Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
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And the 2010 Flat Lake Festival table quiz champions are…
Yeah, we’re Mayo’s answer to the Royal Tenenbaums. Except without the personality flaws. Table quiz glory aside, there were many, many highlights at this gloriously dog-eared festival: Barry McGuigan’s nifty Footloose. Livin Dred Theatre’s mightily impressive production of Pat McCabe’s Emerald Germs of Ireland. Jinx Lennon. Hell, even the programme notes were entertaining. (“The legendary Toblerones are back – fatter, balder and poorer than ever!”) Much was made of the hilarious incongruity of Lily Allen’s (shambolic) Saturday night joint appearance with Crystal Swing. But to my mind, pairing Shane McGowan with Mundy was equally lobsided. (The man who wrote A Pair of Brown Eyes alongside the man who gave us “Oh my-my-my / oh my-my-my / oh my-my-myyyyy / July-y-y”? Seriously?) A fabulous time was of course had by all. Oh, and my mother stage-dived during Anne Enright. Well, it was always on the cards.
June 8th, 2010 at 3:19 am
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June 8th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Well done. The entrance exam was extremely difficult. Was the quiz itself that hard?
June 8th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Dang, you were there? We missed a chance to have a pint of Guinness out of plastic glasses together. Also, you should have entered the Literary Death Match, of which I was a judge (at which? during which? Whichever.) My small daughter fell asleep at Anne Enright and danced with Keith Allen. Oh, and you know the way Crystal Swing/Lily Allen were two hours late taking the stage? Appparently Lily was there on time, and patiently waited while the festival staff frantically tried to locate Crystal Swing for their moment in the sun. True story.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
@ Gueleton – The quiz was hard enough, with one round entirely about Monaghan and another entirely about famous authors slagging off other famous authors. A lot of very lucky guesswork on our part!
@ Paul – I saw your name in the programme and was keeping an eye out for you (except I don’t know what you look like, so I suppose you could just say I was watching where I was going.) Next time!
Re: Crystal Swing/Lily Allen. Well, I met Brian O’Connell (who was in the production room filing copy for the Irish Times) and that wasn’t quite his version of events.
Besides, even if the performance was a shambles, it was a genius idea to put them on together. Everyone in the country who sees a photo of them together onstage in the paper the next day will be kicking themselves that they missed it!
June 8th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Hm, Irish Times guy’s version of events v. production crew co-ordinator’s version of events… who wins? Who knows? There’s a lot of good gossip from that particular quarter in any case, none of which I will be putting online.
I actually didn’t see the performance because, exhausted from chasing my very small daughter out of the sandpit all day, I was in bed at the shameful hour of 11.45 PM. Whatever about the quality, it certainly was a publicity coup.
Anyway, next time look out for a John C Reilly lookalike wearing a ragged thrift store suit. It might well be me.
June 8th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Hell of a festival – highbrow literature meets the parish fete. And my blurry photo of me with Crystal Swing is going to blow your effort out of the water when I get around to posting it.
Also, my apologies for accosting you outside the theatre tent, you’ve a big distinctive head on you and I was feeling like a stalker seeing you round the place and not saying hello.
June 8th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
@Paul. Really enjoyed the festival. Perfect weather, lovely people and chilled out atmosphere. A real Craggy Island feel to certain parts of it but all the better for that. Congratulations to those responsible.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
@ Paul – the programme didn’t specify what your role was. If the production crew co-ordinator was your good self then congratulations – everything production-wise seemed very well coordinated.
Re: “John C. Reilly wearing a ragged thrift store suit” – that’s a description of practically every single person in Monaghan. My comically oversized head seems the better landmark for future reference!
@ Andrew – it was great to meet you man. No sign of the Crystal Swing shot on your site yet. I’m dubious. BTW I’ve got Mary’s mobile number. That’s only one step removed from having Dervla’s phone number!
June 8th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Behold: http://chancingmyarm.blogspot.com/2010/06/save-me-from-apathy-save-me-from-hell.html
And Dervla is seventeen, I saw it on Nationwide. Stop that.
June 8th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Haha… looking pretty slick there Andrew!
P.S. Well then I’m one step removed from having Derek’s phone num…. No, sorry. I can’t even joke about it.
June 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Eoin, nope, that wasn’t me. My job was a LOT less arduous than that. The production crew did a pretty amazing job I thought, keeping things moving without losing the chaotic edge that makes Flat Lake a bit different.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Is Mary really wearing a Cnd tshirt? Jesus I’m gettin fairly sick of Crystal Swing shoving their radical left wing politics down peoples throats!
June 9th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
@ Kevin – Derek wore a Che Guevara bandanna during the Hucklebuck too. It’s past time for some Special Branch surveillance I reckon…
June 9th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
She Drinks Tequila was originally titled She Drinks Tequila Because the Yankee Imperialists Subjugated Her Granny…. Mary does a really powerful accoustic version after a few jars
June 11th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Well done! Nice to have famous friends.
Looks like a family project minus one.
June 13th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Minus two Sharon! Una and Lola were in Bristol for the weekend. I’ve some very funny photos of Lola looking like a crazy baby at the airport. I’ll post them when I can contrive some ruse for doing so!
June 14th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
The Lola pictures would be very nice to see. Babies are too smart to answer questions for a quiz . That has been my experience. S.