Ballyhaunis

WELCOME TO BROKESVILLE

The champagne has been guzzled. The punchbowl is an ashtray. And there’s a strange girl crying in the bathroom. With analysts predicting the slowest economic growth this year since 1991, it looks as though the party is finally over. There’s no avoiding it. As a nation, its time to locate our jackets, make our excuses and flag a taxi back to Brokesville. Read the rest of this article here.

SIGNS YOU’VE BEEN IN MAYO WAAY TOO LONG…

Am I going mad or is this one seriously good looking field?

AND FINALLY…

Anne Marie Mularkey. The gorgeous Anne Marie… Jaysus, now you’re taking me back. Swanned into French one day like she was God’s gift. Threw her schoolbag on an empty table and plonked down on a chair. Anne Marie was tall and elegant, with the saddest brown eyes I’d ever seen. She had a face like a shovel, of course, but that only added to her allure. Girl blew that fringe out from her eyes and swung back in the chair. And, with that, I fell in love. Read the rest of this article here.

“TAKE MY HAND, LORD JESUS TAKE MY HAND…”

Religious beliefs and practices in Mayo are informed by ancient tradition, galvanized by history and shot through always with the strangest, and most profound, ambiguity. Nowhere is this better illustrated than on the stony slopes of Croagh Patrick…Read the rest of this article here.

THIS IS FUNNY

This incredibly funny Demetri Martin fan vid has notched up over four and a half million hits on YouTube. Read the rest of this entry »

AMERICA (1956)

This is a recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his poem America (from ‘Howl’), set to Tom Waits’ Closing Time instrumental, which is itself taken from the latter’s 1973 debut album. If that’s not confusing enough, the track is illustrated for this YouTube treatment with photographs of Jack Kerouac. I’ve no idea why. Read the rest of this entry »

THE VENGABOYS: A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL

Attention wedding DJs, office party organisers and hack journalists… A Nineties revival, as wearily predictable as day following night, or Mayo crashing out in Croke Park, is soon to be unleashed. I got a phone call today from a radio station (not one I regularly appear on, I should point out) asking if I’d come in and reminisce about what a wild and crazy decade the Nineties were. Read the rest of this entry »

ONCE UPON A TIME IN BALLYHAUNIS…

Nazis, Christy Moore, reality TV, Charlie Haughey as Antonius Block and the true story of how I bested a Professor of Thermonuclear Physics live on national radio… Yip, this is quite possibly my favourite thing I ever wrote. Read the rest of this entry »

“BEFORE I BEGIN, I’D LIKE TO ADDRESS A FEW WORDS TO THE GARDA ROAD TRAFFIC BUREAU…”

Officers, lads… I know we’ve had our differences over the years. We’ve both said things that, in the light of day, we probably regret. But look what you’ve reduced me to. I’m using public transport. Dear God, hasn’t this madness gone far enough? Read the rest of this article here.

IF MAYO’S PERFORMANCE ON SUNDAY WAS YOUR DINNER IT WOULD LOOK LIKE…

this.