A Big Birthday and other Big News...

It's my birthday today... and it's a big one. Not quite sure how I feel about it but I'm going to mark it down as the start of an exciting new chapter in my life. To help me get over the trauma, Vicky and I are having a couple of days away relaxing in a hot tub with a glass or two of champagne. I'm very lucky and she's spoiling me quite a bit - so I have nothing to complain about.

As part of my birthday present we went to see Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman in concert - performing an evening of YES music and more... and a fantastic night it was too. Lots of great rock music and with the added bonus of being in an audience that made me feel very young. We've seen Rick Wakeman a couple of times before but seeing him with the excellent Jon Anderson, whose voice is as good and as strong now as it always was, was a real treat.    

After having a couple of days off it's going to be straight back to work as I have lots of research and writing to do on my big book, which brings me to the other BIG NEWS...

I'm delighted and honoured to have been among a small number of writers to have been awarded a Literature Wales Writer' Bursary. This will enable me to have the much needed time to help with this big writing project... You can find out more about Literature Wales and their Writer's Bursaries by clicking HERE.

The book I am researching and writing combines time travel with the life a real pirate, Bartholomew Roberts (probably the most successful pirate of the Golden Age). I've made a start on the research and am looking forward to getting on with more - and writing the book. Over the next few weeks and months I will keep you up to date with how things are going - though I don't want to share too much about exactly what's going into the book... 

Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Rick Wakeman

For Christmas Vicky bought tickets for us to go and see Rick Wakeman performing his classic 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' at Venue Cymru on Saturday 10th May. No one likes waiting for their presents but this was one present definitely worth waiting for... I wasn't the only one waiting for it either. Other fans had been waiting for over 35 years to see and hear Wakeman's performance - it had been that long since it had last been performed on stage.  

For those of you that don't know, Rick Wakeman is probably one of the best keyboard players in the world. He has recorded and performed with artists like David Bowie (writing and performing the piano piece for Life on Mars), Cat Stevens and many others. You can watch an old recording of Cat singing Morning Has Broken by clicking below...its a bit blurry but the sound is good - and you can see a young Rick on keyboard...

 

A lot of people will know Rick Wakeman from his work with the rock band 'YES', but as well as all this, he has also produced some fantastic solo albums. In the early 1970's Rick Wakeman produced a musical version of Jules Verne's 1864 science fiction novel, 'The Journey to the Centre of the Earth' which tells the tale of a group of adventurers that journey down to the centre of the earth and discover a world full or prehistoric creatures - you might have even seen the movie which stars Brendan Fraser. 

 

Movies are a great form of entertainment... you can just sit and relax and watch as the whole story unfolds before you. I think books are even better as, by reading,  you get more personally involved in the story and you can take it in as quickly or as slowly as you like. It also helps fed you brain and your imagination with words...  

There's something equally special about listening to someone tell you a story - you hear the words and your imagination mingles with that of the author and, again, you can picture what is happening.

Going to a theatre and hearing a story being told in a performance that combines the author's words being read by a narrator (in this case the excellent actor Philip Franks) and atmospheric, exciting music being played by an orchestra, sung by a choir and lead singers, rock guitar, drums and keyboards, is something else... Phew!!! it was fantastic.

The performance we saw at Venue Cymru was the last night of a long tour which made it even more special.