Blogs

Victory!


By Chris Keil, 2012-11-07

Just think, though: with a Mormon President we could have had not just a First Lady, but Second, Third and Fourth Ladies as well...

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Musical eccentrics


By Peter David Gowen, 2012-11-04

Simply for a bit of fun, I want to research musical eccentrics e.g Alex Harvey, Screaming Lord Sutch, Frank Zappa, John Cale, Ian Dury etc. Apart from the genius John Cale can anyone think of any genuine (popular) music eccentrics who are Welsh?

Let me know, please.

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Welsh Slate products from Inigo Jones for Christmas


By JOHN FOULKES LLOYD, 2012-11-04

Quality Welsh slate craft products available on our secure website.

Go to www.inigojones.co.uk for details

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The Counter Revolution


By Glyn Scott, 2012-11-03

We march like ancient warriors

along the rugged track,

To another field of battle

There is no looking back.

Our hearts are strong and wilful

Our hopes continue on

We are the veterans rugby team

Whose muscles have all gone.

The game begins and in no time,

we are praying for a rest

No violent scrums we settle in

like hens upon a nest.

The referee has abandoned hope

of controlling this debacle,

Our collective aim is to a man

avoid having to tackle.

Spectators few in number

There for memories sake

Stand and issue platitudes

Like mourners at a wake.

Our wives abandon us to chance

Of ever coming back

They see the pain that has no gain

and give us constant flack.

They say we men are obsolete

Mars usurped by Venus

Our worth is measured only

by the short length of our penis.

They demean us daily

saying boys they will be boys,

then replace us in the marital sack

with a range of sexual toys.

Yet we will fight on valiantly

sod our feminine side

We owe it to our brave young sons

To avoid the manhood slide.

So hardy veterans every where

Play on, theres no game finer.

Against the ever growing threat

The march of the vagina.

So get up off your knees, man

Support your local club.

If she says be home by six

her demanding you must snub.

Give her both barrels, my son

Reduce her to a pallor

And you and I will one day share

a brew in old Valhalla.

Glyn Scott

The Ruptured Bard.

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Ghost Carriage Phantoms release their debut album The Boy Lives through Marketstall Records on the 12th November as a limited edition (500 only), hand packaged, numbered CD set featuring pictures, lyrics and more.

The Boy Lives is the first installment of a series of releases tied together under the initialed banner GCP. This record, the debut album from Merthyr Tydfil born songwriter Michael James Hall was created over a three month period in early 2012 with fellow GCP collaborator Mark Estall at the helm, taking charge of arrangement and production duties.

Its a strange pop record, ten songs drawn from the darker realms of the imagination and bounced around the parameters of lo-fi, drone, shimmering pop and DIY claustrophobia - based around the conceit of making a record that would sound like the ghost of a robot child.

While tracks like opener Heart Of A Boy draw their musical inspiration from the likes of Perfume Genius and Plush and the chiming Up To My T-Shirt perhaps recalls Graham Coxon , its with songs like schizoid Good Luck And Good Bowling and the frankly terrifying spoken word piece The Projectionist that the breath is truly taken away.

A piano ballad that references Morrissey (Woody Allen Movie) and a jaunty, unhinged fantasy that lauds Shamu, Seaworlds killer whale, before namechecking Paul Westerberg ( The Psychedelic Furs ) gives an idea of how addled with pop culture and trivia Mr Halls misfiring mind really is. At least its an entertaining place to visit.

Drawn from home demos, a couple of which were put to tape nearly a decade ago, most of which were cobbled together on garageband during the 2010 World Cup, Mark and Michael then went through the process of tearing out all elements of singer-songwriter bullshit and reconstructing the songs as modern, off-kilter bedroom pop, the results being this singularly strange and luminescent record that reflects both the inventive spirit of GCP and their handy way around a stunning tune.

LOOK OUT FOR the second GCP record, Grace Cathedral Parks Ante Rock coming on Marketstall Records in Spring 2013.

http://www.marketstallrecords.com
http://www.ghostcarriagephantoms.bandcamp.com



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And then what?


By Chris Keil, 2012-11-01

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Niinau arrived! Read about the 2012 NAFOW!


By mona everett, 2012-10-31

My paper copy of Ninnau arrived today--complete with the NAFOW Supplement. If you missed the NAFOW, you can read about the great time we all had in Scranton--and make plans to join us in Toronto next Labor Day Weekend. (Get your passport ready!) If you do not already subscribe to Ninnau, please consider doing so. This is the last Welsh-American newspaper in North America and has descended from Y Drych, which has been around since the mid-1800s! It had world-wide circulation and keeps us in touch with our Welsh friends all over. Ninnau also makes a thoughtful holiday gift, for friends and family here and abroad. Visit www.ninnau.com to subscribe and see a sample copy.

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...

See How They Run will be published in paperback on 1st November 2012, priced 8.99 ( GBP )

Award winning Welsh writer Lloyd Jones pens the latest addition to Seren's critically acclaimed series:-

New Stories From The Mabinogion

Read our interview with Lloyd Jones

Other Titles by Lloyd Jones Mr Cassini Mr Vogel

...




Welsh author Lloyd Jones hits the ball right out of the park with this tale of cynical booze-addled academic Llwyd McNamara. Lou travels to Ireland on a rugby international weekend to pick up the literary legacy of Irish colleague/rival Dermot Feeney. Both were working on biographies of Welsh rugby legend 'Big M' ( Dylan Manawydan Jones ) but Dermot died before he could complete his masterpiece and left the MS and a digital version on flash drive to Lou for completion. Such is the extent of Lou's venom and petty jealousy that he casts the MS overboard on the ferry back to Holyhead. As he considers a similar fate for the thumb drive he ruefully reflects on his own academic and emotional inferiority:-

" A man's mind in a morsel. Great mind, nano technology. And as for Lou....nano mind, great technology? ".

Having decided to spare the drive from a watery grave he peruses its contents and embarks upon a voyage of discovery. Lou learns as much about himself as he does about the legendary and almost mythical 'Big M' in the ripping yarn which follows.

The action unfolds across Wales and England as Lou studies the manuscript and visits a former haunt of 'Big M' on the West wales coast. The Hotel Corvo is also a former teenage haunt of Lou's and his reunion with the seven wise drunks at the bar in the hotel lounge is a colourful and memorable scene.

Lou's final encounter with 'Big M' leads to revelations of an academic, personal and spiritual nature. But is he redeemed in the course of his journey? Author Lloyd Jones wisely leaves that question to the reader to decide although in his final reflection there is at least a grain of hope. Calling out Manawydan's name in the closing moments of the book Lou reflects that:-

" In that moment, his lips red with raspberry juice, alone in the cornfield under a vast blue sky, he felt like a small child calling out to his father. "

Anyone who is collecting the superb New Stories From The Mabinogion series will need no encouragement to add this volume to their collection. For anyone who has not been this would be an ideal place to start. One of the strongest additions to the series yet and an ideal Christmas present.

Review by Ceri Shaw Ceri Shaw on Google+

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"Surfing and water sports will not be possible in the US mid-Atlantic coast, as Hurricane Sandy reaches the coastline. Remember that tsunami waves and storm waves should not be surfed. " #ohreally

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