Farewell Zetoc

Zetoc - alerts closed

Zetoc is one of the resources I would use to track developments within Irish Diaspora Studies.

Zetoc is simply a journals Table of Contents tracking and alerts system, linked to the British Library database.  The Zetoc service is provided by Mimas at The University of Manchester on behalf of the British Library and JISC.

http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/

Note the limitations to access.  Basically, you have to be a member of a UK Higher Education institution.  Independent scholars - nah!

This was my list of journals at Zetoc.  Whenever Zetoc became aware of a new Table of Contents for one of these journals it would send me an email.

ISSN  Title Last Issue

0790-892X   ARCHAEOLOGY IRELAND     24/03/2012  VOL 26; NUMB 1

0376-6039   BOOKS IRELAND     14/12/2010  NUMB 326

1353-0089   CAMBRIAN MEDIEVAL CELTIC STUDIES    27/01/2012  NUMB 62

0013-2683   EIRE IRELAND      20/01/2012  VOL 46; NUMB 3/4

0790-0430   FOOD IRELAND      (No longer in Zetoc)

0332-4893   IRISH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY   25/01/2012  VOL 37

0332-3315   IRISH EDUCATIONAL STUDIES     06/04/2012  VOL 31; NUMBER 1

1649-6825   IRISH FEMINIST REVIEW -WOMENS STUDIES CENTRE-(No longer in Zetoc)

0075-0778   IRISH GEOGRAPHY   26/05/2012  VOL 44; NUMB 2/3

0021-1214   IRISH HISTORICAL STUDIES      22/03/2012  NUMB 148

0790-7184   IRISH POLITICAL STUDIES 12/01/2012  VOL 26; NUMBER 4

0790-7850   IRISH REVIEW -CORK-     18/08/2011  NUMB 43

0967-0882   IRISH STUDIES REVIEW -BATH-   04/04/2012  VOL 20; NUMBER 1

0021-1427   IRISH UNIVERSITY REVIEW 24/05/2011  VOL 41; NUMB 1

0268-537X   JOURNAL OF IRISH ARCHAEOLOGY  31/07/2010  VOL 17

1460-8944   NATIONAL IDENTITIES     24/02/2012  VOL 13; NUMB 4

0332-1592   PERITIA -GALWAY THEN CORK THEN TURNHOUT-  (No longer in Zetoc)

0957-0756   PROCEEDINGS- HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND  25/10/2011  VOL 29; NUMB 4

0035-8991   PROCEEDINGS- ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY SECTION C ARCHAEOLOGY CELTIC STUDIES HISTORY LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE    (No longer in Zetoc)

1350-9942   SOCIAL ATTITUDES IN NORTHERN IRELAND      (No longer in Zetoc)

0039-3495   STUDIES -DUBLIN-  15/05/2012  VOL 101; NUMB 401

0040-1676   TECHNOLOGY IRELAND      21/04/2012  SPR

0082-7347   ULSTER FOLKLIFE   (No longer in Zetoc)

A number of Irish interest journals have disappeared - I have left them in the list, for interest's sake. 

Important North American and Australasian journals are not listed here - remember, this is linked to the British Library database.

And most - not all - of the journals listed here now have their own web sites, and their own systems for generating Table of Contents alerts.  And there is a bit of time lag, as journals generate Tables of Contents, and they percolate through to the Zetoc system.

So, it might be felt, that Zetoc's usefulness is becoming limited. 

And yet, and yet, and yet...

Look at one journal listed there - Patrick Sims-Williams' CAMBRIAN MEDIEVAL CELTIC STUDIES. Doggedly only on paper.

In one Table of Contents, generated by Zetoc, I saw this...

`Messe ocus Pangur Ban': Structure and Cosmology.

Toner, Gregory

pp. 1-22

CAMBRIAN MEDIEVAL CELTIC STUDIES

NUMB 57; 2009

ISSN 1353-0089

The poem 'Pangur Ban' has become one of the foundation texts of Irish Diaspora Studies, not least because so many poets - including me - have produced versions.

With the help of the editor and the author I was able to read this article, a lovely, scholarly piece of work.  Gregory Toner adds new dimensions to Pangur Ban studies, to our understanding of the poem and the manuscript.

Would I have known about Gregory Toner's article were it not for Zetoc?  Perhaps?  Eventually?  I don't know.

Anyway, thank you Zetoc, and farewell.

Patrick O'Sullivan

Love Death and Whiskey – the Hollywood movie

This is a piece I wrote for Autoharp Notes, the ejournal of the UK Autoharp Association...

Love Death and Whiskey – the Hollywood movie

Patrick O’Sullivan

In 2010, I managed to publish a book of my lyrics – a selection, as they say, from the long back catalogue.  It wasn’t easy.  The rest of this article is based on How to write a Hollywood Screenplay…

Precipitating Action

When I told my cousin the policeman that the police had tried to kill me he was only mildly interested.  How?  he asked.  Guns?  Cars?  Well, in my case, cars.  Driving back from the supermarket I came to the traffic lights at Duckworth Lane.  The lights were green.  As is, I believe, customary, I proceeded to proceed.  A police car shot out from the right, on the wrong side of the road, ignoring a red light, past waiting traffic.  The wonderful thing about modern cars is that you can step unhurt out of a demolished car – the car crumpled around me.

At home, and after the immediate consequences of the police having tried to kill me, I looked round the house.  At all the problems I might bequeath to my grieving family.  The piles of books, files and papers.  And I said to myself, You must finish some projects.  At least, make a book of your song lyrics.  And then I went for a lie-down in a darkened room.

Intervening Obstacles

Now, you would have thought that the next steps would be fairly simple.  Switch on the computer, look in the Song Lyric Folder, and make a selection.  But that forgets years of computer crashes, computer changes, changes in software.  Lotus Wordpro, anyone?  Recent songs, yes.  But the old favourites?

Move on to the paper file.  But, see above, piles of papers.  Where is the paper file?  We finally worked out that a dear, dear friend – a dear, dear friend – had taken the paper file to London to show to some musicians she was working with.  And it had never come back.  So, somewhere in London…

I discussed this with another dear friend, the Bristol based musician, Gene Dunford.  It turned out that Gene had been keeping, all along, without my knowing it, a paper file of all my song lyrics that he was aware of.  Thanks to Gene we have been able to start reconstructing my song lyric archives – that job is not yet finished.

I explored publication and printing routes.  But, really, it was not until that year, 2010, that the routes became obvious and easy.  Things like making your work visible on Amazon and Google Books suddenly became easier in 2010.

Cut to the chase

So, time for rough and ready decisions.  Readers of Autoharp Notes will know how thin a song lyric can look on the page.  I think that maybe a song lyric is not meant to be a thing in itself – as I suggest in my Introduction to the book the lyric is waiting for its musician and its performer.  So, was there a tendency to go towards the lyrics that are a bit stronger on the page?  But I love the thin ribbon of text running down the white page.  So, a selection:  different flavours, routes, old favourites, new material.

In what order should we print the lyrics?  Chronological order would unduly privilege the times when I had a band, or was involved with musicians in some project.  Alphabetical order would unduly privilege the letter I.  In the end, in order to make a decision – and guided by certain anthologies of Moorish Spain – I choose LENGTH.  And, daft as it is, I think it works.  The wonder of Word Count means that lyrics become longer, and perhaps more literary, as the book progresses.

But we must think of the early pages, visible on Amazon and Google Books.  We could not begin with something too fragile and tender.  At the beginning of the book we put the song Assignations, a sturdy text from my jazz days.  Followed by a sweet one, Clover the Kitten.  This is a genuine memory of a lovely cat – but it is also a version of the most famous poem in the Irish language, Pangur Ban, about the Scholar and his Cat.  Every Irish writer has to do a version of Pangur Ban – it is now a rule.  And the difficulty of trying to work with a playful cat around has stayed the same over the centuries.  We saved till last the very shortest lyric – but perhaps my most profound.  Pierre, my summary of Chapter 1 of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness.

I wanted to give some idea of the work that went into making the lyrics, and the approach.  I had some scribbles on paper, more notes in my computer, and thoughts in my head.  We have a little narrowboat, which we keep on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, in the Pennines.  One weekend I was working there by myself, physically very tired, and miserable under the miserable weather.  I woke on the Sunday morning, groggy from deep sleep, and still with a lot to do.   But it was the Sunday morning when the clocks change.  I had an extra hour.  In that extra hour I hammered out the Introduction.  I think that you can still see that it has a rough hewn quality – recalcitrant ideas beaten into almost coherent sentences.

The full text of the Introduction is available in many places on the web, on Amazon Look Inside, Google Books, and on the publisher’s web page.  The free samples on the ebook pages will also pick it up.

Now, the look and feel of the actual paper book…  It had to have a quality, but also fit neatly into a guitar case.  We gave the design work to a book designer in Ireland that I had worked with before.  As to the cover - the first line of thought picked up the three legged stool image from my Introduction.  Which led to the immediate danger that we would get bogged in the search for a suitable piece of line art.  Do not get bogged down.

Denouement

In another part of my head, I am involved in the rescue of yet another project.  In the 1980s we created IRISH NIGHT, an oral history play about the experiences of Irish people in England.  We still have the taped interviews from that project, and I am moving the interviews from tape to digital.  I had located the production photographs of stage photographer Zuleika Henry, and I had moved her photographs from 35mm negative to digital.  So, I had in my computer actual photographs of actors on a stage performing some of my songs.

The book designer chose the photograph of actor, Joan Harpur, throwing back her pretty head to sing the title song I wrote for that play.  I will pause to savour the irony that what looks like a photograph of a session in a pub is in fact a photograph of actors on a stage set.  And all musicians notice that the book designer has flipped the image for design effect.  Flipped images often have that spooky quality.

I was able to write the song Irish Night when I knew that Joan could sing it, and sell it.  Beautifully set by musician Peadar Long, it has become one of Peadar’s favourite pieces.  A few years ago I went to one of Peadar concerts, in Bradford Cathedral.  He often now works with choirs, and he presented this song, with another lovely female voice taking my words and his tune.

And after the singer had finished I heard people in the row behind me discussing the song.  What was that song – I’d never heard it before – is it traditional?  O yes, said someone, with absolute confidence, traditional, Irish, a very old song.

A compliment.  Of sorts.  I think.

Patrick O’Sullivan

Love Death and Whiskey - 40 Songs - Reviews at Amazon

Reviews are beginning to collect around my song lyric book

Love Death and Whiskey - 40 Songs

on the Amazon page.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Death-Whiskey-40-Songs/dp/095678240X

One review is evidently by a musician.  Another seems to be by a literary critic.

And another is by a Python.

And see also
Terry Jones on Twitter

I am not sure what Terry means by my songs being 'a great way in for those nervous of poetry...'  Must ask.  A 'way in...'  Is there a suggestion there that my song lyrics are being asked to do something other than be good song lyrics?


But Terry has forced me to return to debates and discussions last visited some decades ago - about the difference, for me, between a song lyric and a poem.  The differences, for me, are clear - and are outlined in the Introduction to Love Death and Whiskey.  The Introduction is visible on Amazon and on Google Books - anywhere where the early pages are available.  When I was a minor poet of the late twentieth century - a horrid business - I found myself at poetry readings.  And, inevitably, found myself writing poetry that could be performed.  If you are going to write for performance you should really write for performers.


I have started collecting some thoughts, notes and references, on the theory and practice of the song lyric, on a new web site...


songlyric.co.uk

Nothing very substantial, as yet - but when I come across sensible comment I will post some material there.

I think I am nearly ready to begin a sensible discussion about RHYME.

Patrick O'Sullivan

Keynote Speaker, The Irish diaspora and revolution, Maynooth

I have been asked by Gerard Moran and his colleagues to be a keynote speaker at a conference, on the Irish diaspora and revolution, at Maynooth, at the end of October 2012.


Maynooth is worth visiting - a little Irish market town has been swallowed by a university.  And the significance of the college and university in the history of Irish Catholicism is ostentatiously visible.


The theme of the conference is interesting - especially since we put so much work into separating out the study of the Irish Diaspora from the study of conflict and politics within Ireland.  So, perhaps time for a reintegration.  Looking at my notes, I find myself thinking about the missing Irish working class.

I am going to this conference to listen and learn.

The Call for Papers is pasted in below.

Patrick O'Sullivan


CFP: The Irish diaspora and revolution, 1845-1945

The Department of History at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, invites submissions for a major international academic conference entitled ‘The Irish diaspora and revolution, 1845 – 1945’ to be held at NUI Maynooth, 30 October-1 November 2012.

‘Diaspora’ and ‘revolution’ have been central transformative features of Irish society between 1845 and 1945, penetrating every facet of life on this island over the course of that century. Revolution as experienced by the Irish diaspora during this period, however, transcended Irish geopolitical isolation, situating Irish issues within evolving global contexts and amorphous supranational networks. It is this rich and diverse engagement of the Irish diaspora with revolution which this conference seeks to explore.

Distinguished keynote speakers confirmed for the conference are Professor R.V. Comerford and Patrick O’Sullivan.

We invite submission of abstracts which address the conference title from any relevant historical period, geographical perspective or disciplinary approach. Papers are to be no longer than twenty minutes in duration. Panel proposals are welcome in addition to individual papers. Postgraduates are also encouraged to register an interest in participating. Proposals for papers and panels should include a title, an abstract of no more than 250 words and a brief biographical summary (including institutional affiliation and contact details).

Applications with these particulars attached are to be submitted to any of the conference convenors Dr. Darragh Gannon, Dr. Gerard Moran and Dr. Ciaran Reilly by 15 August at the email addresses below.

Applicants will be notified by email before 1 September. Conference attendance costs will be posted at a later date (there will be no registration cost for conference speakers).

Contact details Dr. Darragh Gannon: Darragh.J.Gannon@nuim.ie Dr. Gerard Moran: Gerard.Moran@nuim.ie Dr. Ciaran Reilly: Ciaran.J.Reilly@nuim.ie

Irish Diaspora Studies

At the end of May 2012 I began to close down the formal projects that I still then had in place to support the study of the Irish Diaspora.

I still remain interested in that study, of course, and will continue to make contributions - but most probably only in the form of articles, chapters, the occasional lecture.  Any specific project will have to be time-limited and costed.

The problem was that, in tying myself to formal, ongoing projects I had saddled myself with a myriad tiny tasks, but each task requiring thought and decision.

As I close things down, if there is a general point worth making, I will post a note here on Fiddler's Dog.

The relevant web sites are still, more or less, in place.

The old web site, at the University of Bradford, handcrafted by my son Dan O'Sullivan, when he was 12 years old...
http://www.brad.ac.uk/diaspora/

I no longer have access to that web site.

Stephen Sobol, at the University of Leeds, created an alternative web site for us, with a simpler technology, at...
http://www.irishdiaspora.net/

That web site will soon disappear, but I will most probably redirect the domain name.

Both those web sites have been archived by the British Library - so that they are preserved for posterity.

I did start to develop a back-up Irish Diaspora Studies web site at
http://www.irishdiaspora.org/

But, at this stage, I am not really clear how that is going to work.  Is there still a need for a formal web site?  And see above, myriad tiny tasks...

Patrick O'Sullivan

Bradford Women Singers, New CD, HIGH HOPES

Our friends and neighbours, the Bradford Women Singers,

http://bradfordwomensingers.org.uk/

have issued a new CD, High Hopes.  You can listen to some track samples on their web site, and you can download the song lyrics as a pdf file.

There are tracks from an earlier CD on My Space

http://www.myspace.com/bradfordwomensingers

Below, the invitation to the launch of the new CD.

Bradford Women Singers

warmly invite you to join us for the launch of our new CD ‘High Hopes’

High Hopes, High Tea

Saturday 21st July, 2012

2 to 4 pm

in the garden

Park Cottage, Randall Place, Bradford, BD9 4AE

hear the songs, live! buy

the CD enjoy

tea and cakes

with guest performers

Bradford Women Singers

www.bradfrordwomensingers.org.uk

singers@bradfordwomensingers.org.uk

07951776278

Autoharp Day at The American Museum, Bath, 7 July

To Bath, this coming weekend, for the UK Autoharp Association day at the American Museum...
http://www.americanmuseum.org/

The autoharpers are to be part of the Americana Festival
http://www.americanmuseum.org/default.cfm/loadindex.295

July 7
'Courses & Workshops: Autoharp Workshops with Mike Fenton

12noon-5pm Drop-in workshops and performances will be offered throughout the afternoon on this uniquely American instrument. If you've ever wanted to play an autoharp - or even just wondered what one is - then come along and give it a try. No registration required.'

Of course the autoharp is not an 'uniquely American' instrument.  But it has become a sort of folk instrument in the USA, partly because of its association with the Carter family.


Our slow jam organiser Bob Ebdon has created a Carter family songbook for the occasion.

For more on Bob Ebdon see
www.bobebdon.co.uk

For more on Mike Fenton see
http://www.harperscraft.com/

For more on the UK Autoharp Association see
http://www.ukautoharps.org.uk/

I seem to have signed myself up for a little display.  I am a bit worried.  I am not a natural soloist.  This damnable shyness of mine...

Might try to do some Woody Guthrie - Americana, surely?
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/

It's the 100th anniversary of his birth - 1912-2012
http://www.woody100.com/

Here is Wilco's version of The Jolly Banker
http://wilcoworld.net/#!/roadcase/the-jolly-banker/