Drink with Shane MacGowan, a - Shane MacGowan, Victoria Mary Clarke

With the news that Shane MacGowan and the other members of The Pogues have kissed and made up, even planning a tour for later this year, I thought I'd take the timely opportunity to tell you about A Drink with Shane MacGowan, written by his long term girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke. I'm a huge fan of the Pogues and I can't help but feel a sneaking admiration for the big-headed, heavy drinking Irishman who gave the music scene a good kick up its backside with his mix of Irish, folk and rock together with those unmistakable bitter lyrics. It's simple but brilliant stuff and for me their first three albums were the best thing on the music scene ...  Read the complete review

He was led onto the stage at the Fleadh, much as one would lead a blind man, and literally propped up against the microphone stand. Swaying, eyes half closed, one hand clasped the neck of a bottle, the other held the ever present cigarette in a nicotine brown grasp. Several times a minion rushed onto the stage and tenderly replaced the cigarette with a fresh one, the old one having burned away unnoticed. Did he know where he was or what he was doing, this rat faced, rat arsed parody of a man? Was he to be pitied or revered? Shane MacGowan. Irish writer, musician and founder member of both The Pogues and The Popes.He is an enigma - a passionate, talented man, ...  Read the complete review

Most people who know the name Shane MacGowan probably have him pegged as a stereotypical drunken paddy, fronting The Pogues as a whirlwind of frenzied punk inspired folk music and alcohol try to beat him to the floor in a dishevelled and undignified manner. This is because at the time that the band had reached its highest commercial success, it had also become the thing that he had tried to avoid all along, a serious band with one eye on the cash till and the other on the front cover of NME. MacGowan's idea of rebranding Irish folk for the modern era and delivering a tongue in cheek party style performance had long since gone out of the window and in an effort to get ...  Read the complete review

Most definitely the funniest piece of scripture I have ever read... Shane MacGowan the London-Irish Song-writer, composer, musician and what most people who are aware of him would call him, "A poet." Victoria Mary Clarke who has been Shane MacGowan's partner in love on/off for over 20 years portrays his thoughts over the years of his life reflecting on how he has become an iconic person in the eyes of everyone known to Irish Music and many other types of music for that matter. Born on 25 December 1957 in Kent, England, Shane moved quickly back to Nenagh, County Tipperary to his Mother's home family home where Shane would stay with his Aunts and ...  Read the complete review