Issue 598

The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

13 Mar 2008

If there is still such a thing as ‘appointment television’ in this multi-channel age, The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is it. The adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s much- loved novel arrives on the small screen this fortnight thanks to a wealth of…

Helen Walsh

13 Mar 2008

Helen Walsh has lived a little. At 13, while her classmates in Warrington were flicking through Smash Hits, she was swept up in the early 90s euphoria of acid house and ecstasy. At 16, as most girls her age sat their GCSEs, she was hooked on cocaine and…

Taste Test - Posh cheese and onion crisps

13 Mar 2008

Tyrells Mature Cheddar & Chives, 50g, 65p Kember & Jones, 134 Byres Road, Glasgow; Jenners, 48 Princes Street, Edinburgh The classy looking, see-through packaging looks promising, but these hand-cooked crisps are over fried and over flavoured. The…

Guru

13 Mar 2008

‘I’ve personally always been about trying to create new, relevant, hot music,’ states Guru in a considered tone that sits well with his rap canon, ‘and thanks to my partnership with the super-producer Solar I’m able to do that. Not everyone has a…

Douglas Maxwell

13 Mar 2008

'It’s a bit like being at the controls of a jumbo jet after four pints at lunchtime. It’s exhilarating but terrifying.’ Douglas Maxwell is employing a typically vivid metaphor for entering into fatherhood. With a child of three months recently arriving…

Glasgow Comedy Festival - Stewart Lee

13 Mar 2008

When a stand-up is dubbed ‘a comics’ comic’, that can usually be translated into: ‘loved by his peers and critics; not quite so loved by audiences.’ Yet, when you look at the career of Stewart Lee, the adulation of comedians and journalists may have…

Scotland’s craft community

13 Mar 2008

Click, click, click. For the past few years, the needles of crafters up and down the country have been spinning a revolution. A very quiet, civilised revolution, granted. Productive. With minimal bloodshed, and lovely accessories. Okay, that might be…

Ceilidh Culture

13 Mar 2008

FOLK Various venues, Edinburgh, Fri 21 Mar–Sun 12 Apr Ceilidh Culture, Edinburgh’s spring fling of acoustic music and the traditional arts has this year moved from its council house, and is now being run by a team from the Usher Hall. Rather than…

Vanity Fair

13 Mar 2008

Sitting at a pub table surrounded by actors can be intimidating. Yet, the assembled cast of Tony Cownie’s upcoming production of Declan Donnellan’s adaptation of Vanity Fair are able to put this journalist at ease by dint of the sheer enthusiasm they…

5 Things you might not know about - French & Saunders

13 Mar 2008

When Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders first met in 1977 at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, they didn’t exactly hit it off. Saunders believed French was a ‘cocky upstart’ while Dawn thought Jen was ‘snooty and aloof’. French is credited…

System 7

13 Mar 2008

PSYCHEDELIC TRANCE King Tuts, Glasgow, Fri 14 Mar After fronting cult, eccentric 60s space-rock collective Gong, guitarist Steve Hillage ploughed a psychedelic furrow through prog-rock before resorting to production duties for Scottish bands It Bites…

Out on the Wing

13 Mar 2008

Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 17–Sat 22 Mar Being gay in the armed forces isn’t illegal any longer, but in the male-dominated world of sports, it would appear that, even in the 21st century, boys can only play football professionally if they’re avowedly…

The Wall

13 Mar 2008

The anxieties and dilemmas of teenage life seems to be the theme of the moment in Scottish theatre. But it’s hard to imagine that they could be approached with such guile, deftness and warmth as in DC Jackson’s new play for Borderline and the…

Exposure - Simon Breed

13 Mar 2008

With shades of Scott Walker, Smog and Simon Bonney by way of Julian Cope and John Cale to his intimately epic, full-larynxed crooning, Simon Breed’s wordier than thou late-night troubadouring has been championed by Bad Seed Mick Harvey, the late John…

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

13 Mar 2008

If there was an award to be won on last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea won it. As well as a Fringe First, Herald Angel and Total Theatre Award, the show earned a trip to New York courtesy of the Carol Tambor Award and a…

Manchester Orchestra

13 Mar 2008

ROCK Oran Mor, Glasgow, Sun 10 Feb When it comes to compiling the worst album titles of all time, this Atlanta-based five-piece will surely be up there with the likes of Fiona Apple and Limp Bizkit with their second release, I’m Like a Virgin Losing a…

Remote Control - TV round-up

13 Mar 2008

It’s Easter time, so there seems no reason on this ungodly earth why we shouldn’t crack open the chocolate eggs and indulge in a bit of The Passion (BBC1, Sun 16 Mar Feb, 8pm). Anyone who remembers Robert Powell being strapped to the cross back in the…

Go west: Print The Legend

13 Mar 2008

The idea of the American West once stretched out like a great virginal expanse of prairie, a fantasy only limited by imagination and the Pacific Ocean. This myth is not only an American obsession, but one that the whole western genre film-viewing world…

Peter & The Wolf

13 Mar 2008

DANCE & CLASSICAL MUSIC Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Wed 26 & Thu 27 Mar To young ears, an orchestra can seem like a giant melting pot of sound. And picking out which instrument is playing when is a rather tricky affair. Which is why Sergei…

Wotever

13 Mar 2008

CLUB, FILM & WORKSHOP Various venues, Glasgow, Thu 27 & Fri 28 Mar The name may bring to mind the nonchalant brush-off of disaffected youth, but Wotever is in fact a lively, long-running London-based club and arts movement run by LGBT performers and…

The Style Issue - Trendspotting

13 Mar 2008

Dieny Itoe Clothes Not yet out of college, 23-year-old model and design student Dieny Itoe is hotly tipped for fashion fame. Her sophisticated interpretation of form and fabric earned her the coveted Glasgow 1999 Design Medal last year, and while…

The Style Issue - Music style

13 Mar 2008

With many high street retailers currently stocking just about every item of attire an aspiring indie hipster could dream of – from neon-splattered hoodies to trousers crotch-wrenchingly tight enough to do more for family planning than an entire social…

Harmony Korine

13 Mar 2008

Harmony Korine was thrust into the limelight aged 22, when his sensational script for Kids garnered him the status of overnight sensation. Then came Gummo, a film made in the best traditions of German maverick Werner Herzog, which established the young…

Shopping Showdown - Glasgow

The Style Issue

13 Mar 2008

Glasgow styles better Kirstin Innes and Sharon Stephen report on the heavily accessorised cheap chic trend-setting of the West Coast Despite the manicured, designer labelled image promoted by the city marketing bureau under the umbrella Glasgow…

Peter’s Yard

13 Mar 2008

Across Britain there are around 3000 craft bakeries. In France, with a similar sized population but a rather different attitude to bread, there are 35,000 craft or artisan bakers. French, German and Eastern European traditions have exerted the strongest…

Meaghan Delahunt interview

13 Mar 2008

When Meaghan Delahunt needs a cliché-free way of describing spice markets in India or rain in Scotland, she turns to Zen Buddhism. ‘There’s this idea of looking at the world with beginner’s eyes. It gives you heightened awareness of everything, so you…

TV Box Set Round-Up

13 Mar 2008

Set on a New York comedy sketch show, the whipsmart 30 Rock (Universal) •••• deservedly won Golden Globes for Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. Former Saturday Night Live scribe Fey plays Liz Lemon, the chief writer struggling to save her baby from the best…

Hercules & Love Affair

13 Mar 2008

So this is where the disco-house revival starts, hopefully. After the garish indie-aided excesses of new rave in 2007, wouldn’t it be a beautiful thing to see and hear classic dance music stand proud again? Certainly, with his/their gorgeous debut…

Shopping Showdown - Edinburgh

The Style Issue

13 Mar 2008

Capital trends Diana Kiernander considers the mix of the traditional and cutting edge that inspires Edinburgh’s dedicated followers of fashion Edinburgh style should be easy to define. There’s an air of near-perfect designer minimalism among the…

Interview - Céline Sciamma

13 Mar 2008

‘I wrote the screenplay for Water Lilies while I was studying screenwriting at La Femis film school in Paris, and the director Xavier Beauvois, who was on the graduation committee, told me I had to make the film myself. My starting point was that I…

Food for free

13 Mar 2008

This is the age we live in: foraging means a trip to the local shops rather than the supermarket and the phrase ‘food for free’ is associated more with ‘buy one get one free’ than nature’s bounty. However, the green revolution may not all be about…

Shopping in London

13 Mar 2008

Something cool For a one-stop shop of new designers Sunday Upmarket (Liverpool Street, sundayupmarket.co.uk) has 140 stalls of accessories, fashion and interiors. Keep an eye out for Maria Helena Spector’s jewellery made from silver, lava and…

Redacted

13 Mar 2008

WAR/HORROR (15) 90min Could the war in Iraq be the first conflict to be lost, not at home or abroad, but on the internet? That’s the proposition featured in Brian De Palma’s Redacted, a disturbing account of how the war on terror has been ‘You…

Singles & Downloads

13 Mar 2008

Hurrying past James Blunt and Bryan’s Adams’ new singles, let’s start at the only logical place, the ‘Start Beginning’ (FDM Records) ••• with Nizlopi (of ‘JCB Song’ notoriety) and their relentlessly optimistic, acoustic pop rainbow of a song that could…

GROUP SHOW, Doggerfisher

13 Mar 2008

Doggerfisher, Edinburgh, until Sat 26 Apr Doggerfisher’s annual group show brings together work by recent graduates and more established artists. Refreshingly, the gallery unites the six artists via an interest in formal concerns with space and…

Tryptych announces final line-up

13 Mar 2008

Triptych has announced its final ever line-up, which showcases the festival’s trademark brew of international stars, musical trailblazers and cutting edge grassroots talent. Organisers have said that, after eight years creating one of Scotland’s…

The Orphanage (El Orfanato)

13 Mar 2008

HORROR/MYSTERY (15) 105min It’s only March but you’re unlikely to see a better ghost story at the cinema this year than The Orphanage. First-time director Juan Antonio Bayona has obviously taken great inspiration from his producer Guillermo del Toro…

Three others to try: Food books

13 Mar 2008

How to Cook for Food Allergies by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, Rodale, £16.99 Another local author, Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne is a professional cook with children who suffer from various food allergies including dairy, egg and gluten intolerance. As a way of…

Mr McFall’s Chamber - Aye: An Affirmation of Martyn Bennett

13 Mar 2008

CLASSICAL Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Wed 19 Mar; Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock, Thu 27 Mar Whether playing to a packed hall or an empty one, musicians bond through the shared experience of being there and doing it together. When legendary piper…

Profile - Hospital Records

13 Mar 2008

Name Hospital Records Occupation Record Label Location West London, UK OK, give me the brief Hospital Records was started by Tony Colman and Chris Goss back in 1996. Today it has grown to be one of the most successful independent labels in…

Jon Richardson

13 Mar 2008

STAND-UP Brel, Glasgow, Sun 16 Mar Watching Jon Richardson disparage Rab C Nesbitt and spectacularly misjudge a Scottish audience remains one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen: ‘they got quite angry’ he recalls. But he was careful not to repeat it…

Shining City

13 Mar 2008

By now, the admirers and detractors of the work of Conor McPherson will have divided firmly into their separate groups. The author of such acclaimed pieces as St Nicholas and The Weir might be said to paint with words, not physicality, as most of his…

Shopping trips

13 Mar 2008

Blow the budget For every traveller who sees haggling as an integral part of any good holiday there are many more who would happily swaddle their first born in giftwrap and hand them to the next passer-by if it meant they never had to play the…

TV: Iraq Season

13 Mar 2008

BBC/Channel 4 With the fifth anniversary of the West’s illegal invasion and errant desecration of Iraq upon us, the networks have seen no reason to halt the stream of related documentaries and dramas which have been filling the schedules on the…

Outdoor food festival returns to Edinburgh

13 Mar 2008

Taste-buds at the ready! Following the success of last year’s festival, Taste of Edinburgh is set to return in May with an even bigger line-up. As well as having the opportunity to sample taster dishes from 20 of Edinburgh’s top restaurants…

Robert Glasper

13 Mar 2008

JAZZ The Lot, Edinburgh, Thu 27 Mar Blue Note recording artist Robert Glasper has made one of the more successful attempts to merge the influences of jazz with contemporary urban forms, and particularly hip hop. While such experiments often end up…

The Spiderwick Chronicles

13 Mar 2008

DRAMA/FAMILY/FANTASY (PG) 95min When newly divorced mother of three Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) moves her kids to the secluded rundown Spiderwick estate, once owned by their great great uncle Spiderwick, the children are less than impressed. Twin…

Fortified Sessions

13 Mar 2008

DUBSTEP Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Fri 21 Mar Gradually emerging from the soundsystems of London and Bristol and combining elements of dub, UK garage, jungle and rave, dubstep is sinuous and slow, juxtaposing intricate, syncopated hi-hat and…

The Unconquered

13 Mar 2008

Following its UK tour, Torben Betts’ The Unconquered, an adventurous piece of new work which netted the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland’s new writing award, will be travelling on to New York for a shot at American audiences. Stellar Quines…

We Are Together

13 Mar 2008

DOCUMENTARY (PG) 86min Whether the tragedy is personal or universal, filmmaker Paul Taylor manages to extract an upbeat film out of harrowing and difficult lives in this moving documentary. Concentrating on the Agape Orphanage in South Africa, Taylor…