Author Archives: Nick Kelly

Ah here.

FIGHT!

Meanwhile…

Comedian Sean Collins tweetz:

As entertainers keep showing pics of them sitting in a chair getting the “Jab” , here is one of me sitting in a chair NOT getting the jab… All good so far, no side effects.

It’s a waiting game.

Lee Rogers – The House

Thanks for the memories.

Carrickfergus songsmith Lee Rogers (top) follows last year’s Gameblood album with a highly personal new single and video.

Lee explains:

“I wrote The House after driving past where I lived as a kid. For a long time I subdued any memories of the place. Not because they were bad memories. The opposite: they were amazing memories. Both of my parents are gone. My mum passed when she was probably about the age I am now, and my dad a few years ago. I think I dodged having to think about them for a long time.

“I was finding it hard to connect my own children to their legacy. I found myself writing a song that forced me to look through old photos (which I have never liked to do), and found the song as a connection between my folks and my children. And probably to myself as well.

“The line ‘still got some songs in the walls’ was a nod to my parents’ legacy. Their stories aren’t over yet while I’m here, while all their grandchildren are here. It stung a little….well, more than a little, but I needed it. I needed to feel them again.

“It’s been a year of loss, for everyone. But I gained something I wasn’t expecting from this song. A little bit of peace inside.”

Nick says: Amen.

Lee Rogers

The votes are in.

Last Friday, with a startling €20 voucher redeemable at any Currys PC World branch, on offer, I asked you to name your favourite song whose lyrics or title refer to a river.

You answered in your dozens.

But there could be only one winner.

Third Place:

The River by Bruce Springsteen.

H writes:

“Before I turned my back on him for the crime of getting ‘too big’ and having the audacity to play Slane (I was a very angry teenager at the time) this was always a favourite of mine from The Boss.

“It took me up to about three years ago to finally admit that I should let it go.”

Runner-up:

Down by the Banks of the Ohio by Olivia Newton John

Fairyqueen writes:

“I only knew it played by some in-house “ballad band” – 1970s on holidays my parents would find a bar (the only time they ever really did this) with a bit of “music” and over flat Cokes and Taytos (me), pint of stout (Da) and a port and lemon (my mother – and one would be all she had all evening) they would sway and sometimes sing along and almost always this song came on. Good times.”

Winner:

Riverman by Nick Drake

Specific Gravity writes:

Going to see the river man
Going to tell him all I can
About the ban
On feeling free.
If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows
I don’t suppose
It’s meant for me

“It’s probably the melancholia of the end of another stifled week, finally taking a breath and starting to unwind, but this track hits harder now than it otherwise might. Could be on repeat for a while before this night is out.”

Nick says: Thanks all.

Last week: Win Nick’s PC Voucher

Currys PC World


Carrie Baxter – Pray

Star quality.

That’s what Waterford-born, London-based R&B singer Carrie Baxter has in spades. Her single Pray was a big radio hit that Amy Winehouse would have been proud of, and comes with a seductive, atmospheric video.

Now Carrie has teamed up with rapper Nealo and producer edbl for latest single Without You.

Carrie says:

“If I had made a video for this, it definitely would have included me walking away down a long street in a pair of high heels with my suitcases!”

Nick says: Carrie on Carrie.

Carrie Baxter

Roger Gregg – Which Way Is USA?

An edited, free-form improvisation by Dublin-based Roger Gregg in which he ‘plays/utilises/torments: Words & Voice, Guitars, Saxophone, Waterphone, Cymbals, Chime tree, Keyboards, Piano Guts and Drum Samples‘.

Morgan Jones writes:

Roger is an expat Yank, playwright, artist, musician, actor and hands down the best audio drama producer on earth…

Roger Gregg

…even if the law is widely flouted and poorly enforced: people – including domestic gardeners, landscaping companies, universities, etc. – should not as a general rule be out cutting hedges, trees or shrubbery in the period 1 March to 31 August.

If we respect this closed period this year, our gardens and public areas will be beautifully unkempt by the end of August and we will be repaid in wildlife come the autumn.

It’s worth considering this: even if domestic gardeners, campuses, landscapers etc. were explicitly exempted from these laws (which they are not), what should a gardener do? Cut during the breeding and nesting season or respect the closed period for no reason other than that it is the right thing to do for wildlife?

My guess is that most people sense instinctively that the closed period should be respected.

FIGHT!

Closed Season: lay down your trimmers and step away from the hedge (Green News)

Pic: Alamy

Slaney – Chameleon

Slaney is a river in Wexford.

It’s also the first name of budding 24-year-old singer Slaney Power from Tullow, County Carlow, whose new single is a welcome shot of bittersweet pop.

Co-written and produced by Michael Hopkins, it’s the latest in a series of monthly single releases due this year.

Slaney is also an acclaimed actress, starring as Sophie in Normal People and can next be seen in Isaac Asimov‘s sci-fi epic Foundation on Apple TV.

Nick says: Power to the people.

Slaney

A group of early Pirate Radio DJs strolling through Dublin?

Or wrongly-convicted pub bombers getting freed at the Old Bailey?

We may never know.