1 million Tiny Plays About dj’ing..... number 2.

Two girls approach the d.j box as everyone else is walking away after the last song. They have probably had a few drinks...
Go’on play ....
Can’t, I’m sorry it’s over.
Ah just one more tune ...
I adopt a jocular manner.
I was thinking that we should change the National Anthem to ‘One More Tune’ ‘cos it’s always the last thing I hear ...
Girl Number One attempts a disaproving look. I ignore it and give her the false broad smile. This throws her, she looks to her friend for support who pipes up...
Have you got MGMT?
Yes I played it earlier.
Go’on play it now.
I can’t the lights are on, the music has stopped and it’s time to go. The Gardai are very strict these days. And if I play tunes twice the other tunes get jealous, (I'm getting into my stride now, they have no chance interrupting me). I mean think of all the tunes that don’t get played at all and then to play one twice! Sure there’d be murder in the car on the way home, they’d be fighting their way out of the box.
She looks at me as if I’m a mentalist.
Ah go’on.
I can’t.
You can.
It’s over, if you want a song you should request it early on and we can try and get it in.
But I wasn’t here when you played it.
Well maybe you should come earlier and then you’d get your one more song, lots more songs, I’ve been here for over two hours....
They consult, I pack things away but they aren’t finished. The other friend comes back flashing big doe eyes,
Are you going to play it then?
No.
Well I’m not coming back again you know.
Ok.
What?
Ok. I put out my hand over the partition. She puts out hers, looking a little confused, I shake her hand, smiling.
It was good to meet you this once anyway, take care of yourself.
Oh charming, that’s bloody charming that is, oh you’re very funny.
She takes her friend by the arm,
Come on we’re off....

Fast forward to the next Friday ....
Hi remember me?
MGMT is it?
YES! you remembered
How could I forget? ... I’ve already played it .....

Get Thee Hence to the Ballet ...
This Sunday, An Grianan, two shows, 3pm and 8pm, there’s tickets left so no excuses, I’m taking my Megan to it to (ahem) celebrate her Holy Communion. Based on Charles Perrault’s fairy story, the ballet is about a beautiful Princess bound by a wicked fairy’s spell to sleep for a hundred years. She can only be woken by the kiss of a handsome prince. The ballet is full of wonderful characters including the Lilac Fairy, the Rose Adagio, the Bluebird as well as a cast of fairy-tale characters who gather for the sparkling final wedding celebration, under the direction of Stanislav Tchassov, former Principal dancer of The Bolshoi Ballet. I love a good ballet, me.

It’s Conal Time!

And on this Friday and Saturday nights in An Grianan is Conal Gallen, supreme gag teller of the old school. Sure everything is back to the old school these days. C’mere Murphy walks into a bar .... Show at 8pm, Tickets available on the door.

Finn Harps

I’m presuming last week’s performance was just so RTE would have enough comedy clips to play for rest of the season on the excellent Monday Night Soccer programme and hope they are back to normal this week away against Cork. ‘Mon the lads. May I suggest Higgsy gets the defence introduced to each other through speed dating? Aaron this is Malcolm, Malcolm this is Aaron. Pleased to meet you, and what do you do? Oh your a right back, funny I’m a centre half! What a small world, eh?

Regional Culture

The RCC in Letterkenny have Liam O’ Flynn and Paddy Glackin this Friday night. Master uillean piper Liam O'Flynn, the current TG4 ‘Traditional Musician of the Year’, and leading fiddle player Paddy Glackin are two of the greatest living Irish traditional musicians (it says here, my in laws would beg to differ about Paddy Glackin and his rewriting and retuning of Donegal fiddle history but we’ll gloss over that bit). O'Flynn’s career includes Planxty, the National Symphony Orchestra and ‘The Poet and the Piper’ with the Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. Glackin’s recordings include his eponymous debut album and duet albums with uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, keyboard experimentalist Jolyn Jackson and Donal Lunny, who just performed in the Balor. Tickets on door.

Theresa’s in a play...

My mate, and occasional surfin’ buddy, Theresa is in a play. In the Balor.This group, comprised entirely of HSE employees, produce and perform a play every year with the proceeds going to a number of worthy causes including St. Mary's National School, the Patient Comfort Funds of St. Joseph's Hospital and the Sean O Hare Unit. This year's play is a Sam Cree crowd pleaser – Separate Beds. There's tipsy housekeepers, eccentric vicars, pretend wives and a very lazy painter. You know exactly what you're getting with a Sam Cree show - lots of belly laughs, double entendre and innuendo combining into one damn good night out. It’s from Sun Apr 20 to Wed Apr 23. Tickets are €10 and available from The Balor Box Office on 074 91 31840.