Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

Everyone knows how it feels to lose someone. Dealing with a loss can be a difficult and heartbreaking time.

Celebrities experience the same sadness and pain that we do when a loved one dies. Cindy Crawford lost her younger brother to leukemia, and is helping to fight the disease by working with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and promoting the Light the Night Walk.

She’s asking how we can make curing cancer a global priority. The millions of people dying from the disease or who have relatives with cancer all know that this is a fight we can win. They are all holding on to the hope that one day soon, we will.

If anyone is interested, here is a group dedicated to those looking for information regarding prevention methods and cures for cancer.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

On the Pier Head, overlooked by the watchful eye of the Liver Bird, the symbol of Liverpool, the Brain Bus has been partying to some excellent live music at the Mathew Street festival with headliners of the day being the Lightning Seeds and The Wonder Stuff.

Despite being “drunk a thousand times” The Wonder Stuff found the energy for a lively performance. However the Lightning Seeds blew the crowd away with an inspired combination of new and old tracks. Following the boppy Change, Syd Barrett’s Lucifer Sam and the classic, ethereal You Showed Me, the Seeds had the crowd singing along with Whole Wide World and Life of Riley before climaxing with, yes, you guessed it… Three Lions.

We had chance to catch up with Ian Broudie, the lead singer of the Lightning Seeds after his awesome performance where we asked him to pose a question for Yahoo! Answers…

Despite being an established artist, Ian considered the many unsigned bands performing in Liverpool this weekend, in asking “what is the best way for an unsigned band to get started in music?”

The party continues tomorrow with even more stages but be sure to check out our festival images for some excellent live shots of several bands and more shots of the public having fun on the bus.

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland team

Images courtesy of David Evans (Music 2 Media) and Niall Owens

The Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus Tour rocks on, hitting the Mathew Street Festival, Liverpool this Sunday and Monday (August 27th and 28th). We’ll be there finding out if all the Answers music experts can tell the difference between the real acts and all the tribute bands.

The Mathew Street Festival runs over four days, five stages and over 75 live acts. Liverpool is the 2008 European Capital of Culture, so the city is definitely up for throwing big events.

Mathew Street features music from a wealth of rock and pop acts but also the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra who are performing, amongst other things, a Beatles medley. It’s good to see an orchestra reaching out to the masses because in an era of mainstream youth culture it’s not clear what the future holds for classical music.

Liverpool’s most famous export need little introduction. The Beatles made the city the musical capital of the world, winning fans around the globe. But 40 years on will their appeal last indefinitely?

Certainly a band doesn’t have to have been around as long as The Beatles, nor made a similar impact, to be celebrated. If they say imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Radiohead, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and a host of others must be feeling pretty chuffed by the array of tribute bands on show at Mathew Street. From Fake Plastic Radiohead, to Coldplace, Guns 2 Roses to Robbing Williams how can we explain the rise and rise of tribute bands?  It’s doubly curious when the acts being parodied are often still very much still in operation.

Some acts not seen in action for a while are ‘90s indie heroes The Lightning Seeds and The Wonder Stuff. The Lightning Seeds are arguably best known for their involvement with Euro 96 football anthem “3 Lions.” The Wonder Stuff were at their peak between 1988 and 1994, before splitting up. Both bands return to the stage at Mathew Street, which makes us wonder, as we head into the latter half of 2006 are we far enough away from the ‘90s yet to warrant a revival? Certainly given the cyclical nature of music, it’s only a matter of time before it comes back around.

Moving beyond the music, there’s much of cultural interest in Liverpool. The city’s other massive export, beyond The Beatles, is the beautiful game. With three teams in the area (Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere), few British cities feel more passionate about the national game than Liverpool. But football clubs are more than just weekend entertainment – what kind of cultural role do they play in the local community?

With all this on offer, from classical concerts to live football, you can’t help but think that perhaps Liverpool’s more recent reputation has done the city a disservice. The city is undergoing a program of regeneration though – so will it keep its identity? Only time will tell, with a little help from Answers of course.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Have you been receiving a bunch of emails for the same Best Answer? Or, maybe you haven’t been receiving notifications at all? What gives?

We recently released a bug fix, and although it took care of one issue it seems to have created some problems with the best answer email notifications we usually send out.

We apologize for any inbox flooding this may have caused. We are aware of the problem, and have a team of insecticide-wielding Yamsters working on a fix for this new bug as we speak.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

UPDATE: Check out the latest photos from the Brain Bus at Dartmouth.

The Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus Tour sails into the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta this Thursday and Friday (August 24^th and 25^th). We’ll be there finding out if the nautical revellers are port or starboard, sorry, left or right brain.

The Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta is an annual event that began in 1822. It hasn’t run every year since then however but this year is the 161^st. In 1856 the regatta accidentally became a royal event when Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales sailed into the port because of bad weather. The Regatta’s patron is now is Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. He takes part in the opening ceremony which peaks with the Mayor presenting the Chairman of the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta a Silver Oar. This is a symbol of the Regatta Chairman’s authority for the next three days.

The Regatta opens on the 24^th and includes a whole host of events. But before we get into those, we are curious, just what makes a regatta distinct from other sporting or cultural events? The regatta includes the presence of several Royal Navy ships including the frigate HMS Kent and landing ship HMS Sir Belvidere. It seems a little strange to ask but we’re still curious: Why do ships built from steel float in water?

As well as a naval presence, the Royal Air Force will be providing a major display. Spitfires and many other vintage aircraft make up the Battle of Britain memorial air display, which makes us wonder how did the Allies win the Battle? A more modern sight, the mighty twin rotor Chinook helicopters, will be demonstrated but how do they avoid their sets of blades clashing each other? Then to cap it all off, the Red Arrows display team will perform above the port. Just what makes a Red Arrows display so spectacular?

The Regatta takes place in the port caused by the estuary of the River Dart. In past times Dartmouth was of great strategic importance as a deep-water port. It was also a base for pirates no less. Of course piracy doesn’t exist in the UK any more, but how was piracy eradicated?

The estuary also features a well-preserved castle, strategically placed to defend the entrance to the river. Naturally this isn’t the way key parts of the UK are defended now, so when and why did castles like Dartmouth go into decline?

The Regatta also features a whole host of other events including a fireworks display, rowing, sailing, a road race, tennis, golf and a tug of war competition. And if that isn’t enough, there is of course the whole of the beautiful county of Devon to enjoy this summer. Hopefully see all you landlubbers there.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team