Words On the Street

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 15th of May is European Literature Night and Dublin, a UNESCO City of Literature, will mark the occasion with ’Words on the Street’. The event is organised by Dublin City Council Public Libraries and sees 12 celebrity readings from 12 literary works from 12 countries at 12 venues on or around St. Stephen’s Green from 6.30-9pm.

Readers include Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí, Rosaleen Linehan, Eileen Dunne (RTE News),
Bryan Murray (actor), Ray Foley (98fm DJ), Rick O'Shea (2fm DJ), Sinead Desmond (Ireland AM). They will be joined by others such as Mark Cagney (Ireland AM) and actor Eamon Morrissey in venues such as Iveagh House, the Royal College of Surgeons, Stephen's Green Hibernian Club, Little Museum of Dublin, the Constitution Room in the Shelbourne Hotel, Loreto College, Newman House and The Sugar Club.

Click HERE for the full programme and a map of where each can be seen and heard.

Playlist for Tuesday 14.5.13

4-5
Curtis Mayfield - Move on up
Black Keys - Heavy Soul
Laura Marling - Where can I go?
Baywood - Gotta get you
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the devil
Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers
Brick + Mortar - Bangs
The Band - The Weight
The Asteroid Galaxy Tour - The Golden Age
The Zutons - Pressure Point
Lemaitre - Cut to black
Stone Roses - Love Spreads

5-6
Django Django - Wor
Beatles - Revolution
Parov Stelar - All Night
Peter, Bjorn & John - Second Chance
Rhye - Open
Primal Scream - Movin on Up
Junip - Your Life Your Call
ACDC - Back in Black
David Bowie - Heroes
Jake Bugg - Lightning Bolt
Richard Hawley - Seek It

6-7
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Eric Burton & The Animals - We gotta get out of this place
Knocking Ghosts - Distractions
They might be giants - You're on fire
Prince - Sign of the times
Woodkid - Boy Run Boy
Pretty Lights - We must go on
Harry Belafonte - Shake, Shake Senora
Tim Buckley - Once I was
Boy - Little Numbers
Thin Lizzy - The Rocker

Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup traffic disruptions.

It's going to be a big weekend in Dublin.

Leinster are playing in the Amlin Challenge Cup decider in the RDS on Friday night and the Heineken Cup is in the Aviva on Saturday.

These two games are going to bring a lot of people into the city and cause a number of road closures and traffic hot spots. 

On Friday night you can expect approach roads to the RDS to be VERY heavy as there are also UCD exams on till 8 PM. 

The Grand Canal, Pembrooke St, Shelbourne Rd and Grand Canal Street will all be heavier than normal. You can expect Beaver Row, Donnybrook and roads leading to and from Morehampton Rd to be busier than usual.

On Saturday there will be the usual closures around the Aviva before the game, Shelbourne Rd being the most notable. Don't forget Bath Ave and Londonbridge Rd are closed for works.

European Champions Village 

On top of these usual closures there's a huge even taking place in Merrion Square, live music the final on a big screen and much more besides. Along with this event comes a couple of road closures:

Merrion Square East, Merrion Square South, Fitzwilliam  Street Lower and Mount Street Upper (from Merrion Square  to James’s Street East) from 8 PM on Friday 17th May to  4 AM on Sunday the 19th May.

This is a huge event and is designed to cater for the 70,000 fans that will be in the city at the weekend. It kicks off at noon with live bands, and ill continue till late with DJ's and entertainment and enough libation to keep the victorious happy and the not so victorious distracted.

Time What's On:

12.00 Gates Open Face painting and 'Speed Challenge' in ERC activity zone
12.15 Heineken Cup Trophy arrives with special guests on open top bus adidas Q & A with some of Europe's leading players
12.30 Heineken Cup Trophy photo opportunities in ERC activity zone Keywest play live on stage
14.30 The LOLS play live on stage
17.00 Heineken Cup Final live on big screen
19.00 DJ rocks the Village till late

Playlist for Monday 13.5.13

4-5
Junip - Your life your call
The Electric Soft Parade - Brother, you must walk your path alone
Doves - Caught by the river
Big Star - Thirteen
Lemaitre - Cut To Black
Jens Lekman - A postcard to Nina
Jimi Hendrix - Castles made of sand
Guillemots - Made up love song
Rose & The Howling North - Cuckoo
Major Lazer - Can't stop now
Manu Chao - Me gustas Tu
Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers
Gil Scott Heron - The Bottle

5-6
Rhye - Open
Beck - Loser
Talking Heads - Crosseyed & Painless
HAIM - Don't save me
Jonathan Wilson - Desert Raven
The Electric Sons - Carry On
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Dreamer
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Conor Linnie - Crash Bandicoot Blues
Pierre Mottron -  Colourful
Buffalo Springfield - For what its worth

6-7
The Coasters - Down in Mexico
Boy - Little Numbers
The Jam - Going Underground
The Maccabees - Toothpaste Kisses
Little Green Cars - My love took me down to the river
Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
Charles Bradley - The World
Pulp - After You
Thievary Corporation - Lebenese Blonde
David Kitt - Say no more
Come On Live Long - Say no more
This Club - I won't worry

Walk to School Week!

Next week (May 13^th – 17^th) is An Taisce Green-Schools Walk to School Week 2013. This annual event will see schoolchildren and their parents across Dublin abandon the car in favour of their feet.

Of course this means you should all drive with more care and attention, and expect extra school children walking to school!

During Walk to School Week Green-Schools across the country will encourage pupils, parents and teachers to walk to school by holding events such as Walk to School days, Walk on Wednesdays, Feet First Fridays, sponsored walks and walking challenges. 

Schools also take part in National WOW (Walk on Wednesday) Day on Wednesday, May 15^th and will aim to reach the target of 20,000 students walking to schools all over Ireland on the day.

Playlist for Friday 10.5.13

4-5
Dodgy - Staying out for the summer
Gorillaz - Feel Good
Frank Sinatra - Come fly with me
The Clash - Train In Vain
Macklemore - Thrift Shop
Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie
Annie Lennox - Walking on broken glass
Raconteurs - Salute your solution
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
The Heavy - How you like me now
Coldplay - Clocks

5-6
Boy - Little Numbers
The Lovin Spoonful - Summer in the city
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Nina Simone - Sea Lion Woman
Pixies - Debaser
Edward Sharpe - 40 day dream
ACDC - Whole Lotta Rosie
Alt-J - Tesselate
Jackson 5 - ABC
Rhye - The Fall

6-7
U2 - Beautiful Day
Naked & Famous - Young Blood
Junip - Your life your Call
St John The Gambler - Lemonade Man
Aretha Franklin - Respect
Weezer - Say it ain't so
Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
Magic Man - Paris
Perry Como - Magic Moments
Fat Lady Sings - Arclight

Dublin Bikes Expansion Announced!

We are massive fans of the Dublin Bikes scheme, producer John insists the first time he ever felt true civic pride was when he first rented a Dublin Bike. (He's like that). We feel he should have felt it the first time Live Drive went on air!

Dublin City Council’s dublin bikes scheme in association with JCDecaux is one of the most successful public bike rental schemes worldwide and they are going to make it even better with a propsed expansion.

The proposed expansion provides for 58 additional stations, 950 additional bikes and around 2,000 additional bike stands. These stands will be sited in the west of the city in the Heuston area and to the east in the Docklands area. It is hoped that works will commence this October and be completed during July 2014.”

The expanded bike scheme will provide for improved linkages in the city, the generation of 29 new jobs, the delivery of Government policy in relation to public transport and will further enhance the reputation of Dublin as a forward thinking and innovative city.

At present there are 33,000 long term dublinbikes subscribers, with the bikes being used on a daily basis anywhere up to 7,000 times.