3 more Damien Dempsey videos from last night
Just added!
A great rendition of Damo doing “The Irish Rover” together with Barry Murphy and Skin & Hide, plus “Bad Time Garda” and “Seize the Day”, all here:
www.youtube.com/charlieslanzarote
Enjoy!
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February 7, 2009February 6, 2009NewspapersHere is a serious question that I want to answer for myself, and I simply don’t know the answer to: I remember some years ago that somewhere, somebody started a “good news channel” and it went bust very fast. Why do we wallow in negativity? Is it that when we read that there has been a disaster, a murder or an economic credit crunch, it makes us feel better because we have escaped, or because we are part of it, and we feel better to know that there are others in the same boat? Probably so, because if we hear good news that others are doing well, it makes us feel bad as we ask ourselves “why are we not doing well, and what’s wrong with us?” What a f*cked up way of thinking. Any time I saw someone else doing well I always thought “how are they doing that, and what can I learn from them?”, but it seems that a lot of people feel better bringing others down to their own level instead of bringing themselves up to others. A slight example that happened to me today was when I parked a minibus outside a certain bar (which has mainly a daytime trade) with Damien Dempsey posters on the window, and the owner told me to move it as I was taking custom from his bar. I moved it when he threatened me with the police, even though I had every right to put it there, but I’m too smart to waste time arguing with certain types of people – in case I would become one. I did point out to him that I had brought about 500 people over the week to Lanzarote by bringing Damien here to play, and that his bar was benefiting from those same 500 people. His reply was that I didn’t bring Damo here but Magners did, and he knew it for a fact. While I appreciate Magners´ help and support with the *Magners Irish Sessions*, this gentleman was very wrong with his facts and assumptions. When I heard him speaking like this I decided that there was no point whatsoever talking any further to someone who knew everthing, and I simply drove away. A typical example of trying to bring someone else down instead of trying to bring yourself up. I was even thinking to take a picture of his bar and put it up in Charlies as a place to visit, just to prove the point, but decided that he wouldn’t understand, and while I accept that things are difficult here in Lanzarote at the moment, I can’t understand how trying to shoot each other in the foot is going to help anyone, or all of us. Anyway, back to my newspaper problem – here are the headlines of The Examiner today. And you tell me why I bother reading them, because I’m f*cked if I know why! 1. There has been a sixfold increase in the number of murders involving knives in the last 5 years in Ireland??? 2. Brian Cowen is telling the Irish people that they will have to accept a 10% reduction in living standards because of the global economic crisis??? I presume he means a 10% drop in financial living standards – which is only financial. I would question that there will be a drop in living standards outside of financial, and would hope that people think the same as I do and that, believe it or not, there is more to life than simply money. Also, I notice for the last few months that every article that they write about Brian Cowen has the same miserable face picture of him with his head down in despair. 3. The next article is about who owns the rights to the photo used in the election campaign of Barack Obama. So now all we have to talk about or discuss about the most powerful man on this planet is who owns these rights, and he has only been in office a few weeks! This leads me to think either he is simply a boring leader or The Examiner editor is a p*sshead who doesn’t have a f*cking clue and couldn’t be bothered to find something intelligent to print. I hope the latter is the case. Either way, my question is simple: “Why do I bother to read the newspapers?” HELP! February 2, 2009Damien Dempsey Live at Charlie´s Bar Last Night!This is so easy to write for me because I was told by people that I trust, that Damien Dempsey was “a true character of principal” – and how right those that told me were! His passion for his music (and any music for that matter) and his delivery are second to none, but, most importantly, he is a fantastic, easygoing lovable rogue, which suits us fine at Charlies…
I believed in him as a musician from his recordings, and believed in him as a person from what I had been told, and my job was to make him feel welcome and comfortable as fast as possible, with the help of all our band and staff – Shaky, Jon, Massimo, Widgeon, Sergie, Sarah, Anna, Paul, Josh and Brucey. We gathered together yesterday for rehearsal at 4pm, and once Skin & Hide and Damo broke in to the first song, I knew straight away that my job was done, and all I had to do was stand back and let it happen. Skin & Hide had learned all of the songs and Damo, simply and professionaly “slotted in” as if they had been playing together for years. Both Skin & Hide and Damo made each other comfortable from the start, and it proved my philosophy that no matter how good a musician is, if they are not decent characters and human beings as well, they are no good to us at Charlies. We all have no more to do now except keep Just one other thought that crossed my mind which is of little relevance to this blog, but I want to air it anyway. The Carrigaline Hurling Club were here with us at Charlies for the last few nights celebrating their first county win in 125 years (I think), and they are a sound bunch of lads! There were 32 of them together, and we have had some bad experiences of clubs from different parts of the country on holiday here in Lanzarote and visiting Charlies, and most of them we had to simply ask to leave. We love people enjoying themselves at Charlies, but we can’t and won’t accept any people enjoying themselves at the cost of others. All must be comfortable and enjoying the music and the craic, and not just some at the expense of others. Of course there were one or two amongst them, but the rest of the lads pulled them into line fast and stood behind what Charlies stands for – and we all thank you for that. You were the first team, be it male or female, that survived at Charlies, and the funny thing about it is that we have had people back in the bar with their families or partners who we had to throw out when they were here as a part of a team, and they were as sound as a bell. We respect your custom, and all we ask is that you respect our “home”, Charlie´s Bar, and those of us who work in it (if you could call it work!). Anyway the bottom line is that we look forward to the rest of the week with Damo, and congratulations to the Carrigaline Hurling Team. Drink, Sex, Feck, Arse – and a little music in between!! P.S. The next time I’m back home in Ireland, you could very easily find me standing on the sideline in Carrigaline, just to see are ye as good at hurling as ye are at singing, but only on a sunny day!
Cheers.
Murphy |
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