King of Pop...

Michael Jackson

1958 - 2009

So standing outside the last session of the Novena, at Clonard Monastery last night, it was late yet still very warm, and news began to spread like wildfire. Michael Jackson passed away at the age of 50.

Being probabley the biggest Music icon since the Beatles it is very hard to get my head around the idea. He was just one of them Characters that you didn't expect to hear that news about for a long time. News spread quiet quickly, claims that he had died of a heart attack or lung cancer etc etc. I do not at this stage know what happened but I hope, as I do for most, that it was peaceful.

Michael Jackson started his professional career in music at the age of eleven as a member of the Jackson 5, and even at this stage was a shining star for music. Despite the rumours and storys and claims against his name, I believe that he should be remembered as the Music legend he was.

However as usual, I didn't really start this post to address the case of Michael Jackson's death, but rather to address the attitudes of the public and the media. Usually I am overcome with disgust at these attitudes... well they haven't failed me this time either.

Within three minutes of recieving a text from my friend that merely said "Michael Jackson Just Died", the jokes started to roll in. The same sick jokes that we hear every time anyone that holds space in the public eye dies, is injured or has a breakdown. Some one predicting, and I fear he predicted rightly, that there will be an incline in the amount of stories of Child Abuse and other such claims. He also predicted that there will be one or two "Billie Jeans" popping up. Now to address this attitude, what kind of world do we live in, when I can honestly fear that happening. When a suggestion like that is put forth, how can it seem like such a reasonable thing to say?? It's sad.

Then there is the media. The Belfast Telegraph is a paper that I seem to have one or two quams with. In short I don't like the paper at all. Today we are met with a frontpage image of Michael Jackson, "shortly before he died" on a hospital stretcher. I see the many images on the news channels of reporters pushing eachother over for their chance to catch the golden photograph of the lifeless body, the men trying to film the ambulance and rush the hospital where he was taken. Its disgusting how the death of someone could be so utterly disrespected that the family are given no chance of alone time, to mourn and come to terms, cause its far more important that the public see these images.

However there are the other scenes. The scenes of utter dismay and heartache over the passing. I must admit, I do not understand. I am a fan of Michael Jackson, but I can't find the myself crying hysterically over him. But I am pleased that some people in our world, can be so unsettled by the passing. I would hope that this was respect for human life and not just love of a musician. Eitherway is acceptable however. I prefer these attitudes than that of the jokers and media.

God Bless
Peace

This is Punk Rock

This is my understanding of Punk Rock as described by The King Blues. Its not Drinking and drugging just cause its illegal. Its not graffitting that silly "Anarchy" A on walls. Its not fights, cursing, ripped clothe etc. This is punk rock. This song is punk rock.

What If Punk Never Happened

Well on a cold Tuesday morning, I was walking into town,
Had my headphones blaring, didn’t notice what was around,
I crossed the road, a car swerved and nearly ran me down,
Looked in the driver’s seat, I swear to God it was Doc Brown,
He said “Are you Michael J Fox?” I said “No I’m Jonny Fox”,
He said “Close enough, get inside,
I’m taking you with me to see another time,
A place you could only have dreamed in your mind,
An alternative reality situated just outside of Clapham,
So strap yourself in,
Cos where we’re going you don’t need roads,
To get to where punk never happened”

We landed in a concrete desert, rubble as far as the eye could see,
I says to Doc “Where we goin’?”
Doc says he’s following me,
We found the only building in the city that was left standing
It was my local venue,
I know cos I recognised the landing,
And there’s a gig on tonight! This town ain’t so bad,
I got everything I need, right here in this pad,
So I pulled out a bottle and took a heroic swig,
Made myself comfortable and got ready for the gig,

Well an hour after doors and there was still no-one there,
The soundman was on acid, the fucking long hair,
The bands never showed cos they didn’t see the point,
When all the kids are at home still smoking a joint,
They won’t go out and do nothing, not on your nelly,
They’re just watching the telly and then feeding their belly,

Their parents listen to The Beatles, while they listen to Nirvana,
Cos Green Day and The Pistols, well they never heard either
They got long sleeve T-shirts and they never shower,
They still believe in flower power,
The hippy dream’s faded but they got nothing new,
So they wear flares and slippers and burn incense sticks too,
The kids would rather skate than go out and smash the state,
While their parents sit still and meditate,
Action’s at a low when people just don’t care,
They zoned out to their surroundings, the anger’s not there,

And I’m stuck in this hippy, grunge reality,
Where the buildings are crumbling down from apathy,
They grab you at school when you’ve just turned 13,
And show you your brand new, life long routine,
You can sleep and work, and work and sleep,
So you can save up the money to buy a new jeep,
So you can sleep and work, and work and sleep,
Then sleep. Then work. Then work. Then sleep.

I pulled a fanzine out my back pocket, held it in my hands,
And watched the colours slowly fade away,
The words bled right off of the pages til it had nothing left to say,
I banged on the jukebox but it was useless,
It had no good records on,
Not even something weak like ‘The Best Punk Album In The World Ever Volume 1’,
Outside the windows, I saw the excavators coming to tear the place down,
No-one stopped them, for there is no community left in this town,
There’s no-one around to fight Margaret Thatcher,
The power of the flower just couldn’t match her,

Too strong was the will of Parliament to cause damage,
That with no punk rock everything went unchallenged,
Land got knocked down to build more land,
That got knocked down again for a couple more grand,
With no punk the protests were full of throwbacks calling each other comrade,
Of course the young folks’ attendance started to fade,
So it was easy for the police to move in, they were trusted,
And that’s when the whole damn town got busted,
They moved CCTV cameras in everywhere,
But the people were too apathetic to care,
They made them carry ID cards to state where they’re from,
As if by being born they had done something wrong,
They shipped all the poor folk to live out in the edges,
So the rich folk could move in and peer over their hedges,
“But before you leave, you’d better build our homes,
There, we’ve done you a favour, now you’re on your own,
This ain’t your home no more, go find somewhere new,
I know you ain’t got the money, cos it’s me who employs you,
I know everything about you, what you eat, how you dress,
Your hobbies, your turn-ons, your email address,
While I had you working in the dark, you didn’t realise,
That I completely stopped your ability to organise,
I didn’t let you have a reason to communicate,
I banned punk rock knowing you hippies would seal your own fate,
I controlled everything you wrote, everything you created,
I distracted you with advertisements so you forgot what you hated,
I fed your dark side, kept you consuming and competing,
And like a dog that doesn’t know when to stop eating,
You took it all, oh and long was it my intention,
You could have beat me if punk rock was your invention”,
Instead the city will be sold to the highest bids,
If only Sham 69 had of united the kids,

If only the 4 Skins had told us ACAB,
If only The Ramones had let us know we were a happy family,
If only The Buzzcocks had shown us how to do it ourself,
If only Crass had shown us there are things more important than wealth,
If only The Vandals had shown us it was OK to smile,
If only The Dead Kennedys had helped us put our government on trial,
If only Rancid had played live, and brought with them that vibe,
If we had Sick Of It All and Madball we could put them all on the frontline,

If we had GG Allin we’d have learned it’s OK to be hated,
If we’d have had The Refused then we could have innovated,
If we’d had Poison Idea then they couldn’t push us over,
If we’d had Minor Threat then we could have done it sober,
If we’d have had Against Me we could have done it all unplugged,
If we’d had Operation Ivy we could have done it then fucked off,
If we had The Blitz, The Clash, Disorder, Propagandhi,
The Exploited, NOFX and anyone that’s handy,

There’s a lesson to be learned, one that I will take home,
When I return to my normal reality zone,
Punk rock has the power to change the world,
It lies in every single punk rock boy and girl,
So don’t let anyone tell you you’re not worth the earth,
These streets are your streets, this turf is your turf,
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’ve got to give in,
Cos you can make a difference, you can change everything,
Just let your dreams be your pilot, your imagination your fuel,
Tear up the book and write your own damn rules,
Use all that heart, hope and soul that you’ve got,
And the love and the rage that you feel in your gut,
And realise that the other world that you’re always looking for,
Lies right here in front of us, just outside this door,
And it’s up to you to go out there and paint the canvas,
After all, you were put on the earth to do this,
So shine your light so bright that all can see,
Take pride in being whoever the fuck you want to be,
Throw your fist in the air in solidarity,
And shout “Viva la punk, just one life, anarchy”.

Its been a While...

So August is nearly over and I haven't blogged in a while. Well I have but I just haven't posted yet, but I'm planning to make ammends.

So much has happened and I just haven't had anytime to myself. Where to start. For the whole month of July I was in Europe. I saw 4 countries and ten cities. I have so much to write about; From WIne on the Champ É'Leysée to mini golf on the side of a mountian in the Black Forest in Germany. It was great. I'm not gonna try and remember the whole lot in this blog cause I'll forget so much. I kept a daily blog though, so if anyone actually wants me to post them as I wrote them, comment or mail me. I don't believe anyone actually reads this so if I dont get the request, I'll just post a summary later. So coming home from Europe was a sobering experience. God Led me across Europe safely, and returned me home.. I got home and in the week I arrived there was two weddings , a gig and a night out.

I didn't have much time to rest. I got home two days prior to my cousins wedding as promised. I had to do a prayer reading at it. I got so nervous, but it went alright. The reception was great fun. It was so customed. Being a personal affair I won't go into it, but it was good fun. Two days passed and I got up and put on my suit again, this time for my Sister. Sharon McHugh was soon to be Sharon McQuitty.

I thought this day would never come, and honestly its a not a day I looked forward too. I'll be honest and say it caused a few family rows. However the day was great. We sorted everything as a family, and I honestly believe , or at least hope, the families have connected. My family laughed and danced all night. God blessed us with a great day. The McQuitty's are now safe at home after Honeymooning in Turkey.


So, the gig. Damien Dempsey played the Empire Music Hall yet again, and as always really impressed me. I brought my sister, as she is an incredibly talented girl when it comes to singing and music. I thought she'd be impressed, and she was. Though she knew no lyrics she enjoyed what she saw. I don't think I can go any more indept here; Damien is a great, honest and entertaining musician. You just have to see him live to believe it. His fan base is immense. His Latest album "The Rocky Road" is an incredible collection of the tunes that Damien grew up on himself. However the day brings me to my next point... The Dark Knight.

Previous to the gig me and my sister went to see Batman: The Dark Knight. At first viewing I thought this movie was amazing. I was blown away by Heaths performance. In an interveiw he said "Its probably the most fun I'll Ever have acting a character". If only he knew how true that statement would be. Regardless of him passing away, his portrayal of the Joker is great. However at second veiw I didn't feel so strongly about the movie afterwards.

It's not a masterpiece a many have said.
It's not the Godfather of the Superhero genre.

Asfar as being a masterpeice goes, the story was quiet week. What I mean buy this is that for being a Batman movie, he seemed like an irrelevant character. Replace batman with any superhero and you'll note he makes little impact. The film is about the Joker and Harvy Dent. So the story straight away takes away from it being a masterpeice. I have other problems but I won't dwell, the movie is still a great watch.

This is getting long so I'm gonna go.

God bless
Peace

Rock N Roll + Folk

Well its half one on Saturday Morning. I've not managed to fall asleep, and so I've switched on to listen to some tunes. I haven't blogged in a while, but then Its not like anyone actually reads, or cares, what I have to say on most these matters. My last two blogs have been a tad "political", though Naively so.

Well I never got them blogs up, and so I've just decided to mix them all up. I'll start with the Music side of things.

The first of the blogs was to be entitled "I forgot about roll", but needless to say it never surfaced. It was meant to describe my feelings after goin to see "White Lion" in the Rosetta Bar. I gone off the "Rock Rails" recently as it has been a while since a new band has come around that I have enjoyed, and as a result I commonly say these days I've gone off rock. However it seems I forgot about the Roll side of things; Alcohol Fuelled, Sex Driven Rock and Roll. Anyway the gig was great. The first band that came on were called "Crimes of Passion", and sounded like they wanted to be from the 80's. The next band, Stormzone, could rightly have been from the 80's, and of course White Lion ARE from the 80's. It rocked. Just a week later I went to see Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Black Stone Cherry. Whitesnake seemed to forget they had got old, and kept talking about how "big" they were, and they didn't mean the music. Def Leppard had got old, and just didn't give a dam. They Rocked.

Mid Week I journeyed to Dublin yet again. I have a soft spot for that city. In the words of Damien Dempsey its the "Apple of my Eye". Speaking of which the reason I made the journey this time was to see Christy Moore, Damien Dempsey, Jinx Lennon and Paula Flynn. I really enjoyed it. Though eating in that city will bleed you dry. I went down early on the morning of Thursday the 19th. I booked into my room in "Isaacs Hostel". If your looking for a basic hostel in the heart of Dublin, check them out. Great staff, but maybe abit more pricey that you would like. Too me it was grand. I spent the whole day wandering with my Camera. Stephens Green is a great place for amatuer photographers in the city to play about. I got some good shots. So come 5 I reckoned I should get food, and then off I went to the gig. I was using Google maps to find my way. Here is a little warning, aviod Google maps if possible, they do not work. I eventually found the gig after walking in circles, being completely ignored by Garda, and being heckled by kids. The show was great and I got some good shots, considering I've never done gig photography. The bar was dry, due to Christy being a "T Totaler". Jinx Lennon didn't impress the crowd, but I found him entertaining, though he should come with the warning, not suitable for the easily offended.

God Bless
Peace

I'm not sure...

I'm not sure why I'm blogging tonight. Just surfed that way. Its half 12 and I'm sat listening to a selection of Tunes from Dee McKendry and Laura Stevenson. My too favourite Local artists. At the time of writing I suddenly remembered about a gig in the No Albi bookstore I really wanted to attend. I had forgot all about it.

There is so much going on in my head these days. I wish I could poetically put it down on paper. That side of me seems to have dried up recently. Musically I'm really inactive these days. I got a mandolin for my Birthday, which is amazing and for a while I was right back in there. It didn't last long. I just don't see a point anymore. It just doesn't soothe the soul anymore.

Further more I spiritually feel further from God than ever before. Its a weird thing with me, because I have no doubt in my mind about the existence of God. I just don't feel him anymore. The fault here of course is all my own. I constantly fail at living the way I should. But God I Try...

I currently don't understand my own thoughts. I just want a distraction from who I actually am sometimes.

Have you ever had that best friend, that you could tell everything too. Nothing was too silly, too embarrassing or too much? I currently feel like I need that. I use to have friends like that, but the bond isn't strong anymore. Again this is prob my fault, I'm terrible for keeping in touch. I'm not sure what I'd say to that friend, but maybe my spirits would be higher.

I had no intention of Blogging tonight, and I don't really know where this came from, but it seems a shame to delete it now. I think I shall post it anyway.

Song of Choice the past week: Laura Stevenson - Coming Home

On other news Barrack Obama seems to have won the Democratic candidacy. I'm glad. My only problem with him is his pro-Abortion stance. He's enviormental, plans stronger gun control and wants to end war in Afghanistan/Iraqi. The Republicans however are not Enviormental, Pro Guns due to the 2nd amendment and are pro Afghan/Iraqi/Iran war. But they are Anti Abortion. Judging from McCains website.

Is America ready to vote Black though? My faith in America isn't strong enough to think they will.

God Bless
Peace

Saturday Celebration

Who: Taize Brothers What: Taize Celebration Where: St Ann's Cathedral When: Saturday 26th April 2008

Yesterday was, put simply, one of those unexpected days which upon reflection, you just have to thank God for. It did start as a fairly normal day, I got up and went to Work at half one like every Saturday. Afterwards I shared Lunch with my sister and then I went over to St Ann's Cathedral.

I had been looking forward to the Taize Celebration all week. It was to start with a procession from St Peters Cathedral to St Ann's Cathedral at 6pm, but as I didn't get out work until then I just went over to St Ann's for the service. I arrived at about 7pm, I entered the Cathedral, and had a walk around, sat down and had a quick prayer. When the Procession arrived I went outside to meet my Friend Martin, unaware that Brendan, Paula and Patrice were also there.

We went inside again, and myself, Paula and Patrice took a seat on the floor at the front of the cathedral. The Choir practised the Hymns and Chants for just under an Hour before the Service began. The Music was amazing, and though I only knew two of the songs, by the time the service started, I was able to sing a few. The Service was really beautiful, and we all prayed around an Icon of the Crucified Christ, before lighting candles and sitting back to sing some more. The service was really beautiful and I could have stayed there all night, however me and my friends had plans and people were starting to worry. So once the service ended we had to leave. So I found it really refreshing, and I really enjoyed every moment.

After a short chat with Chat with Brendan we made our way to Clonard. Paula gave a lift to me and Martin. We stopped at her house for a Pizza, and then up to our friend Michael's house. It was an amazing night. It was great to see some old faces, and some new ones too. We laughed for hours, sang for hours and had Craic all night. It was amazing. I especially loved the chance to hear a friend sing some of his old songs, that I always loved. The last song proved to be very emotional, and we left our friends house at half 4 in the morning.

As I said it was amazing, and very unexpected.

God Bless
Peace