'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)
16th president of US (1809 - 1865)

Axiom – noun,

A statement regarded as accepted or obviously true

- DERIVATIVES axiomatic adjective

- ORIGIN Greek axiõma ‘what is thought fitting’

Random Friend Selector played a support slot for Fred in de Barras recently. They played a selection of good songs including a song about the cowboy that the lead singer never was and another one about the family dog. One of the funniest songs was about when they were practicing across the road from a church and their amp started picking things up from the church. The lead singer chatted with the crowd in between songs to allow the bass player, Paddy, to tune his bass. It was sort of a running joke throughout the gig that the bass had to be tuned all the time. Check out their myspace page if you want to hear some of their songs.

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity.

John F. Kennedy, Speech in Indianapolis, April 12, 1959
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963)

Vyvienne Long played in Cyprus Avenue last week. The last time that I saw her play was back in January this year. She had the same set up of backing musicians as the last time and they put on a good show. Vyvienne didn’t seem that comfortable under the spotlight and at one point asked if it could be shone on a guy in a striped t-shirt in the front row. To be fair, it’s a small stage and the lights seem kind of strong. In the middle of the gig Vyvienne explained that someone had left a message on her myspace page after her last gig in Cork saying that they would love to play support for her next gig. She hadn’t gotten back to them at the time but the day before this gig she had tried to contact them to no avail. She asked that person if they were in the audience and if they would like to join her on stage but no one came forward. I think she felt bad about not being able to contact them because she dedicated one of her songs to that person, whoever they are! At the end of the gig and after much applause Vyvienne came back on the stage for an encore. She played a cover of N.E.R.D.’s ‘She Wants To Move’ but unfortunately this was the only song she played for her encore.

I heard this on the radio this morning and I think the results show that Cork people like a classic!
1. Cadbury’s Dairymilk
2. Snickers
3. Terry’s Chocolate Orange

Quixote – adjective,

Unselfish and idealistic to an impractical extent: the quixotic desire to do good

- DERIVATIVES quixotically adverb, quixotism noun

- ORIGIN from Don Quixote, hero of a book by the Spanish writer Cervantes

When I was about seven or eight I remember telling my parents that I wanted to be either a bank manager or a drummer when I grew up. They thought this was very funny and proceeded to make jokes about how I could give them interest free loans when I became a bank manager. Being under the age of ten and not that knowledgeable about financial matters other than the cost of Chop bars I didn’t find the idea of interest free loans quite as hilarious as my parents did. I’m still not sure why I wanted to be a bank manager or what put the idea into my head. It’s much easier to see why a seven or eight year old would find the idea of being a drummer appealing. Being allowed to bang loudly on drums and make a lot of noise while being paid to do so would be a dream come true. If I won a substantial amount of money and had a spare room, I’d sound proof the room and buy a big drum kit. Then I wouldn’t care how much noise I made. Unfortunately I doubt I’d ever make it as a drummer due to my dodgy sense of rhythm and the fact that I haven’t played the drums since I was three! Even though I have a job, which is sadly closer to being a bank manager than a drummer, I still don’t feel grown up. I wonder if you reach a point in your life when you suddenly feel like a grown up or if it’s more that you occasionally feel grown up but more often than not you feel like a kid?

Damien Rice is scheduled to play a concert in Cork Opera House on Wednesday the 22nd of August. Tickets can be purchased for €39.20 from the Cork Opera House or from Damien Rice’s website. I haven’t been to a Damien Rice gig before although I did see him perform a song at The Frames gig in Marley Park about three years ago. Damien is also playing his own headline gig in Marley Park on Saturday the 25th of August. I’ll be interested to see what Damien Rice is like live.

Arcade Fire are due to play the Big Top in the Phoenix Park in Dublin on the 24th of October. Tickets for this concert went on sale this morning at 9.00am and by 9.15am all the tickets had been sold. That’s 8,000 tickets sold in 15 minutes! Of course each customer could buy a maximum of 4 tickets so maybe all the tickets went to just 2,000 purchasers. As of yet I haven’t seen any of the tickets for the Dublin show on ebay but I’d say it’s only a matter of time before a few of them pop up there.

I never dared to be radical when young
For fear it would make me conservative when old.

Robert Frost, 'Ten Mills,' A Further Range, 1936
US poet (1874 - 1963)

I have to admit that I’m addicted to Grey’s Anatomy, although some weeks it’s a love/hate relationship. Meredith Grey’s character drives me crazy, she seems to be the most self obsessed person. At this stage I couldn’t give a crap about herself and McDreamy (who doesn’t know his arse from his elbow) and I’m now just watching the programme to see what happens to the rest of the characters! On the upside one of Fionn Regan’s songs was played during last night’s double bill on RTE.

Friday: Note to self – no matter how much rosé looks and tastes like pink lemonade it is not pink lemonade it is still bloody wine. Over comsumption of rosé followed by a wine cocktail and then some white wine will lead to a stonking great hangover.

Saturday: Several hours in bed with a savage headache is not a good way to spend half a bank holiday Saturday. In addition to a long shower, only the restorative powers of chicken noodle soup and slowly toasted bread can make me feel human again.



Saturday Night: I’ve wanted to see Jack L live for a while and my luck was in on Saturday night when he played the Lodge in Mallow. I didn’t even mind the crappy drive to Mallow in the horrible rain because he was excellent. He has a truly yummy voice and a great band. A very entertaining evening was had despite having an overfriendly and annoying person sitting in front of us. (The crowd curse is back)



Sunday Night: Watched Star Wars IV – A New Hope, still a good movie and you gotta love the light sabers. I had forgotten a lot of the film because the last time I saw it was about ten years ago when it was re-released in the cinema. It was good to see the bickering between Solo and Skywalker but why did Princess Leia spend most of the film not wearing a bra?

Monday: Took a walk around Courtmacsherry and got to look at an exhibition of local amateur artists, some of the paintings were really good.

Wisdom is not finally tested in the schools, Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof.

Walt Whitman
US poet (1819 - 1892)

About a month or so ago I learned to play pool (well one lesson to be precise) and then played in a fun pool tournament two nights after the lesson. I had never really played pool before as any misspent youth that I did have didn’t involve pool. Playing pool was fun and with that in mind I managed to persuade a few friends to go along for a game last night. Fortunately we all play at pretty much the same level so they were even games. As it was for fun we didn’t strictly play by the rules and each time we started a new game we switched partners. About half way through the second or third game one of the bouncers from the pub we were in came over and asked us for ID. Of the group our ages ranged from 25 to 30 and the only person with ID was the 25 year old! The rest of us looked at the bouncer like he had spoken a foreign language (it was a long time since we had been asked for ID) so much so that he actually asked us if we spoke English. Once we had recovered slightly from the shock we assured the bouncer that we were too old to carry ID. I wouldn’t mind except for the fact that the rest of the pool tables were populated by guys that looked like they weren’t shaving yet. Anyway that interruption aside it was an enjoyable evening which I hope to repeat soon.

Typo – noun,

(Informal) A small mistake in typed or printed writing

The reason that this is going into dictionary corner is that a guy at work keeps using it in the wrong context and it drives me crazy. I’m hoping that by putting the dictionary meaning out there it will have a cathartic effect and every time I hear it used incorrectly I’ll think back to this post and be momentarily calmed. :-)