Issue 562

Photo blogging

24 hour photo

31 Oct 2006

YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr... you can’t take a stroll around the interweb without bumping into one of the giant, sprawling sites for user-created content. It’s the true essence of the net; you can put music, pictures, videos, writing or…

Rage

Have British TV execs run out of ideas? Judging by

30 Oct 2006

Slight returns There was a moment in the recent one-off revival of Cracker that spoke volumes about the character of Edward ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald. Back in the UK from Oz for his daughter’s wedding, he just couldn’t keep his chubby, gamble-stained hands…

Deborah Francois - profile

Profile

30 Oct 2006

Name Deborah François Born Liege, Belgium, 1987 Background As a 16-year-old schoolgirl, François attended an open casting for the Dardenne Brothers film The Child in her Belgian hometown. Ahead of 150 other hopefuls, she was given the role of…

The Page Turner

30 Oct 2006

Imagine a vintage Chabrol thriller set in the rarefied world of classical music and you’ll have a sense of this cleverly understated revenge drama from French writer-director Denis Dercourt, who is himself a professional musician. It begins with a…

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

30 Oct 2006

The poorly executed Ali G Indahouse seemed to stymie Sacha Baron Cohen’s big screen ambitions, yet Borat appears set to make him Hollywood’s new Peter Sellers. Forget that unsatisfying turn as Talladega Nights’ Gallic gay racing driver, because Borat…

Breaking and Entering

30 Oct 2006

Urban alienation among disillusioned middle-class thirtysomethings is a popular theme in film these days. In Anthony Minghella’s largely refreshing take on the subject, a number of disconnected individuals are connected or re-connected by a resolutely…

Night People

30 Oct 2006

To demolish Lord Byron’s quote for the purpose of puerile criticism - ‘Night People shows stars and women in a better light.’ Set over one cold October night (it is hinted that it may be Hallowe’en) in Edinburgh, writer/director Adrian Mead’s feature…

Nick Barley appointed director of The Lighthouse

30 Oct 2006

Nick Barley, the editor of The List, has been appointed director of The Lighthouse, Scotland’s National Centre for Architecture, Design and the City. Although adept at multi-tasking, even Nick is unable to take on these new responsibilities while…

Eros

30 Oct 2006

On paper the prospect of three internationally feted directors each contributing to a trilogy of half hour films about erotic love might seem an enticing prospect, but this portmanteau project veers from the sublime to the ridiculous. Wong Kar-wai…

Alasdair Roberts, Pumajaw and My Kappa Boots

Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Oct

30 Oct 2006

FOLK Among a particular breed of Scots folkie, Alasdair Roberts holds somewhat legendary status. His music is more precisely traditional than the updated styles of the Fence Collective-affiliated alt.folkers, yet - under his own name and as the…

Alice Bell

Tron, Glasgow, Thu 2-Sat 4 Nov

30 Oct 2006

NEW WORK Hope seems to be a commodity that much of our theatre is short of these days, particularly when there are political subtexts to be located in the work concerned. It’s gratifying then that the English company, Lone Twin, should venture into…

Be With Me

(12A) 93min

30 Oct 2006

ROMANCE Dominated by static shots, and sparse in dialogue, Singaporean director Eric Khoo’s third feature follows a frustrating arc which is resolved unevenly in the last half hour. Ostensibly it’s three intercut stories - Meant to Be, where an old…

Borat - interview

The cultural ambassador

30 Oct 2006

Borat Sagdiyev strides into the room, leans down and kisses me on both cheeks. His suit is unwashed and has been since he left his job as a spermatozoa extractor of camel. And it smells like it too.

Comic recovering after attack

30 Oct 2006

We at The List are relieved to hear that popular stand-up and regular host at Edinburgh’s The Stand, Bruce Devlin, is making a speedy recovery following a brutal, unprovoked attack by a group of teenagers. Devlin, who has won countless admirers as…

David Shrigley

Scrawl right

30 Oct 2006

It’s hard not to love the work of David Shrigley. Maybe it’s just the impatient scrawling, or his ability to capture the grotesque with stark monochrome. Or maybe it’s the fact that they can make you smile and feel sad at the same time.

Domino dancing in the streets

30 Oct 2006

Pet Shop Boys and Paolo Nutini to headline capital hogmanay celebrations. Words: Allan Radcliffe

Face to face

Alexander Kennedy is touched, terrified and tormented by a major new study of the face in contemporary photography.

30 Oct 2006

A face is a mask, is a lie. The face acts as a permeable membrane, a negotiated zone between the subject and the object, outside and in. In William A Ewing’s book Face: The New Photographic Portrait, we are presented with evidence of this postmodern…

Frozen

North Edinburgh Arts Centre, then touring until Sat 11 Dec

30 Oct 2006

SCOTTISH PREMEIRE From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s seriously scary child catchers, who genuinely haunted you as a child, to tragic real life news stories like that of Sarah Payne, which disturb you throughout adulthood, the subject of the suffering of…

Grapevine

Plucking fruits from the cultural bush

30 Oct 2006

A busy boy is old Brad Pitt these days. Among his many ongoing projects are a movie about Richard Nixon entitled Dirty Tricks in which he is joined by Sharon Stone, Jim Broadben t and Gwyneth Paltrow while Mr Jolie is also set to star in a movie version…

Hitlist

The best books, comics and events

30 Oct 2006

Rupert Everett The louche chap has been attacking Hollywood and Starbucks lately and is now swooping on our cities to chat about the business of show. Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thu 9 Nov; Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Mon 13 Nov.

Hitlist

30 Oct 2006

The best rock, pop, jazz and folk CSS, 1990s and The Rogers Sisters Wild, electro-charged Brazilians. ABC, Glasgow, Tue 7 Nov. (Rock & Pop) Read feature The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The great unsung 60s comic-pop madrigals return led by urban…

Hitlist

The best theatre and dance

30 Oct 2006

Frozen Michael Emans’ production for Rapture tells the story of a woman understandably obsessed with the loss of her child, and the serial killer who murdered her. Bryoney Laverey’s play examines the human side, perhaps surprisingly, of both characters.

Krisana (Fallen)

Krisana (Fallen)

30 Oct 2006

DRAMA Shot on digital video in high-contrast black-and-white, this uncompromising existential parable from German auteur Fred Kelemen (Frost, Abendland) concerns a lonely Latvian archivist Matiss (Egons Dombrovskis), who is consumed by guilt at…

Kristana - interview

Digital existential

30 Oct 2006

‘The starting point for Krisana was the atmosphere of the city of Riga. I’d spent time there in the past when I was teaching at the Latvian film academy. For me it was a place full of cinematographic images and very attractive, even if it was quite…

Laura Hird

Mum's the word

30 Oct 2006

The image of the self-obsessed author hammering away at their keyboard in pursuit of their own fame and fortune is not one which Laura Hird would readily recognise. While she may not have produced a book since Born Free in 1999, the Edinburgh writer has…

Leech

Sucking the blood of popular entertainment

30 Oct 2006

It’s been said of Glasgow recently, that ‘when the sun goes down, the feral boys come out’. And the Leech, for one, welcomes our new nocturnal rodent overlords. Readership of this column among Non-Educated Delinquents has ensured fewer List employees…

Man Push Cart

(15) 86min

30 Oct 2006

PORTRAIT/DRAMA If, as legendary CBS sportscaster Heywood Hale Broun (who, incidentally, died six days before 9/11) once proclaimed, ‘sweat is the cologne of accomplishment’, then Ahmad positively pongs. Between the New York refreshment cart, bootleg…

Mary Gauthier

30 Oct 2006

That her name is pronounced Go-Shay is only the first of many things wonderfully peculiar about this Louisana-born country singer. She was the definition of late starter in some senses, only recorded her first album at 35 but by then she had collected…

Me and My Girl

30 Oct 2006

If you’re in the mood to do the Lambeth Walk again, here’s your chance. This new touring production of the award winning musical includes such notables as Faye Tozer (formerly of Steps) and Sylvester McCoy (a past Dr Who) among its cast. All together…

Mother Courage

Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 28 Oct, then touring

30 Oct 2006

CLASSIC In 2005 war profiteer David H Brooks made headlines when he splashed out $10 million on a party for his daughter. Several months later his company, a supplier of body armour to the American military, was subject to investigation by the…

Northern Alliance

30 Oct 2006

Some bands can turn doing nowt into an art form. While their pal and (sorta) label mate King Creosote churns albums out like a Nike sweat shop spews forth Air Jordans, this Edinburgh trio have been decidedly snail-like in their work rate. Good things do…

Paper Nautilus, The

Paper Nautilus

30 Oct 2006

NEW WORK One can never cease to be amazed by the human capacity for projection. When we imagine creatures from outer space, they invariably seem hell-bent on our colonisation and destruction. This might tell us more about ourselves than any putative…

Richard Alston Dance Company

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Tue 14 Nov

30 Oct 2006

CONTEMPORARY DANCE A trip to see the Richard Alston Dance Company used to mean one thing - Richard Alston. Since its formation in 1994, the company only performed work choreographed by Alston himself. Which, given his crowd-pleasing style and…

Rough Cuts

Film news and giveaways for beautiful cineaste types

30 Oct 2006

New film course British Social Realism starts on Thursday 2 November, 6.30pm at GFT, Glasgow. Lecturer and journalist Andy Dougan will be looking at the origins, history and legacy of the British New Wave of the early 60s. The course comprises four…

Shadow of a Gunman, The

Under western minds

30 Oct 2006

There’s a good deal of talk about our right to free speech from contemporary politicians, yet to any thinking person the limits of this benefit in contemporary bourgeois democracy are self evident. We have the right to say what we wish, but only after a…

Stage Whispers

30 Oct 2006

Over the last few weeks, Whispers has detected a recurrent theme to many of the conversations that he's had in the various bars and foyers of the Scottish theatre. The Scottish Arts Council's policy of subsidising "artist based" work seems to be the…

Tim Richards' Great Spirit

30 Oct 2006

Pianist Tim Richards originally launched the nine-piece Great Spirit as a one-off project following the break-up of the long-running Spirit Level quintet, but the band was so well received that he has managed to keep it periodically active, both in the…

TV on the Radio

30 Oct 2006

Realistically, just how feasible is it to make music that sounds like a big odd looking dude who sounds like a gospel singer, jamming and chanting over beats that buzz like wasps and riffs culled from scratched up My Bloody Valentine and Kraftwerk…

Veils, The

The Veils

30 Oct 2006

Their new album Nux Vomica is pretty tremendous, the kind of record that calls to mind Nick Cave, Neil Hannon and Antony and the Johnsons - all possible influences, if truth be told, on this rakish fivesome. Theirs is a dark, dramatic indie wrapped in…

Mark Redpere - interview

Empire of the son

27 Oct 2006

Alexander Kennedy Can you describe some of the work that will be on show and some of the main themes?

Anna Barriball

The Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 28 Oct

27 Oct 2006

PHOTOGRAPHY, SCULPTURE AND INSTALLATION ‘Untitled (Wallpaper)’, Barriball’s first drawing on display here, is a heavy-handed graphite rubbing on tracing paper recently taken from the Ingleby Gallery’s wallpapered wall. This intimate relationship with…

Antiques Roadshow - The Next Generation

Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Sun 12 Nov

27 Oct 2006

TV SHOW Dig out your Star Wars figures, limited edition Barbies and Steiff Bears - the Antiques Roadshow is coming to town. Aimed at collectors and antique enthusiasts under 18, the Next Generation show is a special junior version of the popular BBC…

Artbeat

Gossip, chat and rumour from the gallery floor

27 Oct 2006

Here’s one for your Moleskin diaries: Abstract artist Sean Scully will be in conversation with Paul Bonaventura at the National Galleries of Scotland, Friday 17 November. The meeting of minds will take place in the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, from…

Cezary Bodzianowiski

Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, Sat 28 Oct-Sat 25 Nov

27 Oct 2006

PERFORMANCE, VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY Cezary Bodzianowski returns to Glasgow from his native Poland to exhibit works made in the city for his solo show. Although a relative stranger to the UK he previously exhibited in 2005 alongside Sue Tompkins and…

Graham Fagan - Closer

27 Oct 2006

Fagan’s work usually includes photographs, printed scripts, and video in his interactive installation. His new work creates narratives which initially appear fictitious, but examine social and historical facts.

Handmade

The Lighthouse, Glasgow, until Thu 7 Sep

27 Oct 2006

POSTERS Handtooled production is not immediately associated with advertising posters in our digital, branded world. This exhibition from the Zurich Museum of Design turns that idea on its head with striking images, from A4 to bus-shelter size…

Hitlist

27 Oct 2006

Lucy McKenzie - Ten Years of Robotic Mayhem (and sublet) This exhibition of paintings and drawings by the Scottish émigré presents an insight into the artist’s oeuvre. The works on show demonstrate McKenzie’s continuing love affair with Glasgow and…

Keith Farquhar - Drunken Maria

Keith Farquhar - Drunken Maria (14 Units)

27 Oct 2006

SCULPTURAL INSTALLATION Pat Fisher, the curator at the Talbot Rice Gallery, has managed to squeeze even more space for the best of contemporary art out of the two galleries and ornate passageway that are at her disposal. This month Edinburgh-based…

Lucy McKenzie

Goodbye Ms McKenzie

27 Oct 2006

It surely wont be long until Scotland sees a major retrospective of Lucy McKenzie’s career so far. The work chosen for her exhibition, Ten Years of Robotic Mayhem (and sublet) acts as an excellent selection of recent work from an oeuvre that continues…

Remote Control

Brian Donaldson finds some dramas are better at handling a crisis than others.

27 Oct 2006

While Channel 4 may have uncovered its new West Wing with Commander in Chief, and Sky One thinks that Bones has exorcised its X-Files ghost, every network on the radar is after its own 24. The State Within (BBC1, Thu 2 Nov, 9pm - 4 stars) is the closest…

Urs Fischer-Oh. Sad. I See.

27 Oct 2006

New works by the Zurich-born artist who creates precarious assemblages out of everyday objects. The works on show will include blocks of wood that have been screen printed with domestic debris.

Young Athenians

The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until Sun 12 Nov

27 Oct 2006

PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, INSTALLATION Both Edinburgh College of Art and The Embassy Gallery link the 17 or so artists in this eclectic exhibition. In the first, dark wood panelled, dimly lit room, a curious, uncomfortable atmosphere ensues. A…

Young@Yeart

More4, Mon 6 Nov, 9pm

27 Oct 2006

MUSIC DOCUMENTARY It’s easy to poke fun at or get annoyed with the old, what with their doddery, drooling, deaf ways and their less than exemplary table manners. So, it will come as a major shock to the most hard-hearted anti-senior that this…

The Prestige

26 Oct 2006

Given that Christopher Nolan displayed masterful slight-of-hand with the backwards-unspooling amnesia thriller Memento, he’s the perfect man to adapt Christopher Priest’s novel about a diabolical personal vendetta played out between rival stage…

Little Children

26 Oct 2006

It’s unusual in contemporary American cinema, or even books, to have a third person narrator. The use of one in Little Children immediately tells us that filmmaker Todd In The Bedroom Field has abandoned the minimalist references to Ozu with which he…

Dananananaykroyd

Tomorrow’s music today. This issue: Dananananaykro

26 Oct 2006

Exposure When you hear a song by most good new bands, it makes you keen to find out their name. In the case of Glasgow’s latest art-punk avengers, however, hearing their name only makes you desperate to find out whether they live up to it. Like an…

Classical hitlist

The best classical music and opera

26 Oct 2006

Classical hitlist Hebrides Ensemble and Scottish Dance Theatre: The Soldier’s Tale As part of the Scottish Arts Council’s Tune Up programme, Scotland’s foremost chamber group has joined with its dance equivalent to create an exciting tour of venues…

Scenes of a Sexual Nature

26 Oct 2006

Old school mates and new writing and directing team Aschlin Ditta and Ed Blum are to be congratulated for assembling an impressive cast, which includes Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo, Catherine Tate, Gina McKee, Hugh Bonneville, Adrian Lester and Mark…

Shappi Khorsandi

26 Oct 2006

STAND-UP Shappi Khorsandi hasn’t quite been on one of those legendary road to Damascus ventures (she’s of Iranian descent, not Syrian, for one thing), her jaunt Edinburgh-wards in August still represented something of a massive sea change. Not in the…

Miss Kittin

Profile

26 Oct 2006

Who? Miss Kittin Occupation Queen of female DJs Who the hell would call their daughter Miss Kittin? Obviously that’s not her real name. She was born Caroline Herv in 1973 in Grenoble. The Kittin bit first got an airing in 1994 when she played…

Five things you might not know about Little Britain

26 Oct 2006

1 After the first transmission of Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out in 1990, Matt Lucas was one of 17 callers to bombard the Channel 4 switchboard to complain about the show. A couple of editions later and he was hooked. All was clearly forgiven when Lucas was…

The Host

Monster Movie

26 Oct 2006

When some radioactive substance finds its way into the water supply, and a huge monster fish rises up out of the peaceful waters around Seoul, a local stallholder’s family is all that stands between imminent disasters. This likeable Godzilla-style…

Starter for Ten

26 Oct 2006

Brian (James McAvoy), a geeky student, finds love and fulfils an ambition to appear on University Challenge when he becomes the first member of his family to win a place at university in 1985. Leaving behind his best mates Spencer (Dominic Cooper) and…

Romanzo Criminale

26 Oct 2006

This mobster epic charting the rise and fall of a gang of street punks from Rome’s suburbs, who took control of the capital’s criminal underworld in the 1970s, owes a debt not only to Italian crime movies of the period, but also to Italian-American…

Joanna Newsom - Ys

26 Oct 2006

The team behind Joanna Newsom’s second LP is enough to make anyone tremble with anticipation: Van Dyke Parks arranged, Steve Albini produced, Jim O’Rourke mixed. In combination with her untouchable talent as a singer and harpist (her 2004 debut ‘The…

Wrestling

Grappletastic

26 Oct 2006

Wrasslin’ madness abounds, as World Wrestling Entertainment’s Smackdown and RAW events hit Glasgow. They’re sold out already, but the Pavilion Theatre is tagging itself into the ring with a night of American Wrestling in between. Gone are the days of…

Alex James

26 Oct 2006

The renowned Blur bassist, socialite and ligger Alex James brings his record collection up north as he guests at Pinup Nights. Expect a heady mix of influences from across the board, and just hope it’s better than his WigWam project with the delectable…

Alun Cochrane

26 Oct 2006

If you like your stand-up slow burning with the odd moment of boiling over into comedy scalding then this Glasgow-born Yorkshire wag is quite probably your man. He stormed our hearts with his bell-ringing tour de force in which he spoke fondly of his…

An Audience with Adrienne

Performer Adrian Howells catches up with his close (some say inseparable) friend, confidante and paragon of domesticity, Adrienne.

26 Oct 2006

Adrian It strikes me that you’ve spent most of your life trying to be somebody you’re not. You’re now 44 and I would have thought that you’d resolved your sense of identity, but it’s clearly not the case. Why do you think this is?

Art Brut

26 Oct 2006

5 REASONS TO GO SEE 1 They formed a band Formed a band! They formed a band! Look at them! They formed a band! Well, of course they did, but the point is that English art-terrorist punk-popsters also wrote a song about it, called ‘Formed a Band’, in…

Brakes - album review

Brakes

26 Oct 2006

INDIE What started as a Brighton scene side-project has become a serious proposition and on this showing, they’ve risen to the challenge. While Brakes’ debut was a spat-out country-punk fuck-you of a record, this more considered and diverse follow-up…

Cormac McCarthy

The Road (Picador)

26 Oct 2006

PHILOSOPHICAL DRAMA Cormac McCarthy has spent over 40 years examining human frailty, from the cowboy myths of his acclaimed Border Trilogy through the more contemporary concerns of last year’s No Country for Old Men. In his latest novel McCarthy…

Count Basie Orchestra

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 6 Nov; Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 7 Nov

26 Oct 2006

JAZZ Ken Ramage pulled off something of a coup when he secured an exclusive date for the Count Basie Orchestra at the Nairn Jazz Festival last year, but fans in the central belt now get their chance to catch up with one of the most famous groups in…

CSS

The party line

26 Oct 2006

Regular gig goers tend to think they’ve pretty much seen it all... but not where this hip, electro-punk sixsome are concerned. Their recent visit to the UK saw hysterical crowds in sold-out venues, face flying underwear, dress theft and excitable band…

Des Dillon

They Scream When You Kill Them (Luath)

26 Oct 2006

SHORT STORIES Writing this collection of shorts seems to have been an enjoyable experience for award-winning Scottish author Des Dillon, and the pages turn all the quicker for it. Gritty themes (violence, drugs, booze - actually, mostly booze) are…

Dispatch

The Dispatch

26 Oct 2006

Apparently it’s a television-commissioner’s nightmare fitting music programmes into a busy schedule, provoking the age-old quandary of whether music actually works on the box or not. Is it just an excuse for twitchy, channel hoppers to search out…

Drumming

Make your own kind of music

26 Oct 2006

It all starts with a bassline. Boom-ba boom-ba - the beat working itself into your hips, making you quicken your pace as you pass by; seeping through the sandstone of the Pleasance or the Annexe on certain evenings. It pulses over the Meadows, hustles…

Gaydar

News and events

26 Oct 2006

A new Scottish Executive initiative combating bullying in schools will involve LGBT Youth Scotland, the Edinburgh-based charity that works with young gay people. The Better Futures programme will be run in partnership with the Scottish Association for…

Hawk and a Hacksaw, A - album review

A Hawk and a Hacksaw

26 Oct 2006

AVANT GARDE FOLK Jeremy Barnes, late of Leicestershire and recently relocated back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, former drummer in the influential American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel, is a weirdo. And possibly a genius. His third album of…

Heroes

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 14-Sat 18 Nov

26 Oct 2006

WEST END TOUR There’s a certain genre of theatre which causes (I’m sure I’m not alone in this) one to think of one’s Mum mid show, and propels one home on a torrent of guilt about how long it is since she’s been phoned. These pieces usually feature…

Hitlist

The best events, talks and sport

26 Oct 2006

Cooking with Truffles Elizabeth Luard demonstrates the ultimate gastronomic experience, using recipes from her new book, Truffles, a fascinating and occasionally eccentric account of the pungent fungus. Includes a glass of wine and a selection of…

Hitlist

The best dancefloor action

26 Oct 2006

Modern Lovers Six years of soul, funk, jazz, Northern soul, ska and more form the Modern Lovers crew as they celebrate their birthday. Ego, Edinburgh, Fri 3 Nov.

Hitlist

the best comedy

26 Oct 2006

Tony Carter Along with his buddy Harry Ainsworth, our favourite ex-New Dealer cuts up a cabaret rug at the Snatch Social. The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Thu 2, 9, 16 Nov.

Ian Rankin

The Naming of the Dead (Orion)

26 Oct 2006

CRIME DRAMA Truculent DI Rebus is as familiar as an old pair of slippers these days, not least because of Ken Stott’s excellent recent portrayal on television. This latest escapade around Ian Rankin’s schizophrenic Edinburgh (the 17th Rebus book…

Jo Sacco

But I Like it (Fantagraphics)

26 Oct 2006

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/COLLECTION Containing some of the same material as previous Sacco collection Notes from a Defeatist, this new selection is a more focused attempt to archive and give order to the reams of material he amassed as a music mad young man who…

Manga

Bring the beat back

26 Oct 2006

One weekend later this month shall surely prove whether or not drum & bass is still the force to be reckoned with it once was north of the border. Unusually for Scotland, the genre once held greater sway in Edinburgh than it did in Glasgow, with the…

Martha @ Tramway/What Tammy Needs to Know

Tramway / CCA, Glasgow, both runs ended

26 Oct 2006

DANCE & THEATRE Glasgay’s live strand begins with two meditations on the nature of performance: one a more direct essay, and the other reflected through the prism of an homage to a great figure in contemporary dance. Each is warm and appealing, yet…

Mischief Night

(15) 93min

26 Oct 2006

COMEDY/DRAMA Mischief Night falls on 4 November and is when the occult has traditionally been celebrated in Yorkshire and children are given carte blanche to play tricks on adults. Kimberly (Holly Kenny) doesn’t know who her father is and his…

Morgan's Spiced on Tour

Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 3 Nov; Arches, Glasgow, Thu 10 Nov

26 Oct 2006

LATIN/DISCO/HOUSE OK, as much as this hack might feel like getting on his high horse about cynical advertising ploys and corporate appropriation of the arts, if you’re going to buy into any marketing stunt this month it probably should be this one.

Music Show Demo Competition Playoff

The Music Show Demo Competition Playoff

26 Oct 2006

BATTLE OF THE BANDS Call it a low rent X-Factor, or a high end Battle of the Bands, this showdown event offered entrants a unique opportunity. Of over 100 bands that submitted demos to BBC1 Scotland’s The Music Show, five were selected to play a…

Nabiel Kanan

The Drowners (Image)

26 Oct 2006

CRIME The US has the crime comic market sewn up with titles such as Stray Bullets and 100 Bullets. But this London-set, noir-styled murder mystery draws fine comparison with its Transatlantic cousins. UK writer-artist Nabiel Kanan’s fourth graphic…

Paul Auster

Travels in the Scriptorium (Faber)

26 Oct 2006

METAPHYSICAL DRAMA On the surface, Travels in the Scriptorium takes place in a small room with no means of escape. Its occupant, a confused old man known only as Mr Blank, finds even the most mundane tasks problematic. The who, where and why of…

Pharcyde, The

The Pharcyde

26 Oct 2006

HIP HOP For many, the golden age of hip hop came and went in the early 1990s when the pioneering East Coast Native Tongues (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul) eschewed the Gangsta rap of macho posturing and opted instead to emphasize messages of unity…

Rosenkavalier, der

A boy’s own story

26 Oct 2006

She’s in her early 30s, a married aristocrat, and he’s a fairly posh 17-year-old. They are in love, and as the curtain opens to a sumptuous bedroom scene, they are clearly having a passionate affair. So far, so dramatic. But, this is opera, so the…

Sarah Miller

Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn (Bloomsbury)

26 Oct 2006

TEEN FICTION The premise of the book is interesting enough: for some unexplained reason a nameless female finds herself with full access to the confused mind of one Gideon Rayburn. Young Gid is just starting at an expensive prep school and the…

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

City Halls, Glasgow, Fri 10 Nov; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 11 Nov

26 Oct 2006

LITERARY ADAPTATION Not normally thought of as a writer, the fourth Doctor Who’s somewhat grotesque short novel The Boy Who Kicked Pigs is the basis of the SCO’s commission from Irish-born composer Brian Irvine. While Tom Baker’s tale is not for the…

Skygreen Leopards - album review

Skygreen Leopards

26 Oct 2006

FOLK-COUNTRY Ever heard a record which somehow seemed less than the sum of its parts? That’s the inescapable feeling when listening to Skygreen Leopards. Across this record are spread gently strummy country melancholy, whispering psychedelic folk and…

Sweet Bird of Youth

Dundee Rep, until Sat 11 Nov

26 Oct 2006

CLASSIC Ladies, step this way. If you’re up for a sexual thrill, just check out the opening act of Tennessee Williams’ magnificent Sweet Bird of Youth and see Alan Turkington preening around in his pyjama bottoms, flexing his clean shaven chest and…

Tapes'n'Tapes

Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Mon 6 Nov

26 Oct 2006

INDIE On hearing the words ‘eclectic’, ‘experimental’ and ‘intelligent’ to describe a US indie act, one would generally imagine their CDs more likely to be tucked away on a dusty import shelf rather than David Letterman demanding they make their…

Tempest, The

The Tempest

26 Oct 2006

CLASSIC Forgiveness is perhaps the toughest emotional business we can undertake in life. It must occur in order for us to move on, yet it sometimes takes a strength, proportionate to the offence committed, that’s greater than our resources. In Paddy…