Can Peter Greenaway’s graphic use of sexual violence bejustified in his most unsettling film yet, The Baby ofMacon? Does Les Miserables live up to the hype or was it just . miserable? Should they 3 ever have let Ken ‘ Campbell out of Brookside Close? Let us know what you think — the best letter wins a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila. Get scribbling. It’s only flock ’n’ roll
ls it true that Runrig have recorded a Highland version ofa Rolling Stones classic and retitled it ‘Hey McLeod. get off of my ewe'. Do I win, or what? Gary Nelson
Brighton Street
Edinburgh.
To demonstrate the point that less is frequently more. particularly where letters pages are ironeerned. we award Mr Nelson tltis week 's bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila for this excruciating piei'e of wordplay. Collect your prize from our Edinburgh office.
."c '0
OUERVO
: Straight rejection Many thanks to Tom Lappin (Channel : Hopping 27 August). His TV review l adequately proved that those of us in L the gay community must keep our : watchful eyes on all the nation’s press — not just the tabloid newspapers. but popular magazines like The List as well.
For the sake of argument let’s accept
L.
lETTTITS
the annual Sydney Mardi Gras closed to straights for a moment, a doubtful premise to start with. It lasts but three weeks; for 49 weeks a year society operates an anti-gay closed sh0p. Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are practically invisible.
So no gays on Blind Date. no gays in the army, no gays adopting children. no gay men having sex under 21. no gays at the cinema unless they’re serial killers. Furthermore all gay culture can offer is crap anyway. the likes of whom straights have rejected — namely Michaelangelo. k.d. lang. Tchaikovsky. Justin Fashanu, Oscar Wilde. Armistead Maupin, Derek Jarman. Martina Navratilova, Wilfred Owen (l
i could go on and on . . .)
Yes, gay people like Neil Bartlett do talk openly about their sexuality on TV when they get the chance. Excuse me, but isn't this something to be encouraged? I thought we were a nation of people who don‘t talk enough about sex, whether gay or straight.
The excellent and very funny Lea De Laria is alas being ironic when she says
' it's hip to be queer in the 90s. Gay murders, queer bashings. police harassment, the fact you can be sacked from yourjob for being gay. Methinks someone missed the joke. Take a look at society and ask yourselves ‘who‘s
. oppressing who’.
Martin Walker
Centre Manager
The Lesbian. Gay and Bisexual Centre 58a/60 Broughton Street
Edinburgh.
: Violent reaction
So Thom Dibdin is now a drama critic? i Not if his fawning article on Peter : McDougall is anything to go by.
McDougall is nothing more than a drunken bully of mediocre talent who, in the 70s. somehow managed to knock out two reasonably good TV plays. The only reason he got them produced is that Bill Bryden was Fuhrer at BBC Scotland at the time and had a thing about putting on ‘working class‘ drama.
But. as Dibdin seems to be The List‘s resident trendy lefty, I'd imagine he was impressed by McDougall‘s proletarian bluster. How can it not be obvious that the man is a fake? He writes plays about working class experience so out-of-date as to be
NEXT ISSUE OUT THURSDAY
positively historic. He lives in the west end of Glasgow and hangs out in upmarket pubs (he was interviewed in the Ubiquitous Chip. a pub where you need a mortgage to get a pint).
Now there is no reason why McDougall or anyone else should have to live in a council house in Greenock and drink in the Stab lnn. But this is a man who lives on being working class. Hisjob title should read ‘professional proletarian'.
lfyou want to print features on working class drama that is actually watched by working class people. take a look at Clyde Unity Theatre, the next time they tour. Or go and see any of the community theatre groups in Glasgow.
And if you want to profile writers with both talent and integrity, turn your attention to the novels of Irvine Welsh, Barry Graham and Gordon Legge. Genuine grassroots writing with no
bullshit.
i .l. M. Benzie Woodlands Road Glasgow
3 Does Connolly care? : You asked for views on your question i in the last issue. ‘Has Billy Connolly ’ lost touch with his roots or is he just realistic about the fact that fame, and particularly the money is brings. i changes everything’.
Here goes. I‘m a psychiatric nurse and '; a pretty good one at that, with plenty of experience of picking up the pieces of today's selfish society. I‘ve been screwed, done the screwing, seen it or ? known someone who has. I can honestly say I understand good .1 old Billy Connolly because I've been an anarchist too. Let‘s face it, he‘s , getting on a bit and certainly is ‘out of a touch‘ with the people he set out to a make laugh all those years ago. Now. : listening to him, watching his ego in 1 action. he‘s laughing at them, he's the one who‘s uncomfortable. not us. Billy 3 says he doesn't belong to Glasgow any ,i more. Perhaps he never did. i I became a nurse to give something ! back because of my struggle and my ! people's. which gave me the strength to l move on. Billy could do so much more with his presence, he could inspire .’ people to ‘progress‘. to escape the : hopelessness and ugliness of today‘s
7 OCTOBER
worst crime — poverty.
I feel sorry for Billy with his distractions of Porsches and Perrier water. I wonder if he ever got round to telling those ‘elassy' royals about the little girl asleep at night in Partick dreaming that somebody cares enough. Sian Finlayson Watson Crescent Edinburgh
Open all hours
I‘ve just read that down in Manchester in September they‘re extending liquor licences. keeping car parks open till midnight and encouraging shops to stay open later. Yet the only thing you read about Glasgow these days is the ridiculous clamping down on club opening hours. I don't get through to Glasgow that much (maybe a couple of times a year). but when I do I want to know that there’s going to to be a lively scene happening. No, I don‘t want to be knifed either. but I‘d be more scared for my safety wandering round a ghost town where only the lunatic fringes hang out than a lively city where people just want to have a good time. So you can tell the council big-wigs that next time I fancy a night on someone else‘s town. I‘ll be avoiding Glasgow and heading down to stay with my pal in Manchester. Frank Spring Balfour Street
. Edinburgh
Post Script
Address your letters to The list letters at:
14 High Street
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Fax them to: 031 557 8500
We will not print yourqu address or phone number but you must include them. Deadline is the Friday before publicatiott. Keep them pithy. as ot'erlong letters may be (but. The best letter next issue will win a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila and a nattv
baseball cap.
Dirt-\- like/tend: Michael Winner and Helen Zaliavi are the Odd Couple.
ll'hat 's Lore (lot To Do With It 3’: Tina Turner. aka Angela Bassett (left). provides
the answers.
The (‘oi'teau 'Iirius: 'l‘he Grangemouth warblers go mainstream — almost.
I)l’(\’: Innovative dance theatries.
PLUS: liull listings. previews and reviews for Glasgow and Edinburgh.
84 The List 24 September—7 October 1993
Printed by Scottish County Press. Sherwood Industrial Estate, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian. Tel: 031 663 2404.