worldwide welshman in london

I moved to Lewisham, London in June, and much has happened since then.

I got job as a supply teaching assistant with vibe. Then term ended. But luckily I got a part-time job as a courtyard curator at The Artworks UK, Elephant & Castle. This job and busking help me offset my financial losses and keep me going until September when I'll star teaching again. Its still a net loss in savings, since I've been rather lazy when it comes to buksing, and I only worl Friday and Saturday night, but, I'm suriving somehow.

The Artworls is a great place to work, and sometimes I get to do a few tunes on the stage or serenade people at their tables. Who could ask for a nicer job? Shame its Friday and Saturday nights when I want to be doing gigs.

I also started displaying my artwork in the Easles Art Market  every Saturday at the Artworks.

I met a proffessional busker and promoter called Steve Broe, and he's lent me his busking amp and given me a lot of support, including getting me some gigs in the Silver Bullet, Finsbury park, The Old Dispensary and a few other places. We've had good days busking in Shoreditch, Bromley and elsewere.
Somewhere I have a photo of us jamming at a Somwereto party in the Grow Elephant Community Garden, but I can't find it!

Another great person and abolutely world class musician I've me is Shem Jarrold, aka Tamarugo, a violinist who is also learning Indian classical on the zaringy. He came to the first Worldwide Welshman Guerilla Street Jam on South Bank which happened this summer (in July?).

Left to right: Liam Rickard (me), Adam Brown, Tamarugo, Sion's mate off his course (forgotten your name, sorry!), Sion Rickard

The best thing about being in London has been getting back with my old band, Timestealers. We got together again to prepare for the wedding of our friends Dave and Emma, for which we prepared a multi-lingual, transglobal, two hour set of popular covers and our own Timestealers 'classics' from our uni days. The wedding, in a beautiful family home in the countryside near Towbridge, went really well! Here is a picture of us shaking it like a polaroid picture, in a polaroid picture.
Clockwise from top right: Nick Wood - bass, Jess Rubio - flute, Beccy Swinn - vocals, Paul Murray - vocals, trumpet, guitar, Liam Rickard - vocals, guitar, keyboard, Adam Brown - drums

Just over a week later (last Tuesday night, 18th August) Paul, Nick, Adam and I played a cracking set in Cafe 1001, Brick Lane, as a "featured artist" in the Plugged in Switched On open mic.

Then on August 22nd Paul organised a jam/gig in Hyde Park and we invited lots of friends, including the newlyweds Dave & Emma!! The music and crowd drew passers by too. The other musicians were my regular bandmates and collaborators Paul, Sion and Nick, and Paul's new friends Fraser (cahon) and Simon (beatbox).

Simon Oliver a.k.a PieMan, a beatboxer from Oxford, entertaining the crowd in a solo performance

Another memorable music moment was when the Timestealers and I went back to Nottingham for a gig supporting Cheshire & the Cat. The gig was good and the crowd reacted very positively, and Cheshire and the Cat were excellent too! But the best part was after the gig when I walked past a Roma accordion player. He was brilliant! He was playing Lambada a.k.a Llorando Se Fue which is one of my standards. I passed him again after eating a kebab with Nick and Paul, and he started playing Hava Nagila, so I had to get out my guitar and join in. He was very welcoming and invited me to plug into his PA, and we got a bit of a crowd. Paul joined us on trumpet. We did a lot of great gypsy pop classics. He's called Sebasitain, check him out if you go to Nottingham High Street. Lovely guy, great musician.

So that's just a few highlights of the life of Worldwide Welshman. Now I'm going off with Paul Murray to the Small World Festival in Kent to play in the Tribal Voices area. Exciting times ahead!