Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are a hard rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist and lead vocalist Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott led the group throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums, writing most of the material; the singles "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak", "The Boys Are Back in Town" were major international hits. After Lynott's death in 1986, various incarnations of the band emerged over the years based around guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes, though Sykes left the band in 2009. Gorham continued with a new line-up including Downey. Lynott, Thin Lizzy's de facto leader, was composer or co-composer of all of the band's songs, the first black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. Thin Lizzy featured several critically acclaimed guitarists throughout their history, with Downey and Lynott as the rhythm section, on the drums and bass guitar; as well as being multiracial, the band drew their members not only from both sides of the Irish border but from both the Catholic and Protestant communities during The Troubles.
Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock, traditional Irish folk music, but is classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal. Rolling Stone magazine describes the band as distinctly hard rock, "far apart from the braying mid-70s metal pack". AllMusic critic John Dougan has written that "As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, all of the Irish literary tradition." Van Morrison, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix were major influences during the early days of the band, influences included the pioneering twin lead guitars found in Wishbone Ash and American artists Little Feat and Bob Seger. In 2012, Gorham and Downey decided against recording new material as Thin Lizzy so a new band, Black Star Riders, was formed to tour and produce new releases such as their debut album All Hell Breaks Loose.
Thin Lizzy plan to reunite for occasional concerts. Two of the founding members of Thin Lizzy, bass guitarist and vocalist Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey, first met while at school in Dublin in the early 1960s. Lynott, born 20 August 1949 in West Bromwich, England to an Irish mother Philomena and Guyanese father Cecil Parris, was brought up in Dublin from the age of three. Downey, born 27 January 1951, is a Dublin native. Lynott joined a local band, The Black Eagles, as vocalist in 1963, Downey was recruited as their drummer in 1965. In 1967, Lynott was asked to join Skid Row by bass guitarist Brush Shiels, who brought teenage Belfast guitarist Gary Moore into the band early in 1968. After a disappointing television appearance in June 1969, Shiels fired Lynott, although they remained on good terms and Shiels subsequently taught Lynott to play bass guitar. Lynott formed Orphanage with Downey on drums after Downey's previous band, Sugar Shack, had split. Guitarist Eric Bell, born in Belfast on 3 September 1947, began his career playing in local bands such as The Deltones, Shades of Blue and The Bluebeats, the last incarnation of Them to feature Van Morrison, between September and October 1966.
Bell moved to Dublin and joined an Irish showband named The Dreams, but left in 1969 with a view to forming a rock band. An acquaintance of Bell's, Belfast organist Eric Wrixon a former member of Them, had moved to Dublin and joined the showband circuit, but had similar plans to progress towards rock music. In December 1969, Bell and Wrixon met by chance in a pub in Dublin and found that they shared similar ideas of forming a band, decided to visit the Countdown Club where they saw Lynott and Downey perform with Orphanage. Lynott was not playing bass guitar at this time, but Bell was impressed by Downey, introduced himself to Lynott and Downey during a break; when Bell asked if they would consider forming a band together, Downey was sceptical, but both men were aware of Bell's musical reputation. They agreed on condition that Lynott play bass guitar as well as sing, that the band would perform some of Lynott's compositions. Wrixon was included as organist, making the initial line-up a quartet.
The band's name came from a robot character in The Dandy called Tin Lizzie, which they adjusted to Thin Lizzy as a playful reference to the local Dublin accent, in which "thin" would be pronounced as "t'in". For some of their early gigs, the band were mistakenly promoted as "Tin Lizzy" or "Tin Lizzie". In July 1970, the band released a single, "The Farmer"/"I Need You", on EMI with the B-side written by John D'ardis, who owned Trend Studios where the single was recorded; the single is now a collectors' item. Wrixon left the band before the single's release, meaning there was a greater share of income for the three remaining members, he moved to mainland Europe before rejoining his old band, Them. Wrixon died on 13 July 2015. By the end of the year, Thin Lizzy were signed to Decca Records and they travelled to London in January 1971 to record their debut album, Thin Lizzy; the album sold moderately well but did not chart in the UK despite airplay and support from influential DJs John Peel and Kid Jensen.
Around March 1971, the band permanently relocated to London, before the release of the unsuccessful "New Day" EP in August. Despite poor sales, Decca agreed to finance the band's second album Shades of a Blue Orphanage, released in March 1972. Like the previous LP
Ring of Fire (song)
"Ring of Fire", or "The Ring of Fire", is a song written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and recorded by The Carter Family in 1962 and by Johnny Cash in 1963. The single appears on Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash; the song was recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New as " Ring of Fire". "Ring of Fire" was ranked No. 4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In June 2014, Rolling Stone ranked the song #27 on its list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time; the song was recorded on March 25, 1963, became one of the biggest hits of Cash's career, staying at number one on the country chart for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on January 21, 2010, by the RIAA and has sold over 1.2 million digital downloads. Although "Ring of Fire" sounds ominous, the term refers to falling in love –, what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time.
Some sources claim that Carter had seen the phrase "Love is like a burning ring of fire," underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter's Elizabethan books of poetry, she worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. She had written: "There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns". Cash's first wife, Vivian Liberto, offered a different conception of "Ring of Fire" in her book I Walked the Line, she contended that June Carter Cash was not a co-writer of the song: "To this day, it confounds me to hear the elaborate details June told of writing that song for Johnny. She didn't write that song any more; the truth is, Johnny wrote that song, while pilled up and drunk, about a certain private female body part. All those years of her claiming she wrote it herself, she never knew what the song was about." Liberto claimed that Cash decided to give Carter co-writer status because "She needs the money". The song was recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New as " Ring of Fire".
Mercury released Anita's version as a single and it was a featured "pick hit" in Billboard magazine. After hearing Anita's version, Cash claimed he had a dream where he heard the song accompanied by "Mexican horns". Cash stated, "I'll give you about five or six more months, if you don't hit with it, I'm gonna record it the way I feel it." Cash noted. When the song failed to become a major hit for Anita, Cash recorded it his own way, adding the mariachi-style horns from his dream; this sound was used in the song "It Ain't Me Babe", recorded around the same time. Mother Maybelle and the Carter sisters are prominently featured in the Cash recording singing harmony. Cash tinkered with a few of the original phrases in Anita Carter's version of the song. Cash's daughter Rosanne has stated, "The song is about the transformative power of love and that's what it has always meant to me and that's what it will always mean to the Cash children."In 2004, Merle Kilgore, who shared writing credit for the song with June Carter Cash, proposed licensing the song for a hemorrhoid cream commercial.
When performing the song live, Kilgore would "mock dedicate" the song to "The makers of Preparation H". However, June's heirs were not of a like mind, they refused to allow the song to be licensed for the ad. Numerous cover versions of "Ring of Fire" have been produced, the most commercially successful version being by Eric Burdon & the Animals, their version was recorded at the end of 1968, made the top 40 in four different countries. In late 1974, the Eric Burdon Band released a hard rock version. Wall of Voodoo debuted with a cover of the song on their self-titled 1980 EP and featured a pulsing synthesizer. Dwight Yoakam covered it on his debut album Guitars, Etc. Etc. Punk rock band Social Distortion covered it on their 1990 self-titled LP. In 1991, Frank Zappa released a reggae-style live version on the album The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life, after claiming to have met Johnny Cash in the elevator before the show and inviting him to perform the song with his band that night. Cash did not follow through on the invite.
A cover of the song by Alan Jackson with guest vocals from Lee Ann Womack was released as a single on December 6, 2010. It served as the lead-off single to his 34 Number Ones compilation album, peaked at #45 in the Hot Country Songs, becoming his first single to miss the top 40 since "Just Put a Ribbon in Your Hair" peaked at #51 in 2004, it was his last single released by Arista Records. Cash's version of "Ring Of Fire" was never released as a single in the United Kingdom. However, in 1993 / 1994, the song gained significant radio airplay in the UK after it was used in a popular television commercial for Levi Jeans. Wall of Voodoo's cover version was featured in the 1981 avant-garde pornographic film Nightdreams. In 2009, Adam Lambert performed the song during the Top 11 week on the ninth season of American Idol. In 2014, British band DragonForce released a power metal version of the song on their sixth album Maximum Overload. Madonna sang a cover version of Cash's song on the Nashville date of her Rebel Heart Tour on January 8, 2016.
In 1977 Olivia Newton-John included a version on her album Making A Good Thing Better. In 2018, Kevin O'Rielly released a video called "I made you a song" which included him making a cover of the song while playing a guitar. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Mic Christopher
Michael "Mic" Christopher was an American–born Irish singer-songwriter, best known for his posthumously-released debut album Skylarkin'. Michael Christopher was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Irish parents Harry Christopher from Dublin and Vaun Heaney from Sixmilecross, County Tyrone, they moved back to Dublin in 1972. He attended Coláiste Chilliain in Clondalkin, he started playing traditional Irish music with school groups until he was about fifteen years old when he started busking. Busking in Dublin over the next five years, Christopher made friends with many of the musicians on the Dublin circuit, including brothers Karl and David Odlum, Glen Hansard and others. In 1990 Christopher formed the band The Mary Janes with former Kila bass player and fellow busker Karl Odlum, added Simon Good on guitar and Steven Hogan on drums; the band's lineup evolved over the next nine years, becoming a three piece without drums when Hogan left the group. It was the three-piece version that recorded the band's first album, Bored Of Their Laughing.
In 1994, the Mary Janes signed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell. In 1996 the band acquired the drumming talents of Australian Mark Stanley, with this lineup recording their second album, Sham, in 1998. Over the years The Mary Janes played everywhere from the Feile and the Fleadh music festivals in Ireland, to Glastonbury Festival in England, to the CMJ in New York; the band performed a six-week stint in Bosnia with the War Child charity organization. The Mary Janes split in 1999 and Christopher embarked on a three-month solo tour of Victoria, Australia. In 2001, having recovered from a bad motorbike accident, Christopher released his solo Heyday EP and announced that he would be supporting The Waterboys on their next tour. Christoper's 2001 tour with The Waterboys performed in Groningen, Netherlands, on 18 November 2001; that night, after he had played his set supporting The Waterboys, Christopher was found unconscious, having struck his head on some steps during an accidental fall. On arrival at a local hospital, he was found to have lapsed into a coma as a result of severe swelling to the brain.
He never regained consciousness and died on 29 November 2001, aged 32. The accident that caused his death was described by friend Glen Hansard: "He went for a few beers after the show and slipped on some steps, it could have happened anywhere, at any time." Christopher had been working on a solo album entitled Skylarkin' prior to his death. The album was incomplete but Christopher had made notes as to how the recordings could be improved. During November 2002, work from many of his friends and family resulted in the posthumous release of Christopher's first and only solo album. Skylarkin' won Best Album at the 2003 Meteor Awards, his family were present to collect the award on his behalf. Since Christopher's death, Glen Hansard of The Frames has dedicated each of that band's albums to him, they dedicate their cover version of his hit "Heyday" to him when played live. Damien Rice dedicated his album O, released eight weeks after Christopher's death, to his departed friend. Lisa Hannigan dedicated the song "Splishy Splashy" to him on her debut album Sea Sew.
Rónán Ó Snodaigh from Kíla, who co-wrote the song Friends with Mic and shared a flat with him in the years before his death, wrote the song "The dream I haven't shown her" on his album The Playdays for Mic, it is a medley of the W. H. Auden poem. Studio albumsSkylarkin' Mic Christopher's official site Mic Christopher at Irish Music Central Mic performing Heyday in the Spirit Store, Feb 2001 on YouTube
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks is an English singer, a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 1980s and has been nominated twice for Brit Awards, she is known for her powerful husky bluesy voice and her 13 Top 75 singles such as "Pearl's a Singer", "Lilac Wine", "Don't Cry Out Loud", "Fool", "No More the Fool". Between her first chart album in 1977 and 1997 Brooks became the UK Female Artist with the Most Top 75 Chart Albums, she is referred to as the "British Queen of Blues". Her 1981 "Pearls" album became the Biggest Selling album by a UK female artist in the history of the charts at that point. Brooks was born Elaine Bookbinder in Broughton, the daughter of Marjorie Violet "Vi" and Kalmon Charles "Charlie" Bookbinder, she was raised in Prestwich. She attended North Salford Secondary Modern School, her older brother is Anthony Bookbinder, who went by the stage name of Tony Mansfield, was drummer for Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, on their run of 1960s hit records.
According to Brooks, her unofficial debut was a gig at a club called the "Laronde" on Cheetham Hill Road, when she was 13 years old. She first sang professionally at the age of 15, her first record, a cover of Etta James's "Something's Got a Hold on Me", was released on Decca in 1964. Brooks spent most of the 1960s on Britain's cabaret scene, a period of her life that she did not enjoy. In the mid 1960s she supported the Beatles in their Christmas show in London as an established act, helped the Small Faces in their early career by introducing them at several venues, she went on to tour the United States with several bands, including the Animals. She toured the communist Poland with Jon Lord's Artwoods. After she met Pete Gage, whom she would marry, she joined the short-lived blues rock fusioneers Dada before forming Vinegar Joe with Gage and Robert Palmer. Brooks gained roll due to her wild stage performances. After three albums, they split up in 1974, Brooks and Palmer pursued separate solo careers.
After a time as backing singer with the American southern boogie band Wet Willie, she returned to England. Her first solo album on A&M records was Rich Man's Woman, it was released to critical acclaim, but Brooks was given a hard time because of the album's cover shot of a naked Brooks with a feather boa, considered outrageous for the time. It came before a run of 16 albums in 20 years, starting with Two Days Away, produced by the songwriting duo Leiber & Stoller, who had worked with Elvis Presley and many others. Brooks wrote some tracks with them; the hits "Pearl's a Singer" and "Sunshine After the Rain" came from this album. That same year, Brooks duetted with Cat Stevens in the song, "Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard"; the albums Shooting Star and Live and Learn saw success along with the singles "Lilac Wine" and "Don't Cry Out Loud". Her polished, powerful cover of Gallagher and Lyle's "The Runaway", saw the Scottish singer-songwriters appear with Brooks on TOTP's to provide backing vocals.
In 1980, Brooks performed at the Knebworth Festival with the Beach Boys and Mike Oldfield. The Pearls album released in 1981 achieved the biggest success of her career, charting for 79 weeks and reaching No 2, the album was still in the charts one year when Pearls ll reached No 5 and spent 26 weeks on the UK charts; the Gus Dudgeon produced "Fool If You Think It's Over" was a major hit single for Brooks, written by Chris Rea. Other charts singles followed with "Our Love" "Nights In White Satin" & Gasoline Alley all produced by Gus Dudgeon. Minutes and Screen Gems, were both all UK album chart hits in the same year. In 1986, she sang the title song for the BBC television series "A Very Peculiar Practice"; the song, written by Dave Greenslade, was never released as a commercial recording. In early 1987, the song "No More the Fool" reached the top five and became her biggest hit single to date with the parent album reaching the top five; this led to her achieving another career peak, as she had two albums in the Top Ten and a single in the Top Ten all on the same week.
Following chart success ensued with the albums The Very Best of Elkie Brooks, Bookbinder's Kid, Round Midnight, Nothin' but the Blues and The Very Best of Elkie Brooks. In March 2003, she participated in the ITV music talent show Reborn in the USA, alongside musicians such as Peter Cox, Tony Hadley and Leee John. In 2003 she issued a CD, Trouble in Mind, with the acclaimed Humphrey Lyttelton and his Band, which included Bad Penny Blues with added lyrics; the Electric Lady album saw a return to her blues and rock roots, featuring self-penned tracks alongside re-workings of numbers by the Doors, Bob Dylan, Paul Rodgers and Tony Joe White. The following year saw the release of her first official DVD, Elkie Brooks & Friends: Pearls, featuring an array of guest musicians. Brooks' twentieth studio album, was released in 2010, featuring songs such as Prince's "Purple Rain" and Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love", she continues to perform live throughout the Ireland. In 2012, Brooks released her autobiography Finding My Voice, published by The Robson Press.
In it she details her life and career, focusing on her love of performing live and the downsides of the recording business, which has left her financially no better off. In July 2017 after signing to Virgin EMI she issued a new CD Elkie Brooks: Pearls The Very Best Of, which charted at No 14 and included two new singles: "Love Ain't
Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, Uma Thurman, it tells several stories of criminal Los Angeles; the film's title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction in 1992 and 1993, incorporating scenes that Avary wrote for True Romance, its plot occurs out of chronological order. The film is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp". Considerable screen time is devoted to monologues and casual conversations with eclectic dialogue revealing each character's perspectives on several subjects, the film features an ironic combination of humor and strong violence. TriStar Pictures turned down the script as "too demented". Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was enthralled and the film became the first that Miramax financed.
Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, was a major critical and commercial success. It was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, won Best Original Screenplay, its development, marketing and profitability had a sweeping effect on independent cinema. Pulp Fiction has been regarded as Tarantino's masterpiece, with particular praise for its screenwriting; the self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, extensive homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a touchstone of postmodern film. It is considered a cultural watershed, influencing movies and other media that adopted elements of its style. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named it the best film since 1983 and it has appeared on many critics' lists of the greatest films made. In 2013, Pulp Fiction was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally or aesthetically significant". Pulp Fiction's narrative is told out of chronological order, follows three main interrelated stories: Mob contract killer Vincent Vega is the protagonist of the first story, prizefighter Butch Coolidge is the protagonist of the second, Vincent's partner Jules Winnfield is the protagonist of the third.
The film begins with a diner hold-up staged by a couple moves to the stories of Vincent and Butch. It returns to where it began, in the diner. There are a total of seven narrative sequences. Sequences 1 and 7 overlap and are presented from different points of view, as do sequences 2 and 6. According to Philip Parker, the structural form is "an episodic narrative with circular events adding a beginning and end and allowing references to elements of each separate episode to be made throughout the narrative". Other analysts describe the structure as a "circular narrative". Hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega arrive at an apartment to retrieve a briefcase for their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace, from an associate, Brett. After Vincent checks the contents of the briefcase, Jules shoots one of Brett's associates declaims a passage from the Bible before he and Vincent kill Brett for trying to double-cross Marsellus, they take the briefcase to Marsellus, but have to wait while he bribes champion boxer Butch Coolidge to take a dive in his upcoming match.
The next day, Vincent purchases heroin from his drug dealer, Lance. He shoots up drives to meet Marsellus's wife Mia, whom he had agreed to escort while Marsellus was out of town, they eat at a 1950s-themed restaurant and participate in a twist contest return home with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his heroin, mistakes it for cocaine, snorts it, overdoses. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house. Butch double-crosses wins the bout, accidentally killing his opponent. At the motel where he and his girlfriend Fabienne are lying low and preparing to flee, Butch discovers she has forgotten to pack his father's gold watch, a beloved heirloom, flies into a rage. Returning to his apartment to retrieve the watch, he notices a gun on the kitchen counter and hears the toilet flush. Vincent exits Butch shoots him dead; as Butch waits at a traffic light in his car, Marsellus spots him by chance and chases him into a pawnshop. The owner, captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in the basement.
Maynard is joined by a security guard. Butch knocks out the gimp, he decides to save Marsellus, returning with a katana from the pawnshop. He kills Maynard. Marsellus informs Butch that they are as long as he tells no one about the rape and departs Los Angeles forever. Butch picks up Fabienne on Zed's chopper. Earlier, after Vincent and Jules have executed Brett in his apartment, another man bursts out of the bathroom and shoots at them wildly, missing every time. Jules professe
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains, it has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region, as of 2016, was 1,347,359, the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806. There is archaeological debate regarding where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion; the city expanded from the 17th century and was the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State renamed Ireland. Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts and industry; as of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.
The name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, from dubh meaning "black, dark", lind "pool", referring to a dark tidal pool. This tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, Irish rhymes from County Dublin show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn; the original pronunciation is preserved in the names for the city in other languages such as Old English Difelin, Old Norse Dyflin, modern Icelandic Dyflinn and modern Manx Divlyn as well as Welsh Dulyn. Other localities in Ireland bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin and Difflin. Scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b, rendering Duḃlinn or Duiḃlinn; those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh, part of Loch Linnhe.
It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements; the Viking settlement of about 841, a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath further up river, at the present day Father Mathew Bridge, at the bottom of Church Street. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a place name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church. There are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Anglicised as Hurlford; the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times, but the writings of Ptolemy in about AD 140 provide the earliest reference to a settlement there.
He called it Eblana polis. Dublin celebrated its'official' millennium in 1988, meaning the Irish government recognised 988 as the year in which the city was settled and that this first settlement would become the city of Dublin, it is now thought the Viking settlement of about 841 was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements which became the modern Dublin; the subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay. The Dubhlinn was a pool on the lowest stretch of the Poddle, used to moor ships; this pool was fully infilled during the early 18th century, as the city grew. The Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library within Dublin Castle. Táin Bó Cuailgne refers to Dublind rissa ratter Áth Cliath, meaning "Dublin, called Ath Cliath". Dublin was established as a Viking settlement in the 10th century and, despite a number of attacks by the native Irish, it remained under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169.
It was upon the death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn in early 1166 that Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, proceeded to Dublin and was inaugurated King of Ireland without opposition. According to some historians, part of the city's early economic growth is attributed to a trade in slaves. Slavery in Ireland and Dublin reached its pinnacle in the 10th centuries. Prisoners from slave raids and kidnappings, which captured men and children, brought revenue to the Gaelic Irish Sea raiders, as well as to the Vikings who had initiated the practice; the victims came from Wales, England and beyond. The King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, after his exile by Ruaidhrí, enlisted the help of Strongbow, the Earl of Pembroke, to conquer Dublin. Following Mac Murrough's death, Strongbow declared himself King of Leinster after gaining control of the city. In response to Strongbow's successful invasion, King Henry II of England affirmed his ultimate sovereignty by mou
Grafton Street
Grafton Street is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre, the other being Henry Street. It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south to College Green in the north. In 2008, Grafton Street was the fifth most expensive main shopping street in the world, at €5,621/m²/year, the thirteenth most expensive main shopping street in the world in 2016 at approx €3,300/m²/year; the street was named after Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, the illegitimate son of Charles II of England who owned land in the area. The street was developed from a existing country lane by the Dawson family in 1708, after whom the parallel Dawson Street is named. After O'Connell Bridge was built to span the River Liffey, Grafton Street turned from a fashionable residential street into a busy cross-city route; the north end of Grafton Street is most notable for the eighteenth-century Trinity College Provost's House, home to the head of the college. Across the road from this is the former location of the Molly Malone statue, a well known tourist attraction and meeting-place, permanently moved from Grafton Street to nearby Suffolk Street in 2014, to make way for an extension to the Luas tram system.
A life-size bronze statue of Phil Lynott was unveiled on Harry Street, off Grafton Street near the Stephen's Green end, on 19 August 2005. The street was known for prostitution in the 19th century. In the 1870s, 1,500 prostitutes were reputed to work in the street. Bewley's Oriental Café, a Grafton Street institution since its opening in 1927, announced at the end of October 2004 that it would be closing before Christmas, along with its Westmoreland Street café. Following a campaign by many, including the Mayor of Dublin, Catherine Byrne, the café on Grafton Street, which had closed, was reopened, including its small performance area. Buskers, including musicians and mime artists perform to the shopping crowds on Grafton Street; this was portrayed in the opening scene of the 2006 film Once, starring Glen Hansard of The Frames, a former Grafton Street busker. The pedestrianisation of Grafton Street was first trialed in 1971 but prolonged delays meant that this wasn't made permanent until 1983, repaved in 1988.
Objections came from councillors and small business owners, who alleged that pedestrianisation would lead to an increase in petty crime and antisocial behaviour. The North end of the street, between Nassau Street and College Green is not pedestrianised. Paddy Casey – ex-Grafton Street busker, now a successful musician Mic Christopher – musician Glen Hansard – ex-Grafton Street busker, Academy Award winner, now fronts The Frames and The Swell Season Keywest – English-Irish pop rock band based in Dublin Thom McGinty – former street performer and actor, during the 1970s–1990s David McSavage – stand-up comedy and music, now television star John Nee – imitated Charlie Chaplin Damien Rice – ex-Grafton Street busker, now an internationally renowned musician Roadmage – comedy magic show Rodrigo y Gabriela – Mexican guitar playing duo Hudson Taylor - Musical duo from Dublin In the song "Before the Worst" performed by The Script, Grafton Street is mentioned in the lyrics. American singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith wrote and recorded a song called "On Grafton Street".
Bagatelle, an Irish rock band in the 1970s refer to Grafton Street in their song "Summer in Dublin". Noel Purcell made the song "Dublin Saunter" well known. There is a line in the poem "On Raglan Road" by poet Patrick Kavanagh: "On Grafton Street in November we tripped along the ledge"' Dido features a track entitled "Grafton Street" on her album Safe Trip Home; this song is a tribute to Dido's deceased father, Irish. Grafton Street is mentioned several times in James Joyce's Dubliners and in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the scene of the meeting between Stephen and Emma. Grafton Street is mentioned in Ed Sheeran's song "Galway Girl" on his album ÷. List of streets and squares in Dublin Media related to Grafton Street at Wikimedia Commons
