Back in September the Irish invaded Paris for the Rugby World Cup - and look how well that went. Your blogger is only just getting over the trauma of it (mostly by being distracted by the equal trauma of Mr Staunton's attempts to manage our national football team). Anyway, passons.

November sees an Irish invasion of a different - and hopefully more successful - kind. Yes, it's the turn of our pop stars to take over the French capital. Go on Ireland!! Allez les verts!!

Most of these visitors are no strangers to Paris. French Letter favourite Duke Special (right) played a fantastic show at the Nouveau Casino back in May - and next week he's back, playing at the Grand Rex on 6 November as support to another of our favourites, Emily Loizeau. 

The Grand Rex is a very prestigious and plush venue, not to mention large (over 2,000 seats), all of which means great French exposure for the Duke, a.k.a. Peter Wilson. Expect a guest appearance by Loizeau during Duke's set; the pair have been writing and recording together of late. We'll never get tired of raving about Duke Special and Emily Loizeau.

Another frequent visitor to Paris (and former resident here) is astro-pop princess Nina Hynes (left). Currently living in Berlin, Nina and her band The Husbands released the fine album 'Really Really Do' earlier this year.

One of this blog's first posts was on Nina's April show at the Flèche d'Or, where severe technical problems failed to spoil a very impressive set - and Nina will be taking a chance on the Flèche's sound-desk again, on 17 November.

Sinead O'Connor was also in France recently - she played at the Interceltique Festival in Lorient this summer. For the winter season she's swinging round by Paris for a show at the Casino de Paris on 13 November.

The French press gave very appreciative reviews to her latest album, 'Theology', and she regularly plays large venues in Paris, so it's safe to say that the French still have a soft spot for Ireland's most famous chanteuse.

Another famous Irish femme de rock, Dolores O'Riordan (left), visits Paris on 21 November for a show at the Olympia - perhaps the city's best indoor venue in terms of sound quality, and certainly the best-loved.

Like the Grand Rex and the Casino de Paris, the Olympia is large, so if she fills it then Dolores will certainly be making a go of her post-Cranberries career.

Finally, one more Irishwoman - the disco-tastic Roisin Murphy (below right). The former Moloko-person is playing at the Nouveau Casino in Paris on 13 November (the same night as Sinead O'Connor's Paris show across town), La Laiterie in Strasbourg the following night and Maison Folies in Lille the night after that.

You may have heard about Roisin's bizarre onstage mishap in Moscow recently, where she hopped her head off a chair and damaged an eye socket. Happily, she's said to be recovering well and her November dates will go ahead as scheduled.

Roisin's current album, 'Overpowered', is her second post-Moloko solo record. From it, here's the title track. Is this Ireland's sexiest woman?

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Phoebe, the fictional chantuese from hit sitcom 'Friends', famously performed her unique brand of music in the plush environment of the Manhattan coffee house 'Central Perk'. Now it appears that she may have been ahead of the curve as Starbucks announce that through their new record label, Hear Music, they will be releasing the debut album of 21 year old singer-songwriter Hilary McRae. According to Variety.com, "Hilary has a great soulful sound and we are excited to play a significant role in the launch of what will be a long and successful career," Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, said Tuesday in a statement. "Hear Music has a strong belief in fostering the talent of quality musicians and we believe we've found a gem in this artist."

How long before Irish based coffee retailers such as Insomnia and West Coast Coffee follow suit ? It's a pity that Bewleys didn't last to see this development. It would have been great to see a version of David Bowie's 'The Bewley Brothers' released under the Bewleys name.

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