Lyric fm's Breakfast show presenter - Marty Whelan.

HugoBradyBrown · 07-11-2011 2:35pm

I think the tin hat was placed on all criticism of MITM this morning. Our Marty had that young and strikingly beautiful Welsh linnet, Katherine Jenkins (engaged to Gethin Jones, whom we last saw giving a very fine account of himself in the 2007 series of Strictly, incidentally), and she said that she pays no attention whatever to any negative criticism, (though who could possibly criticise anyone so young, pretty and musical, it is hard to say). (Perhaps she meant something on Boards!). In any case, Mart, in his avuncular way, immediately stepped in to commend her strongly for this intelligent stance, and, by implication, indicated to the listening masses that MITM, too, is deaf to ill-informed or ignorant criticism. It was a heartwarming and hopeful moment towards the close of one of the best editions of the show yet broadcast. Miss Jenkins will be returning to Montrose tomorrow morning, to pick up on where she left off.

Hugo Brady Brown

TimmyTarmac · 07-11-2011 4:54pm

In the midst of Hugo's tedious promoting of the bits of Lyric that he likes, the stuff that shouldn't be on Lyric in the first place, he raises a good example of the unsuitability of this show for lyric.
In spite of Katherine Jenkins being a distinctly below average singer, although a marketing triumph, the MITM team gives us not one but two parts of an interview with her.
This is the sort of thing that really is not necessary. One slot plus a podcast would have been offensive enough to those who love good singers, but no.
Ahead of the KJ Concert, the promoter will get more than a promoter expects to get from a national radio station.
Would that mean that someone else will be getting more than he or she expects to get also?
Add to this - Mona Lisa sung by Harry Connick Jnr, Moon River - Andy Williams, Howard Keel 'Bless You're Beautiful Hide'(!) and Paul Simon again, Bobby Jaysus Darin again and John Barry again.
This is not Lyric's business.

johnnyk66 · 07-11-2011 5:11pm

TimmyTarmac wrote: »

In the midst of Hugo's tedious promoting of the bits of Lyric that he likes, the stuff that shouldn't be on Lyric in the first place, he raises a good example of the unsuitability of this show for lyric.
In spite of Katherine Jenkins being a distinctly below average singer, although a marketing triumph, the MITM team gives us not one but two parts of an interview with her.
This is the sort of thing that really is not necessary. One slot plus a podcast would have been offensive enough to those who love good singers, but no.
Ahead of the KJ Concert, the promoter will get more than a promoter expects to get from a national radio station.
Would that mean that someone else will be getting more than he or she expects to get also?
Add to this - Mona Lisa sung by Harry Connick Jnr, Moon River - Andy Williams, Howard Keel 'Bless You're Beautiful Hide'(!) and Paul Simon again, Bobby Jaysus Darin again and John Barry again.
This is not Lyric's business.

It is definitely time to pull the plug on Lyric FM if this is the type of rubbish they are going to broadcast. This is a complete waste of tax payers money. Lyric FM was a wonderful idea but unfortunately it has been ruined by the likes of Marty Wheelan and Gay Byrne.
Pull the plug and spend the money on something useful

MadsL · 07-11-2011 9:21pm

Is it in Marty's contract (or is it some kind of subliminal sponsorship deal?) that he HAS to play the "4 Seasons" at least twice a week?
"Summer" perversely is here?!

Dear God!, make it/him stop!

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 1:28am

MadsL wrote: »

Is it in Marty's contract (or is it some kind of subliminal sponsorship deal?) that he HAS to play the "4 Seasons" at least twice a week?
"Summer" perversely is here?!

Dear God!, make it/him stop!

My understanding is that such terms as suggested in the cited post do not feature in contracts here. However, I would be driven to asking what could be wrong with playing such innocuous music as Vivaldi's for ten minutes a week? It kept the nuns and girls of Venice happy for quite a time longer than that.

And this morning the performance was led by Fabio Biondi, who, with his pared-down raw tone and his intentionally slightly dubiously tuning, may give listeners that sense of danger and precariousness that they miss in the full solid opulent wide-bore glory of Anne-Sophie. Sometimes the performances of Europa Galante remind one of that vocal group La Venexiana, in terms of the intonation, the tone-quality and the overall feeling of unstable equilibrium, which leave the audience on tenterhooks throughout. There is that sense of danger, of contingency, almost of misshapenness which is, nevertheless, entirely true to the aesthetics of the Baroque, as articulated in both modern and contemporary philosophical analyses of the style in music and other art forms.

This is what Marty sets out to give us in the morning, and today's performance was very fine, very fine indeed.

Hugo Brady Brown

pinkypinky · 08-11-2011 12:02pm

I cannot read this thread any more. HBB - if you could cut your posts down to 10 or fewer lines, I might read them - can't be doing with essays.

There's no point in discussing MW anymore...most people don't want him, a smaller few do, we're never going to agree.

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 4:12pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

I cannot read this thread any more. HBB - if you could cut your posts down to 10 or fewer lines, I might read them - can't be doing with essays.

There's no point in discussing MW anymore...most people don't want him, a smaller few do, we're never going to agree.

Aaah, the ol' attention-span problem! I understand and sympathise fully. This may be what is interposing itself between Marty and part of the audience, too, I shouldn't wonder. And yet my last post was only 8 lines long on a 13" monitor.

Odd, to say the least.

(Only 4 to 5 lines in this one.)

Hugo Brady Brown

MadsL · 08-11-2011 5:07pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

My understanding is that such terms as suggested in the cited post do not feature in contracts here. However, I would be driven to asking what could be wrong with playing such innocuous music as Vivaldi's for ten minutes a week? It kept the nuns and girls of Venice happy for quite a time longer than that.

Except it is not 10 minutes a week. In the last 2 weeks Marty has played Vivaldi no less than 9 times...

google search this "site:rte.ie/lyricfm/marty Vivaldi"

Time for a Classic FM/Radio 3 divide at Lyric perhaps...maybe Marty could be shipped off to DAB?

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 5:28pm

MadsL wrote: »

Except it is not 10 minutes a week. In the last 2 weeks Marty has played Vivaldi no less than 9 times...

google search this "site:rte.ie/lyricfm/marty Vivaldi"

Time for a Classic FM/Radio 3 divide at Lyric perhaps...maybe Marty could be shipped off to DAB?

The suggestion by MadsL to move Marty or MITM over to DAB transmission would be unfair. When I am in "The Country", I find that I cannot always receive DAB transmissions. We need to be fair to all listeners.

And why is Vivaldi played? Because audience focus group research has shown that for the first couple of hours of the day listeners want baroque orchestral music in quantity; it is easily integrated into their morning tasks (their ablutions and so forth), while they restart their mental 'servers' and generally bring their corporeal systems fully on-line. Vivaldi wrote acres of pretty consistent music, and his orchestral music is pretty interchangeable; consequently I see no reason to shift from the well-known concertos. Research also shows that in the morning (when MITM, as its name suggests is transmitted, at least to listeners in this time-zone) listeners want to hear familiar, not unfamiliar, music. Popular, not unpopular music.

Finally, rather than thinking always in colonial or subaltern paradigms, let us cease to compare our broadcasting landscape with that in the neighbouring island. We have no need here to have the undesirable dichotomy in broadcasting that they have there between BBC Radio 3 and ClassicFM: RTE Lyric FM keeps us all together, those who love the austere in music, and the vast majority who live & love easy listening, light classical, gentle jazz, lounge music, MOR and so forth.

Hugo Brady Brown

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 5:49pm

MadsL wrote: »

Except it is not 10 minutes a week. In the last 2 weeks Marty has played Vivaldi no less than 9 times...

google search this "site:rte.ie/lyricfm/marty Vivaldi"

Time for a Classic FM/Radio 3 divide at Lyric perhaps...maybe Marty could be shipped off to DAB?

Performing this Google search will show that, far from being relentlessly uniform, Marty's selection is of recordings that differ one from another according to several parameters: soloists, orchestras, conductors, year of recording, performance practice and so forth. This provides both the variety that will be noticed and appreciated by the connoisseur, and simultaneously that familiarity and comfort that is the prime desideratum of the ordinary listener like ourselves in the early hours of the day, as we first inhale the healing vapours. Talk about sophistication in broadcasting!

Unity in variety: Coleridge's great theme, realised on radio by Marty and the team!

Hugo Brady Brown

TimmyTarmac · 08-11-2011 7:09pm

And why is Vivaldi played? Because audience focus group research has shown that for the first couple of hours of the day listeners want baroque orchestral music in quantity; it is easily integrated into their morning tasks (their ablutions and so forth), while they restart their mental 'servers' and generally bring their corporeal systems fully on-line.

Tell us more about this research, please. Funny that because when Lyric started in 1999, the first breakfast programme, The Lyric Breakfast, used to start with a half hour of nothing but Baroque from 6:30 to 7. I remember it being dropped, I'm guessing because it wasn't working. of course I could be wrong about why it was dropped. Maybe the powers that be didn't have access to your 'research'.

Marty's selection is of recordings that differ one from another according to several parameters: soloists, orchestras, conductors, year of recording, performance practice and so forth. This provides both the variety that will be noticed and appreciated by the connoisseur,

You'll defend this fella till the end, won't ya? Anyone with a pair of working ears on them will know that the classical content of MITM is a complete afterthought. He dosen't know nor care about any of it. As long as he can get to the next Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Katherine Jenkins or Peggy Lee that's all that matters to this ignorant man.
That fact that MITM played parts of Vivaldi's 4 Seasons 9 times in 2 weeks would be news to the presenter.
The fact that they were different versions would be news to the presenter.
Apart from lip service to some opera lollipops, he doesn't give a tinker's curse about classical.
MITM is embarrassing

mikom · 08-11-2011 7:11pm

The smell of shill off the later posts in this thread is disgusting.

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 7:36pm

mikom wrote: »

The smell of shill off the later posts in this thread is disgusting.

I will make the presumption that this comment is an allusion to my posts. I cannot, of course, prove my independence of mind to anyone, particularly if there are any readers with closed minds here, but I would suggest to readers that nobody in RTE cares a fig for the vapid vapourings that characterise much of the Internet, and no official corporate energy would be expended on defending even a very fine programme on the Internet. These is too much important work to be done, let me assure you.

However, I appreciate the off-thread notes, private messages and personal emails that support my commonsense view of this situation. I would urge the great satisfied silent majority to communicate their views here, to drown out the small but active choir of doubters, or to mail the Head of RTE Lyric FM with their positive opinion of the programme. (We may all note the ceaseless stream of positive feedback received directly by Marty & team from the broadcasts.)

Hugo Brady Brown

Harry Angstrom · 08-11-2011 8:27pm

One thing I've often wondered about former 2FM disc jockeys who subsequently end up presenting on Lyric: Have they always had an appreciation of classical music or do they look upon it purely as another job - only instead of playing Bachman Turner Overdrive, they now find themselves playing Bach instead? This is with particular reference to Lorcan Murray and the bould Marty Whelan.

Whenener I hear Lorcan Murray's voice on Lyric, I can't help but be transported back to the dulcet tones of The Rascals' Groovin On A Sunday Afternoon, which was the intro song to his Sunday programme on Radio 2, right after Larry Gogan's Ireland's Top 30, which usually saw me frantically trying to put the radio up to my tape recorder in order to record the latest hits of the day. Whenever I hear him on Lyric I have to remind myself that we're not in Kansas anymore, and that he's now a very serious classical music presenter.

So, when these guys get the gig with Lyric, does it mean they then have to go and swot up on all things classical or do they already know their Delius from their Debussy?

mikom · 08-11-2011 8:32pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

I would urge the great satisfied silent majority... to mail the Head of RTE Lyric FM with their positive opinion of the programme.

Internal mails more than likely.

Maggie McGaggie · 08-11-2011 8:38pm

TimmyTarmac wrote: »

.
As long as he can get to the next Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Katherine Jenkins or Peggy Lee that's all that matters to this ignorant man.

Hi Timmy, did you know that Bonnie Raitt's father John was a star of the stage. He is best known for his roles in musicals such as Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Pajama Game, Carnival in Flanders, Three Wishes for Jamie and A Joyful Noise, in which he set the standard for virile, handsome, strong-voiced leading men during the golden age of the Broadway musical.

Also isn't Puccini's "Un bel di vedremo" a wonderful aria to dedicate to any happy couple. Keep it up Marty.

Ps: That fact about Bonnie's father was from Esther. I wouldn't like people to think that i was trying to claim the credit for that.
PPs:Not sure if Marty's figures are correct concerning the number of images of Katherine Jenkins on Google Images. There are 53,900 of Marty if that's of use to anyone. Anyway thanks Esther.

Dirigent · 08-11-2011 8:44pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

So, when these guys get the gig with Lyric, does it mean they then have to go and swot up on all things classical or do they already know their Delius from their Debussy?

I remember reading an interview with Lorcan some time ago. Apparently he has a vast personal collection of music of all genres. And he knows his stuff too.

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 9:20pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

One thing I've often wondered about former 2FM disc jockeys who subsequently end up presenting on Lyric: Have they always had an appreciation of classical music or do they look upon it purely as another job - only instead of playing Bachman Turner Overdrive, they now find themselves playing Bach instead? This is with particular reference to Lorcan Murray and the bould Marty Whelan.

Whenener I hear Lorcan Murray's voice on Lyric, I can't help but be transported back to the dulcet tones of The Rascals' Groovin On A Sunday Afternoon, which was the intro song to his Sunday programme on Radio 2, right after Larry Gogan's Ireland's Top 30, which usually saw me frantically trying to put the radio up to my tape recorder in order to record the latest hits of the day. Whenever I hear him on Lyric I have to remind myself that we're not in Kansas anymore, and that he's now a very serious classical music presenter.

So, when these guys get the gig with Lyric, does it mean they then have to go and swot up on all things classical or do they already know their Delius from their Debussy?

While Harry's point prompts thought, I think that I would demur from the proposition that 'classical' music is 'serious' music. This is the pup that the public have allowed themselves to be sold for the past several decades, in large measure by those who hold themselves to be their superiors, and who want to keep 'classical music' as a prole-free reservation.

Classical music, like all music, can be serious, or it can have a whole range of other emotional and affective connotations. Neither is it necessary, or, perhaps, even desirable, that a broadcaster should be an expert, or 'swot up' on classical music to be a success. See, for example, Paul Herriott or Eamonn Lawlor as cases in point.

A capacity to understand music as a listener, not as a performer or as a scholar, is what radio demands. By all means, go to a few concerts & recitals, read a few books, read a few CD covers, listen to a few CDs, but, above all, bring your professional abilities as a "DJ" onto what is, after all, only one more form of music station.

Presenting a radio programme containing classical music is not to perform a religious service, and it should not need to be reverential. Listening to a radio classical music programme should not be like attending a religious service; it should be simply what it is.

'Experts' and 'serious classical music' are shortcuts to deep boredom, eccentricity, oddness, loneliness and the various peculiarities of those who imagine themselves to be in some way superior to the common herd of mankind.

And it is those like Mart, who can be as serious & sensitive as they can be lighthearted and gay, who are the real lifeblood of a service like RTE Lyric FM. Wise and witty professionals all.

Hugo Brady Brown

Hugo Brady Brown

doomed · 08-11-2011 11:32pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

One thing I've often wondered about former 2FM disc jockeys who subsequently end up presenting on Lyric: Have they always had an appreciation of classical music or do they look upon it purely as another job - only instead of playing Bachman Turner Overdrive, they now find themselves playing Bach instead? This is with particular reference to Lorcan Murray and the bould Marty Whelan.

Whenener I hear Lorcan Murray's voice on Lyric, I can't help but be transported back to the dulcet tones of The Rascals' Groovin On A Sunday Afternoon, which was the intro song to his Sunday programme on Radio 2, right after Larry Gogan's Ireland's Top 30, which usually saw me frantically trying to put the radio up to my tape recorder in order to record the latest hits of the day. Whenever I hear him on Lyric I have to remind myself that we're not in Kansas anymore, and that he's now a very serious classical music presenter.

So, when these guys get the gig with Lyric, does it mean they then have to go and swot up on all things classical or do they already know their Delius from their Debussy?

I would have no problem with a presenter who went into Lyric initially knowing nothing about classical music provided that they actually played it when they got there and had a real interest in learning about it. It could be an interesting voyage of discovery for both presenter and listener.

In Marty's case you don't even get that. You get the Marty show with 3 hours of the groovy funster.

In terms of affinity, there is really no difference between La Traviata and Tesco's salmon fillets.

HugoBradyBrown · 08-11-2011 11:45pm

doomed wrote: »

I would have no problem with a presenter who went into Lyric initially knowing nothing about classical music provided that they actually played it when they got there and had a real interest in learning about it. It could be an interesting voyage of discovery for both presenter and listener.

In Marty's case you don't even get that. You get the Marty show with 3 hours of the groovy funster.

In terms of affinity, there is really no difference between La Traviata and Tesco's salmon fillets.

Voyage of discovery my arm! We are talking about simple radio to get us up in the morning with the least resistance, through the Special K, out the door, past the school, and in to relax in the office, the cares of our home lives behind us for six hours. This, and only this, is what MITM is about. Voyages of discovery: if you want voyages of discover, try Thomas Cook!

This is what's wrong here, of course: some people think that RTE Lyric FM is about one thing, the rest know it's 'merely' a very good radio station. Goats & monkeys, it's not magic.

And, speaking from personal experience, Tesco Salmon Fillets are fine, very fine! Good bargains in the wine sale at present, too, by the way.

Hugo Brady Brown

MadsL · 09-11-2011 12:58pm

I hope Marty is not writing his own copy, else we have a worrying Freudian slip on the website...

http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/marty/

Marty Recommends...
Katherine Jenkins - Daydream

Her most personal album to date, it draws together music and songs she loves from across classical, traditional, folk and easy pop that have inspired her over the course of her life.

Recorded in Los Angeles and London in spring this year, Katherine has once again teamed up with John Shanks in the U.S (credits include Take That & Westlife and Katherine's hit 2010 single Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming), and Simon Franglen in London (credits include Barbra Streisand, Céline Dion and the Oscar nominated soundtrack to James Cameron's Avatar).

Stand out tracks on the album include the stunning Shanks produced Break It To My Heart, a deeply moving interpretation of the Celtic classic Black Is The Colour, I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables rarely performed in French, a brand new composition of Ave Maria and Katherine's stirring tribute to servicing men and women through the ages A Flower Tells A Story.

Unless she has a 'sideline' business? :eek:

HugoBradyBrown · 09-11-2011 1:25pm

Wasn't she lovely this morning? I thought she was only to be on on Monday and Tuesday, so today was a special treat. I must download the podcast when it becomes available. I suspect she's in Ireland for a week-long tour. She certainly comes across as a warm and yet bubbly personality, with that humility and self-effacement that is always the mark of the real artiste. It must be a comfort for her, too, to have such an enthusiastic and well-informed presenter as Marty.

Her 'Carrickfergus' version is clearly in a class of its own, while I have never heard anything to touch her cover of 'Black is the Colour'.

Brava, Katherine! I think she is growing into a new Lesley Garrett already, and she may ultimately fill the void left by the loss of Dame Joan Sutherland, when she has a few more miles on the clock.

Hugo Brady Brown

MadsL wrote: »

I hope Marty is not writing his own copy, else we have a worrying Freudian slip on the website...

http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/marty/

Unless she has a 'sideline' business? :eek:

TimmyTarmac · 09-11-2011 5:13pm

I'd say those awful spots with Katherine Jenkins were recorded in one go. Katherine in London or Cardiff and Marty in Dublin.
You're being given a false impression there by your hero I'd say, Hugo.

Filling the void left by Joan Sutherland? Her? Ya think?

If she sang in a local church choir with the odd solo at Christmas and Easter, she'd be fine. That's it.

Marty Whelan and Katherine Jenkins - the bland leading the blonde.

TacaFail · 09-11-2011 5:47pm

I'm sure this Hugo f-er is a plant for Whelan - he is making a fool of all of us here reading this. I heard the sh1t that Timmy was takling about because I was going to come on here today and it's just PR BS all the way. Is Masterson running Jenkins as well I wonder! And tomorrow we have that fool from the north on again with his baby voice talking about blackpuddins that he wouldn't touch in his fancy resturant! Why doesn't he come clean and tell us who he is anyhow - I don't think Whelan himself would waste his time with Boards so it must be some subserving creepin Jesus in his studio that is doing this for sure.

johnnyk66 · 10-11-2011 10:02am

TacaFail wrote: »

I'm sure this Hugo f-er is a plant for Whelan - he is making a fool of all of us here reading this. I heard the sh1t that Timmy was takling about because I was going to come on here today and it's just PR BS all the way. Is Masterson running Jenkins as well I wonder! And tomorrow we have that fool from the north on again with his baby voice talking about blackpuddins that he wouldn't touch in his fancy resturant! Why doesn't he come clean and tell us who he is anyhow - I don't think Whelan himself would waste his time with Boards so it must be some subserving creepin Jesus in his studio that is doing this for sure.

I think he just fancies Marty;)

HugoBradyBrown · 10-11-2011 10:37pm

johnnyk66 wrote: »

I think he just fancies Marty;)

Unworthy, I say! I appreciate his music, his charm, his wit, his verbal dexterity, his professionalism, his positive outlook on the world. As do a majority of the people who listen to RTE Lyric FM, I might add.

(I realise that the quoted post may have been intended as good-natured ribbing, and perhaps I deserve it, but, nevertheless, I feel that it's important to support our own.)

Hugo Brady Brown

Sandwlch · 10-11-2011 10:56pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

Unworthy, I say! I appreciate his music, his charm, his wit, his verbal dexterity, his professionalism, his positive outlook on the world. As do a majority of the people who listen to RTE Lyric FM, I might add.

Unworthy bending of the truth, to say the least.

As we saw in the JNLR figures, the majority of people who listen to Lyric do not in fact listen to Marty, all other Lyric programmes being listened to by a greater number of people.

Maggie McGaggie · 10-11-2011 11:07pm

It is quite extraordinary to think that Marty, at this moment hosting the Fingal finalists of the Nursing Homes Ireland Care Awards 2011( in association with Homecare Medical Supplies), will be on-air once again bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to launch us into the day. I hope he does not pull a sickie or deliver a substandard (automatic pilot) performance. A huge positive to be taken from the event is that Marty could use the occasion as market research and it may aid him in targeting an older, often discounted, audience.

HugoBradyBrown · 10-11-2011 11:14pm

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

It is quite extraordinary to think that Marty, at this moment hosting the Fingal finalists of the Nursing Homes Ireland Care Awards 2011( in association with Homecare Medical Supplies), will be on-air once again bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to launch us into the day. I hope he does not pull a sickie or deliver a substandard (automatic pilot) performance. A huge positive to be taken from the event is that Marty could use the occasion as market research and it may aid him in targeting an older, often discounted, audience.

Mind you, Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, used to thrive on three hours sleep a night, and live on strong tea, homemade burgers and a single glass of whiskey before she turned in. There are people who get more from life, simply by mining every possible hour for its hidden treasure.

Hugo Brady Brown

HugoBradyBrown · 10-11-2011 11:28pm

TacaFail wrote: »

I'm sure this Hugo f-er is a plant for Whelan - he is making a fool of all of us here reading this. I heard the sh1t that Timmy was takling about because I was going to come on here today and it's just PR BS all the way. Is Masterson running Jenkins as well I wonder! And tomorrow we have that fool from the north on again with his baby voice talking about blackpuddins that he wouldn't touch in his fancy resturant! Why doesn't he come clean and tell us who he is anyhow - I don't think Whelan himself would waste his time with Boards so it must be some subserving creepin Jesus in his studio that is doing this for sure.

Do we need this here?

We here are trying to conduct a civil discussion, and, as people lay aside hackneyed or secondhand opinions of the broadcaster, some or many are turning towards RTE Lyric FM. The quoted post is not an addition to the debate, and assists neither side.

Identify yourself, I say! Shame!

Hugo Brady Brown

mikom · 11-11-2011 12:55am

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

Identify yourself, I say! Shame!

You first.
RTE shill?

HugoBradyBrown · 11-11-2011 1:01am

mikom wrote: »

You first.
RTE shill?

As was so wisely said earlier "lay aside hackneyed or secondhand opinions of the broadcaster" !

Hugo Brady Brown

HugoBradyBrown · 11-11-2011 1:47am

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

It is quite extraordinary to think that Marty, at this moment hosting the Fingal finalists of the Nursing Homes Ireland Care Awards 2011( in association with Homecare Medical Supplies), will be on-air once again bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to launch us into the day. I hope he does not pull a sickie or deliver a substandard (automatic pilot) performance. A huge positive to be taken from the event is that Marty could use the occasion as market research and it may aid him in targeting an older, often discounted, audience.

I see heartwarming positivity in your post, Maggie McGaggie. (Such an unusual name, too, incidentally; perhaps we could do a feature?) I think the fact that Marty is out tonight working for a charity event tells us a lot about the man; the fact that it was a Boards poster, rather than Mart himself, who drew this to our attention - repeatedly - tells us even more about him. We all share your concern, of course, that it's impossible in the long run to make ten of oneself.

We have one of the best here!

HugoBradyBrown · 11-11-2011 11:21am

TimmyTarmac wrote: »

I'd say those awful spots with Katherine Jenkins were recorded in one go. Katherine in London or Cardiff and Marty in Dublin.
You're being given a false impression there by your hero I'd say, Hugo.

Filling the void left by Joan Sutherland? Her? Ya think?

If she sang in a local church choir with the odd solo at Christmas and Easter, she'd be fine. That's it.

Marty Whelan and Katherine Jenkins - the bland leading the blonde.

On the interview this morning with Marty, it fell out that Katherine has sung with all the modern greats, including Juan Diego, Roberto Alagna, Bryn and so forth, and, interestingly and relevantly for this thread, Marty recollected that Luciano and Dame Joan had had a thing going, musically speaking, for years, where they did a double act in Luciano's home town , and Katherine said that she is doing something similar with Roberto in his home place in deepest Tuscany (I am nearly sure it was in his home town).

Katherine also revealed in this the fifth interview of the week that she loves Mozart, that she studied him in college, and that she generally starts her concerts with a rousing few minutes of his Marriage of Figaro overture. So that, I'd say, puts paid to any hints that the woman is not from the musical top drawer. Young, yes, through no fault of her own, but the voice takes years to develop fully; I feel that ultimately she will become an alto of the highest quality; I hear hints of the richness of Deirdre Cooling-Nolan in there already, though she hasn't come down to that register yet.

It's such a pity that the concert that they were talking about so much is still 13 months off. We shall have to seek her out, either in Cardiff or in Tuscany, I would say.

Loving the show!

Maggie McGaggie · 11-11-2011 2:44pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

As was so wisely said earlier "lay aside hackneyed or secondhand opinions of the broadcaster" !

Hugo Brady Brown

Hugo, i beg you not to respond to these harangues in future, Marty wouldn't be happy with it. If Marty has thought us anything it is this: Be relentlessly positive and upbeat in the face of all the slings and arrows(one can only imagine the number of negative texts the show receives each day, yet he doesn't pay them mind). This is Mart's legacy.

Incidentally, he was brilliant once again this morning and showed no sign of fatigue. I didn't hear all the show(missed Neven), but Vivaldi really got me going. It was almost as if he knew we needed something special and somehow he pulled it out of the bag.

johnnyk66 · 11-11-2011 5:16pm

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

Hugo, i beg you not to respond to these harangues in future, Marty wouldn't be happy with it. If Marty has thought us anything it is this: Be relentlessly positive and upbeat in the face of all the slings and arrows(one can only imagine the number of negative texts the show receives each day, yet he doesn't pay them mind). This is Mart's legacy.

Incidentally, he was brilliant once again this morning and showed no sign of fatigue. I didn't hear all the show(missed Neven), but Vivaldi really got me going. It was almost as if he knew we needed something special and somehow he pulled it out of the bag.

Oh God no, not another one:(
Hang on, maybe Hugo had the op:eek: Marty will be pleased;)

HugoBradyBrown · 11-11-2011 7:32pm

johnnyk66 wrote: »

Oh God no, not another one:(
Hang on, maybe Hugo had the op:eek: Marty will be pleased;)

The op? Really, I am seriously concerned that I speak a different language. I have learned the Smilies, but even so, the quoted post has me bamboozled. Help is at hand, perhaps? Is it a generational thing? (I am wearing my reading glasses while looking at this.):):confused

MadsL · 13-11-2011 12:53am

OP = Original Poster

I am seriously concerned that I speak a different language.

You do... here is a phrasebook..

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=op

HugoBradyBrown · 13-11-2011 1:09am

MadsL wrote: »

OP = Original Poster

You do... here is a phrasebook..

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=op

Thank you MadsL, even I had managed to gather what OP means, after my apprenticeship on Boards.

However, I think it must have some other connotation in the case I queried, but thanks anyway.

Incidentally, The Streakers was very engaging this evening, though my attention had wandered and I remembered it only belatedly. A great clutch of contestants, giving it their all, and with Mart being his usual jovial self. his assistant is a nice little girl too, but I didn't catch her name. (There was an interesting feature on Scouting as well, showing that the fare served in Scouting Ireland camps is far finer than ever I remember in my own day of Pentland Dells, back bacon and Savoy cabbage! Perhaps Marty and Neven have been an influence? (A joke!))

Only 30 hours to go to the next edition of MIMT, I remind readers! 30 hours and counting.

Harry Angstrom · 13-11-2011 10:46pm

I wish people would stop slagging off Hugo. He's one of the funniest and most erudite contributors to these pages. People shouldn't take it so seriously. I have a feeling that Hugo has his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek when he's writing his humorous posts.

Maggie McGaggie · 14-11-2011 2:55pm

Marty started the show with a movement from Vivald's Four Seasons again today. How does he do it? Absolute brilliance. He seemed a bit shell-shocked with the announcement of the impending depature of Kathryn from WS. I sent him an encouraging text. If you can somehow get a copy of Saturday's Independent weekend supplement you will find a sumptuous Christmas pudding recipe originating from the old days of MacNean. Time to get out the plastic bowls, tin foil and twine.

HugoBradyBrown · 14-11-2011 4:19pm

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

Marty started the show with a movement from Vivald's Four Seasons again today. How does he do it? Absolute brilliance. He seemed a bit shell-shocked with the announcement of the impending depature of Kathryn from WS. I sent him an encouraging text. If you can somehow get a copy of Saturday's Independent weekend supplement you will find a sumptuous Christmas pudding recipe originating from the old days of MacNean. Time to get out the plastic bowls, tin foil and twine.

Although, Maggie McGaggie, I think Marty was really more disturbed about the report that Katherine has attracted a stalker. I think something similar happened to one of our own, actually, where someone was twittering crude and objectional material under the name of another RTE star. Was it Twink (Adele Quinn) or one of the lads? I can't remember.

I missed the Sunday Independent yesterday, recalling it too late only during Gay's show. However, there will be Christmas recipes in the 'Country' supplement to the Farmers' Journal next Thursday morning, with, as usual, a large photograph of Neven. It's nearly as good as having him on the kitchen counter himself, as you're going along. (The recipes from Neven are a bit beyond the days of twine, though, I can tell you! It's all chorizo and truffle oil with him now. It always starts a run on my local shops; neck of mutton couldn't be had for love or money on 7 October, once Neven mentioned roasting it on MITM.)

But, it's really heartworming to see that another listener has been thoroughly won round to the programme. Once you enter into the spirit of it, all criticism seems irrelevant and churlish, as I'm sure you have found already.

Wertz · 14-11-2011 4:37pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

I wish people would stop slagging off Hugo. He's one of the funniest and most erudite contributors to these pages. People shouldn't take it so seriously. I have a feeling that Hugo has his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek when he's writing his humorous posts.

He has it implanted in someone's cheek, that we can say without doubt...

HugoBradyBrown · 14-11-2011 8:29pm

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

Marty started the show with a movement from Vivald's Four Seasons again today. How does he do it? Absolute brilliance. He seemed a bit shell-shocked with the announcement of the impending depature of Kathryn from WS. I sent him an encouraging text. If you can somehow get a copy of Saturday's Independent weekend supplement you will find a sumptuous Christmas pudding recipe originating from the old days of MacNean. Time to get out the plastic bowls, tin foil and twine.

Maggie McGaggie, I took the trouble to ask a younger person to set me up and I have listened back to this morning's MITM on the iMac, because I had somehow missed your text to Marty this morning, but I can still find no trace of it. Any time my attention wandered, I replayed stretches - such wonderful technology, incidentally - but no luck. (There were compensations, though, in hearing some good things a second time: David Mooney's anecdotes are excellent, and his photographs will no doubt make a superb addition to the website; a fine joke about Mr Berlusconi, too. And Wichita Lineman was a fine song at, as the youngsters say, 'the top of the hour', followed by some Einaudi at his most soothing!) And Glen Campbell is playing in Dublin this weekend, I was reminded.

padd b1975 · 14-11-2011 8:39pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

Maggie McGaggie, I took the trouble to ask a younger person to set me up and I have listened back to this morning's MITM on the iMac, because I had somehow missed your text to Marty this morning, but I can still find no trace of it. Any time my attention wandered, I replayed stretches - such wonderful technology, incidentally - but no luck. (There were compensations, though, in hearing some good things a second time: David Mooney's anecdotes are excellent, and his photographs will no doubt make a superb addition to the website; a fine joke about Mr Berlusconi, too. And Wichita Lineman was a fine song at, as the youngsters say, 'the top of the hour', followed by some Einaudi at his most soothing!) And Glen Campbell is playing in Dublin this weekend, I was reminded.

Hugo, if you are a fan of Glen Campbell, I would strongly advise you to try and catch his upcoming concert.
He has recently been diagnosed with a serious illness and will soon be unable to either record or preform.

HugoBradyBrown · 14-11-2011 8:41pm

padd b1975 wrote: »

Hugo, if you are a fan of Glen Campbell, I would strongly advise you to try and catch his upcoming concert.
He has recently been diagnosed with a serious illness and will soon be unable to either record or preform.

Yes, thanks, I hope to. Marty hinted this morning that he is suffering from the early stages of dementia.

padd b1975 · 14-11-2011 8:54pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

Yes, thanks, I hope to. Marty hinted this morning that he is suffering from the early stages of dementia.

Very sad to see yet another giant of American country approach the end of the road. He will be missed and whats nearly as sad is the fact that there are absolutly nobody to replace them.
Where is the next J Cash or Waylon Jennings??
It would appear momas are not letting their babies grow up to be cowboys.

Maggie McGaggie · 14-11-2011 10:45pm

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

Maggie McGaggie, I took the trouble to ask a younger person to set me up and I have listened back to this morning's MITM on the iMac, because I had somehow missed your text to Marty this morning, but I can still find no trace of it. Any time my attention wandered, I replayed stretches - such wonderful technology, incidentally - but no luck. (There were compensations, though, in hearing some good things a second time: David Mooney's anecdotes are excellent, and his photographs will no doubt make a superb addition to the website; a fine joke about Mr Berlusconi, too. And Wichita Lineman was a fine song at, as the youngsters say, 'the top of the hour', followed by some Einaudi at his most soothing!) And Glen Campbell is playing in Dublin this weekend, I was reminded.

Hugo, it was a private message for Mart with a very special reasoning behind it. With Kathryn leaving WS i felt he just needed a little gee-up, because it makes all the difference. I agree about David Mooney, he is fast stealing Hugo's thunder! I have sent that Neven recipe off to you via snail mail, the old-fashioned way! I posted it to the address you use on the Irish Times. I missed the last post but you should get it on Wednesday, hope you enjoy it.

HugoBradyBrown · 14-11-2011 11:47pm

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

Hugo, it was a private message for Mart with a very special reasoning behind it. With Kathryn leaving WS i felt he just needed a little gee-up, because it makes all the difference. I agree about David Mooney, he is fast stealing Hugo's thunder! I have sent that Neven recipe off to you via snail mail, the old-fashioned way! I posted it to the address you use on the Irish Times. I missed the last post but you should get it on Wednesday, hope you enjoy it.

Maggie, you are too kind. It speaks well of the calibre of Marty's listenership that they would be willing to part after fewer than 2 days with their precious copy of the Sunday Independent, Ireland's quality Sunday, but, in truth, I would not expect less. I do hope the postal address you used is sufficient and still accurate. (Does Gay still write in Sir Anthony's organ, by the way?)

I tend to agree with you that David Mooney is fast overtaking Hugo as Marty's leading attraction, but, "to everything there is a season and like to the crackling of thorns under a pot, so also ...", and so on. Wit will probably always outshine tedious self-promotion and self-absorption in any case, so it may be all for the best. I sense that there is an army of listeners out there, champing at the bit to share the burden of filling the time with our Mart. Do you imagine they do it for the glory, or is it done as a public service, like posting on Boards?

Could I trouble you, perhaps, for one other thing, though since you have obviously missed today's post, and, what with the price of postage stamps in any case, you might be in a position to place the answer here, for the enlightenment of all: who or what is WS? I have scoured the Internet, but I have been defeated. I find myself going in the direction of one Wesley Snipes, and then getting diverted into even more unwholesome recesses of the Internet, all of which seem most unsuitable for such a lovely girl as our Katherine.

With all the best, as we look forward to a fresh take on Vivaldi in the morning.

littlefriend · 15-11-2011 12:28am

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

Could I trouble you, perhaps, for one other thing, though since you have obviously missed today's post, and, what with the price of postage stamps in any case, you might be in a position to place the answer here, for the enlightenment of all: who or what is WS? QUOTE]

I think Maggie means Winning Streak

Lyric fm's Breakfast show presenter - Marty Whelan.

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