Hot off the HotPresses

We made HotPress...after my rant two weeks ago. They obviously don't read this blog!
Nevertheless the photo is fantastic...Pauline and Tom look like Balcony superheroes. I think you could blow that up and make that a great New York style building wrap.
Hmmmmm. Anyway just forget everything I said about HotPress.
We love them:-)
Gulp.

LOTS OF POSITIVITY

People are really loving our Trumpet Lessons show. Just check out some of the comments on this show!!!
Expect more lessons next week!!!

UNSIGNED/SIGNED TOP TEN

My god my god my god the internet is slow! I still havent got around to replacing this Clearwire thing. Pure lazyness, nothing else.

We had a comment on the blog entry yesterday saying we should put up a top ten of acts who have performed on BalconyTV who are unsigned/independent.

But the truth is we really don't know who is signed and who isn't signed. And some bands and acts have record deals but claim independence.

So we are going to avoid investigating that one for now.

My tooth hurts.

ANOTHER TOP 10

It seems some people enjoyed our St. Pataricks Day coverage...and some people completly didnt have a clue and made comments like 'how did these ignorant Americans get on the TV?'...
Some people. Jokes on them!!!!!!
Anyway...here is the top ten BalconyTV shows in terms of viewership.

10 - COOKIE MONSTER - 4/09/2006
Cookie Monster sang I Don't Like Mondays...and YouTube didn't notice. Great puppeteering skills by Pauline.
3795 Views

9 - TICKLE ME ELMO - 2/07/2006
Another incredibly desperate BalconyTV show that has nothing going for it but another one of Paulines cuddly bears.
4042 Views

8 - VERTIGO - 2/08/2006
A great U2 tribute band with a megaphone. Another show dicing with the potential of a hefty lawsuit.
4176 Views

7 - WHITE NOISE AND HEMLOCK - 26/07/2006
Great shizzleness. Easy though.
4329 Views

6 - BLOOPERS - 16/10/2006
Hilariously funny for those in the know...not so funny for those in the knowt!!
5020 Views

5- Eleanor McEvoy - 30/09/2006
A great tune all about the darn Celtic Tiger.
5970 Views

4 - Eleanor McEvoy - 1/10/2006
We really need to get her back for a few more tunes. Great ratings!!!
6469 Views

3 - LORRAINE O' REILLY - 14/09/2006
Still near the top of the pack...but shes going for the moon!!
7642 Views

2 - LEANNE HARTE - 4/12/2006
In the shortest period of time Leanne Harte has gone from zero to hero!!! (or 7733 Views)

1 - PAUL BRADY - 28/07/2006
The legend holds of the fight of Leanne Harte...but for how long?!!
9577 Views

Ah sure lets watch it again. Its massive!!!

ALCAHMAHOLISM...

So the weekend is coming to the end...and I think its fair to say it was a bit of an odd one. I actually didn't drink a drop...as i'm on the 9th day of my new tea totalling life style. And to tell you the truth...I feel bloomin marvelous.
I've never really been a big fan of the drink-a-thon that is St. Patricks Day. I never understood peoples attitude to it.
It seems to me that most people get drunk most weekends anyway. Why is it that on St. Patricks Day people feel that they can go ahead and get more drunk? Isn't 'drunk' drunk enough. Do they really have to get 'more' drunk?
Everyone suddenly gets very excited because they can get 'more' drunk than usual.
Its not a case of ' ah its Paddys Day, lets celebrate with a few drinks'...its more like 'ah its Paddys Day, lets celebrate by getting more drunk than usual'. And we all know, Irish people get very drunk anyway.
So I stayed in and listened to the sirens blaring down the street all day. And the shouting. Lots of shouting. People suddenly decide that Paddys Day is a day to spout what ever crap they feel like at the top of their vocal range. It's back to the school yard stuff. Must be very liberating.
Anyway, I'm doing peoples heads in with my pontificating on the subject of alcahol abuse...and its getting to be a headache for some. I will soon have no friends.
Apart from that fair play to the Cricket lads. Bloom great. Although the death of the Pakistani coach took the pleasure out of it quickly.
Then there was the random weather. The cancellation of sky fest. Ireland winning then losing the rugby.
Lots of stuff.
And Comic Relief was brill. And this is just genius...

CORNETTO

We hope you like our shamrocks especially for the St. Patricks week.

There is a guy outside playing an accordian type thing...oh whats it called. With lots of buttons and a small piano...

Anyway, it feels like being in Venice...hes even playing that Cornetto tune from days yonder.

Remember that...

NOISE NOISE AND MORE NOISE

Filming balconytv was a bloomin nightmare last night. The street noise never ended. Usually we get windows of relative peace that allow us to shoot...but last night...the buses...the massive trucks...all squeeking and screeching. The stress hit in. Tom started to annoy me then...then I started to annoy him. We came to blows. We had to be seperated by Niwel...
Pauline was shocked...she treatened to move out...
And so on and so forth.
Most of that was not true. But it was bloody noisy. We may need to tape later at night now to avoid such racket in future.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Once again, its not BalconyTVs birthday...but it is MY birthday. Sorry for the confusion. I've never had so many birthday greetings.
2-2 Sunderland. Go on Keanoooooooo!!!

DEN AUDITION TAPE

Yes we thought it might be a nice touch to play Ham Sandwiches (or is it just an s) BalconyTV performance again, since they were on the Late Late on Friday past. Since they are going to get mongo big, we want to be nice to them...so they will come back and play on BalconyTV sometime again.
Their new single Click Click Boom is the Hotpress Magazine Single of the Forthnight. We love Hotpress Magazine.
In other bits and bobs...
I unearthed thousands of old DV tapes last night. I found this classic audition tape Pauline did for the Den many years back. I filmed it, and trust me when I say it was god awful. But at the same time hillariously funny.
I have asked Pauline permission to show it on BalconyTV...just for a laugh...
She said no:-(

VENUS

Myself and Pauline went to see Venus last night in the screen. One of the best flicks I have seen in some time. It left a lump in the troat. We both highly recommend it.
After seeing it I feel a bit sorry for Peter O' Toole not winning the Oscar. Perhaps he deserved better.
Go see it.

NOT OUR BIRTHDAY!!!

Just to let everyone know...thank you very much...but its not actually BalconyTVs birthday on the 14th. Its actually my birthday on the 14th. I guess when I was creating our MySpace account, I put in my birthday for the website...which was a bit silly.
Thank you very much though for all the well wishers. BalconyTV will be one year old in the summer time. We are still a baby here.
Great performance by Ham Sandwich on the Late Late last night I felt. Very good tune. Click Click...back to the rugby. Come on Ireland!!!

NO HOTPRESS AGAIN

Once again BalconyTV has failed to make the pages of HotPress magazine.

Since the incarnation of our little website we have attempted again and again to take the notice of Irelands Music Bible Magazine (or whatever the slogan is), but alas we have failed.

We have contacted the Hotpress MySpace...we have emailed them, we have phoned them...we have even accidently turned up at their Christmas Party in the very nice Town Bar and Grill. Perhaps our stalker antics are turning them off.

Now we dare not be arrogant or presumptuous. Maybe we don't deserve the coverage. Maybe there are more pressing stories to be covered...

But our feeling is that as we (BalconyTV and Hotpress) are both working towards the same goal (supporting the Irish music scene) surely we could have merited some coverage in the magazine.

It has disappointed us greatly that we have not featured in the magazine to date.

I myself have been a long time reader of HotPress. I've always found it to be quite the good read.

But mentioning our angst at the magazines support of us to friends recently, it seems I am somewhat alone in my appreciation for the magazine.

Alot of people seem to think the magazine is a bit of a dinosaur now. A once great mighty force in supporting the Irish Music Scene...but now simply a pile of bones hanging in a very nice museum. Hmmmmmmmm...make of that what you will.

I must say I have been put off in recent issues by the pages devoted to sex tips and the like. It has stopped me from passing the magazine onto my brothers. I know we are a new sexed up Ireland...but those pages seem to take the piss on the subject...

And the back pages feature tons of sex phone line numbers that you are more likely to see in top shelf rags than in bottom shelf mag (Hotpress).

The truth is we called Hotpress again about 3 weeks ago in an effort to get some coverage for ourselves. Our marketing buget consists of nothing but our viewers word of mouth and we need all the coverage we can get. We were asked to email them and tell them all about what we do. They would bring it up in a editorial meeting we were told.

The following week brought the YouTube Debacle...and then...can you believe it...a phone call from HotPress. They were willing to do an article on us based our bad news. They even came to do a photo shoot with us.

But with our problems resolved we have failed to feature. And not so much as a phone call.

We realise this is probably a nail in the coffin of BalconyTV in Hotpress Magazine...but fear not, one day...in the distant future...when we become giants in the media world...we will start our own magazine...and feature ourselves all the time:-)

Yes, its true...

We are bitter!

1000 EACH AND ALL

Our videos average 1000 views each now. Thats official!!! Not bad considering we have 240 plus videos. Big pats on the backs for us, and the insane music community of Ireland...who can't seem to get enough of Balcony stuff.
Don't forget Herb Dades Tribute Party is in the Odessa Club tonight from nine-ish. If you missed our Herb Dade Tribute show...here it is again...

BALCONY IN SATYRIX VIDEO

Yes this is actually the 2nd time The Dirty 9s have performed on BalconyTV. Their first performance resulted in a false copyright infringment claim from Viacom and the rest as they say is history.
Check out this video by ex Dublin band Satyrix. The Balcony makes a brief appearance!!!

HERB DADE

Hope you enjoyed todays show featuring the late great Herb Dade. We filmed that gig in the Dawson Lounge about 3 years ago at about 1AM at night. It was good fun, and Herb was in great form, downing the tequilas to keep his voice husky and rucky as ever.

Here is a nice piece Tom wrote for Mongrel Magazine about how he delivered Herbs ashes back to his family in the states.

- Delivering Herb

Jazzman straddles two continents

I had overslept for a flight to New York, so I was stuffing some things in a bag and heading out the door when I glanced over and saw Herb still sitting there on the table. Well the remains of him, in an oval urn. I apologized, “Sorry Herb, I nearly forgot you.” I had grown accustomed to talking to him, having his ashes around. If you haven’t heard of him, Herb Dade was a dance choreographer and I was taking half of his remains home to where he was born in Orange County, Virginia.

Herb spent much of his youth in New York studying dance and moved to Ireland 15 years ago. As one of the few black people in Dublin at the time, he found a niche singing jazz by night and working as the day manager of Yamamori Noodles. He also appeared on stage and in a couple of TV shows as well as trying his hand at comedy. He was busy.

I met him eight years ago when I was studying double bass and went on to play with him and his many jazz bands. The last couple of years we were good friends. When he died on the 7th of March 2006, he was cremated here. Unfortunately none of his family could make it to Ireland for the funeral so it was decided that some of his ashes should stay here and some should go to the US.

I’m sure there is some official procedure when it comes to carrying remains out of the country and I was a little worried about having Herb wrapped up in my carry-on luggage. Running the security scenario over and over on the way to JFK, I had visions of seeing Herb roughed up, mistaken for an explosive or a sought-after narcotic.

Anyway, here I am sweating in front of an overweight immigration police officer. “What is the purpose of your visit?” He fingers my passport. I go for the truth. “I am delivering my friend’s remains to his family. He is in my bag.” I am taken off into a side room and thoroughly ‘investigated’ for half an hour but they let me through eventually.

I met up with a friend named Betsy in New York who was along for the ride and we set off for Orange County in a rented car at around 1pm. We stop to have a very large greasy burger in Wendy’s. I could really see we were not in New York any more. It was 9pm when we rolled in to the OC.

We followed the Map Quest directions on to a series of winding country lanes with no lights. I couldn’t see any street names and we cruised around hopelessly for the next 90 minutes. Suddenly Betsy shouts, “Dade! I see Dade on that post box!” And we pull to the side of the road. But which house is it? There are four identical houses within forty feet of each other. I don’t fancy banging on people’s doors at 11 o’clock at night and getting fucking shot, so we slowly drive through the cluster of houses but find no one about. Then a tall man runs across the yard from one of the houses and Betsy shouts “Excuse me sir!” and I get out of the car. He comes towards me in what seems like a very aggressive manner. “What you want man?” he asks. “I’m looking for Linda Dade,” I tell him. Suddenly the aggression is gone: it’s Herb’s brother. He invites me in to where Herb’s cousin and his other brother live. It was amazing to see them. We had made it.

I took out a DVD of Herb, which a friend had put together of his performances over the years. As I put it in the player, I explained that Herb had been a good friend and successful in Ireland. They hadn’t seen or heard from Herb for most of his life so it was a shock.

One of Herb’s brothers gets a call to say Herb’s sister, Linda, is home so we all get in our cars and drive the 50 feet to her place. A tall woman greets me at the door - she looks so much like my friend Herb. We take off our shoes and go in and talk a little and we all watch the DVD again. Then I unwrap Herb’s ashes for her and her family. She thanks me and all of Herb’s friends in Dublin. I say goodbye then me and Betsy head for a hotel in Callpepper.

http://www.mongrel.ie/issue23/jul06pp24.php

THROWN TOGETHER EPIC AND YER MAN

So our act due to perform last night cancelled very late. Tut...can you believe that! We were going to squeeze the whole of Arcade Fire on the Balcony...but they claimed the balcony was dangerous should there be a fire. Hmmmmmm...
So that explains todays roped together show. We hope you like it.
And found this on YouTube just yesterday. My god yer man gets around. Have to hand to him...have to hand it to him...This happened just a few days ago apparently.

BEHIND THE BALCONY

Great to have Rohan back on BalconyTV today. He made a kind of documentary on his BalconyTV experience. Check it out here...we believe it starts about 8 minutes into the video. Check it out.

Watch more from Extemporanoues Music Productions here -
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ExtemporaneousMusic

TOP GUN

What todays show tells us is that Tom has never seen Top Gun!!! What planet was he on in the year 1985 I ask you!!!! Is there music in Top Gun he asks at the end of Aviator Shades performance. Please Tom....I mean please!!!!

THE KILLERS

Pauline has added new photos to the photo corner!!! Bloomin brilliant. This might be the start of a new era of great Pauline Photo Corner Photos. Lets hope so for you...me...and the whole world who loves random photos.
Gooooooooooo Pauline!!!!
By the way everyone its Paulines birthday on Saturday so send her a happy birthday card...email...comment...video message...
I can't say what age Pauline is though...as she'd probably murder me, as women do when people mention their ages. Never understood that one.
Anywho...in other news, I got tickets at late notice to see The Killers last night in the RDS main hall. I've never seen a gig in the main hall before.
After forking out 6.50 for a more than dogdy chicken baguette (that is chicken on a bread roll full stop) and a further 5.20 on a watery beer, I enjoyed the gig mostly.
Great lighting set up and visuals. I loved The Killers big numbers...which really were fantastic...didn't really get the rest of what was going on.
The lead singer...'whats his name' spoke twice to the crowd in the 2 hour set. That was a tad disappointing. Guess it really is all about the music.
Its fair to say that was the worst music review since time began...but hey...what do I look like? I aint no god damn music critic.
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(DREAM BLOG - I wish I was though. No that would be a good job. Ahhhhhhhhhhh)