Finding joy in the Bangladesh slums, killing giant insects and collecting bones on The Killing Fields – Henry Rollins‘ passport heaves under the entry stamps. For a butt-numbing but enthralling two and half hours last Tuesday night, Rollins’ played with his Vicar Street audience.

With the energy of a hundred Duracell bunnies, Rollins exploded on the Dublin stage (his first show in a marathon tour) and raced through his travelogs. Each one coloured by insane taxi drivers, language barriers crossed by shouts of “Obama, Obama, Obama” and a burning sense of wonder.

We sat on his lap in the passenger seat of the million dollar hand-built as a Saudi screamed through lunchtime traffic, pressing the phantom brake pedal. We sneaked in the Union Carbite factory in Bhopal on the 25th anniversary of the accident, took photos of ill-fated tank 610 that exploded and killed thousands. We headfucked hustlers that prey on tourists in Tiananmen Square by inquiring if they could do something for us and then asked them to leave Tibet. We shouted down Deakin from the Animal Collective  in a Timbuktu festival.

A tour obsessive, Rollins was quick to point out that his home is on the road. As the lead singer of Black Flag, he lived much of his adult life traveling. Where once he toured to play, he now tours to learn.

To understand what motivates Rollins to visit such far-flung places, one just has to look to America. He wanted to visit China to see what America’s loaner, recycler of plastics and trading partner looked like before it changed. Rollins is convinced that one must travel to learn more about their country.

The insular world view of Americans is something that irks Rollins – especially through his references to “those loud Americans”. Betreyal of principles bites him too. Despite his joy at Obama winning the presidency in 08, Rollins’ disappointment with the ongoing deployment of troops to Iraq is raw. Triumph tainted by bitter disappointment. Side swipes at our new blasphemy law book-ended proceedings.

To finish on a high note, he encouraged the spellbound crowd to travel and to pass those learnings on to the next generation. A positive note to finish on and something the crowd feasted on into freezing January darkness.

Photo: HenryRollins.com

Last Summer, we had the cut and thrust of the Local and European elections, it looks like the shakedown of the Dublin mayoral elections could happen this June. Could we see a Return of the Cutouts? Whatever else, the case of the celebrity candidate is back on the table.

Mary Minihan writes in today’s Irish Times:

Environmental campaigner and broadcaster Duncan Stewart is understood to have been mentioned as someone who would make a good Green candidate. It was argued that the party needed to find a candidate with a blend of political experience and profile.

I’m at a loss where Stewart’s political experience comes from. How to choose more efficient lagging jackets? While Stewart could ably steer Good Ship Dublin towards to turning down the heat by one degree, does he have the requisite local politics experience on the workings of councils under his belt? Should he?

It’s interesting to note that just month, TV’s Duncan Stewart attended a sendoff of humanitarian aid to Gaza. As you’ll remember from last year’s election trail, Duncan Stewart was all over the Green campaign.

The clamber for celebrity candidates is interesting. Who could out-TV Duncan Stewart? Housewives choice Joe Duffy? Surely the other parties have aces up their sleeves?

The model of a directly-elected Mayor of Dublin is one of the promises of the Programme for Government. The new mayor will have powers that include planning, transportation and waste management across the Dublin city authorities as well as act as chair to the Dublin Transport Authority. They will be paid in and around the salary of a minister.

Photo: The Green Party Flickr Photostream (licence)

Last night’s Dublin City Council meeting was Firework Central. The meat was in a postmortem of The Big Freeze in the city. Dublin City Council live webcast their meetings.

It’s quite clear that many councillors had no clue what was happening in the city last week. Time and time again, councillors recounted how they attempted to contact parts of the essential services infrastructure of the city, but those calls were lost in the ether under a tonne of phone calls from the general public.

The biggest alarm bell rang, however, when City Manager John Tierney admitted that one of phone lines added to respond to calls from Dublin residents was installed but not activated. All a bit blushworthy especially when seen in the backdrop of the city bringing extra people in over the weekend to answer those calls. They were hardly filing their nails, but what a mess!

A brief moment of levity was supplied by Sinn Fein’s Criona Ni Dhalaigh who admitted she was screaming at the telly when the Minister of Snow popped up.

The aftermath of the cold snap is still with us. Water is still off in many parts of the city. And despite Tierney’s assertion that 95-97% (that quickly changed to up to 95%) of all refuse has been collected by the city, many parts of Dublin are still stockpiling rubbish. Interesting to note when one sees their neighbours’ private bin collection company able to traverse their streets and pick up their rubbish!

Another interesting development was Cllr Mannix Flynn addressed the Council bringing forth allegations that public housing allocations were corrupt.

Flynn made several references to an independent and confidential report that prove these allegations and was given ample room to voice his charges. Councillors vigourously denied his allegations, pointing out that some housing decisions might seem unfair until those cases were examined thoroughly. Councillors had not seen Flynn’s evidence prior to the meeting. I wonder will the public get to see Flynn’s evidence too?

Photo: Dreamstime