Brian Kennedy joined Mario this morning for this weeks profile interview and of course they were off to laughs and stories from the start! Brian on hearing the ad for Stevie Wonder recounted the time he got to sing with the international superstar - he said he has much more to the story that he cant fit into today, we need to know Brian!

Brian has publicly talked about his journey with cancer and how he has been handling it to date.

In my case the cancer is gone , they got the cancer and its out but this (chemotherapy) is the last part , in case any of them got any ideas of making a return.

He also wants people to feel comfortable about talking about steps that might have to happen to ensure recovery.

Im trying to take the stigma away from stoma,because there are people out there going I could never have a colostomy bag, and yeah you could, of course you could.

Press the play button on the image on the top of the screen to hear the full chat.

John Duggan from offtheball.com  joined Mario to talk about the final day of the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, its getting interesting! John calls it and thinks its going to be Tiger...but listen back to hear the full chat on the spectacle that is the Masters.

Press the play button on the image on the top of the screen to hear all!

DJ Kormac - Championed by everyone from Annie Mac to DJ Yoda, Kormac started out as out as a hip-hop scratch DJ and MPC beat-maker joined us today for this week on Mario's Sunday Roast for story behind the song.

His latest project, Equivalent Exchange, saw him write a full suite of material for an orchestra and a host of collaborators including Loah, Eimear Noone, Jack O’ Rourke and Stephen James Smith while working with acclaimed artist, Maser, on artwork and show visuals. They performed the material to a sold out Vicar Street in March 2018.

Kormac chose such an incredible track for story behind the song "Since I Left You" by The Avalanches. The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne, best  known for their two studio albums Since I Left You and Wildflower . Since I Left You was a critical and commercial success, receiving multiple awards, and has been considered both one of the best albums of the 2000s and best Australian albums of all time.

The record takes in approx 18 tracks mixing in samples, some from songs, movie clips,  TV shows,comedy recordings,and some that are still to be discovered! Members of the Band have said there are 3500 samples used in the song ad some still undiscovered. Nick Hornby the author has also said that there are so many samples used to create something so indisputley their own that to accuse them of plagiarism is pointless. Check out this video that depicts as many as it can from the song!

 

Check out DJ Kormac  at the "Guinness Storehouse After Dark’  which will see the seven-storey treasure trove come alive with an eclectic programme of live music, great beer, delicious food and bold entertainment on Saturday, 27 April 2019, . Led out by DJ Kormac, the extraordinary 90-minute music set, will feature the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Loah, Jack O’Rourke, members of Stomptown Brass, May Kay of Fight Like Apes and now Le Galaxie and very special guests.

Tickets on sale now  priced at €25.00, to purchase a ticket please visit www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/20million. Ticket price includes access to the ‘Guinness Storehouse After Dark’ event, a complimentary pint and tasty food pairings. Numbers are limited – so get in quick!

Press the play button on the image on the top of the screen to hear all!

This week Mario was delighted to welcome Mairead Ronan back to the Today FM studios where she is more than familiar with! Mairead has since gone on to present Celebrity Bainisteoir and Ireland's Fittest Family  and become a favourite  on our TV screens. She has more recently wowed their nation with her dancing skills on "Dancing With The Stars". Mairead was partnered with professional dancer John Nolan and ended up winning and taking home the glitterball trophy!

I’m this happy

This week Mario got to chat to Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year, Niamh Boyce, excitement is already building for "Her Kind", the much anticipated second novel from Number 1 bestselling author of " The Herbalist".

Inspired by the true story of Alice Kytler, "Her Kind", is a tense, moving and atmospheric re-imagining of the events leading up to the Kilkenny Witch Trial of 1324.

Her interest in hidden stories, in excavating silenced voices has led her to write books are often seen as historical, or more recently as bio-fiction. Like most writers, she  just writes what fascinates her, and is sometimes surprised at the labels attached to the finished book.

Niamh gives us some fascinating insight into what Ireland was like in the 1300s as she did 4 years of research for her book, and even found out that hurling was a big part of Kilkenny even back then!

Press the play button on the image on the top of the screen to hear all!

Joining Mario for this week`s Story Behind The Song is Joe Donnelly to take a look at eh story behind "Ghost Town" by The Specials.

It’s from 2 Tone Records, the label set up by Jerry Dammers, of The Specials.  Two-tone refers to the fusion of ska and elements of punk or new wave music. Joe tells us it was a social and political movement as much as music genre. 

Released in 1981, spent 10 weeks in the UK top 40 ans awarded single of the year by loads of music magazines in 1981.   It’s a song laden with social commentary. This was Thatcher’s Britain. Deep recession, civil unrest, riots across dozens of cities in 1981, high unemployment, urban decay.  Jerry Dammers said this about the inspiration behind the song: "You travelled from town to town and what was happening was terrible. In Liverpool, all the shops were shuttered up, everything was closing down ... We could actually see it by touring around. You could see that frustration and anger in the audience. In Glasgow, there were these little old ladies on the streets selling all their household goods, their cups and saucers. It was unbelievable. It was clear that something was very, very wrong."  

Not forgetting of course it was again made famous by Father Billy O’Dwyer, the priest who gigged at a disco and raffle that Ted and Dougal organised to raise funds in order to fix the leaking roof of the parochial house and forgot all his records...except one!

 

Press the play button on the image on the top of the screen to hear all!

Today on Mario`s Sunday Roast, Mario was joined by Laura O`Mahony, one third of comedy group CCCahoots and Irish environmental campaigner John Gibbons. There were some hot topics on the table including the story of Ryanair becoming the first airline to make it into Europe`s top 10 polluters. The list is dominated by firms that run coal fired power plants and are mostly German and Polish. John tells us The European Union says that without any action, CO2 emissions from aviation are set to grow by up to 300% by 2050. The failure to tax aviation fuel is the key reason why flying remains so cheap, even though emissions from aviation are even more damaging to the atmosphere as they are mostly release at high altitude.

John`s big idea is to introduce on an EU wide basis a "flying allowance" or ration electronically linked to your PPS number and strictly non-transferable. As you can imagine we got a very mixed reaction to this proposal!

Just about to go on air with ⁦@GiftGrubMario⁩ & Laura O’Mahony on ⁦@TodayFM⁩ - should be fun! pic.twitter.com/pc0nABxCG5

— John Gibbons (@think_or_swim) April 7, 2019

 

@think_or_swim @TodayFM Tuned in to listen to John Gibbons talking about our Climate crisis. He was totally uncontroversial and listening to the comments, you'd think he was an alien. Come on Ireland. Crikey depressing!

— Wilderness Blooms (@wilderblooms) April 7, 2019

 

To hear what we mean...press the play button on the image on the top of the screen!

This weeks feature interview on Mario's Sunday Roast was with Irish fashion designer and artist Paul Costelloe.

Mario spoke to Paul about modern masculinity, the style of Irish, being a bad loser and why flowers should not just be for Mother's Day.

Mario asked Paul the burning question when it comes to fashion, "Who decides who's wearing blue?"

Paul told Mario that it comes from a few influential journalists, but noted some people look great in blue but for others it may not suit them so don't get caught up the hype of what's 'so hot right now'.

Anna Wintour will say "brown is the new black" so we're all meant to go "Wow you've got it right every time, you're right again baby!"

Click play below to hear the interview.

 

This week on Mario's Sunday Roast the hot topics up for discussion were smartphone addiction, Ireland's tipping culture and outdated parts of religion.

Joining Mario in the studio were actor Norma Sheahan who shared her thoughts on how she thinks the church needs to get with the times and ditch confession and children fearing that they're eating Jesus!

Eoin told us the story of his experience tipping waiters in the States. How do we cope with tipping in Ireland? Do we do it out of guilt or to give thanks for great service? And how much do you tip?! Does anyone know the code?!

And finally on the roast this week Mario confessed how addicted he is to his smartphone. Without a laptop or tablet he relies solely on his phone to keep him up to date with news, therefore it's always in his hand.

Click the play button below...

 

This week on Mario's Sunday Roast the topic of smartphone addiction was brought to the table. Mario openly admits that he is hooked to checking his phone for news updates and notifications.

Thankfully, Dr. Calvin Newport, known as Cal Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of six self-improvement books was on hand to talk to Mario about how to be a digital minimalist.

You can find out more about Cal Newport and his books here 

For all the insights and top tips on how to reduce your smart device addiction click the play button below...