JOHNNY CASH APPRECIATION SOCIETY PERFORMANCES: A DRAFT LIST / THE SEWING ROOM - BROKEN LIFE WALTZ
Broken Life Waltz - The Sewing Room
I’m starting into trying to compile a list of all the performances which took place during the short but quite insane run, in 1996, of what we referred to as the ‘Johnny Cash’ upstairs in the Hut in Phibsboro. I think the club lasted about 7-8 weeks in total. There was an extremely messy ‘reunion’ shortly after it finished up in the Hut but that - and the story of the club itself are for another day. For now this list is enough to be getting on with. Those who remember the ever so slightly deranged atmosphere that developed as the club ran its course will realise that this is a very very difficult task. I’m hoping the performers and those who attended will kick in and help me out with this list.
Joe was the compere. He’s Marc’s older brother and an old friend of mine. He had a number of CW tunes which we did kind of half intend to release on Dead Elvis at one stage. Bits of one of the tunes were recorded with Wormhole around this period - but never released. His tunes, along with one or two which were performed by Oona White and Gary Fitzpatrick, were the unofficial anthems of the club.
Here goes with the list.
1. Joe Carolan (helped along by various at various times): The Lord Loves a Hanging, Buried Under a Blanket of Booze, Love is a Cigarette, El Paso Bound.
2. Joe C. & Stan Erraught and many many others in an end of night crowd performance: You Doo Right
3. Bernie Furlong (accompanied by Stan on guitar): Here Comes a Regular
4. Cousin Jethro and Deliverance Denzel: Death or Glory
5. Pete Johnson (Rumble): 6am Jullander Shere
6. Gary Fitzpatrick and Oona White: Dog eat Dog, Ace of Spades, A Song for You, One’s On the Way.
7. Rumble (with Bernie): A collection of Ramones tunes including Blitzkrieg Bop in full band mode. Rulebreakers!
8. The Sewing Room: Tunes from their ‘And Nico’ album. Pretty sure they did some covers but have no memory of them. They were the first act on the first night and played to mainly kids drinking lemonade after some football match or wedding or something.
9. Jubilee: Ramblin’ Man
10: Gary Keogh: Country Boy
I could have some stuff wrong about these. Please help with corrections if you are in a position to. Others I remember performing (and again some of these could be imagined) were Shane McGrath, Pat Clafferty from Mexican Pets, Denis from Decal, Dez from the Sewing Room. There were LOTS of strays performing as people generally got a free Jar or two if they sang anything at all. Any help in filling out this list appreciated. It would make my fxxing decade if any photos or recordings turned up. As the fella said - If you haven’t got a memory, half a memory will do …
I’ve posted one of the songs Stan Erraught wrote and sang for the ‘And Nico’ album which was released on Dead Elvis in 1995. He and his other half of the time Bernie were staunch supporters of the club - turning up repeatedly to take part when other serious adults would have run away screaming. Stan, as is well known, had a history with the country & western. I think he really enjoyed literally watching the Phibsboro ‘scenesters’ fall head over heels for a new (to a lot of them) genre of music right in front of him.
