Tag: Johnny Ward

The London Ear on RTE 2XM // Show 107 with Johnny Ward

The London Ear on RTE 2XM // Show 107 // Jan 30 2016

On this week’s show I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak to Johnny Ward, an Irishman, who I have to say, I personally find an inspiration. He is travelling to every country in the world, while running a new $1 million business from the luxury of his laptop. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to live like that.

I spoke to Johnny last week, before he headed off to visit some of the most dangerous countries in the world, including Libya and Afghanistan. #hero

If you want to read more about how Johnny has managed to fund his travelling and his lifestyle, check out this blogpost on his website.

Johnny Ward

Here’s what happened on the show:
1. The London Ear Intro
2. The 1975: The Sound
3. Lucius: Born Again Teen
4. Bear Worship: Pagodas
5. Yeasayer: I Am Chemistry
6. Chat with Johnny Ward (Part 1)
7. The B-52s: Roam
8. Chat with Johnny Ward (Part 2)
9. Teddybears feat Gorilla Zoe: Best You Ever Had
10. Rusangano Family: Heathrow
11. Trick Mist: Another’s Tale
12. Black: Wonderful Life

Thanks for listening, The London Ear broadcast on DAB radio, Saorview and outside Ireland you can listen online.You can listen to the show again on the RTE player. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 1300.

Don’t forget to check out the RTE 2XM website. You can keep up with me here.

The London Ear on RTE 2XM // Show 107 with Johnny Ward by Nessy on Mixcloud

Photo of Johnny Ward from onestep4ward.com/about/

January 31, 2016
100 Days to Change // Days 18 – 31

It can be hard to keep this updated all the time, especially if you’re actually trying to do stuff every day. Here’s a recap:

I went to the first module of the Music Managers Forum Music Publishing nights. The first night was great, lots to take in and I left there buzzing. There was lots of technical ins-and-outs about publishing and over the rest of the nights we will delve into these a bit deeper. Can’t wait for the next one on February 8th.

Last week’s radio show went down really well. I recorded the show with Goldenplec writer, Tara Joshi via Skype and was really happy after the broadcast when people mentioned online that they thought we were in the same studio, not chatting via Skype. Score! The entire show was dedicated to Goldenplec‘s Plec Picks for 2016.

I also had the opportunity to speak to Johnny Ward last week for this week’s show. He’s such an inspiration, travelling and running a business from this laptop. Mega impressed, delighted I could chat to him.

I also had a bit of a brainwave last weekend. I thought it was good idea so I bought some domain names. Over the next week or two I will be able to get things up and running and hopefully, it will help the Irish music community in London and then later the UK. That will give me something solid to get my teeth into.

The longer I think about things, the more I believe that you have to give things a go, you have to try, even if you fail. You have to strive for something more than what this world just hands you, you have to fight for what you want, the only barriers are the ones you give yourself.

This week I had to overcome a dodgy back, thanks to new chairs at work. We’ve had them for a while and my shoulder had been a bit sore but I didn’t put it down to chairs. Doing nothing, just sitting in my chair on Monday afternoon, my back gradually got sorer and sorer until it was tighten up. Yay for having to lie flat on my bed for a couple of evenings once I get home!

That made this week almost a write off. However, yesterday I did manage to get up, go for a nice walk to Lewisham, go to Brixton Academy and interview Wyvern Lingo for next week’s episode of The London Ear.The ladies are opening for Hozier on his UK tour. Really nice people, I enjoyed our chat and thanks to their Tour Manager Anne for all her help.

On Wednesday I also went to Rigtrain‘s Pitching Tips for Radiomakers. It was good but in the UK if you pitch an idea to the BBC, the majority of times you need to go through an approved Indie production company. Now, call me thick, but if a production company was going to pitch your idea to the BBC, I don’t think you’d be going into a room with the Commissioning Editor of BBC Radio 4 on your own. I reckon there would be at least one week’s prep. Am I wrong?

So today is the last day of January, I’m glad to see the back of it to be honest. The past few days have been colder again so hopefully a new month and longer evenings will lead to less hibernation.

Nessy out!

January 31, 2016
The Beauty Queen of Leenane Review

If you haven’t had a chance to catch the superb ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ at the Gaiety, now is your last chance as the run ends on June 4th.

Comedy can be really hard to conquer, not everyone is going to laugh at the same things. Within minutes of the play starting, Martin McDonagh’s script had the entire audience laughing. As the play goes on though, it seems that the comedy is there to cover up the disturbing, brutal reality of the situation.

The play is set in 1980’s Galway, in an Ireland obsessed by Australian soaps and focuses on the relationship between Maureen (Derbhle Crotty) a singleton, tipping forty and her eldery but clever deceptive mother, Mag (Rosaleen Lenehan). Maureen longs to break free from her mother’s chains and find herself some romance, while Mag will do everything in her power to keep Maureen right where she is. Enter two local brothers, one to provide comic relief, the other returned from London to pull at Maureen’s heartstrings.

The set design is clever, the living room having a real smoking stove. Everybody of a certain age will remember when every Irish house had a two bar electric heater and a picture of The Kennedys over the fireplace next to the Pope. Rosaleen Lenehan is devine as the devious Mag, as she commands all the attention from poor Maureen. Frank Laverty, who plays the returned Pato, shows a defined elegance in his often tender role. His monologue alone is worth seeing.

While watching, you think you know what way the plot is going, there is a certain familiarity with how this should play out. However, a sense of unease slowly creeps in and turns this comedy into a dark twisted tragedy.

See it before it ends.

June 1, 2011
The Beauty Queen of Leenane at The Gaiety

Martin McDonogh’s ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ opens at The Gaiety on May 12th. Directed by Joe Hill Gibbins and starring Rosaleen Lenehan, Derbhle Crotty, Frank Laverty and Johnny Ward, this has been described as ‘comic brilliance’ by The Daily Telegraph.

It’s also the Winner of The Evening Standard, Critics Circle and Writers Guild Award For Best New Play

What’s it about?

High in the Mountains of Galway live a lonely spinster Maureen and her devilishly manipulative mother Mag. Maureen longs for the romance that will spirit her away. But if she goes, who will stir the lumps of out of Mags Complan? (more…)

May 2, 2011