Scene & Heard: David Byrne, Tenet, and the rise of Irish hip-hop
Fancy owning the famous crown worn by Notorious BIG? Or love letters written by Tupac Shakur to Jada Pinkett (she has since added the surname Smith, after marrying Will Smith? It may all feel a bit tasteless, but Sotheby's in New York is selling both items in a hip hop-themed sale on Sept 15. The crown is estimated at $200,000, while the letters reckoned to be worth north of $60,000.
David Byrne's gig in Dublin in 2018 was widely considered one of the best in this country that year, and while we're unlikely to get another contender in the near future, Spike Lee's film from the American leg of the same tour has been pencilled for release in October. HBO is showing it in the US, and the film also gets a premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, so presumably we'll see it in this part of the world soon after.
Van Morrison has been in the news recently for his swipe at Covid restrictions on gigs, but hopefully he'll see the need for social distancing at his 75th birthday next week. Hot Press has been hosting nightly cover versions of the Belfast singer's songs, culminating in 'Van's Big Day' on Monday with contributions from the likes of President Michael D Higgins, Bob Geldof and John Spillane.
Tenet opened earlier this week, and mixture of reduced capacities at cinemas and the popularity of the summer's only real blockbuster has ensured that some of the prime showings for the weekend ahead are already sold out.
Among the retro films showing over the next few days is original 1984 version of The Karate Kid, while Triskel in Cork has Finnish film Dogs Don’t Wear Pants for two showings today (Friday).
In Dublin, the IFI has announced the programme for its documentary festival (Sept 21-27), with Breaking Out - the story of late Cork singer Fergus O'Farrell and his band Interference – providing the closing gala. The opening film will be Rebuilding Paradise, a timely showing of the tale of the fire in 2018 that almost wiped out a town in California.
Despite many years of trying, Irish hip-hop acts haven't had much luck in finding an appeal beyond genre afficionados, but the array of talent on display in Origins (Thursday, 10.15pm) would suggest that could change very soon. Though the documentary does delve back as far as Scary Éire in the 1990s, newer acts like Rejjie Snow, Kojaque and Denise Chaila look to have a far better chance of making an impact in the wider world.
Concert4Cancer on Virgin One tonight will be raising funds for the Marie Keating Foundation with performances by the likes of Ronan Keating and Gary Barlow.
Around the same time, BBC Four has a pair of Fleetwood Mac/Peter Green documentaries, while BBC Two tomorrow has When Bob Marley Came To Britain, the tale of the reggae star's sojourn in the UK after his attempted assassination in Jamaica.
On the drama front, RTÉ One shows Mrs America from Tuesday, with Cate Blanchett impressive as the real-life conservative campaigner in the US in the 1970s.
Cape Clear's storytelling festival will understandably not be drawing visitors to the island next weekend (Sept 4-6), but will have free streams of stories by tellers from Ireland, USA, Iceland and Kenya.
Finally, exhibitions are one area of the arts world that can take place at the moment, with Sirius in Cobh among the venues currently showing work. Visions of an Unsettled Earth is a joint exhibition by Debbie Godsell, Fiona Kelly and Sarah O’Flaherty addressing the theme of how humans can support the Earth, and each other.
