VIDEO OF THE DAY

Completly Unrelated to BalconyTV YouTube BalconyTV Video of the Day!!!

BACK TO THE FUTURE

I was at the UGC last night. Back To The Future, one of my all time favorite movies was playing. Go ahead, call me geeky.

I am so sick of the numbered seating rubbish that goes on in UGC. I can't see what service it serves. Service it serves. Brilliant. It must be Wimbledon.

Anyway, I wanted to sit beside some friends that were also at the film. And I did, until the usher came over.

'Eh sorry, can I see your ticket. Eh sorry, you can't sit here'.

So I went over to my seat, E16.

My friends were at F1, F2, and F3.

Now remember, Back To The Future is one of my favorite films ever. And I have never seen it in the cinema.

I was told the film was a sell out. But clearly the rest of the crowd didn't share my enthusiasm, as most wandered in during the opening credits.

Cue...chaos.

The usher with no torch has to make sure everyone sits in their exact seats. And as I'm trying to enjoy the film, all I can hear is...

'Eh can I see your ticket please'.

'I can't see it. What numbers are your seats'.

'I don't think these are your seats'.

'These seats are for these people'.

'Can you come out to the hall so I can see your ticket numbers'.

'Why can't we sit here'.

'Because these people have these seats'.

'Well why can't they sit over there'.

'Because other people have those seats'.

Etc Etc.

SIT DOWN ALREADY!!!! SIT ANYWHERE!!! JUST SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!!!

Surely the whole point of a numbered seating policy is to remove chaos, and hence give everyone a pleasurable viewing experience. Not the total opposite!

Why can't people just sit where they want to?

Do they think people will fight over seats.

'Hey I want to sit here'

'No I want to sit here'

'Why you little'

WHAM BAM ZONK

LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR

If you want to compare last years Gay Pride to this years Gay Pride, just look at last years show. It makes you feel old, looking back. It was a wet miserable day last year too!

ALANALDA TONIGHT

Paulines told me to tell you all that her band AlanAlda are playing in the Sugar Club tonight at 8ish! They really are out...go check em out!

http://www.myspace.com/alanaldatheband

WINNERS AND PALE BLUE DOT

I was at a table quiz last night to raise funds for the brilliant comedy ensemble DIET OF WORMS. Check em out.

Our team was called THE BALCONYTV SUPERSTARS...on the team was Maghnus Lally and Thierry Henry (Or at least thats his nickname).

And lo and behold, we won!!!!!!!

Yes we are genius...although it must be said, not as genius as this video...its made in Ireland, and has more views than BalconyTV combined. Jeez Louise.

SOLSTICE GIG TONIGHT!!! HELP FIGHTING BLINDNESS

We want to give a shout out about the "Solstice Gig" that will take place in the Temple Bar Music Centre tonight @ 7.30pm.

The fabulous up and coming bands DC Tempest and Doris will be headlining the gig with songs from there latest EP’s. Additional Bands to be announced.

Ofcoarse both bands have performed on BalconyTV in the past.

Tickets are €10 and are available from Fighting Blindness and at the door. All proceeds will go to Fighting Blindness.

Call Barbara on 01 709 3050 or email Barbara.cahill@fightingblindness.ie for further information and to book tickets.

It should be a great night.

YOUTUBE STARDOM...EH KINDA...

So yesterday was indeed an interesting day. YouTube launched in Ireland, and BalconyTV was the main (and still is) featured video on the page. This was something we were excited about for ages...the very idea of being on YouTubes main page, was driving our marketing peeps into excitement overdrive. Ofcoarse we don't have marketing peeps, but if we did...sure it would be grand.

The video itself - titled aptly WELCOME TO YOUTUBE IRELAND, was put together in the minimum of time. We kept it as simple as possible. Grand...fine...no messing...in...out...tell them what were are all about...That was the name of the game.

Alas, things didn't quite work out as planned. Because you see...we started getting comments. Bad comments. Very bad comments.

Clearly loads and loads and loads of people don't know what BalconyTV is yet...and watching a random 59 second video of some guy (our Tom) shouting WELCOME YOUTUBE TO IRELAND was a bit of a mystery to some.

They had the following complaints...

1/ Tom and Pauline have American accents...

2/ They don't represent Irish people...

3/ BalconyTV makes them ashamed to be Irish...

4/ YouTube has been in Ireland since it began, whats the point of this...

The comments piled one on top of the other. Mindlessly critical...but I had no problem, as I figured it was understandable that some people might not get BalconyTV based on that clip.

But then the comments became more sinister.

'If I see you on Dame Street I'll bleedin kill you'

'Why don't you jump off the Balcony and die'

'Is this a school for fagots'

And they just got worse and worse. People were coming back again and again piling vile hatred blocks one on top of the other. Each one worse, jsut for the sake of it.

It was completly nuts. A tad disturbing. And the huge irony of it all...a very worrying portrait of some of the people that live in modern Ireland. With people like that out there...is there any hope?

So at about 9 o' clock last night, I stopped seeing the fun side of it. I deleted all the comments.

Still 12000+ plus views aint bad. It's our second most successful show!

YOUTUBE TODAY!!!

So it seems that infact TODAY (and not yesterday(Monday)) YouTube launches in Ireland. And our video is featured on the front page! Yoooooohooooooo!!!

Its not a classic mind. You wouldn't believe the fights we had in getting it done. It was quite dramatic really behind the camara.

Anyway, goodluck to YouTube Ireland. They have the potential to do something great here, if they support new talent, like YouTube has been known to do in the past. We are also greatful for the recent support they has given BalconyTV.

Check out our new YouTube Branded Channel, by clicking into our archives.

Anyway, we are going to leave yesterdays show up today, and expect a new show tomorrow. That was a tongue twister!

And by the way, YouTube have brought back Total Views...Over Half a Million views for BalconyTV!!!..yoooooooohoooooooo.

Here is the fantastic first episode of Dublin Stories for anyone that hasn't seen it...

New Design

I hope everyone likes our new design at BalconyTV.Com. We felt it was best to give it a uniform style with our new BalconyTV Branded Channel in YouTube. You can check that out by going into our archive.

Great work by Sue Patterson at Sink.ie for that.

And it seems I accidently left out the logos and stuff on todays show. Sorry about that Brian! Don't worry about it to much, its superficial branding at the end of the day:-)

I still can't figure out how to get the best picture quality for YouTube. I've been attempting different things in recent days, which may explain the changing picture quality.

TOTAL VIDEO VIEWS GONE

So YouTube have taken away the Total Video Views part of the website. You used to be able to see it when you immediatly logged in. Now its gone. It was our best way of calculating how many people were watching BalconyTV. We were just about to hit half a million video views. But now I have no clue. Needless to say I've logged a protest! I hope they bring it back.

Otherwise, I have reviewed the footage from the BalconyTV Music Video Awards. And it looks great! And the sound is pretty good. Hopefully we can release it on DVD in time for Christmas. Providing the funds materialise ofcoarse. We are pretty broke right now!

Anyway, enough of our moans.

MORE DUBLIN STORIES

Check out the latest Dublin Stories yall...

LEANNE HARTE REVIEW AND ANNOYING PERSON

Last night myself and Tom went to see Leanne Hartes gig in The Village. Having seen her rock the BalconyTV Music Video Awards, we felt it was time we started going to some bands gigs.

Needless to say we weren't dissappointed by Leannes bravado performance. She rocked all the way up to 11!!! And she actually played till 11! Something Else is still my favourite tune. I can really imagine 80'000 people bouncing to that song. Its definitly the single, if it hasn't been already.

I also liked Mr. Fortune. I'm crap with song names.

I also managed to catch Oceans 13 yesterday. Complete mumbo jumbo tosh.

On a whole seperate note. Yesterday we had a friend request from a Dublin based singer songwriter type. So as we like to make a personal contact with all our possible 'new friends', I told this person 'thanks for adding us, and we hope he can keep watching BalconyTV'

His response...

'Thanks, but I don't actually watch Balcony T.V. - I don't have enough time, as I am too busy making music.'

Get the *&@% off the stage. I had to respond...I really couldn't help myself...

'That was probably the rudest, most indulgent remark I have heard in a while.
You are too busy making music to give five minutes to other peoples music?
Your clearly not so busy to shamelessly self promote yourself.'

His response...

'Hey man, I'm not being rude, I'm just telling the truth.
Besides, I don't really generally like listening to other people's music, as I'm usually very, very disappointed. Sorry, but that's how it is. There's a lot of really awful music out there, and I'm certainly not making any of it. '

????????????? I'm tempted to give you all his name so you can send him bad vibes or something.

Just looking at his myspace...under his about me section...the opening line is...

'I make music, you probably know some of it'

Get over yourself! You probably know some of it! You probably know some of it! You probably know some of it! You probably know some of it!

Give me a break. Some people!

Good Review and Free Leanne

Thanks to http://www.musicreveiw.com for post a positive review about the BalconyTV music video awards.

And Pauline informed me of the following just yesterday afternoon...

If anyone goes along to Leanne Hartes gig tonight at Whelans and mentions BalconyTV, they will get in free!!!

Not bad, not bad at all.

ALL ABOUT THE BALCONYTV MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS

So we are happy to say that the BalconyTV Music Video Awards were a complete success.

The first thing that was great was the attendance. Luckily for us they turned up good an early. We were swetting thinking people would straggle along too late; but we were happy to see the place well filled by 9 o' clock - showtime!!!

Maybe this was down to the free booze offering. An offer that soon died ofcoarse, as the 200 drinks we afforded for the night were quickly snapped up. Sorry to anyone who missed out, including the bands; if we get that sponsorship contract you can gaurentee there will be more next year.

Paulines band AlanAlda ( I'm reliably informed is one word and not two by Dermot) warmed up the audience from 8.30. They went down a treat for those in attendence. We were not expecting Pauline to manage to play; despite her dodgy sprained ankle, she also had a show to present. But being the trooper that she is, she successfully negotiated the performance, looking resplendid in her stunning black number. The performance impressed Eleanor McEvoy greatly!

Adam O' Regan of The Revolts (and my bro, who is as we speak doing Maths Paper II in the Junior Certificate), after shushing the crowd, opened the main event with a stirring version of the BalconyTV Theme.

Tom and Pauline got into the swing of things quickly. Arguments over this and that earlier in the day set aside. Pauline looking stunning, Tom looking like a Coney Island Ice Cream SalesMan. Roll Up Roll Up!!!

The first act to perform was the legendary Red Kid. An exuberant performance that was a feast for the crowds senses.

Meanwhile I was swetting to stage side, trying to keep everything in order. We had an 11 o' clock curfew and alot to fit in. We were simulataneously running a pretty ambitious filming operation. Things clearly had the potential to go wrong! I must have circumnavigated The Sugar Club 100 times in the coarse of the night.

I gave Kieron Black of the Sunday Roast and King Kong Club the award envelopes to look after. But ofcoarse I could never find him when I needed him. People were looking at me pretty strangly as I repeated again and again 'Has anyone seen Kieron Black? Anyone? Kieron Black?'.

Next on stage was the magnificent Leanne Harte, with a show performance that was pure rock. She clearly had a huge following on the night, and by the attention she recieved afterwards she must have gained a few more fans.

Alison Curtis of TodayFM presented the Best Male Award to Colm Lynch, who looked clearly stunned by the situation. The award itself looked great on the night, but like the others, as the heat built it began to melt! Gold paint left, right and centre! My advice to the winners was simple 'Eh sorry...just leave it in your room and don't touch it again'.

We gave those awards 6 coats of paint and 2 coats of gloss. And still the paint was coming off! Ah, what are you gonna do!

Eleanor McEvoy was next up. As the music genius she naturally is, she brought a new level of sophistication to the show.

The man himself Kieron Black was up to present Best Female. His energy levels defy the laws of gravity. I don't know what than man is on...but I could use some.

Leanne Harte won Best Female, in clearly a very talented category. It was great to see Bairbre Munnis, Riona Hartman and Pamela Connolly all in attendance. For my money, anyone of them could have won the award. I expect you'll see alot more from these talented women in the years to come. We didn't notice Sinead Martin around though.

Good luck to Bairbre Munnis in the Leaving Certificate! She had to take a break from her studies to attend the show.

Colm Lynch performed a couple of songs soon after. He swetted like no performer I've ever seen bar Christy Moore. No good when it comes to holding the BalconyTV Award. A cake was produced after the performance to celebrate Colms birthday. Chocalate Cadburys. Good stuff.

We couldn't believe it when we saw Paul Brady in attendance. He came along to support Bairbre Munnis on the night. But the support he has given BalconyTV to date has been amazing. But could he be convinced to play a tune? It wasn't scheduled! A good guitar would have to be found.

Mairtin De Cogain from the Fushia Band and The Wind That Shakes The Barley was next up. We were curious whether he would tell a story, or perhaps sing a song. Bodhran in hand, Mairtin did a classic version of Óró, Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile. I was well impressed by this. I can't imagine he could have chosen a better tune for the night.

Mairtin would soon after present the Best World Music prize to Lauren Guillery. Now, its fair to say that Lauren Guillerys music is not 'World Music' per say...but she's French...so...eh...

We always said there was nothing scientific about these awards.

One of myself and Toms favourite performances came from Joe Doyle. Tom thinks hes scored a gig with Joe. Watch this space.

And then it was the man himself...'The one, the only...Paul Brady' shouted Tom and Pauline. The crowd went mad. Paul commented that BalconyTV gave him his big break. Pure class. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he blew away the crowd with The World Is What You Make It. I love that song...Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!!!

That really put the icing on the cake for me, Tom and Pauline...be we still had to get to the end of the show. Could we keep to schedule? The pressure was on.

Eleanor McEvoy was up again, this time to present Best Non Music Show. The award was won by Nam The Man...although none of us could see him on the night. Nam we have the award if you want it!

Pauline was dismayed that Cookie Monster didn't win.

Lauren Guillery and The Claws were next up to perform. After some technical difficulties and some complete ramblings from Tom, Lauren rocked the show. My bro was particularly impressed.

The night was drawing to a close...it was up to the legendary Shay Healy to present Best Band. He commented that its shameful that Irelands two main broadcasters don't support the music scene like BalconyTV. Shay also complimented me on keeping the show running on time. He said he had never seen anything like it. I blushed.

It was a tough contest but RoySeven took home the honors. Except ofcoarse, they were in Germany. They were cool enough to film a video specially for the show. I hope to post that on the blog later.

That was it...but there was still time for some more RocknRoll antics, as The Hot Sprockets were kicked out of the venue for exactly that...RocknRoll antics. We needed a replacement fast as they were due to close the show.

Red Kid!!! Tangarine...tangarine!!!

It was a perfect ending to the show.

Thanks to everyone that came along...all the performers, stage hands, Navarro Films...you know yourself...

Oh, and a shout out to www.collectableposterart.ie for donating the cool music posters for the raffle...

Providing the footage is good, and we get clearance from the various performers, we hope to release a DVD of the event by Christmas. Touch wood.

Heres hoping we can make it another year!

THE FULL LODOWN ON AWARDS NIGHT!!!

Ok folks...here is the final lo down on the BalconyTV Music Video Awards taking place tomorrow night in The Sugar Club on Leeson Street in Dublin.

http://www.thesugarclub.com/

Doors for the event open at 8PM. Admission is FREE!!! Get there as early as possible as we suspect it may be busy. Added to that there may be some free offerings of booze, so really you wouldn't want to miss that.

After a brief reel of the Best of BalconyTV from the past year, Alan Alda will take to the stage about 8.30.

The main event kicks off at 9PM sharp. Live performances will be by...

JOE DOYLE
LAUREN GUILLERY and THE CLAWS
COLM LYNCH
THE HOT SPROCKETS
RED KID
LEANNE HARTE
MAIRTIN DE COGAIN
ELEANOR MCEVOY

Special guest appearances by KIERON BLACK, ALISON CURTIS and SHAY HEALY!!!

The nominations for the night are...

BEST MALE
Adam Matthews
Jinx Lennon
Robotnik
Colm Lynch
Joe Doyle

BEST FEMALE
Riona Hartman
Bairbre Munnis
Pamela Connolly
Leanne Harte
Sinead Martin

BEST WORLD MUSIC
Green Carnation
Ezra
Niwel Tsumbo
Lauren Guillery
Robbie McDonald

BEST NON MUSIC
Cookie Monster
Nam The Man
Robbie Bonham
Mairtin De Cogain
Rashani Tribal BellyDance

BEST BAND
The Tortured Artists Social Club
Red Kid
The Sensors
Royseven
The Hot Sprockets

We hope to see as many of the acts who have performed in the past year there!

IT WAS A YEAR AGO TODAY

A year ago today that it all began. My god! Has it been that long? Tune in tomorrow for the unveiling of the BalconyTV Music Video Award...and don't forget the show in the Sugar Club in Saturday night!!!

Lap Dancing

I have just learned that they are opening a lap dancing club opposite the entrance to BalconyTV on Crane Lane! The spot was once a nice bar called The Crane...sometime later it became a casino...later again it became a sex shop...then a casino again (when me and Tom lost alot on Roulette)...and lo and beholdst...it will soon be a lap dancing club.

How long with it last?

NAM THE MAN LEGEND

So we just found this video of Nam The Man...who once starred on BalconyTV (just look up the archive...or type it into YouTube)....
It must be said, this production is a bit better.

BAD CAPTIONS

Congratulations to Paulines mum on her BalconyTV presenting debut! She had no problem with her lines unlike the younger Freeman, who is prone to giggles.

I've noticed I got the captions wrong for todays show. Harmonica Sounds are infact Harmonic Sound. Funnily enough when they were here I kept calling them Harmonica Sounds too. I was corrected by them...but it obviously had little effect. Sorry guys. Good tune though.

And finally we have over 1000 MySpace friends! Hurrah!

MY BROTHER THE 14 YEAR OLD...

So it seems my little brother...Alex(14), has joined the world of MySpace.

I've subsequently learned that his favourite films are...

Mean Streets, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Serpico, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Sin City, Reservoir Dogs, Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac, The Godfather Part 1 and 2, Saturday Night Fever, Magnolia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Vanilla Sky, Lost In Translation, Little Miss Sunshine, Almost Famous, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore, Dog Day Afernoon, Punch Drunk Love, Desperado, Once Upon A Time In Mexico...

!!!!!!!!!!!

WTF!!! Parents!...What happened to Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters!!! The youth of today!

And he sights he favourite music as...

Air, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, The Automatic, The Avalanches, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Beck, Bell X1, The Blizzards, Bloc Party, Boss Volenti, Brendon Benson, Brighton Avenue, Coldplay, Damien Rice, David Bowie, Director, The Doors, Electric Six, Fiona Apple, The Flaming Lips, Franz Ferdinand, The Fratellis, The Futureheads, Gnarls Barkley, The Go, Gorillaz, G n' R, The Hives, Hot Hot Heat, Jack Johnson, James Brown, Jet, Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, Kings Of Leon, Kinks, Klaxons, The Kooks, Led Zeppelin, The Libertines, Lily Allen, Massive Attack, Maximo Park, Michael Jackson, Moby, Miles Davis, Mooney Suzuki, Muse, Nick Drake, Nirvana, Orson, OutKast, Panic! At The Disco, Peter Bjorn and John, Queen, R.E.M., Radiohead, The Raconteurs, Razorlight, RHCP, Republic of Loose, Sly &; The Family Stone, The Streets, The Strokes, The Subways, Thin Lizzy, Thom Yorke, U2, The Velvet Underground, We Are Scientists, The White Stripes, The Who, Wolfmother.


We la de da...la de da...John Lee Hooker eh....The Velvet Underground eh...

Any way, say hello to my bro at http://www.myspace.com/alexoregan

And if thats not enough...here is possibly his first film...expect gratuitous violence...