Galway Advertiser 2002/2002_12_19/GA_19122002_E1_052.pdf 

Extracted text

[ ns e t1
to feature Galway writer's festive fable
Financial Times
GALWAY WRITER Julian Gough has just pulled off a major international coup in having an extract from his new novel published in this weekend's Financial Times. The First fiction to be published by the international heavyweight, G o u g h ' s latest t r i u m p h comes despite having one of his more controversial endeavours recently banned in Roscommon. Juno and Juliet, G o u g h ' s first novel, received international acclaim when it was published last year. Set predominantly in Galway, the book has been well received in the UK and the US, and is now available in several languages including Swedish. German, Dutch, Japanese, and even Hebrew. The much-anticipated second novel will not be available in the shops for at least another year, but Saturday's Financial Times offers readers the opportunity to get a sneak preview in the form of a Dickensian Christmas fable set in Tipperary. The story centres on a young orphan -- naturally -- and features global economics, rampant greed, and the kind of regional airport which has goats grazing on the runway. The Financial Times is read by the banking, business, and political sectors all over the world in its various editions, and is better known for its dense pages of international stock quotations than for its humour. However Gough's work will change all that when it lightens up the tone of Saturday's weekend insert. "I'm a huge fan of Dickens and his Christmas stories," Gough explained. "In fact the book I'm writing now is so Dickensian its hero is an orphan, so it's nice to be contributing a Christmas fable to the paper Scrooge would have read." Not all of Gough's recent endeavours have been as enthusiastically recieved, however. As executive producer of the controversial new documentary The Life And Crimes of Citizen Ming -- which charts the political career to date of Luke Ming Flanagan renowned for his pro-cannabis stance -- he and award-winning director Mike Casey received the first-ever Theatrical Film Certificate to be issued for a video by the Irish Film Censor. The film was immediately banned in Flanagan's home county of Roscommon. The documentary, rated 15PG, has since been unbanned after high-level negotiations and articles in The Irish Times. The pair plan to bring The Life and Crimes of Citizen Ming on a tour of Ireland -- including Galway and Roscommon -- early next year. "I appear to be getting both more respectable and less respectable at the same time, which is quite an achievement," said Gough. "Banned, feted by the Financial Times, and unbanned. What a week." UNA SINNOTT

IN TERMS of Irish cinema Jim Sheridan is one of the leading Figures. Time after time he makes these big, yet incredibly personal films that have not only gained him recognition in this country but all over the world. His latest film In America tells the story of his own life when he emigrated to New York in the early 1980s. In America has not been released yet, and we won't see it in our cinemas until May of next year. However it will be touring the film festivals meantime, starting with the Sundance Festival in January. On Saturday night, Sheridan will be coming to the Galway Film Centre to talk about the film, its making and its subject as well as giving those attending a rare insight of what it takes to make a living as a film director. "The nice thing about Jim's films," Felim McDermott from GFC told me, "is that they are such intimate stories, yet with an acute interest in the cultural backdrop." This is going to be a special opportunity for anyone who has an interest in film and film making. Especially as the GFC has suggested to me that there are going to be plenty of surprises on the night.

JaahdnCn m y ea tev i wSF o r r ii Gl m t l

Irish film industry alive in the corner of the West of Ireland. "I wanted to help the Galway Film Centre," Sheridan told me in a brief phone conversation. "Giving them support is important." Cinemobile has offered the use of its comfortable and cosy cinema on wheels as a venue, although this does mean that seating is limited to a mere 100 seats. Your 2 0 ticket entitles you to attend the pre-talk reception, and there may be the opportunity to talk one-on-one with the man himself. Sheridan will be speaking at the GFC fund-raiser on Saturday December 21. There will be a reception at 7.30pm in Cluain Mhuire followed by the talk at approximately 8.30pm. Tickets are 2 0 and can be purchased at the Galway Film Centre 091 - 770748. This is actually a fund-raiser for the GFC, Michele Viney which has been instrumental in keeping the

IN 1947, USAF pilot Captain Chuck V eager became the first man to break the sound b a r r i e r in a Bell X-l at E d w a r d s Air Force B a s e . For the Irish band of the same name, their gig a t An T a i b h d h e a r c t h e a t r e tonight at 8 JOpm will be a quieter affair. Singer Paul Noonan talks to Kernan Andrews about their 2002. Since Juniper fragmented into Damien Rice solo artist and Bell X I. band, neither has really looked back, each finding a success and creditability Juniper never really enjoyed. Bell X 1 have spent much of 2002 recording the follow up to their debut Neither Am I. So what can fans expect? "I think the main difference is that we're all singing." says Noonan. "We listened to a lot of Talking Heads and that embracing of that choral singing and we're not so self-conscious about playing different instruments or singing together." This time last year, the band signed to Island, the prestigious label which was also home to U2. Bob Marley. Nick Drake, and Fairport Convention. It's a move the band are delighted with, but they're around long enough not to "Given our experience with major labels, it's something we entered into tentatively." says Noonan. "but they

Bell X 1 - sharing space with Bob Marley
were excited about the demos. No one was involved who we d i d n ' t want involved, and they didn't interfere in the song choices. Island London - there is a heritage there, even though they are part of Universal. They have tried to keep it old-school and let a band make several records before they start making money, whereas the rest of the industry is more short-term." The band recorded the album at Island studios in London, where Bob Marley also recorded. "It's part of an old 18th century building," Noonan

explains. "There was this chimney stack and they stuck a microphone in it and it caught all the reverb. They did that with Bob Marley and they did it with us too. Yeah, there was a lot of history in that room." Still the record took much longer than the band expected. "Jamie Cullen [one of the producers] had a baby during the recording and the baby was conceived during the recording." However, Noonan spares us the details on that latter point. As yet though, the record has to be given a title. Bell X l ' s gig tonight will be "acoustic-ish", something that was inspired by the rehearsals for the new album. "We wrote the record in Wexford with me playing drums and singing. We started to perform the new songs like that - acoustically. We've chosen venues where people will come and listen," he says, before adding. "It makes the songs good when it's quiet." A self-depreciating dead-pan humour is a speciality of Noonan's. He also hints at what will happen at the gig. "Last time we were in Galway it was with The Frames and they passed around bottles of absinth, but there won't be any of that this time, but there'll be group singing and carols at the end. We're really hungry to play." Tickets for tonight's gig are 10

THE PERFORMING Arts School Galway is 10 years old this year, so they decided to m a k e a song a n d d a n c e of it. E v e r y December they give us an end of year show that is flamboyant, ambitious, and extravagant. This year they decided that it was t i m e t o t a k e a t r i p down memory lane. Over last weekend, the show, simply called Ten. brought us on a journey that gave us the highlights of dance n u m b e r s , songs, sketches, and musicals that have been successful for PASG over the years. As a particular treat some of the past pupils made special appearances, including last year's Student of the Year. Elle Winters. Sadly neither Sarah Keating from Six nor Ciara or Cathy Newell from Bellefire was able to make the journey home. While there were a series of show-stopper numbers from films, musicals, and ihe charts, for me the

A dcd o ea e f s n a d dn og n ac
special moments were actually the pieces that came out of c l a s s e s ' improvisation and Ihe highly inventive minds of the students. These ranged from the madly titled FleshEating Weasels to the very clever and no less strangely named GASP! Indeed two young actors, from the latter, showed their talent in whatever situation they were given, Daniel Caulfield-Sriklad and Patrick Stitt are two names to watch for the future. Although not all the numbers would have had Andrew Lloyd Webber reaching for the phone, the students sometimes gave remarkable and very creative interpretations of the material. For instance laking Lewis Carroll's Jabherwocky and Edward Lear's Ning Nang Nong. and doing their best to made perfect sense out of nonsense. They even look famous passages from plays and poem to give homage to the moon. With the students throwing their hearts into everything, it was just a shame, that (at least on the night I attended) some of the young members of the audience persisted in calling out to their friends on stage. Making it more difficult to hear everything that went on. The Performing Arts School Galway has a limited number of places available next year. Entry to the school is by audition only. There will be open auditions in GMIT on Saturday January 11 2003. Seven to 12 year olds are asked to attend between 11am and 1:30pm and 13 year olds and over between 2pm and 5pm. Please bring a 2 fee. a self-addressed envelope, and a recent photo. For further details contact Paula McGurrell on 091 -516 699. Michele Viney

C o m p i l e d by Kernan A n d r e w s Tel: 091 530913 E - m a i l : k a n d r e w s @ g a l w a y a d v e r t i s e r . i e All n e w s i t e m s m u s t b e in b y 12 n o o n T u e s d a y .