THERE are guilty pleasures and then there is the Eurovision Song Contest.

Glasgow’s Celtic Connections draws performers from all over the world for 18 days of 24-hour music, says Nicki ffrench Davis

Not music to Irish ears

CHRISTMAS ‘ho ho ho’ is very much a feature of RTÉ television fare this holiday season with a new edition of Killinaskully as well as many other light-hearted family programmes.

AN unusual title changed hands over the weekend at the Sligo Live music festival.

The composer of Ireland’s worst-ever Eurovision entry today said he was “gutted” by the result.

A song composed by a former lover of controversial singer Sinead O’Connor was chosen to represent Ireland in the 52nd Eurovision contest in May.

The public will tonight pick Ireland’s entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest from a shortlist performed by traditional music band Dervish.

Around 35,000 music fans are expected to descend on Dublin when the curtain rises on the Irish Music and Culture Festival later today.

THEY might look fearsome in their leather jackets, dark glasses, big boots and shining helmets, but these are no ordinary bikers and not even 31st cousins to the dreaded Hell’s Angels.

Up to 20,000 Harley-Davidson bikers will take to the roads of Kerry today in one of the biggest cavalcades of its kind seen in Ireland.

WE doffed the cap to a few of the more surprising omissions above, but what about those bubbling under, those who won’t just be knocking at the door but will have their feet well and truly under the table come the end of 2006.

To set the scene for the first part of our Top 50 poll, Joe McNamee looks at the state of play in the Irish music industry.

U2 today led the way in the nominations for one of the Irish record industry’s top awards.