Music « Thurles Information

Legendary Blues Rock Guitarist Gary Moore Dies

It was with great regret we learn today of the untimely death of legendary blues rock guitarist and singer Gary Moore. The musician was found dead in his room at the luxury Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona in the early hours of this morning. A postmortem is due to be carried out later today in the nearby city of Malaga to investigate the cause of his death. The musician aged 58, from Belfast is understood to have been on holiday at the time.

Electric guitar players everywhere, please stop awhile and listen to true genius share his music.

Moore collaborated with a broad range of artists during his music career including The Right Honourable The Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lord Webber, the most commercially successful composer in history, who now resides at Kiltinan Castle, Fethard, Co Tipperary, colaborated with Garry Moore on the composer’s ‘Variations’ album in 1977.

Lord Webber chose the theme of Paganini’s 24th caprice and added 23 variations for cello and rock band. The work premiered at the 1977 Sydmonton Festival featuring Gary Moore, joined by Barbara Thompson on Sax and Flute, Rod Argent on Piano, Synthesizer and Keyboards and Julian Lloyd Webber on Cello. It was subsequently rearranged and recorded in 1978 reaching number 2 in the album charts.

In a career which dates back to the 1960’s, Robert William Gary Moore, to give him his full title, shared the stage with many blues and rock luminaries including Phil Lynott, Skid Row, Brian Downey, B.B. King, Albert King, Colosseum II, Greg Lake, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan to name but a few.

Moore’s greatest influence in his early days came from his association with guitarist Peter Green, of ‘Fleetwood Mac’ fame, who was a mentor to Moore while performing in Dublin. Green’s continued influence on Moore was later repaid as a tribute to Green on his 1995 album ‘Blues for Greeny,’ an album consisting entirely of Green compositions. On this tribute album Moore played Green’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, which Green had lent to Moore after leaving Fleetwood Mac. Moore ultimately purchased this guitar, at Green’s request, so that “it would have a good home”.

Moore throughout his career was recognised as an influence by many notable guitarists including Vivian Campbell, Patrick Rondat, Jake E. Lee, John Norum, Joe Bonamassa, Adrian Smith, Randy Rhoads, John Sykes, Kirk Hammett and Gus G.

Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

Brendan Graham Tipperary Songwriter And Author

“When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.”

Lyrics by Brendan Graham

“You Raise Me Up,” first recorded by Secret Garden, featuring Brian Kennedy, has become one of the biggest selling songs in the history of popular music, with over three hundred recordings by some of the world’s biggest acts – Josh Groban, Westlife, IL Divo, Paul Potts, Celtic Woman, to name but a few, and has racked up sales of over 80 million copies. It has never been out of the charts somewhere in the world in the past eight years. It has also become one of the most successful songs of all time in sheet music sales, being continuously at No. 1 for the past seven years, in the USA’s Sheet Music Bestseller Charts, in four different categories: Pop, Adult Contemporary, Pop Choral and Downloads and it is the most downloaded song in sheet music format of all time.

All this said, few people in our county realise that the lyrics were written by county Tipperary man, Brendan Graham.

Brendan Graham, born in 1945 here in Nenagh, County Tipperary, was an Industrial Engineer by profession, before becoming a full-time songwriter, after being made redundant in 1993. He was also a former Irish Youth International basketball player, a student priest, a pig-boner in London and a recipient of Western Australia’s Lansing Bagnall State Award for business studies. Mr Graham now resides in County Mayo with his wife and five daughters.

Graham has composed two of Ireland’s winning entries in the Euro-vision Song Contest in the past: “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” which won in 1994, and “The Voice” the winner of the 1996 contest.

Brendan Graham, is also an Irish novelist and has published three novels, ‘The Whitest Flower‘ (London, Harper Collins, 1998), an Irish no. 2 best seller, ‘The Element of Fire‘ (Harper Collins, 2001) and ‘The Brightest Day, The Darkest Night‘ (Harper Collins, 2004).

Irish songwriter and founding member of The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Brendan Graham is officially included in an exclusive club with the world’s top songwriters, awarded “Million-Air ” status by the American Performing Rights Society, BMI. Only 3900 (0.06%) songs of the 6.5 million works, which BMI represent, have ever been awarded Million-Air certificates.

To be included in this exclusive roster, a song must have been broadcast over one million times on American radio. This definition equals at least 50,000 broadcast hours, or more than 5.7 years of continuous airplay. The songwriter joins previous ‘Million-Air’ recipients like song-writing legends John Lennon, Van Morrison, Enya, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Ben E King, Sting, Otis Redding and Roy Orbison.

Thurles Dancing Club Celebrate Forty Years

Thurles Club for Dancing

Our congratulations to the Club for Dancing here in Thurles who will celebrate their 40th Anniversary on Saturday February 12th next. The Club will mark the occasion with an event in their usual stomping ground, The Premier Ballroom in Thurles.

All current and former members of the Club are automatically invited to attend this celebratory event and if you are a non member and feel you would like to join in their celebrations “there is a welcome on the mat“.

Two bands will be installed on the night and celebrations begin with dancing to ‘Checkers‘, starting at 8.30pm sharp and continuing until 10.30pm.

Following a short break, dancing will continue from 10.40pm to 12.30 to the music of ‘Tony Stevens and The Rusty Roosters‘.

Admission price: €10.

Note: The club has also just launched their new website with details of their dance calender for the year. You can view this website by clicking here.

The club have been running dance classes for beginners, in social dancing, since 1994. The six-week’s course, from 8.30pm to 10pm each Tuesday night, costs a total of just €20 and teaches the basic steps of the foxtrot, old time waltz and quickstep. They hold one set of classes in the Springtime and one set again in the Autumn. These have proved to be a great success and are normally attended by approximately 70/100 helpers, teachers and beginners. Great for the fitness and an ideal opportunity for young couples getting married this year to prepare for that first solo dance on their wedding day.

Why not join them for their next set of dance classes, beginning on 1st February 2011 and commencing at 8.30pm sharp.

Tipperary Man Abroad Tells It Like It Is

Firstly, we would like to apologise and warn our readers in advance that the video hereunder contains some foul language, so if you are easily offended, please refrain from hitting the play button.

Foul language or not, Newport, Co.Tipperary born musician, investment banker and businessman Denis Ryan, through this video, possibly best expresses the thoughts and feelings of many of our Irish residents, unemployed or on the mimimum wage, sitting in their homes tonight.

“If the government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have.” President Gerald Ford.

Who is Denis Ryan?

Denis emigrated from Tipperary to Canada in the 1960s. In 1971, with Fergus O’Byrne and Dermot O’Reilly he formed the folk band Ryan’s Fancy. In 1983 the group disbanded and Denis moved to Halifax, Canada where he became an investment banker.

However, he still remained in music, releasing two solo albums and hosting the CBC Television show “Up on the Roof”

In 1994 he received an Honorary degree, Doctor of Letters, from St. Mary’s University in Halifax.

Over the years he has given a lot of his time acting as emcee for many charitable functions. And he continues to help create awareness and fund raising for organisations such as the D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies at St. Mary’s University.

His latest recording was “Newport Town” with his first cousin Denis Carey.

Oh and by the way, Michael Flatley was born Michael Ryan Flatley and his parents Michael and Eilish Flatley left Furteen, County Sligo, in 1947 to make a new life for themselves in America, so he is Irish.

Autonomous i New Band Kids On The Block

We were first to warn the public of an IMF bailout, we were first to predict Spring Awakening would win the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera, now permit us to introduce you to Tipperary’s newest ‘Rock Band’ sensation, which are quickly taking Ireland by storm, meet Autonomous i.

Autonomous i are:- Frah Butler – Guitar and Vocals, Daragh Kennedy – Guitar and Vocals, Jamie Kelly – Bass and Vocals, Eddie Dwan – Violin, Synth and Damien Murphy – Drums.

Since first forming in a dark damp community hall here in Thurles, Co.Tipperary, Autonomous i have been honing their songwriting and performance skills to the point where their music is influenced equally as much from within the group as it is externally. These five lads fuse sounds together from a breathtakingly broad sonic palette and have produced a range of original tracks, for which a well stocked duke box would happily surrender it’s last dime.

The band’s live shows are varied in the extreme and the band seamlessly navigates through rock, funk and dance inspired grooves, with an infectious confidence and cheeky grins. Fronted by one of the most powerful set of lungs on the Irish indie rock scene today, Frah Butler, this band have gigged throughout the country in venues such as Whelan’s, HQ the Sugar Club and the more recently in the RDS Toys for Big Boys Expo in Dublin. The Crane Lane in Cork and are being overwhelmed with positive criticism from the likes of Duke Special who described their music as being ‘intriguing and wonderful’.

This diverse group of five very talented musicians, which include a classical violinist and dreadlocked ‘Reggae Inspired’ drummer, are no ‘Three Cord Trick Chancer’ band pushing their luck, here are music makers who have served their apprenticeship and qualified with first class honours.

Produced by Ken McHugh, this merger of intelligent lyrics together with indie rock music, 80’s style synth, soaring violin with a touch of funk and dance inspired grooves, manufacture some seriously inspired gems, like –Stand Up and Take It, Car Activate and Start Again. These three very different tracks demonstrate why Autonomous i are not being ignored or pigeonholed by the music world!

Autonomous i can really do it live too, rapidly building a reputation for inspired, exciting, electrifying performances, seamlessly navigating through a rainbow of sounds and rhythms, which you have to experienced in the flesh, to totally appreciate.

Check out the songs, check out the website, with more dates to be added, watch out for Autonomous i at a venue near you, remembering you heard it first from www.thurles.info.