13 minutes really just left me wanting more. Given that the Late Late cannot compete for “celebrity” guests with the UK chatshows, how about more time on fewer meatier guests like this from now on?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sc_i-5FivE

I’m pretty stunned that the first issue was all put together by one guy, Mikey Maguire. It’s a really impressive piece of work and makes a mockery of much of the so-called professional rubbish you see on newsagents shelves.

Well worth a read.

“It Must be the Music” is a night of Musical entertainment in aid of Action Breast Cancer, brought to you by Laoise O’Hanlon, joined by a variety of Cork women singers, including Kay Deering, Jamie Harper Kingston, Roos Demol, Bernie Harrington, Sinead Tracey, Jenny Bradley and Molly Lynch.

The accompanist is Deirdre Long and the MC is Ciarán Bermingham

Tickets are only €15 and are available from Roos on 086-8508548 or An Tobairín on South Main Street, Bandon.

Lots of discussion about it over on Facebook if you want to know more.

If you know of any such group that are looking for workshops or entertainers then do get in contact with him on pat.naughton@yahoo.co.uk

Quote:

Full Circles African Drumming workshops are an exciting, fun, addition to any festival or gathering that you have planned. We cater for both childrens and adults workshops on the day. In the childrens workshops we encourage parents to participate as well, especially in the case of very young members.

We are fully mobile and can provide up to 40 drums on the day with a variety of shakers bells, and African xylophones. Children and adults learn how to create their own rhythm, sing songs and chants, dance and listen to tales from Africa. Within five minutes we have people playing the drum, grooving, dancing and clapping to an energetic beat.

We cater to your requirements and needs on the day and can arrange a timetable to suit. We have done such festivals as the Dun laoghaire ‘Festival of World Cultures’ 2006 Terriglas Festival Tipperary 2007, Green Gathering 2008, Roundstone Summer Festival 2009, Feile Lispoil Dingle 2009. Bere Island Summer Fest 2008, Belvedere house Mullingar 2010 and all the major Cork Community festivals.Included are a list of schools and centres Full Circle has worked in including references from school.

Enquires are very welcome. As the summer period is a very busy period for us please book early to avoid dissapointment. Full Circle is covered under public liability insurance. Should you also wish to book a performance based percussion group playing and dancing to traditional rhythms from West Africa then contact us on 087 2176460 or e mail. For a preview check out YouTube ‘Nankama Ireland‘ or alternatively ‘Nankama drummers with ark vg dancers cork city‘

Also the dog owned by one of the kids who was going to perform has gone missing. Please keep an eye out for a sheepdog in the Crossbarry area. If the same happens to you, I encourage you to post it on LostandFound.ie.

It’s on Friday the 26th of March in the GAA Hall in Bandon. Doors opening at 7.15, show starts at 8 sharp. It is not a fund raising event so tickets will be at the very affordable cost of €5 each.

The show will include:

• A DJ
• Singing & Music
• Magic and Tricks (both kids and adults)
• Bingo
• Dance & Comedy
• Raffle
• Street Dancers

There will be spot prizes between performances.

Sounds like a great fun night for all the family. You should start seeing signs for it around the town soon.

Here’s a suggestion for dipping your toe in and getting a handle on it all. Karwig Wines in Carrigaline is running the third “Twebt” which is a Twitter wine-tasting competition (Bubble Brothers and Curious Wines ran the first two).

The idea is very simple. You get a bottle of wine from Joe and his gang in Karwig’s and it is wrapped up so you can’t see the label. At an agreed time, 9pm Sunday March 7th, people open the wine and start tasting it and putting their tasting notes up on Twitter.Then they start guessing the country, grape etc and maybe even the exact wine.

It’s a bit of fun and those taking part range from gurus to tipplers and everyone in between.

Full details on taking part are on Brian Clayton’s Blog and on the Karwig’s Blog. If you just want to watch what happens then you can see all the tweets in the run-up and on the night over at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23twebt.

In association with Partnership for Change they are organising a Special Christmas Charity Screening for Bandon Flood Appeal on Wednesday 30th December 2009 in St Peters Church, Bandon at 8pm

The movie is one of my top 5 of all time, The Princess Bride, starring the angelic Robin Wright.

If you don’t live in Bandon, get into your car and drive here for this. If you don’t live in Ireland, fly here. The recent showing of the original Phantom of The Opera in St Peter’s was a tour-de-force.

Not only will you enjoy a genius movie but you’ll be helping by contributing to the Irish Red Cross and St Vincent De Paul.

Further Information Contact:
Declan Waugh Tel: 023-8841933 M: 086-3853363

It’s on 29th Jan 2010 in Bandon.

They also need an audio system if you know of anyone willing to loan for the night.

Mail me on conor@loudervoice.com if you want to help out and I’ll pass on your details.

It’s on in the Clarion Hotel in Cork from 3pm – 8pm on Friday and 11am – 4pm on Saturday and only costs €15. For that you’ll have over 100 international wines to taste and buy, delicious foods and gourmet treats on offer and prize draws for wine cases and food hampers.

This isn’t a show for wine gurus at all. If you like a nice glass of NZ Sauvignon Blanc every once in a while, you’ll enjoy it just as much as those who know the difference between a 1947 and 1948 Margaux.

You can buy tickets online right now or in any of the aforementioned Wine Merchants. We’ll be there on Friday and possibly on Saturday too, soliciting your feedback on everything so have your SMS thumbs to the ready.

I’ve put together a simple mini-blog for the event over here on Posterous. The aim is that people can upload information, pictures, videos etc very easily over the weekend.It has the full line-up for the two days and contact details too.

It’d be fantastic if you’d take part in this exercise. It’s as simple as emailing me on cwjoneill AT gmail DOT com. I then add you as an author on the blog and all you have to do is email text, pictures, videos, links etc to post@posterous.com and they will automatically appear! Yup, that easy. You can even do it from many phones.

So c’mon, Engage is about engaging with the arts and what better way to do that than to submit your experiences of the weekend and all the events by sending a wee email. If even that freaks you out as a technophobe, then just send the stuff to me and I’ll upload it for you.

Any questions, just leave em in the comments.

A brilliant TV chef who made great cooking look easy and enjoyable. He’ll be missed.

They are showing the 1925 version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with, and this is the genius bit, live organ accompaniment by Dr Eric Sweeney who is head of Music at Waterford School of Technology. Not only that, but they are showing it in a church. The atmosphere should be amazing!

It’s on in St Peter’s Church, Bandon on Friday, 25th September at 9pm. The film runs for 90mins. Tickets are only €10 and I think they are going to sell out well before time. Call the office on 087-1205022 or Film Society on 086-3689939.

Check it:

PJ Lynch, one of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators, will give a special Children’s Talk on Monday 6th July, as part of the West Cork Literary Festival. He will also give a Public Interview with Robert Dunbar on the evening of July 6th.

PJ has won numerous awards including the Mother Goose Award, the Christopher Medal, three times, and the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal on two occasions, first for “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” by Susan Wojciechowski, and again for “When Jessie Came Across the Sea” by Amy Hest. “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” has sold more than a million copies in the United States alone, and has recently been made into a motion picture starring Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson.

PJ has designed several sets of stamps for An Post, including four Christmas issues. His illustrated version of “The Gift of the Magi” by O Henry is published in October 2008, and PJ is now working on a book about Abraham Lincoln by Rosemary Wells for publication in 2009. He lives in Dublin with his wife and their three young children. His work can seen on his website www.pjlynchgallery.com

As well as Free children’s workshops ranging from creating a picture to reading and drawing, the Bantry based Festival, supported by RTÉ lyric fm, has a host of children’s talks and readings.

Francesca Simon, creator of the “Horrid Henry” books will read from these on July 7th. Saturday 11th sees an afternoon with writer, television presenter and artist, Don Conroy.

On Wednesday July 8th Sarah Webb will read from her novel “Amy Green, Teen Agony Queen: Boy Trouble” while Judi Curtin will read a selection from her “Alice” series of children’s novels. Sarah has written four children’s books as well as eight bestselling novels including, “When the Boys Are Away”. Judi’s first novel for children, “Alice Next Door”, was published in 2005. One of Thursday’s highlights is a reading by Darren Shan. Darren will read from a selection of his children’s novels which are incredibly popular – selling many millions – J.K. Rowling is one of his more famous fans. For anyone who would like to learn the secret to Writing For Children, poet and author John W Sexton will advise on the subject in a workshop during the festival.

West Cork Literary Festival Booking is on 027 55987 email: info@westcorkliteraryfestival.ie

When you have a radio show that addresses a focused engaged specific audience, you would think that it would be a gift both for the broadcaster and those advertising to that audience. Thus C103′s decision to axe David Young’s “West Cork Today” programme frankly boggles the mind.

Radio broadcast licences have been a goldmine for companies like UTV over the past few years. But at the first sign of a downturn, it looks like they take the short term view and run for the hills? With those licences come legally binding terms and conditions.  Perhaps the BCI would like to use this case as an example to Comreg on how a regulator should actually conduct itself.

Having said all of that, the idea of one company having the sole rights to broadcast to a particular niche or geography belongs in the 20th century. The internet makes a mockery of this partitioning. If C103 is  unwilling to meet its customers’ needs then the customer needs to take back control.

I’ll be honest, I rarely listen to “live” radio any more. I download podcasts and music in which I am interested and then listen whilst driving with them playing back to my Lidl car stereo. Everything from food to technology to politics. Many of them are actually radio shows, mainly BBC Radio 4 and 5. I’d happily pay for a daily or weekly roundup of local West Cork information that I could listen to when it suited me, not the broadcaster.

How many of David Young’s listeners would be willing to pay maybe €3 a month to subscribe to an internet version of his show (and other West Cork programming)? Both live-streamed and available for download to iPods, mobile phones or PCs? Of course traditional broadcast is the most efficient way to get to the maximum number of people but needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle (to quote Edmund Blackadder).

Just got an email to tell me that the West Cork Literary Festival will run from July 5th to 11th.

Now I’m not the most literary person in the world. My last three books were “Presenting to Win”, “Bad Science” and something by Harlan Coben. Next up is “On the Origin of Species”. But even I’ve heard of some of the heavy-hitters who’ll be attending the festival. Annie Proulx, Roger McGough, Francesca Simon and Louis de Bernières are just four of the writers appearing at this year’s event which features some of the best writers, poets and illustrators from Ireland and abroad.

The Official Festival Launch is in Bantry, leading to a top few days of readings, seminars, workshops, children’s events, exhibitions, music and good old-fashioned hospitality.

Booking for the Festival is on 027 55987. All info on the web-site.