Found another Horslips Fan! And a great Folk Music Blog too

Came across this one last night:

FusiveBlog.co.uk

There's a reliance here on the Wikipedia entry, which I've been told could use some vetting, but I was mostly impressed with how the history is up to date. The "RTE Television Program" described in the last paragraph is Other Voices and it aired just last night.

Dick Cheney could not be reached for comment.

Horslips on RTE's Other Voices TONITE

Sharing vocal duties, Barry Devlin (bass), Seán Fean (lead guitar) Eamon Carr (drums), Charles O'Connor (violin, mandolin) and Jim Lockhart (flute, tin whistle, keyboards) performed their first electric set in OVER 25 YEARS last December. Tonight, on the current season of the critically acclaimed Other Voices, this fantastic moment in Irish rock history will be shown on RTE 2.

After that, the rest of the world -- and that includes me -- will be able to watch online at the Other Voices Archive Site.

And don't forget tomorrow's live web chat with Barry Devlin and Jim Lockhart. Submit your questions online now.

And Horslips Week is Off and Running with John Kelly's Mystery Train on RTE

John Kelly's Mystery Train has a feature called "The First Time:"

The First Time is just that - A Famous (or soon to be famous!) Person tells us about a piece of music that has stayed with them since that first time they heard it... Maybe they fell in or out of love, turned on to music, or just became besotted with a voice.

The Mystery Train carriage staff also hit the Other Voices festival in Dingle and we have a truck-load of First Times which we'll lash out on the next few months. "The First Time" on the Mystery Train Monday nights.

Now the astute web-surfer would note that it is a rather handsome picture of Horslips themselves that graces this feature!

The Mystery Train with John Kelly
8.30 - 10pm (Ireland Time, so 12:30 Pacific Time and 3:30 Eastern Time)
Monday - Thursday

Shows also archived on site above.

Tara Telephone Update & Horslips Week Begins

Back in October, I described my interest inTara Telephone, a music and poetry performance group important to the history of Horslips.

Work on the Tara Telephone site has continued, with a page devoted specifically to this up and running on a MySpace Tara Telephone tribute page. Amazingly, it was the discovery of the literary community of MySpace that encouraged me to explore that channel as a way to research and connect with other people who are interested in contemporary poetry. The Charles Bukowski tribute page here demonstrates what MySpace can also do for literature.

And it works. I've 'met' BP Fallon and have been absolutely intoxicated by his wild site.

I truly hope to use this MySpace page and the supporting site to draw attention to the significance of Tara Telephone, which had an influence on both the contemporary rock scene and the modern poetry scene of Ireland. My own interest in this is the realization that it then becomes part of the international beat movement, which had epicenters in San Francisco, New York, London, and Liverpool -- to name the few.

This following week will be a big week for Horslips news, with performance in Dingle airing on Wed. 15th Feb., on Other Voices RTE Two at 11.30pm. Fans of Horslips will be able to take part in a web chat with Jim & Barry on Thursday 16th Feb. at 2pm. All times are Dublin timezone times. Closer to the chat, I'll try to have up the timezone conversion.

Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts:The George Seaview Ballroom

Crystal stopped by for a comment below, and that was the kick I needed to go and visit her site. And I'm glad I did!

Top of the blog post is her tribute to The George Seaview Ballroom, which, from the sounds of it, was a great place:

Originally named The George Hotel, it had later been known as the Seaview Hotel, and referred to by all as 'the Seaview' when Dolores San Miguel started managing it as a venue for alternative bands.
Dolores moved on to create a venue at The Exford Hotel in Russell Street Melbourne, and that's when the St.Kilda location became The Crystal Ballroom - named by Legendary Laurie Richards.

The ballroom was on the first floor and had an impressive chandelier which amazingly survived the pogo-ing punk stuff which occurred below it. All around the room there were beautiful stained glass windows of St.George and the dragon. The floor was 'sprung' for dancing.

More, including pictures, at the link.

John Kelly: The other voice behind Other Voices

Just before introducing Horslips that night, John Kelly made a joke for the benefit of the longtime Horslips fans in the audience. Bouncing up and down on his knees a few times, he said "No...this isn't the Astoria." A reference to the legendary ballroom of Horslips lore where the fans would have the floor moving in rock rhythm by night's end.

Hotpress has an interview with John Kelly as well:

Kelly's Heroes

As a long time fan, an obvious highlight for Kelly was the first full-on Horslips performance in some 25 years.

“Well, the Horslips reformation has been a slow process,” he says. “We’ve all done our bit to encourage that in various ways, but the difference with this one was that there was electricity involved. It suited them ‘cos it wasn’t like doing the Stadium. I think they had the time of their lives. They arrived and there was a session on and Charlie got the fiddle out. The next day during the soundcheck I walked up the gravel road to the church and all I could hear coming out of the wall was ‘Dearg Doom’. I realise this mightn’t mean anything to a lot of people, but I was hearing that for the first time in 25 years. I just sat outside and kinda fell apart, I mean I really did. And then I snuck in and hid and watched them privately rehearsing tunes.

“It was amazing, the highlight of my professional life for sure. I felt 13 again. And it was incredible on the night. Unlike the other gigs, it was packed with Horslips fans: people travelled from Derry. When they broke into ‘Dearg Doom’ and ‘Trouble’ there was a lot of love in the room.”

More at the link.

Philip King: The man behind Other Voices

Seeing Horslips perform live last December in a small church in Dingle was one of the musical highlights of my life. Here's a story on the series itself and how it has become one of the leading showcases for music in Ireland:

The King of Dingle

The programme is now generally regarded as a major success for Philip King, who is himself a noted musician, songwriter, radio presenter, music pundit and all round decent bloke – as well, of course, as a television producer/director of the highest calibre. One of the unlikely treats of the concept is that it’s all centred around a tiny church in Dingle, a long trek from the bohemian environs of Temple Bar or the technical surroundings of RTRs Montrose, places both musicians and crew might be more used to inhabiting.

“If you want to know the facts you can always consult the historians, but if you want to know how the people responded emotionally to what was happening to them you have to consult the poets and songwriters.” He says “In a real sense Other Voices is archiving the soundtrack of this generation, and that’s a very exciting thing to be involved in.”

So why record it in Dingle?

“I live here,” King replies, “This place had long struck me as a perfect setting, with a real toehold on the heart of the tradition.”

“Every creed, colour, kin and shade of musical persuasion can cross-fraternise and the end-point might be Afro-Celt Sound System fans hunting for Sean O’Riada recordings.”

The church setting is, he explains, a vocalist’s dream. “The voice is unlike any other instrument, it’s very personal, located closest to the heart – whether it’s Tibetan throat singers or Robert Plant or Tim Buckley, the sounds are related. As such, I’d obviously hope that diversity is a defining feature of the event – somebody listening to a different form, suddenly going ‘what is that? We recognise that’.”

More at the link. Requires registration.