Dublin Event Guide 406: PolskaEire Family Fun Day + Craft Fair, Evolve Phat Paint Jam, Dublin Flea Market, Summertime Change

A weekly car boot sale, one of less than a handful that is still reliably taking place, has up to 200 cars/sellers. The stadium is just a few minutes walk from the Red LUAS line stop and numerous bus stops. For traders the Car Boot Sale opens at 06:30 for buyers from 08:00. If you are interested in selling, check the details and register on their website.

The “Family History Day” is a yearly event with seminars for everyone interested in family history. There will be a mix of practical information and case studies for beginners and for everyone who has more experience in genealogical research.

Admission is free and booking is not required, but come early to ensure a place.

The Programme is:
09:30 Registration
09:50 Welcome
10:00 ‘Francis Smyth and son, Umbrella Manufacturers, Dublin’ – Greg Young
10:45 ‘Filling the gaps: Ussher family history’ – Joan Sharkey
11:30 Tea / coffee
12:00 ‘Searching Glasnevin cemetery’ – Conor Dodd
12:45 Lunch (not provided)
14:00 ‘Dynamics within the Yeats family: a family in distress’ – Anthony J. Jordan
14:45 ‘Thomas Fitzpatrick: creator and chief cartoonist of the Lepracaun Cartoon Monthly (1860-1912)’ – James Curry
15:30 Finish

The weekly Honest2goodness food market in Glasnevin has fresh meat, vegetables, fish, baked goods, and wines. It is open from 09:30-16:00. It is behind Lidl in the Industrial Estate just after the Glasnevin Cemetary coming from the City Centre.

Parkrun Ireland is organising free weekly runs in parks. It is a timed run over 5km and participation is completely free, but registration before your first parkrun is required.

The SuperNatural Food Market is taking place every Saturday from 09:30-15:30 in St. Andrews Resource Centre in Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

The Green Door Market is a new indoor food/Farmer’s Market that takes place just a few doors down from the Dublin Food Co-op at Newmarket in Dublin 8. Admission is free.

Opening hours are Thu-Fri 12:00-19:00 and Sat 09:30-16:00.

The Belgard Weekend Market is an indoor market with stalls with handcraft (incl. designer jewellery, aran jumpers and wool, christening robes and shawls, cards and cross stitch), household items, bric and brac, furniture, flowers, make-up, clothes, shoes, showers, upholstery, toys, kitchens, cafe, army memorabilia, collectors items, sweets, handbags books, blinds, party shop, tools and more.

It is open every Saturday and Sunday and is located in the Glen Abbey complex (opposite Jacobs) on Belgard Road.

The Drumcondra Village Market is an arts and crafts fair in the centre of Drumcondra. Admission is free.

Jamestown Flea Market + Car Boot Sale takes place every Sat+Sun from 10:00-17:00. You can reach it from Tyrconnell Road and from Kylemore Road and it is within 3 min from Black Horse stop on the red Luas line. There is free parking.

The Merchants Market on East Wall Road is a weekly indoors flea market on Saturdays and Sundays with more than 80 stalls in a big industrial hall. There is everything from furniture and antiques to paintings and mirrors, electronics and hot food to bicycles and buns. It is just a few minutes walk away from the Point Theatre/O2 (walk in the direction of the Port Tunnel).

The Ark in Temple Bar runs many really good events, but due to the cost of running this cultural centre for children, most events are not free. But every now and then, there is a free event or exhibition and they are always worth a visit.

This time it is an exhibition (for ages 4+) called “Once upon a Picture”: Every artwork has a story to tell! Sometimes worlds cross over and strange things happen – humans take on animal form, objects shrink or grow, people dream enchanted dreams and things are not always as they seem. Let your imagination run wild as you explore this exhibition of artworks that are mysterious, alluring and magical. Have fun imagining what the artworks are about and what stories they tell.

Admission is free and no booking is required. The exhibition will be open on the following Saturdays: 28 March, 11+18+25 April, 02 May.

A new market (flea/vintage/etc) with two cafés has opened in the same location in Thomas Street where the Ferocious Mingle Market was before their move to Camden Street.

The new market in 72 Thomas Street is called Stable Market and it is open from Thursday until Sunday from 10:00-18:00 every day. It seems there is neither a website nor a Facebook Page yet.

The Temple Bar Markets (Food Market on Meeting House Square, Book Market on Temple Bar Square and the Designer Mart near Cow’s Lane) are taking place every Saturday from 10:00-16:30.

At the Blackrock Market in the centre of Blackrock, you’ll find 50 stalls selling collectibles, antiques, handmade goods, books, food & there’s free popcorn, ballons & facepainting for the kids.
Open on Saturdays and Bank Holidays: 11:00-17:30, and Sundays: 12:00-17:30.

The political Party “People Before Profit” are inviting to a day-long conference about the Right to Housing and the governments plans to tackle the building of affordable housing and to introduce rent control, plans that are not put in reality. Some of the speakers are Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Fr Peter McVerry, Dr Andrew McLaren.

Unfortuantely I couldn’t find a schedule that outlines what will be discussed, when and by whom. The Facebook Page below doesn’t give any detail.

Admission is free, as far as I understand.

The celebration of international education is part of the Polska-Eire festival 2015. Polish universities would like to encourage Irish students to study Medicine through English in Poland, just two hours flight from Dublin.

Since 2014 Polish medical universities are represented in Ireland. At this event you can find out more.

The Terenure Village Market which started as a once-monthly market on a small car park in Terenure got upgraded in a big way! It has moved to Bushy Park and is from now on a weekly market. Great achievement for the people that worked so hard on it.

This Saturday the Re-Launchat the new location is celebrated with a fun family day out, with face painting (12:00-15:00), games, a magic show (14:00-15:00) and live music from the Knocklyon Concert Band at 13:00.

The market has now grown to 40 stalls offering a whole variety of foods and crafts.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

If you are a parent or are young enough, you probably know all about the Sylvanian families, but if you are older or anglo-saxon-cultur-challenged (I just made that word up.) you might never have heard about Sylvanian families. They are collectible plastic figures of animals that live in the forest (“sylvan” means “of the forest”). They were created in 1985 in Japan but found their popularity more in the US and in Britain through animated TV series.

Long intro just because I have no clue and needed to look it up! ;-) But if you are interested in this event, you know all about them, I’d say:

Hamley’s in Dundrum Town Centre is inviting to a free family event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Sylvanian families. There will be live entertainment, photo opportunities, competitions and goodie bags.

Fans can enjoy watching their favourite characters (Freya Chocolate, Ralph Walnut, Tiffany Golightly and Abigail Bramble) singing and dancing on stage, or pose for photographs with them between the shows.

You can download a colouring sheet from the official Sylvanian Families Twitter and Facebook pages and bring the coloured-in sheet on the day to have a chance to win a prize. There will also be goodie bags available during each performance.

The performances are 30 min long and start at 11:30, 13:00, 14:30 and 15:30.

The weekly Ha’penny Flea Market is an indoor market in the Grand Social Pub, which offers vintage Men and Women’s clothing, contemporary crafts, books, DVDs, vinyl records, vintage and handmade jewellery, vintage hair styles, art, photography and much more. Grand Social’s Bar and Gourmet Coffee options are available.

“Lifelogging – Do you count?” is the title of the newest Science Gallery exhibition, which started on Friday 13 Feb and will run until 12 April.

Lifelogging is part exhibition, part Science Gallery Lab where you can take part in research projects and it deals with us tracking ourselves, measuring things we do and logging everything from heartbeat to heartbreak.

Get a taste for tracking as you play games with your emotions, use your brainwaves to sort files, generate music wearing sensors, and explore a virtual world filled with real dreams and memories.

The exhibits at this exhibition are fascinating: There is George Reynolds who recorded his health on paper since 2003. A sensible and understandable version of lifelogging. On the other end of the spectrum is Alberto Frigo who takes a picture every times he holds an object with his right hand. He started in 2003 and plans to continue until 2040. On the surface it doesn’t make sense AT ALL. But when you talk to him, you find out that there is a surprising sense to what he does.

The exhibition contains 16 exhibits some so odd that you should get the super helpful and knowledgeable Science Gallery mediators to help you understand what is behind it.

In one area, every week another group/organisation will involve you in their work (the Lab part) and I will explain their project in a separate event posting in the weekly Dublin Event Guide.

Admission to the Science Gallery is free. Opening hours are Tues-Fri 12:00-20:00 and Sat+Sun 12:00-18:00.

From Wednesday until Sunday, the Lab in the Science Gallery that accompanies the Lifelogging exhibition will look at “Your Audible Brainwaves Self”. TOG the Dublin Hackerspace is the organisation behind this week’s Lab.

Brain imaging tools often claim to allow an insight into our inner world; our levels of alertness and restfulness, sleep and wakefulness, and on a very basic level, our thought processes. The researchers for this week have been developing audiovisual software that manipulates the raw waveform data from these affordable logging devices, allowing visitors in the Lab to both see and hear different representations of their own brainwaves in real time, and to investigate how contrasting stimuli in the gallery setting might change these readings.

TOG is a hackerspace based in the centre of Dublin. It is a shared space where members have a place to be creative and work on their projects in an environment that is both inspiring and supportive of both new and old technologies.

Admission to the Lab in the Science Gallery is free.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

The Polska-Eire Festival is inviting to a Family Day on Wolfe Tone Square on Saturday and Sunday. Details are not in the programme here, but on the Dublin City events website I found that there will be a Kids Corner with Face Painting and giant games, you can take part in a Penalty Shoot out to test your soccer skills and there will be music. Polish and Irish Food will also be there.

Admission is free.

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher will run every Saturday. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking at least 1 day in advance is required via myfavouritesdublincitywalktour@gmail.com or 085-2725095

The fourth celebration of Irish based street art & graffiti will bring lots of urban artists and DJs to the Bernard Shaw. The street & graffiti artists are Ideal, Novice, Emic, Kin, All out design, Kevin Bohan, El Viz, Irony, Marcamix, Kvlr, Omin, Vents, Danleo, Estr. And all will be accompanied by Hip Hop from DJs Welcome Crew.

If you are into Street Art and Graffiti, this is an event you have to be at. The artists are some of the best and their art is outstanding.

Already more than 1500 people have confirmed on Facebook that they will come to there, so expect a busy but very interesting event.

I am afraid that I don’t know much of what this is about, so let me quote the website directly:

“A seminar drawing on the installation “Scientia Civitatis: Missing Titles” by Vagabond Reviews evoking an inter-disciplinary prism on Dublin and the contemporary city.
Chaired by independent curator Valerie Connor, this seminar sets out to make a reading of the contemporary city through the prism of the Scientia Civitatis: Missing Titles installation. The installation, part of the Phoenix Rising Art and Civic Imagination exhibition, presents 48 titles for as yet unwritten books about the city from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives within the human sciences. Vagabond Reviews has invited the contributors of those missing titles to participate in an interdisciplinary reading of the city.”

Admission is free, but places are limited.

The Showcase/Launch of “Vocal Virtuosi”, Ireland’s newest, dynamic Vocal Trio will take place in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre. Join Colette Delahunt, Victoria Massey and Cora Newman for an hour of beautiful music. Admission is free.

“When Pictures Come to Life” with Joe Coveney is the Family Workshop this Saturday in the National Gallery. It is sutiable for children from 4-10 years of age. More details on the website below. Admission is free.

The progressive Film Club is inviting to another Film Screening. The Film Club shows progressive film clubs from all over the world. Topics are struggles for people’s rights, for the rights of workers, of immigrants, of women, for national liberation and for social justice.

The films on Saturday are

+ 15:00 Ballymurphy – A film about an event in 1971 in the Northern Ireland Conflict
+ 500 Miles to Babylon – A film about the early days of the US occupation of Iraq.

Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

“Dental Health and Tooth Decay Prevention” is the subject of a Parenting Workshop hosted by The Association for Spanish Speaking Parents in Ireland (ASPI) in Rathmines Library. Admission is free and all are welcome.

As a part of the PolskaÉire 2015 Festival, Enigma Theatre present a ‘Theatre Night with Enigma’ to celebrate World Theatre Day (27 March) in Smock Alley Theatre.

Theatre makers, artists and critics are invited to participate in a panel discussion. The guests will reflect on the work of two major theatre practitioners in twentieth century theatre: Tadeusz Kantor and Samuel Beckett. Their influence on modern theatre in both Ireland and Poland will be discussed, followed by a raffle, food and beverages.

Admission is free, but booking is required via 01-6770014

At this North Halifax Grammar School Concert, you can see and hear a young and talented Senior Girls’ Choir, Concert Band and Rock Orchestra perform a varied repertoire of classic and modern music. Admission is free.

The Harbour Bar in Bray is impressing lately with a first-class line-up. It is a little further to travel but the bands are really worth it!

On Saturday Attention Bébé will perform a gig in the Harbour Bar. They are a talented, high-energy band that mainly plays covers from the 90s. Admission is free.

The Dublin Sidewalk Astronomers meet in Clontarf on the seafront car park, on Clontarf Road, opposite the Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club for a public star-gazing. Members bring along their telescopes and share the wonders of the night-sky with you. Admission is free.

The event is weather dependent, so check www.irishastrosoc.org/events/events.htm after 18:00 on the night in the case of poor weather, to check if it is going ahead.

Live in Sin É will feature a variety of bands and musicians at this weekly gig night on Saturdays. The event is presented by Super Happy Funtimes. Admission is free and the line-up is can be found on the Facebook Page below.

The line-up is: Jem Mitchell (Ken Brown), Kingston, Mongrel State.

Every Saturday Robert Coyle will bring his One-man Comedy show “Robert Coyle’s is feeling Numinous; Comedy Attempting Transcendence – probably NOT a cult.” to Accents Cafe.

Admission is free.

This is a weekly Saturday night live music event event in the basement Wine Cave of KC Peaches wholefood restaurant/café. Food will be served until 22:00 and wine, minerals & music will be available until later. Admission is free and a donation into a hat at the end of the evening is appreciated.

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” is a play by the Clontarf Players that will be performed four times times in different churches in the Clontarf area. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

“The play is a court-room drama in which history’s most infamous betrayal is dissected by forces of good and evil. In a court room that owes as much to the ghetto as to the Gospels. Figures such as Satan, Mother Teresa and Henrietta Iscariot are called to testify in a trial of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas Iscariot. Can the ultimate betrayal be forgiven?”

The performances are
+ Fri 27 March: St. Joseph’s Church, Bonnybrook, Dublin 17
+ Sat 28 March: St. John’s Church, Clontarf, Dublin 3
+ Sun 29 March: St. Anthony’s Church, Clontarf, Dublin 3
+ Mon 30 March: All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9

Earth Hour is taking place on Saturday. It is a yearly, worldwide event where everyone is asked to switch the light off from 20:30-21:30 (local time). It started in 2007 and has now participation from more than 162 countries. It is organised by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and the purpose is to create awareness for climate change and for environmental issues.

Unfortunately there is no official participation in Ireland, which means that the lights at public buildings will not be switched off, so you have to show them, by participating! ;-)

The Stillorgan Orchard has live music every Friday and Saturday. Many of the performers are established and very good bands. The upcoming gigs are detailed on the website below. Admission is always free.

Mishka Shubaly (feat Cait O’Riordan former Pogue ) & Mark Austin (The Minutes) will perform a free gig on Saturday. Find more details on the Facebook Page below.

Sweeney’s Presents is a monthly gig night and this time the line-up is : Bcult Called Man, The Quakers, November Pearls, Bagels.

Admission is free.

The Solely Blues Club is a traditional Blues night every first Monday of each month. Only the great old time, early blues, soul songs will be played from artists like Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Skip James and Big Bil Broonzy.

Played on Steel Guitar and/or Piano, Harp and Double Bass, this Blues night is for musicians and singers to come and perform. If Blues is your thing and you play or sing it, let the people in Arthur’s Pub know, so that they can give you a slot at the Solely Blues Club.

6-piece party band “Mid-Term Break” will perform hits form the 60s until today. Admission is free.

The Green Monkeys will be in Sweeney’s for a free gig. Hip Hop, Grooves and Riffs, is what they say about themselves.

The Dublin Beat Combo “The Pacifics” will play a free gig in The Mezz. From midnight until late (or early).

Did you change your clocks last night? You should have put the clock one hour FORWARD, which means that you lost an hour of sleep. We are now in Summertime until the end of October with the great bonus of longer brightness in the evenings,

If you have a smartphone, do NOT change the time until you have checked what the actual time is, Most smartphones do the change automatically!

The Belgard Weekend Market is an indoor market with stalls with handcraft (incl. designer jewellery, aran jumpers and wool, christening robes and shawls, cards and cross stitch), household items, bric and brac, furniture, flowers, make-up, clothes, shoes, showers, upholstery, toys, kitchens, cafe, army memorabilia, collectors items, sweets, handbags books, blinds, party shop, tools and more.

It is open every Saturday and Sunday and is located in the Glen Abbey complex (opposite Jacobs) on Belgard Road.

Jamestown Flea Market + Car Boot Sale takes place every Sat+Sun from 10:00-17:00. You can reach it from Tyrconnell Road and from Kylemore Road and it is within 3 min from Black Horse stop on the red Luas line. There is free parking.

The Merchants Market on East Wall Road is a weekly indoors flea market on Saturdays and Sundays with more than 80 stalls in a big industrial hall. There is everything from furniture and antiques to paintings and mirrors, electronics and hot food to bicycles and buns. It is just a few minutes walk away from the Point Theatre/O2 (walk in the direction of the Port Tunnel).

Every Sunday, the Merrion Square Open Air Art Gallery takes place. Up to 200 artists exhibit their paintings on the railings on three sides (West, North and East) of Merrion Square and you can just enjoy the exhibition or even buy.

A new market (flea/vintage/etc) with two cafés has opened in the same location in Thomas Street where the Ferocious Mingle Market was before their move to Camden Street.

The new market in 72 Thomas Street is called Stable Market and it is open from Thursday until Sunday from 10:00-18:00 every day. It seems there is neither a website nor a Facebook Page yet.

The next Dublin Flea Market is taking place in the Food Co-op, 12 Newmarket, just off Cork Street, Dublin 8 on Sun from 11:00-17:00. The flea market takes place every last Sunday of the month and admission is free. For more information or if you want to sell your own stuff, check out www.dublinflea.ie

“A bizarre bazaar of vintage clothing, bric-a-brac and what nots, old and new. Stalls include hand-made goods, art, jewelry, furniture, records and lots more unwanted items that may just be your treasure!”
The Co-op Hall is wheelchair accessible and lots of free parking spaces are right outside the door.

www.facebook.com/events/360563797487413/

A weekly market with lots of food, but also many other products (art & crafts, books, etc) takes place every Sunday in the beautiful People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire. It is a very popular market and with around 50 vendors also one of the bigger markets.

The well known Palestrina Choir sing every Sunday at the mass in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. They sing complete masterworks by Mozart, Haydn, Dvorak, Palestrina, de Victoria, usually accompanied by Prof. Gerard Gillen on the organ, who often also plays a solo piece.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

At the Blackrock Market in the centre of Blackrock, you’ll find 50 stalls selling collectibles, antiques, handmade goods, books, food & there’s free popcorn, ballons & facepainting for the kids.
Open on Sundays: 12:00-17:30. Open on Saturdays and Bank Holidays: 11:00-17:30.

“Lifelogging – Do you count?” is the title of the newest Science Gallery exhibition, which started on Friday 13 Feb and will run until 12 April.

Lifelogging is part exhibition, part Science Gallery Lab where you can take part in research projects and it deals with us tracking ourselves, measuring things we do and logging everything from heartbeat to heartbreak.

Get a taste for tracking as you play games with your emotions, use your brainwaves to sort files, generate music wearing sensors, and explore a virtual world filled with real dreams and memories.

The exhibits at this exhibition are fascinating: There is George Reynolds who recorded his health on paper since 2003. A sensible and understandable version of lifelogging. On the other end of the spectrum is Alberto Frigo who takes a picture every times he holds an object with his right hand. He started in 2003 and plans to continue until 2040. On the surface it doesn’t make sense AT ALL. But when you talk to him, you find out that there is a surprising sense to what he does.

The exhibition contains 16 exhibits some so odd that you should get the super helpful and knowledgeable Science Gallery mediators to help you understand what is behind it.

In one area, every week another group/organisation will involve you in their work (the Lab part) and I will explain their project in a separate event posting in the weekly Dublin Event Guide.

Admission to the Science Gallery is free. Opening hours are Tues-Fri 12:00-20:00 and Sat+Sun 12:00-18:00.

The Sundays at Noon Concert Series continues in the Sculpture Gallery at the Hugh Lane Gallery. This series of free (mainly classical) concerts continues to present the best of Irish and International music and musicians. Concerts run from September to June.

The next concert will feature the RTÉ Contempo Quartet with Cliona Doris (harp) performing pieces from Haydn, McKay and Menotti.

From Wednesday until Sunday, the Lab in the Science Gallery that accompanies the Lifelogging exhibition will look at “Your Audible Brainwaves Self”. TOG the Dublin Hackerspace is the organisation behind this week’s Lab.

Brain imaging tools often claim to allow an insight into our inner world; our levels of alertness and restfulness, sleep and wakefulness, and on a very basic level, our thought processes. The researchers for this week have been developing audiovisual software that manipulates the raw waveform data from these affordable logging devices, allowing visitors in the Lab to both see and hear different representations of their own brainwaves in real time, and to investigate how contrasting stimuli in the gallery setting might change these readings.

TOG is a hackerspace based in the centre of Dublin. It is a shared space where members have a place to be creative and work on their projects in an environment that is both inspiring and supportive of both new and old technologies.

Admission to the Lab in the Science Gallery is free.

If you regularly or occasionally buy books online, you can help the Dublin Event Guide hugely even without having to pay cent directly. In fact you even save money this way:

Buy your books from The Book Depository and get better prices and free (!!) delivery for all orders independent from the volume and when you click on the picture here before you buy, then 5% of what normally The Book Depository would get, they give back to the Dublin Event Guide. Everybody wins!

www.bookdepository.com?a_aid=dubevg

If you prefer Amazon to buy your books (for free postage you need to order a minimum of GBP 25), then use this Amazon link to help the Dublin Event Guide. Thanks!

The Polska-Eire Festival is inviting to a Family Day on Wolfe Tone Square on Saturday and Sunday. Details are not in the programme here, but on the Dublin City events website I found that there will be a Kids Corner with Face Painting and giant games, you can take part in a Penalty Shoot out to test your soccer skills and there will be music. Polish and Irish Food will also be there.

Admission is free.

While the Polska-Eire Family Fun Day continues on Wolfe Tone Square, Meeting House Square will be the venue for a Polish Food and Craft Fair as part of the Polska-Eire Festival. There will be face painting, Irish and Polish food stalls and music from Supertonic and The Marin Healy Trad Band.

The “Dublin Sketchers” is an informal group of (hobby) artists who go somewhere different in Dublin every Sunday (e.g. National Museum, Maritime Museum, Dublin Flea Market, Farmleigh, Botanic Gardens, Dublin Castle, Science Gallery, …), sketch for one to two hours and then meet up for coffee afterwards and discuss their sketches.

There are some hugely talented people among them and it is a great idea to meet up with others who have the same hobby. Find out on their website below or on their Facebook Page where they will meet and join them if you do some sketching/drawing yourself. I know that the Dublin Sketchers often use the Dublin Event Guide to find interesting free events and I am delighted to be able to help!

Jig Jam will play Irish, Americana and Bluegrass at their free gig in Sweeney’s.

Afternoon Jazz in Café en Seine. The Stella Bass Jazz Trio play every Sunday from 14:00-16:00 in Café en Seine in Dawson Street. Admission is free. A video is here www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8aKqtOB5S8

Come to the Family Drawing Sundays in the RHA. All children are welcome to use the RHA Art Cart, in the RHA Atrium. Admission is free. For further information, contact Ruth Carroll on 01 6612558 or via ruth@rhagallery.ie

The classical music ensemble “Concorde” continue their “Close with Music” event series in the RHA Gallery this Sunday. The theme is “Irish music in an international context” and there will be music from Ireland, USA, Iceland, Hong Kong and the UK.

Admission is free. Performances are at 14:30-15:15 and 15:45-16:30.

Another BreizhEire Breton Dance event will take place in the Cobblestone this weekend. Admission is free.

Unlike the three branches of the National Museum, the National Print Museum is normally not free, but every Sunday there is a free public tour for the next few weeks. Every visit begins with a short audio-visual presentation where the audience can observe active retired printers providing practical demonstrations of machines from the Museum’s collection.

The lecture “Religious imagery in Spanish art of the Golden Age” with Dr Stephen Boyd, University College Cork will take place and admission is free.

Brian Keary is a classically trained guitar player who also has experience of different styles / genres of music ranging from ragtime and folk to baroque and contemporary. He will perform in Sweeney’s (Ground Floor) on Sunday afternoon.

“Taking The Dog For A Walk – Conversations with British Improvisers” is a Music Documentary by Antoine Prum and it’s first screening in Ireland will be on Sunday in the Workman’s Club.

This feature-length music documentary maps the scene of British Free Improvised Music, past and present. Director Antoine Prum is assisted by bass sax improviser Tony Bevan and stand-up comedian Stewart Lee, who speak to musicians from different generations and backgrounds. Alternating with extended live music sequences, the conversations gravitate around the idiosyncrasies of improvisation, from playing in front of the proverbial “four men and a dog” to pursuing a career in a milieu where success is not measured by mainstream criteria.

This is a free event in so far as there is no admission charge, but when you leave, you are asked to pay as much as you think the film is worth. I think this is a fair approach and am therefore happy to include it here.

The wedding and party band The LJJ Band play every Sunday evening in Café en Seine. Admission is free.

The Sweeney’s Dixeland Jazzmen play their weekly gig on the ground floor in Sweeney’s. Admission is free.

Saucy Sundays is a weekly free live music afternoon and evening in the Grand Social. The line-up and links to all bands/performers are available via the Saucy Sundays Facebook Page (see link below).

In short, the line-up is Buffalo Sunn, My Tribe Your Tribe, Ian O’Doherty, Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket), Julian Müller, plus a Secret Special Guest Band.

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” is a play by the Clontarf Players that will be performed four times times in different churches in the Clontarf area. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

“The play is a court-room drama in which history’s most infamous betrayal is dissected by forces of good and evil. In a court room that owes as much to the ghetto as to the Gospels. Figures such as Satan, Mother Teresa and Henrietta Iscariot are called to testify in a trial of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas Iscariot. Can the ultimate betrayal be forgiven?”

The performances are
+ Fri 27 March: St. Joseph’s Church, Bonnybrook, Dublin 17
+ Sat 28 March: St. John’s Church, Clontarf, Dublin 3
+ Sun 29 March: St. Anthony’s Church, Clontarf, Dublin 3
+ Mon 30 March: All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9

The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir Mass is back after the summer break and invites you to a Mass in St. Francis Xavier Church at the top of Gardiner Street near the junction with Dorset Street every Sunday at 19:30.

The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, one of the best known gospel choirs in Ireland will give you a chance to experience a mass with a difference. It is uplifting and inspiring and everybody is welcome independent from your level of religiousness.

Disclaimer: I am involved with the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, so the description above MIGHT not be totally unbiased. But just take it from me, they are brilliant! ;-)

Whelan’s will screen the next UEFA European Championship Qualifier Ireland vs Poland in the main venue from 19:45. Admission is free and there will be free finger food.

Rónán Ó Snodaigh with Robbie Perry will perform in the Harbour Bar on Sunday. Rónán Ó Snodaigh is a founding member of Kíla and he is also one of Ireland’s most innovative bodhrán players and a singer/songwriter. Rónán once tried to teach me how to play the bodhrán and I definitely enjoyed the class…not sure he was overly thrilled. ;-)

Admission is free.

Every Sunday this singer-songwriter night takes place in the Bleeding Horse in Camden St. from 8.30pm. It is an Open mic night and performers can just turn up and put their name on the list for that night.

At the Jawbone Gig night in Sin É, Acoustic Folk & Blues will be performed every Sunday. Admission is free. For the line-up check here www.facebook.com/pages/Jawbone-Dublin-Acoustic-Folk-Blues-Commune/724102984268967

The Juke Joint Aces will play rock and blues covers from the 70s & 80s at this gig. Admission is free.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy downstairs in Stag’s Head, Dame Lane from 21:00 every week on Sun+Mon. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of that there is some free ice cream. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

“Rhythm Rocker at The Globe” is a weekly event on Sunday night in The Globe. Admission is free.

The Pavement Kings play Rockabilly from 21:00 and
DJs Popocorn Peete and Little Dakota follow from 23:00-01:30 with a white variety of styles (Rockabilly, Calypso, Soul, Rock ‘n’ Roll, etc).

Billy Treacy & The Ha’Penny Heads are playing Ballads, Folk, Trad and Classic Country every Sunday. Featuring Guitar, Mandolin, Fiddle and Banjo.

Every Sunday (except at Bank Holiday weekends), the Ragtime, Roots and Country Blues Band “Cool Hand Dukes” play in the Porterhouse near Grafton Street.

The Dublin Blues Cartel will be in Whelan’s again and will perform mostly a version of New Orleans R’n’B with a classic rock twist, sandwiched with swing, Rock’n’Roll, Soul, Funk, Blues and rap of all eras. Admission is free.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

The European Commission Representation in Ireland invites you to attend a free lunchtime seminar entitled “European Economic Policy – What’s in it for Ireland?”

After presentations from Brian Hayes MEP; Jim Power, Economist; and Graham Stull, European Semester Officer, European Commission Representation in Ireland, you will have the opportunity to voice your opinions and ask any questions you have about European economic policy. The event will be chaired by Eimear Ní Bhroin from the European Commission Representation in Ireland.

It will take place in Theatre 3 in the National College of Ireland. Registration will start at 12:00, with light refreshments available at this time. The seminar will start at 12:30 and finish at 13:55.

Admission is free but you were asked to register by Friday 27 March, so this information will reach you too late. If the form is still available on the website below, I would still fill it in. Alternatively or in addition you can call 01 662 5815 on Monday to see if you can still get a place.

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

A Classical Guitar lunchtime recital features Luke Tobin and Ger O’ Boyle on guitar and playing classical, traditional and world music. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Super Happy Fun Times are running an Open Mic night for Music and Spoken Word every Monday in Sin É.

Admission is free.

The School of English will be hosting a reading by the award winning 2015 Irish Writer Fellow Julian Gough, in association with The Arts Council in the Mhairtin Ui Chadhain Theatre, Arts Building.

Reserve a place via sadlerd@tcd.ie

This is an open mic night with Special Guests every Monday. Arrive, sign in (from 19:00) and play. Admission is free.

Song Cycle is a weekly Singer/Songriter showcase. The line-up is not always easily findable on the Whelan’s website, but admission is always free.

The improv comedy troupe. Splendid Lunatics, have moved from a monthly gig to a weekly frequency and they will perform for you now every Monday in the Generator Hostel. And admission is free. Improv Comedy is popular at the moment in Dublin, but there are not many free shows out there, so the Splendid Lunatics already stand out!

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” is a play by the Clontarf Players that will be performed four times times in different churches in the Clontarf area. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

“The play is a court-room drama in which history’s most infamous betrayal is dissected by forces of good and evil. In a court room that owes as much to the ghetto as to the Gospels. Figures such as Satan, Mother Teresa and Henrietta Iscariot are called to testify in a trial of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas Iscariot. Can the ultimate betrayal be forgiven?”

The performances are
+ Fri 27 March: St. Joseph’s Church, Bonnybrook, Dublin 17
+ Sat 28 March: St. John’s Church, Clontarf, Dublin 3
+ Sun 29 March: St. Anthony’s Church, Clontarf, Dublin 3
+ Mon 30 March: All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9

The Irish Astronomical Society provides a super service with regular “Dublin Sidewalk Astronomers – Star Gazing” events and with regular talks and the best is that all is provided for free.

The next talk is entitled “The Life Cycle of a Star – from Gas Cloud to Black Hole” by Dr Colm Coughlan (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies). Sounds really interesting!

Admission is free!

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy event every Sunday and Monday. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of good comedy you will get free ice cream. Admission is free. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

Every Monday a Jazz Jam Session will take place in the Grand Social and you are invited to listen or even to participate. Admission is free for musicians and audience.

Instruments are supplied (drums (no cymbals), double bass, guitar amp, bass amp, PA system) and ideas and themes will be proposed prior to the session to the musicians who join the event on Facebook (see Facebook Page below).

The 4-piece band Loose Trad are performing every Monday in Mother Reilly’s. www.loosetrad.com/ Admission is free.

Patrick Mahony sings songs from Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Matt Monro and many more every Monday in the Cafe en Seine. Admission is free.

The Fluffy Noise will showcase three bands every Monday Night at The Mezz. The line-up this week is Alice Kiernan (Singer/Songwriter), Bear Plays Spoons (Alternative), Those Responsible (Rhythm and Blues).

Admission is free.

For their 3rd season, the History Channel production “Vikings” is looking for 8000 (!!) extras and Open Castings take place this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Filming will take place between April and December and the work as an extra is temporary and quite unpredictable (short notice). But if you always wanted to be in a film, you have a really good chance in this case.

They are looking for adults from all ethnic backgrounds who live close to Dublin and Wicklow. You won’t need to bring a CV or headshots, but you need to have all your measurements with you (height, chest, dress and shoe sizes). You will have to fill in a questionnaire and a photo will be taken and the whole appplication process will only take 20 minutes. There is lots more information on the Facebook events page below.

“The history of Saint Isidore’s Irish Franciscan College, Rome” with Padraig Edwards, University College Dublin is the Tuesday lecture in the National Gallery. Admission is free.

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher runs on Tuesdays now as well. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking at least 1 days in advance is required via myfavouritesdublincitywalktour@gmail.com or 085-2725095

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

From Wednesday until Sunday, the Lab in the Science Gallery that accompanies the Lifelogging exhibition will look at “Your Healthy Self”. Shimmer, a provider of wearable sensor technology and solutions, will run this week’s Lab.

Shimmer will be testing and prototyping new technologies in the Lab all week. A team of researchers will measure a range of physiological metrics (galvanic skin response/sweat levels, heart rate etc…) at different locations around the body in an attempt to quantify emotional responses to an array of stimuli. Joining them will be the researchers from DCU Sport, demonstrating the latest in wearable sports technology.

Admission to the Lab in the Science Gallery is free. (The Science Gallery will be closed on Good Friday.)

The Royal Irish Academy and the Hodges Figgis bookstore invite to a tour through Georgian and Victorian Dublin by the authors of recent Irish Historic Town Atlas publications Frank Cullen and Rob Goodbody.

There will be four tours in total on Tuesday 24 March, Thursday 26 March, Tuesday 31 March and Thursday 02 April. The Tours begin at 13:00 and depart from Hodges Figgis and admission is free.

The Book Launch for ‘A Song Of Shadows’ by crime writer John Connolly will take place. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

The IFI Critical Take is a monthly film debate, where a panel discusses films that are or will be soon screened in the IFI.

This month’s panel is made up of Mike Finn (screenwriter, playwright and actor), Páraic McGeough (Spooool.ie) and Michael Ryan from the IFI’s Irish Film Programming Department and they will discuss three very different films with canines for protagonists…

Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó’s Cannes prize-winning White God, Jean-Luc Godard’s experimental essay film Goodbye to Language in 3D and Marjane Satrapi’s horror comedy The Voices (now showing) starring Ryan Reynolds, Anna Kendrick and Gemma Arterton.

Admission is free, but booking is required. Book your seat by contacting the IFI Box Office on 01 679 3477 or emailing boxoffice@irishfilm.ie (your tickets are only reserved after you got a confirmation from the Box Office).

Pete Holidai, member of The Trouble Pilgrims, songwriter and producer looks at the development of the Irish music industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

This event is part of the Dublin: One City, One Book Festival.

Admission is free, but booking is required via 01 8905582.

Every Tuesday an informal sing along with Ukulele and Toy Musical Instruments takes place in the Stag’s Head. Just bring your instrument and come along. Beginners are welcome. Admission is free and further details (and a big book of songs) are available on the Facebook Page below. The get-together meets in the “snug” in Stag’s Head.

Rumours have it that the Bluegrass Collective will perform in Sin É on Tuesday and there might even be an open Bluegrass Jam! Admission is free.

The Plateau Sessions is an open mic night that features some special guest acts from all over Ireland.

Admission is free.

Live sessions with the Blue Moon Folk and Blues Collective are taking place every Tuesday at the Beerhouse. Admission is free.

The Folk Club in Whelan’s will bring you the best in Trad, Ballads, Americana & World Music every Tuesday. The line-up this week is on the Facebook Page below. Admission is free.

The Comedy Crunch is a free Stand Up comedy event every Sunday and Monday AND Tuesday. Every week different comedians entertain and on top of good comedy you will get free ice cream. Admission is free. The line-up can be found via the Comedy Crunch Facebook Page (see link below).

The Phoenix Big Band is a 16 piece band playing songs of the 1930s, 1940s and other big band arrangements and they are playing every Tuesday in the Tara Tower Hotel (since 2012!) for adult dancing. If you like to waltz, cha cha or foxtrot, come and enjoy their performance.

Admission is free.

The band plays in the main function room which is occasionally booked, so to confirm that they are playing, please ring the hotel on the day: Phone 01-2694666

There will be free comedy upstairs in the Wicked Wolf in Blackrock on every second Tuesday. New acts and surprise guests will entertain you and the event is organised by Maxine Jones. The next date is on 31 March,

A totally unplugged Singer/Songwriter night (no PA, no microphones) with original music is taking place upstairs in Anseo every Tuesday from 21:30.

Please check on the Facebook Page below if the event is going ahead as it seems to get cancelled every now and then and if you want to play a 15-30 min set or just want to play one song make yourself heard via the same Facebook Page.

Admission is free.

Every Tuesday and Thursday the International Bar invites to a Jazz night in the Lounge.

Groups led by Cote Calmet, Sean Maynard Smith, Dominic Mullan, Paddy Groenland, Georgia Cusack & Alex Mathias are performing regularly with occasional guest players, but there are also other bands from all over.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of EUR 5. The website clearly says that there is no entry fee, but – and that makes a lot of sense – that your donations are very much appreciated (Musicians need to pay for rent and food too!) Be generous after the gig if you liked it, but if someone wants to charge an admission charge, please point out that the “rules” as described on their website are like I have explained.

Warning:
As a principle don’t believe anything you read today in a newspaper or online. Once you read it, analyse it and if it sounds slightly farfetched then there is a high April Fool’s risk. ;-) Some journalists are really good at inventing stories (maybe because they have a lot of practise during the year?) so you could easily be caught out!

Entry charges at nearly all OPW sites are waived once a month. The Office of Public Works (OPW) wants to encourage people to visit the historic sites that it manages and has therfore started this initiative in 2011.

Most OPW owned sites can already be visited for free, but the sites that normally charge a fee will be free every first Wednesday as well. In the (extended) Greater Dublin Area this means you can visit the following sites for free:
+ The Casino, Marino
+ Dublin Castle, State Apartments
+ Kilmainham Gaol
+ Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre at Newgrange
+ Glendalough Visitor Centre in Wicklow

As you can imagine, this event is very popular and therfore it is strongly recommended to arrive early at the venues. Once the day’s tickets are given out, you will not get access anymore.

For their 3rd season, the History Channel production “Vikings” is looking for 8000 (!!) extras and Open Castings take place this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Filming will take place between April and December and the work as an extra is temporary and quite unpredictable (short notice). But if you always wanted to be in a film, you have a really good chance in this case.

They are looking for adults from all ethnic backgrounds who live close to Dublin and Wicklow. You won’t need to bring a CV or headshots, but you need to have all your measurements with you (height, chest, dress and shoe sizes). You will have to fill in a questionnaire and a photo will be taken and the whole appplication process will only take 20 minutes. There is lots more information on the Facebook events page below.

Come along to a short free walk featuring the history of the Gate Lodges of the Phoenix Park on Wednesday. Meeting point is at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre and the walk will then proceed onto the Back Road then Castleknock Gate and then to the Phoenix Monument. Everybody is welcome and no booking required. For more information telephone 01 677 0095.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

From Wednesday until Sunday, the Lab in the Science Gallery that accompanies the Lifelogging exhibition will look at “Your Healthy Self”. Shimmer, a provider of wearable sensor technology and solutions, will run this week’s Lab.

Shimmer will be testing and prototyping new technologies in the Lab all week. A team of researchers will measure a range of physiological metrics (galvanic skin response/sweat levels, heart rate etc…) at different locations around the body in an attempt to quantify emotional responses to an array of stimuli. Joining them will be the researchers from DCU Sport, demonstrating the latest in wearable sports technology.

Admission to the Lab in the Science Gallery is free. (The Science Gallery will be closed on Good Friday.)

Archive at Lunchtime screenings take place Saturdays (Double Bill), Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is changing weekly now (instead of monthly as in the past). To find out what film(s) will be screened go to www.ifi.ie/whatson/now-showing-coming-soon/ and look for “Archive at Lunchtime” on the right. Admission is free.

The next talk in the series “Centenaries and bicentenaries: Celticists, lexicographers and antiquarian scholars” is with Dr Lesa Ní Mhunghaile, NUI Galway and it is entitled “The last of the great antiquarians of the past: Standish Hayes O’Grady (1832-1915)”.

Admission is free and no booking required.

If you regularly or occasionally buy books online, you can help the Dublin Event Guide hugely even without having to pay cent directly. In fact you even save money this way:

Buy your books from The Book Depository and get better prices and free (!!) delivery for all orders independent from the volume and when you click on the picture here before you buy, then 5% of what normally The Book Depository would get, they give back to the Dublin Event Guide. Everybody wins!

www.bookdepository.com?a_aid=dubevg

If you prefer Amazon to buy your books (for free postage you need to order a minimum of GBP 25), then use this Amazon link to help the Dublin Event Guide. Thanks!

This lunchtime lecture “The Cross of Cong” will be about one of Ireland’s great national treasures, the Cross of Cong. It is the last masterpiece of Irish art from the early medieval period. Commissioned by the high king of Ireland, Turlough O’Connor, in the early 12th century, it was made to enshrine a relic of Christ’s Cross.

Join Dr. Griffin Murray of University College Cork to explore the art, archaeology, and history of the Cross, revealing some of its hidden secrets and stories.

Admission to this adult lecture is free, but booking is required, ring 01 6486339 or email educationarch@museum.ie.

Sean Meehan, Conservation Officer with the Irish Wildlife Trust, will give a talk on “The wildlife of South Dublin”. He will discuss the wildlife that can be observed, and the best places to see wildlife, in the South Dublin area.

The talk is free and will be held in the Nature Room, off the courtyard at the back of Pearse Museum. Tea and coffee will be available for a small donation.

For bookings & further information email: enquiries@iwt.ie

The last lecture in this term’s Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminar Series 2014-15 will take place on Wednesday. The title is “Mary with her sleeves rolled up: Irish Medical Missionaries at ‘’home’ and in Nigeria (1937?1960)” with Ailish Veale (TCD).

Admission is free. The next History Seminar will be on 24 September.

The “Havana International Language Exchange” is taking place every Wed from 16:30-19:30 in Havana Tapas Bar in George’s Street. There are many Spanish speakers and English-speakers are explicitly invited, but everyone else is certainly very welcome too, to meet for a chat to improve your Spanish or English.

The “Idea Translation Lab Class of 2015: Showcase” takes place. Five student projects will be presented with one team selected by a interdisciplinary judging panel to become student advisors for Science Gallery’s flagship exhibition in 2016, FutureFarm. These projects are the outcomes of 12 weeks of ideation, co-creation and development from the 2015 class of Idea Translation Lab.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below, where you also find some more details about the event.

At this literary reading, the Dublin Shakespearse Society and the Instituto Cervantes present “An Evening with Lope de Vega”. It is a staged reading in English from six of the plays of Lope de Vega, the father of Spanish Drama. The scenes will be linked with a commentary on his life and work by Paul Maher.

Admission is free.

The talk “The Financialization of Housing” with Daithi Downey (Research Associate, Centre of Urban and Regional Studies, TCD) takes place on 01 April. It is part of the “Shaping Dublin” Seminar Series of the Provisional University.

Admission seems to free and more details about the lecture can be found on the website below.

The King Kong Club is a weekly music game-show in the Mercantile. Each week 6-7 bands/solo artists play three songs each. At the end of all the performances a clap-off with the King Kong Club Clap-o-Meter takes place and the winner goes through to a semi-final and it all culminates after six months of competition with The Grand Final, held in front of a panel of celebrity judges.

Check the Facebook Page below for the line-up.

The Anseo Comedy Club, run by comedian Aidan Killian, takes place every Wednesday in Anseo (upstairs).

Admission is free, donations are welcome.

“The Song Room” is another open mic event. It takes place in The Globe in George’s Street at 20:30 every Wednesday.

“The Zodiac Sessions” is a regular open mic event from 20:30 in Bruxelles (between Grafton Street and Westbury Hotel) for unsigned musicians. Admission is free and there is a different line-up every week.

Bad Boy Jake are every Wednesday in the Gypsy Rose Rock & Blues Bar playing their rock, blues and American.

Los Paradiso are playing Rockabilly, Tex Mex, Western Swing, Surf in the Leeson Lounge. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Every Wednesday a Singer Songwriter Night will take place in Mother Reilly’s in Rathmines. This is YOUR chance to show everyone what you can do, alternatively you can just listen to the talented Singer/Songwriters. Admission is free.

The Jazz Pigs with a classic multi-brass front line play a mix of Lounge, lively sixties Jazz and driving Funk. Every Wednesday downstairs in 4 Dame Lane. Admission is free.

Traditional Irish Music Session in Hedigan’s (The Brian Boru) in Phibsborough from 21:30 every Wednesday. If you play an instrument you are especially welcome (all levels are welcome).

The Green Door Market is a new indoor food/Farmer’s Market that takes place just a few doors down from the Dublin Food Co-op at Newmarket in Dublin 8. Admission is free.

Opening hours are Thu-Fri 12:00-19:00 and Sat 09:30-16:00.

National Gallery Curators appraise paintings, prints and drawings brought into the Gallery this Thursday. The Picture Clinic takes place every first Thursday of a month (except August and January). No appointments necessary. Admission is free.

Every Thursday a free tour of Grangegorman Military Cemetery on Blackhorse Avenue takes place. Meet inside the Cemetery Gates. Admission is free and everybody is welcome.

The National Gallery has an extensive programme of free talks, public tours and Art Documentary screenings focusing on highlights of the European and Irish Collection every day of the week. Check their website for details.

From Wednesday until Sunday, the Lab in the Science Gallery that accompanies the Lifelogging exhibition will look at “Your Healthy Self”. Shimmer, a provider of wearable sensor technology and solutions, will run this week’s Lab.

Shimmer will be testing and prototyping new technologies in the Lab all week. A team of researchers will measure a range of physiological metrics (galvanic skin response/sweat levels, heart rate etc…) at different locations around the body in an attempt to quantify emotional responses to an array of stimuli. Joining them will be the researchers from DCU Sport, demonstrating the latest in wearable sports technology.

Admission to the Lab in the Science Gallery is free. (The Science Gallery will be closed on Good Friday.)

The next lecture in the “In the Psychologists’ Chair” series of events in the NCI is entitled “What is madness?” with Prof. Ivor Browne (former Chief Psychiatrist of the Eastern Health Board). Based on his experience and research he will discuss the nature of madness as we now understand it.

Admission is free, but booking is required via the website below.

The Royal Irish Academy and the Hodges Figgis bookstore invite to a tour through Georgian and Victorian Dublin by the authors of recent Irish Historic Town Atlas publications Frank Cullen and Rob Goodbody.

There will be four tours in total on Tuesday 24 March, Thursday 26 March, Tuesday 31 March and Thursday 02 April. The Tours begin at 13:00 and depart from Hodges Figgis and admission is free.

A weekly Forro Night (Brazilian Dance) with a Forro Live Band takes place in the D-One Bar & Brazilian Grill every Thursday.

Admission is free.

‘Censored’ is a series of eight free evening lectures, one each month, from September 2014 to August 2015.

This month, the lecture will be “Censorship and Irish writing in the twentieth century” with Dr Eoghan Smith (Carlow College).

Admission is free to all lectures, but booking is required via info@nationalprintmuseum.ie

In addition to the Saturday Car Boot Sale which starts so early (06:00!!) that you need to be an insomniac or a super early bird, there is now a Thursday evening Car Boot Sale in the same location. It starts at 18:30 and runs until 22:00. Late night car boot shopping. :-) Admission for buyers is free.

Book Launch for the debut novel ‘What Becomes of Us’ by Henrietta McKervey takes place in the Gutter Bookshop. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

Twice every year, the Central Library together with the Local Enterprise Office in Dublin City are running a series of six free Business Lectures for everybody who wants to start or grow a business. The lectures will cover subjects such as the characteristics needed to run and fund your business. Digital marketing strategies and writing business plans will also be included.

They will take place on Thursdays from 18:30-20:00 between 02 April and 07 May.

Admission is free, but booking is required here. All topics and speakers are listed on that same website, but to make it easier for you, they are also here:

02 April: An Introduction to Self Employment
09 April: Ideas Generation & Market Research
16 April: Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship
23 April: Digital Marketing Strategy
30 April: Financing your Business
07 April: Writing the WINNING Business Plan

“These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” is the title of a Walking Tour that Emily Gallagher will run next Thursday. It will be an Alternative Arts and Culture Trail and she will bring you to “Dublin’s Best Cafes, Bars, Markets, Unusual Stores, Galleries, Theatres, Arts Spaces, and more! And hear some tales you’ve never heard before!”

Meeting point is at the Spire. The tours are free but donations are welcome and booking at least 1 day in advance is required via myfavouritesdublincitywalktour@gmail.com or 085-2725095

A weekly live music gig of the genres Blues/Roots/Rock/Soul will take place in Arthur’s Pub with weekly changing performers:

+ 1st Thursday: Ben Prevo
+ 2nd Thursday: Declan Kennedy
+ 3rd Thursday: Dermot Byrne
+ 4th Thursday: Mick Pyro

Admission is free.

The Experimental Fiction Showcase by students of Dave Lordan’s “Strange Times Strange Tellers” Creative Writing Course will take place at the Writers’ Centre.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Every Thursday, the Xchange invites to a Language Exchange (19:00-20:30), followed by live music (21:00-23:30) by up and coming local and international artists.

Admission is free before 20:00 and free finger food is provided.

The Highland Park High School Symphony Orchestra from the USA consists of strings students aged 14-18 from Highland Park and Highwood, IL. The HPHS Orchestra performs concerts regularly in and around Highland Park and are dedicated to giving back to the community. Members of the orchestra have participated in both District Illinois Music Educators Association Orchestras and All-State music festivals. In just three years, the number of string players has more than doubled. Recent performance tours of the HPHS Orchestra include trips to Costa Rica, Scandinavia and Peru. This is the orchestra’s first time performing in Ireland.

Admission to their concert in Smock Alley is free. Booking is not required.

Dimestore Recordings run a weekly event in Sweeney Mongrel’s with a variety of bands and performers. It starts at 20:00, follow the link for the line up.

A charity gig in support of Dublin City Farm is taking place in Sweeney’s. I only found out the name of one act: Charles Bronson will be headlining and there will be a host of other bands. The event is organised by the Dublin Community Growers and the money collected will be used to create a home for goats, hens and pigs in the City Centre.

Admission is free.

The Upbeat Generation will play Funk and Soul Covers from olden times to the 90s. Admission is free.

The Peter Dobai Quintett will perform live and there will be Jazz records afterwards. Admission is free.

The Dive Bar Open Mic Night is a weekly Open Mic night where no performers are prearranged. Just arrive between 20:30 and 21:00 and ask for Conor or Alan to get your name down. The first performance is at 21:00.

Singer songwriters, poets, instrumentalists and comedy and sometimes even bands are invited to perform. All levels of experience welcome.

Admission is free.

A Fun Pub Quiz takes place in Brady’s in Terenure on Thurs. The quiz will be on every Thursday night in the Lounge at Brady’s. Keith McLoughlin is the Quiz Master.

There will be six rounds of the quiz with picture questions, audio questions and general knowledge questions. Admission to the quiz is free and therr will be free drink vouchers for the winning and runner up teams. (No phones to get answers allowed.)

Every Tuesday and Thursday the International Bar invites to a Jazz night in the Lounge.

Groups led by Cote Calmet, Sean Maynard Smith, Dominic Mullan, Paddy Groenland, Georgia Cusack & Alex Mathias are performing regularly with occasional guest players, but there are also other bands from all over.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of EUR 5. The website clearly says that there is no entry fee, but – and that makes a lot of sense – that your donations are very much appreciated (Musicians need to pay for rent and food too!) Be generous after the gig if you liked it, but if someone wants to charge an admission charge, please point out that the “rules” as described on their website are like I have explained.

Every Thursday “Left Right & Centre” play a mix of blues & soul with a bit of rock&roll.

Every Thursday a free Trad Session takes place in McNeills and often there are high profile Trad musicians performing.

“A Night in Barrytown Soul and Motown Music” is a live music performance with Higher Ground in connection with the Dublin: One City, One Book Festival.

Today is Good Friday and it is a weird day in Ireland. As a once VERY catholic country Ireland was trying to force everybody in the country to stick to catholic rules, but at the same time the day was never a public holiday. Even if you are a visiting Ireland and are not catholic, you will not find a single pub that is open today. And alcohol is also hard to come by. Read some more about the weirdness of this day here: www.joergsteegmueller.com/2015/03/27/good-friday-the-oddest-day-of-the-year/

Shops will be open as normal. Most businesses are open as normal, but banks will be closed and schools are holidays. Many public service offices will be closed as well. But if you do have to work in a private enterprise today, you have no right on overtime/weekend pay, it is just a normal Friday.

Today is NOT a public holiday, so all rules for traffic and parking are like on a normal Friday as well.

Because all pubs are closed and all public offices are also closed, it is a day with very few events! In previous year there have been some pubs that opened from 00:00, but I haven’t heard anything about that yet this year. Check the Dublin Event Guide Facebook Page where I will post updates if I can find out anything.

The Green Door Market is a new indoor food/Farmer’s Market that takes place just a few doors down from the Dublin Food Co-op at Newmarket in Dublin 8. Admission is free.

Opening hours are Thu-Fri 12:00-19:00 and Sat 09:30-16:00.

Cornucopia Café & Restaurant host live music three evenings a week (Thurs, Fri and Sat). The restaurant is a Wholefood & Vegetarian Restaurant and is open until 22:15.
+ Every second Thursday N.C Lawlor, a songwriter, session player and troubadour plays a mix of country, bluegrass & blues from 19:30-21:30.
+ Every Friday (19:30-21:30) Junshi Murakami plays Irish Harp.
+ Every Saturday (19:30-21:30) Nollaig Mann plays a collection of popular and jazz classics.