O REGO N S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE
AUGUST 7 2009 2 U
G
PERSONALITIES
A CH RIS NEEDS P R IM ER
In \X /ales-an d most other
c o u n tn e s -N e e d s is o n e of the
most fam o u s c e le b ritie s on
B B C R a d io his nightly rad io
p ro gram The F rie n d ly G a rd e n
re a c h e s a b o u t 8 m illion
listeners w o rld w id e
He w as a w a rd e d a M em b e r
ship of the O rd er of the British
Em p ire p e rso n a lly from Q u e e n
E liz a b e th of E n g la n d for his
ch a rity work a n d he is a n
autho r, a c to r a n d m u sicia n
who p la y e d k e y b o a rd for
B o n n ie Tyler (b elo w )
music. The show can go from hilarious to
depressing to heartwarming and back again
within the span o f three hours.
Needs acknowledges that his time slot
has much to do with the intimacy o f his
program, and perhaps directly to do with the
intimacy o f his relationship to his listeners.
“[My listeners are] in bed with their
problems or their loneliness, or whatever,”
explains Needs, who identifies as a gay man.
“They tell me the most intimate things, and
they forget they’re on the radio. They tell
me things about very awkward places o f
their bodies where they’ve had operations,
or they tell me secrets about him or her and
his or her boyfriend have split up over this
and that, and I’m going, ‘My God, do they
realize they’re on the radio, not just on the
phone?!’ I think they forget.”
Needs’most recent book, TheJenkins’s ’s sss,
aims an animated spotlight on the misad-,
ventures o f “a dysfunctional family in Wales,
the ones who are always claiming social
security and benefits; the only ones on their
street with a Jacuzzi, a sports car, they’re all
sort o f fiddling the system,” says Needs.
The book was recently turned into a film,
which won the Best Animated/CGI award at
this year’s Swansea Bay Film Festival. Needs
will introduce the movie at a U.S. premiere
screening as part o f a presentation on next
year’s Americymru International Film Fes
tival; the event will be held in Portland in
August 2010 as a celebration o f Welsh- and
Celtic-inspired film and filmmakers.
Armed with a legion o f loyal followers,
the head lettuce in the Friendly Garden is
setting his sights on Portland— not to con
Vino.
Pasta.
Vino.
Repeat.
1 7 0 8 E. BURNSIDE AVE,
SO I 2 IO 9 4 6 4
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5 0 1 -2 8 0 -9 4 6 4
quer yet another demographic, but to expand
the world’s scope on Welsh culture.
“There are Welsh people all over the
world, hundreds and hundreds of Welsh so
cieties,” says Needs. “We’ve got something
to shout about, because we love what we are.
We like our music, we love our language.
We’re taking home abroad. It’s like Mardi
Gras, but this is for the Welsh, not for the
gay. It’ll probably be for both, actually.”
For good measure, “It’s like a make be
lieve cuckoo land,” explains Needs. “But [my
listeners] feel included. It’s a big comfort
zone, but because it’s screaming, screaming
gay— I mean absolutely as gay as you can get
it— nobody is threatened by it really.”
Get ready, Portland! Cuckoo Land comes
west!
For more information on the Left Coast
Eisteddfod , visit www.americymru.ning.com.
For more information on Chris Needs and the
Friendly Garden Association , visit www.bbc.
co. uk/wales/radiowales.
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