The Passing of a true Gentle Woman - RIP Granny Joyce

When my own Grandmothers passed, I was fortunate enough to gain another woman in my life that I looked upon as my other Granny, "Granny Joyce".

Known lovingly around Headford and indeed further afield as Granny Joyce, she was a true gentlewoman, quick with a story and a witty comment, a kind word and a truly remarkable woman.

I was privileged to have known Granny for about 14 years and in that time lucky enough to have lived under the same roof and adopted as part of the Culleen Joyce Clan.

Years ago when I had a serious bike accident it was back to Granny Joyce I came, she looked after me and made sure I was ok. When I was dying with hayfever in the height of summer it was Granny that would comment in all her days she had never seen anyone suffer as bad as I with sneezing.

When the snow fell hard in 2000 and there was no electricity for days on end around Christmas it was Granny that kept us all occupied with stories from the old days. She has songs too, lots of the old ones and would sing them on occasion. Visitors, she had visitors from near and far, the back door always open.

Wednesday night dinners of Bacon and cabbage and stuffing that never ends at christmas. Black and white stray cats at the door. Buckets and buckets of collecting turf keeping the range hot. Shopping in Malachy's. Glasses of port and the odd fag. I have so many fond memories of Granny Joyce

I am absolutely devastated to hear that she has passed. Ill never forget her, and everytime Mayo play Galway, ill remember the woman from Mayo who lived in Galway more than half her life, always quick to rub it in when Mayo beat Galway, not loud, just quite enough to give a dig and with a wry smile to top it off.

She leaves behind a huge family that she was truly the matriarch of. Culleen will never be the same again. Family, neighbours and all that met Kathleen Joyce have been truly blessed for knowing her.

I know I have been. RIP Granny.

The Panics - The Annandale Sydney

The Panics are one of my favorite Aussie bands. These lads hailing from Perth are always good to see live and I was pretty bloody excited to see them playing at the Annandale Hotel as its just one of those great little Sydney Venues, just dont sit down or touch anything and keep your drinks by the bottle.

Touring to promote CD release CRUEL GUARDS, The Panics played a great set with the perfect blend of old and new. Playing all my fav's; 'My Big Mistake', 'Cash', "How's It Feel' and of live versions of the new stuff 'Get Us Home' and 'Cruel Guards'. Doing the one new, one old it was a bloody great set.

Via Tania - Spectrum

Being a fan of SPFGDH back in the day, Ty nearly wet himself when he heard Tania Bowers was playing Spectrum. So we headed to the dingy venue that is Spectrum, to see Tania Bowers, known as 'Via Tania'.
The now based Chicago songstress played to a very small and intimate crowd, playing tracks off her newly released album 'Moon Sweet Moon'.
It was great, very chilled out and mello and great to see her and her haunting voice back in Australia. She is definitely not for everyone. But for the fans of SPFGDH that TY and I were, it was a special little gig.
And if Ty wasnt excited before the gig, he sure was after it, not only did he get to meet Tania, he also gave sister Kim, aka Busty Beats a big squeeze as well.
Bloody tops night!

Films, Fridays and life as an internet junkie...

My 39th week working on Baz Lurhmann's epic 'Australia' is almost over. Yay. My end date has been constantly getting put back and it now appears that this film will run straight into the next film that Ive been locked into.

It seems Friday cant come quick enough at the moment so I can get a bit of a sleep in come the weekend. A break is what Im craving. Sun, water, mountains, perhaps Thailand, perhaps Vietnam? What did I do before the internet?? Searching all these exotic places, looking up places because they sound interesting by name if nothing else.

Ive turned into this complete internet junkie, buying and selling on ebay, becoming my own travel agent, listening to radio online, watching episodes of the very funny 'Summer Heights High', hunting down new music on myspace and playing scrabble and getting poked by all these people coming out of my past on facebook and bebo.

Where will it end, Im starting to become very conscious of how much you can find out about someone by just doing a search about them on the www. Its also proving to be a very small world. The degrees of separation are scarily small. Communication while it may appear to be opening up more and more, its also breaking down, to learn your next door neighbour is now currently 'single' cause she updated her profile is mildly disturbing. Fact and fiction are blurred constantly and its scary to see how much the internet has changed in the years that I first started logging on.

Well thats my rant for this Friday. Im off to Sounds In the Grounds at Sydney Uni to check out some great Oz live music.

Sounds In the Grounds - Sydney Uni

The idea of a festival really appeals to me, when I was younger there was nothing better than hitting all the summer festivals. Studying the gig guide and packing in as much music as possible. Being with like minded music lovers and being front row listening to your favorite tunes.

Oh, Im getting old, the front row longer appeals as there is too much pushing and shoving and masses of people all going in different directions would have to be one of the worst parts, not to mention the lineups for the toilets with no paper to be seen.

Ok, so I braved yet another festival, this time at Sydney Uni, and well the lineup was good, the toilets had paper, but that really could'nt make up for the hundreds of pissed uni students there, more interested in getting off there face on whatever the kiddies are doing these days. Oh it was hideous when it came to seeing Gotye. Big boys waving there arms around, banging into you and spilling your overpriced beer. Pissed chicks puking and then too wasted to even know they were dancing in there own vomit.
I Heart Hiroshima rocked and made my night, but that was about all. Oh I am getting old. ha