PERFECT 10
HERE’S OUR TOP TEN THINGS TO DO IN CORK THIS WEEK
DAVID WHITLA ON THE DOUBLE AT THE TRISKEL
ACCLAIMED Cork-based double bassist David Whitla will play a lunchtime concert amid the intimate surroundings of the Triskel Christchurch Arts Centre on Saturday.
In addition to being an active chamber musician Whitla, who is an instructor at the CIT School of Music and regular with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, has performed with contemporary bands and artists including Karen Underwood, Mandy Murphy and Karan Casey.
Saturday’s concert will feature a programme of inventive and adventurous works by living composers, each lyrically rich and eminently listenable.
It will also include the Irish première of Bernard Salles ‘Little Suite for F. Posta.”
Tickets for teh concert from the venue on 021 427 2022 priced at €10.
KINGS OF KUDOS LIVE AT DE BARRA’S FOLK CLUB
THE hugely popular Kings of Kudos will play a free late-night gig at De Barra’s Folk Club in Clonakilty on Friday night.
Their story starts more than a decade ago when Stephen Housden (guitar/vocals), who has played and recorded with musicians including Warren Zevon, Dr John and Glenn Frey and drummer Les Sampson (drums) joined forces.
After playing together with Noel Reading (formerly of the Jimi Hendrix Experience) the duo set up their own band as a vehicle for their original music. After various line-up changes the ‘Kings’ were born with the permanent addition of Mike Geaney (Eric Bell Band) on bass.
Their eclectic and exciting blend of music straddles different genres, with their live shows experiences to satisfy even the most jaded of musical palates.
PAT SHORTT AT FERMOY’S PALACE THEATRE
THE irrepressible Pat Shortt will bring his hilarious ‘How’s Ting’s’ show to the Palace theatre in Fermoy on Friday evening.
During a night of music and predicable mayhem, Shortt will explore a whole manner of “big and little tings”, some personal and some not so personal, some international and others that in his own words “only affect the parish”.
With a cast including Eugene, the chairman of the local drama committee, and Sr Eucharia with her hilarious look at religious life in rural Ireland Shortt manages to effortlessly turn the normal into the abnormal.
The show, the follow-on to the hugely successful ‘Selfie’, sees Shortt once again in fine form as he pokes fun and all aspects of Irish life from the sublime to the downright ridiculous.
Tickets, priced at €31.20 from www.ticketmaster.ie.
WATERMELONS TO PLAY FREE GIG DOWN THE LANE
CORK-based blues four piece The Watermelons will play a free late-night gig at Cork’s Crane Lane Theatre next Sunday night.
With a line up, consisting of drums, bass, guitar and sax, the band boasts some of Corks finest musicians.
Their live sets alternate between pure Chicago blues and blues rock, with blistering covers of tracks made famous by legendary musical figures including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf , The Allman Brothers, Junior Wells , Fleetwood Mac and Jimi Hendrix.
The audience can expect wailing guitar and sax solos driven by a stirring vocals and a formidable rhythm section.
‘GOD HAS NO COUNTRY’ AT THE INEC IN KILLARNEY
THE INEC Acoustic Club in Killarney will host a one-off performance of Donal Courtney’s acclaimed play ‘ God Has No Country’ tonight (Thursday).
The thought-provoking play is a dramatic retelling of the exploits of Kerry priest Hugh O’Flaherty and how he saved the lives of more than 6,500 people in Rome during the Second Word War.
The story follows O’Flaherty’s torment as he has to decide to act in defence of those suffering under the tyranny of the Fascists. The play also reflects on his upbringing and education in Killarney and how joining the priesthood protecting him from involvement in The War of Independence.
Told with humour and sensitivity, ‘God Has No Country’ brings the heroic deeds and achievements of this extraordinary man to a wider audience. Tickets €10 from www.inec.ie.
VARIETY FUNDRAISER AT THE GLEN THEATRE
THE Glen Theatre in Banteer will this coming Saturday evening host a variety concert with all proceeds going to the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI).
The evening will incorporate two one-acts plays from the pens of local writers: ‘In Therapy’ by Banteer’s Ann O’Connor and ‘ The Invitation’ by Mary Angland from Kanturk.
Musical entertainment will be provided y Billy O’Brien, John ‘ The Singing Farmer’ Murphy and All-Ireland Scor Na nOg solo winning singer Anna Moynihan Cullen.
The evening will also feature surprise guest story tellers, musicians and dancers.
Admission to the show, which will get underway at 8.30pm, will be €10 at the door.
EVERYMAN PALACE TO HOST ‘THE APPROACH’
THE Everyman Palace Theatre will hosts a fivenight run of Mark O’Rowe’s critically acclaimed new play ‘ The Approach’ from next Tuesday.
Starring three of Ireland’s leading actors – Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty and Aisling O’Sullivan – the play is O’Rowe’s first since the award-winning ‘Our Few and Evil Days’ at the Abbey Theatre in 2014.
As the three main characters, Anna, Cora and Denise engage in conversation and details of what they share being to emerge the audience realise a subtle game of survival is being played out.
Both a psychological puzzle and a quietly devastating tragedy the emotionally charged play explores their inner lives as they try to make sense of their world. Tickets from the venue on 021 450 1673 priced at €30.
JOHN SPILLANE TO PLAY VILLAGE ARTS CENTRE
CORK’S favourite musical son, the inimitable John Spillane, will be back on home turf on Saturday night when he takes to the stage of the intimate Village ARTS Centre in Kilworth.
Over a career spanning more than three-decades, Spillane has sold more than 100,000 albums, won two Meteor Awards and seen his songs covered by a host of Irish folk luminaries including Christy Moore, Solas, Mary Black and Sharon Shannon.
His gigs are always very special occasions as Spillane treats guests to well known ditties and debut performances of new songs delivered with his roguish humour tinged with more than a dollop of typical Cork irreverence.
Tickets from 097 649 2514 priced at €15.
BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX TO PLAY CORK
AMERICAN jazz pianist Scott Bradlee with bring his hugely popular ‘Postmodern Jukebox’ show to the stage of the Cork Opera House next Wednesday evening.
From humble beginnings in Bradlee’s bedroom, the project has gown into a viral sensation racking up more than 811 million YouTube, with Bradlee also bringing a rotating roster of topclass musicians on sold out live tours across the globe.
The show’s appeal lies in its ability to merge contemporary pop and rock songs by the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Miley Cyrus Taylor Swift with vintage blues and jazz styles. Tickets for what promises to be a magical night of music and song from the venue on 021 428 0022 priced from €33.50 to €76.
JOIN DAVID GERAGHTY AT THE WHITE HORSE
IRISH multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Geraghty will being his ‘Join Me in the Pines’ project to the White Horse in Ballincollig tonight (Thursday).
Best known as the driving force behind the band Bell X1, Geraghty has also enjoyed a hugely successful solo career releasing his debut album ‘Kill Your Darlings’ in 2007, following this up in 2009 with the equally evocative ‘The Victory Dance’ and the 2014 LP ‘Inherit’ under his ‘Join Me in the Pine’s’ project
This year sees Geraghty moving away from the brooding style of his previous work, instead introducing new and more uplifting music inspired by Prince, Bowie and Nile Rogers into his live sets. Tickets from www.ticketweb.ie priced at €15.