Go Daddy!

He’s too good for words. Have a great one dad, love you lots.

Whatever it is, it’s one of my Sunday songs and I love it.

I heard this song on the radio this morning and have probably listened to it 20 times since. I’d forgotten how much I love his voice, his lyrics, his interpretations of the songs of others and above all his style of guitar playing which happened about when he had to alter his method due to a serious round of tendonitis.

So who is Luka Bloom? Well he’s the younger brother of Christy Moore born Kevin Barry Moore in Kildare in 1955. The stage name is a marriage between Luka from Suzanne Vega’s song ‘My name is Luka’ and Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses.

He has released a stack of albums over the years with his own rather unique flavour of folk/soul/jazz running through them. Luka is live in the National Concert Hall this Saturday with Eddi Reader as part of the ESB BEO Celtic Music Festival 09. Check out more of his music on lukabloom.com or say howdy on Facebook.

I happened upon this video below earlier when indulging in some of his live clips on YouTube. It was filmed as part of a documentary about him called ‘My Name is Luka’ a stone’s throw from my house in Ballyvaughan, Co.Clare where he apparently spends quite a bit of time. He talks about how songs can connect people and places even if they’ve never been there before. Got some gorgeous shots of the beach in too – look forward to visiting it at the weekend.

All the talk on Twitter about The Waterboys earlier brought this tune stomping back into my head & it refuses to leave. I had forgotten how much I love their music. Not sure if there’s some connection or something we don’t know about but down home these guys always seemed to feature frequently on local radio growing up, namely Galway Bay FM (Clare FM is out of range in parts of The Burren – random factoid!).

They’re one of those bands that there was consensus on when travelling in the car with mum or dad – the radio always got turned up Good memories, great tunes, should be a really great gig at the Galway Arts Festival at the end of the month.

Mike and Steve are both on Twitter, their rather nifty website is here and @darraghdoyle is meeting Mike later for an interview for culch.ie so keep an eye on that over the next few days for the results. Vive les Waterboys

Home

I’m heading home this weekend to relax, repair & shake off the weeks since I was last down there. It’s a strange place, but strange in a positive way. Peaceful, raw, beautiful, easy-going & calm while a vibrant, energetic creative current ripples quietly beneath. A place hard to put into words which is probably why it appears in art & music so often.

I’ve often taken it for granted as is easy to do when you grow up in a place & spend the best part of 17 years waking up to such scenery. I left the place 7 years ago this month & sure enough with every year that passes I enjoy getting back there more & more. Roll on Friday.

Club members including Brendan Gleeson launch the 09 event

Never a dull moment down at home it seems these days! This weekend the annual Burren Marathon Challenge is taking place in my native Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. Last year over 1,000 people took part in the event and this year they are expecting around 1,500.

The event is hosted & organised by the Ballyvaughan Fanore Walking Club which has grown its membership of 13 to 130 since being founded in 2006. There are 3 different routes to choose from and you can walk/jog/run whichever you feel up to:

• Mini Marathon (6 miles)
• Half Marathon (13 miles & participants must be over 16yrs)
• Full Marathon (26 miles & participants must be over 16yrs)

It’s a fantastic chance to get some fresh Atlantic air into the lungs while taking in some truly amazing scenery. Unfortunately registration closed last week & there won’t be any further registrations made for this year’s event but keep an eye on the Ballyvaughan Fanore Walking Club website for info on their frequent organised walks around north Clare & south Galway. If you are taking part in the marathon this weekend, the very best of luck & don’t forget the hiking boots!

Views on the walk

And for anyone around the area this Saturday, a BBQ and a few sociables will be had in Logues Lodge, Ballyvaughan that evening with entertainment provided by my cousins from Aran, The Mulkerrin Brothers.

As luck would have it, too many things fell upon the one weekend & I couldn’t make the journey down home for the Siege of Ennis world record attempt in aid of Special Olympics Ireland. Talking to my dad last night he said the weather on the day was absolutely awful as you will see from the video. But fair play to the 5,000+ that turned up and gave it socks on such a miserable wet day!

Props to my little first cousin Sean Keane who can be seen stepping it out in his lovely blue & gold uniform (and ocassionally wearing an Obama baseball cap!) on the podium above the crowd

You can still make a donation to the Special Olympics via the event website by clicking here.