On the weekend marking what would have been his 100th birthday, Con Houlihan joined the distinguished gallery of Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, and Brian O’Nolan/Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen in the Palace Bar. Harriet Duffin, Con’s life partner, looked on as Willie Ahern unveiled Liam O’Neill’s latest work, extending his celebrated trio of portraits to a fitting quartet.
Roy Curtis read his tribute, The Incomparable Con Houlihan, which was followed by Donal Fallon’s account of Con’s journey from Castle Island to Emmet Road in Inchicore. Joe Daly reflected on Con and Kerry, while Frank Greally delivered a stirring rendition of The Boys of Barr na Sráide.
Nicky English and Niall Quinn, hurlers both, represented the many sportsmen who held the beloved writer in deep affection. Niall recalled how members of the Irish World Cup squad cared for the gentle, warm, and wise man who carried his formidable frame with such grace.
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Jem Finer & Spider Stacy @thepoguesofficial
In conversation with Donal Fallon @threecastlesburning
(Féile MOTH)
📍 @lanzaroteworks
Tickets on sale Friday 10AM via dice.fm
Rocketing out of the vinyl, the three-minute blast of The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn is a perfect opener for Rum, Sodomy & The Lash: energetic but shot through with darkness and death while retaining an indefatigable determination. Shane reimagines Irish folklore warrior Cú Chulainn on his deathbed with operatic tenors John McCormack and Richard Tauber singing by his side. The song also name-checks Irish Republican Frank Ryan, who fought in both the Irish and Spanish Civil Wars. Indicative of MacGowan’s prodigious literacy and historical knowledge that informed his songwriting, it follows a similar – yet amped-up – narrative to traditional folk standard and Dubliners favourite Finnegan’s Wake; the protagonist is thought to be dead but revives to carry on drinking and carousing.
“There’s a doughtiness there,” says accordionist James Fearnley, on how the opening track epitomises the album’s overall theme. “He’s just going to keep going. There’s a determination; despite the circumstances, we’re all going to live”.
The album’s morbid mood is reflected by its sleeve. Suggested by Jem’s wife Marcia, it features the band members superimposed onto characters on The Raft Of The Medusa, a bleak 18th-century painting by Theodore Géricault that depicts dying and incapacitated shipwreck survivors floundering in turbulent seas, desperately clinging to the remains of a boat in anguish and despair, searching for a route to survival. It’s the ideal image to express the dark and haunted songs: the anti-war Wilfred Owen-influenced A Pair Of Brown Eyes and cover of And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda; the exhilarating but lachrymose Sally MacLennane; the plight of the Irish labourer in Navigator; the distressing ballad The Old Main Drag; the anti-imperialist satire of Billy’s Bones – and even the fate of an American Robin Hood-style folk hero. - Alex Burrows
#ThePogues #RumSodomyandtheLash
NEW EPISODE available now on all platforms, exploring the context of the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre through a longer look at the site itself and urban shopping centres more broadly. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
An Evening with @horslipsofficial (Féile MOTH)
Wed, June 24th 2026
📍 @lanzaroteworks | London
Tickets via dice.fm
Join Horslips’ Barry Devlin and Jim Lockhart as they sit down with author, lecturer and historian Donal Fallon (@threecastlesburning ) to dive into the “Original Kings of Celtic Rock”’s long and varied career, alongside archival video and sound recordings. 1973 album The Táin, recently crowned RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Classic Irish Album, places the band alongside previous winners such as Enya, Sinéad O’Connor and U2.
In the Ring with Dan Donnelly & Dublin’s Boxing Legends🥊
Step into @nationalstadiumdublin for a night that brings the legend of Dan Donnelly and Dublin’s rich boxing heritage to life🔥
This is not your typical show
The ring becomes the stage for a powerful mix of live music, storytelling, theatre and spoken word, all inspired by Donnelly’s story and the fighting spirit of the city🙌
Expect a live set from @damiendempseymusic , whose voice carries the soul of working class Dublin🎶
Hear Brian Kerr reflect on a lifetime in sport and his deep connection to Dublin’s boxing world.Patrick Myler, the author of the book on Dan Donnelly, will also be joining the night guided by @fallonist_@threecastlesburning 🎤
Experience the drama of Donnelly’s fights brought vividly to life as Barry McGovern performs and recites commentary from the bouts themselves, alongside a special in-ring performance from @tezoneill49 🥊
Plus new voices from @emmet_obrien_poetry and powerful traditional music from @niamhnicharra who composed the album “Donnelley’s Arm”🎭
From myth and history to live performance and raw energy, this is a one of a kind night where the past and present collide in the ring💥
Saturday 9 May
Check out the full programme via the link in bio and make your date with Dublin 8 this May📅
Video by @patrickblue.ie
#culturedatewithdublin8festival #cultured8 #dublin8
Today marks the centenary of the birth of JP Donleavy. Author of many great novels, including A Fairytale of New York and A Singular Man, he is best recalled for The Ginger Man. The book has sold more than 45 million copies. Actor Cillian Murphy has described the book as “One of those books that you read as a young man and become intoxicated with, yet it is a book to be savored over the course of a life.”
At least partially, the character of Sebastian Dangerfield is based on the hard drinking Gainor Crist, shown here. A constant presence in the bohemian Dublin of the post-war era, Crist was a Word War II veteran who availed of the GI Bill that allowed soldiers to study in Europe. Nominally a student in Trinity college, he spent more time studying snugs, bar counters and bottles of stout.
In this image, he’s off to the pawnshop with his electric fire. As Donleavy wrote:
“This saintly expedient gentleman on this day had resolutely made the decision that money for a few pints and a ball of malt in the pub would keep him as comfortably warm as any electric fire. And as he said, the steam from his piss could prove it.”
For many years a small shrine of sorts to Crist was behind the bar in Grogan’s, made by the artist Desmond Mac Namara. I always viewed it as a relic of a different time and the ramshackle 1950s. I thought it time to put Gainor back so framed up this image of him and his electric fire from Donleavy’s memoir of those times.
The flag of the Catalpa, the ship that rescued Fenian prisoners in 1876. On display this weekend in @nationalmuseumofireland Collins Barracks. A previous episode of the podcast explored the Fenian Rising and The Dublin Pub includes a chapter on Fenianism and the public house.
Raised in a household where boxing was everything, the great Brian Kerr told me how “the National Stadium was my second home ground after Richer.” Kerr’s dad won six Irish titles and was a defining figure in the sport.
The Stadium is a place that means so much to many people. With @culturedatewithdublin8 honouring the heritage of the local area, we’ve put together a gig with Damien Dempsey and a host of brilliant voices honouring the venue, the area and the icons, from Dan Donnelly all the way up to Kellie McLoughlin and others.
It may be the only night you ever hear legendary actor Barry McGovern reading reports of Dan Donnelly’s fights, Damo the boxer singing in a boxing ring, @niamhnicharra playing her music inspired by Dan Donnelly’s wandering arm. Along with extraordinary athletes, spoken word artists and poets. It’ll be special.
@cwb_management@emmet_obrien_poetry@tezoneill49@damiendempseymusic@kelliemcboxing@niamhnicharra
I was sorry to hear of the passing of distinguished architect Sean Ó Laoire. He was one of the team behind the Diving Bell project which returned a former landmark to glory in 2015. You can now walk underneath it and learn the story of it and the Liffey.
Designed by the great Bindon Blood Stoney and delivered to Dublin port in the 1860s, it is an important part of the story of Liffeyside life and labour, which allowed men to work on the river bed.
In 1948, The Irish Times interviewed a number of the men who were still working within Blood Stoney’s diving bell. By then things had improved a little, and the men were able to “communicate with the surface by telephone.” One of the workers, Frank Mullen, said “it is hard work. You want a good pair of lungs and a good pair of ears. Sometimes, if you have a cold, it seems as if someone is hammering a chisel into them.” Not a job to envy.
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What stood in the Post Office
With Pearse and Connolly?
What comes out of the mountain
Where men first shed their blood?
Who thought Cuchulain till it seemed
He stood where they had stood?
- Words from W.B Yeats, fitting on this Easter morning. An early edition of the podcast explored this remarkable statue in the GPO.
The latest edition of the podcast is a look at the life of Éamonn Ceannt. From his contributions to traditional music to his bravery as a trade unionist, Ceannt’s story brings us through the streets of Dolphins Barn, Rialto, Crumlin and the heart of the 4th Battalion of the Irish Volunteers. (Image: Thanks to @msjmclean for photographing this wonderful detail at the park named in his honour in Crumlin)
