Cecil Nolan, DJ from The Grove, RIP

ohnonotgmail

Cecil Nolan, who was the DJ at The Grove in St Pauls Raheny for the entirety of it's 30 year existence died earlier today in St Francis Hospice. He introduced a couple of generation of dublin northsiders to some fantastic music and will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

RIP Cecil.

JustAThought

OMG - Cecil from - OF The Grove? . Very sorry to hear this.
An absolute musical legend.
Blasted great music into many lives.
And his one red lightbulb on the stage.
And the epic rock ballad slowsets.

Rest In Peace Cecil.
Thank you for all the mad nights & headbanging rock madness & teenage lust & grove mayhem.

Gregor Samsa

Absolute legend. In St. Paul’s, they used to do this thing that the first two people in the queue could bring a record, and Cecil would put a whole side on while the place was filling up. There used to be fierce competition to get there first. We brought Napalm Death’s Scum one night. Cecil had no problem putting it on while me and my mates moshed like lunatics while everyone else stood around bewildered.

RIP Cecil, and thanks for some fantastic nights.

paw patrol

RIP to the great man


Introduced me to some fantastic music that has stayed with me a lifetime.
The Grove was a great social club for teens and met many really nice people there.

paw patrol

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Absolute legend. In St. Paul’s, they used to do this thing that the first two people in the queue could bring a record, and Cecil would put a whole side on while the place was filling up. There used to be fierce competition to get there first. We brought Napalm Death’s Scum one night. Cecil had no problem putting it on while me and my mates moshed like lunatics while everyone else stood around bewildered.

RIP Cecil, and thanks for some fantastic nights.

because of that early slot (and I assume people like yourself - thanks! ) I got a decent taste of a type of metal that I'd normally not have bothered with like Kreator, Obituary and there seemed to be a mad keen following for Deicide. was always great fun.

ohnonotgmail

I have asked the mods to edit the thread title to include mention of The Grove. Some people may have passed the thread by because they didn't know him by his full name.

ohnonotgmail

Marty Whelan had a lovely tribute to him yesterday morning on his LyricFM show. Marty was a grove head and I've seen him at the reunions. It starts at about 2.44 here. He then played the last song that Cecil listened to before he died. It was Starman by David Bowie https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/lyric/11252355

Wibbs

Even a dyed in the wool southsider like me knew of him. Good bloke. RIP.

eviltwin

Former Grover here. I absolutely loved the place and have many fond memories of Cecil. He was such an amazing person and gave a whole generation of Dublin kids a place to call home. I can't hear Come on Eileen without thinking of the Grove and how we'd get into one big circle. Those of us lucky enough to be part of it are very lucky.

everlast75

My friends and I used to hate the fact that Cecil did play the same older tunes each and every week. We used to make bets on the next song, so regularly did he play certain ones.

But he also played the latest alternative stuff of the time. The only place in my area I could get to hear some of the non-chart music.

I thought it would be a good idea to post some of the "regular" tunes here, for old times sake.


Starting off with two of his favourites...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P17ct4e5OE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cia_v4vxfE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbpnAGajyMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scif2vfg1ug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF3oxziUI4

Thelonious Monk

I was only there a few times but I remember I just can't get enough by Depeche Mode used to cause a stir every time. Grew up right beside St Paul's so everyone around that way knew him, I was just a bit too young, then it turned into something called Club G I think!

everlast75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlXtrnh-Ejo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-E-LDc384

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ZF2xaNhyw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg

Edgware

Not from my parts but great to see the lovely tributes and memories of the man.

JustAThought

Black Betty
Boys Don’t Cry
You spin me round
More than a feeling
Just can’t get enough
Smoke on the Water
American Pie

Not to mention the hippy section & the compound

Every time I hear those songs I’m back into that hall, the dark, the energy, the madness.

He was a real genius for what worked for teenagers and always a gentleman.

Thank you for the music & mad memories.

RIP Cecil

MrCostington

There are two articles on RTE this morning:

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/1126/1181544-cecil-nolan-the-man-who-made-the-grove-groove/

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2017/0822/899102-the-grove-turns-50-a-love-letter-to-dublins/