Hole In The Wall Kilkenny

01/08/2026

AKA Presents: The Church of What's Happening Now!

Experience the unexpected with The Church of What's Happening Now, a new collaborative free improvisation trio featuring Matthew Nolan (electric guitar), Jamie Davis (drums & percussion), and Damien Lennon (bass/Bass VI) of Dublin-based group Zeropunkt.

For the AKA Festival, the trio will present three performances of spontaneous sonic exploration across two days, with each show offering a completely unique musical experience.

📅 Friday, 14th August 2026
🕣 Show 1: 8:30pm
🕚 Show 2: 11:00pm
📍 Location: The Hole in the Wall, Kilkenny

📅 Saturday, 15th August 2026
🕒 Time: 3:00pm
📍 Location: Rothe House, Kilkenny

🎟️ The Hole in the Wall tickets: €15 per show
Book via Eventbrite:

Show 1:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-church-of-whats-happening-now-tickets-1994792394751

Show 2:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-church-of-whats-happening-now-tickets-1994793575282

Whether you're a longtime fan of experimental music or simply curious to hear something completely new, these performances promise an immersive and unrepeatable live experience.

31/07/2026

German visitors are told at Hole in the Wall that Germany is a country as we know it thanks to an Irish woman.

Who seduced King Ludwick 1.

Author George McDonald Fraser set his roguish Harry Flashman character in scenes involving the very Irish woman - Eliza Gilbert - 'Lola Montez'.

On telling of one's interpretation of the Lola Montez story in 1840s Munich to a quite a large number of Germans (on separate personal tours) last night, one lady told how she knew the story. But had never figured on the eventual ramifications for Germany. She is a Professor of German History with special focus on Munich! (Later she learned about the role of 1840s Munich scholars and their role in restoring the vocabulary of the Irish language).

One of the customers read from a book - written in German - concerning the 'st******se' and seduction of Ludwick 1 by Eliza.

A trip to Munich is needed!

"Germany wouldn't be the Germany we know if it weren't for an Irish woman". A topic for a thesis?

31/07/2026

It was instructive. For an Oxford medical graduate family doctor - from Belfast - now practicing in London.

Finding Hole in the wall rather completed her medical education!

She learned all about her stethoscope - even listening to her friend's heart sounds with a wooden version of a Laënnec monaural stethoscope (Leadbetter 2026).

The 'Archer College' research on the stethoscope and its invention continues.

A version held at RCSI is curious. It would fit the description of Double Stethoscope as described by Wexford's Dr Arthur Leared in 1851. Could it be?

31/07/2026

Hole in the Wall will mount its own ArtsFest in 2026. It will commence on Aug 3rd, two days before the actual Kilkenny Arts Festival.

As per the annual summer school concept, the venue will tell about some scientific notables.

Yvonne Barr was born in Carlow at Pembroke. She played a vital role in identifying the first virus ever linked to the inception of cancer. Medical Dr John Shaw Billings saw the need for an index of all medical publications in the late 1880s USA. His 'device' was foundational to many of our medical advances 100 years later. In 1985, the use of a drug derived from the venom of a Brazilian snake was piloted by a certain Dr Conway at the CCU of the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. The idea of giving the drug as soon as possible after the heart attack patient presented to hospital was rather pushing it. The idea led to the 58,050 case INTERNATIONAL STUDIES of INFARCT SURVIVAL (ISIS 4) global Western world collaborative trial. ACE-Inhibition, with the Aspirin of ISIS 2, is now one of the signature, and surviving, therapies for patients with heart attack. Better healing occurs as the heart gets a chance to remodel more effectively on ACE-inhibitors. Billings's Index Medicus is central to the discovery.

31/07/2026

The imagery created through ceramics by August Niendorf fits visually with the imagery of Galway's dry stone walls.

On a recent visit to Inis Mór on the Aran Isiands the art of stone was in profusion. Multiple designs abound in the basic structures.

Holes abound too. To allow the wind stream through.

And music surfaces from the jaggedness.

Rock music, anyone?

31/07/2026

Ceramics and glazing.

Time to learn about the art.

August Niendorf is about to tell us. To introduce us into his world. One where the minerals from locally sourced rock generate the magic of colour, texture and eye catching beauty.

It will be like a summer school event at the Archer Room, Hole in the Wall, Kilkenny.

And feature our first visiting lecturer of the Summer Arts Fest - from Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Thursday, August 6th. 18.00. Free. Hole in the Wall.

A unique event. Be there.

Minerals from South Kilkenny gave us George Clooney. Do they have South Kilkenny type minerals in Wisconsin? Must surely do! Come see for yourself!

29/07/2026

Recalling Glen Hansard this morning with Dermot on KCLR from minute 46. Interesting how memories lie hidden in the subconscious. And then spring forward when something happens.

It was an honour for Hole in the Wall to have been the host for Glen.

We are speechless.

Join Brian Redmond for The KCLR Daily, Monday to Friday from 10am, talking news, sport, business, entertainment and more.

29/07/2026

Terrible, terrible news. Glen Hansard died in the early hours of today following a motor bike crash.

On being interviewed on KCLR local radio about an hour ago I recalled the good moments we shared when he played Hole in the Wall for us in December 2024.

Condolences to all. He was a special guy who showed others how it can be done in music. We've lost another Shane MacGowan-like lyric writing poet.

RIP

28/07/2026

Brill

27/07/2026

With one's grandfather hailing from Ballycroy, Mulranny, Co Mayo and one's grandmother from Bunahowna, Newport, Co Mayo yesterday's All Ireland Gaelic Football Final win was special. And Limerick having won the Hurling equivalent, it's been quite the week.

Keem Bay blew us away on our trip out west in May. The sand is purity personified. The monkfish at Nevin's, near Mulranny, was the best of all our sustenance stops.

The county of Grace Kelly's Newport (we have Kelly cousins), William Trevor's 'Ballroom of Romance' at Ballycroy (Ballacroy), the Guinness salmon fisheries at Furness, the image of Achill's Croaghaun mountain from outside Nevin's. Nobel prize physics winner Ernst Chain of Mulranny. The D-Day link. The Jack Charlton link. Céide Fieids.

The two pointer in Croke Park yesterday!

Just up the road from the former Seal Rock Hotel and village Roundstone Hotel (quite the breakfast!). Of which memories abound!