The Friday View 08/09
An update from T+D, Cillian Murphy gets back to his musical roots in the Pav, and our round-up of gigs, exhibitions and public lectures. It's the Friday View on T+D.
One of the constant (existential) battles for Tripe + Drisheen, and indeed most media organisations, is funding. Finding stories much less so. Indeed, I would much rather be writing news and features than updates about the mundane world of funding. But if you'll bear with me a few more paragraphs, I'll provide an update.
As you may know, Tripe + Drisheen’s only source of revenue is through our very generous readers. In return, everything we publish is ad-free and readily available to read, i.e., we don't have a paywall. I'll be the first to admit Tripe + Drisheen is not publishing enough, especially news stories on local democracy, and the type of stories that require digging and research, as well as colour pieces about all the wonderful and weird things taking shape in our city and county.
Partly, this is because I don't work full-time on Tripe + Drisheen (full disclosure: I work in communications, feeding stories into the media, as I have to pay the bills and raise a family). However, we do have two regular freelancers who contribute to Tripe + Drisheen, one of whom is Killian McCann, a recent graduate, who has a short review in today's Friday View from Cillian Murphy’s strange concert as part of Sounds from a Safe Harbour.
When I started Tripe + Drisheen one of the goals Ellie O’Byrne and I had was to give space to new writers and journalists, and to pay fair wages. That is still the goal.
One potential funding source is from the Government’s Local Democracy Reporting Scheme, which is still at the design stage. The scheme is a tacit understanding that we need more (and better?) and more readily available coverage of local democracy in Ireland.
To be fair, there is coverage of local democracy in Cork, and indeed notable coverage, but I would argue, there’s not enough, and it’s largely reactive. For instance, no media outlet in Cork (including T+D) has a full-time city or county council correspondent, and between them, these two organisations are largely responsible for shaping Cork. And it’s not just covering what councillors say or do, often they are the tail that wags the dog, or thinks they do, but also reporting from where decisions are made, or not, at the Executive level.
And then there is the problem of paywalls. Media needs them, together with advertising, it’s the main source of funding. However, what we are increasingly getting is news haves and have nots. If you can afford it, you can stay informed and up-to-date with quality news. Ultimately, this leads to a deficit in understanding how local democracy and much else with it functions.
The good news is there will be a funding stream for local democracy reporting, but it's still being designed, and we'll have to see what the conditions are when it is published. (There's also a certain irony that the government is funding journalism, the famously independent fourth estate, to report on local democracy).
As to when all that will happen, I wrote to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media for an update this summer. Helen Francis, the Minister’s private secretary, replied to say:
Thank you for your email detailing your work in the local community. It is commendable that you took on such a project, and I wish you well for the future.
Regarding the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme, it is a priority for the Minister to have it rolled out as quickly as is practicable. The scheme is currently at the policy design stage, with the next step being the detailed design of the scheme by Coimisiún na Meán, the independent regulatory body for media in Ireland.
Unfortunately, at this moment, the Department cannot give a confirmed date for the rollout of the scheme, but I can reiterate that it is a priority and will be treated as such.
So we wait, and in the meantime, we'll push on and keep reporting and publishing. In the meantime, thank you for your support and patience, and do send your stories and tips offs.
-JJ
News in brief
An upcoming exhibition in the Public Museum in Fitzgerald’s Park will feature local club and Cork inter-county jerseys commemorating Irish revolutionary figures as well as kits worn during the Decade of Centenaries (2016-2023). According to a City Council press release, they have gathered 16 jerseys to date including Ballyphehane, Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh, Brian Dillon’s, Cork Boston GFC, Delaney’s and intercounty jerseys commemorating the martyred Lord Mayors, Terence MacSwiney and Tomás MacCurtáin, and the 1916 Rising.
The exhibition will be launched in late September at the Public Museum in Fitzgerald Park and from there move to City Hall and the Central Library on Grand Parade and other local areas of cultural and sporting significance.
Sounds from a strange gig
Sounds From a Safe Harbour opened last night in The Pavilion with a sold-out Mick Flannery gig, followed by Clinker Babbage, a mysterious improvised music set led by 'A Svengali with one long arm.' A quick refresher, but a svengali is “One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence.' In this case, the svengali was Clinker Babbage.
Upon arrival, those who bought tickets became 'observers' and were presented with a set of rules on what to do in case they were called upon to become 'participants': a touch on the forehead meant the observer became a participant, a second touch meant they should stop, and a touch on the chin meant that vocal input was required.
Make sense much not. At this stage the audience reaction was bordering on bewilderment.
On entering the Pavilion, just off St. Patrick Street, silence was demanded from the ‘observers’ as a circle of roughly a dozen ‘participants’ (including Cillian Murphy) were seated in the middle of the room. There was a nervous tension in the air. At the bar we whispered our orders to the bar staff, and continued like so in conversations between ourselves, before a loud horn sounded, and Clinker Babbage emerged into the circle.
The ‘participants’ commenced the proceedings, beginning with a drum, and Clinker Babbage used his long hand to bring ‘participants’ into the sound. The instructions stated that only single notes should be played, and so as Clinker Babbage included more ‘participants’, the sound kept building.
Then came the invocation of new ‘participants’ from the ‘observers’. Although most people, at this stage, were enjoying what they were hearing, there was that fear of “oh no I’ll be picked next”. The first ‘participant’ to be invoked was handed a flute. Other ‘participants’ were handed small air horns, shakers and sticks. So far, so pre-school.
Invocation occurred across the hour, with one ‘participant’ being removed for lack of cooperation - the flutist didn’t realise he had to make noise with his voice when Clinker Babbage touched his chin and he was subsequently removed.
Otherwise, a constant buildup of improvised sounds went through the Pav, and ‘observers’ watched something mesmerising unfold. The nervousness turned to appreciation and eventually enjoyment and became one of the most interesting gigs I have attended. I didn’t become a ‘participant’, but those who did showed that anyone, when called upon, can make music, of a sort, with total strangers.
Next up, can anyone play guitar with Cillian Murphy?
-Kilian McCann
Out + About
🎵Sounds from a Safe Harbour, curated by Mary Hickson with Cillian Murphy, The National members Bryce and Aaron Dessner, and playwright Enda Walsh, returns to Leeside after a two year absence. The festival features some excellent local and international alternative acts, with music, food, and spoken word all on the bill. A collection of well-known artists in residence, known as 37d03d, will be going from show to show,while a number of free gigs will be taking place in Callanan’s, The Pavilion, and the River Lee Hotel, so expect to see some famous heads around town. It all sounds a bit like organised chaos, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
London-born Dublin-based singer songwriter Anna B Savage and Scottish smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul play a double-headliner at Live at St. Luke’s tomorrow night, at 7pm. Savage recently released in|FLUX, which she described to DIY Mag as “an exploration of recovery and the journey of therapy.” Chaimbeul, meanwhile, is an extremely skilled traditional musician, and has won a BBC Young Folk Award and a BBC Horizon Award.
Elsewhere, the festival collaborates with Seánie Buttons Presents to present locally-based singer Elaine Malone’s ‘Phyrric’ album launch, on Saturday at 10pm, with support from Nudy Boy Nature. You can read Elaine’s interview with Tripe + Drisheen earlier in the week here. Tickets for Live at St. Luke’s here, Seánie Buttons Presents here, full festival lineup here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Saturday September 9, Live at St. Luke’s, St. Luke’s Cross, Cork.
10pm, Saturday September 9, The Green Room, Cork Opera House, Emmett Place, Cork.
🗣Cork Decorative and Fine Arts Society will present a free talk at Cork City Library this coming week by Bill Power, an author and historian of Mitchelstown. Bill is the author of “Doomed Inheritance” which tells the story of the burning of Mitchelstown Castle, one of the biggest “Big Houses” to be destroyed. Bill will be talking about the events of August 1922 that led up to the looting and burning of the Castle. All welcome, and free to attend. More information here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Wednesday September 13, City Library, Grand Parade.
🧶A new textile-based exhibition, Following Threads, opens at the Crawford Art Gallery tonight, Friday September 8, at 5pm. Featuring a number of Irish artists, the Crawford is also displaying its collection of lace artefacts from the gallery when it was the Crawford School of Art. Works featured include the creations of Mainie Jellett, who designed rugs derived from cubism. Ceadogán Rugs has crated limited editions of her rug designs, and these will also feature in the exhibition. More information here.
Time, date, place: September 8-Sunday January 28, Crawford Art Gallery, Emmett Place, Cork.
🤹♂️The sixth edition of the two-week-long Pitch’d Circus and Street Arts Festival, organised by the Circus Factory, begins on Monday, with a four-day clown workshop. The “four day clown intensive” with Spymonkey, called “Theatre of the Funny’” is open to all levels of clown. The workshop lasts four days and tickets cost €360. More information here.
Time, date, place: Monday September 11-Thursday September 14, The Circus Factory, Centre Park Road, Cork.
🎸Fuzzy Pockets continue their monthly gigs at The Roundy with two shows this weekend. The first is a tribute to the late alternative musician Daniel Johnson and takes place on Sunday. Johnston is considered an important figure in the genre of outsider, lo-fi and alternative music. This gig takes place on the fourth anniversary of his death, and features a number of local artists. On Monday, Daniel Johnson-inspired improvised drone-rock band Spirit World Rising play, with a set based around pipes, dulcimer and saw.
Time, date, place: 8pm Sunday September 10 and Monday September 11, The Roundy, 1 Castle Street, Cork.
🎻Trad musician Clare Sands plays Connolly’s of Leap tonight. A bilingual singer and sixth-generation fiddler with a familial connection to each part of Ireland, Sands released her eponymous debut album last year. Described by The Irish Times as being wide and deep, and having themes of “resilience and of solidarity, of friendship and kinship, and of the deep human need for connection”, Sands’ has a unique take on traditional music. Another big West Cork gig worth checking out. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Friday September 8, Connolly’s of Leap, Leap.
🖼The Laneway Gallery on Shandon Street has been hosting In Small Things We Find Ourselves since the start of September. Based around finding joy in the small things, the exhibition features artists David Kavanagh, Aleksandra Kowalczyk, Mollie Murphy and Anne Mechelinck and goes on until September 24. More information here.
Time, date, place: August 31-September 24, Laneway Gallery, Shandon Street, Shandon.
This week on T+D
On Tuesday, for The Tripe + Drisheen Interview, Pádraig O’Connor chatted with musician Elaine Malone about her upcoming gig and album launch which you can read below.
And on Thursday, Dr Ken Ó Donnchú, a lecturer at the Department of Modern Irish at UCC (and JJ’s brother) made his Tripe debut with a lovely piece extolling why you should get along to the Glucksman and see two 15th Century manuscripts that have been united for the first time.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via our About page here and via email to tripeanddrisheen@substack.com and on our various social media channels, including Twitter and Instagram where we are posting more stories. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.
