Friday Fun for the GAZE film Festival

If you've been knocking around Dublin at all recently you've probably caught the ads for the Gaze film festival. It's another knockout line up and I'm definitely looking forward to catching a few films at the festival. Not least the Stonewall documentary which sounds amazing. Check out the full line up at www.gaze.ie.

Before that there's a rather amazing shindig to be had at the Academy tomorrow night. Curated by Aine Macken (Who let's face it is a bit of a ride aswell as painter of great talent!), she's wangled a line up of great DJs from across town to play. And yours truly!

So expect tunes from DJ's Swish It Up (regulars at Cake, one of the best lesbian club nights in town), myself (tunes smith for The Beauty Spot obviously),  Ian Finnerty of supersuperdisco, Una Mullally of Soundcheck and the School of Let's Give A Conor A Go At DJing, Sure What's The Worst That Can Happen? Peter Fingleton, photographer and promoter of nights such as C U Next Tuesday, Ait Ait and many more , Sean John of new indie gay night R.I.P, Miss Macken herself and not forgetting the brilliant Mimi Rouge of Partie Monster.

The night is movie themed too so expect film tunes alongside a seperate area for performances. I'm not saying anything but I may have had my arm twisted to do a number or two in there while playing lots of Britney tunes. The scrapes I get myself into! Good god.

Find out more here and don't forget that the Gaze festvial runs in the Lighthouse Cinema until Monday! And don't miss Aine and Peter putting their own spin on the night. You won't want to miss Aine Macken's photo selection. Priceless!

The Not So Glamourous World of Being A DJ

If you’ve been going out in Dublin much in the last 12 months you’ll have heard loads about “creative clubbing”. Whether you think it’s a pile of old guff or love whacking on a bit of a face paint on a night out there’s no denying that loads of new things are happening around Dublin town.


Of course it’s all very well harping on about being polysexual and the like (Am I the only one who thinks of Polly Pocket when that word comes up? Shudder) but ultimately running a club night/being a DJ/that sort of thing is quite hard work. For every 4 minutes of DJ glee when you finally get to drop that electro sleaze take on Britney there’s multiple minutes more of freaking out about guestlists, hoping people come to your night and more importantly that they all have a good time. Not even mentioning the now infamous "How To Start A Club Night " video which Barry Farrell made awhile back:

All this was running through my mind as I watched a short film on Toronto based DJ Craig Dominic. Craig DJs in various gay places around the city and I used to love his sets when I was there in the summer of 2008 (a piece I wrote about it for Spun Out can be found here). He has a great ear for Top 40 pop/r&b/dance music and a knack for mixing things together with real skill. I remember nabbing some of his mixes on CD after one particularly crazy night out and I still play them regularly. His blog has loads more where that came from too.


The documentary itself is a great watch. It’s short and only touches on some of the difficulties on competing with bigger clubs/promoters but it paints an interesting picture of life as a DJ/event promoter. Dominic cuts an interesting figure, resolutely disciplined and obviously talented but still eager to do other things. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll keep spinning but I hope he stays at it. In the meantime check out the film and spare a thought for those well dressed purveyors of tunes the next time you see them floating around your local night spot.

GCN Music Column and a Sharp Shock to your Tuesday night

For some reason, I’ve yet to properly mention GCN and my work writing their music column every month. Whoops! Bearing that in mind, check out their latest issue online here, the recent redesign looks amazing on full screen I must say. And don't forget to contribute to their GCN Forever campaign to keep the magazine going as a community resource in this harsh times for print media.

I’m particularly happy with this month’s music column. With Usher, Diana Vickers, Bitches With Wolves, Marina and the Diamonds and Ellie Goulding getting a mention (to name a few) it’s a typically poptastic mix of artists.

This month’s cover feature is great too, a look at the forthcoming documentary Growing Up Gay which airs this month on RTE. The cover was shot by my friend Peter Fingleton, who some of you may know for his photography, blogging or Djing (how does he do it all?). 

Speaking of photography Peter launches his website Sharp Shock on Tuesday March 30th at Tripod’s Chocolate Bar from 8pm . Peter excels at amazing club photography and the thoughts of having a place online where I can check out his pictures like I Can Teach You How To Do It excites me no end.

The launch of Sharp Shock is also sponsored by Absolut so will include some cocktails (Yes!) for those who get there early. Of course this will all be followed by another night of madness at C U Next Tuesday the club night Peter co-promotes there each week. It will be bonkers (guaranteed) and will include a guest slot from Joey and Eimear who know a thing or two about turning a room out during a DJ set.

So in short, read this month’s GCN, have a little nap then hit the launch/subsequent party on Tuesday at Chocolate Bar. One way to get the week off to a good start!