Going Global

I am going to be on the wireless again.

Unlike last time, on this occasion I shall be using my voice as I attempt to sneak effortlessly (and hopefully largely unnoticed) onto the treadmill of international movage and shakery. On Monday I am being interviewed by this gentleman for the breakfast show on Cork's Red FM. In order that I can get up in time, fill myself with tea and beta-blockers then lock the dog in the garden so she doesn't go looney tunes when the postman comes, the interview is being pre-recorded for transmission sometime on Tuesday morning between the hours of 7am and 10 am. They will also have nearly a day to whittle down my unintelligible burblings and off-topic ramblings into something remotely approaching broadcast quality. If you can be bothered, you will be able to listen to it via the wonder of teh interwebs through the Red FM website.

Why me? Some of you will know this bit already but I have been for close on the past 30 years or so, a devotee of the music of the late and very much missed Irish guitarist, Rory Gallagher. I don't make a huge deal out of it; I'm no scary über fan and you won't see me wearing t-shirts or having tattoos of battered Stratocasters etched into my epidermis. I don't even own all his recorded output. I like the music pure and simple and Rory was a supreme entertainer, the best live act I've ever seen and a fantastically humble human being to boot. Then, a few months back I did something wholly out of character.

Irritated by some unwarranted criticism from the keyboard of a Rory impersonator with a fragile ego who said that the only people doing anything to preserve the man's legacy were those like him, i.e. actively on the circuit playing his music (not those paying to hear it, obviously), I vowed one day to do something a little more long-lasting. But what though? Then George Best died and Belfast announced they were renaming the City Airport (that's the small commuter airport, not the big one that used to be Aldergrove). Liverpool has John Lennon Airport (bearing the legend "Above us only sky" - not if you go into the terminal building; there's an impressive layer of filth and dust up above on the high paintwork. And no towels in the bogs either. And it costs £8 for 2h 8mins in the car park. How's that for working class heroics for you) and Cork has an unnamed airport. Although he wasn't born there, Rory grew up in Cork, bought the Strat there and lived there for years, often using the airport himself as he spread his music across the world (even though he latterly became scared of flying). He's even buried there. So, why not? After putting the idea to a few friends on a message board to see what they had to say,I started this very much in order to gauge public opinion more than anything. I hadn't a clue what to do afterwards. I more or less forgot about it, becoming pre-occupied with other things.

It's been rumbling on in the background, steadily gaining signatures and it's now well over 1100 names in length. Last week Lenny from Red FM emailed me saying he thought it was a great idea and could we do something. Er...yes, I said.

I'm a trifle worried. Cork is very much Irish, independent and proud of it. Dublin's the capital? Get away, not to a Corkman it isn't. And here I am, a foreigner who's never set foot in Ireland let alone Cork, who has started a ball rolling in their city. I wouldn't blame them in the least for not being particularly welcoming toward me. I can only suck it and see. I'm rather hoping it will just become an interwebs viral thing with a life of its own, generating its own momentum and public feeling. Although my name's on the petition, I am only the petition's progenitor and the idea is an international one. It's even been attempted before but failed for reasons I know nothing about although I'm attempting to find out. Maybe this new modern method will succeed but it will be interesting finding out.