Episode 157 - AKA

I'd heard of Aslan when I was in the band Guernica but didn't know their music and probably didn't want to as they were just another competitor. That's the way it is when you are in a band. When I first heard the song "This Is". I loved the melody and to this day I love this song. There's a line in the song "Everybody hits you with this feeling" which from what I know of Christy encapsulates him. People who experience trauma as a child either close up and protect themselves or become very sensitive. I think Christy was the latter. I think he could feel other people's trauma and became a voice for those who were suffering. That's a hard burden to carry and eventually it took its toll.  In March 2017 Christy invited me into his house to talk on Podarooney. He was witty, warm and refreshingly honest. He could see a bullshitter a mile away and wasn't afraid to be upfront about it. That's not very common in show business where everyone is afraid to offend the gatekeepers. Maybe being aware of your mortality makes you open and honest but I think that was just Christy.

The Wild Geeze is made up of Miss Lavelle and Breda from the Queer Cabaret. The duo met a year and a half ago. Miss Lavelle was running Limerick’s first monthly cabaret show ‘Chez Le Cabaret’ in the artistic Chez Le Fab, Arthur’s Quay. Breda being a comedian, did not hesitate to message and ask to be a part of a Limerick cabaret. Breda performed at the September show and brought the house down. Their on-stage banter and appreciation of giant vagina puppets was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Aka is an Irish cosplay performer, adventure seeker, digital creator and vocaloid dancer. She has performed at cosplay events all over Europe. She has a very popular Instagram on which she cosplays characters from anime and vocaloids in videos and stills and goes to extraordinary lengths to get inside the heads of these characters. You will find her on Instagram at @akadinosan

Sahar Ali is a comedian, spoken word performer and blogger who grew up in Ireland and is currently living and working in Dubai. Her blog Saharcasm became her first solo show which she performed in the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2017 intertwining spoken word poetry, comedy, and music in an hour long show that looked at the cross cultural relations in Ireland. Sahar currently performs on the comedy/spoken word circuit in Dubai.

Karl MacDermott was amongst the new breed of stand-up comedians in the Ireland of that era. In 1988 he helped co-found The Comedy Cellar at The International Bar in Dublin with Barry Murphy, Ardal O’Hanlon and Kevin Gildea.  After appearing in his own one - man comedy show Memoirs of a Midget at The Peacock Theatre in 1989 and he had successful runs at The Gilded Balloon in The Edinburgh Fringes from 1991-93 with shows like An Afternoon With Klaus Barbie's Pen-pal and Stand-Up Stories. In September 2021, his new humour fiction novel 58% Cabbage, about a sit-down nobody who tries stand-up comedy, was published by Black Spring Press Group.

Barbara Taylor has a compassionate, holistic approach to fitness based on cultivating self love, not self deprivation.  At 49 Barbara has spent 32 years body building. She studied ballet from 14 years, competitive Gymnastics from 7 yrs and started weight lifting at 18.  She is an avid Mountain hiker in Ireland, has completed numerous Camino's in Spain & Portugal and walked camino solo many times. She is a qualified Pilates Instructor, PT and Massage Therapist. Her own inner healing journey from Trauma, Abuse and Violence has led her to want to help people deal with their own generational/family trauma or shame.  She survived an eating disorder, alcohol misuse, self destructive patterns and raising a daughter solo to really look at how her family/societal conditioning drove her negative beliefs about herself into adulthood.

Pratt's music career spans more than 30 years. He is best known for his prolific work as a session bass player, working with artists including Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Gary Moore, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Robert Palmer, Echo & the Bunnymen, Iggy Pop,Whitesnake, Womack & Womack, Kirsty MacColl and Robbie Robertson. Pratt has been a member of the Australian rock band Icehouse, and is currently a member of the psychedelic rock band Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets. In 2005 he debuted a one-man music and comedy show. He is the author of the autobiography My Bass and Other Animals.

On August 18th 2021, the world lost one of its finest comedians, Sean Lock. To pay tribute to the great man listen back to the interview Joe had with Sean in 2018.

Trevor Lock is an English comedian, actor and playwright. He is noted for the circuitous and surreal nature of his comedy. He managed to come with a new form of comedy which involves audience participation in a show called Community Circle. Trevor’s new attempt at making a thing that only some people will like is similar to Community Circle and Girl v Boy but funnier and not as good. Experiments In Participatory Entertainment: We Are Each Other explores the unexpected things we have in common. ‘Superbly comic writing.’ (Sunday Times). ‘Funny, moving and clever.’ (Scotsman). ‘In a different league really.’ (LondonIsFunny.com).

Heather Turkington is a dramatherapist based in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. She works full-time as a dramatherapist in an adult male mental health residential and nursing facility. Heather holds the NI Link Person role for BADth (British Association of Dramatherapists), is the NI rep for dramatherapy in AHPFNI (Allied Health Professionals Federation Northern Ireland), and is also a Council member of IACAT (Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists). She has a specific interest in mental health and specialises in one-to-one sessions.  As well as dramatherapy, Heather is a writer, singer, podcast host, and holds a few TV and theatre acting credits.