Tag / Brendan Lynch

by shannonchance

History of the Horseshoe (and Mike Heivly’s Upcoming Art Show)

News from Charlottesville’s Kevin Donleavy:

Shannon,

I forgot to mention to you that the Horseshoe is quite famous as a venue for trad musicianers over the past 5 or 6 decades.  Lynch can tell you all about why.  It hinges on magnificent fiddler-and-concertina-player John Kelly who ran the shop for aeons.  He’s gone, RIP,  but his fiddling sons James (lives in Florida now) and John (still lives in Ireland)  carry on that family musical tradition. Ah, John Kelly the elder — he attracted the likes of Seamus Ennis and John Egan and loads and tons of musicianers to that wee shop.  Why don’t ya ask Lynch about the pub at the corner where John and others held forth of an evening ? or the pub called the Meeting Place (also fairly nearby).
 
Oh, I also nearly disremembered the following — that Mike Heivly has sent some of his work to the Embassy of Ireland, and will probably have a one-man show sometime in the next few months.  Stay tuned!
Kevin
Incidentally, Mike’s show will be at the Irish Embassy.  Kevin explained:
The Embassy is in DC, on prestigious Mass Ave (ie, Massachusetts Avenue).  A small edifice, but it’s (I’m guessing) early 19th c., sorta French looking with Baroque elements. Neat building.
by shannonchance

A Dubliner of All Trades

Today, I needed to purchase a new external hard drive so I could download photos for you.  On the way to the computer store, I ran into Brendan Lynch.  He ran the musical performances I attended at the Arlington Hotel with Esther, Kitty Lee and Patty.  He also owns The Horse Shoe, located where Capel runs into Bolton Street.

Brendan had the door to his shop open and the sounds of an Irish banjo filled the air.  I stepped into the tiny space, introduced myself, and learned a bit about Brendan’s past and present work.

Turns out Brendan is an artist, photographer, musician, performer, music teacher, instrument trader, city planner, conservation expert, and business owner… a Renaissance man in my book.  As he’s also a history buff, I told him about Fergus Whelan’s book, the planners I’d come across when visiting the former parliament building, and the tour I took recently with DIT’s Gavin Buggy.

I heard music coming from The Horse Shoe as I passed by today…
…so I stopped in to chat with Brendan Lynch, the owner…
…who also plays weekends at the Arlington Hotel’s traditional music and dance show.
Brendon is an artist, musician, and city planner specializing in conservation (though there’s no funded work in that vein for him to do today).
Brendan lent me a book about the Liberties (the area around the Dublin City Council building). We reminisced of grand buildings no longer in Dublin, and those that need restoring…
…like this one on Henrietta Street…
…used in films today…
…that I visited…
…on a February 6 tour of “Lost Dublin”…
hosted by DIT’s Gavin Buggy.
Gavin talked about losses incurred in the building of the Dublin City Council chambers…
…and showed us what the district around Dublin City Council looked like in medieval times.