The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

The Craic Festival featuring...

Paddy Casey
11:00

Mark Geary
10:00
Duke Special
9:00
And So I Watch You From Afar
8:00

Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Sat 3/13
Notes:
21+
Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 8:00 PM
$12 adv / $15 dos
Tickets
Paddy Casey
official website
myspace
Irish singer/songwriter Paddy Casey's years as a busker on the streets of Galway and his home town of Dublin served him well. Not only did it allow him to associate from an early age with future breakout artists like Glen Hansard (of the Frames), Mundy, and Mark Dignam, but he developed a keen instinct for the type of melody and songwriting that are immediate and arresting, but with a natural intimacy not often heard in conventional pop music. Though an admitted pure soul devotee, Casey performs music that is heavily informed by its medium -- the singer and his acoustic guitar -- coming across as if Bob Dylan had taken to imitating Nina Simone, with elements of Prince and Public Enemy thrown in for good measure.

Casey began busking on Dublin's streets in the early '90s while still in his early teens. In 1998, the earnest street musician became a cog in the major-label machine, signing to Sony subsidiary S2 Records at the behest of Spencer Davis Group bassist turned A&R man Muff Winwood, who had spotted Casey performing in Dublin and quickly became enamored. Heading into the studio later that year just to transfer some basic ideas to tape, Casey inadvertently wound up recording his debut album, Amen (So Be It). Released in June of 1999, the album debuted in the Top Twenty of the Irish albums chart, eventually going triple platinum, and was awarded the Best Debut Album award at the Hot Press Irish Music Awards. Perhaps an overly self-conscious statement of the artist's diverse palette, the album was nonetheless accomplished, with a range of styles integrated into his folky soul core, from jazz to funk to reggae, and with hip-hop beats and scratches subtly incorporated; however, Amen (So Be It)'s most endearing moments were its simplest, and Casey soon became well known for his Dylan-esque protest song "Sweet Suburban Sky," which was featured prominently on U.S. television show Dawson's Creek. -Dave Donnelly, All Music guide
Duke Special
official website
myspace
Duke Special’s immense creative talents have seen him creating a night of song and theatre in the Spiegeltent for the Dublin Fringe Festival, performing his songs accompanied by a 60 piece strong RTE Symphony Orchestra at a sold out show in Dublin’s National Concert Hall, and writing the theme tune for Sesame Tree - the Northern Ireland edition of Sesame Street - where he also got to sing with The Muppets in the final episode. He has also hosted a night at the Belfast Film Festival where he performed as a puppet of himself. The Duke is currently learning to swordfight for an upcoming on stage showdown with his long time nemesis, Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy.

Duke Special is the fucked up ringmaster of a broken down circus, the lead dancer in a forgotten ballroom of ghosts, the loudest singer in a midnight choir and the first on his knees in an old time revival tent.
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