LETI'ERS
AIDS
I suppose the condom feature last issue will have boosted your sales figures but don‘t delude yourselves into thinking it made much ofa contribution to World AIDS Day. The jokey campaigning in this
country may do some good but the danger is that it helps us turn a blind eye to the real problems of AIDS that afflict the Third World. The latest report from the World Health Organisation reveals that millions are now at risk in Asia in addition to the millions already suffering in Africa. Just because this subject isn‘t ‘sexy’ in newspaper terms, everyone likes to ignore it. But instead of blowing their money on multi- coloured or tutti-frutti flavoured condoms, The List readers should be donating to Third World charities. Fiona Boyce St Vincent Crescent Glasgow
Ooh er
I read your condom feature with great interest. Come Saturday night I enjoy shoving a stiffone into a suitable receptacle, shaking it around a bit and throwing it into a gaping orifice until I get that warm tingly feeling.
Well that’s how I drink tequila, and my bottle’s just run out, so how about it? Do I win or what?
Gary Nelson
Brighton Street
Edinburgh
Better watch who you ’re mixing it with, Gary. We wouldn't want you finishing off too soon now, would we. Come up and see us.
Yosser
I heard the plug for your Condom guide on the Steve Wright Show, nipped out and bought my copy. I
devoured the five ‘whopping pages‘.
smirked a bit and thought: Gizza
WE.
our IT COVERED
L____- .-
u The List 4 - 71‘7‘ 1 992
What is it about condoms that
brings out the smut? We had to censor even more letters than usual this issue. Next issue sees the mammoth festive double edition of our organ and the best letter will again win a bottle of the positively delicious Jose Cuervo
Gold Tequila. Now that should raise the tone of the page.
' job: I could do that.
How do I go about joining The List
' staff?
Dave Thomson Warrender Park Crescent
Edinburgh
Calumny
I agree that ‘it‘s too bad we don’t get the chance to see more contemporary Scottish artists in the Scottish National Galley of Modern
Art‘ (The List 189). And, yes, it is
indeed ‘unusual for the gallery to
r devote a solo show to the work of i one so young'. But why choose
Callum Innes?
Do the gallery curators really think he is the most significant of all the talented young artists working in Scotland? lnnes‘s canvases may involve remarkably intricate brushwork but their overall effect is to generate a distinctly uninspiring sense of déja vu. The world has moved on since the 50s when abstract minimalist art was an exciting (iflimited) new idea. Ifthis kind of painting is thought worthy of attention today, let‘s go back to the originals by Barnett Newman or Mark Rothko. Callum Innes may be under 30 but he paints as if he is over 70.
When will our national galleries begin to devote even a small portion of their vast resources to supporting genuinely original new work by contemporary artists? There is no shortage of it about.
Angus Mathieson Laurence Street Glasgow
|
Withering hits
It was with a considerable measure ofsurprise that I read the review (The List 189) of Witthering Heights as performed by the Focus Theatre Company (Scotland) and
f Strathclyde Theatre Group.
i Heights— a situation I plan to remedy ? — but nevertheless I was easily able to .
I myself have never read Wuthering
follow the story with the aid ofslidcs indicating the passage of time. Although. indeed. the only props were eight large cubes. I thought
3 these were skilfully used throughout
the play. The director's use of his
‘ small east in having three ofthe main
Characters portraying their offspring in the second act. I found very effective as it seemed to reinforce their inter-relationships.
Although the programme stated that the direction was by Carl Piekard and the company. I personally did not feel that the
performance lacked direction.
Moreover. the audience on the night I attended. which consisted largely of young people studying Wuthering
. Heights for Higher English. seemed
totally absorbed in the action. All in all. I spent a very enjoyable evening. Alison George
Winton Drive
Glasgow
lam glad you enjoyed the show. replies Beatrice ('olin. but I do think your reaction might be slightly less glowing after you have read the book.
Dolls house
To everybody with a big thirst and a
i tiny bladder at the John Cale concert 3 (Queen‘s Hall) on Monday 16
November: Thanks very much for
spoiling a good gig.
As if fluffy sound. buzzing speakers and a PA that intermittently picked up Radio Forth weren‘t enough to contend with, there was the incredibly irritating distraction of a good third of the assembled punters clomping in
and out of the auditorium,
presumably either to get hold of
. piss-weak lager or to get rid of
lager-rich piss. Mind you, it wasn‘t
, Cale‘s best-ever performance. and
1 I'm not suggesting that we all sit with
‘ heads bowed in hushed silence
3 before the presence ofThe Great
; Man. I would say that what makes
; John Cale in concert memorable is
the claustrophobic. nervy intimacy
and intensity of his songs: Cale is one (rare) artist who can draw you into
E something more powerful than your bog standard singer-songwriter encounter— but there’s not much
; Chance of it working when every
: idiot in the hall is standing up. sitting
down. walking out. coming back.
squeezing past. 'scuse me-ing and crunching those horrible plastic
,cups.
Rudi Valdetedg
Muirhouse Drive
; Edinburgh
' PostScript
Address your letters to: The List Letters at: 1-1 High Street. Edinburgh Elll lTE. or Old Athenaeum Theatre. 17‘) Buchanan Street. Glasgow G1 ZJZ. Of Fax them to: ()31 557 8500. We will notprint yourfull address or phone number. but you must include ‘ them. Deadline is the Friday before
publication. Keep them pit/1y. as long ;
' letters may be cut. The best letter next issue will win a bottle ofJose (‘ttervo (Io/d Tequila.
\‘NEXT ISSUE OUT THURSDAY 17 DECEMBER ,3
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