This weekend, the world famous Brecon Jazz festival will live-stream a concert for the first time. Wales Meets Naples, a collaboration between Brecon Jazz artist in residence Huw Warren and Italian vocalist Maria Pia de Vito on the Chapter Stage at Brecon Cathedral will be available as a webcast on http://www.breconjazz.com/live at 5.30pm UK time … Continue reading
Author Archives: pieceofpinkpie
Love Supreme – a supreme 10 out of 10
I’m sure the sunshine helped, but my day out at the Love Supreme jazz festival last weekend was a real 10 out of 10. The UK’s first greenfield jazz festival for many years benefited from a field that was indeed green, not mud brown, as it would have been if the weather had been less … Continue reading
Esperanza – a jazz talent with Welsh roots
Wales, the land of song, has produced no shortage of famous and talented singers (fame and talent don’t always come as a set, of course), and global singing stars have claimed Welsh roots.The latest to come to my attention is one who’s big on talent, but not as famous as she should be – Esperanza … Continue reading
Keep up, Watson. Holmes is back in the 1890s.
Sherlock Holmes has been brought into the 21st century by numerous TV productions – the excellent Sherlock, Elementary, the less-obvious House, and countless detectives clearly inspired by the Conan Doyle creation. So it’s a rare pleasure to see a new Holmes production, set in the 1890s – Sherlock Holmes: The Best Kept Secret. Continue reading
How about it? A summer anthem of love, peace, harmony
Here’s my nomination for the summer anthem of 2013 – Shaun Escoffery’s Nature’s Call is a timely antidote to the hatred on our streets and social channels in recent weeks. Continue reading
Those youthful faces in Annie Hall – well, la-di-da, la-di-da
I recently watched Woody Allen’s Annie Hall for the first time in years decades – what a joy it still is. But a real surprise for me was spotting some of the biggest stars of the ’80s and ’90s in early roles. Continue reading
We Are Cardiff – a movie premiere
I’ve been asked to publish the information below about the forthcoming premiere of We Are Cardiff – a documentary from the people behind the We Are Cardiff web project. I’m happy to do so, and have already booked my ticket. Hope to see you there. Continue reading
Cardiff’s greatest star? A Hitchcock leading man and songwriting genius
My adopted home town of Cardiff, Wales has produced plenty of famous names in sport (I know – I contributed to a book about it) and the arts, but I doubt any could be considered greater than Ivor Novello. Continue reading
The Wolf Man of Wales
You’d never guess from the accents, but Universal’s 1940s werewolf classics are (at least partly) set in Wales. Is it ridiculously geeky to try to figure out where in Wales? I thought so. Continue reading
The art of the title sequence – the film before the film
There was a time when the opening titles of a film were just that – titles at the start of a film: What the film is called, maybe who is in it, maybe who made it, and some legal notice about copyright. They did a job, but they weren’t much fun. It wasn’t long, though, … Continue reading