July was a busy month for me, with concerts, plays and even a writers festival. So a little more to blog about. It feels like some time since I travelled to attend events, so I was very happy to do so. But first, the weather.

We had one day which reached 30 degrees, and one is more than enough for me. But July is best summed up by the Irish word 'Aiteall', which means a spell of fine weather between showers. I can’t describe it better than that. But as France faces its third heat wave, the Rhine dries up, and London swelters in 40 degree days, I feel lucky to live in such a temperate climate. The Irish tourist board should really be basing their campaigns around our mild climate. Ireland - where we have fine weather between the showers.

Gigs

My first trip was down to the Sunny South east, where I travelled by train down to Wexford Town. Such a scenic journey, the train line curving and twisting alongside the river Slaney. Stone bridges and gushing streams through the vale of Avoca - just perfect.

My travelling companion was my brother in law Brian. I’d been extolling the Christy Moore live experience one night to him over a few pints, and promised we’d have to go see him. This was pre pandemic, so we had to wait a bit but we got there.

Wexford Opera House is a lovely intimate venue, with great acoustics as you'd expect, and a perfect view from our front row balcony seat. Christy played for over an hour and a half, with a few lovely surprises thrown in - particularly loved a traditional ballad he accompanied on the Bodhrán.

But it was the hits that delighted the most, and for a man of 77 years, he has amazing vigour and stage presence. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Christy should be available on prescription. We’ll miss him when he’s gone, that’s for sure. Difficult to pick one live performance but this has always been a favourite. Christy covers a lot of songs, and makes them his own, but this one us self penned and seems more relevant than ever, as we continue to face ‘a rising fascist tide’ the world over.

Theatre

The other trip I made in July was down to the capital, Dublin. I’d wanted to see ‘Girl from the North Country’ since I first heard about it back in 2017. Obviously we had the intervening plague years, so I was delighted it finally made it to Ireland’s shores.

It’s a play based on the music of Bob Dylan, written by the Irish Playwright Conor McPherson. It’s set in a guest house in Duluth, Minnesota (Dylans home town) during the 1930’s, when America was in the grip of the Great Depression, and follows a number of storylines featuring the owners and guests.

My partner in crime for this one was my sister Colette, so we enjoyed some drinks and food in a summery Dublin City centre before heading into The Olympia Theatre. The stalls were full and it was quite a sticky evening.

I wouldn't be one for musicals, but as this was based around Dylans music, I was willing to give it a go. Apparently this is what’s known as a jukebox musical, which is when the songs are well known, rather than made up of original music.

What struck me most about this was how engaging the drama was; it really drew me in. The plotlines were skilfully interweaved and the characters engaging, with the story having a natural and easy flow. By the end I was surprised by just how moving I found it.

Of course I was interested in how they would use the music, and although the well known tracks worked brilliantly, it was a couple of the lesser known tracks from Dylans catalogue that surprised me. There were some stunning performances from the actors, and I particularly liked how they would swap instruments on stage.

Some of Dylans songs are quite lyrically oblique, so very often they were used to set mood and emotional tone, which worked well for me. When they were used more literally, it felt like they weren't as natural, but it works in getting some of Dylans more well known songs included (‘Hurricane,’ for example.)

I loved how the songs faded in and out over the evening, merging at times. Wonderfully played by the band as well with some great set pieces from the cast. Maybe I'll try a few more musicals. This is coming to Belfast after Christmas, and I’ll be going again.

This track below was played early on. It’s from one of Dylans entirely forgettable albums from the 80’s, Empire Burlesque. It’s funny how a different interpretation of a song can completely transform it - it’s absolutely perfect for this character, at this moment in the play.

I suppose with Dylan it’s like shifting your stance in a gallery, moving to look at a painting from another angle. I unexpectedly got something in my eye during this song. Maybe it was the heat. Anyways.

Book Festival

My third trip of the month was to the John Hewitt Book festival, but this time there was no scenic train journey involved. I can say that this festival takes place on my doorstep literally as it takes me thirty seconds or a hundred steps (I counted) to get to the doors of the Marketplace theatre where the events were taking place.

Due to life commitments I didn’t get to as many events as I wanted, but I really enjoyed the talk by Louise Kennedy and Una Mannion, hosted by Keady’s own Michael Hughes, about their respective titles. As a part time scribbler I’m always interested in the processes of writing so I was fascinated by this chat.

I did pick up Una’s last book which I will read and review at some stage, but I was particularly interested to hear Louise talk about ‘Trespasses’ which is amongst my favourite books of the year, such a powerful and devastating read. Louise was great craic and very funny, as I knew she would be from the black humour in her book. Something she said really chimed with me, that we were brought up by nervous wrecks, hardly surprising given the conflict going on around us, and how people were obsessed with the news. There’s still so much mental trauma around from those days.

Anyway, great festival, well organised with some fantastic writers - I really wanted to attend more but glad I got to something at least.

Television and Film

Not as much time this month in front of the TV but caught a couple of interesting shows. First up was the Anthony Bourdain documentary ‘Roadrunner’ on Netflix. I’ve been a Bourdain fan for a while, and loved his travel shows. Sadly, Bourdain took his own life four years ago, and some of the documentary attempts to shed light on his final months, like you ever can, of course.

Most of it is based around talking heads, those who knew Tony best, and was interesting enough. You do get the sense of how much of a searcher Bourdain was, always looking for meaning and a revealing encounter.

It stuck me again just how good of a writer Bourdain was (if you haven’t read ‘Kitchen confidential,’ go do that now), how concise and entertaining he could be. He sure could strike an arrow at the heart of things, and make you feel that he understood the ‘soul’ of place, especially its darker side. I’m not sure if I learned anything new, and some of the later footage made me uncomfortable, especially hearing the details of his last relationship. But I did watch this in one go. What it really did was make me want to watch ‘Parts unknown’, again.

I find I have to search so much before I can settle on something to watch. Lots of quantity, not as much quality. Plenty of time I give up and settle in with a book. But in my searching in July I did come across the ‘The Newsreader’, a drama set in a 1980’s Melbourne newsroom. I have to admit it was one of the leads who attracted me - Anna Torv, who was excellent in ‘Mindhunter’ (sadly to be no more it seems) who plays Helen, one of the newsreaders.

Both Helen and Dale were strong characters, and I enjoyed their developing relationship. I liked how they used actual news stories - it give the storylines built around them more depth. There was also a good supporting cast and I was delighted to see that Brax, one of the river boys from Home and Away, had come good as a sports reporter and reluctant anchor.

It definitely had a certain charm, with good performances - Torv has some great scenes, and displayed the complexities of her character, at times vulnerable, then strong willed - and didn’t overstay it’s welcome. Glad to see there’s another series on the way.

Music

This was a Dylan month, no doubt inspired by the musical mentioned earlier. Other music, mostly Jazz, does get a spin, but there are times when nothing else but Bob will do. Even after all these years, I like having his collected works on random, and just spin and see where I end up.

Oddly, this time around I ended up in a period which has mostly left me cold. I’ve always liked ‘Slow train coming’ as that album was well produced and had some great playing on it. It was the likes of ‘Saved’ where he resorted to scripture and preaching, and the songs just didn’t do it for me.

And yet. There’s always something in there, and when I heard the cast finishing with ‘Pressing on’ something in the song just spoke to me. I just got it. That’s the great thing about Bob - songs reveal themselves over the years, finally coming home when you least expect it. There’s just something in it that reminds me of the old gospel spirituals with the choir and he delivers it with so much conviction.

That’s me for July. Thanks as always for subscribing and reading and I appreciate the comments and feedback. Gonna keep on, pressing on.