Concerts and movies and sushi - oh my!

My weekend of culture began on Friday night with a visit to the National Concert Hall (avec Sib 2) to see the RTE Concert Orchestra perform ‘Music to be Murdered By’, an evening of Bernard Hermann (and other) scores. It was… perfect. It started off with the overture from North by Northwest, which always makes me smile (and want to run around!), there was also music from Laura, Anna Karenina, Marnie, Taxi Driver (Patch was delighted) and the Suite from Vertigo…my favourite…

Just after the interval, they played the Psycho Suite for Strings Prelude, and when it came to the ‘stabbing violins’ bit (you know, the shower scene!) all the lights went out! There were a few laughs, but then I think everyone felt a bit unnerved! The lights slowly came back on, in red, on the stage… very cool…



Must remember to wear less black in the NCH though…when I went to the loo, an old lady asked me if I was in the orchestra…

The rest of the weekend was spent in the IFI, keeping out of the rain thanks to the GAZE film festival. Saw, I dunno, loads of movies, but I think the highlight was one called Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig. It's a documentary about a tribute album made in aid of the Harvey Milk School, and featured...everyone I love! Rufus Wainwright, Sleater-Kinney, The Breeders, Yo La Tengo, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree... And Yoko Ono. Well, I don't love her, but she was pretty funny.

And I got another chance to check oooot the fabulous Iseult and the Goods in Bleu Note on Sunday night (clickit!) Another great gig, some new tunes, and a packed house! Not too shabby!

Between all that and enough food to feed an army (sushi in the Hop House - nyom!), it wasn't a bad weekend at all really...

Still proud

Oh! And I got back from Canada just in time for the Pride Parade! Would you believe, it rained again?! I know! In Ireland! I was baffled too!



Can’t remember much due to jetlag and going out instead of going asleep, but by the looks of my photos, it was a good weekend…

Pride 2006 - Once more, with feeling

Still recovering from Pride weekend 2006. You’d think that as the years passed and I got older, I would maybe get wiser. Not so much. After a lot of hand-wringing about whether or not I would go out at all, I ended up hitting the town in style, right after work. Gubu, Shelly’s, the airport (to pick up Karen), the airport bar, back to a pub in town, the girls night in Temple Bar Music Centre, then finally home close to feckin’ dawn. Was not in great shape the following morning, but dragged myself over to Shelly’s like a good spud. After a shaky (my hands, mainly) start, I had a great time at the parade, the party afterwards was cool, then we got grub and went back to Gubu. Stupid hair of the dog!

So, in summary, parade good, hangover bad; rainbows good, rain bad; beer good, 7.5% proof mixed fruit cider bad; Berocca good, Alka Seltzer bad; lazy Sunday good, Monday morning bad. Simple really…

(photo courtesy of cb)

Lovely Girls Bum Touching

It’s one of those two times every year when I throw caution to the wind and throw away my money on the horsies. So far the Cheltenham festival has not been kind to me, I got one winner on Tuesday, but at odds of 2/1, I’m not going to be buying that gold-plated Bentley any time soon. Yesterday was a complete bust, my first fella had a chance until his reins broke (sabotage, anyone?) and the other one came a close second. Not close enough! Anyway, bet on a few today, will of course bet on the big one tomorrow, and then I will be a good girl again. At least until Punchestown rolls around.

In other bad luck news, my crack squad of quiz kids failed to set the world alight last night, but we were glad all the same to support a very worthy cause in the form of the KAL Case (read all about it). We came out around mid-table in the end, but those questions were HARD! We also scooped up some lovely consolation prizes, courtesy of Herc’s quick thinking of an alternative explanation for the LGBT acronym (see title above). So, in conclusion, Yay Team!

For all who were asking, Sib 2 is doing well, still having tests, but we’re all relieved that it’s not what we feared it might be. That was probably the worst two weeks of my life, waiting for that news. So he’s quit smoking and is aiming for a full recovery, and a return to his acting career. He says hi to all wellwishers.

I see spots

Ballooooooons

Thanks for the comment, D_C! You so craaazy!

Winding down...

Well Pride 2005 was great! It hasn't actually taken me this long to recover (really), I've just been flat out at work. But I'm still buzzing after what was an absolutely amazing weekend. Observe!

Rainbow around Christchurch

As is tradition at this stage, I spent some time with F&E (bless 'em!) during the parade, and also the lovely Children of the Spud ("Queers have more fun, ILDO!!!"). Went to the Glória concert in the NCH on Saturday evening, which was wonderful, really inspirational. The only disappointment was the notable lack of Nyp this year, she was away fighting for justice with El Union. But I know that fuzzy blue tiara is resting up for next year's extravaganza!

Pride (in the name of Lurve)

So this weekend approximately 0.07% of the population will attend the U2 gigs in Croke Park and, according to the vague statistics I work with, possibly up to one tenth of that same population of ours will be expressing their pride in some shape or form (with all shapes and forms) at Dublin Pride 2005, our

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer COMMUNITY FESTIVAL!

I myself will be out and about with the best of them at the Parade, come rain (please don’t) or shine.

Photos to follow (recovery).

Happy Pride!