Two images of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, young and old, on the wall of the passageway to the Duke Of York pub in the city centre.
Peel is famous in Northern Ireland for his love of the song “Teenage Kicks” by Derry group The Undertones (WP). A line from the song – Teenage dreams so hard to beat” – was used in this mural/street art tribute to Peel, who died in 2004 (WP).
Update 2013-06-21: the ‘teenage dreams’ artwork on Bridge End has been painted over (Tele | BBC | Irish Times; video from U.tv).
In these details from one of the murals at the Duke Of York, books by Wilde, Beckett, and Joyce lie at the feet of Van Morrison, along with two of Van’s albums, a saxophone, a pack of cigarettes, a pail of water and two cone-shaped objects. Sınéad O’Connor and Barry McGuigan, among others look on. In the second image, there are two Them posters on the back wall and Van’s Magic Time album is on stage.
Inside: David McWilliams, James Galway, Alex Higgins, Rab McCullough, Gary Lightbody, Barso, Joey Dunlop, Terri Hooley, Feargal Sharkey, John O’Neill, Big Jim McDowell, Mark O’Shea, The Edge, Sam Neill, Jimmy Reilly, James Young, Liam Neeson, Jimmy Nesbitt, Rory Gallagher, Seamus Heaney, Clodagh Rodgers, Ruby Murray, Tony McCoy, Katie Melua, Ann Marie, Geraldine Hughes, Cormac Neeson, Jackie Wright, Johnny Hero, Brian Kennedy, Darren, Juliet Turner, Dan Gordon, Gerry Anderson, Gloria Hunniford, Barry McGuigan, Sınéad O’Connor, Rinty Monaghan, Gary Moore, Dana, Phil Coulter, Phil Lynott, George Best, Pat Jennings, Derek Bell, Jimmy Ellis, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Neil Young, Willie Jack
Outside: Mark, Una Healey, Michael, Enya, Nick, Angela Feeney, CS Lewis, Dennis Taylor, May McFettridge, Paul Brady, Winston, Patrick Kielty, Brian Moore, Willie John McBride, Pearce Elliot, John Lynch, George Hamilton, Pierce Brosnan, Ciaran McMenamin, Maggie Cronin, Hammy, Lisa, Big William, Chris, Paddy, Eddie Irvine, Christine Bleakley, Brendan Behan, Derek Dougan, Patrick Kavanagh, Sir John Lavery, John McCormack, Danny Blanchflower, Mary Peters, Harry Gregg, Frank Carson, Martin O’Neill OBE, Dervla Kirwin, Stephen Rea, Hugh Russell, Wee John Caldwell, Nadine Coyle, Julie, Martin Lynch, Nee, Ronnie Drew, Dolores O’Riordan, Ciaran Hinds, Caron Keating, Kenneth Branagh, Alice, Liam Clancy, Duke Special, Bono
Another George Best reference in another mural at the Dark Horse/Duke of York. George Best quit Manchester United (temporarily) for Spain towards the end of the 1972 season (and quit United for good in 1974). The precise phrase — “Sod this, I’m off to Marbella” — and picture of Best playing keepsy-upsies in the sun come from a John Roberts book about Best. Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974 (WP). The Klondyke Bar was in (PUL) Sandy Row and bombed by the IRA in January, 1976.
This is just the left-most part of a large mural in the Dark Horse courtyard. (For the whole thing, see The Bar Is Called Heaven.) It is almost entirely black-and-white – the Guinness labels and betting slip from Eastwoods are exceptions. If you recognize any of the figures, please leave a comment. The photographer in the top right is Bill Kirk | some pictures at the RBG.
There is a signature of sorts in the top left: “Two cold, hungry muralists for hire. Phone Danny D[evenny] and Marty L[yons].”
Local readers will hopefully be able to help identify the people (and the horse, and the crab on a fishing line) staying in the Europa Hotel, as depicted in a new (late 2012) board/construction at the Dark Horse/Duke Of York. Artist Ciaran Gallagher has a collection of pictures of the piece being constructed and installed.
According to WP, the Europa was bombed 28 times during the Troubles (which would explain the damage and the abseiling paramilitary on the left?), and Bill and Hillary Clinton’s entourage took up 110 of the 240 rooms when they stayed at the Europa hotel in 1995. In the foreground, George Best balances a ball bearing the words, “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.” Is there some particular reason why the “E” is the euro sign?
Previously from the Dark Horse/Duke Of York: Big Brother Is Watching. Below is a wide shot of the whole.
A 3-D/plane-breaking board/collage from the courtyard of the Duke Of York, featuring King Kong on the Empire State building (1933), Atlas (Metropolis 1927), a zombie (also from Metropolis?), riot police controlled by a puppet-master, Hokusai’s Great Wave Of Kanagawa 1830, WWI biplanes, a steamer/cruise-ship with searchlight? and something that looks like the Giant’s causeway?? (Leave a comment if you can correct these, or recognise the car with L plates (Death Proof 2007 – thanks Bob) or Hollister on the document folder.)
2013-02 Update: Artists Ciaran Gallagher and Kathryn Bannister have a gallery of pictures of the piece being constructed and installed. The piece, they say, is inspired by “classics of the silver screen” and was part of Culture Night 2011.
McBride’s pub — in Cushendun — with a variety of local celebrities. This is one of the three images on the back wall of the courtyard of the Duke of York. The artist is Kathryn Bannister (not Ciaran Gallagher, as originally stated – thanks to Ciaran for the correction, April 2013. The pair worked together on the Fritz Lang and Euro-pa pieces, also at the Duke Of York). Kathryn’s web site is here.
A plaque in Donegall St: “The harp festival of 1792 was held in the Assembly Rooms, on the upper floor of this building. It began life as a single-storey arcaded market house or ‘exchange’ in 1768. The upper floor was added in 1778 and Charles Lanyon Italianised the exterior in 1845. Known as the ‘four corners’, all milestones out of Belfast were once measured from here.”
The Assembly Rooms are in the building that stands between Lower Donegall St and Lower North Street.
Who are these two figures? The link above gives a list of harpists. Is the smaller person Edward Bunting (WP), who transcribed and “corrected” the music played? Who is KN (see below leg of chair) and is this a copy of another piece?
Wider shot below, complete with obliterated — by Belfast City Council — flyer and another for Dance Hall music.
This recent, biblically-themed, mural is in Bank Square, the open space outside Kelly’s Cellars. Included in the panels are various Bible stories such as Noah’s Ark, the burning bush, and the loaves and fishes. (Mary-Ann McCracken is also included?) Watching over them from both left and right are the pike-men of 1798.
If you’re willing to pay the piper, he will perhaps summon a taxi that will take you and yours out of town. This is the centre segment of a large board adorning the front of the West Belfast Taxi Terminal (next to Castle Court), copying The Limerick Piper by John Patrick Haverty (1794-1854) and this Ardoyne mural, which placed the piper under Cave Hill. In this version, the attending girl is smiling. In all three versions, the piper has no visible means of support. On each side are Jim-Fitzpatrick-style Celtic heroes – Nuada on the left (though perhaps meant to be Fıonn Mac Cumhaıll and the salmon of knowledge) and Sadb on the right, though a fawn blocks the view of her shorter-than-short skirt.
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 