Shinty?. On a big screen?. in Dublin? It's just that I can't imagine it. In Scotland perhaps, but are you sure it wasn't Hurling, the fastest field game in the world and quite possibly the most dangerous? I can imagine that OK, but to insist that a band plays as a sort of a sound-track to such a match is preposterous, and the manager of the place should have been sent off for an unprofessional foul.

Unfortunately, musicians seem to always ocupy the lowest part on the totem pole when it comes to consideration from pub owners etc. I insist on such things not only being turned off, but plugged out from the wall.

It's not that I demand that people listen to me, but there is a certain mutual courtesy involved here.

Remember 'Bob's Country Bunker' in the 'Blues Brothers'? I wouldn't lower my standards in cases like this. I can put up with a lot of shit in pub gigs; folks after all are out there to enjoy themselves, but part of the entertainment is not the humiliation of the musician. As mentioned in other threads it can be a quite nerve-wracking thing to get up in front of an audience in the first place.

Youse were right to get out of the place, and the 'Brazen Head' is a much cooler place to be entirely.

In this country, thank God, it is an accepted norm to have the old contract signed before you even think of going near the place, and the musician's union look very grimly on any kind of untoward behaviour on the part of licencees. But unfortunately it is our lot to not only be a musician, but to be the defenders of our own dignity, which can, at any time be subject to an intense shattering by the people who employ us.

is míse le meas: Breandán