KCL Blog - Boredom busters for Easter

The Easter holidays are just around the corner, leaving a lot of us with two or three weeks of time to fill.

You’d think after practising the art of entertaining ourselves for the past year we’d have mastered it, but as we know all too well activities can get repetitive and our originality with ideas starts to dwindle.

Here at Keep Cardiff Live, we’ve got a few of boredom busters that will help provide some inspiration for adults and kids alike.

Bringing the bar into your home

Since we have to wait until April 12th for bolted bar doors to swing open again, why not shake things up a bit by trying your hand at being a bartender? 

Creating your own cocktails, garnishes and favourite beverages can be simple. For example, using food that may normally go to waste, such as lemon peel or leftover herbs, as garnishes for your drink is a great way of saving food waste as well as adding extra oomph to your glass.

Or if you’re wanting to reduce the effort altogether, simply purchasing some ready-mixed drinks can help you bring the bar experience into your house still. 

If you have little ones who aren’t ready for an alcoholic tipple yet, you can still involve them by whipping up some mocktails. By simply using the right glass, you can dress up any drink. Throwing together some lemonade, orange juice and a dash of orange peel to garnish in a glass with a little straw can make them feel like a little grown up and make them part of the party. 

Easter egg hunts for all the family

Whilst chocolate eggs hidden around the house may keep the kids busy for a little while, it doesn’t mean you have to sit around with nothing to do. Yeah, you could get some chores done, but why not have a little bit of fun? 

If you have a fellow adult in the house, you could create an egg hunt for each other. Making the clues a little more difficult and perhaps hiding them out of young hands reach can still be fun and bring out the inner child in yourself (you may want to opt for a boozy egg for the edition).

Or if you want to partake in the children’s fun, you could create voucher eggs. As well as the obligatory chocolate, you could pop in a little token that has a personalised voucher from each of the family. Get everyone to write down some before the hunt, with things such as ‘one hug’, or ’10 minutes extra TV’, and then whoever picks that voucher gets to use it once. Hint, having a few chore vouchers for the kids may work in your favour. 

If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then why not catch up with a friend over Zoom or a phone call? Maybe schedule the hunt for early morning so you get a cheeky lie-in? Or just put your earphones on and dance around to your favourite songs. 

Logging on to internet events

Whilst we may be fed up with staring at screens, there are always some great online events running for all ages. There’s most likely something for everyone, from health webinars to online book clubs and cook-a-longs, why not enter some topics into your search engine and see what pops up. Here’s a few events you can find over the next few weeks:

1. Dennis and Gnasher’s Big Bonanza at Kew Garden, Wednesday 31st March- Sunday 18th April 2021

2. An Introduction to Music Making, Wednesday 31st March, 6pm.

3. The Ultimate Easter Experience on Zoom, Thursday 1st April 2021, 4pm.

4. Easter Bingo, Saturday 3rd April 2021, 3pm.

5. National Trust Easter crafts guide

6. Livestream Rhiannon Giddens concert, Friday 16th April, 7pm.

Find more activities across several sites, with Eventbrite having a great selection especially and The List for musical events.

Get competitive

Whether you want to challenge your partner or friends to a fitness competition or add a competitive element to the kid’s chores, adding in little friendly competition can boost motivation and help get jobs done faster. 

Instead of keeping a chores chart, why not make it a challenge? Who can wash the greatest number of dishes in five minutes? Who can walk the dog the most a week? It can help entice kids to get the job done faster and maybe even add a little fun to mundane tasks. Or if you’re dreading the spring-cleaning, set yourself time challenges. Having a 5-minute timer per room helps you get on with the essentials and speeds up the tiresome task so you can put your feet up sooner. 

If you have a fitness tracker, connect with friends and see who can get to the top of the leader board. If you’re more musical, set a target for how many songs you want to learn how to play. Bit of a bookworm? Make your way through your reading list and challenge yourself to how many books you can finish by the end of Easter. Whatever your preferred activity, you can make anything a bit more competitive and a lot more fun. 

Check out Keep Cardiff Live…

Something that can help you get your musical fix this Easter is checking out the Keep Cardiff Live website! From interviews, podcasts, features and musical memories, there’s a little something for everyone. You could learn something new through one of our written features, discover a new artist by watching to our vlog cast, or enter a reminiscent mood reliving people’s first music memories.

Not only may you discover something new, but it may provide some inspiration or help you rediscover some classics you may have forgotten about.   

As you may have read in one of our previous blogs on wellbeing, there are plenty of other ways to help you take care of yourself and recharge your drained batteries over the Easter Weekend and holiday.

Why not have a look at our self-care suggestions to help you find some ‘me-time’ inspiration and incorporate some time for yourself amongst the chaos of daily life. 

KCL Blog -Music: more than just entertainment

Our favourite songs often provide the soundtrack for daily tasks around the house and entertain us when we may need a break from computer screens, but it can be so much more than just background noise. Music serves several purposes in life and could unlock many more benefits than you realise. 

It can spark creativity

Notes and rhythms can dance around your head all day, playing repetitively. But it may start taking a slightly different tune. Songs that stay with us can provide the inspiration that leads us onto our own creations. 

Sampling isn’t anything new, and it’s something that even the greats do. Madonna borrowing ABBA’s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ for her hit dance track proved a huge success, showing her spin on the band’s classic. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that certainly shows when a song can lend a hand to a new musical triumph. You don’t have to be a chart-topping hitmaker to create your own twist, and you may be surprised with what creative juices start flowing when you incorporate a sample of your own.

Thanks for the memories

When you visit past events, it’s more than likely that there was a musical attachment. Whether it’s the ‘Wedding March’ on your special day, or ‘Singing in the Rain’ from the first time you watched a special film with a grandparent, songs can spark special memories to reignite in your mind and remind you of a happier time.

Of course, not all memories are happy. We can be reminded of sombre times through emotional tunes, but maybe they hold a special place in your heart. There’s a place and time for when you want to be reminded of these times, and those teary moments aren’t always welcome. But say it reminds you of a person you no longer see, sometimes it can help you feel connected to that person and bring back happier memories you had with them. Hearing ‘Hushabye Mountain’ from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang saddens me when I think about why it reminds me of my uncle, but it also reminds me of the joyful memories and gives me a chance to reflect on happier times, which is one of music’s most special powers, I think.

Providing motivation

Whether you need to power through that run or finally finish that assignment that you’ve been procrastinating with, music can be the best motivational accompaniment. 

I’m sure that ‘Eye of the Tiger’ sees many of us through those dreaded gruelling workouts, as the power-packed song tends to sum up adrenaline for us, pushing us forward to work up a sweat. Maybe it’s the connotations of it being played whilst Rocky is training for his bag match, or maybe it’s the punch-like beats that puncture the song throughout that encourages us to gather more energy. 

It’s not all about high-adrenaline, blood-pumping anthems though, some relaxing Mozart or Beethoven may help you unwind and motivate your mind to help you concentrate on the tasks at hand you have- I know I need a relaxing melody or two when trying to settle my brain.

Having your favourite songs on has also been found to help put you in a better mood and push positivity higher, which can prove beneficial when you need to turn that frown upside down after a perhaps unsuccessful day. 

Music as medicine

It’s been found that music can actually help patients with certain conditions. Those with Alzheimer’s for one are said to benefit from music therapy, as it can help to associate songs with a particular moment in their past. Alzheimer’s causes patients to suffer from substantial memory loss, so anyway of re-connecting their mind with events from their life is seen as a huge success and help. 

Dementia is another condition that music has been found to help. Songs can help patients express themselves through gestures and expressions, which is often hard for those suffering from it, as their cognitive abilities are significantly impacted, so an improvement in their motor movements can mark a breakthrough moment. 

Bringing us together

No matter how far apart we may be from loved ones, there’s always something that can unite us, and music does that perfectly. Sharing Spotify playlists with one another and sending songs that we think others may like can encourage greater communication between people which helps to reduce loneliness and depressive moods, especially after the amount of time we’ve all had to spend apart this last year. 

It can also help us teach one another. Learning how to use a musical instrument not only helps brain development but allows us to learn from others and make new connections. These are not only connections with those passing on their expertise, but the further contacts they may have that can allow you to meet new friends or discover great opportunities. Who knows, your future guitar teacher may have a friend in the industry which could lead to you headlining stadiums one day…

Music is so much more than just entertainment. It doesn’t only entertain us and provide great backing tracks for nights out and other soirees, but it helps our brains, our relationships and our emotions to be released. We can uncover parts of ourselves we may have forgotten, or learn new things we didn’t know we could, and connect with people we may never normally do. There really is more to music than meets the ear.

KCL Blog- Working On Wellbeing

The 2nd Edition of our New Blog on KCL features some great tips on Wellbeing.

During the past year it’s become easy to put our self-care and wellbeing last. 

With kitchen tables becoming work-from-home desks and added pressures to daily tasks like food shopping, there’s been a larger focus on perseverance rather than making sure we’re actually ok. We’ve taken more precautions to look after our physical health, but we also need to remember our mental health.

Some simple tips on helping your wellbeing

1. Put your phone down. As great and handy as they can be, our pocket-sized devices can lead to us feeling overwhelmed and tired, not only due to the effect of UV light on our eyes, but also the constant overload of news updates we have readily available to us now. Endlessly scrolling through Instagram may seem relaxing, but it can become a vicious cycle and tire your brain out more than you know.

1. Get outside if you can. It can feel relentless being trapped at home all day, maybe even claustrophobic, so try and stretch your legs even for half an hour a day. A bit of exercise, no matter how gentle, can be very beneficial.

1. Sleep! Everybody is probably guilty of staying up to finish that Netflix episode till their eyes have gone square, but that leads to poor sleep. Switching gadgets off ½ an hour-1 hour before bed helps the mind wind down, eyes to relax and leads to a better night sleep. A good night’s sleep is very underestimated, and can not only help you become more productive, but helps with physical health too.

1. Take 5. Just taking 5 minutes to unwind with a guided meditation, or simply some good music on and a cup of tea can help to release some of the day’s stresses, and lead to better productivity during tasks.

Activity suggestions 

Here’s a little list of some simple activities that can be used to focus on your wellbeing and encourage you to carve out a bit of time to dedicate to something other endless work at home tasks. There are plenty of things you can do to unwind and entertain yourself, but here are just some suggestions. 

1. ½ an hour of physical activity.
   Whether you want to test your muscles with a HIIT workout or unwind with some yoga, there are so many resources out there now to help guide us through a small period of activity to just get you moving and release pent up energy. Joe Wicks has an app with some great plans, but if you’re looking to save some ££’s then there’s loads of free workout on his YouTube channel, where you will also find plenty of free guided exercise classes depending on what you fancy. It can help the mind just as much as the body.

2. Mindfulness.
   Apps such as Calm or Headspace are great for taking you through short and sweet guided meditations, breathing exercises or just listening to some calming sounds. Closing your eyes and listening to the sound of rainfall for 20 minutes may be just what you need.

3. Music.
   Whether you’re a musical maestro or prefer to sit back and listen to your favourite tunes, from playing some chords to listening to your favourite album, this can leave you in a better mood and maybe even help you to relive happy memories. A little dance around doesn’t hurt either.

4. Talk to a friend or family member.
   Just picking up the phone for a good old-fashioned chat can help you re-connect with those you may be feeling distant from at the moment.

5. Write in a journal.
   Noting your thoughts and addressing them to yourself can really help put things into perspective.

6. Playing with or cuddling a pet (or any animal that will let you touch it and you have permission to do so).

7. De-cluttering and tidying.
   It may seem a chore, but you’ll be amazed at how much better you can feel in a de-cluttered room where you feel you have space to think properly.

8. Bake
   Even if you’re not the next Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood, giving the mixer a whirl can leave you with some time to gather your thoughts and leave you with something to enjoy- well, sometimes…

9. Self-care.
   Whether it’s lighting some candles, reading your favourite book or doing your face-care routine, something that relaxes you and helps take care of yourself often leaves you feeling refreshed.

10. Or maybe it’s time for a drink.
    At the end of the day after a hard day’s work, there’s nothing wrong with popping open that gin, wine or beer and enjoying your favourite tipple.
    

So, there’s just some examples. It’s not some ground-breaking set of suggestions ready to change your life, it’s simple.

By taking on short and sweet tasks and activities throughout the day, we can help settle our minds and put those restless thoughts at ease. It doesn’t require tons of discipline, just the willingness to want to help yourself take control if you feel overwhelmed with it all. 

Next time you find yourself wanting to hide under your duvet or drown your sorrows into a family pack of chocolate, or if your mind is just simply in override and can’t handle anymore, pick an activity or randomly select one, and just concentrate on that. Let your mind dust away the craziness of life for as little as 10 minutes and let yourself breathe- we all need to.

Gabi Page

Blog- A Cypriot in Cardiff

Copyright KCL

Have you ever imagined that a pandemic will appear one day and make us forget whatever we took for granted in our lives? It has been almost a year.

These thoughts made me feel the need to write something and share it with you, because like everyone else, I miss the normal days... 

Before Covid-19 people could visit some enjoyable music venues, something that unfortunately you cannot do in this period.

Cardiff has been declared as the first music city in the United Kingdom.

As a foreign student who studies in Cardiff, I can say that Cardiff has a big culture in music.

Since 1990s, Cardiff musich has been dominated mainly by rock music with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal and metalcore music.

Womanby Street in Cardiff, is one of the streets, where people could meet and experience Live Music of many types.

The street used to be full of tourists, locals and students who would enjoy themselves drinking and dancing.

Copyright KCL

I visited Womanby Street a few weeks ago and captured some pictures of this silent street…

It has been a while since we have been in lockdown and I hope everything will finish as soon as possible and everyone will have the opportunity to visit this Legendary and Cultural street. 

Soon again I am hoping we will be able to enjoy the little things that make us happy! 

Perhaps it is a time to reflect at the moment, a time to enjoy as much as we can our Families and Friends (even if it’s on Zoom!).

Being patient and doing things that make us happy, learning new things, exercise,having a walk, and if you are in Cardiff Centre don’t forget to have a walk in Bute Park and take some fresh air.

Bute Park is one of my favorite places in Cardiff, it really makes me calm and I enjoy a relaxing time in Nature! 

Everyone is looking forward for this to be a better year, the best is yet to come! Soon again we will be able to enjoy the little things that make us happy! For the time being, I hope everyone is Well and enjoying Life as well as they can in this very difficult time.

Constantina Hamali

Constantinas visit to Womanby Street was Prior to Lockdown

NME Awards and a Series of Unfortunate Events

By: Kinga Balasz

Social media platforms are bursting with tweets and videos about controversial events that took place on a Wednesday night in London. I bet that after scrolling through Twitter- you already know who Slowthai is. His latest, strongly political album “Nothing Great About Britain”, met huge acclaim within the United Kingdom, as well as outside the borders. He won two nominations for “Best Collaboration” and ironically, “Hero Of The Year”.

Katherine Ryan, who hosted the night alongside Julie Adenuga made a joke about being attracted to the young rapper and invited him on stage, she then continued the banter with the artist until he crossed the line. He hugged her for so long it was uncomfortable for everyone to watch, he then said, "Baby girl, I don't want to have to do this to you right now, but everybody – she needs to understand the levels right now." Looks like 25 year old rapper took jokes too far and too seriously. 

Katherine, who is also a comedian managed to play it off and roast him in response to his creepy behaviour. She finished him with "Thank you for the attention, you are younger than my babysitter" as he was walking off the stage. We stan a powerful woman. 

Slowthai jumped back on the stage, Ryan continued the banter saying "I'm a balls girl – get your balls out." And "I would love you to trim my bush”, which I thought that was unnecessary, and as much as I respect Katherine for playing the role and being so patient with Slowthai, I can’t understand why she would make things worse, especially where he clearly thought they were having a sexual moment. As he was walking of the stage she added "I'm so wet, I'm going to slip off of these stairs."

The crowd was in shock, as you can see on videos everyone was raging with anger. Even Taylor Swift called it “the craziest awards show” she had ever been to, so that really must’ve been crazy. 

When Slowthai collected his award for “Hero Of The Year”, someone in the crowd called him a ‘misogynist’ showing him a middle finger. Young rapper shouted back "I'm misogynistic? I'm misogynistic? F*** off. I stand for equality. I stand for equality. If you can't take a joke, sit down. If you can't take a joke, sit down”. Maybe my sense of humour is bad but I didn’t find him creeping on Katherine ‘funny’. 

He threw his drink and a microphone at the person who he got into an argument with, then literally jumped off the stage to fight him- he was stopped by the security and dragged out of there, so was the other man.

As the awards show continued, Matty Healy of The 1975 during his performance, commented on the whole situation with “Everyone send your thoughts to slowthai, f*** knows where he is but bless the boy.. f****** nighmare”, which I found hilarious. Top quote of the night.  

After the event, Slowthai apologised to Katherine for his “shameful actions” and said “I am not a hero”. 

Disclaimer - This article is the opinion of the writer and not Keep Cardiff Live!

CMF Song 1 Indie Night 1 - Review

While 2020 might feel like stepping in chewing gum, and coronavirus thinking it could have frozen the whole music industry- it is thriving in the digital world now more than ever. KO pandemic. 

The amazing people from University of South Wales in collaboration Foxy Roxies and us, KCL, brought you something you have never seen before, an online festival, which means you can listen to live music from your bedroom, kitchen, or shed for free. Easily accessible live streams will take you to the heart of the British music scene and its various genres each day from 29th of April till the 3rd of May.

CMF Festival is also raising money for the charity called Heads Above The Waves, a non-profit organisation that supports young people and raises awareness about mental health issues. It is important that we support each other now more than ever, especially that we are all stuck in isolation, so let’s text our friends, call our grandmas, let’s make sure everyone is doing alright. 

The first event of the festival kicked off with indie music, and we had a pleasure to virtually rub shoulders with some great Cardiff based acts like Yasmine & the Euphoria and The Rotanas, Dyme, Beano Naboo and the Real Keepers, Bloom, and Nathan Warnes. 

For extra festival vibes I actually dressed up and did makeup, coronavirus ain’t stopping me from going to gigs and living my life, at least in the lockdown sense.

Our host for the night, Ben, led us through all the performances, starting off with Nathan Warnes, who opened his set with the newest single “The Crowd”, from the corner of his bedroom I’m guessing. Same as Nathan, Dyme were streaming from home as well. Dyme’s fantastic twist of pop and alternative brought a new vibe to the festival. Definitely something to chill to, catchy songs with incredible vocals, sometimes even dreamy I’d say. The alt-pop collective performed “Different Side” (my personal fave) followed by “Could Be Anything” and “Wht.Yth”, then finished their set with “Distance”, adding a lockdown reference.  

Due to isolation, bloom! couldn’t perform for us at its full strength. Instead, we saw the band’s singer by herself- Sophie with great acoustics and powerful vocals. I saw the band live a couple of months back, when life used to be normal, and with or without the electrics- bloom! smashes it anyways.

Yasmine & the Euphoria were just strikingly fantastic, my jaw dropped straight onto the floor, vocals and electric guitar stole my heart. It makes me want to scream as I’m listening to the stream again, I’m begging for a gig. The 15-minute set was pre-recorded by Foxy Roxies, who also brought us Beano Naboo and the Real Keepers, and provided the incredible sound and video quality. 

Brought to Cardiff Music Festival by KCL, The Rotanas welcomed us with the sound of opening a can, and an acoustic version of their new track called “Spinner”. Inspired by the 90s, gritty yet subtle Gritpop band performed a 12-minute set last night. In a strange twist of fate, I’ve never seen The Rotanas live, and considering my love for Britpop, I’ve always wanted to!

CMF Festival will continue at 4:00pm this afternoon with its second event called “Moonlight”.

Kinga Balasz

The Acid House Revolution - A Moral Panic

NME Front page, 19 November 1988

(Credit: New Musical Express)

“Out of respect for Johnny Walker, Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway, Danny Rampling and all the people who gave us these times… And to the government, I stick my middle finger up with regards to the Criminal Justice Bill” 

- The Streets, ‘Weak Become Heroes’, Original Pirate Material  

Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing into the 90s, the acid house movement created a subculture like no other. During this time, the word ‘rave’ not only described the large-scale events that captivated millions, but became a metaphor for a revolution. It allowed young party-goers to experience an incomparable sense of freedom, love and euphoria; escapism from the stresses and strains of the outside world. 

Shoom Club Membership Card (Credit: Vice)

After visiting Ibiza’s famed Amnesia club, a group of four DJs brought the mind-blowing sounds of Chicago house to the UK; popularising it for the very first time. Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker helped revolutionise the British house music scene and normalised rave culture, despite continuous media outcries. When Danny Rampling’s ’Shoom’ club nights went ahead in London using techno veteran Carl Cox’s sound system, it marked the beginning of the acid house revolution, and the rise in popularity of illegal raves up and down the country.

Danny Rampling, Shoom Club London

(Photograph Copyright: Dave Swindles)

Despite the influence of the ‘Ibiza Four’, and the ever-growing popularity of acid house in the UK, an inevitable ‘moral panic’ erupted; demonising an entire subculture and the values they stood for.  In the sociological field, a moral panic defines the escalating public concern over certain behaviours, particularly youth disturbances. The term was first referenced by British sociologist Jock Young (1971) and his study into increasing drug abuse and the growing public concern that followed. However, the concept was formally introduced one year later, with Stanley Cohen’s study into the organised fights between two conflicting British subcultures, Mods and Rockers (1972). 

The term characterised the media’s reaction to these fights, and was later used to define the revolt against the establishment in the form of acid raves. The ‘smiley’ symbol, that was familiarised within rave and ecstasy culture, was prohibited by high street chain Top Shop, followed by the banning of any records containing the word ‘acid’ from the world’s longest running weekly music show, Top of the Pops. 

UK Ravers protesting the 1994 Criminal Justice Bill

(Credit: Vice)

The rave scene presented itself as an outright disruption to Thatcherism, and the government’s long standing battle against the subculture continued into the mid-90s with the Criminal Justice Bill. Clause 63 of this bill was set out to put an end to raves, applying to any “gathering on land in the open air of 100 or more persons” (British Government, 1994). Never before had the British government “considered young people’s music so subversive as to prohibit it”, even when compared to other “post-war moral panics about the activities of Teddy Boys, Mods, Hippies and Punks” (Collin, 1998). 

Luckily, as authoritarian Thatcherist values petered out, and the availability of media increased, the moral panic surrounding the rave subculture died down. The revolution that sparked outrage among millions became an integral part of the British live music scene that we cherish today, including across South Wales.

Below features some images from Swansea’s rave scene in full swing (1993).

(Photograph copyright: Tony ‘Spealberg’ Evans)  

Credit - Rory Chapman