Cormac Larkin of the Sunday Tribune recently wrote a great article about Allen in a recent edition. In this article he points out the important role Allen played in encouraging Irish artists in Ireland and encouraging foreign artists to come and play here. It also reminds me of how many of my father's promotional adventures involved the whole family mucking in. I can't quite recall how much we got paid per 100 Jazz Fusion '84 leaflets folded but that was one of the ways we were encouraged to help out! Larkin also points out that Allen commissioned his son (my brother) Blaise to design album covers: to be honest I think everyone of us has at some point designed a flyer or poster for Dad. I also used to do poster runs around the noticeboards of Dublin for a hard earned fee - that was hard work and many the time I looked after the door on the night of various gigs. A very unlikely bouncer I was too!

Labels: family, media, press