The Sigla Blog

Feeling a little cobwebby after the weekend? Then, crank up your speakers and listen to Grinderman’s ‘No Pussy Blues’. Not the content with being The Bad Seed’s biblical soap-boxer, Nick Cave and his new band - which features Bad Seeds’ Martyn P. Casey on bass, Jim Sclavunos and Warren Ellis (also of of The Dirty […]

Just a quick post to say thank you SO much to everyone who took the time to vote in this year’s Irish Blog Awards. I’m delighted to be in the running for Best Arts & Culture Blog and Best Music blog, alongside some great nominees, all of whom I read. The final shortlist (which will […]

Blog Awards, The Oscars… all awards tend to divide people and while this year’s Choice Music Prize shortlist has largely been commended for its diversity, the prize still had its wrist slapped by a handful of detractors. The main quibble has been about the lack of women on the shortlist (I voted for two […]

We seem to be knee-deep in Blog Awards chatter this week (voting closes at 5pm today, so if you haven’t already voted, and would like to see The Sigla blog on the shortlist for Best Arts & Culture Blog and Best Music blog, mosey on over here) and as with every Awards bash, there’s bound […]

Does this qualify as a music post? My brother sent this to cheer me up earlier and this musical puss is amazing. Wait for the duet bit later on - Disco Fred has been sitting beside me all a-quiver watching it. Poor little mutt nearly fell off the couch at the sight of a feline […]

Not sure if I’ve mentioned Mr. Hopkinson’s computer before, but he’s proof that myspace is worth poking endlessly around for new music. It’s a guy from Bristol who covers of indie/alternative songs using his computer, giving them a robot/electro spin. On his page, you can listen to ‘Where is My Mind?’ by The Pixies, […]

Despite his ripe old age of 87, it was sad to read of the death of writer Benedict Kiely who was buried yesterday. When people rattle off their favourite Irish authors, they usually mention Joyce, Edna O’Brien, Pat McCabe, John McGahern or Colm Tóibín, while Seán Ó Faoláin, Frank O’Connor and Mary Lavin are name-checked […]

Seeing as we were talking about 1970s men yesterday, a post about another chap, Pop Levi, seems timely seeing as he’s playing at Dublin’s Crawdaddy tonight. Above is the video for ‘Blue Honey’, his first single and though he may be a noughties man in a Russell Brand kind of way, he sounds like […]

Crushes on John Simm aside, don’t forget that Series 2 of Life on Mars starts on BBC1 tonight at 9pm. Even better, episode 2 is on directly afterwards at 10pm on BBC 4.
Link:
*Guardian blog: “There’s Still Life on Mars”
*“When Men Were Men” - (”He had a big moustache, stank of booze and fags, […]

As RTE’s Arts Lives series returns tonight, Arminta Wallace asks in today’s Irish Times (subs required) if Arts programming in RTE is a victim of late night scheduling. She quotes a recent Arts Council survey that says that people’s first port of call when they get home from work is “the PC, not the TV” […]

Lads and lassies, I don’t know what to say about all the lovely comments yesterday: from my bros - for the ‘Sapphire’ suggestion and Young Ones clip respectively- from friends, bloggers I’ve met, bloggers I know purely online, people I didn’t even know wandered around here and a lovely email from a stranger called Gareth. […]

*Deep Breath*…
Anyone who stops by this blog regularly will notice that the posts tend to stick to arts and culture, with not much reference to personal stuff. Sure, there are personal opinons galore, but I don’t tend to talk much about the non-public side of my life. Today, though, I thought I’d share something, particularly […]