Whitey Johnson, Nashville Based Musician at 'No Alibis'

As viewers of the 'Behind the Scenes' Video Newsletter know I am intrigued by this Belfast / Nasville 'sister-city' thing.  What's the deal?  Will this strange, unexplained connection necessitate my travelling to Nashville for a while to do the Podcast?

The answer is probably yes.

Fortunate then that Nashville-based Bluesman Whitey Johnson is playing at No Alibis this Saturday at 8pm, (yes, that's right - not only is No Alibis the best bookstore in Northern Ireland they've also got live music too!).

Hopefully Whitey will let me pick his brains for a few minutes before the gig as to the best place to hole up in Nashville while I do the show.

'No Alibis' Events for April

The best boookstore bar-none in Northern Ireland is No Alibis.  Always plenty of chat, coffee and biscuits.  Here's what they've got going on this month:

Fri 13th April  6.00pm free (refreshments)
Brian McGilloway
Launch Party for Borderlands

Sat 14th April 8.00pm £6/£8 (free glass of wine/beer)
Jazz
Tommy Halferty, Michel Zineno and Jean Pierre Arnaud

Thursday 19th April 8.00pm £6/£8 (free glass of wine/beer)
Jazz
Cormac O'Brien, Nigel Mooney and Greg Felton

Friday 20th April 8.00pm £6/£8 (free glass wine /beer)
Classical Music
Darron Moore (baritone vocalist)
Richard Douglas (flautist),
Karen Bousfield (Piano)

Friday 27th April 8.00pm £5/£8 (free glass of wine /beer)
Avalon Quintet. Cello, Violin, Uillean Pipes, Bodhran, Whistles and Viola
An evening of music and poetry...Bach, Mozart and O'Carolan teamed with arrangements of traditional Irish and folk melodies.

To reserve tickets contact Dave Torrans, (that's him above in the lovely shirt):

No Alibis Bookstore
83 Botanic Avenue.
Belfast
Northern Ireland 
+44 (0)28 90 319601

No Alibis On The Web

Contact No Alibis Via Email

Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers

Our fine friends at No Alibis bookstore, (it's the best bookstore in Belfast - really, it is!), are having another screening this Thursday night at 6.30pm:

Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers

From the press release: "Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed and Uncovered) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq.

Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so."

If you're feeling too calm and happy about the world why not head over to No Alibis for the film this Thursday?  You'll probably see me there, my face about to explode.

Here's some more info:

No Alibis Bookstore
David Torrans, Proprietor
83 Botanic Avenue.
Belfast
Northern Ireland 
+44 (0)28 90-319601

'American Blackout' at No Alibis

Our favorite bookstore here in Belfast:

No Alibis

is hosting a FREE screening of the award winning documentary:

American Blackout

tomorrow at 6:30pm to commemorate the U.S. Midterm Elections.

The LA Times says American Blackout is "a muckraking indictment of the systematic disenfranchisement of African American voters."

Damn-it, we need muckraking - now more than ever.  So even if you've got plans, cancel them, and go over to No Alibis to see the flick.

Contact David Torrans for details:

No Alibis
83 Botanic Avenue
Belfast
Telephone:  +44 (0)28 9031 6901

No Alibis Revisited

As seen in this post:

Narnia Fever - Catch It! Part 2

we here at LTA love the bookstore No Alibis.  It's always filled with interesting characters - I'd like to think this guy is Ireland's greatest living poet.

Sean here regaled me with scabrous stories of Cuban school-children and the jokes they tell.  In this photo he's telling a particularly funny joke about Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro.

This Friday the store is hosting an event in support of the Ulster Wildlife Trust and WWF - if you're in the area why not attend?  It's for a good cause and looks fun.

Dave Torrans will always offer ya a cup of coffee and interesting conversation.  Here Dave and Sean are discussing Shanghai Detective Fiction.

The walls of No Alibis are covered with cool posters like the one above. 

It makes me wonder about the function of Detective Fiction - perhaps there's a subtext in the books that says that actually life by its very nature is mystery and that really we know nothing - and, more importantly, if all secrets are revealed we are nothing. 

The Detective is only alive when this mystery is unknown - when it's solved it's all over and there's nothing left - we have to close the book and the characters cease being until the next mystery comes up.

And so we leave No Alibis Dear Listener...

...why not visit when you're in town.  You'll be entertained and safe - Columbo watches over the store like a Guardian Angel.

Narnia Fever - Catch It! Part 2

Hey there Dear Listener:  how are you?  Caught Narnia Fever yet?  Because Letter to America's shameless attempt to piggyback on the hype over the upcoming Disney / Walden Media release of Narnia:  the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe continues.

As Wayne Ordinary American points out in his comment to a previous post I have purchased the wrong book.  Apparently there's some controversy over the proper order of the books - as I know nothing of such things I go to the true authority in all things literary in Belfast:

David Torrans of No Alibis Books here in the heart of the fabled University Quarter of Belfast, County Northern Ireland. 

Dave is famous for dispensing tight, spare literary criticism and advice as well as super-strong cups of free coffee.  When I told him my dilemma re:  having to read all the Narnia books in order to cash in on the upcoming release of the film, he said to me "Jett, why READ them when you can LISTEN to them?"  So true to character he loaned me the BBC Radio 4's Complete Chronicles of Narnia (with Full-Cast Dramatisation).

Yep, if you ever need any advice on which books to get on Irish culture, crime and politics Dave is your man, (and I'm not sayin' that cause he gives me free stuff...plus check out that cool painting of Columbo in the background!)

Well, I'm off to put the first tape in the machine and have a listen.  Oh wait a minute.  I don't have a tapedeck...

...shit.