Guinness Cork Jazz Festival 2011

Back again for the October Bank Holiday weekend (28th-31st October 2011), tickets for the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival are now on sale, and this year's festival is set to be bigger and better than ever, with something to suit every music lover’s tastes.

The most interesting announcement around the festival, in my opinion, is the news that the opening act this year will be none other than the exceedingly talented Damon Albarn. Sometimes Blur frontman Albarn will be joined by his band, Another Honest John’s Chop-Up. Another Honest John’s Chop-Up is a collective of musicians who take inspiration from jazz funk and southern soul.


Another outstanding act who will be performing at the festival is the Kyle Eastwood Quintet. Kyle, who is also known as son of actor/director Clint Eastwood, has made a name for himself on the jazz scene, producing eight studio albums and composing the scores for many of his father’s films including Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby.

Other noteworthy acts on the schedule include; Randy Brecker, the acclaimed trumpet player, Tia Fuller, the saxophonist, who not only has her own highly successful band but also plays alongside Beyoncé and Richard Galliano, the renowned accordionist. Galliano’s performance at the festival will be inspired by the work of Coppola and the music from The Godfather.

Barry Fitzpatrick, Brand Manager, Guinness commented, “We are very excited to introduce this year’s line up. The Guinness Cork Jazz festival maintains its jazz soul, but the line up includes some unexpected talent which will definitely appeal to all musical tastes. We will be announcing more acts in the coming weeks on www.guinnesscorkjazz.com”.

The Guinness Cork Jazz festival will not only have music hosted in more venues than ever before, but ticket prices have also been reduced this year. Tickets can be purchased through www.ticketmaster.ie and more information on all aspects of the festival can be found at guinnessjazzfestival.com/.

Facebook User Stats For Ireland

A great infographic from the lovely people at Edelman:


Thanks to Piaras Kelly for this. Piaras credited help from Dave Molloy and Damien Mulley, so a thanks to you dudes too :)

Kildare Village Celebrates Reaching 20,000 Facebook Fans

Kildare Village, who are just 163 fans away from a milestone 20,000, today announced that they will be giving away a treat for all of their loyal followers when they hit the 20k mark.

When their Facebook Page reaches 20,000 likes, Kildare Village will offer fans the opportunity to receive an additional 10% off the already reduced prices in over sixty boutiques.

Simply like Kildare Village on Facebook and make sure to keep checking in for your chance to receive extra discounts.

Kildare Village is open seven days a week and has late night shopping on Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 7pm. For details of opening hours and more information just visit www.KildareVillage.com.

Three Jersey Trade-In Scheme

From today, Wednesday 24th August, Three is calling on all Irish fans to ‘Go green with pride, pull on the jersey’. Three is giving fans the chance to Go green with pride and trade-in their old Republic of Ireland football jerseys in any Champion Sports store nationwide and get €20 off the brand new Ireland home jersey. The Three Trade-In scheme will run in Champion Sports stores nationwide until 30th September 2011. For every eligible trade-in Three are also offering fans a €10 discount voucher on selected Three handsets and price plans.

Three we be collecting the old jerseys donating them to Friends in Ireland, a charity that cares for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The charity, founded by RTE’s Marian Finucane, has Sean St. Ledger as an ambassador.

Sean St. Ledger said, “I have been an ambassador for Friends in Ireland for the past year and have been looking for a way to help them with the fantastic work that they do in their South African centres, Three and Champion Sports have launched the Three Trade-In scheme that allows people to donate their old jerseys to Friends in Ireland and are asking fans to Go green with pride. I will deliver the jerseys in person to the centres next year in time for South African’s bitter winter. I know that everyone has an old Ireland jersey lying around at home that they could trade-in for one of the new jerseys, so I would encourage everyone to make an effort for a good cause, and show your support for the team.”

“We are truly indebted to Sean St Ledger, Three and Champion Sports. The Children of the Eastern Cape in South Africa, whether they play football or not, will be delighted with a warm jersey to wear in their freezing icy winters. The poverty and vulnerability of the victims of the HIV AIDS+ pandemic is sadly an all day, every day reality. Every bit of help counts,” Finucane said.

Fans are also being encouraged to log on to the Three Football Facebook page and upload their Go Green With Pride images. This could be anything from dying your hair to painting your house – something that demonstrates pride in the green jersey. For everyone who does upload a picture, there will be the opportunity to win prizes including match tickets. There will also be an overall winner who will be selected for a money can’t buy prize.

Robert Finnegan, CEO of Three, said “As proud sponsors of the Irish National football team, Three is delighted to work with Friends in Ireland and Champion Sports to offer fans a discount on the new Ireland jersey that will benefit a great cause. We want to drive support for the team ahead of two crucial and exciting up coming games so we are asking fans to Go green with pride. Three is committed to football at all levels in Ireland and the fans are central to this.”

Emily Barry, Marketing Executive of Champion Sports, said “Champion Sports are delighted to be partnering with Three and Friends of Ireland for this very special offer. The Three Trade-In scheme is in aid of a great cause and we look forward to seeing the new Three Ireland jersey on the fans at the next match. Champion are behind our boys in green 100% over the coming soccer season”.

Sean St. Ledger also commented, “It also makes a huge difference for the players to see a sea of green when they come onto the pitch and we need everyone to get behind us ahead of these crucial qualifier games next month.”

Velvet - Can Music Grow Trees?

Following on from my posts on ESB Electric Ireland and their Electric Picnic activities I thought you might find Velvet Toilet Tissue's announcement interesting. The luxury toilet tissue brand has announced that their Velvet Luxury Toilets will be making a return to Electric Picnic and they will be joined by a campaign to answer the question, "Can music grow trees?"

Velvet Toilet Tissue have taken three Leylandii conifers and equipped them with their own headphones and MP3 players. The three trees have been planted in the Velvet Greenhouse at Newlands Garden Centre and are currently being played three genres of music (rock, folk, dance) in an effort to see how well the trees respond to music. The trees can be viewed and monitored through an application on the Triple Velvet Facebook page. Fans are also asked to vote for their favourite music type to be in with a chance of winning tickets to Electric Picnic. All three trees will also be on display at the Velvet Luxury Toilets this year for guests to see and the winning tree will be announced.