PICK OF THE WEEK
FEMINIST FILM FESTIVAL
Fri-Sun, New Theatre, Dublin. feministfilmfestivaldublin.com
Is this really necessary? In the age of Amy Schumer, Jennifer Lawrence and Sofia Coppola , do we really need a feminist film festival? You can be damn sure we do. The film industry still remains unashamedly skewed towards men – just take, for example, Lawrence, one of the world's biggest stars and still getting paid less than her male co-stars for putting in the same shift of work.
And then there are the raw statistics, a good bolt of which you can find on this weekend's Feminist Film Festival website at feministfilmfestivaldublin.com. Of the top 2,000 biggest grossing films over the past 20 years, women accounted for only 13 per cent of the editors, 10 per cent of the writers and just 5 per cent of the directors. More than three-quarters of the crew have been men, while only 22 per cent were women.And when it comes to the other side of the camera, in the top-grossing films of 2013, women accounted for just 15 per cent of all protaganonists, 29 per cent of major characters and 30 per cent of all speaking parts – and that's before we deploy Alison Bechdel's brilliantly simple and effective test. The festival runs at Dublin's New Theatre from Friday to Sunday. Buck those statistics by checking out the programme.
FRIDAY
CLASSIC SONGWRITER
Richard Hawley
Vicar St Dublin 7.30pm €33.50 vicarstreet.ie
He may seem like a most unlikely rock star, but Richard Hawley has more cred than most. From Pulp to Arctic Monkeys – not forgetting his often superlative solo work, for which he has been twice nominated for a Mercury Music Prize – Hawley's baritone voice alone is worth the price of admission.
TRADITIONAL
Ulaid
Denvir's Hotel, Downpatrick 8pm £10 048-44612012. Also Sun, Cork; Tues, Wed, Kerry; Thurs, Armagh
Traditional musicians have a curious ability to morph into many forms, depending on the company they keep, and yet still retain the soul of the music whose flame they keep. John McSherry is a piper who's long been open to the challenges of keeping it real, and now he's exploring the boundaries of traditional music in the company of long-time collaborator (and fellow At First Light founder), Donal O'Connor, and with accompanist Seán Óg Graham in this new trio. An eponymous CD is released to coincide with this tour.
HORRORTHON
Goblin
District 8 Dublin 6pm €40/€22.50/€15 goblinofficial.com
Horror soundtrack freaks, this is most definitely for you. Claudio Simonetti's fabled Goblin are in town and the Italian prog-rock and soundtrack giants will perform live scores to accompany screenings of Dario Argento's Suspiria and Profondo Rosso flicks. After the screenings, Goblin's performances and a Q&A with Simonetti, Devil's Night Disco takes over the venue with DJ sets from The Horrorist, I-F, Umberto, Everything Shook and Barry Donovan.
TECHNO-JAZZ
GoGo Penguin
Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire. Also Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge (Sat), Model, Sligo (Sun) musicnetwork.ie
A 2014 Mercury nomination, an appearance on Jools Holland, and a record deal with Blue Note France are helping Manchester piano trio GoGo Penguin break out of the genre cage. They may look like a traditional piano trio but their influences run from Squarepusher to Shostakovich to EST – just don't mention the j-word . Nationwide tour concludes this week.
DANCE
Lumo
Bar Tengu, Yamamori Sushi, Great Strand Street, Dublin €6/10 eventbrite.com
The first night of a brand new club? Get in at the ground level. Luma's focus is on dancing with your mates, not hanging out in the smoking area. Classics and curve balls promised from The Knife to Paul McCartney, with Nialler9, Simon Roche and Gavin Elsted calling the shots.
SATURDAY
FREE SPIRITS
The Waterboys
Opera House, Cork 8pm €44 corkoperahouse.ie Also Wed/Thurs, Dublin
For more than 30 years, Mike Scott has shaped the revolving- door line-up of The Waterboys into whatever music takes his fancy. Such a policy has meant that what's delivered isn't always to the public's tastes. This aside, there's no doubting that when the wind is blowing in the right direction nothing can stop Scott in full flow.
WORLD
Mariachi San Patricio
Bello Bar, Portobello, Dublin 8pm €12/€10 eventbrite.ie
Ireland's only full mariachi band play a rare gig to celebrate the Mexican Day of the Dead, a landmark event where ghouls tread softly among us. Leave your enchiladas at the door, but keep your cleats and hat at the ready. It promises to be a swinging night.
PARTY
U:Mack Hallowe'en Fancy Dress Party
Vicar Street, Dublin €30 facebook.com/umack
The first club night in the best venue in the city in over a decade sees the U:Mack crew continue their 21st birthday celebrations with an all-star cast hitting the Liberties. There are DJ sets from such visiting big names as Basement Jaxx and The Orb Soundsystem, while the mighty Billy Scurry, Lasertom, Adultrock, LRB, Simon F and Mark Gill add more fibre and flavour. It's a fancy dress bash so do come suitably attired.
BIRTHDAY
Shine
Queen's University, Belfast 9pm £20 shine.net
20 years is a long, long time in clubland, but that's the number of candles Shine will have on their birthday cake tonight. Joining the Shine regulars to celebrate that landmark anniversary over three rooms will be local worthies Bicep (playing a Shine techno classics set), BBC Radio One's fast-rising Heidi, Circo Loco's Ryan Elliott, Harvard Bass, the DSNT techno crew, AnD, Dublin's techno ambassador Sunil Sharpe, Jordan, Swoose and Cromby.
CLUB
Mylo
Opium Rooms, Dublin 11pm €20/€18/€15/€12 facebook.com/mylomusic
A decade ago, Mylo was the Scottish DJ and producer most likely to succeed before Calvin Harris came along and took the superstar DJ crown. The Isle of Skye dude born Myles McInnes enjoyed positive vibes and reaction to his Destroy Rock & Roll debut album in 2004, but that's remained his only studio outing to date. Support in the main room from Boots & Kats and the Bedlam DJs, while Gromma and the Abstract crew keep it sweet in the Garden.
TECHNO
Republik
Crystal, Waterford 10.30pm €10/€8 republikmusic.net
Another birthday (10th in this case) and another fancy dress party as Republik welcome Cologne techno-slinger Barnt to the south-east. Over the last couple of years, he's released some killer tracks like Chappell and Cherry Red for labels like Hinge Finger, Hivern Discs and his own Magazine, while remixes like his redo of Jamie xx's Loud Places have amplified his appeal. Supprt from Republik residents Warren Sauvage and Kenno.
SUNDAY
PSYCH-POP
Deerhunter
Button Factory Dublin 7.30pm €26.40 buttonfactory.ie
From Atlanta, Georgia, Deerhunter pack in as many sub-genres into their overall sound as they can get away with, so expect to hear quiet (á la Stereolab) as well as loud (á la Sonic Youth). Special guest is Atlas Sound, the solo project from Deerhunter's Bradford Cox.
JAZZ LEGEND
Louis Stewart
JJ Smyths Dublin, 5pm, €10 jjsmyths.com
It is improbable but true that one of the greats of jazz guitar can be heard on a regular basis in a dark upstairs room on Dublin's Aungier Street. Louis Stewart is one of the most fluent and gifted of the generation who transferred the sinuous lines of Parker and Gillespie to the guitar, and every couple of weeks, he still climbs the narrow stairs at JJ Smyths to play for a couple of dozen people. One day, there'll be a plaque on the wall outside commemorating that fact.
CREEPS
Unshaped Form
Spirit Store, Dundalk 8pm €10, spiritstore.ie
Unshaped Form's recent residency at Dublin's Bello Bar is going on the road to Louth. They improvise music on voice, cello, synths, guitar, drums, electronics and percussion to screened films, and here they are joined by producer Steve Shannon, with a Halloween vibe to the specially selected movies.
