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blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel
@blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
620 followers 39 following 16 posts
Music Blog featuring the musings of Colm O'Callaghan 'An infrequent conversation between fans of music, some of it long-lost’ (not that Blackpool, but the real one, the Cork one) https://theblackpoolsentinel.com/
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Sep 7
In our latest post on The Blackpool Sentinel @colmocallaghan.bsky.social revisits Brian, (the work of Ken Sweeney)
A remarkable body of songs worth another listen. (check out the recent rerelease on @needlemythology.bsky.social
Read here theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/09/07/b...
BRIAN: WHATS SO FUNNY ABOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING?
On April 10, 1999, I was in the producer’s chair in Studio 4 in RTÉ while we aired a special episode of a live Saturday night chat show called Kenny Live, hosted by Pat Kenny. The show was paying i…
https://theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/09/07/brian-whats-so-funny-about-peace-love-and-understanding/”
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Sep 8
Back at you Pete… 🤘
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blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Sep 7
In our latest post on The Blackpool Sentinel @colmocallaghan.bsky.social revisits Brian, (the work of Ken Sweeney)
A remarkable body of songs worth another listen. (check out the recent rerelease on @needlemythology.bsky.social
Read here theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/09/07/b...
BRIAN: WHATS SO FUNNY ABOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING?
On April 10, 1999, I was in the producer’s chair in Studio 4 in RTÉ while we aired a special episode of a live Saturday night chat show called Kenny Live, hosted by Pat Kenny. The show was paying i…
https://theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/09/07/brian-whats-so-funny-about-peace-love-and-understanding/”
blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Aug 14
For the week that’s in it… a guest post on Oasis… courtesy of Eoin O Callaghan…

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/08/14/o...
OASIS AND THE IRISH IN THEM
For the week that’s in it, we asked our Toronto Bureau Chief – and long-time Oasis anorak – Eoin O’Callaghan, to file a guest post about the Irish influence on Noel Gallagher’s work.    M…
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Jun 16
Jarvis Cocker paused during Pulp’s 3Arena show last week to remember their first gig in Dublin — The Rock Garden, March 1993. A £10-a-night hotel, missing gear, and one unforgettable punchline.
Read the full tale of Pulp’s curious Irish beginnings here
theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/06/16/p...
A photo of a wooden desk with two black-and-white prints lying on it. One print shows a man with his arm extended, mid-performance on stage. The other print shows a young man in sunglasses standing in front of a barbershop with signs reading "COMO GENTS HAIR". Nearby are a white Apple keyboard, a white Apple Magic Mouse, a hard drive, and some medication sachets. The desk surface has light scuff marks and scratches.
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Jun 16
@Jarvis Cocker paused during Pulp’s 3Arena show last week to remember their first gig in Dublin — The Rock Garden, March 1993. A £10-a-night hotel, missing gear, and one unforgettable punchline.
Read the full tale of Pulp’s curious Irish beginnings here theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/06/16/p...
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martinoconnor.bsky.social
Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · May 9
Good evening from Cork… saying it as it is..
A yellow sign reading - Danger, this road leads to Dublin
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Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · May 7
I've started playing one classic Irish song every day and I'm going to share them here.
Today's is Galway's 'The Swinging Swine' Them Ghosts Do Come (1987).
Joanne Loughman has one of the purest voices I've ever heard, and that wonderful jangly guitar? Pure magic.
youtu.be/a4m2gDMbVNI?...
Them Ghosts Do Come - The Swinging Swine
YouTube video by Nicky Fennell
youtu.be
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blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Apr 30
Remember the buzz of a good disco?
Dave Heffernan captures it beautifully in our latest guest post - “Yes Disco.”
A lovely read for anyone who was ever there — or wishes they had been: theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/04/24/y...
YES, DISCO
In this evocative and sharply tailored piece, David Heffernan takes us back to the dancefloors of 1970s Ireland — a world of mohair suits, platform shoes, and Dubonnet-fuelled dreams. From the revo…
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martinoconnor.bsky.social
Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Apr 8
Finally got around to actually doing another @libfocus.bsky.social post after what seems years. It's one I've been playing around with for ages... Some of my favourite records about libraries and librarians... I hope you enjoy (or at least enjoy the music 👇
libfocus.bsky.social
libfocus @libfocus.bsky.social · Apr 8
Our latest post... (and this one is by one of the Libfocus team,
@martinoconnor.bsky.social
"Ten great Records about Libraries"
www.libfocus.com/2025/04/ten-...
Ten great Records about Libraries
I was recently asked to contribute to the Vinylthon Zine , part of Vinylthon 2025 — an annual celebration where radio stations around the wo...
www.libfocus.com
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Feb 12
Boyzone’s story gets the documentary treatment in No Matter What—a sharp, stylish look at fame, media, and music

@colmocallaghan.bsky.social gives his take in our latest post.

#Boyzone #NoMatterWhat

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/02/12/b...
BOYZ, OH BOYZ
There’s much to admire and plenty to recommend about Sophie Oliver’s documentary series ‘No Matter What’ which, over three episodes, looks at a careful selection of the colourful life and times of …
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Jan 28
Well, a few days late posting this… but still… 😊
colmocallaghan.bsky.social
Colm O'Callaghan @colmocallaghan.bsky.social · Jan 15
Dolores O'Riordan.
On her anniversary.
theblackpoolsentinel.com/2018/01/16/d...
DOLORES O’RIORDAN: 1971 – 2018.
During the first series of the RTÉ music show, ‘No Disco’, the presenter, Donal Dineen and myself travelled west to Limerick on a couple of occasions to pick up long interviews that we’d use to pop…
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colmocallaghan.bsky.social
Colm O'Callaghan @colmocallaghan.bsky.social · Jan 8
Bowie and Cork via The Blackpool Sentinel.
theblackpoolsentinel.com/2016/01/19/d...
DAVID BOWIE: THE CORK YEARS
‘Him ? Sure, he doesn’t know if he wants to be a man or a woman’. It was the end of the summer, 1980, and David Bowie at his most theatric, glamorous, playful and compelling, wasn’t convincing my m…
theblackpoolsentinel.com
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shushradio.bsky.social
Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · Jan 28
RTE’s Late Late Show has some amazing performances of Irish bands in their archives.
Can you imagine what god-fearing Ireland of 1979 thought of this Virgin Prunes performance.

youtu.be/hyFHn_IWMQQ?...
Virgin Prunes -R.T.E. Late,Late,Show -6.Oct.1979.
YouTube video by johnniejukebox
youtu.be
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blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Dec 17
Remembering Mick Lynch - gone 9 years today. @colmocallaghan.bsky.social wrote a lovely tribute to Mick at the time theblackpoolsentinel.com/2015/12/18/m...
MICK LYNCH
Mick Lynch, the Cork-born musician, singer, actor and performer who passed away yesterday after a long illness, will be familiar to those of us who served our time around the margins of left-field …
theblackpoolsentinel.com
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Dec 4
New post alert.
Just back from the Kane Gang’s recent gig in Sunderland, we dive deep into the Kane Gang and reflect along the on the iconic Kitchenware Records scene, touching on Prefab Sprout, Paddy McAloon, and Martin Stephenson. theblackpoolsentinel.com/2024/12/04/h...
HA’WAY THE LADS
The actor, Kevin Kennedy, takes the lead role in ‘Cinderella’, this year’s pantomime at The Empire Theatre in Consett, a small town in the Northeast of England. Best known for playing Curly Watts, …
theblackpoolsentinel.com
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Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · Dec 3
Ronnie Spector has what is easily the funniest quote in that new Beatles '64 documentary.
Ronnie Spector in "Beatles '64": "I'll tell you the truth. They had to escape." Ronnie Spector in "Beatles '64": "I said, I'm taking you to Harlem. Nobody will notice you up there." Ronnie Spector in "Beatles '64": "And they didn't. They thought they were a bunch of Spanish dorks."
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Dec 3
We’ve started a starter pack for those who post about Irish rock music.
If you want to be added, or know somebody who should be on this list please let us know!
Let’s connect this scene up
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Nov 30
Shane McGowan died this day last year.
Here’s a piece on Shane and The Pogues, one of the first ever pieces on the TBS - “Kiss me I’m Irish”

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2015/03/17/k...
THE POGUES: KISS ME, I’M IRISH
A week or so before The Pogues headlined the closing night of the Féile festival  in Thurles in August, 1991, I saw them play live in one of their regular and most boisterous U.K. haunts, The Bri…
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Nov 30
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blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Nov 30
We've started a starter pack for those who write about Irish rock music... if you're one of those, or know others let us know we'll add you / them. Thanks. #irishmusic #irishrock go.bsky.app/JfybWJS
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The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Nov 30
A new TBS post is coming soon, but in the meantime, we'll be posting some of the most read posts on the blog...
First up "Prefab Sprout: From Croke Park to Langley Park to Memphis"
#prefabsprout

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2024/08/19/p...
PREFAB SPROUT: FROM CROKE PARK TO LANGLEY PARK TO MEMPHIS
“From the echoes of Croke Park’s battlefield to the timeless melodies of ‘From Langley Park to Memphis,’ Prefab Sprout’s brilliance offers solace on the darkest days.
theblackpoolsentinel.com
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mollzeis.bsky.social
David Long & Shane O'Neill @mollzeis.bsky.social · Oct 2
"whoiwasandwhatiam" is a beautiful, emotional, enthralling single piece of music, 37 minutes long, with the only lyrics having been written by Dennis Potter. Lots to talk about, which we did a week or two ago." ~ Niall Crumlish
psychiatryandsongs.com/2024/10/01/d...
David Long & Shane O’Neill: Peace, Love, Forgiveness and Redemption.
David Long and Shane O’Neill have been friends since they were six years old and were neighbours in Churchtown a half century ago.  They have been close ever since – there’s a lovely description of…
psychiatryandsongs.com
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blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social
The Blackpool Sentinel @blackpoolsentinel.bsky.social · Nov 13
Happy to be hanging out in the @bsky.app In the words of a famous John... "it's just like starting over"...

Do say hello, follow us and let your friends know we are here 🙂
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