THE LIST
RDS
WOT NO PICTURE
When I said ‘See below' at the end of last issue's RDS. you weren‘t supposed to have to wait until now. .lttst to set the record straight. here is the poster put out by the Saint Juste \ igilantes which they posted on the French Consulate in Edinburgh to protest at the Gallic notion that Ian Hamilton Finlay is a Nazi. OK now’.’
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l l LICUE DES'DROITS
DE I'HDMME? NON: : LICUE DES DROITS
* or ouaques HOMMES! ' MAITRE MICHEL BLUM, TERRORISTE INTELLECTUEI, DESHONORE Lit FRANCE
ON THE STREETS So ( ilasgow is to have it's own lestival ol'street entertainers and huskers. Streetbiz. No-one had the nerve to ask at last week‘s announcement whether the timing. starting two weeks before that other Festival and stealing ifnot its th.inder then some of its performers. w as coincidence. check or sheer bloody ~mindedness. What it has successfully stolcniis the Zap Club. Ior the uninitiated. the Zap Club is a Brighton-based outfit which has cornered the market in off-thc-wall entertainment and cabaret acts.
1 hey promote gigs all round the country . including over the last few years. a major presence in l'tlinburgh. You may remember the Rose Street street and pub entertainment last year which was hugely popular. Zap will still have a presence in [Edinburgh this summer. running the Rose Street Festival. but much of their energies and
by GROBNIK
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commitments— over 100 performers and a similar number of back-up crew and staff— will be in Glasgow. ‘My heart is in Glasgow" confirmed Neil Butler. one of Zap's directors. a great bird of a man whose has the look ofsomeone who has just been seriously electrocuted. There‘s a very exciting buzz about Glasgow.‘ he says. ‘Everywhere we go (in the rest of the country) the publicity is coming over that Glasgow is very sharp. very exciting. that there‘s a lot ofenergy here. And it‘s true. Every time you get off the plane. the cab drivers are telling you about all these things going on — more than any other city I‘ve been in.‘ Zap will also be bringing the biggest version of their Nightclub ever seen outside London for one week. from August 22 to 29. complete with twenty-piece orchestra. aerial displays from the roof. live cabaret. lightshows and dancing.
Streetbiz is not just about scruffy youths juggling flaming French loaves — though that is among the promised attractions. The first week. for example. features marching bands from all corners of the globe playing everything from brass band music to skiffle. No doubt it will all be very jolly but I am growing uneasy about the direction being taken in a lot ofthe build-up events to 1990. In the course of a long chat with Neil Wallace. Glasgow's depute director of Festivals. earlier this year he stressed that 1990 was not just a question of him and his boss Bob Palmer going off round the world on a giant cultural shopping. There would be some major events brought in. ofcourse. but the real objective was to enable the city's own cultural assets to be shown off to their best advantage. So how come none of these marching bands come from Scotland. never mind Glasgow?
How come the street performers are from the London circuit? You can hardly say that marching bands are unknown in Scotland and ifstreet performers are a bit thin on the ground perhaps the Festivals Unit should be taking a leaf out of the Tron's book. Faced with a shortage of comics for their Five Past [Eight variety season later this month. Michael Boyd went out and commissioned some. As a result he has all new stand-up routines from Myra McFadyen. Anne Downie and Stuart Hepburn. Meanwhile Glasgow‘s main contribution to Streetbiz. apart from the money. will be the DJ‘s at the Zap Nightclub and the local drummers involved in the Beating the Clyde spectacular which will bring things to a climax (see also Guest List).
PAVEMENT ART
Anyone wandering through central Edinburgh recently cannot have failed to notice that the area around the National Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy has been turned into a building site. just at a time when more and more visitors to the City are arriving. You will be pleased to know that Lothian Regional Council you remember. that‘s the one that has just had to cut several millions from it budget — is spending £3()(I.()()() on pedestrianizing the
area. Hands up all those who thought it was pedestrianized already. Ah. no. you see what it is at the moment. according to the man at the Council. is ‘a sea of asphalt‘. What it is going to be is a landscaped amenity; what you or I might call a sea ofstone. ifwe had the man at the Council‘s gift for metaphor.
A new entrance to that corner of Princes Street Gardens is also being constructed. The ‘pavilion‘ as it is called is to be completely functionless. merely providing ‘architeetural balance‘. This is a plan which has been seven years in the making. I‘m sure it will all be charming when it‘s finished — in October. when the visitors have gone. Couldn't it have been done at some other time of the year? Well. yes it could. but it takes much longer doing things like this in the winter. The main part of the pedestrianization should be finished in time for the Festival. according to the man at the Council. so that all the street entertainers that aren‘t in Glasgow will still have somewhere to perform. He was not unduly concerned by the incovenience caused towards visitors here at the moment. ‘lfyou go down there now you'll find it‘s not very well used' he said. Well. no. it wouldn't be: it's a building site. Even Americans aren‘t that stupid.
: MACBETH " /l
CONTRIBUTORS
Publisher Robin Hodge. Editors Nigel Billen. Sarah Hemming. Associate Editor Allan Hunter. Design Simon Esterson. Advertising J ess Barrow. Sheila Maclean. Accounts Georgette Renwick. Typesetting Jo Kennedy and Hewer Text. Production Editor Paul Keir. Production Assistants
.4th Now YOU 1 SECRET BLACK
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Mark Fisher. Andrew Ytiung.Art Alice Bain. Sally Kinnes Books Alan Taylor. Classical Music Carol Main. Dance Alice Bain. Film Allan Hunter. Trevor Johnston. Folk/Jazz Norman Chalmers. FoodJulie Morricc. Marina ()‘Loughlin. Kids Sally Kinnes. Media Nigel Billen. Sally Kinnes. Nightliie Stuart Raiker.
,. ‘ FORETELL
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Andy Crabb. Colin Steven. Rock (Edinburgh) Mab. Rock (Glasgow) John ' Williamson. Sport Kenny Mathieson, Theatre Sarah Hemming. Travel Kristina Woolnough Camera Edinburgh Make-up Services Cover Steve Nallon as The Prime Minister. appearing in the Five Pas! [fight Show at the Tron COVER PHOTO BY DAVID MONTGOMERY (CITIIE SUNDAY TIMES
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5 l he ListS—Zl July 1988