Give Rory A Statue In The City He Called Home By Mark McAvoy Published in The Evening Echo on Thursday, March 23, 2006.

An impressive new campaign is underway to have a statue erected in honour of one of Cork music~Rs favourite sons, namely the late great Rory Gallagher. Although born in Ballyshannon in 1948 the young Rory Gallagher arrived in Cork in 1956 and looked on Leeside as home thereafter.

Inspiring Cork music fans and musicians alike, the former Fontana Showband member went on to achieved legendary status with his energetic and at times hypnotic stage performances and his stunning records.

Now Rory Gallagher fans seek a fitting tribute to the blues guitar hero in the form of a statue. One of the chief organisers of this worthy campaign is publican James Brown, who explains that he is a veteran of such campaigns. ~SI was slightly involved in the Phil Lynott statue up in Dublin. I work in the Bodhran and I did a Phil Lynott tribute wall and a Rory Gallagher tribute wall last year in the bar.

~SThere were customers coming to me asking would I ever think about organising a statue for Cork. It got me thinking. So, I was talking to Philomena Lynott asking her how to do it. And I got together with a guy called Trevor Thompson and we said we would work on it. One day I got a call from Backstage Traffic a new music magazine in Cork and they came on the committee with me. Then Dave Fanning got involved and also Jerome Wilson who was bass guitarist with Philip Lynott in the younger days is now involved as well.~T

Things have snowballed and a petition has been set up to allow fans to give their support to the campaign. James explains: ~SWe have petitions out in fifteen bars. People can go in and sign it in The Bodhran Bar, The Rob Roy, An Spailpin Fanacht, An Cruiscin Lan etc. There is a long list...~T

The campaign has established a six-person committee to oversee developments. ~SWe have nominated three possible locations for the statue: the City Hall, Rory Gallagher Place (named in 1996) and the City Library in Cork. We intend to approach City Hall, to look for planning permission and we hope to raise the money by running a few gigs in the Everyman Palace, The Savoy and another big gig in Kilkenny.~T

~SWe~Rre opening a bank account~EThe Rory Gallagher Trust Fund. That is the next stage. I~Rve been talking to two sculptors and they have gone away making models and they~Rll let me know how much it is going to cost.~T

Brown is delighted with the groundswell of support for the idea and believes that it would make a fitting tribute to a man who made an immense contribution to music. ~SRory Gallagher was one of the geniuses that put Ireland on the map: the same as Phil Lynott. Gallagher was one of the shyest men you would ever meet but he had a gift that people still remember today. He gave me thirty-years of enjoyment. He is one my heroes and I think it should be done for him. Rory gave music to us why shouldn~Rt we give something back to Rory.~T

Philomena Lynott, mother of the legendary Phil, voices her support for a statue of Rory along similar lines to the Dublin statue of her late son. She enthuses: ~SIt~Rs so well deserved. He is one of the greatest musicians Ireland ever gave birth to. It~Rs a marvellous idea. My Philip worshiped Rory. He worshipped him. It~Rs a terrible thing to say but when Rory passed on I thought of the sadness for his family but the joy for Philip in heaven. He would have been at the pearly gates waiting for Rory. I~Rm sure they would be having great sessions up there now.~T

Rory~Rs brother, Donal, gave his support to the campaign. ~SIf the fans feel the need for a statue I would be absolutely delighted to have it. Statues are a little bit cold and particularly for Rory who was an electric performer and quite lively. It will be a hard task for a sculptor to do.~T

Tragically, Rory Gallagher died on June 14, 1995 but, as both his music and this campaign illustrates, his spiri

Any of ye around the Longford area on the 28th of July, a Rory tribute band by the name of Fragment are playing the temperance hall. They are also on Bebo. Check out the bands page for Fragment. They're pretty damn good.

Talk to ye soon

A crowd of loyal fans gathered for a unique ceremony on a street corner in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday night, June 16, in fitting tribute to a much-missed favorite son. They were there for the unveiling of the Rory Gallagher Guitar Sculpture, presented by the Musical Instrument Merchants of Dublin and Fender Musical Instrument Corp.

The free public ceremony took place at 8:30 that evening at Coirnéal Ruairí Uí Ghallchóir (Rory Gallagher Corner), Meeting House Square, Temple Bar Dublin 2, and was attended by a host of family, friends and fans, including Rory Gallagher’s younger brother and manager, Donal, who has looked after his famous elder brother’s affairs since his untimely death in 1995; Lord Mayor of Dublin Catherine Byrne; event organizer Mark Walsh of Dublin’s Keynote Music Sales Ltd.; and U2 guitarist The Edge.

The sculpture is a detailed and life-size bronze replica of Gallagher’s famously worn 1961 Fender Stratocaster® guitar, mounted about 15 feet above bustling Essex Street East.

Walsh and Gallagher made some brief remarks before Byrne and The Edge unveiled the wall-mounted sculpture to massive cheering. Fans continued cheering to a spirited 9 p.m. performance by tribute band A Taste of Rory, followed by film footage of Gallagher onstage during his 1974 Irish tour.

In his remarks, The Edge called blues-rock guitar hero Gallagher “a huge influence on my life.”

“I always admired Rory as a musician and was later lucky enough to call him a friend,” Edge said. “His legacy will live on in hundreds of bands in this country. He laid the road for everyone in music. It is an honour to be here and lay tribute to the man and his work.”

At the event, Fender Ireland’s Sean Mullen noted that the sculpture overlooks “probably the busiest part of the city,” and said, “Everybody agreed the bronze replica looks incredible; nobody expected such detail and the brilliant colouring so close to the original.”