Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year

Tripping Along The Ledge

HAVE A HONKY TONK BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Alright feck the lot of ye, I’m going for a pint. Enjoy the weekend, fools. On Monday, I’ll be presenting a trophy dedicated in memory of my father to the winners of the Ballyhaunis U-10 football blitz. The above photograph is a loose representation of what a Ballyhaunis U-10 football blitz looks like. There may be a couple fewer Stetsons at our event. Also, we don’t have those fancy sitting bench dealies. Oh, and it usually rains too. But those three things aside, the likeness is only uncanny.

WORST BLOG POST EVER

I’m coming late to the debate ignited by this excellent post on Jim Carroll’s blog (which was itself partially inspired by this commendably honest piece Johnnie Craig posted back in April.) The question being argued, basically, is whether Irish bands get soft treatment at the hands of Irish music critics. The answer, as any honest critic will tell you, is that of course they do. To argue otherwise would be utterly disingenuous. Read the rest of this entry »

HAVE YOU GOT A SLVNLY, NHLSTC SIDE?

Is it just me, or is anyone else concerned about the wellbeing of the WKD gang? When those irrepressable jack-the-lads first burst into our lives they were brimming with mischief and effervescence: whether it was playing football in their underpants, hilariously pretending to be gay or engineering any number of japes that revolved around someone appearing to have pissed themselves. It was a golden age for hi-jinks.

But five years on, the reservoir of alcopop-fueled jocularity appears to have run dry, plunging the WKD gang into a downward spiral. Boisterous, imbecilic good humour has now been replaced by an all pervading sense of nihilism and apathy. Read the rest of this entry »

BLUE MOON REVISITED (SONG FOR ELVIS) (1987)

From the sublime Trinity Session.

THE SEVENTH HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE

As those of you infused with the righteous fervor of lunatic fringe Evangelical Christianity will already be aware, there are seven signs that warn of the coming of the apocalypse: terrorism, loss of faith, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land, the rise of the Antichrist, the construction of a New Jerusalem and, finally, the rehabilitation of Timmy Mallet as a legitimate fashion icon. Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Irish Times, July 20 2009

“A BAFFLING, INTOXICATING ORDEAL…”

IT’S NOT until the Main Crianza 2006 is uncorked that the first note of discord is sounded. “It’s a little bit clumsy,” sniffs one critic. “It’s brassy,” counters another. “No, I find it very oak-y,” ventures a third. The woman seated next to me swirls the dark red liquid briskly before raising the glass to her nostrils.

“It’s a little bramble-y on the nose,” she confides. “Don’t you think?”

I shrug my shoulders. Frankly, I haven’t spent nearly enough time sniffing foliage to venture an opinion. Read the rest of this entry »

I CAN’T WAIT TO GET OFF WORK (1977)

“Tom do this, Tom do that
Tom… don’t do that
Count the cash, clean the oven
Dump the trash, oh your lovin
is a rare and a copasetic gift…”

WHEN THE ALIENS COME, WHO’D YOU THINK THEY’RE GOING TO RELATE TO?

Today is International Baldness Day. There aren’t any Bald Pride Marches organised that I’m aware of. Nor are their any inspirational bald quotes to boost the morale of those of us who suffer this affliction. (To be honest, right now I’m more interested in finding out whether any of you can name the woman visible just to George Costanza’s left in the photograph above?) All the same, and in honour of the day that’s in it, I’ve given a fresh makeover to one of the more popular articles I’ve ever written.