Artist In Ireland

( The above painting/set design is by my oldest and dearest friend Gerard Gauci…

Resident set /costume designer for Toronto’s “Opera Atelier” – a period performance opera company that is respected around the world for its lavish productions of operas from Monteverdi to Mozart – Gerard uses his extensive knowledge of early stage techniques and modern stage craft. Gauci is known in Toronto as an illustrator, painter and theatre designer. I have been “borrowing” his work since high school- though I now give him full credit- ahhh… those heady days when I used on of his cherubs as an invitation to a teenage disco that I did not attend)

For more info about my buddy….. www.artnet.com/artists/gerard-gauci/dealers-selling-art

So now… new things for me include returning to the stage in whatever form she’ll have me.

It started in Decemeber 2010 when I booked  two nights of performance in Toronto to test old and new material in a setting that I had been once very famailar with.

Tom St Louis opened for me  at the Liberty St Bistro  and later in the early days of 2011 we played again at the Transac Club on Brunswich and Bloor St.

gmsiamovie.wordpress.com( Tom’s a shy, a very shy guy.. you can hardly get him to say anything about himself as this blog clearly shows)

The first show was called “Why I left Canada or how Karma can bite yer bum” ( something like that…) I wanted to tell truthful tales and telling the truth hurts.. hurts the teller and sometimes in those moments of clarity , when the wine has wore off and the light is just a bit too bright, truth can also have an effect on the listener. (” That happened to me too but I’d never say it out loud“)

I included shows and performance songs and stories from the 80′s and 90′s when Toronto was MY TOWN and I knew who was who and they knew me.  Most familiar was my show ” Lester’s Girlfriend” and my big ukulele hit was “Guys” and “3AM” ( “Its 3AM I’m drunk and broke, these assholes here don’t really care”… its a Toronto thing, written about the all nite Mexican restaurant Sneaky Dee’s where I ran an open Mic every Monday night for three years on a quarter tab of acid…. hummm… it was clean, it was very very clean…, guess you had to be there) And the show was about friends and enemies, doing good and making mistakes . Nothing new but it was my story. And what happened to me forced my hand out of the city to a small rural town 500 miles south west where I continued making friends and enemies and finally I grew  balls big enough to get out of North America and go to my birth country.  I returned to Ireland, not knowing there was a Celtic Tiger, just glad to get a decent cup of coffee.

Show number two- ” Ireland- Ten Years in Forty Minutes.”       Yeah it was just like that.

So now I told stories about places and people, customs and accents that my Canadian friends wouldn’t know ( and couldn’t challenge me on.) Except for my sister…. ah Bridie……I was coming to the end of the show and told my small but attentive audience that it was the last story when from the back of the club I heard a voice , “Eileen could I tell a story?” ( I should have no feck off with ye, this is my stage.. but I didn’t)

It was my oldest sister Bridget… (thats her above) so up she gets and proceeds to tell a tale of how great Drumshanbo has been to me.. ( Now in fairness the town has been good to me… they accepted my ways and haven’t booted me out…yet… but .. .) so up she gets and tells everybody in the room what a jerk I am and how the town bailed me out.  Great.. thank you… beauty. Swell.

So then what happened…. then I got back on stage on told the story of when I was living in a house that could accommodate her and her family and they didn’t have to pay for a B&B and I was doing a line with the town undertaker and he of  ( being the last man to let you down) swept her off feet  and as he and the brother-in-law left the house to go collect his hearse in the next village ( wouldn’t do for the undertaker to be drinking and driving) she turns to me and says, ” Eileen , don’t fuck this up.”

No pressure there.

And we tried to leave it, to end the show, finish the night, I need a drink bygod-badly…. what was cool and different about the work this time was that there was healthy dose of stand- up in it.. and not the well seasoned kind, but the sort where your really thinking on yer feet, remembering details and doing yr living best to circle back around from the tangent you started. ( So i was very thirsty)

“But crowd called out for more…”

Then I had to tell the story of how the undertaker was doing the dirt on me and going out with a short, perky, blondie one-o I referred to as The Scotch Broth… ( do I hear karma calling? ) and  what happened one particular night  when much drink was taken by yours truly and doesn’t he and she walk into the pub, looking  very  cozy…. anyway I told that truth too. The story ends with one of my favorite lines.. “Mickey Moran, get off my rented land”(The Transac Club stage, Toronto 2011)

Zoh, what are we doing now? Well I must tell you about the trip at the end of January 2011 to Barcelona where I performed for a Spanish NGO that was having a benefit for an Indian orphanage and I played the magnificent Luz de Gaz http://www.luzdegas.com/

But thats another entry… however I will say that I’m hoping to be performing  April 16th at the Glens Centre Manor Hamilton with the Pig Executives thepigexecutives.wordpress.com/ as we take to the stage with a reading of our mighty mentor Dermot Healy and extracts from his new Faber & Faber book “Long Time No See”.

Then in May I hoping I’ll have a spot at the Trash Culture Revue in Cork City to do my own work and finger crossed the Pigs will be in Cork as well. Check these guys.. lalala

http://www.mutantspace.ie/the-trash-culture-revue/

And of course I have to finish these Toronto stories.. like hanging with old mates at Lola’s in Kensington Ave and the tasty Beer and Beef party !!!  Must be done…..

You know lads.. posting sure takes time eh… ah no in fairness its probably my ancient computer

( I’ve had this since ’04, its so gauche )  and the really speedy Drumshanbo connection.

Still. Thats me for the day.

I’ll be back … Thanks kindly for clicking in. Sorry about any spelling errors of the like… I tried correcting and managed to clean it up a little… but its a pain in the hole isn’t it. Nevertheless…cheers my dears !

always , eileen

Hello and thank you for clicking in to my words.

These moments upon moments that is now, each standing solitaire upon itself yet bookended by repetition; path shaking and most daring, all of us moved to the very cells of our being (and beyond our cells) to re access what is real and what is not and who is our True Selves.

And this sense of Newness of Time that I’m reflection on includes the rapid  introductions of strangers beings recognized as friends; daring leaps of ideas and ideals and introspection of the keenness nature,upon nature.

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My cup overflows within this Newness of Time. And I’m thrilled, chuffed, grateful and proud to step up, throw my wig into the green and pleased to meet you.

We’ll meet again, no doubt.

All the very best.

Always, eileen

Hello and happiness to us all!

Great stuff  eh.

 I’m in Canada visiting my FAMILY and myFRIENDS and much joy accompanied with fits of laughter and tears from the soul have been released!

 A bit fancifull way of saying that a good time is being had by all.

Returning  every other year to.. ”the land to live and the land to grow, and we’ll call this land…Ontario..” always makes me a tad giddy with nerves and excitement.Naturally this year was no excpetion. We  see the change in each other so vividly,with new landscapes on bodies, in the air around us and on our face. Its way cool.

 So far this trip has netted me such a bag of treats I”m blown over.  Old friends have re-appeared with startingly clarity.  I had the best New Year’s ever…singing and hugging on the streets of my beloved Kensington Market in the wee morning hours of  the 31st. Who needs the stroke of midnight to celebrate with those you love? It was like the universe gave us a moment to relive the past and the immediate present and to praise the future ..  there are so, so close to love, it was perfect to sing the song and welcome in a new passage of time with my beautiful friends  .

Yip yipyipeeeee. I’ll be back again soon with more news about the gigs (Dec 30th at the Liberty Street Cafe- with Tom St Louis and guest Bob Wiseman) and the next gig coming up (Jan 4th Transac Club-a New Moon night boys so make your wishes.. oh and a solar eclispe!!-what out)   and of course news from my family-well not news so much, can’t be spilling the beans to just any unsuspecting reader.. but pictures for sure..!! Then there is the benifit I’ll be doing in Barcelona at the end of the month for a Spanish NGO raising funds for an Indian orphange. Here’s the link for the club that will hold the event.   www.luzdegas.com   

   I took this picture while climbing the Cope Mountains in Leitrim. Thats Sligo’s Ben Bulben Mountain and the lake in front is Glencar Lake  beside Yeat’s Waterfall. There’s a good reason why we call it Lovely Leitrim eh…..(hey i’ve done something silly here… there’s no link to this sentence, don’t mind the finger slip.. I’m on an unfamilar machine …’scusa)

Let me tell you this………………………..2010 was a privital time for me.. first off I began my year in October/November instead of Dec/Jan, but shure.. its the spirit of the place that hepls decide when begin and end so don’t mind what I’m doing.. the point is that it was hard year of self-discovery, important lessons and magical events…and things will be clearer for me within the next two year so I don’t mind anymore if I feel out of sorts.. I’ll just wait on it..I know  enough to do that now… BUT…… I also know that this time for me is a time of building bridges.And thats what I have to do with all aspects of my current life………..

So……………. Hi there Susan T.   ……….write to you soon…….. and Louise C…. we will catch up !!  And Sheryl Granny Fiddle…. you rock my world.. yo too Brian C…………and you Annie P…. and you Kitia and Gian and Mac and you of course dear Eilis D.

    Oh many,many of us, all of you.. I carry your heart with me

I carry it in my heart

Write to you again soon…xx always eileen

Hello and thanks for clicking in.

Here in the North West of Ireland, in a tiny,almost forgotten county called Leitrim, we have a had a delightful time weather wise. Last year there was floods and freezing weather which made our dear town land into a ice rink . Though the rest of the country suffered for similar condition’s, you never heard about the trials and agony that we endured.. not on the national media anyway.

It is to our great relief that now as the rest of Ireland is smothered under snow, Leitrim has the ONLY ray of sunshine, basking us in a glow which have left our roads almost dry .

Okay there is and exaggeration here but just a little. Everything is a little slippery beneath the hedge rows. Still………Its a welcomed respite from last years’  weather terror.

Now… how are ye?

I’m very well thank you for asking. As it is holiday season I have been brought back for the fourth year running the the Agrina Mining Experience as one of the entertainers.

Its always a joy to be part of something festive and the lads and lassies up in Agrina are by far the best gang of merry revelers around.

It will be hard graff this year, we started at the last weekend in  Novemerb and we work the next three weekend plus a seven day stint from Dec 17th to 23rd.

Great Gosh Almighty

Come here.. I have to go to work now. The children will be waiitng to sing songs and bang around on my little instruments.

YOU take care of yourself.

Speak to you again soon

all the best

always

eileen

No it wasn’t a matter of blinking and there goes the month.. No I firmly shut my eyes and said enough for the moment.

So now my eyes are open. And what or what do I see?

A new year ahead and bravo to all of us who come through the last winter, realizing our spring dreams and dancing to the summer nights while later harvesting that which we had sown .

I remember exactly what I was doing this time last year and the commitments I made to myself and to others and the dreams and goal I set out to explore.

(Holy god what was I thinking?)

No its not like that actually… it was a momentous time for all of us, an epic changing times. The stars have been the greatest mirror of change -Jupiter becoming the Morning and Evening Star Who ‘d have thunk it?

So I know and trust that all of us have done some major shifting from last November 2009 to November 210.

Well done.

Zsooo. Things are moving along. Thank you clinking in. Perhaps I can find a pretty picture to insert…..

or not

always eileen

It must be one of my all time fav songs.. and here it is the month we can sing it in the breeze.

This song brings to mind so many fond memories; of my Toronto days when I lived at Broadview and the Danforthand the huge trees would be turning gold and brown in thickening sunlight or  of the theatre school I once worked at where I danced my life into the next century without knowing it or walking in September in New York City many many many years ago and the buildings seeming to bend to the wind and the car horns were brass horns of the big band. Holding those long notes…………………………..

I can hear the crooners croon the song. I hear Lou Reed bop it along.

Which , funnily enough leads me to this information bulletin: The Breffni Family Centre in Carrick-on-Shannon have invited me to run a 6 week writing workshop focusing on the Memoir.

We’ll be meeting on Wednesday night starting the 22nd at 7:30-9:30 to let our pen wonder down memory lane.

There are no rules, I’d only ask that you let yourself speak (write) as plainly as you can.

I’m available for the editorial eye which we can share through emails .

I’ll not be forcing anyone to read their work  out loud at the workshop if they feel it. This is a private thing- between and the page.

We’ll always begin with short exersices to loosen our hand and minds. And I’ll some examples of various kinds of memoirs so we have an idea how to start and where to start.

Personally, I’ve been writing the story of my dog as a memoir, but in order to tell her story I also have to tell my story so we’re having an interesting time unfolding the layers of a life not yet finished.

( Her life, not mine.. definitely not mine)

…… Thats my dog

(what a smile)

I hope you’ll join me. I think there’s a small fee of .. I don’t really know… but follow this link and speak to the good folks at the Breffni Family Centre and fill you in. http://www.breffnifrc.com/

Thank you for clicking in and best of luck with your work.

always ,

eileen

Time moves swiftly, doesn’t it.

Our Written Word Weekend moved well, regardless of the million and one things that happened on the August Bank Holiday Weekend. We had a pleasant turn out and a delightful variety of very special guests.

Now the mid- month has past and here in Ireland it is autumn, the beginning of harvest.

You know, much is happening with all of us- you hardly need me to remind you, still -

All of us are rapidly changing, or not changing…. all of us have a opportunity to step up to the light and take what is rightfully ours.

Take our power. Our love. Take our feeling. Our passions. Take our bravery, take our longing. Take our creative in hand and brush away the hairs of doubt.

There is a woman who wrote to letter, a public letter, one of those facebook jobs  and in this letter Tracey G. noted that over the next two years we have at our beckoning, a time of Exquisite Aloneness.

I adore that phrase.

Exquisite Aloneness.

Its a door into the room of heart.

The imagination of the enchanted.

She advices to set time everyday for our creative selves. Just a few moments to write, sculpt, paint, draw, garden, fold, strum whatever your having that is strictly yours.

take these days for Exquisite Aloneness and savour the delight in craft of being.

when the door closes…

A new path emerges.

Peace folks

Be well

thanks for clicking on

always

eileen

If you know you’re Irish songs you’ll know exactly where my headline phrase is from.

And, ladies and gentleman, it is The Day before the Fair…in my books….

‘Cause tomorrow is the 2nd Written Word Weekend.

Large and juicy thanks goes to our sponsors-

South Leitrim Arts,

The Joe Mooney Summer School,

Leitrim County Council

And I must make a correction from my last entry- I spelled the word ” Fleadh”

wrong. For our non-Irish readers, a Fleadh  ( pronounced Flaw) is the Irish word for festival.

So come here , I’ll be attending the All Ireland Fleadh in Cavan Town August 21-22 nd

And with luck and hope I’;ll be seeing YOU at the

Written Word Weekend July 30-August 2 nd

Slante

P.S. The Day before the Fair is from the song Spancil Hill

ah but you knew that….

thanks for clicking in

always

eileen

Hi , last week of July.

Moved by the swift movement of time

just a little shook

Since the last entry the McGirls performance following the Demon festival reminded me that of a gift I had forgotten.

A gift more precious than entrance to University or high profiles.

Then there was Paris. Four days in the City of Lights gave me another gift

Reminded me of the beauty of friendship and grounded me in the dreamy sounds of wailing sirens

More work to return to.

More stars in the skies. Cardinal Cross T-Squares and the last 260 days before the next 9th Wave begins, we prayed and danced and danced and prayed and smoked and drank and laughed and danced and wondered why  and how and yes and yes and gave all of oursleves and sweat-ed like haired horned beasts and glided through ponds and sat at the beach and pushed the Wave along.

Then the music came to town. Night after night

Morning after morning

Tunes and songs and more tunes

Tunes to eat by Tunes to piss by Tunes to walk the dog buy the paper, look for a light, see a friend, call a name , there is a tune that belongs to that action.

The Joe Mooney Summer School raged like it never raged before.

Now , the weekend draws near- the 2nd written word weekend approaches.Get a book

A clean page

A good pen

A sharpened pencil

Go in

push the nerve

hold backyour hair

bite your lip

tell me something real

Friday night -Open Stage Open Mike – whatever you call it- its

The Salon des Refuses..…………………………

anyone can read

Saturday morning 11:30 -1pm at the library Writing Workshop for small people with me as workshop leader

Saturday afternoon 2pm- at Paddy Mac’s old Pub- Conor MacManus reads stories from Drumshanbo through a boy’s eye and Eamon Day  and Noel McPartland give a history about the High Street

3:30- Pig Executive Meeting.. in the pub please god or failing that and if some one has something to contribute ( Snowball- that be you) then in to Mrs Mac’s diner we go.

Saturday Night- The Cabaret of the Enchanted Reel featuring

The Poetry Chicks with Connor Kelly on piano

Sunday August 1st 7pm Historical walk around town with  Noel and Eamon

Sunday Night 9pm The Published Writers

Ananda Caffery, Belinda McKeon, Eion McNamee. Tony Curtis

Monday 2pm The Poetry and Prose Brunch at Berry’s Tavern

final wrap up for this year.

Please god nobody dies and everyone get paid.

Then what? Then I promised the local kids I organize a fun day for them-

An Ice Cream Olympics, as i like to call it. So we must set up the game course and do that.

Then the All -Ireland Fleach  is on in Cavan Town and we must make an apperance

Then I take one week to lock myself in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre with a book I promised to finish writing

Then its the Electric Picnic where the Pigs are performing at the Word Tent.

Then then then then

Makes me sad to think that Tracey Wright has died

She was one of those strong silent actors . A big presence but in a surprisingly petite frame.

Kind, she was kind person. Very kind. One of a kind.