Tadhg Kennelly, Joe Duffy, MJTE
On The Café, November 9, Laura and Aidan chat to AFL champ Tadhg Kennelly and Livelines' Joe Duffy. Oliver Callan provides live laughs while Messiah J & The Expert perform live.
Tadhg Kennelly
Tadhg Kennelly is considered one of the biggest success stories in Australian Football League history.
Starting out playing Gaelic in Listowel, Tadhg went down under to take Australia Rules football by storm.
Son of Kerry GAA legend Tim Kennelly, Tadhg went over to Sydney in 1999. Within in two years he had made his premiership debut for the Sydney Swans impressing all with his skills and adaptability.
Tadhg is now a permanent in the Sydney line-up as a rebound defender. Highly skilled, he was second (behind Leo Barry) for rebounds (77) from the defensive 50-metre arc in 2004.
He became the first Irish to win an AFL premiership medal in 2005, after playing all 26 games for the Swans that year. The Swans lost their Grand Final title this year to the West Coast Eagles.
When not playing footie, Tadhg took time out to catch up with Hector and is due to appear on the latter's new TV show on TG4.
Joe Duffy
Joe Duffy makes the news this week for reasons other than his radio comments. He is the subject of a send-up song.
FM104 DJs Colm Hayes and Jim Nugent have had Dublin in stitches with 'Sexy Joe', a "remix" of Justin Timberlakes' 'Sexyback'.
The Café finds out what Joe Duffy makes of it all.
Joe is the man of the street's voice of RTÉ's Liveline, a show he has made his own since 1999 when he took over from Marian Finucane.
A true Dub, Joe was born in 1956 in Mountjoy Square and was brought up in Ballyfermot. In 1977 He went to Trinity College, Dublin where he was elected President of Trinity College Students' Union two years later. He became President of the Union of Students in Ireland in the early 80s.
While studying in Trinity he shared an apartment with former Labour Party leader Dick Spring. Another claim to fame is that he did one of the readings at the Papal Mass at Galway Racetrack in 1979, standing along side Bishop Eamon Casey and Fr Michael Cleary.
In 1984, Joe was jailed for two weeks after a student occupation of Eastern Health Board Officers. Ironically he went on to be a Probation Officer in the Department of Justice.
His broadcasting career began as reporter on the Gay Byrne Show. He then went on to present several programmes including the media programme 'Soundbyte' before finding his home at RTÉ Radio 1.
Messiah J & The Expert
Dublin duo, Messiah J & The Expert perform 'Something Outta Nothing', from their new album 'Now This I Have To Hear', on The Café.
The album sees the pair team up with such major artists as hip-hop heavyweight C-Rayz Walz of Def Jux Records, jazz singer Leda Egri and Nina Hynes. They also worked with legendary mastering engineer Guy Davie.
According to the duo this, their second album, is for "intelligent" music lovers, promising a blend of old jazzy samples with acoustic guitars and strong synths.
Messiah J & The Expert are an mc/producer tag team. They first performed together in a three piece group called Creative Controle, with whom they released two EPs (Bloodrush and Check The Vision).
As Messiah J & The Expert, the duo released their debut album, 'What's Confusing You?' in 2003 on Volta Sounds to critical acclaim.
To date they have supported the likes of Public Enemy, The Streets, Jurassic 5, Gangstarr, Buck 65 and Xzibit. The pair has also recorded sessions for Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1, Across The Line on BBC Radio Ulster and for 2FM.
Their accolades include Best Dance Act in 2004 in the Hot Press Reader's Poll and a nomination for Best Dance Act in the 2003 Meteor Irish Music Awards.
Hot Press has dubbed them "one of the sharpest, most exciting bands, of any genre, the country has".
