Blogs

Read more and see the video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northwestwales/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9402000/9402010.stm Besides being one of the busiest, local knowledge of the Holyhead area is vital to quick response to emergencies! Here's an excerpt:More than 200 people have turned out for a rally in Holyhead, Anglesey, to protest against plans to close the town's coastguard station.The proposals would see the UK's 18 coastguard stations reduced to eight to "modernise" the service.Speakers at the protest included the town's mayor, Anglesey MP Albert Owen, and union representatives who maintain the station is one of the UK's busiest.

One of north Wales' oldest women has celebrated her 109th birthday.
Enid Vaughan Williams had a party with her friends and family at Hafod Y Gest Nursing Home in Porthmadog, Gwynedd where she lives.

Read more and see the photos: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-12525468

One of the things that left a huge impression on me on my first trip to Wales was the evidence of the Blitz--how everything in Swansea Bay dates from the 1950s--what a reminder to those who were living at the time of the Blitz--it is there every day. We don't have anything like that in the US. It is difficult to imagine what it would be like to live with the daily reminder. I suppose it is somewhat like New Yorkers must feel now, after 9/11.This is some of the article--you can read the whole thing here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2011/02/swansea_blitz_1941_70th_anniversary.html This past weekend marked the 70th anniversary of the Swansea Blitz. On 19 February 1941 the gentle calm of a quiet evening was smashed by the heavy and sustained bombing by the German Luftwaffe. The blitz lasted for three days.Up to 70 enemy aircraft dropped some 35,000 incendiaries and 800 high explosive bombs over the three-day period. The raging fires could be seen from the other side of the Bristol Channel in Devon.A total of 230 people were killed and more than 400 were injured, and the bombing changed the face of the city forever.The centre of Swansea was flattened in the blitz

This is from a cool site I recently came across somehow. (Link below.)

Author: Ruth Downie lives in the south of England, a region still shaped by the legacy of the Roman Empire. Her latest book is Caveat Emptor, the fourth in her series about a Roman Army doctor (Bloomsbury USA, 2010; to be published by Penguin UK, 2011 as Ruso and the River of Darkness).

Here's a bit off their website. They spotlight some really interesting books--not just Roman period, though:

Why a Politician Needs a Wife

Evidently Roman electioneers were not above a little sharp practice. Not only was voting carefully scrutinised, but when a shortage of suitable candidates was solved by publicly listing the names of all the eligible men, it was deemed necessary to stipulate that this must be done in such a manner that they can be read properly from ground level.

Less predictable, though, was the election tie-breaker. In the event of two candidates receiving the same number of votes, a married or engaged man took precedence over a bachelor. If that was no help, the issue was decided by counting each mans sons. The more sons, the better and, in a sad reflection of the times, there was also a system for calculating the worth of boys and girls who had died in childhood. Only after all this was taken into account did they resort to drawing lots.

They have three (3) copies of Caveat Emptor to giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment on the post on their site (below). Sorry, they can only ship winning copies in the US at this time. They have frequent giveaways, but the best thing (since I haven't won one yet) is the books they highlight. I am adding to my must-read pile!

Would you like an email notification of other drawings? Sign up for their giveaway email list by clicking here http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/02/why-a-politician-needs-a-wife.html .

A new Welsh mystery book about to be published:

Received from Jonathan:

The Dead of Mametz, my first novel, is due for publication by Y Lolfa on 1st April 2011.

It is a crime novel set during the First World War and features a

A message from Paul Child:-

It's getting to be the time when I will have to select a new blog/site solution. I've been using Bandzoogle and WordPress in combination and I've not been completely happy with either one of them.

I tried using just Bandzoogle for a while, because they technically allow for just using the core site to post a blog. But I find it really inadequate as I've been a WordPress user for years. That's one of the reasons why it looks like I've only been blogging for a couple of months, when, in fact, I've been blogging for years. The Bandzoogle site erased all of the date information when I imported my past blog!

Not good.

It also doesn't display my posts the way I like. And although they've got some really great templates and allow for custom CSS, I've gotten really sick of code-monkeying. I have so many hats to wear with all of the marketing and PR I have to do right now, the graphic design element is a bit difficult for me. I'm using a template at the moment and I'm frankly not that happy with how crowded my site looks.

On the plus side, I have great mailing list tools with Bandzoogle. WordPress doesn't give me that. If I migrate over to WP entirely, I have to find yet another solution to manage that, and then there's an additional expense. It's not worth either the time or the money and I want a single solution.

And now to WordPress.

Ah, WordPress, WordPress. I have all of the same issues with you. To edit your CSS is just tiresome to me. And if I find a great template or theme, but it seems to me that everyone has a slightly different protocol as to how to comment things out--and what is up with your making me individually delete out manually every single iteration of the custom CSS I tweaked? Why did I have to do that just to get the theme to look the way you said it would in the Preview?

Even then it didn't, quite.

That's why I had to let my subscription to Custom CSS expire, you see. It was just a big ol' reset button for me.

So here I've been, jockeying back and forth between two sets of site stats, two URLs (three, really, because with my FB Fan Page it's become clear that I need to do some direct interaction in order to keep engaged with folks, but that's a whole nuther puddle of wax) just to keep things going--it's so very way not convenient to me. Me no like.

So I am ideally searching for a site host/blog solution that will give me the following things:

• Single-click postability from desktop, iPad , Android
• Single-click comment moderation from above sources
• Mailing list tools from above sources
• Web clipping to posts from above sources
• Post videos with sound and images from above sources
• E-commerce enabled
• Facebook /Twitter integration with Facebook "Like" button included
• Site stats including Google Analytics
• Allows for custom CSS
• Allows for Flash/FLEX integration
• Gives excellent massages

Okay, I guess that last one can be classified as a "nice to have". I'm sure there are quite a few providers out there that fit this bill perfectly!

Let me know in the comments how you think I should proceed. :-D

We are extremely pleased and proud to announce that Jack Bevil will be appearing and performing at this years West Coast Eisteddfod in September. Watch this space for further details.

In the meantime here is Part I of our three part interview with Jack originally posted in 2009 Master of The Crwth - Digon o Grwth Part (1)

And here is a selection of tracks originally uploaded to the site to coincide with the interview. Enjoy!

 

'Christopher D. Lewis is The Welsh Contemporary Harpsichordist, and is currently based in San Francisco, California. Born in Rhiwbina, Wales and moved to North America to study music at McGill University, Montreal Quebec in 2005 under the guidance of harpsichordists Luc Beausejour & Hank Knox....' more here

AmeriCymru: Hi Christopher....many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. I suppose many people will be curious to know what initially attracted you to the harpsichord?

Chris: I remember, so vividly, at maybe 5 or 6 going for my first piano exam at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and sitting in a room filed with pianos. But I was drawn to a funny looking "piano" in the corner of the room, and I recall so vividly the vibrant plucking sound when I pushed some keys. My Mother informed me it was a harpsichord, and the sound always stuck in my head! But I battled on with piano lessons over the years, never really cared for them.

I didn't like the music and I didn't love the sound the piano made. So when the opportunity arose I took lessons when I was 16 with the Early Music teacher at the WCMD after being reminded of the sound when listening to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 on the radio one day. (Classic FM I believe!)

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us how you came to be studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music?

Chris: Aged 18 I moved to Canada, and lived there for 5 gloriously happy years. I studied at first at McGill University specializing in modern music on the harpsichord. After 4 very French years in Montreal I lived for a year in Toronto, not my happiest time, but all that changed when I was accepted into the Masters harpsichord program at the Conservatory here in San Francisco. Finally, some sunshine in my life, and no more snow! I'm currently halfway through my first year here and loving the city, the weather and the music scene here in the Bay Area.

AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about your repertoire? What are your favorite performance pieces?

Chris: I've always said very clearly that with very few exceptions, almost any music type will work on the harpsichord. From serious baroque/classical works, to pop and rock - it all works. Of course in the 60's and 70's the harpsichord had such a great career in pop music, just take a listen to some of the Beatles (Piggies, All You Need is Love, Because etc), The Rolling Stones to the Beach Boys. They all used harpsichord fantastically! Alas I don't get to play much pop music (Maybe a Jimi Hendrix or two!) at the Conservatory, I tend to play the more serious classical contemporary pieces, but I'm always drawn to the more audience pleasing pieces. If people are going to hear modern harpsichord, I want to make it fun! I always find a tango piece brings the house down......

:


1. Ted Walsh - Horse Racing Commentator - 'This is really a lovely horse. I once rode her mother.'


2. New Zealand Rugby Commentator - 'Andrew Mehrtens loves it when Daryl Gibson comes inside of him.'


3. Pat Glenn, weightlifting commentator - 'And this is Gregoriava from Bulgaria . I saw her snatch this morning and it was amazing!'


4. Harry Carpenter at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race 1977 - 'Ah, isn't that nice. The wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the Cox of the Oxford crew.'


5. US PGA Commentator - 'One of the reasons Arnie (Arnold Palmer) is playing so well is that, before each tee shot, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them. Oh my god !! What have I just said??'


6. Carenza Lewis about finding food in the Middle Ages on 'Time Team Live' said: 'You'd eat beaver if you could get it.'


7. A female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked, 'So Bob, where's that eight inches you promised me last night?' Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, because they were laughing so hard!


8. Steve Ryder covering the US Masters: 'Ballesteros felt much better today after a 69 yesterday.'


9. Clair Frisby talking about a jumbo hot dog on 'Look North' said: 'There's nothing like a big hot sausage inside you on a cold night like this. '


10 Mike Hallett discussing missed snooker shots on 'Sky Sports': 'Stephen Hendry jumps on Steve Davis's misses every chance he gets.'


11. Michael Buerk on watching Philippa Forrester cuddle up to a male astronomer for warmth during BBC1's UK eclipse coverage remarked: 'They seem cold out there. They're rubbing each other and he's only come in his shorts.'


12... Ken Brown commentating on golfer Nick Faldo and his caddie Fanny Sunneson lining-up shots at the Scottish Open: 'Some weeks Nick likes to use Fanny; other weeks he prefers to do it by himself.'