STAN

Stan was from Sligo.Long blond hair and a goatee beard in the vain of Bjorn Borg the Swedish tennis ace.We lived in a small terrace with a large wooden gate at the end leading into what was then some mystical forbidden land.The gate was large,about 12 foot high and 20 foot wide,wooden,green and fading with a small door in it just a little off center.For some unknown reason my Granny had a key to open this little door and every Sunday a select few families used to enter through the gate and walk a little to a small church with monks and rounded priests.Over time we got more and more courage and would accidentally kick the ball over the wall,not only for to retrieve it but also to have a little mouch around the forbidden place..It was a very large area with lots of tall buildings of victorian style,large dark trees and grassy paths leading downwards to more buildings and corners too far to venture towards...The wall we had to climb was covered with ivy clingers and it was so thick we were able to build little crawling hideouts within the growth.The gate itself had various cross-beams that you could use to climb onto and there was a very old house right next to it where an old lady lived..To this day I have no memory of her but it was the scaryest house I have ever seen.The curtains were dark and dirty linen and you always sensed that she was there looking out at you.We kicked so much ball there that I,m surprised she never came out to complain..As soon as it began to get dark we always used to move the game up terrace a bit away from the gate and the creepy house and the ivy where little insects would come to life in the dead of night.
In time and with age we got more comfortable with the mysterious place now known to us as the Royal Hospital Dublin.Behind my house were a group of cottages where my then buddy Eamon-Carrots lived.Next to Eamons house lived a family who were all into the marching band scene.When I say marching band,I mean Pipes and Snare Drums.Every Saturday morning they would practise the pipes and for the rest of the day the battling snares would rattle and roll and generally beat and dance to the tune of some Scottish Jig.The dog Brownie didn,t approve!!
Anyway back over the wall in the RHD a whole different tune was playing.I,m not sure when it began but all I do know was that I really liked it..It was faint at first and took us a while to trace where it was coming from.The nurses quarters were in this area and we reckoned that it was some beauty from the country listening to the radio.But the sound came from a little small square window in a wall that seemed to disappear into the tree tops above almost reaching to the heavans.A light flickered in the window,probably a candle,and then it began.Powerchords and riffs,scales and high screaming runs back into little choppy beats and fuzzed arpeggios,then flanged out stereo suspends and high rocks and higher rolls...It was Stan!!
I couldn,t imagine what the scene in that little room was like...Was it some mass of the occult with large alters and burning flames with this long haired monk from Sligo conducting it all with his Flying V Electric guitar made in the molten lava of the earths core!!!Jesus what was happening.Up to then my musical food was A Feast of Irish Folk and Perry Comos Greatest Hits,along with some Top of the Pops records that my sister Geraldine had bought!!I needed to find out what was going on..Who was this dude!!How could I meet him...Would my hair go blond too when it was long!!I needed to go to mass immediatly and meet this guy...But hold on..I was only 11 and unbelievably shy...
I had seen some people playing guitars and singing at mass every Sunday and there were 2 monks who were part of this band.They were Brother Raphael and Brother Stan...Ah ha Ah ha...Up to now I never took real notice of the band apart from the 2 nice looking adult females who sang with them..Otherwise I was looking around at all the other nice looking adult females and the few good looking girls I knew from the area.That was mass for me..Girl watching!!
After mass there was always an aftershow meet and greet with the public and tea and assorted biscuits and general hows it goings..Here was my chance to meet the band...This was also the beginning of a lifelong love affair with music and the playing of...