At last! A party that wasn't afraid to let its hair down. Check out pop favs Blur and Primal Scream pumpin' on a throbbing stereo, dig perennial lowslung, Dublin guitar heroes Sack sipping gin and tonics with the studied poise of men who just might be growing used to seeing themselves all over MTV. Tuesday night's launch of the forthcoming "Decadence" fundraiser for the Simon Community was thrown aboard a restored Victorian barge straight out of Wind in the Willows, which added a dash of whimsy to proceedings. Mistresses of mayhem for the evening were TV director Neasa Hardiman and co-organiser Mary Kate O'Flanagan. Hardiman had nipped over from the set of RTE's Fair City - fans of urban grit will be heartened to hear that the show is soon to be on three nights a week. Being tremendous soap buffs here at On the Town, we felt obliged to harangue her mercilessly for tawdry titbits on the forthcoming season. But the lady wasn't for turning - she let nothing slip. Bah, foiled again!
Now, perfectly swishy the barge may have been, but it was just a little cramped, what with all the celebs and such piling aboard. The arrival of artist Aoife Harrington, aglow with the success of her recent exhibition at the Rubicon, with her boyfriend John Brereton, and about a zillion friends left us all rubbing shoulders and treading each other's toes. Quite like a proper party really. Aoife and John, just back from Sack's short London tour, plan to spend the week chilling out at the Birth of Jazz festival in Wales before venturing into untrod pastures. She's planning a followup to 1998's Penumbra exhibit, he's thinking hard about Sack's third studio album. This year has proved a bit of a watershed for the band: New York's EDL records picked up their single, Butterfly Effect, after straying upon it on MTV's Alternative Nation slot.
None of the above has much to do with Decadence itself, of course. Just to let you know, the event - a dinner dance for Simon - takes places at the Ierne Ballroom, Parnell Square, on August 20th, with the likes of Treasure Films's main-man Rob Walpole - currently shoulder deep in playwright Conor McPherson's first big screen project - and Liam McGrath, director of the boxing documentary about Francie Barrett, Southpaw. Intriguingly, Neasa Hardiman has advised guests to come dressed as either "cowboys or angels", although she hopes they won't interpret those instructions literally. Whatever that means.