Issue 605

The Edge of Love

19 Jun 2008

DRAMA (15) 110min Dylan Thomas, he of the milk wood, once remarked that: ‘When one burns one’s bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.’ The Edge of Love is the story of how the great Welsh poet burnt a very big bridge, one that connected him to an…

Taste Test - Take-away margherita pizzas

19 Jun 2008

The Italian Kitchen •••• 64 Ingram Street, Glasgow, 0141 572 1472, www.italian-kitchen.co.uk Takeaway only. Pizza Margherita £6.95 Pizza is a simple thing, so getting the basics right is important. This one has a nicely chewy but crusty thin base…

Jo Spence: Self Portraits

19 Jun 2008

PHOTOGRAPHY Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 16 Nov Working class artist, photographer, Marxist, feminist, teacher and publisher Jo Spence was an extraordinary talent. Issue-based but always accessible, her work can be seen as the progenitor…

Nederlands Dans Theater 2

19 Jun 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Fri 20 & Sat 21 Jun Given the enormous influence Jirí Kylián has had over Nederlands Dans Theater during the past 30 years, it should come as no surprise that even when he’s not there, his presence is felt.

Sushi making

19 Jun 2008

Sushi is like a chocolate box selection for grown-ups, says Kumiko Hatori, a Japanese chef, and my teacher for the day. ‘It should be full of pretty shapes and bright colours that tempt you to dip in.’ We’re in the kitchen of Hatori’s home in Glasgow, a…

Man on Wire - James Marsh interview

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

Philippe Petit was the man who dared to walk a tightrope between the Twin Towers. Director James Marsh tells Kaleem Aftab how he made a film of this incredible feat

Bigga Than Ben: A Russian's Guide to Ripping Off London

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(SA Halewood, UK) 85min Allegedly based on the diary of a young Moscovite who came to London in the late 1990s, Bigga than Ben is, for the majority of its running time, a distracting black comedy. Cobakka (Ben Barnes) and Spiker (Andrei Chadov) are a…

Profile - Marco Bailey & Percy X

19 Jun 2008

Names Marco Bailey & Percy X Who that? Bailey is Belgium’s premier techno DJ/producer and CEO of record label MB Selektions. Percy X is Glasgow’s own Soma stalwart, also a DJ/producer, again fronting his own label edit-select. What’s the story?

Cafézique

19 Jun 2008

If a deli is trying to tempt you to spend a bit more than you might at a supermarket on the basis that their food is better selected, in better condition and better quality, then you’d fully expect a partner café alongside to be operating under similar…

Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show

19 Jun 2008

MIXED MEDIA Edinburgh College of Art, until Tue 24 Jun Information overload, autonomy, inquiry, provocation and dissent. Not themes as such, but rather loose strands in the willfully disparate expanse that makes up this class of 2008…

Evita

19 Jun 2008

MUSICAL Playhouse, Edinburgh, until Sat 21 Jun Performers bursting into song for no apparent reason is the slightly odd, but wholly accepted, calling card of musical theatre. But what better way to sidestep that moment of incongruity than to never…

Glasgow School of Art MFA Degree Show (Group Show)

19 Jun 2008

MIXED MEDIA Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 22 Jun While locating good work by up-and-coming artists at an undergraduate show can feel like you’re searching for a needle in a haystack, at the Glasgow School of Art MFA show, as might be expected, the work…

Fitter Happier - Radiohead interview

19 Jun 2008

They’re one of the biggest bands in the world despite refusing to play the music industry’s game. Mark Robertson talks to Radiohead about success, self-indulgence and their reputation as the most miserable men in rock

The Escapist - Brian Cox interview

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

As Brian Cox welcomes me into the interview room at London’s Gibson Guitar Studio, he points out a picture of Syd Barrett, ‘a son of Cambridge’, on the wall. It’s been just a few months since the Dundee-born actor was treading the boards on Broadway to…

Eat, For This is My Body

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Michelange Quay, Haiti/France) 105min Quay’s semi-abstract look at colonial elements in Haiti is comparable to two 1980s touchstones, Marion Hänsel’s Dust and Claire Denis’ Chocolat. While there is an impressive opening shot that glides over the…

Take Three: Delis-cum-Cafés

19 Jun 2008

Valvona & Crolla Caffè Bar, Grassroots Café and Herbie of Edinburgh.

WALL-E - Angus MacLane interview

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

Could you fall in love with a robot? Animation studio Pixar is betting that you will. The little metal critter with designs on your heart is called WALL-E, and this summer, he’ll be giving Indiana Jones and Carrie Bradshaw a run for their money at the…

The Visitor - Thomas McCarthy interview

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

Thomas McCarthy works as an actor or a writer or a director, but feels that to do all three jobs in one film would be a little too much for him to take. As an actor, despite turns in such stellar productions as Syriana, All The Kings Men and Flags of…

Matter of fact - Documentaries at the EIFF

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

When the Edinburgh International Film Festival opened its doors for the first time in 1947, documentary films were the only things on the menu. Much has changed since then, but the EIFF has continued its commitment to the feature documentary form. Every…

Standard Operating Procedure

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Errol Morris, USA) 116min The great documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War) turns his investigative eye towards the atrocities at Abu Ghraib. The coup of the film is that Morris interviews some of the soldiers who…

Elite Squad (Tropa D'Elite)

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(José Padilha, Brazil) 118min Based on Luiz Eduardo Soares’ bestseller, Elite Squad is a favela thriller from the director of 2002 documentary Bus 174. It’s 1997 in Rio de Janeiro, months before a visit from Pope John Paul II. The rundown housing…

Donkey Punch

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Oliver Blackburn, UK) 99min New British director Oliver Blackburn marks himself out as a name to watch in this misogynistic horror set in Marbella. When three lasses from Leeds (Sian Breckin, Jaime Winstone and Nichola Burley) decide to board a yacht…

Shiver (Eskalofrio)

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Isidro Ortiz, Spain) 91min Once again Spain is proving to be a breeding ground for newly discovered horror talent. Isidro Ortiz puts in his most satisfying feature yet as paranoia and the old staple of something lurking in the woods are brought into…

Somers Town

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Shane Meadows, UK) 75min While Shane Meadows’ last outing, This is England, showed the racist side of British nationalism, his follow-up, the black-and-white Somers Town, demonstrates just how nice the Brits can be to immigrants. Starting life as a…

Tiramisu

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Paula van der Oest, Netherlands) 90min Abandoned by her theatre director husband for a younger woman, middle-aged actress and retail therapy junkie Anne seems unconcerned by the impending loss of the Amsterdam houseboat she and her long-suffering…

Death Defying Acts

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Gillian Armstrong, UK, Australia) 97min It’s 1926, and the world tour of escape artist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) brings him to Edinburgh. There he’s charmed by local con-artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who poses as a psychic to put…

Jesus Christ Saviour

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Peter Geyer, Germany) 84min At the beginning of Werner Herzog’s engrossing documentary homage to his favourite actor and nemesis Klaus Kinski, My Best Fiend, there is a tantalising glimpse of Kinski performing his infamous 1971 Jesus concert. Finally…

Before The Rains

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Santosh Sivan, US/India) 98min Set against the backdrop of the decline of the British empire and growth of the nationalist movement in southern India in 1937, this tale of forbidden love between an English spice merchant (Linus Roache) and a local…

Patti Smith: Dream of Life

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Steven Sebring, USA) 109min Patti Smith, the singer-poet and one-time ‘godmother of punk’, bares her soul in this intimate self-portrait, culled from over 11 years of filming with her friend, the photographer Steve Sebring. Beginning in 1995, the film…

14 Kilometres (14 Kilometros)

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

This issue-driven Spanish drama isn’t afraid to draw on several stock clichés of the well-trodden road movie genre. Three Africans undertake the arduous journey from Niger to Spain, crossing deserts, trying to get through corrupt border controls and…

Fears of the Dark

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Various, France) 85min This episodic animation is destined for cult status. Five respected graphic novelists have each penned a story detailing what made them scared at night. Dogs, mad girls and silence all feature strongly. Each story has then been…

RSNO: Video Games Live

19 Jun 2008

Last year in the UK, videogames overtook the music industry in terms of money made and it looks like the film industry could be next. But today’s gaming technology is working in tandem with these industries in interesting new ways, making cut-scenes…

Munich

19 Jun 2008

Beer. It might as well be the first word here, since there’s no getting away from it in Munich, even outwith the world-renowned annual piss-up of Oktoberfest. Löwenbräu, Hofbräu, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, Fraziskaner – you name them…

The Wackness

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Jonathan Levine, USA) 110min Jonathan Levine’s follow-up to his superior teen horror flick All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is just as assured a film, although this wigged-out high school movie is greatly enriched by being a far more personal project.

Errors @ Duty Free

19 Jun 2008

ACID POP Sick Note @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Jun Sunlight, oxygen, small blue pens from Argos... it’s true that all the very best things in life are gratis. Add to that list the selection of no cost delights that is Duty Free, Cabaret…

My Bloody Valentine

19 Jun 2008

SHOEGAZE COMEBACK Barrowlands, Glasgow, Wed 2 & Thu 3 Jul There are some musical reunions the whole world wants to happen, and others that start out and then fall away without the populace paying the slightest bit of attention. Then there are…

Sergeant

19 Jun 2008

ROCK/POP King Tut’s, Glasgow, Fri 20 Jun ‘I wasn’t prepared for the sublime genius of Sergeant,’ says Alan McGee, who believes the Glenrothes band is carrying on a great tradition of perfectly-crafted sunny Scottish pop songs. ‘They have that slight…

Exposure - Fête de la Musique

19 Jun 2008

Our friends the French want us to join in their national festival of music, where streets and concert halls across France get taken over for a day of free gigs. L’Institut Français d’Ecosse has hosted its annual mini-fête for over 20 years now, and this…

Mod Weekender

19 Jun 2008

‘Everybody has this stereotypical idea of what music a Mod has to like,’ says Mikey Collins, who runs Glasgow clubs Friday Street and Afterglow, and is one of the driving forces behind the city’s Mod Weekender. ‘People think you just like The Who, The…

All Star Wrestling Tour

19 Jun 2008

Once upon a time, before the well-oiled ogres of WWE ruled the world in day-glo spandex, The Wrestling was a national institution. Every Saturday afternoon in the 1970s and 1980s, everything stopped at 4pm, to watch end-of-the-pier Greek tragedies…

Couscous - Abdel Kechiche interview

19 Jun 2008

‘With Couscous, which is set in the southern French port city of Sète, I wanted to represent a social milieu, which I knew very well because I’d grown up there, and which hasn’t been represented on screen before. I think that when you make a film about…

Fred MacAulay

19 Jun 2008

STAND-UP Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Jun They say a person’s character is formed by the time they’re seven. According to Fred MacAulay, his was pretty much good to go by age five. ‘Back then I was making up stories and telling lies to amuse…

The Undersea World of Bubble McBea

19 Jun 2008

CHILDREN’S OPERA Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 20-Sun 22 Jun The words ‘children’ and ‘opera’ aren’t often found in the same sentence. But over the past few years, Scottish Opera has managed to make the artform not just accessible, but great fun.

Todd Terje

19 Jun 2008

DISCO HOUSE After Dark at Stereo, Glasgow, Sat 21 Jun When the teenage Todd Terje’s big sister said she liked disco, he didn’t really believe her. He thought she was being ironic, because she was hanging round with DJs on the Oslo scene and had heard…

5 Things you might not know about - Francesca Martinez

19 Jun 2008

Martinez first came to the public’s attention as Rachel Burns in Grange Hill and claimed that at her real school she had to use humour to make people accept that even though she had cerebral palsy, she was just a regular kid. She got into comedy when…

Last Word - Ron Butlin

19 Jun 2008

First record you ever bought ‘Nutrocker’ by B Bumble and the Stingers. A pioneering example of fusion – rock’n’roll meets Tchaikovsky. Still a landmark of tasteful desecration. Last time you were chatted up Last Saturday night! It was after I’d…

Remote Control

19 Jun 2008

In an age where some people believe that the Royal Family have a secret assassination wing, it’s perhaps not a good idea to have an indiscriminate dig at those guys. So, here goes: does the estate of Princess Margaret have some incriminating photos of…

Bard in the Botanics

19 Jun 2008

If you accept the notion that ‘a sad tale’s best for winter’, it follows that a pair of comedies make the best entertainment for a summer backdrop. The programmers behind Bard in the Botanics certainly appear to think so. This year, Glasgow’s outdoor…

Janet Frame - Towards Another Summer

19 Jun 2008

Blurring of fiction and fact and the overlapping of character and writer have long influenced the interpretations of Janet Frame’s work. With her writing featuring characters who resembled her and experiences lifted from her life, readers have often…

Hey You Get Off My Pavement!

19 Jun 2008

‘You know how you learn from bad experiences?’ muses Paul Ranter in relation to Hey You Get Off My Pavement!, café/bar/record store Mono’s sun-drenched inaugural festival of 2006. ‘Well everything went perfectly that year, so we didn’t learn anything.

Harry Smith Anthology Remixed

19 Jun 2008

When American song-collector, artist, ethno-musicologist and experimental filmmaker Harry Smith released The Anthology Of American Folk Music in 1952, it was a labour of love which had a huge influence on the 1950s so-called Folk revival. Without this…

James Ryan: Parallax

19 Jun 2008

PAINTING Corn Exchange Gallery, Edinburgh, until Thu 17 Jul Young painter James Ryan was the recipient of the Conran Foundation Award when he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2007, yet his work falls between the pillar of artistic intent and…

Ascendance Rep

19 Jun 2008

SITE-SPECIFIC DANCE St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, Wed 25 Jun; St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, Fri 27 Jun Weddings, worship, baptisms and burials – the usual line-up of events at your local cathedral. This month, however, pulpits will be pushed aside…

Singles & Downloads

19 Jun 2008

It’s definitely a good fortnight for bizarre and beautiful sounds. For those who like their tunes a little out of leftfield, there are some ear-bending audio treats in store. For those who don’t, there’s always Nickelback ’s soft-rock mush on…

Edinburgh International Book Festival programme announced

19 Jun 2008

Festival fever continued apace last week following announcements about the Free Fringe Festival, The Edinburgh Interactive Festival and – most anticipated of all – the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Book Festival organisers said this year's…

Swindle and Death

19 Jun 2008

NEW PLAY Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Thu 19 & Fri 20 Jun, then touring until Sat 28 Jun Great drama usually boils down to a battle between the rational and the irrational. It is the buttoned-up Pentheus fighting with the anarchic Dionysus. It is the…

Les Parents Terribles

19 Jun 2008

REVIVAL Dundee Rep, until Sat 21 Jun The repression of our natural sexual urges was, in Freud’s view, a necessary step in the production of a civilised society. Mention this along with his theories on the Oedipus complex, and you can expect…

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures

19 Jun 2008

DOCUMENTARY (18) 93min Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – most people would regard this maxim as pretty true. Documentary filmmaker Chris Waitt, however, flies in the face of danger. After finding himself on the receiving end of a string of…

SNJO plays Steely Dan

19 Jun 2008

GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 24 Jun The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra have always covered a wide-ranging repertoire, from swing era staples such as Ellington, Basie and Goodman through to newly commissioned…

The Hebrides Ensemble

19 Jun 2008

CHAMBER OPERA Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 21 Jun Based on George Mackay Brown’s prose and re-imagined by Scottish composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, The Martyrdom of St Magnus was always going to leave an extraordinary legacy. Uniting the talents…

Bang Bang

19 Jun 2008

CLUB NIGHT The Ivy, Glasgow, Thu 19 Jun Ladyfest has a lot to answer for. The annual celebration of female achievement in the arts drew enthusiastic crowds to its club nights and gigs when it pitched its tent in Glasgow last month. Once the circus had…

The People's Story - Days Like This project launched

19 Jun 2008

Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Arts Council and BBC Radio Scotland join forces for groundbreaking book and radio project Days Like This. People the length and breadth of Scotland are being offered the chance to share their stories, as part of a unique…

Bobby Watson

19 Jun 2008

GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Sat 28 Jun There was a time when Bobby Watson was a regular visitor to these parts, both in his own right and with the great 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, but it has been a while now since we had the…

Female Agents (Les Femmes Des Ombres)

19 Jun 2008

WAR/THRILLER (15) 116min Spring 1944, the lead up to the Normandy landings, and the technical planning and manufacture of a floating dock has been going on since January. When a British geologist ends up in a French hospital, the plan is thrown into…

Padded Cell & Cut Copy

19 Jun 2008

NO-WAVE ELECTRO/ELECTRONIC POP Optimo, Sub Club, Glasgow, Sun 22 & Sun 29 Jun If you like going out in Glasgow on a Sunday night and were born with any taste at all, you’ll know all about Optimo. Do we need to tell you yet again why we love it so?

Couscous (La Graine et le mulet)

19 Jun 2008

DRAMA (15) 154min Filmmaker Abdel Kechiche builds on the promise that he displayed with 2003’s L’Esquive by creating a drama similar in style and spirit to Vittorio De Sica’s 1951 neorealist fantasy Miracle in Milan. The man in need of a miracle in…

The Escapist

19 Jun 2008

THRILLER (15) 101min The origins of this smart and tough British prison escape thriller lie in a short film, 2004’s Get The Picture, which writer-director Rupert Wyatt made with actor Brian Cox as a showcase for his evidently considerable talents. Cox…

Homegrown - Glasgow International Jazz Festival

19 Jun 2008

GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL Various venues, Glasgow, Fri 27–Sun 29 Jun The annual Homegrown showcase at the Glasgow Jazz Festival has expanded considerably since the inaugural event in 2005, which featured a single concert with four bands at the Ramshorn…

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

19 Jun 2008

FANTASY/ACTION (PG) 143min In the second instalment of the Narnia film adaptations, the Pevensie children are summoned back to CS Lewis’ fantasy kingdom by Prince Caspian’s blowing of a magic horn, expecting lion king Aslan to rear his head and…

Ewan Morrison - Distance

19 Jun 2008

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA (Jonathan Cape) Anyone who has ever embarked on a long distance affair knows they can be pretty tumultuous, and when Ewan Morrison (an author developing a reputation for his insightful portrayals of relationships) chooses to explore…

The Winter's Tale

19 Jun 2008

OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE East Quadrangle, University of Glasgow, Until Sun 22 Jun Back in the day, going to see a show meant turning up at your village green or hostelry garden. Things have moved on since the 1500s, and there’s much to be said for modern…

Fallout

19 Jun 2008

DRAMA Channel 4, Thu 3 Jul, 9pm The issue of young people and crime is such a hot topic that it was only a matter of time before documentary-makers got in gear and happy slapped Channel 4 commissioners into submission with a series to mark the sorry…

5 Reasons To Go See - Reggae

19 Jun 2008

It’s hot - Nothing says summer like sweet reggae music. That enviable Caribbean climate seems to emanate from the speakers, giving all a feel-good, lazy day, sunshine quality. It’s just the weather, right? It’s heady - While great for kicking back and…

Wanted

19 Jun 2008

THRILLER/ACTION (18) 111min Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar's ultra-violent graphic novel gets the Hollywood blockbuster treatment in this sfx-heavy actioner that benefits from the skewered perspective of Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, who…

Side Dishes

19 Jun 2008

The Royal Highland Show at Ingliston opens on Thursday 19 June for its annual four-day celebration of food, farming and the countryside. The Food Hall ranks as one of the largest gatherings of Scottish food and drink in the calendar with over 100…

Old People, Children and Animals

19 Jun 2008

NEW WORK Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 19–Sat 21 Jun Many of us have elderly relatives, kids, even pets, but in our busy lives, how much time do we actually spend worrying about their welfare? Certainly, these three groups have rarely appeared on a stage…

Antigone in New York

19 Jun 2008

ADAPTATION GilmorehillG12, Glasgow, Fri 27–Sun 29 Jun Known for finding inspiration in outdoor spaces, Theatre Found will transform Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park into Central Park for a production of Janusz Glowacki’s Antigone in New York as part of the…

The Incredible Hulk

19 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (12A) 112min By general consent, Ang Lee’s 2003 film Hulk was considered a flop. Five years on from its failure to win over fans of the Marvel Comic monster/superhero – and to clean up at the box office – comes this relaunch of the franchise…

X (Group show)

19 Jun 2008

MIXED MEDIA Recoat, Glasgow, until Wed 2 Jul The title of this group show in the intimate space of Glasgow’s Recoat shop-come-gallery is a reference to the venue’s tenth show, but it also suggests a lot about the work on display. There’s no apparent…

The Waiting Room

19 Jun 2008

DRAMA (15) 105min Elderly Roger (Frank Finlay) sits in a suburban London train station, forlornly waiting for his dead wife to arrive, his presence providing the catalyst for a Brief Encounter-style chance meeting between Anna (Anne-Marie Duff) and…

Adulthood

19 Jun 2008

DRAMA (15) 99min Despite a fairly miserable showing at the box office 2006’s Kidulthood has spawned a sequel. Like its predecessor Adulthood’s London-centric depiction of inner-city struggles won’t speak as immediately to a Scottish audience but it’s…

The Ruins

19 Jun 2008

HORROR (18) 90min From Hostel to Paradise Lost, there are obvious political reasons for the current glut of horror films featuring groups of American teenagers holidaying abroad who get picked off one-by-one by mysterious forces. But even Marshall…

Food For Thought

19 Jun 2008

Breakfast is always the most important meal of the day. If unhurried (rarely), and in the right setting it is also my favourite meal of the day. In fact, Brodies breakfast tea is my favourite non-alcoholic drink. The most important ingredient for a…

The Happening

19 Jun 2008

DRAMA/SCI-FI (15) 90min The best and worst of M Night Shyamalan’s questionable talents are on display in The Happening, but after The Village and the dire Lady in The Water, it’s good to see Shyamalan hitting any sort of form at all. The apocalyptic…

Michael Stumpf: Glöckchen Whiplash

19 Jun 2008

MIXED MEDIA SCULTURAL INSTALLATION Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, until Sat 5 Jul There are two identical wall paintings, apparently of sunsets, in Michael Stumpf’s new exhibition. Why two sunsets, and no sunrise? Part of the strange mix of disparate…

Unravel

19 Jun 2008

NEW PLAY CCA, Glasgow, Thu 26–Sat 28 Jun Director Peter Lamb was cautious when he heard actor Mark Tominey’s idea. Could a show work in which the audience saw not only the characters but also the characters’ subtexts – their inner thoughts – fleshed…

The Sauchiehall Crawl

19 Jun 2008

INDIE Various venues, Glasgow, Sun 1 Jun One night, 11 bands, three venues in one street. Two options. One: settle down with a pint at the venue of your choice and given that the ABC has How to Swim (pictured), Broken Records and The Twilight Sad this…

Teeth

19 Jun 2008

HORROR/COMEDY (18) 93min Vagina dentata is the Latin name for a vagina with teeth, a primal fear which crops up in a number of different cultures and philosophies, now emerging at the centre of this teen flick written and directed by Mitchell…

Scottish Opera: Falstaff

19 Jun 2008

OPERA Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 21, Thu 26, Sat 28 Jun If you go to only one opera this year, you could do a lot worse than choosing Scottish Opera’s current production, Falstaff. Composed when he was approaching 80, this was Verdi’s last…

No Holds Bard - Mocumentary to honour Robert Burns

19 Jun 2008

Ugly Betty and Extras actress Ashley Jensen is just one of many Scottish celebrities set to star in No Holds Bard, a 60-minute comedy mocumentary, due to begin filming next week. Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Jensen…

Various - Fantasy Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 15

19 Jun 2008

HORROR (Eureka Productions) Graphic novel adaptations of classic works of literature are becoming more popular these days, and American series Graphic Classics pack in more updating for your buck with an anthology format. They’re not quite in the…

The Sexual Objects

19 Jun 2008

ROCK New Breed @ The Vic Café, Glasgow School of Art, Sat 7 Jun ‘Play it a bit more Todd Rungren, baby.’ Not words you hear at every art school hop, but it’s what Fire Engines/Heartbeat/Win/The Nectarine No 9 guitarist and guiding light Davy Henderson…

Avril Lavigne

19 Jun 2008

POP Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 26 May It took a while for her to finally make her entrance (the audience was kept waiting outside for an hour) but the eventual return of Canada’s most clean living rock’n’roller to a Glasgow stage was well worth…

Damon Galgut - The Imposter

19 Jun 2008

LITERARY TALE (Atlantic) Damon Galgut is in possession of an astute grasp of human nature and a poetically brusque prose that affords him bleak leanings, coaxing the reader on, almost against their will. There is an underlying malice and tangible…

Charlie Newton - Calumet City

19 Jun 2008

COP NOIR (Bantam) Charlie Newton makes no effort to dodge cop noir’s inherent clichés in his debut, but rather uses them to lure the reader into something grimmer than they could have anticipated. There’s naturally a hard-as-nails Chicago detective at…

Steve Niles & Kelly Jones - Batman: Gotham After Midnight No 1

19 Jun 2008

SUPERHERO (DC) In the arena of American superhero comics, Batman and the X-Men’s Wolverine are probably the most over-saturated characters. It can be a minefield trying to guess which titles featuring either character on the cover are actually…

Three others to try: Cooking classes

19 Jun 2008

Thai cooking Ever wondered how to transform a carrot into a rosebud? Get to grips with ornate vegetable carving and the basics of Thai cookery, then take the dishes home to eat. One-on-one tuition is available as well as group lessons for up to…

Paul Bibeau - Sundays with Vlad

19 Jun 2008

COMIC TRAVELOGUE (Constable & Robinson) Paul Bibeau is a man on a mission. He wants to tell the world the story of Dracula, the real Vlad the Impaler facing off against Bela Lugosi’s Hollywood-ised version, and explaining why never the twain can meet.

Various - Miles from India

19 Jun 2008

JAZZ (Times Square Records) Bob Belden is the producer of the comprehensive Columbia box sets of Miles Davis’ music, an immersion that has given him an authoritative grasp of the trumpeter’s work. Indian music was an area that Miles hardly explored…

Rivka Galchen - Atmospheric Disturbances

19 Jun 2008

EXPERIMENTAL DRAMA (Fourth Estate) Very few books are either complex enough to keep a reader interested until the end or simple enough to describe in a few words. The debut novel by Rivka Galchen proves it is possible to be both. The story is easy…