David Gray
One of the success stories of the year – if you like fairly standard guitar-toting singer/songwriters.
Crutchmaster
Crutchmaster is the moniker used by performance artist Bill Shannon, whose conceptions of dance and spatial relationships have been informed by his work as a hip-hop artist and street performer. Crutch’s latest work is ‘Spatial Theory’, which will receive its’ DC première in this weekend set. Shannon use of crutches isn’t entirely a prop – he contracted Legg-Calf Perthese disease as a child and spent several years walking with them, which has deeply influenced his disjointed and awkwardly beautiful routines.
Brunch at Momoyama
Weekend brunch seems to be all the rage these days in Florence, and although you’d be hard pushed to find anything as good as what’s available in Britain or the US, there are some interesting options on offer. Momoyama is a trendy Oltrarno restaurant that serves Japanese and ‘inventive’ food. Sunday brunch there is based on natural, healthy ingredients plus sushi. Hot and cold dishes are prepared using cereals, organic vegetables and fruit, tofu, seitan and other products, carefully sourced from small producers.
Pelaez
Pleasantly scruffy beside its snootier Salamanca neighbours, Vinos & Licores Pelaez celebrated 50 years in the business in 1998 and is still going strong. The front part has a few little tables and chairs, high ceilings and two doors opening onto the street, giving a feeling of space. It is decorated with tiles and above that with a jumble of ceramic plates, swords, duelling pistols and old photos. Out back they serve up excellent ‘raciones’ and ‘tapas’ of all types.
Voodoo
Fun Lovin’ Criminals Huey wasn’t content with opening a restaurant in London, he’s now teamed up with New Yorker David Doran (owner of the Temple Bar venue Eamon Dorans) to bring us Voodoo. Based near Smithfield, Voodoo tries to run with a mellow atmosphere and while Dublin was hardly in need of yet another new ‘hip and happening’ venue, it’s no bad addition to the weekend club scene. Listen out for regular DJs Alan Cavanagh, Liz Meade and Ian O’Leary.
