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In addition to head lining Saturday nights show at the Left Coast Eisteddfod , Chris Needs will also be introducing the premier US screening of his animated film "The Jenkins's's's's'" on Saturday afternoon during a short presentation on the forthcoming Americymru International Film Festival . "The Jenkins's's's's" won the Best Animation/CGI award at this years Swansea Bay Film Festival . For a short review of the book - "The Jenkins's's's's" see below. BUY TICKETS FOR THE LEFT COAST EISTEDDFOD FRIDAY SATURDAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The revealing autobiography, Like It Is, published in 2007 by Y Lolfa told of Chriss traumatic childhood, his showbiz and charity career as an accomplished pianist and vocalist, and his life more recently as an all-round celebrity. However, this book is a completely different kettle of fish. In her riotous, humour-filled diaries, Gladys tells of her struggle to keep the familys crazy, mixed-up lives together. Mams task isnt easy though. Her husband Dai is work-shy, son Philllip has a handbag, daughter Shantelll is preggers and dog Christopher or is it Christine? has had puppies. Just as well Elsie next door is accommodating she agreed to an adjoining door so they only pay one TV licence. Follow the family from their humble beginnings in the valley community of Ponty Pantin to the sun-kissed Mumbles Bay and foreign parts (including Western Super Mare). Crammed full of outrageous valleys humour, this is an ideal Christmas treat for all of Chriss fans and anyone else who needs a good laugh. The book is illustrated with eye-catching colour cartoons by Mark Davies. Chris Needs is a much loved radio presenter with a high profile thanks to his popular weeknight music and chat show on BBC Radio Wales. His cult fan club The Garden has over 40,000 members worldwide. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read more about the Left Coast Eisteddfod HERE . Read our interview with Chris needs HERE .

Kisses in the rainSome thoughts on Welsh love, its expression in writing and song.The man who feels love cannot always express it.I am looking at a few things that have stirred the Cymric imagination and these come from Welshmen who were able to express what they felt.There is a device used in medieval Welsh poetry that is called the llatai. Here a messenger symbol is used to relay love from one person to another through imagination. These symbols may be taken from the natural world and in the craft of Dafydd ap Gwilym we find the poet using everything from a fish to a bird. In this particular quote he uses the image of the male thrush when he imagines that Morfudd, one of his loves is thinking of himPellenig, pwyll ei annwydPell ei siwrnai Ir llatai llwydYma y doeth oswydd goeth GaerAm ei erchi om eurchwaerO stranger his nature is wisdomGrey messenger a long journey has comeFrom my goldengirl at her commandFrom the rich(fine) county of Carmarthen. (my adaptation)But we need not look to structured poetry to find evidence of these messenger symbols. Its there in the folk songs tooY deryn pur ath aden lasBydd imin was dibryderO brysur! Brysia at y ferchLle rhoes im serch yn gynnarOh bird with the blue wingBe for me a lad who is carefreeO haste! hasten to the girlI gave my heart to early(my adaptation)But if the Welshman needs to express his anticipation of love there is also for him a need to express its counterpoint-the sorrow of it. Heres a short poem by John Morris Jones written between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This time it is the wind that stands as a dominant metaphor. The wind moaning stirs his recollection of lost love.Cwsg ni ddaw im hamrant henoDagrau ddaw ynghyntWrth fy ffenestr yn gwynfannusYr ochneidiar gwyntCodii lais yn awr, ac wyloBeichio wylo maeAr y gwydr yr hyrddiai ddagrauYn ei wylltaf waePam y deui, wynt , i wyloAt fy ffenestr i?Dywed im, a gollaist tithauUn ath garai di?My adaptation followsNo sleep to come to eyeline tonightOnly tears that fill togetherDoleful wind that continues without respiteAt my window moaning, soft, low, tonightNow breaks a sadder voice and weepsTears heavy with the soundOn the pane the teardrops glisten and steepIn the utter distress this sorrow keepsWhy come you then wind to moanAt my glass known but to me?Tell me did you lose too a love you'd knownWho loved you tenderly?This is rather a free rendering made so that an English Language poem emerges...And finally there is this by Mathonwy Hughes, an example of an englyn, a particular form of short Welsh Language poem whose statement is always pithy.Gwraig rinweddolEr dyfod briw y diwedd-ni roddwydDan briddell ei boneddNa, rhy annwyl ei rhinweddIw gelu byth dan glo beddEven though a wound came at the endShe was not placed under native earthNo too dear her goodnessTo ever be hidden in a locked grave (My adaptation)So then it often rains in Wales but even in those showers Welshmen over time have honed their imagination and taken things from the world around them and used them to express loves anticipation and its sorrow. All things begin and end in time, even love. Let us keep our love spoons bright then!Privilege to shareHwyl pawbOddi wrth Iain/from Iain

Alice Reed was born in Cardiff and educated at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf. During her time there she competed in several national Eisteddfodau, winning both piano and harp solo competitions on numerous occasions, culminating in 2005 when she won the schools Blue Riband prize. Alice also played an active role in the schools musical life, as a member of the school choir and orchestra, taking part in the schools musicals and accompanying various groups and soloists.In 2005 Alice gained a place at Cambridge University to read music. Her time at Cambridge was very busy, as she became a member of the University Orchestra, and formed a flute and harp duo with her friend. Alice was also President of her colleges Music Society, a role which she enjoyed greatly. In 2006 Alice won New Hall Colleges annual music scholarship prize, which she used to fund her piano and harp lessons at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Graeme Humphrey and Skaila Kanga respectively. Alice was a member of the Universitys Welsh Society, Cymdeithas y Mabinogi, which provided her with the opportunity to meet other Welsh students in Cambridge. Alice also enjoys playing the harp at various functions from weddings to conferences and during her time at Cambridge she provided the musical entertainment at many of the Universitys prestigious May Balls.Since graduating with honours in June 2008, Alice has been working as a researcher on the popular S4C production, Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol an experience which she has found to be most rewarding and invigorating!

Did anybody see young Shaheen sing, wow another star in the making.

One down, two to go! ... there are three great festivals about Wales this year in the United States. Woot!I'm just back from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC which went incredibly well. It seems that everyone we chatted to (and more than a million people attended the festival) was interested in Wales and plans to visit on vacation. Woot again! Here's my blog post about the festival. Really excited that there's also the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland and Festival of Wales in Pittsburgh taking place this year. Wales rocks!

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2009, David Western --

I've just got back from a couple of weeks in Europe. My wife loves to go there for the art, the scenery, the markets, the food, the vino and the history. Me, I like to go there to crawl around under church pews, to crick my neck trying to spot carvings on timber framed houses, to be the guy laying on the floor taking pictures of an ornamented chair leg while everyone else is drooling over Rembrandts and to be the fellow who barely notices the magnificent stained glass of Chartres Cathedral because I'm mesmerized by the tiny roses carved into the stone columns. I confess, I absolutely love the wood and stone carving of the medieval and renaissance period! Whenever I start to think I am getting pretty good at what I do, a quick look at some carvings done by the artists of medieval Europe puts me well and truly back in my place and vividly illustrates the distance I have yet to travel!

But it isn't just the masterworks of the medieval church carver which inspire. The 'folk' carvings of the Barvarian and Tirolean Alps never fail to dazzle me with their exhuberance and virtuosity. Scarcely any wooden object was left unadorned and the result is an exciting legacy of chip carving which is still practiced by adherents around the globe today.

What I really like about wandering around Europe though, is that wood carving seems to show up everywhere. This picture was taken of a shop door in a Parisien fashion arcade. Although the picture doesn't do it justice, the work was exquisite. If there was some of this kind of stuff at the fashion stores here in Canada, my wife would have a fighting chance of getting me to go shopping with her once in a while!

I know that many carvers out there struggle with finding designs to inspire them and they especially find imagining their own patterns very difficult. I'm not too much different in that respect but I have found that by continually keeping my eye peeled for little gems like this, I have managed to vastly expand the repertoire of ideas I have to draw on during the design process. This simple little detail from a confessional is absolutely captivating and will definitely find its way into one of my designs some day soon. It may get altered a bit, but it is such an elegant form that I can't wait to find a way to carve it! To have this kind of inspiration available almost everywhere one looks really does make a trip to Europe more than worthwhile for a carver. And did I mention the beer? Ahhhh, the beer!

I'll conclude my little travelogue with this last picture from Chartres Cathedral (I was exaggerating for effect earlier, I did notice the stained glass!). This, for me, was the absolute highlight of my European trip! Although hard to see in this pic (as it is in real life) there is a tiny frog carved onto the stone column. His head has been broken off at some point, but his torso and limbs remain. Representing a staggering amount of extra work for the carver, this little frog was likely carved here for the sole purpose of supplying some whimsical beauty for the observant viewer. What a delight he must have been for eagle eyed children (and adults) over the years. And what a modest, quiet and yet powerful illustration of the beauty of carving!

AmeriCymru member, operatic tenor Gwyndaf Jones will be traveling from Toronto to perform at this year's NAFOW in Pittisburgh, PA. If you haven't heard him sing, here's his site and go listen - wow!The NAFOW guest bios page lists him: http://www.wngga.org/NAFOW/guest_bios.html "Gwyndaf Jones ~ Banquet PerformerBorn and raised in Llanfairpwll, North Wales, Gwyndaf Jones had many great experiences performing and competing in Welsh festivals throughout the country. In fact, it was the 1987 Singer of the World Competition held in Cardiff where he began his musical career. At age 18, he placed first in the tenor category and was awarded an Opera Program Scholarship to the Guild Hall School of music in London where he studied. Since then, he has performed with the Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera as well as extensively in concerts throughout Canada and the USA."Gwyndaf has produced and recorded a solo album in 2007. Currently living in Toronto, he teaches vocal technique of Belcanto singing to private voice students. "Go, Gwyndaf! The page lists a lot of other very interesting sounding people and it looks like it will be a great event.

Legendary American musician/composer/producer/arranger and general musical virtuoso, Quincy Jones told the BBC that he recently discovered that his father, Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., was half Welsh. Here, listen to a sound file of Jones discussing his feeling about his recently discovered Welsh heritage and that he was pleased to find Cardiff was "so Ghetto," - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8132889.stm Quincy Jones is Welsh, Borat is Welsh, I keep telling people that everyone is Welsh and I know I'm right!

Read the article HERE