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News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)
November 21, 2004
News 11/21/04 - The Clegg Defense
News about Ireland & the Irish
SL 11/21/04 The Clegg Defence
SL 11/21/04 Raymond McCord: UVF Must Apologise
SL 11/21/04 Feud Exile Mother On Fake Bomb Charge
SL 11/21/04 Loyalists Outlaw Sale Of Rape Drug
SL 11/21/04 Straight Talking: UDA To Keep Cash In Hand Rackets!
SL 11/21/04 Straight Talking: It's Still Not A Done Deal...
SL 11/21/04 Sunday Life Comment: IRA Must End Spying Game
BB 11/21/04 Cathedral Marks Bomb Anniversary -V
UT 11/21/04 Young People 'Don't Feel Safe' On Irish Streets
IO 11/21/04 Half Of Irish Against Gay Marriage - Poll
SL 11/21/04 Belfast's Churchill House: Blast Hurrah!
SL 11/21/04 Author's Tribute To RUC
SB 11/21/04 U2's Web Of Rock And Royalties
SB 11/21/04 Corrs' Company Profits Drop 90%
CN 11/21/04 Irish Crush The US: Ireland 56-6 USA
UT 11/21/04 Bewleys Meeting Is 'Positive'
PD 11/21/04 Book: Irish Rebel On Crime Road In America
******************************************
The Clegg Defence
Armed UK cops in disputed shootings may use joyride death Para case
as rebuttal...
By Stephen Breen
21 November 2004
THE controversial case of paratrooper Lee Clegg could be used as a
legal defence by armed cops accused of disputed shootings in the
line of duty.
The soldier, from Bradford, was convicted in 1993 of murdering
joyrider Karen Reilly, and served two years in prison before his
conviction was quashed following a retrial.
The young west Belfastwoman died along with a pal, Martin Peake,
when soldiers fired 19 bullets into a stolen car at Upper Glen Road
in 1990. Clegg later won his appeal against conviction for wounding
Mr Peake.
Clegg's case was reviewed by both the Court of Appeal and the House
of Lords, before they said the law should be reformed so "agents of
the state" could claim they were acting in self-defence if a member
of the public was killed or wounded.
The Law Lords also recommended reforms so officers could show they
used excessive force only to prevent harm to the public.
The Home Office is currently considering plans to charge officers
who kill members of the public in controversial circumstances with
the lesser offence of manslaughter.
This comes after armed cops in England went on strike for a short
period, after two of their colleagues were disciplined for shooting
a man who they believed was carrying a sawn- off shotgun - it was
actually the leg of a table.
But Claire Reilly - chairwoman of the Belfast-based Relatives for
Justice group - yesterday hit out at the plans. She claimed: "I
don't think these plans will make any difference here, because the
law has always worked to the advantage of the security forces.
"Our group has spoken to Karen Reilly's family about this, but they
don't want to say anything because the name Lee Clegg has caused
them immense pain over the years.
"Even if an officer was convicted of manslaughter, they would still
end up only serving a short sentence because of what their job is."
Added Ms Reilly: "There is nothing to indicate that if the charge
of manslaughter was available in respect of 'State killings', that
families would secure truth and justice in respect of the murder of
their loved ones.
"Families have been denied justice for the last 30 years of
conflict. The security forces are trained to deal with life and
death situations.
"They are armed by the State and have a duty of care. If anything,
there should be a higher threshold for the use of lethal force."
However, the plans were welcomed by North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds.
Mr Dodds - a barrister - said: "If a member of the security forces
has to use excessive force to protect others and themselves, then
the law should rightfully recognise this."
******************************************
UVF Must Apologise
What victim's dad told Ervine in first meeting between two
By Stephen Breen
21 November 2004
THE dad of a UVF murder victim last night slammed the terror group
for embarking on a 'consultation process' among its members.
Outraged Raymond McCord - whose son, Raymond jnr, was beaten to
death seven years ago - said the organisation would do better to
meet its victims.
Senior loyalist sources told Sunday Life the UVF is to step up
meetings with its rank-and-file about the group's future plans.
The determined dad spoke to us after he confirmed he had held a
secret meeting with PUP chief David Ervine, to discuss his son's
brutal killing.
Mr McCord has consistently claimed the murder was carried out on
the orders of a Special Branch informer within the UVF.
Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan is currently investigating the police
inquiry into the murder, giving the Newtownabbey man hope that his
family will finally receive justice.
Mr McCord had initially requested a meeting with the UVF's so-
called 'chief of staff' - but his request was rejected.
In the seven years since the killing, no one from the UVF-linked
PUP had met with Mr McCord, despite repeated requests.
Although he described the meeting with Mr Ervine as "positive", he
hit out at the UVF leader's rebuff.
Said Mr McCord: "He would not see me, because he doesn't want to
answer the questions I would have put to him.
"Just like the man who ordered my son's death, I think this leader
has also been a high-level informer over the years, and he knows I
would have no problem in confronting him about this.
"As I've said before, I don't want the people who murdered my son
to be executed - I just think they should be expelled from the
organisation.
"If the UVF does decide to go out of business, then they should
apologise for the innocent people they have murdered since their
1994 ceasefire.
"My meeting with David Ervine was positive, and I've no doubt, one
day, my family will get justice for the murder of my son."
In a separate development, the son of the UVF's 'chief of staff'
was assaulted during a Remembrance Day Parade, in the Shankill last
Sunday.
Senior sources told us the man was involved in a bloody fist-fight,
after he was accused of being a "cokehead" by the son of another
leading loyalist.
******************************************
Feud Exile Mother On Fake Bomb Charge
By Stephen Breen
21 November 2004
THE partner of one of Ulster's 'Bolton Wanderers' has been charged
with planting a fake bomb on her own doorstep.
Kathryn Kidd, who fled the Shankill after Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair's
violent feud with the UDA, is also accused of making a hoax phone
call, and of wasting police time.
The mother-of-six appeared at Bolton Magistrates' Court earlier
this month, just a few days after a suspect package was discovered
outside her home.
Bomb disposal experts were called after she raised the alarm.
Although cops initially feared the home had been targeted by the
UDA, it later emerged the device had been made from fireworks.
Cops then looked at the theory that the hoax bomb may have been a
prank by local kids, who are known to have been involved in
disputes with the Shankill exiles.
A spokeswoman for Bolton police said it didn't believe the incident
was linked to the UDA feud.
There have been a number of attacks on Adair's supporters since
they fled Belfast - the most serious being a car bomb, left outside
the home of 'Fat Jackie' Thompson.
Cops fear there could be more attacks in the area if Adair decides
to set up home in Greater Manchester, when he is released from
prison in mid-January.
Although Adair has previously warned he would go back to his old
stomping ground in the Shankill, it is now understood he will care
for his cancer-stricken wife Gina in England.
******************************************
Loyalists Outlaw Sale Of Rape Drug
By Sunday Life Reporter
21 November 2004
LOYALIST paramilitaries in Co Down have ordered a crackdown on the
sale of a date-rape drug.
The UDA has issued a warning to dealers to quit selling the drug -
or face the consequences.
Dealers who have been peddling cocaine have also been warned that
they are to stop.
The loyalist terror group brought in enforcers from another area,
to hammer home their message in one Co Down town.
It followed complaints from parents that cocaine, and a form of the
date-rape drug, Rohypnol, were freely available.
Warnings have also been daubed on walls in the area.
One loyalist source claimed it was the ready availability of the
date-rape drug that prompted action.
Said the source: "There is no evidence that it was being used for
drug-assisted rapes.
"But it does seem it was being sold as an 'upper' in small doses.
Added the source: "Given the announcement last weekend, we've made
it clear that it must stop - and stop now."
******************************************
Straight Talking: UDA To Keep Cash In Hand Rackets!
By Lynda Gilby
21 November 2004
REMEMBER the Assets Recovery Agency? Remember how it was set up to
fearlessly confiscate the ill-gotten gains of criminals and
racketeers?
Well, the odds are that the agency will now be added to the list of
expensive, Government-funded, white elephants, which litter our
recent political history.
If the NIO has its way, the odds are that those employed by the
agency will now be sitting at their desks, with their thumbs firmly
in their bums, for the foreseeable future.
You may recall that prominent members of the UDA took tea and
bickies with the Secretary of State, last week.
Like you, not being a fly on the wall, I have been dependent upon
Press reports for an account of what transpired.
Shortly afterwards, the UDA declared an end to their paramilitary
activities - a welcome announcement by anybody's standards.
What they did not declare however, was an avowed determination to
cease all CRIMINAL activities.
One of the Press reports I read maintained that the UDA
representatives had promised Paul Murphy to put an end to
racketeering... and if you believe that they will, then I hope you
will remember to leave a mince pie and a glass of port out for
Santa, on Christmas Eve.
Whether or not the UDA promised to stop their criminal behaviour
and if so, whether or not they indeed do so, is not the point at
issue.
The point really is: in this present climate, can you seriously see
our political masters giving the ARA the green light to swoop on
any of the UDA major players?
Or, any of the IRA ones, for that matter.
Can you see criminals, living lavish lifestyles with no visible
means of support, being called to account?
Can you see the political apple cart being overturned, so that the
perpetrators of organised crime can be brought to justice?
Neither can I.
If you and I HAD been flies on the wall, at that cosy little chat,
would we have witnessed an NIO nod and a wink, to call the
financial dogs off, in exchange for a cease- fire?
It's anybody's guess, but I know what mine is.
******************************************
Straight Talking: It's Still Not A Done Deal...
By Lynda Gilby
21 November 2004
LOOK, don't hold your breath. Admit it, the only two parties that
matter in all this, the DUP and Sinn Fein, both seem keen to close
a deal.
But, even if they succeed, and even if devolution is restored next
year, I give it 18 months, tops, before the whole shebang
disintegrates again.
The reason is simple.
The negotiating warhorses of the DUP, with the scent of power in
their nostrils, are displaying more political nous than many
people, including me, gave them credit for.
And they may well, for all I know, succeed in forging a deal.
But, as we learned to our cost from the Good Friday Agreement,
deals do not change mindsets.
No matter how the DUP may trumpet triumph, in having secured a fair
deal for unionists, when it comes to the bit of watching Sinn Fein
ministers exercising power, this will stick in the craw of vast
numbers of DUP supporters.
No matter that, under the new proposals, the DUP will be able to
veto Sinn Fein ministerial appointments, preventing, for example,
Martin McGuinness from becoming Minister for Education again, they
will still have to allow Sinn Fein to appoint ministers of some
description.
The DUP are now, as Gipsy Rose Gilby predicted, in precisely the
same position the Official Unionist occupied before the Good Friday
Agreement.
They, too, if we remember, were trumpeting triumph at having
secured the future of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom,
having accomplished the enormous coup of getting southern
territorial claims to the north removed from their constitution.
There are already rumours of a rift in the DUP lute.
Rumours of a sizeable right-wing being dragged unwillingly behind
the modernisers and negotiators.
Ring a bell?
We live in interesting times.
******************************************
Sunday Life Comment: IRA Must End Spying Game
21 November 2004
DETAILS of yet another IRA spy ring, have sent shockwaves through
the political system.
As the politicians on this side of the border edge ever closer to a
deal, the last thing they needed were revelations of IRA spies
targeting Dublin government ministers and criminals.
The only upside in the whole wretched affair for Unionists, is that
the spy ring was uncovered in 2002, and culminated in a court case
last week.
Conspiracy theorists will - with some justification - ask why the
legal proceedings took so long.
And why the trial was finally heard - as a Stormont deal was being
finalised.
The whole episode underlines, once again, the need for all
paramilitaries to bury their past.
They cannot, on the one hand, say they embrace the democratic
process while, on the other, continue to run private armies.
That's the one sure way to torpedo any hopes for a fresh, new
political start.
It is not the first time the IRA have been caught red-handed, in
the spying game - but it has to be the last, if a truly peaceful
future is to be secured for all our citizens.
******************************************
See Video at:
----
Cathedral Marks Bomb Anniversary -V
St Philips Cathedral in Birmingham will be the focus of ceremonies
to mark the 30th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings on
Sunday.
The Lord Mayor of Birmingham will lead all sections of the
community as they remember the 21 people who died in the city
centre attacks in 1974.
Over the years the IRA has come under pressure to apologise for the
bombings which left 182 people injured.
Last week, Sinn Fein admitted they were wrong and should not have
happened.
A party spokesman said that if there were issues relating to the
IRA still to be addressed over the bombings, then this should
happen.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/11/21 09:20:55 GMT
(c) BBC MMIV
******************************************
Young People 'Don't Feel Safe' On Irish Streets
A total of 74 per cent of young people say they do not feel safe on
Irish streets.
A poll in this morning`s Sunday Independent shows that two thirds
of 18 to 24 year olds are seriously concerned about the growing
level of crime and violence.
******************************************
Half Of Irish Against Gay Marriage - Poll
21/11/2004 - 12:24:52
A Millward Brown IMS poll has shown that half of voters are against
gay marriages being allowed in Ireland.
40% are in favour of having marriage rights for same sex couples,
while 11% are undecided.
Voters were questioned just days after the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
said he wanted gay couples in established relationships to have
equal legal rights in matters like tax and inheritance.
******************************************
Blast Hurrah!
Going down a bomb today, that's Churchill House
By Ciaran McGuigan
21 November 2004
TEN thousand tons of rubble will come crashing down when a series
of explosions are set off at Churchill House this morning.
Hundreds of people are expected to gather to watch the 215ft-tall
building spectacularly disappear from the Belfast skyline, to make
way for the Victoria Centre Development - due to open in three
years' time.
A whopping 2,500 individual charges - a total of about 90 kilos of
explosives - will be staggered to bring down the building on the
spot, and away from nearby properties.
The implosion will be handled by the Controlled Demolition Group
(CDG), which has only a matter of metres to bring the building
down, without hitting neighbouring properties.
The nearest properties - shops which open onto William Street South
- are just 10 metres away at the closest point.
Also within striking distance for stray debris is the newly re-
built Kitchen Bar.
Said CDG explosives expert, Dick Green: "When we first came on
site, the building was situated about one metre from the next
building.
"We have extended that gap to about 10 metres by taking some of the
building down.
"But it is important that we throw the building away from the ones
we are trying to protect. We do that by delaying the charges, from
one end to the other.
"At one end we start with instantaneous charges, and over two
seconds we will delay it through the building so it pulls the right
way."
Churchill House - the third tallest building on the Belfast skyline
- was built in the 1960s, and has housed British Telecom and
Government staff.
CDG is no stranger to spectacular demolition's.
The same company was drafted in by Hollywood director Tony Scott to
work on his thriller, Spy Game.
The film, starring Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, included scenes in
which half an apartment block was blown down by a suicide bomber.
******************************************
Author's Tribute To RUC
By Sinead McCavana
21 November 2004
A NEW bombshell book charting the RUC's turbulent history is due to
be published next week.
The Thin Green Line details how an ordinary bobby was transformed
into a terrorist-fighting machine.
Author, Londonderry man Richard Doherty, says the 250-page hardback
"is an attempt to reflect what life was like for members of the RUC
during the force's existence and to demonstrate how important the
force was to Northern Ireland".
Mr Doherty says the book is also a tribute to the officers who
served in the RUC, "especially those who gave their lives between
1922 and 2000".
In his foreword, Mr Doherty tells how he personally knew many RUC
officers over the past four decades.
"Sadly, I have also attended the funerals of too many friends who
had the courage to wear the green uniform, and who paid with their
lives for that courage.
"Their memory deserves more than the criticism hurled at them from
too many quarters, and I hope that this book will go some way
towards righting that wrong."
The Thin Green Line, published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd, is
available from December 2, priced £25.
******************************************
U2's Web Of Rock And Royalties
21/11/04 00:00
By Ian Kehoe
Accounts for Not Us, the holding company for the U2 corporate
vehicle, show a firm with debts of more than Â18.5million.
Fortunately for the biggest band in rock music today, it happens to
own most of the companies owed money by Not Us.
Such is the complex nature of U2's finances. The accounts for last
year, which were filed last week, reveal a complicated web of
subsidiaries, trusts and inter-company loans. Large sums of money
flow between 19 corporate entities, most of which posted a loss in
the 2003 fiscal year.
"U2 is more like a major industrial corporation than a music
group," said one accountant. "Like any corporation, it will have
profitable units and it will have loss-making units. The difference
with a band is that it can't simply jettison the loss-making units.
It is a package."
The band is far from loss-making, and will generate huge sums of
money in the coming year.LastFriday,U2 released their 11th studio
album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, while their song, Vertigo,
was sitting at the top of the British singles chart.
According to industry sources, bands are paid in three stages -
first, when the group signs up to record an album; secondly, when
the recording is completed; and finally when the album goes on
sale. U2 reached the final payment and will also receive royalties,
depending on its success.
Next year, the Dublin four-piece will embark on another money-
spinning tour. The band's most recent tour, Elevation, was one of
the most profitable in rock history.
According to the accounts, Not Us owed Thengel, another company
controlled by the band, more than Â8.8 million. The money is
interest free and will not be sought "in the foreseeable future'',
the accounts say.
A further Â9.6millionwas due to a collection of subsidiaries.
Straypass, a company which was set up to run a concert tour, was
due Â2.6 million from the holding company.
U2 Limited, which manufactures master tapes, was owed more than
Â4.7 million.
Not Us, like all Irish small companies, is only required to publish
abridged accounts. As such, they provide a limited understanding of
the band's finances and do not contain details of income and
expenditure.
"It probably suits the band to have so many subsidiaries," said
Suzanne Kelly, a leading tax lawyer.
"Different elements of the business are taxed at different rates.
For example, they would not have to pay tax on the royalties from
songwriting, due to the artists' exemption.
"However, they would have to pay tax on profits from merchandising
or from sponsorship. It is a very complex area and the accounts
would reflect this."
Industry sources said that much of U2's wealth came from
songwriting and was therefore exempt from tax, as creative artists
do not pay tax on their royalties. Furthermore, most of the band's
companies did not have to pay corporation tax on profits, as most
of them made a loss.
The accounts do not reveal how much the band paid in tax. However,
Â110,000was due to the Revenue Commissioners at the end of 2003,
according to the accounts.
"It is a case of attributing expenditure so that it matches your
income," said Kelly. "That is the key to limiting tax liability in
any business. If you don't make a profit, you can't pay tax on it.
"But it is not simply a case of making sure you don't make a profit
by transferring money elsewhere.
"You will have to pay tax on money you take from the company."
The accounts show U2 has two separate trusts, a defined pension
vehicle called the Princus Investment Trust and the U2 Partnership
Trust. Neither is obliged to file accounts.
"U2 have a number of different interests and probably want to ring
fence those," said one industry figure. "The music industry is
cyclical.
You have years where you make a lot of money through concerts or
promotions. Alternatively, you have years when you are not really
doing much aside from writing music."
A separate set of accounts for Brushfield, the holding company for
the Clarence Hotel, which is owned by Bono, The Edge and Dublin
businessman Harry Crosbie, show that the hotel made a pre-tax loss
of Â302,000 for the year ending December 31, 2003.
The hotel closed the year with accumulated losses of more than
Â11.2 million.
The hotel increased its turnover from Â13.4 million in 2002 to
Â14.9 million last year. Despite its retained losses, it had Â9.7
million in the bank at the end of the year, according to the
accounts.
******************************************
Corrs' Company Profits Drop 90%
21/11/04 00:00
By Simon Carswell and Ian Kehoe
The Corrs, the family band from Dundalk, Co Louth, saw retained
profits at their Dublin company, Coppice, fall by 90 per cent last
year to just Â39,800.
The band, which has had hits such as Runaway, Radio, Breathless and
So Young, finished the 2003 financial year with Â18,600 in
Coppice's bank account, under half the previous year's figure,
according to accounts just filed.
Debtors fell fromÂ1.1million at the end of December 2002 to
Â592,000 at the end of the following year, the accounts state.
During the year, Coppice charged a subsidiary company, Coppice
International Management, Â213,400 for "administrative services''.
Coppice was owed Â209,000 by the subsidiary at the end of the year.
Band members Jim Corr and his sisters Sharon, Caroline and Andrea,
as well as the group's manager, John Hughes, are listed as
directors of Coppice.
The band released their fourth album, Borrowed Heaven, earlier this
year after a two-year break from the business.
Angel, the first single from the album, reached number 16 in the
British charts.
The group, which has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide,
recently toured Britain. However, they were without drummer
Caroline, who had a baby last month.
Lead singer Andrea is set to appear in an Irish film called The
Boys From County Clare, which is due for release in March of next
year.
******************************************
Irish Crush The US
Nov 21 2004
Wales on Sunday
Ireland 56-6 USA
ULSTER wing Tommy Bowe scored a debut try as Ireland gradually
ground down the US Eagles' resistance at Lansdowne Road, claiming
six of their seven tries in the second half.
Bowe's provincial colleague David Humphreys also added 20 points
from his nine successes with the boot to break through the 500-
point mark.
Starting the day on 491 points, he converted efforts from Bowe and
man of the match Eric Miller in the first half and Geordan Murphy
(2), Marcus Horan, Frankie Sheahan and Peter Stringer tries in the
second.
The Americans, only seven points down at the interval, scored just
two penalties from the boot of fly-half Mike Hercus, but tired
nearing the hour mark due to a four-month lay-off.
But Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan described his side's win as "a
tough day at the office."
Argentina, surprise 24-14 victors over France, visit Dublin on
Saturday and O'Sullivan knows a long, hard week lies ahead.
"Without doubt, taking on the Pumas will not be easy," he said.
"We have a bit of a history with them in recent years and it will
be a tough test of our progress."
Whether it will be Ronan O'Gara lining out in direct opposition to
Leinster's South American import Felipe Contepomi this weekend is
another thing, but Humphreys' 20-point haul against the Americans
did make an impression.
Ulster veteran Humphreys said: "It took us a while to get going
certainly - but we played some good stuff in the second half."
******************************************
Bewleys Meeting Is 'Positive'
A meeting in the Mansion house in Dublin about the future of
Bewleys cafes has ended on a promising note.
The meeting which was hosted by the Save Bewleys Cafe group was
held in order to discover just how much suport the campaign has.
Spokesperson for the group Damien Cassidy says the meeting allowed
them comeup with ideas that might save the historic cafes.
******************************************
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/110086053940890.xml
Book: Irish Rebel On Crime Road In America
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Allen Barra
Special to The Plain Dealer
James Joyce liked to boast that if Dublin were some how destroyed,
it could be reconstructed from the pages of "Ulysses." For the
seamy underside, though - the city's sewers, basements, back alleys
and docks - Roddy Doyle would have to be consulted.
In his 1999 novel, "A Star Called Henry," Doyle's protagonist,
Henry Smart, escapes the British by fleeing to the sewers after the
Easter Uprising of 1916. Keeping one step ahead of the Brits, Henry
surfaces a year later to find that he has become a folk hero. Now,
in the sequel, "Oh, Play That Thing," Henry is on the wrong side of
the civil war. He does what Irish renegades throughout history have
done and leaves Ireland for America.
For an immigrant, America in the 1920s is a cornucopia of dangerous
fruit: booze, sex and, most exhilarating of all, jazz. "It was
America," Henry muses, "not just the U.S.A. America was bigger than
the states, bigger than the world. America was everything
possible."
Possible, that is, with money, and a man with Smart's skills has no
trouble finding employment with associates of such gangsters as
Owney "The Killer" Madden and Louis Lepke Buckhalter. Henry quickly
compiles a resume that includes advertising (he wears a sign for a
sandwich shop), illegal booze and even pornography.
New York, though, has too many Irish eyes for a former rebel. After
spotting some of his former associates, Henry finds a new home in
Chicago, which proves to be his kind of town, where "the Irish
patches weren't as Irish, the Italians weren't as Mediterranean -
there was room for America here."
He soon discovers the sound of America: Jazz, the jazz of Louis
Armstrong, transforms Henry. "At last, I wasn't Irish any more - I
was a Yank."
Henry needs an identity; Louis Armstrong needs a manager and a
bodyguard. Henry becomes "Louis Armstrong's white man" and
contributes his bit to American cultural history.
"I was there," he exudes, "in that corner, in that studio. The most
famous trumpet solo in jazz history was played by Louis Armstrong,
but it was brought to you by Henry Smart."
A lesser novelist would have gone for comic effect, milking the
black master-white manservant aspect for laughs. Or perhaps given
us a gangster story filled with colorful Italian, Jewish and Irish
hoods. A superior novelist would weave all three into one story,
which is what Doyle has done.
In the last third of the novel, Henry reunites with the wife he
left behind in Ireland - and they become an Irish Bonnie and Clyde,
moving from town to town, down roads that "went on forever, as long
as silence - through a town, one long street, a dog, a light
swinging green in the wind."
Stark realism gives way to ghostly expressionism as Henry stumbles
into Monument Valley in Utah, where John Ford (aka Sean Aloysius
O'Feeney) and Henry Fonda are shooting their Wyatt Earp saga, "My
Darling Clementine," an America turning back to look at itself,
much as Doyle has done in "Oh, Play That Thing."
Viking is reprinting "A Star Called Henry" to coincide with the
release of this new novel. Together, they constitute one of the
most remarkable achievements in recent Irish and American
literature - and we're left with the tantalizing possibility of a
third novel to follow.
Barra is a critic in South Orange, N.J.
To reach Allen Barra:
(c) 2004 The Plain Dealer
