THURSDAY
17
Glasgow
0 Spear oi Destiny plus lioy White Barrowland Ballroom, 244 Gallowgate. Kirk Brandon really is one of the most obnoxious media personalities of the decade, in my opinion. Couple that with rabble rousing and deadly dull punch your fist in the air rock and you have an evening saved only by Roy White (formerly of White and Torch - who?) Roy White does have a Bowie complex but also a good grasp of tune and an excellent debut single called ‘Lest We Forget’.
0 TV Personalities Club de France, Coatbridge.
0 Five Guys Called Mo Shadows, 73 Bath Street.
Edinburgh
0 Ooppelgangerlaiihouse, Calton Road. 10.30pm. Free. I remember this lot from a few years ago, when they had a good line in catchy, danceable, if ultimately insubstantial, numbers. They’ve been plagued by line-up changes since then, but I imagine they‘ll still be good for a bop.
0 Thompson Twins Playhouse Theatre, Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £7.50, £6.50. (Also Friday 18). Fresh from Live Aid, presumably they’ll be touting their version ofThe Beatles’ ‘Revolution’, a welcome number in the Philadelphia set, and on the new Thompson Twins LP.
0 Skeletal Family La Sorbonne, Cowgate.
Glasgow Venues
0 One of these days I’m going to open up a newspaper and see the words. They will say this: ‘Brilliant entrepreneur, Shuggie McShoogle proudly opens the doors of his new entertainment complex, featuring two venues, one with a two and a half thousand capacity hall and one with a three hundred capacity.’
I am more than certain that Shuggie, bless his little cotton socks, would clean up. There haven’t been this few middle to major sized venues in Glasgow since 1980— the dark days of pub gigs, long (but well worth it) treks to Paisley’s Bungalow Bar and the occasional fiver to see a superstar in The Apollo. In the interim we’ve had Tiffany’s hosting acts — everyone from Adam Ant to U2 — and Night Moves Gene Loves Jezebel to Culture Club) both now sadly gone and leaving a gaping hole in the gig circuit as far as Glasgow is concerned. Combine that with the demolition ofour beloved Apollo (even ifeveryone hated it while it was here, nostalgia is a particularly Glaswegian response); the lack of action on the Exhibition Centre front and the sheer underpromotion ofthe Barrowland Ballroom, the Pavilion Theatre and Rooftops (the re-vamped Night Moves) and we have a live music scene which is totally outstripped by Edinburgh for the first time in (my) living memory!
All of which means that ifyou want to see any big name acts then, a
‘Walts’, according to Penguln's A Dictionary oi Music, was the name given to olilclal town musicians up until the 18th century. The name also described pieces oi music particularly associated with the waits oi certain towns. The modem-day Tom Waits (commencing a European Tour at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 14 October) has as his parish all oi North America, its diners, bars, low-lives and losers, but his distinctive blend oi jazz, blues, Tin Pan Alley and whatever else comes to hand, is his and his alone. Rescued from obscurity by Asylum Records in 1972, Waits has been a cult favourite on both sides oi the Atlantic tor more than a decade. Things have taken oil in a bigger way in the last lew years. Taken under Francis Ford Coppola’s wing, he appeared in small parts in Rumble Fish, The Outsiders and most recently The Cotton Club, and periorrned the soundtrack tor the director’s One From the Heart. A collection oi his linest work tor the Asylum label sold well and his 1983 Swordilshtrombones displayed a broadening oi Walts' approach, using a wide range oi instruments to create exotic textures; but in the end it’s his compelling voice that leaves the audience spellbound. The Penguin Dictionary oi Music neglects to tell us ii the waits barked their songs in gruil gravelly voices, but lithe angels sing like this I’ll know l’m in the right place. (AM).
larger percentage of the time you will have to trail through to Edinburgh to see them! In this first issue of The List the acts that this applies to are David Cassidy, Tom Waits and The Thompson Twins — a combination which at least illustrates that talent and quality are nothing to do with not being able to fit Glasgow in on a live tour schedule.
On the other hand the smaller circuit is thriving yet again. Although that bastion of local ‘we put it on first’ talent, Maestro’s is thinking more cautiously about live bands it doesn’t seem to mean that there will be no promotions there at all in the future. New owner (and former manager) Mike Calder said ‘We’d like to have more variety in the club in future. I’m hoping to put on some R&B or some jazz acts — aim at different markets. Lately we’ve been putting on showcase gigs for Glasgow bands which we’ve really enjoyed doing. The intention in future is to try to only put on bands that are really good instead of having a live band on every Sunday as we had been — you know, just for the sake of it.’
Meanwhile back at the pub gig, The Fixx in Miller Street has been putting a consistently reasonable selection of local talent on its tiny stage and is currently being thrown into competition with The Midas Bar in St Vincent Street.
0 Cleopatra's (above Caesar’s) 508 Great Western Road 334 0560. A relatively new discotheque in the west end which presents bands of
varying quality.
0 Mayfair 490 Sauchiehall Street 332 3872. Disco which also has bands, recently started a Sunday night rock ’n’ roll special.
0 Ultraiheque 150 Wellington Street 333 0493. Primarily a disco, very occasionally has carefully selected acts.
0 Henry Alrlkas 13/15 York Street 221 6111. One of Glasgow’s trendier nightspots. Expensive, but has fairly well known bands.
0 Maestro’s 5/7 Scott Street 332 0712.
The trendiest disco in Glasgow. Catch next year’s thing this year. Currently re-thinking its policy towards live music.
0 Rooftops 92 Sauchiehall Street 332 5883. Formerly Nightmoves, only recently re-opened. Looks as though it will present mixture of unknown and name bands.
0 The Venue 474 Sauchiehall Street 332 5874. A mixture of the weird and unusual and frequent Heavy Metal. 0 Shut: (above Barrowlands) 244 Gallowgate 552 5947. A new addition to this list. Apparently what manager Tam Coyle does not know about the local music scene is not worth knowing.
0 Daddy Warbucks George Street. Recently started the Psycho Candy Club; trendy and alternative.
0 Star Social Club 44 Carlton Place.
0 The iollowlng are students’ unions and, as such, operate a student and guests only policy. Asking a handy student to be signed in creates guest stahrs, however.
0 Glasgow University Oueen Margaret
Union University Gardens 339 8525. Used to be really dull, but since Mark Mackie took things in hand, the quality of live acts has improved enormously. Best of all the student unions.
0 Glasgow University Union University Avenue 339 8697. The GUU has a bad reputation for many reasons, but, on occasion has the odd good band.
0 Strathclyde University Students’ Union 90 St John Street 552 5320. Strathclyde used to attract the best bands of all the unions then fell away somewhat. Bands play at the very top of the building, which must present problems for the roadcrews. 0 Glasgow College of Technology Student Union Has an enthusiastic and active entertainments policy, unfortunately some of the bigger bands who used to play here have been enticed to the OM. Has the odd good act, though.
0 Because of local licensing laws, pubs in Glasgow are not allowed to charge admission at the door. This means that there used to be free live music all over the city most nights of the week, but the number ofpubs offering such entertainment has dwindled over recent years.
0 Shadows 73 Bath Street 332 8111. A basement bar/diner, presents unknown bands.
0 Fixx Miller Street. This trendy basement bar shows bands suitable for trendy, basement bars on Wednesday nights.
0 Midas St Vincent Street (see
The List 4— 1 7 October 19