'Ghost Walk, Ghost Talk'

We love the ideas that are coming in!!!!

'Ghost Walk, Ghost Talk', is a look at the gory tales of Limerick hauntings, spectres, ghosts and monsters. All set to send shivers for the CAT DIG.

Start on Catherine street and go on the ghost trail, return to a basement for a scary spine tingling story telling session featuring Limerick's own tales.

See the website for further info and to add your own experiences....http://ghostwalkghosttalk.weebly.com/

CAT DIG Opening Event

At Flannery’s Bar on the street Friday May 7th, 6pm-7pm, the CAT DIG Opening Event is - In Conversation with John Breen.

John will be talking about the process of writing the acclaimed Limerick Rugby play, 'Alone It’s Stands' and the plays subsequent journey around the world.
A mystery guest will join the event.

We're extremely appreciative of the support that Limerick Theatre practitioners have been giving this project, Teaspach, Bottom Dog and Impact are discussing ideas, we know that Mike Finn and Miles Breen have been promoting the idea for the opening event, while at the same time preparing their own submissions. Expect, workshops, readings, talks and performances for the whole weekend!

A Taster of Whats to Come - CAT DIG

The SpiritStore team is hard at work...here's a taster of what's to come for the CAT DIG weekend
There are at least three pieces of Sound Art inspired and using material from Catherine Street by different Artists proposed for the May Weekend.

The photo above is a sample of imagery from an Audio Visual collaboration between SpiritStore’s, Paul Tarpey and Composer John Lillis under the working title 'Hidden Hearing' (a Shop Name on The Street).
In true psychogeography form, a walking visual investigation takes place at Burkes Bar on the street. In this collaborative performance, Paul and John use Catherine Street images to dictate a live audio/visual map.
‘Softday’, artists Sean Taylor and Mikael Fernstrom are planning a live mobile phone symphony, calling on interested people to contribute sound recordings and will include a sound editing workshop.
Over the CAT DIG weekend Robin Parmar will create an anecdotal soundscape of Catherine Street, a process which would start with collecting sounds in situ and end with a finished composition for playback to pour onto the street.
Other events to date are…at Faber Studio space we have theatre practice workshops. 'Gretta Gibbs', shop window is a very intimate space for performance, dance and live acoustic music. Arches and doorways have incidental performances. The Little Catherine Street bookshop is set to host a literary fest. Outdoor cinema will be projected on the street walls, a Victorian peep show – not the rude kind! – gives us a snap shot of Catherine street past.

Outdoor spaces we hope people will consider are, the covered outdoor seating on the street, stepped - georgian doorways that lend themselves as intimate performance spaces, archways, pavements...

Bear in mind for instance that, the Bagel Factory on the corner of Thomas street has outdoor seating, a large canopy, outdoor heating and light, as do a number of the premises on Catherine Street.

Calling all...

Calling all, poets, archeologists, visual artists, singer song-writers, film makers, composers, musicians, playwrights, actors, directors, curators, historians, designers, social commentators, architects, astronomers, dancers, storytellers, scientists, puppeteers, moth watchers, novelists, screen writers, poets, psychologists, sociologists, cultural practitioners, researchers and more

Deadline March 31st........send us a short outline of your idea

http://spiritstorelimerick.weebly.com/cat-dig-paticipant-submission-form.html

Packet and Tripe - the event

Packet and Tripe - ev+a 2010

 SpiritStore served over 100 dishes of limerick packet and tripe.
We would like to thank our collaborators and contributors:

Rod Gallavin – Packet and Tripe chef
Teaspach Theatre Company – logistics and coordination
St. Mary’s Park Social Group – research

55 House, Senior Citizens Social Group – research
French’s Café - kitchen

Flannery’s bar – equipment

Fine Wines – wine sponsor

Pat Franklin cobbler - PR

Burkes bar – equipment

Faber Studios – location

Frankies – Frank Glynn’s Butchers – research and inspiration

O’ Connell Butchers – meat sponsor

Conway’s Butchers – research

Bean an Ti – bread sponsor

John Tarpey - graphics

Mike Finn – author and reader ‘Pigtown’

Darren Ryan – photography and film research

Anita McGrath – film research

Neville Gawley – photography

Mathew Gidney – tech support and film editing



Participation Submission Deadline 31st March 2010

The deadline for participation in the SpiritStore CAT DIG (Catherine Street Culture Dig) is March 31st 2010. Please fill out a submission which can be found on our website at the following link.
http://spiritstorelimerick.weebly.com/cat-dig-paticipant-submission-form.html

This year as part of SpiritStore's participation in ev+a 2010, we are creating the Catherine Street Culture Dig (CAT DIG). Residents and traders of the street are participating with SpiritStore as hosts and instigators of a series of cultural events. To realise this weekly meetings are being held in various street venues to broker links between participants and the spaces and places offered by Catherine Street. The result will be a weekend of events - CAT DIG.
We envisage that participants will contribute to CAT DIG with a programme of talks, presentations, readings, screenings and workshops featuring various cultural activities and practices. We imagine a lively programme which includes, dance, theatre, trad, performance, archeology, architecture, film, literature, puppetry, experimental music, digital installations, sound art, etc, on the street all weekend.
Our aim is to partner venues and participants to create a lively dynamic match.The CAT DIG weekend will begin on Friday May 7th at 5.30 and finish at 5.30 on Sunday May 9th.

We are taking submissions to participate in CAT DIG until March 31st 2010. SpiritStore will broker the relationships between participants and locations/venues on Catherine street. We will correlate the list of participants and the list of venues. From this SpiritStore will create a programme of events. A flexable approach to participation based on the specifics of a location/venue is not only appreciated, but necessary. Finally, both SpiritStore and the traders of Catherine street are very excited by the project, all of us are volunteering our time and energy to ensure the CAT DIG is a success, we’d like to thank you for the generosity of your participation.
Please email the submission form to spiritstorelimerick@gmail.com Alternatively, submission forms are available at Burkes Bar on Catherine Street, Limerick city centre. Completed forms can also be left behind the bar where we will collect them.

'A Limerick Dish'

Click to enlarge

Packet and HONEYCOMB Tripe

Dawn and Sharon (who you might know from Teaspach Theatre Company) ordering the Packet and Tripe off Paul O' Connell of O' Connell’s Butchers who generously donated the material for Saturday. We have worked out the amount to serve based on the Kitchen space and time available in French’s Café on the Day. The quantity is therefore dictated by this situation i.e. the Street dictates.

On the recommendation of many people who told us during our research over the past few weeks that we should use the 'Honeycomb' tripe rather than the other, we have followed the advice!
See the images below - two types of Tripe

Packet and Tripe is found in butchers all over Limerick city. This was photographed in Corcoran’s Butchers in St Johns Square (Est. 1922) with the kind permission of the proprietor George Russell, seen here. George has sold Packet and Tripe for many decades and has all the stories of Pigtown. He told us that lime was used to bleach the Packet in those days.

Recipe Book in Corcoran’s.
George compared his oral history of the dish with Delia Smiths Recipe of English Tripe from a well-used copy of her book that is kept in the Shop.

Getting the word out

These are the Flyers for The May Week end with the information Flyers for The Packet and Tripe event that will be handed out by the Catherine St location scout team. Brid and Amy will be visiting the street this week.

The mobile phone is the office! There are quite a lot of last minute changes at the moment requiring many phone calls. Every contact has a back up and its best to move on as quickly as possible.

Planning happens wherever is most convenient to the people involved, here Sharon and Stephanie (Teaspach Theatre Company) with Marilyn at Dawns house on a Thursday evening.

So far we've held two public meetings with traders on Catherine street. The Street print information for meetings was a temporary run of posters that were placed and removed. The Black board outside French’s will be operational this week.
Once our Packet and Tripe, ev+a opening event is completed this weekend, we're calling an artist's meeting... keep your eye's out for the call if you're interested.

SpiritStore Website

http://www.spiritstorelimerick.weebly.com/

Management meeting

A management meeting was held last night at Flannerys on Catherine street. Roles were handed out, thanks to everyone who came and volunteered, we're really happy with the turn out. Here are a number of the posts...

Secretary - Muireann
Tech organisation - Eilish
Health and Safety - Geoff
PR - Paul
Volunteer coordinator - Orla
Documentation and Forms - Sarah
Signage - Geoff and Sorcha
Master plan and Programming - Dawn and Marilyn
Location scouts - Brid and Amy
Artist manager - Marilyn
Project Leaders - Marilyn and Paul

Any comments or suggestions regarding material from last nights meeting please contact the relevant people.

Image on this post is taken outside Frenchs cafe at the first CATDIG public meeting.

Making Packet and Tripe

Kay Davis of St Marys community group

Excerpt from longer film, which will be screened at the Packet and Tripe ev+a event on March 13th at 6pm.

(Click to enlarge)

Researching 'Packet and Tripe'

Anita interviews Mrs Mullanne. Her Husband worked in Tracys Butchers and was one of the biggest suppliers of Packet and Tripe in the city. Because of her association she is fondly known to the group of women we interviewed as ‘The Packet and Tripe Lady’

The location of Tracys Butchers across from St Marys Church

Eilish (SpiritStore) has been working with a Knitting Circle in St Marys community centre, she has her own art project running, but was happy to introduce us for a couple of afternoons. We are researching the 'Packet and Tripe' history in Limerick.
The women were knitting patches for Elishes' knitting project and laughed when we told them ‘shes in our gang too’.
So knitting and talking we found the phrase ‘ Mock Tripe’. The poorest of the poor in food terms. It was packet and tripe without the meat, mainly milk, breadcrumbs and onions.

Bean an Ti Bakers, is a Limerick institution for cakes and bread and our supplier of the bread that will be served with the packet and Tripe in Catherine on March 13th.

O' Connells Butchers in Little Catherine Street, suppliers of the Packet and Tripe.

Discussing logistics in Frenchs Café. whose kitchen we will be using to cook the meat. Duncan, seen here, has given us tremendous support so far. He previously ran Javas Limericks notable art café on the site of where we will now be serving the Packet and Tripe. Coincidently, the site where Frenches currently stands used to be a butchers shop.

Planning, Dialogue, Ideas

Gerry Flannery, of the streets famous bar, offered to host the second street meeting. The traders talked about ideas they had since last week and people were delegated jobs.

Ray Conlons Butcher Shop on Catherine Street with a sign for Packet and Tripe on the window.

Pat Fitzgeralds Key Cutting Shop - The message (walk it like you talk it) on the Shoe above Pat and his crew is not just for show. Pat has already discussed several ideas about his part in the project. Chance encounters become planning moments...Marilyn and the artist John Galvin discussing Johns insallation which will be across from the Old TSB Bank in May. John will be using data from old Limerick film footage and was one of the first artists to participate in the dig, searching for material from the old bank . He found old ledgers turning to dust in the basement of a local library.

Site the 'Packet and Tripe' and Getting to know the Street

The SpiritStore crew introduced ourselves at a public meeting on Catherine Street, attended by managers and owners of business on the street. A look at our previous project at the Sarsfield bar helped to give a flavour of how we work. This is a collaborative project, so while we talked about the types of events SpiritStore could broker/offer/support, at this meeting the street traders and Spiritstore started to get to know each other and to explore the potential of a weekend cultural festival together.

Residents of Catherine Street at the first SpiritStore meeting in Frenchs Café . The Space was generously given to us by Duncan O' Toole the owner. We gave a presentation on our last project and introduced the concept of filling the streets places and spaces with cultural events for one weekend. We intend to have a blackboard on the side of Frenchs to give details on meetings etc.

Marilyn, Clive and Sarah in Faber Studios looking out on the Site of the 'Packet and Tripe' event. This building will partially host the ev+a 2010 exhibition.

Research with old friends - Frank Glynn Butchers

Frank Glynn is right back at the front line after our Sarsfield Bar adventure.
If you've been following our blog you'll know that Frank Glynn is the owner of the Sarsfield Bar/ Spirit Store and was the patron of our SpiritStore Art Cafe project.
Actually, more than a sponsor, Frank was involved throughout as an advisor and developer. Talking to him over the months of the project, about all sorts, we inevitably talked about the butcher business because he owns Frank Glynn's Butchers.

It's amazing how much we've learned about the meat industry in limerick because of conversations at his shop, in the Sarsfield Bar, or on the road. His knowledge of butchers craft, it's Limerick history, his love of the business, discernment and insistence on quality was an inspiration.

We've come to believe that Butchers are at the very heart of Limerick's food culture. The cuts and choices of meat are central to the culinary and social experience of many of Limerick city's people.

No wonder Limerick was called 'Pigtown'. A number of these conversations gave us the inspiration to serve Packet and Tripe at ev+a's opening day.

Marilyn with butcher, Ciaran in Frank Glynns Butchers near the milk market pricing an amount of meat for the 'Packet and Tripe' ev+a event. Ciaran gave his expert opinion on the weights and measures needed for the event.
Franks Butcher's shop is on Cornmarket row, call in and say hello!

Two events from SpiritStore at ev+a 2010

Marking the opening of ev+a 2010 - SpiritStore's, 'Packet and Tripe'
&
SpiritStore's, 'Catherine Street Culture Dig (CAT DIG)'

This year as part of SpiritStore's participation in ev+a 2010, the SpiritStore working art group are offering the Catherine Street Culture Dig (CAT DIG). Residents and traders of the street are participating with SpiritStore as hosts and instigators of a series of cultural events. To realise this weekly meetings are being held in various street venues to broker links between creative practitioners and the spaces and places offered by Catherine Street.The result will be a weekend of events - CAT DIG. The programme will include elements of experimental music, dance, theatre, workshops, performance, archeology, film projections, writing, puppetry, drawing clubs, twitter treasure hunts, digital installations, sound curiosities on the street all weekend, as well as many other events to be announced.The CAT DIG weekend will begin on Friday May 7th at 5.30 and finish at 5.30 on Sunday May 9th. Ongoing details of the project can be found on the SpiritStore Facebook and BLOG, as well as on a noticeboard outside Frenches Cafe. (www.spiritstorelimerick.blogspot.com)

To introduce SpiritStores’ ‘Catherine Street Cultural Dig’ and to mark the opening of ev+a 2010, we will be serving the traditional Limerick dish, ‘Packet and Tripe’.
We will serve the dish at the corner of Thomas St and Catherine Street, on Saturday March 13th at 6pm.It will be served free and accompanied by excerpts read from Mike Finn’s limerick play, ‘Pigtown’. At the same time a film of tales and times associated with the dish from a generation of Limerick women who continue to prepare and serve the meal for themselves and their families, will be screened in the space during the event.
The inspiration to present this unique Limerick recipe in this manner was in reference to the continuous presence in the city centre of family butchers, the social history of Limerick as a 'Pigtown' and of course the ever present meat processing tales of Catherine Street.