year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, and a classic of Scottish cinema was born. (PD)
13 JACKIE KAY Teller of tales Long celebrated for her poetry collections, plays and sparkling collections of short stories, which drew on her background as a mixed-race child raised by white adoptive parents, Jackie Kay turned to the memoir form this year, scoring a bestseller with Red Dust Road, which movingly explored her upbringing and search for her birth father and mother. (AR)
12 JOHNNY LYNCH Fences with Silver Columns See panel, left.
11 ALAN DAVIE
Falkirk’s finest abstract artist/musician Scottish artist and tenor saxophone musician Davie turned 90 years old this September gone. Falkirk Council celebrated Davie’s remarkable life and work with a four-month celebration of his work and everyone was reminded that Davie truly is the daddy of the Scottish beats. His bold abstract paintings and more recent screen prints took residency in and around his hometown of Grangemouth and the artist even made a few appearances. Scotland was served with a long overdue reminder of the breadth and brilliance of the work of Scotland’s very own Jackson Pollock. (PD)
HOT 100 2010
GAME ON You may know him as The Pictish Trail; or one-half of Silver Columns; or Fence record label boss and host of idyllic festival events such as Home Game (Anstruther) and this year’s new Away Game (Isle of Eigg). If Johnny Lynch doesn’t have multiple clones then we’ll eat our copy of his brand-new, 50-track, vinyl- only album, In Rooms. He tackles our questions.
What have been your highlights this year? Playing live in clubs and at dance festivals with Silver Columns – and supporting Underworld – was a million miles away from anything I’d done before. Our first Away Game was the best event Fence has ever put on – everything about that weekend was perfect. Touring with two brilliant comedians, Josie Long and James Acaster, was great fun: it made me think about performing in a totally different way. 2010 also had some horrific lows – my mum’s been really ill and I was in a terrifying car crash. I think I’ve laughed, cried, sweated, drank, stressed, danced and exerted myself more than ever. My ultimate highlight of the year has to be my mum getting better. Who would top your personal Hot 100 list? I have to say Limmy – his BBC2 show had me in stitches. I was astonished that a show so weird, challenging and original was commissioned. (Nicola Meighan)
15 FRANKIE BOYLE Rabble-rousing comedian diversifies With Channel 4’s Tramadol Nights, the ex-Mock The Week panellist has added sketch show to his bow of cruelty. He has also started publishing his own comic strip about Rex Royd, a Lex Luthor-esque supervillain in Mark Millar’s CLiNT. His sell-out tour bubbled along nicely with gags about child abuse, rape and cancer, while in Reading he had a very public spat with a ‘fan’ who objected to his material about Down’s syndrome. Just another year in the quiet old life of Scotland’s most genteel comedian. (BD)
14 SYLVAIN CHOMET Fancy French illustrator Over half a decade in the making, Belleville rendez- vous writer/director Chomet’s stunning Edinburgh- made and set feature animation The Illusionist was finally unveiled at the glamorous opening gala of this
18 ERRORS Glitch-happy electro stars The Errors boys released their career-best album, Come Down With Me – a vocal-less but hyper-catchy set of mini-electronic masterpieces – topped off with a joint tour with The Twilight Sad, a remix album (Celebrity Come Down With Me) and a List cover where they gamely agreed to get trussed up like S&M gimps. All credit to them. (JE)
17 LIMMY Web guy takes to the small screen A bumper year for the former ‘internet sensation’ as Brian Limond became a dad while the first full series of Limmy’s Show! came to BBC Scotland. Giving Glesga street humour a trippy Chris Morris twist proved a big success. (BD)
16 DANNY MACASKILL Tricksy cycle psycho See panel, page 24.
30 THE LIST 16 Dec 2010 – 6 Jan 2011