Revellers spoilt for choice at Flat Lake Festival

Festival schedules inevitably demand tough decisions and when you're in a group, compromises. One of the many tough choices facing festival goers at the Flat Lake on Saturday - thanks to an impressive programme - was between Pat McCabe's interview of Pullitzer award winning playwright and Oscar nominated actor Sam Shepard, and Dave McSavage calling a game of bingo. Your low brow reviewer at the scenic Scotshouse venue chose the latter. That McSavage possessed only a passing knowledge of the rules of the game, a distinct ignorance of numerical rhymes, and had to decipher how to work the bingo machine as he went along only added to the comedy value. Of course the game was almost incidental as the Dubliner weaved his trademark impression of Pat Kenny into his bingo caller routine, before rounding the show off with an infectiously hummable ditty about the relocation of a deviant priest with the chorus: "Fr Finnegin, Fr Finnegin, you've sinned again." McSavage's innuendo over the female teenage winner, in front of her parents, at the climax of the contest would surely threaten a future presidential campaign should he ever consider embarking on one.McSavage wasn't the only one to raise the laughs with risqué moments. Before reading one of his short stories Cavan's own Tom McIntyre explained how De Valera's Ireland of the 1930s wasn't entirely without sexuality, as it is popularly perceived. Set in Kingscourt the yarn embroidered with his beautifully poetic turn of phrase centred on an unlikely summer's game in which a dozen or more men lined up in a field to proved their masculinity. The one who could hang the most horseshoes from a particular part of the body was deemed the winner. Apparently the average was nine, but the undisputed winner was the blacksmith with 15! It was surreal, bonkers and wonderful. A heavier note was struck when the Butty Barn was treated to a discussion between renowned foreign correspondent with the English paper, The Independent and Derry socialist Eamonn McCann. Given the pair's similar stance on absolutely everything from President Obama's failings, to the need for acknowledgement of the Armenian holocaust it was up to a lone American voice in an otherwise audience of converts to question Fisk's sweeping dismissal of journalism in the US. As entertaining as the love-in was, it would have proved more illuminating had organisers included a dissenting voice on the panel to challenge the pair's claims. Other Flat Lake highlights enjoyed by this reviewer included The Spiritual Leaders' brilliant set in The Gonzo Theatre, Pat McCabe's terrific interview with Ulick O'Connor, light-hearted book readings by Paul Murray (Skippy Dies) and Kevin Barry (The City of Bohane), the gentle-humour of Mik Artistic's musical musings, and to a lesser extent the curious strippers-come-covers band antics of Bellaoa-Go-Go Burlesque Show. A victim of the programme scheduling again I sadly missed Cavan's junior rock stars, The Strypes who by all accounts went down a storm at the Unnamable Scanbitz Inflatable venue. They were the talk of the noodle bar queue having thrilled the audience with a blistering set. Of course Cavan was well represented at the Gonzo Theatre show-casing the best in drama and music. Having stolen the show last year, the return of Joey Burn's live sculpture to music was generating a buzz amongst the festival revellers.As your reviewer's enthusiasm for a second day of Flat Lake festivities dissolved in Sunday's downpours, it was with soaking feet, an urge to seek out Sam Shepard interviews on the internet, and a promise to return again next year that I left.