Live In Dreams Sunday Girls

The heat is on…

art Culture Night, part hen night, lastnight’s Women At The Whale opened with an exploration into the machinations of the lone female voice in modern literature and ended with The Macarena.

Just to make sure you realised that, when it comes to understanding women and the way they think, it can never, ever be just one thing.

Organised by local troublemakers Tara Calihman and Olivia Fitzsimons, this was actually the second year for this Greystones celebration of International Women’s Day, and the 2020’s line-up proved every bit as eclectic and electric as that 2019 debut.

The night started with the world’s greatest living writer, Lucy Sweeney Byrne, talking to fellow author Fiona O’Rourke of the Irish Writers Centre about her highly-acclaimed travelogue Paris Syndrome. Writing is plainly in the genes, with Lucy’s mother, Cathy Sweeney, about to release her debut collection of short stories, Modern Times, on March 19th.

As a sweet contrast, Julia Carrack then entered stage left with her band of Karens (technically known as a Karavan), as The Pitch Perfect Choir brought some much-loved old pop hits back to life, including Yazoo’s 1982 beauty Only You (the girls delivering the tailor-made acapella Flying Pickets version) and an Abba double-whammy of Super Trouper and the Swedish popmeisters’ slightly turgid farewell singalong, Thank You For The Music. Which turned out to be the perfect opportunity for Nick on piano to finally come out.

As the interval approached, the audience began to realise that after every segment, the performers were each handed a rose. Something you don’t ever see at Monsters Of Rock. Or The Cyril Stringer Snooker Championships.

After the interval – and the rude departure of those who had just come to see their niece Maureen sing – The Hammonds brought the harmonies, as the talented Bray family evoked the spirit of Leonard Cohen, whilst another Bray head, Rachel Duffy, brought her harp, along with a heavy dose of class to proceedings.

The highlight though might just have been stand-up Kate Feeney, who riffed on just how the female of the species differ from their male counterparts on all the important stuff – like texting a titanic thank you after a super lunch date, or nagging a confession out of criminals in five minutes or less.

The chosen charity for the night is the great Greystones Family Resource Centre, and manager Sarah Mac Artain was on hand to accept a novelty, oversized cheque, and to say some truly stirring words about how communities can pull together, and how the likes of Tara and Olivia – and Ross at The Whale (“Who’s been helping us all year round“) are helping the centre keep up the good fight for those in need.

Sarah fair moved the room to tears.

So, what better way to end such an emotional evening than with a little dancing? That The Zoryanna trio didn’t take themselves all that seriously was evident from the start, and, by the end, their infectious hip-shaking happiness had everyone up out of their chairs.

Every movement needs a song, from Woody Guthrie’s cry for the 1940s underclass with This Land Is Your Land, to the black civil rights of 1950s America embracing Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, and the anti-war and free-love hippies of the 1960s adopting All You Need Is Love as their anthem.

For Women At The Whale, the rallying cry for Grrrl Power 2020 turned out to be the 1993 Los del Rio hit, The Macarena.

Nice. There were rumours of the show closing with a rousing rendition of Stand On Your Man, but, in the end, The Macarena won out. Because some classics can say it all without really saying anything. At all.

So, well done, my son, to Tara Calihman and Olivia Fitzsimons on pulling together such a wonderful night, and to all the performers who delivered a night of many colours, ideas and hairstyles…

You can find out more about International Women’s Day right over here.