Why not start the long weekend early by getting your mitts on tickets to see Vampire Weekend at the Ambassador tomorrow night and relive the summer with their irritatingly catchy but lyrically sublime selection of clever tunes. If you still have some fight left in you after this, drop into FibberMagees across the road for a late drink. There’s a great Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tribute band on at 11pm that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in action before and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Dublin Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF Ireland) also kicks off tomorrow night encompassing everything from visual art to theatre to film to music. Hightlights over the weekend include SweeTalk in the Sugar Club (Thursday @ 7.30), where €5 will get you an insightful look into the worlds of Dublin’s most infamous street artist, Maser, and hip-hop legend Steinski. On Friday, lo-fi kings M83 supported by Dublin band, Channel One play Vicar Street. Saturday sees a Norwegian invasion at Whelans with the arrival of In The Country and Susanna of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra. After this, get down to Andrews Lane Theatre to dance your socks off to tunes spun by JohnnyMoy and Arveene. The closing party on the bank holiday Sunday is a 3 venue extravaganza incorporating Whelans, Upstairs at Whelans and The Village, with €35 gaining you access all areas and with performances from Laurent Garnier, Fuck Buttons, Chequerboard and Model 500 to name but a few, you’d be mad to miss it.

On Saturday night The Sugar Club plays host to the fantastic Erin McKeown, whose last visit to Ireland a few years ago saw her play to a sellout crowd at The Village. Her razor-sharp, tongue-in-cheek lyrics set to folksy country music is both infectiously catchy and clever at once. Check out the clip below for a sampler.

Happy Bank Holiday!

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Check out the talented lil lady herself in the video below along with El Perro Del Mar (who played support on Lykke Li’s last tour) and some miscellaneous musicians ad-libbing in San Fransisco – great stuff altogether.

watch?v=vFCif_h36Gw

The Music Show (formerly Music Ireland), Hotpress magazine’s comprehensive exhibition showcasing all things, em, musical is back in the RDS next weekend, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th of October.

The exhibition brings together the cream of the Irish music industry all under one roof. With exhibitors ranging from recording studios and duplication plants to vintage guitar stores and rock schools, you’re sure to find something to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, whether you’re in the industry or not. Complementing the exhibitors, there are a number of workshops running throughout the weekend such as drum and guitar masterclasses and recording techniques tutorials, all headed by experts in their respective fields. Seminars and panel discussions chaired by the likes of Liam O’Maonlaí (he of Hothouse Flowers fame), Mick Quinn (rock photographer extraordinaire) and Dave Fanning (needs no introduction) serve to provide invaluable insight to the ins and outs of the music business.

And thats not even the best part. For the bargain price of €15.00 (weekend ticket in advance), you get to witness live performances from the fabulous Ham Sandwich, The Blizzards, Jaded Sun (check these guys out if you get a chance – really great classic rock sound from an unbelievably underrated Irish band) and Mercury-nominated Fionn Regan, to name but a few.

So, if you’re in any way musically inclined and find yourself free next weekend, get yourself to the RDS for the only Dublin Show of it’s kind.

Tickets available from Ticketmaster.

Snazzy? Effective? It had bloody well want to be, it cost €70,000 of taxpayers money to come up with it after Noel Dempsey, Minister for Transport, snubbed the free logo that had been drawn up by the Department of Transport.

It emerged today that Noel Dempsey allocated €2 million of taxpayers money to outside consultants, PR and advertising in the first half of 2008 alone, with the majority being spent on promoting Transport21. You can read the full story here.

I may not be too savvy when it comes to the multi-layered world of PR and advertising, and I do acknowledge that a certain amount of promotion is necessary, but a €70,000 logo – funded by the target audience?? I’d love to hear from anyone who thinks that this is justifiable.

According to Bling H2o’s website, the product is “strategically positioned to target the expanding super-luxury consumer market”. At almost €60 per litre, I’m curious as to what the ingredients of Bling H20 are to merit such a price. Perhaps it’s droplets of sweat from the foreheads of assorted Hollywood starlets? Maybe the water has been purified by filtering through 20 carat diamonds? Maybe it has a few shots of common sense thrown in there for good measure. Nope, it seems that you’re parting with your well earned 50 in exchange for nothing more than what we all have literally ‘on tap’ every day. Oh, and a fancy bottle. Whatever floats your boat.

Another shining example: I brought my 5-year-old son and 8-year-old cousin to Charlestown Shopping Centre during the week to run a few errands. After bribing them with anything their little hearts desired to ‘please behave for just half an hour’, I made good on my promise and told them to pick out 5 sweets each from the pick-n-mix vendor, Sweet Express. My jaw almost fell off when the assistant asked for payment of €7.90. Yes, you read right… €7.90. For 10 sweets.

More fool me for paying it you might say, but (note to self) doe eyes and quivering lips can be a powerful tool.

First up, a second date has just been announced for MGMT’s visit to the Ambassador, the pair now play 3rd and 4th of November with tickets for the second show going on sale this Friday 8th August priced €24.50. They are supported by new Canadian favorites Violens, who have been likened to everyone from The Zombies to Prefab Sprout. Their current single Violent Sensation Decends wouldn’t be out of place on a Shins album and is currently making the playlist of every radio station worth it’s salt.

Friday 7th November sees Tripod play host to Goldfrapp. Their latest album, Seventh Tree, saw Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory moving away from the much loved sparkly disco sounds of previous releases such as Supernature and moving in an altogether more grown-up, low-fi direction. Alison’s voice is beautiful enough to carry off their new ethereal sound and the Tripod show, which follows not long after their Electric Picnic date, should be a treat for fans and newcomers alike. Tickets are on sale now and are priced at €32.50 and €35.50 for standing or seated respectively.

November also sees the welcome return of Cold War Kids to our shores. After the unprecedented success of their first album, Robbers & Cowards, the Californian quartet return to Dublin on foot of the release of their follow up album, Loyalty to Loyalty, due for release September 23rd. Cold War Kids play The Academy on November 5th and tickets are €28.50.

AS if that isn’t enough to get excited about, Scottish indie rock veterans Primal Scream play an intimate gig in the sumptuous Olympia Theatre this November 17th. Their current album Beautiful Future sees the band move in an altogether more pop-orientated direction, but if we’re lucky they’ll still belt out some of the old favorites from the glory days of Screamadelica and XTRMNTR.
Tickets €33.60/€39.20

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If you can’t manage to stay indoors until November, there is also a veritable plethora of gigs to get excited about in October. The superlative Bon Iver plays Tripod on the 7th of October. After their sellout June show was moved from Crawdaddy to Tripod to accomadate unprecedented demand, Bon Iver’s popularity has been firmly cemented in Ireland and tickets to see Justin Vernon and co perform songs from the absolutely sublime album, For Emma, Forever Ago, will be snapped up. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see the October show echo that of the previous with a move to a larger venue.
Tickets €22.50/€27.50

If Black Kids infectious Summer anthem I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You is anything to go by, their gig in The Academy on the 21st October should be a high energy, dance-till-you-drop-sing-along night of fun. With tickets priced at just €17.50 it’d be just plain rude not to go.

Finally, celebrate Halloween night in style with the pioneer of scratrching, king of hip hop dj-ing, the legend that is Grandmaster Flash. He plays Tripod on October 31st and tickets to see one of the founding fathers of hip hop are a mere €20.00.

New liquor laws came into effect on Friday July 30th at midnight. The Intoxicating Liquor Act 2008, which seems to have slipped quietly under the radar of the alcohol-consuming public, includes the following changes:

New hours for off sales of alcohol.
• Tougher public order provisions allowing the Gardaí to seize alcohol from minors.
• A court procedure to secure a new wine-only off-licence.
• New grounds for objection to the granting of an off-licence.
• New conditions attaching to the granting of a special exemption order, and
• Holders of theatre licences will be restricted to the normal licensing hours unless additional hours are sanctioned by a special exemption order.

What this basically means people, is that we are being governmentally prevented from getting our drink on in the manner to which we have become accustomed. Now, I’m all for preventing underage drinking, but surely we could take a little guidance from our continental counterparts and encourage the education of children towards the dangers of over-indulgence and ensure more vigilant publicans and off-licence staff rather than giving the oul Gardai free reign to bait the shite out of poor little Timmy who’s been caught with a couple of cans of Dutchy down the shelters because he promised his ma he wouldn’t break ‘The Pledge’.

The bill also abolishes theatre licences, ensuring that all nightclubs, late bars and theatre bars now close at 2.30am. Currently in Ireland, we have relatively staggered closing hours, with pubs closing at 12.30am, late bars at 2.30am, and nightclubs and theatre bars at 3.30am. This sequential system has been found to reduce public order offences [UK Institute of Alcohol Studies], whereas there is no evidence to support the proposal that the new system of having a blanket closing time will have the same effect. The bill that has been passed effectively forces punters into the streets at the same time, putting added strain on taxi services, fast food outlets and local emergency services and gardai. Surely I am not the only one who can see that 1000’s of drunken Dubliners conglomerating on the banks of the Liffey to fight over a taxi or push their way up the que in Rik’s Burgers is going to cause more than a few squabbles? Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, doesn’t seem to think so. According to Deputy Ahern, “people would be staggering from premises to premises if we gave an opportunity to go from bar to late bar and then on to nightclubs”. Now, I am perfectly aware that we didn’t earn our reputation as a nation of drinkers for nothing, but since when is Dermot Ahern judge and jury in charge of enforcing punishment upon us for being fond of the sauce every once in a while? In the wise words of a friend, Ireland has grown into a “fierce progressive place”, and we’re no longer a nation of Jemmy-swilling ogre’s who need constant monitoring. As things were, revellers could finish up their drinks in their boozer of choice and then choose to either head to a nightclub/late bar/whatever or do a legger home. I’ll be the first to admit to occasionally succumbing to the alluring charms of The Gaiety and it’s promise of warm beer in plastic cups at 2.30 of a Sunday morning, but 9 times out of 10 the sight of a yellow taxi light taking the corner at Stephen’s Street is enough to have me skidding through the rain in 6 inch heels and hurling myself in front of said taxi screaming at the occupant to ‘take me home for the love of god’. My point is, most people know when its time to go home. Ok, there’s always going to be the odd hen party bride or drunken suit who’s been slumped at the bar in Cocoon since leaving Deloitte & Touche at 5 o’clock that evening – but if someone is determined to find the next drink, they’ll find it regardless. All the new licensing laws are doing is encouraging house parties, and in return domestic disturbance and neighbours from hell scenarios, along with turfing a load of drunk people out onto the streets of Dublin to make their way home in a city with an already sub-standard transport system.

The bill also prevents off-licences opening beyond 10pm 7 days a week with no exceptions. So if you decide to be a good little civilian and sit down to watch an RTE Saturday Night Movie rather than partaking in the nation’s apparent past-time of choice – binge drinking – you are no longer given the option to pop down the offie for a bottle of cab sav to accompany the giant bar of galaxy that you purchased for the occasion. Tough – you should’ve thought of it earlier.

Not to mention the fact that most nightclubs and theatre-licence holders will be losing an average of 8 hours business per week – with many of them choosing now to not open at all on a Sunday as they will have to close at 1am on ‘the Sabbath’. In a time of imminent recession, it hardly seems clever to be limiting the business hours of one of our most profitable industries now does it?

Call me a sceptic, but as far as I can see the new act achieves nothing but a quick fix to an age old problems. I’d love to stay and hash out some alternatives for our government to mull over between tribunals but it’s nearly 9.30 so I’ve to get myself down to the offo STAT.

Fight Like Apes play a free instore gig in Tower Records on Wicklow Street this evening at 5pm. Get there early to avoid being stuck at the back entrance to Brown Thomas with the Italian accordian playing mascot. Fresh from thier performance at Glastonbury, Fight Like Apes deliver their unique blend of shouty, high-octane, high-energy punk pop – if this doesn’t sound like your type of thing get yourself down to Bewleys on Grafton Street for a nice cup of tea and a sit down instead.

Tonight also sees Analog 2008 kick off in style with Dublin Docklands playing host to Lou Reed, Shane McGowan, Gavin Friday and Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins, to name but a few. Rouge’s Gallery is the brainchild of Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski and music producer extrordinnaire, Hal Willner. Rouge’s Gallery is a collection of old sea shanties and pirate ballads given a modern day twist by a bevy of accomplished singers/songwriters/producers/etc. Willner’s impressive mish-mash of Hollywood A-listers and music industry legends is enough to get even the most discerning of gig-goers chomping at the bit. Go to see Lou Reed and Shane McGowan share a stage for the bargain price of €50.00 and, if this doesn’t stir up your senses, go to throw your knickers at Tim Robbins. A number of tickets are still available here.