Higher and Deeper – Mike Farr on Ba Fang Tong Bei Quan

Mike Farr throws student Matt Thomas to the canvas

“There are millions of moves in Kung Fu, but morality must be the first one.”

This is the key message Mike Farr delivers to students in Cardiff who study Zhong Hua Si Mian Ba Fang Tong Bei Quan – a Chinese martial art with roots tracing back to the eleventh century – under his expert instruction.

Folk’s Prodigal Son – Martin Simpson

If Waterstone:Carthy are the royal family of the British folk scene, and Bellowhead are the young pretenders, then Martin Simpson must be the Prodigal Son.

Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years

Pic from Flickr user 'Barry Yanowitz'

The phrase “return to form” can never truly apply to a Super Furry Animals album, as a large swathe of critical opinion tends to correctly find merit in everything they release. But with their ninth record Dark Days/Light Years, perhaps it is more accurate to say the band have finally found something they themselves have been looking for.

Peter Doherty – Grace/Wastelands

Pic from Flickr user 'MarcDurant'

The backdrop to Pete Doherty’s debut solo record – Grace/Wastelands, which was released on Monday – generated equal amounts of trepidation and anticipation for several reasons. Two studio albums from Doherty’s last band Babyshambles in 2005 and 2007 had moments of fleeting brilliance, but these were largely submerged in inconsistency. Doherty recently fuelled rumours of a Libertines reunion, a possible tacit admission that his musical career was running out of steam. Pete also became Peter, in what looked like an attempted shortcut to respect and maturity. And surely there was no time for songs in between the days lost to prison and heroin?

Harps, Bells and Bollocks – an interview with Pete Lawrie

The platform at Dingle Road station is dark and deserted as I climb off the train to meet Penarth’s best kept secret: local singer-songwriter Pete Lawrie. A handshake and a short walk later, Pete and I arrive before some metal shutters. With a click of a remote control, they rise gradually to reveal a silver Porsche 911.

Bellowhead – St David’s Hall, Cardiff, 27/01/09

Pic from Flickr user 'jcoelho'

When a band takes to the stage brandishing a frying pan and a set of bagpipes, even the most open-minded of music fans could be forgiven for thinking it is going to be a long night.

The Good Samaritans of Cardiff

Street Pastor Peter Joyce

St Mary Street is strangely quiet as Friday night becomes Saturday morning in Cardiff city centre. Most of the bars are open and music is blaring from within, but the bouncers standing outside have no queues to handle and cast regular glances at their over-sized watches. Even the sticks of doner meat spinning in the fast-food joints on ‘chippy lane’ are looking plumper than they should at this time of day.

While New Year’s resolutions and the bitter January cold may be keeping most people indoors, I am out with five faces you can count on to be in town every Friday, and as usual they are looking for trouble. Luckily for everyone else, they are the Street Pastors and they are trying to solve problems rather than cause them.

MC Hammer and building a community on Twitter

pic from Flickr user 'EMS Shane in Portland'

The online journalism module I have taken at Cardiff University this past term has consisted of a series of weekly lectures, which in turn have led to numerous technological epiphanies. These have tended to happen when I least expect them and the latest one, concerning the utility of Twitter, occurred earlier this month in the middle of a lecture by BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

Is this the future of reporting the news online?

pic from Flickr user 'dadawan'

How will news be reported online in the future?

In entering this debate, it is first necessary to impart a few basic truths. It has become clear that the web cannot be ignored as a medium for telling the news. It is even fair to say the internet is now the most important broadcasting outlet, and its significance will continue to grow. The 4iP website shows the following Ofcom findings from March 2008:

John Martyn – St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, 21/11/08

pic from Flickr user 'StephenMcleod'

2008 has been a good year for John Martyn.

In February he was given the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2008 Radio 2 Folk awards. Another accolade followed in June, when he scooped the Les Paul Award for contribution to guitar music on the Mojo Honours List. In September, John celebrated his 60th birthday – a milestone which it seemed unlikely he would reach at several points in his turbulent life.