Lust of Pig and the Fresh Blood

Late night blog trawling when I discover this picture I took of Laura (Sheeran) trying on the Ghetto-bling vestment mentioned here. See her distracting tumblr here and awesome horror blog here. Laura is launching her debut album Lust of Pig and the Fresh Blood on April Fools, the first day of the month. She is such a brilliant, complex musician, an industrious, artistic dynamo. Can't wait to see the record in the flesh!

Catholic Glitch: The Mingle Market

I will be selling authentic religious/ priest vestments and other Catholic paraphernalia at the Mingle Market,

February 13th at the Food Co-op.

Above, my Fr. Blackbird performance at the Pony Girls' Sideshow Cabaret in November, modeling a particularly ghetto bling vestment in the 'Gothic style'. The elaborate emblem is on the back of the garment as during this period, the priest would face away from his congregation during the mass. Eventually, this mode of presentation was changed to be more social, and so the Roman style vestment was introduced along with a new style of delivery, where the priest would face towards his audience. This is all recycled information, so unfortunately I can't be more specific. Of course, all the vestments have a long, rich and elaborate history, from class fashion in the sixth century to my gran-aunts voluntarily hand sewing religious garbs in Phibsboro once a week. Haute Couture Vestments.

Since it's a fancy dress market, I get to wear an item I have been aesthetically drawn to, despite its simplicity: the cassock or 'soutane' - a black ankle length gown which, although still worn today by Priests and Deacons (and in various style according to position of power), was popular among the Christian Brothers in 1930s Ireland. A Roman cassock has buttons down the front, sometimes thirty-three to symbolise each year Jesus lived (so the wiki page says).

A striking cassock association I have is with the charismatic "Singing Priest" Fr. Michael Cleary as captured in the brilliant Rocky Road to Dublin (1967 documentary) by Peter Lennon and Raoul Coutard. It was revealed posthumously that Cleary had a child with his long term housekeeper Phyllis Hamilton. Unfortunately, so wiki says, even though Cleary's paternity had been proven by DNA testing, the remaining Cleary family refused to acknowledge his son.

This is an iconic still from the film where the Singing Priest is joking and smoking with two grave diggers.

Unsurprisingly, the cassock has been adopted by 'Goth' enthusiasts and other gloomy kids. After all, the imposing formality and blackness of the rather dramatic garb is associated with sinister Christian Brothers, domineering priests and nasty characters like the evil Brother John played by Iain Glenn in Song for a Raggy Boy (Dir. Aisling Walsh, 2003).

Creepy...

But don't be scared, the Mingle Market will be full of bright lights and good music, friendly marketeers and decorative treats, and a friendly lady in a priest's cassock with an unusual stall...

Beth Moysés: Removing Pain

Photos from 'Removing Pain', a performance by Brazilian artist Beth Moysés for International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which took place on November 25th in Trinity College Dublin, on a cold but beautifully sunny afternoon.

The rule was that we were to wear all white, including our shoes. They had hats and shawls for us and handmade, pearl embellished dresses. Although myself and my friend who also took part chuckled that we looked like kitchen porters in our long-johns and white caps before we were fully dressed, the final collective result was striking and evocative.

A mixture of women who had experienced domestic violence and those of us who wanted to engage with the important issue of violence against women, each of us had bruises painted on our faces, black eyes and cut up lips. My smack stretched the length of my cheek and across my eye. Ouch! We complimented each other on how authentic and effective the make-up was and I reflected on the gratitude I felt that this bruising had been carefully and gently applied with a soft make-up brush, not a fist.

It was a meditative and energising experience, a procession of women in white. More than one of us thought of the Magdalene women and the dichotomous image of us; revered spiritual sisters or women being made an example of? Was it a religious ritual? Or a parade of shame? Was it both? I watched the tail end of the white skirt of the woman in front of me, rhythmically moving over her legs in the breeze. It was mesmerizing. I kept my eyes downcast for the entire procession, alert for snippets of comments and the conversation of passers by: appreciative, curious, giddy, derogatory, dismissive, silly.

When we reached Physics Square, there were 16 holes dug in the ground. We each stood next to one, waiting patiently while woman by woman, we removed the bruises from each others faces. One by one, we took tissues from our pocket, cleaned the face of our sister, put the tissue in her hand, she would place it in the ground, and turn to clean the face of the woman next to her. At the end we buried the tissues, took rice from our pockets and threw it in handfuls to the center of the circle, sewing seeds of hope and renewal. The ritual was simple but clever and clear. It created a silent and meditative space for the performers and the audience to contemplate and be still. We were all these things: a spectacle, a ritual, a performance, a sisterhood. The material was challenging, even though the task was simple and it was reassuring and inspiring to feel supported by my peers. The act itself of women healing women was made overt in the cleaning of each other's faces.

In the atrium after the performance, Catherine Marshall gave an inspiring speech, observing how the Removing Pain performance and performance art in general was a reclamation or reinvention of ritual in a country where religious and spiritual rituals have been made meaningless and perverse (It made me think not only of child abuse in the Catholic Church and the Magdalene women, but of Tara and The Corrib Gas Project).

The speech, and the elements of ritual that the performance evoked made me think about the complex issues of performer and audience again. Part of me wanted to parade outside of Trinity, to walk through the city and expand the performance outside Trinity's walls. I had funny thoughts occur to me imagining this ritual becoming a staple of Trinity life. People coming from all over the world to see the women walking in white through the grounds of Trinity college, like the routine of soldiers at Buckingham Palace. Although as Catherine Marshall suggested, the more spontaneous a ritual, the less vulnerable it is to fatigue or indeed, corruption, in which case, we can indeed look to performance and performative practice, as a tool for reflection and meditation.

I also observed how the performance and ritual, was vulnerable to what I consider to be a consumerist attitude which can invade the experience of both being part of a performance and witnessing it. Possibly as a result of the oppressive rituals which have preceded us and the corruption which is now public knowledge, I fear that my ideal imagined ritualism is no longer possible in my environment - the ideal being opportunity and space for collective reverie, reflection, suspension and stillness in a world of relentless chatter, comment and photographs (Even though the performance was supposed to be a video piece, when Beth's camera would not work, my friend commented on how the performance seemed almost more valuable undocumented. And although I am grateful of the beautiful photos, my negotiation with and opinion on the ethics of photography and documentation is ongoing).

We need new rituals. Although I do not subscribe to religion, I fear the religious and ritualistic gap-stop of neo-liberalism, capitalism and consumerism alongside the perversion and corruption of the Catholic church has left us alienated as a people, for the majority of us literally put our faith in these two Gods, as it were, both of which have of course been revealed as fallible and corrupt. But are we learning from these mistakes? It certainly is an interesting chapter to live through, even if the outcome is as yet unclear. I am looking forward to seeing what new rituals we invent outside of religion, even though the struggle to achieve and maintain solidarity in a new poorer Ireland, will surely present a challenge, as much as it ever was!

More information on the artist Beth Moysés: http://www.bethmoyses.com.br/
And the event: Here and here.

Note: Many important topics in here and I've had my doubts about posting this, especially without drawing more attention to the issue of domestic violence in the midst of all this ritual talk. I'd love to hear some responses, to develop a discussion...

CATHOLIC GLITCH: St. Blackbird in print

Read the article and the see the pictures here: Pages 56 and 57.

Funny story:

When the young Will Eames and I shot this set, we did not imagine it would be published, or at least the practicalities of such an enterprise was not at the fore of our minds. But when the editor of Totally Dublin clapped his eyes on our reverent Saint, well, it was only right that she was included in the December edition, for Christmas!

But alas, although the shop guy loved the prints we gave him, the nature of his business meant he would not agree to the publication of some of the more detailed images. It was heart breaking. We had to change the images we wanted to use, photoshop out distinctive features and darken corners to increase anonymity of this little jewel of Catholic retail in Dublin city.

The Censorship of St. Blackbird!

I was briefly ruined by this censorship, but the incident gave me the slightest insight into the impacts of Catholic influence which has oppressively dominated Irish Culture and in many respects still does. While we may be in the process of removing the restrictive layers of enforced religion (is that a pun?), it cannot be denied that the negative effects of Catholicism will be felt for a long time to come, even as the tangible manifestations of such oppression are at long last being addressed and discussed openly.

Here are a few (personally interesting) particularly Catholic induced events and some revolutionary battles won in the face of Catholic sexual oppression:

March 25th, 433: St. Patrick arrives in Ireland, at Slane.

(There's a quote I'm after, watch this space)

Jack Harte, Unraveling the Spiral - the Life and Work of Fred Conlon

Read more here.

1965: Author John McGahern's novel The Dark is banned in Ireland for its alleged pornographic content and implied sexual abuse by a member of the clergy and descriptions of physical abuse by the protagonists Father. The controversy led to McGahern's dismissal from his teaching post.

The Dark, John McGahern-s second novel, is set in rural Ireland. The themes - that McGahern has made his own - are adolescence and a guilty, yet uncontrollable sexuality that is contorted and twisted by both a puritanical state religion and a strange, powerful and ambiguous relationship between son and widower father.Against a background evoked with quiet, undemonstrative mastery, McGahern explores with precision and tenderness a human situation, superficially very ordinary, but inwardly an agony of longing and despair.-It creates a small world indelibly and without recourse to deliberate heightening effects of prose. There are few writers whose work can be anticipated with such confidence and excitement.- Sunday Times-One of the greatest writers of our era.

- Hilary Mantel, New Statesman

1971: Women in their numbers travel to Belfast to bring back contraceptives still illegal in the Republic of Ireland, contesting the anti-birth control policies of the Catholic-dominated Irish government and the Criminal Justice Act of 1935, which forbid the import or sale of contraceptives.

When the would-be smugglers emerged from the train, a customs officer raised his hand to halt the procession. One of the women cried, "Loose your contraceptives!" and a shower of condoms, pills, diaphragms, foams, intrauterine loops and spermicidal jellies fell at his feet. Some women tossed the contraceptives over customs officials' heads to friends. Others produced the pill, swallowed it, then challenged customs men: "Now confiscate that!"

Read more here.

1984: A 15 year old school girl with a concealed pregnancy gives birth alone in a grotto in County Longford. The young girl and the new born baby are later found dead in the grotto.

Ann Lovett's death came just four months after the outcome of a divisive abortion referendum in which a two-thirds majority voted to enshrine the right to life of the unborn in the constitution, creating confusion over where that left the rights of the mother. The death of mother and child became symbolic of the emerging clash between church and state. The media spotlight was understandably glaring.

Read more here.

1993: Homosexuality is decriminalised in Ireland.

Homosexual acts were illegal in Ireland up until the Summer of 1993. The offenses against the Person Act lifted the band, and declared the age of consent to be 17, the same as that for acts between heterosexuals.

2009: The Ryan Report: 'Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care,
inquiry finds. 
 
Rape and sexual molestation were "endemic" in Irish Catholic church-run industrial schools and orphanages, a report revealed today.
The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.
The high court judge Sean Ryan today unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's commission into child abuse, which drew on testimony from thousands of former inmates and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. Police were called to the news conference amid angry scenes as victims were prevented from attending.
Read more here.

AND THEN THERE WERE THE CULTURAL RESPONSES:
(A Selection)
Will Saint Leger

Neil Watkins:

Opus Gei:

Read an interesting article on some of the artistic and performative responses to Ireland's Catholic heritage and recent history here

November Blackbird!

Tomorrow night (the 5th Nov) at the Village, Wexford St.,
The LoveCats celebrate their first birthday with a massive venue, guest MC Joe Rooney (Remember Father Damo?) and of course, a fantastic Burlesque Showcase.
Blackbird's Double Rainbow went down so well at Gateway Festival, that I've been invited back to Double Rainbow-it-up yet again for the Birthday festivities!
Tickets are €10 (If you want some email me owlbusyness@gmail.com)
Doors at 7.30pm
Dancing, Burlesque, Pole Dancing, Live Music, Prizes for Best (un)dressed

Then on Sunday the 7th Nov, I'll be hanging out of this young'in at her show, Shazwanda! It's like Open Sesame or Alakazam!
Shazwanda! Ta-Da!
She is tote great. Real good skin who puts on a terrific show.
It's free entry and it's on in the Dragon on George's Street
Show starts at 9pm
The theme of the show is "Down with that sort of thing!" (another Father Ted reference, hear that Joe!) and it was inspired by St. Blackbird herself! So in a way, it's my show too... hehehe! Shazwanda saw the Saint and was delivered inspiration, she felt the Passion!
I'll be doing trips around Ireland next letting people touch the hem of my habit for health.

The Passion of St. Blackbird

I've been anticipating the addition of this photo to my blog for your pursuing. It's a shot taken by the young Will Eames of my Passion of St. Blackbird performance in Smithfield Saturday gone. The place was like a gospel church inside with screaming, fainting and rambunctious praising of the powers above for the joys and sensations of the Passion.

It took three days for me to fully recover from the emotional quagmire evoked by my channeling of Teresa of Ávila, for there was some genuine Goddess power on stage that night. Pity the nature of cabaret means 4 minute performances for I felt so at home on stage that I did not want to leave. It was the best experience of energetic reciprocation from an audience I have ever felt, and the beginning of something vast and wonderful. It has provoked a number of thought tumblings and things to be said.

As usual, the opportunity and impulse to create and collaborate has not slowed.

Related posts here and here and here.

For the love of God.

THE PASSION OF SAINT BLACKBIRD

OCTOBER NINTH. THE COMPLEX, SMITHFIELD

A Performance not to be missed!

Photo by Angela, Blackbird's attire, also by Angela. Angela, you are one talented Mother.

For more details see this post.
For tickets and full details see this website.

Quote of the day.

While reading aloud a passage from The Judgment of Tiresias (Ovid's Metamorphoses) to Mother...:

Me: Meanwhile, they say that in heaven Jove had put aside his weighty cares, and, drink in hand, was busy killing time in repartee with Juno: "Women get far more pleasure out of sex than men do," he said. And when she denied this, they both agreed to seek the arbitration of the transsexual sage, Tiresias, who, in a leafy forest, had once profaned the coupling of two enormous serpents, by giving them a blow with his walking stick..."

Mother: Sounds like a Galway Parish Priest.

Oh how we laughed.

Aside:
Actor Ned Dennehy played Tiresias in Gavin Quinn and Simon Doyle's play Oedipus Loves You and BLEW MY MIND. Best opening scene ever. Any movie, any play, any performance I've ever seen.

AVANTI MARIA! on tape...

Oh how I love the cassette. A blue, ecclesiastical Avanti Maria! tape, where I drum up some good shamanistic adoration for Our Lady, with a gorgeous collage inlay designed by myself and the bunny-enthusiast-Kiwi Angeline Chirnside of Jane Austen R.I.P. fame playing some one-note bass and speaking shly about Library Zombies while I shout loudly for soup. Trust me, an experience not to be missed.

Someone once described Avanti Maria! as a friendship gone too far which is quite apt. This is our first and possibly only release, a 5 song E.P. which is full of rumbly goodness if honest I must be. The drumming is somewhere between Party Weirdo and D.N.A., shambolic, tribal and of course, religious (Hah!).

It's only 5 euro and it's available from Road Records in Dublin and via snail mail from me. Email me, owlbusyness@gmail. DO IT SO.

Avanti Maria! are playing a very special night on the 18th July in the Sugar Club. See here for details.

Vacuum packed synths and towel wrapped bass guitars, showing adoration in a welding complex.

Mary in Yellow Towel

Echoing my previous post: an introduction to my preoccupation with Catholic paraphernalia and what myself and Angeline from Avanti Maria! call Catholic Glitch (that terrible but wonderful mixture of catholic guilt and kitch), one of a series of photos I made into posters. If you want one, email me - owlbusyness@gmail.com

neo-Christian punk rock... Screaming anyone?

Although I've been planning a spectacular new blog post, I did not want to forgo the abundance of time and free fast internet that accompanies my visiting the pets at Mummy's house! So I thought I would share with you an idea that occurred to me in the past which has now reoccurred after watching these videos on Panti's blog, of two young people giving their "testimonies" at a 'born again' (?) Christian gathering. Watching the above evoked feelings of fascination, irritation, confusion and discomfort as is what happened when I watched the documentary Jesus Camp. But I think these "testimonies", the descriptions and experiences of invocation, are more interesting and complicated than some people allow for. This is what I said in response to Panti's blog:

I find these videos of young people and kids fascinating because it's like neo-Christian punk rock. On one hand they are being completely exploited and manipulated and on the other hand they are, from what I can see, accessing a space where they can freak out physically and vocally about whatever negative stuff is happening to them. By this I mean addiction, competitive relationships with their friends, self-hate - obviously it's completely ironic that he's "recovering" from the shame of homosexuality by repressing his own instinctual desire, and being encouraged that this denial is healthy which is what is fucked up and further, is totally at odds with the gush of love and acceptance of self the fella seems to experience at the end of his "testimony", which is actually really powerful. It kind of reminds me of the video footage and photographs depicting female Beatles fans having fits in the audience, the noise of which completely drowns out the sound of the music in one particular clip that comes to mind. I used to think any ONE of those women would make incredible front women - what with all that energy to dispose of... And I often found myself wondering if they were actually interested in the music at all, or was it the forum they were passionate about... The same question can be applied to the above - do these kids just need a place to rock out?

Odd observation:
I was very preoccupied with the writings of certain female mystics last year, and continue to be, so find it very interesting that the young woman says "I was on the floor screaming, I couldn't even contain it". In a particularly lucid and passionate passage by Saint Teresa of Ávila (who inspired Gian Lorenzo Bernini's the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa), she says:

I found myself dying of the desire to see God, and I knew no way of seeking that other life except through death. This love came to me in mighty impulses which, although less unbearable and less valuable than those that I have described before, robbed me of all power of action. Nothing gave me satisfaction, and I could not contain myself; I really felt as if my soul were being torn from me. O supreme cunning of the Lord, with what delicate skill did You work on Your miserable slave! You hid Yourself from me, and out of Your love You afflicted me with so delectable a death that my soul desired it never to cease!




Screaming anyone?