Neurosis, Metal Wilber, and Translation to Potato DEATH!

Neurosis, Metal Wilber, and Translation to Potato DEATH!

Neurosis and Drainland

Last night I found out about a metal show at a place called the Button Factory (an actual nice venue) and decided to attend in order to find out what the metal scene was like over here in Ireland. I was happy to find that a lot of the scene is Doom/Sludge metal, and that the crowd for the headlining band at the show had the place packed wall to wall. The opening band was a group called Drainland, which I dubbed the Irish version of Morbid Angel. Great vocals, awesome set, and I hope to hear more stuff from them. The headliner was Neurosis, a New York band that was originally a hardcore band for their first two albums and then switched to Doom metal (and do a damn good job of putting on a live show). I definitely have to look up both bands when I get back to the states.

One of the best parts of the show was who I ran into. In between the bands sets I ran into these 4 Irish dudes and one of their girlfriends from Belfast that were all simply badass. Another cool fact about these dudes: they are all in metal bands of their own. They were all drunk off their asses and hitting on anything female (and some not) that crossed their paths. They would show their guns (arms for those of you who are special, and not in the “its okay” way), say “this is it!” then ask them if they wanted to marry them.

The elicited responses were priceless, ranging from “fuckin’ bullocks” to lots of giggling to one saying that she could be their mothers, which one of the guys I was with, Richard, gave the best response ever: “FUCK OFF! How old are you?!” To answer all of your questions, yes, the accent does make this sentence acceptable. As I watched the show with these dudes, the one named Ross was cool enough to buy me a Guinness, and they even wanted me to come chill with them at Belfast and see Iron Maiden while I was here.

Were it not for class in the morning, I would have went in a heartbeat, but alas, I had to decline, So I simply asked for their emails to find them on facebook and said goodbye to my new friends. An awesome show and experience for the books.

The metal show came with a price; I woke up with so much back pain I was ready to puke. Luckily I am stubborn and was able to keep food down. After I stopped shaking from pain and nausea and was able to stand up straight, I went down and had breakfast hoping the Ibuprofen would hold out.

Book of Kells

After breakfast, we were going to go to lecture, but Dr. Wilber saw that the book of Kells line was short (and is on display at Trinity college) so we opted to do that instead. The book of Kells is a very old copy of the bible that is illustrated and written about 800 A.D. the display is also accompanied by many other old gospels from various other monks and what not. I would post pictures, but unfortunately they do not allow pictures in the museum, so when I tried to snap a picture a little old Irish man with compensation issues and took his job too seriously told me to erase it. I would have lied and faked it but it seemed the bastard knew how to work my camera….you win this time guard…you win this time.

The most impressive part to me was the old Trinity library. It was like I walked into a scene of an Indiana Jones film! Ancient marble busts lined the book ends with displays in the center, covered in glass displaying many of the beginnings of modern music and medical sciences, namely anatomy. The old library was truly awe-inspiring. We were only allowed to view half of the library for some reason, so I went to ask the guard at the exit why that was, and he simply replied “Well I could tell ya a good bit but the truth is we’re short staffed.” Not the thing I wanted to hear since I do not know if I will ever come back over here, but at least he was honest.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

After taking a lunch and hitting the milkshake bar (yes, this place DOES exist!) we headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was quite a long walk. This is where Jonathan Swift is buried and where Catholics pay homage to St. Patrick for earning them the right to practice their religion freely.

The church was full of many old artifacts and was very informative. It was unnerving to see the gift shop in the back of the church when we entered, namely because I used to be a bible quizzer when I went to church and I specifically remember some part of the bible where Jesus storms into the church and starts flipping tables and chairs because you are not supposed to use the church for a place of profit.

Translations (Play)

After that, we all rushed back to our apartments, changed into fancy clothes, and went to a play called Translations about the beginning of the potato famine in Ireland around the beginning of the 1840s. I thoroughly enjoyed the play, and it was well but together, though it ended abruptly and had no real plot resolution, it had tons of metaphorical references from its characters, almost to the point where it was annoyance.