Talented British jazz vocalist Sarah Moule has a new album on the way – Stormy Emotions is an uplifting collection of songs written by her husband Simon Wallace and the late, great American poet and lyricist Fran Landesman. Sarah spent 18 years working with Simon and Fran, and with this album introduces 10 previously unrecorded … Continue reading
Festivals link up for lockdown online
Four of Wales’ best-loved festivals have joined forces in lockdown to create Gŵyl 2021, a free, online festival of music and comedy. The best of Festival of Voice, FOCUS Wales, Other Voices Cardigan, and Aberystwyth Comedy Festival have been captured over recent months in Wales and internationally within coronavirus guidelines, to create an event which will be available across the UK at http://www.bbc.co.uk/gwyl2021 … Continue reading
Mytus ‘gets back’ in her video debut
Mytus, an exciting new R&B talent from New Jersey, has released her first video. Get Back was released (or ‘dropped’, as they say nowadays!) last week [February 5th 2021]. Queen Mytus, to use her full title, a rising singer-songwriter, based in Camden, NJ, said: “My intention in creating music is to always uplift, inspire, bring … Continue reading
Page Turner Awards inviting entries
Creative writers are being invited to enter this year’s Page Turner Awards 2021. The awards, launched last year, aim to change the lives of as many writers as possible, and from a wide range of backgrounds. Awards founder and award-winning novelist, Paula Wynne said: “There are writers from all walks of life, from manual labourers … Continue reading
Interacting with horror: ‘I Saw Black Clouds’
The idea of ‘interacting’ with a horror film isn’t new – famous examples include the ‘punishment poll’ in William Castle’s Mr Sardonicus (1961) and the ‘werewolf break’ in The Beast Must Die (1974). But these days, things are much, much more sophisticated, as the forthcoming British horror I Saw Black Clouds shows. This latest offering … Continue reading
Over the forest and into adventure – Annalium goes online
An intriguing series of short, dialogue-free screenplays, has now gone online. Annalium is the work of Cardiff-based writer (and my pal) Robert Lancey, who has created a website to showcase the screenplays and their potential to be realised on screen. Each opens with a flight over a forest, and then a descent through the treetops … Continue reading
Arrr! Long John Silver and Dracula’s innkeeper went to my old school
I was delighted to discover recently that two great West Country actors went to my old school. Robert Newton, who played the archetypal Long John Silver (and arguably originated the ‘pirate accent’) and George Woodbridge, the classic Hammer horror innkeeper and comedy policeman, were both students of Exeter School in Devon. Newton, born in Dorset … Continue reading
‘Monogamy will be the death of me’ – the 29 marriages of Scotty Wolfe celebrated in song
You don’t hear many conventional love songs from Essex retro rock band The 1957 Tail Fin Fiasco – so the new single Monogamy Pews is predictably not a celebration of romantic marriage. In fact, this track from their latest album The Harvard Tango tells the story of Glynn Wolfe, also known as Scotty Wolfe, a … Continue reading
You Got it What? I Got it Made (I’m in an R&B video)
There are many benefits from knowing creative people, but perhaps the most surprising is that you might end up appearing in their work. Last year (2019), my brilliant crime-writer friend Cara Hunter named a character after me in her latest novel. And now, my near-namesake DJ Weltch has put me in an R&B video! It’s … Continue reading
New publishing house aims to preserve black culture
The summer of 2020 – in the middle of a global pandemic – may not have seemed the ideal time to launch a publishing house specialising in literature and fine art. But The Top Publishing Company is no ordinary publishing house. A family venture, formed in the US by brothers Alexander Xavier Free Garland and … Continue reading