Come together

Producer Hal Willner has a talent for musical matchmaking. A showcase of his latest album of sea shanties, featuring Lou Reed, is coming to Dublin. John Meagher reports received plenty of kudos back in 1984 for assembling some of the world's biggest names for the Do They Know It's Christmas? single. Unlike Ure and Geldof, Hal Willner is not a household name, but his ability to marshal some of music's biggest egos has become even more legendary in a business full of egos. For more than 20 years, the Philadelphia producer has put on tribute shows that have brought together musicians and entertainers of all hues -- and often to brilliant effect. Witness the Leonard Cohen tribute tour, Came So Far For Beauty, that called to Dublin's Point two years ago. It pulled together such a disparate bunch of talents as . The results were... [read full story]