Is 60mph fast ?

The answer to that question is "Yes, if you are completely sideways at 60mph in a yellow G3 Escort driven on the DOORHANDLES by 17year old Amy Cox!!"

Yesterday when I came off air I had the pleasure of spending the day with my colleagues from radio stations, publications and hotel groups accross the province all courtesy of Alltrack Rallysport Portadown Co Armagh. It was a great day.

Rally Drivers leading the charge included the likes of Eugene Donnelly - Allistair Fisher - Gary Jennings - Dennis and Stuart Bickerstaff  - to mention but a few. We were in good company.

Despite the fact that it was a full action day of Rallying, Digger driving, Quad biking and Rally Carting the highlights of my day by a country mile were my runs in the Donnelly familys G3 Escort from Tyrone piloted by the very brilliant Amy Cox. Though we were sideways a lot of the time, wheels were off the ground and the corners were challenging (we passed a Peugeot 205 that had rolled a minute before and we passed it fast!!) Amy was completely in control and my smile was from ear to ear.

Was 60mph fast? It was but I loved it

Lisnaskea for drinking tea

Lisnaskea for drinking tea, Maguiresbridge for brandy, Lisbellaw for wapping straw but Derrylins the Dandy!

The Lisnaskea Festival in County Fermanagh is now in it's fourth year and Friday afternoon found us live from the main street in the town to launch the weekends festivities. A great day of activity was had by all (an enormous amount of food) and plenty of giveaways as always - including £50 for the first person up to the wagon to mention Q101 and VIP gaming!

 Thank you to the festival committee for having us, the people of the town for their warm hospitality and to the staff of the Northern Bank for allowing us to park our wagon (which now looks remarkably like a South African Ambulance) in their yard. I nearly forgot, thank you to Gary who brought us coffee, chocolate and a 24pack of crisps, may they rest in peace !

On the road again

Lucky me is all I can say!!  It's the summer season and the two most important letters of the alphabet become 'O' and 'B' for 'OUTDOOR' and 'BROADCAST'......

Broadcasting from the RORY GALLAGHER festival I was dazzled by the amazing blues guitar work of Seamy O'Dowd, charmed by the Oddsocks Revivals four part harmony and genuinely shocked by the crowds and support that the festival has. Congratulations to the organisers and to festival chairperson Barry O'Niell from RTE for his vision http://www.myhometown.com/ Thanks for having me down.

"I'm walkin' yes indeed I'm talkin'..." - RNIB style

The RNIB 5K Walk takes place around Tyrone's county town this Saturday, 14th May and - as the great Fats Domino says - "I'm walkin' yes indeed".  . . . Start time is 11am SHARP (not leaving the house at 11 and then trying to park on a traffic island at the start line!) Certificates and refreshments for all participants.
Registration from 9.30am at McGurk's Bar in James St.
Entry fee is just £5, plus ideally lots of sponsorship!
For a sponsor sheet contact staff at the RNIB office at 10 James St, Omagh ......(a word of advice, get to the refreshments before Ian Ross and Peter Thompson!)

Culture vulture? Moi?

Spent a very lovely Saturday afternoon at the preview showing of Mute - a Sexy Raygun short film written by Lisa Keogh and directed by Conan McIvor (pictured).
This terrifically intense piece (made for roughly fifty pence and a whole lot of talent) is hopefully just a taste of great things to come. Having been lucky enough to snap up preview tickets I tore myself away from the sun and trotted along to Queen's Film Theatre. Like the rest of those present, I was not disappointed.
Good luck to Sexy Raygun as they set their sights on upcoming short-film festivals and no doubt so much more.
Check out http://www.sexyraygun.com/ or follow them on facebook and twitter.

Tuning in across the globe

  

After months of listening online to the Breakfast Show, local Irish dancer Damien Friel recently took time out of an international tour with the Rhythm of the Dance stage show to drop into the studio.

Travelling the world as part of a two-hour dance and music extravaganza, Damien always makes sure to listen in, so it was great to have the opportunity to catch up when he came home for a visit. 

It's always a pleasure to meet up with listeners, especially when they're tuning in from far flung places like Florida and Romania!

That said, I'm starting to think he only keeps in touch to make us jealous, and I'm still waiting on the offer of a return visit to the US..... may be waiting a while i reckon....  

Four words that made me very happy this week (TWICE)

SOUTHERN  TENANT  FOLK  UNION  - "So who, or what the hell are THEY Bryan?" The answer is simple.  They are a seven piece folk and bluegrass outfit based in Scotland and the best live band that I have EVER had in the studio. I caught them in concert on Wednesday in the middle of their eleven date Irish tour and had them in the studio the next morning. It was real music played the way it should be, on standard instruments with seven musicians around one mic each one stepping forward to play a solo then back into the group for harmonies. If you have ever heard of  "THE BAND"or seen THE LAST WALTZ.the interaction between musicians and the sheer joy they get from  playing is exactly the same, they are a pleasure to listen to and a pleasure to watch.Have a listen to them .......

https://soundcloud.com/bryan-gallagher/southern-tenant-folk-union

From Russia with love .........

How about this for the second chance we've all been waiting on, and from quite an unlikely source ............ Yesterday in Russia it was ................ NEW YEARS DAY !!

And as we rocket through January at an alarming rate, with the thoughts hopes and dreams for the "new year"  fading fast ................. this could be a chance for us to reboot the badly beaten new years resolutions, climb back on 'the wagon' and trim the rough edges of the one biscuit two bisciut TEN BISCUIT rule.

From Russia with love

Happy New Year (again)

Conquering Everest .......

One of this weeks BIGGEST adventures started (as most of my mornings do) at 0630 at the the radio station on Market street in Omagh, County Tyrone.
In relation to any radio station, silence is never a good thing, and on this particular morning as I drove towards the station there was COMPLETE silence.
After completing all of the usual troubleshooting, rebooting, powering off and on, resetting and any other system checks you can dream up there was nothing more for me to do but sit back, put the kettle on and wait for Sherpa Tensing - for this was going to require a journey to the Q101 transmitter - which literally meant CLIMBING A MOUNTAIN !!

Yes, I was Edmund Hillary, Damien Devenney was Sherpa Tensing and Mount Everest was played by a very capable cold and icey Brougher Mountain

Our trusty steed (Damiens black Audi) brought us three quarters of the way up till it lost it's footing and could go no further, but Sherpa Tensing and myself went the rest of the way on foot.

The good news is, that like Edmund Hillary, we conquered our Everest, and with a blown processor now replaced, Q101 lives and breathes once more !!

The way down was much easier ...............

And so it begins.......

First day back at work in 2011 - the festivities are officially over and the mince pies almost finished ....'almost' being the dangerous word
Now we can look forward to taking down the decorations, lamenting the extra stone round our waists, and waiting in fear for the credit card bill!!
On the up-side, I can now quite reasonably start dreaming about the next holiday adventure. Planning which friends and family to descend upon this year, and where to spend a week or two lying in the sun, is one way to get through what remains of winter.
Nothing like a return to normality to start you thinking about the next escape....!

I have an idea .......

Ok, one of MY New Year's resolutions is.............. to help OTHER PEOPLE with THEIR New Year's resolutions!! Here is how I see it working - If I get a van and go round the houses collecting all the chocolate,  cake, sweets, buns and crisps that everyone is now OFF for the new year, bring it all back to my house and make a MASSIVE pot of tea and eat it I will be combining something that I love (eating) and doing a great service for the community.................. !

On a serious note, every year I say that "This year will be different", I believe that this one will be  - I hope it is for you too. Happy New Year!