Marie Conniffe: News

or the talent show,

which I didn't win.

I would have - if it wasn't for those pesky kids.

Yes, I am bitter.

Well, I'm actually over it now, it was a few weeks ago at this stage.

Since then, I've been writing more than performing,

and actually finished a song, of all things!

Although, I did perform on Henry St. as part of the fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

I met some nice people and it all went quite well.

But the big news is that I shall be doing a week-long tour of northern Italy in late May/early June.

Stay tuned - I'll put up all the details when I have them to hand.

Driving test number two is on Monday, wish me luck!

That's it :)

Yeah, so i'm supposed to be updating this 'news' at least once a week

but, as you can see, my last entry was in October - not good enough Conniffe!

anyways, you'd imagine with all the time that has lapsed, i might have something to say for myself,

we'll see...

Well, for starters, my beautiful, musically-endowed friends, Rebecca & Jeremy, got hitched in November.

There are links to both of their websites under my 'links' page - you should check them out.

The ceremony was really lovely, with a Star Wars theme tune at the end that wasn't lame or anything!

And our friend, Leo, sang 'South America Song', which he & Jeremy wrote - well I won't tell you where -

but it was inspired by Rebecca, and it's on The Remedy's website which I have also provided a link to.

Snow, Christmas, snow, more snow...

In the meantime, I've been learning to drive, taking a break during the aforementioned snow.

I even sat my driving test about a week ago, but I failed...sob.

Ah well, first time and everything. Next time, hopefully.

Although, the point is, if you're here, you probably want to know what I'm doing musically.

And, the answer is, shag all.

I haven't been writing songs, I haven't been playing open mics, I've barely been busking,

Which is probably why I haven't been in touch more.

I did meet up with a band - they're called Jupiter & the Infinite (www.myspace.com/jupiterandtheinfinite)

And I think we have potential working together, they seem like a nice bunch of lads,

They seem to have their shit together too, they have a couple of festivals and stuff lined up,

which would be deadly to be a part of, so we'll see how that pans out.

I bought a little mp3 recorder - the sound quality isn't the best, but it's good for getting ideas down

And I've done a few recordings with it, some of which I might stick up here at some point.

One is the Bob Dylan song, made famous by Adele, "To Make You Feel My Love", 

If anyone has any requests for my version of a particular song,

just drop me a line & I will try to make it happen.

Ok, that should just about do for now,

Except, time is running out for free downloads from this site -

Well, some songs will still be available for free,

But, I'm arranging to sell my music with cdbaby,

I'm just trying to figure out the cover art,

So, to quote Janis "Get It While You Can"

Right, slán for now, hopefully you'll hear from me again soon x

So I've not checked in for a while, but here's what's been going on - 

I finally gave up waiting for my P.A. system from Gear4music and, in fairness to them, they refunded my money straight away. So, I found a cheaper, second-hand one on Gumtree and it works fine so I'm a happy camper.

And I spoke to Steve at the Central Entertainment Bureau (an entertainment agency in Dunboyne), and he said they should be able to get me some gigs, although he recommended that I learn some more contemporary songs! So I've broadened my repertoire to include some stuff by The Killers, Kings of Leon, Amy Winehouse, Snow Patrol, and Florence and the Machine. Sure, it's no harm to spice things up a bit. 

I saw an ad on Gumtree for Paul Woodward studios - they're doing a deal - €100 for ten hours in the recording studio, so I've decided to just head in some day soon and try to get as many tunes down as possible. I was hoping that the next time I did some recording, it would be with a well-rehearsed, full band, but that's not where I'm at yet. Anyway, you can't really argue with such a deal, so I might as well do the recording and release the cd with cdbaby, considering they keep mailing me coupons to put out albums (instead of paying $35), and there's no point in letting them go to waste. 

That's about it for now, will try to update a bit more regularly in future, slán anois

ps. speaking of(in) Irish, cheannaigh mé fáinne (airgid) ar an idirlinn inniu agus déanfaigh mé mo dhícheall Gaeilge a labhairt nuair atá an seans agam :) 

so the big news since I wrote to yiz last is that I've become an auntie!

hooray for baby girl Mia Caitríona Conniffe!

she's so tiny! but very cute :) 

In the music world, I played in Fibber Magee's

at the Dublin heat of the mytunerox 'battle of the bands' competition.

The gig went well, and folks said some nice things about me,

but it came down to a text-vote in the end, 

and I think, as a solo artist, I was at a bit of a disadvantage, 

you know, the more band members you have,

the more friends you can convince to vote for you!

So, I didn't qualify for the final, 

sob

In the same way that I keep starting books & not finishing them, 

I seem to have gotten into the annoying habit of starting to write songs, 

and then just wandering off & forgetting about them.

It's not a huge problem, cos I already have a lot of material, 

that needs to be recorded, but I'm pretty bored with most of it at this stage, 

and it'd be nice to have some fresh songs in my repertoire.

So, I should be good & keep plugging away at the ones that need finishing.

In fact I might head & do a bit of that now.

And, in case you're interested...

I have my first driving lesson (since 2006) on Tuesday - eek!

so the first two out of five open mics have gone quite well,

i'm fairly knackered though - i seem to be out of the habit of drinking everyday,

which is probably a good thing, 

but i've met some nice people & heard some good music,

At the Bleeding Horse, I played

(1) Running Free

(2) The Brightest Star

(3) Coming Home

and at Peadar Kearney's, I played

(1) New Song 1*

(2) New Song 4*

(3) The Door

*I will give them titles soon, I will I will I will...

And the folks who run the open mic in Peadar Kearney's

also do showcase nights in The Sweeney on Dame St.

so I'll probably sign up for one of those soon.

Watch this space (www.myspace.com/musicmediumlive)

Slán anois/Bye now

So, at the moment, I'm trying to broaden my repertoire of Irish folk songs.

I'm tackling "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" (dunno who wrote it, no one seems to know).

There's a lovely version here by Paul Brady from 1977 (helped out by Andy Irvine). 

I'm also refreshing my knowledge of "Mo Ghile Mear" (by Seán Clárach Mac Dhomhnaill c. 1691-1757), 

which is a lament for Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was then in exile.

AND, who provided the inpiration for Will Oldham to record some of his albums

under the name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (he liked the "mellifluous* sound")

And I'm determined to learn "Ar Éireann, ní neosfainn cé hí",

no matter how little understanding I have of the words.

Here's Liam Clancy being deadly as usual:

I've also been re-reading a book my granny gave me when I was 8,

called "Irish Tales & Sagas" by Ulick o' Connor.

It tells the stories of King Conor & the Red Branch Knights, 

and the Children of Lir and St. Patrick among others.

I was hoping to get some inspiration for writing & I still might.

In the meantime, I've nicked a poem by Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810-1886), 

(well, technically the copyright is now lapsed - 70 years after the death of the author), 

Yeats called him "the greatest poet Ireland ever produced", and he'd know!

Anyway, the poem is about Deirdre of the Sorrows.

It's called "Deirdre's Lament for the Sons of Usnach", 

and I've set it to music, although I might have to whittle it down a bit - 

there are a lot of verses to remember, even for me :)

So, that's about it, 

The P.A. system has gone back to the shop to be repaired or replaced.

No one has responded to my Hot Press ad, as of yet - sob.

The driving is progressing VERY slowly.

Slán anois/ bye now.

* 'mellifluous' means 'flows like honey' (i had to look it up)

so I've been around the world and back again, well I'm back a while now really.

time to get cracking, this website being one of my projects, 

and my P.A. arrived by DHL today, although I'm having trouble getting it to emit any noise.

i reckon it's just a temporary glitch, and i'm roping in someone to look it over

but the sooner it's sorted, the better, so i can set about getting a few gigs & hopefully making some cash, 

my credit card bill is quite scary - it's not cheap to fly from New Zealand to Dublin :( 

and i'm again on the lookout for band members, 

i've sent in an ad to come out in the next issue of Hot Press so fingers crossed that goes well.

also, my third provisional license arrived in the post today so i HAVE to learn to drive this time.

i've my test in ten weeks or so, we'll see...we'll see...

bye now