h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well the guy who works with me is a chess fanatic, so he's one of the big drivers behind this. I would love to have seen Knopfler although I'm afraid that in general I'm a cultural philistine. I only hear about most events way too late! Didn't even see U2 in Park Ui Caoimh... This year might help to educate me a bit!

way, way, way too late...it was in 96! He was his absolutely brilliant self, just to see that guy take up his Strat was to know him for a natural born musician. And I had the impression he loved to come to Eire and was pleased with the Cork audience, extremely well behaved and enthusiastic.

Extremely well behaved? Right city, wrong planet I think!

I wasn't living in Cork in 96, so that explains it.

Well you know us weird Dire Straits aficionados, hoppin mad, totally bonkers, whacko, nuts ... but quietly so. Insanity just a glitter at the back of our eyes....

Aaah - you have "Telegraph Road" humming in my brain...

That Lover Over Gold album is rather a strange one, I love it. Are you a U2 fan? Which record would you recommend I should buy for starters, just to get knowing them better?

Yes - U2 are one of my favourite groups, although I would probably stop short at saying that I am a fan as I don't have all their albums and I have never seen them live in concert (although I am going to do anything in my power to see them this time around). They have produced some fabulous albums over the past 20 years (including a few duff ones as well!)- The best of them include "War", "The Unforgettable Fire", "The Joshua Tree", "All that you Can't Leave Behind", and the current one "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". For all the hype, their latest album is actually very, very good.

Just realised I didn't answer the question. I think "The Joshua Tree" is their finest album, but I am raving about the current one also.

Thanks dear, yes i noticed they had lots of albums, and as I didn't know much about them I was loath to buy them all at 8 quid a piece in that nice used record shop on the north side. Mind you I probably know their music, but not to put a name to, that sometimes happened, in my first youth i was bouncing about to Walk of Life for years without ever having heard of Dire Straits...

Lee Side Music is the name of that shop. I'll start with Joshua Tree, easy to memorise, there's a Dolph Lundgren action flick of the same name ...

The thing about U2 is how international they are. I have met loads of people all over the world who are U2 fanatics. As soon as they hear you are Irish, they light up and want to know more. My wife's and my claim to fame is that we used to live right across the canal basin from their recording studio when we lived in Dublin, and every now and then you would see them taking a small boat over to our side of the pond. On their latest album, Bono has written a song about his late dad which I'm certain will become a classic. It's one of the finest songs I have ever heard.

My first exposure to DS years ago was "Private Investigations" - I hated it at the time, but years later I bought "Brothers in Arms" and instantly became a convert. Brings me back. I wasn't a fan of their later stuff so much though.

Yes i know it's quite an educational deficit to know so little of U2, goin to remedy it.

As for DS, i did make the turnoever to MKs new music, mainly because he's just such a damn good musician. Although when he's serious about something his songs can get boring, but that happens to the best. Dedication for some reason so often leads to a flatness of style. when you really fool round, damn the consequences or raised eyebrows, is when things get good. Like his song Cannibals.