The List magazine celebrates 25th anniversary

Scottish publisher marks quarter century of cultural commentary - 1985-2010

8 Sep 2010

Next month, The List is celebrating its 25th birthday with a special issue looking back at the two and a half decades of commentary on Scottish culture. We are also looking for your contributions to the issue.

Spotify Playlist: In Defence of Kanye West

Forget everything else, it’s all about the music

7 Sep 2010

Ever since it emerged, hip hop has sampled songs to create new songs. Be it a loop just a few seconds long or a reworked entire chorus, there’s no denying that samples are the lifeblood of the genre. The process of sampling is one that has fascinated…

Roadkill, The Author and 30 Days to Space worthy 2010 festival winners

Steve Cramer's Festival blog

7 Sep 2010

I know it’s not quite over, but with respect to the last couple of shows of the International Festival, now might be the time for the Festival’s final report card. This year’s Festival, if it has shown some good work, still creates the uneasy feeling of…

Kevin MacNeil - A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll and Hyde

7 Sep 2010

The classic tale of Jekyll and Hyde influenced the latest novel by Kevin MacNeil. Brian Donaldson hears from an author who believes there are at least two sides to every story

Joanna Newsom embarks on UK tour

Artist tours sprawling achievement of Have One On Me

7 Sep 2010

When she was first brought to the attention of UK audiences by that most reliable eccentric, Jools Holland, Joanna Newsom seemed like just another obligatory obscure artist plucked from the ceiling-high stacks of specialist music magazines no doubt…

Debra Granik's Winter’s Bone explores American mountain people

Adaptation of Daniel Woodrell novel

7 Sep 2010

The American film writer-director Debra Granik has just returned from visiting this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival and she’s recalling the films she managed to cram in between her promotional duties. ‘I loved Thundersoul, a documentary about an…

Paul Van Dyk set for Edinburgh date at Colours

We take a trance lesson from from the master

7 Sep 2010

Trance has succinctly risen to the top in terms of popularity when it comes to clubbing, the pulling power of names like Paul van Dyk, Tiësto and Armin van Buuren mean they can headline festivals across the globe. But beyond the readership of DJ…

Romeo and Juliet and The Importance of Being Earnest set for Edinburgh Lyceum

Highlights og autumn theatre season

7 Sep 2010

Two love stories by two playwrights – performed by one cast on one set. In these cash-strapped times, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Royal Lyceum was trying to save a penny or two. In fact, the innovative doubling-up of the first two shows in the…

The Man Who Fed Butterflies

Sporadically phenomenal spectacle lacks magic of theatre

7 Sep 2010

Something Pixar, with their melange of spacemen, rat and sea creature protagonists, seem to have worked out fairly early on in the game is that it’s very difficult to emphathise with a CGI human face. The reason the human characters in the Toy Story…

Meredith Monk: Songs of Ascension

There is so much beauty here

7 Sep 2010

It’s difficult to begin describing Songs of Ascension, a new(ish) work by composer, musician, artist and mercurial force of nature Meredith Monk, because it doesn’t fit cleanly into any of the nice, regular boxes we use to describe different kinds of…

Alamar

7 Sep 2010

(U) 73min An artful fusion of documentary and fiction in which the non-professional cast play versions of themselves, Mexican filmmaker Pedro González-Rubio’s Alamar begins with a couple separating. Roberta (Roberta Palombini) has returned to her…

Davy Henderson - three albums that bridge the pop/art matrix

The Sexual Objects - Cucumber, The Nectarine No. 9 - Saint Jack, Win - Freaky Trigger

7 Sep 2010

The Sexual Objects - Cucumber (Aktion und Spass) The Nectarine No. 9 - Saint Jack (We Can Still Picnic) Win - Freaky Trigger (RPM) From Fire Engines onwards, Davy Henderson has bridged the pop/art matrix with singularly maverick aplomb. The…

First Word: Simon Callow interview

Shakespearian actor, luvvie and recently-outed Toblerone-eater

7 Sep 2010

First record you ever bought Brahms’ 2nd Symphony conducted by Bruno Walter. First film you saw that really moved you The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Last lie you told Forgot I was meeting someone: said my laptop had been stolen. First…

Concert to take place on board first flying Concorde

Lammermuir Festival hosts Peter Nelson's electro-acoustic piece

7 Sep 2010

It stopped flying in 2003, but the chance to step aboard Concorde is still available, albeit without any possibility of zooming off to New York. It is only but one – but perhaps the most unusual – concert venue being used by the new Lammermuir Festival…

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?

7 Sep 2010

(15) 93min Inspired by true events, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done tells the story of Brad Macallum (Michael Shannon), an aspiring actor who commits the crime he is to enact in a Greek tragedy in which he is performing. So here it is. The…

Mitchell Museum and White Heath

Edge Festival, Electric Circus, 11 Aug 2010

7 Sep 2010

There some confusion early on tonight as to whether the five young guys occupying the stage are completing their soundcheck before the main act or or are the support act. As it turns out, it's the latter, and the youthful audience are treated to the…

5 Comedy Shows Worth Watching On Telly

7 Sep 2010

Him and Her Ex-Cowards chap Stefan Golaszewski brings us his own ‘anti-romantic comedy’ about a young couple who are madly in love but with little appetite for the outside world. So the outside world decides to come to them. Russell Tovey, Sarah…

Scratcha DVA and The Blessings lined up for Cloak X Dagger set

Edinburgh Grime and bassline night gets busy

7 Sep 2010

‘People always say Edinburgh crowds are behind the times, but they’re really not,’ says Cloak X Dagger’s co-promoter, Ema Johnson. ‘They’re really up for it and they’re interested in good music. You know, everyone has the internet now anyway, it’s…

The Sing-along Glee Club

Hilariously silly, ridiculously twee and delightfully camp

7 Sep 2010

Given the title of this show, one could be forgiven for assuming that its content would be that of the popular television show Glee which recently reached our screens from across the pond. On the contrary, ‘Sing-along Glee club’ provides an insight into…

Introducing: Flat 0/1

Glasgow bar next to Lucky 7 opens as bar with club nights

7 Sep 2010

Residents Darrell and Dom on Wednesday, Rory Hamilton and the Feel My Bicep team on Thursday, Tom, Anton and Ewan at Friday’s Only Fools and House, Korben Dallas and Nushta Droganova (aka Thunder Disco Club) at Saturday’s Power Tools, and Duncan…

Italoboyz set to guest at Hotbox

Get Physical duo play at Glasgow date

7 Sep 2010

‘Hotbox started completely by accident,’ says the night’s main promoter and DJ Dan Wilson. ‘I’d heard there was a decent-sized club [Pivo Pivo] looking to get some nights going in Glasgow on good terms. I got quite excited about the idea of putting…

Plan B

Rap and hip hop and deep heart-felt soul

7 Sep 2010

There is no doubt that Plan B's Ben Drew is an accomplished rapper and singer, but it's not until you see him live that you can appreciate how immensely talented he is. Many artists work across several genres, but very few have successful attempted…

Going The Distance

7 Sep 2010

(15) 102min Whisper it quietly, but Drew Barrymore is beginning to lose her touch. Her early likeable films Never Been Kissed and The Wedding Singer meant we cut her a lot of slack as the girl-next-door. But after Music and Lyrics, 50 First Dates…

Scottish Ballet: Geometry And Grace

Troupe perform Sir Frederick Ashton’s Scènes de ballet

7 Sep 2010

‘Fitter, happier, more productive,’ say Radiohead in their song of (almost) the same name – used to superb effect by Scottish Ballet in its 2007 piece, Ride The Beast. Three years later, it’s a slogan which still fits the company like a glove. Ever…

The Other Guys

7 Sep 2010

(12A) 107min The action/comedy genre gets a welcome boost with Adam McKay’s crowd-pleaser The Other Guys teaming Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz, an oddly-matched couple of New York cops. After years in the shadows of…