Plaque For Good

Terri Hooley and the Lord Mayor were in cahoots this afternoon on Hill Street. It was the former site of the old Harp Bar, punk headquarters and a dive bar that was once frequented by the Official IRA and visiting strippers. The meeting was convened to unveil a plaque, celebrating Terri's achievements and to mark the community of bands, people and ideals that had taken seed there in 1978. A journalist asked me what it had been like in the Harp and I told her that it smelt of armpit and sick, that the toilets were terrifying and that the squaddies used to stand at the back, watching the bands, cradling their rifles. Altogether a bit rock and roll.

Terri was on the right side of unruly, making inappropriate jokes and prompting some creative backchat from the Mayor. There was some heckling from the old punks in attendance and a rocking version of 'Big Time' by Brian Young from Rudi. We had fun again.