Joining Mario this week for this week`s profile interview was Mario`s Uncle Gabriel Rosenstock!

Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish writer who works in the Irish language. A member of Aosdána, he is a poet, playwright, haikuist, tankaist, essayist, and author/translator of over 180 books!

He is a lover of the Irish language and has given translations for some english words today that may not have had a translation! Example below!

Escalators = staighrí beo ( the moving stairs)

And if the escalators are broken? Ta na staighrí beo "marbh"!

He has unconventional ways of examples of how the Irish Lanuguage should be taught. Mario asked Gabriel how he would teach Irish in Ireland?

The first thing I would do is to bring a cow into the classroom, to learn words you must know what the word means. Bóthar actually means a cow...passing another cow, Bó Thar Bó.  You would remember that word and you would remember the cow too!

Gabriel shared more of his musings with us this morning much to our listener's delight who were fascinated with Gabriel's take on the language and learning!

Gabriel released  his new book "Walk with Gandhi: Bóthar na Saoirse", this is a unique project  to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gandhi featuring poetry by Gabriel and art by Kashmiri artist Masood Hussain, available now on Amazon and bookstores nationwide.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Joining Mario this morning for Story Behind The Song was David Turpin also known as "The Late David Turpin".  He released his album, "Romances", on Friday 11th October. The album brings together 10 well-known musicians ranging from Conor O'Brien (Villagers) to jazz singer Jaime Nanci. David also wrote the IFTA-winning gothic horror film, The Lodgers, now available on Netflix. As a musician, David has performed with Marc Almond and toured with The Divine Comedy and performed by invitation at gallery venues including The Hugh Lane.

He picked a true beauty and a classic today in "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" the song made famous by Judy Garland - performed in The Wizard of Oz is one known and performed by many over the years. The music was written by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Yip Harburg. They were asked to write this based on their previous hits, "It's Only A Paper Moon," "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime," and "Lydia The Tattooed Lady."

The original title was "Over the Rainbow is where I want to be." It 

could have been Shirley Temple`s signature song but apparently Fox would not release Shirley Temple from her contract nor could she hit the notes to the songs.

The one we have chosen to play is by an Hawaaain Musician - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ,  he was an Hawaiian ukulele musician and recorded this in a medley with "What A Wonderful World" for his 1993 album Facing Forward.

This version was used in the films Finding Forrester, Meet Joe Black, and 50 First Dates, as well as on the television show ER. Kamakawiwo'ole, more often known as IZ, was very obese, weighing about 750 pounds at one point, and he died from respiratory illness connected with his weight.

His coffin rests in the capital building in Honolulu, the only non-politician of only 3 people to be honoured like this. The Hawaiian state flag flew at half mast on the day of his funeral and thousands of fans came to see his ashes scattered into the ocean.

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Editor of Connected and Technology correspondent with the Sunday Business Post, Emmet Ryan and Today FM presenter of Weekends Sat 11am to 2pm and Sundays 1-4pm Pamela Joyce joined Mario this morning for this weeks panel.

Pamela kicked things off  asking where have all the juicy celebrity feuds gone?

The biggest showbiz story of the week – actually the year is now Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.  Pamela asks how is it that two relatively unknown celebrities gave us the hottest gossip of the year? She thinks that at least 80% of people had to google who Vardy even was!

Pamela thinks we have been so deprived of celebrity gossip that we latched on to it.She wants the proper celebrity feuds back and spice up this life!!

 

Emmet is up next - he spends his Sunday evenings glued to NFL Redzone on Sky Sports . This is a 7-hour show that ‘whips around’ every live NFL game, only going to a game when it is in a moment of drama – in the ‘red zone’  .It is the ultimate in entertainment – all the best bits of live action sport without the ad breaks, time outs and half – times. Its like the crack cocaine of TV . Emmet thinks more ‘linear’ tv shows should apply this model – maybe it is the best way of trying to challenge the Netflix-isation of television ?

Should we Red Zone our sports viewing?

 

Up next for the roast is Mario, he  reads hundreds of news stories every week. Many of them are on The Guardian, which offers its content for free but asks readers for a donation if they enjoy the articles. This is how it funds the operation.

He never made a donation – but this week he decided he would. Why? Because quality journalism (as opposed to infotainment) is getting increasingly harder to find .

Mario says media outlets are getting more and more obsessed with crap stories and trying to tantalise audiences with sensational news and tone rather than quality journalism and investigation. 

Case in point from Mario is Trump’s sharpie-gate  which is a recent example of how a pathetic act by a sitting president was basically turned into a fun, quirky story by most mainstream media – Mario says this is dangerous , when it comes to storm warnings and death-tolls, the ‘if it bleeds it leads’ principle is more prevalent than ever – its not good journalism, its sensationalist.  

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Dougie Poynter from McFly joined Mario this morning not for a tune ,but for a environmental chat!

It turns out that he is not just a great musician – he’s also a pretty serious environmental campaigner. He joined Mario this morning to  talk about his new book called Plastic Sucks,  he is is a lifelong supporter of environmental causes and a key player in the campaign to ban microbeads in the UK, Dougie is always on the hunt for ways to reduce and replace plastic.

This campaigning book, his first solo authored project, draws on his own experiences in the fight against plastic waste – the problems he's encountered and the solutions he's found. It covers the history of plastic, introduces us to some key campaigners and eco entrepreneurs and is full of top tips and infographics.

Dougie also shared his memories of winning "I`m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" , he volunteered to change the toilet waste every day as he thought it might get him out of the harder tasks! Dougie! Take any other task but that! Fair play to him - he certainly isn't afraid of helping out the environment no matter what the challenge!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

Film critic John Maguire  joined Mario this morning to review the actors who have played the iconic role of "The Joker" over the years as it was released to cinemas this weekend.

From the golden oldie days of Cesar Romero in the camp and clownish portrayal of The Joker in the classic 1960s TV show Batman all the way through to the phenomenal and unpredictable performance by Heath Ledger and now Joaquin Phoeinix, it is a startling and intriguing role to capture on screen.

John gives us the rundown of the performances and his thoughts on the latest portrayal by Joaquin Phoienix.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

John Caddell joined Mario this morning for The Story Behind The Song. John picked an absolute belter and a classic for us with "Don`t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds.

Simple Minds had been on the scene for a considerable time and had a big following in the UK when this song was released. It is one of the few songs by Simple Minds that they actually didn’t write themselves. The story goes that Keith Forsey who wrote the song with Steve Schiff first offered it to Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music but he turned it down. It was also offered to Billy Idol who also turned it down! Off to Simple Minds it went and they said yes!

They recorded it off about four hours in a shabby recording studio in London and thought no more of it.  It went on of course to be released on the Breakfast Club soundtrack, started picking up massive radio airplay, and they were subsequently asked to make a video.  The bassist was sacked from the band following an argument with lead singer Jim Kerr over how little screen time the rest of the band had in the video.  So he was unemployed, with a Number 1 record in America!

Some things are never that simple…but a damn good song this simply is!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

In a week where Greta Thunberg has shook the world with her inspiring speech given at the UN, it appears that climate change as much as some people would like it to - is not going away.

Climate change activist and campaigning journalist John Gibbons joined Mario this morning to talk about the radical changes that are needed and why democracy does not work when it comes to climate change.

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

This week our very own Shelly Gray - presenter of Saturday Hits 2pm -6pm joined Mario for the story behind the song of "Father Figure" by George Michael.

This is the 3rd Single from his debut Solo Album, 'Faith' and is the song that changed him from being a superstar to a megastar - on par with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince at that time in the late 80s. In terms of the lyrics it was very much a love song, he wasn't out as a gay man yet and everyone thought the object of his affection was a female but he later said he had a male in mind when writing it.

The actual title 'father figure' and the lyrics of the chorus "I will be your father figure, put your tiny hand in mine" were perceived by some as incestuous. But it's more so him wanting to be his lover's protector. It was a big contrast to his bubblegum pop Wham days - this new sound was influenced by his true love of Motown music.

It was supposed to be a more upbeat dance track - they accidentally muted the snare drum in studio and preferred the more sensual sound with just the finger clicks.

Shelly always brings us the best tunes and didn't disappoint with this one - lots of listeners got in touch to say they had goosebumps hearing the intro to that George Michael classic!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

This week actor and presenter Simon Delaney joined Mario for this week`s profile interview.  Mario thought he was the hardest working man in the business but apparently Simon may just be beating him to it!

Simon has just finished up a run of playing Jimmy Rabbitte Snr in Roddy Doyle`s "The Snapper" in The Gate Theatre while he was also presenting Ireland AM. It would mean rising at 4am , presenting the morning TV show, then go to do a matinee show on select days ,then the evening show at 7.30pm, back home , sleep and up again at 4am! We are exhausted thinking about it!

He credits his work ethic to his late father who had the very same outlook on work and life.

Simon has led a fantastic career - from "Bachelors Walk" to "The Good Wife", starring with Vince Vaughan in "The Delivery Man" and landing roles in "Zonad", "Begin Again" and many more.  He credits a lot of his success to working with John Carney , director of "Bachelors Walk", "Once", "Zonad" and "Begin Again".  They became good friends from Bachelors Walk and John has been with Simon throughout his career.

However it was Gay Byrne who discovered him apparently! It is not known to many but before his TV career took off, Simon once appeared on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" when Gay presented it all those years ago! It was one of those heart breaking moments where he lost out on 32K because of a question on Feng Shui! Mario kindly recreated the scene for Simon on the show!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.

This week Mario was joined by Financial Planner Financial Planner and presenter of  and “How to be good with Money” and Deborah Somorin , founder of Empower The Family. Together they threw expert predictions, procrastination, and brexit supporters in to the roast.

Deborah brought up the somewhat confusing position of Dame Helena Morrissey founder of the 30% club who has done so much in the area of diversity and inclusion in the workplace for female employees is a Brexit supporter. She poses the question that how could someone so empowering and financially aware think that Brexit could be a good thing?

Eoin McGee is writing a book and is throwing in procrastination into the roast. He is up against a block, however Mario reminds him that in fact procrastination, day-dreaming and idling as it is seen can actually be the very thing the brain needs in order to prepare for getting into action. So all is forgiven, procrastinate away - its good for you!

Mario then had to bring up that Japan -Ireland rugby game and the fact that no one can predict a damn thing. ( apart from climate change maybe?) He reflects on the game - how we were predicting that win - every commentator! He throws predictions firmly into the roast!

To listen to the full chat hit the Listen button at the top of this page.