Issue 576

Biffy Clyro

22 May 2007

It seemed like a good idea at the time. The Golden Tower is a tall structure not unlike a stunted Big Ben with a row of seats strung around it. It looks like a lot less of a drop than you think even when you’re stranded several hundred feet up, legs…

Day Jobs

22 May 2007

Look closely at your electrician. Can you imagine him as a rock singer? What about your cleaning lady - does she exhibit in the Saatchi Gallery? And have you heard the one about the aerobics teacher with a book deal? For a variety of (mostly financial…

Life & Style - Travel

22 May 2007

The car rental clerk has me sussed. ‘Of course, for only an extra US$100 you can have this.’ Turning the page of his display book, he taps invitingly on the upper corner of a photograph. There, glistening in the Californian sunlight, is a Chrysler…

Life & Style - Eat & Drink

22 May 2007

The Meal When both YoSushi! and the original OKO shut their doors a few years back, some predicted the death knell for sushi in Scotland. The pair were sprawling joints and probably evidence that the local market for cold cooked rice, seaweed and…

The Graffiti Project

22 May 2007

If you stand on the 45th floor of the tallest building in downtown Sao Paulo, the chaotic concrete jungle stretches in all directions as far as the eye can see. The energy and traffic fumes produced by this Brazilian city’s 18m inhabitants create a haze…

Life & Style - Shop

22 May 2007

That tired old maxim that nobody queues like the British has had a new lease of life this month, with a nasty rash of ‘event shopping’ getting consumers and commentators itchy. They included the launch of Kate Moss’s collection for Topshop and Anya…

Aereogramme call it a day

22 May 2007

Scottish four-piece Aereogramme have announced that they are to split up. The band, credited with crafting intelligent, innovative alternative/progressive rock for the past nine years, across four albums, are currently in the midst of a UK and European…

Burns an’ a’ That festival line-up unveiled

22 May 2007

Words: Allan Radcliffe (Picture: Deacon Blue (left) and the MacDonald Brothers (right)) The sixth Burns an’ a’ That festival, which takes place from Wednesday 23-Monday 28 May, features an enticing programme of entertainment, music, dance…

Remote Control

22 May 2007

They don’t make ‘em like they used to back in the good old days, do they? The nostalgia industry is showing no sign of abating and, frankly, why should it when it consistently throws up some fascinating television. The clutch of shows about the past…

Alison Peebles

22 May 2007

Here’s something you may not know: Samuel Beckett is the only Nobel Prize winner to play first class cricket. This might only be of significance to a quiz master, but for the following story, possibly apocryphal, yet terribly plausible, that’s…

Aernout Mik

22 May 2007

(Picture: Scapegoat) At first, it might seem surprising that Dutch artist Aernout Mik claims to care little about art. He argues that you might as well get rid of the words ‘experiencing art’. Yet, in going against his orders and experiencing the…

Sara Barker

22 May 2007

SCULPTURE (Picture: Falling Abbey) Conceptual and perceptual reality fit like a Möbius strip, chasing and paralleling each other in the work of Glasgow-based sculptor Sara Barker. Her new installed sculptural works kick the over-stuffed…

Broken Glass

22 May 2007

SCOTTISH PREMIERE Whenever someone expresses a view that dissents from the mainstream it makes others feel uncomfortable, and they may feel the need to find a label for them. In his own time, Arthur Miller endured a good deal of abuse from various…

Too Close to The Sun

22 May 2007

MUSICAL THEATRE ‘When I was very young, just a nipper, after my first album, I was living with a pal, Steve Morris, who lived in some style in Beverley Hills and I was invited to go to St Louis and write a musical with some real theatre people,…

Introdans Ensemble for youth and NDT2

22 May 2007

MODERN DANCE Double Dutch usually implies confusion and misunderstanding. But in Edinburgh this month, it means two tasty helpings of dance from the Netherlands. Hot on each other’s heels, Introdans Ensemble for Youth and Nederlands Dans Theater 2…

Mahabharata

22 May 2007

CLASSIC East meets West is often a tricky encounter. Can either of us truly reproduce the culture and sensibilities of the other? Director Stuart Wood’s version of the ancient epic Indian poem, Mahabharata, chooses to combine the two. ‘We use Western…

Cyprus

22 May 2007

Political thriller When Cyprus writer Peter Arnott’s taut, politically charged three-hander debuted at Mull Theatre in 2005, it was set on the day of the London bombings. ‘At the time, the bombings were the newest instalment of this continuing, sad…

Brits Get Rich in China

22 May 2007

BUSINESS DOCUMENTARY Paul Merton recently recalled with some anxiety how he forced down a portion of cooked donkey penis in the name of travel shows. And in this documentary, a marginally traumatised businessman dines briefly on the same delicacy.

Peacock Among the Ruins

22 May 2007

INTERIOR DESIGN DCA hosts Peacocks Among the Ruins, co-curated by Glasgow-based designers Timorous Beasties as part of the Six Cities design festival. The exhibition brings together a rich selection of contemporary design with antiquated textile…

Hanneline Visnes

22 May 2007

PAINTING (Picture: Possessions) Belgian-born, Glasgow-based artist Hanneline Visnes’ paintings record the tension between abstraction and representation, pattern and spontaneity - a play of opposites that has come to characterise a slightly…

‘E Polish Quine

22 May 2007

NEW WORK Henry Adam’s capacity to emotionally move an audience has remained unchallenged in Scotland over recent years. This writer’s work, for all the wildly funny farce of such pieces as The People Next Door, and unflinching political commentary of…

Hitlist - The best theatre & dance

22 May 2007

Mahabharata Epic narrative, vivid colour, dancing and puppetry are promised in this new production of the sprawling Indian tale, first brought to Western audiences by Peter Brook. Written by Stephen Clark and with music by Nitin Sawhney, this looks like…

*Hitlist

22 May 2007

Sara Barker An exhibition of sculptures by the Glasgow-based artist made out of flimsy, throwaway materials. Barker arranges her anti-sculptures in intentionally unimpressive geometric arrangements, forcing the viewer to stand directly in front of her…

Yippeee!!!

22 May 2007

CONTEMPORARY DANCE With his love of geometric patterns and big budget dance routines, Busby Berkeley knew how to entertain an audience. And trying to emulate such a master, in these days of funding cuts and small venues, is no mean feat. But as she’s…

Shhh

21 May 2007

Ladies and gentlefolk, there are mysterious musical goings on afoot. In a place known only as Marvello HQ, Sonny Marvello and his band are creating an outlet for Glasgow talent at a semi-secret clubnight called Shhh. We say semi-secret as we now know it…

Thai yoga massage

21 May 2007

Amy Ku Redler has been practising Thai massage - known in Thailand as nuat phaen boran, which translates as ‘ancient’ or ‘traditional’ massage - since 1991. She studied in Thailand and has really become an ambassador for the practice since her return…

Esther Freud

21 May 2007

Esther Freud has been called ‘the best writer about childhood we have.’ Certainly, since her 1992 autobiographical debut Hideous Kinky, the tale of two young girls accompanying their free-spirited mother on a pilgrimage to 1960s Marrakech, her work has…

Isle of Skye Music Festival

21 May 2007

The fact that Isle of Skye Music Festival scooped the ‘Most Fan Friendly’ gong at the 2006 UK Festival Awards is testimony alone to its quality. Consider that the event took such a prize in spite of being one of the most soggy, windswept outdoor…

Ray Lawrence

21 May 2007

Ray Lawrence is being a bit testy today. ‘I know some of the blog reviews said Jindabyne is slow and boring. But they’re 18-year-old kids sitting in their underpants in front of the computer and I’m not interested. I have a very specific audience. They…

DVD - Round-up

21 May 2007

‘What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding?’ Well apart from the fact that they are all non-existent man-made conceits, quite a lot, actually. Just ask Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose two most recent works Uzak and Climates, take a…

Singles & Downloads

21 May 2007

(Picture: Caz Mechanic) It can be with some trepidation that one delves into the fortnightly sack of singles and when the first out proves to be the charming ‘Cupid’s Revolution’ (Big Toe’s Hi-fi, 3 Stars), Barba Poppa Choppa ’s super-cheeky re-rub…

Saadi Yacef

21 May 2007

Name Saadi Yacef Born 20 January 1928, Algiers Background Having worked in a bakery he joined the Parti du Peuple Algerien (Algerian nationalist party) in 1945. Soon after the group was outlawed and Yacef became one of the leaders of the…

Derren Brown

21 May 2007

MAGIC SHOW (Picture: © Gary Moyes) There’s something about the world of magicians that turns people right off. In the old days it was easy to be repelled by the over-the-top theatrics and dodgy bouffant hairdos as skimpily-clad women went around…

Lights in the Dusk

21 May 2007

DRAMA/CRIME/COMEDY The final part of Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s ‘Loser Trilogy’ (preceded by Drifting Clouds and The Man Without a Past) concerns itself with lonely night watchman Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen) who has modest hopes of setting…

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

21 May 2007

Joe Strummer was man of contradictions, some he could deal with, others he couldn’t. Director Julien Temple was a part of the London punk scene and experienced many of Joe’s magnificent contradictions first hand. Temple has a patchy record on he…

Hansel and Gretel

21 May 2007

THEATRE SHOW Like most fairytales, scratch away the surface of Hansel and Gretel and you find something nasty lurking underneath. Edible house aside, the story is filled with fear and adversity - perfect for any theatre company to get its teeth…

Playlist

21 May 2007

The revolution will not be televised, it will be digitised; this issue’s PlayList bangs on your door in the middle of the night to evoke memories of the Eastern Bloc and consider what life would be like under the yolk of a repressive and uncaring…

Also Released

21 May 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (12A) 168min (unable to review at time of going to press) The third and final part of this high seas franchise, initially based on a Walt Disney theme park ride, has arrived. Shiver me timbers, old Jack Sparrow…

London Gay Men’s Chorus

21 May 2007

CHORAL EXTRAVAGANZA One of the best moments from the now defunct TV show Will & Grace was when Jack and guest star Matt Damon tried to ‘out-camp’ each other to prove their gayness and thus win a spot in the Manhattan Gay Men’s Chorus. There is no…

New Young Pony Club

Exposure

21 May 2007

The NME Awards Tour might be a kingmaking spectacle, but, by being involved with the New Rave leg of it this year, fine young London electro-pop outfit New Young Pony Club may find themselves dragged down into a scene. That would be a shame, because the…

Wee Chill

21 May 2007

FESTIVAL (Picture: Masters At Work) Celebrating its fifth year on the festival circuit, the central belt’s own Wee Chill has this year moved to the fabulous Glasgow Science Centre, boasting a greater capacity and bigger guests. The change of venue…

Nouvelle Vague

21 May 2007

BOSSA NOVA REINVENTION There’s something about covers bands that usually screams ‘novelty record’. However, Nouvelle Vague managed to transcend the Mike Flowers Pops comparisons with their eponymous debut album, and multi-instrumentalists Marc Collin…

Hitlist - The best books, comics & events

21 May 2007

Martina Cole The big-selling thriller scribe does a signing at WHS and holds court at RCH as copies of Close go flying out the shops. WH Smith, Glasgow, Thu 24 May; Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Fri 25 May. William McIlvanney A good fat-chewing…

No One Belongs Here More Than You

21 May 2007

SHORT STORIES I’ll admit, I feared this book. A debut collection of short stories from an LA-based performance artist and indie filmmaker? Surely it’s going to be all pointlessly quirky characters, self-obsessed existential ennui and vacuous…

Ultragroove

21 May 2007

HOUSE (Picture: Dennis Ferrer) It says a lot for Ultragroove that it was one of the only club nights to survive the cull when Cabaret Voltaire was bought over two years ago, the petite basement venue now ranking as possibly the best in Edinburgh.

Dizzee Rascal

21 May 2007

HIP HOP For many the turn of the new millennium was a bleak time for British music. A mixture of saccharine garage, imported nu metal and Travis had ripped the spine from the charts, leaving a charmless corpse and no respite in sight. Few though…

Le Weekend

21 May 2007

EXPERIMENTAL (Picture: Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori) Experimental music festivals are currently so voluminous as to arguably be considered more over-ground than under. When Le Weekend first set the trend back in 1998, however, the landscape was a…

Hitlist - The best rock, pop, jazz & folk

21 May 2007

Sparklehorse The Smokey Mountains are home to Mark Linkous (pictured) a wayward music force whose magical sound invokes thoughts of Robert Wyatt and Syd Barrett. Oran Mor, Glasgow, Tue 5 Jun. (Rock & Pop) Nouvelle Vague Who would have though covers…

Water

21 May 2007

After 2002’s abysmal effort at cinema fusion Bollywood/Hollywood, Toronto based Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta serves up Water, the final part of her elements trilogy. The good news for those who missed Fire (1996) and Earth (1998) is that this is a…

Hitlist - The best dancefloor action

21 May 2007

FC Kahuna The remix royalty take their spinning talents to Glasgow for a night of dance fuelled mayhem. Karbon, Glasgow, Fri 25 May. Kinky Afro A DC Recordings label showcase is always going to be a winner, especially when label boss J Saul Kane aka…