Cornelscourt Parish Hall

Cornelscourt Parish Hall
The Location of Foxrock Folk Club

THE FOXROCK FOLK CLUB

As Luke Kelly remarked when he played the club in December 1972, a folk club in the suburb of Foxrock was a somewhat unlikely combination. Probably even more unlikely was the fact it was organised and run by teenagers and managed to attract to Foxrock some of the biggest names on the Irish music scene (see Folk Club History & "Local and Visiting Artists").

The aim of the Foxrock Folk Club Project is to (1) research the history of the club (2) develop a club archive and (3) create a space in which people who played at the club or attended some of the sessions can share their memories of what was an unique musical and cultural experience.

Contact: jeremy.kearney40@gmail.com


Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Folk Club Photos and Memorabilia


Here are some photos taken by Michael Blake, a local photographer and photo chronicler of the club, and other club memorabilia,


THE FOXROCK FOLK CLUB PROJECT
Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. John Kenny10 April 2009 at 12:16

    Goodness me I had forgotten all the good times we had at the Foxrock Folk Club.Got my first taste for Irish music there and have been playing ever since. Just for pleasure mostly but with lots of good mates too. Met a lifelong friend the artist Gerald Davis there the night Louis Stewart played.I remember Una Balfe with great fondness,Pete Sheahan,Ricky Cullen,Roddy Jones,and the late Lar Cassidy.Jeremy Kearney and brother Phil,Nessa Mc, Jim Wall, Des Kiernan Phillip O Neill are ye all still this side of the sod lads? Met Anne Cassidy at my sister's wedding in November.Played with Alison O Donnell of Mellow Candle until recently when the recession pulled the plug on a session at the Raddisson in Stillorgan .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeremy Kearney12 April 2009 at 22:32

    I think we were all inspired by the experience of hearing so many different kinds of wonderful music at the club and good to know it got you playing. The Louis gigs were always great as he always just kept playing, no matter what happened...(there are some stories there) and its fascinating to know that Gerald Davis was there as of course he promoted albums by Louis.
    As far as I know, most of the people you mention at still around, apart from Lar, who is the sadly missed. It would be interesting to know where everybody is now.
    I've met Alison O'Donnell a few times and was at some of the gigs in the Radisson so have probably heard you play... a pity it's finished.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pete Sheehan14 April 2009 at 01:38

    Hi John, pete sheehan here, good to hear from you
    after all these years, we're all slitt around and
    looking forward to getting together at the FFC@40
    Concert on 14.06.09. Should be a right BLAST. Pete

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous14 April 2009 at 09:42

    John/Pete
    Raymond McGee here (the one on the committee who had been inside folk clubs before - the Universal, the Coffee Kitchen etc as one half of the Battle of Clontarf, who plaed FFC 4/10/70-strewth! - still see some of those folk club guys on alt. Wednesdays in Hughes', Chancery St)Surely some opportunity for an oul' night with guitars somewhere! (but will of course be at the Pavilion. Cheers, Raymond

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1 May 2009 at 12:40

    Hi Jer,
    Just finished listening to Melanie’s programme on the Folk Club. Fantastic. Nostalgic. I last met the gang at Lar’s 10th anniversary bash in the Carpet and I was delighted to hear from Pete Sheehan that the tapes were in safe keeping!
    No doubt much of the stuff I remember is known, and probably was not included on RTE due to time constraints. After almost thirty years my memory is a bit vague; some of the things I do remember:
    We got great support from Fr. O’Neill (Pop O’Neill) for use of the Parish Hall – his transfer to a city centre parish (City Quay?) made things a bit more difficult.
    Lighting – Pete S. built the lighting consol, a very primitive affair, with about eight switches, a few plugs (which were unplugged as needed) and two dimmers all mounted onto a five foot length of 8 inch skirting board. I think the two dimmers came from Mr. Cassidy, who provided them from some photographic lighting contact. The wires were draped over the ceiling beams and we always had to remove everything after a performance. The kit usually was transported in Mrs. C’s Renault 16 before Pete got “The Blue Van” – in which, incidentally, he later transported Stephan Grappelli, with me in the back carefully holding his violin. Clodagh can tell you what was going on in the front! Noffer also did some equipment transporting also in his Renault 4.
    Pete usually did the lighting, but because the lighting position on top of the porch /entrance door, it was very hot and he would repair to the Carpet to “rehydrate” and I would step in if he got delayed. The first time I had to do the lighting, Bryan Fry was on after the intermission and one of his songs in constant demand was Bob Dylan’s “Cocaine.” The lines “Yonder came a baby dressed in blue/ white /red” called for appropriate light, but I got the sequence wrong, much to the annoyance of BF and the laughter of the audience. Not to mention the slagging I got ................
    We never managed to get the full group of either the Dubliners or the Chieftains on stage at the one time, we always missed just one member. Despite this, all members of each group played there on different occasions. Derek Bell had not joined the Chieftains at that time, and the Chieftains played the big charity gig for a fee of £40 – an incredibly small amount considering it was just after the launch of their ground-breaking Chieftains 3 album. Their “Foxhunt” always was demanded. Lar, Roddy Jones, Dunner and I often had discussions late into the night in the Playroom on the possibility of getting the Chieftains and Butler Fox to jam. Paddy Molony was in agreement, but we never could get both groups together on the one date
    Horslips – this was a very packed concert and we were way above our capacity limit. We paid them I think £60, the largest amount we ever paid any group, but that was what they had paid for the hire of their sound equipment and we just covered the cost. Whoever was on the door felt we needed the extra cash and let too many in – certainly not the Hon, Treasurer! We had obtained some extra lights and Pete and I were crammed on top of the porch for the session. (The mind boggles!) Certain herbal cigarettes were being smoked by some people in the hall, and as smoke rises, both Pete and I were higher than the roof of the porch by the end of the evening. Shortly after that concert Horslips released their first bestselling album, “Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part.”
    Louis Stewart – on one memorable occasion he got wound up in a riff and was poked in the back by the Wad with a drumstick to prevent him from crashing back into his kit.
    Nial Tobin always had to include “A Pint of Plain” in his performance.
    On the big-name sessions we often had to turn people away.
    At the break the trick was to get PJ, the barman in the Carpet to have copious pints already poured – otherwise many would return thirsty. PJ’s performance – or lack thereof – often was determined by our timekeeping on the previous night’s drinking – “Ah Jays lads, have yez no homes to go to?”
    One name missing from the list of artists is Jolyon Jackson. There also was a blues singer with a huge voice - was it Red Waters?
    “Half Brick” surely deserves a place in the hall of fame for the anxiety his heckling caused us, tho’ he was well behaved always for Ronnie!
    Great to see that the history is being recorded,
    Best wishes to all the gang,
    Bob Frewen,

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pete Sheehan1 May 2009 at 16:44

    Bob,
    Never mind about history being recorded,
    just you get out your big fat cheque book and
    get your gang tickets for all for the concert on
    14..6.2009, NO excuses, questions will be asked in
    the Dail, WHEN they are NOT on Holidays. So get your skinny little Dalkey ass down to DunLaoghaire for a night of Wine,Women and Song

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous30 July 2009 at 14:36

    Artists appearing on the First Session admission ticket included the Currach Folk - who were the Currach Folk?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown18 March 2010 at 12:45

    24/10/71 --- My sister told me she was there at the AURA gig, drooling over Brian Despard (their drummer)who had 'danced' with some girl at the previous Belfield gig, She was brokenhearted. The Foxrock Folk Club gig on 24th was the one where she was on a date with Dave and drooling over Brian (poor Dave, she told him and he said cool or the like). She remembers it so well. Also remembers being there with Brian a year or so later, when Horslips were playing. That was the nignt that Daddy whacked her arse (when she arrived home after midnight) for being late home and Brian ran off up the road as fast as the road runner to escape her father's wrath! I was there that night with my sister. I was the bass player in the band that night (AURA). What memories!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)