JOIN THE CLUB
Re: Clubs blame bars for lost trade (452)
Oh. boo-hoo. Da poor likkle clubby-wubbies are complaining because the pubs are stealing all their likkle friends. Well. tough.
Why do club owners think they have a special right to survive? If we want to stay in a bar till the early hours of the morning. being in a place where you might even get such extravagant luxuries as a seat to sit down on and a level of noise that means you can actually hear what your mates are saying. well. why shouldn't we?
Just because clubs used to be the only places open after a certain time at night doesn't mean that they are intrinsically better than anywhere else. And if they are better — because they've got better music. better bands. better DJs — then l'm sure people will come.
Instead of blaming the council or other venues. they should get their own act together and put on nights that folk want to go to.
David Bishop via email
CROWD CONTROL Re: Foot Loose (452)
I agree with Ian Gibson that pedestrians get an easy ride. so to speak. from the anti-car lobby. And now that the summer is over. I think it's safe to say that the worst offenders are those massive tour parties of foreign visitors who swell the pavements in every picturesque city in the land.
It's not the number of them that bothers me — after all. if tourism is supposed to be such a boom industry for us to be proud about. the least we can expect is a few extra punters on the streets — no. it's their total inability to get out of the way when y0u want to get past.
A kind of herd mentality takes over that renders normally courteous peeple incapable of taking note of their
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surroundings. Either that. or our visitors' home towns must be in a state of gridlock all the time as everyone refuses to budge.
Glad to get that off my chest. Sheila Baxter via email
CITY LIMITS
Re: Spin Cycle (451)
Mark Fisher wrote that the ‘biggest gripe is that the proliferation of soaps squeezes out the one-off plays and serials for which the BBC was once renowned'. He's not wrong. but what about the proliferation of articles about soaps — such as his — that squeeze out the articles about the stuff we might actually want to go out and see?
Since the launch of River City. the press haven't stopped talking about it — even if it is to slag it off. Now we’re going to have to put up with a whole load of ‘wither Brooks/de?’ shite. Who cares?
Please don't fall into the trap that has ensnared the broadsheets which is to write about the trivial world beloved of the tabloids but with a knowing postmodern smirk as if that makes it all right. It doesn't make it all right. Tat is tat. Quality is quality.
Good mag. though.
D Andrews via email
SOME CANDY TALKING Re: Relish the thought (453) So hotdogs are going upmarket according to your article. That gives me great hope. My long cherished idea to make candy floss a regular option on every posh restaurant sweets menu might finally see the light of day. Bubble gum. too. Tracy Wales via email
GOD POINT
Re: Flat-pack religion (452) Paul Dale has worked himself up into a religious frenzy just because lkea is shifting a lot of
catalogues — more than the best-selling Bible. Well, aside from the fact that the lkea catalogue is free and the Bible you have to buy (you're not supposed to nick those Gideon's editions they leave in guest houses. you know. Paul). it seems that Dale is under the impression that people go to lkea for spiritual fulfilment. Eh?
I think you'll find it's just the cheap wardrobes they fancy. And they don't sell those in church. Can Dale conceive of someone who turns up for the service at his local church/synagogue/mosque then heads home via lkea to pick up a set of drinking glasses? Where's the contradiction?
One day I am hoping to meet Paul Dale on the street. I know I will recognise him by the sackcloth and ashes he'll be wearing and the loving way he will share all his worldly possessions with me.
Chris Gregory via email
LOACH PARTY
Re: Coffee and politics (452) In all the hype about Sweet Sixteen could no one have mentioned how depressing it was? Not exactly the cheery slice of optimism that theposter (and your cover) suggested.
Anna Bradburn
via email
SPLITS OPINION
Re: Turn off the Music (452) I take it Douglas Firs didn't actually attend the Music's recent gig at the Liquid Rooms but is happy to criticise from the sidelines. Just because you've heard a couple of tunes while idly flicking thr0ugh MTV2 doesn't mean you have a real grasp of the music (or even the Music).
For a band whose album had only come out one week before. the crowd were going Crazy. OK on record they may be a touch one dimensional. but at least that dimension has more balls than a whole host of
so called “deep and meaningful‘ indie meanderings.
They cut a certain swagger and have ideas above their stations. isn't that what music should be about: aiming high even if at times you miss the mark?
Come on. these guys are only just out of short pants and already could give most of indiedom a run for their money in the live arena. We need more frontmen like Robert Harvey who are willing to put themselves out on a limb and make a total cock of themselves (flying splits. spasmodic dance moves. etc).
I think me and at least 90% of the crowd would agree he ended up looking cool as fuck.
Less posing more action is what I say.
Dennis Wolf via email
BIBLE BASHER
Re: Autumn movie special (452)
I'm not the sort of person who makes a habit of writing into magazines. but I just wanted to say what a great publication The List is. I always buy it thinking I'll just find some film times or something and every time I end up reading it virtually from cover to cover.
If you keep on at this rate I won't have time to go out.
I used to live in London where Time Out is considered to be a bible — and in such a big city you feel you kind of need it — but having come home to Glasgow last year. I reckon The List is loads more interesting and nowhere near as up its arse.
And. frankly. your autumn film preview was fab.
Rachel Adams via email
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