Lilly Higgins, sister of Cobh comedian Maeve, has just published her first book and is due her first baby in 2012. “In the game of sisters,” says Maeve, “this means she is ahead.”

Truth is, there has been a lot more sibling co-op... read

‘It's better to be king for a night, thank schmuck for a lifetime.’ So said Robert De Niro’s character, Rupert Pupkin, in the excellent and underated film from 1983, The King of Comedy. Three of Ireland’s own ‘Kings of Comedy’ come to Cork next week for... read

For quite a long while, there was only one leading man in Lisa Hannigan’s life. Damian Rice took most of the spotlight it must be said, but there was always a healthy respect among his audience for what Hannigan brought to the table. A large prescence on stage, albeit in a quieter way, ... read

Earlier this year while reading Billy Bragg’s autobiography, Still Suitable for Miners, I came across a chap called Porky the Poet, who gets a job as a general gopher for Bragg’s record label, Go! Discs. A young and rather large man, Porky was obviously held in great affection by ... read

There is an old adage that says if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. When it comes to music, however, a little streamlining can go a long way. Dublin quartet The Coronas have done little wrong since forming a few years back. Bigger gigs, bigger tours, higher chart positions all make ... read

If you thought that playing in front of 15,000 people at the MTV Europe Music Awards might phase a young, and truthfully until now pretty anonymous, band from Rochestown then you don’t know The Voodoos’ story to date.

There are bands who couldn’t catch a break, no mat... read

Health Service Executive chiefs attempted yesterday to allay the fears of people living in West Cork that a reduction in the amount of ambulances operating in the region would not detract from the quality of its service there.

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With a name like Darby Cicci, The Antlers multi-instrumentalist sounds as if he could be the quintessential Irish-Italian New Yorker. Speaking to Downtown from his home in Brooklyn, however, it comes as a surprise that Cicci actually hails from the Deep South.  Alabama in fact.

He... read

There was a time when Bell X1 must have looked at a former bandmate with no small measure of envy. Paul Noonan and co. were still building a fanbase slowly, gradually improving as songwriters and watching record sales travel marginally in the right direction. But at least it was the right dir... read

 When the producers of CSI: NY called their researchers into the office to brief them on an upcoming episode centred around a murder in the Big Apple on St Patrick’s Day, the knock-on, butterfly wing-like effect was the production of an excellent new Irish album.

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