Liam Neeson talks to U.S. Magazine OK about playing an Irish tattoo-artist in the upcoming film “The Hangover 2.” The part was previously written for Mel Gibson, who was since fired.
Despite not making it to Bangkok for filming, Neeson had a great time: “Oh, it was [fun], it was. It was pretty intense. I was only there for one day — a Sunday, as far as I remember. But it was good to be with Bradley Cooper — he’s a buddy — and the other two gentlemen, I’d never met them before, but I love what they do,” he said of Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. “The three of them are just, they reinvent the Three Stooges in a very funny way.”
While the actor would not confirm which of the three stooges gets the tattoo treatment, he did talk about his own character’s body art.
“Well, I do. I get covered in tattoos,” he said. “Shamrocks, ‘I love Ireland,’ all stamped all over me.”
The actor is currently on the publicity trail for his most recent film “Unknown.”
Fine Art Auctioneers BONHAMS, one of the few surviving Georgian auction houses in London, will hold its first Irish Arts sale Wednesday. For those wishing to guage the demand for Irish art in 2011, the event will be a valuable thermometer.
The sale marks the end of the company’s long-standing association with Adams Auctioneers in Dublin. This is the first year that the two houses will have separate auction events.
Works going under the hammer include paintings by Jack B. Yeats, Sir John Lavery and Basil Blackshaw. Matthew Girling, Bonhams CEO Europe and the Middle East, comments: “Irish Art at Bonhams has a distinguished track record so I am delighted that we will now have our own dedicated Irish Art Department to celebrate the work of leading Irish artists.”
The auction will take place at BONHAM’s new Bond Street showroom.
Gary Moore, legendary guitarist of “Thin Lizzy” has died at 58, usnewssource reports.
He died in his sleep just hours after checking into a hotel in Spain’s Costa del Sol with a young woman.
His official website released the announcement: “It is with deep sorrow and regret that we have to announce that Gary Moore passed away while on holiday in Spain last night.”
Other artists have been quick to pay tribute to the Belfast boy. Canadian singer and guitarist Bryan Adams took to twitter to say, “R.I.P. Gary Moore”, calling him ‘a guitarist extraordinaire’, and Henry Rollins called his death ‘a big loss’.
Two international curators have been chosen to work on the Dublin Contemporary arts festival, the Irish Times reports.
They are Chilean art critic Christian Viveros-Fauné and Brussels-based artist Jota Castro. The previous curator, Rachel Thomas, left her tenured position last month. “The pair were headhunted by the board of Dublin Contemporary and both are familiar with the Irish art scene,” writes Times reporter Ronan O’Greevy.
The festival had been running behind schedule, and organizers worried about its future viability. “We are less worried now,” project director Lesley Tully told the paper.
The festival is the biggest of its kind to ever take place in Ireland and will run from September 6th to October 31st. Program details will be released next month.
The Irish Independent Newspaper has exposed millions in wasted arts spending. They report today that the Irish state spent almost 2.5 million euro planning a revamp of the National Concert Hall that won’t go ahead, and another 400,000 on consultations on whether the Abbey Theatre should move to a new site in Dublin city.
The department of tourism, culture and sport had originally planned to spend up to 350 million euro on redevelopments for both institutions, but a spokesperson confirmed that the projects had been shelved indefinitely as a result of the financial crisis. The money, however, would not be wasted, the spokesperson told the independent, saying: “Since 2007 some €2.4m has been spent by the National Development Finance Agency, the Office of Public Works and the NCH on technical, legal and financial advice for the project. A significant amount of that advice was site specific and remains relevant to the concert hall and any future development at the site.”
Irish Central reports that New York’s Irish Arts Centre will donate more than 10,000 free Irish books, gathered from local publishing houses, to readers in all New York’s boroughs on St. Patrick’s day.
With Ireland’s economy in a well publicized state of disrepair, it’s the centre’s intention to promote the more positive aspects of the nation’s future.
“Our mission is to celebrate both Irish and Irish American literature in a broad context in a way that serves all New Yorkers,” Aidan Connolly, the center’s executive director told the Irish Voice.
BEST ACTOR
Louis Lovett – as B and Brian in B for Baby- the Abbey Theatre, written by Carmel Winters and directed by Mikel Murfi
Malcolm Adams – Tim Hartigan in Slattery’s Sago Saga, written by Arthur Riordan, directed by Jo Mangan for Performance Corporation
Marty Rea – Hamlet in Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Alan Stanford for Second Age Theatre Company
Karl Shiels – as Quinn in Penelope, written by Enda Walsh and directed by Mikel Murfi for Druid Theatre Company
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Some of the movie-inspired creations at The Parker Meridien’s gingerbread extravaganza! All money benefits City Harvest, the world’s first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women and children. Competing bakeries include Tribeca Treats, The Treatstruck, Cupcake Cafe, Buttercup Bakeshop West Side, Norma’s and Soutine Bakery.
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New York in February: there’s a blizzard outside and the streets of New York’s East Village are lined with great mounds of pure white snow, but Jesse Malin’s devout fans remain undeterred. They gather in Malin’s basement club- ‘Bowery Electric’- for a night of the rocker’s distinct form of punk rock.
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