Mostly I write about Minnesota music, today I’m going to branch out to write about Sinead O’Connor because I was just at a memorial in Dublin hosted by the ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement. The event was a mash up of so many parts in my life culminating in the crowd singing Nothing Compares 2U, which brought me back to memorials in Minneapolis days after Prince died – singing the same song outside of First Avenue to someone else who left us too soon or hearing it again 7 hours and 15 days after his death.
The media was out in full form today at the event on Dame Street . I was interviewed by radio folks. My daughter Kate might find herself in the paper tomorrow morning with so many photographers snapping pictures. It was a lot of fanfare and the organizers made the most of it with their Fight the Real Enemy Campaign.
They spoke about Sinead’s intimate understanding of scarce resources for people in need and her passion for using her art to call out every form of abuse and oppression. The speaker quoted many of Sinead’s songs that are sadly more relevant now than they were in the 1980s. Song about the young mother down at Smithfield 5am, looking for food for her kids or Black Boys on Mopeds.
She famously suffered repercussions of tearing up the Pope’s picture on SNL to protest the Vatican coverup of abuse. How many of us would jeopardize our budding careers to make such a statement. She was fierce.
I used to see her out and about back in the day. I sold a pair of shoes to her when I worked in London. We got chatting outside a coffee shop in Dublin. We didn’t know each other; or rather, she didn’t know me. But she was always kind and friendly in person. I have hummed her songs at many a protest. She was a public person doing good and I always respected her message as much as her voice.
She will be missed but in her death, she continues to do good. The issues she raised remain and at events such as the memorial today people will reiterate her protest work and her messages. Just as Prince’s death certainly gave priority to prescription opioid use, may her death also effect change. Perhaps they are raising a little hell together in heaven.
Mostly Minnesota 