With five albums to her credit, Sara Evans is on her way to becoming one of the most successful female artists of her generation – a compelling, heart-in-the-throat heir to Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. She’s won numerous accolades, among them the Academy of Country Music’s Female Vocalist of the Year and the Country Music Association’s Video of the Year. Sara was named 2006 Female Vocalist of the Year in the R&R Reader’s Poll,  and has also been chosen as one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People”. For more information visit www.saraevans.com

Check out her music at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22zB6Soc2Gk

Sara Evans @ Capital Hoedown 2011

http://www.capitalhoedown.net/en/2011-lineup-2

EVENT DATES:

August 11, 12 & 13, 2011

EVENT TIMES:

August 11 & 12 – 4 pm to 10:30pm (Gates open 2 pm); August 13th – 2 pm to 10:30pm (Gates open at noon)

VENUE:

LeBreton Flats Park – Ottawa, Ontario

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Evans

Early life and the rise to fame

Evans was born in Boonville, Missouri, in 1971, and is of Welsh, English, and Irish descent. She was raised on a farm near New Franklin, MO, the eldest girl of seven children. By five she was singing weekends in her family’s band. At age eight, she was struck by an automobile in front of the family home, and her legs suffered multiple fractures. Recuperating for months in a wheelchair, she continued singing to help pay her medical bills. When she was 16, she began performing at a nightclub near Columbia, Missouri, a gig that lasted two years.

Evans moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1991 to be a country music artist. She met fellow musician Craig Schelske and left Nashville with him in 1992, moving to Oregon. They married in 1993. She returned to Nashville in 1995 and began recording demos.^[1] Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard was impressed by her demo of his song “Tiger by the Tail”. He decided to help her music career, leading to a signed contract with RCA Nashville.^[2]

In 1997, Evans released her first album for RCA, Three Chords and the Truth. Critics praised the album for returning to traditional country and included it in many of their yearly “Top 10” lists. The video for “Three Chords and the Truth”, directed by Susan Johnson, was nominated for awards from Billboard Magazine, CMT, and the MVPA. The album included a cover version of an older Country song, Patsy Cline‘s “Imagine That”, which originally reached No. 21 for Cline on the country charts in 1962. None of the three singles made the top 40. It would be another year before Evans gained full popularity. In 1998 Evans released her second album, No Place That Far. Critics slammed her on choosing a more pop-country sound. Her first single, “Cryin’ Game”, hardly made a ripple on the charts but the music video, which re-teamed Evans with director Susan Johnson, did very well in rotation. However, it was her next single, “No Place That Far”, a duet with Vince Gill, that brought her massive success, reaching #1 on the Country charts, as well as the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40. Because of its success, the album was certified “Gold” by the RIAA.

http://www.bytowne.ca/movie/submarine

http://weinsteinco.com/sites/submarine/

Submarine is a 2010 coming-of-age comedy-drama film adapted from the 2008 novel of the same name by Joe Dunthorne. The film is directed by Richard Ayoade and stars Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor and Paddy Considine. The film is Ayoade’s feature-film directorial debut.^[2]

The Plot:

Oliver Tate (Roberts) is a 15 year-old Swansea boy who is convinced that he is an unrivaled genius who is widely loved by his classmates, when in fact he is pretentious and socially alienated. He is in love with a mischievous but straight-talking girl named Jordana (Paige) in his year, and goes as far as bullying an overweight classmate to impress her. One day she invites him to meet secretly after school, instructing him to bring a Polaroid camera and a diary. She takes pictures of them kissing, but it turns out to be a plan to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. The plan backfires, the two are publicly bullied, and Oliver is beat up for refusing to call Jordana a slut. Walking home after their ordeal, she takes his hand and they kiss, and Oliver quickly establishes Jordana is his girlfriend.

A NASA Astronaut and A&E consultant has shared insights into creating safer working systems with NHS staff across Wales,

in a online seminar organised by 1000 Lives Plus.The WebEx Seminar Series, Operating in High Risk Environments, uses the safety culture of space flight to investigate what makes a ‘high reliability organisation’, and applies it to healthcare situations.

The presenter was Canadian NASA astronaut and A&E consultant, Dr Dafydd Williams.The session was attended by individuals and groups across Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland and the USA.

Dr Dafydd (Dave) Williams is an A&E Consultant, astronaut and aquanaut, He is the only Canadian to have lived and worked both in space and in the deep ocean, and is exceptionally proud of his Welsh heritage (his father emigrated to Canada from Bargoed).

Dr Williams holds an Exceptional Service Award from NASA, and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and served on two shuttle missions, in 1998 and 2007, when he was mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavour and took part in three of the four spacewalks.

http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Health&F=1&id=21902

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-14179419

Canada is being lined up as the latest target for Welsh lamb exports, which are currently worth more than £111m to the UK economy.

Meat promotion body Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) claims there is a growing demand for lamb from Canadians and immigrants to the country.

The HCC launched its initiative at the Royal Welsh Show in Powys.

It said export restrictions in Canada on Welsh lamb after the BSE crisis had been lifted.

A trade mission to the country is planned for the autumn.

At last year’s show First Minister Carwyn Jones and the HCC held talks with a trade delegation from the Chinese Embassy in London.

The HCC said it was attempting to broaden the market for Welsh lamb.

“Our market research has identified Canada as a potential new market for Welsh lamb and it is now up to us and our partners in the processing companies to work together to turn this dream into reality,” HCC chairman Dai Davies will tell a breakfast reception at the Royal Welsh Show on Monday.

Earlier this year, HCC asked the Canadian authorities to give Welsh processing plants the authority to export Welsh lamb to the country.

“There is a growing appetite in Canada for lamb as an alternative to other red meats, currently led by demand amongst immigrant groups from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” said HCC’s market development manager Laura Dodds.

“In addition, long-standing Canadian citizens with a traditional taste for lamb have combined with new immigrants to create a steady rise in demand.”

The HCC said the latest available figures showed that in 2008, Canadians consumed 34m kilos of lamb of which just over half – 17.5m kilos – was produced domestically with the remainder imported.

The Canadian market currently relies on imports of lamb from New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

But with worldwide demand for lamb rising, Canada finds itself under served by the amount of lamb that is available to its consumers by its current suppliers, said the HCC.

This means that there is an opportunity for Welsh processors to fill the gap.

Deputy Minister for Agriculture Alun Davies said: “Welsh lamb has long been heralded as the best in the world and I would welcome any move by Hybu Cig Cymru to prove to the Canadian market just how good it really is.

“Food is also an excellent way of selling a country to tourists, so tapping into foreign markets will not only benefit farmers and processors but it will hopefully encourage people to visit Wales to sample the excellent produce we have to offer.”

OWS members might be interested in logging on to this website where there is an article posted on ‘The Hidden Welsh of the Ottawa Valley’ by Carol Bennett McCuaig.

The web address is http://anglo‑celtic‑connections.blogspot.com/2011/06/hidden‑welsh‑of‑ottawa‑valley.html

A $6.5 million museum opened its doors to the public on Saturday July 9^th.

The Wales National Museum of Art inCardiff, opens a new West Wing of six integrated contemporary galleries covering 8,600 sq feet highlighting the museum’s world-class collection and making the museum one of the largest venues for public art in theUK, outsideLondon. The buzz inWalesis that the museum will rival the successful Tate Modern gallery inLondon.

40,000 treasures which include outstanding European Old Masters and an inspiring contemporary collection will be housed for the first time under one roof.

The museum is renowned particularly for one of the most important collections of Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings outsideParisand these will be newly displayed.

“We have a world class collection and this will be a world class display for it,” said David Anderson, the director general of theNationalMuseumsand Galleries of Wales. Mr Anderson said he hoped the art museum would help boost the profile ofCardiffas a European capital andWalesas a cultural destination. He expects to have more touring exhibitions.

Americabenefited from the two-year construction period because during that time treasures from the Wales National Museum of Art toured theUSA. The exhibit called ‘From Turner to Cezanne,’ was a stunning collection of 53 works spanning Romanticism, Naturalism, Realism and Impressionism.

In 2012-13, the museum’s “The Image of the British Landscape” exhibition will tour theUnited States.

The opening display in July 2011 – “I Cannot Escape This Place” – of 44 works will include leading British and international artists such as Lucian Freud, David Hockney andRachel Whiteread as well as Welsh artists.

Entry to each Museum is free thanks to the support of the Welsh Government.

Canada’s top blues act with Welsh heratage will be playing at the Ottawa Blues Fest on July 7th

Ticket Details below:

http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca/performance/675