Tree’s Company 🌳🏆

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on a windy Friday, bringing news of the Irish, Semi-Irish and Quarter-Irish, wherever they may be. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, our app for connecting lovers and likers of Irish culture globally. Want Shift? Get it here, friend. And if you’d like someone else to have The Craic every week, pop their email in here.

News from Home

Funding. It was Budget Day in Ireland this week, with the government setting out how it will tax and spend. It’s usually a day of slight disappointment, regardless of your politics. With everyone on one side saying the Gov is spending too much, and everyone on the other saying it’s spending too little. Plus ça change. Yet, while we don’t usually delve into politics here, we were a little miffed to see that the “Culture Card” failed to make the cut. The idea to hand teenagers a 100-euro voucher that they could spend exclusively on arts experiences and, you know, not on TikTok or vaping, was a good one, and it would not have cost that much in the grand scheme of things.

Ride On! We hope to get to this at some point: A new exhibition celebrating the life and work of the great, great Christy Moore has opened in Dublin at the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA). President Connolly opened the exhibition, which features over 180 songs recorded especially for the ITMA. As ever, Christy apparently spends half the time talking through the songs, but sure, that’s why he’s an icon.

Having a Gouda Time. Do you wanna see a video of a Northern Ireland football fan whipping out a slice of cheese and pretending it’s a yellow card? Sure you do. Look, we know this isn’t really news, but it made us laugh, and frankly, we don’t give edam🧀.

Call Out. October is Pregnancy and Infancy Loss Awareness Month, so we wanted to draw your attention to the Charlie Mae Shield, an incredible event in Chicago on Sunday. The event will fuse football, community and remembrance at Fire Field. Working to raise awareness around baby loss. Find out more about attending here.

The Craic Recommends…..Irish-trad-electro-rock-fusion. That’s our best descriptor for Chasing Abbey, a County Offaly three-piece making waves at home and abroad. The lads’ new album – Cyber Celt (sums up their style) – is getting great reviews, but audiences are saying the live shows are really where it’s at. They were in Chicago last night, and Darren (our CPTO and man who seems to have too much time on his hands) was at the gig, getting a few snaps with his trusty Polaroid. Chasing Abbey will be touring cities including Philadelphia, Cleveland, NYC, Dallas and Atlanta until October 29. Well worth checking out. Ticket info here.

The Irish Influence

Normally, the UK’s Tree of the Year award goes to some gorgeous oak or sycamore that looks like it’s right out of a postcard from an idyllic, Hobbiton-like English village where they play croquet every day. Not this year. Newcastle’s Bendy Tree (some call it the Wonky Tree) won the gong, and she’s a beaut in her own way. As the name suggests, the wych elm bends at an impossible angle, perhaps 90 degrees across the street. The unusual elm has become a mini celebrity in the Co. Down town. So you can add a wonky tree to ice cream, one of the world’s best golf courses, NI’s highest mountain (Slieve Donard), and good Guinness at Quinns Bar to the things Newcastle is famous for.

Cúpla Focal

Crann {Krann} – Tree. In honor of our wonky friend above, we thought we’d look at some trees this week. Crann Darach (Oak Tree), Crann Fuinseoige (Ash Tree), Crann sailí (Willow), and Crann Caorthainn (Rowan) are just some of the fine arboreal specimens you’ll see across Ireland, looking all lovely in the autumn. 

Blast from the Past

The great Dickie Rock would have celebrated his 90th birthday tomorrow. The Miami Showband frontman had an incredible career, amassing several Irish number one records and described by some as being “as important to Ireland as Elvis was.” You know, it’s hard to convey to modern audiences how popular Rock was in 1960s Ireland, but comparisons with the Beatles are not far off the mark. This “showband era” of Ireland is kind of lost in time. Unfortunately, what most Irish kids know about it (if at all) surrounds one of the darkest days in our history, the Miami Showband Massacre. Yet, the era was basically Ireland’s version of the Swinging Sixties. Your granny and grandad probably got up to all sorts while swinging to Dickie Rock and his band. Bet it was fun. 

And One Last Thing….

You know, some of us at Shift have been busy planning next year. We’ll be at the Oasis gig at Slane Castle, maybe at the Dublin Marathon 2027 (more on that soon, we hope), and plenty of other events in Ireland. Are you coming? If you are planning a trip over here, the best place to get started is with Shift. The app is bursting with listings and dates of everything happening over here, and we will constantly be adding more as new events get announced. It’s a great way to start building your holiday plans, even before you get the flights booked. Oh, and we also want to give you a sneak peek of Shindex (Shift Index). Our aim is to rank and highlight authentic Irish bars, separating them from the fake ones. We will be mapping them out with people’s ratings based on the food, drink, vibe, atmosphere, etc. What have we missed in our categories? What makes a GREAT Irish bar? Reach out and let us know.