Spring made an early appearance to give us all a bit of a lift, with what turned out to be the sunniest March on record. Just before we could think about heading to the beer garden, some Arctic temperatures returned last week, but there’s still plenty of spring sunshine to enjoy in between the showers. The weather certainly was kind to the Fusion festival, which started in Armagh on the 24th and ends today, the 3rd of April.

Paintings, Poetry and Music

One of the events I enjoyed was the projection of renowned artist JB Vallely’s paintings onto the wall of the Market place theatre, as pictured, with an accompaniment from some young musicians from the local pipers club.

‘The Painter, The Poets and The Pipers’ also featured readings from Kate Newmann and Noel Monahan, two acclaimed poets. I enjoyed it, and it was nice to hear music and enjoy artwork outside, which is the idea of the festival.

A bit earlier on the same evening, I was also able to sit outside my apartment and enjoy listening to the Harpist Anne McAlinden, who was kind enough to play in my garden. When I say ‘my garden’ I should clarify that these are the grounds of the Church of Ireland Cathedral. I haven’t hung my washing out yet, or planted some spuds, but I do like to think of them as ‘my gardens’ that I can enjoy with a book and a coffee when the weather improves. But yes, so pleasant to be able to sit and listen to some beautiful musicianship on your own front step. One of the bonuses of living around here.

Listening

My only vinyl purchase this month was ‘All the good times’ by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, which I bought as soon as it appeared on the email list of Armagh Music new releases. (Such a great service - John kindly delivers them to the door if you live locally. Take that Jeff Bezos. Always a great selection). I’ve always loved Welch and Rawlings, and this is no different - they made this on a good old reel to reel tape machine after their studio was damaged in a tornado in 2020 and they lost a lot of their work. It gives the recordings such a homely, traditional feel and there’s some beautiful, world weary covers here, everything Dylan’s ‘Senor’ (‘This place don’t make sense to me no more’ indeed) and Elizabeth Cotton’s ‘Oh babe it ain’t no lie.’ Perfect music for frayed nerve endings, I’ve wrapped myself up in this album most of the month. The version I’ve attached of John Prine’s ‘Hello in there’ I find particularly heartbreaking.

Podcasts

I finally succumbed this month and subscribed to ‘Making Sense’ by neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author, Sam Harris. I’m already a subscriber to his incredibly useful; ‘Waking up’ meditative app but have been holding out on this one. In the end I couldn’t any longer, and have been enjoying some absolutely fascinating conversations with the historian Yuval Noah Harari and the former chess grandmaster and political activist Gary Kasparov talking about Ukraine and Russia. It really helped me to make sense of global affairs, no mean feat ( This place makes a little more sense to me, señor). Currently enjoying a three hour conversation with the neuroscientist Matthew Walker about sleep, one of my favourite subjects. I actually feel a bit smarter after I’ve listened to this podcast, no mean feat for my ageing grey matter, so yeah, it’s bloody good and worth every penny. You can listen to the first half hour of his podcasts, which he always provides for free.

Viewings

My favourite binge watch of the month was ‘My Brilliant friend’, a series based on Elena Ferrantes’s best selling Neapolitan books. Why has no one told me about this before?

I watched all three seasons in a matter of weeks. Absolutely sumptuous, immersive storytelling with a cinematic quality made it hard to believe it was done for TV. It begins in the fifties, the story told from the point of view of Lenu, and her ‘brilliant friend Lila. It’s about family, friendship, loyalty and love, all against the backdrop of a changing Naples and Italy. The two lead actors give incredible performances, and it’s such a brave decision to persevere with them as actresses as the characters age - but it totally works. I haven’t seen anything as good as this on the small screen in a long time. It does require concentration, like a novel, but is such rewarding viewing. And if that wasn’t enough, Max Richter does the music, including this recomposition of Vivaldi’s Spring. (Phew, Spring again).

The only other TV I saw worth mentioning was ‘boiling point’ featuring the always watchable Stephen Graham. Whatever role he’s in, he makes it his own. Has to be one of the greatest actors of his generation. It’s shot in one take, which give the performances an extra intensity and takes place on one evening in a London restaurant, and it’s a nervy, edgy film that you know is going to end badly for someone. I did enjoy it, and it made me think of 'Victoria’ from a few years back which was a much more ambitious use of the same technique.

That’s it for March. Thanks to those of you who read and subscribe, I really appreciate it. Just sitting down and writing posts like this is something I love doing.

I’m going to leave this here.