jellylegs

yesterday i went on the dave fanning show to talk about Pete Doherty. Was good fun although Dave is certainly not a Doherty fan. What can you do. Click here if you want to hear. I was on the Wednesday.

In other news can't wait to see the wallace and gromit movie tomorrow.

Went to see Kate Rusby last night at vicar st. Excellent gig and review to follow. She's an eccentric and very warm performer.more later

I went home for the weekend. Back to Meath. It’s funny how the older I’ve got the more attracted to my home village I’ve got. I put a lot of this down to learning. Learning about Dublin, that it’s not all that. And learning about people, of which in the city are more rushed, dramatic, consumed. More urban and city like I suppose, which is obvious to point out but I’m sure you know what I mean. I guess most cities are the same. I certainly got that in London. That feeling amongst people that nothing matters much outside of their own lives, and that nothing outside of London matters either. There’s a feeling that the capital is detached from the rest of the UK and I think that that’s felt in law-making as well. It’s very easy when living in London to forget that there’s a world going on outside of it.

Dublin too is starting to feel like that for me. Especially through the media. Just reading the newspapers and watching the news you sometimes do feel that, as Dublin grows and evermore becomes the hub of activity, the rest of Ireland is forgotten. In my own insignificant away I get a sense of this as well. I’m also prone to forgetting about the rest of the country. When writing an article or a review, or a headline in The Star, it sometimes takes you aback that a guy in Donegal, Mayo or Cork may read it the following week/ day. I often think I’m just writing for a small portion of people centred around Whelan’s, and perhaps in a sense I am writing for an isolated bunch. I don’t know though if it’s my own narrow mind or pretence that I’m surprised other people know of Death Cab For Cutie or love Bright Eyes or are familiar with Julie Delpy’s recorded work. Silly but I feel in the city, like the city, I’m becoming small minded and forgetful of the world out there.

I think I’ll go home again next weekend, if only for one night. Make it a regular thing eh.

On another note, how bad were Ireland on Saturday. I nearly burst a blood vessel shouting at the TV. I just can’t understand how guys who play week in week out at the top level, who know a win is a must, can play so poorly. The defence was a disgrace – no organisation. They sat back and let the Cypriots attack them. It happened almost immediately after the goal and was depressingly expected. We showed great urgency which resulted in the goal on five minutes. We pressurised them, ran at them, hounded them and got our reward. But then we sat back!

It was as if the team had decided to just sit on the lead.

Kavanagh in midfield, a decent player, showed none of the hustle or fight which he needed to. He should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck and along with Kilbane pushed play up the field. We should have been defending outside the semi circle just on our half rather than the fucking penalty box. I’ve seen bad Irish performances, the majority during this campaign it must be said, but that was the worst. On the note of Brian Kerr, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s the only Irish manager ever that can claim to have won anything of significance in his management career. He needs time, though I’d like to see him move quicker through the ranks players like Stephen Ireland, Willo Flood and McGeady. We’re very stale at the moment and an easy team to suppress. Just mark out Duff and Robbie Keane and we’re fucked.

Kerr should not take full blame. This is a team who were dragged to the World Cup in 2002 by Roy Keane. You can’t neglect it is he who carried the team to the world cup. A collective togetherness and fight perhaps buoyed on by Saipan took them through that tournament, though we were carelessly ill prepared for penalties, an inevitability of any world cup tournament. In the euro 2004 qualifiers we thought we were better than we were and were punished. Nothing to do with the manager but rather the lack of quality or leadership in the squad. Again that has come to the fore in this campaign. We really need to re-draw the map. I hope we qualify for 2006, and beat Switzerland on Wednesday. I’ll be hopeful and shout my lungs out for the team, but hand on heart I don’t think we’ll do it. The Swiss are too tight defensively and we’re little or no creative players in our squad doing the business. Duff is out, though it’s an age since he has played a good 90 minutes in an Irish shirt. He never shows hunger. Ditto with Robbie Keane who is playing well for Spurs because he’s something to prove though again with Ireland doesn’t seem to treat the shirt with the same respect or give the same fight. Roy Keane is another matter altogether. You can count on him. Against the French last month he was immense. He always is even though his talent is in decline. Most of all for his sake I hope we qualify on Wednesday. At least give him a fitting swan song in an Irish shirt.

Finally, I just interviewed The Guggenheim Grotto, an Irish band and am impressed with their record Waltzing Alone. Nicely packaged but will discuss later.

Over and out

It's lunch time, and I'm tired. Tired. Damien Kiberd is speaking on Newstalk about schools and drugs and teachings and mugs. Setting up a business is next on the agenda. Moving forward and moving up. Every one wanting to get rich, and get rich quick. The hole in New Dublin has brought with it climers, and slippers, slippers and jumpers, jumpers and rogues. It's a struggle.

Babyshambles have announced details of their new album
It's called Down In Albion, a three part, 16 track record. Hope it's good. Got a feeling it's going to lack punch and quality. The eye is off the prize. Revenge is in the air

Also today been listening quite alot to Kirby's house by Razorlight, taken from the new Help album. It's getting alot of good word written about it from those who never liked Razorlight. It is a grower, though am not overly impressed. maybe it was built up to much for me. I do love the line though:
I get drunk and sentimental/ I just need a touch that is gentle
over and out