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Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys
Mon 28 Jul, 7.30pm at the Barbican in London

Baby Gramps, Martha Wainwright, David Thomas, Gavin Friday, Ralph Steadman, Robyn Hitchcock, Norma Waterston, Teddy Thompson, Martin Carthy, Julie Fowlis, Eliza Carthy, Tim Robbins, Ed Harcourt, Neil Hannon, Pete Doherty & more

Based on the extraordinary recent CD release produced by legendary Hal Willner, this concert features contemporary re-workings of traditional sea-songs and chanteys. A stellar line-up of artists take us on a trip like no other, exploring the hardships, the horrors, the lusts and lurid depths, and the crystal beauty that led men to the sea in ships for hundreds of years.

Expect songs about drinking, death, nasty crimes on the water and of course pirates...

Tickets from £15. Book now.

Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

Guggi and Dave-id Busarus will join Gavin Friday to perform at the Rogue's Gallery Dublin concert as 'Three Pruned Men'.

'Three Pruned Men' recorded the song 'Bully In The Alley' on disc one of the Rogue's Gallery double album.

It is first time in 25 years the three ex-Virgin Prunes will perform together 'live'.

Rogue's Gallery Dublin is part of the Analog festival and will take place on Grand Canal Square on July 18. Tickets are available from the festival website.

Via HotPress.com we learn that Hal Willner has confirmed the preliminary line-up for the July 18th Rogue's Gallery concert in Dublin.

Performing songs from the Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys album are Teddy Thompson, Waterson: Carthy, David Thomas of Pere Ubu fame, Julie Fowlis, Baby Grapms, Ed Harcourt, Rachel Unthank, The Winterset and of course, Gavin Friday.

Update (June 12): Lou Reed has been confirmed for the Dublin show.

The Times reviews The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World:

"The night before, more mysticism at a Messiaen Anniversary Concert. The French composer was honoured in a performance of his Quatuor pour la fin du temps, played with robust commitment by Finghin Collins (piano), Elizabeth Cooney (violin), Richard Harwood (cello) and Carol McGonnell (clarinet). And for those players, the Belfast-born composer Ian Wilson had written a "setting" of the Gabriel Garcia Márquez short story, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.

With Gavin Friday as narrator, it received its UK premiere in a packed Corn Exchange: sand-ripples of meandering lines and sea-sprays of song and tremolo, in a cunning score that never upstaged, but was as impassioned as the words themselves."

Elsewhere, Gavin Burrows says on his blog: 'Friday read ebulliently.'

Gavin Friday will be in Brighton, England on Monday 19th, to narrate Ian Wilson's The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World at the Brighton Festival.

He will be joined by a new ensemble featuring three highly talented young Irish artists and the cellist of the Belcea Quartet. The piece was originally commissioned by the IIB Bank Music in Great Irish Houses Festival with support from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Wilson's The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World will be performed alongside Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Together they form the Messiaen Anniversary Concert to mark the centenary of his birth.

• Buy tickets from the Festival website

As you can see, gavinfriday.com has a different look. The new design should make it easier for you to explore the site, and our new backend will make it easier for us to update it and keep you informed of all things Friday.

We're still in the process of copying all the old information to the new database as well as writing new content to cover Gavin's career. This includes some of the larger sections of the old site, such as the discography. Rest assured, these will return.

Hal Willner is taking Rogue's Gallery - Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys on the road this summer. The concerts will take place Dublin, London and Gateshead and we can confirm that Gavin will be taking part in all three shows.

Tickets are available from the venues' websites.

18 July 2008 - Grand Canal Square, Dublin
24 July 2008 - The Sage, Gateshead
28 July 2008 - Barbican Hall, London

The Rogue's Gallery album is available from Amazon.com.

Gavin Friday has teamed up with producer Hal Willner to create the score for 'Chelsea on the Rocks', a new movie by director Abel Ferrera (Bad Lieutenant, King of New York).

Willner and Friday recorded the score as a live improvisation to the picture over two days in Manhattan earlier this month. Musicians included Tony Garnier and guitarist G.E. Smith (from Bob Dylan's backing band) as well as drummer Jim White from The Dirty Three.

The film, starring Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman and Grace Jones, is set in New York's Chelsea Hotel and is currently in post-production. 'Chelsea on the Rocks' is expected to premiere at this year's Cannes Festival.

Stills from the movie.

Gavin sang the Disney songs 'Chim Chim Che-ree' and the 'Siamese Cat Song' at the Stay Awake Live concert at St Ann's in New York on Wednesday.

The New York Sun writes: "Gavin Friday gave a mournful, beautiful rendition of "Chim Chim Cheree" from Mary Poppins." (Read the full review)

Babette R's got some lovely pictures of Gavin and all the other artists.

Gavin Friday will narrate Ian Wilson's The Handsomest Drowned man in the World at the Brighton Festival (UK) as part of the Messiaen Anniversary Concert on May 19th

Gavin has contributed to a charity single, "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" in honour of The Dubliner's singer Ronnie Drew. The proceeds will benefit the Irish Cancer Society at Ronnie Drew's request. The track will be available in Ireland only as a download on Friday, February 22 and week later on CD.

The song was written by Bono, The Edge, Simon Carmody and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, and features appearances by Kila, the Pogues' Shane MacGowan, the Frames' Glen Hansard, Sinead O'Connor, Andrea Corr, Damien Dempsey, Ronan Keating, Chris de Burgh, members of the Dubliners, and Gavin Friday.

Gavin's been added to the bill of Hal Willner's Stay Awake 20th anniversary Gala Benefit in New York. The event during which a large cast of musicians will be performing Disney songs will take place at St Ann's at Dumbo, on April 2nd. Please note, tickets are between $300-1000, available from St Ann's website.

Breakfast on Pluto will be screened at the Berlin film festival on February 11th.

Complete list of screenings:
Sat, Feb 11 21:30 Zoo Palast 1
Sun, Feb 12 10:30 CinemaxX 7
Sun, Feb 19 17:00 International

You can download a nice pdf flyer about the film on the festival website.

Gavin's featured in an additional bonus clip on the latest DVD of RTE's candid camera show 'Naked Camera'. In the clip you see Gavin being picked up by a rather odd taxi driver.

Gavin Friday will be chatting with senator David Norris on Newstalk this weekend. Norris is a writer, historian, traveller and raconteur and one of Ireland's most colourful characters, so he's a good match for the equally eclectic Friday. Join Gavin and David on Ireland's Newstalk this Sunday at 9am (GMT). The broadcast will be available from the website as a podcast (subscribe).

For the 2007 Lunchbox Auction, 100+ iconic celebrities from the entertainment, fashion, art, music, literary and culinary worlds remind us that food matters by creating personalized lunchbox art for online auction. The auction, which goes live on Friday, December 7, 2007 at 12 a.m. EST, will benefit two hunger-relief organizations: Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund of South Africa. Each lunchbox is signed and numbered and no two lunchboxes are alike. Bid on Gavin's box.

Gavin Friday will rejoin Gavin Bryars and Opera North to perform Shakespeare's sonnets and Bryars' original composition 'Nothing like the sun' in Belgium. The show is booked for December 12 and December 13 at the Handelsbeurs in Ghent.

Tickets (22/19 €) are available from the Handelsbeurs website.

Composed by Belfast-born Ian Wilson, 'The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World' features Gavin Friday, narrator collaborating with musicians Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Catherine Leonard, violin; Guy Johnston, cello and Finghin Collins, piano.

The world première of Wilson's composition will be staged at the National Gallery of Ireland on October 4th, 2007, 6.30 pm.

Based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story of the same name, the Winter Festival's first Arts Council funded commission, marks the 80th birthday of this Nobel prizewinning Colombian author.

Tickets (€20) are available from Tickets Ireland. (Telephone: 1890 305 305/053 913 0503, email: info@ticketsireland.ie)

Gavin Friday has recorded the classic Singing' In The Rain for the ultra cool LEMON magazine, a twice yearly publication, 'that stakes its claim at the intersection of 60s/70s Pop and 21st century hyper-culture.'

The song is available on a flexi disc that comes with the printed magazine (Lemon No. 3), out now and available at $8.95 from Borders, Barnes & Noble and finer newsstands nationwide (USA).

It will also be available as a download from the LEMON website, on August 28. Check out the artwork and further details on Lemonland.net.

Check out Michael Stipe's new picture website, www.futurepicenter.com. Today and today only you can download a close up of Gavin - wearing Stipe's specs - taken last week. There's a new picture every day, once they are archived the high res version is no longer available, so get it while you can.

Please check their usage page for terms of use.

Pat McCabe and Gavin Friday will both be on the Marian Finucane Show on RTE's radio 1 on Saturday morning, July 21st between 11 and 12 GMT.

Listen to the interview.

'From Bach to Eno, from Miles to Morricone' and all points in between... that certainly includes Gavin Friday. He'll be meeting his old friend John Kelly on The JK Ensemble on Lyric FM between 2.30 and 4.30pm, Monday, July 16th .

Update: Archived show available until July 22nd. 2007.

There's more Friday on RTE next week: Gavin will be interviewed about his working relationship with author Pat McCabe on RTÉ Radio 1's late night arts and culture show 'The 11th Hour'.

You can now listen to this interview in the 11th Hour archive.

Roisin Ingle will be talking to Gavin on Weekend Blend, Newstalk (Ireland) this Saturday morning between 11 and 12 am. You can listen to Newstalk on 106-108 FM in Ireland, or live online. A podcast of the show (iTunes feed) should become available at a later date.

Early birds can catch Gavin on Dublin's Anna Livia FM this Friday morning at 10.45 AM (GMT) where he'll talk about his Radiators from Space gig. And you can listen to that online as well.