After the best part of two years work we finally put our new show on the stage. We decided to present this new work to audiences at this years Samhlaiocht in the Siamsa Tire theatre in Tralee . We really enjoyed the process of building this show over the last while and a one would expect we really enjoyed the thrill of putting on new work for our audience. Our only worry in coming up with the show was in wondering, if the ideas that we thought of as funny would work in the outside world. But judging by the reaction of the audiences at our first shows, the whole thing seems to work. We are also really pleased with the look of the show.
As with all shows it is a creative process that is engaged in as a collaborative effort that owes as much to the so it owes as much to our propmakers (John Jane and Felix) as it does to as it does to the Directors that we worked with (Fraizer and John) to our graphics genei ( Michael and ailbhe) who helped to give the show its look for publicity and all the way to the arts council who assisted us in making the ideas we had come alive.
And as with all shows having an live audiences will in its own way changes the show subtly and it is something that will in time mature and evolve, maybe even mutate.
It had been my intention to chart and doccument the development of the new show and to present this process as a series of photos taken during the entire two year process however an unfortunate crashing related hard drive incident this planned approach so most of the photos come from the latter stages of the development of the show.






More importantly than reading any of this or even looking at the photos make sure that you get along and actuallly come and see the show we would love to see you! We hope you enjoy it!

Hey there nostalgia fans i found this recently when digging through the archives so i thought that i would share it with you as it represents our humble beginnings. This photo shows one of the first ever performances by the collection of individuals performing together who would go on to become known as the Fanzini Brothers. We were never really crusty jugglers who would juggle on the side of the street for a couple of cans of cider (partly cos i was too posh) and we always aspired to take it more seriously than that, we wanted to put it out there as a proper performance so even back then when we had no real performance skills or even proper costumes we were out there keeping it real. The shot also features our original line up and you can also see our good friend Ruan standing off to the right casually watching the show little did he know the behemoth of variety entertainment that we would become.
As i remember this gig was at the time the biggest thing that we had ever done and took place at a scouting event that happened in Farranfore. We were green as hell and if you look closely you will see that we were even wearing face paints which was something that we quickly grew out of. I also remember that we got to this gig in the first place by being driven to the venue by my life partner(sic) Kathleen who had a car at the time. Not really much of an audience in evidence either. I dont even remamber how much we got paid for this gig but it wasnt much i am willing to bet. Who care we got the gig and they hired us when no one else in their right minds would have and started us on our way.

This was truly an epic one partly due to the remoteness of the venue for this gig namely Tory Island which is off the coast of Donegal by about several miles.
We left in fair weather and light winds and took off on the roads of the west coast up through the towns of Sligo and Galway. This trip was also the first outing for the fanzini brothers new iphones one each our new toys. I am firmly convinced that the iphone is the pinnacle of technology in the modern age why? because it has everything internet, gps, text, phone, music palyer and all manner of accesories that you can download for this device.


We waited for the boat to pull in and proceeded to load our stuff onto the boat for the journey out to the island. Now the weather was fairly lively and there began the fanzini brothers tory island sponsored vomit watch. Now due to the roughness of the crossing there were several winners in this competition but the overall prize had to go the the members of the (as we later found out) members of the Celtic Rock band Face the West who organised a band retch with several members of the band failing to find their sea legs.
On arriaval on the island we were met by the Tory dolphin Dougie and the king of the island who met us and indeed greets everybody of the boat.
Tory is a beautiful but very remote place population 200 during the summer and down to 140 ish in the winter. I imagine that the island could indeed be a bleak spot during the winter but when we saw the place it was majestically beautiful. During our stay Ronaldo and i took a walk from one end of the island to the other and unfortunatly for us while at the latter end of the island it started to rain and a rainy rain it did rain.


Lacking shelter we got soaked and but we still had a lovely time exploring all that the island had to offer much of this was related in one way or another to the stories of Balor. The island is also home to a thriving colony of corncrakes and i was privelaged to hear this bird craking while on the island. We were also hosted on the island in the local guest house which provided warmth and shelter in ample amounts. To sum the trip up. Lovely spot. Great people. Lunatics. And would go back in a flash.

We worked at this event last year although at the time it was called Diversions Temple Bar and it partly fell victim to the weather that we had last year, so we wanted to go back there this year and really nail the whole thing from start to finish. For details of what happened last year at this event you are going to have to look back in time to our blog from last year. At this event we were also graced with the presence of Palle from Denmark aka Mr Toons or if you prefer the professional idiot. Palle i think i can safely say is one of the true gentlemen of our business and we were privleged to have been able to spend time with the guy. He arrived the week before the Dublin Circus Festival for another event and had spent the week staying with us in Kerry. Roanldo had him as a house guest for the week and we both took him out to experience the joy of surfing the waves off the atlantic coast. Palle took to the water and fearlessly took on everything that Inch and Gowlane could throw at him. By the end he even caught a few waves and bought a wetsuit from our good friend Inch Con who sells eco friendly wetsuits on his website www.humanseals.com (shameless plug). Anyway apart from being a nice human being Palle is also a consumate performer and his show, even though i have seen it over ten times at this stage always puts a smile on my face. It is clever inventive full of joy and playfulness and contains a grandstand finale. Indeed i have rarely seen a better street show since i first saw Palle and his partner perform as a double act called the loyal club at the busking competition years ago in the Killarney Summerfest.
I am happy to say that we suceeded in our mission and we pulled out four really good shows although it did rain during two of our shows but it was only a drizzle and the audience stayed to see the end of the show despite the rain. This i would always see as a really nice confidence booster and a very nice indirect compliment to our work because if people are willing to stay and still watch your show while being made uncomfortable by weather then that means your material can really hold the attention which is good. We even had one show in a venue in cows lane which when we turned up seemed quite and not very promising but turned out to be a great show.
Downsides of Dublin can include barmy traffic and illogical one way systems which are in my opinion designed to infuriate drivers so much that they just give up and walk. But to make up for this the people we were working for really made our job easier by being really nice and professional. Everything was really well timetabled and publicised and ran as scheduled. That is all you can ask for really. Our demands are normally modest enough and when we requested a trolley to help us to move our equipment from one performance space to another we were not only provided with a trolley but we also got bodies to help us to move our stuff. So you can pretty much put up with minor headaches like the traffic and the weather when you are dealing with people whose aim it is is to help you achieve your goal to entertain the ass off people. Mission accomplished. Special mention must go here out to the Production Manager Denis from Cork who was a model of professionalism and a paragon of calm under pressure. Anything you asked him for or any queries you had were met with a smile and an easy solution.
Good food on this trip was provided by the Chandni resturant in Ballsbridge a real find on the culinary front. Palle, Ronaldo and i ate there and all gave it the thumbs up. We also ate in a lebanese resturant called the Cedar Tree in the center of the city, our meal in the cedar tree was accompanied by a young lady belly dancing which was distracting to say the least. An idea perhaps for other resturants to drum up business in this age of recession put on a floxsome fillie performing some gyrations while you eat under the pretense of culture. Bring it on i say.
Another good thing that happened was that we got to go on weekend blend which is a radio show on Newstalk featuring the presenting skills of Claire Mckowen. To be honest we were nervous about doing this as it went out live and we were not sure if we could convey what we do or our zany personalities on the radio. Happily Claire made feel really at ease and the whole experience went well apart perhaps from myself declaring on the public airwaves that one of the advantages that we as performers living the travelling life have is that we get to see parts of Ireland that no one has ever seen (muppet).
The Fanizni collective also got to see some of the other shows that were going on as part of the event. This does not always happen as you are setting up sets taking downs sets or have your head in your own show so much that you dont see other acts. Happily this time we had loads of time to see other performances. Now before i go on i should point out that taste is subjective and an act that i slag of as brutal is just me expressing a personal opinion, it does not mean that the act is bad per se. I know what i like i like slapstick i like spectacle. I dont like farfing about it dont like interpretive dance or art that takes itself too seriously.
So the acts first Dave Macsavage now Dave was not a part of the programme he was just there busking his show but he really blew me away. What he does is a brand of stand up comedy mixed with music. He spent ages gathering a crowd by simply interacting with passers by. Basically taking the piss out of people and generally having the crack with people. Pure brilliant. Much of his material came across as spontaneous. Admittedly some of the material was right on the edge of good taste but you got to take your hat off to the guy for being out there and risking it all for a laugh. He reminded me in some aspects of Johnny Massacre in the way he built his crowd and the anarchic atmosphere he created.
Next up was Scarabeus-Dance Antigue now for anyone whose stomach cant handle a critical mauling i advise you to skip ahead to the next paragraph cos this aint gonna be pretty. This was described in the programme as a spectacular ariel and stilts performance that will thrill and delight all who dare to watch. And in fairness it was spectacular or at least spectacularly bad. Now it promised a lot, we had been around all day while they set up an impressive rig and i thought this is going to be good. How wrong i was the ariel stuff was insignifigant and the stilt parts were full of self indulgent farfing about faux art dance movement and loads of slow movement that spoke of a group of performers taking themselves far too seriously. This was not helped by the fact that the performers all wore masks which were visually nice but acted as a barrier between the performers and audience and killed any rapport or intimacy that could have been generated. When you compare this group say to our own Tumble Circus who perform cutting edge routines and spectacular ariel stuff in a really entertaining context it really puts muck like this show in perspective. In fairness it was not all bad and the good thing was that this show was only about a half an hour long. This half an hour seemed like an eternity and the performance recieved a muted applause from an audiences that seemed decidedly underwhelmed. This in contrast to say a Tumble circus show which can last for up to an hour which can seem to fly and will leave the audience feeling satisfied and baying for more.







Now i would have gone away from this show in a bad mood had i not decided to stay around to se Mr Toons show which was like a balm for my soul. Brilliant in every aspect full of joy and good humour and a really friendly vibe between an apprecative audience and a performer whose timing is truly perfect and at the very top of his game.
Next up to brave my critical barbs is a group/individual called Nakupelle these people performed two shows one a one man show and the other a two man piece. Now i only saw the one man show so i will reserve judgement on the two man piece the one man piece was magical a glorious virtouso mixture of slapstick comedy and skill all performed around the simple premise of an incompetent man who was trying to put a plant pot up on a high platform. This involved the use of an A frame ladder which was climbed, fallen off etc pure genius and really daring not just artistically but also you could really get hurt doing this stuff. On top of this the act harked back in some aspects to the comedy of Keaton and chaplin and Lloyd in that it was reallly simple and universal. The show was also helped by the fact that the performer picked a volunteers who relished his place in the spotlight and palyed to the crowd. All in all a great act that truly deserved to be seen by a bigger audience than was there for the show. Note to self, must see more of these guys.








Back to brutal the Insect Circus now in fairness these lads were not pure arty crap like Scarebus its just that the show was good just not good enough. The show featured various performers performing various acts which were good just not great. I also thought that the pace of the show was too slow and some of the individual acts lacked any energy or spark. Now in fairness there was some good stuff including a lady who performed a really good hula hoop routine and Ronaldo also liked a part where a lady pushed swords through box which contained a human/insect. The idea of the show was also good but there was just too many weak sections to forgive the good stuff. I just got bored and drifted away during the finale cos i figured life is too short to waste it and i also wanted to get a sandwich.
Last on the list and also the last show that i saw was a guy Yodel again a balm to the soul a really good show that made me laugh and forget all my cares for a half an hour. To be honest it had been a long weekend and i had planned to get straight into the van and bail out as quickly as possible so i went along to this show just to have a quick look and i was enjoying it so much that i stayed for the whole show and was glad that i did. This guy came on dressed in lederhosen and invited us into his unique world of manic comedy and chaotic leek dancing. This was balanced however by some really good skill and some really clever original ideas such as playing Vivaldi on bicycle horns while riding an 8 foot unicycle. Yodels interaction with the audience was also spot on and i thought that there was a level of bizzareness that had you standing there thinking to yourself "am i really witnessing this". An example of this was when he took to dancing around to an alpine song while slapping himself on the arms and legs with several leeks.

The crew who organise these festival came to see us perform last year in Clifden when we were performing there during their arts week so we had in a sense auditioned for the Drumshanbo possee and we knew what to expect from their side also cos on meeting them they seemed like really nice people with a healthy dose of insanity thrown in for good measure.
Drumshanbo is a small town set among the lakes and rivers that make up that part of the country, we read in a book there once that this part of ireland (Letrim) is where the land is sold by the gallon and in fairness they do have a powerful amount of water knocking about from rivers to lakes to really large puddles. For a kerryman like me who is used to looking at the horizon and seeing a range of mountains which stretches from one end of the sky to the other not having mountains can be a tad unnerving but the lakes at least go some way to compensating for this.
Anyway on to the festival itself we turned up early as usual in order to get sorted with our accomadation and also to set up the show. Turns out we were staying over a local pub in a b and b. So we were positioned in a carpark just off the main street near some bouncy castles where all the action was to take place. We were asked to do the show around 3 ish so we were set up and ready by 2. The signs were not good however on the weather front and lo and behold just as we started up the shoow the skies opened on us. We were working opposite to a really good street magician whose name escapes me for the moment but when i remember i will blog it cos he was a good magician and also seemed like a really nice guy. Anyway he finished his show and we started straight away after him but just at the start of the show a deluge arrived and scattered our audience. So after taking steps to keep our electrics dry and safe we sought shelter. Nearby stood a phone box so we headed for it and in this phone box stood a German lady who was also sheltering from the rain, so all three of us squeezed in to the phone box nice and cosy. Now as our radio mics were on and as there were people standing around under the eaves of buildings in shelter we decided that it may be a good idea to interview this lady much to the amusement of ourselves, the lady, the other sheltering heads and the ladys husband who just happened to be sheltering in the next door phone box.
Eventually the rains stopped and we went out to survey the damage, of which there was none, we were however hacked off cos we were really pumped about doing a good show and having a show pulled for any reason is terrible and leaves you feeling empty and unsatisfied. We would have done a show straight away following our emergence from the phone box but by that stage we had to head off to join up with the parade. We resolved as a plan B to do the parade and straight after to do a show while the crowd was lingering. This turned out to be a great idea as there were so many people around after the parade and we pulled off a really great show. The show contained one small piece of comic genius from ronaldo who took advantage of the fact that we were performing next to a phone box when it came time for him to make the transformation into Superman he was able to dash into the phone box to affect his transformation in a right good cinematic reference.








Following our show we gathered our equipment and spent some time chatting to the French magician and then sped off into Carrick on Shannon in order to score some tasty grub to feed the fanzini machine. We strolled around Carrick for a while before we eventually stumbeled across a mighty Indian resturant by the name of Shamrat which is located upstairs on Bridge st in Carrick, if you are in Carrick and a hankering for some spicy magic check it out. Indian resturants are really common in this country and generally not of a very high standard, Shamrat despite the mildly comic name rose above the normal bog standard and delivered a really nice meal, reasonably priced and well presented just what the doctor ordered.
After our meal we rushed back to drumshan as we lovingly called the place for the fireworks display and had a few drinks in the pub in which we were staying. We also got the hang out and have the crack with the organising commitee of the festival who were all lovely individuals. All in all a pretty good day you would have to say. Apart from the rain perhaps.

The castlebar adventure was quite cool really and we would like to share it with you unfortunatly though the photos have been a problem of late. My digital camera was rubbish to begin with and since it broke it has become if anything even worse. To add to this a load of the photos that i did have were stored on my computer at home. The computer ran into some technical difficulties i.e our hard drive got fried and a lot of the photos that i did have got lost on the drive. This was awful as these were the only copies of these photos i had as i was silly enough not to back anything up on disk. To be honest i am really hacked off by this cos apart from everything these photos spark off memories everytime i see them memories of great shows cool places wicked people we met and great adventures we had. In a lot of cases all we have left of these memories is what you see on the blog but the blog represents only a fraction of the photos we had. Lesson learned is to back everything up on disk.
Castlebar happened towards the end of May the gig itself took place at the museum of country life which is set in the scenic surrounds of Tourlough Park just outside Castlebar. These people deserved some good luck. This was our third year doing this gig and this is the first year that it has not rained incessently during the gig.
They put on a really good show as well with different acts, a food tent and various other activities to keep people busy. The other great thing is that it is all free. The whole place is one the national museums and hence getting in is free for all who come here. We were gigging here for two days so we really got to see the place and i reccomend that you get yourself along to this place and have a look at the way we lived. We also got to hang out with our good mate Ruan who lives nearby and who came over to Westport to hang out with us and have dinner at the wonderful Sol Rio resturant in the town of Westport great food kind of an Italian twist reasonably priced, i had a risotto as my main i was really pleased with it wholesome food only black mark really was the desserts which were only ok. Ronaldo and i also had a mission and that mission was to surf Unfortunatly our mission and the weather conditions were not in sync well what can you do but go along with the weather. We did have a lovely drive around some of the more scenic beaches to the west of Westport out beyond Louisberg. Gorgeous countryside and one of the real perks of the job that we get to see and experience this as part of our job.
During the gigs we also got to meet one of our biggest fans a little lad from these parts who has come to many of our shows his mom is great and she brings him travelling him about the place to encourage his interest in the circus. Dig this she brought him to Paris to see Cirque du Soleil not thats dedacation. Since we met him last year he has taught himself to juggle balls to a competent level. One to watch for the future as he is now only 10ish and could potentially be quite a good performer for the future. What really gets me is that he has seen our show many times and does not seem to have become bored by us yet.
On the downside we did four really good shows and in the last show while doing the finale i somehow conspired to twist my knee somehow and pulled the ligament on the side of my knee again. Its the second time that it has happened now. This time as it was happening i realised it was happening and i pulled out of the twist that i was doing and went down like a sack of potatoes. Pain intense pain but the show must go on. And so it did. On the way home we stopped in a resturant in Ballinrobe and had a bite to eat in a really nice place and the people there gave us some ice to put on my knee which really helped with the pain and the swelling.
Before i finish this entry i must give a special mention to the resturant pictuered below which is a little place that we also found in Ballinrobe on the way to the gig. Ballinrobe is a small town and to find one really good resturant is unusual to find two is extraordinary. Fair play to Ballinrobe. We were looking for a breakfast spot and we came across this gem which not only had a great breakfast but it was cheap too weighing in at a very reasonable 5 euro each including coffee.


You could not even get a waitress to look at you for 5 euro in Dublin not to mind giving you food for this price. Resturants like this deserve to be supported so if you are passing through Ballinrobe or anywhere near Ballinrobe get in there for some good food. Fanzini Brothers eating for Ireland.

Now of necessity we have had to split this trip into several parts of which this is part the first. The reason we have split the trip up into parts was that it was a whopper of a trip out and it would take ages to blog it in one part we have done it in many parts. The first of which is ranelagh the home of the former minister for injustice Michael Macdowell. We didnt see him on this occasion however we did see lots of ranelagh though, some of which you can see in the photos. Ranelagh is a cool cosmolpolitan place on the fringes of the city center but it still manages to retain the atmosphere of a village. Well maybe i am exaggerating somewhat but is does not quite feel like the center of a major city. It also had the advantage that the Fanzinis were able to mount a music buying expedition into Tower records and hmv with the help of the Luas. It was my first time on the Luas and i have to say i was relatively unimpressed it was grand i suppose.
We did however get to perform on the Luas itself or at least on a platform next to the Luas to the delight/bemusement of the commuters who were on their way to work or to otherwise get on with their lives. Its all part of our philosophy of bringing the art to the people. That and the fact that terry our gaffer for the day was into working our fingers to the bone. In fairness all the time that we spent with Terry was an experience that could not be bettered as Terry is a human whirlwind of energy and enthuasism who brought us on an intimate tour of Ranelagh which took in some great looking houses including his own home. The only word that does justice to Terry is to call him an impressario of sorts he also took us into various coffee houses in the greater Ranelagh area.
Now in fairness you can see from the photos that the crowds were great in terms of the amount of people who attended our shows but what we lacked in numbers we made up for in enthuaism this was partly due to our Roy Keane inspired give it 100% attitude and it really paid off for those lucky members of the audience who had the good seats as they passed by in their cars, much like the people on the Luas.
You should check out this festival programme online as it is a great mix of highbrow and middlebrow stuff and also the official arts fest photographer (Darragh Owens) got some cool shots of the fanzinis. One other really cool arts event as part of the festival is the Ranelagh heads which is a display of large photos in the main square at ranelagh of the plain people of Ranelagh from down the years in Kerry they would be called the old stock. These are elderly and not so old people from the Ranelagh area who down through the years have lived and worked in Ranelagh and made the place what it is. The photos themselves were accompanied by a short bio or spiel describing the people themselves and their contribution to the fabric of ranelagh. One of these people was a Mrs Doherty who just happens to be the mom of one Ken Doherty the famous snooker player and fancy waistcoat wearer like the fanzinis, ken himself popped along to see the photos with his mom; nice that, so meself and Ronaldo got to hang out and do some celebrity spotting which was easy cos he was the only celebrity around. All in all a nice arty idea those photos.
As food on this part of the adventure we made sure to eat in the excelent Diep resturant which is located in the center of Ranelagh which serves great Thai and oriental food. We were lucky enough to get a table at short notice on the first night and we liked it so much that we had a take out meal from their take out menu to eat on the road as we begun the next leg of our trip on the way to Clifden on the opposite side of the country. Considering that we bailed out of Ranelagh at after 6 in the evening we were lucky to arrive in Clifden very late in the day. Looked forward to Clifden as the people are lovely the scenery is nice and we get to hook with the mighty Jim from Belfast the man with the plan and a pipe

.

Wa hey for Swords historical day.
This is our second year at this historic event which takes place in the enviorns of the castle in Swords which for one day only is transformed into ye olde castle of yore with medievel tents old style arts and crafts and portaloos. That along with the archery combines to make a great day out. This gig is organised by Barry who also doubles as a ferocious warrior who goes by the name of "the crack of doom" and also organised by a lady whose name escapes me for the moment but who does bear a striking resemblence to Jessica Fletcher from that great eighties television show Murder She Wrote.
Another great feature of this event was the barrel organ which was being played by a chap (when i say played it may be going a bit far cos he just cranks the handle and the music just plays itself) this produced a lovely sound which filled the air and kept our spirits up. And in fairness to the guy he does have to change the piece of paper on which the piece of music is mapped out on. The castle itself is a gorgeous example of medieval architecture which is being restored and preserved for future generations and it is easy to imagine it being a center of trade and commerce and also an important fortification in times of yore to keep out the invading hordes. It is slightly incongruous however when you emerge from the castle itself straight on to the main street of Swords itself which is bustling with modernity and activity. It also jars with the vibe when one of the medieval chaps breaks off a conversation to answer his or her mobile phone.
So we arrived early as usual and picked out the spot where we wanted to work now we were sharing the space with a crew of medieveal chaps who were going to be staging a medieval battle there followed a small game of cat and mouse (good natured at all times) whereby Barry and his crew tried to errect a series of posts and roping in order to fence off an area for their battle while we went about moving or removing the ropes in order to get our audience close into us and to promote intimacy.

This happened not so long after the Rose of Tralee and was a gig at which we mainly performed presence (in other words we just rambled around in character) In a lot of ways these can be the hardest gigs in the world to do cos you are expected to wander around for hours shining the light of your dazzling personality at those around you. Doing a show even though you put a mighty amount of energy into the performance is paradoxically a lot easier, if for no other reason than that it is just bish bash bosh give us a couple of hundred people and we will entertain the bejaysus out of them. Where gigs where you just do presence can drag a bit and also you find yourself delivering the same lines to people over and over again. The aim is to interact with as many people as possible so you might if you are on a unicycle say " wow its windy up here" try saying that a hundred times to a hundred people in an hour its not easy. A presence performers worst nightmare is to deliver the same line to the same person.
Anyway this gig was to perform presence for the crowds at the start of a stage of the round Ireland cycling race which started in Tralee and ended up in Galway. This gig was not so bad in fairness as there was lots of interesting and exciting things going on to look at as you rambled around.
So i did loads of monkey biking and ronaldo went around on the powerizers ( fancy name for expensive bouncing stilts). We are happy to include some photos of the band who played at this event who just happen to be friends of ours.

Another weekend and you know what that means it means another trip to well tuam and fota.
For tuam first of all. Ronaldo and i were here for the childerns arts festival. An arts festival aimed at kids what a brilliant idea. There should be more of them. There are a few out there that we know of, including this one there is also Roola Boola in Castlebar and also there used to be one in Louisberg which is also in Mayo and the aisling festival in Longford probably a few others scattered around i am sure. The one in Tuam is under the stewardahip of a ball of good energy by the name of Midie, a sound bloke if ever a sound bloke there was. He must have loads of energy because it seems to us that he organises this whole event on his own with perhaps a little help from some volunteers. This is our second time at this event and its always Midie who is the man.I am probably doing a disservice to a whole backroom staff somewhere or maybe not; either way we enjoy having the crack with this lovely human being.
So we got there and set up the show at the Tuam shopping center and wondered where in the name of hell all the people were going to come from but arrive they did from all points of the compass until we had a nice crowd built up and we knocked out a good show for the people. Normally we dont enjoy working in shopping centers as the good show vibes can be drained by the crass commercialism on display ( that and the fact that people are doing their shopping) but we were lucky enough on this occasion that we set up outside the mall itself.



So then the next day we were off to Fota. Now at this stage i have a confession. In my formative years while on a school tour with my primary school chums i along with others who shall remain nameless were cruelly ejected from Fota wildlife park for getting a giraffe in a headlock. The real reason for our ejection was much more mundane so i am sticking with the giraffe story cos its more glamouous and rock and roll. So it was with a sense of apprehension that i approached the gate fearful that my moinker would be recognised from my renegade days. We got in through security unrecognised and on to the grounds but not to the wildlife part of the park but to Fota house itself.
And so it was that the sun was splitting the stones and the stage was set. You can see it in the photos when the sun shines people are smiling before we do anything so you are already a goal up at half time. This was also the day when Kerry booked our place in yet another all Ireland Football final which is our birth right as men from the Kingdom.
This time it was Dublin on the menu, who were kind enough to provide us with a light entree before the main course in the next few weeks. In hindsight considering that we were due to meet Cork in the final i should maybe not have worn my kerry jersey in enemy territory. For next year i may get Kerry boxer short so that i can pass incognito. Hmm theres a thought.
So the weather was good the venue was great with a lovely grass performance space and a raised area around it for people to sit on. The event was an organised Teddy Bears Picnic and the punters showed up in numbers. There was lots of amazing stuff laid on story telling and bouncy castles sports and loads more desides if you are fond of cliches and i am you could say that there was something for everyone. This event must have been a nightmare to organise and the sheer amount of cool stuff on offer and the fact that the whole thing ran so smoothly was a real credit to the organisers. Take a bow whoever you are.




They made it easy for us apart from having to carry all our heavy equipment to the show site it was easy the only other concern was the fact that we were working on a nicely manicured lawn. So the pogo trick was out cos Ronaldo would have sank into the greenery. Apart from that fantastico, the sun shone kerry won the show rocked and all was right with the world. If only all days could be like this.

Back on tour but this time without all the travel. For this gig you see has us working in tralee at on of the biggest festivals in Ireland The rose of tralee.
Now this does have its advantages as it means we do not have to travel which is always a bonus. In fact i was able to cycle to work something which does not often happen. We also know tralee really well and all the ins and outs in terms of performance spaces and such like.
It does however have its disadvantages the main one being that it is our home town and that brings its own pressure. I am not sure why but i always seem to become nervous before we have to perform in tralee.
Now generally i am known to be amongst the coolest cucumbers on the planet but performing in tralee always puts me in a state of relaxed tension as i would call it, i get edgy i really dont know why cos i know that our show rocks and will slay if we bring it on so it must be something else. The fact that people who know you might be in the audience does not put us off. So what is it. And in fairness audiences in Tralee have always been good to us. Its the same kind of nerves that i get when we have been going through our "quite time" in January and Feburary and we have not had to do a show in a while, i get nervous before our first run out this is natural and i have come to expect this.
Anyway enough waffle on to the gigs.



The rotten weather may have washed away some of the glamour but there was still plenty to go round. In any event the rain came and we had t brave the elements.
The next day it was down to the real business as we had shows to do.
So we did two shows in the town square which were both very well recieved and which despite the nerves i did enjoy doing. We also got to provide pre parade entertainment to the punters as they waited for the parade to come along. The parade itself was great although i hear that it was late arriving down the town, as usual. Most real tralee people are copped on enough to ignore the programme and add at least half an hour to the advertised times.
Still good crack though and i imagine that the organisers were happy with how the event went off and most importantly they got good weather which helps a lot. The town square was kept hopping for the duration of the festival with an energetic programme of performances and bands.
Unfortunatly i did not have the camera on the case as much as usual to catch the vibes so we are to be visually starved on this occasion.
I also threw in a shot of Ronaldo from the Quality Hotel cos i reckon it is a good shot of the boy Ronaldo and i captured it during the rose weekend but not at the rose cos Ronaldo is more of a rhododendron.

This was an interseting out for the Fanzini collective to the center of Ireland. Also an interesting trip in that the premiership is back in action which means that for the Fanzini boys the obsession that is Fantasy Football. Oh yes Mr Frizz the champion from last year going up against the might of the Trappist Ale 11. Bring it on. This was also the weekend when Kerry took another mighty step on the road another All Ireland Football championship. You will also see from the state of the photos that the weather was to put it mildly changeable.
Oh well we ploughed on.
As for the gigs themselves we will start with Roscommon as it was the first. Roscommon may not at first seem like the nicest town in the country but you know the place kind of grows on you.
We were working for the crew with Corvienos entertainment a great crew to work with as Val and her hubby are as pro as they come. Both come for a circus background and do sections of performance Val does really good foot juggling while her hubby does unicycling and magic and fire eating etc great stuff and really interesting to see the circus style which is very different to our own style. A lot of people slag off the circus as it exists today (in fairness a lot of it deserved) i really like the circus though and have seen many great acts on my visits to the circus. I go to the circus whenever i can. The best circus i have seen so far is the Chinese State Circus which i saw years ago. While it may be fair enough to slag off the from this attitude does an immense disservice to the many great acts clowns etc that can be seen.
So we did a show and the Corvineous crew did a few sections and to be honest the crowds were not great due to the dire weather. We also did some presence walking about in character with Ronaldo on stilts and Guido on the mini bike.
There followed another gig for Ronaldo who was whizzed away in true rock and roll style but not in a helicopter but a van. He went to Sligo Rovers home ground for more walkabout. I checked out some professionals playing football in the form of the premiership instead.

We took off late in the evening in the direction of Birr the venue for the gig next day. We stayed in this great guesthouse in a fantastic row of houses. The guesthouse was called the stables and it was very picturesque and after a hearty breakfast we got the see Ossie Bennet unloading his steam engine outside our front door. I gave full freedom to the camera and got some great shots of the tackle on display at the Birr heritage week parade. Great stuff. I love this old tackle vintage kit. Proper.
The parade was great and colourful and the people turned out in force and we really enjoyed ourselves. We already had the most of the show already set up in front of the viewing platform.
After the parade we got back there sharpish and got the kit out ready for the show.
It was all perfect the crowd was there we were there, they were pumped we were pumped it was totally Transvalllllllllllllllllll! And then just after the first trick a trickle from the sky and then a stream and then a torrent and not the ones that let you download movies a rainy one.
It bucketed as we say.
We all performers audience got wet. And there is a certain level of rain that people are prepared to deal with and will put up with but this went way beyond that.




So the audience ran and the stuff got soaked. In situations like that you cant just leg it you have to stay there and sort out the kit which got wet. So we broke down the show and got the kit back in the van to dry out and then in a hint of irony that was not lost on us the sun came out. And so it was.
At least Kerry won.

Well once again we are on the road on the neverending tour and back again to Oldcastle Co Meath. A town where we slayed last year we even ended up last year doing two shows instead of one. We performed one of those shows in the beautiful surroundings of Lough Grew forest park. Cool spot.
Anyway this time we only had to do the one show on the street of oldcastle at 9 p.m D.S.T.
The event that we were working at was the Le chéile festival which is partly based on music gigs we saw the programme and saw that they also had a really nice comedy programme but that had been on in the previous show. Oldcastle is what i suppose you could call a typical Meath medium sized town. Grand big square, lots of car parking.
I also had the pleasure of hitting into another blast from the past in the form of an news agents that i found in the middle of town. Again all transactions done in the head rather than on a till. Funny story I walk into the shop looking for the Examiner and i am wearing my Kerry jersrey with pride in enemy territory. So i am doing my transaction and the lady says " oh you are form Kerry" "Yeah i am" I says " What gave it away" i said cheekily indicating my jersey . "Your accent " she said completely ignoring my witty repartee.
Anyway we set up the show and to be honest we were getting worried cos the appointed time was approaching and the streets were empty except for a few stragglers. So we launched into the singing and did a nice slow build up to the show. And if you build it they will come. And they did. By the middle of the show we had a really good crowd. Nice show.
Post show we went to the rock venue in the courtyard at the back of a pub and there we saw some of the maybe up and coming band on the Irish scene today. The Snares and Ham Sandwich the lead singer of which came out dressed as a television. Despite the theathrics both Ronaldo and I prefered The Snares and their sound.
Following this it was back to our accomodation which was in a converted courtyard guesthouse restaurant Boolies the decor is really unique not massively comfortable or anything but interesting. We stayed here also last year and had a drink in the bar here which was small and oakey and very comfortable like an English alehouse. We were compensated with the sight of a lovely sunrise.
We had to get up early this time though in order to get to our next gig which was back in the Kingdom in Cahersiveen no less a lovely town on the ring of Kerry, some distance however from Kerry. We tore through the countryside and town alike in our mighty Transporter and did not stop or draw a breath until we stopped in a good food cafe for breakfast in the heart of Adare very expensive but worth it i thought. Onward again. And down to Cahersiveen. We set up on the wonderful wooden platform in front of the festival office. A performers dream flat perfect big open space. The only minor issue was when we were doing the superman pogo as i became quite concerned that he would go right through the stageThe sun was splitting the stones and the people were in good form which makes our job easy as most people are in good form because of the sun.
We go back a way with Cahersiveen. We first came here as a threesome and entered the busking competition here and won it. They had us back as employees and we have been there on and off since. We also had memories of meeting the massacre here. During one summer a few years before his accident he broke his hand doing a show on the street in Galway. As a consequence he was unable to pull shows and so he was touring around with Luke"Ming"Flanagan. He spotted our set up, came over and we just caught up with each other.
The problem with Cahersiveen is that it is one main street and it gets jammed to bits during the festival. Despite the best efforts of our hard working of our Gardai the town just gets jammed up. Its all very good humoured. Really good drive down there also along the ring of Kerry and past the beautiful Kells Bay and along the route of the Great Southern Railway. From the Iveagh penninsula to the Dingle side and inch and rossbeigh in between. Great stuff worth at least a polite round of golf applause.
We were back again the next day for another show. This time not on the stage outside the office but down on the street outside the main stage. Again the sun was splitting the stones. We were very happy with the standard of the shows that we did during these two days. We have also been introducing a new element to the show in that we have got Europe "The Final Countdown" playing in the background in the build up to the finale of our show. It has been a matter of timing the start of the track to hit the perfect timing it will come together soon enough.

So this time we are on the road and we are local enough this time having traveled this way earlier on the way back from skib we are here on the road to south Kerry this time to the village of Tousist in the wilds of south Kerry. It is about a quarter of an hour outside of the picturesque and terribly fashionable town of Kenmare on the road to the Healy Pass. Tousist by contrast is a crossroads with post office and a church. We arrived starving so we adjourned to the local post office which from the outside appeared to be closed. We later found out that if you were to knock on the door then the lady postmistress would come and open up the shop. Beautiful part of the country quiet country roads tranquil surroundings. Worth checking out.
We were puzzled by this and therefore we went back to the venue which is the local church/community hall.
So we pitched up outside the hall and practiced our soccer skills outside the hall as we were pretty early and had a bit of time to kill. The conditions were difficult as there was a hill and gravel and the goals/gates were at an akward angle. Still at least one golden goal was scored both with boot and noggin.
The people in the area have a lovely take on the kerry accent musical and soft with a lot of yeras thrown in "yera sure tis an awful long way" etc. The way that these people try to look after you is immense i found myself constantly fending off offers of tea when i refused tea we went through the rest of the list, do you want coffee? no i actually have water thanks, do you want a coke or a mineral? no, milk? no thanks ! and biscuits more biscuits than a man could ever want.
The organisation is all local voluntary effort and they really make us feel special and like film stars. This is a small widely dispersed community and they come together for this event and so the warmth exuded by the audience more than makes up for the small amount of people present and we did our best in the show to wind the audience up to a fever pitch. But first we had to negotiate the fancy dress peagent. All the parents comprise the majority of the audience which is great as they clap enthusiastically for their own kids.

Another highlight was the girl who came up with sandals and a straw basket and when i asked her who she was dressed up as she said that she was an eco tourist. I was taken aback by this so i felt that i had to ask what that entailed. She camly explained that that meant she did not go to visit a place for a weekend but rather a few months and that when visiting a country to make sure and walk cycle or travel on public transport whenever possible. Great stuff and very well though out. The other thing that i really like about the fancy dress is that there are prizes for everyone so there are no winners and losers cos everyone is a winner.
So that was the fancy dress, we split our show into two sections. We did our first section and after the fancy dress and then announced an intermission during which we had the raffle and then our second section of show.Also we were consious of the fact that we had been here last year. So we mixed it up as much as we could the fact that it was in two parts also meant that we gave them a monster show almost too long but they were loving it so we went on for ages.

This had nothing to do with gigs it was just a straightforward visit to a great place.
We got to go because of the hippie our man in havana who invited us. We set off early to Portmagee to get the boat to the island we went with a group of adventurers under the leadership of the hippies dad Frank Lewis who was making a radio show based on the archaeology of the island.
We brought with us supplies for the team of archaeologists and guides who live in small huts on the islands. We were taken on a tour of the island by the head archaeologist fellow who it turned out was very informative and chatty chappie.
We thoroughly explored the island on one of the finest days we have seen this year as you can clearly see from the photos.
To establish any kind of settelment on this rocky crag is in itself insane it is just astonishing the remotness the inhospitibility of the landscape the unrelenting atlantic pounding and the sea breeze that would rip you in two in the winter. The whole place literally clings to the island precariously on a steep slope. Another thing you notice straight away is the total lack of a fresh water source this was solved by the construction of cisterns.
We sat down in the sun for lunch and having some time to kill before we went back to the mainland while the hippie and his dad and the archaeoligist fellow went off up the hilariously high up to the south peak which is where the garden was and is literally out on a limb,we went down to the pier and chlled in the sun i even got to go for a swim in the water off the island
It really was a great privelege for both of us to visit this special place.
The photos say it better than i ever could.
Mal you should have come along. We could have helped with the form filling.