Full house, packed by 8.10 not a seat to be had, standing room only.
Vince Kiely started the night as Fear an Tí reminding us of his long relationship with the Gab since the very early days. Brendan O’Sullivan was up first with a spooky tale about Fr Quill’s grave and a plot to unearth his resting soul. An hilarious story of childhood devilment where ultimately twas Mam and Dad who had the last laugh.
Ivay Nyggard had travelled from Norway by way of Tipperary and brought us a Norwegian creation story of the cow Audhumla who licked the ice to reveal the first of the Norse Gods. The big, fat udder will remain long in the memory! A flavour of Scandinavian culture.
From Norse cows to lambs on the Burren, our next story was from a new teller, Pauline O’Grady Noonan. We followed the happy farm life of Shorty the lamb all the way from her precarious birth to her eventual freedom. A simple rural story of Pauline’s childhood full of love, empathy and lambs.
Rob McKahey is a legend on the Cork music scene from his years as the drummer of punk rock band STUMP. Rob has hung up his drumsticks in favour of a guitar these days but when he does perform we know we are in for a treat. He played 4 songs in the first half; ‘I prefer girls to boys’, an ode to the male ego being dented in favour of the fairer sex. Then we had an alternative version of ‘The Banks’ penned by Rob’s late band member the legend Mick Lynch. Instead of sporting and playing we met bodily fluids, tampons and nappies. Rob treated us to a slice of his childhood on the northside growing up in Blackpool with ‘Scutting’ before bringing us into the break with the cold and violent ‘ Delia’s Gone’.
It was 3 deep at the bar where Rob was ably assisted by Ruby and we got back into to second half of the night with Judith Coffey opening with two poems-one about the sadness of a lost shoe and the other an ode to chapter in a woman’s life where all sense goes out the window-the dreaded menopause.
We had a complete change of pace then with Sharon O’Neill who introduced us to Mis – beast, woman, mountain, lover, queen-each of her roles was beautifully crafted by Sharon’s telling. From the opening line to the last, she had the audience enthralled with this complex character from Irish mythology. We’ll be using the term ‘tricking stick’ again I’m sure. An unexpected love story that brought us towards the end of the evening.
From ancient love to modern, next up to finish the night of stories was Vince. We met a man with a ponytail, a woman with manicured hair and an unlikely coupling. A departure from Vince’s usual style we learned the importance of perfection, imperfection and how one can often be disguised as the other. Rob sang us out with an ode to his beautiful wife Judith, penned during lockdown ‘Smile Judith Smile’. ‘The Man who Couldn’t Cry’ by Loudon Wainwright III. A man whose tear ducts dried up until they didn’t-a story of pain, jail, rain and dehydration and death…Another brilliant performance from Rob to see us out into the April night.
Thanks a million to Rob in Callanans, Ruby for helping out, Deirdre for putting it all together, the performers and most of all the listeners for being an amazing audience. Our next Mixtape is Tues 19 May, doors 8pm for an 8.30pm start and it’s already shaping up to be a great one!
More photos available on our Facebook page.
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