On birthdays

Well, I'm officially 50. I suppose I'll have to grow up now, stop dreaming and navel-gazing.

Only joking. I'm still twelve inside, full of possibilities and love of the world. We had a great night last Saturday for my party. The hall I booked was a tad too large (to say the least) but I had invited the world and his wife and being me I had to err on the side of caution in case they all turned up. The drink was the cheapest in the North County but it was still too dear for the teenagers who nearly got us all thrown out because they were skulking outside and drinking cheap as chips lager and vodka. Drink is way too cheap and accessible. A litre of vodka at twenty euro means that at some stage we are going to have teens dying of alcohol poisoning.

Anyway, we sorted it out ( what good party didn't have a row over gargle?). The band were feckin' briilliant and they put their hearts and souls into it and (once it became clear Jedward weren't going to win the Eurovision) they had everyone up bopping, teens and friends and neighbours all together. Son#1 is a great frontman, comfortable with mikes and stage etc. The poor aul' divils had to learn off loads of songs from the Eighties for me and they did it. These are the fellas that wouldn't open a school book to save their lives but can apply themselves with such diligence in music. They're a great bunch of kids and there is hope for this country if they are in anyway indicative of the next generation. Intelligent, confident beautiful people, all in touch with their respective creativities and concious of work/life balance. I hope they will all continue to knock on my door as they grow into adults.

I felt sorry for son #2, he's only eleven and was like a lost soul, not sure enough of himself to sit with the teenagers and bored stiff with the drunken adults. ~I was one of the first to leave my own party!He just had to get back to his bed and the comfort of his own surroundings. Anyway the neighbours all landed back as did the teenagers and I was last to go to bed at 7am Sunday morning. At one stage I looked at my Jemser and there he was sitting on me coffee table guitar on his knee bellowing out every song he knew to the delight of the eight females who were around him!! He's some man for one man.

My beloved friend Brid Conlan from Ennistymon in Co Clare travelled up for my party and at one stage I felt as if I were in my early twenties again, dancing the floor with her and talking and drinking and laughing and drinking and talking and talkin an d talking. It was Brid's dad who coined the phrase 'it's the talk that's killin' the people'. A wise man Mr Conlan for was he not paraphrasing Will Shakespeare's 'there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so'. Brid has the most marvellous store of funny stories, craic and songs - ~I love the very bones of that woman. But not enough to get me out of the leaba the next morning. Sure it didn't bother Biddy. Herself and the teens cracked open the champagne and had another bit of a singsong, old soldiers never die and old partygoers just keep on livin!

So that's more or less it. Oh! Except for the hilarious conversation I had with a sneezing fifteen year old girl and one of her boy friends. To the best of my recollection I told her - very seriously - that an orgasm was just like a good sneeze except hopefully longer! I think we all wet ourselves laughing!

I Have Seen The Future...........

D'y'know what? I'm fit to burst with pride. The band Son#1 plays in were the opening act of a terrific line up in 'The Slaughtered Lamb' pub in Swords Co Dublin this very evening. The pub was built on the site of a long defunct abattoir hence the unusual name. Mind you, the lads' band has a quare name too - 'The Milgram Device.'

The gig was to raise funds for the South African NGO charity SAEEP, the gig's organiser Aoife Rodgers is just finishing her second year in media studies in Colaiste Dhulaigh and is looking forward to her stint of volunteering in South Africa this summer.

Everyone in Dublin (actually in Ireland) has a 'Bono' story and most Dubliners of a certain age (between 40 and 60) claim they were at the now famous Dandelion Market gigs where U2 and the Prunes started out. And everyone just knew they were witnessing the birth of something big - or so they say!

I'm tellin' yiz now. And I'm putting it in print. The Milgram Device will be the biggest and best bands of the next decade. For a start the lads are very easy on the eye - 'cept for them bloody low slung jeans - PULL UP YOUR PANTS boys!! The girls will idolise them ala Beatlemania and the lads will want to be them - I can hear it now -

-'That Seamus has gorgeous cheekbones,'

-'Oh no! I like Liam - he looks foreign - Spanish or from Belgium or something'

-'Isn't Barry just the cutest fella ever - and OhMiGod he is THE man with that guitar - move over the edge Edge.

-'Oh no, I'm mad about Jack he's so cheeky looking. I bet he'd make me laugh all day'

-'What are ye all talking about - Alex the drummer is the main man, and he comes up with most of the original stuff'

-'And what's their manager's name? Ryan? He's not half bad either.'

- 'I'm movin' to Swords - it's full of talent!

Seamus and Liam share the vocals and both boys have a great quality to their voices. They can play too. Seamus and Barry share lead guitar ( and love it) and Jack bouncin' on bass are superb and of course Alex the drummer gives it welly with panache! What impresses me most about these lads is that they are writing original material as well as doing covers of ...don't ask me, I haven't a clue - I think I recognise the name Biffy Clyro but whose names escape me - I'm sure Pete Doherty comes into it somewhere. Anyway the five lads packed in a thoroughly enjoyable half hour slot and came down off the stage buzzin'.

So in thirty years time everybody in Dublin will be claiming they were in 'the Lamb' at the first official gig of 'the Milgram Device'. And I can say 'I told yiz!' Mammy's never wrong - 'cept when she's wrong of course - but she means well!

Me Babbies..............

Well, I turned into an almost fifty year old twenty something on Saturday night last. I had a date with Jemser. I had no kids in tow. I forgot about teenage angst. I even put on slap!!And we got on the DART and arranged to meet very dear, old old friends (not OLD just hanging about a long time!), family and whoever happened to stick their head into the upstairs space of Toners in Baggot St. It was weird. Like deja vu all over again. 'Cause d'y'know what - Celtic Tigers may have come, roared their lungs out and scratched all about them but Toner's of Baggot St (upstairs) is still the Toner's of Baggot St (upstairs) that I spent many happy weekend nights thirty years ago.

This is what I love about Dublin. It has all these mad little scruffy (sorry Toners - you are fundamentally scruffy...and celebrating same!)venues all over this mad, bad, sad and deadly capital city. In which are the most unbelievably talented and stoic artistes. Singing and playing. Covers, original stuff, interpreted stuff. Above all a deep and abiding love of music by people.

The opening act were three young men, youths, all three only barely half way through their teens. They were three fifths of a band called 'The Milgram Device' (google it). We will hear more about these young men. They were magnificent. Young, earnest, full of life and fun. They played a varied set, including numbers from Biffy Clyro, Pete Doherty and Mumford and Son. Apparently they're writing their own stuff too but aren't yet ready to share it with the rest of us.

The main event came on after a respectful ten minutes to allow us recover from the enthusiasm of the Device-ees. Oh Lawdy! It was a wait well rewarded. How do I describe Riverwide? Well, for a start they have three glorious female voices in Rachel Cunningham, Cathy Mc Evoy and Emma Bolger.Then they have all these deadly musicians about them. Like the finest bass guitarist of his generation Paddy Joyce. Like Ian Finaly, saxophonist extraordinaire (plus he's first rate at other blowy (things!) Like Frank Bolger on percussion and Marian McEvoy on fantastic lead guitar and banjo (despite her protesting she couldn't!!)

And I didn't get home 'til after 3 am and en route I stuffed my slightly inebriated self with a burger 'n chips from a chipper before we got a Nightlink bus from the centre of the city to my 'village' of Swords in Nth County Dublin. And I felt twenty (maybe twenty-five) again. And I also felt almost fifty and happy about that too. Our future is safe folks, I have seen the future of our nation, and it pleases me greatly.

Ps I admit a bias, Seamai of the Milgram Device and Rachel of Riverwide are respectively my son #1 and my stepdaughter #2. But I'm an impartial observer!!