Blogs
Just joined AmeriCymru - planning a Green Field at National Eisteddfod in Glmorgan, 2012.Seeking content and sponsors!
By Nathan Lewis Williams, 2011-11-23
I'm particularly keen to let you AmeriCymrics know about the plans for a 3 acre Green Field, "Maes Gwyrdd" launching at the National Eisteddfod in Glamorgan next year. Finally we plan to have a proper platform for Welsh folk music (overdue at the Eisteddfod, surprisingly) and a talks tent (the "e-Coleg")for ecological presentations and debates, as well as workshops, green crafts, artworks, storytelling and more. All in Cymraeg, wrth gwrs! Do contact me if you or any of your friends are keen to get involved. We're looking for content for the e-Coleg as well as sponsors who might want to advertise in our programme or offer talks on eco products or services, or bring a stall. Croeso i bawb gyda diddordeb mewn pethau gwyrdd! Anyone with an interest in Green matters or subjects fromfolk / craft heritage to alternative energy, would be very welcome. Diolch!
Just joined AmeriCymru - organising a Green Filed at Welsh Esiteddfod in August 2012. Seeking content and sponsors!
By Nathan Lewis Williams, 2011-11-23
I'm particularly keen to let you AmeriCymrics know about the plans for a 3 acre Green Field, "Maes Gwyrdd" launching at the National Eisteddfod in Glamorgan next year. Finally we plan to have a proper platform for Welsh folk music (overdue at the Eisteddfod, surprisingly) and a talks tent (the "e-Coleg")for ecological presentations and debates, as well as workshops, green crafts, artworks, storytelling and more. All in Cymraeg, wrth gwrs! Do contact me if you or any of your friends are keen to get involved. We're looking for content for the e-Coleg as well as sponsors who might want to advertise in our programme or offer talks on eco products or services, or bring a stall. Croeso i bawb gyda diddordeb mewn pethau gwyrdd! Anyone with an interest in Green matters or subjects fromfolk / craft heritage to alternative energy, would be very welcome. Diolch!
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TUESDAY 22ND NOVEMBER |
 Atheist Xmas is an EP of alternative Christmas songs by Gruff Rhys an unholy trinity of three turkey-free new tracks for the festive season. Motown-tinged opener Post Apocalypse Christmas sees Gruff re-imagining the Winterval through the semi-melted eyes of a nuclear holocaust survivor. Humanist hymn At The End Of The Line deploys lush vocal harmonies, saxophone and also features in the soundtrack for Jesus And Mary Chain bassist Douglas Harts semi-autobiographical short film, Long Distance Information. Mournful piano ballad and curtain closer Slashed Wrists This Christmas addresses the seasonally taboo subjects of manic depression and suicide. Atheist Xmas is due out on 19th December and Gruff Rhys will celebrate the EPs birth with three instore performances on the day of release the pilgrimage starts at Spillers Records in Cardiff at 12noon, then heads to Rise in Bristol for 3pm and finishes off at Londons Rough Trade East - at 8pm. Gruff will also be playing a solo show at Xoyo, London, Artrocker Awards Live on December 2nd. Atheist Xmas wraps up a cracker of a year for Gruff Rhys releasing his heartwarming and highly praised third solo album, Hotel Shampoo , in February lead to extensive touring and headline performances on the stages of several summer festivals. More recently, Gruff has unveiled a collaboration with Turner Prize nominated visual artists Phil Collins, and released the Whale Trail single which was inspired by and created for an accompanying videogame involving a flying whale. Slashed Wrists This Christmas is streaming now at SoundCloud . The 12 vinyl version of Atheist Xmas can be preordered now via www.gruffrhys.com
www.gruffrhys.com | @gruffingtonpost www.turnstilemusic.net | @turnstilemusic |
When I was in the grammar school during the fifities, we were discouragedfrom thinking about a careeruntil 'O' levels hadbeencompleted and 'A' levels decided on.This was to discourage us from the lure of jobs and the money that they provided.Oxford and Cambridge were the goals, or some otheruniversity,preferably in Wales.The role of the grammar school was to preparepupils for an academic career.
At a class reuniona few years ago, one of the 'girls', to everyone's delight,or amazement, anyway, had returned to teach in the school we had attended, retiring when she was sixty.Many of the others, after 'O' levels,hadbecomecounter clerks in banks.
I wondered ifthis would have been so if we'dreceived advice from a careers' adviser. (The year before 'O' levels someone came to talk about jobs butall I recall was a warningabout a 'bored' telephone operator, who wanted to retrain for somethingmore interesting.)
Although we did not realise it at the time, my classmates and Iwere on the cusp of a new era. Up until about 1960 it was widely assumed that a job was just a 'filler' until marriage, when womenexited the jobs market for ever. (The staff in our school were, on the whole, unmarried, proving women might need to work all their lives).We, the'baby boomers', showed thatmany women wantedmarriage and acareer.
I'll digress a little and forgive me, but I've been listening to some sixth formers talkng about their futures. They, too, are at a pivotal pointand they needguidance.
Until recently, the goal has been higher education for all,regardless of what jobs people eventually hope to have.There are many jobs I can think of, but will not mention, for fear ofoffending anyone, that simply do not need a degree,though it is possible to take a degree qualification in that particular area.
Two of the pupils I spoke to, were consideringstarting a 'sandwich' courses, where they can 'earn and learn', while studying fora part-time degree.
Anothertoyed with the idea oftaking any job to enable herto live at home andstudy for an 'Open University' degree, becauseshedid not want to be lumbered with thousands of pounds worth of debtsthroughout her twenties. (Although some government minister or other has just said thatdebts should be looked on as 'loans', they still have to be repaid, whatever they are called).
This could be the generation that turns its collective back on traditional modes of education, that questions the costof a broadeducation when, practically,subjects relevantto the intendedoccupation would be a more time and cost-effective way of achieving career goals.
'Extreme Couponing' is big in America, apparently. Families can lophuge amounts off their grocery bills.
$1,000 worth of stuff can be 'bought' for $17. (Am I living in the wrong country?)
Kate, who has visited friends there, says some people pack their garageswith detergents, toilet rolls, tins of fruit and various groceries.
I've just spent an absorbing time ordering magazines on-line and they have not cost me any actual money, because I have used tokens as payment.
We buy some of ourgroceries and most of the fuel for thecar in one particular store. Ihave a store card andreceive 'loyalty' voucher rewardsin the post.
Until recently, a voucher's face value could be exchanged for a 'reward' at four times the amount shown on the voucher.
Thus,a 10 voucher meant you couldtake out a magazine subscription worth 40 andthe magazine wouldbe sent to your home. I have most of my magazines 'free', thanks to this system.
The rewards have now gone down to three times the value: (credit crunch, I suppose), but they are still much better than that ofother stores.
Vouchers can be exchanged for nights in top hotels, air miles, pizza meals, jewellery and loads of other things, too, or they can buy groceries, but only at face value.
I havea good quality new bathroom suite, a new cloakroom suite plus a range of the best tiles, all 'paid' for with vouchers. No cash was needed. For one of the bedrooms, I 'bought' two large fitted wardrobes andagain, no money was involved.
I am sometimes asked to take out loyalty cards with other stores but always refuse, because none of the otherscan match these rewards.
As Keynes, the economist, might have said, 'the more you spend, the more you earn'.
Not read 'Resistance' yet? You should...a minor masterpiece imho. Here is the AmeriCymru review:-
http://welsh-american-bookstore.com/index.php/BookLibrary/Novels/Contemporary-Welsh-Fiction/Resistance.html
The good news is that it has been made into a film. DO NOT MISS!!
A young boy was delivering fliers in our road and he gave me one. I askedif it was for the'Kinky KaBurger' cafe. He looked at me solemnly before saying slowly, 'King Kebab Burger'. I won't mix that one up again.
Giles Coren has been to Wales, not sure if he's visitedKing Kebab Burger, but Hooray! he just loves our food. (Why wouldn't he, it's good). AA Gill has crossed the border, too, buthe's a bit sniffy about theWelsh. (For the uninitiated, I am referring to two food critics who get paidto eat in restaurants before giving theiropinion of the food. I eat out, too, and sometimes give my verdict on what I've had, but I don't get paid for it).
Giles has eulogised about the bestpork pie he's had in years, costing 1.10 in a cattle market in Oswestry, (almost in Wales), before getting into Wales proper, Anglesey, (Mon, Mam Cymru) and you won't get much Welsher than that, where he had an even better pie, close to the Berwyn Mountains.The beef fromWelsh Black cattlewas amongst the best he'd ever tasted.
This made methink of the great culinary divide that exists nowadays. I'm not into Cordon Blah-de blah, snail porridge and, even if I didn't have a husband who likes to know at first glance what's on his plate, I don't want atasting menu with seventy or so spoonfuls of something unidentifiable. I want to eat successive forkfuls of food so that I have a feeling of satiation, repleteness, whicha daub of this and that would not provide.
It's not 'witty' food I want, 'four and twenty blackbirds' flying out from under a pie-crust, but honest-to-goodness, eat-it-all-up food.
Tomorrow is stir-up Sunday, when wemix our figgypuddingsin preparation for the biggest feast day of the year.We will pack away dried fruits, brandy, suet, lemon peel, cloves, spices from the Orient, cheeses, sausages, herbs and Gentlemen's Relish, root vegetables, brassicas, bread sauce, stuffing enough to float a battle ship but, in the midst of all this, I'm ready to return to Bara Te, or Siencyn (a slice of breadmixed into a cup of tea) a lettuce sandwich and honey on toast.
The great drama of the Victorian age was the spread of railways across vasttracks of the country, bringingsocial and economic change.On the 28th December, 1853, the Haverfordwest branch of the South Wales Railway was opened, widening the horizons of many people.
A sketch I have, torn from 'The London Illustrated News' of January 7th, 1854, shows crowds gathering on the station platform to greet the arrival of the first train. On a banner are written the words: 'Llwyddiant Yr Railffordd': 'Success of the Railway'.
Growth of therailwayswas aided by one man in particular,Isambard Kingdom Brunel, son ofthe French engineer, Sir Marc Brunel.
When he was twenty seven, Isambard became chief engineer to the Great Western Railway line. He introduced the broad gauge (seven feet and a quarter inch) to replace the previous standard gauge. Although Brunel proved that the broad gauge gave more stability to coaches, enabled engines to travel at a higher speed and providedmore comfort to passengers,there was muchopposition, partly because the standard gauge would need replacing.
The railway acted as a touchstone in the town, a punctuationof time: events were cataloguedas occurring before the line was opened andafterwards.
Geographically, anywhere east of Haverfordwest was referred to as 'up the line'.
London became possible in a day, instead of the three days it had previously taken by stage coach. Travel by train was quicker and cheaper .
Therailway providedwork, paying two shillings a day for a twelve hour day, which compared favourably with the five shillings a week a farm labourer earned.Conditions left a lot to be desired, though,and accidents were frequent.
Irish 'navvies' worked in shifts, night and day, on the Shoal's Hook Cutting, a treacherous place, where many were killed or maimed.
Brunel's vision was remarkable. He wantedto enable passengersto board the train at Paddington and travel to Neyland, where they would take the Great Western Steamship to New York.
Neyland honoured the memory of Brunel by commissioning a statue. A few years ago, the statue was stolenand has never been found.
"Occupy a job"was the terse direct tweet sent to me after I had blogged about my day at Occupy Cardiff . At first, I was furious as I have been in continuous employment since 1965, but once I calmed down I realised this just reflected the fact that the tweeter was making assumptions, but in reality knew nothing about me. And that summarises the problem with the Occupy movement, almost nobody knows much about it or really understands it.
The mantra ' we are the 99 percent ' has resonated with ordinary people throughout the western world. People in western nations are confused and angry as they see their standards of living reduced because of the economic crisis of the last three years. Their anger is directed against a tiny number of people and organisations of wealth and power who continue to increase their prosperity and their influence, whilst ordinary people see the deep reduction in their living standards. However, ordinary people perceive no outlet to express that depth of feeling and so the emergence of the Occupy movement has at last provided them a vehicle to carry their anger and frustration with the 1 percent.
Ironically, the ethos of the Occupy movement is actually quite difficult to get alongside. They state general principles of anger and rejection of the conduct of the bankers who caused economic ruin for many people, the huge multinational companies that pay little or no tax and politicians whose priorities include areas like substantial military spending whilst bringing in austerity measures which have hurt people at the most vulnerable end of society the most. However, they are radical because they don't produce a simple manifesto with a list of demands which ordinary people would find easy to understand and to engage with. As was noted in The Guardian :
To critics of Occupy Wall Street, one of its most glaring weakness is the lack of specific demands. To many supporters, that ambiguity is one of the main foundations of the movement's success.Two goals documents, The Liberty Square Blueprint and The 99 Percent Declaration that have emerged from Occupy Wall Street illustrate the diversity of ideologies of participants. The reason is simply that each expression of the Occupy movement is autonomous, and unlike most of society's structures, is not a hierarchical entity but it represents a group of co-equal individuals, drawn together and united by their shared participation with the 99 percent of society that feels disempowered, disenfranchised and unable to influence the inexorable greedy progress of the 1 percent.
My good friend Steve commented on Facebook,
"If the 'Occupy' movement really does represent the '99 percent' ... it should be no problem for them to accomplish whatever changes they are seeking at the next election opportunity."A great idea Steve, but unfortunately the disparate nature of the movement would never be able to stand on a common platform. I attended the planning meeting for Occupy Bangor group, some of whom made me feel decidedly right-wing! The group contained supporters of the Labour Party, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, anarchists, ordinary Bangor University students and people with no declared political affiliation. I know of church ministers, magistrates and other middle-class people who would not be seen as natural participants, joining the occupation at St Pauls .
Despite the setbacks in Cardiff , in Portland, Oregon and in New York where the police broke up the occupations, there is still a hunger for protest and more and more expressions of the Occupy movement are appearing all over the world. However, this movement will only succeed if it is embraced by a huge proportion of the public at large, something that wont happen until people can find a point to engage. However, the movement has already succeeded by providing a useful platform for others to build upon. Despite St Paul's Cathedral's reluctance to endorse the Occupy movement and Ed Milliband's over-long silence about the issue, St Pauls and Milliband finally found some integrity and made positive statements of support.
My anxiety is that this movement has built-in the seeds of its own destruction by having no appointed leaders, spokespersons or manifesto to communicate their important message. Here in Wales 100 years ago we had our own movement, a religious revival in 1904 which impacted the nation hugely, transforming many lives. In 1904 nobody would have imagined that the movement would have all but run out of steam within two years. I would urge those involved with the Occupy movement which includes me as one of the 99 percent -- to learn the lessons of history and ensure that its aspirations are clearly understood, embraced and fought-for by the remainder of the 99 percent.
A musical theatre superstar, a classical singer also known for his star role in a TV advert, a world-famous music conductor and an opera sensation are among the artists set to perform at the 2012 Llangollen International Eisteddfod.
The 2012 line-up features music favourites Alfie Boe, Wynne Evans, Karl Jenkins and Lesley Garrett among its highlights. Instrumentalists Alison Balsom and Nicola Benedetti, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, soprano Fflur Wyn, opera star Mark Llywelyn Evans and Cr CF1 have also been confirmed to perform at the Eisteddfod.
The announcement came at a press conference at Llangollen Pavilion on Wednesday 16 November by new Music Director Eilir Owen Griffiths. Tickets for the concerts will be released on general sale from Monday 5 December at the Box Office and online.
Wynne Evans was also at the launch and gave the press a sneak preview of whats to come at the 2012 Grand Finale concert with a specially written song about Llangollen to the tune of the Go Compare adverts.
The tenor from Carmarthen says,The Llangollen International Eisteddfod has such a rich tradition and is well supported by locals and visitors from four corners of the world. Its an honour to be invited to perform on such an iconic stage for the first time in front of an international audience. I am ashamed to say I only visited the Eisteddfod for the first time last year and I was amazed by the broad spectrum of musical styles and cultures there. I can honestly say there is something for everyone. As soon as I felt the atmosphere in the pavilion it became my ambition to sing there and now I am delighted to be headlining the final night concert. The line-up for 2012 looks fantastic and Im sure the demand for tickets will be as high as ever.
Music Director Eilir adds,2012 is an exciting year for Llangollen International Eisteddfod. Weve managed to attract an exciting mix of accomplished artists and instrumentalists to complete an attractive Concert Series. This year also sees the launch of The LIME Festival Chorus and The LIME Orchestra as well as the brand new All Singing, All Dancing Showchoirs competition, which Im personally looking forward to.
Annual favourites including the fantastic International Competitors, Childrens Day, Folk Friday and the inaugural and internationally renowned Choir of the World finale all return. We certainly have got something for everyone. And personally, Im looking forward to the challenges that my first year in the role will bring.
The 2012 Llangollen International Eisteddfod kicks off on Tuesday 3 July with the annual Parade of Nations through Llangollen town centre. Later that evening, competitors from across the globe will perform at the One World, One Stage, One Llangollen Welcome concert (7.30pm).
Classical Brit award winner and trumpeter Alison Balsom, soprano Lesley Garrett and violinist Nicola Benedetti will perform with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert on Wednesday 4 July (8.00pm).
Lesley Garrett explains,Llangollen Eisteddfod is an amazing festival that brings many genres of music together. This is a cultural festival with great longevity and a fabulous history. Some of the worlds best singers have headlined here over the past 65 years. Im also looking forward to performing at Llangollen again and sharing the stage with the fantastic Alison Balsom and Nicola Benedetti. They are wonderful instrumentalists and performers.
Broadway and West End star Alfie Boe best known for his role as Jean Valijean in Les Misrables makes his first appearance at Llangollen on 5 July to launch the All Singing, All Dancing Showchoirs competition (7.30pm).
Alfie Boe says,Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod has played host to a great number of international singers and performers in the past and Im thrilled to be able to follow in their footsteps. Its also exciting for me to launch the 2012 Show Choir competition and as Wales is traditionally known as Land of the Song Im sure the standard will be high.
The winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World 2011, Valentina Nafornita, is the special guest singer during Karl Jenkins The Peacemakers on Friday 6 July (8.00pm). Swansea-born Jenkins returns to the Eisteddfod having led concerts in 2010.He was also Day President at the 2009 Eisteddfod.
On Saturday 7 July, the weeks competitions come to a head in the spectacular Choir of the World finale (8.00pm).
Brothers Wynne and Mark Evans lead an exciting musical extravaganza on 8 July as they perform at the Grand Finale (7.30pm). The classical singers will be joined by opera singer Fflur Wyn, Cr CF1 and many more in closing the 2012 festival.
