Blogs

Join us on Zoom tomorrow for a social gathering. That's Wednesday 6th, at 10.30am, on Nollaig na mBan, everyone is welcome. Please get in touch with the library at [email protected]

The Music Library invites you to take part in a special event taking place over the month of December. In these times where we have to stay apart, connect with other music lovers by sharing your memories of songs on the themes of Christmas and Nostalgia, either by post or email for inclusion in a publication curated by Irish vocalist and songwriter Riona Sally Hartman to be sent to all participants.

Music can be so uplifting, and a great source of inspiration and solace to many of us still on lockdown. With this in mind why not check out the life stories of the musicians behind some of your favourite songs, with the varied and great music biographies available on BorrowBox. Here’s just a few suggestions.‘The Last Interview: And Other Conservations’ – David BowieDavid Bowie was a chameleon of a performer. His music and style evolved and changed over a remarkable career, leaving us with a wealth of diverse and ground breaking albums. Check out these recollections of a colourful and eventful life. These insightful interviews span the course of Bowie’s career, from his earliest right up to one of the last given prior to his death.‘Love, Janis’ – Laura JoplinOne of the most rousing, heart breaking and soulful voices in rock music belonged to a certain Janis Joplin. A fierce performer who was an electric presence in the emerging counter culture scene of 60s San Francisco. A legendary artist from an iconic era, Joplin lived an all too brief but extraordinary life. This book contains recollections from friends and family who knew her best, and a series of previously unpublished letters lovingly compiled by her sister.‘M Train’ – Patti SmithPatti Smith is an artist of many talents. Renowned as a photographer, poet and visual artist, she is perhaps best known for her music. A music that fuses the blues, punk and an anarchic spirit. ‘M Train’ is the second of two memoirs by Smith, where she ruminates on the places, people and the creative influences that inspire her work. For those who loved her first memoir ‘Just Kids’, this is a must read.Submitted by Michael from Dolphin’s Barn Library.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN. Watch our how to video on Borrowbox. Members of other library authorities will need to log in using a different link.

It’s always going to be hard writing a book about someone as closed personally as Rory Gallagher was, but this is as excellent a career overview of Ireland’s greatest guitarist as you can get, with plenty of old friends going back to his school days, to the roadcrew that he spent so much time with on the road, telling their tales, along with plenty of  Rory's own words from interviews over the years.Rory Gallagher by Marcus ConnaughtonIf it’s information about his private life you're after then this isn't the place to get it mainly due to the fact that Gallagher kept his private life just that - private. While he gave countless interviews over the years, unless it was about music he was very reluctant to say anything; at the end of the day he came across as a shy man (hard to believe when you see him in action on stage) who just lived for making his music and then going on tour with it, and anything else - if there even was anything else - was his business.  Along with all this there are some brilliant photos of Rory on stage and some even going back to his days as a teenage showband member. All in all a great read and it'll have you digging out the Rory albums as you go!What Does This Button Do? by Bruce DickinsonDespite being the lead singer in Iron Maiden for over 30 years there's a lot more to Bruce Dickinson than this: he was an Olympic standard fencer, went from flying band members around the US in a small plane in 2000 to flying the band, crew and equipment around the world in a 747 two years ago, he's also been an author, broadcaster, businessman and brewer so he has plenty to tell, and that's all before he got diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2014.  While there's plenty of his Maiden days in this, it’s not just for fans of the band as he's equally as passionate about all of the other strings in his bow and comes across as a very intelligent, curious man who when he gets involved in something really throws himself into it 100% and this attitude surely helped him get through his cancer diagnosis.  As I said it’s not just a book for Maiden fans, there's plenty of variety in it for all.Born to Run by Bruce SpringsteenAn unsurprisingly hugely anticipated book when it was released, this didn't disappoint: a very honest read which is written in typical Springsteen phrasing very similar to the way he tells stories through his songs. Nothing is left out here, although not everything is followed through to its full extent - then again if he was to go fully into everything that's happened in a near 50 year career he'd still be writing it! The early years as he struggles along in a variety of bands is very interesting as the idea of quitting never seems to occur to him and it’s this determination that eventually paid off;  but even then he had some management/legal problems in the mid 70's that seemed to have more effect on him than the constant knock-downs he had when younger, but once this issue was sorted things just took off to unbelievable levels.  He comes across as a very deep man who has thought long and hard about all he has done and will often end a paragraph or a chapter with a question or a conclusion that will have you thinking about it for hours or even days afterwards. The follow-on project to the book was the Springsteen on Broadway show which ran for well over a year and the good news is it’s available on the Freegal service from the library, along with several concerts from the 70s and 80s.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN. Watch our how to video on Borrowbox. Members of other library authorities will need to log in using a different link.Submitted by Niall from Finglas Library. 

Having recently had a really good look into Freegal for the first time I decided to dig around and see what’s on there for those of us of a hard rock persuasion, so if the "keep calm and relax" playlist isn't for you and you have no interest in that Fiona Apple ad that seems to appear no matter what, this could be for you. I'm going to start with the bigger names and later on give a few recommendations of lesser-known bands  that I was pleasantly surprised to find on there.May as well start with the biggest rock band on the planet so that would be Metallica; none of their studio albums are on here but what is on is several radio broadcast albums of gigs ranging from 1986 to around 1996 - these are not official band releases but the sound on them is generally very good, while they are the equivalent of the old bootleg tapes that were sold on O'Connell Bridge (remember them??) which were literally a microphone stuffed down a sleeve so you got a great insight into what people around the bootlegger were doing but only a vague idea of a band playing somewhere in the distance.  The ones I would personally go for here are the earlier ones from ‘86 and ’88, but all tours are covered over a 10 year period so plenty of Black Album stuff there too.Next up AC/DC, and basically everything you could possibly want from both studio and radio roadcasts is here; every studio album and gigs from both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson eras along with the Bonfire box set which is superb. The live radio broadcasts stop around mid ‘80's but there are a couple of official live albums recorded after this, the most recent being Live At River Plate which is from the Black Ice tour.Guns N’ Roses next: similar to Metallica, no studio albums up but as every house in Ireland has a copy of Appetite for Destruction this isn't too much of a problem!  What is there are five Radio Broadcast concerts ranging from 1987 – 1992, so we get to hear what they were like as they came screaming (literally) out of L.A., to the line up of ‘92 in which the egos and drug and alcohol problems were causing serious internal problems, and it wasn't too long after this that only Axl Rose was left of the original line-up. He then took 35 years (or close enough)  to record a new album, spent years making fans wait for hours for him to show up at concerts before finally burying the hatchet with Duff McKagan and Slash, learning to be punctual, and being part of what is financially the third biggest tour in the history of music. One word of warning on the later shows - avoid the drum solo, life is too short, even in lockdown!!So that's the big names looked at, now here's some other bands  you may or may not have heard of, but sometimes it’s good to go off the beaten track and try something new.First up The Wildhearts, an English band who released their debut album in 1993, have split up and reformed too many times to mention over the years but the quality of music has always been top notch no matter the line-up.  The albums that are up are mostly from 2003-05 with the 2016 double live album Never Outdrunk, Never Outsung also there; this and The Wildhearts Strike Back are both double live  albums so their whole career is covered on these. The Coupled With album is a collection of mainly B-sides which is probably better than most bands’ A-sides.  Lead singer Ginger also has some solo work on too; a starting point for him would be the compilation album Ten, which is fantastic.Supersuckers are next, described as "the greatest rock and roll band in the world" (by themselves!): at times it’s hard to argue with them. The albums here are all relatively recent including their brand new one, Play That Rock and Roll, which only came out last month; this and albums Get the Hell and Suck It are great rock albums - think Ramones meeting Motörhead and you'll have an idea of what to expect. One curveball is the album Holding the Bag on which the Supersuckers do what they've done several times during their career and go country in their own unique way -  breaking out the acoustic guitars and with plenty of black humour in the lyrics, it’s country,  but not as we know it!From Northern Ireland The Answer are next up, a great classic-rock-sounding band that almost made a big breakthrough when they were supporting AC/DC for 18 months on their Black Ice tour but unfortunately it never really happened for them.  All their albums are here and apart from a slight change of direction on their last one, Solas, all are old-school rock albums, pick of the bunch being Revival and Everyday Demons.Also from up North are Therapy? - not exactly unknowns, but unfortunately not exactly superstars either!  A couple  of their later albums are up here, as well as Shameless from 1998 which is great but the one most people will probably be interested in is the live double album, We're Here To The End which has 36 songs spanning their whole career, including all the classics.Other bands worth checking out similar to above, are Hellacopters (especially the High Visibility album), Backyard Babies and Gluecifer. Hope there's something here to interest you. For those about to rock, I salute you! Watch our how to video on Freegal.  You will need your Dublin City Library card and pin.Submitted by Niall from Finglas Library.

We are delighted to announce that, for a three month period, Dublin City Library members have access to Music Online: Classical Scores Library! Many thanks to Proquest for providing this service, allowing us as it does to expand on the range of online resources accessible from anywhere and available to our patrons during this time of lockdown and otherwise reduced service.Classical Scores Library is a series of four volumes providing a reliable and authoritative source for scores of the classical canon, as well as a resource for the discovery of lesser-known contemporary works. The collections encompass all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. With full, study, piano, and vocal scores, this comprehensive collection enhances the study of music history, performance, composition and theory for lovers of a variety of genres.You can search or browse by title, genre, composer, instrument, or time periods.All yo uneed to access this fabulous resource is your Dublin City Library card number!Visit Music Online: Classical Scores Library, enter your patron card number and you are in!Should you have difficulty logging in to this resource with your Dublin City Libraries' card number, please contact the support desk and create a new support ticket.This offer came about through the Dublin City Council Music Library's membership of the IAML (International Association of Music Libraries, Archives & Documentation Centres ( UK & Ireland branch).    

Missing live music and concerts? Our colleague Peter from Pembroke Library thinks that Freegal can help. Family, friends, colleagues, our favourite cafés, and without doubt, our local libraries; just some of the things that I think we are all looking forward to seeing again as soon as we can. Technology has let us keep in touch with the important people and places in our lives, and our libraries are still providing great services through their eResources. There is one thing that I am really missing, one that I can’t wait to experience again. That is going to a concert to see a favourite band or musician. Perhaps it is better put as the simple joy of hearing live music.Thanks to a brilliant eResource available from our libraries, all is not lost. It is called Freegal music, and it opens a world of music to stream and download for you to listen to. All you need is your borrower number, pin and an e-mail address. I’ve picked out some great albums available on it to help those missing their concerts in these unusual times..Bill Withers – Live at Carnegie Hall.Starting with a music legend whom we have lost in recent weeks, Bill Withers, 1972’s Live at Carnegie Hall is one of the finest examples of live delivery of soul music to be recorded. It belongs in the company of Sam Cooke’s Live at the Harlem Square Club, and James Brown’s Live at the Apollo, widely acknowledged as some of the best live albums ever made. Withers interactions with his band and audience are a joy to hear, and the songs are performed brilliantly. Personal favourites are Grandma’s Hands and I Can’t Write Left-Handed, but it is packed full of great songs for you to pick from.Bruce Springsteen – Live in DublinFrom one legend to another, Bruce Springsteen is renowned for his epic live shows that can span the hours. Whether accompanied by a band, or just him and a guitar, “the Boss” just knows how to keep an audience entertained, and rarely are his concert goers disappointed.This is not a typical Springsteen concert in that it does not feature the exceptional E-Street Band. Instead, he has brought together several other talented musicians, dubbed the “Seeger Sessions Band” to rework some Springsteen hits in an American folk style. Some old standards are thrown in as well as some rarely heard songs. Recorded over three concerts in Dublin in 2006, and at over two hours in length, you can sense the amount of fun he, the band and the audience are having.This is truly a treat for any Springsteen fan, but if you just like good music played by great musicians, this is hard to beat and well worth some time. The concerts ends with “We Shall Overcome”, a message that speaks to us now more than ever.Patti Smith – The Archives (Live)There are few words which do justice to describe Patti Smith, an artist, poet, singer, songwriter, and author of great renown. She has influenced many people to try and make a difference to the world in a good way. She is the punk poet laureate. Simply put, she is a force of nature, and nowhere is that more evident than in her live shows. This is not a recording of a single concert but rather it is more of a greatest hits collection recorded at shows throughout her career. It includes great songs from her and other celebrated artists, spoken word and interviews. It is a generous three hours long, and her legendary passion really comes through.John Prine – LiveLike Bill Withers, John Prine is another artist who, unfortunately, we’ve lost in recent times. A gifted songwriter, he is known for often being very funny in his lyrics, yet also able to convey a social or political message. He was comfortable with just his guitar and an audience and could tell stories off the cuff as well as he could through song.This album has a lot of his best-known songs from the first half of his career. It is a wonderful introduction to his music and his personality, and a timely reminder of a talented career that has now been ended. Like digging through a crate in a record shop, I’ve only scratched the surface of what Freegal music has available This is just a small selection. There is plenty for everyone’s taste. You can listen to a live recording of rapper Nas’s ground-breaking Illmatic album, Brilliant Swedish Sisters, First Aid Kit Live at the BBC, Leonard Cohen’s Live in Dublin, Jeff Buckley’s Live at Sin É, a very young and very raw R.E.M., Christy Moore holding the Point Depot in the palm of his hand, and Luke Kelly and the Dubliners wowing Montreux Jazz festival.Watch our how to video on Freegal.  You will need your Dublin City Library card and pin.

In this episode of the DCLA podcast, musician Eileen Gogan responds to stories from The Long Gaze Back and talks to editor Sinéad Gleeson. They discuss the parallels and crossovers between song writing and writing, the difficulty of choosing a title, writer’s block, influences and the parallels between poetry and lyrics. Eileen is accompanied by musician Ed McGinley.For rights reasons you will only hear clips from Eileen’s songs, to hear, including her new album Under Moving Skies visit https://eileengoganandtheinstructions.bandcamp.com/Recorded at Walkinstown Library on 9 April at 2018.  Dublin City Libraries & Archives · Notes of ChangeEileen chooses stories from The Long Gaze Back and pairs them with her songs that echo the same themes, feelings and ideas. Eileen performs Malibu Stacy, Planets, Home, Sweet Alice, Dreamtime Stories mentioned: ‘Berghain’ by Lisa McInerney ‘The Eldest Child’ by Maeve Brennan‘Somewhere to be’ by Siobhan Mannion‘The Meaning of Missing’ by Evelyn Conlon‘I’ll take you there’ by Niamh Boyce‘Infinte Landscapes’ by Roisín O’Donnell   Eileen Gogan's new album Under Moving Skies is out on 29 May 2020. Her first album, The Spirit of Oberlin, recorded with her band, The Instructions, was released to wide acclaim in 2015. Outside of her solo work, she has sung with The Would Bes’, The Revenants, The Drays and Microdisney.Ed McGinley, singer, song-writer and guitarist with The Dixons and The Winters. His first solo collection Tangled Roots & Twisted Tales was released in 2019.  You can subscribe to the Dublin City Libraries and Archives podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. This season is based on recordings from the 2018 Dublin: One City, One Book events. Dublin: One City, One Book is an award-winning Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, that encourages everyone to read a particular book during the month of April every year. 2018's choice was 'The Long Gaze Back' which you can read on Borrowbox and of course you can order it from your favourite bookshop.The Dublin: One City, One Book for 2020 is Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey, available electronically on our BorrowBox app and from your favourite bookseller.Finally if you’re interested in podcasts why not check out the Dublin Festival of History podcast which features recordings from the free annual event and the new City of Books podcast with Martina Devlin, the podcast for people who believe stories matter. And that you can never have too many books.

Freegal is a free music streaming service from your library. It’s free and legal, Freegal - geddit? Freegal boasts 15 million songs ranging from today’s K-Pop tunes to curated muso playlists. Mostly it’s all sounds from Sony Music’s roster, and covers most genres, even black metal. Submitted by Sleeve Notes, Drumcondra Library. Sleeve Notes has been reading, 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' by Bob Stanley, and listening to 'Splashdown: The Complete Creation Recordings 1990-1992' The Telescopes.Download the App from your App store. You will need your library card and PIN to sign up. Thankfully colleagues put together a user friendly video on how to navigate Freegal.Check out the vid hereOverall Freegal’s search mechanism is a little clunky and at the vagaries of some foggy thinking. To crack the safe just think laterally, keep your dabs on, and you’ll tickle Freegal quick smart. For example if you do a search for a particular artist it may not yield. So try again using the artists name in an album search, and it suddenly returns the goods. It’s a straight up honky tonk wonky jukebox so don’t react if you get el zippo when you search, be persistent. As a record store clerk it’s more Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink than Jack Black in High Fidelity. It’s worth the aggravation for the solid gold nuggets it holds inside, of which there is plenty.You can search on a few different categories. The most entertaining is PLAYLISTS from the search bar at the top of your SEARCH screen. Playlists are a lucky dip with some times eye-raising selections. They come with often baffling names and are quite fast and loose in how a chosen theme plays out. They throw up a smorgasbord, from tasty treats to the frankly undisgestable. Whether its boffin or bot made, I defy you to polish off a full playlist in one sitting.And as the music plays, I wonder who rustles up these marvellous whittles. Freegal’s website mentions ‘music professionals’. Sweet! There’s a wrecking crew full of misfits and miscreants throwing their crate digging years into this? Where do I apply for a job? It seems to me the playlists I’m drawn to are chosen by a battle-scarred, one-time roadie for Popol Vuh, a sometimes late night DJ under the moniker ‘John Papa Boogie’. He’s surrounded by show posters, ticket stubs, tour merch and his vast record collection.  He’s not down with the kids but he knows his stuff.  Oh and that rug he has, really ties the room together.Check out the ‘ONE GIANT LEAP: MOON TUNES’ playlist for example. So okay there’s some pretty obvious inclusions like ‘Moonlight Serenade’ Glenn Miller, ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ Elvis Presley, ‘By the Light of the Silvery Moon’ Doris Day, ‘Blue Moon’ Billie Holiday, ‘Moon River’ Andy Williams, ‘Moondance’ Van Morrison. Then there’s more off the grid stuff like ‘Song About the Moon’ Paul Simon, ‘Moonbeam Song’ Harry Nilsson, ‘Moonshine’ Denis Wilson. And then we wig out completely and go on a magic carpet ride with ‘Moonshake’ Can, ‘Moon Turn the Tides’ Jimi Hendrix Experience, ‘Moon in June’ Soft Machine. Fancy a go?So Just search the playlist: ‘ONE GIANT LEAP: MOON TUNES’. You get 71 songs and free entertainment for 4hrs and 41 mins. Far out!It doesn’t end there. Remember I mentioned the weird and wonderful nuggets that the lucky dip search mechanism throws your way? Well I went down the rabbit hole earlier today with related moon type thoughts. I thought I’d imbibe something curiouser: ‘Rocket Man’ William Shatner;  The Byrds ‘Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins’;  Recordings of ‘Apollo 11 First Moon Landing’ Walter Cronkite; Neil Armstrong ‘One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind’.Freegal has them all to flight test. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

And now for a few thoughts from our colleague Clodagh on keeping sane whilst keeping indoors. I’m starting to get a little home-crazy. With home-schooling, home-working and home-only for the foreseeable future, all I can think of is escape from home rather than using my spare time to clean the previously untouched corners of my home. Bathroom grouting – you have no need to fear! My escape is music. Music touches almost all of us I think, we’re hooked by a bassline or drawn to a melody. I have music in every room of the house, so that I can listen as I read, cook, work or argue about how April Fool’s Day is not a national holiday and therefore home-school still goes ahead.Have you ever wondered what it is about music that makes it so appealing to us humans? How does it affect our brains? How do earworms happen to us? Have a listen to ‘Musicophilia’ by Oliver Sacks, available on eAudiobook through Borrowbox with your library membership. Sacks quotes Charles Darwin’s ‘The Descent of Man’ in his introduction claiming music to be a pretty useless, but nevertheless enjoyable endeavour! I think of dementia choirs here in the city and wonder if Darwin could do with an update? ‘As neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of producing musical notes are faculties of the least use to man ... they must be ranked among the most mysterious with which he is endowed.’If you’d like to find out more, another book choice might be Daniel Levitin’s ‘This is your brain on music’.Or why not check out some of the great music biographies on Borrowbox of talented artists such as David Bowie, Rory Gallagher or Janis Joplin.Watch our how-to video on Borrowbox.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN.Members of other library authorities will need to access BorrowBox using a different link.In the current situation, I could certainly do some musical therapy, so rather than reading further, I’ve decided to give my faculties a challenge with Artistworks for Libraries, available via RB Digital with your library membership. Watch our how to video for RBdigital.My challenge is to master the bass guitar lying lonesome in the corner of one home-schooler’s bedroom, purchased from the much-missed Walton’s on South Great George’s Street way back when the home-schooler expressed an interest in learning, swiftly followed by a lack of interest in learning. I delude myself that I could be the next Kim Deal or Tina Weymouth, should anyone come looking for a 40-something librarian bassist, with a side knowledge of 2PiR and the counties of Ireland ‘as Gaeilge’.On Artistworks for Libraries, Nathan East provides the bass guitar tutorials. He has worked with musicians from Eric Clapton to Herbie Hancock, and you’ll know his bass lines from songs such as Kenny Loggins’ ‘Footloose’ or Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’. That’s impressive, so I watch the first few videos, feeling a little perplexed by new terms such as harmonics and intonation.‘One man’s G sharp is another man’s A flat’I slow down to get to grips with the terminology and tie it in with what I know already from previous instrumental dabbling. I move on to the warmups and scales and really enjoy getting stuck into the sounds of each string. I’m delighted to see that these videos have a slow-motion version too. The short videos that allow you master a skill before moving on are great for building confidence.The break in the daily home routine is refreshing. Learning an instrument requires a focus that makes you shake off distractions and gives you a sense of accomplishment as you progress. Have a look at Artistworks for Libraries, think about what you could do with the mysterious faculties with which you have been endowed.Dream of your other life in music. Plans for my world tour are on hold for the moment, but watch this space…