The Novena, some Drama and Midge Ure in Galway
Midge Ure Brings the Town Hall Theatre to Its Feet
As is to be expected from fans of a certain vintage such as I, there was a full house for Midge Ure of Ultravox in the Town Hall Theatre where he played a selection of his hits from over the decades in his someTHINGfromeveryTHING tour… and when he hit on the old classics like Fade To Grey the crowd including yours truly were on their feet, and after their set, they returned and played two extra tracks to an appreciative audience, finishing with a song all to apt in these modern times “All Fall Down”
Midge intro to the song was mirthful, telling how the kings of all things pluggged in – as in Ultravox – played with the kings of all things unplugged, The Chieftains… before giving a very appropiate dig at the pretender in the White House…
His was accompanied by Cole Stacey and Joseph O’Keefe of the India Electric Company. Now these are a couple of chaps with an amazing sound – not alone were they the warm up act but they were the backing musicians for the entire gig as well, which is not something you see too much of in the music business… I got a signed CD and a photo with Cole after the concert.
Imagine living that as a dream, touring the world, playing with Midge Ure! These lads have the life, and will be big in their own right in the coming years!
Their unique take on music is to take poems from obscure 17th century poets and make a modern song out of them by setting them to music, and had they not told us we would have assumed that the words were modern lyrics. In addition to this they had a selection of their own original songs as well.
They told us for all their time over here they had not tried the Guinness yet. I hope that they have rectified that, or if they havn’t the next time I run into them I will rectify that for them!
A Bit of Drama at the Town Hall Theatre
It was not the only time in the last fortnight have been seen in the Theatre. Thinking myself a bit cultured I ventured in to see a play. In true culchie style, any play would do, and the one I got to see – “That Same Old Story” – was well worth the money.
I opened with a girl pianist singing in Italian, a language that is oh so lovely to music, though I never thought that there were so many TH’s in the language until I heard the lady sing. She was also in the words of Michael Lowry rather easy on the eye as was the young girl of Expresso Productions who was the love intrest.
The play centred on a young couple courting and an old couple drifting apart, their mirroring crises and how a love of football brings the men together as mates! A strong moral of how not to let the job take the intimacy from your marraige was a undercurrent of the play, which was held in the studio theatre with seating for forty odd… and the play acted literally at your feet!
Its a lovely way to present drama of its sort, and it was well appreciated by the crowd there. The ensemble shall be back with a comedy and another act in a few weeks we were told, but I scarpered like Cinderella to grab a bus as I was both tired and this was nearly the last one home.
Calling In to say “Hi” to God in Galway Cathederal
As I was finishing work, I called in to the Novena on a whim, so say “Hi” to God as I like to joke to myself. It was as mass is normally a nice affair and a good way to center the self every so often.
While I am notorious for posting photos online of the exterior of the church – such as the shot above – and any other I pass, its rare Im seen in them bar for funerals or weddings, and at my age its more the latter than the former.
The booklets for the Novena focused on the art of Icons and translating the meanings of them and how they apply to the world around us. The call to not be judgemental and feel Gods call to us was the theme, and its nice to see a church that was once all too judgemental finding the truth of the Christian message allbeit a tad late for too many tragic people.
The icon in question was of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. As a child I had a prayer card with a copy of the prayer behind it, but the prayers in the book were not what I was familair with.
The story of this particular icon, how it went missing, was found, and how its message was decreed by the pope of the day was interesting. I like it as a personal prayer, not as something to decree to all and sundry, but all the same.
A Beautiful Book, and a Moral Quandry
I was not sure whether we were allowed to keep the booklets which were a work of art in their own right. I debated with myself should I sneak one out, or would that be dishonest. I then thought to myself was it for the beauty of the art or for the message within that I wanted the booklet.
I asked myself if there was no pictures, but only words, would I want to keep it, and as the answer was NO Iconcluded that it indeed was for the artwork more than the message that I coveted the books.
Then my inner guilty Catholic scolded myself for coveting my neighbours goods… and I decided to leave it there for someone else to enjoy.
Its strange the thoughts that can go through your head over a simple item like that, and yet again maybe not, it may be the call of God the priest was talking about, that reflecting on our actions and our desires, and WHY we want something may be a skill to develop or a method of meditation to develop.
Some disciplines of Eastern faiths call on the person each night to ask themselves could they have done better than they did and answer honestly to themselves, and resolve to achieve that in the coming times. Such is what our prayer should be as well.
I thought to myself from that strange quandry there may be a poem there somewhere!
