Wall of Death: A Way of Life

8 Feb 2010

The sound of revving engines is enough to awaken the sleeping serpent coiled at the bottom of your spine, but it is the performance that follows that will pump your adrenal glands to sheer jaw dropping exhilaration. The Ken Fox Troupe ride the Indian…

An award is born!

5 Feb 2010

Yuletide comedy Nativity! starring Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen has won The List’s Film of the Year Award as part of the fourth annual Richard Attenborough Awards (RAFAs). Confetti director Debbie Issit’s new film pleased our readers so much they…

A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood and the silver screen

3 Feb 2010

With Tom Ford’s stylish adaptation of A Single Man tipped for Oscar glory, Allan Radcliffe looks into novelist Christopher Isherwood’s enduring relationship with the silver screen. Think of Christopher Isherwood, and the first image that springs to…

Cary Grant retrospective heads up impressive Glasgow Film Festival programme

A Career to Remember

3 Feb 2010

Miles Fielder talks to Glasgow Film Festival co-director Allan Hunter about a retrospective of the films of one of Hollywood’s true greats. If old movies are your thing – and they should be, because they rarely do make ‘em like they used to anymore…

John Digweed, Timo Maas and Hot Chip lined up for Musika third birthday

3 Feb 2010

For Derek Martin, promoter of Edinburgh house and electro clubbing brand Musika, the fire which has temporarily put the city’s Liquid Room venue out of action represents an opportunity more than it does a setback. Musika’s residency there wasn’t even…

Mighty Boosh, Todd Solondz and Michael Moore amongst Glasgow Film Festival highlights

3 Feb 2010

Youth Journey of the Childmen: The Mighty Boosh on Tour Documentary look at the genius of the Boosh being screened with Julian Barratt’s short Curtains and a Q&A (tbc) with the cast. GFT, Fri 12 Feb, 8.15pm. Cary Grant Bringing up Baby…

Errors - Come Down With Me

3 Feb 2010

(Rock Action) It’s been a while since a bunch of arty boys from Glasgow made one of the records of the year. But with their second offering Come Down With Me (a title in homage to the Channel 4 dining bitchfest), Errors have done exactly that.

AC/DC, Them Crooked Vultures, Motörhead and Megadeth set for Download 2010

3 Feb 2010

Metal festival Download is celebrating 30 years of rock at Donnington (the first ever Monsters of Rock took place on the site in 1980) in style with a massive coup as AC/DC are announced as their first headliner for 2010. The Aussie rock legends are no…

Backbeat - Stuart Sutcliffe story comes to Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow

And the beat goes on

3 Feb 2010

This season’s major show at the Citizens Theatre is more than just a Beatles biopic. Writer/director Iain Softley explains why to Jonny Ensall

Bombay Bicycle Club, The Maccabees, The Big Pink and The Drums set for Shockwaves NME Awards Tour Glasgow date

3 Feb 2010

The latest NME tour brings another collection of bands – Bombay Bicycle Club, The Maccabees, The Big Pink and The Drums – looking to put a modern twist on familiar sounds. With sharp, noisy guitars and quivering vocals all round, the tour harks back to…

Central Office of Information and Agnes Varda among DVD highlights

DVD boxsets roundup

3 Feb 2010

(15) 116min Director Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro) returns to the scene of one of his early successes with this feature film adaptation of the 1985 BBC television series that helped make his name. Mel Gibson (in his…

Christine Tobin & Liam Noble revisit Carole King’s Tapestry

3 Feb 2010

Carole King’s 1971 album Tapestry is one of the most successful singer-songwriter albums ever made. It stayed on the US charts for six years after its release, and has sold over 15 million copies. Almost every track is regarded as a classic, whether in…

Creative hub Central Station stage Dundee Pop-Up event

3 Feb 2010

Central Station is fast garnering a reputation as the essential online hub for artists, designers and filmmakers to share their work and forge creative partnerships. Now this artistic melting pot is putting together a special one-day event to the City…

Hot Chip’s Top Tips: Five of Their Favourite Tunes

3 Feb 2010

Hot Chip’s Top Tips: Five of their favourite tunes Joe Goddard ‘Set It Off’ by Strafe This is an 80s electro record produced by Walter Gibbons. It has a great minor key chorus which inspired the bassline for ‘Take It In’ on the new album. Al…

Karen’s Unicorn, Metropolitain and Mimi’s Kitchen amongst recent Glasgow and Edinburgh restaurant openings

3 Feb 2010

Karen’s Unicorn 8b Abercromby Place, New Town, 0131 476 2602, £13 (lunch/dinner) Having taken over the running of the long-standing Unicorn Inn at the quieter end of St Stephen Street, Karen’s Unicorn opened a second venue in late 2009 in the prominent…

Labels of Love: SL Records

3 Feb 2010

A treasured Edinburgh DIY imprint, SL Records has propagated local and global anti-folk, alt-rock and indie-pop since 1997. With ballboy, Misty’s Big Adventure and Saint Jude’s Infirmary among its dexterous alumni, SL’s current roster spans Withered…

Limmy and Rab, welcomed onto TV

3 Feb 2010

Are we actually in the midst of a halcyon period for Scottish telly comedy? Or is it easy to get carried away when, to use the vernacular of their main figureheads, two current shows aren’t actually pish. Ringing in the new is Limmy’s Show (BBC2, Mon…

Murray Grigor shot-for-shot remake set for Glasgow Short Film Festival

3 Feb 2010

The GFF short film strand contains some of the festival gems, writes Miles Fielder. ‘Short film is something of a catch-all term,’ says Matt Lloyd, co-curator of the Glasgow Short Film Festival and co-founder of Scotland’s independent shorts…

Sarah Millican

3 Feb 2010

The funniest woman in Britain? If you discount Iris Robinson, then surely there’s no contest. A couple of excellent Fringe shows under her Geordie belt, Ms Millican only started telling jokes in public when she split from her husband. And from there…

Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago

3 Feb 2010

(Matador) Texan indie outfit Shearwater don’t lack ambition, or for that matter, pretension. This album is the final instalment of a triptych of records about ‘environmental and personal decay and humans’ impact on nature’, apparently. How much it…

Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution

3 Feb 2010

Warmly welcomed into the exhibition space by Shane Waltener and Cheryl McChesney Jones’ colourful ‘Stepping and Stitching’ you might feel comfortable enough to take a seat and knit or knot a contributory piece to this collaboration between an artist and…

Valentine's Day: A night at One Devonshire Gardens

3 Feb 2010

I’ve always been suspicious of Valentine’s Day. It’s not that I’m not romantic, I just object to being told how, with what colours, and on what day I ought to be expressing my love. All that pink. All that expense. All that expectation. While I can see…

Valentine's Day: Gifts

3 Feb 2010

Finding the right gift for your Valentine is a fraught, potentially dangerous experience. Fortunately, The List’s own shopping agony auntie Kirstin Innes is here to help you cut through all the heart-shaped dross and find personalised presents Your…

Valentine's Day: Holidays from home

3 Feb 2010

Enjoy some Valentine’s Day decadence without being too irresponsible: book yourself into a central city hotel and you’ll still make it into the office the next morning. We round up some of the V-Day packages on offer The upper-class love in Howard…

Valentine's Day: Love letters to Edinburgh

3 Feb 2010

Dear Edinburgh. We love you. We sincerely do. You’ve given so much to us over the years, we felt we just had to say something – as did some of your more well known inhabitants. Here, an assortment of Edinburgh’s finest list the people, places and things…