Weekend Supplements

Having moved away from Ireland’s southern capital, Cork, a few years ago, I’m making one of my most anticipated (for me that is) returns to the city since then. There be a-plenty going on down there this coming weekend, and I’m lucky enough to be stuck in the middle of it, playing some records – and buying some! I’ll start at the end and work my way backwards…

2 good friends of mine, Barry Walsh and John Hennessy have been running the Sunday Times party for just over a year – check out their site here -, a day/night that has gone from strength to strength with each passing party, climaxing in it’s first birthday earlier in the summer.

After taking a break for a month it returns again this Sunday (29th) in their usual home of Realt Dearg on Barrack St and they’ve very kindly asked me to come down and play the latest edition. And as of yesterday they’ll also have a special guest flying down (well, getting the train with me) in the shape of ISM’s favourite Italian, Lerosa!

They run the party from 4 in the afternoon until Midnight or so, and going on reports a fun and eclectic musical atmosphere is what they get off on, so I’ll be packing my bag with plenty of stuff that I mightn’t normally get to play in a club atmosphere along with some disco/italo/boogie/house bizness. I’ve not played down in Cork in nearly 3 years – the place where I started playing out properly – so I’m really, really looking forward to it.

The day before is, to be fair, a much more important day for Cork’s music scene. At the end of last year my favourite record shop in the country, Plugd Records, closed it’s doors. I’m pretty sure I didn’t mention it on here as reading about another closed record store is something we didn’t need. But, one re-opening is, in these times, something to shout about from the roof tops.

Moved to a new location temporarily – the Substation venue – before it settles into the renovated Triskel Arts Centre next year, this Saturday the shop will again become a hub for all things musical in the city, kicking off immediately on it’s (re)opening day with bands playing throughout the day in the new shop. Later on that evening – with no doubt some hot new wax in my bag – things move up to the Realt Dearg where a bunch of us will be djing small sets throughout the night, with myself and Lerosa playing along with some locals including Kim Keating and Jack Buckley; who run the Workshop and Moons night respectively (Jack’s night has seen Cork debuts for the likes of Fred P, Kassem Mosse and Jus Ed), all to celebrate the return of a shop that for many years helped shape my musical collection. All in all it should hopefully be a fantastic way to end the summer -and no cover charge or anything for either party. I dunno if any Cork folk read us here much, but if you do be nice to see yis out and about, say hello and then throw things at Lerosa. Or maybe vice-versa. Tis up to you.