Is Margi Clarke a Shere 3 Hite for the 90s orjust a
i tireless self-publicist? Can 5 a Carpenters revival really
I be justified on musical
' grounds? Are you having a whale of a time at this year’s Festival or fed up
‘ with it all ready? Why not vent your spleen, lance the boil and drain your gall—bladder in a letter to our organ. The writer of the best one we publish wins a stunning T-shirt and a bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila to spill down it.
Late call
[)0 you ever need to go over to Glasgow to catch a band that is only playing one Scottish date'.’ Do you travel by public transport?
I atn a student. I love music. and I frequently travel to Glasgow. but it can be a tough decision. Large venues like Barrowland are fine. as you're usually out by I Ipm but at clubs bands rarely start before I0pm. This means leaving well before the end for the customary sprint to Queen Street station.
So I only go for bands that I really
worth the trip to see only half a set. Recently. for example. I was looking forward to seeing Jellyfish — until I discovered the gig did not start until IOpm. I phoned the venue and was told
want to see badly. otherwise it‘s just not
LETTERS
that it was not scheduled to finish until 1.30am. This does seem unrealistically late but even for a midnight finish it doesn't always seem worth the cost. knowing that you will miss the last 45 minutes.
So I’d like to make three pleas: to bands. to play Edinburgh as well as Glasgow; to venues. to start the gigs earlier; and to ScotRail and Citylink buses. to put on at least one later bus/train back from Glasgow. If at least one of these was granted. we could all enjoy live gigs without the constant worry of catching the last train home. Tara Wilcock Sciennes Edinburgh
Colonial attitude
Isn‘t there something slightly perverse. if not racist. about an International Jazz Festival which has virtually no black participants? I love jazz. but find no problem missing out on Edinburgh‘s coIoniaI/colonising knees-up and saving my pennies for next year‘s Glasgow Jazz Festival. the organisers of which are clearly aware of the music's African/American past and future.
'John Warburton
Easter Road
Edinburgh
Staying home
In last issue's piece on Scottish low budget films you discussed our neo- nazism documentary Another Journey By Train but forgot to mention my co- director, Mark Forrest.
Also I wanted to add to what you said that it’s important that Scots don‘t only make films about their own patch. Many distinguished filmmakers have focused first on the world out there and know that home is the hardest subject. New filmmakers should be wary of the advice to start with what they know best. There are dodgy assumptions in this which can lead to self indulgence and parochialism.
Mark Cousins
c/o Edinburgh lnterational Film Festival
Edinburgh
Drummed out
I drove down to Newcastle to visit my mother. on Fn'day 23 July. and came back on Saturday to arrive in Edinburgh at 2.35pm. This was a major change to earlier arrangements. all made because I had found out from The List that Hossam Ramzy was performing at the Ross Bandstand. (Since I play Arab drums. I have been wanting to see him for some time.)
The only problem was that you had got it wrong.
He had started at Iprn and was finished at 2.30pm. I suggest that you find out who is responsible for this inaccuracy. roll up the next copy of The List. and apply it where it will cause as much annoyance and im'tation as I felt when finding I had rearranged my weekend for nothing. If however you feel some responsibility. then I would accept the notorious bottle of tequila as an apology and reduce my sentence on your employee to an external application ofthe magazine.
Peter A. Verity Scotland Street
” ans: curenvo ,
We are contrite. Despite the military precision of our production scltedules. a gremlitt ltas clearly crept itt and caused a sob story worthy of Simon Bates 's Our Time. tto less. Accordingly. it behooves us not to come between you and the bottle of tequila. However we are curious to know how Mrs Verity feels about playing second fiddle to an Arab drum. There better be a good explanation for this less than prodigal behaviour wlten you collect the Jose Cuervo from our Edinburgh office.
at.
No respite
In June this year. Lothian Health Board confirmed cuts to HIV/drugs services in Edinburgh as a result of a reduction in Govemment funding. These cuts come at a time. ironically. when the Community Care Act (launched in April) is placing a greater burden on statutory and non-statutory agencies.
NEXT ISSUE OUT THURSDAY 19 AUGUST
These enabling projects provide essential services such as: respite care for people with AIDS/HIV; counselling and support for prostitutes and people with drug abuse problems; and much needed advice and health promotion at a local level.
Ongoing health education is. at present. the tnost effective basis for the fight against AIDS/HIV. In the light of the latest Government statistics showing that infection of heterosexuals by HIV continues to increase steadily. we believe that cuts which affect health education are dangerous folly. The situation in Scotland merits grave concern. According to the Communicable Diseases (Scotland) Unit. between I985 and I992 there has been a tenfold increase in the number of reported new cases of HIV contracted through heterosexual contact. HIV is not the problem of isolated minorities.
It is our understanding that yet another funding review of these services will take place in the coming financial year. The possibility of further cuts is a source of great uncertainty and anxiety for the project workers and those whom they serve.
Urgent public help is required for these vital services. We need their work and they must have our strongest suppon.
Mark Ledwidge
Justice and Peace Group St Albert's Parish Edinburgh University
Post Script
Address your letters to:
The List Letters at:
[4 High Street.
Edinburgh
OI'
()Id Athenaeurn Theatre.
I79 Buchanan Street.
Glasgow GI 2J2
0!
Fax them to: 03I 557 8500
We will not print yourjitll address or phone number. but you must include them. Deadline is the l’riday before publication. Keep them pithy. as long letters may be cut. The best letter next issue will win a bottle ofJose Cuervo Gold Tequila and psychedelic 'I'—sltirt.
Folk Dancing: Mark Morris teams up with guitarist/chanteuse Michelle
Shocked (left).
Young Americans: Danny Cannon's action thriller movie set in the clubs of
London.
.lulian ('ope: Strung-out hippy or divinely touched genius?
'1 . Steven Campbell: I'ppity dauber or divinely touched genius?
PLUS: All the reviews you‘ll ever need. hot off the streets of the biggest arts festival this side of downtown Neptune. Don‘t buy a ticket without us. you‘ll
never forgive yourself. ‘
‘ ,t' l .20 from newsagents or on the streets of the Capital.
L _ _. 100 The List I3r-l9 August I993
Printed by Scottish County Press. Sherwood Industrial Estate. Bonnyrigg. Midlothian. Tel: 031 663 2404.