A list of the current podcasts that I am listening to…
Most people would associate the above title phrase with Father Ted, however, this phrase dates back to the 1930s and the Irish anti-jazz movement that griped the country for a period at this time. Dances such as the Rumba, Samba and quickstep were seen as close to close dancing and the importation of ‘negro’ culture. In opposition there was the Irish culture and it’s dancing which was a more open dance: “good wholesome Irish dancing… in place of terrible abusive jazz.”
On new years day in 1934 there was a march against Jazz in Mohill, County Leitrim. Banners such as ‘Down with this sort of thing’ or ‘no foreign culture in this country’ and ‘out with paganism… out with jazz’ were held high. Father Peter Conifrey was the man behind the campaign, a campaign which hit its peak when a radio station in Athlone started to play Jazz music. The government was called on to close dance halls at 2300 and ban all foreign dances from Ireland.
The campaign was discussed during the January 1934 meeting of Dublin Corporation. Among the highlights was Councillor Mahealy comment on the subject: “for centuries this country has stood out for national music and dancing and here we are in 1934 following the music and dancing of the ‘negro (people). It is a desperate state of affairs.” The Waterford Corporation justified the campaign by saying: “you couldn’t call the old time waltzes of course jazz because they are good music.” Why they couldn’t see that waltzes were not part of Irish culture (German) and that they were promoting a ‘foreign culture’ themselves is beyond me.
Meanwhile the Gaelic League was pulling their weight in the campaign against Jazz. Secretary O’Quinn said: “the Gaels of Meath have in a very practical way done more to oust jazz than any form of propaganda…. The failure of jazz is due to the resurgent spirit of young Gaels than the depraved excesses alleged to have been a special feature of recent years.”
Censorship in Ireland is a topic of personal interest to me. I was lucky to be born at the tail end of this censorship and today I can read books like The Catcher in the Rye or watch films like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ without breaking the law. I came across a Radio One documentary podcast about the Irish anti-jazz campaign and much of the info in this post is taken from this documentary.
I am working on a few new sites for Thrifty Car Rental Ireland. There is nothing there yet, but I want Google to spider them so I am giving them a link here….
I took this picture on Martha’s Vineyard recently. I took it not really knowing what was going to come out but I am really happy with it. I focused in on the sunlight sparkling off the sea. If you want a full size version just leave a comment saying so.
We got up early and went in search of petrol. Luckily we found some before having to try and get the car back to the rental company on fumes. We got away with a late charge of $12 which was great.
Before heading off we brought our luggage around to Dua to have a couple of pints with Stephen before we headed off…
We got up early with Leona as our guide walked around the town she was staying at Vineyard Haven (but I could be wrong). We got a bus to another town where we had breakfast and took lots of pictures. We got the 1300 ferry off the island as we had to drop the car off at 5pm and being not sure about how long the journey was going to take… We took a wrong turn coming into New York and we were very low on petrol.
As it turned out we were way late for the car rental company and had to hold onto the car for an extra night. Luckily we made it to Dua before Mary and Gabriel left and got to say god bye. The plan was to spend the evening drinking, but very soon the party broke up.
It was a real commune effort to get the house back to the condition it was before the wedding. Not that it was a mess, but because so much stuff had been moved around. At about 1 Mark and I had to leave to drive to Martha’s Vineyard to visit Leona. We were against the clock to get the last ferry onto the island and it was a real case of foot to the floor. We made it to the ferry with about 10 mins to spare. On the journey I had reached a top speed of over 152 km per hour. I was going to push it to 100mph but at 95mph the car handled differently so I decided I should err on the safe side 
The ferry over to the island was fantastic. It was a cool night so we were able to sit on deck and watch the moonlit sea all the way to the Island. When we landed Leona met us and brought us to her house where she had organised a couple of beds for us.
As it happened everybody was up early enough and the preparations for the wedding got underway. Elke and Steve were hoping to have the wedding beside a lake but the weather conditions were unfortunate so the wedding was to be held in the house. Plenty of furniture was moved before it was time to get ready for the wedding. As it turned out the ceremony was fantastic.
Afterwards the party began…
Today we checked out of our hotel and walked a few blocks to pick up the car which was amazing, a Chevrolet Impala with a fuel injected 3.6 litre v6. I drove to Stephen’s apartment to pick up some stuff that was to go in our car and tried out the acceleration which was fantastic. Unfortunately it was like driving a boat on roads with a real wobbly.
We left New York just after 1 with the car packed full of wine, luggage and food and drove to the Adirondacks, a drive which took over 5 hours. We arrived just before nightfall and unloaded the car before starting our third straight night of drinking. Mark and I pitched the tent just in case we needed it, but as it turned out there was enough room in the second house. I have no idea what time it was when I got to bed