take place in Thornhill College, Derry on June 29-30, followed by St Columba’s School, Glenties, on Thursday, July 2-3. The production will also travel to St John’s Church, Waterloo, on London’s South Bank, for four performances between July 23-25. All performances begin at 8pm.

On June 30 at 4pm, Roman will discuss his approach to his award-winning treatment of Homer's classic tale in a talk at The Great Hall, Magee. This event is free to the public.

Are you a part of the production? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

Take A Living Tour Belfast Past and Present

Living Tours Belfast is a cross between a walking tour and a piece of promenade theatre, where the audience get to meet the famous and not-so-famous residents of Belfast, past and present, as they see the city.

The tour takes a route from Belfast Welcome Centre into the grounds of the city hall, down Arthur Street into Victoria Square, and to the Albert Clock. From there tourists walk through the Cathedral Quarter, stopping in front of St Anne’s cathedral and the Merchant Hotel before finishing with a drink at the Spaniard bar.

Audience members will encounter Arthur Chichester, girls from the White Linen Hall mill which once stood where the City Hall now is, shipbuilders working on the Titanic and Olympic, CS Lewis and his wife Joy Gresham, George Best being interviewed in 1974, and finally two modern residents of Belfast discussing the fact that Belfast placed high in the top five UK City Breaks in The Guardian/Observer Travel Awards.

Living Tours Belfast is a new enterprise established by Janice Kernoghan, a local actor and theatre practitioner who recently graduated from Queen’s with a Master’s Degree in drama and performance studies. The company takes the form of a social enterprise, with the cast made up of both professional actors who gain exposure and experience of site specific theatre, and Queen’s drama students who can gain accreditation on the Degree Plus programme at QUB by taking part.

The tour is supported by Queen’s Enterprise SU and UnLtd Millennium Awards Scheme. Tickets cost £9 or £6 concessions. The launch tour takes place on Sunday, June 28, departing Belfast Welcome Centre, 47 Donegall Place at 11.15am. Contact the Belfast Welcome Centre on 028 9024 6609.

Victoria Square Architects Triumph At RIAI Awards

A Belfast-based design practice has triumphed with Victoria Square at the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland Irish Architecture Awards. BDP won the award in the best retail development category for Victoria Square, on which its architects and designers worked for nearly a decade. The awards were hosted by RTE broadcaster, Ryan Tubridy.

Receiving the award, BDP architect director Stephen Gallagher commented: 'We are truly delighted to win such a prestigious award, and it is an honour to receive recognition from the RIAI, particularly in these challenging times.'

Victoria Square was the only Northern Ireland project to win at this year’s awards, and BDP the only Northern Ireland architecture practice to receive an award. Having developed the concept along with client Multi Development UK Ltd and T+T Design, BDP also provided engineering, planning, landscape architecture and interior design services for the scheme.

One of the most important regeneration projects in Belfast in recent times, Victoria Square includes nearly 63,000m2 of retail floorspace over three floors, anchored by a flagship House of Fraser store, and including a multi-screen cinema, food court and restaurant terrace, 106 apartments and a two-level basement car park for 1000 cars.

The RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2009 were open to projects designed by RIAI members that were completed in 2008. The Irish Architecture Awards Exhibition will run at the Cow Shed Theatre in Dublin until Friday, August 28 2009.

Belfast Poet to Spend Hour on Gormley's Plinth

Paul Hutchinson is spending a few days in London. Hardly news you'll say, but while he's there the Belfast-based poet, film maker, photographer and all round good egg will be spending an hour in a most unusual place – perched on top of a plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Hutchinson is taking part in an event called One & Other. It is sculptor Antony Gormley's winning submission in the long-running scheme that allows artists to fill the plinth for a limited period. Every hour for 100 days a new person will climb onto the vertiginous plinth and do what ever they want – within the bounds of the law of course.

'I heard about it in the Guardian newspaper,' Hutchinson explains. The artist was one of over 100 people in Northern Ireland who applied for a spot on the famous plinth, which has remained vacant since the 1880s and, more recently, been home to pieces including Marc Quinn's controversial statue 'Alison Lapper Pregnant'.

'I'd like to say I was chosen because I'm super artistic,' Hutchinson says of the selection process, 'but the truth is it was completely random. I was one of the lucky names pulled out of the hat.'

Hutchinson plans to use his 60 minutes on the plinth wisely. Under the title 'Standing For Peace (Despite the Fear of Failing)' the artist, who suffers from vertigo, will display pieces of stone from north, south, east and west Belfast.

'A lot of the figures in Trafalgar Square are from military history so I wanted to make a statement about peace and reconciliation,' Hutchinson explains.

Anyone passing through central London on Wednesday July 22 between 7 and 8 should pop along to see Hutchinson making his stand. The event is also being continuously streamed live on Sky Arts. But what about you? Would you fancy spending an hour on Gormley's plinth?

Peter Geoghegan

Name A Seat At The New Lyric Theatre

Building work is well underway on the Lyric's new state-of-the-art theatre, scheduled to open in spring 2011, but there's still a final £1million to raise during the construction period to pay for fit-out and equipment.

Lyric actor and Hollywood heavyweight, Ciarán Hinds, who is currently filming the next two Harry Potter movies The Deathly Hallows Parts I and II, has added his support to the Lyric's fundraising campaign by fronting the 'Name a Seat' initiative and dedicating a seat to his parents in the process.

There's also a seat dedicated to Hinds himself, thanks to members of the official Ciarán Hinds fan site, who wanted to honour their favourite actor.

Supporting the Lyric's campaign, Hinds commented: 'Over the past forty years, the Lyric Theatre has offered the people of Northern Ireland a continually high standard of professional theatre, from Classic European drama to new Irish writing.

'The Lyric needs to be a vital force in the regeneration of the province, stimulating, educating and provoking debate. I sincerely hope it receives the support - both financial and moral - that it richly deserves.'

Over 100 seats have been named so far, thanks to donations from theatre-goers, schools, amateur drama companies, arts organisations, actors and playwrights, including Conleth Hill, Ian McElhinney, Marie Jones, Dan Gordon, Olivia Nash and Martin Lynch.

Members of the public are being encouraged to donate money to the Lyric theatre and name a seat, to mark a special anniversary, pay a lasting tribute to a friend or loved one, or simply demonstrate their commitment to the arts.

Full details of the seat campaign can be found on www.supportthelyric.com.

BBC Search For The Next Patrick Kielty

This summer, amateur comedians in Northern Ireland are being courted by the BBC to appear on their forthcoming Find Me The Funny reality television series, filmed by John FD Northover and Wild Rover Productions.

Frank Carson, Roy Walker, Jimmy Cricket, and Paddy Kielty are all comedians who have made it big outside of NI. Find Me The Funny is looking for the next generation of Northern Irsh comedians to break the mould and make a name for themselves outside of their native towns and cities.

In the series American comedy supremo Kurtis Matthews - CEO of San Francisco Comedy College - has just eight weeks to find and train a group of brand new Northern Irish comedians for a show at the Edinburgh Festival 2009.

Auditions are open to the public, and will take place in the City Hotel, Derry on June 27 and BBC Blackstaff House in Belfast on June 28. Auditions start at 10am.

Matthews is convinced that Northern Ireland can have an international comedy future, a massive claim for an American with no Irish ancestors, who has never set foot in Northern Ireland before.

Find Me The Funny will be on BBC1 this autumn. The 24 hour hotline is 028 9050 0973 or visit www.bbc.co.uk/findmethefunny for more information.

Learn the Latin Art of Percussion

Ever fancied learning percussion but too afraid to ask? Well now's your chance as Chilean percussionist Jorge Leiva comes to Belfast.

The acclaimed musician is in Belfast from now until June 24, and he will be doing session work and giving live performances with local musicians.

But fear not percussion beginners - Leiva will also be giving a open workshop free of charge to anyone interested in different aspects of percussion, for example, Brazilian, Peruvian and North African rhythms.

Preferably each participant should bring their own instrument (drums, bongos, etc). Children are welcome to join in.

Leiva is appearing in conjuction with Latinoamerica Unida, and the free workshop will take place in the Multicultural Resource Centre,9 Lower Crescent, Belfast. For more information please contact Victor at vicondre@hotmail.com.

Bark at the BBC Audience Council

The BBC Audience Council is meant to ensure that the views and needs of BBC audiences in Northern Ireland are heard by the corporation-at-large.

The Audience Council (led in Northern Ireland by Rotha Johnston) tries to engage with audiences, listen to their views, and present them to the BBC Trust (the BBC's governing body, responsible for ensuring that audiences get the best out of the Beeb.)

This year, the Trust is looking at Radio 2 and 6 Music. If you listen to either station, you have a chance to feed back so that audiences in NI are represented in the review of services.

The Trust wants to know what you like or dislike about the services, and what could be done to make them better.

Click here to contribute online, or contact the BBC on 028 9033 8856 to have a questionnaire sent out by post.

Bap Kennedy Confirmed To Play Glastonbury

Friend of CultureNorthernIreland and brother of singer Brian, Belfast's own Bap Kennedy has been confirmed to play the mother of all music festivals this summer, the mighty Glastonbury itself.

The axeman and songwriter is set to bring his own laidback, Belfast style to the Acoustic Stage on Saturday, July 27.

Former frontman of NI favourites Energy Orchard, and a close friend and collaborator of Van 'The Man' Morrison, Kennedy will share the Glastonbury bill with headliners such as grunge godfather Neil Young, Bruce 'The Boss' Springsteen and the newly reformed Blur.

The Glastonbury gig will be part of Kennedy's summer tour to promote his forthcoming album, the hilariously titled Howl On, which features a country version of the Jimi Hendrix classic, 'Hey Joe' and will be available for download on July 13.

Keep your eye on our pages in the weeks ahead for an interview with Kennedy about his new album, which - as the press release goes - is 'inspired by childhood memories of the 1969 moon landings, cowboys and otherworldly rock stars like Elvis, Hank and Jimi'.

Click here to read Kennedy's My Cultural Life and listen to his song 'Moriarty's Blues'.

Escape Act Sign to Top Edinburgh Label

Having done a Radiohead by giving away copies of their debut album Loosely Based on Fiction on the web, Belfast indie tyros Escape Act have decided to go down a more traditional route for their next release - by signing for a record label.

But the boys have not exactly sold out to the man - unless that man is Ed Jupp, head honcho of Edinburgh label 17 Seconds Records. They'll be joined on the label's roster by top indie talent such as Aberfeldy, X Lion Tamer and the Gillyflowers: perfect company for Escape Act's hook laden lo-fi-pop.

Escape Act's first single with 17 Seconds Records will be 'God Says', a record they previously released on their own Volte-Face label. There is still plenty of reason for fans to get their hands on the re-issue - it's accompained by two fresh remixes of the track, an uptempo version by Uber Glitterati and a downtempo effort from Exmagician.

In an age when too many bands sign to major labels, release two albums, get dropped and sink into obscurity, Escape Act firmly believe in building from the bottom up. But it's not all about promotion, you need to have tunes like 'God Says', an instant jump up and down punch the air classic.

'God Says' is available now from iTunes, eMusic, and all good download services. The video for the single can be viewed on Escape Act's myspace

Click here to read an interview with Escape Act from CultureNorthernIreland.

Hollywood Comes to Belfast, Again!

Hollywood star Natalie Portman (The Other Boleyn Girl, Star Wars) is set to star opposite actors Danny McBride and James Franco in Your Highness, a Universal Pictures comedy that begins production in Northern Ireland in July.

The production is with the backing of the Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI. David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) will direct the film.

Your Highness will shoot in Northern Ireland’s premier studio facility, The Paint Hall, in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter and on location in other areas of the country.

It is expected that the filming of Your Highness could infuse as much as £10 million into the economy, employing hundreds of cast, crew and extras from Northern Ireland.

Danny McBride, who wrote the script with Ben Best, plays a lazy, arrogant prince who, with his brother (James Franco), must complete a quest to save the kingdom and his brother’s fiancee. Portman will play a warrior princess with whom the lazy prince falls in love.

Recession Busting Help For Arts & Crafts Groups

As times tighten, Northern Irish voluntary and community arts groups are being urged to act fast to grab free training and consultancy support to help them grow their audiences, participants and sales.

Voluntary Arts Ireland and Audiences NI have joined forces to create ‘Beyond the Hood’, a package of training and support to help arts or crafts groups grow.

Short training sessions, introducing the basics of audience development, will run in Derry, Belfast, Cookstown, Lisburn and Enniskillen during June 2009. The usual charge of £20 is waived for anyone registering a week or more in advance, thanks to funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Everyone at the training will receive a free book on to how to grow audiences and the chance to apply for free support from Voluntary Arts Ireland consultants. As a further boost to marketing, all groups taking part can enter the competition to win a set of professional photographs to help promote their work.

To book a place download a booking form at www.vaireland.org/news, or contact Brenda or Olive at Voluntary Arts Ireland by emailing info@vaireland.org or phoning 028 4483 9327.

David Holmes' Holy Pictures Season at QFT

DJ and soundtrack artist David Holmes has curated a season of the films which have most inspired and influenced his work for Queen's Film Theatre. Entitled Holy Pictures, the season will run at QFT from Friday, May 29 to Thursday, June 4 and will feature work from artists and composers including Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Kraftwerk and David Bowie.

Speaking about the season, David Holmes said: 'These films represent the many ways in which music and sound can be orchestrated, manipulated and simply placed in film to create moments of pure magic.'

The season opens on Friday, May 29 with Daisies, a surrealist comedy which uses unconventional film techniques to tell the story of two girls' wholeheartedly creative way of destroying what surrounds them.

Oscar-winning classic Midnight Cowboy takes to the screen on Saturday, May 30. Exploring and unearthing the underbelly of urban life, John Schlesinger’s tale of a naïve male prostitute’s life on the streets of New York also features timeless music by John Barry and Harry Nilsson.

Classic political-thriller The Battle of Algiers (Sunday, May 30) gets more important with each passing year, providing as it does fascinating insight into terrorism, guerrilla warfare and state control. An urgent recounting of the war between French colonial forces and Algerian rebels, the film is a masterpiece of vivid action and compelling procedural detail.

Michael Winterbottom's dystopian thriller Code 46 (Monday, June 1) is a sci-fi noir set in the near future, revolving around two people struggling to find solace in a world of disorder - a world where cloning has become swidespread. The atmospheric score by the Free Association (David Holmes and Steve Hilton) is truly evocative.

A charming vignette of 1960s Bronx life, The Wanderers (Tuesday, June 2) follows the lives of boyhood friends and Italians-only gang, the Wanderers, as they fight their local gang rivals and struggle to make it to a big football showdown. The soundtrack features classic tunes by Dion, the Shirelles and the Four Seasons.

Filmed in Paris in 1970, Les Stances à Sophie (Wednesday, June 3) is a 'lost classic' from the French new wave which explores post-'68 society - feminism, art and music - and examines social aspects of middle-class life. The film is now perhaps best known for its incredible soundtrack from the legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago (who also feature in the film) with guest vocalist, Fontella Bass.

Finally, one of the most striking feature debuts in British cinema, Chris Petit's cult classic Radio On (Thursday, June 4) is a haunting blend of edgy mystery story and existential road movie. Following a young London DJ (David Beames) on the road to Bristol to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, the film offers a unique, compelling and even mythic vision of a late 1970s England. Driven by a startling new wave soundtrack featuring David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric, the film also reveals an early screen performance by Sting.

Continental Market Returns To Belfast City Hall

The colourful Continental Market returned to Belfast today (May 22), with the usual array of sights, sounds and smells to entice everyone out of the office and into the grounds of City Hall.

We may not be able to provide olfactoral coverage of the market (Smellivision not being a priority), but we sure know how to point a camera. So, with ostrich burger in one hand and camera in the other, CultureNorthernIreland shut down our PCs, turned off our phones and headed outside for a browse around the stalls.

What did you think of this summer's Continental Market? Post your comments below and get the conversational juices flowing.

Classic Cinema Recycled For Film Fans

Two of cinema’s best-loved classics are being recycled for film fans as part of Belfast City Council’s annual Waste Week (June 1-5).

It’ll be a case of ‘play it again’ for Casablanca as the Bogart/Bergman classic enjoys a matinee screening at the Dublin Road Movie House Cinema, and hopelessly devoted Grease fans are also in for a treat with the original high school musical being shown in the evening.

What’s more, it won’t cost you a penny. All you need to claim your seat at one of the special screenings is an empty glass jar – but you’ll need to turn up early on the night as the limited tickets are expected to go like greased lightning.

Councillor Cathal Mullaghan, chairman of the council’s Health and Environmental Services Committee, said: 'This is a real treat for film fans and a great opportunity for a new generation to see these cinema classics on the big screen.

'It also continues the ‘vintage’ theme of this year’s Waste Week by looking to the past for some inspiration. During the Second World War, glass was in high demand and so you used to be able to get into the pictures by bringing an empty jam jar. We thought this would be a fun way of recycling an old idea and bringing the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ message up to date for a new generation of film fans.'

Hugh Brown, general manager at Movie House Cinemas Ltd, said the group was delighted to be able to take part in such an innovative Waste Week event.

'This is a tremendous idea. Recycling is an issue that has had to be taken very seriously for some time now and we’re very happy to see our facilities used for such a worthwhile event. Hopefully, this important message will be heard by an even wider audience as a result.'

Glass is just one waste material that households can recycle and Belfast City Council is encouraging everyone to make that extra push to divert more waste away from landfill. Last June the council introduced a food waste collection trial which has helped to boost the city’s recycling rates to 29% and councillors are currently considering extending the scheme to other parts of the city.

For more information on recycling or other events that are happening as part of Waste Week visit www.belfastcity.gov.uk/wasteweek.

Would you agree that Belfast City Council's Waste Week initiative is a step in the right direction, or do you think that more can and should be done to ensure our environmentally friendly future?

Hillsborough: The Truth Launches in Belfast

The tragic, terrible Hillsborough disaster took place just over twenty years ago - on April 15, 1989. To commemorate the anniversary prof Phil Scraton from Queen's University is launching the third edition of his book, Hillsborough: The Truth.

Speaking ahead of the launch, prof Scraton commented: 'The 20th Anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster has focused attention once again on the deep sense of injustice felt by the bereaved and survivors following the inadequacy of the investigation and inquests into the deaths of 96 men women and children at a football match.'

Phil Scraton's research over a decade also uncovered the depth of the cover-up including the review and alteration of police statements. Hillsborough: The Truth was first published in 1999 to universal acclaim. The third edition considers the most recent events through the experiences of the bereaved and survivors.

Praising prof Scraton's book, Jimmy McGovern, writer/ producer of the award-winning Hillsborough, said:
'This book is dynamite. A brilliant achievement, a real page-turner, I couldn't put it down. Passionate and committed, yet meticulously researched and fiercely intelligent.'

To celebrate the book's launch there will be an evening of music and readings in Belfast's Black Box on Monday, May 25. Among the special guests singing will be Féile Women's Group. Entrance is free though all donations will go to the Hillsborough Mural Project, in Liverpool.

To get tickets contact Deaglan Coyle at the School of Law in Queen's on 028 9097 3472 or email d.p.coyle@qub.ac.uk.

Mark Thomas Seeks A Ban On Outdoor Pyjama Wearing

The internationally-acclaimed comedian and political activist Mark Thomas has praised the people of Belfast and bitterly criticised local politicians following his sold-out show at the 10th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

Thomas was speaking after a festival audience voted last week for their policy choices as part of his UK-wide People’s Manifesto, which forms part of Thomas' current It's the Economy, Stupid tour.

The campaigning comedian said that the Belfast audience had set a 'unique precedent' by demanding two policies on the night of his performance. The Belfast policies selected by festival goers were the banning of the wearing of pyjamas outdoors and that the 1967 Abortion Act should be introduced to Northern Ireland.

Thomas said he was delighted with the two policies called for in Belfast and paid tribute to the city’s sense of ‘seriousness and silliness’.

'The Belfast manifesto decisions where brilliant,' continued Thomas. 'They went from the sublime to the ridiculous, which is what this tour and the People’s Manifesto is all about. Belfast also refused to accept just one policy, which I thought was great. The call for the banning of the wearing of pyjamas and for the introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act shows just how sophisticated people are here and also what a sense of fun they have.

'The people of Belfast have really highlighted what this is all about. Comedy should be silly and enjoyable but it can also have a serious, enquiring side to it and can be used to try to make a change. That has never been better exemplified than in Belfast.'

Thomas, whose mother was a midwife, also got behind the audiences’ call for the instatement of the abortion act, which is law in all other parts of the UK. He described the absence of the law in Northern Ireland as 'an absolute outrage'. He also condemned local politicians for not backing the enforcement of the act, leaving pregnant women to travel at great cost to other UK countres for often dangerous and traumatic abortive procedures.

'It’s disgusting that a part of the UK still has such an oppressive abortion law,' he concluded. 'If certain political parties want to be British yet don’t want the same rule of law as the rest of the UK, then they should make their minds up. Either they should go the whole hog and split totally from British rule of law or accept that this incredibly important act has to be introduced here. They can’t have it both ways.'

Other People's Manifesto policies across the UK have included the call for pay-as-you-go MPs, the introduction of a three-day weekend, to make party political manifestos legally binding and that Margaret Thatcher should pay for her own funeral. Thomas has pledged that he will fight for all the manifesto pledges when he finishes the tour.

'We are trying to create a genuine People’s Manifesto because, looking around the UK now, you can’t help but realise that we seem to be up a certain creek, economically, politically, socially. Where are the great ideas, theories and visions to help us in our hour of need?

'On my current tour, each audience across the country gets to come up with a policy, which I will include in the final manifesto and then campaign upon. And that most definitely includes the call to introduce the 1967 Abortion Act into Northern Ireland as soon as humanly possible.'

Do you agree or disagree with the Belfast People's Manifesto policies? Or do you have any policy ideas of your own? Let us know by posting your comments below.

King of Tory Island Dances Up a Storm

The King of Tory Island is not your average monarch. His Majesty Patsy Dan Rodgers may be the head of the oldest monarchy in Europe - over 4,000 years at last count - but he's not afraid to get down and boogie with the common man.

The king, who is also an artist and musician, was in Belfast this week to open an exhibition of artist Ian Fleming’s work in the Townhouse Gallery - and celebrated in style by taking part in a celebration of music and art that included some of the famous Waves of Tory set dancing.

The University of Ulster have done much to promote Tory Island's unique history. At the launch Jim Hunter, an historian and tour guide who has been going to Tory Island for 50 years and leading the University of Ulster's talks and tours to the island for over 25 years, also spoke.

Fleming, who is himself a lecturer in the Art College, claims that Rodgers is the rightful heir to much more than just Tory Island's rocky outcrop:

'The annals record that the Fomorians ruled Ireland from Tory Island, and indeed they ruled large swathes of Scotland from the Hebrides and imposed even larger taxes on the inhabitants than either Biffo or Gordy,' says Fleming.

'Because of my Ulster Protestant, Belfast Presbyterian, republican heritage, which stems back to the 1798 rebellion, it is unusual that I should promote the idea of a monarch as head of state. Nevertheless, Tory Island can show us the way on many levels. For hundreds of years their king has been an appointed position. It doesn’t automatically come through birth, but the King is elected by the people.'

And with a king who enjoys the craic as much as Patsy Rodgers surely Tory Island is the kind of state we'd all like to live in...

Artist Ian Fleming Gets Tory Island Royal Endorsement

Gordon Brown, Alex Salmond, Peter Robinson and Brian Cowan are said to be looking into claims that Prince Charles' succession to the throne is invalid. It is perhaps a little unusual for a sworn republican to be promoting the sovereignty claims of a King, but that is exactly what one Belfast artist is doing.

Ian Fleming, namesake of the 007 author, claims that the rightful heir to the title ‘King of the British Isles’ is none other than His Majesty Patsy Dan Rodgers (pictured above), King of Tory Island, Donegal. This monarchy, said to be the oldest succession in Europe, can trace its origins to the ‘glass’ castles of the Fomorian Kings such as Balor of the Evil Eye, almost 4,000 years ago.

'The annals record that the Fomorians ruled Ireland from Tory Island, and indeed they ruled large swathes of Scotland from the Hebrides and imposed even larger taxes on the inhabitants than either Biffo or Gordy,' explains Fleming.

'Because of my Ulster Protestant, Belfast Presbyterian, republican heritage, which stems back to the 1798 rebellion, it is unusual that I should promote the idea of a monarch as head of state. Nevertheless, Tory Island can show us the way on many levels. For hundreds of years their king has been an appointed position. It doesn’t automatically come through birth, but the King is elected by the people.

This rightful heir to the throne, who is an artist and musician as well as king, opened an exhibition of Ian Fleming’s work this week in the Townhouse Gallery in Belfast.

The paintings, which feature cliff faces, rock outcrops, and the sea, are inherently political according to Fleming. 'We human beings are prepared to kill each other over ‘ownership’ of a piece of land. The paintings may not look political, but by focusing on how waves, wind, rain, and sun are constantly changing the land we live on, I’m posing a question about the value we place on it.

'If you stick a knife inside me, red blood will come out. Our humanity is the most precious thing we have. Why would we kill each other over the ownership of something that we only have the loan of?'

Ian Fleming 007 licensed to stir…

Seamus Heaney On the Dangers of Over-reading

It's often tempting to read too much into things. Whether the subject’s a casual glance from an attractive woman or your favourite song’s lyrics, humans seem hard wired to read (often incorrectly) what they want into situations.

Fitting then that on the very day Procul Harum's impenetrable paean to nothing 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' was declared most popular song of the last 75 years, the great Seamus Heaney spoke about over-reading’s of his own work.

Lauded around the world, Heaney's poetry has been analysed and deconstructed, pored over and pulled apart by readers, academics and critics. In conversation with Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on the occasion of his 70th birthday, the poet admitted that not all the interpretations arrived at have made sense to him.

'There is a simile in 'Digging' (a famous poem off his debut collection 1966's Death of A Naturalist') that goes 'Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun'.'

'A whole theory about Northern Irish violence and the poetic imagination could be, and has been, teased out of that,' but it really is just about my father digging and the changing generations in the family. I chose 'gun' because phonetically it went with snug, the poet said.

This over-reading owes much to the obsession with seeing the Troubles into Northern Irish writers’ every word, but it is also an interesting example of the argument that intention should be ignored when interpreting art.

Famously declaring the 'death of the author', the French linguist and poststructuralist Roland Barthes argued that what a writer means is irrevelant, all that matters is the reader and their interpretation.

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder there is something important (and potentially valuable) is keeping art open to differing interpretations: Rothko and Pollock's abstract expressionist paintings are wonderful precisely because they can mean almost anything, and nothing.

But it is pushing things to far to say what the author means should be ignored? Can we really understand the work of a great artist and wordsmith (not to mention nobel laureate) like Heaney without considering what they themselves mean by their words?

Personally I think there is room for both author and reader – and readers owe it to authors not to over-read their work. But that’s just my two pence worth, what do you think?

Peter Geoghegan

Belfast Music Exhibition - See A Big Piece of History

What do a smashed up guitar from Therapy?’s 1992 Mandela Hall gig, a pair of shoes from Vivenne Westwood’s infamous King’s Road store Sex and an original Outcasts leather jacket have in common? No, they’re not indicative of how lame modern popstars are but exhibits from a new exhibition on the history of Northern Ireland music at the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast.

The Belfast Music Exhibition will be the final the final stop on the Belfast Music Tour, an epic bus journey through the heart of a great rock and roll city. From Them and Van Morrison to Snow Patrol, by way of awesome guitar players, punk rock and Hollywood soundtracks.

The Belfast Music tour runs on Fridays at 3.30pm, starting with a tour of the newly refurbished iconic Ulster Hall, where from its earliest years has played host to famous figures of the age and now home of the Ulster Orchestra. The bus departs at 4pm.

Along the route, punters will hear about the founding members of Thin Lizzy and the legend of Pearly Spencer, and see the landscape that inspired classic Van Morrison songs. Not to mention getting a peek at venues that hosted historic visits from Led Zeppelin, The Clash and U2.

Finally tourgoers will get a chance to see first hand the best in Northern Irish music memorablia. With everything from the guitar Gary Lightbody wrote ‘Run’ and ‘Chasing Cars’ on to a road sign for Cypress Avenue picked up at St George’s market by a friend of Oh Yeah director Stuart Bailie, the Belfast Music Exhibition is a must for all music fans.

'We've got a musical story like no other - full of drama, surprise, amazing art and fierce characters. It's been an education to plot out the story on a bus and on the walls of Oh Yeah. It all adds up to something unique for Belfast,' says exhibition curator Bailie.

The next Belfast Music Tour is on Friday April 17. For more information or to buy tickets click here or call Belfast Welcome Centre on 9024 6609.

'I Sledded More Than 125 Miles Across The Icy Wilderness'

CultureNorthernIreland would like to congratulate regular contributor Andrew Johnston, who has just returned home after an exhausting trek across the Arctic Circle as part of Mencap’s 2009 Husky Sled Challenge.

’Together with 10 other volunteers, I sledded more than 125 miles across the icy wilderness,’ reveals Johnston. ‘It was an awesome experience.

’My team of four huskies - Ninja, Shakira, Gregor and Kusco - were part of 64 dogs belonging to local guide (and ex Norwegian special forces commando) Per Thora. The journey took in frozen lakes, magical forests and the Northern Lights - not to mention 45-degree declines, 90-degree bends and temperatures as low as -25!

’Collectively we raised more than £25,000 for Mencap. The money will go to projects here in Northern Ireland including the Changing Place campaign and a new campaign designed to give people with a learning disability more of a social life.’

Mencap is the leading UK charity for people with a learning disability. Although his Husky Sled Challenge has ended, Johnston is still keen for people to donate money towards his final, personal target of £4,500. To donate money go to Johnston’s Justgiving page.

Meet the Author - Bernard MacLaverty

BBC Radio 4's Bookclub programme is looking for readers to meet acclaimed author Bernard MacLaverty.

If you're interested you will need to read his novel 'Grace Notes' and come armed with questions and ready to speak up in the discussion.

The Observer, rates his latest novel: 'A master of haunted realism. His best novel yet. He deals with death and love and tragedy... This is a novel to be prized.'

The programme is being recorded on Tuesday April 28, 4.45pm - 6.30pm, at BBC Studios, Ormeau Road, Belfast, BT2 8HQ.

Admission is via ticket only and free tickets are available. If you are interested apply via the website www.bbc.co.uk/bookclub or telephone Dymphna on 0207 765 3189 or email dymphna.flynn@bbc.co.uk.

Asleep In The Limelight - A UTV Special

(The band Iain liked, Not Squares...)

UTV have recently started to broadcast lives performances from unsigned Belfast bands with their new music programme, UTV: Live At The Limelight. The show focuses on three bands each week who play their own music to a live audience who appear either genuinely disinterested or insane with enthusiasm, but always scarce.

Although eagerly awaited, this kind of show begs the question as to the quality and quantity of such acts that make up such a small music ‘scene’. It could be argued that the tiny music scenes of the East Bay Californian punks of the 1980s or the traditional scene in Ireland during the 1970s made a major impact on the world. But as true as this might be, the music and general demeanour of the TV show I watched last night (March 4) is too far from these genres to even allow comparison.

One of the main problems with the show is the mediocrity of the acts. Colenso Parade’s music consists of a repetition of the verse, then the chorus, then the verse, then the chorus with little difference between the two. It was almost as if they had stumbled upon relatively catchy songs which were probably only worth two minutes playing time at best, and attempted to stretch them into what eventually felt like a homophonous Mike Oldfield epic.

Next band up Plastic Rose seemed to be a better option as the songs appeared well constructed. It took only a minute of their playing, however, before it was obvious to the viewer that here stood the most pretentious band of the night. Playing guitar with mouth held open, staring into the distance and pretending to be indifferent, mimicking Eddie Vedder – it was all there. The emo/rock sound has never sounded so tedious. ‘Sun’s A Shadow’ was a song so boring that the singer had to speak to the audience in between lines – possibly to cover up the bland greyness of the sound, possibly to prevent the eyes of the audience from melting into a pool on the floor.

The last headlining act The Coronas were just like the eponymous Mexican beer: bland, tasteless, ubiquitous and unoriginal. At this point everyone else in the room I was in gave up and began to talk over the television - picture a band with a homophonic, acoustic pop sound whose lead singer drops his lyrical Dublin accent and replaces it with a placeless, English/American hybrid singing voice, using ‘sh’ sounds instead of ‘s’ ones.

All this was incredibly annoying, but can be put down to personal taste. The most aggravating part of the show for me was the interview with the music executive from London. If ever a personification of the downfall of the music industry existed, this is it. She couldn’t have been more blatantly interested in making lots of money if she had stolen a charity box. Describing one band as ‘Klaxons meets MGMT’ and mentioning ‘that’s the sound I’m really feeling at the moment’, the viewer could be forgiven for thinking ‘I’m really feeling’ should read ‘that is really popular’.

Even when she was trying to give an honest opinion we were told that she wanted to see ‘a soul/funk mix between reggae/indie kind of act’. What does that even mean? Does it even matter? According to her, ‘that kind of act is really current at the moment’. Ah, I can see a pattern emerging. After hearing her interview, I would challenge anyone to argue that her heart was in the music and not the industry. She seemed more interested in helping NME sell copies than introducing the world to Belfast music.

The one band that did impress me was Not Squares. Two basses, a keyboard, drums and vocals. The first song had no lyrics, relying on sustained vocal harmonies, jazz-style drumming and bass riffs that reeked of improvisational ability. The second song, ‘You’re Still Drunk’ used a-tonal vocal rhythms, hardcore influenced bass lines and syncopated electronic melodies. The passion was visible and the band looked like four people who knew and cared about their music.

The typically substandard production quality didn’t help the show either: UTV insists on employing interviewers on the basis of their preceding popularity or, in the case of the female presenters, their looks. According to the UTV website, one of them is a local model.

In short, if this is the Belfast music scene, there isn’t a lot to hope for. The music on the show demonstrates both the lack of musical depth and originality within this ‘scene’. Even applying the word ‘scene’ to a group of people playing music who appear to have no collective artistic depth or integrity seems optimistic. Perhaps the record companies and television shows who seek to promote new bands and music within this country are the very people who should not be given such an opportunity. It seems that the real gems of music that this city has to offer have yet to be discovered, both by the mainstream and myself.

Iain Todd

(Our thanks Iain Todd for taking the time to write and email this article to us. If you would like to share your thoughts on Northern Irish culture, please feel free to email us at info@culturenorthernireland.org.)

The Alley Theatre Turn To Twitter

It is the fastest-growing online community in the world and counts people as diverse as US President Barack Obama, John Cleese and Stephen Fry among its most loyal fans. Now, it seems, the Northern Ireland arts sector is finally taking notice of Twitter, the social networking website that perpetually asks, 'What are you doing?'

The Alley Theatre in Strabane has bravely shrugged off the conventions of old in a bid to attract new customers and provide their existing audience with instant news via the Twitter network. Log on to their Twitter page (username: thealleytheatre) for rapid fire updates.

Having used Twitter I have mixed views about the service. A large enough network of 'followers' can be a useful thing when it comes to solving a brain-itching problem like where to go for the night or who starred in what film etc.

Yet I can find answers to problems elsewhere, and it quickly becomes mindnumbingly boring writing things like 'I'm currently watching television'. Who cares? Twitter is yet another online social networking service to massage the inflatted egos of those individuals who think that what they are are currently doing matters to anyone other than themselves.

For the Alley Theatre, however, and other arts venues and organisations like it, Twitter could turn out to be the perfect promotional tool, allowing their public relations officers to locate followers or to follow others in their area with an interest in theatre.

The internet is not something to be afraid of, as so many boards of so many arts organisations in Northern Ireland are. There is no doubt that their Twitter campaign will benefit the Alley - their old phones lines will not ignite in flames with jealousy; their regular customers will not turn away in technophobic disgust. Instead they are sure to attract new, perhaps younger customers, and that can only be a good thing.

Sign up to Twitter free-of-charge at www.twitter.com. Once you have signed up, it's easy to search for other users that you wish to follow (we would strongly recommend www.twitter.com/stephenfry for entertainment value).

Lee Henry

Anthony Gormley Invites You To Take A Stand - In Trafalgar Square

This summer Antony Gormley, the man behind Britain's best-loved sculpture, 'The Angel of the North', is inviting members of the public to participate in a unqiue artistic experiment - a living monument that will place the ordinary people of the UK on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in London.

Every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will occupy the plinth - a space normally reserved for statues of kings and generals.

The project, entitled One & Other, is open to anyone and everyone from any corner of the UK. Those who are selected are encouraged to use their time on the plinth however they like.

Participants will be picked at random, chosen from those who apply - an uninterrupted succession of 2400 volunteers who will create a unique portrait of the UK in the 21st century.

'It's a simple proposition,' explains Gormley. 'We need one hour of your time. You decide what to do with it. What will unfold is completely unpredictable. We are literally going public. We are putting the plinth in your hands - or literally under your feet!'

One & Other is produced by Artichoke in partnership with Sky Arts. The Fourth Plinth project is run by the Mayor of London with funding from Arts Council England.

To register your interest today in volunteering log onto www.oneandother.co.uk.

Lee Henry

The View - Irish Arts Reviewed For The Irish

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009 the unthinkable happened – I bagged myself an overnight work trip out of town. After two years of office bound drudgery I was to be sent on a two day mission to Derry, where I would stay overnight in the well-hoovered, excessively polished Tower Hotel.

The trip provided me with an opportunity of reviewing something out west. I did a Google, browsing through venue websites – Millennium Forum, the Playhouse and more - but all to no avail. The theatres were busy yesterday, and they would be tomorrow, but not tonight. Beer isn’t expenses refundable, so after dinner I returned to my hotel room to read…

…and came across The View, RTE’s flagship arts review programme, hosted by writer and broadcaster, John Kelly. The itinerary that night included the film Doubt, Peter Murphy's debut novel John The Revelator, the Dublin International Film Festival and Brian Friel’s play The Home Place. The panel consisted of novelist Glenn Patterson, arts journalist Sara Keating and everyone’s favourite social activist, Eamon McCann.

Not being able to receive RTE in my part of Belfast, I, as a lover of the arts, had heretofore scrimped by on a meagre diet of BBC's The Culture Show and Newsnight Review – endlessly London-centric and consequentially irrelevant. The View spoke to me on a personal level. How refreshing to hear the views of the panel on Irish arts - Kirsty Wark and Co don't review shows in the Grand Opera House.

Now back in Belfast, I shall miss The View, if not Glenn Patterson’s new look – somewhere between Bowie circa ’84 and Going For Gold’s Henry Kelly.

NvTv have done their level best to cover the arts in Northern Ireland televisually, but it goes to show the sickeningly populist ethos that governs BBC NI and UTV that they chose to commission such low budget reality garbage as Disco Babes (Monday, February 16, BBC One) when they could just as easily, and cheaply, produce an in studio arts review programme.

The content would be there, the audience would be there, Glenn Patterson would no doubt be there too. But it wouldn’t be political, it wouldn’t include two ‘comedians’ travelling the country in a tractor or an extra from Lord of the Rings talking to people about spades in Ulster Scots, so Northern Irish television commissioners wouldn’t be interested. Philistines.

Lee Henry

Last Chance to See FE McWilliam Exhibition

This is the best exhibition you will see all year in Northern Ireland, and, if you haven’t already, you have one week left to see it.

The location of the new FE McWilliam gallery and studio is perfect for those who have endured a murderous couple of hours in the Outlet and want a decent coffee and downtime with some serious art.

Banbridge-born FE McWilliam was widely regarded, after Henry Moore, as the most gifted sculptor in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s and was arguably Ireland’s most significant sculptor of the 20th century.

The McWilliam at Banbridge exhibition, which brings together over 120 of McWilliam’s sculptures is a joy, showing the many phases of the sculptor’s long and productive career, including his famous legs and the incredible stop-motion ‘Women of Belfast’.

‘These sculptures are concerned with violence, with one particular aspect, bomb-blast – the woman as victim of man’s stupidity,’ McWilliam wrote in 1973. ‘I did not choose the subject consciously, it happened I suppose, because the situation in Ulster is inescapable ... something that is always nagging at the back of one’s mind.’

Check out the knuckleduster impressions McWilliam used to give texture to ‘Princess Macha’ (1953), who in Celtic mythology built the first hospital in Ireland. Commissioned for Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry, the sculpture was at first thought too depressing for patients but has now become a much-loved icon.

Compare the backside of ‘Legs Upended’ (1978) to that of the Brancusi–influenced ‘Miss Orissa’ (1981) – they are identical, cast from the same mould.

Give in to the eroticism of McWilliam’s curvaceous, gleaming Bean sculptures. Or the 'Chocolate Soldier' (1977) which makes playful use of a tray of chocolates for the figure’s torso.

As for the striking portrait busts of William and Mary Scott. The Ulster Museum was happy to buy the former in the fifties but declined the bare-breasted latter. Thankfully the Tate wasn’t so prudish.

Don’t miss this exhibition. Go, before it closes on Sunday Februrary 22. Better still, phone ahead and book a tour.

David Lewis

FE McWilliam Gallery and Studio
200 Newry Road, Banbridge, Co. Down BT32 3NB
T: 028 4062 3322
E: femcwilliam@banbridge.gov.uk
W: www.femcwilliam.com

Click here to watch an online exhibition.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Belfast Book Festival Authors

Paperback Rioter! and Godfather of Ulster punk, Terri Hooley got into a punch-up with the legendary John Lennon in London over Lennon's perceived support of the IRA. The fracas only ended when Hooley’s glass eye landed on the floor!

Claire Kilroy should be used to the Belfast literary scene – while studying for her undergraduate degree at Trinity College, she attended writing workshops held by Michael Longley. Her favourite living writer is John Banville, who is opening the festival.

Toby Litt is writing his novels in alphabetical order. His first novel was Adventures in Capitalism, his second Beatniks – he’s currently reached J with his new novel, Journey into Space. He is a big fan of Leontia Flynn’s poetry, who will be reading with the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry.

Charles Leadbeater used to be an associate editor at The Independent and helped Helen Fielding come up with the idea for Bridget Jones’ Diary columns.

Literary heavyweight John Banville has interviewed crime writer Benjamin Black at http://www.benjaminblackbooks.com/BBworld.htm. Jekyll and Hyde anyone?

Chair of The Irish Pages Debate, William Crawley used to be an ordained minister. He resigned from the ministry and the church before becoming a journalist.

Seamus Heaney taught Ciaran Carson practical criticism at Queen's University. When Carson graduated he worked for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland as a traditional music officer.

After graduating in 1987 Guildhall author Garbhan Downey moved to Dublin to become deputy president of the Union of Students in Ireland. He was one of the organisers of the occupation of Fianna Fail’s offices in Dublin on Budget Day in 1988, when protestors barricaded themselves inside the building.

John McNamee has lived in San Francisco, New York, London and in the Rocky Mountains. He spent a year in Reykjavik writing poetry while looking for work as a fisherman. On his travels he encountered Tennessee Williams and Louis Armstrong.

The snakeskin stilettos of Moyra Donaldson’s first volume of poetry were a genuine discovery, found hidden in the back of a cupboard.

For more events and writers check out the Belfast Book Festival listings.

Hilary Copeland

Donal McIntyre Skates On Thin Ice

Television producers – have they no shame? First they hold the gatekeeper of Gangsta’s Paradise to ransom – revealing Coolio as the irritating chauvinist that he is for a measly £30,000 – on Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother. Now, courtesy of ITV's Dancing On Ice, it’s our own Donal McIntyre’s turn.

As one of the sharpest investigative journalists of his generation struggles to stay on his feet, shunting across the ice like the beat-less, tone-deaf stick man that he has turned out to be, you cannot help but feel utter contempt for the producers who put him there.

They would have known that you cannot teach rhythm. They would have known that McIntyre would make a complete and utter idiot out of himself as he scythes the ice, smiling like a Cheshire cat on botox - the hero of many a wannabe hack reduced to primetime buffoonery.

As he races through Afghan backstreets in the future, tackles knife-wielding liquor store robbers in NYC, exposes drug cartels in the Dublin underworld, will we be able to look upon McIntyre as the fearless reporter that he is?

I do hope so. It’s just a pity that a man of such integrity has succumbed to the glitz and pseudo-glamour of the ‘I’m a celebrity, therefore I can do things’ brand of cheap television. Let’s hope he breaks a leg sooner rather than later – it might do his television career more good than harm.

Lee Henry

CNI Gets Princely Visit

I’d never knowingly been in the same room as royalty before. True, I’d shared a dram with a lugubrious Manhattanitte who claimed to be the rightful queen of Albania (it’s a bit hazy now, but I recall it having something to do with King Zog, the Communists and a tugboat on the Hudson), but never bona fide, no DNA analysis-needed, blue blood.

That all changed yesterday when HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, next in line for the throne and brains behind Duchy Original’s unspeakably posh fodder, walked into my life.

At the end of a whistle-stop tour of Northern Ireland, Charles and Camilla (who, as his wife, qualifies as royalty too - in one fell swoop the unfortunate Albanian princess relegated to a dubious third in my private royal line) visited the Linen Hall library, which, amongst many other things, is home to CNI.

The Prince (I’m sure he prefers the definite article, avoids confusion with the man formerly known as symbol) was in the library to attend an exhibition given by recipients of awards from his eponymous Trust.

HRH was barely with us an hour but the prelude was literally a military operation. The library was closed for the day, when I arrived in the morning five paddywagons surrounded the Fountain St entrance.

The police seemed to take special interest in me: my bag was searched on arrival, later in the morning they took the fire extinguisher from behind my desk (possibly worried I’d try to coax Cha and Cam into an impromptu foam party) and, after nipping out for a packet of crisps and my copy of Nuts at lunch time, I was treated to a good old fashioned frisking.

All that was forgotten, though, when the Prince rather jauntily ascended the stairs to where I and the rest of the CNI team sat next to the obligatory cellist, Neil Martin.

Head bobbing gently, as if he was trying to stop himself nodding off, he stopped briefly in front of us. “Shouldn’t you lot all be off home by now,” he joked. The cameras flashed, we smiled, he smiled. And then he was gone, off around the corner to see the greatest hits of the library’s genealogy collection.

The cellist continued valiantly but the press pack had already moved on. My brief brush with royalty was over. It wasn’t the most memorable experience of my life, but throughout the Prince showed an admirable level of humour and grace – I’m not convinced I could have feigned as much interest in the genealogy table.

Did the Prince make a mark in anybody else's life? Any other royal tales you'd like to share with us?

Peter Geoghegan

Saatchi's Hunt For The Best Of British

Art collector and gallery impresario Charles Saatchi is to take part in a new X Factor style television programme to discover the next best thing in the British art scene.

Saatchi, notoriously media shy (and savvy), will not be filmed talking on camera, and will only be seen perusing entries in his capacity as a judge on the programme, soon to be aired on BBC 2.

The winner of the programme – the title of which has not yet been unveiled – will have his or her work exhibited in the St Petersburg Heritage Museum and Saatchi’s own Saatchi Gallery in London in 2010.

Although he will be judging entries, Saatchi – who famously discovered and supported Damien Hirst and his fellow YBA hell raisers in the 1990s – will not be permitted to purchase the winning entry himself.

Artists interested in entering the competition can find out more at www.submityourart.com, which will open for submissions on February 2.

The programme is bound to attract derision in much the same way that the increasingly infuriating Turner Prize does annually. Yet it will be interesting to discover more about Saatchi's own taste, and our own, when the programme does air.

Cynical publicity stunt or genuine competition - it matters little. By the end of the programme, we'll all be talking about art, just maybe not for the right reasons. Toilet bowl, anyone?

Lee Henry

You Are Now Entering Free Gaza

40 years to the day since it was first erected on the gable wall of 22 Lecky Road during the Battle of the Bogside, Free Derry Corner has been transformed in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Since Monday, January 5 the free standing wall in the Bogside - the original house long since having been destroyed - has borne the message 'You Are Now Entering Free Gaza' alongside an image of an Israeli fighter jet wheeling away, having launched two rockets at a pram.

Originally painted by John 'Caker' Casey on January 5, 1969, the iconic imploration 'You Are Now Entering Free Derry' has undergone many changes in the intervening years. It has been painted pink during Gay Pride week, black prior to a Bloody Sunday commemoration in 2006 and has carried messages in support of causes that include International Women’s Day and AIDS awareness.

Free Derry Corner's transformation is in keeping with the history of this famous mural - and with alterations made to other wall murals in both Derry and Belfast following the Israeli incursion into Gaza.

On a very prominent mural wall on Belfast's Divis Street a pro-Palestinian mural unveiled last April has been updated to include a new take on the lyrics of John Lennon’s famous Christmas song 'War is Over'.

Elsewhere, representations of the British Army on two murals in the Bogside have been altered - in one, the soldiers have been given the Star of David and are shown banging down a door marked 'Palestine' - in protest against the situation in Gaza.

As I argued elsewhere on the site, Northern Ireland's murals have been in a period of transition for some time so it shouldn't be surprising to see them displaying popular opposition to the horrific, disproportionate Israeli onslaught in Gaza. But perhaps the changes in our murals are part of something more significant. Perhaps, in the wake of the Gaza incursion, the very nature of popular political protests in the 21st century is changing.

The mass demonstration may still be alive and kicking - as any of the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets in cities and towns across the UK and Ireland at the weekend to protest against the Israeli offensive will testify - but since this conflict began protests have taken new and ever more diffuse forms.

And, unsurprisngly, the web has been the weapon of choice for the new breed of protester. Facebook groups from '!!!Stop Israel!!!' to 'Let’s Collect 500,000 Signatures to Support the Palestinians in Gaza' have been formed, and open emails to heads of state calling for a ceasefire have garnered hundreds of thousands of petitioners.

The sheer force and brutality of the Israeli action has been shocking - and many of us want to know how we can make a difference, what we can do to make our voice heard. With the traditional street demo off-putting for some and logisitically impossible for others, new forms of protest - whether they involve changing the writing on the walls or joining an online group - allow a new generation of protesters to find their voices and make their feelings known.

And when the object of protest is as current and vital as the situation in Gaza, the more ways to make yourself heard can the better. Now it's time for our elected representatives to stand up and play their part in ending the Israeli occupation.

Peter Geoghegan

Hats Off To The Stars Of Oliver 30 Years On

The stars of a Christmas past - including actor James Nesbitt - returned to the Riverside Theatre at the University of Ulster’s Coleraine campus in late 2008 for a reunion of the 1978 cast of Oliver, during which time Coleraine-born Nesbitt was reunited with an old friend - the hat he wore playing the Artful Dodger when he was just 13-years old.

Nesbitt’s father, also named James, had kept the hat his son wore on his acting debut in the famous stage show. That piece of history was displayed alongside other pieces of memorabilia from the show, including original costume sketches from the director.

Returning to where his acting career began, Nesbitt - star of Cold Feet and Murphy’s Law - was joined by BBC News journalist Mark Carruthers, who played the lead role alongside Nesbitt some 30-years previous.

For Jeremy Lewis, general administrator of the Riverside Theatre, the opening night of that 1978 production was also his first night as general manager of the Coleraine venue.

'The reunion was a fantastic occasion,' recalls Lewis. 'Almost 75 per cent of the original cast showed up on the night and it was a wonderful evening. People who haven’t seen each other in 30 years were meeting up with some old friends. It was great to see James Nesbitt coming over for the reunion and just like 30 years ago, he stole the show once again.'

Belfast Wheel - Where Will You Go? We Will Miss You So

Whether they’ve taken a ride on it or not, residents and workers in the capital have by now become accustomed to the rather majestic Belfast Wheel at City Hall.

Enticing us to jump aboard with her VIP pods and wonderful light display after dark, the Belfast Wheel has proved to be a success on every level, both for Belfast City Council – which charges around £4,000 per month rental – and the wheel’s owners, World Tourist Attractions, who own and run similar wheels from Brussels to Brisbane.

Initially permitted as a temporary installation, the Belfast Wheel could be about to become a permanent feature on the Belfast landscape – but not at City Hall.

With the Environment Agency objecting to a planning application that could see the wheel remain in its current location until August 2009, on the grounds that, in the long run, it would detract from City Hall as a listed building an tourist attraction in itself, the debate as to where the wheel might ultimately, and perhaps permanently, show up next has unofficially begun.

In anticipation of a Long Ships event in 2009, it has been reported that councillors would prefer to see the Belfast Wheel relocated to the Titanic Quarter. But would the wheel be as effective at such a distance?

At the risk of inviting the wrath of environmentalists, perhaps such an attraction might be better suited to the picturesque and popular environs of Botanic Gardens? Would it look out of place of the foot of the Black Mountain? Or is there another plot of land that might be utilised to keep the wheel in the centre of town?

It will be sad to see the wheel removed from City Hall. Granted it does overshadow some of the statues to the building’s right-hand side - none more so than the breathtakingly beautiful memorial statue to those who perished with the Titanic – yet the big wheel has undoubtedly given Belfast some much-needed glitz and glamour as she continues to compete for the fickle attentions of free-spending globe trotters.

Belfast Wheel, we will miss you so, but where shall ye' go?

Lee Henry

Stars In Expensive Bars - Duke Special Goes To Market

The Continental Christmas Market at Belfast City Hall – in 2008 it’s bigger and better than ever, attracting thousands of shoppers (and tourists) to Belfast eager to soak up the festive atmosphere and spend their money on the plethora of exotic treats and trinkets available.

No doubt said consumables are, in many cases, over priced. £4.50 for a decidedly average paella certainly made me wince. But this week saw a new attraction to the market, one that was free to all those lunchtime wanderers lucky enough to stumble across it.

In the tepee beer tent – the correct name for which currently escapes me – the twinkling of piano keys filled the air: the swish of a well-groomed dreadlock, the tug of a heartstring. It could only have been one man – Belfast’s very own Duke Special, garbed in civvies serenading the punters.

Strange to see the man himself operating without eyeliner, naval jacket or Vaudevillian props at hand, belting out a lively, unaccompanied version of ‘Something Might Happen’ from his 2006 album Songs From The Deep Forest. What an unexpected treat.

Which got me to wondering: is Duke Special the only artist to have dropped in to the market this year for an impromptu session? Seen anyone else?

Lee Henry

Literati Celebrate Ciaran Carson's 60th in a Tent

Northern Ireland’s literati descended on Queen’s University to sit in the dark in an oversized tent. The purpose of such collective madness was to celebrate the 60th birthday of Ciaran Carson, poet and director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry.

The true purpose of the evening was kept secret from Carson, as were the months of preparation that culminated in the publication of From the Small Back Room, a collection of poems, essays and memoir contributed by such friends and luminaries as Toby Litt, Michael Longley and Seamus Heaney - sure beats another birthday card.

The evening of readings from the newly published book was hosted by author Glenn Patterson, looking ever so dashing in a midnight blue suit and with a new bleach blonde hair-do (mid-life crisis anyone?).

Some cynics may have thought the white follicles an attempt to steal Carson’s thunder. But to his credit Patterson came through when a lighting failure almost stopped the event. A reading where no one can see the page in front of them doesn’t bode well, but Patterson squinted and adlibbed until some candles were found and the lights finally restored.

Heaney and Longley both appeared in order to share their recollections of times spent with Carson, as did Sinead Morrissey, Ian Sansom and Paul Maddern. Longley reminisced of when he and Carson encountered a rabbit on a Polish train, and Queen’s creative writing lecturer Morrissey confessed that her boss had inadvertently come up with the subject and title of her own dedicatory poem, 'Cycling at Sea Level'.

Heaney noted the birthday boy’s impact on Irish poetry and his role in the success of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. After reading a number of poems, the Nobel Prize winning poet apologised for having taken up so much of our time – ‘but then it is my centre, after all,’ he joked.

The poetry readings concluded with Patterson name-dropping a certain popular arts and entertainment website, referencing our My Cultural Life series. Recently we spoke to fellow Queen’s writer Leontia Flynn, who revealed Carson to be a source of worldly advice, and it is only fitting that we give the last word to Carson himself:

‘Eating food matters, playing music matters, writing poems matters, having kids matters. Everything else is just auld lies.'

From the Small Back Room , edited by W.R. Irvine, is published by Netherlea and priced at £15. Available from Waterstones, The Bookshop at Queen's, No Alibis, Queen's University Visitors' Centre, or from Netherlea by telephoning 028 9081 2105 or emailing wrirvine@gmail.com.

Hilary Copeland

George Best The Movie - But Not The Museum

Best, a 90-minute factual drama account of how alcoholism destroyed the career of one of Belfast's most celebrated sons, has begun filming in the city, the Daily Mirror reports.

In the film, which is due to be screened on BBC Two in Spring 2009, award-winning Northern Ireland writer Terry Caffola creates a fictional account based on real life events to chart the once tee-total Anne Best's descent into alcoholism at the same time as her son George's meteoric rise to football fame.

Set in the 1960s and early 1970s in Belfast and Manchester, the film stars actor Tom Payne (26) as the troubled footballer. Payne was recently tipped as one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow.

Best is financed through the Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI, and I think we would all agree that it's great to see the arts in Northern Ireland putting money behind such an important, if tragic, story.

It seems a crying shame, then, that the same care isn't being taken with preserving George Best's estate for future generations. For over three months Best's family home in Burren Way in the Cregagh estate in east Belfast has been up for sale on the open market.

Priced at £165,000 the house has yet to be sold - the credit crunch and the downturn in the NI housing market seem to have put pay to a quick sale. But it seems certain that, sooner or later, Best's childhood home will disappear and become just another terrace house.

Speaking to CultureNorthernIreland, Neil Templeton, from the estate agents dealing with the property, Templeton Robinson, says, 'there's been a good bit of interest [in the house]. It's proving very popular.'

When the house first went on the market many called on Castlereagh Council to turn Best's first home into a museum of his life, but the council has shown no sign of purchasing the house.

Liverpool has already opened John Lennon's childhood home to tourists, which begs the question: why are we neglecting the legacy of one of NI's most famous sons? Granted Best had his flaws, but given that his name is already used on Belfast's city airport it would be hypocritical not to buy the house because of his failings.

Do you think CNI should club together its pennies and made a bid? Or should the council loosen its purse strings a little and make the cash available? Or maybe you think Best's childhood home shouldn't be remembered at all? Let us know what your thoughts on the future of 16 Burren Way.

Peter Geoghegan

Conservation and Brewing Unite in Cathedral Quarter

This evening PS², one of the city's leading art spaces in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter, is hosting a unique joint launch - the opening of The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society's campaign to preserve at risk buildings in the Cathedral Quarter and the launch of a new ‘Cathedral Quarter’ ale.

It is seldom that building conservation, urban activism, beer brewing and leisure come so close together. And it's a great opportunity to show your concern for the future of the Cathedral Quarter and quaff some fine ale.

To highlight the plight of the area, The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society have created a beermat featuring at risk buildings in the Cathedral Quarter - including the home of PS², which is due to be demolished.

With the clear conviction that pub and public outcry will go hand in hand, the text on the reverse of the beermat warns: 'Without the support of enterprising local businesses like the John Hewitt and the Duke of York this important Conservation Area will lose the architectural interest that makes it so special.

'The development of the Cathedral Quarter must be a concern for everyone with any interest in the future of the arts in Northern Ireland, so get down and have a drink and make some noise.'

Check out the UAHS website (www.uahs.org.uk) for more details on how you can make a difference.

Hammer Horror Hits Irish Border

Long held as the legendary deliverer of classic horror movies full of gothic gore, vampires and the occult from the late 1950s through to the 1970s, Hammer is being revived for the 21st century - here in Ireland. Pettigo, an Irish border village located between Fermanagh and Donegal, was the backdrop for the filming of The Wake Wood, a dark tale of family life gone wrong.

A heavily wooded and picturesque village, Pettigo is a fine and atmospheric location for a movie of the Hammer genre, with it’s own ghostly legends and distinctive heritage, - it was the regular haunt of the notorious Highwayman Black Frank McHugh, who was hanged in Enniskillen in 1788.

Due for release in 2009, this will be the first Hammer Horror production since 1976’s To the Devil a Daughter and follows in the footsteps of classics such as The Devil Rides Out, Rasputin the Mad Monk and Dracula – Prince of Darkness.

Ireland, a country rich in heritage, mythology and legend, with a diverse landscape, has seen previous Hammer movies filmed on it’s shores, such as Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) and The Viking Queen (1966).

In its heyday, Hammer attracted such screen legends as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The Wake Wood will star Irish actors Aidan Gillen (The Wire) and Eva Birthistle (Ae Fond Kiss) along with Timothy Spall of Harry Potter fame. The story centres around a nine year old girl named Alice, who dies tragically at the jaws of a psychotic dog. Her parents relocate to a remote village and it is here that they learn of a pagan ritual that may allow them to see their beloved daughter once more. With consequences of course.

From the dark castles, shadowy corridors and candle-lit ambience of the past, Hammer's latest offering is set in the modern day. Horror enthusiasts await The Wake Wood with baited breath and hope it lives up to the spirit of its predecessors.

Hammer has been one of the undead for a while, now it’s time to brush off the cobwebs and see what arises. Do you think Hammer belongs in the cult vaults of it's nostalgic past or would benefit from a resurrection?

Visit the home of hammer horror on the web

Anne-Marie Marquess

Throw Eggs At Panto Stars!

Grand Opera House pantomime stars May Mc Fettridge and Olivia Nash have been left with egg on their faces after an interactive game featuring the actors being pelted with rotten eggs has taken the internet by storm.

The Mother Goose stars, currently locked in rehearsals ahead of opening night on Saturday, November 29, have been animated for the special email game which has been downloaded almost 30, 000 times to date.

Resident pantomime dame May McFettridge, returning to the Grand Opera House for a record-breaking eighteenth year, joked:

'People in Belfast have been threatening to throw eggs at me for years, so this is their chance!'

Play the EGGcellent Mother Goose game here

Z List X Factor Rejects Turn On The Belfast Lights

The turning on of the Christmas Lights, what a joyous occasion it is. As an event, it provides families a rare opportunity to venture into town after dark and expect to make it home alive, and city councils the chance to pull out all the stops and put their city on the cultural map.

This year the cheering crowds in London were rewarded with McFly and Sugababes. No doubt Justin Timberlake or some other bling-bedazzled celebrity will hit the switch in New York’s Times Square.

And Belfast? It’s a town on the up. City Council was bound to attract the cream of the entertainment crop. Girls Aloud, perhaps. Or Take That. I mean we can’t expect real musicians, but they would have done the job.

Instead, who do we get? I mean, seriously. I’ve forgotten. Give me five minutes to trawl Google. It’s a powerful search engine, it can detect Z list celebrities at one-hundred mega paces.

Same Difference (aka Sean and Sarah Smith), as I’m sure your little nephews and nieces will know, are a brother and sister combo from Portsmouth who specialise in an outdated brand of Butlins pop, and who came an astonishing third place in the 2007 season of X Factor. Manchester had Shayne Ward. At least he won something!

Sure enough, the crowds at City Hall enjoyed themselves, and you can’t discredit Same Difference for doing what they do adequately, which is to pull cheesy smiles, sing out of tune and get the people bouncing. You earned your fee, Same Difference. Please never come back here ever again.

It’s a shame that City Council didn’t look a little closer to home for their Christmas Lights entertainment. Duke Special I’m sure would have put on a show. Foy Vance is no Leon Jackson (Google him), but he knows how to play the guitar and stuff. Which is nice.

I suppose we should count ourselves lucky. In Derry, they had ‘Sean Tully’ from Coronation Street. Come to think of it, he’s probably L list. Way to go Derry!

If you held the reins of power, who would you have booked to thrill the crowds in your home town?

Lee Henry

What's The Situation With The Toll Trolls?

You may not know their names, but you're bound to recognise their voices. Two years ago they cracked up the nation, lampooning the people of Northern Ireland for their strange, foreign accents and incessant use of the word 'situation', via text message, email and radio.

Now everyone's favourite squeaky-voiced comedians, the Toll Trolls are travelling north to compere two evenings of fun and frolics as part of the Grand Opera House's Festive Funnies comedy season.

Featuring the likes of Phil Jupitus, Jake O'Kane and Colin Murphy, Festive Funnies will be a welcome diversion from the Christmas rush. The Toll Trolls are set to compere two nights in the style of grumpy old men, Statler and Waldorf, from The Muppets.

In anticipation of their visit, the Toll Trolls - who can be heard on Dublin's 98FM - recorded their latest thoughts on the state of the north. Click here to listen, and let us know if you agree!

Find out more about Festive Funnies at the Grand Opera House, November 28 - December 19

Does Religion Cause Wars or Troubles?

Is religion a bad thing or is bad religion the root cause of many internecine conflicts in the world today? Philosopher and theologian Professor James Mackey hopes to answer these and other questions when he delivers this week’s inaugural Magee Special Lecture hosted by the University of Ulster.

The intriguingly titled lecture, 'Does Religion Cause Wars (or Troubles)?' takes place in the Great Hall at the Magee Campus on Thursday November 13 at 7pm.

Outlining the crux of his argument, Professor Mackey says it is misleading to describe the Troubles as a conflict between protestants and catholics - both of which are religious terms.

'The Troubles should really be described as an on-going conflict between unionists, who are in large part descendants of the Planters dating back to the Elizabethan era, and nationalists, who are in large part descendants of the indigenous population of Northern Ireland.'

Admitting that confusion over the terminology used to describe the conflict presented an interesting conundrum, Professor Mackey said it also raised questions about the possible relationship between religion and conflict.

'I plan to approach this question through an analysis of sectarianism in religion, taking a scenic tour round world religions and looking back through history, to consider whether the sectioning off of religions from each other - in other words, sectarian processes, or the sectioning off of sects or churches within particular religions - reveal some basic religious endorsement of conflict.

'Since these processes occur very widely in world religions, this raises the question - as many humanists would assert - is religion itself a trouble-maker and generally speaking a bad thing? Or is it bad religion that helps at least to cause such internecine conflicts between or within human societies?'

Without the belief in the abstract concept of a higher power, would mankind co-exist in perfect harmony? Or would the world be a duller place without such religious by-products as gospel music, the Salvation Army, and Daniel O'Donnell? Let us know what you think.

Lazy Sunday Afternoons at Belfast's Black Market

Sunday, bloody Sunday. Never anything on, nothing to do and far too much time to do it in. If, like Alan Partridge, you find yourself washing the car or cleaning the house on the day of rest then fear not, help may be at hand.

Starting on 23 November Belfast's Black Box will be home to the first of a monthly Black Market featuring stalls jam packed full of the best in craft, books, art, records, vintage clothing, zines, jewellery, bric-a-brac, food, drink and much more.

With a laid back atmosphere and eclectic offerings the Black Market promises to be the perfect antidote to the anodyne Sunday.

Coming with a guarantee that there will be 'no chance of extreme pocket weightloss', the Black Market sounds like the perfect place to do some Christmas shopping without feeling the bite of the credit crunch. And with so many weird and wonderful surprises among the stalls you should be able to pick up some unique - and thrift friendly - crimbo gifts.

There will also be mulled wine aplenty to swig as you hoke around the stalls and some fine home cooked and baked food to keep the energy up.

The inaugural Black Market takes place from 1 to 5 pm in the Black Box. Admission is free, so put down that garden hose and get yourself down for a proper Sunday excursion - you can even capture the moment for posterity by getting your portrait painted by resident artist Duncan Ross.

Celeb Spotting In The City

It’s comedy central here in Belfast. Spotted this week, Frank Skinner in Bishop's Chip Shop on Bradbury Place. This must have been before he headed down to the BBC for his appearance on The Nolan Show.

Last week, the dashing Dylan Moran was also spotted in the Linen Hall Library, browsing round the books for sale. Well, he's no stranger to book shops. He was here as part of the Belfast Festival line up.

Who’s next? Ed Byrne, perhaps? Or maybe even Julian Barratt of The Mighty Boosh. Now that would be nice.

Anyone else spotted anyone interesting recently?

Anne-Marie Marquess

Remembering Another Side of the Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War remains one of the bloodiest internecine conflicts the world has ever seen. The conflict between Nationalists and Republicans cost 580,000 lives, brought General Franco to power and bequeathed a legacy of division that still lives on in modern day Spain.

On one side the forces of the Fascists – propped up by Hitler and Mussolini – on the other the anarchists, communists and assorted leftists, many from abroad…Hitler vs Hemingway. Put like that it’s hardly surprising that the story of the Spanish Civil War so enthralled me as a secondary school student.

If you also grew up with tales of the daring deeds of the Irishmen of the International Brigades then the International Brigade Commemoration Committee’s (IBCC) upcoming events might be up your street. From November 6-9 the IBCC are hosting a number of talks and social nights across Belfast to celebrate for the 80th anniversary of the Brigadista’s leaving of Spain.

Northern Ireland contributed many men to the Connolly Column – the name of the 250-strong Irish contingent of the International Brigades - including Paul Burns, Jackie Hunt, Bill Henry, Willie O'Hanlon, Ben Murray, Fred McMahon and the Tyrone-born poet Charles Donnelly (who famously said, as he lay dying at the Battle of Jarama, ‘even the olives are bleeding’).

It is right and fitting that these brave socialists are not forgotten but it is probably also worth remembering that Ireland was the only country where pro-Franco volunteers outnumbered republican volunteers. Led by that infamous son of Castleblaney, County Monaghan, Eoin O’Duffy, the Irish Brigade organised to fight the evils of communism and uphold Catholic Spain (ironically directly against the advice of the Church itself) numbered some 700.

Unlike the Connolly Column, which saw action at the front with the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the Irish Brigade saw little fighting. Advancing towards the front line at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937, they were mistaken by nationalists for republican foreign volunteers and several of their men were killed and injured in the ensuing fire fight. Thereafter, the Brigade was deliberately kept out of the front lines until Franco requested that they return to Ireland not long afterwards.

Ireland’s past dalliances with fascism have been almost totally buried in the seventy years since, but perhaps are worth remembering before we all go congratulating ourselves on our radical credentials.

O’Duffy was undoubtedly a narrow minded populist attracted to authoritarianism but he wasn’t the only leading Irish Spanish Civil War volunteer to cuddle up with Hitler. Frank Ryan - republican socialist, member of Soar Eire, and leading figure in the Connolly Column – died not in the fields of Andalusia, or in Franco’s prison but in Dresden, in 1944, as an invited guest of the Nazi regime.

After being arrested and sentenced to death in Spain for his actions with the International Brigade during the civil war Ryan had his sentence commuted and was eventually given to the Abwehr, German intelligence services, and brought to Nazi Germany. There he palled around with IRA leader Frank Russell, wrote radio speeches for the controversial writer and wartime broadcaster Francis Stuart and hatched plans to help the Nazis invade Ireland.

Ryan’s actions epitomise the cynicism that so quickly set in among many would-be revolutionary leaders (as Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia shows all too well), and, for that, he is probably the Brigadista whose life tells us most about the world we still live in. Shame, then, there aren’t any talks about Frank Ryan and his tumultuous life penciled in by IBCC.

Peter Geoghegan

Join Tinderbox To Ring In US Election

Gripped by US election fever but don't fancy spending the whole night in front of your television glued to BBC News 24? Wanna whoop and holler for McCain or Obama without waking up the neighbours? Well, maybe tonight's Swing State Caberet could be just the ticket for you.

Organised by Tinderbox theatre company, the event at McCracken's Bar, Joy Street in Belfast's city centre promises to provide the perfect antidote to all that dry political commentary. As well as performance, new writing and music it will include plenty of quiz prizes - and all with a US election theme and one eye on the results as they unfold.

Writers appearing to give their thoughts on the only news item on today's agenda include John Clancy (US), David Ireland (Ireland), Kris Halpin (US) and Abbie Spallen (Ireland).

The evening kicks off at 9 in McCracken's, but get there prompt folks, the polls close early on this one and you don't want to miss it!

Barack Obama, Saviour of the NI Arts Scene

This week sees the most compelling of US Presidential races in decades come to a head, with either Barack Obama or John McCain soon to be hailed as chief of the Free World.

What will the result mean for the arts in Northern Ireland? Well, believe it or not, there will undoubtedly be a reaction within the NI arts community, and in the work it produces. No more caricatured portraits of George Dubya Bush, splattered with red paint. No more…

Ah, who am I trying to kid? There will be no reaction within the NI arts community. There will be very little consequence for Northern Ireland as a whole. The guns have been decommissioned. The reins of power have been taken up. The Troubles have been and gone, and God willing, will never return.

Northern Ireland is no longer on the international agenda. Obama or McCain might call round for a cup of tea once in a while, but the Americans' work here is done.

We can but sit back, tune in, and rock the hell out when Barack Obama, the coolest, most inspirational American leader since JFK, finally assumes his position as the first black president, heralding a new era of inclusive world politics. At least for the next four-to-eight years. Then it’s Palin’s turn.

God help us all.

Lee Henry

Happy Halloween from CultureNI!

Happy Halloween everyone! We hope you have a truly spooktacular week-end full of fun and frights. If you are at a loose end, you can try searching our Culture Live! listings for a suitably scary show or ghastly event. Be sure to get out to some ghostly happenings...

Halloween Happenings on Culture Live!

Christine Bleakley, Queen of the Dancefloor

We’re an envious, spiteful bunch, us Northern Irish. A people who understand Gore Vidal’s maxim that ‘every time a friend of mine succeeds, a little part of me dies’, only too well.

As a result, we like nothing better than to see celebrities, having risen to the heights, pulled viciously back down to earth by filthy tabloid hacks and their filthy tabloid editors.

Many of us were inevitably salivating, then, when the BBC announced that our very own Christine Bleakley would be taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. No doubt a large proportion of the populace would support her from the start, but others couldn’t wait until the tabloid knives came out.

I had my own reason for awaiting the downfall that was surely to come - a column that Bleakley used to write for Sunday Life, in which she would document her Friday or Saturday nights out on the town with ‘the girls’.

It was as narcissistic a column as had ever been given over to print, a forum for shameless name-dropping, full of Z List soap stars, footballers' wives and naff cocktails.

I wanted to see sex scandal, an embarrassing lack of rhythm, bad dance moves and an early exit. Yet Bleakley has shown herself to be a humble, good-humoured person, and a talented dancer – a credit to her envious, spiteful little country. CultureNorthernIreland wishes her well.

Lee Henry

Theatre-goers Beware The Hoods Of College Square North

It was all going so well. There we were, my lady friend and I, enjoying the Association of Regional Theatres’ production of Sean O’Casey’s classic play, Juno and the Paycock, at the Grand Opera House; high on the magic of theatre, discussing the finer points of Irish dialogue and the frustrating habits of thoughtless audience members, when, by some cruel twist of fate, we found ourselves hurtling back to earth with a horrible bump.

‘You’d think they’d turn their mobile phones off during the play,’ said my lady friend, as we walked along College Square North toward our parked transport. ‘And mouthing the lines along with the actors! It’s not cabaret. I don’t know, some people!’

And there it was: my beautiful car, minus four of her windows, smashed to smithereens with a selection of footprints dirtying up her shining bonnet and miraculously intact front window.

The little spide rascals! The infuriating skally ragamuffins! How could they do this to me and my beautiful car?! The radio still in place. The CDs undisturbed. Even the tubs of McDonald’s barbeque sauce left to gather dust in the back seat – I’d have thought they would have killed for those!

But they hadn’t touched a thing. It was all for badness. And all that the police could say was: ‘It happens round here a lot. You shouldn’t park on College Square North, that’s for sure.’

Well thank you very much, John Q Law. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. Perhaps a sign or two might have helped me to make up my mind not to park there in the first place. A big, flashing neon sign, in fact, declaring for all to see that ‘Here Operate Car Thieves and Vandals!’

Now I’m not saying they should bring back the death penalty, but I believe that here, in Northern Ireland, we might learn a thing or two from the Chinese in relation to delivering punishment to criminals – and even to rather useless policemen and women in turn.

When such Chinese criminals are caught, in some cases they are given two choices: jail time or an altogether more constructive punishment, of which I recently became aware via a fishing programme on digital television.

You see there’s this lake, high up in the mountains, which the locals use to farm fish. Stocks need to be replenished on a regular basis, but the lake is located very high up the mountain indeed, and takes several days to reach on foot.

So what the locals do is send criminals up the mountain in their place, with a heavy bucket of water strapped to their backs containing fish bound for the lake. Not only does this affect the criminal physically, it also allows them time to meditate on the wrongfulness of their crimes and to repent within themselves.

Which got me to thinking: what might we do here, in Northern Ireland, along the same lines – assuming, of course, that the police manage to catch the criminals in the first place. ‘We could take footprints for you, down at CSI. Can’t promise anything though,’ said the hapless policewoman.

Well, how about having criminals climb up onto the roofs of our older buildings to replace broken tiles, with no safety harness? There’s an element of danger and effort involved on the criminal’s part, as well as a resulting benefit to the city. Or perhaps we could have them push the cars that they have mindlessly vandalised all the way to the glass specialists and back, safe and sound, to the home of their victims, where they complete their punishment by sweeping the driveway clean with a toothbrush?

These are my suggestions, but feel free to make some of your own. And remember, good, law-abiding readers of Northern Ireland’s bestest arts and culture website, if you do happen to venture into town to enjoy an evening of theatre or music or whatever tickles your fancy, for God’s sake, beware the Hoods of College Square North!

Lee Henry

Like All Good Irish Stories This One Started In a Bar

The Political Collection of the Linen Hall Library in Belfast celebrated its 40th anniversary this week. According to Yvonne Murphy, the librarian responsible for managing the collection, ‘Like all good Irish stories this one started in a bar’.

A previous librarian, Jimmy Vity, was handed a Civil Rights leaflet in a Belfast bar in October 1968 and instead of throwing it out, he made the pioneering decision that the library should collect such material.

At a 40th anniversary celebration in the library, Murphy pointed out that librarians are often regarded as being charismatically challenged and that she loved the image of her predecessors ‘climbing over smoky barricades and boldly going where no librarian had gone before’ in order to add to their collection!
From these humble beginnings, the Linen Hall Library now has over 300,000 items in it's political collection and growing.

Murphy thanked Lord Mayor Tom Hartley for the 3000 pamphlets he had donated, pointing out that he could have sold them to other libraries. On giving his speech, Hartley pointed out: 'The reality is this. I didn’t know my pamphlet collection was worth £200,000 when I handed it over!’

After the humorous comment, he pointed out how unique the collection was and the need to protect it: ‘You don’t find an archive of this standard anywhere else.’

Hartley went on to say that the library staff were guardians of something quite precious for the city and encouraged people to support the library by becoming a member. He urged all those interested in history to ‘discover the wonderment’ of the collection.

Anne-Marie Marquess

‘Troubled Images’a selection of posters and memorabilia from the political collection is currently on display in the Linen Hall Library until October 28.

View images online and learn more about ‘Troubled Images’.

Photo of Lord Mayor Tom Hartley and Yvonne Murphy courtesy of Jim Corr.

Calling All Wannabes to 'Busk Til Dusk'

Finally, Belfast’s buskers have something to really sing about (and I’m not thinking of the fake plastic Christmas trees in Argos here). This year, Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce has teamed up with Belfast Guitar Emporium and Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival to create ‘Busk Til Dusk’, Belfast’s first busking competition.

If you have ever felt the urge to sing on the street (without the aid of a skinful of pints, a Sambuca and the prospect of a trip to Thompson’s) now could be your chance. From 2 to 9pm on Wednesday 5 through to Friday 7 November at various locations around Belfast city centre buskers will be given the opportunity to pick up a guitar and play.

And for all the wannabe buskers out there the prize couldn’t be greater. The winner, to be decided by a public vote, receives an eight-hour recording studio session, a £100 gift voucher from Belfast Guitar Emporium, a gig at the Nashville festival and a pass to the Songwriters Convention. Not band for a few hours spent straining your larynx on the streets.

It’s great to see Belfast’s Chamber of Commerce encouraging what can be an integral part of any vibrant city centre - as anyone who travelled on the London Underground prior to the GLC’s over zealous regulation of street performers will testify.

Whether you view buskers as irritating street urchins or inspiring urban troubadours, they certainly brighten up any city. From Barcelona to Berlin, many European city streets at night time are full of people wandering around to the soundtrack of some unknown busker with a guitar and the hope of making a quick couple of quid.

And then you walk through Belfast city centre any night of the week and what do you hear? Silence. Loud, thundering, inescapable silence – occasionally punctured by the shouts of drunken revellers. So why not try something different by keeping the busking festival open into the wee hours? Why stop at dusk instead of dawn?

It’s been a long held ambition of the powers that be to have a night time economy blossom in the city centre but, as yet, success has been minimal. All the convenience stores close before nine, all the coffee shops much earlier. Wouldn’t be nice then if just for a few nights the tumbleweeds blew through town to the sound of Oasis and the Beatles instead of silence?

Peter Geoghegan

Lock Up Your Cash Registers - The Yanks Are Coming To Town

Despite the credit crunch, American investment in the Belfast economy continued apace last week with the opening of Maggiano’s Restaurant in Victoria Square.

Owned by the Brinker International group, based in Dallas, Texas, Maggiano’s promotes itself as ‘one of the quintessential Italian-American success stories’. Its Victoria Square unit is Maggiano’s 42nd store, and the first to open this side of the Atlantic.

Such news begs the question: is this the beginning of the Yankification of Belfast city centre? And if so, is that such a bad thing?

Maggiano’s are confident that their Belfast venture will be a success, and they’re not the only ones. A much-publicised American investment conference in July saw major American investment promised in the Northern Irish IT and financial sectors, and the development of the Titanic Quarter is thanks largely to the Benjamin's of American businessmen.

Such investment is sure to create thousands of jobs in the long run, and go some way to re-branding Belfast city as a desirable tourist destination. The economy will continue to grow, the city will look better, and her residents, as well as her visitors, will have many more things to do with their time and money – like eat in Italian-American restaurants.

The Irish love nothing better than to holiday in the States. We love shopping in Manhattan, the vibe in LA, the attractions in Disneyland, and the huge portions of food that we find along the way - steaks in TGI Friday’s, hoggey sandwichs, and chocolate brownies that would burst a tire if you happened to drive over one.

And yet the thought of big, boisterous American businessmen sticking their fingers into the Northern Irish, post-conflict pie turns many an Irish stomach. Why? Isn’t the thought of Disneyland Belfast an attractive one? Wouldn’t the city centre be so much more appealing if it boasted a Wendy’s, an Arbie’s, a huge, sprawling Taco Bell – a Trump Towers, Andersonstown?

Maybe not for Belfast residents, but certainly for tourists. And as a result, our pockets and wallets would swell along with the American’s. So here’s to the Yankification of Belfast City. God knows, we don't have enough Italian restaurants as it is.

Lee Henry

Titanic City Of Ember

Belfast is a city on the rise, as far as movie locations are concerned. City of Ember, a fantasy sci-fi adventure of Hollywood proportions, has it’s European premiere tonight here, in Belfast’s Movie House Cinema.

Funded and filmed in Northern Ireland, it was shot in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter during the summer of 2007.

Based on a book by Jeanne DuPrau, it paints a dystopian future about an underground world that people are forced to flee to when the earth's atmosphere becomes poisonous. The heroes are children trying to save a world plunged into darkness.

You'd Be Quackers To Miss It

As the autumn rain lashes down outside, it doesn’t exactly inspire you to want to take to the water. But come spring 2009 you can do it in style and without getting wet! Because, for the first time ever in Belfast, you can take a ‘Duck Tour’.

Think along the lines of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang meets James Bond. Innovative vehicles that can adapt to different terrains. This isn’t any normal tour bus, because the bright yellow hybrid vehicle can travel on both land and sea.

Coleraine tour operator Robert Wilson is the brains behind the new tour, which will spend some time on the open road and the rest of the time floating along the Lagan!

Duck Tours exist in other cities around the world, but it’s the first time we will see such a novel attraction in Northern Ireland. It's sure to generate excitement. This is one bird that’s bound to ruffle your feathers!

You can register your interest in taking a Duck Tour by visiting the Belfast Duck Tours website.

Anne-Marie Marquess

Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays?

‘The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody’s gonna go to school today
She’s gonna make them stay at home…’

As another week begins, have any of you got that Monday morning feeling? That awful feeling that can even start to creep up on you on a Sunday evening. Why is it that Monday mornings are filled with rain, awful traffic, road diversions and stress in your bid to make it through the door on time and get through another working week?

'I Don't Like Mondays' was a hit song from The Boomtown Rats, reaching number one in the UK Charts for 4 consecutive weeks in 1979. Sir Bob Geldof wrote the song after hearing about a 16-year-old school girl who went on a shooting spree in California.

Brenda Ann Spencer ended up killing two people and injuring nine. When asked why she did it, her explanation was ‘I don’t like Mondays’. Disturbing stuff. So just what is it about Mondays that provokes such negativity in people? And in this case, drives them to murder? To ‘shoot the whole day down’.

Is it because it signals the end of the week-end, the end of the freedom to do with your time as you will, the beginning of another 9-5 work week or school routine? The having to get up early and spend another week in a way you mightn’t necessarily choose to spend it? The lack of control in your own destiny? Why did Miss Spencer hate Monday’s so much?

Who knows? But what can we do to end this horrible Monday morning feeling? It seems it will always exist and we just have to learn to cope with it as best we can. Would we have it if we were self employed, unemployed, a millionaire? Does everybody get it? Well according to Spencer, ‘Nobody likes Mondays’.

And so this iconic song resonates, forever the pivotal tune, symbolising that Monday morning feeling that just ‘is’.

I'm sure Geldof gets this feeling himself from time to time. Even though he is a successful musician and speaker and not short of a bob or two. He has recently added more European dates to his latest tour and recorded two tracks for the latest Jools Holland album, a collaboration called Moving Out To The Country, due for release on November 20.

The song that Spencer's parents tried to get banned, and that gave The Boomtown Rats their second number one single has taken Sir Bob a long way.

A M Marquess

Budget Luxury Hotel Opens in Cathedral Quarter

'From derelict Belfast ruin to luxury hotel' proclaimed yesterday's Belfast Telegraph on the eve of the opening of the new Premier Inn Hotel in the Four Corners Building at the junction of Waring Street and Donegall Street in the city's Cathedral Quarter.

Luxury hotel. Premier Inn. Though they are probably the best of the budget hotels (the competition isn't exactly fierce - as anyone who has ever stayed at a Welcome Inn will testify), to describe the chain as 'luxury' smacks of self-conscious exaggeration.

The Four Corners development has been on-going for a number of years and comes with a hefty £15 million price tag - but it's hard to escape the feeling that if the aim was to further develop the Cathedral Quarter brand by the addition of a boutique hotel the Laganside Corporation have scored something of an own goal.

The Cathedral Quarter has traded off its proximity to the Art College and its location in a city which is often still seen as dangerous and edgy to fashion an international reputation as a hip, trendy neighbourhood. How much of this is justified, and how much is just spin and paper talk, is open for debate, but what is surely beyond question is the need to protect and cultivate this 'cool' brand.

Unfortunately, it seems that the subtleties of this exercise are not fully understood by those with their hands on the levers of power. The Minister for Social Development, Margaret Ritchie, might well believe that a Premier Inn will 'revitalise Cathedral Quarter and the wider city centre', but, in fact, it actually draws attention to the vacuity and relative cultural poverty of development in the Cathedral Quarter.

Much has been made of the efforts to preserve the building's frontage. A former bank, the paper tells us, commandeered for a military tribunal for the trial and sentencing of Henry Joy McCracken in 1798 - so why, then, was The Telegraph's piece accompanied by a picture taken before the redevelopment?

Of course it would be churlish to suggest that this was because, while the over zealous polishing has given the original stone work a fake look, as our photo shows the hotel's extension on its Waring Street end is ugly and unsympathetic.

The Cathedral Quarter itself is not exactly the artistic zone it is often dolled up to be. Aside from a few interesting galleries there really is precious little to it. The few decent, old bars are rapidly being overrun by vulgar, pretentious drinking holes full of fools parting with their money quicker than you can say 'Belfast's hip, happening, cultural centre'.

And now the city authorities have thrown a budget hotel smack bang in the centre of it. With its cheap rooms and dining facilites, and its location across the street from the barn that is the Northern Whig, it's not hard to see the Premier Inn 'revitalising' our 'cultural quarter' by helping it to overtake Edinburgh and Newcastle as the stag/hen destination of choice.

If, and its starting to look like a massive if, the Cathedral Quarter is going to develop as an interesting, unique cultural space its regeneration needs to be far more subtle and measured than is currently the case. Planning applications and future development must be considered in the light of building upon, rather than destroying, the area's unique architectural and locational features – that is one ‘luxury’ that the Cathedral Quarter really needs right now.

Gramophone Awards for Ulster Orchestra Artists

Paul Lewis, in Belfast this week to play a Beethoven Piano Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra, has just received not one, but two, prestigious Gramophone Awards.

Both awards, Record of the Year and the Instrumental Award, were bestowed for Lewis's recent recording of Beethoven Piano Sonatas on the Harmonia Mundi label.

Lewis's is a remarkable achievement, though perhaps not surprising for a protégé of Alfred Brendel and one of today’s most exciting young pianists.

As if that’s not enough, recent soloist with the Ulster Orchestra, violinist Tasmin Little, received the Innovation Award at the Gramophone Awards for her project The Naked Violin.

The Ulster Orchestra continue their Flights of Fancy series this coming Friday with the orchestra's leader, David Adams, playing Rimsky-Korsakov’s tale of a thousand and one nights, Sheherazade. The conductor will be Jac van Steen, returning by popular demand after his success last season.

The Sun Warms to Belfast-born Turner Prize Nominee

You know the Turner Prize short list has been announced when The Sun includes a column by its 'art critic' (though the name Toulouse Le Plot on the by line suggests he doesn't spend the 364 days away from The Sun's art desk writing for Art Forum).

Over the last 10 or 15 years, the Turner Prize has become a by-word for everything that is po-faced and elitist about modern art. Whether it's Tracey Emin's bed or Grayson Perry's mugs, the prize has tended to provoke public derision rather than debate.

Today marks the opening of the Turner Prize exhibition at the Tate Modern in London at which all four artists on the shortlist are exhibiting their work. Included in this year's selection is Belfast-born artist Cathy Wilkes, and Mr Le Plot and The Sun seem particularly attracted to her entry.

'Arty Farty' screams the headline. 'Naked dummy on loo is Turner Prize Entry' appears above a couple of photos of Wilkes' piece, which is basically two supermarket checkouts manned by two nude, outlandishly attired mannequins, one with a birdcage on her head.

'Ze installation artwork, featuring a naked dummy sitting on a toilet, is sure to be panned by ze public', Le Plot continues in his best faux French accent. It may be dissed by the public, but for Wilkes any publicity, even The Sun's purile commentary, will probably count as good publicity.

Surely, though, it's about time the tired elitism of the Turner Prize was shaken up again - in 1994, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty (of the K Foundation/KLF fame) gazumped the prize by awarding £40,000 (double the Turner pay check) to Rachael Whitehead for 'worst artist of the year' five hours before the judges announced her Turner winner. Wouldn't it be something if this year a Northern Irish artist was similarly ‘honoured’ with the K Foundation Award?

Credit Crunch Squeezes Open House Festival

As economic forecasts grow ever gloomier there seems be no escaping the downturn- just ask the organisers of last weekend's Belfast Open House Festival.

Open House may be an eccentric celebration of all things roots and radical, but the anarchy wasn't confined to the stage.

Saturday night's line-up was unexpectedly thrown into chaos when the low-fare transatlantic carrier Zoom, due to deliver the nine-piece cluster-rock ensemble The Tom Fun Orchestra to their headline performance at the Black Box, went bust.

Luckily Belfast-based band The Delawares were able to step into the breach at short notice, but it just goes to show that the credit crunch is pinching us all, and in some unlikely places.

Why are The Guardian Media Group swooning over Belfast?

Ever wondered what Belfast looks like from 10,000 feet overhead? Or longed to get a closer look at the highlights of OrangeFest but were too afraid to ask?

Well The Guardian Media Group has, if last weekend's love-in with the city is anything to go by.

Included in this Saturday's edition of The Guardian was a 16-page photo-essay supplement on Belfast by the world renowned photographer Martin Parr. The latest in Parr's 'British Cities' series for the British broadsheet, the images were taken around the July 12th celebrations, showing everything from unlit bonfire pyres to snaps taken from an open-top tourist bus.

Then, on Sunday, The Guardian's sister paper The Observer came with a colourful A3 aerial photograph of Belfast (although it took me a while to work out exactly what it was, the city just doesn't look the same upside down).

So why are these newspapers, more used to giving away 'quirky' wall charts of fruit and veg and plant species, suddenly swooning over Belfast? Perhaps their readers want to see the much vaunted transformation. Or maybe they are just trying to attract an audience in this part of the world.

The reason for this sudden fascination with Belfast may not be clear, but it'll certainly be interesting to see whether it's just yet another brief fling with the city by the British media or the start of something a bit more serious.

David Healy, Face of the Non-Place

Do you ever get the feeling you’re seeing a bit too much of David Healy? Yeah, I know he scored that goal, and no one has done more to drag the national team's world ranking above that of such football luminaries as Botswana and Papua New Guinea, but does he really need to be so damned ubiquitous?

I’ve not got anything against the man, personally. Honest. He’s definitely far more deserving of an honorific mural in east Belfast than the local Team UDA (though they do look menacing as ever in that fetching all black strip). Healy’s club career hasn’t exactly set the word on fire, but his goal scoring record for ‘the province’ is up there with anyone in world football. Period.

But quite how a goal every two games at international level and a mighty whack at the shins of the Auld Enemy warrants The David Healy Flagship Centre escapes me. Not content with borrowing the name of ‘The People’s Hero’ (TM, The Belfast Telegraph), this snappily titled commercial venture, Bangor’s main shopping centre, proudly sports across its bow a ten-foot tall, artistically impoverished rendition of Killyleagh’s favourite (I’m beginning to think only) son.

Would anyone in their right mind really want to lend their name (not to mention their mug) to their local shopping centre? Admittedly the Geoghegan Complex has a certain ring to it, but I think I would balk when the artist pulled out his easel.

Maybe I’m being a bit hard on what is simply a crude attempt to personalise a particularly artificial environment. The French anthropologist Marc Augé coined the phrase ‘non-place’ to describe those transient places that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as a place.

Although Augé, who spent most of his life travelling the globe, primarily had airports in mind, he was also pretty convinced of the non-placeness of shopping centres.

In a country with a divided history it’s probably not surprising that we need our sporting figures to transform our non-places into places. I’m thinking here of George Best City Airport as well as Bangor’s Healy inspired plaza.

Nothing wrong with that, you might say. But even if it brightens up our non-places, can we really compare George Best and David Healy? The former won the European Cup, ran the show at the best club in world football and inspired millions. The latter scored against England. I have yet to hear of calls to rename Connolly Station in honour of Ray Houghton.

Healy’s club record is frankly sub-par. He’s spent the bulk of his career being shunted from one relegation threatened side to another. If his new boss Roy Keane’s broadside against his Sunderland team is anything to go by after they stuttered to a penalty shoot-out victory at Northampton in the League Cup last week (during which Healy was anonymous before being substituted at half-time), it could be a long, splinter-filled season for the smiling face of Bangor’s favourite non-place.

Though that won't stop us all having to see an awful lot of Healy in the months and, no doubt, years ahead.

The Growing Pains of Bruiser Theatre Company

News comes of a new patron for Bruiser Theatre Company, aged 10 and 3/4, at the opening night of their latest production The Case of the Frightened Lady.

Company manager Stephen Beggs revealed that none other than writer Sue Townsend, creator of the Adrian Mole books, was joining Bruiser as a patron, along with Duke Special and Dan Gordon.

The latter also addressed the audience at OMAC, describing himself as ‘an actor, luvvie and director of late'.

‘I’ve been hanging around a lot with Martin Lynch, that’s why I look like him now,’ said a bearded Gordon, before describing Bruiser as a very exciting company. ‘They tour to every hole in the hedge and take plays out to the people. That really floats my boat.'

Read a review of The Case of the Frightened Lady.

I Solemnly Swear To Watch 'The Wire'

The girls in the office are gushing in their praise. Nothing has ever come close. Not Coronation Street, not Sex In The City. This is the Linen Hall Library, and our women are harder than yours. Only The Wire will do.

I’ve read the reviews of the Baltimore-based crime drama. Apparently, it’s better than The Sopranos. Better than Oz. Better than sex with Helen of Troy. According to the critics, The Wire is most definately the bomb.

But the series had passed me by. Perhaps it had something to do with the late night scheduling, or the fact that here at CNI, the boss doesn’t let us watch TV anymore – we have far too much work to be getting on with! Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because the schedules are saturated with episodic crime dramas as it is, none of which ever tickled my fancy. Why should The Wire be any different?

Eventually the girls’ incessant chattering inspired me to take notice of the fact that something important was passing me by - a Shakespearean masterpiece, a veritable Greek tragedy, an on-going storyline that grips you from the start and - like the drug that so enraptures the crackhead snitch character Bubbles – keeps you hooked until the end.

So I borrowed Series I. There are five series of The Wire (the fifth being the last), and thirteen episodes in the first series alone. At the moment, I’m four episodes in.

It’s low budget, and that’s one of the reasons why I keep watching. Will the production look slicker in Series II, or will they maintain the gritty, 1970s cop-show feel of Series I? Is it a budgetary necessity, or an aesthetic one? For some reason, that interests me.

Currently, in my humble opinion, The Wire is nowhere near The Sopranos, every episode of which was a mini-movie in itself, up there with Goodfellas or – dare I say it – The Godfather at times. Right now, The Wire isn’t quite cutting the mustard. The dialogue is inspired at times, but the characterisation (I’m thinking knuckle head, pushy Irish cops Polk and Mahon, even if they are wonderfully named) can be stereotypical.

But I’ve learned a thing or two about how deep the divisions really run between competitive police departments in inner city US and A. It must be a nightmare for real-world cops. And a scene in which Jimmy McNulty and his partner Bunk Moreland work a crime scene – how did the girl get shot through the window? – is one of the funniest scenes in television crime drama history.

Working effortlessly in tandem, the two partners go through the motions in relative silence. The only word they use throughout is the word ‘fuck’. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck. It’s hilarious, yet it moves the story forward, and in the end they’ve solved the puzzle. Genius? That’s what the critics think.

So here beginnith my occasional The Wire blog. How will the characters develop? Will the dialogue get tighter, the plot more convoluted, the drugs harder and the low-rises higher? Only time will tell, if I manage to keep on watching.

In the meantime, why not tell us – and each other – what you think of The Wire? OK, so it has nothing to do with Northern Ireland, but that's not to say that it doesn't have an audience here. Make the CultureNorthernIreland blog your one-stop shop for the discussion of HBO’s latest cultural phenomenon. Go ahead, I dare you, punk.

Lee Henry

What Type of Cheese is Glenn Patterson?

If you were a cheese, what would you be? A ripe Camembert, hard piece of Cheddar, full-of-holes Emmenthal?

Glenn Patterson, resplendent in a blue velvet suit, is clearly a creamy Roquefort.

So the mind wanders at the launch of Patterson’s latest book, Once Upon A Hill on the top floor of Lisburn City (yes, it really is) Library.

A representative of the South Eastern Education & Library Board has just likened Patterson to Auden's hope for a poet 'to be, like some valley cheese, local but prized elsewhere'.

The compliments keep flowing, from novelist David Park, who as ‘something of a one trick pony’ is in awe of Patterson’s mastery of a range of literary genre, from journalism to essay writing to TV presenting. Patterson's new work was part memoir, part family history but ultimately a love story, Park concluded.

Like many of us, Park reads in bed before going to sleep, occasionally reading aloud a killer line to his wife. He’d already found one by page eight of Once Upon A Hill:

‘At times I felt as though I was inching back along a tunnel lit only by the match-flare of some chance remark, a snippet, a newspaper spill, and then all of a sudden the flame would gutter and I would find myself plastered against the tunnel wall as the past hurtled by, its carriages brightly lit, its passengers jabbering away nineteen to the dozen, on the wrong side of the glass, just this side of the blur.’

‘That sentence is a Tiger Woods golf shot!' Park gleefully told the audience.

David Holmes Launches Album With 'Secret' Gig

Trying to find an edgy, happening party in Belfast on a Saturday night is often a frustrating act undertaken only by the alcohol-fuelled and the desperate but last weekend party-lovers in the city were spoiled for choice.

On one side of town Terry Hooley was living up to his name with a bash to celebrate the opening of the latest incarnation of Good Vibrations near Smithfield market. But the hottest 'ticket' in town was surely the 'secret' launch for David Holmes' new album The Holy Pictures, which took place in the Menagerie bar in south Belfast.

Arriving around 11 with no place on the guestlist and a bit of a crew in tow, I wasn’t too confident of getting in - especially given the size of the doorman and the number of people that seemed to be arriving at the same time. But on this occasion secret didn’t translate as private and, with a friendly wave from the bouncer, we were all in within two minutes.

Dark, moody and claustrophobic are three words often used to describe Holmes’ music but they could just as easily be applied to the inside of the Menagerie. If it has been opened, or even cleaned, once in the last two years it certainly wasn’t showing. Not that many of the assembled great and good of the Belfast arts scene were complaining.

In one corner Glenn Paterson was supping a beer and nodding along as local band Cashier No 9 ripped through their Velvets-influenced set. Elsewhere various shadowy figures from the art world chattered about the success of the late-night Belfast Galleries opening.

By the time Holmes’ appeared on stage many of the older heads had beat a retreat, replaced by an army of twenty-somethings. Obviously word had spread along the grapevine. Playing tracks from his new record, as well as older tunes by the like of Neu!, Holmes’s set went down a treat. The last few years may have seen him emerge as an important producer of soundtracks for major Hollywood movies but he seemed genuinely delighted to be playing on home turf.

Holding a party in a glorified barn has its advantages - bags of space for dancing, an expansive wasteland for a smoking area and the grimy charms that appeal to every scenester. A final DJ carried on where Holmes left off, playing Pere Ubu and Public Image Limited until the house lights finally went up and we all stumbled off to find another party … though not in quite so secret a location.

Peter Geoghegan

Ebooks? No Thanks, I'm a Paperback Reader

I love books. Ever since I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when I was eleven years of age, my infatuation with them has never waned.

The most sensational artistic experience of my life involved power-reading crime writer James Ellroy’s wonderfully gritty LA Confidential in the space of a single day whilst listening to Radiohead’s OK Computer for the very first time.

Nothing has ever come close, although my favourite book, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude provided me with a similarly transcendent reading experience. Magical realism – literary LSD. And it’s free, if the government hasn’t closed the library down in your town as well.

Apart from the limitless other worlds, characters, histories, ideas and ideologies that people encounter through reading books, let’s not forget the evocative aesthetic value of a beautifully designed cover art, the satisfying scent from the pages of a new purchase, the colourful domino effect that greets you everyday as you enter your living room, bedroom or study to find your collection arranged just as you want it – alphabetically, by genre, whatever tickles your aesthetic fancy.

Which brings me to the point of this blog: digital books, like Sony’s (relatively) new PRS-505, a handheld, electronic ‘portable reader system’ that condenses your collection down into one, single metalic object.

The PRS-505 is a progression on Sony’s PRS-500, released in early 2007. It can hold up to 160 titles, uses what’s called E Ink to make the letters appear as print-like as possible, can be read in glaring sunlight, carried around in your pocket and adjusted to suit short- or long-sighted readers. And let’s not forget, it comes in a comfy, leather protective cover. Nice.

For someone who likes to travel and travel light, the PRS-505 and other ebooks like it sound like a Godsend.

I’m on a beach on the south coast of Italy. I’ve got my Peroni beer at hand, the sun is out, the Med laps against the shore. What else do I need? The English translation of Lampedusa's The Leopard would fit the scene perfectly. Only thing is, I decided to leave it at home. Took up too much room. With the PRS-505, I wouldn’t have that trouble. I’m in Prague’s Old Town. Kafka is a power-up and a click away.

Without having used an electronic ebook, however, I am torn. No doubt, they have their selling points. A library in your pocket can only be a good thing. But when I read a biography, for example, I like to take the time out to peruse the picture spine. When you’re discovering so much about a person, it’s nice to be able to look that person in the face. Electronic ebooks don’t come with pictures.

There’s nothing like holding a regular book in your hand. If a particularly emotive passage takes the wind out of me, I like to sit back, catch my breath and check out the cover design. Again, the visual aspect of real-world books add something to the reading experience.

With the PRS-505, and other ebooks like it, every book would look the same. Every book would feel the same. They wouldn’t be the individual, beautiful objects that inspire collectors like myself to part with our hard-earned cash, turn off the television and escape.

Lee Henry

David Holmes Releases Album No 4

Belfast DJ David Holmes is set to release his fourth solo album, entitled The Holy Pictures.

Based on life growing up, working and starting a family in his native Belfast city, and inspired in part by the death of his mother Sarah Holmes in 1996, The Holy Pictures was ten years in the making and marks something of a change of pace for the world renowned record spinner, producer and movie soundtrack writer.

Holmes broke onto the scene in 1992 with breakthrough dance hit ‘De Niro’, based on a sample from Ennio Morricone’s theme to the epic Once Upon a Time in America. Since then Holmes has released three albums and written the soundtracks to such Hollywood smash hit movies as Out of Sight, Oceans Eleven and Analyze That, featuring Robert De Niro himself.

More recently, however, Holmes has chosen instead to work with filmmakers outside of the Hollywood hit machine. His latest soundtrack work was on the controversial Hunger, a film about Bobby Sands and his 66 day hunger strike in the Maze prison in 1981. Directed by Turner prize-winning artist Steve McQueen, the film will go on general release on October 31.

Holmes described The Holy Pictures to the NME as an album about ‘family, friends, loss, love and starting a family of my own. All the stuff that shapes the person you become’.

Featuring the likes of Suicide’s Martin Rev and Leo Abrahams, The Holy Pictures looks set to be a slower, more introverted set than previous Holmes albums. It also features the man himself on vocal duties for the first time. The first single from the album will be ‘I Heard Wonders’. The Holy Pictures is due for release on September 8.

Mayor Bangs the Drum at Belfast Festival Launch

We’ve all heard of politicians banging on their metaphorical drums, but Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Hartley has revealed he used to do it for real – playing bodhran in the legendary Pat’s Bar by the docks.

Speaking at the launch of this year’s Belfast Festival at Queen’s, Hartley told a story of how his group was asked to play the festival in the early 1960s.

Hartley nervously took his seat at the end of the stage in the Great Hall. Alas, only three of the chair legs were connected to the stage and Mayor Hartley went flying.

‘The audience thought it was great what Queen’s Festival puts on. Acrobatics as well as music,’ he quipped.

‘The festival has always been a part of my life,’ he continued, before going all Martin Luther King on launch attendees at the Elmwood Hall.

‘I have a dream that Belfast will become known as the city of festivals,’ he said. ‘And at its core is the Belfast Festival at Queen's.’

This year’s festival offers its usual wide-ranging line up, from film legend Ennio Morricone’s first Irish appearance to Broadway diva Barbara Cook to Cherie Blair to Shakespeare in Ormeau Park.

Festival director Graeme Farrow said local artists had also responded to the challenge, highlighting two theatrical world premieres – Owen McCafferty’s version of Antigone and Lucy Caldwell’s Carnival, appearing in the Spiegeltent.

‘Take the chance to see these shows at home before they travel internationally,’ Farrow advised would-be punters.

Pictured: Musicians Tom Hartley and Ennio Morricone.

Check out Culture Live! for more details of events at the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

Listen to the Belfast Festival at Queen's podcast.

Political Crisis? - Step Forward Barack Obama

With the DUP and Sinn Fein at loggerheads over the devolution of policing and the NI executive in crisis yet again, who can we call?

Step forward Barack Obama. According to the presidential hopeful’s latest statement on Ireland, Northern Ireland and all things Irish, he hopes that the devolution of justice and policing ‘would occur very soon’.

‘As president, Barack Obama will personally engage on Irish issues whenever necessary,’ the statement goes on.

If Obama is elected, perhaps that engagement/knocking of heads together will come sooner rather than later.

Read the 'Obama Irish Fact Sheet’ on the US-Ireland Alliance's website in full.

Obama’s great great great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated from Moneygall, County Offaly, on March 20, 1850, settling in Wayne, Ohio. A President Obama would be the 24th US president of Irish/Northern Irish/Scots-Irish American (phew…) ancestry. Read more about number 7, Andrew Jackson, whose parents were born near Carrickfergus.

The Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Oppenheimer

The idea of a three-day concert in Belfast’s Custom House Square is a laudable one, and the line-up for the first Belsonic is one of the best the city has seen. The Flaming Lips and Mogwai playing alongside established Irish acts Oppenheimer and Jape, with Fighting With Wire and Skibunny appearing with The Enemy and The Zutons on the second and third days.

There is, however, apprehension. Belfast’s established mainstream Vital Festival was cancelled because organisers ‘failed to secure a sufficiently high standard of talent’, and only days ago the inaugural Stendhal Festival in Limavady was called off due to poor ticket sales.

At Belsonic, while openers Jape performed, there were a few people floating towards the entrance. Outside the barriers, the exterior of McHugh’s bar was full of people paying for drinks and enjoying the distant music for free.

The taxi-driver wisdom was that even with the cancellation of the Vital Festival, Belsonic would not draw a large crowd because Queen’s University students were away for the summer. That, or the grey skies would keep even Flaming Lips fans indoors.

But it’s said that Belfast is changing. On the approach to Custom House Square, you see groups of youths cutting across traffic towards the concert area. Beneath the skyward mosaic of the Transport & General Workers Union, a pair of tourists consult a map.

Tourists visiting Belfast are sometimes deprived of a real-life reference point because buildings are being knocked down with such frequency. The city is a flaneur’s dream and a psychogeographer’s nightmare.

Such is the case on the corner of High Street and Skipper Street, where a square of dusty rubble now lives. The ATM that used to exist there is gone, preventing prospective Belsonic attendees from drawing cash to pay for a £35 1-day ticket.

Yet Rocky O’Reilly and Shaun Robinson of Oppenheimer draw an enthusiastic gaggle into the square. The Belsonic stage, framed by lime-green banners, is a large one.

The sound of songs like ‘Stephen McCauley for President’, ‘Major Television Events’ and ‘OK Let’s Take This Outside’ fill the air, making both trees and the audience’s organs shake. ‘Breakfast in NYC’ finishes with a hint of what is to come when flares mounted at the top of the stage explode in fiery unison.

After sixth song ‘M/O’, taken from debut album Oppenheimer, Robinson has cause to re-introduce the band for the chunk of the crowd that weren’t there for the beginning of the show. After ‘Look Up’ and ‘I Don’t Care What Anyone Says About You, I Think You’re Alright’ from second album Take The Whole Mid-Range and Boost It, he welcomes two new band members to the stage.

A guitarist named Hornby and singing keyboard player named Angie add sparkle and texture to ‘Before and After the Quake’, with Hornby supplanting Robinson as vocalist when he roars the lyrics to ‘The Never Never’ through a megaphone. They finish with fan favourite ‘Saturday Looks Bad to Me’, played loud enough to rattle the chassis of passing cars. The loudest sound, though, is the audience’s cheers.

The men in hi-viz yellow have probably never heard of Mogwai. Dotted in the unbuilt rooms of the surrounding constructions, they use their vantage points to watch the action onstage. After an ear-piercing falsetto introduction – ‘ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Mogwaaaaaiiiiiieeeee!’ – the band begin.

Amongst the crowd, there is a rapid stageward drift. Pints and wine are paid for at the back and people rush to hear the Glasgow five-piece’s towering crescendos. The band have increased their fanbase with every record since 1997 debut Mogwai Young Team, and certainly since their January 2006 appearance at Belfast’s Spring & Airbrake.

After more than ten years, Mogwai remain heavier and more exciting than most bands who walk under the ragged banners of ‘rock’ or ‘metal’. There are old favourites like ‘Hunted By A Freak’, monstrous and touching songs from albums Happy Songs for Happy People, Mr Beast and the forthcoming The Hawk is Howling.

They close with the cinematic classic ‘2 Rights Make 1 Wrong’ from 2001’s Rock Action. Some people in the dim evening light use the light rain to cover for teary eyes.

Where Mogwai are ponderous, The Flaming Lips are joyous. When Mogwai sulk, The Flaming Lips clap. And while the crowd are rapturous after Mogwai finish, they’re ecstatic when The Flaming Lips begin.

Their stage show is an arresting spectacle. Custom House Square is lit by the artifice of streetlight and floodlamp, with the brightest light coming from the Flaming Lips onstage. Ringmaster Wayne Coyne leads the band of genially regarded Oklahoman freaks, flanked stage left by a squad of oversized dancing pink ninjas, similarly-costumed Iron Men thrusting on the right.

Backed by an imposing video board featuring fun psychedelic visuals and clips of a man repeatedly slamming his child into the ground as one might a fish or sugar sachet. The Flaming Lips announce themselves as A Big Deal. The visual impact – a fisheye camera mounted on the mic stand shows Coyne’s face on the screen and makes his mouth appear big enough to swallow the crowd in one gulp – is undeniable.

People who know the band’s songs seem to love the music foremost. Even as balloons float forth, cannon-blasted streamers arc over the congregation and green laser lights hover low in the smoke, fans and couples can be seen swaying with closed eyes. There’s another confetti explosion that’s swept off by some wind you didn’t notice, the soaring vocals lower, the beat dies down and the song ends. ‘Hello Belfast,’ says Coyne, arms open in welcome.

The bar is now vacant and the square is full. All faces forward, all with fire in their eyes. The bar staff have abandoned their posts to catch what they can. The second song passes with footage of kitsch Japanese gameshows and alligators. The third begins like a Beck track and people dance, waving their hands like cartoon gangsta rappers.

There is a level of excitement that is difficult to document. It feels like a sycophantic insult to take pictures, as if by doing so you mark yourself as a thief trying to steal the soul of the show. Still, cameras and telephones other than mine are held amidst the orange and pink light, transmitting some sound of the mania to those not in Belfast. Lovers kiss passionately, other faces are struck dumb.

To the rear, people bend backwards in laughter and conversation as Coyne stomps with a double-necked guitar decorated with streamers and ribbons that blow in the night air. You know some of the songs... well, ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’, and after that a pre-recorded ‘Happy Days’ tape introduces the band.

The final song is, of course, the most poignant. The chorus of ‘Do You Realise’ contains the line ‘...that everyone you know on earth will die’, but ends on ‘...that you have the most beautiful face’. Maybe during this song Coyne walked across the crowd in his massive transparent bubble. I saw nothing. Fluid chat and hearty laughs had taken over.

Then, almost 30 minutes of grinning, pie-eyed and energized people filing past, all walking into the night, all armoured with goodwill. All file from the square into the nightlit city, dazed and electric. Every worldly concern feels ephemeral. Belsonic built it, and they came.

Kiran Acharya

Be Gone Fair Bono

An online petition has been launched via the American website ThePoint.com for U2 frontman Bono to withdraw from public life.

People who sign the petition are also asked to pledge money which will be donated to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The petition was set up by musician Aaron With, a member of the band Volcano, and has thus far accumulated $490 in pledge money.

The objective of the petition, as stated on the ThePoint.com website, is ‘to get Bono to retire from public life (so he'll stop leading misguided, counter-productive philanthropy efforts)’.

Criticizing the Dubliner’s Product RED campaign, which he set up with Bobby Shriver of DATA to raise money for the aforementioned global funding initiative, and which works with global brands like Motorola, American Express and GAP, With goes on to say, ‘Bono’s philanthropy efforts are self-righteous, ineffective, and counter-productive.

‘The RED campaign has managed to spend $40 million more on marketing that it has raised from RED product sales, while sending consumers a dangerous message.

’The grassroots leaders of the global fight against AIDS didn’t ask for Bono to be their frontman. It's time for Bono to step down. We’ll all pledge donations to the Global Fund, but no pledges are collected until Bono retires from public life. If he wants to moan bland melodies he’ll have to do it quietly in his bedroom.

‘If he wants to fight AIDS he can make a direct donation instead of buying a sweatshop GAP T-shirt. As the pledges grow, Bono will have to decide what matters more, fighting AIDS effectively, or him being the movement’s frontman.’

Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson

This feels like the beginning of a strange and very personal crusade. If, like me, you dig the book Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson you might be aware that there exists a very fine television adaptation by Donna Franceschild, directed by Adrian Shergold.

The television dramatisation was commissioned by the BBC, who broadcast the story in four one-hour episodes in 1999. Such is my regard for the book, I have for a long time sought to see the broadcast.

I was able to see it, and feel lucky to have done so. Some tapes of the show exist. The only one I know of was in the hands of a friend of mine, who I shall not name for fear of inspiring some kind of witch-hunt.

I was able to watch the show and, as one does, returned the copy to him. I didn’t know then, however, that he would tape over the thing.

Telling somebody how good something is cannot compare to people experiencing said thing for themselves, even if they dislike it. The joy remains in the finding.

If things go as planned, my current typing and your present reading will result in you being able to watch the BBC adaptation of Eureka Street.

If that doesn’t sound exciting, stick around a moment. If you’re intrigued, bear with me. If you’re a fan of the book and want to see the dramatised version, I think I have the answer.

Eureka Street (the novel) is one of the finest books from Northern Ireland, about Northern Ireland. I think everyone in the country should read it. I think it should be included on the NI schools curriculum, for kids to read. The televised version, in terms of content and form, is just about as accomplished. Even McLiam Wilson thought so.

My thesis is this: that there are enough Eureka Street lovers worldwide who, if brought together in one place, can make it available to buy.

In support of this point, click here to see the listing on the Internet Movie Database, where people are hungry for the Eureka Street drama and want to buy it. But come do back here, for goodness sake.

I’ve just re-read a post there in which an enthusiastic fan seeking the TV adaptation emailed the BBC here in Belfast and got this response:

‘We were very proud of Donna Franceschild's adaptation and Adrian Shergold's direction, but the serialisation didn't pull in a big audience and the distributors felt that video/dvd would not be a good investment. Although there were not a large number of viewers, Eureka Street has remained a memorable programme for those, like you, who did catch it.’

The person who emailed the BBC suggests that you email the Beeb too. But I don’t think that will be enough. They probably deflect occasional emails like that and move on with whatever other priorities they – quite rightly – should be attending to.

What is needed, I suspect, is an element of organization. Many people make up a movement. I can feel myself becoming militaristic, tactical. Don’t email the BBC, use this blog.

The cynic in me knows how dodgy this sounds. Like I’m trying to harvest email addresses, like this is some kind of marketing scam. Which it is, I suppose. Like a twisted Max Gogarty thing... this is a blatant and outright plug for a product. But it’s a product that exists already, that nobody can get their hands on.

As we see from the BBC email above, the adaptation didn’t pull enough of an audience at the time to justify it being made available. The show went out in 1999, when television and one-way media were dominant. Those were the days when central broadcasters had all the power.

The answer is not to generate enough ‘people power’ to demand a Eureka Street DVD. Nobody would spend the money on manufacturing the units. It’s not a good investment.

But I always wondered, if I can (hypothetically) go to the internet, click a few buttons and watch the rare episode of The Simpsons where Homer smokes pot, or (hypothetically) download movies that aren’t even in the cinema, I should surely be able to see Eureka Street.

The films of Man Ray, Louis Brunel and Salvador Dali were made before the 1960s using cameras made out of cardboard boxes, but you can (I’m told) watch them using something called a ‘torrent’ and a Swedish website.

Which makes me think, marshal enough people in one place, and Eureka Street should be made available online. Channel 4 have ‘on demand’ and if BBC NI made Eureka Street available on their website it would probably yield a higher audience than a year’s worth of news combined. Why hasn’t this happened?

Back to the plan. It’s a slow burner. It wraps together many strands of knowledge with the elastic of online activism. It relies on a little bit of hope and I wish for support. Here’s the jist.

I know how much I enjoy Eureka Street. I know that if somebody, anywhere, ever googles the title of any article on this site, the very article is usually displayed within the first five results. That is why it’s titled as it is.

This blog posting will sit here, slowly gathering comment and demand for one of the best TV shows (based on one of the best Northern Irish books) to be produced in years.

The demand accumulates, the BBC responds to public will, and we all kick back and watch the show online. With our friends, our families, or with nothing but a sense of well-being.

Am I wrong? Maybe I’m foolish. Maybe this effort will become an embarrassment. If so, so it goes. All that means is that another blog post is lost in the abyss.

But I can feel it. I know that a worldwide audience is out there. It’s a shame that the show hasn’t been seen. It’s almost ten years since it first went out, and I feel selfish when I think that I’m the only person this century to have had the pleasure of watching it.

This little crusade may very well prevent violence between me and my pal who wiped the tapes. I can read the book again, but on principle alone I want a ten-year anniversary online broadcast. At the risk of shouting down an empty corridor, doesn’t anyone else?

Kiran Acharya

Click here to see some behind-the-scenes shots of the television adaptation of Eureka Street

Click here to read the Observer review of Eureka Street (the novel) from September 1, 1996

Yoko Ono Sends Peace And Love To Belfast

If you’re in Belfast on Friday, August 8, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair, and head to McCrory Park on the Whiterock road for a festival of music, peace and love.

Valfest 2008 brings together the sounds and cultures of Belfast and beyond, including performances from Henry McCullough, formerly of Paul McCartney's Wings, Eric Bell, Thin Lizzy founding member and guitarist, and Belfast's very own The Vals.

All proceeds from the event go to local organsiation PEAT (Parents Education as Autism Therapists), an organsiation that relies on funding and donations.

Yoko Ono, wife of the late Beatle, John Lennon recently sent her best wishes to Valfest orgainser Paul Doherty:

'Hi Paul. I was in Belfast. Yes, I was. I was invited by the museum there to do a show and I did. I loved the cloudy, wet, and windy city. I'm sure when you live there all year around, you won't be too happy. Or maybe you would be. You will now. Now that you are doing the Peace and Love Festival you are connected to all of us of family of Peace of the world. Good for you.

Lots of love, yoko.'

More details on the Valfest Culture Live! listing

Two pairs of tickets to be won to Valfest in our August competition!

For more information on Valfest, check out their myspace page.

Peace, Love and Bubbles from CNI x

Vote for MT4UTH

Musical Theatre for Youth is one of Northern Ireland’s most active and high-profile theatrical organisations, with classes running alongside their showcase company Footlights, and ‘Musical in a Weekend’ project.

The group currently finds itself in the latter stages of the National Lottery’s Best Arts Project awards, a public vote that decides where crucial funding should go.

‘Musical In A Weekend’ is competing with the Osaka Bright Film Festival and Sheringham Little Theatre’s Hub to win funding of more than £13,000 for future projects.

Musical Theatre for Youth offers young people in NI the opportunity to develop theatrical skills, provides a crucial pathway to further study in drama and the arts, and is invaluble in helping tomorrow’s stars of stage and screen to develop their careers.

One of the groups best-known graduates is Jayne Weisner, who made her screen debut alongside Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Show your support by voting using the link below.

Click here to vote for Musical Theatre for Youth

Click here to visit Musical Theatre for Youth’s website

Tennent's Vital Takes Sabbatical

The summer skies have grown greyer. Cries of teenage anguish fill the void. Today, Northern Irish music lovers lament the cancellation of the 2008 Tennent’s Vital music festival. Belfast’s answer to Glastonbury (please, no laughing in the back!) has shut up shop until 2009.

Belfast's Holylands area and Botanic Gardens will not pulsate with the sounds of pop rock this year as the festival site on the banks of the Lagan, home in 2007 to the likes of Mark ‘The Original’ Ronson and the white-denim loving Razorlight, will remain empty in 2008.

Upon hearing the news, Maeve McGinty, an 89 year old resident of the nearby Jerusalem Street, said:

‘Myself and my Holylands crew are heart-broken. I had my Topshop wellies and Pigeon Detectives t-shirt ready for action. Tennet’s Vital is mint. I can’t believe it’s cancelled. It’s proper wack, so it is.’

An official statement on the Tennent’s Vital website reads as follows:

‘Due to the difficult conditions prevalent within the wider festival market this year the festival has been unable to secure a sufficiently high standard of talent. Tennent's Lager, as owners of Tennent's Vital, has taken the decision to cancel this year's event rather than disappoint Northern Ireland's music fans with a line-up that failed to live up to Tennent's Vital's incredible heritage.’

The three-day Belsonic music event in Belfast’s Custom House Square is sure to placate the downcast Vital audience however, with a line-up of sufficiently high standard including Indie legends The Flaming Lips, scouse favourites The Zutons and post-punk tunesmiths The Enemy.