roundup
WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR THIS MONTH.
EVENT
EDGAR ALLEN
AND THE
ORCHESTRA
pic: MARIE JONES ROWLANDS
?
SOUTH WALES SECRETS #48:
The Goat Major
Pete Fowler, known for Super Furries sleeve
art and Monsterism toys, has decorated a water
tower for the Cardiff Contemporary arts festival.
Born and bred in Cardiff, Pete Fowler hasn’t lived
in the city for nearly 20 years – having absconded
to London to chase his art career. It is, however, a
childhood memory that has brought him back.
“There was a water tower near the Central Station
in Cardiff that always caught my eye when I was a
kid. It’s been a couple of years ago now since I’ve
started to fantasise about potentially decorating it
some way, I think it’s something I grew up with in
Cardiff.”
As just one of the artists involved in the city’s arts
festival, Contemporary Cardiff, Fowler is taking his
art out of the galleries and into the community.
“I think some people feel a little bit intimidated by
going into a gallery and the sterile environment of
a white board gallery can be a bit offputting. So
to do something in a community, which somehow
touches on the city and the residents of the city
itself, is a really good thing.”
For a colourful cartoonist – who is inspired by myths,
legends and the supernatural – his choice of South
Wales Secret is a surprisingly understated one.
“Whenever I mention to my friends in Cardiff
about drinking at the Goat Major either they say
‘oh brilliant choice!’ or ‘really?’ – it elicits both
appreciation and surprise!
“It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in Cardiff but I
visit there quite a lot and quite often one of the first
things I do is go to Kelly’s Records to have a cup of
tea and look through hundreds of records, and then
go to the Goat Major for a pint to look at my spoils
and leaf my dirty fingers through my purchases.
“I think as I’ve got older I kind of prefer pubs full
of old men. I’m 45 now; any place I can go into
where I’m the youngest person in there is great!
For me, it’s somewhere I can get a fairly quiet pint
in the day, and have a good chat to an old boy. I
think it’s one of the great little pubs in Cardiff.”
Info: www.cardiffcontemporary.co.uk / www.
sabrain.com/goatmajor
DO NOT GO GENTLE FESTIVAL
If you’re looking to completely
immerse yourself in Dylan
Thomasness this month then
the annual Do Not Go Gentle
Festival is back to do just that.
The music and literary festival
BUZZ 08
is based around Mr Welsh
Poet himself, Dylan Thomas, in
celebration of his life and work.
Taking place in his birthplace of
Uplands, Swansea, the festival
has been designed with the idea,
or at l