8) The International Bar of Wicklow Street, D2
One of Dublin’s few genuine Victorian pubs and has stood on the corner of Wicklow and St. Andrew’s Street for over 200 years. Comedy gigs take place upstairs and the downstairs is frequently given over to future Nobel Prize winner Stephen James Smith's [1] glorified Glor sessions. Jazz music is also offered downstairs on Wednesday nights. Decor has remained mostly Victorian with stained-glass windows, a floor mosaic of the family crest at the entrance [2], an ornate ceiling and various hand carved mahogany river gods stationed behind the bar. One's heart was warmed and faith in humanity partially restored when a barman once gave one an extra hot helping of the daily soup, way back in the bleakest darkest snowbound winter of 2010.
Claims to fame include appearing in Ulysses under the name of Ruggy O'Donohue's, passed by the recently bereaved Master Patrick Aloysius Dignam, and for being the pub in which the late Ronnie Drew met by chance the late Luke Kelly, henceforth the folk band The Dubliners. Evenings here often allow for a singsong in the bar which becomes incredibly overcrowded. An older gentleman with a long white ponytail often blows off steam with his beaten acoustic guitar and has been regularly spotted in the Harold House nursing a big pint of blackcurrant cordial. Toasted sandwiches here are easily of better quality than in moany Grogan’s down the road. Tipplers Tip: tinkle tentatively. Toilet facilities need facilitation.
FOOTNOTE
[1] The crest is of the clan ‘O’Donohoe,’ owners of the pub for generations, since at least 1886. In the mosaic one can see the initials ‘O.D.’ But one tries to think not of the word ‘overdose’ given the enormous quantity of liquor sold on the premises.
[2] 24th February, 2022, from the man himself:
Hello friends,
I’d like to share some good news with you… it’s been 2 years since I last sent one of these ‘newsletters’ and clearly a lot has happened since then, the ups, the downs and the limbo in between. Thankfully I’m on the upswing again and full of nervous energy about the news I’m about to share!
My debut album ‘See No Evil’ will be released on April 1st (Fool’s Day seems fitting for me).
You can pre-save my album here:
https://found.ee/SeeNoEvil
Then I’ll embark on my 3rd tour of Ireland & the UK in April and May going to: Dublin, Derry, Wexford, Galway, Belfast, Cork, London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. This time around I'll also have a band and visual artist join me! I've done the solo thing and now I want to challenge myself and share the stage with my friend's to create a different vibe.
You can buy tickets for my tour from my website here:
https://www.stephenjamessmith.com/events
To be honest with you, this kinda feels like my last roll of the dice, it’ll be a good barometer of how sustainable this life that I live is. Poetry has taken me to places I’d never have expected and I’ve done more than my dreams could’ve imagined already with a mix of good fortune and hard work. However I’m now at a point where I aspire to have a family in the coming years and I might need to re-evaluate what I do, I can’t be chasing the ego anymore, ultimately one’s purpose is to serve, while I’ve always tried to serve my art and community, I just recognise there's another focus in my life now.
Saying that, if this album and tour goes well it might give me the confidence and energy to continue, so I’d be very grateful for any support you could give me and this album/tour. If you could pre-save the album and buy a few tickets to the gigs that’d be great. You’ll find the poster above, check out the dates and tell your friends in the different areas to buzz along please. I'll be sharing details on my social media tomorrow (25th) if you can like, comment, share, retweet, etc... that would be brilliant. I've committed to spending some money on PR, but it kind of feels like a dark-art and it's hard to know the impact of it, so people-power is more effective, so get sharing, thanks!
If you know anyone in the media who might be interested in chatting to me about the project please send them my way, my email is: info@stephenjamessmith.com and here’s the press release:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IuUzk3qCUkXSEIE4mx7H-CXVmMNM_hu1gOJ7QbimLLw/edit
Please stay tuned to my social media, my handle is @sjswords, I intend on doing a live-stream to talk about the album and the team behind it (there were loads of incredibly talented people involved). I'd love to tell you everything now, but I could nearly write a book about the experience, so I’ll do it in sections. Needless to say it was a privilege to work with the team that helped to make all of this happen.
I intend on releasing a single on the 11th of March and a lyric video on the 18th of March, so I’ll probably send another ‘newsletter’ on the 18th/19th. I’ve zero desire to spam anyone (to be fair it’s been about 2 years since I last sent one of these), but if you don’t want to receive this anymore just unsubscribe, no offence will be taken, I get it, I'd rather this went to folks that wanted to stay informed than be an inconvenience to anyone. This list has grown over 12 years since I used to run an open mic in the basement of The International Bar in Dublin city centre, so you might’ve signed up back then or from my website at some point after seeing me on TV or something and now be thinking who the heck is this fella? Which is fair enough! You can just unsubscribe down the bottom of the email and you can always join again in future if you wish.
I dare not mention the c-word, the past couple of years have been a massive challenge for us all, obviously not just those involved in the live arts sector. To be honest while I’ve had my fair share of downs, I also struck it lucky a few times, I now find myself living in the sunny south east in Wexford. I can’t say it was in my plans, but it’s worked out relatively well for me, sometimes it feels like ‘out of sight out of mind’, but maybe that suits me for where I’m at in my life.
However, despite having a multitude of gigs and events cancelled, rescheduled and cancelled again (that was the hardest part), I was due to perform in; New York, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome and beyond which obviously didn’t happen, but I still kept very busy. So I’d like to tell you about some of the other projects and collaborations I was involved with in the past 2 years.
Here’s a list of the most recent projects I was involved in going backwards to 2020:
tell it to a tree - a collaborative EP with Basciville & Cursed Murphy
https://found.ee/TellItToATree
Three Men Talk (Radio Play):
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/stephenjamessmith/tmt
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5XnKlE1GNvpcp7BAOY0D8G
10th anniversary limited edition TMT script (buy it here):
https://kalleryan.com/product/tmt/
Only For This:
https://youtu.be/Lulls3tag9w
Dublin Simon Community Christmas Busk:
https://youtu.be/b8B2odWjFik
Ode to the Olympia:
https://youtu.be/pEg9LciVqwc
Step By Step - A St Patrick's Festival Celebration:
https://youtu.be/6ldUbLzfQl8
Addressing The Nations - Centre Culturel Irlandais:
https://youtu.be/yH17xWJSbDI
Russian Fruit:
https://youtu.be/cSDF4N0dtgE
May You:
https://youtu.be/13mKzISgqCw
OK, that’s a lot to throw at you, but I hope you get something from some of it at least…
So just to wrap up, I hope to see you along the road, it would mean a lot to me. If you can share the tour online and by word of mouth, buy tickets, spread the word about the album by retweeting and sharing my social media posts, that would be a great help. The funny thing about doing all this is, the budget for the album and tour cost a ballpark of €17,000 so it's a big risk and I'm the last person to paid after all the expenses are covered of which there are many, but that's what artists do, we take a chance and lean into the future with optimism. So, c’est la vie… as I said this could be my last roll of the dice.
You can buy tickets for my tour from my website here:
https://www.stephenjamessmith.com/events
You can pre-save my album here:
https://found.ee/SeeNoEvil
Please follow me on Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DNLdrEmWaM6gG2mX0DAvB
I’m getting more active on Patreon and sharing exclusives there first, if you want to hear the single today that’ll be out on the 11th of March, just subscribe to my Patreon here:
https://www.patreon.com/sjswords
Alright, I’ll wrap up this time… I hope this finds you in good spirits, I hope you’re finding the time to create and make new connections in your life, that’s what keeps me going, I’d be lost without poetry in my life and the connections it’s helped me to forge.
Grá Mór (Big Love),
Stevie x
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