Fenster’s Funky Sevens

Dublin City in Ireland is currently experiencing one of the worst housing crises in the world, Property prices have increased so much that only a handful of working people can afford to buy a home. The rental market is in chaos too, with very few places  for rent and the accommodation that is available  is often very expensive and low quality. 1000s of people are being made homeless every year. 

In this episode, I try to tell the history of housing in Dublin and the causes of the current housing crisis through seven Irish songs, ranging from folk to pop to hip hop,  with lots of clips from musicians, politicians, historians, analysts and of course, the people of the great city of Dublin.

If your Instagram algorithm is tuned to serve you wholesome musical moments, you might have seen a video recently of an Alaskan bluegrass band (The Heists with Josh Fortenbery) playing the song "East Virginia Blues" with vocals from a Mongolian throat singer (Bataa Jambaldorj of Nomads). It's a joyous meeting of musical styles and cultures. 

This episode tells the story of how that wonderfully serendipitous moment came to be. 

The video

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYw9SRYRN3j/?igsh=MWJzZGd6OHQyaXp0dA==

Bataa's instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bataajambaldorj?igsh=ZTh2eGVodWU1Y252

Nomad's bandcamp

https://nomadsdublin.bandcamp.com/

Bataa playing in class

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA36MolMmyM/?igsh=OWt0bmN1dzhvaWFs

Hansel/Billy

https://www.instagram.com/_hansel_s?igsh=YjhyMnlja3Zwbzd4

The Heists

https://www.the-heists.com/

https://www.instagram.com/the_heists?igsh=NTk2dDcwdGxnZ2ts

Josh Fortenbery

https://www.instagram.com/josh.fortenbery?igsh=MWRsZjB0czljcmV0cg==

Taylor Vidic 

https://www.instagram.com/taylordallasvidic?igsh=Z291aW16ZTh0cHhu

Deni Hurtado

https://www.instagram.com/deni_hurtado?igsh=bnJnMm1vYTExZHluY

Lisa/Twitcher

https://www.instagram.com/twitcher_music?igsh=Yjg0NW9weXowd3cx

Cormac/Big Monster Love

https://bigmonsterlove.bandcamp.com/album/game-over

In the last episode, I inadvertently took a turn into the realm of true crime podcasting, and while I'm not intentionally planning this, it seems this episode could be filed under the heading of self help. 

Ronan Hession/Mumblin' Deaf Ro's music

https://mumblindeafro.bandcamp.com/music

I'm not exactly sure what this episode is, I guess it's a kind of audio essay based on seven "ghost songs" (songs with the word ghost in the title) and how they relate to some moments from my life. Maybe it's something of a personal memoir through song,;as pretension as that sounds.

The last 30, or so minutes are more of a documentary about a very sad and tragic event in Dublin's history, so be prepared for that if you are of a sensitive nature. 

So please have a listen and enjoy these Ghost Memories 

Aoife's Sing Along Social

https://www.singalongsocial.com/

Gary's music 

https://gazlerock.bandcamp.com

Trapped Inside: The Stardust Nightclub Fire Disaster Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deHNbwW6B6U

About a year ago, an Instagram account called the Jazz Dispensary shared a photo titled "Miles Davis in his New York apartment 1986". The picture was taken from a book called No Picture by Japanese photographer Shigeru Uchiyama.

And while the photo gives us a candid snapshot into the life of one of the most important musicians of the 20th century, it can also tell us a whole lot about where Miles Davis's music career was at that moment of time.

Check out the photo here

And the mystery CD

A history of the remix; from the avant garde tape loop experiments of the 50s, to the creative expansion of the standard three minute song in the late 60s. And the innovations in DJing and dancefloor dynamics of the 70s, through to the current situation when a remix is now more a statement of the remixer's musical expression that a reinterpretation of the original producer's work.

Featuring  interviews with many of the key characters like Tom Moulton, Mel Cheren and Walter Gibbons,  plus lots of the pivotal tracks that shaped the sound of dance music today. 

Norman Whitfield playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bRq6ju63svO3C7eSBTW4Q?si=aT-KAms3RYuw9m-1ObNs8Q&pi=sXT7KBhdSdGDO

An update of episodes 24 and 26, where I introduced the genre of Dude Hop, mid 90s alternative rock infused hip hop made by white dudes with hangovers, with some more dude hop songs I've discovered over the last year or so 

The Dude Hop Timeline playlist on Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dNXabIDPDFwQ00UwK06Gr?si=TKt2fWXTQmOkkGSgdsHo3A&pi=idkD9sKhTGeYH

The Dude Hop sub Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/DudeHop

A selection of sometimes cringe, sometimes cool comedy rap tunes from the early to mid 80s, featuring tunes from England, Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands

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.