Glen Hansard (21 April 1970 – 29 July 2026)

I feel today that I should say a few words about Glen Hansard. I can’t claim to have been one of Glen’s greatest fans, but I liked him as a musician and as a person. I was quite shocked when I saw on the BBC website on Wednesday morning that he had died in a motorcycle accident in Dublin. I think it was tragic and shocking because the news was so unexpected. He was only 56 years old and had a three year old son. I suppose my first introduction to Glen was in the brilliant and humorous 1990s film The Commitments when he played the part of Outspan Foster. The nickname Outspan would have come from his hair colour because in Britain and Ireland Outspan is a major importer of oranges. Glen got lucky because the films director Alan Parker was looking for someone with red hair who could play the guitar. However, I think it was through the Van Morrison connection that I really got to know Glen’s name because he would often introduce a Van song into his performances. I think Van was a hero to Glen. I came across several videos on youtube of Glen singing Van songs such as Into The Mystic, Astral Weeks or The Healing Has Begun. Even when he was on stage with Bruce Springsteen in 2013 he couldn’t resist slipping in a little snippet of Here Comes The Night. Lots of Glen’s videos are of him busking on the streets of Dublin which is where he began. He often went busking with an equally talented close friend of his called Mic Christopher. Mic also died tragically young in 2001 aged only 32.

 I think most people will have got to know Glen through the 2007 film Once in which he takes the lead role opposite Markéta Irglová. If you haven’t seen this film I urge you to do so. It is funny and sad in equal measure. You can find it on youtube. Glen and Marketa wrote the songs for the film and Falling Slowly against all odds for such a low-budget film won the Oscar for best song (Please watch video below). I watched the film again on Wednesday night and found the scenes where they go for a motorbike ride especially poignant. I did get to see Glen play live a couple of times at Glastonbury Acoustic Stage. The first occasion was in 2003 when Glen’s band The Frames performed. I can’t remember a lot about that performance because I wasn’t familiar with The Frames music at the time. Much more memorable for me was his appearance in 2023. I mentioned it in my review for that year. This is what I said at the time.

 ‘In the evening I saw Glen Hansard. I have seen him previously on the Acoustic Stage, many years ago when he was in a band called The Frames. I’m not an expert on his music by any means, but an American Facebook friend is a huge fan, so I was determined to see him, hopefully take some photos, and write down the set list. The photos are a bit blurry, and I hope this setlist is correct. When Your Mind's Made Up, Down On Our Knees, St John, Bearing Witness, Bird of Sorrow, No Mountain, Winning Streak, High Hope, Her Mercy & Revelate. There might have been more. Glen paid a moving tribute to his late friend Christy Dignam from the band Aslan during the show. 

He said that one of his songs was inspired by Leonard Cohen. I also noticed that he occasionally improvised little Van Morrison ‘isms into the lyrics, such as ’turn on your electric light’. I hoped he would sing a Van song as he often does, but he didn’t. It was an excellent performance which deserved a much bigger audience’. I took a couple of photos that night which I have included here although they don’t really do him justice. You can find some videos of his Glastonbury performances on youtube if you want. I can’t think of anything else to say about Glen Hansard now, except my sympathy goes out to his family who must be devastated by their loss.

 

Up Mayo.

 

On Sunday I had quite an exciting day for a change. As you may know my family came from County Mayo in the west of Ireland. This year Mayo had reached the final of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football championship, so I watched the game on BBC Iplayer. Most pundits regarded Mayo as the underdogs because they were playing the defending champions Kerry who have won the Sam Maguire trophy 39 times in the past. Mayo hadn’t won the title since 1951 although they had reached the final eleven times since then but had always been defeated. There is a myth that had grown around that story. In 1951 the Mayo team went on a victory tour of all the towns in the county. In the town of Foxford they passed a funeral which was taking place. The story goes that the team didn’t show the funeral due respect. This angered the local priest who put a curse on the team that Mayo would never again win the Sam Maguire while the members of that team were still alive. The story is a lot of nonsense of course, but as the years went by and Mayo reached the final time after time only to be defeated, some people began to think there might be some truth in ‘the curse’. 

The last members of the 1951 team were Paddy Prendergast who passed away in 2021 and Mick Loftus who died in 2023, so could Mayo now win the title?  For the first twenty minutes of the game on Sunday I feared the worst. Kerry were all over them and I thought Mayo were heading for another disastrous defeat. Gradually however Mayo began to play their way into the game and by half-time they were only a point behind Kerry. In the second half Mayo started brightly, took the lead, and got several points in front. Kerry rallied and the lead narrowed. I thought Mayo were going to blow it again when several shots on goal were missed. They reasserted their dominance in the last few minutes and I think even the Kerry fans would agree that Mayo were deserved winners. My late brother Paul would have been over the moon because he was a huge follower of Mayo.

After the Sam Maguire trophy was presented to Mayo’s captain Jack Coyne the Saw Doctors song The Green And Red Of Mayo resounded around the stadium. It is a great anthem but there is another song about Mayo that I like even more because it brings back great memories for me. It is called Up Mayo by John Hoban & The Bumblebees. When my late partner Kim and me were in Mayo in 1997 we were in Matt Molloy’s bar in Westport. As you probably know, Matt Molloy was the flute player in The Chieftains. They were selling this Cassette and CD to raise money for the hospital Cat Scan appeal. One of the tracks was actually recorded in the pub. We had a little chat with Matt and he signed the cassette for us. This morning I looked on youtube and was pleased to see that one of the Bumblebees Laoise Kelly has uploaded Up Mayo. (Make sure to listen to video below). I’m looking forward to next year already to see if Mayo can defend their title. I’ll have you all know, you’re going somewhere special, when you go, UP MAYO!

Me, Kim, Nellie, & Ian at Matt Molloy's

In The Garden, Part 6.

I think this will probably be my final gardening blog for this year. It hasn’t rained for at least a month and with the hot sun every day most of my plants have peaked earlier than usual compared to previous years. My sunflowers only bloomed in the middle of June and are already on the way out. The same applies to the nasturtiums and marigolds. I pulled out some nasturtiums because they were covered in blackfly. The hot sun has played havoc with the hanging baskets. On the other hand, I like the cosmos bipinnitus, a flower that keeps on giving pink, crimson, and white flowers. There are a few flowers still beginning to bloom such as summer phlox and there are some dahlias just about to flower. Also, a gladiolus called Mon Amour with pink and yellow blooms has just appeared by the fence. We haven’t got a hosepipe ban in this area yet so every evening I am out there dead-heading and watering. 

After that I sit on my bench, watch the sun go down and listen to music drifting through the ether from my kitchen. Yesterday evening it was Teaser & The Firecat by Cat Stevens. Just as it got dark I spotted a bat flitting about at high speed in the twilight. I had never seen one before from my garden. I must say that being outside on a summer evening observing the remains of the day is much more pleasant than being inside watching rubbish on the TV.

My World Cup 2026

Sorry I haven’t written anything for a while, but I have been distracted by watching the World Cup on the TV. I think I must have watched at least fifty of the games, sometimes two or three games in one day. There are some things I don’t like about FIFA and the organisation of the tournament, but I have loved every minute of watching the ‘beautiful game’ as Pele once described it. Things I didn’t like were the outrageous ticket prices and the commercialisation. FIFA must have made billions from it all. I’d love to know where the money goes. The profits should be used to help football at the grassroots level globally and give poorer countries and players a chance to compete. I don’t like the political interference either. Maybe Balogun of the USA didn’t deserve a red card and suspension, but Trump interfering, getting on the phone to Gianni Infantino to have the suspension changed was outrageous. I hope we never see any more incidents like this. Also, football should be free from politics, yet only today a White House spokesman supported the Argentine players waving a political banner around. Another thing I don’t agree with is the introduction of the hydration breaks. This is ridiculous. In some games it was pouring with rain. A lot of other stadiums were air conditioned. Some games were played in extremely hot conditions, but there is always ample opportunity during a game to take on more water during stoppages for injuries or VAR checks etc. The real reason for the hydration breaks was for advertising on American television. These breaks can change the whole momentum of games, so I hope they don’t become a regular thing.

I was impressed with the fabulous stadiums. They make some of our UK stadiums look like sheds. I also liked the friendly atmosphere most of the time with the fans all mingling together before and after games which is a far cry from the bad old days of football hooliganism and rioting. I thought Norway should get an award for having the best fans. Their rowing to a drumbeat was spectacular and fun. I liked the cultural diversity of players in the teams. This was especially noticeable in teams like France and England where most of the players appear to be from families of immigrants. That should keep the racist elements in society quiet for a few weeks. 

My favourite team apart from England was Cape Verde, a tiny country of 530,000 people. I wasn’t even sure exactly where Cape Verde was until the World Cup when I discovered it is a group of islands off the coast of West Africa. In their opening game they drew with eventual finalists Spain and were desperately unlucky losing 3-2 to the other finalist Argentina. The team certainly put Cape Verde on the map and justified the increase in countries competing from 32 to 48. Cape Verde did well without resorting to the dark arts of dirty play and fouling as practiced by the likes of Paraguay in their game against France. I felt sorry for Senegal who were leading Belgium 2-0 with minutes to go after outplaying them most of the game. Somehow Belgium managed to win the game. Then the Trump interference getting Balogun reinstated fired Belgium up to defeat USA and they were in the last eight. Another team deserving of sympathy were Egypt who were leading Argentina 2-0 and controversially had a perfectly good goal disallowed. They were robbed of victory. 

Until the semi-finals I thought that France looked unbeatable. The team seemed to be packed with star players like Mbappe, Dembele and Olise. When they faced Spain however they were outplayed. The stars just didn’t shine on the day. Spain took command of the game and didn’t let go. I thought England’s best performance was the game against Mexico in the iconic Azteca Stadium. England defended heroically despite having a player sent off and managed to win. They were lucky to win against Norway and reach the semi-final against Argentina. Despite not being the better team England managed to take the lead against Argentina. Then, instead of pressing home the advantage and trying to get a second goal they tried to tighten up the defence and hang on to the one goal lead. They got away with that against Mexico, but against a team with the greatest player of all time Lionel Messi this tactic was doomed to failure. 

This evening England play France in the bronze medal play-off. It’s a game where the result doesn’t really matter, but I hope the English coach rests a few players and gives some other squad members a chance to play, such as former Peterborough United striker Ivan Toney who has only played for about six minutes so far. Tomorrow is the final between Spain and Argentina. I hope it isn’t a cagey defensive affair where both teams are scared to lose. I want an open attacking game with lots of goals, and may the best team win!.

Postscript: A few hours later. The play-off game between England and France for 3rd place was a really entertaining exciting game which England won 6-4. If the final is half as good it will be memorable.

Postscript 2 on Monday: I think most people would agree that the final was a bit of a disappointment, and not the sort of game to attract new fans. I have never seen such a one-sided game not produce a goal after 90 minutes. Spain completely dominated the game. I don't think Argentina had a shot on target until it was too late. I'm glad Spain won because they were the best team in the tournament, and deserved champions. The behaviour of some Argentine players after the final whistle was disgraceful. I'm not very keen on the idea of extending half-time to 30 minutes and the entertainment. We don't need this creeping Americanisation of the game. My favourite photo of the tournament is of Yamal of Spain celebrating with his young brother.

Sam Carter Sings Nic Jones, Live At Celtic Connections.

It is always a good start to the day when some new music arrives in the post. Today it was a signed CD by Sam Carter called Sam Carter Sings Nic Jones, Live At Celtic Connections. I have to thank two Facebook friends for bringing Sam Carter to my attention. I think it was because they knew that I was a fan of Nic Jones and have often said that Penguin Eggs from 1980 by Nic is one of my favourite albums of all time. Sadly, only two years after Penguin Eggs was released Nic’s promising career was brought to a halt when driving home from a gig he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a lorry leaving a brick yard near my hometown of Peterborough. He was hospitalised for a year. However, his music legacy continues to be celebrated. Sam Carter is bringing Nic’s music to new audiences with this live album recorded in January this year at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow to a very respectful audience. 

Nic Jones at Village Pump Fest 2013.

There are thirteen songs on this album and six songs from Penguin Eggs are included. They are Barrack Street which is the humorous tale of a sailor who gets robbed of everything including his clothes by a lady he meets in Barrack Street, Courting Is A Pleasure, Farewell To The Gold written by a Dutch born folk singer called Paul Metsers, The Humpback Whale & The Little Pot Stove which were both written by a Scottish seaman who emigrated to Australia called Harry Robertson. In the 1950s he worked on whaling ships and wrote these autobiographical songs. I suppose songs about harpooning whales are not very PC these days, but they tell wonderful descriptive stories of the conditions the ships crews had to endure. After two listens today I think Canadee-i-o is my favourite track. Sam is absolutely faithful to Nic’s fingerpicking staccato guitar style on this track and all the others. At times I would swear it was Nic who was playing. (See video below)

Apart from Penguin Eggs I only have one other album by Nic called Game Set Match which I bought at the Village Pump Folk Festival in 2013 when Nic made a brief return to the stage with his son Joe playing the guitar. We met Nic after his performance and he signed the CD for me (See pic). I must say it was a pleasure and a privilege to meet him. Sam has included four songs from that album here which are Master Kilby, Clyde Water which is a tragic tale of two cursed lovers Willie and Maggie who drown in the river Clyde, Seven Gypsies which tells the story of a noble woman who runs away with seven gypsies. I felt sorry for the gypsies because they got hanged for stealing her, but she went off with them willingly, Billy Don’t You Weep For Me which is another tragic tale of betrayal and drowning. Other songs that Sam has included that I wasn’t familiar with are Ten Thousand Miles, Annan Water and the only song actually written by Nic which is Ruins By The Shore, a beautiful lament for the fragility of humanity and civilisation. I have enjoyed listening to this wonderful music today. Congratulations to Sam Carter for this great tribute to the genius of Nic Jones. I imagine that Sam must have spent a lot of hours practicing these songs to get Nic’s unique fingerstyle guitar technique off to a tee. For this season only Sam is touring the country bringing Nic’s music to the people, so I urge you to go along. I am looking forward to seeing Sam perform at The Pound In Corsham on September 25^th. I’ll bring you a report on that concert in due course. Cheers.

Sam Carter: Canadee-i-o, (Originally by Nic Jones)

 

In The Garden, Part 5.

                                                A few pics from my garden.

Buddha & Sunflower.

Painted Lady Butterfly on Scabious.

Evening Primrose.

Red Hot Poker.

Oriental Poppy ( Papaver Orientale). 

Alium Moly (Golden Garlic) 

More to follow hopefully.