Dear Reader –
This James Clear quote links the first two sections of today’s letter nicely.
“Friendship happens on the way to something else. If you “try to meet new people” it feels weird and forced. The more you aim for friendship, the more it eludes you. But if you aim to learn or achieve something with others, friendship happens naturally during the shared pursuit.”
*All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
As a regular reader of this letter, you will know that a new season of our podcast In The Lamplight started a couple of weeks ago. Our fourth season, even though it’s called Season 3 (don’t even bother going there). And it’s a joy being back.
Luke Devaney, Rory Maitland and I started this podcast a year ago in order to find a vehicle to continue a great working relationship that had been born during the online theme nights in 2020. It got us through much of lockdown and gave us the opportunity to make music with people at a time when there really wasn’t much of that happening.
And we have kept it going. Together we have written music, recorded with some of our favourite musicians, and gone cliff-jumping. Now Mícheál Kearney has joined us, and has brought extra energy and expertise to the group.
Possibly my favourite part of it is the chats however. Be they with the lads around whatever comes up each week, or with guests, but being on air means that the conversations can take on a different energy.
We have already spoken to Ian Dempsey, Eamonn O’Hara and Michael Rooney this season. Kian Egan was out with us last night, and like the others it was a pleasure to be in his company and hear his story.
New episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Where else but Sligo?
It was county final weekend in Sligo this week, so Tourlestrane won. Again.
They beat my club, Coolera-Strandhill. Well. Just like they did in the 2019 final. And the 2018 semi-final replay. And many other times in recent years.
It was dispiriting, deflating, crushing even. Go to the thesaurus and pick your word. It probably applies.
We thought we had a chance this time, and I had never seen the parish so well-decorated. Former players travelled back from all around the country for the game, and many made it out for a pint and a chat afterwards.
And as the evening progressed, and the company and craic started to defeat the disappointment, we thanked the players for the fantastic football they played this year, we told each other that we mustn’t leave it so long next time, and we said that life goes on and nobody died.
Congratulations to Tourlestrane. 6 titles in a row is an amazing achievement. Sligo Stats summed it up nicely on Twitter this week.
What’s New?
Today is Tuesday, and so maybe somewhere in a pub in Co. Sligo lads are embarking on the third day of either celebrations or drowning their sorrows after last Sunday’s county finals. This is an audio version of a brilliant and insightful short story called ‘The Third Day’.
We were told last week that we can now have full houses at seated theatre gigs again. So if you missed out on tickets for December’s Theme Night #28, next week’s letter will have details of a further release of tickets for these shows.
In last week’s letter I mentioned two weekly sessions in Sligo that had been running for 15 years or more. Thanks to regular reader Eddie Lee for getting in touch to inform me that the Shoot The Crows Wednesday session featuring Eddie and other members of No Crows has been running for a similar length of time. Really hoping that all these sessions can return soon.
Finally…
Speaking of No Crows, here they are at their best…
Till next time - Kieran.
