In this episode, once he has sorted one Deirdre from another, Dara is reflecting on the idea of privilege after attending the Holocaust Memorial Day event recently held in Dublin. He reckons it has something to do with gratitude and being permitted entry to a special group at a special time, even if it is just as a visitor.
This episode is all about the presence of absence. How are your comfort levels with empty space and dead air? Do you struggle when the void isn’t filled with something to stimulate? And more importantly, with what do you fill empty spaces and awkward silences?
What Do You Do If You See a Space, Man? – Episode 173 Read More »
Dara has just turned 50, and in this episode he lets his mind hover over the moment in an attempted stocktake. Even as he argues for gratitude, he acknowledges how challenging the world is right now. This leads him to consider whether enough weight is attached to softer impulses and emotions. In these times of fracture and isolation and estrangement, should we attach greater significance and worthiness to love and positivity and connection?
Turning 50 – If I’m Calm, It’s the Jedi’s Fault! – Episode 138 Read More »
In this episode, Dara talks about the affection for survival narratives and considers the respective legacies of the recently deceased singers and songwriters Tina Turner and Christy Dignam. He wonders whether we should be defined by what we’ve overcome in life. He also questions the value of legacy and argues for the need to be more concerned with our present-tense impact.
Survival, Transcendence, and the Myth of Whatever Doesn’t Kill You – Episode 108 Read More »
In this episode, Dara starts off with thoughts on what defines us as individuals. Is it a higher power? Or is it just what wins the battle for our identity? He believes it is strongly connected to nature, nurture and genetic legacy.
Embedding Gratitude, Controlling Sensitivity, and a Cult of Nullification – Episode 98 Read More »
It’s the dawn of a new era for The Clearout as Dara hosts his first interview on the podcast.
Musician and actor Gavin McCaffrey first made money in the arts as a child performer as one of Ireland’s legendary Billie Barry kids, gracing stage and screen in professional appearances. Many years later he and Dara shared a dressing room together when they were cast in Shay Healy’s The Wiremen, a colourful musical about Ireland’s rural electrification scheme in the 1950’s.
A Musician’s Life – Interview with Gavin McCaffrey – Episode 42 Read More »
When writing for this blog I typically start with the kernel of an idea in my mind that I trust will carry enough discursive and imaginative heft to justify the thousand or so words that follow. What I have discovered though is that by the time I press ‘publish’ that kernel may not be in
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