Update - Thanks to Tony Evans!
I've attached a brief audio message with this post, but for those who can't understand my Belfast drawl…
Basically -
I'd neglected Substack for over a year after an initial attempt to engage with it, but recently the gentleman Tony Evans had kindly recommended me to his followers meaning I have a slew of new subscribers. It has given me the proverbial boot in the arse that I needed to start looking at my research and writing again, so watch out for that in the coming weeks!
I've been busy with a new job and haven't had much time for extracurricular activities, but myself and Sam McIlwaine have recorded and released three new episodes of season 2 of our podcast Shrapnel - https://spotify.link/7DY46Zsh4Cb
Please go and have a listen to all the season 1 episodes and follow season 2. If you're enjoying it, give us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ as it helps push us up the charts!
I recently attended the production of my mate Beano Niblock’s new play ‘The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary'. Postponed from late Spring this year due to an illness it was well worth the wait. I had known of this work in progress for the past ten years and had actually helped stage a reading from it at the Skainos Centre in East Belfast back in the mists of time (2015)
The play - with Paul Garrett playing David Ervine - captured the urgency and eventual burnout of a man who I greatly admired as a human being first and foremost. Davy was kind, generous and empathetic. We came from very different sides of the street - very different streets in fact, but he was always good at absorbing the catharsis from others. How much of that energy can a person ultimately bear?
The plaudits that the play has received, wedded to the sold-out venues night after night, is testament to Beano's skill as a writer. With a canon already including ‘Reason To Believe’ and ‘Tartan’ there is inevitably more impressive work to come from my good friend.
Our chat with Beano for Shrapnel can be heard here: https://spotify.link/mes1SWhi4Cb
Well, that's all for now.