I’ve been doing quite well on the social front recently. In the last three weeks I’ve been to three gigs, which believe me is a frequency which will skew the annual average out of all recognition.
First up we had hardcore Northumberland folkies The Unthanks in the Set Theatre in Kilkenny, followed closely by Californian skate adult space rockers Grandaddy at Vicar Street and rounded off last Monday by the godfather of the morose Lloyd Cole again at the Set Theatre in Kilkenny.
And it all got me thinking about the role of art and the arts in all our lives. Art that comes in all shapes and sizes, to suit every taste and predilection. From Red Rock to Mad Men, Declan Nerney to Dvorak, Roald Dahl to Dostoyevsky, Brendan Grace to Bill Hicks, Monsters Inc. to Apocalypse Now. Imagine the chasm that would exist if we didn’t have access to the particular thing that floats your boat; your music, your comedy, your cinema, your drama.
Exposed, as we are, to the oft mentioned twenty four hour news cycle and all its attendant awfulness have the arts ever had a more pivotal role in our lives? Far from, as some would suggest, the arts sliding into insignificance I would contend that they have never occupied a more important role.
There is a common perception, a lazy, unimaginative and daft perception, that anything in this realm cannot possibly be as important as ,say, the tabling of a private member’s bill in the Dail that day. There is the view that art in any of its manifestations is a mere frivolity next to the serious business of politics and current affairs. The serious person believes that he or she demonstrates their seriousness by being able to name the Sinn Fein spokesperson on Slurry Management and not knowing much about , say, seminal alt country rockers Wilco. We all know of course that in fact the direct opposite is true. In my experience the less you know about parliamentary politics and the more you know about Jeff Tweedy the better and more rounded a person you are.
John Giles continually and correctly talks about the gap that would be left in our lives if we removed sport. Imagine the void that would exist if you didn’t have Marty In The Morning as an option to the droning of Morning Ireland or Newstalk Breakfast. What Marty realizes is that he is doing the serious work, the Morning Irelanders are just playing some daft game over there chatting away about the Programme for Government and the Ceann Comhairle. The other morning Marty played Puff the Magic Dragon followed by Positively Fourth Street. Now that’s what I call public service broadcasting.
The next time you experience some eejit trying to engage with you about nonsense such as the findings of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee just remember that there are people out there who care sufficiently about actual life to organize things like the Kilkenny Arts Festival, to stage a production of Exit Pursued By a Bear open air in the grounds of Ballintubbert House on an August Wednesday evening. The good people are amongst us, the clever ones, the ones who understand what life is all about and more pointedly what it’s not all about. Those who believe in the role and power of art and will work, voluntarily in most cases, to bring it to life.
Modern life is a battle between those who have ever been tempted to leave a comment on thejournal.ie and those who have more important things to be doing. Like listening to The Blue of the Night or Paul McLoone or Arena or Donal Dineen. Choose sides, choose life.
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