Concerts in the showgrounds?

gimmick

Does anyone else feel that by having these concerts to mark the year of culture is an absolute disgrace? How can the organisers have this rubbish, and say its representataive of Cork culture. Look at the line up

Ronan Keating
Brian McFadden
Paddy Casey
Damien Dempsey
Tommy Tiernan
Aslan

What if anything have any of these to do with Cork, much less, care about the City of culture? At least McFadden can claim to have relatives living here, but the rest?

I know there are other names such as Diana Ross, Al Green and Brian Wilson are something of big names, and its nice to see such acts come to Cork, but the others? Aslan cant even get a crowd in the Oak anymore, so obviously there fans will come out of the woodwork for this? Dempsey would struggle to fill the Lobby, and Paddy Casey has played in Cork so often, I fail to see how a few thousand would want to see him. Tommy Tiernan, well he is just a w*nker.

For me, and Im sure many would agree, wouldnt a showcase of Cork talent be a far better option, and most likely cheaper for the promoters. Save money, showcase cork bands, and let it be as good as all the above Dublin acts put together. How about this as a card

Sylvia Saint
Cartoon
Sultans Of Ping
Frank & Walters
Rulers Of The Planet

not only would this be a great gig, which Im sure would sell out in minutes, but it would show pride and confidence in our own, and not have to look to the Pale in an effort to promote our City Of Culture.


[/rant]

dahamsta

I think they should put Roy Keane in stocks in the middle of a nice big stage, and hand out rotten fruit and veg to the audience. Now that'd be a celebration of Cork culture.

adam

rymus

Jaysus... I'd bring me own sack of rotten eggs to that event.

dudara

Heresy!!!

The concerts are being organised by Aitken promotions I think, and therefore have really nothing to do with the City of Culture gig. They're just capitalising and making a few quid.

I agree with the sentiment though, Casey and Co can hardly be considered culture/

comet

Damien Dempsey pretty much sold out the Savoy last month, so I think he's a bit beyond the Lobby at this stage! I agree Aslan are washed up. As for Paddy Casey, yes I'm sick of seeing him. Brian and Ronan I wouldn't go to see but I'm sure they've got a lot of fans out there. But those guys are only side attractions to make a bit of money for the promoters while the tent is up, the bigs boys Wilson, Cave, Green etc. are quality artists and I'm delighted they've been brought to Cork.
You can see Cork bands play any night of the week inside in town!!

Anyway I've heard a rumour that there is going to be a big kind of Cork act showcase one of the nights, I'm sure you'll buy a ticket for that one won't you

dahamsta

Never heard of Damien Dempsey. I'd never of heard of Paddy Casey either if I hadn't been introduced to his driver a couple months ago, and demonstrated my ignorance by asking who the hell he was. It should have been embarassing, but it really wasn't. Who the hell cares?

Comet, it's supposed to be a celebration of Cork Culture. See the way those two words are next to each other there, like they're kind of... linked in some way...?

adam

ClareBear

City of Culture is a load of ****e! :rolleyes:

If they can't get good acts to play in Cork this year of all years it's never going to happen.

comet

I feel no matter what they did or who they brought ye wouldn't be happy anyway. For people who know music these are good acts.
dahamsta - if you had any interest in the Irish popular music scene then you would know Damien Dempseys and Paddy Caseys music. If ye're not into that music scene fair enough but then ye shouldn't really be making judgments on the quality of the acts.

dahamsta

comet wrote:

if you had any interest in the Irish popular music scene

I don't. I'm not that into music tbh, although I would definitely go and see a concert made up of the Cork acts that have been listed here previously. I wouldn't go and see the aforementioned acts at a gig that's supposed to celebrate Cork culture in a fit, on principle.

ye shouldn't really be making judgments on the quality of the acts.

Feel free to point out where I did that. My breath is officially bated.

adam

comet

dahamsta wrote:

Feel free to point out where I did that. My breath is officially bated.

adam

Oops sorry you didn't say that although i took the fact that you claimed some were unknown to you as being some form of negative judgment, anyway I'll redirect that one directly at ClareBear so. I hope you enjoyed your bated breath!!!

dahamsta

Delicious, thanks.

comet

The Spiegeltent (Coal Quay) - yes another tent!

June 14 - 25

Camille O'Sullivan 14th June @ 8pm ?15
As a singer, Cork-born Camille is well known for her passionate and dramatic
interpretations of the songs of Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill, Nick Cave, Hans
Eisler, Bowie and Tom Waits. Following her 5 star sell-out success at the
Famous Spiegeltent in Dublin, Oxford, Brighton and Edinburgh, Camille plays
a rare performance in her hometown before heading to Australia to perform
for the first time in Melbourne.

Fred / Ian Whitty 15th June @ 8pm ?12
One of Cork's best-loved bands is supported by an up-and-coming
singer-songwriter playing with a big band for the first time.

Elephant 16th June @ 8pm ?10
A six piece acoustic band based in Cork. Their sound has been described as
"unlike anything on the Cork music scene", "miles away from what any of
their contemporaries are doing in the currently fertile Cork scene" and full
of "superb, heartbreaking pieces of work".

Manu and his Latino Band 17th June @ 8pm ?10
Manu Ramirez was born in Guatemala City where he studied music at the
National Conservatory. He started the "Latin Scene" in Cork in the late 80's
and has now formed "Soundtreaty" to identify his electronic/ambience side
and "Latino House" to keep his Latin roots and which has proved to be one of
the most original and innovative Latin bands in Ireland.

Stanley Super 800 / Jape 18th June @ 8pm ?10
Stanley Super 800 and Jape are two Irish bands thinking outside the box. In
2004 they released two of the most innovative alternative Irish albums of
recent times - SS800's self-titled debut and Jape's sophomore effort, The
Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me - both tinged with
electronic/acoustic inventiveness and dance floor stompers. Must see live.

Paddy Keenan 20th June @ 8pm ?12
A hugely loved Cork-born Chicago based musician, Paddy is reckoned to be
among the best pipers on the circuit. He tours Ireland at most once a year,
and this will be his only date in Munster.

Sumu/Wiggle 21st June @ 8pm ?12
The word 'Sumu' is derived from the Malian language meaning 'celebration in
the streets' and we bring you a Celebration of life.
Sumu is a unique fusion of rhythmic world music, combining African, jazz,
funk and folk to create an original sound. We believe it is the
responsibility of musicians to use their voices
to spread a message of peace, love and understanding.

John Spillane / Louis de Paor 22nd June @ 8pm ?15
John Spillane is a singer, musician and songwriter from Cork whose songs
have been recorded by Karan Casey, Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Sinead
Lohan, and many others. With Louis de Paor (Louis the Poet), they are the
GAELIC HIT FACTORY, performing songs and poems in Gaelic and English.

North Cregg 23rd June @ 8pm ?12
North Cregg is ranked among the best groups playing Irish music today.
Fusing spell-binding vocals with lifting instrumentals, the North Cregg
experience is quite unique and is guaranteed to leave a smile on your face.

Shades/Waiting Room 24th June @ 8pm ?12

Two of the most original and innovative of Corks up and coming bands tread
the boards on Friday the 24th. Headliners The SHADES, Cork's
urban-melancholic heroes, release their new E.P "Snapped Elastic". Normally
an eight-piece, the Shades are joined on stage by a string quartet for this
one-off extra special performance. Support comes from REST, classic
purveyors of eclectic sonic soundscapes that engage the mind, entertain the
ear and stimulate the soul. Your host for the evening is RED fm's Colm
O'Sullivan.

Sister / Boa Morte 25th June @ 8pm ?10
Based in London, SISTER are a female fronted 5 piece rock band that is
downbeat yet fuzzed up and consists of ex members of the Sultans of Ping and
The Young Offenders as well as certain members who served time in Simple
Kid's backing band. Cork based BOA MORTE have been building their
lo-fi/melancholic sound since 1999. They have played on various bills with
the likes of Teenage Fan Club, Calexico, The Pernice Brothers, Howe Gelb,
The Webb Brothers and June of 44 to name but a few.

solice

I thought it was called "The European Capital of Culture", i assumed from that title that it was going to be a celebration of culture from all across Europe. Hence on the celebrations of the Opening Day there were displays on pana from the 10 accession countries not the 10 suburbs of Cork.
Damien Dempsey and Paddy Casey may not be from Cork but they are popular musicians in Ireland and beyond. Of course they should be part of it. As for John Spillane complaining, maybe if his music was any good (it aint, i have been to two of his concerts and i was bored off my tree at both of them) then people might be more interested in hearing him

D-Generate

Did anyone read the article in the Sunday Independant magazine yesterday? Ripped the "Events" that have happened so far for the Capital of Culture to pieces and brought up some good points about the people running the event and the amateurness and eliteness of it all.

Besides the fireworks what has there been for the people really?

comet

D-Generate wrote:

Besides the fireworks what has there been for the people really?

All right, but apart from the fireworks, the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

I think expectations for what was going to happen this year were too high and that has led to disillusionment, the main things in the program are things that happen every year anyway, Patricks Day Parade, Film Festival, Jazz Festivals, Murphys Uncorked. I couldn't even get a ticket for the fireworks :mad:

Roar

comet wrote:

All right, but apart from the fireworks, the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

ROFL.. have to watch that tonight!

there was a big feature in one of the sunday papers, actually the indo, with a picture of seaon og with the burnign sliotar and the head line

"Damp squib - where did it all go wrong for Cork 2005?"

and "witty" subheadline on the inside cover "the peoples repugnance of cork"

The aritcle deals with corkpeoples attidutes to the city of culture, which are mostly like Gimmicks: it's a load of crap.

gimmick

My attitude to the City Of Culture is most certainly not "its a load of crap". I think that the CoC is a very positive thing to happen to this City, but I do think that too many people in this City are too small minded and stupid to understand what culture is, much less fully embrace it.

In Cork we have a fine art house cinema in the Kino, some great theatre companies in Corcadorca and Graffitti to name just two.

We have some great festivals in the Jazz, a festival that has helped some aspects of Cork music hugely in recent years - see Cartoon/The Shades among others.

We have the grossly ignored mid-summer festival which runs every year for 2 weeks in June, a festival which celebrates everything that is cork, from music to film to theatre. It showcases our artists in a more positive light than what we could expect from the national/Dublin media. We have the hugely successful Cork Film Festival, which pulls a fair bit of tourists from around Ireland and Europe.

Corks culture is very spectacular, but I feel where the CoC is/has/will fail(ed) is that its not pushing these festivals, merely using them as a side show to these 'great' innovative one year only events.

That being said, I was watching Prime Time the other night, and was only surprised by how long it took for the national/dublin media to take a few swipes at Corks year. They portrayed it so poorly, asking American toursists, where they in the City for the CoC, and really went to town on the fact thay hadnt a clue it was happening. For the love of God, a yank wouldnt know culture if it anally probed with it.

They then went asking the 'young people' what they thought, and we got the usual crap from Havanna Browns goers - "oh there nothing there to interest me" - hardly a surprise either. Ask these same people what they would expect and they would probably come out with some underthought overstupid suggestion like "bring u2 to Pairc Ui Caoimh".

Contrast this with a similar show on BBC in early february, which portrayed Cork in a very positive albeit understated manner. This show actually didnt look for negatives, certainly didnt dwell on them, and tried to accentuate the positive - something unheard of by the national/dublin media.

Its typically Irish, and i dont mean in a begrudging way, I mean in in the way that ireland, as a nation, is all to quickly becoming a bastardised country which is loosing its identity to high street bullsh*t, pop gossip and generocide.

gimmick

Great bit of reading

D-Generate

Yes Gimmick there is plenty of culture in Cork but as you should have noticed from the list of cultural events that you gave out, these are annual events and were here before the CoC and will be here after the CoC has passed.

Other than the fireworks there have been no CoC events as such where the people from Cork could really attend. Setting up events as corporate entertainment or for some turtleneck wearing, Art elitist is not what I consider fully embracing Cork as the Capital of Culture, that is unless you only consider the Arty farty people to be the sole population of Cork.

As a case study lets take the recent Kiri Te Kanawa performance in the City Hall. As some of you may know by now, to get tickets to this event you needed to fulfill at least one of the criteria from the following list or else no tickets shall be had.
A) Sponsoring the event,
Sponsoring the event,
C) Know someone organising the event,
D) Sponsoring the event.
If you went option C you would need to fork out a further €45-€135 to have the pleasure of being with the cream of Cork and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
Those poor saps who phoned or tried to book tickets will get no tickets because they lack contacts.
What a splendid event for the people of Cork!

Now I hear you ask, why should a "small minded and stupid" man like myself care if some soprano is singing(obviously)? Well because I have paid taxes that contribute to this, I am a citizen of Cork and thus want our city to look good to those visiting it by providing them with culture they can attend and finally because I don't want to be treated like a second class citizen because I don't sip a mocha latte in the Triskel Arts Centre.

Frankly I'm glad Bertie was as underwhelmed with the "Events" program as I was, so much so that he decided not to give a penny more of our money to it.
Want a Cork cultural event? Put Cartoon/The Shades on a stage down in Daunt Sq and let us all see them, just don't waste €X,000,000 on getting some Dame to sing or knitting some map that none of us will ever see or give a damn about.

Yours sincerely
Small-minded and Stupid Man


P.S You begrudge success, I don't have a begrudging attitude because its pretty much failure so far.

lostinsuperfunk

Anyone know where to get tickets for the Spiegeltent gigs? The central box office next to the Capitol maybe? That's a good line-up, something for most people there.

comet

Yeah thats the one

Central Booking Office, Grand Parade
Credit Card Booking Line - 1890 200555