63 BLACK HEARTED PRESS SKETCH GROUP
In addition to their continued publication of new work, BHP hosted the biggest Glasgow Comic Con yet, packing out three venues with a fantastic programme of guest artists, and launched both Stirling Comics Festival and Aye Draw, a touring comic book art exhibition. (RMc)
62 KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND STAGE RIGHT
Previously a grafi ti-covered ruin, the bandstand emerged from a long-campaigned refurbishment as a fully equipped 2300-capacity outdoor amphitheatre. Big names that graced the stage on balmy evenings this summer included Steve Earle, Teenage Fanclub and Belle & Sebastian. (RMc)
61 GLASGAY! GLASG DIVERSE ATTRACTION DIVD ERSE
With this year’s programme including live art hero Ron Athey and an evening with kitsch cinema icon John Waters, Glasgay! 2014 was a strong reminder of the festival’s diversity and imaginative curation, supporting local artists and bringing in the best from a around the world. (GKV) a
60 6 STILL GAME S STILL FUNNY S
In front of many packed houses at In the less than poky Hydro, Jack ’n’ th Victor and their Craiglang crew put V on a show that retained the best o elements from the sitcom. But they el also remembered this was a theatre al experience, and few willl forget its ex spectacular Bollywood-style i nale. (BD) sp
59 5 HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL HI OPEN UP OP
In a year when Edinburgh’s tricksy cultural scene (world-leading for one month, ignored for the other
11) was being re-examined locally, Hidden Door was a well-meaning, self-started celebration of music and art hosted over a week in a series of disused Market Street lock-ups. (DP)
58 STANLEY ODD RAP STARS
A great year for Scottish hip hop was completed with the excellent new album from Edinburgh’s Stanley Odd. A Thing Brand New was rammed with top tunes and a social conscience (‘Son I Voted Yes’ was a hit on the indyref circuit) and their exhilarating live shows were a joy to behold. (BD)
57 NICOLA BENEDETTI SISTER ACT
For many, the Ayrshire-born violinist is the face of Scottish classical music, but behind the glossy image lies an
accomplished, questing musician and committed educator; she scored a Top 20 hit with her Scottish-themed Homecoming CD and is a revered ‘big sister’ to the kids of Scotland’s Big Noise music projects. (DK)
56 RM HUBBERT FINGERPICKIN’ DUDE
A i ver if you i nd anyone who badmouths this man. The virtuosic guitarist got his second SAY award nomination (after winning in 2013), released Ampersand Extras, reunited with ex- band El Hombre Trajeado, played in East End Social, and politicked articulately around the referendum. (CS)
55 DAMIAN BARR SALON DAYS
The author of last year’s hugely popular memoir, Maggie and Me, about growing up and coming out in the shadow of Thatcher, Barr has spent 2014 as a guest presenter on Radio 4’s Front Row and is running his immensely popular Salon nights in London with some of the most exciting authors around as guests. (KW)
54 DAVID MACKENZIE PRISON BREAK
Having directed a mixed bag of recent releases (Spread, Perfect Sense, You Instead), Mackenzie i nally delivered an undisputed triumph with Starred Up. A brutal prison drama told with clear-eyed compassion, it rightly swept the Scottish BAFTAs and might even be the best British i lm of the year. (PG)
53 DOMINIC HILL KEY PLAYER
Hill’s considered aesthetic has made his productions of classic plays, including Hamlet, more than just predictable retreads of familiar scripts: he brings a punk energy and visual l air to his ambitious reimaginings, giving Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre a clear and bracing identity. (GKV)
52 RUSTIE LOST BOY
Having gathered plenty of acclaim for Glass Swords in 2012, Glasgow’s own Russell Whyte was back with his second album on Warp, Green Language. Featuring collaborations with Danny Brown (‘Attak’) and Redinho (‘Lost’), it cemented his position as one of the planet’s best and most future- facing electronic producers. (DP)
51 THE GLAD CAFÉ HAPPY TALK
The southside’s been glad all over since this music venue / café opened in 2012, rapidly becoming a busy arts hub, with choir / magazine / secondhand clothes shop offshoots. This year they hosted ‘Living Library’ book events, gigs by Ali Roberts and Joe McPhee, anti-violence discussions in their Glad Academy, plus screenings of Finding Fela and referendum documentaries. (CS)
TOP SCOTTISH TOP SCOTTISH BOOKS OF 2014
Our nation’s literary pedigree remains in rude health
2014 has been a bumper year for Scottish books across the board.
Kicking it off in autobiography, actor Alan Cumming’s Not My Father’s Son (Canongate) is moving, funny and a candid story of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. Writer and artist Alasdair Gray turns 80 years old this year; he marked the year with Of Me and Others (Cargo), a frank, playful and political look back
at his life and art.
The short story collection has had a cracking year spearheaded by a hot debut from Anneliese Mackintosh
(pictured). Any Other Mouth (Freight)
takes on everything from grief, alcoholism and mental health to
gang rape, while AL Kennedy’s i fth short story collection, All the Rage (Jonathan Cape), opened up our
eyes to the psychological battering that comes with love. Kirsty Logan’s debut The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales (Salt) came as a shock to the system with its clockwork hearts, paper men and salacious queens.
Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things (Canongate) – weighty, wordy and particularly poignant – is a masterclass in precision, exploring
what it is to be human. Shorter in length but just as
substantial, thrice-Booker-nominated Ali Smith gave us How to be Both
(Hamish Hamilton), a look at the versatility of art through the dual narrative of a troubled teenager and
an Italian fresco painter.
The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins (Jonathan Cape) is, as would be
expected from Irvine Welsh, a gritty
tale of the friendship between a Miami Beach personal-i tness trainer and an overweight and depressed woman. Emily Mackie’s In Search of Solace
(Sceptre), is a philosophical, funny and parochial tale of Jacob Little’s search for his ex-girlfriend in a small
Scottish town.
And Graeme Macrae Burnet creates true noir in the mysterious, funny and intelligent The Disappearance of
Adele Bedeau (Contraband).
(Jen Bowden)
T H E HOT
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH
11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015 THE LIST 27