Joining Mario for this week`s profile interview was one of Ireland`s leading country singers - ( not forgetting wee Daniel of course) , the one and only Nathan Carter!

Nathan ( full name -  Nathan Kane Tyrone Anthony Carter!!) is turning 30 this year in May , born in Liverpool but his family originate from Newry in County Down, he shot to fame in Ireland with the massive success of "Wagon Wheel" and has gone on to huge success doing about 120 gigs a year in Ireland, America and Germany.

He has sang with many of his idols along the way and accomplished so much before the grand young age of 30 - but admits his dream duet would be with Ed Sheeran!

I think he`s amazing, I love the way he`s introduced traditional music into his genre.

It could be a match made in heaven!

He kicks off his UK tour next week and also plays three nights  in  Vicar Street Dublin , on  16th, 17th  and 18th July, and Live at the Marquee Cork with special guest Brian Kennedy on 31st May.

For full details check out nathancartermusic.com 

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Joining Mario for this week`s Story Behind The Song was Today Fm`s Ed Smith , present of Ed`s National Anthems Mon- Fri 7-9m and Ed`s Songs of Praise Sunday 7-10pm.

Ed knows a thing or two about the tunes! Today he picked a Pearl Jam classic "Jeremy" which carries quite a heavy story.

This song is based on the true story of Jeremy Delle, a 16-year-old who killed himself in front of his English class at Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas, on January 8, 1991. Eddie Vedder found out about Jeremy when he read an article about the incident in the Dallas Morning News, which read: "Because he had missed class, the teacher in his second-period English class told Jeremy to get an admittance slip from the school office. Instead, he returned with the gun, police said. He walked directly to the front of the classroom. 'Miss, I got what I really went for,' he said, then placed the barrel in his mouth and fired." EddieVedder could relate to the Jeremy Delle story, there was kid in his seventh grade class with similar leanings. 

Ed went on to tell us that the mother of the boy written about in this song has since spoken to say it wasn`t an accurate portrayal of what happened and thinks that the day he died should not be what defined his life. Eddie Vedder has since said that he had considered delving deeper into the real-life story but ultimately shied away. "That was a newspaper article," he said of the song's inspiration, "and then when I went to write about it, I thought of actually getting a hold of what the actual person it was written about, but then I thought that would be intruding."

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Joining Mario to cook up today`s Sunday Roast was Today FM`s very own Pamela Joyce,  and financial planner Eoin McGee from RTE’s How To Be Good With Money they threw in politician’s on drugs, the reaction to David Clifford’s Kerry captaincy, and Iphone memories - Mario`s rather unique experience!

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Joining Mario this week to take a look at how moments in societal change can dominate the charts was comedian Fred Cooke.

Fred took us through some of those songs that reflected a nations mood at one particular moment in time.

"Ding Dong!, The Witch is Dead" performed by The Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz.  This song entered the UK Charts the week Margaret Thatcher died.

"Killing in the Name". This song was a UK Christmas No 1 in 2009, beating Ex Factors beating McElderry's balled, The Climb. This chart topper was organised by a facebook campaign to challenge the monopoly of the Christmas no. 1 always going to TV talent show winners.

"Roll over Beethoven". This song was released  in 1956, the song is an imperative directed at the composer Ludwig van Beethoven to roll over in his grave in reaction to the new genre of music that Berry was promoting.

"Running The World" by Jarvis Cocker. Nearly made a Christmas No 1 this year just after Tories won the UK Election.

"Come out you Black and Tans" by the Wolfe Tones. This song went to number 1 this year in the UK and Ireland in reaction to a now cancelled commemoration of the  Royal Irish Constabulary.

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Joining Mario this Sunday was TV presenter and current "Dancing With The Stars" contestant Glenda Gilson.

First things first Glenda had to finally confront Mario for years of impersonating with a grizzly fifty year old man`s voice!

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She was gracious in her dressing down to Mario!!

Glenda is currently taking part in this years "Dancing With The Stars" she tells us how she is getting on!

"Its so tough , I`m used to it now but I will tell ya there was lots of tears , tears of frustration and theres mirrors everywhere so you see yourself everywhere looking like a plank"!

Glenda lets us know she is dancing the Waltz tonight!

Its hard its heal toe, up down, you have to have a neck on ya like a girraffe , the only thing I`m happy about is that I get to hold on Rob!(the dancer)

Glenda may tell us she can`t dance but we have information that she actually shared a stage with Michael Jackson back in the day when they filled the stage with members of the audience and brought them up for a dance! ( She was 6 - but still! This is dancing gold!)

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Artist and podcaster Jules Coll and musician Damien Guiden joined Mario for this weeks panel discussing the power of Crystal energy and is it a fad, the fun that should be had at mass and and the general election.

The topic that got the texts flying in was the discussion around mass with Damien Guiden. Damien recently attended his sister`s anniversary mas, he left feeling pretty ok, spending time with his thoughts, chatting to family that passed. He felt it wasn't about sitting and listening to a priest repeating prayers from a bible or mass leaflet telling a "story" with a message. Damien felt he left feeling ok because he had no phone or anything tech related for an hour, it was just him and his thoughts - it was his time. He looked around the church and it was nearly empty - age was average 60 and it just lacked atmosphere. The music was weak with nothing to it, people looked sad - it didn't have to be like that he thought. Why couldn't it be a place of enjoyment?

This led listeners to send in their experiences of enjoyable masses from around the country and where it is done right. Choirs, questions and answer time and priests with humour.  Shouldn't this be the case for every mass regardless of religion to bring community together?

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Joining Mario this morning was barrister Aileen Hickie and comedian Michael Fry who helped Mario  put together today’s roast –throwing in the rogue royal couple, emigration, and how America created the Donald Trump.

Michael has taken the decision to emigrate and hit for the lights of London, this is due to what he feels is a lack of opportunity for him and his generation in Ireland - rental costs, living at home with parents, lack of reliable public transport options and the ability to build a life in Ireland even while working here in a perfectly good job!

Well boys it’s me againI’m on @TodayFM shortly talking about why I’m leaving the country pic.twitter.com/daJJUux9Vr

— Michael Fry (@BigDirtyFry) January 12, 2020

 

Listeners were quick to empathise with Michael on his views and why reluctantly he has made the decision to leave the country. We will certainly miss Michael and his quick witted ways from the panel! Wishing him all the success in the world for the future!

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Joining Mario for this week`s profile interview was awarding winning journalist Larissa Nolan.

Amongst many things discussed this morning with Larissa , there was one that stood out with our listeners. Larissa described what its like having neurological disorder/mental health condition called OCD and how it can be much misunderstood.

I have a type of OCD called "pure OCD" which is characterised by highly-distressing intrusive thoughts. They are individual to the person but they are often whatever the individual finds most abhorrent, for maximum torment factor.

She describes how she would be constantly obsessively worried by something when she was growing up - be it being worried about knowing about sex, to worrying she would grow up to be a heroin addict, to fixating on the horrors of the Nazis and having to be stopped reading books on their depraved acts. There was no name on it in the 80s, but while she did talk about it at home, often she would try to get on with it because she felt mad. She began to realise after it happening a few times it was like a worm that would make its way out of my head eventually, but it was very difficult dealing with it. She suffered from childhood insomnia and missed a lot of school.

When she got into her 20s she started worrying that she would go mad and kill people and would have horrific mental images of it happening. She tried to cope with this herself until she had a kind of mental break about it one day. She went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed OCD and referred her to a therapist, who she saw for 10 years of CBT. She says she wasn't able to talk about it for years as she was terrified of it and has never spoken of it before.

The encouraging information for our listeners who identified with Larissa is that CBT gave her the skills to manage it and has a different relationship with the disorder this way. Education is the message and empowering yourself with knowledge on what it actually is.

If you have identified or would like further information on how to get help for OCD you can go to the following link here.

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Joining Mario to discuss the decade ahead and what we can expect for the enviroment , the climate and the planet. John talked about the current Australia fires, including the major disinformation campaign that’s been attempting to shift blame towards arsonists and even environmentalists.  He also spoke about where the world is likely to be by 2030 in terms of emissions and temperature increases (according to John we’ll be edging towards that +1.5ºC red line by end of the decade; we’re currently at +1.1ºC). Also, by 2030, the massive Ogallala aquifer that runs for over 800 miles beneath the US mid-west and makes farming possible in this arid region, is due to be functionally exhausted.

BUT !! On the positive side, John expects to see the 2019 climate strikes and Extinction Rebellion movement really start to pick up momentum, as more and more ‘ordinary’ people, especially the young, awaken to this crisis and decide to get involved. This will mean a greening of politics in the western world, including Ireland, but also expect an authoritarian backlash, as more and more states begin to criminalise the very act of protest. John predicts that means lots of street conflict and, unfortunately, violence ahead.

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Joining Mario for this morning`s Story behind The Song was one of Today Fm`s musical experts John Caddell! John brought to the table Peter Gabriel`s "Sledgehammer".

This was influenced by the '60s soul music Gabriel listened to as a teenager, in particular Otis Redding, who Peter saw perform at the Ram Jam club in London in 1967. The horn section was typical of this sound. This song is about well....sex!  The word "sledgehammer," other references to the male member include the train, bumper cars, and the big dipper.  Ah jeepers!! Lets have another listen will we?

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