23rd May, 2002
Well, the party’s over, no, not the Fine Gáel
party, although with almost all of their front bench wiped out
their options are fairly limited. Michael Noonan was beaten by
Brenda Fricker (“No tears”, shown on RTE only a few
weeks before the election). Some people say that there is no
difference between Fianna Fail and Fine Gáel except 1922 -
Collins v Dev., but those days are gone. Unless Fine Gáel come
up with some new ideas and a good leader, then they will go the
same way as the Conservative party in the UK, getting their votes
from the ‘blue rinse brigade’ and pensioners. As far as
I can see there is only one potential leader available for the
position, John Bruton. Yes, I know he was dumped by his own, but
his vast political experience, including his stint as Taoiseach,
makes him front runner. I’m told that a lot of Fine Gáel
members were not too happy when he was ousted, so perhaps a
second chance at leadership might be a serious option for a party
in deep trouble.
Micheál Martin’s workers were out on Sunday morning taking
down his election posters - one day after the result. Micheál,
you could have taken them down a month ago, and still topped the
poll!!
Two days after the election is over RTE is looking for an
increase of €45. No, I’m not going to be cynical, let’s
just wait and see what happens. What about the PD’s? Some
people felt they should have run a candidate in South Central
instead of North Central, but they didn’t, they know best.
Tonight (Tuesday) on the news Mary was playing hard to get,
telling us that some of their members were not too happy with the
prospect of going into government with Fianna Fail. Ah Mary, come
on, what do you want? Mary for Tanaiste, Tom Parlon, agriculture,
Michael McDowell, take your pick! Bertie won’t go into
government with Independent Fianna Fail TD’s, Jackie Heally
Rae might want the Bertie soccer stadium built in Kilgarvan!!
One final point, does anybody know when the new TDs get paid? Is
it when the returning officer says, “I deem Joe Bloggs to be
elected”!, or when they sit in the Dail, will that be
sometime in October? Just asking.
My grandchild was sick on Saturday, so my daughter telephoned the
local medical centre. I don’t know how many doctors are on
the panel, maybe five or six. A recorded message told her that
she would have to go to a medical centre on the Model Farm Road (next
to the Tennis Village). Not good enough, what if the patient didn’t
have a car, or the taxi fare?
Otis Blackwell died two weeks ago. Otis was born in Brooklyn, New
York, in 1931. As a young lad his favourite music was cowboy
music, particularly Tex Ritter. Nothing unusual in that, except,
Otis was black!! It must have been unusual, a black kid in New
York, who listened to and loved cowboy songs. He began work as a
penny a day floor sweeper and then as a cloth’s presser. He
learnt to play the piano and dabbled in songwriting. . He had a
minor hit in the early 50’s with ‘Daddy Rollin’
Stone’ (later recorded by The Who)., but shortly after he
decided to concentrate on songwriting, and the hits came, “Fever”
(Peggy Lee), “All Shook Up” (Elvis). ‘All Shook Up’
was inspired by a shaken bottle of Pepsi Cola. “Great Balls
of Fire” (Jerry Lee Lewis). He wrote hits for Brook Benton,
Ben E. King, The Drifters, Bobby Darin, Gene Vincent, Ray
Charles, Otis Reading ... the list goes on. On Christmas Eve,
1955, Otis sold six songs for $150. One of the songs on the demo
had Otis playing piano, and the drummer using a cardboard box.
The song was, “Don’t be Cruel”. Elvis heard it,
and he later recorded another two songs written by Otis, “Return
to Sender,” and “One Broken Heart for Sale”.
Otis wrote almost 1,000 songs, with sales exceeding 185 million.
He never met Elvis, and when interviewed in 1989, he said, “Our
relationship was best kept at a distance. We had a great thing
going, and I just wanted to leave it at that”. Recognised by
his peers as a magnificent songwriter, Otis died at his Nashville
home on May 6th, aged 70. Thanks for the rock’n’roll
Otis, RIP.
We went for a spin to Fountainstown on Sunday night at about 7.30pm.
I’ve always loved the place, but I was horrified by the
condition of the toilets. I took a photo of the ladies toilet,
the gents was closed. It’s almost June, and the place will
soon be packed at the weekends with trippers. They say a picture
tells a thousand words. It’s a nightmare. Sometimes I
despair.
Till next week.
Bye for now,
Michael O’Hanlon.
