The Friday View 22/11
🥶 The cold snap is finally here, but we've plenty to keep you...a little less cold. Taxi numbers are trending down, a new Fringe Festival is on the way while Quiet Lights returns this weekend.
Welcome to the Friday View. It’s cold. Let’s get to it!
Seismic activity: The ground it did shake in Bandon this week, or shake enough to be picked up by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN), which is a sign they’re doing their job. Registering 1.6 on the Richter scale, the quake barely registered with most people. By comparison, the deadly earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan on 11 March 2011 had a magnitude of 9.0. Luckily for the people of Bandon, and beyond, while Ireland does experience seismic activity, we’re not in a particularly tectonically active area of the world, as Chris Bean, senior professor of geophysics and Director of the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), told RTÉ Brainstorm a few years ago.
Great Debate: Following on from last Monday night’s televised 10-way leaders’ debate, Cork Chamber held their own Great Debate – why does every debate have to be "great"? It’s grating - featuring six candidates from Cork South-Central and North-Central.
Cork, as we all know, is a big county, the biggest!, so they were never going to get all the candidates on stage. The only sitting TD was Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire. He was joined by four councillors: Pádraig Rice (SD), Shane O’Callaghan (FG), Laura Harmon (Labour), Tony Fitzgerald (FF), and Dr Monica Oikeh (Greens).
One TD who was neither there nor invited was Cork North-Central’s Mick Barry, TD for People Before Profit–Solidarity. Barry said he was not “totally stunned” that he hadn’t been invited to join the debate.
“I stand for wage increases that compensate for the losses of the inflation years. I stand for a Living Wage of at least €17 an hour. I stand for a 4-day workweek without loss in pay and I'm opposed to workers being pressurised to stop working from home. So, I'm not totally stunned that I didn't get an invitation to the Chamber of Commerce debate. Still and all though, People Before Profit-Solidarity have elected representatives here in Cork both in the Dáil and on the Council so it's not very democratic that the Chamber have tried to exclude us from this debate,” Barry told T+D.
We asked Cork Chamber how they selected candidates for the debate, but got no response. Tickets for the Great Debate were €35 and available to members only. Breakfast was included.
Mural to album: If there’s one adjective the media in Cork love, it’s iconic. And if it weren’t used to death by them, we might summon it to describe Anthony Ruby’s “Pana Shuffle” mural outside the Mutton Lane Inn. But if we did, you would rightly point out that we shouldn’t, as it’s incorrect.
Ruby, though, is a man of many talents, and one of them, besides creating visual arts, is the uilleann pipes. This coming Saturday, Ruby will launch Black Water Rising at the Corner House at 6 pm. Ruby is no stranger to sessions at the Corner House or Sin É across the road.
Cárthach Ó Nuanáin produced and plays on the album with Anthony, and it was mixed at Creative Flashpoint Studios. You can buy and listen to the album here.
Bluer Skies: This week, Bluesky, a social network that’s been around since 2019, added a new user: Tripe + Drisheen. We’re now one of the 21-plus million on the platform, having joined the masses leaving X—especially since Elon Musk took over and turned it into a plaything for himself and anyone willing to stump up for a blue tick. Plenty of people are still sticking with X, as are we, but truth be told, T+D has been doing very little on Twitter—sorry, X—for quite some time. Will Bluesky be worth wasting/investing time on?
We only just landed on Wednesday and, admittedly, have done very little besides look around. That said, one user has already posted our article from Studio 23 and given us a shoutout. That’s the kind of thing that used to happen on Twitter. Truth be told, there’s too much social media, and the thought of another platform to post on and navigate feels like, well, more work and less joy!
That said, if it can be a place with a bit of humour, posts that titillate and educate, and a chance to build a network to learn more about Cork, and the world, then we’ll give it a go. Until the next billionaire comes along. We’re at @tripeanddrisheen.bsky.social if yor’re over there.
Cork Fringe: Every city should have a Fringe festival, and Cork will too, all going to plan, next May. Called (you guessed it) Cork Fringe, it’s the newest addition to a crowded calendar of festivals. However, there’s definitely room for more theatre, and that’s where Cork Fringe comes in.
Co-founded and led by Daniel Cremin and Ineke Lavers, the new festival will be entirely volunteer-led. According to the pair, the primary purpose of Cork Fringe will be to add to the “Cork arts ecology” by creating a new platform for Cork artists to continue cultivating their art.
The press release adds: Cork Fringe aims to create a space for collaboration, not only within the fringe community in Cork, but internationally, through the fringe festival network worldwide. The May festival will give audiences the opportunity to explore a wide-ranging arts programme spread throughout the city in unique and intriguing locations.
Artists working across, theatre, music, visual art, film can submit their proposals via the artist application link on the website from November 26.
Taxi numbers: As well as the multitude of party manifestos being pushed, press releases are flying in all directions this week from lobby groups ahead of the general election. One that caught our eye was from the Taxi Coalition which had figures via a parliamentary question on the breakdown of registered taxis by county.
The top line is that there are fewer taxis on the streets of Cork. However, that’s not true of all counties: Kerry, Limerick, and Dublin have all seen increases. In Cork, the number of registered taxis has fallen from 2,370 in 2019 to 2,186 in 2022 and 2,202 in 2023. That’s a 7% decrease from 2019 to 2023.
Taxis, the lack of them and the challenge of getting one,are always a hot topic at this time of year, as Christmas and end-of-year parties bring more people out. The real issue is getting home
And finally, we’d like to do a post soon with a round-up of Cork crafters, artists and organisations making and selling Christmas gifts (and where to get them). This could be anything from Marymount’s and Trees Please 2025 Calendars to artists making Christmas cards etc. If you could drop us a line to tripeanddrisheen@substack.com with what you make or are selling and where people can buy, we’ll get a post out soon.
Out + About
Quiet Lights returns to the city after a break for 2023, with an eclectic mix of bands and singer songwriters to take us into the winter. Though some of the gigs are sold out, there are still tickets for a few shows throughout the weekend. This evening, County Down folk singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside plays a gig alongside duo Memorial at the Kino. Tickets for that available here. On Saturday, alternative singer-songwriter Rachael Lavelle performs at Live at St. Luke’s in a double bill headliner gig with local experimental vocalist Elaine Howley, tickets for that here. The Kates play in Coughlan’s on Sunday, tickets here. Everything else is sold out. The festival ends in the Crane Lane Theatre on Sunday night, with a free gig from The Tan Jackets.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday November 22, The Kino, Washington Street; 4:30pm, Saturday November 23, Live at St. Luke’s, Summerhill North; 9pm, Sunday November 24, Coughlan’s, Douglas Street; 11pm, Sunday November 24, Crane Lane Theatre, Crane Lane Theatre, Phoenix Street, Cork.
Bicurious are an Irish-French experimental rock duo based in Dublin and Leipzig, consisting of Gavin Purcell and Taran Plouzané. They are currently touring Ireland and the UK to complete costs for their second album. They last played Cork in 2016 or 2017, and the return with a show in Fred Zeppelin’s this evening. This is a great band who are well worth going to see live. Tickets available here.
Time, date, place: 8:30, Saturday November 23, Fred Zeppelin’s, Parliament Street, Cork.
Backwater Artists have been presenting their Members Exhibition at their studio space at Wandesford Quay in the run up to Christmas. Now, in addition to that, Under 9 Waves, an exhibition by Helen O’Shea, runs in Studio 12. Based on plastic waste in the sea, O’Shea’s primary material is found plastic from local beaches and collected recyclables, and she creates creatures reminiscent of marine life from them. More information here.
Time, date, place: Thursday November 21 – Friday December 20, Studio 12, Wandesford Quay, Cork.
If you’re a fan of poetry, the Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer at Nano Nagle Place is where you need to be this weekend. This evening, Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin, Maria Lado and Theo Dorgan present their work. On Saturday, at 9pm readings come from Louis de Paor and Pedro Serrano with Anna Crowe, via zoom. At 3:30 on Sunday, Goll, a work in progress performance of a bilingual play is presented by Strive Theatre and new Cork band MacBóchra. Later, at 6:15pm, the Ubuntu Sessions feature Raphael Olympio, Outsider Yp and Cliff Masheti. More information here.
Time, date, place: Friday November 22 - Sunday November 24, Nano Nagle Place, Douglas Street, Cork.
The spoken word continues at Rebel Voices, a new monthly singing, poetry and storytelling session The Roundy, led local swing dancer Seán Kelleher and singer songwriter Lewis Barfoot. It is aimed as a space that celebrates the human voice, and welcomes people from all backgrounds, nationalities, genders and ages. Singers, poets, storytellers are encouraged to attend.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Tuesday November 26, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork.
Anatomy of a Massacre, a new film by Joe Lee on the Monaghan and Dublin bombings will have its Cork premiere in Boole 3, University College Cork on Wednesday November 27 and it’s free and open to the public. There will be a discussion afterwards with film Director, Joe Lee , film producer, Fergus O Dowd, as well as Maragret Urwin and Bernie McNally from the Justice for the Forgotten group.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Wednesday November 27m Boole 3, UCC.
Christmas Fair: Origami artist Sachiko Kobayashi will be on the many artists exhibiting at this year’s Blarney Christmas fair which takes place in Scoil Mhuire gan Smál this coming Sunday. She joins a range of crafters and artists who will be selling their wares for those on the lookout for local and handmade Christmas gifts. Free entry.
Time, date, place: 10am - 4 pm, Sunday November 24, Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Shean Lower, Blarney
That’s it for this week’s Friday View.
Any tips, comments, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via at tripeanddrisheen@substack.com. 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.
This week on T+D:
Cork has a brand new recording studio and it’s under Goldie Fish in Shandon:
Making music under the Goldie Fish
“It’s a brilliant time to be opening” says Shannon Bowman, audio engineer and co-founder of Studio 23, a newly built recording studio hidden away in an unassuming building near the top of Shandon Street.
The Cork Fringe sounds fantastic! Yes to more theatre and more art!