The Sigla Blog

What I thought was pregnancy-related Carpel Tunnel Syndrome in my wrist has turned out to be something far fancier: De Quervain’s Disease (June Caldwell, a fellow facebooker, thinks it sounds like a Medieval French village) and an operation is required to fix it. Luckily, I have nabbed a cancellation for tomorrow, but will be out of action for a few days. Not sure how long the ol’ convalescence will take, but hopefully I’ll get to watch more Flight of the Conchords (brilliant - I heart Bret) over cups of tea and recuperative bars of chocolate. Favourite episode so far is when Jemaine tries to buoy up Bret’s low self esteem by writing him a song called ‘Bret you got it goin’ on’. Genius.

Will be back in a few days but until then I’ll leave you with the following randomness…

* If you have nowt to do at lunchtime between now and Friday, go and see Small Metal Objects (above right) in Mayor Square in the IFSC at 1pm. It’s performed by Australia’s Back To Back Theatre company, an ensemble of actors with intellectual disabilities. It follows Gary and Steve, who like Adam & Paul (RIP Tom Murphy) and Vladimir and Estragon, are an inseparable vagabond duo. Taking place outdoors, the drama unfolds on the street while the audience watches, while listening to the diologue on headphones. Pivoted around a prospective drug deal, the play tackles the existential condition, focusing on the nature of friendship, prejudice and our place in the world. Unwitting pedestrians become bit players in the drama, as do the audience as passers-by try to figure out what 100 people wearing headphones are staring at.

* Cougar, whose album Law was one of the best albums of 2006 are playing here on November 30th in Whelan’s. If you can’t wait that long, some members of the band are also card carrying members of Youngblood Brass Band, who play Whelan’s this Sunday October 14th. Support is from The North Strand Klezmer Band. Cougar on myspace.

* Organising your books by colour. Via John Baker.

* Back in August, I missed Music to be Murdered By - the Music of Bernard Hermann (of Hitchcock fame), performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra but it aired on RTE Radio 1 last night. You can find a link to listen to it here on the In Concert page. Part 2 is on next Monday.

* Amazon’s answer to iTunes has a spoken word section, where you can buy everything from speeches by Aldous Huxley, Che Guevara and John F. Kennedy, readings by Allen Ginsberg and Jim Morrison, British War Broadcasting 1938-45, Fidel Castro’s ‘Historic Second Declaration of Havana’ and The Ultimate Orson Welles (including the War of the Worlds hoax).

* This day next week, the Booker winner will be announced (all appendages crossed for Anne Enright) but Ian McEwan is already on the defensive.

* Does anyone else read Diarmuid Ó Muirithe’s ‘Words We Use’ column in The Irish Times? Yesterday’s haul was culled from The Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English, where Northern Irish emigrants settled after being driven from their homes by Antrim Protestants. Many of the island’s sayings have an Irish colloquialism, and one in particular made me laugh out loud as I sat in RTE TV reception waiting for a phantom taxi. Women, when dissing one of the island’s bad boys, might remark; “He wouldn’t make a patch for a good man’s arse”.

* Sending me YouTube clips of the bit in Return of the Jedi where Luke gets his hand chopped off is NOT funny. You know who you are…

* Happy Birthday Al Jourgensen. Back in my teens, I listened to a lot of Ministry and went to see them in Brixton Academy in November 1992. It was an unbelievable gig where I lasted a mere 20 minutes in the mosh pit, before retreating to the back. One night some months later, I got the last bus home from town to my folks, who had friends over for the evening. I put my key in the front door only to be greeted by ‘Thieves’ on full blast. And I mean louder than I had ever played it, and this was nearly midnight. Suddenly it stopped, and I heard my dad saying in tones of massive incredulity: “Did ye hear that? THAT’S what she listens to. Doesn’t that sound like a drill?! Doesn’t it!?”. Eventually he confessed to liking ‘Jesus Built My Hotrod’. Ah those salad days, when your parents don’t understand the music you listen to…