Bloomsday celebration in Auckland

Stephen Dedalus reports:

As usual, Bloomsday is being celebrated in Auckland on the night of June 16 in the red-light area of K Rd.
If you go to the Thirsty Dog pub there you'll be able to hear one of New Zealand’s leading actors, Wellington-based Carmel McGlone, reading from Molly Bloom's notorious soliloquy.

Besides Carmel McGlone, this year’s Auckland Bloomsday will feature a dazzling line-up. George Henare will be busy playing three parts — one male, one female, one transvestite. Dublin actor Brian Keegan will be reading from Ulysses and will be joined by chanteuse Linn Lorkin, famed yiddisher band The Jews Brothers, mezzo soprano Yuko Takahashi, international busker Farrell Cleary, renowned left-wing tenor Chris “Crubeen” Trotter, and a barbershop quartet singing Danny Boy. Unite Union’s Dublin-born born organizer Joe Carolan will take the nationalist high ground as The Citizen (he’ll also play The Citizen’s mangy mongrel).

If Auckland wants to be taken seriously as a world-class city, it doesn’t need a new Casino Convention Centre, it needs more scabrous back-alley art like this. This is what makes a world-class city.

Jews Brothers’ Bloomsday
Thirsty Dog Tavern, corner Karangahape Rd and Howe St,
Saturday night, June 16, 7.30pm-10.30pm.