'Closing Time' - Mickaleen Conlon and Friends in Ballyvaughan, 1994

"Mickaleen Conlon playing at Greene's Pub, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare. 'Closing Time' was made on 17th August 1994. The great late [North Clare] musician Mickaleen was a regular on the traditional music circuit, in particular at the Road Side Tavern in Lisdoonvarna.
Mickaleen Conlon - Concertina /Accordion
Vincent Browne - Guitar
Gabrielle Casey - Whistle
Shane Holden - Guitar
Liam Lewis - Fiddle
Sean Tyrrell -Vocals / Mandocello / Banjo
A magical night of Irish Music featuring some of the great names of Irish traditional music." Posted on Youtube on the 5th of December 2009 by AlisonKinnane.

Clare Band EARTHSHIP plays...'Stratus'

Lahinch based jazz/funk band Earthship playing Billy Cobham's Stratus at Tully's, Kinvara, November 2010. Earthship are Mark Farrelly (keyboards), Karl Clews (bass guitar), Blendi Krasniqi (drums) and Andrew Collins (alto sax, percussion). Posted on Youtube on the 28th of January 2011 by EARTHSHIPFUSION.

Win place on writing workshop with Roddy Doyle

The Dublin Book Festival has launched a new writing competition for young writers aged between 12 and 14. The teenagers are being asked to write and submit a story on any theme - scary, funny, sad or whatever you like - between 500 and 1000 words in length for the chance to win a place on a creative writing workshop with Roddy Doyle. The story must be submitted by the 11th of February 2011 and judges will pick eight winners to attend the workshop on the 26th of February at the Fighting Words Centre, Dublin.
Send your entry to:

Young Adult Writing Competition
Publishing Ireland
Guinness Enterprise Centre,
Taylor’s Lane,
Dublin 8

For more information or competition rules visit www.dublinbookfestival.com
The Dublin Book Festival runs from Wednesday 2nd March until Sunday 6th March 2011. Author events will be held in a variety of venues throughout Dublin City including the National Library of Ireland, The Gutter Bookshop, The Project Arts Theatre, Dublin City Libraries and Dublin’s City Hall.

Kindle Amazon’s best selling product ever

The Kindle e-book reader, of which 8 million were said to have been sold in 2010, is Amazon’s greatest selling product ever. The company announced that sales of the Kindle 3 had overtaken the previous record holder, the book of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, released in July 2007. Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest was the bestselling book on Amazon.co.uk in 2010, with Larsson's other two books in the Millennium trilogy also making the top 10. The runaway Christmas success, Jamie's 30 Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver, was in fifth place overall. The Toy Story 3 DVD reached number 2 on the bestselling list with the videogame Call of Duty: Black Ops in fourth place. The British boyband Take That’s latest offering Progress was Amazon's sixth best seller of 2010. The other places in the top ten list were claimed by the electronics items Integral USB 2.0 Single Slot SD Reader and SanDisk 8GB SDHC Secure Digital Card.

Are you registered to vote?

Clare County Council wishes to advise the public that the closing date for entry onto the Supplement to the Register of Electors is Tuesday next 8th February 2011 to be entitled to vote at the upcoming General Election. Check the register now at http://www.clarecoco.ie/your-council/voting/register-to-vote/check-the-register/default.aspx. If you have any queries please telephone 1800 245 426.

Volunteering opportunities with the Clare Volunteer Centre

‘Together we can make a difference’
The Clare Volunteer Centre will be in deValera Public Library, Ennis on the 21st February from 10.30am to 2pm, in Kilrush Public Library on Wednesday 23rd February from 2.30pm to 5pm, and in Seán Lemass Public Library, Shannon on the 24th February from 1pm to 5pm. Why not come along and have a chat about the volunteering opportunities in your area? Find out how you can ‘make a difference’.

Every dog has its day ……. at the library!

Clare County Library’s multi-cultural storytelling project takes place monthly in deValera Public Library, Ennis. In co-operation with the staff and parents of Scoil Chriost Ri, Cloughleigh, 1st class children benefit from shared story participation and an introduction to the languages and cultures of their classmates. To date Shola Kogbodoku, a parent of children in the school has introduced the children to the Nigerian language Yoruba translating words from stories chosen and read for their invited audience by library staff.

On Thursday the 27th January it was the turn of another parent Svetlana Circovic who over the course of two storytelling sessions has introduced the children to her language, Croatian. Bringing to the attention of the children the difference between story books and information books, library staff chose to read a picture book, Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates followed by a book on caring for your puppy offering simple advice and tips on how to care for your dog from birth to old age. A class of very attentive children were rewarded at the end of the visit by meeting Eliot, the much-loved dog owned by library staff member, Bernadette Roche. Ber told the children a little of Eliot’s sad start in life and his rescue by Dublin based animal rescue charity Dogs in Distress, from whom Ber adopted Eliot a year ago. The children were delighted to hear that Eliot is now a happy and healthy little dog.

The Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group at Clare Museum

The Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group is proud to present its annual conference "Hearth, Home and Household From the 16th – 20th century: 400 years of material culture" from the 4th to the 6th of February, 2011 at the Clare Museum, O’Connell Square, Ennis. All welcome. The Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group (IPMAG) was established in Belfast in 1999. It is a voluntary organisation which seeks to promote amongst academics and the general public a greater understanding of Ireland’s past post-1550AD archaeology, history and material culture. It also seeks to promote a holistic approach to this material by means of greater cooperation with persons working in related fields of study. Click here for full conference programme...

Data Protection Day: guaranteeing your right to privacy

Worried about future employers seeing your facebook page? Think the interview might go badly if they did? And if you cancel your account, why should people still be able to see your photos? What protection do you have for e-mails, photos, business details? Here's a quick look at one unlucky "interviewee". Today, 28 January, is Data Protection Day, jointly promoted by the Council of Europe (the Human Rights Body) and the European Commission. The annual Data Protection Day aims at giving people the chance to understand what personal data is collected about them and why, and what their rights are. Click here for details...

2011 Irish Times Poetry Now Award

The shortlist for the 2011 Irish Times Poetry Now Award has been announced with Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Sara Berkeley, Ciaran Carson and Dermot Healy all named. The €5,000 prize, presented annually for the best single volume published in the preceding 12 months, was judged by poet, novelist and screenwriter Brian Lynch, poet Leanne O'Sullivan and lecturer and critic Borbála Faragó. This year's winner will be presented with the award during the DLR Poetry Now International Poetry Festival, which takes place from March 24th to 27th.