Grove Memories
Printed From: The Grove Social Club
Category: The Grove Social Club
Forum Name: Memory Lane
Forum Description: general Grove Discussions & contact old friends
URL: http://www.theGroveSocialClub.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1200
Printed Date: 23-November-2024 at 20:50
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Grove Memories
Posted By: Taylor
Subject: Grove Memories
Date Posted: 13-August-2019 at 15:11
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‘The Grove 1977-1979’ His ‘Oasis’ school hop had been swiftly followed by a couple of years counting the days, hours and minutes to the Grove Social Club in St. Paul’s, Raheny. His pinkish ID card ever at the ready, Junior Flinter on sentry duty at the door, waving him in with a friendly gesture of his big rugby hand. D.J. Cecil up there on the stage. His turntable to the fore. With dozens of young heads standing in the hall nearby, on up the front or way down the back, their grandfather shirts hanging from baggy blue jeans, all trying to look absolutely, unconventionally and effortlessly cool. With carefully combed, long flowing hair, pony-tails and shaggy big mops. Hands in pockets, or simply holding on to glass bottles of Fanta or Coke. No alcohol then. Loving the long slow dances after lively head-banging sets - If he was lucky. To the mellow strains of James Taylor’s “Carolina in my mind” or Kris Kristofferson’s “Lovin’ her was easier” than anything he had ever done before. With beautiful Bernie B. Or a year later on, with hazel-eyed, long blonde-haired, Irene, clothed in Shree. During the course of a night. Should they happen to be there. All very exciting on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. But a terrible thing all the same if you were dreaming you were awake on the stage and just about to arrive before you ever had left. ------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Replies:
Posted By: monarch
Date Posted: 13-August-2019 at 15:17
 ------------- There is a crack in everything ...... that's how the light gets in |
Taylor wrote:Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 13-August-2019 at 15:36
Hey Taylor, super stuff. More of this please ...  ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 13-August-2019 at 15:39
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Great vivid vision of Grove happenings 👍👍 ------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
Posted By: Taylor
Date Posted: 13-August-2019 at 17:50
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Thank you! 😃👍
------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Posted By: Vinyl Junkie
Date Posted: 15-August-2019 at 10:43
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Welcome back Taylor. Good to see some old heads back on the site. ------------- TPFKAB (The Poster Formerly Known As Brunswick). |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 15-August-2019 at 21:29
| Very prosey-poetic Taylor. I like it. Did you write it recently or back in the day? |
Posted By: Taylor
Date Posted: 15-August-2019 at 21:55
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Thanks PM! I wrote an original piece ca. 1999 / 2000! Some 20 years ago!!! 😃👍☘️ ------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Posted By: Taylor
Date Posted: 15-August-2019 at 21:57
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Thanks, VJ! Glad to be back 😃👍☘️ ------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 15-August-2019 at 23:26
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Most of the poems I have written start with –"There was a young girl from Nantucket..."
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Posted By: monarch
Date Posted: 15-August-2019 at 23:54
 ------------- There is a crack in everything ...... that's how the light gets in |
Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 24-August-2019 at 13:24
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Must be an age thing because my memories of the Mount Prospect Grove in 1972/4 are becoming clearer and clearer. Can see myself parking the motorbike outside and heading in to the hall as clear as if I'd done it last week instead of 47 years ago. ------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 24-August-2019 at 14:27
| Hard to believe Pat but you were after my time in The Grove. My Grove days ended when I got married in 1971. For some strange reason my wife didn't want me to go anymore. There was a motorcycle gang there during my time, mainly Nortons and BSAs with a few Honda 50s and Suzukies thrown in for good measure. The Brendanfella always wanted to fill the end wall with a biker mural but Cecil didn't go for it. |
Posted By: Vinyl Junkie
Date Posted: 25-August-2019 at 21:35
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The St. Pauls groves were not as exotic as you guys had down in Mt. Prospect but we loved them. I think the documentary covered it rather well, in that grovers (of my vintage) treated Cecil with the same awe and affection as the "old days" and also as "one of us", whereas by the late 80s/early 90s, he was the "grand old man of rock and roll". There is a noticeable gap for late 70s/early 80s grovers in the documentary - and the music of that time is slightly skipped - but it is what it is. In the late 70s there was a mixture of late 60s stuff, lots of early 70s rock and the new wave stuff was also coming down the line (I always noticed that Cecil never played Ska stuff - just alternative rock like Stranglers, SLF, Buzzcocks, Ruts, Simple Minds, Siouxsie etc.,). By the early 80s, he did play stuff like Duran Duran, Human League and Japan, which I completely hated at the time but it has grown on me. ------------- TPFKAB (The Poster Formerly Known As Brunswick). |
Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 25-August-2019 at 22:43
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Good post Mel, succinctly covers a lot of the Grove period ... and the documentary. Must watch it again actually: documentary/32A/documentary again, pass a few hours very nicely ... ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 26-August-2019 at 00:06
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You are right Mel, Cecil was not a big fan of Ska but before Ska/Reggae/Bluebeat was adopted by Skinheads there were a few popular artists on the charts like Johnny Nash (Hold me Tight), Desmond Dekker (Israelites/Shantytown 007) and maybe even a tad of early Prince Buster (Al Capone) that I think got an odd spin in the old Grove. I was all over town in those days so might be mixing the Grove up with other places. It was when groups like The Specials came along with the Boot Boys Rule, Soccer Hooligan, Braces and Doc Marten culture that everything went downhill. I remember thinking Skinhead fashion looked really cool at the time but never went in that direction.
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Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 26-August-2019 at 08:43
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Interesting Pogue, I am a big fan of ska/bluebeat/reggae etc, but I had to keep those tastes under wrap in the old days when I was a "hippie". Wasn't cool at all to express any liking for that stuff. I was at a house party where some skins had been invited, and got into a tit-for-tat with some skinhead - he kept puttin Johnny Nash on the stereo; despite the fact I didn't mind it at all I kept going up, taking that off and putting on my Mountain record. Then he would take that off etc etc. Luckily my girlfriend at the time was with me and she prevented me getting into a nasty situation ... Gas when you think of it. I remember the skinheads were a big thing from the very early 70s Poguey ... ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 26-August-2019 at 09:48
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My years in Mount Prospect covered 1972-1975 and a lot of the great bands were still on the go and some amazing new artists coming through in the early 70's. There was definitely a hippy groove in my day reflected in the colours people wore in their clothes. I never heard any reggae/ska being played in my day and wasn't complaining as I'm not a great lover of that type of music. Although a couple of great reggae type trax got my attention, the Israelites, Double Barrel, Monkey Business, I Can See Clearly Now, Baby Come Back but I never heard them in the Grove. Ah jaysus, I'd love a good rocking night in the old Grove again. "You never miss a good thing till it's gone" 😢😢 ------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 26-August-2019 at 09:51
I was Grove-ing 71 to 75 in Mt. Prospect as you lads know. Never heard a ska/reggae-type record played in those days, don't think it would have gone down well...  ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 26-August-2019 at 09:54
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Talking about missing the Grove nights Pat, any further thoughts on coming across for the "final" reunion night on 30 November? ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 26-August-2019 at 10:28
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Not sure yet Gerry. Would like to. ------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
Posted By: Taylor
Date Posted: 28-August-2019 at 10:37
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Pre-Grove Saturday Afternoons Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours were ringing in his ears. He had purchased it in
the Sound Cellar from a young guy called Tommy. A spitting image of his cousin Marty
Hodge. Hair like Robert Plant. Pat Egan’s was one of his first stops on regular Saturday afternoon walkabouts
which also included stops at Golden Discs on Mary Street, Alpha Bargains on
Liffey Street, Razor Cuts in the Abbey Mall, Eason’s on O’Connell Street,
Basement Records on Bachelor’s Walk, the Paperback Centre on Suffolk Street, Freebird
Records on Wicklow Street, Green Acres half way down South King Street on the
left hand side, Shree and the Dandelion Market off St. Stephen’s Green, Bygones
in the South Great Georges Street Market Arcade and The East West Centre on
narrow old Crow ... Up the steps. Posters on the wall. Joe and Elaine always sitting there. Selling rice cake, juicy raisins, tasty carrot cake, wholemeal muffins, red grape juice, kidney beans, oatmeal porridge, long grain Italian rice, yellow lentils and green mung beans. A tall, thin and amiable German student with a beautifully tanned back, long auburn hair -- flowing freely, and almond brown eyes, worked there as a waitress. She reminded him, in hindsight, of an East Berlin girl called Marina who had attempted to flee to the West via Bulgaria and the Black Sea. She was eventually caught, interrogated and finally sold. To the West. He was smitten. With both. ------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 28-August-2019 at 13:36
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A nice picture of the Dublin scene on Saturday afternoons Taylor. With the exception of the good food bits it describes my afternoons on the streets surrounding the Green around 1973 - 76. I had ambitions of going into the printing business before I split for the US. and remember wandering around Pat Egan's and other shops in the area trying to sell my wares. It was long before the CD cover was invented that I was trying to sell screen printed record wrappers with custom art and logos. I spent a lot of hours with Pat and he seemed interested but never forked over any dough. Another small fact: Before Donal Lunny was making a decent living in music he rented a spot near Pat Egan's where he designed/sold silver jewelry and other celtic type trinkets. I almost bought my wife's engagement ring from him but couldn't come up with 29 pounds. HAH! Needless to say she's still waiting for her ring...but respects the fact that I'm deeply opposed to the treatment of mine workers in South Africa (wink) and morally can't buy anything related to the DeBeers Co. . |
Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 28-August-2019 at 15:47
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Lovely pen-pictures there, Taylor and Poguey. My Saturday afternoons would have been pretty similar. Someone here (maybe Mel?) told me Tommy is still toiling away in the Sound Cellar ... I remember trying to return a Climax Blues Band album I bought there to Pat Egan - it kept skipping on me. Course Pat played it on his deck with the super-heavy needle and there were no skips!!! ... I'd heard since that Egan was the tightest, meanest f**ker you could ever meet! Course that may not be true at all, might be like the other apocryphal story doing the rounds at the time - That anyone who invited Gay Byrne to their party, and he turned up, there'd be a bill in the postbox from him the next day for anything from £2,000 to £5,000! I believed that for years, but apparently there was no truth in it ... ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 28-August-2019 at 19:15
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Pat Egan was a bit of a Cecil at the time where off-the-charts music was concerned. He started as DJ at the Moulin Rouge and I remember him playing a lot of Soul music when it was just beginning to take off. He was a bit beyond the Tamla Motown sound and only played Atlantic artists along with obscure psychedelic stuff. Outside Sunday afternoon "hops" it was impossible to get into the Moulin Rouge at night without a membership card...or a pair of breasts :) It was THE cool place to be as everyone dressed in the latest Carnaby Street fashions and you never actually asked anyone to dance for fear they would tell you what to do with yourself. It was the first time I saw well dressed guys get up to dance by themselves. hmmmmm...maybe I was innocent and should have asked the guys up to dance...hmmm? .
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Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 28-August-2019 at 21:25
 Poguey------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: joey the lips
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 10:08
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------------- You can checkout anytime u like but u can never leave |
Posted By: ShortHairHippie
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 12:42
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Grove radio show birthday bash ,upstairs in the Beachcomber pub, Killester @ 8:30 pm tomorrow night ( Friday ),hope to see a few familiar faces there,for some chat,and a few Grove tunes...all welcome. ------------- upon us all,a little rain must fall |
Posted By: Vinyl Junkie
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 15:21
@Gerry/all - Yeah, I haven't been down the Sound Cellar (Pat Egan's) in a while but Chris Rooney buys a lot of vinyl there. Says Tommy is still there and hasn't changed. Good to see that some things have stayed the same after all these years.  ------------- TPFKAB (The Poster Formerly Known As Brunswick). |
Posted By: Taylor
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 17:55
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Indeed! ------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Posted By: Rahenyrhythm
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 18:03
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Yep lads, long may Tommy stay there and grace the place... Mel, Sean and all, have a great time tomorrow night - have a drink, do some duckwalk-ing, talk some utter sh*te for me! You'll be in my thoughts...but we will catch up later in the year, for sure...🐦🍺🚶🏻👯 ------------- One of its legs is both the same |
Posted By: Taylor
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 18:05
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Enjoy yourselves and a big hello to Cecil should he be there! ------------- The Universe is a void full of infinite possibilities |
Posted By: Vinyl Junkie
Date Posted: 29-August-2019 at 19:45
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I mentioned it to him the other day on the train when I met him. He didn't confirm his attendance but hopefully he comes down. He usually comes to these gatherings. ------------- TPFKAB (The Poster Formerly Known As Brunswick). |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 22-October-2019 at 13:11
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Remember when we used to meet in Clontarf Castle for a few jars before going up to The Grove? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoB0CSsrrCo" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoB0CSsrrCo
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Posted By: Biker Pat
Date Posted: 22-October-2019 at 13:23
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Lol Pogue😂😂😂. Are they the Grove lassies warming up in the background. ------------- May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
Posted By: Pogue Mahoney
Date Posted: 21-February-2020 at 21:18
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Here's another old Grove photo taken in Saint Annes. Back when you were allowed only one drink before going in. .
 |
Posted By: ShortHairHippie
Date Posted: 22-February-2020 at 03:44
 ------------- upon us all,a little rain must fall |