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LIST
The final frenzy of musical finger food
It’s a veritable sonic smorgasbord
CABARET LADYBOYS OF BANGKOK Girls (ahem) just wanna have fun .0000
An odd one this, and I don’t mean sitting in a huge tent surrounded by tourists, hen parties, gaggles of pensioners and excitable teens cheering on women who used to be men as they dance, mince, mime and generally live it up through a selection of kitsch pop
classics. No, that’s just the half of it. It’s the very fact that this is hugely entertaining is the truly strange bit. _
Like frisbee flinging students and depressed, damp cricketers, the Ladyboys are now a seasonal fixture on the Meadows with a show that extols the virtues of sequins and saucy, but not smutty suggestion which finds space for vaudevillian slapstick and far eastern mythologising as well as tributes to contemporary pop princesses Shakira, Britney and Kylie.
The Meadows may be a tad soggy at the moment but a flamboyancy aid is definitely not required. (Mark Robertson)
I Meadows Theatre Big Top, 667 0202, until 31 Aug, 7pm & 9. 15pm, £12.50-£14.50'(£10.00-£12.50).
LOVE
Utterly Arthur Lee
1. they invented punk before the idea ever popped into lggy's head. Don't believe me? Check out the apocalyptic tfifif} single ‘7 and /' ls. 'l hey may have been called Love but
66 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE
IVE REASONS TO 60 SEE
west :oast hipi'nes they were not. One mordant wit suggested they should be cailed l-late.
2. Arthur Lee was a rock'n'rme model to Jim Morrison. one of l-lendrix's hombres. and the inspiration for the Syd Barrettera Pink Flt yd. His music continues to inspire musicians today despite the fact that Love rarely yentured out of their native lA. A combination of chemicals and eg es probably stopped them ach'eving the commercial success of the Doors. Jiini or da Floyd. And Arthur believed he would be (lead by 21’) but even the Californian penal system -- he fell foul of the sunshine state's 'three strikes and out' policy and ser\ed six years couldn't break him.
3. tee is possibly the only man in the
world who could appear for a photo shoot in his Y~-fronts and still look like the coolest mofo on the block. Morrison came to him for charisma lessons but was shown the door by the perceptive but impatient Arthur who first recommended the Doors to Elektra Records. 4. A Labour backbencher at Westminster recently lodged an early day mot:on suggesting that Forever Changes was the greatest record ever made and exposure to it might lighten up some of his colleagues. Cue picture of a confused looking Arthur with grinning MP8. 5. Their drummer was called Snoopy. And you'd be ipeainuts to miss them. iRodger Evansi
Liquid Room, 0870 lb‘QOlOO. 23 Aug. 7.30pm, f‘tbc.
Love Arthur Lee is the man leading this band of 60s psychedelic troubadours and has astounded with his return to the live arena recently. See preview. left. Liquid Room. 0870 769 0700. 23 Aug. 7.30pm, ffbc.
Oedipus Rex with Symphony of Psalms French-Canadian renaissance man Francois Girard returns to Edinburgh. After the success of his single-handed theatre hit Novecento last year he turns his attentions to directing this take on Stravinsky's opera. utilising the award-winning Canadian Opera Company. Playhouse, 473 2000. 29—37 Aug. 7.30pm. $13—$50.
Turn of the Screw There's a string of names to shout abOtlI here: one of Benjamin Britten's most renowned operas. adapted from the ghostly tale written by Henry James. is safe in the skilled hands of director Luc Bondy. A chilling stOiy of a governess who has to fight for the souls of two children against the desires of a pair of former servants who want them for themselves. King Theatre, 473 2000. 23. 26 Aug, 7.30pm LES—£50.
Degrassi, Part Chimp, Macrocosmica and Javelin Four bands. one principle: to make loud energised rock music. Four completely different results occur. Stop. start. melodic. mathematical. tumultuous. feral. grating. lunatic. tongue in—cheek. vitriolic. intense and ingenious. All words that can describe this quartet of misfit outfits. Go see for your selves to find out which is which. Liquid Room, 226 7 010. 29 Aug. 7pm. £74.
The Soundtrack of our Lives Swedish sonic experimentalists who are not afraid to embrace the past to anoint the future. Their newest album may be iust the latest of many but it may have finally got them into the spotlight where they deserve an opportunity to shine. Liquid Room, 0870 169 0/00, 26 Aug. 7.30pm, f.‘ 7 0. 75.