Dear Reader –
The month of January is shimmying away nicely…ready to break out into full dance in the coming weeks!
The Big Thing
The set is almost finalised. My family are firmly sick (!) of Sting and Paul Simon music. All the various Theme Night departments are working away on their briefs. The choir is sounding great already. Mícheál ‘the whole shack shimmies’ Kearney is back for more.
And for the first time we have invited some outside artists to be part of Theme Night week.
Yes folks we are just over three weeks out from Theme Night #33 and the excitement levels are building. In me anyway! The first rehearsal took place last Sunday with a Theme Night newcomer - and without giving away too much - if everyone can bring the level of preparation (and humour) that this guy did then we’re all in for a fantastic week in February!
A few tix left for the Wednesday night, and just the very odd one for Thurs/Fri/Sat.
Find them (quickly before they go!) here.
Where else but Sligo?
It was during one of the online Theme Nights that Rory Maitland and his brother Drew saw this video and decided that they wanted to work with these ladies. The result was this song and video, and we all enjoyed the process so much that we decided to find a way to do it again.
So we offered one performer from our annual Young Songwriters’ Showcase the chance of a similar experience - to record an original song in Luke Devaney’s Blue Room Recording Studio and to take part in a video for that song shot by TemperHound Productions.
Leah Davidson (see below) was the chosen artist in 2022, and now our 2023 song and video is also ready for release this coming Friday. It’s called White Foyer - written and performed by young Bundoran man Pro Murray and we can’t wait to show you all the video here next week.
The 2024 Young Songwriters’ Showcase will take place this coming Feb 16th in The Model and lots of teenagers are currently putting the final (or first!) touches to their songs. Find out more here.
What’s New?
NEW TERM UP AND RUNNING: Welcome to all the new and returning students who are beginning the new term of piano lessons this week. As we try and do every term, we have added some new features this week and are looking forward to the sound of music returning to Strandhill, Rathcormac and homes across the county.
THE DARTS!: TVs were full of it recently - here’s 90 secs of amazing drama!
TEENAGE THEME NIGHT #31: The Best of Irish. 100+ of your favourite homegrown songs.
This weekend. All weekend!
Finally…
Emily is our featured graduate this Friday night. And I love how her performance of this song in Vicar St five years ago has inspired two of our current teenage crew to sing it this Saturday and Sunday!
Till next time - Kieran.
