Poetry for breakfast

Come to the ESF Poetry Breakfast on Saturday, 8th July at the Record Break in Ennis at 11 am.
Sinéad says “Led by the Poetry Collective, this is an all inclusive open mic of poetry. Share your own poem or read from one of your all time favourites in the RB Café garden this Saturday.”
Sure what else would you be doing on a Saturday morning?

Bígí linn!

The Record Break Cafe
The Record Break Cafe

Shopping and …

You can read a new blog about my trip to Beara, by clicking above on the Writer’s Blog ^^^^^^

Am just home from a trip into Galway. Haven’t been in all summer; too busy with the Radio Diploma and work experience in West Clare. It was time for a bit of necessary (ahem) shopping: a boxload of my favourite coffee in M&S, mini hot cross buns, and a coffee & walnut cake.

Treats over, there was money spent on paint and a new lampshade for the guest room, and boring but essential printer ink. WHY is printer ink so expensive? Answers on a postcard please …

I also got my hands on these beauties:

Autumn Reading © Karen J McDonnell
Autumn Reading
© Karen J McDonnell

That’s me sorted for the lengthening evenings at edge of Europe. (Oooooh, I love getting book tokens as gifts!)

 

The Western Skyline – Woody Allen’s Music

woodyallen4

The Western Skyline – Woody Allen’s Music

First broadcast on wildatlanticwaves.wordpress.com on 30 July 2015

Thanks to my friends and family, and to the listeners who contacted the show via Twitter, and Facebook. And thanks to Sinéad, Tom, Peadar, Gerry & Heather – the people who gave radioheads like me the chance to create, broadcast and podcast my shows. And to the GRETB radioheads … it’s been a blast guys!

Thank you all. X

So: the final show from this series of The Western Skyline on Wild Atlantic Waves Radio …  … The music of Woody Allen’s films, plus a track from the man himself; no mean player of New Orleans jazz clarinet. Check out the documentary film about Allen, his films, and music: Wild Man Blues 

You can listen to the podcast of the show here, and the playlist is below.

The Western Skyline: Woody Allen’s Music  

First broadcast 10.30-11.30am on  30 July 2015

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Track Name: Theme from the Purple Rose of Cairo

Complete Work Name: Same [Purple Rose of Cairo soundtrack]

Composer: Dick Hyman

Album Title: House of Pianos

Record Label: Arbors Records 2015

Duration: 02.09

Track Name: Dancing Cheek to Cheek

Complete Work Name: Same [Purple Rose of Cairo soundtrack]

Performer: Fred Astaire

Album Title: Songs from Woody Allen Films: compilation

Record Label: WNTS 2011 (Spotify)

Duration: 03.16

Laaa di daaa  (Note Annie's clothes!)
Laaa di daaa
(Note Annie’s clothes!)

Track Name: Moonglow

Complete Work Name: Same [Annie Hall soundtrack]

Orchestra: Artie Shaw & his orchestra

Album Title: Songs from Woody Allen Films: compilation

Record Label: WNTS 2011 (Spotify)

Duration: 03.20

Manhattan film

Track Name: Rhapsody in Blue

Complete Work Name: Opening scene of Manhattan/ Voicover by Woody Allen

Composer: George Gershwin

Orchestra: New York Philharmonic

Downloaded from YouTube

Duration: 03.42

Martin Landau & Woody Allen
Martin Landau & Woody Allen

Track Name: String quartet No.15. Excerpt from the 1st Movement Allegro Molto Moderato

Complete Work Name: String Quartet in G Major #15 D887 [Crimes & Misdemeanours]

Composer: Schubert

Orchestra: Artemis Quartet

Album Title: Schubert Quartets 13,14,15

Record Label: Virgin Classics

Duration: 04.21

Track Name:  Gymnopedie #3

Complete Work Name: Les Gymnopedies  [Another Woman soundtrack]

Composer: Eric Satie

Orchestr: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Pianist: Philippe Entremont

Album Title: Woody Allen Classics

Record Label:

Duration: 03.25

Radio Days - Joe's family © www.yv.org
Radio Days – Joe’s family
© http://www.yv.org

Track Name: In the Mood

Complete Work Name: Same [Radio Days soundtrack]

Composer: Glenn Miller

Orchestra: The Glenn Miller Orchestra

Conductor: Glenn Miller

Album Title: Songs from Woody Allen Films

Record Label: WNTS 2011 (Spotify)

Duration: 03.29

Radio Days - New Year's Eve 1944: The Masked Avenger & Sally ( post-elocution lessons!)
Radio Days – New Year’s Eve 1944: The Masked Avenger & Sally ( post-elocution lessons!)

Track Name:  If I didn’t care

Complete Work Name: same [Radio Days soundtrack]

Orchestra: The Ink Spots

Album Title: Songs from Woody Allen Films

Record Label: WNTS 2011 (Spotify)

Duration: 02.56

Allen directing Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow & Barbara Hershey in Hannah & Her Sisters
Allen directing Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow & Barbara Hershey in Hannah & Her Sisters

Track Name:  Largo (excerpt)

Complete Work Name: Concerto #5 in F Minor [Hannah & Her Sisters]

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Orchestra: London Strings

Conductor: Sir Neville Marriner

Album Title:

Record Label: Sony BMG

Duration: 03.10

Midnight in Paris

Track Name: La Conga Blicoti

Complete Work Name: same [Midnight in Paris]

Singer: Josephine Baker

Album Title: Songs from Woody Allen Films

Record Label: WNTS 2011 (Spotify)

Duration: 02.18

Woody - Wild Man Blues

Track Name: Come On and Stomp Stomp Stomp

Complete Work Name: Same [Wild Man Blues documentary]

Orchestra: Woody Allen & Band incl. Eddy Davis

Album Title: Wild Man Blues

Record Label: BMG Entertainment 1998

Duration: 04.43

 

The Western Skyline – Classical Choruses (& Gremlins)

It’s not often one gets to co-host a show with gremlins. But on our penultimate day in the studio, it happened to me.

Gremlins messing with the music, Man!
Gremlins messing with the music, Man!

Today, the beginning of the show had lovely music, interspersed with …

… silence!

Direct sunlight on the presenter’s fade button meant that while it looked like everything was ticketty boo, in fact I was just talking to myself. Listeners could hear the music, however – which was the most important part of the programme.

Consequently, this show opens directly with the first track, Allegri’s Miserere Mei – all 11 minutes 52 seconds of it.

Sheet Music Allegri's Miserere

Sheet Music: Allegri’s Miserere

Here is a link to a documentary from Lyric FM about the Miserere. It won a bronze medal at this year’s New York Festival -Radio.

Yup, you’re not hearing things.The third track? It is the music from the Eurovision – but Charpentier preferred to call it Te Deum!

I pick up the narrative after the fourth track: Mozart’s Requiem is my Desert Island disc – especially this recording conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Below is the podcast of the show and a full playlist. Feel free to leave comments!

The Western Skyline – Classical Choruses – First broadcast on wildatlanticwaves.wordpress.com 10.30 -11.30am Wednesday 29 July 2015:

 

PLAYLIST

Track Name: Miserere Mei

Complete Work Name: Miserere Mei

Composer: Gregorio Allegri

Choir:    The Sixteen

Orchestra:  with the Gabrielli Consort & the choir of Kings College Cambridge

Conductor:

Album Title: Allegri Miserere: Tallis: Lamentation of Jeremiah, & other Renaissance Masterpieces

Record Label: Decca Virtuoso 2011

Duration: 11.52

Track Name: Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting Alone

Complete Work Name: Same

Composer: John Farmer

Choir: The Kings Singers

Orchestra: The Consort of Musicke

Conductor:

Album Title: The Madrigal Mystery Tour

Record Label: EMI 1989

Duration: 01.11

 Track Name: Te Deum , Laudamus, Te Aeternum Patrem

Complete Work Name: Te Deum

Composer: Marc Antoine Charpentier  H146

Choir: Le Poeme Harmonique, Capella Claco Viensis

Soloist: Benoit Arnould

Conductor: Vincent Dumestre

Album Title: (Live recording) La Chappelle Royale du Chateau de Versailles

Record Label: Alpha Productions 2013

Duration: 06.20

Mozart Requiem image

 Track Name: Communio, Lux Aeterna

Complete Work Name: Requiem in D Minor, K.626

Composer: W A Mozart ( completed by Franz Xaver Sussmeyer)

Soloists: Wiener Singeren & Anna Tomowa-Sintow

Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic

Conductor: Herbert von Karajan

Album Title: Mozart, Requiem

Record Label: Deutshe Grammophon GmBH 1976/1988

Duration: 06.03

Track Name: In Paradisum

Complete Work Name: Requiem in D Minor, Opus 48

Composer: Gabriel Fauré

Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Choir: Choir of Kings College Cambridge

Conductor: Stephen Cleobury

Album Title: Fauré Requiem & Mese Basse

Record Label: Choir Kings College 2014

Duration: 03.10

 Track Name: Thine Own of Thine Own

Complete Work Name: Liturgy of St John Chrysostem in C Major, Opus 41

Composer: Pytor Tchaikovsky

Choir & Orchestra: USSR Ministry & Culture State Chamber Choir  (live recording)

Conductor: Valery Polyansky

Album Title: Liturgy of St John Chrysostem

Record Label: FSU ‘Firma Melodie’ 2011

Duration: 03.54

Shostakovich Choral Music
Shostakovich Choral Music

Track Name: I told my sweetheart

Complete Work Name:  Ten Russian Folk Songs

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich

Choir & Orchestra: Chorus of the Moscow Academy of Choral Art

Conductor: Victor Popov       Piano: Tatyana Kravchenko

Album Title: Shostakovich: Choral Music

Record Label: Brillian Classics 2013   (1999 National Music Publishers, Russian Federation)

Recorded in the Small Hall, Moscow Conservatory  Jan-Apr 1998

Duration: 04.08

 Track Name: Song for Athene

Complete Work Name: Song for Athene

Composer: John Taverner

Choir: Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Conductor: Christopher Robinson

Album Title: Taverner: Song for Athene/Svyati

Record Label: Naxos 2000

Duration: 05.21

 Track Name:  Adhaan – The Muslim Call to Prayer

Complete Work Name: The Armed Man

Composer: Religious – traditional

Muzzein: Mohammed Gad

Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Karl Jenkins

Album Title: The Armed Man, A Mass for Peace

Record Label: Virgin Records 2001

Duration: 01.56

 Track Name: L’Homme Armé

Complete Work Name: The Armed Man

Composer: Karl Jenkins

Choir: National Youth Choir of Great Britain

Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Karl Jenkins

Album Title: The Armed Man, A Mass for Peace

Record Label: Virgin Records 2001

Duration: 06.00

 

The Western Skyline – Let’s Play!

First broadcast on 23 July 2015  on wildatlanticwaves.wordpress.com #onlineradio

This solo hour was all about play – and playing some good music. I chose a selection from the 1960’s up: moving from soulful to music guaranteed to rock the soul. I defy you not to dance around the kitchen by the end of the show!

Here is the link to the podcast:

A show like this allows me the chance to play long songs, and songs that wouldn’t be heard much on mainstream radio. Who plays John Miles or Judie Tzuke these days?

Some of the tracks here came from re-masters or compilations. Below is the playlist:

New York Minute – Don Henley  End of the Innocence (1989) 2009 Geffen Records

Judie Tzuke Welcome to the Cruise image

For You – Judie Tzuke Welcome to the Cruise (1979) 2010 Wrasse Records

Simon_And_Garfunkel_-_Bookends

Old Friends/Bookends  Simon & Garfunkel  Bookends 1968 Sony BMG

Dazzling Blue – Paul Simon  So Beautiful, So What 2011 Star Con LLC Hear Music

If These Walls Could Speak – Jimmy Webb  10 Easy Pieces 1996 Capitol Records

Mac Arthur Park Mac Arthur Park postcard

Mac Arthur Park – Richard Harris  (Written by Jimmy Webb, first recorded:1968)                  1997 Geffen Records

Music – John Miles  Rebel (1976) True Rock Compilation 2006 Spectrum Music

Gimme Some Lovin’ – Spencer Davis Group True Rock Compilation  2006 Spectrum Music

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynard Skynard True Rock Compilation 2006 Spectrum Music

Addicted to Love – Robert Palmer Riptide (1985) True Rock Compilation 2006

Robert Palmer  & The Girls!
Robert Palmer
& The Girls!

Happy Half-Hour – on the Western Skyline

HAPPY!!
HAPPY!!

My 30 minute Western Skyline show this morning on Wild Atlantic Waves Radio was all about Happiness:

– what is it?

– do we deserve it?

– what makes our listeners happy?

– did you know that an Irishman inspired the writers of the American Declaration of Independence?

Life, Liberty and ...
Life, Liberty and …

We had an old happy song courtesy of the Partridge Family. And there were a couple of newish happy songs – thank you Take That and yes, you’ve guessed it, Pharrell Williams!

There was an interview, vox pop, and a happy list.

Thanks to everyone who contacted us on Facebook and Twitter: you seem to be quite a happy bunch!

Flash of Happiness
Flash of Happiness

Image: from Wikimedia Creative Commons

Have a listen to the podcast below: do you agree that Happiness and Contentment are two different things?

I’d love to read your opinion, here on the website, or on the Wild Atlantic Waves Radio Facebook page.  And here’s hoping a flash of happiness flares up in your path today.

Tracking the Ghost Train

Slieve Callan in shed at Moyasta Junction
Slieve Callan in shed at Moyasta Junction

Here is a link to the mini-documentary I made about the West Clare Railway.

My thanks to all the people who contributed to it and who gave me great leads and stories … enough to make a full length documentary!

It’s dedicated to my mother & and her sisters, my grandmother, and great-grandmother – all of whom travelled to Kilkee on the West Clare.

So after all the work … here is Tracking the Ghost Train

 

I’d love to get your feedback … and any stories you have about the West Clare Railway.