The Front
SHOOGLENIFTY, Scotland’s favourite folk- fusion band and Celtic Connections regulars, put their heads together and give awards to their five favourite Celtic gigs and venues.
1 Plaza de la Quintana, Santiago de Compostela, Galiza Top of the Spectacular Venue categow. as long as it's not raining.
2 Glenuig Hall Clear winner of Shooglenifty‘s Village/Country Hall Trophy. in a field of its own, really.
3 L’Orient Festival, Brittany Smurffing the lntercelt at its most extreme.
4 Hebrides Festival, Isle of Lewis For the sheer exuberance of the Saturday night craic underlined by the placidity of the following day.
5 Celtic Connections, Glasgow How the hell did we survive January in the old days?
SITE OF THE FORTNIGHT
www.zooass.com
Infantile? Us? We have no idea what you mean. Taking another opponunity to eprOre all that is stupid on the web. we were initially charmed by zooass' “Escape from Neverland' shooting game and the truly gastoral 'Bulimic Blowdown' which lets you pitch Tori Spelling against COunney Cox in a simulated spaghetti western vomit off. If that's not to yOur taste try subscribing to their free boozy ‘drink of the week' newsletter. See. the web can be both educational and fun.
just about where the comparisons end.
the0pinion
Will Don Paterson ever get to have people singing at his supper?
Your bard
Should our national fawning over Rabbie Burns stop right now?
Words: Brian Donaldson
t the tail end of last year. BBCZ‘s AI‘IlI/(H'kS
Scar/rim! devoted half an hour’s small screen
time to a rather peculiar notion. Nothing new there. you might think. but the equating of our beloved bard Robert Burns with America‘s most flaunted. limincm. was a stroke of genius which could only have come out of a liquid lunch of Burns-esque proportions. ‘() Whisky! soul o’ plays an‘ pranks! Accept a Bardie‘s grateful' thanks!’ you can almost hear the commissioning execs cry as they came up with the idea. The shady Scot and the enigmatic 8 Miler may have shared an insatiable taste for buxom ladies and a hardcore lust for the frowned upon narcotics of their chosen day. but that's
The only further connection that I can see is that Burns was the first to put the ‘ho’ in ‘doublet and hose'.
But in whose interests is this contemporising of the long-dead Ayrshireman‘s output‘.’ The tourist industry for one. though there isn‘t a country on earth which doesn‘t plunder from its past to reel in the tubby Americans of the present. lixcept. probably. America. Those Burns societies that continue to exist across the country and around the ex-pat world won’t say no to a bit of extra publicity as they gorge on sheep innards to the sound of wailing pipes.
Which is fine for them. but what does it say about Scotland as a current creative hotbed. other than we all
ADIEU
w h i n Lost in Translation, Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh
Owen
Stride/i!
'I enjoyed the tilrr: am) the ways it showed a ltll o‘ the <;i.it.iial (littereiieet; bet/seen A"‘(7llfiti and Japan Nee
soiiiiilt'aihx t<;<,.'
6 THE LIST 7’2 Jar‘ l ell yeti;
Joana limitless
liked the relationshzi; i;et'.'.eer‘ Bill Maria, and Scarlett Jot‘atissori His role was different from a lot of his other ironies'
T0 ROBERT BURNS, IT'S SURELY TIME FOR US TO SAY
too often ignore the rich talents living. breathing and writing before us in favour of the sacred cows of ancient history. When will we see the advent of Paterson Day. in tribute to the Don of Dundee. one of the country‘s foremost literary talents'.’
Alexander McCall Smith may have lambasted Irvine Welsh for his immoral scribblings (I‘m reading between Sandy‘s lines here) but surely Welsh has had more and better things to say about modern Scotland than any number of drunken recitals at January suppers could ever have. Wouldn‘t a full-frontal assault by. say. Rankin on Robert not be in order by now‘.’ We seem to treat Burns with kid gloves (which are usually used to put on our rose-tinted spectacles) and just accept that he‘s a good thing.
But apart from the classic reference points ( ‘a man‘s a man for a‘ that‘: 'wee tim’rous beasties': ‘Auld Lang bloody Syne’). chances are that Scottish kids know more about Shakespeare than Burns. and would be quicker off the mark at revealing the plot details of Titus Alldl‘r)lli(‘ll.\‘ than 'Tam 0‘ Shanter’. Perhaps this is a tribute to the school system or it could be an acknowledgement that Will has matured with the years. whereas we need Eddi Reader to 'interpret’ Burns’ tunes to make him seem relevant.
To Robert Burns. it‘s time for us to say adieu. Maybe even by pilfering his own words: ‘Ae fond kiss. and then we sever: Ae farewell. and then forever.‘
Johnny Robbie
8m office Snider)! .‘issis‘tao! 'It had some “Very funny funny bits but it illll‘i. very was a little t;l<;'.'.' touching and l-ioi" the trailers very well I expected it to worth going be more of ai‘. to seef act .iii filir‘ or a
<:<>'v‘.eily.'