Monday
Dublin Painting and Sketching Club 138th Annual Exhibition
Concourse Gallery, County Hall, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, May 9th-21st dublinpaintingandsketchingclub.ie
Sidestepping the obvious Rising theme, the Club opted instead to mark the centenary by looking at 100 years of Irish literary achievement. You can bet that Joyce will figure as a subject, especially Ulysses. So does Yeats – that's WB, on the literary wing of the family. In all there are nearly 300 works by 80-plus members, including Margo Banks, Patrick Cahill, Betty Christie, Fergal Flanagan, Michael Gemmell, Olivia Hayes, Aidan Hickey, Joan Kavanagh, Paul Kavanagh, Tomas King, Vincent Lambe, Pamela Leonard, Padraig Lynch, Tom Roche, Tom Ryan and Tom Scott.
Tuesday
A$AP Nast
Button Factory, Dublin, 8pm. €15 asapmob.com
It's clear that there's a whole lot more to the A$AP Mob than Rocky and Ferg. Tariq Devega is A$AP Nast, one of the crew's founder members, who featured on early banger and throwback anthem Trillmatic. His own style is bold and brash, a New York native rhymer with a great, agile flow who is capable of top-drawer wordplay and who has also worked with Skepta and Tinashe.
Bryan Adams
3Arena, Dublin, 7.30pm. €62.45 ticketmaster.ie. Also Wed, Belfast
You know that everything he does, he does it for you, don't you? He may be on the receiving end of stick from certain sections of the media, but Adams is clearly having the last laugh, as he now approaches his fifth decade as a recording artist. His latest album, Get Up, is a leap away from his best work, but those numerous multi-million selling back-catalogue hits will surely take up the slack.
Wednesday
Rita Coolidge
NCH Dublin, 8pm. €40/€35/ €30/€25 nch.ie. Also Thurs, Cork
Tennessee-born Coolidge has seen them come and go, which makes her as much a survivor as a classy singer, songwriter and performer. She rarely gigs here, so for the fan, it's something of a treat to see her.
Inhabitance
Project Arts Centre. Ends May 14th, 8.15pm. €16/€14 projectartscentre.ie
A few years ago, the writer Peter Dunne made quite an impact with a play that took a real-life, morally dubious, social experiment as its inspiration for a story about what makes people do what they do. That play was The Broadening, staged by Glass Doll Productions, who finally return with Dunne's follow-up. Again directed by Ronan Phelan, it seems to take real-life, morally dubious circumstances and extrapolates them into a fascinatingly grim analysis of society.
A girl has been long missing, her mother has done everything to find her, but public appeals have dimmed and the case is all but forgotten. How can she get people to care again, and will mass entertainment be the answer? If the premise sounds like something worthy of Black Mirror, the sci-fi satire of our near-present, that’s no bad thing. Magnified horrors have always been an effective way of taking a hard look at ourselves.
On a Western Plain
Michael Mc Laughlin. Custom House Gallery, the Quay, Westport, Co Mayo until May 29th. customhousestudios.ie
Michael Mc Laughlin was inspired to become a photographer when he saw an Ansel Adams print in a chip shop in his hometown of Westport.
He didn't even own a camera at that point, but he was transfixed. This show, and a new book, comprise his take on the epic landscapes that fascinated the great US photographers.
Thursday
Waterford Treasures Talk
Medieval Museum, Waterford, 7.30pm, €5 (towards the Museum acquisition fund)
Kevin O'Sullivan, Editor of The Irish Times, presents a talk entitled 'Challenges for quality media in the digital era'. Tickets are available from Bishop's Palace Reception (0761-102650, museumreception@waterfordcity.ie) or on the door on the night, but come early as places are limited.
The Mighty Stef
Empire Music Hall, Belfast, 8pm. £10 thebelfastempire.com
It is never easy saying goodbye to a band that not only you admire but also that you reckon could have done so well commercially if only destiny hadn't dictated otherwise. So it's a doffing of the cap to this fine Dublin band – we can only hope that granite-tough and melodic rock music will continue in whatever they do next.
Breeding Ground – Vera Klute
Molesworth Gallery, 16 Molesworth St, Dublin, May 12th-June 10th. molesworthgallery.com
Klute is an extraordinary, compelling artist. The 2015 Hennessy Portrait Prize winner, she has a string of honours and accolades to her name. Working across a range of means and media, she is fascinated by how we see, experience and deal with the external world "as subjective agents". She observes us – and herself – as the strange creature we are.
Vicar Spraoí
Vicar St, Dublin, 8pm. €20 ticketmaster.ie
The quintessential master of ceremonies Philip King will corral a mighty fine gathering of musicians to fundraise for Ranelagh's Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg. With Altan, The Bonny Men, Liam Ó Maonlaí and many more.
Cory Henry/CEO Experiment
Sugar Club, Leeson St, Dublin, 8pm. €17.50 thesugarclub.com
Hammond organist Cory Henry is another spin-off from the jazz juggernaut that is US double Grammy-winning collective Snarky Puppy, but if Puppy fans are expecting more get-on-the-floor grooves, they may be disappointed. Henry's latest release, The Revival, is a solo organ affair, a very personal meander through his musical mind, more akin to the late-night musings of a church organist, albeit one from a very hip church. With support from Dublin power trio CEO Experiment, led by Venezuelan pianist Leopoldo Osio. Can I get an "Amen"?
Gary Peacock, Marc Copland, Joey Baron
Kevin Barry Room, NCH, Dublin, 7.30pm. €30, nch.ie. Also Fri
Bassist Gary Peacock is many things - an important innovator on his instrument, a key figure in the US avant-garde in the 60s, and a collaborator with piano giants like Bill Evans and Paul Bley. But he is certainly best known as one-third of the planet's biggest and, many would argue, best piano trio, the peerless Keith Jarrett trio. It's a hard act to follow, but Peacock's own trio is no second fiddle. With the poetic Marc Copland on piano and the ingeniously inventive Joey Baron on drums, Peacock's "Now This" trio takes the form in a different, more introspective direction. For the lucky few who get their hands on a ticket, the Kevin Barry Room at the NCH will be a very intimate and up-close way to experience a master at work.
