Issue 561

All the King's Men

(12A) 127min

17 Oct 2006

DRAMA Sean Penn steps into Broderick Crawford’s Oscar winning shoes in a new adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s novel, which was inspired by the infamous Louisiana governor and Senator Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long: a politician so mired in corruption and…

An Hour and a Half Late

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 24-Sat 28 Oct

17 Oct 2006

SCOTTISH PREMIERE My father once gave me a piece of advice, the wisdom of which magnifies as the years pass. ‘Son,’ he said, ‘never try to get the last word in an argument with a woman - it’ll last the rest of your life.’ It’s a dilemma that Mel…

Beck - CD review

The Information (Geffen)

17 Oct 2006

Convenience is everything nowadays and there is a particular kind of music which nails the rumble of great hip hop to the insistency of great electro and squeezes the nonchalant twang of the blues up against the comely beauty of perfect folk music and…

Big Big World

The world at your feet

17 Oct 2006

This month, Big Big World returns to Glasgow. The well-established, and, to be fair, excellent series of live shows showcases talent from all around the world, this year’s attraction coming from Scotland, Iran, Canada, Cuba, India, the US and all over…

Children's Classical Concerts

Children's Classical Concerts</h3>

17 Oct 2006

CLASSICAL MUSIC Whether it’s the latest picture book by Julia Donaldson or a juicy storyline in EastEnders, we all love a good yarn. Young or old, a well-told narrative always hits the spot, but there are as many ways of delivering a story as there…

Colours Are Brighter - CD review

Colours Are Brighter

17 Oct 2006

INDIE FOR KIDS 1. Four Tet feat. Princess Watermelon ‘Go Go Ninja Dinosaur’ ‘My friend Douglas is a dinosaur expert. He’d love this! I like the voices.’ 5 stars 2. Rasputina ‘A Skeleton Bang’ ‘This would be good for Halloween. It makes me…

Curve Foundation

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Fri 20 & Sat 21 Oct

17 Oct 2006

CONTEMPORARY DANCE The Curve Foundation is the rainbow of the Scottish dance scene - rarely seen but well worth the wait when it finally arrives. The company has been creating quality dance for over eight years now, despite struggling to secure the…

Dispatch

The Dispatch

17 Oct 2006

There has always been manufactured pop. As soon as the business-types worked out that they could market music at all, that art form became fair game for exploitation by those who cared little for art. But in the past a high president in songwriting was…

Havoc

(18) 85min

17 Oct 2006

COMING OF AGE DRAMA Seemingly developed around Chomsky’s theory that ‘unlimited economic growth has the marvellous quality of stilling discontent while maintaining privilege’, Havoc is a film awash with promising ideas which its filmmakers proceed to…

History Boys, The

The History Boys

17 Oct 2006

WEST END TOUR There might be a couple of points of added interest to this reappearance of Alan Bennett’s 2004 classic on Scottish stages. The first of these has to be the recent release of the motion picture version of the play, directed here, as at…

Hitlist

The best comedy

17 Oct 2006

Rob Deering The manic chap with a nice line in musical analysis aims to rock your comedic world. The Stand, Edinburgh, Thu 19-Sat 21 Oct.

Hitlist

The best exhibitions

17 Oct 2006

Callum Innes - From Memory An excellent exhibition of abstract canvases painted by the Edinburgh-born artist. The paintings demonstrate a solid awareness of the history of abstract art, drawing on the best elements of abstract expressionism, post…

Hitlist

The best film & DVD releases

17 Oct 2006

Red Road Andrea Arnold’s voyeuristic Glasgow-set thriller stalks it’s way into cinemas. One of the best films of the year without a shadow of a doubt. Selected release from Fri 27 Oct.

Hitlist

The best books, comics and events

17 Oct 2006

Hitlist Jeremy Paxman The toughest talker on the BBC block gets all mouthy about the Royal Family. Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Thu 19 Oct.

Hitlist

The best rock, pop, jazz and folk

17 Oct 2006

King Creosote It may have been last year that his incredible KC Rules OK album came out but there’s still plenty who haven’t had the chance to catch Kenny Anderson’s joyous sound live. Now here’s the perfect chance. ABC, Glasgow, Sat 21 Oct. (Rock & Pop)

Hitlist

The best theatre and dance

17 Oct 2006

The Tempest The Tron Theatre Company’s first outing of the season is a return to Shakespeare’s enchanted island. Will Caliban be as harshly treated as ever, will Miranda still fall in love with the first adult male she meets, will Prospero still have…

Isobel Campbell - CD review

Isobel Campbell

17 Oct 2006

INDIE FOLK No sooner has Isobel Campbell collected a Mercury nomination for her Mark Lanegan-assisted Ballad of the Broken Seas album, than she’s back with a new record. A significant departure from Ballad, it’s a collection of traditional and…

Jason and the Argonauts

Gilmorehill G12, Glasgow, Thu 2-Fri 3 Nov, then to

17 Oct 2006

NEW WORK There’s something about myth that short circuits history and defines an immediacy almost regardless of the historical moment you’re in. These are stories told and retold through the ages that capture defining human dilemmas about love, war…

Marie Antoinette

Cherchez la femme

17 Oct 2006

Let her eat cake: Kaleem Aftab 4 stars Sofia Coppola proved with The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation that she’s incredibly adept at showcasing female alienation. In his book A Cinema of Loneliness Robert Kolker notes that not only are all the…

Mary Stuart

The History Girls

17 Oct 2006

There are a few moments in history where complex disseminations must be made about the personal and the political, where the particular personality of an individual might actually influence events which would otherwise chug along under their own mighty…

Mother Courage

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Fri 27-Sat 28 Oct, t

17 Oct 2006

CLASSIC Ask any critic, or for that matter, any regular theatregoer for their top ten pieces of political theatre, and surely all would put Brecht’s classic of war, gender and class up there. The reasons? Perhaps they’re far too complex and…

Music DVDs round-up

17 Oct 2006

The Police Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out (Universal) Police drummer Stewart Copeland carried a Super8 camera with him from the band’s inception and captured some 50 hours of footage to make a revealing fly on the wall film, which captures the…

One Hour Before Sunrise

Theatre Workshop, Edinburgh, until Sat 14 Oct

17 Oct 2006

NEW WORK Over 400 people of 35 different nationalities remain held without charge or trial at the infamous Guantenamo Bay. We’re just beginning to question the involvement of our government, whereas for some nations torture has long been an…

Peter Sellers Collection, The - DVD review

The Peter Sellers Collection

17 Oct 2006

COMEDY Master or monster? Idol or idiot? Genius or jackass? The debate still simmers upon which side Peter Sellers’ legacy should fall, but it would be a shame if his reel life was tainted by his clear failings as a husband or father. Just prior to…

Rambert

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Wed 25-Sat 27 Oct

17 Oct 2006

CONTEMPORARY DANCE There aren’t many octogenarians who can do the splits, leap high in the air or charge around at speed for thirty minutes flat. But then Rambert isn’t your average 80-year-old. The London-based dance company started life in 1926…

Remote Control

Brian Donaldson finds a slew of iconic women on th

17 Oct 2006

Honestly, you wade through acres of telly for one strong female to pop by and all of sudden you can’t bleedin’ move for them. This fortnight alone, we have a president, a high-ranking police chief, a notorious killer, the first celebrity chef and the…

Rough Cuts

Film news and giveaways for beautiful cineaste typ

17 Oct 2006

Don’t miss an early chance to see new Edinburgh-based feature film Night People. The film is actually not released until 3 November, but there will be a screening at Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Tuesday 31 October as part of the Reel 2006 season of recent…

Scottish Dance Theatre

Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 27 Oct

17 Oct 2006

CONTEMPORARY DANCE David Attenborough would be proud. Not only has Scottish Dance Theatre produced an accessible, fun and thought-provoking new work ?" but they do some pretty nifty animal impressions too. Watching the dancers stalk, strut and gambol…

Spare Snare

Garden Leave (Chute Records)

17 Oct 2006

POP FOLK Snow Patrol lead guy Gary Lightbody loves them. The List readers had them down as the 46th best Scottish band of all time. So, why are they still recording albums from home? Well, maybe they just like it that way. And there is indeed a lot…

Stage Whispers

17 Oct 2006

Whispers is sure you all know the feeling, and it gets more powerful as the winter months draw on. The one comfortable place to be is your pit, and as the weather gets colder, that superhuman effort it takes to haul your watusi into the cold needs to be…

Steg G & the Freestyle Master - CD review

Steg G & the Freestyle Master

17 Oct 2006

HIP HOP Regional hip hop is a natural progression from a style that was so specific to the streets of New York where Kool Herc originated it in the 70s. That said, it’s still a bit of a stretch to get your head around the concept of Glaswegian hip…

Stray Dogs

(12A) 93min

17 Oct 2006

DRAMA Samira Makhmalbaf’s At Five in the Afternoon can legitimately claim to have directly inspired two other films. Firstly, there was her sister Hana’s shrewd behind-the-scenes portrait Joy of Madness, and now her stepmother Marziyeh Meshkini’s…

Surface Noise

Music news that has bought Morrissey tickets alrea

17 Oct 2006

The just announced shows this issue include Morrissey at the SECC on 2 December, R&B soul man John Legend at Carling Academy on 19 December, gangsta rap numpties The Game at the same venue on 6 December, Lily Allen, Carling Academy, 8 March, My Chemical…

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

17 Oct 2006

A LIGGER'S GUIDE TO Surely Tennessee wasn’t his real name? No, he was born Thomas Larnier Williams. His pen name was originally a nickname accorded him by his college friends, who gently mocked him for his Southern Gentleman’s accent. He was…

Torchwood

BBC3, Sun 22 Oct, 9pm; BBC2, Wed 25 Oct, 9pm

17 Oct 2006

SCI-FI DRAMA It could all have been such a disaster. Revamping an old TV series tends to end in calamity and/or tedium (Randall and Hopkirk, The Basil Brush Show, The Price is Right for just three) but the all-new Doctor Who has defied nature and…

Ultimate Hammer Box Set, The - DVD review

The Ultimate Hammer Box Set

17 Oct 2006

HORROR That the words ‘Hammer’ and ‘horror’ are synonymous is testament to the British production company’s significance in cinema history and to the enduring appeal of the films it produced. Although Hammer Film Productions Ltd had been making films…

Capital developments

Edinburgh’s cultural life is set for further uphea

16 Oct 2006

After months of wrangling, the City of Edinburgh council’s planning committee has green-lit the £200 million ‘Caltongate’ development. The controversial proposal will see the area around the old New Street bus depot transformed to accommodate a new…

Eat, drink and be merry

16 Oct 2006

We all know how to organise a party. But what if you want to do something a little different, a little more ambitious than a piss up in your front room? We’ve put together a guide to the best party ideas, from great venues to amazing costumes. And to…

Edinburgh vigil for Politkovskaya

Amnesty to request investigation into death of Rus

16 Oct 2006

The Scottish branch of Amnesty International is to hold a vigil in memory of Anna Politkovskaya in the capital. The campaigning Russian journalist and tenacious critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead in the stairwell of her apartment earlier…

Grapevine

Plucking fruits from the culturla bush

16 Oct 2006

The hottest hotseat is showbusiness keeps on hotting up with fervent rumours about the replacement for Des Lynam in the reclining Countdown chair. Carol Vorderman is still refusing to be considered a candidate while Stephen Fry is the latest name to get…

Leech

Sucking the blood of popular entertainment

16 Oct 2006

Top entertainment and listings magazines might pulp entire rainforests trying to make you go organic. But when the Leech goes, it won’t be to the nutrients of the soil, it’ll be to the fridge freezer, stuffed behind the leftover bubble and squeak and…

New directions

Philip Howard, the longest-serving artistic direct

16 Oct 2006

As Philip Howard walks towards my booth in the far corner of the Traverse bar, I am reminded, not for the first time, of an Englishman abroad, at least in that sense that we foreigners are taught to think of them. There’s something undemonstrative…

No more multicoloured mud

It’s hard to please The List’s art critic, but one

16 Oct 2006

Is there a place for High Modernist Art in Scotland? Was there ever? ‘New York stole the idea of Modern art’, we are told hyperbolically by various writers, ‘and Scotland got left with the Scottish Colourists and their ilk.’

Vote for the best (and worst) Scottish singles

16 Oct 2006

That age-old, heated pub argument about whether the best seven-inch record to hail from north of the border is The Proclaimers’ ‘500 Miles’ or Andy Cameron’s ‘Ally’s Tartan Army’ is about to be definitively settled. Music website www.jocknroll.co.uk has…

Agatha Christie

Ripping yarns

12 Oct 2006

When The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published 80 years ago, the leftfield plot twist and unreliable narrator left her readers and the wider crime fiction community feeling betrayed. Only the tie-breaking vote of Dorothy Sayers prevented her from being…

Aim

Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Oct; King Tut’s, Gl

12 Oct 2006

ECLECTIC Having cut ties with the now defunct Manchester hip hop label Grand Central, Andy Turner as Aim has found a new creative freedom on his own ATIC Records. His new album Flight 602 furthers a journey into excitable syncopation and lush…

Billy Bragg

The Progressive Patriot (Bantam)

12 Oct 2006

SOCIAL HISTORY Billy Bragg has been so outspoken over the years that it comes as a surprise that this is his first ever book. Conceived as a reaction to the rise of the BNP in his hometown of Barking and the 7 July bombings, this is a heartfelt yet…

Calexico

12 Oct 2006

Residing as they were for many years, in a world where indie rock was the dominant music form around them, Joey Burns and John Convertino did well to resist, instead, digging themselves out a very particular groove with the ever evolving Calexico sound.

Classical hitlist

Hitlist

12 Oct 2006

Mr McFall’s Chamber Tribute to piper and fiddle player Martyn Bennett, who was a great friend of the group up until his death a year and a half ago. His hallmark combinations of electronic bass lines and beats with folk tunes, whether original or…

Dears, The

The Dears

12 Oct 2006

On first listen a band like The Dears sound so alarmingly familiar it’s worrying. They evoke the spirit of early Smiths, Blur and rosier periods of The Cure. It is easy to confuse this familiarity with unoriginality, in fact, despite sounding remarkably…