We were in the kitchen having breakfast on a Saturday morning. The night before I had been out painting the town, ending up in Whites Barn dancing to Jack and the Jackpots, with the interior of my mouth coated in grease from the Chicken and Chips that came with the ticket. It was a way around the […]
I’m definitely wearing one of them bloody masks the next time I get on an airplane; I don’t care how stupid I look. I mean every time I get on a plane I catch something. Going over to Ireland, I caught a cold off the baby sitting next to me, and coming back I caught […]
Friday, December 28th: Green Acres, WexfordSunday, March 10th: The Saint, Asbury Park, NJSunday, March 17th: Joe’s Pub, New York, NY I’m going around here, where am I going? Nowhere! I’m just looking for a place to stop, a place to park. It’s Christmas time in Wexford and the town is swamped with cars and dogs and buskers and […]
Look, after a year of hurting and sometimes blurting, I just want to say to all my friends, no matter which side you’re on, you’re my friend and I still love you, and no matter what, if you’re my friend you probably love music, so let music be our language in unison, eventually we will […]
I’m back from County Clare, it’s four and a quarter hours from there to here. Bernard, who was hosting the gig in the old reformed school house in Maghera, warned me that there were several Maghera’s and that everyone gets lost looking for his place. This information put me into a bit of a panic, […]
I Have a friend who does a sock and a shoe, and a sock and a shoe. He was very annoyed when we all laughed at the idea, and I have to admit it’s a bit odd that we all thought it was so odd. It’s such a minor thing, isnt it? Who cares how anybody […]
Blown away in Brighton. I grew up by the sea, it lived across the road from us on the quay, upstairs in the sitting room with that blazing fire at my back, I often peeked past the curtains at its commotion. From my bedroom on the third floor the seagulls announced the dawn with their […]
Just got back from a couple of gigs in the West of Ireland. Hit Cork City, then drove south west to Ballydehob, or as I call it, Ballydequityourjob! ‘cos it seems like most people who live in this idyllic little haven have moved there with the wisdom of a Buddhist Monk. I am sure that […]
Yick, yick, yick, goes the Blackbird at the top of leafless Tree. I wonder why it is leafless? Clare say’s it’s dead. “Hmm, and yet it stands, way up high above all the living leaves, wonder why we don’t’ stand when we die?” I start to imagine the possibility. Where would we put […]
I was lying on the floor at the Gym, the Asser Levy, a public Gym, I like it because it’s cheap, and because normal people go there. No annoying music, and no perfect bodies preening themselves in the mirror. Was stretching away on the ground there, when a pair of huge flat feet went by […]
Photo taken at The Saint Asbury Park on Sunday March 11th 2018 (c) Kathleen Connally I haven’t got the time to write this really. I’m rushing out to have breakfast with my friend Una Johnson, who is dropping off in New York for a few days on her way back to Ireland. It’s snowing like […]
The front of my building. Manhattan in the 80’s Pierce Turner © 2018 Philip buzzed me in. Buzzers were a luxury then. Some of us had them, but they seldom worked. Most of us kept our keys in a thick, knotted sock. Outsiders would shout up at the window, and we would pitch the […]
January is a useless month, steeped in disease and misery. It’s a terrible month to start the year with. We should shift it and start with a different month. Maybe July? That’s a pretty good month to start the year with. Just imagine, you have a New Years Eve Party knowing that the next day, […]
Before I start-something urgent needs to be brought to your attention if you are in Ireland-On January 16th I will be at the National Concert Hall (JFR Room) what else could have to do on a Tuesday night? I want to see all the sausages there, or what is the point? book here https://www.nch.ie/Online/seatSelect.asp Life On […]
With Cillian Vallely and Fred Parcells at the 11th Street Bar last month in the East Village. Got the fire going, the shed is falling down, but there was half a bag of coal in there, went out there in the dark last night with the flashlight, the moon was at a quarter and […]
The National Concert Hall 2015- back to that beautiful chandelier room with the incredible Steinway Piano on January 16th, 2018-ideal Christmas present, to wipe away the January blues-for you’s. Tickets on sale now at the NCH. It’s a crazy morning in New York, I can feel the vibes in the air already. Walking in to […]
The first time that I came across a venue that didn’t pay its artists, was Sine over on St Marks Place. Shane, the owner, was an expert at socializing, at spreading his charisma. I had enough of a following to demand payment for a gig. But Shane had been building a name by getting all […]
The Little Greek Basil Plant. Clare takes the Greek Basil plant out of the car and apologizes to it, it’s been scrunched in the back seat behind me from Brighton to Pembroke Bay. She waters it and baby talks the plant in its pot. “I. ….sorry baby” Then resigned. “I want to […]
This photo taken in Cork on Thursday June 8th by Jens Uhl The first gig of this Irish Leg, Cork! Started off as sweater, and became a cracker. Good sweat though, Otis Redding sweat, […]
Pierce Turner Ensemble at Legends On Sunday April 23rd 5pm-at 6 W33rd St bet 6th and 7th Avenue. “Yesterday I took the C train up to West 96th Street” Pierce Turner (c)2017 As apathy and other forms of distraction take a hold on the majority of my already meagre size audience, I wonder if am […]
THE PERMIST © Pierce Turner 2017 I remember when there was a hairdresser in my hometown of Wexford called Tony Myler, who gave gorgeous perms, he was known far and wide to be a terrific Permist. And he had an assistant called Kate whom he had taught his technique to, and Kate was […]
2 Commercial Quay- continued. I looked out the window at the old black Anglia, silently parked on the quay by the tracks where the Boat train runs twice daily. It was a big old black thing that we had bought second hand for a hundred quid. It’s tall and long body gave it the […]
Tried to find an old photo from the shop, all I could find was this one which had been superimposed on the shot for Love Can’t Always be articulate-shop was cut out! but this was taken at that time. The lazy Saturday morning was split into pieces, by the rude screech of a breaking car […]
Flying back in the snow! We were flying over JFK in the snow, Dublin had been a hairy experience, sitting at the departure lounge with regular ding dongs and muffled PA announcements. “Flight mmmmm to New York is cancelled” “Which one did they say?” Clare, looking as worried as everyone else. “Fuck knows” The […]
My Father is the last one on the right, front row “Steven’s Preparing To Leave” Part 2 (Tom in the morning) © Pierce Turner 2017 The seagulls began the new day with their usual tiffing over slop from the Dutch coal boats , […]
Steven’s Preparing To Leave” (Had to cut this into 2 parts) Part 1 Why beat around the bush, when you can go right through it? Of course if you go around it, there would be less damage to it, and if you go through it you get to the other side quicker. My father […]
I always wanted a toilet in the kitchen Six days before my gig in Glasgow last week I came to the realisation that my voice was not ticketyboo (English term for not right) I had gotten through the Christmas bronchitis […]
The Tron Theatre Glasgow Friday January 20th, 2017-The Celtic Connections Festival Communication was a major problem for me when I came to America first – especially on the phone. My friend and roommate Bob Schwenk from Bay Ridge always found it hilarious when he witnessed my desperate […]
It was a cold lonely feeling, to get dropped off on a rainy Monday in January at the tall wall of Rosslare Harbour by my Sister Bernie, and her Husband Dave. It was good of them to take us there, but we had already said goodbye to everyone and now we just wanted to pursue […]
This is Not the Renault 5, an Austin I think from the 50’s or 60’s? I’m not complaining or anything, maybe the amount of odd things that have happened to me concerning cars are just par for the course after several years of involvement with the four rubbered buggers. However the following is one of […]
Come to Glasgow’s Celtic Connection Festival on Jan 20th – first time I’ve played there in years. http://www.celticconnections.com/events/Pages/event.aspx?ev=d19ab5be-59e5-4789-90f7-a6a601314b39 Seamus Ennis Centre Naul, Fingle Co Dublin Sat Dec 4th last Gig this tour. Fergus’s Tractor and the Christmas Geese. It was Christmas 1988, I had flown from New York to London to do a photo […]
I confess to have slipped of late, slipped into a kind of slothery called TV. It all began in earnest about six weeks ago with a suspicious sneeze. I began to analyze its source; did a mere dust mote travel to my sinuses? Or had I finally succumbed to the cold that Clare had harbored […]
The mood was jubilant driving away from Coughlans of Cork on Thursday night. The gig had been sold out and extra stools had to be employed to make use of every nook and cranny, getting on stage was even a maneuver, getting off was even harder. The atmosphere was magic and I could’ve sung any […]
St Iberius Wexford Dec 3rd 2016 with the Irish Ensemble: Mick Egan in the front, behind him Paula Cox, on my other side Garvan Gallagher, and up overhead on the organ, facing us Josh Johnston. My legs were stretched out as far as they could possibly go landing smack bang before the heart of the […]
Camille and Pierce singing “More” Mike’s cat sleeps in the back of his car, he parks it around the back of his house somewhere down around Rathangan in Co Wexford. He was having a cup of tea on our sofa when he relayed the story about his new car and the cat in his thick […]
Christmas In Ireland “What do you fancy for dinner?” “I dunno” I was hunched over the piano warming down my voice after rehearsing with Paula Cox and Mick Egan, a bit miserable I was; nursing the latter half of a stinking cold. Clare was half way out the door, and was fed up making decisions […]
“It’s come to the end of the season; everyone’s brooding or teething” This is a line from You Are Leaving, a so-far unheralded track from Love Can’t Always Be Articulate. It’s a favourite of mine: of course it may be favoured by others out there too, sometimes no one speaks out loud, sometimes a song […]
I’m on Temperature Control It’s Tuesday morning; late with the Monday morning milk, again! Last night we went to a fancy pizza place with our friends Paul and Niamh who were visiting from Dublin. I knew we were in trouble right away because the double doors were wide open at the entrance, I knew it […]
This story The Mender is intended for my book whenever it comes to be. I posted it on Facebook once and found out that a lot of my friends were equipment menders themselves. I had ended with some kind of negative comment about the character in the shop. Many people stood up for him, and […]
Bernard possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of Opera The first time I became aware of Bernard was at the Wexford Railway station one early January when I was seeing a New York friend off, heading to America via London. It was a hectic scene, with lots of bags, heavy overcoats, babies crying and sad goodbye-ing. My […]
(Please let me know that you are out there, make a short comment, it can get lonely otherwise. And thanks for an amazing gig at Joe’s Pub). My oldest sister Delores gave me this photo of the Wexford Fire Brigade for my birthday, it’s an unusual one that I had never seen before, my […]
Thursday morning 11:07 it’s 85 degrees and 90% humidity, not sure if we should open the windows or keep them closed. We’ve had the AC on all night in the back of the house where the bedroom is, and it’s nice and cool, but we don’t want to live in AC all day with the […]
Joe’s Pub Thursday July 21st at 7pm The Pierce Turner Ensemble http://publictheater.org/Tickets/Calendar/PlayDetailsCollection/Joes-Pub/2016/P/Pierce-Turner-Ensemble/ It’s Monday July 4th, it hasn’t been an easy week up till now. The previous Sunday June 26th was a wondrous day at the Sheen Theatre on Bleeker Street in the Village. The author Joseph O’Connor had invited us to perform at the Angela’s […]
I am back in NYC getting ready for the Frank McCourt 20th Anniversary show this Sunday at the Sheen Centre in Manhattan (sold out) it’s a new Theatre on Bleeker Street. Having just spent a lot of time waiting in airports, I found myself noticing the effect of it and wondering if there is […]
The weather man on Channel 2 is a red haired fella with black horn-rimmed glasses. He’s a dapper little fella and always makes a crack pertaining to the previous news announcement from the charming presenters on the morning show. He is introduced with such regularity; it would be impossible for him to not be annoying. […]
Why do they keep the pepper off in a sacred place? They make such a big deal out of it. The table has a little white porcelain holder with sachets of brown sugar, white sugar, fake sugar – two different types of fake sugar actually, and salt, and of course ominous in its absence, the […]
The flu came on Friday afternoon, my sister Bernie and her son Gareth arrived in New York on Sunday afternoon. We planned to prepare a nice Sunday roast for them as a New York welcoming. But I was a pale version of myself that day, the shivering had ceased, and the muscle pains, but I […]
The house is creaking like an old ship; I hear a woman’s voice that I don’t recognize in the apartment up above, she is talking to a higher-pitched male voice than the usual tenant who lives there. Could it be Airbnb or just visitors from out of town? It’s definitely someone who is experiencing new […]
Last night I had a dream. I had a dream last night that I wrote the perfect hit song. I was able to look at it objectively and decide that it had all the necessary content to be a hit. It had a catchy melody, but not obvious, it twisted slightly just when you thought […]
I may be digressing, or maybe this is progression. One time I played five times a week, and had a team of roadies to set up my gear, all I had to do was get in and out of the bus. They even strung my guitar. And all the rehearsal and preparation was to perform […]
The blog, the blog, jays I nearly forgot about the blog. I’ve been watching the Oscars all night, the back of my head is embedded into this cushion, it’s not comfortable, and it hasn’t been all night for some reason. And yet I insist on continuing watching and keeping away from the computer. I swore […]
We started minding dogs through a website that offers boarding jobs for animals. At first we did it for the extra dosh, but right away we realized that it would be good for us as an animal fix too. But nine times out of ten when a dog is offered to us, we are unable […]
We went to our favourite restaurant in the village the other night. Our friend Chris came down from Westchester for his birthday and we went together to Pylos over on 7th Street to celebrate it. Pylos serves gourmet Greek food, the kind of Mediterranean food that they say makes you live longer. It’s the kind […]
That evening I told Clare about what happened, and she was sympathetic, seeing that I was plainly upset. She had no answer however, and was just as confused as me, and surprised. I found myself searching through our recent encounters, looking for instances when I might have accidently blanked him during a walking daydream, or […]
A French photographer that had been looking at me said it was magnificent and wondered could he come by the next day and photograph me in front of it. I still have the photo; I’ll rummage around for it (as you can see I found it). What fascinated Henry and I was that the plan […]
Today New York has been hushed by a blanket of virgin snow – this beehive city is slowed to the gait of a polar bear – and we are forced to make our hyper bodies halt beneath a blanket and just wait it out. Not sure why I need to write this blog, am I […]
There was a sing song of Bowie’s songs in Union Square on Friday night – a young attractive crowd seemed to know every word. David Bowie is dead, and New York is reeling. Bowie’s effect on the city was similar to that of the writer-performer Quentin Crisp – another transported Englishman of note – but […]
1916 Down rising, and then up Rise (photo of Pier A that night) The black waves are crashing against the jetty, far off and silent. I’m reminded of my childhood when we lived on the quay opposite the New Bridge in Wexford. Ferocious nights when the wind spat the wooden works up like matchsticks, and […]
So my dear ones, if I say Happy New Year, will that have any effect on you really? Probably not. Why? Maybe because it will not actually affect your coming year. All I can really affect is this moment here and now, because you are reading this I presume. Here is a meditation that you […]
Outside my window down below on First Avenue – the buses squeal to a halt, the cars whoosh past, children scream, sirens Nee-Naw on the way to Beth Israel Hospital just up the road, a lot of noise! Noise that mostly goes unnoticed. Then in the middle of it I heard a guy say loudly […]
I still miss Santa Christmas is here! It’s not coming … it’s here. I have felt it, but still wasn’t aware of its approach. On Thanksgiving we went to my wife Clare’s cousin in Philadelphia, and while we stood in line in the overland train station, we were subject to a long litany of mournful, […]
Is being the best all there is? And if so, being the best at what? Being the best at winning whatever game it is that you play? Or being the best at living? If you are Novak Djokovic and you are the best at tennis, you will be rewarded with trophies, worldwide recognition of your […]
“So have you seen that movie yet?” “Which one?” “The one with all the terrific Irish brogues in it, Brooklyn” “No, but I’m planning to go, some of it was shot in my home town, I’ve seen the ads and they show a scene with the […]
It was a common enough occurrence to see the artist Quentin Crisp strolling along the street in the East Village. You knew with absolute certainty that he would say hello to you, even though he didn’t know you from a hole in the wall. It was easy to spot him way off ahead even with […]
The readout on the colourful dashboard read 110 rpm and I had the level up to 12 where it usually is. I was cycling at what seemed to be full pelt and took a moment to observe my own sincerity. Then, looking over at my neighbour’s bike to see what he was doing, his rpm […]
This is a crazy city, every year it just gets crazier. In the 80s it was crazy dirty, drugs everywhere, lawlessness like the wild west. I remember wincing in the back of a taxi, stopped at the light on the corner of 12th and 1st Ave, there was a small popping sound that projected a […]
Today I decided it was time to find out more about Novak. He was standing in the sun on the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue just across from the new post office. My zip code is 10009 and unfortunately for me, that means I am married to this particular post office – it has […]
It’s 12:46 on Thursday morning, I am sitting on the futon by the window next to First Avenue. Outside somewhere, a saxophone is playing, wailing away endlessly to the accompaniment of a piano. It has the celebratory feel of the Saturday Night Live finale, when the whole cast stands on the stage waving at the […]
I’ve been living in the East Village now for the better part of my life. And yet I know very few people by name from this neighborhood. Still, I do … know them. Here, I have seen teenagers grow up into adults and then disappear; businesses that were around from the turn of the century […]