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The Beautiful South; bitter sweet popsters or a bunch of whiners who’ve outstayed their welcome? The Backbeat Band; just what we need — another Beatles tribute? And Peter Brook says he loves Glasgow, but does Glasgow love his new show? Write us a letter
LETTERS
This isn '1 Smash Hits you know. Readers of The List are renownedjor their critical objectivity wlten appraising an artist's performance. I suspect yours is a more hormonal response. But. since you ask. here's a contact address: Sean Hughes Information. 14 Kingsley Place. Heaton. Newcastle upon Tyne. N156 5AN. We suspect we might be guilty of supplying intoxicating liquor to minors ifwe gave you the tequila as well.
Severely Wounded
Thank you for your piece on Sherman Alexic’s forthcoming short story collection; I look forward to sampling
3 some braided Bukowski.
However Native American List
j readers will be insulted to read about
the ‘battle at Wounded Knee Creek'.
7 This is a bit like telling an Auschwitz victim they were unlucky to have lost. ' but hey. it was a square go. In fact. it
and you could win a bottle 9
of Jose Cuervo tequila.
Seanie showered with praise
I would like to express my thanks on your Sean Hughes article in The List (222). It‘s extremely rare that we find anything on the subject of Sean in magazines these days and I find this somewhat disappointing. so therefore — thanks a million. especially for putting Sean on the front page in all his splendour. Also, whilst on this theme I would like to add that l was fortunate enough to see his show at the City Hall and really there's only one word for him — amazing. Well done Sean! Keep up the good work. A well-eamed place on the front cover of a great magazine. Do you know an address where I could contact Sean and do you also have any information on merchandising. Please. I would be tnost grateful if you could help me.
Jennifer Links
Shiel Place
East Kilbride
was a massacre of an entire unarmed band of Sioux numbering 350 men. women and children. carried out by the US army. The army preferred to call it a battle because of the casualties on their side. The fact that the stupid bastards. in forming a circle round their targets. had shot each other was just too much of an embarrassment at the time. Oh. and Sitting Bull did not die at Wounded Knee. He was shot by a reservation policeman at Standing Rock
not long after the massacre. I bet you
hate people like me. A bottle of tequila might shut me up.
i Stefan ‘Dances with facts‘ Heumann
Roddinglaw Cottages Edinburgh
Stefan. we love each and every one of our readers. especially those who point out our occasional errors. Only by confronting them can we grow stronger: Asfor the white man isj/irewater. it's a corrupting influence but you sound like you can handle it. A bottle oj'Jose Cuervo awaits in our Edinburgh office.
Deserting the cause
‘We‘re completely anti-war. Although our van is done up like an army vehicle and we sometimes wear army clothes. we see ourselves as an army of party people. We fire house music. not bullets.‘ That's the Desert Storm spokesman. in another triumph of image-building over substance. It's all so predictable; the flirting-with-fascism imagery; the situationist slogans; the ‘we are oppressed free spirits' stance. But it‘s all front. with no real conviction — they just want to publicise their bandwagon-jumping dance records. It‘s as simple as that. Don't believe their hype.
Name and address supplied
Not too late
It‘s that time again; James Kelman publishes another book and we go through the usual media hoopla. The critics in the posh papers have given it almost unanimously good reviews. If they're English. or middle class. or probabl y both. they hardly dare do otherwise for fear of being accused of perpetuating the ‘imperialism' of English letters.
During interviews to promote the book. familiar battle lines are drawn as Kelman once again rages against the English literary mafia. He dismisses the advances that Torrington. Kennedy. Welsh et al have made as signs of tokenism. But realising that as the list gets longer. it becomes a harder position to maintain. he has started saying it‘s misleading to talk of ‘Scottish writing‘ at all.
Keltnan talks a great deal of sense. and his determination to stick to his guns is admirable. but I feel his approach to his critics. and sometimes even those who profess to like and understand his work. prevents. rather than encourages debate. In The List (223) he asks for all English-based literature to be ‘appraised properly. with proper literary criteria‘. It‘s hard to to that when any note ofcriticism is interpreted as an assault by the ‘literary establishment'. Irvine Welsh has
adopted a similar position. and I think
NEXT ISSUE OUT THURSDAY 21 APRIL
receives similar treatment.
Through his brilliant writing. Kelman has earned the right to be uncompromising. but refusal to compromise shouldn‘t becotne an end in itself. A slightly more open approach which admits different views and perspectives. without diluting the basic message. might help encourage more people to talk about his. and other writers. work without feeling that they are in danger of being politically incorrect.
Jason White Kier Street Glasgow
Giving out
A big record collection does not make you a good person. and certainly doesn’t make you a good songwriter. Bobby Gillepsie seems to think otherwise. however. His enthusiasm for the greats of rock. funk and soul is an endearing quality and all these namechecks have probably done wonders for the sales of secondhand records. but a patchwork quilt of influences isn't the same thing as a great record. Sadly. he seems to believe otherwise.
John lnnes
Caledonian Crescent
Edinburgh
Address your letters to The List Letters at:
14 High Street
Edinburgh EH1 lTE
Of
Old Athenaeurn Theatre
17‘) Buchanan Street
Glasgow G1 2JZ
Of
Fax them to: ()31 557 8500
We will not print yourj'ul/ address or phone number but you must include them. Deadline is the Friday before publication. Keep them pithy. as overlong letters may be cut. The best letter next issue will win a bottle of
Jose Cuervo tequila and a natty ‘ baseball cap.
A'lAYFES'l‘: The inside story on the beginning of Glasgow’s annual jamboree.
Maly Theatre: Oh. those Russians.
Gavin Bryan‘s: Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet.
Country music season: the lowdown on the twang thang.
PLUS: Janice Galloway. Italian and Australian Film Festivals. Jeff Bridges (left) in Peter Weir‘s Fearless. D-Rcam. David Lee Roth. High Risk publishing.
ORDER YOUR; COPY NOW!
88 The List 8—2] April 1994
Printed by Scottish County Press. Sherwood Industrial Estate. Bonnyrigg. Midlothian. Tel: 031 663 2404.