Today’s show features an interview with local artist and author, Cathy Dunne, as well as news from the Galway International Arts Festival, and an important local fundraiser: Palestine Comes to Kinvara.
Music is from such greats as Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman & Peggy Lee, Jimmy Webb, Annie Lennox, Alison Moyet, CSN .
An exploration of music from 1967 & the Summer of Love, with some arts roundups thrown in for good measure. Enjoy the vibes with songs from The Turtles, Procul Harem, The Stones, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Scott McKenzie, The Spencer Davis Group and more …
Keep an eye out for BBC4 repeats of their 1967 special. Also SKY Arts are showing programmes about musicians connected to the movement that began in 1967.
Turn on, Tune In …. don’t Drop Out until you’ve listened to the show!
Groovy.
Another line up of great music from some of Music’s best, including Johnny Cash, Dave Brubeck, Sandy Denny, The Doobie Brothers, Tracy Chapman…
Arts News focuses on art exhibitions & workshops, a drama production by children for children, W. B Yeats’s birthday and Bloomsday. And today’s poem is No Second Troy by Yeats.
Email requests & comments to me at kinvarafm@gmail.com – put The Western Skyline in the subject line.
Hope you enjoy the music!
Recently, I brought ‘the childer’ up to Capital City!
A major trip for both me & and my poems. It was the first time I actually drove around Dublin.
I spent a very enjoyable time at RTÉ radio chatting to Seán Rocks on Arena, and reading a few poems from This Little World . The Arena team made the selection: ‘I’ll Tell Me Ma’ seems to appeal to a lot of people!
Anyhoo, if you’d like to hear it – here’s the link to the Arena podcast 28 July 2017
Thanks to everyone in Team Arena for the great welcome.
I’m still working as a volunteer with Kinvara FM – about 10 km from home – in Kinvara, Co. Galway. The station hopes to be broadcasting on air in late summer when its 30 day licence is received from the BAI. Until then, there is a variety of shows going out every Saturday, and some on Sundays too. You can listen in live online, or catch the podcasts later.
I’ll be presenting The Western Skyline every fortnight. The next show is on 10 June. There will be Arts & Heritage news, interviews, and some poetry. Below are links to podcasts the two most recent shows. I hope you enjoy them!
Ever since I was a child I haven’t been able to help myself when it comes to sounding off.
The first such letter I wrote was to the RTÉ programme, Motley. It was a kids’ TV programme so I don’t know why they were discussing Finance Minister Charlie Haughey’s tax exemption scheme for writers and artists. Perhaps it was part of a news round up. Anyhoo, they must have asked their junior viewers what they thought about it, because I seem to have expressed an opinion to whatever adult would listen to me. I thought it was a great idea: artists and writers should get tax breaks. Someone, probably my dad, said, Write and tell them. So I did. And they read my letter out on the television.
Reader, there was no stopping me after that.
Which leads me to texting radio shows. Sometimes, I shout at the radio and type out furious texts or social media posts. Then, I delete them – as there are times one shouldn’t become radio fodder. Or, I’ll engage and comment here and there. So, when someone asked was anyone watching the U.S. presidential debates, I offered up my ha’penny’s worth.
Which is how I ended up talking to Ryan Tubridy about the second debate and, in the process, extolling the virtue of the Tunnocks teacake.
They asked me to chat about the third debate – but ran out of programme time. Then they rang the day before the election and asked if I’d be doing an all-nighter again. I sure was. And I’d be going for the Tunnocks teacakes again as treat of choice. Would I chat about it? I sure would:
Up at 1.30am again – Let the games begin! Poor CAT didn’t know whether she was coming or going. Over to her dish, and discovered it wasn’t breakfast time. To the front door, and discovered it was still the middle of the night.
In the end she stuck with me & CNN until dawn, by which time we all knew the outcome. He’d voted for himself, and made sure The Missus did too, by the looks of this:
Unfortunately, plenty more voted for him too. (Hillary won the popular vote, however!)
As a slightly older child, I wrote to President Childers’ widow when he died, and I received a lovely note from her. Imagine: being a kid and getting a black-edged envelope with the presidential crest on it. As literary editor of the student newspaper in college, I wrote to our current President; requesting a poem for our Christmas issue. I had a lovely call from his personal assistant.
I’d write to the White House … but I’d end up with a permanent ‘Denied Entry’ stamp on my passport if I wrote what I really want to say. It would not “be a beautiful thing”. Bigly.
So, here’s this ha’penny’s worth: ‘Heil to the Chief’.
That’s SO not a typo.
We’ll leave it there.
Hello my lovelies!
Just to let you know that I will be talking to Rick O’Shea on RTÉ’s Poetry Programme. The show goes out at 7.30pm this Saturday 23 April on Radio 1.
In this week’s programme – just ahead of ANZAC Day – Australian poet Robyn Rowland will read from her collection This Intimate War:Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915. You can find out more about Robyn here.
I will be taking a look at an anthology of women’s verse & poetry from World War 1 – Scars Upon My Heart. The interview briefly looks at the range of work, women’s roles in WWI and we read three of the poems from the anthology. The collection was edited by Catherine Reilly and first published in 1981 by Virago. It was republished in 2006 and is available to buy online: Virago imprints: here . Amazon: here .
I hope you will listen in – I’d love to get some feedback! If you can’t catch the programme live on Saturday, you can always listen back on the RTÉ Radio Player See you on the radio!
I’ve been up in Capital City since yesterday.
Lucky me – I got a place on Poetry Ireland hosted masterclass with the Ireland Chair of Poetry, Paula Meehan. A dozen of us met at Ballywaltrim Library in Bray. Time flew, as it always does on such occasions. It was well worth the journey by car, train, DART, bus, & shanks mare to get there.
Thanks to Paula for the gift of her gentle presence and insight, and to everyone around the table who shared their work. And to Jane who kept an eye on the clock.
I stayed in the heart of ‘town’. And the bould bucko above is diagonally across the street from the sun-filled dining room as I type this. Breakfast with Oscar – peachy!
Blue skies over Dublin, so I’ll pop over later to Oscar. I used to work near here. I loved lunchtime moments in Merrion Square – even the frosty days in the heather garden, with the snowdrops and crocuses.
Here is a good site about Oscar in the park:
http://www.dublincity.ie/DublinArtInParks/English
I’m off to RTE later to record some poetry. But more about that later.
I’ve spent the last two weeks in Kilkee, Co Clare – a place rather dear to my heart.
Five generations of my family have holidayed in this place that grew from small village to a Victorian watering hole with seaside ‘lodges’. Now, as when I was young, people come to Kilkee for the great beach, cliff walks, and rock pools … as well as the hurdy-gurdies, candy floss and ice cream.
This time around, however, I was on work placement with the local community radio – Raidió Corca Basicinn –
And just before I leave, I want to thank everyone for being so welcoming and for throwing me in at the deep end (HAH!).
I ended up gathering, writing and reading three news bulletins a day and also participating in the daily ‘Everything Goes’ show. And I put together a little package about writer Emily Lawless and her Wild Geese Poems that mention Clare and Corca Baiscinn.
Hell, even the Kilkee Sea Serpent raised its briny head again this week!
You can read an article about the station manager Áinemae in this week’s Clare Champion here.
From this radiohead to Áinemae and all the radioheads of West Clare: thanks so much, lads. It’s been a great experience.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Karen J McDonnell 