Of all the streets for opening a record store, the street called Bomb Alley might not have been the best. Again, this was him in 1977 Belfast. At the time, nationalistic and sectarian violence known as the Troubles endangered retail almost everywhere.
This situation did not deter Terry Hooley. He welcomed rival Protestants and Catholics to a store he optimistically dubbed “Good Vibrations.”
“It was like a little oasis in a sea of madness,” Hooley, 74, said in a recent video call from Belfast.
The story of a lone man bridging conflict zones is the kind of feel-good story you could easily imagine in a movie, and oh boy, it all came together. “Good Vibrations” (2012) starring Richard Dormer (“Game of Thrones”). “Fortitude”) as Hooley. Colin Carberry and Glenn Patterson then adapted their script for the musical stage at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. The latest production of that show is at the Lyric Theater in Belfast. Irish Art Center Until July 16th in Manhattan.
With members of the cast taking turns playing bands on stage, the show follows Hooley (played by Glenn Wallace) through his adventures from opening a shop to founding a label that released early singles from The Undertones and Outkast. draw. It also explores the cost of his obsession with his marriage to poet Ruth Carr (Jane Weisner).
“This musical really helps you understand what Northern Ireland is like now and what it used to be,” said the musical’s director Des Kennedy. “This is not about the conflict, it’s a real snapshot of that conflict.”
Hooley discovered the power of music at an early age. “My history began in 1965 with Van Morrison and them at the Maritime Hotel,” he said of one of the biggest stars of all time from Northern Ireland. “The ’60s were so colorful to me. Then there was the problem, and the ’70s were black and white and terrifying.”
His solution was to create a welcoming place for all. “Terry is a true extremist,” Mr Patterson said in a video from Belfast. “He truly believes in the power of change, improvement, fun and living to the fullest of his potential.”
A fan of Hank Williams and the Shangri-Las, Hooley was initially put off by punk, but quickly embraced the burgeoning punk scene in Belfast, just as it was in London and New York.
However, the movement had a different resonance in Northern Ireland.
“At the time, the focus was on what you couldn’t do,” Mr. Carberry said of Belfast in a joint chat with Mr. Patterson. “You can’t go to that school, you can’t live on that street, you can’t support that football team, you can’t have that friend, you can’t date that person, that’s all.” Narrow.
“Punk music was about expanding your options, expanding your record collection, expanding your group of friends, and ultimately expanding your view of the world,” he continued.
Ultimately, Hooley decided to expand his business beyond stores. He remembered the great Northern Irish bands of the 1960s that never came to the studio and didn’t want the new generation to be similarly erased.
So he launched the Good Vibrations label to preserve the legacy of bands like Outkast, Rudy, Protex and, most famously, the Undertones, who were based in Delhi 110 miles away. Some of the best scenes in “Good Vibrations” actually revolved around The Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks,” a song that apparently became an instant classic, so much so that it was broadcast in 1978. Inside, BBC sensemaking DJ John Peel performed the song twice in a row.
Like many Northern Irish punk songs, “Teenage Kicks” celebrated youthful wits rather than spitting bile. Those kids didn’t have to sing about aggression – they lived aggression.
“For years, people were trying to avoid talking about politics in Northern Ireland,” said Katie Richardson, 34, the show’s music director. Ai, we want to talk about positive things. ’ It was the same for me and my generation of musicians. No one wanted to talk about trouble. ”
Love wasn’t going so well in the Hooley home. His passion for music cost him his relationship with Ruth. “He wasn’t in the hospital the night Terry’s eldest daughter was born. He was at Susie Sue’s show in Belfast, hanging out backstage,” Kennedy said. The show has a little more room for Ruth as a poet, and her marital friends Dave and Marilyn Hindman (Darren Franklin and Cat Barter).
Northern Ireland recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Accord that ended the turmoil, but Mr Carberry said the celebrations were largely focused on the leaders at the negotiating table, and he said he was determined to bring about change. He pointed out that groups and individuals who have worked hard are suffering disadvantages. on a smaller scale.
“In a way, ‘Good Vibrations’ is a tribute to those people,” Carberry said. “This is a story about ordinary people trying to live differently and helping others live differently.”
