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Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
'They're all lovely lads': Meet the knitter who creates Kneecap's balaclavas
Lewis Kenny is young and handsome, with a hipster beard and a strong Dublin accent, so it's hard to imagine him sitting quietly with a ball of yarn, gently guiding a pair of knitting needles. Yet his deep, smokey voice and thoughtful answers reveal a reflective character with a quiet, slightly self-deprecating confidence. And he is always looking for something new. 'I've always been a curious person,' says the 32-year-old. 'Every year, I'll try to learn a new skill. When I left school, I went and did electrical engineering in IADT. There was a woman in the college that I fancied, and she was the head of the knitting society. They used to run it on Wednesdays. They had free tea and biscuits, too, so that was part of it, but it was mainly to chat with her. She showed me the very basics of knitting and I thought it was great.' Lewis and his muse ended up dating, and though their passion for each other lasted only three months, the Cabra native's passion for knitting endured. He wasn't to know it would reach something of a pinnacle when he created the first of many balaclavas for Kneecap rapper DJ Provaí, aka JJ Ó Dochartaigh. Lewis first met the Belfast trio outside the Bang Bang Café in Dublin, which is owned by the band's manager, Daniel Lambert. His friendship with Daniel goes back a long way and is rooted in their mutual love of music, arts, and Bohemians Football Club, where Lewis was, believe it or not, the poet in residence. 'At one point, I offered to make JJ (DJ Provaí) a balaclava' 'They were on their way down to a festival,' says Lewis. 'They were sat in the back of a car, waiting to go, and I just got chatting to them. I seem to remember sending them on their way with a bottle of poitín and 50g of Amber Leaf tobacco. I didn't see them for a while. 'Then, when I was on a cycling trip around the country, I popped into a charity concert for Palestine at the ACLAÍ gym in Cork. Moglai Bap's brother used to run it and I knew him through Daniel. It was 2018 and they weren't that big yet. They were playing to about 200 people. After the gig, I got talking to them anyway, and, at one point, I offered to make JJ (DJ Provaí) a balaclava.' JJ was still working as a teacher. Due to the sometimes controversial topics in Kneecap's songs, he covered his face, so as not to reveal his identity and risk losing his job. JJ liked the initial idea, but came back with a specific request: That the balaclava be made to look like an Irish tricolour. 'I told him I didn't know how to do it, but I'd give it a bash,' says Lewis. Lewis Kenny with some of the balaclavas he has made. Picture: Gareth Chaney 'That first iteration was very, very bad. Awful. But he loved it and he wore it. Then, someone ripped it off his head at a gig and he came back to me looking for another one. 'I went back to the drawing board, because they were getting bigger and I wanted to get it right. So, I took a bit of time to work on the design, and the second one turned out very well, and that became the quintessential balaclava.' Since then, Lewis has knitted several tricolour balaclavas for the star and says that JJ will usually get in touch when he knows he's about to set out on tour and might need to keep two or three handy. 'JJ has been a big supporter of mine,' says Lewis. 'He's a top guy. To be honest, they're all lovely lads.' What started as something of a madcap suggestion has now turned in to a business that employs four people on and off. 'I was getting requests all the time, and I still do,' says Lewis. 'I'm working on a Celtic nations series at the moment; balaclavas with flags from Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Brittany, Galicia, and they do sell. 'We have Palestinian balaclavas, as well, and the funds for that go to a gym in the West Bank. I had someone yesterday looking for a Dublin GAA balaclava and that's kind of cool.' Lewis Kenny: 'I was getting requests all the time, and I still do.' Picture: Gareth Chaney Lewis always does his research on any requests and won't take on a commission that doesn't align with his values. 'Sometimes, I get people asking for a custom balaclava and they'll send me an image of a flag or something,' he says. 'I have to have a screening process. I had a fella from Turkey send me this flag that I'd never seen before and when I looked in to it further it turned out to be a new neo-Nazi symbol coming out of Turkey. There was no way I was doing that. So you have to be careful.' For now, custom requests and the new Celtic series are enough to keep everyone happy and, at the same time, allow Lewis to feed his endless curiosity. He has recently completed a four-year degree in horticulture, and, as we speak, is preparing slides for a presentation on 'Why Should You Study Horticulture?' at that week's Bloom Festival in the Phoenix Park. 'Knitting the balaclavas is a business, yes, but it's not substantial,' says Lewis. 'I don't make as many balaclavas myself as I used to. I work on the design elements. Then, I have some family members and a wonderful woman down in Waterford who works with me. 'They work on rotation, so when the requests come in, I can call on them to help me. I'm not saying I'm an NGO or anything, but the people making the balaclavas get most of the money for the labour and that's only right.' And very much in keeping with Lewis Kenny's interesting and ever-evolving life philosophy.
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Stars of the golden age of Hollywood recreated by Wicklow artist for stunning exhibition
The exhibition, by local artist Shane McCormack, features pencil portraits from that golden age and will appeal to both art collectors and admirers, and of course fans of a time when real movie legends were created – Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford and Judy Garland. Shane McCormack was born in Dublin in 1970. After many years working in both animation and photography he went back to study visual art at Bray Institute of Further Education and graduated from IADT, in 2014. As a freelance illustrator specialising in portraits from film and TV, Shane has worked on licensed subjects like Star Wars, Star Trek, The Walking Dead and The Hobbit. His short film, The Hotel, which was screened as part of Culture Night last September, is a fascinating piece of social history focusing on the former Bray Head Hotel – a favourite of the stars when filming at Ardmore, and where scenes from Frank, Breakfast on Pluto and The Commitments were also shot. The notes for Shane's new exhibition offer a glimpse into the world of the Hollywood greats and a window into the creation of these fabulous pieces of art. 'Hollywood, the power of the image transcended mere representation; it became a force that defined and redefined cultural ideals, personal identity, and collective memory. Hollywood's golden age, with its meticulously crafted visuals, created a landscape where image was not just an aesthetic choice but a carefully constructed narrative. "The glitzy, glamorous depictions of stars on screen, as well as the staged publicity photos, offered an idealized version of life, full of elegance, strength, and romance. Yet, these images also served as a mirror to society, reflecting and shaping the norms and desires of the time. 'The manipulation of light, costume, and framing in early cinema served not only to enhance the storytelling but to elevate the star persona to almost mythical proportions. In an era before social media, these images were some of the few ways that audiences could form a relationship with the stars, and thus, their images became inseparable from their real lives. The image was both a mask and a truth, a carefully curated persona that could command admiration or critique. 'In examining vintage Hollywood, Shane is fascinated by how the photograph or film frame captures a fleeting moment, one that is forever frozen in time yet continues to evolve in its significance. What remains poignant is how these images continue to resonate today as artefacts of both escapism and aspiration, as well as reminders of the complexities behind the facade. The power of image in vintage Hollywood lies not just in its glamour, but in its ability to shape memory and influence culture long after the original light has faded. Through this exploration, Shane seeks to uncover the layers of artifice and authenticity that intersect in the history of cinema and visual culture.' Hollywoodland runs at Signal Arts Centre, Bray, from Monday, June 9 to Sunday, June 22.
Irish Times
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Best new music books: The Bangles, tensions and sexism; Sinéad O'Connor as ‘a witch, burned at the stake'
The internal dynamics of successful pop/rock groups are at the front and centre of Eternal Flame: the Authorised Biography of The Bangles , by Jennifer Bickerdike (Hachette, £18.99). Although the 'authorised' tagline indicates mostly approving details about the band – one of the most successful all-female acts of the 1980s – there is an interesting point of view throughout that three of the original members never really dig into: the tensions that emerged from co-founder Susannah Hoffs garnering most of the media attention. In both archival and contemporary interviews (Bickerdike was given full access to the band archives as well as separate time with Hoffs and the other co-founders, sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson), there is a sense that each member doesn't necessarily have the same recollection of the same events. This makes for particularly insightful reading, as does the detailing of the widespread sexism the band dealt with from fellow musicians , media, DJs (who back in the 1980s could make or break an act in the US ) and record label executives. Not every music book, whether a memoir or biography, outlines a musician's fluctuating achievements. Sometimes, books about music are more instructive. In such cases, we suggest that any emerging musician get their hands on Pop Music Management , by Michael Mary Murphy (Routledge, £34.99). In this book, subtitled Lessons from the Managers of Number One Albums, Murphy, who teaches music industry and entrepreneurship at IADT, Dún Laoghaire, outlines the central tenets of music management, how these have evolved since the 1960s (blueprinted and revolutionised by Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles ), and what type of associations managers need to develop with their clients. While the focus is on the management of music acts of number one albums on the (US) Billboard charts, Murphy also astutely highlights another factor concerned with getting the best from people whose careers are sometimes on a knife's edge: namely, forging progressively caring, kind and intuitively positive relationships. Valuable and insightful reading not only for music business students but also for established managers. READ MORE Paul McCartney (left) and John Lennon Speaking of Epstein, there are lessons to be learned from John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie (Faber, £25). We think it's a first in by now far-reaching Beatles literature: a new story outline that doesn't focus on one member but two. Intriguingly, the author focuses on the symbiotic relationship (loving, platonic, conflicted) between Lennon and McCartney and their respective and/or mutual songs. There are biographical details we have read about many times before, of course, but Leslie's side-view approach displays insights heretofore unexplored, which alone makes the book essential reading for fans. Leslie argues that the customary narrative (Lennon as the 'creative soul of The Beatles' and McCartney as his 'talented but facile sidekick') has skewed their true personalities. It's a good argument, cogently delved into and illuminated through songs such as Ticket to Ride, Penny Lane, Help!, and Julia (a mere four of the 159 Lennon and McCartney songs of The Beatles' 184 recorded works), where one was the motivator and the other the midwife. What of George Harrison and Ringo Starr, we hear aggrieved Beatles fans ask. They are necessarily in the wings, apologises Leslie, albeit making 'indispensable contributions'. For all that, this is an excellent book about the Tremendous Two and a contender for end-of-year plaudits. Everyone, more or less, is familiar with The Beatles, but what of some American music acts that have steadily maintained success in their homeland but not on this side of the Atlantic? The last time US soft-rock songwriter Boz Scaggs entered the UK Top 20 singles chart was in 1977 (with What Can I Say and, perhaps his best-known song, the hardy perennial Lido Shuffle). Since then, nada. This makes the first biography of the songwriter, Lowdown: The Music of Boz Scaggs , by Jude Warne (Chicago Review Press, $30) all the more intriguing. The author, however, merely skims the surface of the man's life and times, interviewing collaborators and a few friends but not Scaggs himself. There is some compensation in the contributions of colleagues and musicians, but the spine of the book resides in the tried and tested album-by-album analysis, which, while insightful to those who aren't acquainted with the songs, borders on the humdrum. Sinéad O'Connor. Photograph: David Corio/The New York Times There is nothing at all routine about Universal Mother by Adele Bertei (33 1/3 series/Bloomsbury, £8.99). It comes at you instantly with fangs bared. Sinéad O'Connor , writes Bertei, 'was a witch of great magnitude, burned at the stake again and again'. O'Connor's fourth album is put under the microscope here, but perhaps not in the way you might expect. Rather than a track-by-track evaluation, the author takes as the basis for her scrutiny the fact that O'Connor was among the first public figures to experience 'the guillotine of cancel culture'. Universal Mother, therefore, was created as a fresh and resolute starting point for a songwriter who took a lead from Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers : 'To escape from horror, bury yourself in it.' The outcome is a righteous, vivid essay (96 pages) that celebrates not only one of Irish music's finest artists but also one of its best albums. Jon King, founding member of Gang of Four 'In 1980, UK households receive a booklet, Protect and Survive ... Are these the end of days? It's the right time to write radical music.' So starts To Hell with Poverty! , by Jon King (Constable, £25), the founding member of Gang of Four, a feverish post-punk/funk band much admired for their search for working-class justice. In keeping with his poverty-stricken London roots ('Woodlice skeeter about beneath floorboards that groan under our feet, the wet-rotted joists moaning with the load'), King tells his life story in a way that disrupts the norm. Christmas time 'annual luxuries' of his father 'puffing on a Hamlet' and his mother sipping an 'advocaat snowball' are soon replaced with meeting future Gang of Four guitarist, Andy Gill, studying fine art at Leeds University, adventures in America and Spain, and then things start to surge. 'We're no longer Dr Feelgood impersonators but have … become ourselves with a radical set and a fierce onstage presence …' King continues the band story to the bitter end, with taut, spiky recollections of health issues and corrupt management. Gang of Four's second album title tells it like it is: Solid Gold. Heartbreaker , by Mike Campbell (Little, Brown, £25) is in a similar gilt-edged category. Although Campbell is best known as Tom Petty's guitarist and co-songwriter (from 1976 to Petty's death in 2017), his life story has, perhaps inevitably, been overshadowed by his more famous associations. What a rags-to-riches life Campbell has lived, though, and how humbly he tells it. From a ragged teenage upbringing in Jacksonville, Florida ('where my mom grew up, poor as ragweed and pretty as Ava Gardner'), getting his first guitar ('I stared at it, stunned') and music industry excess ('Slowly, the record fell apart … We were a mess …') to the first quarterly songwriting royalties from his co-write, with Don Henley, of The Boys of Summer ('When I opened the check, I had to sit down'), Heartbreaker is a wise and observant book from a musician who is much more than an accessory to the main act. Other side-of-stage performers, take note.
Sky News
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
US taxpayers spend $24,000 on Irish college's DEI film project
The US State Department spent $24,000 (£19,000) to fund an Irish college's film project promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Earlier this month the Trump administration described a separate grant of $70,000 (£56,000) for a "DEI musical" in Ireland as "crap" that US taxpayer money was "wasted on", as it continues to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) agency. Now an examination of spending records shows that in October 2021 $24,000 (£19,000) of US taxpayer's money was given to the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, to "nurture and encourage equality, inclusion and diversity in storytelling, by facilitating self-generated narratives from diverse community groups through the medium of film". The college confirmed to Sky News that it had received the money, which along with Screen Skills Ireland funding, was used to create four short documentaries "by four separate marginalised communities". Those short films were then premiered at a film festival in Galway in July 2023. Project lead lecturer and filmmaker Vanessa Gildea said at the time: "I believe passionately that the future of film and television must be based on diversity, inclusion and gender parity. "This belief is the reason we created this film project. "We are all incredibly proud of these beautiful and moving films, and of each and every filmmaker." 👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈 One of the films, Falling, was described as "a poetic film about a brave young Afghani woman who left her home in search of a better life". Cultural Medium, directed by Britney Madondo, was "a vibrant, lyrical snapshot into the Black and Irish experience through the lens of artist Yomi Attention". What is Freedom? by director Mohadesa Shojaee was described as taking viewers on a journey of "experiences in a new land where freedom is more than just a word", while Sticks & Stones aimed to share "experiences of discrimination and the power of language". 22:01 The funding of $24,000 for the project was secured by IADT via the US Embassy in Dublin. Two weeks ago, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt listed a series of "insane priorities" that USAID had funded, including $1.5m (£1.2m) for improving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in Serbian workplaces, $47,000 (£37,000) for a "transgender opera" in Colombia and a $70,000 (£56,000) grant for the production of a "DEI musical in Ireland". "I don't know about you, but as an American taxpayer I don't want my dollars going towards this crap and the American people don't either. "And that's exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do." The revelations sparked fury from conservative commentators in the US, although it appears the 2022 $70,000 (£56,000) grant, like the IADT funding, had been awarded by the Department of State rather than USAID. That money is understood to have funded an event in Dublin, but not a musical.
