Apologies to those artistes who do not yet have a biog or pickie ... i had a bit of an accident with me mouse and wiped some stuff off.

ALEXEI SAYLE

  Stand-up, actor. author and screenwriter. A true all-rounder. Sayle was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. In fact, he was voted 18th on a list of the 100 Greatest Stand Ups in a poll for Channel 4. Much of Sayle's humour is in the tradition of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, with riffs based on an absurd and surreal premise. However, Alexei side-stepped the mainstream TV route that many of his fellow ‘alternative comedy’ pioneers opted in for and cleverly diversified his career into more interesting and fulfilling areas. Alexei has written two short story collections and five novels, including Barcelona Plates which is the best selling short story collection of the last two decades, as well as being a regular columnist for the Independent Sunday Times and Car Magazine . He will be reading in the Butty Barn followed by what will cerrtainly be an enthralling audience Q&A.

CRYSTAL SWING

( with special gusset guest LILY ALLEN )

                                    
Pop Sensation Lily makes her first appearance at Flat Lake and will be joining the most wholesome threesome on the internet for a couple of numbers. Yes, this year she really is coming. Is this a stroke of Flat Lake genius or has the jinnett finally bolted ? The fab three from Cork will be joined for a couple of numbers by Lily, who apparently really does talk dirty in Spanish. They've also been practicing a little ditty off her last album. Can't wait for this ? Well you'll 'ave to.

JACK L

A balladeer of the highest caliber... beautiful, beautiful voice. Since his split with the Black Romantics Jack has since released a number of solo studio albums. The first of which in 1999 called Metropolis Blue was universally lauded. Lukeman's voice is powerful and fluid. His range too is impressive, from the deep baritone resonance of 'When The Moon Is High' to the aching falsetto of the magnificent 'Rooftop Lullaby' ... he has a timeless collection of fine songs, beautifully delivered, from an artist as unique as Ireland has ever produced.

MUNDY

A strawberry blood sucking,flying burrito from Birr. I love words but not in a can of tomato sauce and I love music and paying for it makes it sound better!  Recorded his fourth studio album last year, Strawberry Blood, with Irish producer Joe Chester, and mixed a number of tracks with UK producer Andy Bradfield. The album featured contributions from Shane MacGowan and Gemma Hayes and was released worldwide on iTunes with a bonus download video. He guested with The Cardigans' Nina Persson's A Camp project at the Academy in Dublin, and 2009 saw him tour Ireland, Australia and the UK.

SHANE MacGOWAN

Needs no introduction….
but he claims to have been introduced to alcohol and cigarettes by his aunt on the promise he would not worship the devil.

TIMOTHY O'GRADY

Author of MOTHERLAND and star of Flat Lake 2007 is back on the bill and will be reading from his new novel - you're not going to believe what it's called: MONAGHAN! …no it’s not …just wait and see.

EUGENE McCABE

  Eugene McCabe was born in Glasgow in 1930 but has spent most of his life in Ireland. For decades he farmed with his family near Clones on the  Monaghan/Fermanagh border where he still lives. He has published short fiction including 'Victims', 'Heritage' and 'Cancer', all of which have been televised, and a novel, Death and Nightingales.

CALF SHED 

  Scotshouse based artificially inseminated five-piece – A unique breed of contemporary-roots, link-box fusion. Since splitting from Newbliss soft metal outfit 'Two-Stroke' - front man ‘Kwod’ (youngest son of Jimmy ‘The Egg Man’ McGuire) has secured a lucrative recording deal on the ‘Redhills Silage’ label. Calf Shed’s work is notably forward thinking for its time. They are committed to a rigorously formal approach to abstract musical forms: Kwod says " my interest is in the primal-audio qualities of my work - its composition, surface, the relationship of depicted space to linear sound-surfing and corrugated-iron-like notation form - rather than in any implied social meaning or political message, hi, so it is,hi, so it is, hi, just". Their aim is to create a deeply moving ‘Moo-ing’ soundscape that emphasizes a tradition bovine frontal plane in a way that would echo the slurry stained shed walls where they rehearse on Wednesday nights, suggesting the distinctly hilly-billy architectural character of the music’s shape. Indeed, Calf Shed's work triumphantly echoes its own rustic edges with its carefully sculpted rhythmic foundations, and even replicates itself in many overlapping syncopated time codes, yet effortlessly denying any allusion to a head-banging cleche. Recently returned from a successful tour of Uzbekistan feed-lot festivals, CALF SHED seem set to take The Flat Lake by storm when they launch themselves off the Hilton rooftop on Sunday night. Quiet family service to be held on Weds evening at Scotshouse church. No Flowers.

MARIA DOYLE KENNEDY

A powerful mixture between a folk siren and a punk-diva. She is one of the great voices of Ireland. The Celtic Patti Smith. Award-winning Irish actress and singer - released music on Mermaid Records, a label she founded herself. Her debut solo album Charm was released in 2001. She coordinated Sirens which is a compilation album of female artists and which was released in 2003. She released an album Skullcover consisting of cover versions in 2005, and Mütter in 2007. Both of her solo albums have been nominated for Meteor awards.

LARRY BEAU

 Big hit last year...and a convivial young fellow. The Dandiest Minstrel in the land with a 4 Octave vocal range, no less. He’s the Prince of prose, Pimp of raunchy pose, peddling his new album called I Dream of Tiger Rose .
www.myspace.com/larrybeau

CLARA ROSE & THE RELATIVES

Set the Butty Barn alight last year ( not literally ) .... Clara Rose offers raw, raunchy, original roots music at its best. With her excellent debut album under her belt she’s ready for anything musical or otherwise…steady lads!

VIV ALBERTINE

Viv Albertine, yes, you’ll still want to shag her. And yes, you’ll still be too scared to.
 

JINX LENNON & PAULA FLYNN

The punk-poet from Dundalk is one of the country's singular talents. Once you've heard Jinx Lennon's acerbic, witty words, you're unlikely to confuse him with anyone else. Accompanied by the angelic voice of Paula Flynn, This uniquely volcanic act is simply out there in a world of its own. Ireland has produced its fair share of singer/songwriters who can't see further than their own plectrum and sing about little else but their own reflection. But with the country in the midst of a collective nervous breakdown, it seems like it's high time someone tried to reflect in song what's really happening right here, right now. Yeah. Right now. Yeah, yeah.  YEAH !

SATURDAY NIGHT SHOWBAND SPECTACULAR !

featuring: Tommy & Jimmy Swarbrigg  - Gene Bannon – Jimmy Higgins – Martin Campbell - Robert Browne - Joe Dogherty  - Brendan Quinn & special guests...
... to be introduced by Ireland's Eurovision legend and all-round RENAISSANCE MAN, yes it's the author of 'WHAT'S ANOTHER YEAR' and 'THE WIREMEN - SHAY HEALY !!!  Nice bri-nylon socks.

  Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg.....Irish Eurovision stars of 1975 and 1977 ?? Represented Ireland in London and Stockholm !! Hits..include....'Thats what friends are for '.... ' I'ts nice to be in love again ' ' If Ma could see me now' .. 'Looking thro' the Eyes of a Beautiful Girl '
Brendan Quinn and the Bluebirds........One of Irelands greatest ' Country ' recording stars...played and sang with all the greats...including...Arty Mc Glynn....Kickin' Mule... Mighty Avons...songs include...' RUBY '....I'ts four in the morning '....' let the Mystery be ' ??
The 'BLUEBIRDS' are the boys to push the house band along at a great pace !
Joe Doherty....the 'Yoedelling Millionaire' ........star of RTE's TV Hoedown Show .
Joe features a great tribute to Joe Dolan and the Big 'O ' Roy Orbison in his act.
' The BRASS MONKEYS ' features three of Ireland's best known brassmen, having played with bands like , the Times , Millionaires and American Pie.
namely...Gene Bannon, Saxophone/clarinet , Martin Campbell on Trombone and Jimmy Higgins /Trumpet. Piano Man, Robert Browne, is the man to hold it all together as he ' tinkles the ivory's ' !

  SUNDAY NIGHT COUNTRY & WESTERN
HAY-BALE HOEDOW 

featuring...

Frankie McBride

 
Frankie McBride was an Irish country singer from Omagh who rose to stardom in the second half of the 1960s. McBride's hit single, "Five Little Fingers", reached #2 on the Irish charts and #19 on the UK Singles Chart in 1967. A full-length self-titled album hit #29 on the UK Albums Chart the following year. The song was noted for its blending of rock and roll and country, a trend which became increasingly acceptable to mainstream audiences in the late 1960s.

Kathy Durkin  

Kathy Durkin latest album "Home Away From Home" is now available. Featuring songs like "The Old Man", "Hard Times", "The Town I Loved So Well" and "If You Needed Me", this is another great album from Kathy, with something for everyone who they are and they will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Sean Loughrey  

Sure to become an Irish Country legend. Tipped for the very top. Was awarded with the 'Best Male Newcomer' for 2005 at the Glencairn Hotel, Irish Country Awards.

THE DUBLIN NIGHTHAWKS COBALT CAFÉ SHOWCASE

Nighthawks is a top quality monthly arts club that takes place at the Cobalt Cafe in Dublin.  Their shows present different kinds of music (indie, folk, classical, jazz, traditional Irish), different kinds of comedy (stand-up and sketch), different kinds of literature (poetry and prose), and even short films. Nighthawks is known for its eclectic line-ups that combine well-established acts and emerging artists. And the Nighthawks' organisers must be doing something right, as every show that they have ever put on has completely sold out. 

featuring...

THE FLAWS - THE AMBIENCE AFFAIR - LENNON V McCARTNEY -
EMILIE CONWAY - COLM LIDDY - JADE STRINGS & HELENE HUTCHINSON -
ELDER ROCHE - ENDA REILLY - COLM KEEGAN

THE BLUE VALENTINE CAFÉ SESSIONS  

A non profit making venture that endeavours to promote Art & Culture in Cavan. Running for over a year now every second thursday, the sessions have provided an alternative to the pub scene for those who prefer their nights out to be of an eclectic nature. The loyal regulars who pack into Chapter 1 have been entertained by musicians, poets, comedians, singers and thespians of rare quality, plied with fine wines and delicious food and sent on their merry ways in good time to kiss the cat and put the wife out !

featuring:

BLIND YACKETY - HARRY BIRD & THE RUBBER WELLIES

Blind Yackety are a six-piece fantabulous spectacle, bringing sea shanties and rollicking riffs to der Irish volk. Caught schizophrenically between blues, funk, folk, circus and jazz, the 'Yacks guarantee a lively performance that could wake Sleeping Beauty and get her rocking, if only she wasn't so darned lazy.

ROBERT HERBERT - STEPHEN JAMES SMITH
THE AMAZING FEW - RIONA HARTMAN
KATE TEMPEST - CIARAN O'NEILL
POETRY CHICKS - BROUHAHA
CONOR KELLY - FRANK RAFFERTY

'THE DUBLINER DEBATE' 

'Where have all the interesting women gone?'-  taking as its point of departure the Nina Power polemic ('One-Dimensional Woman',pub. Zero Books) which suggests that if contemporary portayals are to be believed,female achievement these days extends to little more than the ownership of an expensive handbag,a job,a flat and a man.How,she asks,has it come to this? Watch out,all you naughty self-pampering bikini waxers and self-assured feminist 'treasures' of the seventies!

'RADIO BUTTY' WITH PAT McCABE  

Sweet music with the whiff of quality silage. Imagine a rotund, hairy little farmyard DJ tucked away in uncle Enda's touring caravan - alone but at one with the world, Captain Butty spins his favourite discs on a dusty turntable...and with the help of his good pals, Dr. Sean McQuillan and Lorcan Kennedy, manages to broadcast everything you need to hear from a Cadburys biscake tin. Come on into the Butty Barn...and for God's sake... get with it.

PS. DON'T FORGET TO PRESS THE LITTLE RADIO BUTTY PICTURE ON THE HOME PAGE AND CATCH UP WITH BUTTY'S JAUNTY HOURLY UPDATES!

THE BOGSIDE ARTISTS (1st time in the Republic)

THE BARRY MCGUIGAN BAND

....it's 25 years sine the CLones Cyclone did the business at QPR. But the charismatic lad with the knockout punch doesn't look a day over twenty five. In fact this pickie was taken only last friday night outside the Paragon. Now an erudite media pundit, our Barry makes a reposeful return with his fantastic band on the Sunday night to deliver a Flat Lake haymaker.

HELEN STEELE 

Self confessed art snob? slightly ocd? Then prepare to be dissapointed! From Beijing to Blarney, Catch the Cherry pickin , leafblowin, paint splashin antics from up high and deep down low inspired by herman nitch carried out by clowns and artist hank and helen steele

AISHLING McGOVERN    

Aisling McGovern is an emerging Irish Artist based in Dublin and she is known for her large scale Installations and Sculptures made out of recycled clothing and resin. Sheer physicality and strength have been prevalent in her work to date as she endeavours to memorialise the home, its history and the power of belonging.... and she does this all in an almost monumental way.

 SELF TAUT  
 
Graffiti duo who have been painting the streets of the world for 12 years. They will create a wonderful piece in Scotshouse Village under the theme of peace and reconciliation.

THE NORTHER STANDARD  ' FARM MACHINERY POTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION '.

Get snapping away ...the Northern Standard photo competition is underway. Winners will be published in the paper and anounced over the weekend. To be judged by Shaun the Sheep, Phil the Fox & Maggs the Mink.

ANNE ENRIGHT 

 One of the finest writers to grace the Butty barn stage...Anne is a Booker Prize-winning Irish author. She has published essays, short stories, a non-fiction book and four novels. Before her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize, Enright had a low profile in Ireland and the United Kingdom, although her books were favourably reviewed and widely praised. Her writing explores themes such as family relationships, love and sex, Ireland's difficult past and its modern zeitgeist..... but doesn't do questionnaires.

SIOFRA 'MALINSKI' O DONOVAN  

 Siofra O’Donovan will read from Malinski, (Lilliput Press, Dublin 2000),  a novel about two Polish brothers separated during the Second World War, who meet after fifty years.  Her second book,Pema and the Yak, is a travelogue set in the Himalayas among Tibetan exile communities (Pilgrims Books, Varanasi, 2006). She will also read from the first book in a trilogy called ‘Baba Yaga and the Dreamers’, a children’s book about the fate of Lost Souls in In Between Worlds. ‘She understands those strange and beautiful moments when the metaphors of poetry become literal in our lives, as children face the challenges of the adult world.’ Pr. Declan Kiberd, UCD.

TIFFANY ( 'DIAMOND STAR HALO' ) MURRAY  

CLAUDIA CARROLL  

I’m only doing a book reading for Pat Mc Cabe from my new novel which is called
PERSONALLY I BLAME MY FAIRY GODMOTHER.

EOIN MC NAMEE  

Part of the Flat Lake's fine literary furniture. Reading from his new novel.

DECLAN BURKE

Hanging around the Radio Butty trailer filling in when Pat McCabe can’t be arsed to do anything.

PAUL DUANE

Hanging around the Radio Butty trailer filling in when Pat McCabe can’t be arsed to do anything.

MALCOLM BENNETT - 'IBRUTE'

Hailing from Liverpool, Bennet is the co-creator of IBRUTE magazine - written and illustrated by Malcolm Bennett and Aidan Hughes, BRUTE! lampooned several literary conventions in short, concise bursts of 'wood-speak', a technique derived from tabloid headlines and pulp novels. Although only seven issues were published, between 1984-88 BRUTE! became a cult favourite and spawned an animated TV series, a Sphere Books paperback and strips in Blitz magazine and the London Evening Standard.

RAVEN  

Lyrical & concious performance poetry from San Francisco. Tales of love and politics - rebirth and survival.

HUMBUZZER  

We love this band beacuae they're really good not because they lent us their back line. This sound is new, yet strangely familiar. It reminds one of the smell of coffee,fresh settled timbre, and natural radio frequency. The original playing style through the medium of stringed wood, sounds out, this alternative rock avalanche. The band's songs grew closely from these local hills of both Cavan and...oops lost the last bit ..sorry....

THE FLAT LAKE POETRY SLAM

Scratch golfer, Laura Madden, returns to run one of the best events of last year. MC'd by the Gombeens, you're in for a real treat ...and will someone please remind us of the name of the guy who won last year ... it was brilliant and we want to publish it.

  THE SCOTTISH FERAL CHOIR  

The Feral Choir from Galloway SW Scotland will bring you a variety of contemporary and traditional home grown and self penned songs chosen to delight, sooth, arouse and inspire.

THE CLONES FILM FESTIVAL CINEMA

Brilliant every year… no bin-liner gala tent this time though … a proper blackout marquee that cost an arm and a leg … but a lucrative sponsorship deal with Anne Summers paved the way ( she thought it was French maid’s outfits ...not French Fillums with subtitles ) … all members are maladjusted tea-totallers….eclectic existentialism guaranteed… bring your own popcorn, condoms etc…

DR TREVOR WHITE'S 'Dubliner Diaries'

   with John Ryan, Emily Hourican & John Stephenson

This reading offers an exclusive preview of what is certain to become one of the most ignored books of 2010. THE DUBLINER DIARIES – which will be published by Lilliput this autumn – is a defiantly awkward history of Celtic Tiger Ireland. Trevor White's decision to create a magazine for Dublin's middle classes was both inspired and witless, and here the publisher tells the improbable story of The Dubliner's survival, despite alienating almost everyone. This charming, offbeat history of the noughties will appeal to anyone who is old enough to remember last year.

DYLAN TIGHE

Dylan Tighe is an actor and theatre-maker from Dublin. ‘Journey to the End of the Night’ is the result of a trip on the Trans Mongolian Express armed with a copybook, camera and Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s classic novel of the same name. ‘One to watch’ in 2010 according to The Irish Times. Don’t let that put you off.

FINTAN McKEOWN     

 Fintan returns after lasts years Pinter hit in the theatre tent with my big bro Keith - This year he performs 'MAC' by Harold Pinter -
 an affectionate and humorous memoir of Pinter's formative experience in Ireland with actor/manager Anew McMaster.

THE  S

The legendary Toblerones are back for the fourth year in a row. Fatter balder and poorer than ever, they mean to melt your faces with their poptastic tunes of chocolate, mas and triangles. They remain, out of their heads on their own!

VISUAL ART GALORE

DOROTHY CROSS 

  The UNDISPUTED Queen of Irish Conceptual Art. During the early 1990s she began producing sculptural works, utilising cured cowhide, cow udders and stuffed snakes, which explored the cultural and symbolic significance of sexuality and subjectivity across cultures. Virgin Shroud (1993), for example, is a veil made from a cow skin with the udders forming a crown. She is perhaps best known for her public installation Ghost Ship (1998) in which a disused light ship was illuminated through use of luminous paint, in Scotman's bay, off Dublin's Dún Laoghaire Harbour. A recent series Medusae includes images of Chironex fleckeri, a type of jellyfish and was made in collaboration with her brother, Tom Cross, a zoologist. The Irish Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective of her work in 2005.

HARRY CLEARY'S LOVELY SIGNS

We take our signage quite seriously at the Flat Lake. None of yer' ubiquitous rubbish nailed to a stick. His creative signage, with the help of Australian visitor, Trent Smith this year, is a delightful creation in its own right ...and so it should be ...so no nickin' 'em ...or you'll be nicked!

THE FLAT LAKE KIDS BEACH with WATER-SLIDE & DONKEY

Sand, deckchairs, ice cream, waterslide .....rain or shine, this'll keep the nippers occupied for hours on end.

LITTLE JOHN NEE  

A great freind of the flat lake and been here from day one. John was given his stage name by his father who was a Little Richard fan. He founded the first punk band in County Donegal in 1976. They were known as Joe Petrol and the Petrol Bombs. He also spent some time as a labourer on the building sites in London. He later moved to Dublin and began imitating Charlie Chaplin on Grafton Street.  In 1986 he took up position in a caravan in Barna. Nee has made appearances in many films such as Neil Jordan's High Spirits. He played the Toupee man in An Everlasting Piece. He was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for his performance in The Derry Boat. Nee also played the part of Postie in TG4 silent comedy Fear an Phoist. Don't miss him.

Ana Gog. The core of the group consists of four members, we include session musicians for live performances and can have up to ten people on stage at one time. Live visuals are also incorporated into our musical performance.

AIDAN COLEMAN

AIDAN COLEMAN is a musical surprise … and more.

Oh, much much more.... a 63 year young Dubliner One-Man-Band with a massive, beautiful, passionate singing voice makes you want to stay forever listening to his music. His repertoire over two thousand songs effortlessly ranges from Rock / Pop Classics to Classical Arias to his Original songs using words of James Joyce, W. B. Yeats.Samuel Beckett, W.H. Auden …… to World music (in twenty languages) to Irish ballads to Jazz standards

BEN REEL

   Hailing from Silverbridge in County Armagh, Ben Reel is a singular artist, the latest original to emerge from the wonderful Irish tradition of great singer-songwriters. From the troubadours of the heart and with message songs of works both spiritual and emotionally charged while also tinged with the gift of turning a phrase with the best of them.
Gerry Anderson, of BBC Radio Ulster, when referring to Reel's last album New Horizon said it was "the best album I've heard in years". Reel has been described as an artist lying beneath the radar for way too long, but this simmering pot is about to boil!

VISUAL ART   

Supervised by Monaghan's own internationally renowned artist HELEN STEELE - expect to see all kinds of wonderful things dotted around the site - includuing installations by Australian sculptor JONATHON LEAHEY, HELEN STEELE, DOREEN KENNEDY, a piece by THE BOGSIDE ARTISTS and a DVD piece by none other than the Queen of Irish Conceptual art herself - DOROTHY CROSS....
.....and the always smiling JOE MALLON  is putting together an auction in the same area where a host of Monaghan artists will

have their work up for auction at very reasonable reserves.... we accept anything but bullshit.

THE CLASSIC ART CAR BOOT SALE 

 MARGO QUINN puts together a car boot sale full of arty goodies - and all knocked out at reasonable prices from the boots ( ' trunks ' if your American ) of 10 gorgeous classic motors supplied by the one and only Eammon McKenna at SCANBITZ.

POETRY ON HORSBACK    

OLIVER DIRKIN returns with his trusty nag, Ulysses, and an endless stream of crusty poems. Please don't feed the horse.

SPORTS DAY 

DARREN  ( no plastering job too big or smal ) ROONEY - will be putting together tons of fun & games on the sports track... plus chucking the sheaf, mother-in-law, pig, cat or boyfriend....

KARAOKE WITH SHEEP    

Don't be shy - the sheep aren't. Get a pint from the Baaaa - Get up and serenade your favourite wooly boy... enjoy yourself on the mic .... but strictly no touching.

JOKE - ' Whaddya' call three Cavan Sheep tied to a lamp post ? ' ... A LEASURE CENTRE !

KIDS STUFF 

PAT FAIRON returns with a big bag of tricks for the pups - last year's drainpipe 'n ball will never be forgotten... not to mentio the coconut shy ....plus lots of interesting creative activities for the lille' ones.

Not so much a bag of tricks as a big cornucopia of established favourites, plus a raft of "first time out" suprises, including:

The Cardboard Maze - The Secret of the White Stones (in the cinema obscura) - The Guttering Ball Race (The Runaway success last year) - Fridge Door Activities - Tangpan Challenges (Ancient Chinese Puzzle) - Etch a Sketch - Children's Beach/Sandpit (Real Sand - Real Water) - Skipping for all from the Blue Rope Pile - The Smallest fully sprung dance floor in Ireland (and maybe the world) - Five Stones AKA Jackes or Jackstones - Mud Work (Finger painting write large in fine Armagh liquid mud - Roundabout Racing - Clothes Line art -

Plus in the Gala Tent, Len Graham and Jack Lynch storytelling

Mary Farrelly - dance (with/on the smallest dance floor) TBC

Maria Macklin and Gordon Green (Books/Stories)

Garret Carr - Storywork

GREAT FOOD  

- FRED MADDEN     will be arranging the most spectacular display of incredible food from some of the best festival caterers in the country - pigs on spits, the double decker bus gang, Redmond from Mayo, Lisa McCabe and the Beattie Chipper...    you won't starve at the Flat Lake and you won't pay and arm and a leg either !

GREAT PINTS 

  News just came through that JUDGE McBRIDE this very morning granted our drinks licence   .... so it's a big slán to Mr McBride and the Clones Courthouse Posse - the best draught pints at any festival will be on tap C/o Connollys bar in Scothouse - and Oi! Remember to get your late night campfire cans before the bar closes!

DOREEN KENNEDY

Running throughout the weekend

  CAPTAIN HOT-KNIVES 

Captain hotknives is a surreal punk troubadour. Festival favourite from the grim north. Observational humour, like Alexei Sayle meets Syd Barrett .The Captain can be described as 'Surreal Comic Genius' or 'Big Bear-like Stoner With A Guitar' and both these descriptions would work well. One of Cpt. HK's biggest strengths is his ability to improvise and change his songs to fit with a local crowd, leaving everyone who sees him with a broad grin across their face.

SHOUTING AT PLANES 

As long as they're not shouting at sheep. Originating in East Cavan, Shouting at Planes consists of five young, yet established musicians, coming together with the aim of finding an original sound that mirrors their considerably broad tastes. With influences from rock, blues, indie and jazz genres, this band has found a sound that peaks ears, turns heads and always draws a crowd. Having two lead vocalists that share the chance to bellow spine tingling harmonies, and the luxury of a saxophone and trumpet behind them, a performance big and bold enough to resonate beyond the highest flying aircrafts is to be anticipated. Shouting at Planes have recently competed in a battle of the bands competition, winning first prize; a slot at this year’s Glastonbury Music Festival. Jesus, lads ...we said a brief biog, not an 'effin' novella.

THE GOMBEENS   

These 2 FOOLS from the West of Ireland are back with a suitcase full of surprises. Their Unpredictible, Irrevererent and Gate-Crashing appearances will meet a different world of Poetry with ...woops ...just lost the next line.... we don't normally allow clowns in ....but they are great ...

 THE GOOD-ROOM with MORAG PRUNTY

With the ladies of Scone Central providing refreshments - The Good Room provides a bit of civilized respite from the mayhem of Flat Lake Fever. We'll be smoking out pans for boxty with special celebrity guests holding the oven-mitts. There will be lady novelists, French fancies, party-pieces, readings, poetry slams, knitting, the Angeles, Maura Laverty recipes, crochet lessons, bogus (and real) priests, parlour games and prizes. You can Bring Your Girlfriend (or Boyfriend) To Meet My Mother, Get The Messages for Mammy or play Scrabble with the Child Who Can Be Seen and Not Heard. Drop in for teas and buns to Scone Central. Knitting - contribute to the Good Room scarf. Confessions and fastest mass with Father Tony. Silent scrabble with The Child Who Can Be Seen and Not Heard. The Angeles, plus speed rosary.  Discussion: Will women writers ever be bigged-up as literary geniuses like their male counterparts or will be they always just be Wimmin Writers? Maura Laverty tribute: Reading and recipes from Maura Laverty’s classic Irish recipe book Full and Plenty (with special guests Lucy and Lily Allen joins in with the spud peeling and bread baking.) Bring Your Girlfriend to Meet My Mother - Father Tony and Mammy will interview your boyfriend/girlfriend and assess whether they are Suitable Marriage Material. Party Pieces – show us your turn. The Poetry Chicks. The Toblerones.

THE CAVAN GONZO THEATRE MARQUEE

The Gonzo Theatre is a new ‘fringe’ theatre that was founded in Cavan Town in February of this year by playwright Philip Doherty. The Gonzo is thrilled to be presenting the theatre tent this year at The Flat Lake and promises a host of exciting theatre productions from all corners of the country and over-seas. Over the weekend The Gonzo stage will feature over twenty plays, including new plays from Pat McCabe and Jimmy Murphy, six world premieres, The Flat Lakes Open Poetry Slam, music from Jinx Lennon, The Gonzo Club, Wordgasm, and performance art pieces including live wood sculpture with chainsaws to blind-folded musicians. And of course The Incredible Gonzo Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The tent will be hosted all weekend by the Gonzo Minstrels and Gonzo TV.

Featuring:

‘The Zoo Story’- by Edward Albee
‘The Wagon Finger’ by Seamus O’Rourke
‘Short Stage’ by NUI Galway
‘Mac’ by Fintan McKeown
‘Murder On Main Street’ by Philip Doherty
‘Flaying of Marsyas’- by Joe O’Byrne
Joey Burns and Robbie Perry
Trinity College one act plays
‘It Won’t be Great When I’m Not Here’ by Christian O’Reilly
Mercury Memory by Orlaith Raffter - directed by Charlie Bonner
‘Emerald Germs of Ireland’ by Pat McCabe (Livin Dred Theatre Co)
‘Raindrops in Dublin’ by Philip Doherty -
‘Lauren’ by Clodagh Downing (The New Theatre, Dublin)
‘State of Limn’ by Colm Byrne

 FEILE ORIEL CAMPFIRE SESSIONS

Charlie McGuiness and his pal Tiernarnan very kindly supply us with some of the most virtuoso trad players in the country. The Feile Oriel Festival runs in Monaghan town every year and is growing into a great trad festival. They're a great, relaxed bunch who welome anyone to sit in with them ...but be warned ... you better be good ...very, very good ...or you'll be toasted alive.

DJ MATT G

Matthew Gallagher, our slightly highly strung yet consumate event co-ordinator will be taking stripping off the High-Viz.... putting on his yellow luminous reinforced gusset Olympic speedos and oiling up for the the Saturday midnight shift in Butty Barn. Playing all the hits ..such as CMAPS ( Concept Management and Promotion Services ) ...and big plug .... and even bigger plug ...shameless plugging etc....

PAT QUINN

Satirical singer/songwriter and YouTube sensation from the Aran islands....whose font size seems slightly smaller than all the others ..this is no way meant to reflect any status disparity within the line up etc...
Also plays triangle.

Pop-up Flat Lake Fringe  
 
Jesus - A fringe festival within a fringe festival ..... Based down at the McKentees Campfire stage - Literary Rants/Art Monologues/Full Body Burqua Work Out Class/Voodoo/ Child Auction/Visionary Roulette & Minge Off.  Pop tarts Emer Martin and Alison Crosbie, fresh from the toaster, served on the rack, host the ultimate in paradox  - the fringe @ flat lake.  Roll up, roll up, catch it if you can - Street Boobs. Victoria Mary Clarke. Drag King  aka Tracey Martin.  American Art Star, David Mac Dermott of Messers Mac Dermott & Mc Gough. Helena Mulkerns. Emer Martin. Judith Mok. Alison Crosbie. Disc Jokey riding the vinyl Caroline Campbell. Doodle Kennelly. Micheal Harding.
 

DERMOT HEALY 

A flat lake veteran. A true gentlemaqn of the written word.

THE HURL ‘Soft knowledge exchange’ PAVILLION

An interesting collective of art charlatens from Lietrim... and every one of them a professor. Everything you need to know here ....like ' why can't wimmin put mascara on without their mouths closed? ...or ' why is abbreviated such a long word ? '

 SIMON FAGIN  

Americana/folk rock singer songwriter Simon Fagan is regularly compared to Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams and Paolo Nutini. Simon's love of music began when he was 5 yrs old, which resulted in him joining his local brass band. The classically trained composer and trumpet player studied at both the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In 2009 Simon performed over 70 live shows through out Ireland, the UK and Egypt, appeared on 25 radio sessions (including 9 BBC prime time shows and Today with Pat Kenny) and released 2 EPs. A hard working performer, Simon has shared the stage with act such acts as Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Laura Izibor. New album out 14th May "Hired And Fired … Fagan's infectious and inventive, with brilliant vocals" CD of the Fortnight – Hot Press "Damn Honey … Wow I love it – an excellent song & performance " Mike McCready - Huffington Post, USA

MR T & THE BISCUITS 

Mr Tea and the biscuits are a ukulele driven post jazz punk rock fusion band from Sligo who play may mainly bluesy and folky music. Held together by a sticky, viscous substance that resembles.... wait.... it actually is Lyle's Golden Syrup. yumm.

ROWAN SOMERVILLE  

'The Shape of Her' - A frank, shocking and sometimes amusing discourse about publishing, sex and the Catholic church.

The shape of her was meant to be called 'sex that lasts for years' - but it was a battle the author was to lose. This is a novel about sex and revenge, about love and education -and about how childhood experiences impact on grown up relationships. The events of the novel are of course 100% fiction, of course they are, who would write about something that actually happened - but the author did really attend ten years of a boarding school run by the Jesuit order of the Catholic church. Weaving truth with fiction, experience with imagination, talk and discussion with readings and experiences.Somerville will offer such audience that can be arsed to turn up, a truly unique trip into a very contemporary issue.

SLOW       FOOT

Slowfoot (pronounced sloh-fut) came together back in 2008 during the fabled Sunday Night Recession Sessions at Carberry’s, down the docks in Drogheda, when playing country blues and hillbilly blues seemed the natural (and only) thing to do. Two years later and we’re just as hard up and still playing the (real) Great American Songbook up and down this Great Country of Ours— Woody and Leadbelly and Howlin’ Wolf and the rest of them. Plumy Joyce sings and plays the mandolin and the guitar, Zap Cummins does that and plays the mouth organ, too. The legendary Wally Murphy is on the banjo while Brock Norman Brock does his thing on the accordion and stout Matt Sout and little Joe McMormick kick it out on the double-bass and drums. Desi and Sheila are coming to fiddle, and Quiet John’s coming, too. It’s raucous and it’s real and you can stomp your foot to it or howl along, as you please, just as long you get your mojo working.

 SCOTTISH DANCERS  

A festival favourite. Christine Rusk always puts together a wonderful array of commtted traditional highland dancers. oe for all the family. 

THE CHURCHHILL SILVER BAND  

One of the absolute highlights of last year! A traditional marching brass band from west Fermanagh with a slightly non-traditional approach to a wide range of music. Well used to playing in the “Field” and always like to arrive in the back of a trailer.

THE BRAD PITT LIGHT ORCHESTRA  

Arresting musicality coupled with a dark, wry wit, The (very well dressed) Brad Pitt Light Orchestra produce an unmissable vibrant, life-affirming, live experience. "best of the (Flatlake) fest"
- Alan O'Riordan, The Irish Examiner

LOUIS DE PAOR

Will be reading poems in Irish with English translations.

NIALL TONER & JOHNNY ROWAN

PETER MCCAUL

Our own Peter McCaul is the highest standard of lyric tenor. He has graced Carnegie hall with his talents and has rubbed shoulders with the New York of the 60's and 70's singing to presidents, vice presidents, archbishops, Rocketfellas,, and police chiefs. He returned to Ireland at the edge of further world acclaim,to live among the rolling hills of his youth, right here in our beautiful Co. Monaghan. His projection and mature tone are a unique representation of pure god-given talent.

JULIAN LLOYD  

DJ set. A Danny Boy freak. From Rockers to smoochers.

RAY ROUGHLER JONES  

Very few people have seen life from as many angles as Ray Jones. After a regular upbringing in a working-class Swansea, Ray veered off the rails into a life of shoplifting and small-time drug dealing fuelled by alcohol and driven by gambling. Inevitably, Ray was sent to prison and finally settled in Ladbroke Grove where became a key figure in the burgeoning music and art haunts and around the early Notting Hill gay scene. He toured with Joe Strummer, hung out behind the scenes in Paris fashion houses and mingled with the fast and flash London set ....while in Swansea, some of his closest friends lost their lives to drink and drugs. Ray launched The Roughler magazine before heading to the US where he ran Dylan’s bar in San Francisco and was ripped off in a massive drugs deal leaving him destitute. This is only the story so far as Ray continues to journey through the remarkable and surreal side of life. Novelist Jake Arnott describes Drowning on Dry land as ‘absurdly brilliant’. He’s absolutely right.

FESTSHCRIFT for EUGENE McCABE  

Looks good, this ..... Illustrious Clones scribe, Eugene will be joning the convivial John Maher for an enlightening treat of McCabes work in the cinema tent ...and we're still waiting to learn what a festshcrift is.

FRANKIE DEAN

Phil Franco AKA Frankie Dean is a character created from virtual tours of Hoboken New York he provides an eclectic mix of popular American Standards Swing and easy listening with influences from some of the great artists of this century . Frankie is a Fashionista and has a retro style created for the occasion, He loves old fashioned romance and hats and cats. You will definitely see the hats but the cat is sunbathing at home.

The POETRY CHICKS with Connor Kelly

The Poetry Chicks with Connor Kelly are modern bards with an ancient mission, rekindling the verve of Spoken Word, in their endless search for the truth about the world and about themselves.

OG & THE UGLIES  

  A lovely little 'care in the Community combo' from darkest Cootehill ...in fact, they are Cootehill's answer to Crystal Swing, with less flashy dancing and keyboards and more instruments .....and they only charge fourteen Euro for a wedding! Book 'em Danno !

SUE GOGAN

Playing a blend of country and jazzy blues covers at the moment, but who’s to know the muse might strike between now and june…..

SUKIE SMITH

Dark, beautiful songs with sweeping soundscape and violence

SUZY ALMOND

Hailing from the London and New York folk scenes, with the voice of a torch-singer and a penchant for off-beat storytelling, Suzy Almond returns to Flatlake for the third year running with her own unique brand folk and blues.

TODD ZUNIGA & The Literary Death Match

Literary Death Match features four writers performing their most electric work before three all-star judges. Two finalists then compete in a wild finale to decide the ultimate LDM champion.

BRIAN MC GILLOWRAY

THE CAVAN SINGERS

 A welcome Flat Lake first for this most reputable Cavan Choir. For a quarter of a century, the Cavan Singers have graced many stages throughout this country and abroad and through their choral excellence have been marvellous cultural ambassadors for the county.

JOE O BYRNE

BRIAN LEYDEN

MIKE MC CORMACK

Mike McCormack comes from the wild west and is the author of three works of fiction. He has spent all year working on his cowboy suit for this festival. At the moment he is working on a novel and book of short story and a long cattle drive between Louisburgh and Hybrasil. John Waters in the Irish Times cited his last novel ‘Notes from a Coma’ as ‘the greatest Irish novel of the decade just ended.’ Sightings of him are as rare as hen’s teeth. Rarer even. A lot rarer. About as rare as something fierce rare entirely.

ED O LOUGHLIN

See Declan Burke – he’s the boss on this one. I was long-listed for the Booker last year for my first novel, Not Untrue and Not Unkind.

SHAY HEALY

DARACH MCDONALD

A reading from new book, Blood & Thunder: Inside an Ulster Protestant Band, published Friday 4 June 2010. Book explores the culture and role of Ulster Loyalist ‘Kick the Pope’ bands from perspective of an ‘outsider’ (Catholic nationalist from Clones) with an ‘inside’ vantage courtesy of Castlederg Young Loyalists Flute Band throughout Northern Ireland’s 2009 marching season.

JACK LYNCH & LEN GRAHAM

Once again, famed Traditional singer and collector Len Graham is pestered by storyteller Jack Lynch, who recounts the doings of one PJ Galligan, Cavan entrepreneur, Greek scholar, keen polluter, demolition artist and CEO of Galligan Destruction. Sublime singing undercut by a cornucopia of foreign jaunts, colourful accidents, unappetising occurrences and grotesque upshots. Fisticuffs may well ensue.
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Children also catered for with songs and stories that will amaze and tickle.

DAVID MC KERVEY

It’s a totalitarian act. If you don’t like a song, or criticise it in any way, or disagree with me over the meaning of it, then I will have to kill you. ( I apologise in advance for any inconvenience this might bring on you).

SEVEN DAYS

 "There are not very many young bands that can tactfully borrow elements of the past and melt themselves across genres. But hotly tipped new Irish band, Seven Days successfully take the sensibility of the musical past that makes them sound one of the most unique and contemporary bands on the scene at the moment."
http://www.mcd.ie/home/fn.php?