Filed under: Radio | Tags: Belfast, Socialism, Politics, BBC, Afghanistan, Islam, Orange Order, Religion, Art, Pakistan, Gerry Adams, Northern Ireland, Architecture, Philadelphia, Environmentalism, Love, Mad Magazine, Thomas Nast, Laziness, Cartoons, Ian Knox, Tae Kwan Do, Hearts and Minds, The Irish News, Sky News, Gordon Brown, Terry McLaughlin, Seamus Kilters, Sammy Wilson, Global Warming, Fenian Elements, Journalism, Ahmad Seyar Zia
Ahmed Seyar Zia
Ahmad Seyar Zia is, as he has proclaimed himself to be, the King of Love. He is a young Afghan man, studying abroad in India now. Born in Kabul, raised in different places around Afghanistan and Pakistan, he has developed his own life philosophies that, he finds, hold him apart from most other young people around him.
In today’s interview, Ahmad talks about growing up in the tumultuous past decades of Aghanistan, of the religious and philosophical system he’s developed, of taking up Tae Kwan Do after his brother lost his leg in a mine explosion, and why he’s intent on returning to his country.
Ian Knox is one of Northern Ireland’s premier political cartoonists. After studying for a career in architecture, he made his way into the world of cartooning and now contributes to a whole array of outlets – including The Irish News, Hearts & Minds, Sky News, and The Guardian. He talks about why he likes to annoy people, how he knows if his cartoons succeed in their attempts to shove his opinions down the audience’s throats, which politicians he most likes to draw, and how he survives his daily threat of a heart attack.
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Adam Jaffa, Africa, Art, Belfast, Cafes, Charities, Coffee, Common Grounds, Cosmetic Work, Dentistry, Dentures, Gentle Dental Practice, Holylands, Kenya, Lisburn Road, Northern Ireland, Sandwiches, Service Work, Teeth, Zambia
Common Grounds
Today we begin with coffee and end up with teeth. First a Common Grounds barista-slash-waiter tells about his work in the cafe. Tucked away in the Holylands, the cafe is only a few years old, attached to City Church, and run with the help of volunteers and profits going to charities.
Then, up to the Lisburn Road to hear from Adam Jaffa of Gentle Dental Care, all about the dental practice — especially the increasingly popular cosmetic procedures it offers. Dentistry can be fun, he claims, and he explains how the practice ended up going beyond teeth, to move into the world of art (especially local work) and charity activities in Africa.
Filed under: Radio-Video | Tags: Accent, Age, Alcoholism, Art, Belfast, Belfast Wheel, Body, Body Image, Botanic Gardens, Chinese, Drinking, Drunkeness, East Belfast, Education, Family, Feminism, Foreigners, Gender, Generalizations, Hair, Image, Immigration, Independence, Language, Latin Culture, Life, Life Plan, Locals, London, Make-up, Mediterranean Culture, Mockery, Nationalism, Northern Ireland, Perfect Women, QUB, Queen's University Belfast, Relaxation, South Belfast, Spain, Stereotypes, Stress, Students, Superficiality, Teenagers, The Bot, The Eg, The Parlour, Turkmenistan, UK, Ultimate Frisbee, Weather, West Belfast, Women, Work, Working Class
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Filed under: Radio | Tags: 30 Years Old, Analog, Art, AU, Barcelona, Belfast, Bright Kids, Brooklyn, Buff Club, Buffaloes, Caff/Flick, Careers, Cathedral Quarter, CDs, Champagne Diamond/The Brilliant Light, Collectives, Comfort Zone, Communists, Compilations, Creativity, Czech Republic, David Horvitz, Dublin, Feminists, Five Year Plan, Freestyle, French Death Metal, Grandiose Teenage Dreams, GZ Vinyl, Hand-eating, Hipsters, Internet Relationships, John Peel, LA, Lasers, London, Mediocrity, Menial labor, Money, Mount Eerie, Music, Music Copyright, Music Industry, MySpace, Neil Brogan, No Kids, Northern Ireland, NVTV, Office Jobs, Old Men, Oregon, Outsourcing, Photography, Picture Discs, Podcasts, Portland, Pseudonyms, Radio, Radio One, Records, Royal Antedeluvian Order of the Buffaloes, Rubbish, Shabbiness, Sweden, The Dirty Projectors, The High Places, Thrill Jockey, Up the Buff, US, Useless University Degrees, Vinyl
A Caff-Flick Release from Neil
Neil Brogan tells of his professional hobby, running the small record label Caff/Flick out of Belfast. The label (http://caff-flick.com/) is a niche one, releasing vinyl 12″ and 7” records & picture discs of bands from all over Europe + North America, including Mount Eerie, The High Places, No Kids, and Champagne Diamond/The Brilliant Light (from whom some songs feature on this episode).
Neil tells of how he got into the niche in London and expanded it from Belfast – constructing a snowballing virtual world of music, art & business – run via multiple online personas he’s cultivated. He also comments on the lifestyle that comes with running a small label: whether Belfast is (or could be) a decent place for his ambitions, bank account, and sensibilities; if he’ll ever cash himself in for a suit and an office job; and how hipsters can induce sensations of inadequacy and nausea.
Neil also performs (in a weird, self-effacing way, as he puts it). This Sunday the 17th he helps put on ‘Up The Buff’ at the Royal Antedeluvian Order of the Buffaloes club, in the Cathedral Quarter, on Writer’s Square, at. It is free in + goes from 7pm.
Above, a High Places Picture Disc in Action, courtesy of David Horvitz
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Art, Spain, Catholic Church, Human Rights, Derry, Chile, Arpillera, Quilts, Pinochet, Women, Torture, Disappeared, Clothing, Hospitals, Paramilitaries, Communism, University of Ulster, Museums, South America, Feminism, Migration, Immigration, Collectives, Roberta Bacic, EBay
Arpilleras on Display
Quilts meet politics as Roberta Bacic takes on us a tour of Chilean wall hangings made during women under the Pinochet dictatorship. The quilts are not typical ones - they show village life in all its complications, including the violence, activism, and family life during the 1970s and 80s. The arpilleras have travelled around the world, having been sold and exported in order to raise money for women in Chilean villages and also to tell their stories to the outside world.
See more of the quilts here: http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/museums/quilt.asp
Video of a presentation from Roberta at INCORE on the Magee Campus of University of Ulster is here: http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/Seminars/CAIN_13-03-08-RB_ref.html
Roberta with an arpillera
And more quilt exhibtions can be seen here:
http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/Current/quilts_and_human_rights.html
An Airport Arpillera
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Art, Burn Out, Chicago, Cuba, Dance, Death, Drugs, Facial Hair, Farming, Flamenco, Guitar, Gypsy, Hippie, Mexico City, Music, Naval Doctor, New England, New Hampshire, Overdose, PhD, Plane Crash, Puritan, Puritanical Lemon, Sociology, Statistics, Stress, Travel, Work
Dan Parish
Dan Parish grew up in New England and was set on a successful path, but by the end of his 20s he had dropped out of his PhD program and found his way to Mexico City playing flamenco guitar. In this week’s episode, he tells of burning out and growing facial hair in the 1960s, of the attractions and dangers of flamenco life, and of figuring out how to be happy writing music and living the New Hampshire life as — he puts it — a ‘worker in the arms of nature rather than a struggler in the flow of man’s idea of work’.
Some Flamenco Tracks from Dan:
Filed under: Radio | Tags: Art, Belfast, BT, Call Centres, Chicken factory, County Down, Dance, Dizziness, Film, Hygiene, Immigration, Islam, Jared Longlands, Kemal Yilmaz, Konya, Law, Life plans, Litter, Menial labor, Northern Ireland, Pantomime, Portugese, Projectionisht, QFT, Religion, Students, Turkey, Waterfront, Whirling Dervish, Writing
Whirling Dervishes in action
This week the program features an interview with Kemal Yilmaz, a whirling dervish who recently travelled from Turkey to perform in Belfast. He’s been a dervish since his early teens, now he’s studying law and whirling in the meantime.
Then Jared Longlands talks about authoring anti-litter pantomimes, living the creative life, and surviving menial labor. To see some of Jared’s writings, drawings, comics, and other creations, contact him via email, at smartturkey@hotmail.com.
