They come from Belfast, the Burren, Dublin and beyond for the launch of Nuala O'Faolain's book, My Dream of You. It happens in Spy, Dublin's newest, hippest nightclub - where there are pink, fur-covered couches, chandeliers dripping with lights and marble fireplaces to heat the lofty rooms. Friends, fans and miles of famous people queue to get their books autographed by the author, who speaks glowingly of their support and friendship during the writing of her first novel.
Two artists, Anita Redman and Carole Cullen, are delighted to be here. Anthony Glavin and his daughter, Caitrin Glavin, cram in as well. Bob Collins, RTE's director general, and writer Diarmuid Breathnach are in the queue too - beirt chara ag caint le cheile. John Browne, proprietor of Bruach na hAille in Doolin, Co Clare, is here with his wife, Helen Browne. "I mind Nuala's dog, Molly, when she's away in America," he explains. He's known the writer for about 22 years and together they have "explored every end of the Burren". Mary Angela Keane, from Lisdoonvarna, is a member of a local book club that critiqued the manuscript. "We absolutely loved it," she says.
Another friend, Pat Murphy, director of Nora, holds onto her copy of the hardback book, which is published by Michael Joseph, a Penguin imprint. Annie McCartney, a Belfast-based writer, whose raunchy novel, Desire Lines, is due out shortly, is here too. Tune in to BBC Radio 4 at 11.30 a.m. on Friday for her four-part serial about middle-class life in the city on Laganside, called Two Doors Down. broadcaster Marian Finucane is ready to do the honours. "She's a beacon of hope to women," Finucane says of the writer. "She's reinvented herself so many times." Now, as a novelist, she has "a terrific, bright new future ahead of her," Finucane declares.
The writer herself stands on a chair to address us, thanking her friends until she reaches the most moving tribute of all - to her English teacher from her school days at St Louis' Convent in Monaghan, where the legendary Sr David taught. "She's here," says O'Faolain, looking down at Brid O'Doherty, who bows her head with pleasure.
Sing that Euro song, girls and boys
Legends walk across the floor of Club Anabel. Dana flies in specially for the gig. Tina, who sang Cross Your Heart for Ireland in 1974, comes too. Larry Gogan, of 2FM, is also here to remember the glory days of Eurovision. Thinking back to her 1970 win in Amsterdam, Dana says she loves, "being with musicians and in the entertainment world. That's where I spent most of my life". Her job now is to fight in Brussels for the intellectual copyright of Irish composers and artists. Way to go, Dana.
As an elected member of the European Parliament, Dana Rosemary Scallan, says, "politics is another form of madness".
Jimmy Walsh, the songwriter who penned the winning Niamh Kavanagh song, In Your Eyes, who is now based in the Bronx, also attends. He once played with Joe Dolan and the Drifters but left the group in 1977. Nope, he doesn't remember women losing the run of themselves, throwing their undergarments up on stage.
Everyone wants to stroll down memory lane at the launch of Eurosong 2001. Eamonn Toal, last year's Irish representative in the Eurovision, who is here with his wife, Sandra Toal, says it's been a brilliant year.
This year's hopefuls include Emma Reynolds, from Lurgan, Co Armagh, who is to sing The Innocent Days at Eurosong 2001. She's here with her twin sister, Jayne Reynolds, and their older sister, Sonia Reynolds, of modelling and PR fame. Jayne and her fiance, Dubliner Allan Brennan, talk to Ciara Cassells, a beauty therapist from Portadown, Co Armagh, in a pink, velvet trouser suit. InFocus, the newest boyband on the block (five young men in white sailors' trousers and black tops), look ready to leap onto the dance floor to perform their song, Every Kiss is a Lie. Ireland's winner will be picked from the eight competitors and go on to sing at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen on Saturday, May 12th.
Get on board
ALL aboard the train. All ready to pull out of the station. We are in a hairdressing salon but really, it's "a train that has just pulled into the station", explains architect Tom de Paor from Ennis, Co Clare. That's the look of a new space at the top of South William Street. It's theatrical, busy and locomotive. You can almost hear the whistle blowing. They're building up a steam. Whooosh. We're ready to move.
"Look out the window," he says. "The street is on stage." As in all the world's a stage? "You come into a small space and then you're released into a larger space," he explains. It's better than Dr Zhivago. From the street, passers-by peep in to view guests mingling and dancing to the beat. The opening party is to launch a new hair space, where Dylan Bradshaw, hairdresser to the rich and famous, will wield his scissors from now on. The salon in Johnson's Place is packed to the gills. Two Bradshaw devotees are Adrienne Regan and Bryan Higgins, who sing his praises and point to their own stylish hair dos. Very smart. His younger brother, model Lee Bradshaw, in stressed (as in shredded to ribbons) denim, adds to the glamour. The attendance of the Corrs at the party is heralded by all manner of phonecalls and scurrying around. They arrive and are whisked away to their own private carriage at the back of the new establishment, beyond the gaze of ordinary mortals.
Focus on Exposure
FOR once, they've left their cameras at home. For once, they've come to relax and bask in the glow of admiration. Ah, photographers. First you hate them, then you love them.
Waiting for the right photograph to arrive on the chief sub-editor's desk each night was sometimes like waiting for Michelangelo to finish the Sistine Chapel, says Gerry Smyth, a former chief sub-editor and now a managing editor of The Irish Times.
He's cursed them and "chopped" them - but always he's admired them. "Every day, they open a window on public lives in a very intimate way."
Photographer Alan Betson remembers the pictures that had the most impact on him last year: waking up in Dunboyne, Co Meath, in November to floods. Being a scuba-diver, he donned his dry suit and headed out to capture the local chaos in chest-high water. Writer, satirist and film director Gerry Stembridge, who will begin directing Made in China, a new play by Mark O'Rowe, in the Peacock next month, has come to open Exposure 2000, which features the work of Irish Times photographers. He talks about the extraordinary images which recall the happenings of the past year, including scenes from news and politics, the arts and entertainment, sport, daily life and business. Dermot O'Shea, pictures editor of The Irish Times, describes the team as "visual archivists" who must capture "tiny moments of time and emotion in a fraction of a second".
The exhibition will remain on view at the Arthouse, the Multi-media Centre for the Arts in Temple Bar, until the end of this month. It will then tour around the country. The exhibition is organised by The Irish Times, in association with Fujifilm.
Telephone: 6792022 Fax: 6779181 Email: weekend@irish-times.ie