list.co.uk/aroundtown Events are listed by city, then type. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to sport@list.co.uk for sport or aroundtown@list.co.uk for all other events. Listings are compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
GLASGOW
Activities & Events ✽✽ FREE Book Swap Bookcase Thu 21–Sun 24 Jul, Thu–Sat 10am–5pm;
Sun noon–5pm. Trongate 103, 276 8380. A lovely idea, this: bring a book and take away another, without ever touching any dirty money. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Britannia Panopticon – Come and See Thu 21 Jul,
noon–4pm. Britannia Panopticon Music Hall, 113–117 Trongate, 553 0840. Explore the world’s oldest surviving music hall. Part of the Merchant City Festival. FREE British Art Show 7 Drop-in Tours Thu 21 & 28 Jul & 4 Aug, 1pm & 3pm & 6pm. Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Exchange Square, 287 3050. Guided tours of the three sites hosting the British Art Show take place each Thursday of the exhibition’s run at 1pm (CCA), 3pm (Tramway) and 6pm (GoMA).
✽✽ FREE Walking Tours of Glasgow Necropolis Thu 21 Jul, 6pm; Fri 22 Jul, 2pm; Sat 23 Jul, noon & 2pm. Glasgow Necropolis, East of Glasgow Cathedral, Castle Street, 287 6776. Take a walk with an informed guide. Booking essential. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Pilot Thu 21 Jul, 8pm. CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. This
is a sort of open-mic-night-cum-live-radio show, which you can either come along and be part of, or download as a podcast afterwards. See preview, right.
✽✽ FREE Ray McKenzie: Merchant City Public Art Tour Fri 22 & Sat 23 Jul, 10.30am–noon. George Square, 287 8910. Art historian leads a guided tour. Booking essential. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Stephen Mullen: The Merchant City, the Slave Trade
and its Abolition Fri 22 & Sat 23 Jul, noon & 3pm; Sun 24 Jul, 1pm. Glasgow Cathedral, Castle Street, 287 8910. Stephen Mullen leads guided history tours. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ Maggie’s Glasgow Night Hike Fri 22 Jul, 7pm. £30 to register. City
centre, 0300 123 1801. A ten-mile, charitable ‘festival on foot’ taking place through the streets of Glasgow and in some of its interesting buildings, with food and entertainment along the way. Starting from the new Riverside Museum. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Medieval Summer Night’s Concert Fri 22 Jul, 7pm. Provand’s
Lordship, 3 Castle Street, 553 2557. An exploration of myths and fables including storytelling, traditional balladry and guitar music. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Ingram Street ShopFest Sat 23 Jul, 10am–6pm. Ingram Street,
Merchant City, merchantcityfestival.com Ingram Street’s fashionable retailers lay on special events and performances. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Tour the Ramshorn Theatre & Graveyard Sat 23 &
Sun 24 Jul, 10am–4pm. Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 552 3489. To the indignation of many, Strathclyde University’s much-loved performance space is set to close. Take a last look around, and explore the historical graveyard. Part of the Merchant City Festival. Cuban Dance Festival Scotland Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul, times vary. Prices vary. Studio ILeaCHe, 11 Osborne Street, 07717 754702. Latin dance and culture festival, including dance workshops and a Cuban Street Parade.
✽✽ FREE Bus and River Boat Tours Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul, 11am & 2pm.
Meeting point tbc, 276 9696. Bus and river boat tours of Glasgow, promising to ‘reveal the city in a new light.’ Organised by Platform in Easterhouse. Booking essential. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Bold As . . . Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul, noon & 2.45pm & 5pm.
Merchant City, merchantcityglasgow.com Street theatre from UZ Arts and Conflux: a beatboxing brass trio have become lost on the streets of the Merchant City, and you’ve got to help them find themselves and each other. Part of Surge/Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE The Briggait Open Weekend Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul,
noon–4pm. The Briggait, 141 Bridgegate, 553 5890. Artists and arts organisations based in the converted fish market throw open their doors for the weekend. See announcement, page 7.. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Derive Tour: Gavin Lockhart Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul,
12.30–1.30pm & 3.30–4.30pm. Merchant City, 559 4910. Make some sandy footprints around Merchant City in honour of slaves from times gone by. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE The Growling Tent Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul, 1pm & 3pm. King’s
Court, King Street, merchantcityfestival.com Street-based theatricals in which a builders’ tent starts emitting monstrous noises. Part of Surge/Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Derive Tour: The Dream of a Bird Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul,
1–2pm & 4–5pm. Merchant City, 559 4910. A journey to explore the geology of the city. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Walls of Light Sat 23 Jul, 1pm & 2pm & 3pm. GMAC
(Glasgow Media Access Centre), Fifth Floor Trongate 103, 553 2620. Screenings of six artists’ films commissioned by the CCA to mark the handover of the Commonwealth Games flag to Glasgow ahead of the 2014 games. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE BLING Your Bike Sat 23 Jul, 1–4pm. Parnie Street, Merchant City, merchantcityfestival.com Transform your bicycle into a work of art with a Commonwealth theme, with help from Bike Club and Glasgow International, then join in with a noisy procession through the Merchant City to show off your handiwork. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Derive Tour: The Pint of No Return Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul, 1.30–2.30pm & 4.30–5.30pm. Merchant City, 559 4910. Join Big Rory and his dog Ochie on a wee jaunt around the drinking spots of the Merchant City. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Salmon of Knowledge Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jul, 1.30pm, 3.30pm &
5.15pm. Merchant City, merchantcityglasgow.com A UZ Arts and Conflux commission for the Surge & Merchant City Festivals. ‘A fish out of water requires assistance,’ we’re told. Go figure. Part of Surge/Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE BBB Motorcycle Club Sat 23 Jul, 3pm, Sun 24 Jul, 1.45pm &
5pm at Parnie Street; Sat 23 Jul 1.45pm & 5pm, Sun 24 Jul 2.45pm at Hutcheson Street, Merchant City. Interactive street theatre commissioned by Conflux, involving the unorthodox combination of biking, boxing and ballet. Part of Surge/Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Pandora’s Box Sat 23 Jul, 9.30pm. Penthouse Suite, Brunswick Hotel, 106–8 Brunswick Street, 552 0001. Get an eyeful of the new AW11 collections from designers and luxury brands available in the Merchant City. RSVP required – email supermax@fastmail.co.uk. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
✽✽ FREE Confab: Hidden City Walking Tour Sun 24 Jul, 1pm &
2pm & 3pm. Provand’s Lordship, 3 Castle Street, 07811 394058. Writer/performers Rachel Amey, Lorna Callery, Viv Gee, Ashby McGowan and Martin O’Connor give performances responding to five Merchant City locations, in those very locations. Booking essential. Part of the Merchant City Festival.
AroundTown
PREVIEW LIVE PODCAST RECORDING PILOT Pilot, Thu 21 Jul, CCA, Glasgow. Podcasts at soundcloud.com/flatratestate/pilot-1
How to describe Pilot? An open mic night? A live radio show? An arts community get-together? ‘I suppose it’s really just like making a radio show in a rowdy bar,’
says Colin Chaloner of Flatrate (who run open mic night Initial Itch, as well as Subcity Radio’s All Day Cheeky Breakfast show) of their newest project. ‘We just sort of take over the CCA’s Terrace Bar every month, and people can turn up and take part as they see fit.’
Those familiar with the establishment in question will know that it’s not the easiest space to put on a straightforward gig. ‘There’s no way, in that bar, you can see everything that’s going on,’ explains Flatrate’s Rob Johns. ‘That was a practical problem we had to solve when creating Pilot, and ended up shaping it and being the most exciting thing about it.’
Essentially, Flatrate fill the various nooks and crannies of the bar with microphones, put on performance stages, record everything that goes on, and turn it into a podcast at the end. There’s a private booth for those who want to perform on the podcast but not in public, and the possibility for collaboration is endless. ‘Last month we had a playwright turn up with a troupe of actors in
tow,’ says Chaloner. ‘He asked if we could hook him up with a musician; they sat together for an hour and scored something, then performed it. We’ve also had the Arches Community Choir turn up: it was a bit of a challenge fitting them all in, but we managed it. The open mic aspect gives people the freedom to turn up and try things out.’ Pilot, in all its shambolic, slightly-difficult-to-explain glory, has proved
such a hit with the Glasgow arts community that it will be coming to Edinburgh’s Forest Café for August. West Coasters who want to see what all the fuss is about would be advised to turn up this fortnight, or just download the podcast afterwards. (Kirstin Innes)
✽✽ FREE A Women’s History of the Merchant City Sun 24 Jul, 2–4pm.
Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library, 15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. Walk exploring women of the Merchant City. Part of the Merchant City Festival. Brain Weekend Sat 30 & Sun 31 Jul, times tbc. £9.95 (£7.95) admission. Glasgow Science Centre, 50 Pacific Quay, 420 5000. Part of the GSC’s series of ‘Meet the Experts’ events, this weekend as part of Science Mall admission you can meet brain specialists and find out about their research. FREE July Bank Holiday Sun 31 Jul, 6pm. The Grosvenor Café, The Grosvenor Theatre, Ashton Lane, 0845 166 6028. The Grosvenor adopts a Grease theme, with ‘cool cat’ bands and DJs, makeovers and retro cocktails. FREE Bussy and Dave’s Ironic, Shambolic, Monthly Pub Quiz Sun 31 Jul, 9pm. Criterion, 568 Dumbarton Road,
334 1964. A holiday themed pub quiz at the Criterion, with prizes to be won, fun to be had and food from the grill if you fancy it.
Exhibitions FREE The Glesga That I Used to Know Until Jan 2012. Tue–Thu & Sat 10am–5pm; Fri & Sun 11am–5pm. Scotland Street School Museum, 225 Scotland Street, 287 0500. Photographs taken as part of a series of surveys conducted by Partick Camera Club in the 1970s, depicting ordinary Glaswegians at work and play. Fairs & Markets FREE Merchant Square Craft Fair Saturdays, 11am–6pm & Sundays, noon–6pm. Merchant Square, 71–73 Albion Street, 552 5908. Crafters and designers showcase their wares.
21 Jul–4 Aug 2011 THE LIST 35