Issue 564

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art chief quits

7 Dec 2006

Richard Calvocoressi, director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, is leaving to become director of the Henry Moore Foundation.

Arab Strap

Belt up

28 Nov 2006

OBITUARY It’s September 1996. A message is being left for me by Arab Strap’s Malcolm Middleton. ‘One of us looks a bit like Chris Evans, the other looks like, em, Tony Slattery.’ As a means of setting up a face-to-face interview with people I’ve…

Leith chefs

Galloping gourmet

28 Nov 2006

Chef Tony Borthwick has uprooted his Michelin-starred restaurant The Plumed Horse from Galloway and is re-opening it in Leith. In the process he’s confirmed Leith’s status as one of the hottest culinary spots in Britain. Barry Shelby meets the man who’s…

Insider our readers' homes

Inside I'm Dancing

28 Nov 2006

What do our homes say about us? Out of town furniture stores may be cheap and easy, but most people want to avoid an identikit approach to interior design. We had a hunch that there’s a maverick spirit in Scotland’s approach to home-making, and we…

Rave - Robert Altman

Rave - by Donald Hutera

28 Nov 2006

Actors all over Hollywood - and more than a few in Britain, no doubt - were probably counting their retrospective blessings last week, or cursing their bad luck. In the first category are those with the good fortune to have appeared in a film by the…

Leech

Sucking the blood of popular entertainment

28 Nov 2006

Skulking in an underground bunker, monitoring Chinese satellites and decoding Tom and Katie’s wedding vows in all known languages and intergalactic dialects for clandestine instructions to destroy Hollywood, the Leech has little time for conspiracy…

Glasgow artists' studios expand

Guerilla tactics

28 Nov 2006

Studio Warehouse, the exciting, innovative arts facility in Glasgow’s West End, which offers open plan studios for rent to local artists, has already established itself as a jewel in the cultural cityscape. Run by visual artist and curator Mutley, it…

Artists unite to tackle child abuse

28 Nov 2006

Edinburgh artists have donated work to an exhibition and auction aimed at tackling child abuse in the captial and across the Lothians. More than 20 pieces are currently being exhibited at Sofi’s Bar on Henderson Street in Leith - which is well known for…

Remote Control - TV round-up

Remote Control

27 Nov 2006

Yes, but is it art? This is the question that the good people of Margate are asking with both their mouths and their eyes as Antony Gormley creates his latest controversy. But rather than the constant Geordie reminder that is his Angel of the North…

Pantos

Psychorella

27 Nov 2006

Well, we’ve only ourselves to blame. If we, as adults, persist in dragging our children along to pantos and Christmas shows, what grounds do we have to complain that they turn out to be twisted and violent? The stories themselves seem to display an…

Scottish Mining Museum

Life at the coal face

27 Nov 2006

There’s a yellow canary called Bev that lives in a well-appointed cage at the Scottish Mining Museum. He’s been there five years, and is named in honour of Ernest Bevin, Minister for Labour during World War II. Bevin’s the one who decided that 10% of…

Wild Japan - Outlaw Masters

Nippon rising

27 Nov 2006

Wild Japan: Outlaw Masters is a BFI Touring programme of twelve of the most extraordinary films you may ever have the chance to see. This selection of Japanese cult films made between 1963 and 1977 covers most bases, from westerns to gangster and…

Thomas Pynchon

Silent witness

27 Nov 2006

T is for Tinasky Wanda Tinasky was a bag lady living under a bridge in Northern California who wrote witty correspondence to a local paper during the 1980s. Rumour was rife that Thomas Pynchon was behind the letters, but more prominence has been given…

Masters of Horror Series 1: Volume

(18) 1684min (Anchor Bay UK DVD retail/rental)

27 Nov 2006

HORROR Whenever a compendium of horror films comes along, you know you’re in for a mixed bag. Even the old Amicus portmanteaus tended to contain at least one duff entry. These new one-hour films from some of the supposed greatest directors working in…

Heroes

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, until Sat 2 Dec

27 Nov 2006

WEST END TOUR Perhaps the thing that haunts most of us about old age is the fear of loneliness. The need to create human bonds, and the fear that poverty and isolation will prevent this is something demonstrated in our own society each time we see an…

Stranger Than Fiction

27 Nov 2006

We’re so used to Will Ferrell playing the crazed maniac that it’s a pleasant surprise to see that he can play the straight guy equally well. He’s Howard Crick, a taxman with an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder whose life is turned upside down when he hears…

London to Brighton

27 Nov 2006

‘One year they wanted my ho to be a poster girl... for birth control.’ Jackson Brown, US comedian, pimp. It’s just after 3am in a rundown London toilet and seasoned prostitute Joanne (Georgia Groome) is trying to console a tearful young girl…

Stage Whispers - theatre news and views

Stage Whispers

27 Nov 2006

For those of you in despair at the lack of theatre other than pantos and Christmas shows at this time of the year, Whispers has glad tidings. If you look long and hard enough, you’ll find that other kinds of theatre are still out there, if largely…

Planting the Tele

Mary Mary, Glasgow, from Sat 25 Nov-Sat 13 January

27 Nov 2006

INATALLATION, FILM AND WORKS ON PAPER Glasgow has seen very little of Hayley Tompkins of late, but she has returned in a curatorial capacity in Planting the Tele at Mary Mary Gallery, bringing together new work by seven artists: Anne-Marie Copestake…

Dispatch - Vic Galloway

The Dispatch

27 Nov 2006

It’s time once again to approach our impending festive doom! Yes, Christmas is upon us and has been so since the Hallowe’en decorations came down. What does this mean for the world of music? A morass of greatest hits compilations, that’s what. Do we…

Ingmar Bergman Collection - DVD review

The Ingmar Bergman Collection

27 Nov 2006

BOX SET For a filmmaker who’s recently denounced Godard as a ‘desperate’ bore, Welles as a ‘phoney’ and Antonioni as someone who never learned his craft, Bergman wouldn’t make much of a critic. But how does he compete with the people he condemns?

Artbeat - art news

Artbeat

27 Nov 2006

Don’t let that artist near those scissors! We’ve all seen artist homemade hair-dos, hacked, feathered and blunt-scissored monstrosities, well Hairwaves FM - 87.7FM brings artists and designers together to celebrate good and bad examples of hairdressing…

Big Nothing

(15) 85min

27 Nov 2006

Sometimes things just don’t work out. Particles and elements shift and design gets de-railroaded. That’s how you end up with a koala bear instead of a kangaroo or in this case a Big Nothing instead of Blood Simple or Fargo Big Nothing is a smalltown…

Film Books for Christmas

27 Nov 2006

The Films of Tod Browning Bernd Herzogenrath (Black Dog Publishing) Stimulating and fascinating collection of essays about, and stills from, the films of the ‘Edgar Allan Poe of cinema’. Browning’s films, from Freaks, Dracula, The Unholy Three to Devil…

Green Whale

Traverse Theatre, Thu 7-Sun 24 December

27 Nov 2006

KIDS THEATRE Panto season may be amongst us, but one woman is making sure there’s a viable alternative in at least two of our theatres. Virginia Radcliffe and her Lickityspit theatre company will be taking up residence at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

27 Nov 2006

James Yorkston, Popup and Yellow Bentines Launching a season of gigs called VERSAcoustic, three damn fine pop practitioners get acoustic on our asses. The Goat, Glasgow, Wed 6 Dec. (Rock & Pop) More details

Ricky Gervais Show, The

The Ricky Gervais Show

27 Nov 2006

CD The massive success of Ricky Gervais has occasionally been a bemusing thing. For every single episode of sheer genius that was The Office, there remains the dank memory of his ‘stand-up’ ‘career’. As excellent as the majority of Extras has been…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

27 Nov 2006

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Adrian Noble’s theatre version of Ian Fleming’s at times slightly disturbing children’s story was born in controversy but went on to triumph. After a few years selling out the West End, this is Scotland’s first chance to see what…

Editors of Life, The

The Editors of Life

27 Nov 2006

PHOTOJOURNALISM A picture, as the hoary old cliché runs, paints a thousand words. If that’s the case, then there may not be enough of them in all the languages of the world to cover the stories featured in LIFE magazine down the years. Created in…

Northern City (Between Light and Dark) - Group Show

Northern City (Between Light and Dark) - Group Sho

27 Nov 2006

INSTALLATION, SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM With increasing contemporary interest in Edinburgh’s role as the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment, this new exhibition hopes to examine how the capital played a major role in the birth of…

Surface Noise - music news

Surface Noise

27 Nov 2006

Indian Summer is to return! The festival will be back in September 2007 after this year’s adventures with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Antony and the Johnsons. We will have all the details of the line-up when it gets confirmed.

Do I Mean Anything to You or Am I Just Passing By?

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended

27 Nov 2006

NEW WORK Urban alienation is something so familiar to contemporary experience that we seldom even notice it these days. Yet when in manifests itself in art, there’s something compelling about a close focus on single voices articulating the dilemma of…

Catherine Sullivan

CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Jan 2007

27 Nov 2006

FILM INSTALLATION LA-based artist Catherine Sullivan’s films attempts to reveal the psychic glue that holds the subject together and binds it to society. By re-staging a highly charged traumatic event in her film ‘Ice Floes of Franz Joseph Land’…

Tom Waits - album review

Tom Waits

27 Nov 2006

UNCLASSIFIABLE When the BBC were planning their resurrection of Jackanory, Tom Waits may well have been on the longlist of proposed readers. But maybe they got wind of his disturbing night-time terror ‘Children’s Story’ and revoked the invite. Like…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

27 Nov 2006

Billy Bragg Barking’s favourite son ventures north to chat about The Progressive Patriot in which he tells of the pride and shame he feels as an Englishman. Waterstone’s, Glasgow, Tue 5 Dec. More details

Sir Kenry at Rawlinson End - DVD review

Sir Kenry at Rawlinson End

27 Nov 2006

SPOOF/COMEDY Confoundedly eccentric, inordinately shambolic and downright hilarious, this one-of-a-kind British cinema oddity plays like a collaboration between Luis Buñuel and the Monty Python team. It’s actually the fever dream of Vivian Stanshall…

Shortbus - review

Shortbus

27 Nov 2006

GRAPHIC ROMANCE Part love letter to New York and part exploration of the birth, sustenance and death of intimate relationships, Shortbus is replete with graphic, unsimulated scenes of all combinations: men, women, men and women, threesomes, group…

The US vs John Lennon

27 Nov 2006

This incisive and engrossing documentary is both a portrait of the former Beatle as political activist and a slice of secret history from America’s recent past. It follows its subject from 1966-76, the heady years during which Lennon left The Beatles…

Shortbus

27 Nov 2006

Part love letter to New York and part exploration of the birth, sustenance and death of intimate relationships, Shortbus is replete with graphic, unsimulated scenes of all combinations: men, women, men and women, threesomes, group sex. But unlike…

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Playhouse, Edinburgh, Sat 2 Dec-Sat 24 Feb 2007

27 Nov 2006

MUSICAL The idea of a mechanism as the star of a show might have seemed a bizarre notion a few generations ago. Only since the Futurists began their ambivalent relationship with technology early last century has art substantially changed, perhaps as…

Music books for Christmas

27 Nov 2006

Pet Shop Boys Catalogue Philip Hoare and Chris Heath (Thames & Hudson) Popists, design heads and PSB completists alike will drool at this visual documentary of the output the greatest pop duo ever to have walked God’s clean earth.

Amphetameanies, The - album review

The Amphetameanies

27 Nov 2006

SKA There are clearly not enough nonets around these days (in fact how bloody great a word is ‘nonet’ anyway?) and the ‘Meanies do things at their own pace (leisurely) and in their own style (boisterous). Among their current fold are Mick from Belle…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

27 Nov 2006

Glasgow on Ice A chance to perfect your pirouettes as George Square’s open air ice rink returns. George Square, until Sun 24 Dec. More details Click here to win free tickets.

Olga the Brolga

North Edinburgh Arts Centre, until 16 December

27 Nov 2006

KIDS DANCE Andy Howitt couldn’t believe his luck when he read Rod Clements’ storybook, Olga The Brolga. Not only did it give the artistic director of YDance a cracking story to adapt, but one of the characters goes to ‘Club Tropicana’. Cue George…

Olga the Brolga

North Edinburgh Arts Centre, until 16 December

27 Nov 2006

KIDS DANCE Andy Howitt couldn’t believe his luck when he read Rod Clements’ storybook, Olga The Brolga. Not only did it give the artistic director of YDance a cracking story to adapt, but one of the characters goes to ‘Club Tropicana’. Cue George…

Unknown White Male - DVD review

Unknown White Male

27 Nov 2006

DOCUMENTARY Having lost touch with his pal Douglas Bruce, now a successful New York stockbroker, word came to Rupert Murray that Bruce had woken up one day with his previous 37 years wiped from his memory. Having fended off other interested parties…

Rough Cuts

Film news to keep you amused

27 Nov 2006

The Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust are calling on young people across Scotland to raise awareness of the hidden problem of dating abuse by making short films that explore the issue. The winning films will be shown at Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Mon 5 Mar…

Soweto Kinch - album review

Soweto Kinch

27 Nov 2006

JAZZ Saxophonist Soweto Kinch has already picked up several awards and a lot of attention in his brief career. The Birmingham-born saxman-cum-rapper has never seemed short on ambition, and this latest project is no exception. Subtitled Tales of the…

Classical music books for Christmas

27 Nov 2006

Mozart in the Jungle Blair Tindall Given the passion that runs through classical music, maybe it’s not surprising that American oboist Tindall should be able to write Mozart in the Jungle, a story of what might happen when young musicians find…

Acoustic Ladyland - album review

Acoustic Ladyland

27 Nov 2006

JAZZ PUNK Propulsive, compulsive, repulsive, impulsive and explosive; Acoustic Ladyland aren’t your average band, but then this isn’t your average record. Pete Wareham and his associates’ mutual dislike of the expected conventions of jazz music has…

Dead or American - album review

Dead or American

27 Nov 2006

ROCK On listening to this record, it’s hard not to be struck by the senses of narcissism, rage and rough humour which accompany it. In fact, you might even suspect that this lot are from Dundee on such evidence alone. Anyway, Dead or American are…

Steve Reich - album review

Steve Reich

27 Nov 2006

CONTEMPORARY Steve Reich’s Different Trains is one of the classic compositions of the late 20th century. The original Kronos Quartet recording remains the benchmark in terms of sheer energy and visceral punch, but this new recording by the Duke…

Cradle of Filth - album review

Cradle of Filth

27 Nov 2006

METAL There will always be a place in the history of metal for Cradle of Filth. They’ve been reliably upsetting our self imposed moral guardians since their inception. However, this is Cradle’s main problem - as an idea they’re like a bolt from the…

Junction Pool - album review

Junction Pool

27 Nov 2006

FOLK This young Borders ensemble was inspired by the example of The Unusual Suspects, and their own attempt at creating a folk big band packs plenty of energy and punch. The 13-strong ensemble of young musicians is led by pianist Harris Playfair, and…

Idan Raichel Project, The - album review

The Idan Raichel Project

27 Nov 2006

WORLD The brainchild of Israeli keyboardist and producer Idan Raichel, his Project sees a group of over 70 albums contribute to this one cross-genre record. Already a huge pop success in his home country, Raichel seems to almost make a point of…

Dan Sartain - album review

Dan Sartain

27 Nov 2006

ROCK After the rocking good time garage punk, mamba and rockabilly workouts on Dan Sartain Vs The Serpientes this follow up is slightly disappointing. But then the boy from Birmingham, Alabama did set the bar impossibly high with his superb debut.

Pavement - album review

Pavement

27 Nov 2006

INDIE This sprawling reissue of Pavement’s least accessible album is entirely in keeping with the indie doyens’ chaotically scattershot attitude to their craft. The original 18 tracks of the album are now thrown in with another 32 tunes spread over…

Luxembourg - album review

Luxembourg

27 Nov 2006

INDIE SCHMINDIE Sitting as comfortably in the mid-90s as a Queen Anne chair in Morrissey’s parlour, or a La-Z-Boy in Martin Rossiter’s boudoir, Front is a curious period piece. Neglecting to take on board that Mozza gets away with muscular pub-rock…

Spanky Wilson and The Quantic Soul Orchestra

27 Nov 2006

Future jazzists The Quantic Soul Orchestra are joined by one of the sweetest soul voices around. On the scene since the 60s Ms Spanky Wilson has recorded with everyone that matters from the legendary Marvin Gaye to the equally legendary Sammy Davis Jr.

Partick Folk Festival

27 Nov 2006

Turn right at the bottom of Byres Road, past the Lismore Bar and you’re nearly at the Annexe - the hub of Partick’s annual little gem of a folk festival. From jazzy bagpipes to ancient song tradition, in concert and workshop. there’s music for all, and…

Duels

27 Nov 2006

There’s been a lot of chat about the Nu-Yorkshire scene the last couple of years, and Duels are one of those bands that have put Leeds on the pop pickers map. Indie pop that shares as much with The Divine Comedy as with the likes of Syd Barrett-era Pink…

Tommy Smith and Arild Andersen

27 Nov 2006

This collaboration between Scotland’s leading jazz saxophonist and one of the great names in Norwegian jazz, bassist Arild Andersen (pictured), first saw the light of day at the Islay Jazz Festival a couple of years ago, and gets a further airing here.

Close

27 Nov 2006

A weekend-long event comprising performance, art objects and installation to take place in tenement closes over the first weekend of December (-3). The artists involved hope to create relationships with fellow residents by introducing them to their…

Sarah Cameron

27 Nov 2006

An exhibition of landscape and seascape paintings by the Edinburgh-based artist, showing work inspired by Cameron’s recent travels from the North of Scotland to Greece and Iran.

Christine Borland

The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Sat 2 Dec-Sun

23 Nov 2006

SCULPTURE INSTALLATION A mid-career retrospective of Christine Borland’s work has been awaited on home turf for sometime - mainland Europe having seen retrospectives in the late 90s. So, a review, in the capital, arrives with great anticipation…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

23 Nov 2006

Christine Borland A mini retrospective of work by the highly influential environmental and installation artist. Borland’s aesthetic draws on scientific subject matter, emphasizing the fragility of the human state that science serves. The Fruitmaket…

Off the Wall

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Sat 9 Dec

23 Nov 2006

SCULPTURAL INSTALLATION Off the Wall - Group Show The guiding curatorial principle of this show is to demonstrate how contemporary artists have removed their art from the gallery walls and plinths and relocated it on the floor or ceiling or…

Manhattan

(12A) 95min

23 Nov 2006

In 1979 at the age of 44 years old Woody Allen made his one true masterpiece. Wonderfully enjoyable films - Take the Money and Run, Bananas, Love and Death and Annie Hall were behind him and there was much to follow. But in Manhattan Allen briefly…

Will Smith

23 Nov 2006

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT... 1 He has to be one of the tallest men in comedy. Weirdly, his PR man also handles Alun Cochrane and Reginald D Hunter, who are very far from shrinking midgets themselves. 2 His big TV break came with Channel…

Comedy books for Christmas

Brian Donaldson nominates some top titles

23 Nov 2006

Norma Farnes Box 18: The Unpublished Spike Milligan (HarperCollins) Named after the file into which the Goon would stick his ideas, this loving biog comes from his long-suffering agent.

AA Gill

Previous Convictions (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

23 Nov 2006

COMIC TRAVELOGUE Enthusiastic wildlife-slayer, owner of a canary yellow Bentley, close friend of Jeremy Clarkson: AA Gill is enough to give the more mung bean-minded a coronary. Indeed, after a foreword encomium to criticism, he begins Previous…

Elfriede Jelinek

Greed (Serpent’s Tail)

23 Nov 2006

SOCIAL DRAMA Like Austrian feminist writer Elfriede Jelinek’s novel The Piano Teacher, Greed has taken almost five years to be translated. This, however, probably has more to do with our penchant for feelgood celebrity literature than the contempt…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

23 Nov 2006

Howard Read Not sure whether he will be trotting up here with his pal Little Howard, but if you ask him nicely he might even draw something. The Stand, Edinburgh, Thu 7-Sat 9 Dec. More details for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Have a look at some of…

Douglas Gordon

The dark arts

22 Nov 2006

Just days before Halloween, the exterior lights of the Royal Scottish Academy were switched from white to red, casting a warning beacon to the city that something dramatic and uneasy was afoot. Five huge black posters were unfurled over the façade…

Singles and Downloads

22 Nov 2006

This issue’s singles and downloads rundown begins not with a bang but a whimper. Babyshambles ’ ‘The Blinding EP’ (Regal - 2 stars) was set to be Britain’s most famous junkie’s return to form, and, in parts, his talent still flickers through. Sadly it…

US Vs John Lennon, The - David Leaf profile

Profile

22 Nov 2006

Name David Leaf Born New Rochelle, New York Background Leaf began his career as a New York City based news and sports reporter, but moved to Los Angeles where he became an Emmy award-winning writer-producer-director of music culture shows for…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

22 Nov 2006

Cathouse 16th Birthday Brace yourself to emerge richer tonight. Rumour has it that the management are throwing real cash to the tune of £1000 at the punters to celebrate. Cathouse, Glasgow, Fri 1 Dec.

Nick Warren

22 Nov 2006

PROFILE Occupation Legend on the trance and progressive house circuit; one of the UK’s original superstar DJs/producers and former tour DJ to fellow Bristolians Massive Attack. Where did he come from? Warren moved to Bristol in the mid-80s as a…

Shit Robot

Nothing at all to do with Glasgow’s own New Rave a

22 Nov 2006

EXPOSURE Yet more semi-retro lo-fi NYC cool for us to marvel at, you say? Not entirely, Shit Robot have more of a long-distance relationship with their label. Marcus Lambkin (the man behind the Robot) is originally from Dublin, yet left his…

* Classical music hitlist

Classical music hitlist

22 Nov 2006

Reed Between the Lines As part of a drive to promote and celebrate the oboe and bassoon, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra gives a series of Glasgow concerts with these two instruments taking pride of place. Complementing the starry players, such as…

Mika

Nice'n'Sleazy, Glasgow, Fri 17 Nov 6

22 Nov 2006

POP First mentioned in the same places as fellow quirk-pop doyens Lily Allen and The Pipettes, it’s unlikely that the Beirut-born, London-raised Mika will be playing many more venues as intimate as Sleazy’s. As he played here, he was also making his…

Comic - Will Eisner

Will Eisner

22 Nov 2006

COLLECTION The rediscovery of the mighty Will Eisner continues with this lovingly bound collection of more New York stories. Out of the four sections, there are actually only two graphic novels here - The Building and Invisible People. The former, is…

Candy

22 Nov 2006

Split into three parts, entitled ‘Heaven’, ‘Earth’ and ‘Hell’, (a nod to Dante’s Inferno, Candy details the episodic descent of wannabe poet and intravenous heroin user Dan (Heath Ledger) after he falls in love with aspiring artist Candy (Abbie…

Club books for Christmas

22 Nov 2006

Warp (Labels Unlimited) Rob Young (Black Dog) Young charts the history of one of the most influential labels in dance music history. Warp has almost become a genre within itself offering a safe haven for artists such as Aphex Twin, LFO and Maxïmo Mark.

Comic - Jim Krueger, Alex Ross & Doug Braithwaite

Justice (DC/Titan)

22 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO The creators of Earth, Universe and Paradise X reunite (with Braithwaite providing pencil base for Ross’ glorious painted panels) for another heavily religious, wholly apocalyptic adventure involving DC’s greatest heroes and villains. This…

Comic - Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi

22 Nov 2006

BIOGRAPHY Having recounted the story of her own life in Persepolis, Iranian cartoonist Marjane Satrapi here tells the tale of the strange death of her great uncle, Nasser Ali Khan. By all accounts Khan was a world-class musician, and by Satrapi’s he…

Comic - Brian K Vaugh & Niko Henrichon

Brian K Vaugh & Niko Henrichon

22 Nov 2006

WAR Taking inspiration from the real fate of the animals at Baghdad Zoo during the recent US invasion (sorry ‘liberation’) of Iraq, a pride of lions escape after a round of bombing destroys much of the zoo. They set off across the man-made wasteland…

Norman Jay

22 Nov 2006

A lot is made of Norman Jay’s MBE (awarded on merit for ‘DJing and services to music’), but it’s the music that counts, and that’s just why Headspin have booked him. One of the founders of Kiss FM (in its pirate days) and regarded by many as the…

Paul Oakenfold

22 Nov 2006

Colours continue to bring the big names to the table as they secure the talents of Paul Oakenfold to kick off December’s club calendar. He’s helped shape the world of clubbing, hugely popular as a DJ and for his Perfecto record label, he’s crossed over…

Darren Emerson

Underwater love

21 Nov 2006

Even with the remarkable success of his Underwater label it’s hard to think of Darren Emerson without thinking of Underworld. The deep tech-dub that Emerson brought to Underworld took them from indie-pop almost rans to festival slaying beat…

Magic Numbers

If it ain’t broke . . .

21 Nov 2006

There are probably precious few things that cause more conflict in this world than: a) sibling discord and b) inter-band rivalry. Armed with this kernel of thought, I assure Magic Numbers bassist and singer Michele Stodart (half of one of the two…

Shortbus - interview

Real sex in the city

21 Nov 2006

New York City rom-com Shortbus is John Cameron Mitchell’s (writer, director and star of the stage musical and subsequent Sundance Film Festival favourite Hedwig and the Angry Inch) new film. It might sound a rather conventional follow-up to his riotous…

Eye of Fire

Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 6 Dec

21 Nov 2006

NEW MUSIC A bit of chat, maybe some music or the odd amusing anecdote from a celebrated soloist are all staple fare these days for pre-concert talks. Generally free, relaxed and informal, they are useful vehicles for preparing the audience for what…

Crash My Model Car

Tomorrow’s music today

21 Nov 2006

EXPOSURE There are seemingly two types of band; the fashion-obsessed fad-followers and those genuinely in it for the long haul. One act who refreshingly wouldn’t know one end of a glo-stick from the other are Crash My Model Car. The Glasgow-based…

Mungo's Hi Fi

The Woodside Social, Glasgow, Fri 8 Dec

21 Nov 2006

REGGAE/DUB Last year The List ran an article on how the Woodside Club’s existence was being threatened by a small group of local residents complaining about noise pollution. It is with both joy and a little sadness that we bring you an update on the…

Grapevine - showbiz gossip

Grapevine

21 Nov 2006

Christopher Walken has played some pretty crazy guys in his time but he’s in for the challenge of his career in The Dirt. In the film based on the book about Motley Crue, Walken will make a cameo as Ozzy Osbourne while, equally as intriguing, Val Kilmer…

Randy Crawford and Joe Sample

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 5 Dec; Usher Hall

21 Nov 2006

JAZZ If they had never done anything else together, singer Randy Crawford’s association with Joe Sample and the Crusaders would have gained immortality for their 1979 classic Street Life alone. As it turned out, though, they went on to work quite a…

Say Dirty Records Xmas Party

Classic Grand, Glasgow, Sat 2 Dec

21 Nov 2006

LABEL SHOWCASE In the cold, dark commercial freeze of the festive period, quality music tends to hibernate as obligatory best ofs and naff novelty singles fill the shelves and airwaves. It’s this that makes fledgling Glasgow label Say Dirty Records…

Brakes

King Tut’s, Glasgow, Fri 1 Dec

21 Nov 2006

INDIE Brighton has long been an incestuous indie breeding ground, so when news broke of a side-project ‘supergroup’ featuring members of British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade and Tenderfoot, it came as no surprise. What was surprising was the…

Word up - the latest club news

Word Up

21 Nov 2006

More New Year news as Subculture have announced that Darshan Jesrani, one half of Metro Area will be joining them to see in the bells. And there’s also a chance for you to decide the playlist as ‘Harri and Dom have asked that you send in your top ten…