Keeping Track

In this bonus episode, we meet Julia Ehrhardt, an early childhood practitioner at Farmyard Kindergarten. Julia shares her journey into early years education, reflecting on her formative experiences and what led her to become a Kindergarten teacher. We explore the Steiner philosophy in a pre-school setting, how to know when your child is ready for pre-school, the daily rhythm of a playschool, and the unique challenges of working in early childhood education. If you're a parent of a baby or toddler and thinking about pre-school, this episode is full of valuable insights. Thanks for supporting local radio!

Rob Crowley runs Callanan’s Bar, a small pub on George’s Quay overlooking the south channel of the River Lee. It has been a family-run establishment since the 1930s with a loyal clientele. Callanan’s is more than just a pub, it’s a Cork institution. Now in its third generation of ownership, it continues to maintain its welcoming atmosphere while supporting storytelling, theatre, and music. Over the years, it has hosted intimate plays, events as part of the Sounds From a Safe Harbour Festival. We speak about the history of the pub and his family, his love for George's Quay, hosting different types of events in a small bar, the surrounding community, and much much more. Rob's love for his city and the people that frequent Callanan's really shines through. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio :-)

Moray Bresnihan is the General Manager of Cork Community Art Link, a community arts organization focused on collaborative projects and participatory programs. His career includes work in arts programming, event production, and street theatre. He co-founded Goldie Fish Events, ran the DIY arts initiative Mutantspace.com, and served as Artistic Director for the Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture St. Patrick’s Festival. He also co-founded Bui Bolg Street Theatre Company, producing performances for festivals and corporate events. After working in the arts, he spent time running a bakery before returning to community-focused creative work. In this conversation, we discuss Moray’s early years in Vanuatu, Hong Kong, Mayo, and Galway, the value of trial and error, human connection, the realities of running a bakery, and Moray plays some fitting music to acompany our chat. This is a good one folks. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio :-)

Aoife Barry is an award-winning journalist, writer, and broadcaster. She is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction book Social Capital and has written for major publications such as The Sunday Times, The Irish Times, The Business Post, and The Journal, covering topics from literature and music to the impact of social media on our lives. Beyond writing, Aoife is a seasoned moderator, workshop leader, and broadcaster. She regularly shares her insights on RTÉ, Today FM, and Newstalk and previously hosted her own radio show, Sweet Oblivion, on RTÉ 2XM. In our conversation, we discuss following your passion, the life of a freelance writer, working independently, moderating live discussions, meeting your heroes, and what makes a great interview. Aoife also shares insights on her book Social Capital, online harassment, recording an audiobook, staying on top of current affairs, and offers valuable advice for aspiring journalists. I hope you enjoy the conversation and thanks for supporting local radio! :-)

Stevie G is a highly regarded DJ and broadcaster with Red FM. Since the early ’90s, he has been a key figure in Cork’s music scene, performing at iconic club nights such as Sweat at Sir Henry’s, Mor Disco, Free La Funk, Yo Latino, and Jam, at venues like the Savoy and the Pavilion. Beyond DJing, he contributes to The Evening Echo and The Irish Examiner and is deeply involved in youth work. Through music workshops, he fosters creativity and expression among migrant communities and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Cork. In our conversation, we discuss his time spent learning to mix records in an empty nightclub, the mechanics and culture of pirate radio in Cork, direct provision, the importance of arts and cultural spaces in a city, streaming, and much more. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio!

Lucy Kenefick started in investment banking before pivoting in 2012 to open a CrossFit gym in Cork, which later became Obodo, a space focused on fitness and well-being. In 2023, she experienced perimenopausal symptoms and was frustrated by the lack of support. Determined to help others, she founded the NuMe Collective, a space for education, support, and empowerment for women navigating menopause. In this conversation, we discuss opening a gym with her brother Chris, the unexpected challenges of perimenopause, common misconceptions about menopause, how women and their partners can navigate this stage of life, the impact of menopause in the workplace, feelings of isolation, and much more. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio! :-)

Debbie Godsell is an artist who holds an MA in Art from the Crawford College of Art & Design in Cork. Her lens-based work spans two-dimensional pieces, sculpture, and video, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and historical relationships with land. She delves into cultural clashes in history, tradition, and ethnocultural identity. We talk about her formative years, how she began to look at her identity, her current exhibition which questions the lineage of the Church of Ireland, colonial settler language, convergent and divergent ways of thinking, hope for the future, and a lot more. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio :-)

Laura Russell is a physicist, a flying instructor, a commercial pilot, and an aerobatic pilot. She flies air buses for Aer Lingus to Europe and the East Coast of the U.S. She is on a journey to becoming Ireland’s first female Unlimited level aerobatic pilot. In her spare time she used to be an artist working with watercolours and pencils but now focuses that side of her creativity on web design for ad hoc customers. We talk about pulling G whilst doing aerobatics in a plane, working in the precarious industry of commercial flying, mother nature, physics and much much more. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio :-)

Lilly Higgins is a content creator, acclaimed food photographer, and award-winning food writer. She grew up in a family of ten, spending her childhood in Cobh with a spell in Zimbabwe. Before embarking on her culinary journey, she studied design and dabbled in street art. Over the years, she carved out a career in the food industry, including teaching at the prestigious Ballymaloe Cookery School, contributing as a weekly columnist to The Irish Times for an impressive 10 years, and as a TV Chef for Virgin Media Ireland & RTE. Her Instagram following of over 140,000 is a testament to her personality and passion for what she does. She has also used her platform for advocacy, becoming a prominent voice in highlighting the Palestinian cause. We talk about her formative years, her career, writing books, following your gut, the importance of the solidarity weekly marches for Palestine and much much more. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio :-)

Si Edwards, originally from a small seaside town in North Wales, spent a decade in London working as a librarian and web designer before relocating to Cork in 2005. There, he studied Film & TV Production at St. John’s and began collaborating with film festivals across Edinburgh, Dublin, and Cork. Starting as a volunteer for the Cork International Film Festival in 2013, he worked his way up to become the full-time programme manager by 2020. We discuss life in 90s London, moving to Cork in 2005, the evolution of the city, climbing the ranks and the day to day of working all year round for a film festival. Si also shares advice for young filmmakers, qutting alcohol, veganism, overcoming depression, finding a new lease of life through yoga, his five must-watch films, we get a bit nerdy about David Lynch, and why he believes we should cancel our Spotify subscriptions. Si chose seven songs to accompany our chat. Thanks for supporting local radio, I hope you enjoy :-)

Harry Moore is a multimedia artist whose practice covers photography, video, performance, printmaking and soundworks. As a photographer he is best known for his images created with his handmade pinhole cameras and as a sound artist he produces self made instruments and has been seen performing with The Quiet Club, in The Guesthouse, and at Sonic Vigil to name a few. We touch on a lot of topics, I hope you enjoy

Takashi Miyazaki moved to Ireland in 2008. In 2015, he opened Cork’s first Japanese takeaway - Miyazaki, and he followed that up in early 2018 with the first Japanese fine dining restaurant in Cork, Ichigo Ichie. His flagship bricks and mortar restaurant on Evergreen street has remained a constant go-to for people looking for a little bit more from a takeaway and his second restaurant on Sheares Street earned him a Michelin star. We talk about his time in Hiroshima, getting to Ireland and settling in Cork and much more. I hope you enjoy :-)

Ciara Ruth represents the Cork city branch of the Community Action Tenants Union. C.A.T.U is owned by its members who fight alongside each other to win changes in our everyday lives around tenants' rights. We speak about the work C.A.T.U does, illegal evictions, direct provision evictions, the Council Executive, C.A.T.U's community campaigns and much more. Ciara also plays some really great music that accompanies the themes in our chat. I hope you enjoy!

Mick O'Shea is the director of the Cork Artists Collective and The Guesthouse and he has been instrumental in establishing a vibrant and growing sound art scene in Cork City. He studied instrument physics in C.I.T. and worked as an instrument technician in UCC. All of his works spring from his essential experience in drawing. His medium includes sculpture, drawing, sound and cooking. In 2003 he set up the collaborative practice with fellow artists Stephen Brandes and Irene Murphy, called The Domestic Godless which, through performative cooking events, explores culinary activity as art practice and tests assumptions about the cultural traditions of food in challenging and often irreverent and absurdist ways. He also works with various sound artists and composers both national and international. In 2006 he formed The Quiet Club with sound artist Danny McCarthy to promote and showcase improvised music and soundworks. This was a joyous chat, I hope you enjoy!

Conal Creedon grew up on Devonshire Street in Cork city where generations of his family traded for over 100 years and where he himself ran a launderette for 12 years during the dark days of the 80s recession. He still lives on Devonshire street and in the passing 30 years or so he has gone on to be an award winning novelist, playwright and documentary filmmaker. He has written 8 novels including Pancho and Lefty Ride Again, Passion Play and Begotten Not Made, he has written 5 plays including The Trial Of Jesus, and his Second City Trilogy - After Luke, When I Was God, and The Cure. He created 8 film documentaries including The Burning of Cork, and he has penned over 60 hours of original fiction, short stories and plays for radio.

Maureen Mclaughlin Is a Canadian woman who has been residing in Cork for the past 10 years. She is the proprietor of a small neighbourhood pub on the corner of Dominick and John Redmond street at the edge of Shandon. Her pub offers a cosy, welcoming, and safe space for conversation, and it is also an intimate venue for music and spoken word events.

Albert Twomey has done immense work for the independent music scenes in Limerick and in Cork. Cutting his teeth in Limerick as a promoter he started out with the non-profit Aspersion Music Collective and by the mid-2000s, AMC were bringing bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Fugazi to Limerick. In 2003 he co-founded ‘Out On A Limb Records’ which is one of the longest running independent labels in Ireland. In 2007, he moved to Cork and began a long stint as a purveyor of all things underground with Plugd Records, he ran the hugely popular alternative club night ‘Ping Pong’, he started another independent record label called Penske Recordings, he still puts on gigs as a promoter under various monikers from time to time and he has most recently become a library assistant in the Cork City Libraries. We talk about all this and much more and Albert chose a great playlist to accompany our chat. I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio :)

Amanda Feery is a composer working with acoustic, electronic, and improvised music. She has written for chamber and vocal ensembles, film, theatre, installation, and multimedia. She was the Mark Nelson Fellow in Music at Princeton University, completing her PhD in Music Composition in 2019. She has formed multiple collaborative relationships with many ensembles and musicians including Alarm Will Sound, Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Mise-en, Bearthoven, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Crash Ensemble, ConTempo Quartet, the National Symphony Orchestra, This is How We Fly, Chamber Choir Ireland, Dublin Guitar Quartet, Paul Roe, Michelle O’Rourke, and Lina Andonovska plus many more. Her work has been featured at New Music Dublin, First Fortnight Festival, and Dublin Fringe Festival, among others, and she has been composer-in-residence at Bang on a Can Summer Festival, SOUNDscape, and Greywood Arts. Her 2019 residency at Centre Culturel Irlandais focused on recording piano improvisations on public pianos in Paris. Her recent projects include: A Thing I Cannot Name, a 20-minute opera film commissioned by the Irish National Opera; My Year of Rest and Relaxation, commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra; and we could be diving for pearls, commissioned by Gleo Festival. She was a 2023 recipient of the Markievicz Award, which is funding the composition of an hour-long radio work, in response to Eamon de Valera’s 1943 radio address, ‘On Language and the Irish Nation’ and she is currently a Lecturer in Composition at the University of Galway. I hope you enjoy!

Mary McCarthy is originally from Skibbereen. She studied Arts Management in UCD and became interested in the visual arts through working in a large art gallery on a J1 in New York for a summer. She worked at the Irish Museum of Modern Art for four years, she was appointed director of the National Sculpture Factory in Cork in 1996, and after this she went on to work for the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. She was the deputy director overseeing Cork’s successful European Capital of Culture bid for 2005 and remained in that role for its year long term. She is now the director of the Crawford Art Gallery and has been since February 2018. We talk about the importance of art institutions in civic spaces, the planned redevelopment of the Crawford Art Gallery, inclusivity and civic engagement in planning and desdigning a city and much much more. I hope you enjoy!

Wille Stewart is from Dublin and now resides in Leitrim with his partner and sound artist Natalia Beylis. He has been involved in the Irish underground for 30 years. Willie was the drummer in the mythical Dalkey punk band, Bambi, he is currently a member of Woven Skull alongside Natalia, and the pair are in the midst of converting their backyard into a multi-function space for creatives. They also run the excellent all-day festival of experimentation in music and sound in Leitrim called Hunters Moon. Willie is a filmmaker who produced a fantastic documentary about Belgian surrealist, painter, sculpture, filmmaker, and performance artist Ludo Mich, called Ludo Is Fantastic. He ran the former independent label Hypnagogic Tapes and is now the driving force behind Nyahh records, Nyahh meaning the soul or spirit of something. Nyahh records describe themselves as ‘A home for sound collectors, noise makers and music builders who love a good Nyahh’, and they recently released an extraordinary Compilation of Experimental Music in Ireland from 1960 to 1994, called Under The Island. We talk about all this and much, much more! (including DeValera!) I hope you enjoy!

PART TWO: 2023, What Next? In December 2023, I produced a two‑part radio documentary on Gaza. Episode 1 offers a clear, accessible overview of the conflict’s historical context, addressing the widespread confusion that followed the events of October 7th. Episode 2 focuses on what happened after October 7th while emphasizing that the conflict’s roots long predate that day. These interviews were recorded just three weeks after October 7th, 2023, so they are very raw, captured at a moment when nobody knew what would unfold in the years to come. The documentary draws from over seven hours of interviews with academics, historians, refugees, activists, and Palestinians, condensed into two episodes under an hour each. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed. Their insights and testimonies are powerful and worth hearing. Interviewees: Dr. Laurence Davis (UCC) Senior Lecturer Jim Roche (TUD) Dr. Kathy Glavanis‑Grantham (UCC) Dr. Rola Abu Zeid O’Neill (UCC) Dr. Ali Kashan (UCC) PhD student Nedaa Yousef (UCC) MRes student Ikhlass Arabat (SciencesPo) Prof. David Ryan (UCC) Dr. Piaras MacEinri (UCC) Dr. David Fitzgerald (UCC) Dr. Conor McCarthy (MU) Prof. Jim Bowen (UCC) Thanks for supporting local radio

PART ONE: Histroy, Occupation, & Conflict In December 2023, I produced a two‑part radio documentary on Gaza. Episode 1 offers a clear, accessible overview of the conflict’s historical context, addressing the widespread confusion that followed the events of October 7th. Episode 2 focuses on what happened after October 7th while emphasizing that the conflict’s roots long predate that day. These interviews were recorded just three weeks after October 7th, 2023, so they are very raw, captured at a moment when nobody knew what would unfold in the years to come. The documentary draws from over seven hours of interviews with academics, historians, refugees, activists, and Palestinians, condensed into two episodes under an hour each. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed. Their insights and testimonies are powerful and worth hearing. Interviewees: Dr. Laurence Davis (UCC) Senior Lecturer Jim Roche (TUD) Dr. Kathy Glavanis‑Grantham (UCC) Dr. Rola Abu Zeid O’Neill (UCC) Dr. Ali Kashan (UCC) PhD student Nedaa Yousef (UCC) MRes student Ikhlass Arabat (SciencesPo) Prof. David Ryan (UCC) Dr. Piaras MacEinri (UCC) Dr. David Fitzgerald (UCC) Dr. Conor McCarthy (MU) Prof. Jim Bowen (UCC) Thanks for supporting local radio

David Murphy is from East Cork and teaches computer science in MTU. He recently set up his own independent record label called Krim Kram, a name he took from two characters in Samuel Beckett's novel ‘How It Is’. Krim Kram launches and distributes some truly niche and experimental noise music with a steady output since the label's inception back in April 2022. Dave Murphy is one of those rare philanthropic folk that all music scenes need, he has no interest in making music himself, but through a deep knowledge and intense fondness for all things underground he’s willing to take a risk in giving a platform to the music he loves. We talk about all this and much much more! I hope you enjoy :-)

Caroline Corcoran has been a home birth midwife since March 2017. She is passionate about supporting women to have the birth they want by being well-informed to make the best choices around pregnancy, birth, infant feeding and parenting. Her goal is to see more women joining the home birth scheme, so they can enjoy the gold standard service she and her colleagues provide by looking after mothers all the way through their pregnancy, their birth, and for two weeks afterwards. The Home birth scheme was recently under review by the HSE to restrict home births to women who are no more than a 30 minute journey from the nearest maternity hospital which would exclude women living in rural Ireland who wish to give birth in the comfort of their own home. We talk about all that and much more, Enjoy!

John Hegarty is the director of Fourem Architects who specialise in urban design and the conservation of historic structures and spaces. Through his work he has developed a deep love for the historic architecture of Cork city and this drove John to represent a campaign to oppose the council and OPW planned flood walls along the quays in Cork. The campaign argues that these flood walls would drastically change the feel and look of Cork as a heritage port city and greatly diminish the view and connection the island of Cork has with its River Lee. The campaign is called Save Cork City and you will notice the Love the Lee slogan displayed at businesses around the city who support the cause. Save Cork City have been opposing the planned walls for over 5 years now and they propose that building a tidal barrier at Little Island or Tivoli would be a far more economically viable option, cause no interruption to the city centre but also save the original 18 century quay walls. We get into the nitty gritty of the issues surrounding Cork city as a marsh and the city's flood defence, but we also talk about dereliction/vacancy, the housing emergency, the Sextant pub and much much more... Enjoy!

Claudia Hernandez is the owner of the record store 33 RPM on McCurtain Street, Cork. We talk about Claudia and her husband emigrating from Mexico to Ireland via Spain, how they ended up owning a record store, and much more. Claudia also plays some tunes that are special to her. Enjoy!

Niall Heffernan is celebrating two 10 year anniversaries in 2023. His long standing radio show Cosmosis, which started on UCC campus radio back in 2013, turns 10 this year. It switched to Dublin Digital Radio in 2017 and has become a ‘go to’ show for music purveyors looking for ‘rare gems and pieces of interest from everywhere and anywhere’. If you have been a regular on the ‘alternative’ music scene in Cork you will undoubtedly have stumbled upon the Ping Pong club nights and gigs which he ran alongside Albert Twomey. He has also been a teacher on American & Contemporary Literature, Film and Culture, and Dystopian Fiction at University College Cork. We talk about his incredible achievement as a published author of an academic book that looks at the aftermath of the Cold War Zeitgeist on fiction, film, and television. The book, which also turns 10 this year, is entitled, ‘In The Shadow Of The Bomb’ The Legacy of the Cold War in Dr. Strangelove, End Zone, Crash and The Wire. Niall also put together an excellent playlist to accompany our chat. Enjoy!!

John Dwyer is the proprietor of Bunker Vinyl on Camden Place in Cork City. We talk about John spending 20 years in London working in social care and how he ended up in Cork selling records. John also plays some tunes that are close to his heart... Enjoy!

Jude Sherry is the director of the global design agency Anois, which she co-founded with her partner Frank O’Connor to create value through design for sustainability. She is an international expert & thought leader on ecodesign, sustainable design & circular economy. In 2021 she received the Irish Tatler Woman of the year award in Art & Design for her leadership in Sustainable & Ethical Design and alongside her partner Frank O’Connor they are on a vital crusade to highlight the amount of Dereliction and Vacancy in our cities, towns and rural areas to bust the many myths around tackling dereliction in a housing emergency.

Mary Crilly is the CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork which is a non profit, community organisation that was set up on International Womens Day back in 1983 and it has been providing services to victims of sexual violence in Cork City and County for 40 years now. She is one of the driving forces behind Safe Gigs Ireland. In 2019, University College Cork awarded her with the inaugural equality award for her role in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion and in 2022 she was presented with the freedom of Cork. We talk about her life as a crusader for the rights of sexual violence victims and also to play some music that is close to her cause. The topics discussed on this show may be distressing if you or anyone you know have been affected by any sexual abuse. You can contact the Sexual Violence Centre Cork on freephone 1800 496 496.

Virginia O'Gara hails from Texas and through an eventful youth of working for Food Not Bombs in California, being a Spanish/English interpreter for touring punk rock bands in Mexico and becoming interested in permaculture whilst working on a farm in Guatemala she ended up in Ireland. She is one of the driving forces behind CUSP, the Cork Urban Soil Project which is about composting on a community scale. She is also the co-owner of the hugely popular raw-vegan food company, My Goodness. She’s an activist, a punk, and an inspiring member of our community. Her story is worth a listen, Enjoy!

On this episode I talk to Producer, Engineer, Mixer, & Drummer - Christian Best. Christian plays some music that is close to his heart and we talk about Christians early exposure to music, his long standing partnership with songwriter Mick Flannery and there's also an extra 15 minutes at the end for any Beatles nerds ;-) I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting local radio!

This week I had Caitriona Twomey from Cork Penny Dinners on the show. Penny dinners serves 1,400 hot meals a day, as well as much more. It relies solely on donations and volunteers. This is worth a listen. Caitriona’s kindness is humbling. Enjoy!

This week, I had Frank O'Connor from Derelict Ireland on the show to discuss his campaign against dereliction in our cities and towns and also to play the songs that represent his life journey in activism. Frank is a passionate and inspiring speaker... this is worth a listen. Enjoy! Frank also plays an extended list of tunes that represent his campaign after the original interview from February 2023 :-)