Download or read book Goodnight, God Bless, and Safe Home written by Finbar O'Keefe and published by O'Brien Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ireland in the 1960s rocked, hucklebucked and jived to the sound of the showbands. In their heyday, there were almost 700 bands touring the length and breadth of the country, filling the newly created giant ballrooms - the breeze-block basilicas - with brylcreamed lads and beehived lassies. The bands and the singers became household names: Brendan Bower and The Royal, Dickie Rock and The Miami, Joe Dolan and the Drifters; Eileen Reed gave her Wedding Dress away nightly; from the North came the innovative Freshmen, fronted by Billy Bowan and Derek Deane.