Kieran Beville

  Joe Malone’s A Lost Pub, a Living Legacy Portrait of Joe Malone by Kieran Beville I remember the first night I went to Joe Malone’s pub on Denmark Street. It was an October evening, 1975. I had returned from living in Belfast where I bought an embroidered Afghan coat in Shaftsbury Square. Long hair was worn as a declaration of rebellion against social norms. I laugh now to think that at the time I thought I was the bee’s knees. One might think my appearance was conspicuous but nothing could be further from the truth. I blended in like a chameleon, camouflaged with other hippies in similar attire. There are places that never made a record but still shaped the sound of a generation. Joe Malone’s pub was one of those places. No stage lights, no booking agent. Just a door that opened, a counter worn smooth by elbows, and a room that understood that music does not have to be something you present to people; it is something you let happen. In 1970s Limerick, that distinction ma...

  Ger Costello The Soul of Limerick Still Sings Few musicians become so closely associated with the spirit of a city that their name alone evokes memories, friendships and entire eras. In Limerick, Ger Costelloe is one of those rare figures. For more than half a century, the acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter has occupied a cherished place in the musical life of the city. His story stretches from the spontaneous musical gatherings of Denmark Street in the early 1970s to celebrated performances with The O’Malleys in Dolans decades later. To generations of music lovers across Limerick and Clare, Ger Costelloe represents authenticity — a musician who never chased fashion, never lost faith in the emotional power of music and never forgot the connection between performer and audience. Now living quietly in County Clare, he remains one of the most respected and warmly regarded figures on the Irish live music scene. Ger Costelloe   Denmark Street years The stor...

  The Poet Who Reinvented Rock Patti Smith turned King John’s Castle into a cathedral of poetry Some concerts entertain. Others linger in the memory because they feel like cultural events rather than performances. Patti Smith’s appearance at King John’s Castle last night belonged firmly to the latter. In the magnificent setting of one of Ireland’s finest Norman fortresses, Smith transformed a summer concert into something far richer: an evening where poetry, rock music, history, politics and spirituality coexisted with remarkable ease. On a beautiful sunny evening the ancient stone seemed to glow in the long midsummer evening, providing a fitting backdrop for an artist who has spent more than half a century illuminating rather than conforming. To describe Patti Smith simply as a rock singer has always been inadequate. She is equally poet, memoirist, visual artist and cultural icon. Long before audiences spoke about artists crossing disciplines, Smith was already dissolving ...

  Don O’Connor A Limerick Musician’s Life in Reform & Beyond Don O'Connor By any measure, Don O’Connor is one of those artists whose influence outweighs his profile. For decades he has been a steady rhythmic pulse in Irish music, a performer, writer and community figure whose work has rippled far beyond the stages he first stood on. From the raw energy of Reform to later explorations in world, folk and community music, O’Connor’s story mirrors Limerick’s musical coming-of-age. A city, a time, a beat To understand Don O’Connor, you first have to understand Limerick at the moment he came of age. The city in the late 1960s was restless and creative, caught between tradition and the promise of something louder, freer and more international. Dance halls still mattered, showbands ruled the roads, and young musicians absorbed influences from radio, imported records and British and American rock. O’Connor was part of that generation that didn’t wait for permission. Music wasn’...

  Shades of Red A Poet’s Eye on the Ordinary and the Eternal by Kieran Beville Vivienne McKechnie There is a quiet confidence about Shades of Red , the latest collection from Limerick poet Vivienne McKechnie. It does not shout for attention or rely on fashionable obscurity. Instead, it invites the reader into a world where the ordinary becomes luminous and where the deepest human concerns are approached with honesty, compassion and considerable craft. Published by Revival Press, the collection gathers poems that move through memory, grief, love, loss, friendship, animals, history and the strange passage of time itself. The result is a book that feels both intimate and expansive, rooted in lived experience yet reaching towards larger questions about what it means to be human. McKechnie, who was born in Dublin and has made her home in Limerick, is already well known in literary circles. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick and has taught Eng...