Dear Reader –
From a distance, our younger days look blue, we forget the clouds and rain.
From a distance, I want to trust in you, even if you cause me pain.
From a distance, this week there’ll be harmony which will echo through our town.
It’s the sound of hope, it’s the sound of joy. It’s the sound of music coming home.
*All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
Last week, the number of publications which have chosen to use my written work doubled!
As a regular reader of this letter, you will know that the Sligo Weekender has been taking a chance on my writing for a year or so, and now in the last few days, The Lilliput Press have published the 5th edition of Trinity Tales, which includes an essay I wrote on all sides of life as a Gaelic footballer in Trinity College in the early 2000s.
It was a wonderful experience. I got to work with a fantastic editor - Sorcha Pollak - and it made me get in touch with many old friends and teammates in order to confirm scorelines, timelines and stories.
You can find out more about the book here.
Where else but Sligo?
A powered speaker of mine needed servicing recently, and I had heard from a colleague of mine that there was a really good guy working out of a workshop in the Rumble Reherarsal space in town.
Covid made it more difficult than usual to find the necessary parts and even be allowed in to meet the man in question, but the speaker was ready last week and I finally met Shane Benjamin when I picked it up.
Now to be honest, I won’t know what kind of job Shane did on my speaker for a while, possibly ever. It works now, which is a great start (!), but for someone like myself who doesn’t know the first thing about the inside of a speaker, there has to be a certain amount of trust involved in a situation like this.
And Shane excels in building trust. Firstly in this instance, there is the fact that he was recommended to me by a colleague. Secondly he is a musician himself, which will naturally make another musician believe in him more. Thirdly, his customer service, professionalism, honesty and attention to detail are second to none.
And finally, you couldn’t walk into his workshop (see below) and not be impressed by his use of space and the meticulous ordering and hanging of parts and equipment. And that adds significantly to the atmosphere of trust that the above factors have created, because If the inside of my speaker looks half as tidy as Shane’s workshop does, I have a feeling it will last long after it should have packed it in.
You can find out more about Shane and his workshop here.
What’s New?
All 16 performances from Teenage Theme Night #23 are now live on YouTube here.
My Piano with Kieran tuition videos and challenges are back. Test your musical ear on the Glasgow Love Theme here or Falling Slowly here.
The big Sligo Live gig this weekend is almost upon us. I believe tickets are sold out but if you were one of the lucky ones to get one, please make some noise on Saturday night!
Finally…
The setlist for the aforementioned gig has been chosen to keep you all moving and dancing. As always, variety is the spice of life however, and we have chosen a few special slower numbers too, including a new arrangement of this one which features two of your favourite singers singing together for the first time. I can’t wait to see you there.
Till next time - Kieran.
