Comebackhorslips Guestbook News

This seems to be the day for news about Horslips forums on the 'net.

The Official www.Horslips.ie Guestbook which has a long and tumultuous history -- and will surely be recorded as one of the net's finest pieces of collaborative ad hoc literature -- is down for a siesta it seems. I just learned this myself. So, I dusted off the HTML code for the Comebackhorslips Guestbook and put it back online.

Not less that hour ago, I was looking at a relatively clean desk and happily designing online ads for our company's in-house site. "See!" I said to myself. "If you concentrate on your job when you are AT your job, it can become as fun as the old days when you lurked around those GBs all the time."

It is simply going to have to be a matter of self-control now.

Horslips Message Board

Had some homesteaders for a while: quiet, hardworking types. But perhaps they took a Castle and Cook over to Honolulu or headed up the Oregon Trail. Or maybe even looking for gold up in Alaska! Good fortune will find them where ever they go and their ranch and cattle are still waiting for them here if they come back.

But they left behind a fine Message Board for Horslips fans to chat on though, I see.

Carr's Cocktail Shack

The Wells Fargo Wagon didn't arrive til Wednesday, but after an excellent lunch at John's Grill, I'm listening to a Sunday nite show that Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy would both appreciate.

And it was Anita O'Day on Peanut Vendor! Let me off uptown!

"I had time for TWO Quickies
during Carr's Cocktail Shack."

(Photo of 'The Teacher's Pet'courtesy of
the Devil-Ettes of San Francisco)

And don't forget
"You'll 'see' me there!"

Girls! Girls! Girls!

Johnny Fean Video Clip from The Point!

The Point Depot, Dublin for the Philip Lynott Tribute Night, August 2005

At Johnny and Steve's site, you can now download a video file showing Johnny on stage with: Neil Murray, Bob Knight, Danielle Pfiffner, Charmaine Barrett and Jason Swindle. It's the end of "Trouble with a capital T" and the start of "Dearg Doom".

Slide show of Photos from the night here.

Everyone says that this was THE gig!

"Neon spells out my name

But I enter from the alley outside"

The second piece of Horslips-related good news is not mine to spill. But Danny of the Horslips Tribute Band drops a few hints over at the www.horslips.tk Guestbook.

"Is there anything I can offer to learn more?"

(Photo of the 'It Girl'
courtesy of the Devil-Ettes of San Francisco)

Again, for first-time visitors and the casually curious, the Horslips Tribute Band tell their story in their own words:

The idea of a tribute band to the Celtic Rock supergroup, Horslips, first surfaced in late 2004. Organ player Michael Rafferty, after listening to numerous records by the group, formed the idea of bringing together a group of musicians for one performance in tribute to the band. As the idea began to gather realistic potential, Ryan O’Sullivan was approached and soon recruited as the group’s guitar player. As word spread about the possibility of a tribute band forming, it became apparent that a number of other musicians, who cited Horslips as a main influence, were interested. The group soon recruited John Kelly on vocals, Conor McAloon on lead guitar, Daniel McCormack on bass guitar, and Damien Maguire on drums and percussion. The traditional side of the group consisted of Michael Kielty on flute, Patrick Bogues on fiddle, and Niall Moore on trumpet.

The first Horslips Tribute gig was performed in the CBS Grammar School in Omagh, the school which all of the members of the band attended. With Barry Devlin, bass player of the Horslips, in attendance, it proved to be an extremely successful night as the band performed the entire ‘Book Of Invasions’ album. With this first gig proving a great experience for the band, it was agreed that the group should continue to perform under the Horslips Tribute banner, in homage to the band who inspired the idea in the first place.

Daybreak

First piece of Horslips-related news concerns the publication of a new book from the Cork University Press.

Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock

Here's what Dave Fanning has to say in Hot Press:

"An excellent and thorough analysis of the development of Irish rock music over the past four decades. It is astute and erudite in its assessment of the many different strands Irish music has taken during that period, economic and concise in its delivery, and intelligently leavens its more theoretical meditations with witty, humourous and insightful flourishes."

With the concept of picking a signature song and group to represent each of the last forty years, Beautiful Day makes the right choice for 1976.

I've had the opportunity now to read this entry and it bodes well for a book of insights and surprises. I'll also need to add some of the entry's information to the Annotated Horslips lyric page on Trouble (With a Capital T).

From 'Peanut Vendor' to the 'Watermelon Man'...

...the hors d'oeuvres at Carr's Cocktail Shack were delicious tonight!

As befits a Sunday broadcast, the show kicked off with Burt Bacharach saying a little prayer for all of us, then headed down to sunny Mexico. After the aforementioned Peanut Vendor*, Juan Garcia Esquivel returned to the airwaves with the anthemaic "Mucha Muchacha."

Other highlights -- and there were many -- included Julie London telling wives how they can be lovers too; Jackie Wilson doing the song that inspired Van Morrison; The Beatles with "Til There was You" (from Meredith Wilson's Music Man); "Never Tango with an Eskimo;" another Latin beat favorite with "Besame Mucho;" and many, many more. A fantastic close with Dr. John's take on "Perdido."

But the real story is that the show successfully made its first webcast as a live stream. And the first two shows are already archived here.

Still, I was unprepared for the Cocktail Shack this week! I spent most of the show putting my lingerie drawers in order. My stockings are a disgrace! This year's light summer fishnets needed to be stored away and last season's autumnal textures and tones needed to be reviewed for fashion lapses or unrepairable holes. One chemise seems to have lost its satin ribbon drawstring and is now in my sewing basket for repairs. A garter belt has gone missing. Several teddies simply looked too tawdry to ever wear again -- what was I thinking? And in a nod toward the changing weather, the winter flannel gowns are being aired on the clothesline today.

But NEXT week I shall be ready for the Cocktail Shack. All household chores will cease and a bottle of Champagne will be on hand for the Morning Mimosas. If all goes well, the Carr's Cocktail Shack West Coast Brunch will happen as we originally envisioned three weekends ago!

Mucha Muchacha!

*I have Stan Kenton for this one in my collection. Need to know who the vocalist was on the Shack's version. Edie Gorme, perhaps?