Happy Birthday: Cerys Elizabeth Matthews MBE (born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s.

Matthews now hosts a weekly music show on BBC Radio 6 Music, a weekly blues show on BBC Radio 2, and from 2021-2024 co-hosted a weekly show on BBC Radio 4, Add To Playlist, which won the Prix Italia and Prix Europa 2022. She also makes documentaries for television and radio and was a roving reporter for The One Show. She founded "The Good Life Experience", a festival of culture and the great outdoors in Flintshire in 2014, and is author of Hook, Line and Singer, published by Penguin Books, and children's stories Tales from the Deep and Gelert, A Man's Best Friend, published by Gomer. Matthews' illustrated version of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood was published, in November 2022, by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Catatonia were formed in 1992, after Matthews met Mark Roberts. She subsequently sang lead vocals on, and co-wrote the music and lyrics for, the band's hits. Songs she co-wrote included "You've Got a Lot to Answer For", "Mulder and Scully", "Dead from the Waist Down", and "Road Rage". Matthews also played guitar on the earlier material before second guitarist Owen Powell joined the band. She also performed a single with the band Space named "The Ballad of Tom Jones", which tells the story of two lovers who want to kill each other, but then hear a Tom Jones song that defuses their homicidal feelings. Matthews later collaborated with Jones to record a version of Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on Jones's 1999 album Reload. Matthews was voted the "Sexiest Female in Rock" in a 1999 readers' poll in the now-defunct magazine Melody Maker.

After Catatonia's rise to fame with their second album International Velvet, and subsequent success with Equally Cursed and Blessed, the band returned in 2001 with their fourth studio album, Paper Scissors Stone. In September 2001, the band officially split.

[I saw Cerys sing at Glastonbury in 2000 when she supported The Pet Shop Boys. My friend at the time (who is Welsh) was a HUGE fan of hers and he passed some of that on to me. They were a fun band while they lasted.]

Just Finished Reading: The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon (FP: 2019) [324pp] 

Hamburg, 1962. It was a request that Aaron Wiley could hardly refuse. After suffering a heart attack on the street his uncle was fighting for his life. His uncle, Holocaust survivor, dedicated Nazi Hunter, was convinced that he seen the infamous Dr Otto Schramm in Germany. A man who was supposed to have died in Argentina, a man who had picked his uncle, Max Weill, out of a line of camp inmates to help him with his ‘experiments. It was a face, a way of walking that Max could hardly forget. Aaron was harder to convince but a later incident changed his mind. But what could he do about it? Despite being a desk officer for the CIA, he had no field experience, couldn’t speak the language and had no contacts in Buenos Aires except for the CIA office there. Aaron knew they wouldn’t help him. Why would they? They hadn’t been in the Nazi hunting business since the war ended and they were trying to make nice with the new government now that Peron was out. So, he was on his own. Even Max’s contacts in MOSSAD where less than enthusiastic, especially with the global publicity surrounding the Eichmann kidnapping. But reluctantly, they would help as much as they could, which would be damned little. Aaaron was most definitely on his own... 

I’ve never been disappointed with this author, and he is an auto-buy for me every time I see another of his books in paperback. This was (as expected) no exception to his run of excellent historical/Cold War thrillers. From the first few pages I was hooked. The feel of the novel was somewhere between ‘Marathon Man’ and ‘The Odessa File’ - kind of Cold War, seedy, war criminals hiding (often in plain sight) with higher authorities either turning a blind eye or actively colluding with their disappearance (for a number of reasons – none of them good). One top of this wonderful ‘feel’ we have very good characterisation – you know how I like that – with Max, Aaron, the love interest Hanna (a wonderfully complex multi-layered character) and other less central players. The story itself took turns I wasn’t expecting and surprised me multiple times which I really liked. Nothing worked out quite the way I thought it would. But I think the best part of the novel for me was the completely outstanding dialogue. Not only did it feel REAL it was clever, complex, full of asides and meanings that wouldn’t have been apparent to those without the godlike view of the reader. More than once, I thought that any other character in earshot wouldn’t really know what they were *really* talking about – rather than what they SEEMED to be talking about. It was quite brilliant. 

As you might expect I really enjoyed this – I do seem to be doing very well with novels lately – and the author has confirmed, yet again, his auto-buy status. There is a warning however, being based around the subject matter it is there will be moments of nastiness (to say the least) which some sensitive readers might find rather objectionable. I did have a few nose wrinkling/frowning moments and I consider myself quite Stoic. So, be warned! Obviously recommended but with that caveat in mind. 

DEFINITELY looking for this one. I think we ALL need a copy! I'm already a BIG fan of Penguin Books.... [grin]

Happy Birthday to ME. 66 Today! Let the Book Shopping 'Begin'.... [lol]

Just Finished Reading: Alone on the Beach at Night by Walt Whitman [55pp]

Poetry AGAIN! I do think I'm open to this sort of thing - at least I feel that I am. There have been poems that I've liked (and, indeed, at least partially memorised) but mostly the whole genre passes me by. I'm not entirely sure why. But reading a poem is like reading a random selection of sentences (or even just words) that fail to make any coherent theme in my head. They leave me somewhere between perplexed and bored. It's almost as if I'm reading something in a language I'm aware of but one I'm only partially familiar with. Broadly speaking the meaning of these things - assuming they HAVE any - eludes me! But I'll keep trying as long as the Penguin Classic booklets keep giving examples to be confused by. Maybe I'll hit on one poet I like and that might open me up to liking some others. Stranger thing have indeed happened!

As to the booklet itself, it contained 19 poems - mostly quite short - which seemed to have a common theme of coastlines, beaches and ships at sea. I'm afraid that none of them really stood out. A few where nostalgic looking back at beach trips in the authors childhood and a few were based around storms either during or shortly after the event. Overall, I didn't skim too much but the temptation was definitely there. No doubt there will be more Classic poetry to come... [sighs]    

How Well Does the Algorithm really know me? 

Whenever I’m too tired to read (or even Game) but don’t want to go to bed (yes, I’m stubborn that way) I often find myself listening to music on YouTube – in addition, it must be said, to the music emanating from my radio 15 hours a day. About a month ago I was doing this and after about 30 minutes I thought it would, actually would HAVE, made a decent Blog post if ONLY I had made a note of the actual music tracks. 

So, a few days ago I was idly checking my phone and was prompted to listen to ‘Sleeping on the Blacktop’ by Colter Ward, so I clicked on it. Just as it was going to go to the next track, I noticed what it was and let it run... Then I thought... THIS is what I meant a month ago and grabbed a nearby note pad. Two tracks in I started to wonder: How much of my favourite music will it give me. Just how well does the Algorithm really KNOW me? Quite well, it seems! This is what it presented me with... 

Sleeping on the Blacktop by Colter Ward 

No Roots by Alice Merton 

Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana 

Gangsters Paradise by Coolio 

7 Nation Army by The White Stripes 

Song 2 by Blur 

Wonderwall by Oasis 

Solitary Man by Johnny Cash 

Drops of Jupiter by Train 

Breakfast at Tiffanys by Deep Blue Something 

I Think I’m Paranoid by Garbage 

Human by Rag’n Bone Man 

Makeba by Jain 

Barracuda by Heart 

A Thousand Years by Christina Perry 

Home by Machine Gun Kelly, X Ambassadors & Bebe Rexha 

Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm 

Roll the Bones by Shakey Graves 

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol 

Broken People by Logic & Rag ‘n Bone Man 

Don’t Let me be Misunderstood by Nina Simone 

We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel 

Black Sheep by Metric (with Brie Larson) 

Creep by Radiohead 

My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit 

...and then it crashed out with something I didn’t like. Not BAD. 25 tracks in a row. I was honestly impressed.  

Happy Birthday: McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues". His style of playing has been described as "raining down Delta beatitude".

Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by the age of 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica, copying local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson. In 1941, Alan Lomax and Professor John W. Work III of Fisk University recorded him in Mississippi for the Library of Congress. In 1943, he moved to Chicago to become a full-time professional musician. In 1946, he recorded his first records for Columbia Records and then for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess.

In the early 1950s, Muddy Waters and his band—Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds (also known as Elgin Evans) on drums and Otis Spann on piano—recorded several songs that became blues classics, some with the bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon. These songs included "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "I'm Ready". In 1958, he traveled to England, laying the foundations of the resurgence of interest in the blues there. His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 was recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960.

Muddy Waters' music has influenced various American music genres, including rock and roll and subsequently rock.

Just Finished Reading: The Art of Rest – How to Find Respite in the Modern Age by Claudia Hammond (FP: 2019) [264pp] 

I think I picked this up during a period of increased stress at work – or at least in the aftermath of a stressful time. I honestly don’t deal with stress very well and, as much as possible, avoid it where and when I can. I think I am pretty good at resting though! I don’t feel the pressure of constantly needing to DO something and most certainly don’t suffer (as some of my friends have done much to my bemusement) of FOMO – the ‘fear’ of ‘missing out’, which is something I’ve never really understood. Whatever and how much you do, you will ALWAYS be missing out on SOMETHING – so, get over it! 

Anyway, to the book itself. Rather typically it has taken me around 7 years to read it, which means I’ve actually been retired and living the LOW stress lifestyle for around 6 years now. But it was interesting to see what I could have done to lower or recover from stress by relaxing more. The contents of the book are based on the results of a global survey essentially asking people what they did to relax and then ranking them 1-10 in reverse order. Each section covered the relaxation strategy and, as much as possible, the scientific underpinnings of why and how it worked. I was somewhat surprised, although not completely, by how many of the 10 I actually practiced before reading this. Some of them I felt were pretty obvious whilst others seemed a bit more niche (if not exactly unique to me!). 

The 10th most popular made me laugh a little – Mindfulness. Although I’m aware of the ideas underpinning the idea, my only direct experience with it have been at work where we received advice and a few short training sessions to help us reduce our stress. Much cynicism resulted as we were all convinced that the ‘trendy’ idea was being used purely to tick boxes for Head Office. Number 7 was a Nice Hot Bath which made me smile. For speed and convenience throughout the week it was a shower for me. But on Sunday, as I had the time to take my time, I had a bath instead just to soak there and think about nothing in particular. Perfect. Number 4 was Listening to Music. This I do whenever I can and wherever I can. I used to wear headphones often, plugged into an MP3 player with my favourite downloaded music (or ripped from my CDs). It always made me feel like I was in an MTV music video. Music was on in my house during every waking moment – as it is at this very moment – and it certainly relaxes me (especially the Classical music I listen to 15 hours a day). The top method for relaxation honestly surprised me – Reading. It's not that I don’t think that reading IS relaxing – I certainly relax that way – but that so many people agree with me that it got to number ONE on so many people’s lists!  

So, if you’re struggling to relax and take time off from the daily grind this could be the book for you. It’ll certainly give you some ideas of how to wind down and may well help you achieve a slightly more relaxed outlook. Rather than buying it though I’d recommend you pick it up from your local library. Reasonable.   

Welcome to April. We made it! April is one of my favourite months for a number of reasons, and not just because its my birthday soon. It's the month when what few financial restraints I have are relaxed (not that I'm looking for anything particularly silly or expensive ATM... although a 13cm tall Space Marine WOULD look pretty cool next to my PC screen...) and its BOOK Month here @ SaLT which means you should notice a slight uptick in book related posts. Enjoy!