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| Peter Freeman |
This is the latest in an occasional series highlighting performers and contestants at the September 2011 'West Coast Eisteddfod- Welsh Festival of Arts' at the Barnsdall Art Park , Los Angeles . In this post we are proud to feature Welsh story teller, Peter Freeman , who will be appearing in the standup comedy competition..For more info about the event go here. To reserve your ticket for Saturday 24th click the button below :-
I went to work for the local bus company, South Wales Transport, in 1971. It was only a stopgap until I could find something better. I’m still looking for something better. I’ve been involved with mass transit ever since. I worked as a bus driver, an assistant transport manager and, for a change of pace, as a tour bus driver based in London. I was living the happy, carefree life of a bachelor and loving it. “Fall into their arms but not into their hands” was my motto. Then an American woman, on vacation, caught my bus. Before I knew it I was married and living in Los Angeles, California. We just celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. I should mention that my wife is a Native American, Apache nation. We have two boys, half Welsh and half Apache, I joke that they are going to grow up to be drunken fighting fools."
When I came here I decided to do what I have always done and I joined the bus company. I became a federally certified instructor and yes I teach Americans how to drive a bus. As an instructor I would often point out the importance of what we do. I believe and have always believed that mass transit is essential to modern civilization."
There are a number of highlights to my career; More than I could comfortably fit into this article. The award that I am most proud of came in the year 2000 when the readers of the Downtown News voted me “Best Bus Driver” in Los Angeles. The other highlight was when I was an operator out of the West Hollywood Division, a television station back in Wales were doing a program called “The Welsh in Hollywood” We drove a bus around Hollywood and Beverly Hills with the T.V. crew on board filming and interviewing me. It resulted in a lot of e-mails and calls from friends and family. "
These days I’m a supervisor for Metro. My current assignment is as a controller at the Bus Operations Control Center. The great thing about my job is that I get to see the whole of Metro. Usually when you work in a department all that is seen is that particular area, as a controller I get to see the whole of Metro at every level. It’s an eye opening experience and can be a very rewarding one."
In 2009 I received a call from a production company, Human World, based in Santa Monica. They contacted me through the Celtic Arts Center; they were making a promo video for the release of Bungie Corporation’s latest addition to the Halo X-Box 360 game series called “Halo 3 ODST.” I’m not a gamer and had never heard of the game up to that point. They said they wanted a song for the video and they were looking for an “Obscure” language. They felt Welsh would be a good fit and asked if I could write the song. I agreed, we used the tune from a contemporary Welsh song called “Lament” gave it a martial beat, then following the guidelines they gave me I wrote the song. It went viral on You Tube and is still very popular."
My friend Lorin Richards is putting together a beautifully illustrated book based on the Welsh alphabet. He wrote a poem where each stanza describes a character from Welsh legend and begins with a letter from the alphabet. I have been invited to contribute to the book, writing the preface and a short piece about each character to go along with Lorin’s poem. The book will be ready by the end of September 2011."
