Stoat – Oh Happy Day

Continuing our series of underrated Irish music since 1960, reader Fez holds a torch for longstanding indie veterans Stoat, led by Cormac Parle. This single is from their 2002 album Future Come And Get Me.

Fez says:

“Oh Happy Day is unbelievably good. It’s criminally underrated. It’s an amazing song – not just an amazing Irish song. It’s catchy but lyrically gifted.”

Nick says: Super furry animal.

Stoat

From top: Village magazine website; Tanaiste Leo Varadkar arriving at the Dáil in the Convention Cerntre

Yesterday

“There is more to this story than the sharing of a confidential document. I wish to speak about that for a moment.

“Our democracy is strong but we are not immune from the corrosive forces being experienced in other established democracies. I refer to fake news, conspiracy theories, the far right, the far left, unregulated fringe publications and unverified social media grievances, score-settling and smears masquerading as journalism, activism or some sort of anti-corruption crusade.

…I wish to put on the record that many of the claims made about me were trumped-up or simply made-up. Monday’s [Village] article was just one example of this. It alleged ten encounters, many of which simply did not and could not have happened, particularly as I was in Brussels on two occasions, Barcelona on one, out of Dublin on another or demonstrably doing Government business. It claimed four meetings with the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Harris, which also never happened. All could have been easily verified and checked if the truth mattered. Truth did not matter, however, and was not the objective.”

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar during his no-confidence debate yesterday.

Anyone?

At least 10 times not 2 or 3 (Village)

RollingNews

Behold: the Wally 43WallyTender – a dayboat with a spacious teak deck and extra bulwarks that fold down to provide more when the boat is anchored.

Twin Volvo Penta diesel 380hp stern drive engines are upgradable to 440hp for an impressive maximum clip of 40 knots, there’s additional lounging space for two on the foredeck and, down below, a luxurious ensuite cabin.

uncrate

Jim Fitzpatrick

Nuada?

Gifting books ‘comes with a price, perhaps several prices’.

Slightly Bemused writes:

For a number of years a friend and I have had a little bit of a book challenge. He might not call it that – basically he is winning by leagues. I think over the years I managed one or two wins, his are in the thousands.

In this time of lockdown there are a number of things you can do. I know many go to Netflix or similar and watch filums and series (I must admit I finally am getting the time for Breaking Bad). But honestly, my greatest joy has been rekindling my joy for reading. When I can find my old person glasses.

My friend gifts me with worlds I can get lost in. I have a reading chair so that I can get lost, but still have a glass of water next to me. I tried getting lost in other worlds with something more potent. Water works best, or occasionally tea. We can have the argument over Lyons versus Barry’s later. I have a cousin who works for one of them who explained some things about the difference.

But the gifting comes with a price. Or maybe several prices, I have never really been sure.

Firstly, and foremost, you have got to give the book back before you get the next.

A few more years ago than I think I care to remember I gave a book of mine that I owned (not my friend’s, I am not that crazy) to a colleague who had a passion for the genre, but no access to the books. My friend and I had an interesting series of discussions about this for several years. I bought the book again. It is one of my perennial favourites.

And before you get worried, he was not against gifting the book, quite the opposite. It was the book I gifted. I think I was forgiven when I bought it again.

The problem at the moment is the book I have currently been gifted is a paperback. There is no crease on the spine. A certain part of me worries that if I put a crease in the back, will I get the next one?

A while ago a college ‘mate’ took a book I was reading before class, and threw it across the room. needless to say, damage was done and a bit more than a crease on the spine.

Occasionally I am still asked for that guy’s name. This might worry people. Don’t.

What I really want to say is that the treasure of a book, of a world you can get lost in, is probably more important now. Having that world damaged does not help when trying to manage this world.

If you have a world you want to get lost in, find your reading chair. And get lost in it.
By the way, this is going to get me an angry text. Or at least a text with a ‘we are going to talk about this’.

Pic: All Stock

Last night.

‘The Healthy Debate’ presented by Lindie Naughten in association with Health Freedom Ireland.

An hour-long show where Broadcaster George Hook (top left) and investor and commenter Graham Neary (right) take issue with the mainstream media’s coverage and response response to Covid restrictions and strategy.

Thanks KN

Adrian McCusker, founder of the PostASelfie App

This morning.

Helen O Dwyer writes:

The Irish PostASelfie app from a small business based in Kilkee in Co Clare is an ideal way to stay connected without leaving home.  It is now FREE to send a PostASelfie postcard to Nursing homes in just a few clicks.

PostASelfie want to help keep people connected and bring a smile to people in Nursing Homes by offering their service FREE until the end of the Level 5 Restrictions.

The postcards are covered with a wipeable laminate so they can be easily wiped down on arrival for extra safety.

Simply write the word FREEPOST | NURSING HOME above the address of the nursing home or residential facility.  It is imperative to include this in order to ensure delivery. Then swipe left to bypass the payment system and enter the voucher code: withlove (all lower case)…

Post A Selfie

Irish-made stocking fillers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Irish-Made Stocking Fillers’. No fee.

Pic by Arthur Ellis

Soon to be demolished site of the Oasis nightclub, Salthill, Galway

Kevin Higgins writes:

This is poem is from my 2005 debut collection The Boy With No Face. In it I take a comic look at my mostly unsuccessful attempts at wooing the opposite gender in nightclubs such as The Oasis in Salthill, which is now to be demolished. For the most part, the ladies in question very wisely ran away.

Letter to a Friend about Girls
(after Philip Larkin)

What losers we were when it came to girls.
‘Pull up to my bumper baby, drive it in between’
played soundtrack to the wet dreams
of small, inconsequential fellas, the likes of us.
And we’re talking small on an almost monumental scale.
In duffel coats and awful glasses
we shuffled around the edges of other people’s parties
all through the eighties,
gawking down in the general direction
of our stupid, stupid shoes.
If charisma could be distilled,
ours would have been measured
in somewhat less than millilitres.
So small, we barely existed.

On the rare occasions when opportunity
—the tastiest variety—put herself there
to be availed of and there was nothing for it
but to press the advantage all the way home,
we either failed to spot the most obvious signals
—our radar were useless at picking incoming aircraft up—
or else managed to inexplicably miss.
She grinned through the worst jokes
and was clearly prepared to overlook that duffel coat,
but the score on the board stubbornly somehow stayed zero.
The goal could be yawning wide open
and still the ball would either trickle
pathetically wide or go sailing miles over.
And just what exactly were we supposed to say
as another cut-price night at The Oasis declined
(with no bachelor flat to which she might be lured back)?
“Let’s explore the universe with my last fifty pence piece.
If I empty my pockets perhaps I could stretch as far as a kebab.”

Kevin Higgins

Broadsheet.ie