Enjoy MILLER GENUINE DRAFT Sensibly. Visit Sharon Shannon Big Band metro Arts & Entertainment life In Town Tonight Jerry Fish joins the Clare musician for a mlange of trad, cajun and jazz Tonight, National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace D2, 8pm, 26 to 38. Tel: (01) 417 0000. www.sharonshannon.com Heineken Expression Art and music event with illustrators including BRENB and TADO, plus live set from The Field Tonight, TriPod, Harcourt Street D2, 8pm, free (register online for tickets). Tel: 0818 719 300. www.expression. heineken.ie Andrew Bird The observationalist comedian headlines, with support from TCD- trained thespian Sonya Kelly Tonight until Sat, The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay D1, 7.30pm, 25. Tel: 1800 266 339. www.laughterlounge.com Book Now Whitney Houston Despite her peculiar turn on The X Factor last weekend from wardrobe malfunction to advising Rikki Loney to give up altogether on his cover of Aretha Franklins Respect Houston appears to be on a roll: comeback album I Look To You is selling by the bucket load since Saturdays appearance, and shes announced a second Dublin date next spring. Never mind that reviews for her sixth studio LP are a resounding its-not-right-but-its- okay, the my-drug- shame singer remains a bone fide diva thanks to an impressive back catalogue Apr 17 & 18 2010, The O2, East Link Bridge, North Wall Quay D1, 6.30pm, 76.25 to 106.25. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.whitney houston.com Interview Luke Slater Luke Slater, one of the UKs most talented techno producers, has overcome personal upheaval to make a spectacular comeback. He talks to Richard Brophy ahead of his performance at the Deaf Festival 12 metrolife Thursday, October 22, 2009 ince the early 1990s, Luke Slater has released inspirational electronic music in many shapes and forms from abrasive club tracks to gloriously mellow ambience under his own name as well as under several monikers including Planetary Assault Systems. But then in 2002, he got a taste of mainstream success. Deviating from his underground approach, he hooked up with vocalist Ricky Barrow from The Aloof and released Alright On Top, an albums worth of pleasant if forgettable pop songs. By his own admission, he wasnt prepared for the reaction. It was a real experience I didnt actually realise how many of my fans I had alienated with the album, the 41-year- old laughs. There were so many people who were committed to my techno work. Being part of the pop world was like having a real job and I just couldnt toe the line. I have no regrets about doing that album, even though Ill never do it again. The techno world is a much nicer place. Slater didnt feel the same way about techno at the start of this decade: he had stopped writing electronic music and although he was still gigging regularly, he admits he was doing so to pay the bills. Techno needed a break, especially as the whole scene had gone mad for ten years, he explains. But if anyone needed a break it was probably Slater. The heady lifestyle of a jobbing DJ had started to take its toll and, exhausted, he ended up in a doctors surgery. I was diagnosed as being bipolar or having manic depression, he says. I always had a tendency towards depression and it helped my creativity, but suddenly things were out of control and I needed to get a handle on what was going on. While Slater says that he only sporadically suffered episodes, it caused chaos in his private life. Occasionally I locked myself away, but I was in a relationship and it started to go hideously wrong due to my behaviour. Rather than being creative, Id hit the town and would end up being destructive. I didnt get to the S Going Plan The hoTTesT TickeTs in Town We have a pair of tickets to see WHITNEY HOUSTON Apr 18, 2010 at The O2, 6.30pm For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@ metroireland.ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With your answer please include your name, address and a number where you can be contacted between 1pm and 3pm. Strictly one entry per person; entrants must be age 18+. Q. Houston teamed up with which fellow diva for the 1998 single When You Believe? A Mariah Carey B Aretha Franklin The winners of yesterdays tickets to see Wolfmother are: Emma Everard & Paul Hennigan FESTIVAL Red Line Roots Festival The bank holiday weekend starts early tonight with a barnstorming programme of Americana, rockabilly, bluegrass, country, blues and trad running simultaneously at Dice Bar, Sin and The Cobblestone for the next four nights. Hoedown highlights of the second annual Red Line Roots Festival include: old school folk and roots band I Draw Slow (tonight, The Cobblestone, 9pm, 10); one-man psychobilly band D-66 (tomorrow, Dice Bar, 7.30pm, free); UK six-piece folk and bluegrass ensemble championed by Steve Lamacq, Southern Tenant Folk Union (tomorrow, The Cobblestone, 9pm, 12); ragged folk duo The Lost Brothers, who tonight support Richard Hawley at the Olympia and on Saturday are supported by Dublins own Appalachian outfit The Blood Red Mountain Band, (pictured, Sat, The Cobblestone, 9pm, 8). Elsewhere, theres Derry band Balkan Alien Sound, who blend klezmer, Bulgarian and Romanian music with hot-blooded rocknroll (Sat, Sin , free). Moreover, in addition to the moonshine-soaked shindigs are beer tastings, the highly- recommended one-man play Whacker Murphys Bad Buzz about a wise- cracking Dublin northsider (Sat, Sin , 4pm, free) and the Dust Bowl Picture House screening performances by Woody Guthrie, Steve Earle and Leadbelly (Sat & Sun, Sin , 2pm to 6pm). Lucy White Tonight until Sun, Smithfield D7, various times & prices. www.redlinefestival.com index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html