The Limerick Lady Podcast

Emma and Ann speak to Jenny McDonald, theatremaker and facilitator originally from Toronto, Canada now based in Dublin.

Pandemics and performances haven't really gone together and the industry has been left adrift, so Jenny explains how she and a group of women chose to build their own boat - as such.

She is the creator and director of SoloSIRENs, a Tallaght based collective of emerging and established theatre artists amplifying women's voices onstage and beyond.

SoloSIRENs recently produced Cessair, a performance and installation at the Civic, that used the Irish myth of Cessair as a container for stories of 100 women collected around Ireland and the world.

Find SoloSIRENS at www.solosirens.info and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @solosirens

Find the Limerick Lady podcast wherever you get your podcast, and follow for new episodes on the third Thursday every month

The Limerick Lady Podcast is supported by the Limerick Post Newspaper, and sponsored by the Ormston House Feminist Supermarket

Follow Ann Blake on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and support her on patreon at www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

Emma and Ann try all year round to keep the guests diverse, interesting and brilliant, but Pride Month is always an extra special occasion - this June, we hear from vocalist, guitarist, bassist, songwriter and merch-packager Pamela Connolly of Choice Prize nominated Dublin band Pillow Queens.

The trio cover in one jam-packed hour the importance of queer representation in mainstream music, the difficulties faced by musicians in balancing a public persona with the tough reality of trying to earn a living from music alone, and how listening to Jack Johnson can cause massive sexual awakenings if you're not careful.

Pillow Queens are a four piece based in Dublin, Ireland. Formed in 2016, their State of the State EP caught the ear of Steve Lamacq who called the band's songs "deceptively infectious, with sharp hooks and sharp nails". That EP's lead single, Favourite, with its accompanying dog-filled video, received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing, Radio X, and Amazing Radio as well as across Irish national radio stations. Two UK tours followed, along with a brace of sellout hometown shows in Dublin.

January 2021 saw the four piece take on their US television debut, performing and interviewing on the CBS late night talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden.

The band's debut album In Waiting has been praised by critics both home and abroad and was nominated for an RTE Choice Prize for Album of the Year.

Buy Pillow Queens' album here: https://pillowqueens.bandcamp.com/

Find Pillow Queens on Twitter @pillowqueens

Find the Limerick Lady podcast wherever you get your podcast, and follow for new episodes on the third Thursday every month

The Limerick Lady Podcast is supported by the Limerick Post Newspaper, and sponsored by the Ormston House Feminist Supermarket

Follow Ann Blake on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and support her on patreon at www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

We may not hold on forever to past feelings of joy, grief or loss but every chapter, every song is a performance of that memory - be it personal or collective.

In this month's podcast Emma Langford and Ann Blake talk to writer and academic Emilie Pine about her no.1 bestseller "Notes To Self" (2018), a collection of personal essays about alcoholism, family, relationships, sexual abuse and miscarriage - how it felt to share those life experiences with the world in the form of a book, and how she found the transition from academic writing to non-fiction.

Emilie Pine is a professor of modern drama at the School of English, Drama and Film in University College Dublin. She teaches and supervises student work in the fields of theatre and memory cultures. Emilie is also director of the Irish Memory Studies Research Network (www.irishmemorystudies.com) and editor of the Irish University Review and recently edited the Special Issue on Moving Memory: The Dynamics of the Past in Irish Culture.

You can find out more about Professor Emilie Pine at https://people.ucd.ie/emilie.pine

Find the Limerick Lady podcast wherever you get your podcast, and follow for new episodes on the third Thursday every month

The Limerick Lady Podcast is supported by the Limerick Post Newspaper, and sponsored by the Ormston House Feminist Supermarket

Follow Ann Blake on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and support her on patreon at www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

Broadcaster, podcast, youth worker, animal lover and DJ Olivia Chau has been stalwart of the music scene in Limerick for over 13 years now. If she isn't running, promoting, or playing at gigs, she is at gigs. Having started as an Indie DJ over 13 years ago, she now plays a blend of Disco, Nu-Disco, '80s, and '90s R&B.

In 2019, Olivia became a Craic Mechanic of Sing Along Social, a no commitment choir for people who can't sing well. Just this year in March 2020, she started her own radio show called Don't Kill The Beat on Limerick City Community Radio, which you can listen to every Wednesday night from 7 pm to 8 pm on LCCR.ie. She is also the host of a new Limerick-based podcast called 'Chancers with Olivia Chau".

On this month's podcast Ann and Emma talk to Olivia about how she stepped into the male-dominated world of DJing with a little help from her friends. She offers some wisdom and advice for any aspiring DJs out there, and some insight into the industry for those of us just curious about how it works.

Follow Ann on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and support her on patreon at www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post Newspaper

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

This time last year Ann and Emma hosted their first ever live Limerick Lady podcast with an audience in the beautiful, historic surrounds of erstwhile supermarket Ormston House. The building was opened as a supermarket in 1961, closing in 1982, only to be reopened in 2011 as a Cultural Resource Centre to create new opportunities for artists and arts workers.

This International Women's Day, we meet two artists being supported by Ormston House's new scheme: Ormston House Feminist Supermarket - a celebration of both the building's purpose of yore and its modern values.

Mary Conroy and Fiona Reilly are visual artists working with mixed media to explore the areas of domestic labour, gender roles of different types of work, and the meeting of worlds of early motherhood and art-making.

Fiona and Mary share some samples of their work during the conversation which took place live with an audience over Zoom on International Women's Day (8th of March) 2021. You can view some of their work and learn more about the event and Ormston House's International Women's Day 2021 celebrations here: https://ormstonhouse.com/programme/international-womens-day-2021/

Find out more about Fiona Reilly: https://ormstonhouse.com/programme/fiona-reilly/

Find out more about Mary Conroy: https://ormstonhouse.com/programme/mary-conroy/

Follow Ann on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and support her on patreon at www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post Newspaper

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

Ann and Emma caught up with a woman who has interwoven her way into both of their lives in various ways: the ordained interfaith minister who married Ann and her wife Jenny; a tutor and mentor to Emma in University; and a friend to both. During this month's podcast we learn why Reverend Nóirín Ní Riain has such respect for the arts of silence and of listening.

Nóirín generously shares the story behind suddenly losing her voice for 20 years at the age of 14; as well as the journey that brought her to her faith, to her late ex-husband Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, to working with Sinéad O'Connor, living with the monks in Glenstal Abbey, and to her sense of contentment and self in recent years.

We also look in this episode at the Irish Spring festival of Imbolc and Brigid the Goddess and Saint, spirituality, what it means to us as humans, and why we as Irish people often shy away from it.

Nóirín has kindly offered listeners to the podcast a discounted rate to join her virtual hedgeschool gathering, the "Turas d'Anam Bealtaine" course taking place from the 24th of April 2021 - to avail of the special offer use the code below.

Follow Reverend Nóirín Ní Riain on Instagram at noirininterfaith

And visit www.turasdanam.com and www.noirin.love for more information on Reverend Nóirín Ní Riain and her work

Follow Ann on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and support her on patreon at https://www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post Newspaper

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

Sharon Slater, Limerick historian, joins our hosts Ann Blake and Emma Langford to talk about the brand new Women of Limerick app, created alongside the team at local creative hub Ormston House. The app is interactive and brings the user on a walking tour of Limerick city and the women of Limerick who have shaped the world through innovation, creativity and philanthropy. The discussion explores the ever-evolving field of recording history, and why it's important to document the truth.

Follow Sharon Slater on all platforms @limerickslife.

For more information on the 'Women of Limerick' app click here https://ormstonhouse.com/programme/women-of-limerick/

Follow Ann on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford on Facebook at emmalangfordmusic, at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and you can join her patreon at https://www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post Newspaper

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

It's the most wonderful time of the year; the season of giving; a season full of magic and surprises.

On the December episode of the Limerick Lady Podcast Ann Blake and Emma Langford talk Santa, stardust and space-toilets with budding astronaut Dr. Norah Patten. We're proud to say that the aeronautical engineer from Ballina spent a large chunk of her adult life at the University of Limerick, and is currently on track to be the first Irish person in space... So who better to ask how Santa gets around the whole world in one night?

This episode is family-friendly and features questions posed by kids and grown ups alike - there's no age limit on curiosity!

Follow Dr. Norah Patten on Twitter and Instagram @spacenorah and be sure to buy her book 'Shooting for the Stars'.

Follow Ann on Twitter at @annblake78 and Instagram @annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter @BPLO. Catch her other podcast, 'Ann and Steve Talk Stuff' on Twitter @annstevetalk

Follow all things Emma Langford on Facebook at emmalangfordmusic, at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and you can join her patreon at https://www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post Newspaper

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at @LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at @thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

Ann Blake and Emma Langford sat down with shining star of the Irish hip-hop scene Denise Chaila to talk the creative process, finding your voice, and learning to love it.

If you haven't heard of Denise yet, allow us to introduce you to her wild and wonderful mind through this month's podcast!

Follow all things Denise Chaila at facebook.com/DeniseChaila and https://denisechaila.bandcamp.com/album

Follow Ann on Twitter at annblake78 and Instagram annblakeplay and her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter at BPLO

Follow all things Emma Langford at on Facebook at emmalangfordmusic, at www.emmalangfordmusic.com and you can join her patreon at https://www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Follow all things Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post Newspaper

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Twitter at LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at thelimericklady

Tweet using #LKLadyPod

Your hosts Ann Blake and Emma Langford are joined over zoom by composer and conductor Eimear Noone. Originally from the village of Kilconnell in Galway, Eímear has spent a large portion of her adult life in LA and is based now in Dublin with her husband and kids. Eímear is best known for her award-winning work on video game music, and composed the score for "World of WarCraft: Warlords of Draenor", which received a "Hollywood Music in Media Award" in 2014.

In 2019 Noone made history as the first woman ever to conduct at the Oscars.

The conversation veers from managing the working-from-home situation to the importance of role models, taking in sexism in the classical music world, and Eímear explains her self-ordained title of "conductrix". This month's episode is a Limerick Mental Health Week special, and as part of that topic we cover the issue of creative burnout and managing your workload.

Learn more about Eímear at https://www.polyarts.co.uk/artists/eimear-noone or visit her on twitter @eimearnoone to connect directly

Follow Ann on Twitter @annblake78 and Insta @annblakeplay and The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra @bplo

Follow all things Emma www.emmalangfordmusic.com and join her patreon here https://www.patreon.com/emmalangford

Follow all things Ormston House @ormstonhouse and www.ormstonhouse.com

Recorded with support from Ormston House Feminist Supermarket and The Limerick Post @limerickpost www.limerickpost.ie

This podcast goes out the third Thursday of every month or 'Thirdsday' - if you will.

Follow The Limerick Lady on Twitter @LkLadyHQ Insta @thelimericklady and 'The Limerick Lady' on Facebook

Tweet using #LkLadyPod