THE PHANTOM
The Social Scene
There were celebrations long into the night at the Irish Magazine Awards, when Olaf Tyaransen of Hot Press scooped the Journalist of the Year award. This is the second year running that Hot Press has nabbed this major prize, with Stuart Clark the recipient last year. This is also the second time the bould Olaf has been thus garlanded. He also won the award for Best Shoes on the night. The occasion was wittily hosted by Oliver Callan. Congrats are due too to Harmonia, who won the Publishing Company of the Year award. Norah Casey, who recently sold the Harmonia titles, made an understandably emotional speech, before handing over to her brother Ciaran, who will run the show going forward. Nora retains Woman's Way magazine, so she has not left the business entirely, Congrats also to Denis Markey on his Lifetime Achievement Award – and to Grace Aungier ion a very successful night...
Following the controversy over the mysterious Department of Justice emails about the Garda whistleblower Sargent Maurice McCabe, the former Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald had no choice but to fall on her sword. She is a decent woman, who meant well. But it is very difficult to reconcile that with the stark reality that she failed to react to an email which was sent to her, informing her directly that the then-Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, intended to pursue a hostile legal strategy against McCabe, at the O’Higgins Commission. What can have been going on in her mind? Knowing that supporting the previous Commissioner, Martin Callanan had already cost Alan Shatter his job as Minister for Justice, how could she have remained silent? Why did she not at least discuss the issue with the Taoiseach of the time, Enda Kenny? Her silence had all the appearances of complicity. It may not have been that – but her failure to act was a serious error of judgement…
Her resignation as Tánaiste has led to debutante TD, Josepha Madigan, being made the new Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht. Madigan replaces Heather Humphreys, who’s now been handed the Business, Enterprise & Innovation portfolio. A TD for the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown constituency, Madigan is a family law solicitor, who also self-published a novel, Negligent Behaviour, in 2012. While not quite in the Alan Shatter league, some of the sex scenes are pretty damn steamy. Which comes as a recommendation, here at HP house.
“Minister Madigan will build on the work of Minister Humphreys, and will drive forward the Government’s agenda for arts, culture and heritage, including the Creative Ireland programme, an ambitious ten year capital plan for the arts and multi-annual increases in funding for culture and heritage,” reflects the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. We wish her the best in what is certainly a noble endeavour… Speaking as part of this year’s Hot Press Christmas Round Table, the recently installed Chairperson of the Irish Music Rights Organisaion, Eleanor McEvoy, expressed her frustration at the lack of tangible government support for the industry here. That comes in the wake of an IMRO Report, which estimates the overall contribution of the industry to the economy in 2015 at €703million. That this has been achieved with little or no support from the authorities suggests that even a limited investment from the Government could go a very long way…
Actor – or should that be actress? – Amy
Shiels is the Mad Hatter in our bumper 2018 Annual. Her next big movie is Freelancers Anoynmous, a comedy “giving visibility to the LGBTQ community and women in tech industries.” In it, the divine Dubliner appearing alongside hot Hollywood properties Alexandra Billings, Natasha Negovanlis, Mouzam Makkar and Megan Cavanagh…
Meanwhile, Barry Keoghan – whose star is firmly in the ascendant globally – kicks 2018 off with a visit to the Sundance festival in Park City, Utah where his latest movie, American Animals, is being screened. He lines up with Evan Peters, Ann Dowd, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson and Udo Kier in the (mostly) true story of four young men who mistook their lives for a movie and attempted one of the most audacious heists in US history…
Still with movies, the IFTA-nominated Catherine Walker joins Outlander man Gary Lewis and Danish thesp Soren Malling in an English-language drama, Rig 45, set in the Nordic oil fields….
Trinity College graduate Danielle Galligan has landed a prominent role in the eighth and (boo!) final season of Game Of Thrones, which
will be with us in 2019. In addition to a string of Gate, Lir, Smock Alley and Abbey Theatre appearances, Danielle impressed in Paul Duane’s Tinderface and Danilo Zambrano’s Strangers In The Park outings, and will feature in January as part of our Hot For 2018 special…
A few months after moving from daytime to weekends, Sarah McInerney is to present her final Newstalk Between The Lines show on Saturday December 23. The Sunday Times Political Correspondent’s announcement came just a few days after her former cohost, and latterly Newstalk Political Editor, Chris Donoghue, ended his 14-year tenure at Marconi House. Donoghue has joined the new Tánaiste, Simon Coveney’s office, in the Department of Foreign Affairs. He will act as a Special Adviser to the Minister. While the move took some bt surprise, in reality it is a fascinating time to get involved, with Brexit negotiations at a tricky stage. We wish Chris well in what will be a very challenging gig…
Christmas FM was re-launched in November, with Vogue Williams serving as station ambassador. They hope to raise a tidy sum for Sightsavers by playing festive tunes 24/7. The station can also be listened to online, through a variety of apps and on Virgin Media Channel 900 – and will, for the first time, venture across the Irish Sea with DAB broadcasts in London and Liverpool…
Radio Nova pulled out all the U2 stops last week as they celebrated the arrival of Songs Of Experience with a secret listening party in The Morgan Hotel, and a special Colm Hayes-presented show, which found the likes of former U2 design man Steve Averill, Songs Of Experience producer Jacknife Lee, Amanda Brunker, musician, producer and Nova presenter Gavin Glass and our man Stuart Clark holding forth on the new opus. The general consensus is that it’s the best thing U2 have done in a decade, with 'Love Is All We Have Left', 'Landlady' and '13 (There Is A Light)' ranking in the canon of U2 greats…
We are thrilled to hear that Sunday Times arts correspondent, Eithne Shorthall, has had her second novel, Grace After Henry, snapped up for a six-figure sum by Putnam, a Penguin imprint who are publishing it Stateside in early 2019. It’s described as “a poignant, funny and moving exploration of love and loss.” The good news doesn’t end there, with Shorthall’s debut, Love In Row 27, being optioned by NBC Universal Studios, who have previously enjoyed global success with the likes of Friends, Law & Order and Seinfeld…
In terms of who will be hot in 2018, the word on the grapevine is that we all should “watch this space” in relation to Liz Nugent. The thriller writer has struck a chord in all the right places, apparenty, and we should see some high profile results shortly…
The Phantom is deeply saddened by the death of Willie Meighan, the much-loved owner of Kilkenny’s Rollercoaster Records
who had been suffering from cancer. Paying tribute to Willie, Jeremy Hickey, aka RSAG, tells Hot Press: “Personally, going right back to the start of my music career, he was there for me. Any time you’d run into him, he’d chat to you and explain the music industry to you in a way that just made sense.
“And I knew that he ran the shop out of his love for music, not for money. As an example, he promoted my debut album and sold it in his shop, but he would never take a cut from it. He’d never take any money, no matter how much I tried to give it to him. He might’ve been a smart businessman though - because whatever money I had left over, I spent it in Rollercoaster Records! Overall though, I think there’s a general sense down here that we’ve lost someone great. He was the heartbeat of Kilkenny. Legend wouldn’t be the right word to describe him.” Our condolences to his wife Aisling Hoy whom he married a few weeks ago, and to all of his friends and family.
On a lighter note, congratulations to musicloving rugby star and sometimes DJ, Cian Healy, who has announced that he is to marry his girlfriend Laura Smith. While a date hasn’t been set yet, the big event will likely take place in the first half of 2018…
The Phantom was in attendance for the recent Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards at Dublin’s Clayton Hotel, which was a huge night for Irish writing. Established writers like Bernard McLaverty, Marian Keyes and John Connolly picked up awards, while new talent was also honoured. Aside from Connolly, another previous Hot Press ‘Write Here, Write Now’ judge, Christine Dwyer Hickey, also took home a gong. Connolly won RTÉ Radio
1’s Ryan Tubridy Show Listener’s Choice Award for he: A Novel, while Hickey won the Writing. ie Short Story of the Year Award for Back To Bones. Elsewhere, Eavan Boland was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award, while bestselling children’s author David Walliams picked up the Bord Gáis Energy International Recognition Award – made to international authors who have contributed substantially “to the health and wealth of the Irish book trade”... Other major literary talents in attendance included John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Paul Howard, and there were also appearances from the likes of Roz Purcell, Vogue Williams, Caitriona Perry, Rachel Allen, Neven Maguire and Colm Cooper…