Tripe+Drisheen: The Friday View 24/09/21
Our weekly round-up of news and events in Cork
Exciting news for arts lovers at Tripe + Drisheen: read AND listen from tomorrow!
Tomorrow, we launch a brand new Saturday Arts+Culture tab.
Expect an eclectic array of interviews with musicians, writers, artists and others to enrich your weekend reading. We’ll be using the podcast function to enrich this, so remember to hit play as well as reading!
This is a whole extra day at Tripe + Drisheen, meaning we are now publishing our Long Read on Thursdays, our Friday View, a Saturday Arts + Culture feature and Our Cork 2040 on a Sunday, as well as weekday news stories as and when we get them.
If this is too much for your email inbox, remember that you can tailor your Tripe by choosing which tabs get sent to your email inbox. There’s a guide to that here.
As our wonderful pool of subscribers grow, so does the amount of work JJ, Ellie and other contributors can put into growing Tripe + Drisheen. A sincere thank you to all our supporters. You’re a fantastic bunch.
PS: ever think of giving a gift subscription to the news-lover in your life? An annual subscription would be a fantastic birthday present….
Celebrate Katty Barry, Queen of the Coal Quay
You can’t get more Cork than the legendary Katty Barry.
In an offal-based reference that’s right up our alley at Tripe+Drisheen, according to another of our Cork heroes, Jimmy Crowley, she sold “crubeens fairly bursting at the seams,” in her unlicensed eating house on Dalton’s Avenue, which was famed for its egalitarian welcome to rich and poor alike, and late night music and drinking sessions attended by Cork’s bohemian (ie, broke) artistic community.
A woman most definitely after our own hearts.
Katty’s establishment was demolished by Cork Corporation in the 1960s but she was a fixture on Corkmarket until her death in 1982. She is buried in St Joseph’s Cemetery.
A new play, Katty Barry, Queen of the Coal Quay, by director Marion Wyatt, is playing in the CAT Club nightly until October 22nd. Marion has long since established herself as something of a queen in her own right: a queen of Community Theatre, she has worked with community casts and delved deep into local lore in her own inimitable style for previous productions based on Cork history including The Sunbeam Girls, Shawlies and Dockers.
Cork Arts Theatre found itself in dire straits last year due to Covid closures, and because of its position straddling professional and amateur work, was ineligible for much of the emergency arts funding doing the rounds and launched a crowdfunding campaign to stay afloat.
Ellie wrote about the plight of the fantastic little theatre where Cork stars like Cillian Murphy and the Young Offenders cast first trod the boards here.
For bookings and information on Katty Barry, Queen of the Coal Quay, visit: www.corkartstheatre.com
School’s out: Fridays For Future is back
Those pesky kids are at it again!
JJ’s Long Read this week is on East Cork climate protester Orla Murphy, who spent five weeks in prison for defacing government property. Which is timely, because this week, the Fridays For Future protests, the monthly school walk-out founded by Greta Thunberg, are back in Cork.
(Un)Holy Blood: Taking Circus arts to a new level tonight
Pitch'd Circus and Street Arts Festival has been afoot and tonight there’s an adults-only performance at Corks’ Circus Factory of an Alejandro Jodorowsky inspired piece of contemporary theatre featuring trapeze, abstract film and sound-scapes.
(Un)Holy Blood is a “hair-raising spectacle” based around the story of Lirio, a martyred saint whose spilled blood becomes the site of a church. Performed by Lidija Šola. Strong themes including rape and abortion make this a far cry from the family-friendly associations with circus.
The show was on last night and is on again tonight at 9pm.
You can book here.
Just Billa
One of Cork’s most well-known performers Billa O’Connell passed away yesterday, Thursday, September 23 at the grand age of 91. Billa was a fixture on the show business circuit for years in Cork. There’s a few scenes of Billa at his finest on offer here from when The Late Late Show came to Cork in 1982: it’s got Billa telling jokes, singing and even Irish dancing.
Cork City Council have opened an online book of condolences for Billa which you can sign here.
Walk this way
If you’re in Cork city tomorrow Saturday, (September 25), there’s a walking tour of the city’s derelict sites. Some of these buildings will be familiar from the Twitter thread started by Frank O’Connor which we wrote about in our first ever piece on Tripe+Drisheen.
Frank will be joined by Jude Sherry and the walk is being coordinated by CATU Cork, a branch of Community Action Tenants Union. But, it’s not all grim, there’ll be poetry and music as well.
No need to register if you’re attending: the group will meet at 1 p.m. at Nicholas Well Lane, on Blarney Street and meander their way along until they reach the old Odlums factory on the docks at around 4 p.m. You can keep up to date with CATU on social media here.
Cyling and the city
Cork Cycling Campaign will be hosting a meet-up in Fitzgerald's Park tomorrow, Saturday, September 25. They’re looking for new members, but also it’s a chance to find out what they do and how they’re trying to make Cork a more cycle-friendly city.
Currently the voluntary organisation has over 500 members and they carry out a lot of advocacy work about cycling in the city.
It’s a family-friendly event so bring your picnic blankets and camping chairs and meet at the green just inside the main gates. More information about registering to attend here.
Tweet of the week: bring back 1968!!??
That’s it for this week’s round-up. Don’t forget to look for out for tomorrow’s new Arts+Culture newsletter on Tripe+Drisheen.
Also any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact either of us at jj.odonoghue@gmail.com or emailellieobyrne@gmail.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.
From the T+D archive: