Carr's Cocktail Shack Serves the Next Round

THIS SUNDAY on Dublin's Choice FM

"Two more Mai Tais please!"

(Photo courtesy of the
San Francisco Devil-Ettes)

Viva Las Vegas!

Bono script edits new film

hotpress.com can reveal that Bono is the Script Editor on a film called The Virgin Of Las Vegas that’s been written long-time U2 collaborator and Horslips man Barry Devlin.

“It’s slightly early, but the thing will have more legs at the end of August when Bono can concentrate his attentions fully on it,” Devlin tells us. “It’s about the last days of a showband in Las Vegas, and it’s also a father-and-son movie. It’s really a two-hander.”

Asked to tease out the storyline, he proffers: “Basically, it’s a piece about a guy whose father ran out on him when he was seven, and now he’s 21 and wants to see what his dad was like. And the cause for the son’s arrival in Las Vegas is the death of one of the band while playing onstage – a true pro, he played till the end of the number before going to his eternal reward.

More at the link!

I quit my job as a dancer
At the Lido des Girls
Dealing blackjack until one or two
Such a muddly line between
The things you want
And the things you have to do

Carr's Cocktail Shack: Part the Second

THIS Sunday, on Dublin's Choice FM 92.1, at 6:00 p.m. local time.

"How can I tempt you to listen?"

(Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Devil-Ettes)

Carr's Cocktail Shack with Eamon Carr now listed on schedule!

Last week's surprise artist: Esquivel!

Comebackhorslips Back in Business Tonight

Our main page, which is still accessible through the Home button on the splash page will be back in business later tonight. The New Orleans page will now be a part of the site, with ongoing links to relief efforts in the global musical community. I should say that it was Barry McCabe who first inspired this with his announcement of the CD Baby efforts.

But just take a moment and imagine a world that never knew New Orleans or the Mississippi Delta. This is a world that would not have rock and roll as we know it, the blues as we know it, rhythm and blues as we know it, cajun or zydeco as we know it, swing music as we know it (No Sing, Sing, Sing from Mr. Prima, for instance), and the myriad inspired forms of reggae and ska as we know it (Jamaican musicians listened to offshore New Orleans radio and remade the beat they heard through the static their own)...and above all, Jazz. The ingredients would be there, and surely something else would have emerged from another set of circumstances, but the sound of New Orleans and the Delta in life, death, joy and grief is unique and irreplaceable. And it will be heard again.

In the spirit of being back in business:

New Orleans bar keeps doors open through catastrophe

...Bourbon Street largely escaped the floods that hit after New Orleans levees were breached. And in the first days, a few stranded tourists also wandered in to sample the warm beer that became the drink of the day after the power went off and the refrigerators stopped working.

"Whatcha need, darling, you're all right?" the gruff bartender called out to a sweaty customer as he squeezed into her line of sight.

"Something cool, like bourbon," he answered.

Johnny White's has been an island of normalcy in a city shattered by hurricane anarchy and the stench of death.

The tiny joint sits squarely on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans where alcoholics and derelicts mix with a steady stream of yuppies and tourists who play at slumming it.

The doors are wide open.

Nearly a week after the disaster there are not many people walking by to notice. Those that do have stories to tell.

Lisa Smith, 41, is slumped on a bar stool, nursing a rum and coke -- and a huge gash on her side.

"I was floating on a couch drinking Budweiser," she told a friend who walked in as she began to tell the tale of how she escaped the floodwaters and made it back to her home away from home in the French Quarter.

Smith's story was interrupted by cheers which broke out when a man walked in with a cooler of ice.

"Don't get too excited, I'm hoarding this for myself," Sprinkel joked as she lit another cigarette and leaned on a stool behind the bar...

More at link.

ALL YOU CATS AND KITTENS in the Dublin Metro Area

Check out tonight's 92.1 FM Choice Radio for a Cocktail Hour like no other!

"We hear it's wickedly good!"

(photo courtesy of the San Francisco Devil-Ettes)

For those of us outside the range: Internet downloads should be available from the official site soon. Show will broadcast weekly.

Sorry this wasn't posted sooner, but the husband was computer gaming most of the morning.

Hey Hey Mirinda

Horslips in the News

We rushed this item out on the local grapevine in advance of the other news we hoped to cover. But here's a story referencing our main infatuation: Horslips!

Fine-tuning the ad man's message: it's a jingle out there

IN the old days, life was so much simpler for marketers: Guinness was 'good for you', Bank of Ireland was 'a friend for life', Smithwicks was 'going for a pint', Irish Permanent was 'the sure, safe way' to invest, Carroll's was a cool relaxing smoke and Silvikrin needed only to ask 'are you the girl with the shining hair?' Procter & Gamble could run 'fighting brands' against each other on the basis that one was 'biological', while the other 'washes whiter'.

...

It's the nature of music that it's associated with memories and emotions of the time you first heard it or listened to it most frequently. This makes it hard to listen to old music with a fresh ear but can trigger a more youthful and naive mood among older, more cynical consumers. Matrons might be targeted with Abba or Bay City Rollers if you want to appeal to their teenage naivety, or Fleetwood Mac if you want to appeal to their pre-maternal freedom.

...

Hardened retail procurement officers are lads again when they hear Thin Lizzy or Horslips. If you are targeting a specific age group, you can be highly focused: Van Morrison has enjoyed a cult following since the 1960s but each vintage appeals to different age groups; his 1968 'Astral Weeks' is remembered by golden years consumers who were young when it was released...

More at link, which does require registration. But that happens to be free.

For the record, no Horslips tunes were licensed for use in advertising. There was a Mirinda ad, but the tune in question was not a Horslips tune. There's also the history of Horslips members who worked for an advertising agency, which can be glimpsed over at Mark Cunningham's history of the band. However, there were public domain jingles that were created to mimic the Horslips sound. This does happen to many artists.

Johnny Fean's Gig List Updated Through December