HIGH FIVE
MARK PINKOSH, solo star o! Don’t Forget Me by Godfrey Hamilton, . chooses five gay male role models.
1 Benjamin Brltten/Peter Pears One wrote for the other to perform.
2 Ernest Hemlngway If you give a pansy a gun, he'll shoot everything in sight.
3 Gore Vidal Proof positive you don't need to be British to be ironic. cynical and profoundly perceptive.
4 Larry Kramer For making rage all the rage.
5 James Purdy America's most under-appreciated literary genius.
COLIN MCWILLIAMS, production at DF Concerts, recalls five memorable backstage riders.
1 The Sugarhlll Gang Played King Tut's a couple of years ago. requested six bottles of Dom Perignon champagne . . . which they got, of course. This was on top of the two meals per person they received.
2 Iggy Pop He played T in the Park last year and requested three works from local artists. We managed to accommodate this. which I think surprised him as he was most grateful.
3 Clint Boon One black-and- white and one colour photo of Elvis in Tut's dressing room when he played a year ago.
4 Napalm Death The standard rider for Tut’s tends to be a case of lager, some softs and water. When Napalm Death played earlier this year, they asked for three bottles of Jack Daniels, seven cases of lager and four cases of soft drinks. When we questioned this, we were informed that this was the reduced version.
5 Placebo Not particularly large. but they did ask that there be no yellow backstage and at no time should they be subjected to any Sting or Simply Red piped muzak.
”wl Jennfler Wonderdog
lady of goths and neds.The
people have
\ Sunday.
8 THE LIST 6—20 Sept 2001
2007 marketing
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been far nicer on
WHAT DID YOU”
THE OPlNION
Not so clever, 'lrevor
We’re warm. We’re cuddly. So why are Scots always the TV bad guys? Words: Tony Clarkson
nless you've been stuck on a transatlantic yacht. you will be aware of the recent revelations that have formed Ell.\‘l(’ll(f(’l‘.8‘ latest storylines. Forget who shot Phil Mitchell: that’s old hat. What we‘re all now dying to know is how many wives does sleazy Scottish lowlife Trevor actually have. And what about this baby‘.’
This guy is the pick of the pack in terms of
soap villains. He has all the qualities for the job. He’s mean. He takes advantage of his power over others. He‘s underhand and clever. even though the only person on the square to be outwittcd by him is the less-than-bright Billy. Add to this his ability to weasel his way into the
Vic. and you have all the signs of another bout of
hand-wringing for the downtrtxlden Little Me.
But most importantly of all. he‘s Scottish.
Is it just me or is there a trend here'.’ The ability to draw] menacineg in broad Glaswegian or Edinburgh slang is a characteristic too attractive for the Ifasrwidwts‘ scriptwriters to pass up. In the past few years we‘ve been treated to some top- drawer baddies in the soap. A closer examination reveals that if it’s an amoral. transient shyster you want. look no further than the Scots.
Gerard Kelly was given a similar love-to-hatc- him role in the soap a few years ago. But just as quickly as he arrived. he was ousted by the iron- knit community of neighbourhle watchers. He was afforded no warm associations with the other members of the cast and was similarly pre- empted as a baddie with tales of his dastardly deeds and cunning villainy.
Of course. he's Scottish too.
And then there was liorbes Mason. He played the maths tutor to the precocious runt of the DiMarcho tribe. who subsequently accused him of sexual misconduct. Bigamy. extortion. paedophilia: not exactly the credentials for a favourable portrait of a nation.
liastwrdors itself claims that an actor is given the role according to ability. not accent. Perhaps it might reconsider this approach as the fruits of its casting couch tell us that while not every unashamedly roguish character is Scottish. every Scottish character is firmly associated with unashamedly roguish characteristics.
How many wives can a man have?
Such a consistent misrepresentation of a nation would be reproacth were the nation not Scotland. but Pakistan. China or other. Cries of insensitivity. ignorance. even racism would be heard from every television magazine. We might even see Iain Duncan Smith campaigning in the borough of Walford. In short. Eastern/cry would fall even further behind the relatively benign Coronation Street in the ratings war.
Television is no longer the warm and fuzzy children's entertainer of the 1950s. but an established medium that serves to instruct and inform. Yet the BBC. a national organisation
While not every ro uish character is Scottish, every character is unashamedly roguish
cottish
funded partly by mean Scots (the last time I looked). is content with the stereotypical approach taken by its flagship soap.
If the best defence is attack. then the only credible alternative would be a Glasgow-based soap filled with Home Counties scoundrels bent on upsetting the domestic calm in Govan or the Gorbals.
I wonder how long the license payers of E20 would stand for that?
Disagree? react©list.co.uk
Pamela
Sales .‘issista/if It was the first time I've seen the Strokes and reallv liked them, The wo'st part was being; covered in beer.
Liz Student
John
Barman The v'xeather and It's been good SO the a'niosphere far. Marilyn
has been really good. It was great when Green Day pulled a kl(i iron1 the audience to play ‘Basket Case" With them.
Manson was the best although I think Eminem was quite right to stop the gig.