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1968 - what was it like at the Grove?

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Taylor View Drop Down
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    Posted: 14-August-2008 at 09:41

There has been a lot of coverage over here in Germany and in France about the Summer of 1968 - student revolts, Vietnam, flower power, hippies, civil rights protests in the USA and Derry etc.

What was it like back then in Dublin and at the Grove in those early years - were those events reflected in the music Cecil played and in the clothes Grovers wore? Was the Grove a precursor of 1968 on the Northside of Dublin?

I vaguely remember my mother pulling me away sometime in the summer of 68 from looking at the fascinating sight of dancing, chanting and symbal ringing Hare Krishnas in Westmoreland Street; I remember men 'in town' with long hairy beards and pretty teenage girls in long flowing dresses literally with flowers in their hair ...

I then remember at my first Grove early in 1977 being shown one of the 'Last Grove Hippies' and there was a distinct sweet smell wafting in the air down the back of St. Paul's Hall and it wasn'r cigarette smoke.

I got to know that hippie later on at college - a remarkable gentleman who unfortunately became quite ill, recovered as best he could and is today a computer and IT wizzard.

Would be interesting to hear pioneer Grovers' memories of and thoughts on that Summer of '68 ...

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote monarch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-August-2008 at 22:12
I Remember 1968 Well As It Was The Year I Did My Inter Cert.

Coming Into Summer Was A Time Of Particular Strife.

The Prague Spring Had Just Been Put Down,

Martin Luther King Was Assassinated And Later On

Coming To End Of The Summer Holidays Bobby Kennedy

Was Also Gunned Down,Remember Thinking There Was

Great Hope For The World With Him Although In

Retrospect He Probably Would Have Been The Same As

The Rest Of Them.The Grove At That Time Was The Same

As Any Other Disco As Music Had Not As Of That Time

Broken Down Into The Categories Such As Credible And

Rubbish.Though The One Difference Between The Grove

And Other Disco's Was Cecil's Willingness To Play

Albums And Singles Brought In By The Clientele.It

Was A Two-Way Street He Kept Us On The Right Musical

Track In Separating The Wheat From The Chaff And We

Brought All The Latest "Sounds".For Me The Music

Revolution Took Place In 1970 When All The"Head" Bands -

Deep Purple,Black Sabbath,Free And Led Zeppelin Came

To The Fore.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bluebell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-August-2008 at 09:10
Great memories there Monarch 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Black Russian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-August-2008 at 09:28
I don't have any memories from 1968...... I wasn't born ... Ooh the joys of been young 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RoundaboutToo! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-August-2008 at 13:18
that's why 1968 was so good  Only messin' P 
good subject Taylor -
I heard Summer in Dublin earlier on the radio and one thing that stands out about Dublin in the '60s was the smell of the Liffey. everyone must remember that!
I remember going into Woolworths cafe with my mum and getting chips  then a milkshake.

will revisit this later as have to go.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote maryi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-August-2008 at 14:58

TP

I remember the smell of the liffy in the summer - Ugh.   Unfortunately 1968 was not a good year for me.   I had an accident in Bettystown and spent 2 months in Hospital.   I do remember there was a huge debate in the Dail on Thalidomite and it was the first time that figures were given on birth defects ( don't know why I know that - must be because my mom was a nurse )    I remember being brought to Howth to go horse riding - fell off but loved it.   Could not understand why we could not get a horse and keep it in the back garden !!!!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Biker Pat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-August-2008 at 15:30

1968

1968 was an interesting year.

It followed the Summer Of Love in 1967 and was the year before Woodstock in 1969.

The following are the No 1's from 1968, which I have from the NME dated 4th November 1972, where they did a list of 20 years of number 1's going back to 1952.

Starting in January 1968 and showing how many weeks at No 1.

The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde - Georgie Fame - 1 week
Everlasting Love - Love Affair - 3 weeks
Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann - 2 weeks
Cinderella Rockefella - Esther & Abi Ofarim - 4 weeks
Lady Madonna - Beatles - 2 weeks
Congratulations - Cliff Richard - 1 week
What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong - 4 weeks
Young Girl - Union Gap - 5 weeks
Jumpin' Jack Flash - Rolling Stones - 2 weeks
Baby Come Back - The Equals - 3 weeks
Mony Mony - Tommy James & The Shondells - 4 weeks
Help Yourself - Tom Jones - 2 weeks
I've Gotta Get A Message To You - Bee Gees - 1 week
Hey Jude - Beatles - 3 weeks
Those were The Days - Mary Hopkin - 5 weeks
With A Little Help From My friends - Joe Cocker - 1 week
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Hugo Montenegro - 1 week
Eloise - Barry Ryan - 2 weeks
Lily The Pink - Scaffold - 5 weeks

That adds up to 51 weeks.
So either the first No 1 in 1968 or the last was a roll over from the previous year or into the next

I wasn't at The Grove in '68 but I can remember all of the above as if it was yesterday







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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Aries Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-August-2008 at 14:00

Like a few here I "think " I started going to the Grove about 68. It was the year of my Inter cert like Monarch. We didn't have very much money but kept it all for the Pre-grove and Grove.I had just got into the drums then and went with my mate Pat Geary tot the Drum Centre in Camdon Street and bought an old kit for £30. At the time that £30 was more than a weeks wages and hard come by at 16.

We "practiced " in a garage off Ardelee Road ( very near Ciarans house ) every Saturday for hours or until the neighbours got sick of us, but always stopped to watch " The Monkees " .

My first girlfriend Lorraine Hogg made me a Rabbit Skin wastecoat and I let my hair grow for the first time , knowing I'd have to get it cut before going back to Chanel in September when Fr Butler would be on patrol sending people home to get haircuts ( see article posted by Ciaran )

Don't really remember the Political situation of the time cause I was busy in my own little world.

Did our first gig in the small church opposite Raheny Church and we were brutal to say the least. But it was a start. Went to the Grove about July or August for the first time and never looked back

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RoundaboutToo! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-August-2008 at 23:34
Originally posted by Aries Aries wrote:

We practiced in a garage off Ardlea Road ( very near Ciarans house ) every Saturday for hours or until the neighbours got sick of us, but always stopped to watch " The Monkees " .


Aah Gary, I remember hearing the music coming from Gallagher's house that summer. One Saturday, the Band (The Celts??) played on the roof of the extension.  A great family - New Year's Eves, there was always a huge circle of people singing outside.

Taylor, there's a weekly program called Reelin' in the Years that highlights a particular year - I'll watch out for '68 and see what it's about!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irish_mammy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-August-2008 at 15:22

Ah 1968....I remember it well.

I was 3.

Thats all I can say. No idea what was happening anywhere.

Sounded like it was a good year. I'm sure it was a good one for me.

I made it to 4.

Lesley

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Biker Pat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-August-2008 at 19:18

Jaysus IM, you're in rare form today

I was 15 in 1968 and like all the 60's years headlines abounded by the score but one consistent theme, was great music, even in the charts.

I'd listen to the Top 20 every Sunday and there would rarely be a bad tune in there.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irish_mammy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-August-2008 at 11:58

rarely a bad tune for the next 10 or so years Pat. Not sure what happened in the 80's.............the music and the clothes

And don't even mention the 90's.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote maryi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-August-2008 at 15:37

Lesley,

just happened to turn on the tv last night and saw Adam Ant - Prince Charming..... nuf said.  

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Black Russian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-August-2008 at 15:45

Hey don't knock the Adam and the Ants Jeeez!!!! First album I ever got was Adam Ants
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Biker Pat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-August-2008 at 18:35
Originally posted by irish_mammy irish_mammy wrote:

rarely a bad tune for the next 10 or so years Pat. Not sure what happened in the 80's.............the music and the clothes

And don't even mention the 90's.



Bar a few songs/bands and John Fogerty's long awaited comeback, the 80's was the worst decade for music. Video took over and it's been downhill since. If you farted on a video and looked seductive you got to number 1
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RoundaboutToo! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-August-2008 at 00:22
I remember around '68, a huge animated neon advertising sign of 2 kids - 1 frying a sausage and flipping it to the other. It was an ad for Donnelly's sausages. Don't know where it was - my mother thinks it was D'Olier St, and the kids were nicknamed Don and Nelly! . Anyone remember it?

I also remember another one beside the bus stop in town, of alternating red & blue waves - the ebb and flow of the tide. Little did I know then I'd frequent the same Flowing Tide a lot in later years.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Taylor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-August-2008 at 09:42

 

Does anybody remember an RTE Saturday evening TV music programme called 'Like Now' - I think it followed the Monkees - I still remember one Irish rock band - 'The Granny's Intentions' - with the black and white psychedelic backdrops ... I wonder if Cecil ever played these at the Grove?



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Aries Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-August-2008 at 10:52

Ciaran

I remember that Donnelly sausages add well, and your Mam is right.

D'olier Street. I used to wait for the bus to my cousins house and we'd watch the tumbling sausage for ages.

Taylor, Granny's Intentions were one of the best Irish bands around.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rahenyman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-August-2008 at 12:30
Originally posted by Aries Aries wrote:

Ciaran

I remember that Donnelly sausages add well, and your Mam is right.

D'olier Street. I used to wait for the bus to my cousins house and we'd watch the tumbling sausage for ages.

Taylor, Granny's Intentions were one of the best Irish bands around.

I am aftaid I must correct you. I remember the add was on the corner of O‘Connell Street and one of the quays. I was thinking about it the last time I wqas in Dublin. It was quite advanced for those days.

Dublin what a great old city it was

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rahenyman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-August-2008 at 12:36

I was 11 at the time and do not really remember anything special. I probably started going to Sutton Tennis Club sometime in the late 60's.

I remember we would go to Wexford or France/Spain in the summer and I always loved Wexford. It seemed to be always sunny and life was easy

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