Scene + Heard: What's going on around the country

MUSIC NEWS: It may be legally classed as hearsay, but NME reports that a Stone Roses fan met Reni recently, and the drummer told him the band have recorded music other than their recent release ‘All For One’ and that it “sounds beautiful”. 

Hopefully, it’s more beautiful than the embarrassingly bad aforementioned single. DJ Shadow has also recorded new music, with The Mountain Will Fall album due later this month, and it looks like the king of the samples will also be embarking on a live tour.

GIG WISE:

Live at the Marquee in Cork steps up a gear over the next few days with Gavin James taking to the stage tonight for his biggest ever solo gig; followed by Simply Red tomorrow; and the metal extravaganza of Slayer and Anthrax on Wednesday.

Rickie Lee Jones plays Cork Opera House tonight, and presumably her 1979 classic, ‘Chuck E’s In Love’ will get an outing. Also in Cork, Lisa Hannigan is sold out tonight at Live at St Luke’s, while there are still tickets available for tomorrow’s double bill of Frames fiddler Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Ger Wolfe.

French DJ Etienne de Crecy plays Havana Browns next Friday, June 17, as part of the Heineken Sound Atlas series of events, and has promised a set that will lean towards sounds from his native Paris.

The annual Rory Gallagher tribute festival takes place at Cyprus Avenue over the weekend, while other interesting gigs at that venue include impressive Dublin instrumentalists Overhead, The Albatross on June 25, and New York spoken word maestro Saul Williams on June 29.

The next biggie on the festival circuit is Body&Soul in Co Meath next weekend, with Santigold, The Gloaming and St Germain topping the bill.

FILM TIPS:

Michael Moore’s latest documentary, Where To Invade Next, is an upbeat look at the best European policies that could be applied to the US, and the Michigan director will be at the IFI in Dublin on Monday for a q+a session at a screening of the film. Another big opening today is Mother’s Day, which reunites Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall with star Julia Roberts.

In Cork, Triskel has a programme of James Joyce films, and Whit Stillman’s Love and Friendship.

VISUAL ART:

It’s that time of year for graduate exhibitions, with the National College of Art and Design in Dublin opening its showcase at several venues next week, and the event at the Crawford in Cork running at the college since yesterday.

In Cobh, the Sirius hosts the work of two American artists, Liz Nielsen and Max Warsh from June 22.

Nielsen creates photograms, a form of camera-less photography, employing light sensitive photographic paper that is exposed to a creative variety of light sources; while Max Warsh creates collages of images of urban architecture.

ON THE TELLY:

If you don’t fancy watching soccer over the next few weeks, you will probably need a huge supply of box-sets, or that gogglebox in the corner will lie largely unused.

Orange Is The New Black does return to Netflix next Friday, and in the meantime, Graham Norton’s show tonight includes American actors Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Jeff Goldblum.

Game of Thrones has just three episodes left in the current series, so presumably, it will pick up the pace on what has been a fairly plodding season so far.

ALL AND SUNDRY:

The first weekend of Cork Midsummer Festival takes place next week. As part of the festival, Cork-based dance company Croí Glan are marking 10 years and will present a double bill of shows at Firkin Crane next Friday, followed by performances at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre the next day, and the Project, Dublin, on June 23-24.