With Shadowland, Richard Attenborough has
made a critically acclaimed film for the first time in years. Did you cry? Sean Hughes’s television shows are not everybody’s taste but he still cuts it on stage. Did you laugh? Kurt Cobain survived the kind of drink and drugs cocktail which has killed stronger men, but it looked bad for a while. Did you pray? Tell us what you think about these, or any other, subjects and you could win a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila.
Crack actor
Your correspondent in The List (221) refers to Robert De Niro as an ‘average‘ actor. To me an average actor is the likes ofJeff Bridges. Clint Eastwood or Sylvester Stallone. to mention only a few.
De Niro is not good. not great. he is simply in the magnificent class and no male star in Hollywood even reruotely approaches him. I have seen all his movies. bar a few early ones. and the guy is different class. What other star has such a range of versatility? Take for example these contrasts; could any two roles be more different than De Niro‘s
l in Cape Fear and Mad Dog and Glory; what about the contrast between even the two ‘father‘ roles in This Boy's lite and A Bronx Tale? The list is endless. Far froru being ‘ludicrous’ in (‘ape
- Fear. De Niro gave one of the greatest. ;
most compelling performances of all tirue. putting him right up there
alongside Rod Steiger and Edward G. Robinson in my top three all—time favourites. James McKenna
Kimberley Gardens
, East Kilbride
J
BUERVO
I Thanksfor the letter James. ('an 't say I agree with you about C'ape l’ear. but showing the good taste to namet'het'k Steiger and Edward (I. wins you an
I equally tasteful bottle (rt/ose Cuervo
tequila. It awaits on in our (ilasgow
office. whit‘h is open in the ntornings.
Captured Willy
The review of Free Will_\ in The List
(220) states that the film makes it clear
that ‘wild animals aren‘t business
cornmodities'. It‘s a great pity that the
; reviewer didn’t go on to inform your
1 readers that this film is a travesty of the
i truth. In reality. once ‘Willy" had
3 completed his role. back into the pool
he went. to continue his miserable
l existence in captivity.
Those who wish to find out ruore about how many other whales and
dolphins and other animals suffer in the
l name ofentertainment. in film. on stage
or in Good/ellas and Awakenings? And ‘
i and in the circus. should read The Rose- 1 Tinted Menagerie by William Johnson. This book should be required reading by all film reviewers and all those who write for the entertainment sections of newspapers and magazines. They should feel a certain responsibility to research what goes on behind the scenes — and then inform their readers. Sandra Busell
Lutton Place
Edinburgh
Flattery, flattery
Well I ruust say what a fantastic magazine The List really is. I used to
i by-pass it on the shelves. My friend
i reeorurueuds it to everyone so I picked tip my first copy last August and l was extremely impressed. It covers every
arts and entertainment. Before. I was forking out a good few quid just to see
taste froru pop and rock to classical and
what‘s going on and now I can get it all
in The list fora huruble pound and
thirty pennies. And what a bonus — a
i bottle of Jose (fuervo tequila thrown in for the best letter. Keep up the good
work.
Sharon Locke
The Braes
; Ttrllibody
‘ Making a spectacle l was pleased to see the ‘glasses‘ theme on the cover of your last issue (The l.ist 22 l ). However as an NHS speecy »- w'ear those big black frames with pride —- l was crushed to see The Proclaimers‘ Charlie Reid has taken the designer option. (‘all them real speccies'.’ Not in
my myopic eyes. Thomas Dobson l)alkeith Road
Edinburgh
Thanks/or the letter. Thomas. No
. tequila I'm about ~ we (an i hate yott going around blind drunk as well as
, blind. .-ls a spett'y mysele [find myself resorting to designer (iregs in order to tu'ltiel'e that NHS look. Sign oft/1e times. I guess.
I Talent spotting
l‘ve done the ocassioual tab of E. get
‘ out of my head in pubs regularly. a lot
1 of my ruates are unemployed. and I can swear like a bastard. Trouble is. when l
NEXT ISSUE OUT THURSDAY 24 MARCH
applied to the Scottish Arts Council for a grant as a ‘streetwise sceptic. trashing oourgeois artistic preoccupatious‘. they told rue to piss off. So what's Irvine Welsh‘s secret. Do I win or what?
Gary Nelson
Brighton Street
Edinburgh No tequila. .-lnvwav. Arts ('ounr'il grants are yesterday 's thing (iary.
('orporate spmrsorship oft/re arts is where it's at; one o/‘lidinlno'gh 's major breweries might be a good place to .S'ltlt'l.
Club talk
A few years back. your Art pages seemed to rue to speak a different language. Either you changed or I did. as about two thirds of it now makes sense to rue. ()n the other hand I have now discovered a profound inability to ruake head or rail of the Clubs pieces. Am I lacking something or are you on another planet from the rest of us? Last
issue informed rue that ‘geo-techno is
located at the elemental fringes and spaces of existence itself.‘ \N'hereabouts is that. and can you get a
bus there'.’
Peterlnnes
Lawrence Street (ilasgow
You 'll be telling us next that you don 't know anything about datu‘e musie but
' you know what you like. Nobody said it u as going to be easy. bit! as with the
:lrt pages. it may all start to make
sense it‘you persevere.
E Address your letters to The List Letters at:
14 High Street
. Edinburgh Elli lTE ; or ()ld Athenaeum Theatre
I79 Buchanan Street
i (ilasgow (ii 217..
EOI’
has them to: (Bl 557 8500 He will not print you/{lull address or
phone number but you must inelude
them. Deadline is the Friday before publu‘ation. Keep them pithy. as
ol'erlong letters may be cut. The best letter next issue will win a bottle of
i
.lose ('ueri'o tequila and a natty
2 baseball cap.
Sound City: Glasgow rocks with the week~long Radio One-sponsored shindig. The List brings you the FREE pull-out prograrume guide to all the events. gigs. serurnars and workshops. Don't leave home without one. Did we ruentron it was FREE!
Short Cuts: Robert Altman‘s star-studded soapy screen version of Raymond C arver‘s
" stories.
.larues Kelruan: How Late It Was How Lute. the new novel from Glasgow‘s chronicler of the'dispossessed and the disaffected.
PLUS: Primal Scream (left). Edinburgh Folk Festival. Kali/ornia. Kristin Hersh. Brtrce Morton. Edinburgh Science Festival preview.
ORDER YOUR ROOKIN’ COPY NOW!
84 The List 1 1—24 March 1994
Printed by Scottish County Press, Sherwood Industrial Estate. Bonnyrigg. Midlothian. Tel: 031 663 2404.