Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
mick jagger
Rocks Off (1972)
“The sunshine bores the daylights out of me…” Listened to this today for the first time in a long time. It’s even fucking better than I remembered it. My favourite rock n’ roll track of all time. Easy.
‘A German audience will stare at you stony-faced for the entire gig and then buy every T-shirt you have’
My wife likes to make a show of me by getting me to list the weirdest jobs I’ve had. When I was a kid I worked in Dunnes Stores in town. There was a strike on and I was supposed to be on strike duty. But I got a little nixer on the side, guarding a giant inflatable can of 7Up in the car park outside The Square in Tallaght. There were legions of kids harrassing me “What is it, mister?” “Can I kick it, mister?” “Can I burn it?”Read the rest of this article here.
‘A German audience will stare at you stony-faced for the entire gig and then buy every T-shirt you have’
THE MIGHTY STEF
Ireland’s last rock n’ roll hero: he sings, he plays, he makes beds
We’re in the middle of a recession. The music industry has all but collapsed… So how does a rock and roller earn a crust these days?
In Dublin? You don’t. I scrape a living by frequently touring abroad. Germany would be one of my main markets. I have a small label over there that puts out everything I’ve done. If I go away for three weeks, and play my cards right, I might come home with a couple of months wages. That’s standard industrial wages. I also do the odd residency where I play folk music anonymously.
What, like Scarborough Fair?
No, not that kind of folk music. I mean, I play acoustic sets. Mostly covers – I do everything from Phil Spector to Bob Dylan. There might also be occasional “DJ” set [he mimes the quotation marks] here and there, which really involves just putting a CD in the machine and pressing play. Basically, I hustle for a living. The wages are modest, but at least I’m doing what I love to do. Read the rest of this entry »
Rocks Off (1972)
“The sunshine bores the daylights out of me…” Listened to this today for the first time in a long time. It’s even fucking better than I remembered it. My favourite rock n’ roll track of all time. Easy.
LET IT LOOSE (1972)
I’ve been trying to find this song on YouTube for ages. The fact that I’ve just found it, and it was uploaded only two days ago, suggests to me that it’ll be taken down again very soon. Therefore I suggest listening to it many, many times in quick succession. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.