They must be holding their collective breath in Havana, after - TopicsExpress



          

They must be holding their collective breath in Havana, after hearing Barack Obama announce from the White House that some of the sanctions the US imposed in 1959, especially in finance and travel, are to be eased. Also, planes will be allowed fly direct to Cuba, instead of having to stop off at Miami Airport In the pantheon of great Irish artists. Jim Fitpatrick does not sit with the chosen few. Nevertheless he can’t be shaded out of the picture, because his two-tone poster of Che Guevara is one of the few posters in the world that can truly be called iconic. And if that wasn’t enough of a credit, Fitzpatrick also created the iconic image of Phil Lynott, the lead singer with Thin Lizzy The Arts establishment tend to look down their noses and dismiss him as an artist who draws for “fantasy” books and comics. Fitzpatrick doesn’t care. He has a huge worldwide web and he is highlhighly ranked in his own discipline. To get the desired effect in the Che poster, in 1978, Fitzpatrick reversed-out a picture by a photographer of the time, Alex Corda. Fitzpatrick’s poster was an instant hit and now has become one of the all-time great posters, adorning the walls of innumerable bedrooms and bedsitters, worldwide. Recently, Derek Mooney’s heritage show unveiled a Belfast man who could trace his roots back to revolutionary Che Guevara. According to my Auntie May Greally, who researched our family tree, I can also trace my way to back to Ernesto ‘Che’Guevara de la Serna Lynch. Like Mandela, Che, the former terrorist, has mostly been given a posthumous clean bill of health, but he was no pushover as a revolutionary and had little hesitation in personally dispatching “civatos” and spies, without trial On Saturday, January 4th 1986, I was in a store on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village, New York, when I heard the news reader on the in-store radio say “and finally, British rockstar Philip Lynott, lead singer of the the band Thin Lizzy. died earlier today in a London hospital .” I was shocked. My friend Philo was dead..and worse than that, they had just sacreligiously announced him as “British.” If there was one thing Philo was fussy about, it was stating his sense of identity. “When I’m in England, I’m from Ireland, when I’m in Ireland I’m from Dublin , when I’m Dublin, I’m from Crumlin and when I’m in Crumlin, I’m from Leighlin Road.`’ The standing ovation was once a reward for something special. Now the mediocre get standing ovations and its worth has been further devalued by the dangerously cavalier way the word “icon`”is bandied about. It is a long way from being a celebrity to being an icon, but Phil Lynott managed it with ease. There weren’t many black people in Ireland when Philo was making his mark, so when artist Jim Fitzpatrick and Philo found one another, it was a match made in heaven. Philo had the long, spindly legs and the bush of black hair, with a bob falling over the front. Philo borrowed his early fashion from Dennis The Menace in The Dandy Comic and black and red hooped jumpers, featured a lot. Jim Fitzpatrick began to draw him and by the end of the Sixties he had done several brilliant pencil portraits of Philo, who had acquired a wardrobe of jackets and pants with a hint of military outfits about them. Phil also never lost his apt penchant for Cuban-heeled cowboy boots. Mooney’s heritage show claimed that Che came to Ireland three times. Wrong. He was only in Ireland twice. The first time his plane was diverted to Dublin because of fog. He was interviewed by RTE reporter Sean Egan, and gave nothing significant away about his Irish connection. He was setting out on a three month journey that would take him to Poland and several countries in Africa. In his last speech in Algiers in February 1965, Che criticized the Soviet Union for reneging on promises to supply machines they had promised, but more seriously he accused the Soviets of doing deals with capitalists. When he boarded the Bristol Brittania plane in Prague on March 14,th 1965, Che knew that he had overstepped the mark. This would be his last time to be welcomed home officially by Fidel Castro. The plane developed technical problems and Che was forced to overnight in Shannon. He was seen leaving Hanratty’s Hotel, but after that no one knows where he was, or what he did. Not even Jim Fitzpatrick. The 29 Vibe for Philo is on tomorrow night in Vicar Street. It has over the years become a great musical and social event. Smiley Bolger is the diamond geezer who has been making it happen for all these years and if you’re a Lizzy fan and have never been to the Vibe, get yourself down there tomorrow. Unmissable. Philo’s mother, his greatest fan. will preside over the evening with her usual grace and style. Philos fans from around the world drop in to visit Philomena at her house White Horses, in Sutton are treated with great kindness. She has Philo’s leather jacket and his bass, which she allows her guests to wear for photographs and then she shows them a documentary I made for Philo’s tenth anniversary in 1996. She must know it verbatim by now.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 16:04:36 +0000

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