Out & About

May 2020

Top films to watch on TV this week

Thursday: Beast (2017) Film4, 9pm - Shot partly on location in Jersey, Beast is a brooding adult fairy tale of female empowerment and sexual awakening.

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‘No Connection’ sends signal of intent

One of County Wexford’s newest rock bands has just released one of the most exciting tracks to be released by any act from the county in recent times.

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Shallow, bland Maneater a throwaway title

Maneater feels like a game from a different era of gaming - one where surrealness and difference for difference's sake were rewarded more handsomely than fine-tuned gameplay and solid progression systems.

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Retro top ten: this week in 1980

A song commissioned to be 'the stupidest song every written' was sitting on the top of the pop charts this week 40 years ago.

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Winning the hard way and fighting for the truth

This week's column is the second in a two-part look at the music of Kevin Kerdoc Murphy.

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Race, slavery and the Battle of Vinegar Hill

Race and our interpretation of it as Irish people has changed irrevocably over the last 20 years. Where once Paul McGrath and Phil Lynott were, as legend has it, the only black people on the island, we are now a nation of many ethnicities, a modern multicultural tribe which celebrates its differences rather than rejects them.

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Wall art to brighten up derelict buildings

The Waterford Walls graffiti art festival is looking at expanding into New Ross this autumn, in conjunction with New Ross Municipal District.

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A perfectly addictive co-op game for lockdown

The combination of endless wit and buttery-smooth gameplay is one that is rarely achieved but Deep Rock Galactic succeeds where many others have failed, weaving endless charm and solid gameplay into an explosive co-operative experience teeming with replayability.

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Top films to watch on TV this week

Wednesday: The Martian (2015) Film4, 9p.m.

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Retro top 10: this week in 1989

1 Ferry Cross The Mersey Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson and The Christians

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Count your blessings for Cursed Murphy

County Wexford rockers, Cursed Murphy Versus the Resistance, have just released their fourth single, 'Climb', and it's a raucous rock 'n' roll affair.

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Layla lands movie role after double duty for rising star

New Ross movie star in the making Layla Ponde landed a role while acting as a double in a hit new film.

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New album is just what this Wexford doctor ordered!

Wexford-born cancer specialist and university professor, Joe O' Sullivan, has released a new album for charity.

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When the creative road has no boundaries

The name Ian 'Mocha' Moloney has been synonymous with the County Wexford music scene for the last 30 years.

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April 2020

Berlin is a good fit for Kerdoc

While people in Ireland are coping with lockdown at home and working remotely there are other Irish people living abroad who are in a similar position albeit on foreign shores.

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Country music festival cancelled this year

This year's South East Country Music Festival, which was due to take place on July 26, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus.

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Independent radio station champions local music

With pubs and restaurants closed, theatres and cinemas likewise, many of us are struggling for ways to fill these ever-lengthening evenings.

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Keeping it real with tales from a very different age

Modern technology means many musicians can now record albums at home to a quality that often matches those created in state-of-the-art recording studios.

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Local talent shines through adversity

As we approach another week of lockdown people all around the county are coming up with new and creative ways to keep themselves, and everyone else, entertained.

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Creative crown on hold for 12 Wexford finalists as Junk Kouture delayed

Creative students from a number of Wexford schools will have to wait to the end of the year to take part in the national final of the hugely popular Junk Kouture competition.

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New festival hangs in the balance

With concerts and events falling like dominoes in the wake of the strictly imposed Covid-19 restrictions, we're all longing for a return to some form of normality.

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Optimistic approach to life is essential

As we are all only too well aware, we find ourselves living in chaotic times at the moment. There's a lot of fear and negativity out there and it can be hard to find a few moments of calm to soothe a restless mind. Enter Don Conroy.

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Libraries' digital offering more popular than ever

Wexford Library Service has one of the highest usages of e-book and e-audiobook lending in the country with over 5,000 Wexford people now registered with the Borrowbox e-book app.

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Twelve singers selected for new Opera Festival academy

The names of the singers chosen to take part in a new music academy as part of Wexford Festival Opera, have been announced, as public booking opened for the 2020 programme

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Discover your roots to grow your family tree

Many people like the idea of looking into their family tree but often feel they don't have the time. As we face into further weeks of self isolation and social distancing, the time is ripe for dipping a toe in the genealogy pool.

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March 2020

'It feels like the world has stopped spinning on its axis'

People working in the arts will be severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Kilmore-based visual artist Serena Caulfield, who has been forced to cancel plans for an exhibition of new work.

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Irish dancing world contest cancelled

Irish Dancers who had been working hard in preparation for the World Championships due to be held at the Convention Centre in Dublin in April, were devastated to learn that the event has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Scór na bPáisti is a fantastic success

Oulart Hall was packed recently for the exceptionally high standard final of this years Scór na bPáisti.

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Parades held at home for St Patrick's Day

While this year's St Patrick's Day parades were among the many social events cancelled as a result of the threat to public health posed by the coronarivus, Covid-19, it didn't stop local people from being innovative and creative and holding their own little parades.

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Local re-enactors gather for War of Independence memorial ceremony

Members of Enniscorthy Historical Re-Enactment Society (EHRS) travelled to Hugginstown in County Kilkenny recently to participate in the 100th anniversary commemoration of the first successful capture of a Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Leinster.