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gig Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is th
e Cool Cymru counterpart to Damon Albarn, never content with resting on his considerable past successes. Of course, it’s no surprise that Gruff popped up for a stellar turn on Johannesburg from Albarn’s Africa Express project this summer. Pang! is his latest release mostly sung in Welsh and hailed by the Guardian as “a chamber folk-rock minor masterpiece”. It’s global in its outlook through, produced by the South African electronica artist Muzi with some lyrics sung in Zulu. It’s unlikely to be a converter, but for those who religiously congregate in the chapel of Rhys, the sermon is as ecstatically pleasing as always. Whelan’s, Tuesday December 9, €25 theatre Overfired Gathering Death Cafe Queer cabaret incorporating drag, stand-up and song, Overfired bills itself as ‘a show about queer Irish radicals.’ It won the Outburst Queer Fringe Award in 2018 and returns as a bauble of seasonal fabulousness. Stefan Fae and Lady K bring their song cycle featuring covers of contemporary classics from Sinéad O’Connor to Eiffel 65, and culminates in an original song written under the mentorship of Peaches during the 2018 MAKE residency. Empowered rather than overpowered, their credo this Christmas is: “joy is an act of resistance and resistance is fertile!” Check out the state-of-yernation in their company. Project Arts Centre until Saturday December 7, 9.15pm, €12-16 We’ve attended too many funerals and sent condolences to friends on the loss of parents, siblings and loved ones this year. It comes with age and doesn’t get easier. And how one experiences, talks and copes with grief is quite particular in some respects but universal in others. However, the key is to coping is talking and sharing and not feeling alone or isolated by this trauma. Death Cafe is an international movement where friends and strangers gather to discuss death in an accessible, respectful and confidential space. Their objective is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” First Draft Coffee, Tuesday December 10, 6-8pm club Mother Hoisting their ever-swirling disco ball to their new home in Lost Lane, Mother embarks on a new era 3.0 after a chequered time in The Hub. After its charmingly ramshackle origins in Copper Alley which brought a sweaty squeeze to the dancefloor, it lost some of the magic in the more clinical surrounds of The Hub with its redundant spaces and crowd evaporation with on street smoking. Lost Lane promises to cosy it up again, bring a warmth to the beat and a Hatchett soundsystem to amplify it. A full stage set-up also allows it weave a live element into the night with Daithí assuming those duties on December 7. Lost Lane, every Saturday night, €10 86