Hi all!

I am just back from a concert of the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir Concert this evening and it was brilliant!!!! If you couldn’t go, you can listen to the recording of this evening’s concert on RTE Radio One on Easter Monday at 21:00. It won’t be as good as the concert today ;-) , but it will still be good.

A huge THANK YOU to everybody who already sent me votes for your preferred name for this Event Guide. I will gather all the votes and will continue with the renaming process. It will however take another little while since all votes and other opinions need to get tallied, evaluated etc. I got lots of mails and forgive me if I am not replying individually! If you haven’t sent me your opinion yet, feel free to still do it. I won’t get a chance to continue with the next steps until after the long weekend.

I am sure you did expect that the Patrick’s Day celebrations will be a centre piece of this week’s guide, but there is a lot more going on in Dublin.

One thing that will not be happening in Dublin this year – and I still haven’t fully calmed down about it – is the Skyfest. The Skyfest was for years the most frequented St. Patrick’s weekend event. It was a huge 20min fireworks display, launched in and around the Liffey between O’Connell Street and the Grand Canal Dock and was synchronised with music on 98FM. Despite knowing that most of the St. Patrick’s Day visitors to Ireland will be in Dublin, the organisation committee for the St. Patrick’s Day and/or the Skyfest sponsor “National Lottery” seemed to have decided – in their wisdom – that Dublin was the wrong place to have the Skyfest. Instead it is taking place in Tipperary on the Rock of Cashel. I am sure the sheep and cows around the Rock of Cashel will entirely enjoy this fireworks. What a non-sensical decision!

Nevertheless there are lots of other good events in Dublin, so that we can easily ignore the “National Lottery Skyfest” and without further delay, I will tell you about all of them.

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____Competition____________

RUSH HOUR RECITAL – CLASSICAL MUSIC
Thanks to Maeve O’Hara and the Students’ Union of the Royal Irish Academy of Music RIAM) we have again a competition in the Event Guide. This time it is something for the lovers of classical music. The RIAM Student Union is organising yet another concert in their series of ”Rush Hour Recitals”. Rush Hour Recitals have been free in the past, however this event is a paid-for event with the proceeds going to the charity “Impact Romania”. Chris Rooney (RIAM SU Events Officer) will explain a bit about the charity on the evening of the event. The concert will take place on Thur 27 March from 18:00-20:00 in the National Gallery in Nassau Street. The evening will be presented by Lyric FM’s, Liz Nolan and guest performers include: Finghin Collins (Piano) and Michael d’Arcy (Violin). The two featured soloists are two of Ireland’s finest musicians and Maeve tells me that they are proud and lucky to have them perform at this event. Tickets are EUR 15 / EUR 10 and will be available at the door. For the readers of this Event Guide the RIAM SU is making a free pair of tickets available for a competition. Thank you! If you want to win the pair of tickets, please send a mail with the title “RIAM” and your mobile phone number in the body to dublineventguide@gmail.com. The mail has to be with me on 24 Mar (Easter Monday) at 13:00.
For more information check out www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=12196767535 or send a mail with your questions to RIAMSU@gmail.com
By the way, I was at the recent Rush Hour Recital in the Royal Irish Academy of Music and really enjoyed the hour of classical music and if that experience is anything to go by, then I amconvinced that you will enjoy the concert in the National Gallery.

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______Friday___________________

JAMES BROWN IN BALLSBRIDGE
Not the real James Brown, but “The Buck Taylor Experience” presents Ireland’s greatest James Brown Impersonator and he will perform in The Gasworks (the pub in the Grand Canal Hotel) on Fri 22 Feb. (The Gasworks Bar
Upper Grand Canal Street, D4, 01-230 9628). There is no cover charge and the event starts at 20:30. The song samples on the website are absolutely impressive, so if you like soul, this is an event for you!
www.soundmanireland.com/_artists_bands_bucktaylor

SPRING AFFORDABLE ART EXHIBITION
The Leinster Gallery will exhibit the works of approximately 20 artists including; paintings, original chemical lith prints and photographs in their “Spring Affordable Art Exhibition”. All pieces are for sale for under EUR 1,000. Most works are priced in the region of EUR 500 and there will be no reproductions. Some of you will wonder if that price tag is making it really “affordable”, but you have to see it in relation to other pieces of art that can be a multiple of the quoted prices. The exhibition will be on show on Fri 14 & Sat 15 March. The gallery is at 27 Sth Frederick St., Dublin 2 and the opening hours are 11:00-18:00 on both days.
The exhibition will include works by the following artists: Margaret Egan, Martin Cooke, Joop Smits, Brigid McLaughlin, Orla Egan, Elizabeth Brophy, James Cahill and many more! The gallery has set-up a facebook group called “Friends of The Leinster Gallery” and for further information you can contact Evelyn Byrne: at evelynbyrne@gmail.com or 085-107 6512.

IMMA – CECIL KING
The Irish Museum of Modern Art in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham is exhibiting Cecil King’s “A Legacy of Painting” from 27 Feb until 18 May.
“Spanning the entire career of the highly-regarded Irish artist Cecil King (1921-1986) this exhibition comprises some 50 works and concentrates on the ‘hard edge’ paintings for which the artist is especially well known. King was a successful business man who developed a significant collection of contemporary art. In his mid-thirties he began to paint, holding his first solo exhibition in 1959. Initially he worked in a semi-realist style, as seen in a number of lyrical paintings and pastels known as the Circus series which were influenced by artists such as Nicolas de Staël and Roger Hilton.
Admission is free and the opening hours are Tues – Sat: 10:00-17:30, except Wednesday: 10:30-17:30. Sunday and Bank Holidays: 12:00-17:30. Monday: Closed
How to get there? Check out www.modernart.ie/en/nav_14.htm

IMMA – CARLOS AMORALES
A second exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art presents Carlos Amorales’ “Dark Mirror” from 27 Feb to 11 May. “This exhibition presents Dark Mirror, 2004/05, a double video projection by the leading Mexican artist Carlos Amorales, which became part of the IMMA Collection in 2005. Amorales’s practice uses drawing as the basis from which to develop paintings, video animations and performances. In Dark Mirror Amorales presents an animation by graphic designer André Pahl and an original score of piano music, performed by the composer and musician José María Serralde. The result is a nightmarish animation depicting man and beast in apocalyptic scenes, the imagery of which is rooted in contemporary popular symbols and Mexican icons. The work was developed using Liquid Archive – Amorales’s electronic database of digital drawings based on appropriated images and personal memories. Carlos Amorales was born in 1970 in Mexico City and currently lives and works there.” Opening times see above in previous section.

PEARL AT DOCKLANDS
On Friday and on Saturday at 19:30, St. Patrick’s Festival and Dublin Docklands present the Irish premiere of Pearl by the world renowned street theatre company Plasticiens Volants (France). This is an outdoor spectacle for a family audience. Giant inflated puppets will take over the dramatic surroundings of Georges Dock to tell this enchanting story of the precarious journey of a precious pearl. Audiences will be immersed in an extraordinary underwater world of flying fish, ‘joker’ squids, bewitched jellyfish and a scary sea snake. An extraordinary aerial aquarium on a city scale which is not to be missed.
To attend this event it was necessary to pre-book tickets, however, there is a possibility that the event is not fully booked out OR that people still have tickets available. Another aspect: It is an outdoor event, so even if you don’t have tickets you MIGHT be able to see at least parts of the show. So, if you have no other specific plans and are not too far away, I would try going there even without tickets. You could be turned away, but you might be lucky!

FUNFAIR AT MERRION SQUARE
From 13 March – 17 March Merrion Square West is closed for traffic and instead a Festival Funfair is set-up there. Entrance to the area is free, but if you want to do any of the rides, it will cost from EUR 2. Opening times of the Funfair are Friday 14th 18:00-23:00, Sat&Sun 12:00-23:00, Mon 12:00-21:00.

PUBLIC ART – MIGRATIONS
Watch out for some moveable art installations in Dublin and on the Liffey.
The first installation is called “London to Faeryland” and is a movable installation by Teresa Gillespie. It is a caravan parked around various sites in the Dublin City Centre and parks with a notice stuck inside the caravan door explaining that a man calling himself Millican is the inhabitant. Teresa Gillespie, the artist, has filled the space with fragmented clues about the missing man’s life. The caravan walls absorb the past creating a backdrop for a new present, to make a new place with a new identity. You open the door, climb in and poke about the interior, piecing together evidence; a real hands on experience.
The second art installation is “The Good Ship Marmalade” by Nicholas Keogh. (Rostrevor) and Paddy Bloomer (Banbridge, Co Down Northern Ireland). The Good Ship Marmalade is made from a collection of objects the artists found in alleyways. It is a craft of traditional buckbala design suitable for halions dogs and good times. For the St Patrick’s Festival they will be sailing the most beautiful boat that has ever been seen on the Liffey.

GAELSPROI
GaelSpraoi is a series of events taking place during Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Festival that promote the use of the Irish language in fun and novel settings. Some of the events are paid-for, others are free. Some make sense (Screening of Irish Films or Dublin Castle Tour in Irish), others maybe not that much (e.g Treasure Hunt in Irish). All events in the Gaelsproi category are listed here www.stpatricksday.ie/cms/events_gaelspraoi.html. One event that could appeal to a wider audience is the GaelZone at the Big Day Out on Merrion Square, where on Sunday 16 March from 12:00-18:00 family fun ‘as Gaeilge’ with workshops, storytelling, theatre, circus skills and sean-nós dancing is available.

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______Saturday_________________

DENNY TREASURE HUNT
The main festival event of the day is the Denny Treasure Hunt. It is a fun-filled free event for all ages, providing a unique opportunity to explore and rediscover the city of Dublin. Participants can investigate hidden haunts and gain free entry to prestigious cultural centres. Get out your mermaid, pirate and underwater themed costumes and compete for spot prizes along the way. The swiftest, smartest and sassiest swashbucklers are in with a chance to win. The Rules are
* The team leader must be 18 years or over.
* Registration is in City Hall between 10:00 and 13:00 only
* Maximum team size is 4 players
* Anyone completing the quiz in less than two hours will be disqualified
* All of the venues listed have to be visited
* Stamp to be collected from each venue when question is answered
* Return completed answer sheet to City Hall as soon as possible
* Only correct answer sheets will be entered into the main prize draw
* No cars allowed
Registration: 10:00-13:00 in City Hall, Finish: 17:00. You can pre-register on www.stpatricksfestival.ie

POWERSCOURT TOWN HOUSE CENTRE – ST PATRICK’S WEEKEND
I am proud to announce that the management of the Powerscourt Town House Centre has decided to provide us, the Dublin Event Guide Community with regular updates about events and activities in the Powerscourt Centre. And since their website is due a renovation and with no other sites carrying the Powerscourt Centre news, this might even mean that we are currently the exclusive medium carrying Powerscourt Centre news! :-) If you don’t know the Powerscourt Centre, it is a beautiful and classy shopping centre (no Tescos, Dunnes or mobile phone shops in it!) in South William Street, less than 2 minutes from Grafton Street. There are approx. 60 shops, boutiques, restaurants and pubs in the whole centre and the atmosphere is just unique. The Powerscourt Management regularly organises free events in the Centre and this weekend they will have a live DJ playing Irish music on Sat 15 March from 14:00-16:00. On Sunday (16 March) there will be Jazz played live from 13:00-15:00 and on Monday the St. Patrick’s Festival Celebrations “An afternoon of dance, music and food” including Irish Dance Show and Live DJ will entertain from 11:00-17:00.

TEMPLE BAR FOOD MARKET
Every Saturday the Temple Bar Food Market takes place on Meeting House Square in Temple Bar. It is a great opportunity to eat all different kinds of food or to buy good and healthy vegetable and fruit to prepare at home. I regularly arrange to meet friends there and absolutely love the market. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day the traders at the Temple Bar Food and Book Market will open up shop for a special trading day on St Patrick’s Day, Mon 17 March. From 10:00-16:30 you eat crepes from Crepes and the City, Hicks Sausages, Mero Mero Mexican Foods and delicious Mediterranean food products from The Real Olive Company.
The Temple Bar Book Market, which – in my opinion – could do with a bit of a facelift and reinvigoration and definitely with an increase in traders before it can properly be called “market” takes place every Saturday on the Temple Bar Square (opposite the Quays Bar). This “market” will be available on Monday 17 March as well. You can buy a selection of old, new and antique books along with a collection of music including vinyl and CDs.
Ohh, and keep in mind that the rejuvenated and extended Cow’s Lane Market will be relaunched on the 22 March. It will be called “Designer Mart at Cow’s Lane” and is in the newly named Old City Temple Bar (that is the area between Parliament Street and the Dublin City Offices). The new Designer Mart will showcase artwork and designer creations by Irish and Ireland-based designers.

PILLS – SCIENCE GALLERY
A new exhibition at the Science Gallery opens on Saturday 15 March and runs until 12 April. The work of Pharmacopoeia probes our relationship with commonly prescribed drugs, revealing how dependent our society is on Pharmaceuticals, how ambivalent we feel about them and yet how casually we use them. Visit the Science Gallery and see pills in a way you’ve never seen them before. Exhibition admission is free and opening hours are 12:00-20:00 Tues-Fri and 12:00-18:00 Sat & Sun. The Science Gallery is closed on Mondays (including St. Patrick’s Day and Easter Monday) and it will be closed for Easter Sunday. After the hugely successful first exhibition in the Science Gallery (Lightwave) it will be interesting to see if that high level can be upheld. Have a look at the exhibition on Saturday or Sunday of this week and let me know what you think! I will definitely try to go there!

IRISH MUSIC AND IRISH DANCING SHOW
Do you want to immerse yourself in Irish culture during your stay in Dublin or do you have to dowse a few visitors? If you want to show them a good show bring them to the Arlington Hotel. If you want to show them a VERY good show, bring them to Johnny Fox’s and bring the BIG wallet. ;-)
The Arlington Hotel (23-25 Bachelors Walk near O’Connell Bridge, Dublin 1, 01 804 9100) has FREE entertainment, seven nights a week. Show Times are for the Evening Show Sun-Thur 21:00 and Fri+Sat 20:00 and for the Afternoon Session Sat 17:00 and Sun 12:30 (no Irish dancing). You can get traditional Irish food in the Arlington as well while you watch the show, but it is optional. The show is Irish music with one or two dance show parts interspersed on the evening.

KIDSZONE INTERACTIVE PLAY AND LEARN
For all your parents out there, Dundrum Town Centre is reminding you of their Kidszone Interactive Play and Learn Centre, on the first weekend of every month. Located on Level 3, it runs from 11:00-17:00 on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. Suitable for kids aged two and upwards, the fully supervised Kidszone features learning games, including Leapster and handheld entertainment games including Spiderman, Madagascar and many more. Books and colouring materials are also available, so why not come along and learn through play with different games featured every month! In addition to the normal schedule Kidszone will take place on Saturday, 15th and Sunday 16th March, and Monday 17th March 2008 for St. Patrick’s Day .

RUGBY IN DUNDRUM
For the big kids, the Dundrum Town Centre is showing the Six Nations Live. The games that are shown are Italy v Scotland at 13:00, England v IRELAND at 15:00 and Wales v France at 17:00.

LIFT BALLYMUN YOUTH ARTS FESTIVAL
Movies, Theatre, Art, Workshops and more is provided in Ballymun for during the Youth Art Festival. The festival runs from 12 March until 19 March and there are loads of different events available. Many of them are free and even the ones that are not free usually only cost around 1-2 Euro. Since the programme is mainly for Youth and probably more for young people living in Ballymun, I won’t describe the events, but just refer you to two good list of all:
entertainment.ie/festival/display.asp?ID=1483
www.dublinks.ie/index.cfm?loc=18&pt=0&spid=98B656FB-0674-B2E3-8B72F8CD41D9087E

BABYRAVE
No, it is unfortunately not free, but it is so unique (I think) that I will have to mention it: From Friday until Sunday a special baby event is taking place. The former church in Temple Bar, SS Michael and John, will be transformed to provide an ambient setting for this music and dance sensation for babies, complete with DJ, lighting, projections and sensory floor coverings. Dance facilitators will also be on hand to assist parents and children in an exploration of movement and rhythm. This is guaranteed to be a fun interactive experience for babies and parents alike. Don’t miss out the opportunity to see your baby raving!! Age 0-4 years. Tickets are EUR 8.50 for parent and the same for the baby. www.stpatricksday.ie/cms/events_babyrave.html
www.myspace.com/belfastbabyrave

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______Sunday __________________

DENNY BIG DAY OUT
The headline event on Sunday is the Big Day Out. Merrion Square will become from 12:00-18:00 an oversized playground for children and adults alike for the 2008 Denny Big Day Out. Come along and check out all the different zones with lots to do for all the family from tots to teens:
* Family Fun Zone, featuring: Xtreme trampoline – Human Foosball – Festijeux family games area – Buckaroo – Crazy golf – Hoopla
* Art Pod: Quite literally, Art in a Pod – a themed tented workshop area with fun interactive art workshops where children make hats or kites assisted by their parents.
* Family Fanfare: Fanfare is a family performance area with a selection of bands from the best international street festivals in Europe performing amongst the crowd. These bands are quirky, interactive and fun! Crowd participation is essential.
* Street & Urban Zone: An urban arts zone with hip hop dance displays and a skate boarding exhibition
* Cultural Zone: The Cultural Stage is a must-see, see below for more details on the acts playing in 2008 – including African gospel, Egypt’s Tannoura Troupe, Brazilian drummers, traditional Catalan stick dancers and Ceol from Ceoltas!
* Storytelling Zone: Two quirky red top buses will provide the perfect setting for two children’s storytelling zones. Stories for all ages.
* Gael Zone: Family fun ‘as Gaeilge’ with walkabouts, theatre shows, sean nós dancing, samba and children’s workshops.
* Filmbase and the St. Patrick’s Festival will also host a range of film-related activities at the Cinemobile, which will be parked on Merrion Square. Activities include screenings of Irish short films and demonstrations / workshops for all ages.
* Cultural & Fanfare Stage
The 2008 Denny Big Day Out Cultural Stage and Fanfare Stage is a space for performing groups from all corners of the world to celebrate the Irish National Festival! Groups appearing in 2008 include:
= Ceoltas – An Irish national treasure combining the best in Traditional Irish music with an unstoppable energy
= Krump – World renowned LA break-dancers with breakneck energy and super-human force – not to be missed!
= Ball of Baston – Twenty-one dancers from Catalonia, Spain who perform traditional Catalonian dance with sticks
= Torann – Six drummers from Waterford who play beats you’ve like you’ve never heard before. Get ready to move, groove, feel the rhythm and move your feet!
= Morro 16 – Morro 16 is a group of Brazilian musicians based in Dublin. Well, some of them are Brazilian. Those who aren’t may as well be! Most of the members are Irish. They are from all walks of life and are united by one thing: passion for samba. Some are seasoned participants in Brazilian carnival celebrations, and others have become hooked on samba without ever even setting foot in its homeland! Among its members are some of the cream of Dublin’s recently-exploded Brazilian music scene. The ‘bloco’ made it’s first public performance at the recent Brazil-Ireland soccer match, tapping into and fuelling the euphoria of the Brazilian supporters on Hill 16 (hence the name ‘Morro 16’). The group hopes to bring some of the joy of samba to Dublin during this years’ St. Patrick’s Festival.
= Gospel Music Ireland – A gospel gathering of 10 powerhouse voices
= Tutti Frutti – A five member band from the South of France fusing music, tap dance, circus and theatre with humour and poetry
= Haut Debit – Fifteen musicians haling from Paris bring us their original and varied style of afrobeat groove, folklore, ska and funk
= Sandunga – A Latin groove and move group mixing Cuban, Brazilian, exotic dance and funky rhythm
= Fanfare La Tulipe – Inspired by both traditional and contemporary styles this ten piece group will bring the Fanfare Stage to life with its eclectic mix of beats and rhythms
= Aires Flamencos – Big Festival favourites return to thrill us for a third year with their passionate, colourful and lively programme of traditional and contemporary Flamenco. Guest artists Juan Zapata, Marta Aramburu Landeras and Lucas Gonzales.
The timetable for all these events is here: www.stpatricksday.ie/downloads/BDOTimetable.pdf

POLISH MOVEMENTS/NOMADS OF CULTURE
The Polish Movements/Nomads of Culture festival is called “Polish Yurt in Dublin”. It is a whole day of events, featuring concerts, handcraft and dance workshops.
It will take place on Sun 16 March from 09:00-18:00 on Merrion Square West
The event is free, but advanced registration for the workshops and the concert is recommended: Contact info@artpolonia.org
Some of the participants and their contribution: Kapela Halasow will be accompanied by the two excellent musicians, Ewa and Robert Wasilewscy.
Folk musicians, Eastern nomads, Romas, Jews, Vlachs, Crimean Tatars or Kazakhs – starting from the villages of Eastern Poland to Bukovina and Transylvania. The experience will evoke the senses through music, dance, laughter and tears.
Details about the event can be found here www.artpolonia.org/yurt.htm. A brief summary is here:
09:00-12:00 Building the Yurt
Everyone is invited to contribute to creating the unique space which will be a half stage and half craftsman’s workshop with a little a gallery and a honky-tonk. Within three hours a vehicle for taking everyone into another dimension is created. This is sure to make a vivid impression on all concerned – crossing its threshold, you enter another reality, another time.
12:30-14:00 Dance Workshop
14:30-15:30 Leluja Handicraft Workshop – Paper cutting – Wycinanki (vee-chee-nan-kee) – by Alicja Choromanska-Halas.
16:00-18:00 Concert and Dance Party
Programme: songs and tunes from different ethnic groups living and traveling through Poland; special performance by Jacek Ha?as: songs of wandering minstrels (pie ?ni dziadowskie).
Hmm, this event definitely sounds DIFFERENT! Worth checking out!

5K FESTIVAL ROAD RACE
If you want to discover Dublin on a quick run around the city, you can participate in the 5km run on Sunday. The race starts at 10:00 at the Mansion House in Dawson Street and participating is not free (EUR 10), but watching the race is. :-) You can find more information here: www.msb5k.com/home/index.html

SUNDAY AT NOON – CLASSICAL MUSIC
The Sunday at Noon free concert series in the Hugh Lane Gallery is taking a break over the next two weekends and will be back on the 30 March.

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______Monday_________________

ST PATRICK’S DAY PARADE
After all these events over the weekend, you will probably exhausted by Monday, but hey, Monday is the BIG day! So keep at least a bit of energy. The first part of Monday is rather passive and hopefully the weather won’t be too bad, the second part is very active. ;-)
The St. Patrick’s Day Festival Parade is the more passive event. If you will watch the parade, you will have to be in town early to get a good spot and then you will have to be patient. The parade will start at Parnell Square North at 12:00 and will go down O’Connell Street, then into Westmoreland Street, onto College Green, up Dame Street to Patrick Street. The parade is expected to go on for approx. two hours.
(By the way, David Morrison reminded me that there will people on Monday painting shamrocks on your cheek (or wherever you want it – within reason!! ;-) ) and they will do that looking for a donation for a charity. This charity is still looking for helpers and you can sign-up here www.suas.ie/sign-up.html if you are interested.)

CEILI MOR
Every St. Patrick’s Day there is a big Ceili (Céilí is an Irish dancing event and “mór” means “big”) in Dublin. On a big stage Ceili bands are playing and you will get a few explanations on how to dance. The whole thing can be a lot of fun if you are there with friends. Accuracy of the dance movesis really of secondary relevance. :-) Now, if you have someone that explains the whole dancing thing to you, it might even be more fun. For a few years Brian Lenehan, a friend and enthusiastic Céilí Mór “hobby instructor” did “guide” people and introduced them to very basic dance moves. We plan to do something similar again this year, Brian has agreed, Orla is fully supportive, and all we need to arrange is the people that want to take part. Don’t expect it will be very organised, there will be hundred or even thousands of people , but it will be good fun.
So, what am I leading onto? Here it is: I am suggesting the SECOND “Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events) Community Meeting” (we have to find at least a similarly long and complicated new name. Hehehe). For everyone that is interested, we will meet on Monday at 14:30 (sharp!!!) at the Leeson Street entrance to Stephen’s Green (that is the entrance diagonally opposite to the Grafton Street entrance with the arch). Because it is impossible to know who will come, we will stay at that point from 14:30-14:40 and will then move to the area where the Ceili Mor is taking place about 100 metres down Earlsfort Terrace. So if you want to come, make sure that you are there in time. I have no idea how to differentiate myself from other people so that you recognise me, but maybe I should wear something that is NOT green and I will stand-out?? :-P No, I will wear the red badge (now with a smiley face) again. It is not the best ID, but better than nothing.
Monday, 17 March at 14:30 at the Leeson Street entrance to Stephen’s Green! Meet you there! If it rains, I will have a big orange (YES!) umbrella, but I hope that the sun will shine like mad and that we will have a heatwave in Dublin! (Eternal optimist! ;-)

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______Next Week_______________

DAY OF FRANCOPHONIE
On 20 March is the International Day of Francophonie and half a billion francophones around the world will celebrate that day. The first celebration took place in 1998 as a way for the 49 members of Francophonie to celebrate French language, as well as their common values and cultural diversity. I guess for us it means we should tell our French friends on that day how much we like them! :-) Preferably in French! And maybe the flower shops will sell blue-blanc-rouge flower arrangements for the occasion?
The Cultural Service of the Embassy of France in Ireland together with the Alliance Francaise are going in a slightly different direction. They are organising some festivities and are inviting everybody. The main event is a Short Films Screening (with English subtitles!!!) in the Sugar Club on the 20 March at 18:00 (doors at 17:30), followed by a reception in the Alliance Francaise. Entry is free, but you have to register by email to scac@ambafrance.ie or phone to 01-7088308. Tickets will be granted on a first come first serve basis as number of seats is limited).
www.ambafrance.ie/article.php3?id_article=906&var_mode=calcul#sommaire_1
By the way, Mary Tremblay reminded me of this event! Thanks!

SIMON & THE GHOST – RADIO CITY
On Thursday of next week (20 March) the band “Simon & The Ghost” will play from 20:30 in Radio City (Store Street, opposite Busaras). They are playing their entire debut album which is coming out soon. You can find out more and listen to a sample on www.myspace.com/simonandtheghost A quote about the band as found on their website “Strewn with carnival rhythms and rumbling, weirdly haunting melodies, the Dublin trio’s sound is pitched somewhere between Tom Waits and an acid jazz record playing at the wrong speed – Eamon De Paor ( Metro newspaper, 12th July 07 )”. Dave Sheehan told me about this event.

THE TANGLES – BRAINWAVE FUNDRAISER
Cormac Murphy reports that a fundraiser for Brainwave Ireland (Epilepsy Foundation) is taking place on Thur 20 March in WJ Kavanagh’s in Dorset Street from 20:00. Music is played by the Tangles (www.thetangles.net) and entrance is free. CDs will be on sale. All proceeds go to Brainwave.

PARENTING WORKSHOPS @ DUNDRUM TOWN CENTRE
The Dundrum Town Centre (meaning Dundrum shopping centre) is offering free weekly parenting talks and seminars introduced to facilitate Mums, Dads & Carers.
The workshops take place every Thursday from 11:00 until 12:00, in Frangos World Cuisine, located on Level 3.
Upcoming workshops:
-Doula Ireland with Tracy Donegan, author of “The better birth book” on March 20th
-Baby Massage with Yasmina on March 27th
All events are free of charge and available on a first come-first served basis.

SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL
From the 19 March-30 March the Spanish Film Festival takes place in the IFI. Unfortunately there are no free events for me to list, so for further information have a look here www.spanishfilmfestival.ie.

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Phew, I don’t know about you after reading this Event Guide, but after writing it, I am exhausted! I hope to see some of you over the weekend. (My phone number is 087-2931571 if you want to get in contact.) Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day Festival and make the most of it. Oh, and don’t forget to ask your preferred deity for good weather!!!!! ;-)

Enjoy the weekend!

–Joerg

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Disclaimer: This Event Guide (the “Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events)”) is an Event Guide with a difference. It covers mostly free events based on the thinking that free events deserve additional support and that ticketed events have a better chance to pay for advertisement. The Guide is a _guide_ and not just a listing and is sent to friends, colleagues and whoever else is interested.
If you have feedback – good or bad – PLEASE tell me. If you want to be added to the mailing list or know somebody who would like to receive this guide, just send a mail to dublineventguide@gmail.com. If you don’t want to receive this mail anymore, send a mail to the same address, telling me to remove you from the distribution list.
BTW: I am not paid or otherwise rewarded for compiling and distributing this Event Guide it is purely a hobby. – Donations are much appreciated. ;-)
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