The Grove was a teenage disco in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland that ran for 30 years, from 1967 to 1997.  and thanks to Cecil Nolan, who was the DJ for that entire time, and the music he played, The Grove became an essential part of the formative years of the tens of thousands of young Northsiders who attended.

In this episode, many of those who were lucky enough to have gone to the Grove share their stories and the music they heard there. 

Joe Kearns - What is the Grove? 

https://thegrove-jk.blogspot.com/p/memories-of-grove-1973-to-1975-from-2025.html?m=1

The Grove Facebook group 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4512479386/?ref=share

The Grove radio show on NearFM

https://nearfm.ie/the-grove-show/

Eamonn McCormack's "Kindred Spirits" album

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7IYQbgnmiFhHdnp5WESEQV?si=hYYbsEFpTuWxxMuCwaFtiw

"More Than A Feeling" - RTE documentary on the Grove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccATMMFBtM

32a - Irish Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPA8aUK3q80

Just in time for Halloween, I cover a dark subject in this episode; the stories of seven plane crashes and the famous musicians who lost their lives in them.

Seven songs thar feature spelling in the lyrics

From Motown to Boystown: A History of HI-NRG (1957-1989)

In this episode I look at the genre of electronic dance music known as Hi-NRG, and how innovators like Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Bobby Orlando,  Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench took this form of electronic disco from the dancefloors of gay nightclubs to the pop charts around the world. 

We also trace the origins of this sound back to Hitsville. USA, the home of Motown Records.

Featuring tonnes of music and interviews with the main characters.

Jamaican Sound System Culture and its influence on British Music 1950 - 1991 

Using Soul II Soul's massive 1989 hit Back to Life as a starting point we trace how Sound System Culture has played a fundamental part in shaping British Music; taking in early Jamaican Sound Systems and the American RnB t hey preferred, through Ska. Reggae, Roots. Dub, Lover's Rock, and Dancehall. Northern Soul, Jazz Funk, early Electro, Rare Groove, Acid House,  Street Soul, acid Jazz and Trip Hop

Contained lots of great music and interviews with the Musicians,  DJs, Producers. DJs, promoters and Soundmen involved. 

The story of how dubstep developed; from US Garage to UK Garage, through speed garage, two step, break step and on into grime and dark garage until the underground dubstep sound went overground around 2005 and how it continued to develop into the 2010s.

The podcast features tonnes of music, and interviews with the people who created the sound .

In this episode we explore the origins of disco music in the early 1970s, in the gay dance clubs of Boston; The Other Side and the 1270. 

The episode features excerpts from a series of interviews with first generation disco DJs conducted by Brian Halligan of Boston LGBTQ organisation, the History Project.

In particular I focus on one DJ, Jimmy Stuard, I feel Jimmy's contributions to the craft of DJing have been overlooked. 

The History Project YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFZZB_pNhTXOlRAt0i_2Tg

Brian Halligan on Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/briandhalligan.bsky.social

The Other Side Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FiCasptnX/

1270 Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/803649106339832/?ref=share

Steven Burke's Podcast

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/djstevenburke

Carol Mitro's podcast

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/carilmitro

Bobby Busnach's Mixcloud

https://www.mixcloud.com/bobbybusnach/

Wendy Hunt's Mixcloud 

https://www.mixcloud.com/djwh8/

Jimmy Stuard - Live at 12 West - New Year's Eve 1976 (6 hour set)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6bCL0VB_G8

Danae Jacovidis - At Midnight Melody 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wItGs9Dzdxk

What we're gonna do here is go back... back to first evidence of human artistic expression, back to the dawn of civilisation and back to the enduring human need to be, both physically and spiritually. free. 

As we voyage across the millennia, Let's uphold the fundamental right of all the peoples of this earth to write their own histories. 

And never forget to embrace that unquenchable desire, found in every man, woman and child, to dance together under the stars to some funky ass tunes.

Seven songs about the Ancient World

Fenster's Funky Sevens- Ep 28 - A History of House Music

Covering the time period between two UK pop chart entries;  George McCrae's number one "Rock Your Baby" in June 1974, and Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk "Love Can't Turn Around" in August 1986;  the first disco hit and the first house music hit. 

I look at how Disco developed over the 70s until its "death" in 1979.  Then how, with Funk and Post-Disco and European influences, Disco was reborn on the dancefloors of Chicago as House Music. 

We also take in the stories of the first House Music records and  young ambitious (and sometimes unscrupulous) characters involved in their creation.

An update to episode 19 - Irish Hip Hop - 1979 to 1999

Some exciting revelations about Ireland's first ever rap record and an overlooked vibes man supreme