Niamh's Chrisening, Newbridge

Sisters Parents and Godparents
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Drying Niamh's head
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Last Sunday we had the christening of cousin number twenty, Niamh. Lisa the oldest of the cousins was godmother.
There were quite a few baptisms that day - the church was pretty full and of course with modern technology there were lots of photos videos mobile phone photos mobile phone videos ...

Barney and Ronan were over from Galway.

Lisa & Niamh
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Eight Cousins
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Senan, Matthew; Lisa, Niamh, Ronan, Caoimhe, Laura and Sarah, along with Barney and Kevin.

Leinster get off to a flying start Leinster 22 Leicester 9

Flying the Blue at the RDS
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Leinster and Munster both face their own "group of death" this year in the Heineken Cup. Leinster have drawn Leicester (last years defeated finalists), Toulouse and Edinburgh in a system where the top two teams are unlikely to qualify. The qualifying structure in the Heineken Cup is based on the best eight teams from just 6 groups. In practice this means that any group with a couple very weak teams (usually Italian!) stand the best chance of having 2 teams qualify. We can predict now that Pools 1 and 4 are most like to have two qualifiers and in each of the rest it will be just the winner getting through.

Munster also have the challenge of Wasps (last years winners) plus Clermont (big spenders in the pre-season, John Smit World Cup winning captain of the Springboks has just joined) and Llanelli. Ulster started the week-end with a defeat in Ravenhill; this was not a good omen.

Contepomi's Kicking on form
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On Saturday Leinster had a great start - a confident second half performance in the RDS means that they beat Leicester 22-9. The great news is that Leicester didn't get a bonus point which means that a close encounter in Wellford Road could be very valuable.

Of course it was at home and it's just the start of the campaign. However the performance was convincing, Contepomi's kicking was superb, the back row defence from Leinster was pretty awesome.

Jamie Heaslip
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You have to say that Leicester were probably at their one dimensional worst and will only get better as the season goes on. In the end it could have been closer and only some great covering back from Horgan catching Geordan Murphy just short of the line saved a try and conversion which would have given the extra point. There was a great atmosphere in the RDS with a sell-out crowd of 18,000. The Dublin 4 crew will never match the passion and intensity of a Munster crowd - but that's as it's always been.

Munster had a great away game against Wasps. The intensity of the Munster-Wasps clash was in sharp contrast to the Leinster-Leicester game. Munster nearly stole it and lost 24-23 in the end. It's a very valuable extra point. They now face Clermont at home - a must win match, as all of the rest of the games are now.

Regina at Tripod revisited

Look what I found on YouTube - video of Regina Spektor at the Tripod.

and aslo here

I must put our own Regina videos up on YouTube.

There are quite a few Video clips from the Dublin Concert on YouTube

Leinster Squad to Play Leicester

Leinster V Connaught
Originally uploaded by M+MD

The Leinster squad to face Leicester Tigers in Saturday's Heineken Cup Pool 6 clash at the RDS has been named (Kick Off: 1.30pm).
Felipe Contepomi returns to the squad and could be in line for his first appearance of the season when the squad is trimmed down to a starting 22 on Friday lunchtime.
Contepomi returned to training earlier in the week and has been named in the squad alongside the likes of skipper Brian O'Driscoll as well as fellow Ireland internationals Gordon D'Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Gleeson, Jamie Heaslip, Shane Horgan, Bernard Jackman, Rob Kearney and Malcolm O'Kelly.
The extended squad also includes two more Ireland internationals - former Tigers duo Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings. Chris Whitaker and Ollie le Roux - who have both been in fine recent form - are also included alongside prop Stephen Knoop who missed last weekend's game through injury.
Looking ahead Jennings commented "Ever since the Heineken Cup draw was made over the summer and we knew that we had drawn Leicester, I have been really looking forward to this game"

Another KT Tunstall Photographer

2007_1026KTTunstallStadium0381
Uploaded by Lonesome Pine1

This is from a great collection of pictures - all from a different angle at the same concert at the Stadium in Dublin.

2007_1026KTTunstallStadium0343
Uploaded by Lonesome Pine1

Turns out that Lonesome Pine1 was also at the regina Spector gig at the Tripod at the end of August - same shots just a different angle.

2007_0830ReginaSpektorTripod0017
Uploaded by Lonesome Pine1

2007_0830ReginaSpektorTripod0179
Uploaded by Lonesome Pine1

K T Tunstell

My Concert Photographs

KT Tunstell played the stadium last Friday. We had 4 tickets and it was another great night out. I haven't been to the Stadium since we saw Ricky Lee Jones there in about 2000. It has been done up and it is surprising how intimate a venue it is. We had pretty good seats to the side but near the stage. The camera was in action of course. Sorry we didn't get any video!.

When we arrived the support had just started - is was a lady called Donna Maciocia, who is the singer/songwriter of an Edinburgh based band Amplifico. She was very good - she played keyboards and Guitar. She also achieved a very interesting effect using a vocal loop. She was joined on stage by Andy the cellist for a couple of numbers. Her band apparently plan to issue a CD new spring without a recording contract. (A little) more about them HERE That was a pretty good start.

We then had a break for about 20 minutes. The stadium now has a bar!

KT Tunstall Uploaded by M+MD

KT Tunstall then took the stage with a very lively 4 piece band and 2 backup vocals. So we had a pretty full stage. We have the new album (KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza) around the house - but someone has mislaid it - so we were less well prepared than we should have been. When they started it was surprising how many of the songs were familiar and how many strong songs there are on that debut album Eye to the Telescope.

The Band Uploaded by M+MD

She could talk for Scotland and she certainly had a very relaxed rapport with the audience. Rather than introduce the songs, she told some jokes and made some comments which always ended up being related to the following song in some way. She did a solo piece in the middle which included Horse and a Cherry Tree. She also used of the loop recording on that track and it was quite impressive live, maybe it's cheating but as she sang it solo and recorded the loop live I guess that's ok.

Ashes in Dublin Uploaded by M+MD

The most fun was probably Ashes which the band clearly enjoyed playing. I got the pictures, but in Liverpool a few day later someone got it on video - isn't YouTube just cool!

Cool Uploaded by M+MD

High Energy Uploaded by M+MD

The band were very good - they even did a pub band impression of the early 90s The Knack anthem "My Sharona". That got them dancing in the asiles. By then the bouncers had given up asking people to sit down! As we didn't notice the unfamiliar songs from the new album and I guess that in a peculiar way that is a recommendation in itself - I didn't hear a bad song all night so go get her new album - it must be good too.

Check out her website HERE