the towns we love so well

If you were intrigued by Joe Dolan mania in Mullingar and what this says about the midlands and the towns therein then you may be interested in scooting on over to Yellow Roman Candles for Eoin’s discussion on his own home county’s trials and tribulations.

The town he loved so well…

This weekend was Joe Dolan Celebration weekend in Mullingar, Westmeath. Yes,  it is hard to believe almost a year has passed since the untimely departure of, and I quote our esteemed Taoiseach here, a performer who “left the country and whole world a lasting musical legacy”.

What would Joe think? A life-size bronze statue? A Joe Dolan-special pizza in the chip shop beside his recording studio? Half-off boxes of poppers in the local head shop?

It’s easy to mock. Oh, so deliciously easy. Yet there remains the question of what kind of society, or community, immortalises a nationally famous popstar in bronze in the town square, dedicates a weekend to that person and, in the accompanying literature, asks that visitors wait around and enjoy the retail and leisure oppurtunities Mullingar has to offer, essentially using the deceased to generate business? When did the citizens of Mullingar sign up to be Graceland’s inferior twin?

Indeed it is the age of the celebrity. An age when singing about heroic deeds immortalises you as the hero and not the other way around.

I would’ve liked to go home for the weekend and gauge the reaction at street level. Apparently the town was “mental”, the streets were all pedestrianised and every flag was flying. In dark times – le recession of course – people cling to anything of light they can get their hands on. Perhaps Joe’s weekend of fun will lift the spirits of the Mullingar massive in the dark days of winter.

Walking through town on Friday I passed a member of the Dolan family. Looking at the collages in the windows, the old record collections on display and the posters adorning each wall, his companion said “I was just thinking how much he would enjoy this, how much he would love to be here”. And, I guess, for all of my cynicism I got my answer there and then.

Oh me, oh my.