Padraig Rooney, Side by Side by Sondheim

Lena Rowlands and Alice Stadnik interviewed writer and poet Padraig Rooney on this week's show. Padraig Rooney has spent forty years outside his native Ireland and lives in Basel, Switzerland. He has published four collections of poetry and has won the Patrick Kavanagh Award, the Poetry Business Award, the Strokestown International Poetry Prize and the 2012 Listowel Poem Award. He has also published works of non-fiction with Edmund White describing his book The Gilded Chalet: Off-piste in Literary Switzerland (2015) as “a superbly amusing guide to all the writers who’ve been drawn to or emerged from Switzerland”. The International School Basel is hosting a Spoken Word Event on Friday, 9 February, at 19:30. Both Padraig Rooney and poet Hollie McNish will be performing a selection of their work, including several with German translation. Listen to the interview again here.

Susan Brownfield, Nina Bradlin, Tiffany Butt, Anthony Hehir, and Stephanie Nemeth Parker came in to talk about Side by Side by Sondheim - which will be a first for Switzerland. One of most successful musical revues of all time, Side by Side by Sondheim is a nonstop parade of Stephen Sondheim's most beloved songs from smash hits including Follies, Company, A Little Night Music and West Side Story! This intimate yet dazzling showcase of Sondheim’s work is finally appearing in Basel for nine dates in March, between the 8th and the 24th, at the Safe in Unternehmen Mitte. If you’re looking for an evening of wit, glamour, and sophistication, this show is the must-see event of the season! Get your tickets at Ticketino. This Friday, February 9th, catch a preview at Sonny's Bar starting at 20:30. Entry is free, and you can participate in the Crowdfunding campaign financing this production while enjoying cocktails, nibbles, and of course, the music of Sondheim. Listen to the interview again here.

Our music theme this week was classic rock. We played:

AC/DC - Back In Black

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower

Queen - We Will Rock You

Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Kiss - Rock'n Roll All Night

ZZ Top - La Grange

Tom Petty - Free Fallin'

Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion

Heart - Barracuda