Arts & Culture

ENNIS band 39 Shots is to progress to the national Irish Youth Music Award competition in Dublin in April after they were voted best band at Clare Youth Service on Saturday.39 shots will now go on to represent Clare at the National Irish Youth Music Awards in April. The band, which is made up of Dalian Rynne, Oisín O’Cualain, John Hennessy, Stephen Molloy and Cormac Hennessy, performed at a selection night last Saturday in Clare Youth Service. 39 Shots will have to battle it out against over 20 other acts from around Ireland at the prestigious Irish Youth Music Award in Dublin, where the winning band will be given the opportunity to produce an album recorded and mixed by some of Ireland’s top producers and engineers. They will also benefit from the knowledge and advice of Ireland’s most respected music professionals.In the run-up to the IYMAs, 39 Shots will be supported by an entourage of local musicians who will work …

Portrait artist David Dunne is to open his first solo exhibition in Dublin next month, which will feature a number of household names that have Irish links, including, Muhammad Ali (left) and Barack Obama.David’s mother is a native of Ennis but the family emigrated to Canada before returning and settling in Mullingar in 1995. A self-taught artist, David has honed his skills to portrait painting and for his first solo exhibition, he decided to put together 25 pieces with people both from the USA and Ireland who had connections to each country. He was first struck by the idea around the time Ali visited Ennis and decided to research how many other famous and iconic people had connections to Ireland.  “I was always interested in art and drawing since I was really young. When I was 20, I got into painting and changed from painting to acrylics and to oils. I’ve never been taught. For this exhibition I worked out …

The Wolfman DIRECTED BY: Joe Johnston STARRING: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving CERT: 16 Never a good sign when a director walks out just weeks before filming starts and his replacement – with a committee of suits looking over his shoulder – presides over rewrites, reshoots, new endings, budget wars and several rescheduled release dates.Such is the story behind Wolfman, with Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, Honey I Shrunk The Kids) stepping in at the last minute for the departing Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and swiftly proceeding to help concoct a mess. Now that it’s finally seeing the light of day, well over a year behind time, it’s hardly surprising that Wolfman is a disappointment. The surprise is that it is watchable at all and even, occasionally, very good.A remake of the 1941 Lon Cheney flick, The Wolfman, is set in Victorian England  and stars Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, an English nobleman who’s …

The final episode of RAW was broadcast on RTÉ on Sunday night. The first episode was a let down but subsequent episodes managed to elevate the series although not to former glory but somewhere near it.While the new restaurant owner, Fiona, never did improve, the other actors did a fine job. The storyline between Pavel and Geoff was possibly the best of them and it was the emotion that existed between the two of them, along with a true sensitivity, that mainly kept my interest.The final episode of the season was a nice wrap-up. It had the usual mix of humour, drama and, of course, fist throwing. While it wasn’t at all close to being a cliffhanger, the final episode has still left it open for the axing or a return. The series has a third installment in it but a few changes are necessary. Firstly, and not just because she is from our own fair county, but Kelly Gough, …

I hate to have my heart warmed. It’s one of the few cinematic experiences that really disagrees with me. Terrify me, thrill me, revolt me or amuse me, I don’t care what you do so long as my heart-strings remain unplucked.This detestation most likely stems from sub-par heartwarmers fumbling at my feelings like a blind man with no thumbs trying to unravel a knot, throwing the kitchen sink and its cute but cancer-riddled puppy at the screen in a desperate attempt to squeeze a tear out of the audience. While it was borne in the arms of lousy films, this cynicism has infected my appreciation of many more modern classics. ET annoyed me. Wall-E bored me and both Finding Nemo and March of the Penguins made me want to buy a novelty film tie-in stuffed animal and kick it out the window.In short – I don’t like cute.This made the prospect of sitting down to watch Pixar’s latest opus, Up, …

THE hilarious footballer’s guide to hurling, nimble brush dancers, wonderful singers, hip-hop acts and a range of musicians will provide the entertainment in the semi-finals of Clare’s Got Talent, which gets underway on Sunday night.There will be an opportunity to be introduced to the 40 acts on the Breakfast Show with Paul Moriarty each morning on Clare FM. John Drummey of HD Events, competition organisers in partnership with Clare FM, revealed that 10 acts will take part in each of the four semi-finals, with eight finalists being chosen to take part in the grand final at Glór. “It is important that each act, whether it is a group of 18 young gospel singers or a solo musician, has plenty of support in the theatre during the semi-finals,” he said.The three judges, Tracy Crawford, Brian Flynn and Nigel Bridge, interviewed the 350 acts who applied to take part in the auditions. The first of the four semi-finals will take place this …

ONE of the county’s best-known Irish traditional groups was granted a civic reception by Clare County Council on Monday.It was a fitting honour for the Kilfenora Céilí band according to Mayor of Clare Tony Mulcahy. “In hosting a civic reception in honour of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, the council is also recognising the contribution of traditional Irish music artists and groups throughout Clare over the years in preserving a unique part of Irish culture and heritage. A civic reception is the highest accolade at the disposal of Clare County Council for any individual, group or organisation and one that is, for those in receipt of it this evening, thoroughly deserved.”He traced some of the Kilfenora’s colourful history. “The founding of the Kilfenora Céilí Band has its origins in a fife and drum band which was based in the North Clare village of Kilfenora in the 1870s. In the early days, the band’s engagements included house dances that later progressed to …

HE may have rode his luck at times but eventually Clarecastle’s Dean Power claimed third place in the Veronica Dunne Singing competition, as well as the awards for best male singer, best Irish singer and the Handel Prize for the best performance in the competition of an aria from an opera or oratorio by Handel.The Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition was established in 1992 and is a triennial event. It attracts singers for around the world and this year’s final was held in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.Dean has been based in Dublin for the last seven years and while he was still at school, the 24-year-old tenor had little doubt about what he wanted to do with his life. “When I was filling in the CAO form, I only put down one or two courses. I said I’d try and give this a go and if I didn’t get it, I’d repeat.”He’s been studying music since and, after completing …