4 Incredible Music Organizations You Should Know About

01-Oct-2015 By Shannon Duvall

The world can be a challenging place.

From disease to poverty; from war to climate threats to the fight for equality across all interpersonal lines, we humans have got a hard row to hoe. When the going gets tough, the tough usually get something amazing going, and as much as we can hurt, we can also heal. Over the millenia we’ve become very good at sussing out what works when we need it to.

One of the most powerful proven recuperative forces in the world, we know, is music. Oliver Sacks (RIP) knew it, Robert Burton knew it – hell, even Hippocrates and Plato knew it, and since we’ve had problems, we’ve had melodic ways of working through them. Schizophrenia. Heart disease. Brain injury. Autism. Depression.

"Play me some Doobie Brothers, won't you, Aristotle? I want to hear that funky dixieland." — “Play me some Doobie Brothers, won’t you, Aristotle? I want to hear that funky dixieland.”

There’s virtually nothing music can’t help with. The next time you’re feeling charitable, have a peek at the websites of some of the most beneficent music organizations out there. Send them a check. Write them a nice letter. Buy them all coffees.

We’d surely be poorer without the work that they do.

National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

Labeled by some as The Bravest Orchestra in the World, the NYOI is a collection of mostly self-taught musicians from various religious and cultural backgrounds all over Iraq. Using music as a means to transcend boundaries – the group includes Sunnis and Shia, along with Christians and Kurds – the orchestra represents a remarkable show of compassion in one of the most challenging and dangerous culture clash regions of the world.

Image courtesy of NYOI and Wikimedia Commons.

That they don’t share a common spoken language, or even have a physical space to rehearse in (they use youtube to practice and to audition to avoid terrorist attacks and fundamentalist violence) is no hindrance to their progress; they have performed for audiences in many parts of the world. A bona fide testament to the power of music and its ability to bridge otherwise unspannable chasms.

Guitars 4 Vets

Founded by a Vietnam war veteran, who credits playing his acoustic guitar while stationed overseas with helping him to stay sane and connect with fellow troops, Guitars 4 Vets has potentially saved thousands of lives.

PTSD, the demon which haunts countless survivors of intense situations, and is rife among former soldiers previously stationed in combat areas, is a psychological illness which can be crippling. It can lead to job loss, relationship breakdown, alienation, hospitalization, drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, and very often, suicide or self-harm.

Now in their fifth year, Guitars 4 Vets have given away over 2000 free guitars to troubled veterans, along with more than 20,000 free lessons, turning the destructive into the constructive through the power of music.

Cateura Orchestra of Recycled Instruments

In a South American slum built on a landfill, something very interesting is happening.

Kids are learning to play classical music on pieces of trash.

That’s right – trash.

Ascuncion, Paraguay teacher Favio Chavez has spent the past six years training local children to play instruments made from various types of rubbish found on the endless mountains the ghetto is built on. He recruits residents – whose job it is to sort and recycle the trash – to bring him useful items such as oil drums and tin cans that he can modify into musical instruments. They even have saxophones made from gutters.

Yep.

Chavez says the program offers all members of the poverty-stricken community a wider perspective. Kids stay off drugs, out of gangs, child labor and sometimes worse, while parents are inspired to kick their own addictions and pursue formerly abandoned goals of training and education.

They’ve even made a movie out of it. See it here: http://www.landfillharmonicmovie.com/

4. Musicians Without Borders

“War divides. Music connects.”

This is the motto of perhaps the most powerful music program out there today. All over the world, NGO Musicians Without Borders works with local musicians and organizations to build long-term, sustainable music programs which utilize the therapeutic nature of music to help those most in need.

Image courtesy of MWB and Wikimedia Commons.

From divided communities in Northern Ireland to HIV/AIDS sufferers in Rwanda, MWB’s projects and initiatives help people communicate what words can’t convey. Through music lessons and jam sessions, the group fosters hope and understanding, giving them an outlet for passion and expression, relieving them of the burden of worry for awhile.

youbloom HEADROOM VIP : Stephen Kennedy from the Dublin Beatles Festival

16-Sep-2015 By Shannon Duvall

It may be nothing but a car park now, but the nondescript white building on Middle Abbey Street on Dublin’s north side was once Ireland’s premier art deco movie and live music palace.

It was a place abuzz with glamour and entertainment – and, on one particular night, the scene of riots, mania, and a singular music event the likes of which our Fair City will never see again.

It was called the Adelphi, and the night in question was November 7th, 1963 – the night the Beatles came to town.

Baby, you can park my car. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

It was the legendary band’s first Dublin show: the year of ‘Please, Please Me’, ‘Love Me Do’, and ‘All My Lovin”. Beatlemania was a fever rampaging through the record shops and bedrooms of teenagers everywhere, and Dublin’s fresh-faced were no exception.

As the band took to the stage, screams of overwhelming adoration were answered the length of Middle Abbey Street by hysterical fans giving the Gardai a run for their money as they vied for just a look at the foursome; later the band would be trapped on stage as the crowd of over 2000 inside the Adelphi grew insatiable, demanding more songs, more reasons to go bananas.

Eventually the four lads from Liverpool did escape, sheltering in the nearby Gresham Hotel, in for the night for fear of being overrun by the frantic fans in the street.

"I have the feeling we're not in the Cavern anymore." The Beatles in Wales. Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons — “I have the feeling we’re not in the Cavern anymore.” Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

For whatever reason, the Beatles never did come back to play Dublin.

The anticipation of that night; the fascination and infatuation; the sound of a new era being cranked up to the max right here in our own city centre, is a feeling consigned to memory – to the tales shared over teary-eyed chuckles and conspiratorially-whispered confessions of those who were there – to those who can only wish they were.

52 years later, and the Adelphi is gone, its grandeur removed, the building now nothing more than a really, really, nice looking car park.

Well, we kinda dropped the ball on that one, didn’t we?

Take heart, music fans, it’s not all bad news.

Three years ago Stephen Kennedy – organiser, playwright, music authority, and general man of fun – decided that the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ only show in Dublin should be marked somehow. Not one to sit on his hands, he decided to throw a festival.

You can just up and throw a festival, you ask?? You betcha. The Dublin Beatles Festival is now entering its third year, having found such huge success and warm reception in 2013 that the organisers decided to do it again – and again! youbloom annoyed* festival director Kennedy until he gave in to our meddling and shared some of his DBF highlights for your pleasure.

(*annoyed might be a gentle way of putting it).

Hi Stephen! Thanks for leaving your back door unlocked. So, this year marks the 52nd anniversary of the Beatles’ trip to Dublin to perform back in 1963. Do you or anyone you know have any memories or stories from that night?

Unfortunately I wasn’t born when The Beatles played in Dublin – but I have met a lot of people who saw them when they played here. One of my favourite stories about that night was told to me by Catherine Hansard, the mother of Glen Hansard. Catherine was about 16 when The Beatles played the Adelphi in Dublin. She knew the layout of the venue very well, and on the day of the concert, she managed to climb a drainpipe with two of her friends. They hid in a room which turned out to be The Beatles’ dressing-room. Many years later Catherine found herself in LA when Glen was receiving an Oscar for the song ‘Falling Slowly’ (from the film Once). Catherine ended up meeting Ringo that night at one of the parties after the Oscars and she told him all about the dressing-room in the Adelphi in 1963. He (gave) her a Ringo badge when he was leaving the Oscars party!

Where did they perform?

The Beatles performed two shows in Dublin on the evening of Thursday, November 7th, 1963. Both shows were played at the Adelphi Cinema on Middle Abbey Street. It is now the car-park for Arnotts.

Were the Irish as screamy as other audiences, or was it more “Ah, sure, The Beatles, aren’t they just lovely?”

No – it was screamy. Very screamy. Beatlemania had hit its full stride in Britain by the autumn of 1963 – and Ireland wasn’t far behind. There were even riots on Middle Abbey Street when The Beatles played here. In fact, there is footage online of Frank Hall reporting for RTE in the middle of the crowd outside the Adelphi. It’s well worth looking up. And the Welsh writer Alun Owen travelled to Dublin with The Beatles in 1963. Owen used the Dublin trip as research into Beatlemania and he used it to write the script for the film A Hard Day’s Night.

Your favourite Beatles album.

It changes from week to week, but I’d probably pick Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, if I really had to. It had a massive impact when it was released in 1967 and it still sounds amazing today.

Favourite song?

Again, the answer to that question is open to change, but today I’ll go with ‘A Day in the Life’. I think it’s a brilliant piece of music – written and recorded by The Beatles on top form. Every time I hear Lennon’s vocal on that song – I get shivers. Pure class.

And yes, favourite Beatle.

For this question I really will have to plead the Fifth Amendment – as they say in the US – because one of my plays (LENNON v McCARTNEY) is about two guys in a pub arguing about who is the top Beatle. So I try not to give my own opinion on that subject. I try not to give it away.

Leaving us in suspense, eh? This is the third year of the festival. What was the inspiration when it all began?

We ran the Dublin Beatles Festival for the first time in November 2013 – because it was the 50th anniversary of The Beatles playing at the Adelphi. It was only supposed to be a one-off thing – but I had so much fun I ran it again in November 2014. We have no sponsorship, and no funding, so I’m not sure how long I can keep going. But the crowds are still coming in big numbers every year, and the venues are packed, and I am still enjoying it, so let’s see what happens.

What can a first-timer to a Beatles Festival expect?

You can expect to have a lot of fun. I know it sounds corny, but most of The Beatles’ songs are upbeat and positive, and if you spend three days surrounded by that music, you’re going to feel upbeat and positive too. And that’s no joke. It’s like taking a happy pill for your ears. You simply haven’t lived until you’ve stood in the middle of hundreds of people and screamed along to lines such as “And when I tell you that I love you / You’re gonna say you love me too / And when I ask you to be mine / You’re gonna say you love me too”. You can get full details of events over at the website for the Dublin Beatles Festival – but, in short, we have Beatles gigs, film, theatre, free events, table quiz, public interview, art, memorabilia, merchandise… and whatever you’re having yourself.

The festival lasts three days. If you had to choose a Top 3 Must See for 2015, what would be on it?

Again – that is a very tough question for me to answer – but, feck it, I’ll give it a go. I think The Rockits at the Workman’s on Saturday, November 7th, is going to be one hell of a big party gig – so I’d definitely recommend that for a start. The Rockits are a resident band at the Cavern in Liverpool and they really know how to put on a show. Their first set on November 7th is going to be the Hits of the 1960s; songs from acts like The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, The Kinks, The Who and The Small Faces. Their second set in the show will be songs exclusively from The Beatles. I can’t wait.

The Rockits at the legendary Cavern Club.

The next event I’d recommend is the award-winning documentary Good Ol’ Freda, followed by a public interview with Freda Kelly herself. Freda worked as secretary for The Beatles for over a decade – and it really is an honour to have her at the Dublin Beatles Festival in November. As George Harrison pointed out, “Freda was there at the very beginning and she stayed until the very end.” This lady is one of a kind. It’s no wonder she is worshipped by Beatles fans all over the world.

And finally, I’m going to be selfish, and plug my play PETE BEST OF THE BEATLES. The full two hour play won’t premiere until next February at the New Theatre in Dublin, but on the afternoon of Sunday, November 8th, at the Grand Social, we’re going to put on a sneak preview of part of the play, and it’s FREE in for the public. The play is going to be performed by Padraic McGinley. I saw him in rehearsals the other day – and he is amazing. It’s going to be a good show.

Can you tell us a little about how Freda became involved?

I got Freda involved in the festival sort of by luck. Basically, there is a couple from England called Steve and Gloria, (who) trade under the name Beatlesdays (selling memorabilia and merchandise at festivals all over the world). Anyway, Steve and Gloria come over to Dublin a few times a year, and one night in the pub they mentioned to me that they knew Freda. I couldn’t believe it. I asked them if it would be OK for me to give Freda a call, and they arranged it. The lucky thing for me is that Freda is Irish, and as soon as she heard my accent, we got on like a house on fire. That first phone call was only supposed to be for five minutes – but it lasted over an hour and a half. After that Freda was more than happy to come to the Dublin Beatles Festival. Actually, I met her for a coffee in Liverpool a couple of weeks ago – and I think I’m in love!

Ticket To Ride or Day Tripper?

Both are amazing songs. But I think I’ll go with ‘Day Tripper’. Simply because I was in the Garage in Dublin last Saturday night and they played that song and the place went mad. It was great to see 18 year olds singing their hearts out to The Beatles.

Hey, Jude or Let It Be?

I’m not a huge fan of either (sorry), but I’d probably side with ‘Hey Jude’.

Something or Yesterday?

I’d probably go with ‘Something’. It’s surely one of the greatest love songs ever written. And it’s nice that it’s a George song.

Help! or We Can Work It Out?

I think I’d go with ‘We Can Work It Out’ because it’s got a killer middle eight (“Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend”). By the way, Lennon once claimed that he’d only ever written two good songs: ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Help’.

Haha. Good choice. I think so, too. Finally, were the Beatles bigger than Jesus?

It’s very hard to judge that now. I mean, McCartney was the tallest Beatle, coming in at just under 5 foot 11 inches. How tall was Jesus?

*****
Stephen Kennedy is the Director of the Dublin Beatles Festival. It runs from November 6th – 8th. Full details at www.dublinbeatlesfestival.com. Stephen’s play JOHN LENNON’S LAST DAY will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 at 10pm on October 8th. And Stephen’s new stage play, PETE BEST OF THE BEATLES, will premiere at the New Theatre in Dublin in February.

The Five Strangest Stories From Musicophilia

02-Sep-2015 By Shannon Duvall

The combined worlds of psychology, medicine, science, and music lost a true master last week with the passing of Oliver Sacks. Sacks, perhaps best known for authoring books in which he chronicled the accounts of some of his most interesting and inspiring patients, was particularly taken with music, using it in his personal recuperation methods and, of course, never failing to detail the results.

"Music is part of being human" Oliver Sacks. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons — “Music is part of being human” Oliver Sacks. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In his U.S. best-selling book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, the infectiously curious and observant Sacks investigates how music has affected the neurological workings of the human brain, uncovering some remarkable tales as he goes.

It makes for a compelling read; there are stories here which will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book. In homage to the loss of a man who made it his mission to understand how we work – and in this case, how music makes us work – here are five of the strangest stories from the book.

The man who was afraid of music

In the nineteenth century, a prominent music critic by the name of Nikonov published a pamphlet entitled The Fear of Music. In it he described how, although incredibly knowledgeable about music and not at all new to it, he began having seizures whenever he heard it. The more seizures he had, the more and more terrified of hearing music he became, until he had developed a full-blown phobia.

The deaf woman with musical hallucinations

Loud ones.

Although neurologically and psychiatrically normal by examination, a woman by the name of Mrs. C., who had experienced progressive and rather grave nerve damage hearing loss for fifteen years, began one day to hear what sounded like bells clanging. Within a few minutes, as though a radio dial had been turned, fragments of songs began to play, clearly enough to be distracting. Songs played in what her mind identified as her “ear” day after day, from waking to sleeping, unless her mind was “intellectually engaged”.

When she was finally fitted with a cochlear implant, the modulated tones of actual music playing, being nothing like the melodies that had been keeping her company for so long, were so harsh that she developed a distaste for music altogether.

The man who had no emotions – except when he sang

Harry S. was one of Oliver Sacks’ favorite patients. An MIT-educated mechanical engineer, Mr. S. was rendered almost entirely emotionless after a brain aneurysm ruptured, leaving him in a coma for weeks, with a severely impaired set of functions when he awoke.

Post-stroke, although he made some progress, Harry failed to show empathy or response to the emotional expressions of others.

EXCEPT.

When Harry sang – in particular, Irish ballads – his emotive capacity was off the charts.

The man who sees a different color for each note

Synesthesia is a curious psychological phenomenon, typically characterized by the blending of two senses in unusual ways.

Michael Torke, a notable present-day composer, has experienced synesthesia when listening to music for his entire life. Each note has a color. Combinations of notes, such as scales and arpeggios, have distinct color patterns, and they have remained the same since he was young. His musical synesthesia is so sophisticated that the colors of major and minor keys are even related: different shades of yellow are seen when he hears G minor and major, for example.

The man with absolute pitch

Forget perfect pitch. Folks with what is known as absolute pitch are able to identify, without comparison or hesitation, the pitch of any note.

Gordon B. was a professional violinist who had been gifted with this ability. In the later part of his career, he developed tinnitus, and when he consulted Dr. Sacks about it, stated rather casually that his ears rang in the key of “high F natural”.
What about you? What’s your strangest experience with music?

Morals and Music: Where Do You Draw the Line?

26-Aug-2015 By Shannon Duvall

Last week’s apology by rapper and world famous record producer Dr. Dre to the women in his life he has “hurt” has stirred a hot debate in the music world.

Dr. Dre. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Dre issued the expression of remorse publicly when the release of the much-anticipated film Straight Outta Compton, which chronicles the early history of his former rap group NWA, was followed by the publication of a story by Dee Barnes, a journalist who says she was assaulted by the rapper in 1991.

She’s not the only one to blow a whistle on Dre; several women have have alleged that they, too, have experienced violence at the hands of the musician.

It’s a story that doesn’t surprise many of us. We’ve been here before. We watched it unfold in the sixties and seventies with Ike and Tina, Phil Spector, and country music “sweetheart” Glen Campbell. The eighties and nineties provided no shortage of domestic abuse, with repeat offender James Brown, and practically all the members of Guns’n’Roses leading the charge.

And everyone knows about the extremely poor choices made by the likes of 50 Cent and Chris Brown.

Chris Brown. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

But the weird thing is: not every celebrity with a penchant for abuse is treated the same way by a quick-to-appall public. Following his seemingly heartfelt apology, the media has, for the most part, been fairly forgiving toward Dre. This, in stark contrast to the rabid vilification of Chris Brown, whose career has arguably faltered irreparably since photos taken of Rihanna’s badly-battered face leaked online in 2009. Jay-Z called Brown “a walking dead man”.

So the question for music lovers is: how much should our moral compass guide our choices about whether or not to like a certain artist? The answer might not be as easy as you think.

Many of you would avoid spending money in a restaurant or cafe where it was observed or otherwise discovered that staff were badly treated. This makes sense, because not many people wish to reward a business for being abusive or taking unfair advantage of someone. We all know that when we spend, we’re voting for something over an alternative; letting the gods of commerce know what we want, what we value.

But how a musician behaves behind closed doors is very different to our experience of them on an album, or in concert. Alcohol and drug abuse is pardoned when it comes to musicians, as long as it doesn’t affect their output, so why not also systematic aggression toward a partner?

Guns'n'Roses guitar man Slash. Photo courtesy of Andrejk via Wikimedia Commons — Guns’n’Roses guitar man Slash. Photo courtesy of Andrejk via Wikimedia Commons

It seems to reason that any behaviors which aren’t directly related to talent and performance ought to be dissociated from whether or not we enjoy someone’s music. After all, bad behavior as an adult doesn’t negate the merits of a lifetime of musical training and the honing of raw talent.

But many people – from the people who protested sales of Chris Brown’s album with warning stickers, to Jay-Z – don’t think so. And Dr. Dre’s former girlfriend Michel’le, who also accuses him of assault, isn’t buying his apology.

“I don’t really think it’s a sincere apology,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live. “He’s selling a movie. I just think it’s good PR at the moment.”

What do you think? Should artists have to pay for assaulting women by losing fans and sales? Or should we keep our feelings out of it? Let us know in the comments below.

Running riot: Dublin band The Riot Tapes fire things up with new single and video. World appropriately sweats.

18-Aug-2015 By Shannon Duvall

“Goodbye my faith, goodbye my heart.”

Ah, Elaine Doyle, c’mere, would you ever stop being such a fantastic ride? Look at you there, running around the countryside, looking winsome and windswept, not a bother on you as you purr lyrics in perfect time and stare down the sunset like some badass bog Madonna.

Are your legs tired? Cause you've been running through my mind all day. — Are your legs tired? Cause you’ve been running through my mind all day.

Well then, at least put a scarf on, dear, you’ll catch your death of cold out there. Yes, even in August; this is Ireland, after all.

–
Just two months on from their ravishing show at youbloomDublin 2015, Reekus Records’ Riot Tapes are are off and running – rather literally, actually – with their latest release, a single called “Hello, Insanity”.

Recorded at Westland Studios in Dublin’s south inner city, and initially intended as a work-in-progress recording, the since-polished song has been receiving critical praise from fans and industry swingers alike; Joe Donnelly of TXFM has called it “…a thunderbastard of a song.”

Well.

You can see where he’s coming from. As Irish mainstream music goes, this is top stuff. The production is so clean and well-considered, it’s as if the group are aliens – seductively frank aliens – dropped off here to totally steal the show. And this is what they do, with cannonball drums and electro-effect guitar thrum burning up the reel. Donnelly goes on to liken the track to “Heads Will Roll”, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, quite the comparison, and by all accounts spot on, if the response from listeners of his popular radio show Cheer or Sneer are anything to go on. Riot Tapes, are, quite frankly, killing it right now.

So what does a sassy band of audio assassins do when they’re not busy slaying from the airwaves and the stages of Ireland’s best fests? Why, drive up the mountains and get up to all sorts of antics, of course:

“The shooting of the video (for “Hello, Insanity”) was unusual,” says vocalist Elaine.

“Myself and Chris (our guitarist) agreed on the concept which was basically me running up the Dublin mountains singing along to the song. So one cold sunny morning the two of us headed up to the mountains in Chris’s little Fiesta. We had a camera, a tripod, and some red rope. We put the camera onto the tripod, tied the tripod into the boot of the fiesta and began shooting. Chris drove as slowly as he could and I ran after the car whilst trying to sing. The whole point of the video was to do it in one take.”

“One minute in, we had a problem: my jeans were falling down quite rapidly when I ran. Chris cut off some of the red rope and made me a belt. You can kind of see it in the video if you look really close. We did four or five takes, and used the last one for the video. It didn’t take too long to do at all.”

Talented, tenacious, quite obviously full of creative energy; it must have been off to win over more listeners after the shoot, surely? Actually, uh, not quite:

“We spent longer looking for 50 euro that fell out of my pocket while I was running than we did shooting the video!” Doyle laughs. “We never found it.”

Check out all the pants (and panting!) -related mayhem right here in the video:

Riot Tapes play The Big Viking Picnic, a gig for charity, in Kells, Ireland August 29.

4 Incredible Music Organizations You Should Know About

youbloom HEADROOM VIP : Stephen Kennedy from the Dublin Beatles Festival

The Five Strangest Stories From Musicophilia

Morals and Music: Where Do You Draw the Line?

Running riot: Dublin band The Riot Tapes fire things up with new single and video. World appropriately sweats.

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