Issue 581

Sounds of the City

Hey You Get Off My Pavement

1 Aug 2007

Fed up wading through the mud and the crowds at major music festivals? Karin Goodwin gets the lowdown on an innovative alternative and finds there is a whole lot going on in Glasgow this summer

Fuerzabruta

1 Aug 2007

With its mix of acrobatics, dance, theatre and club, Fuerzabruta is impossible to define. Claire Prentice visits South America for a sneak preview. The DJ whacks up the volume on the decks and suddenly the whole audience erupts. Fifteen hundred people…

Just an illusion

1 Aug 2007

Ask most people what they think of magic, and you’re likely to be greeted with snorts of derision. The British public’s perception of stage magic is still recovering from the glitter-festooned nightmare of spinning plates and disappearing rabbits that…

Dizzy Heights

1 Aug 2007

Being a cult figure in a beloved sci-fi sitcom hasn’t harmed Hattie Hayridge’s career. Doug Johnstone catches up with her. Just don’t mention Red Dwarf. Actually, it’s not a problem, mainly because Hattie Hayridge is such a laid-back character. A more…

Punch Lines

1 Aug 2007

Jim Jeffries isn’t the only comic on the receiving end of trouble from their audience. Brian Donaldson compiles some tales of terror. At a late-night Spank! show, Andrew Lawrence (pictured) foolishly challenged a heckler to a duel. As Lawrence unpopped…

Picture perfect

1 Aug 2007

From international stars like Andy Warhol and Picasso to Turner Prize winners and home grown talent, Alexander Kennedy finds rich pickings in the Edinburgh Art Festival

Glasgow Smiles Better

Hey You Get Off My Pavement

1 Aug 2007

Don’t want to spend August sitting in front of your TV? You don’t have to, as Karin Goodwin brings you some of the weird and wonderful events taking place in and around Glasgow this month

The battle for hearts & minds

1 Aug 2007

Steve Cramer goes behind the headlines to preview a selection of Fringe shows exploring terrorism, war and the media

Show girl

1 Aug 2007

Ex-art student Candie Payne became the most promising young pop singer in the country ‘by happy accident’. The happiness, it transpires, is all ours. Her debut album, I Wish I Could Have Loved You More, is an immaculate, cohesive 21st century spin on…

Holland sauce

1 Aug 2007

While Germany is still perceived as humourless, its neighbour is rocking with laughter. The Amsterdam Underground Comedy Collective tell Brian Donaldson about anal sex, racism and hookers

Answer Machine

Shantha Roberts

1 Aug 2007

She’s the face of BBC Scotland’s music programmes, who puts her success down to imagining the camera is a friendly robot. But Shantha Roberts would love nothing more than to be part of a gang of talking wildlife, even if she can’t make up her mind about…

Different strokes

1 Aug 2007

Having written one of the UK’s finest ever sitcoms, Sean Lock is back pounding the beat on the stand-up stage. Brian Donaldson talks to the man who has finally left bitterness behind

Stilted performance

1 Aug 2007

Festival Fringe Stilted performance Mark Fisher goes outdoors in Warsaw to find a Polish Macbeth with the taste of Iraq and the roar of a motorbike

Golden Balls

1 Aug 2007

Mark Dolan’s comedy debut was as a child in front of some drunks. Yet Camilla Pia finds that a love of the audience helps drive him on

Resurrection man

1 Aug 2007

Murray Lachlan Young went from being a poet with a huge record deal to playing imaginary gigs in a barn. Julian Hall discovers how he got his mojo back

The great outdoors

Festival Fringe

1 Aug 2007

Festival Fringe The great outdoors Epic adventures are a common theme at the Fringe this year. Steve Cramer investigates

Orphans in the storm

Festival Fringe

1 Aug 2007

Festival Fringe Orphans in the storm Steve Cramer talks to monologist James Braly about love, loss and eccentric women

Enough is enough

1 Aug 2007

Festival Fringe Enough is enough Iris Bahr, the multi-talented star of US comedies Curb Your Enthusiasm and King of Queens makes a dramatic change of direction with her politically potent one-woman play, Dai

Kapow!

1 Aug 2007

Henry Northmore talks to project curator Mel Brimfield about the cross-genre, multi-platform Comic Book Project

Urban Cowboys

The Optimo Barn Dance

1 Aug 2007

If you have been lucky enough to enjoy one of your favourite club nights’ boat parties over the summer, you will already know how good it feels to dance to your favourite tunes in the open air. Optimo may have exhausted their supply of boats but, worry…

Immaculate collection

The work is serious

1 Aug 2007

Alexander Kennedy strays from the beaten track and discovers some hidden cultural gems at Glasgow’s studio warehouse

Prime Movers

The Dead 60s

1 Aug 2007

They’re on their way to conquering America, but The Dead 60s are still the unsung heroes on Deltasonic. Claire Sawers finds out why that’s about to change

Top Gere

1 Aug 2007

Outside the Hotel de Russie in Rome there’s an army of screaming women interspersed with Roman youths feigning curiosity. Film star Richard Gere appears mildly astonished at the state of siege. You suspect that all this attention could not fail to…

It's playtime

Children's Clothing

1 Aug 2007

Ethical, stylish, alternative, interesting and educational? Kirstin Innes meets the designers behind the saintliest children’s clothing companies in the country

Part of the furniture

1 Aug 2007

It’s the kind of thing any band could have dreamt up on a boozy night after a gig. ‘Instead of playing our guitars and drums,’ one musician would say, ‘wouldn’t it be great if we all played one big instrument?’ Everyone would agree and, of course, they…