Dear Reader –
Most of you will remember back as far as 19 years ago - the summer of Saipan. The original Ronaldo scored two goals to win the World Cup for Brazil, and George W Bush was making plans before invading Iraq later that year. What were you up to?
I would love to hear some stories - email kieran@kieranquinn.ie
*All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
We have less than 2 days to go on the Theme Night crowdfunding campaign…and we are so close!
As I write, we are 90% funded with less than 48 hours to go, which means that we are just under €1800 short of our target. I’m very hopeful that with your help we can make it, and as promised in the video below I’ll sing a song on guitar for you all if we do!
You can make a contribution and help us reach that target here. But it has to be done before you go to bed on Wednesday (tomorrow).
Where else but Sligo?
But back to the summer of 2002, because it was also a famous summer for Sligo GAA. It was the one year I can remember when our football team was genuinely competing with the top teams in the country.
Thanks to balls.ie, (and Colm Mullen, Ciarán O’Malley and Brendan Tierney) for reminding me of this during the week, and for this picture (also featuring Eamonn O’Hara and Aidan ‘Scoop’ Carty). It was taken in Croke Park after we beat Tyrone (2003 champions) and we would go on and narrowly lose to Armagh (2002 champions) in the quarter-final after a replay. Great days, even if there is a lingering sense of wonder as to how far we could have gone.
What’s New?
Not music-related, but a stunning achievement and definitely deserves to be highlighted. Theme Night Regular Katelyn Ressler has written, directed and produced a play. She describes it as an original short absurd play about transformation. It was filmed in The Glen, features local actors, and will premiere here on Facebook at 4.30 this Saturday August 1, and you can tune in then, or indeed any time afterwards to watch it.
In last week’s letter I highlighted a video which was released to raise awareness of FleadhFest, one of the biggest music festivals in the country which takes place in Sligo next week. Find out all you need to know here.
A nod today to a lady who turned 2 in the summer of 2002 - Mona McSharry of Grange, Sligo and Ireland, who this week became only the second Irish swimmer to reach an Olympic Final - an incredible achievement.
Finally…
2002 also saw Eminem at the peak of his powers. That year he released his fourth album and this song from his film 8 Mile which would go on and win an Oscar. And although it was released in October of that year, it could have been written about the Sligo football team of that summer.
“You only get one shot - do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime”.
Till next time - Kieran.
