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SO. I’ve done the Myspace trawl and found a lot of good new stuff. Which – when you add new finds together with old favourites and acts-I’ve-wanted-to-see-for-ages – makes Hinterland an exciting, if boggling, prospect.
At the moment, my key plan looks to be like hanging round the Arches/Classic Grand end where I can start off with Y’All Is Fantasy Island or Miss The Occupier. Remember Remember are new to me, but pretty much now a must-see after ODing on their myspace tracks, and after Punch And The Apostles who I’ve trying to see for months.
The next bit is where options really come in. I’ve still never seen Sons And Daughters or Foxface, but I’d like to catch Ming Ming And The Ching Chings too. Failing any of those (like they’re sold out or something) I could always nip up to PivoPivo to see Be A Familiar followed by Oh, Atoms – but I like the sound of Broken Records too. So, choices, aye.
The end of the night is a down the middle split – either Your Twenties and We Were Promised Jetpacks at the ABC or This Will Destroy You and Isosceles at the Art School.
I know. Sounds complicated to me too.
Wish me luck and, if you’re of a mind follow my tweets, to find out what I actually end up doing. In fact, follow the #hinterland tag to get everyone else’s views too.
It’s gonna be an adventure.
Categories: Music · Uncategorized
Around this time a year ago, I heard about the Hinterland Festival – basically an inner city music festival that takes place over 2 nights, with tons of bands in 15 odd venues across the centre of Glasgow. I thought it sounded interesting, but didn’t get to go, and regretted it. So, this year I’m going to give it a bash. And it’s at the end of this week.
Since I’m gigging myself on Thursday night (soloing some new Murnie songs at The Racasse in Clarkston), I’ve got my sights set on Friday, and since there are 60 odd bands playing and finite time between sets (although unlike most music festivals – this one has a plentiful supply of taxies!) I’m planning carefully.
Step 1 – Download the schedule.
Step 2 – Go on a listening tour of myspace. This may take several days.
Step 3 – Mark up schedule with the stuff that shows promise.
Step 4 – Panic because there is more to go and see than is humanly possible.
Just like any festival, really, except that this one is devoid of useless, lifeless “headliners”, and geared instead towards new music.
Realistically, it looks like I’m going to get to see 6 or 7 acts during the night. But it’s a serious logistical exercise working out which ones. What route do I plot between the Arches cluster (where the early stuff happens) and the Sauchiehall St cluster (where the later stuff goes on)? And do I want to take in the interesting folky stuff at Tuts en route or go via the Flying Duck? And although I love Zoey Van Goey, do I want to spend half an hour with them when their album launch is a week on Saturday?
Stuff that’s caught my ear early on: Colorama / Remember Remember / Rogues / Punch And The Apostles / Broken Records / Ming Ming And The Ching Chings / Isosceles / This Will Destroy You / Wild Beasts / Oh, Atoms / ZVG (of course)… and quite a few more.
Tricky.
Categories: Uncategorized
I’m wondering if there is some unwritten rule in blog etiquette that readers don’t point out really ridiculous typos to the author? Sort of like pointing out when your boss has tomato soup on his tie or the convention speaker’s flies are down. Everyone just gets a little bit embarrassed and looks the other way.
I mean you don’t expect bloggers to proof read their posts, do you? Where’s the spontaneity in that?
The reason for this minor outburst? I just had (rare) reason to reread a post I made a few weeks ago. The one about vocabulary choices. And, well, the third paragraph reads like this:
“The author reason I enjoyed Holly’s journal this week was for her admission to enjoying the Nero Wolfe detective stories. I’ve never yet managed to happen upon a copy of one of the books, but a couple of years ago the BBC ran the excellent TV adaptation featuring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton, and I thought they were fab. Worth seeking out if you’re a fan of the genre.”
“The author reason…”??? WTF? Clearly this is not merely a typo for “other”, but an actual fact gold nugget of stupid. And no-one told me. *Sigh*. Well I’m not going to change it now. It’s there for posterity. My shame is on your consciences, live with it.
ps I also recently discovered, by complete coincidence, that the BBC has been rerunning the Nero Wolfe Mysteries. Missed half the season of course because they’ve been hidden away at 2am on a Sunday morning, but what I have seen has still been joyous.
pps I managed to locate the Rex Stout section in Borders, and have been reading the stories. Actually, they’re just like the show. Fab!
Categories: Blogs · Uncategorized
Tagged: Nero Wolfe, Typos
November 20, 2008 · 1 Comment
Over at Notes From The Geek Show, Hal’s been holding forth on the subject of the Glasgow SF Writers’ Circle. I’m not going to add anything here to what Hal’s written, but only as a slight caveat will add that at this week’s meeting we had one of those moments when you realise why we do this thing the way we do it. It’s the gradual build up of opinion, the tidal surge of creative options that builds slowly as opinions are voiced around the table. In this case, the story in question (a dark, contemporary alt history with a Nazi amusement park) ended up giving birth to the concept of a particularly unpleasant British holiday camp set in the 50s, encapsulated by the title: “Heil De Heil”. This may or may not be where the author wants to go with the story, but it was fun getting there.
Talking of Mr Duncan, his new book is out imminently. I’m looking forward to ESCAPING FROM HELL! over my Christmas holidays.
Categories: Uncategorized
Just some cultural notes worthy of note:
- “Subtle Edens” is out now from Elastic Press. This is an anthology of new slipstream stories. Slipstream (I’ve never been comfortable with the term, but that’s part of the point I suppose) was an early influence on my writing as I discovered the British small press scene in the 90s. From the early issues of TTA and its contemporaries to the Barrington Books anthologies, there was so much good strange fiction out there it was impossible not to be influenced by it.
Get over to Elastic and order this now, you’re in for a treat. And as an extra treat, those ordering direct from their website get a free copy of Geoffrey Maloney’s “Six Silly Stories”, which is a lovely little hardback of whimsical stories complete with illustrations.
- The View – yeah…. well, see, it’s a long story. That involves a text one night from two friends in different bands who had been drafted into a gig in the pub across the road from us. So we popped over, watched and enjoyed said acts and stuck around for the last band of the night – a bunch of guys called Holy Ghost Revival, originally from Seattle but currently based in London while they tour the living hell out of the UK and Europe. An energetic set that balanced finely between 80s and 70s rock, a purchase of a CD, a pleasant chat and exchange of numbers later we headed home, having promised to go out and see them at the next opportunity.
Wind forward a few weeks and I get this text as I’m getting ready to go out and play fives. HGR supporting The View at Tuts – d’you want on the guest list. Sure, we said. Wouldn’t normally have gone anywhere near a gig that The View were playing – don’t have any great experience of them, but sometimes you just know, don’t you? Anyway, HGR were grand – if not a great fit for The View’s audience – they have elements of GnR and elements of Mott The Hoople, and it’s just a kind of music you don’t see in Glasgow very often any more. Watch this space in a couple of weeks when HGR meet Miss Leggy Pee.
We did stick around for about half of The View’s set. Don’t have much to say. BirthdayGirl sums it up nicely.
Categories: Uncategorized
Thanks to Mr Gibson’s passing reference to Plastic Bertrand (via the Hello Kitty lounge of Taipei airport), I have decided that all song lyrics read better translated from French. The reason? Well, see it occurred to me on seeing the title of M. Bertrand’s “hit” written down for the first time since 1977 that I’d always mistranslated it. Instead of “Ca plein pour moi” (which I’d always guesstimated as roughly “that’s enough for me” or possibly “I’m full of it” [French was never my forte]) it’s actually written “Ca plane pour moi”, which actually means… well it’s apparently open for debate. Anyway, reading the approximate translation of the lyrics just brings the song up to a whole new level for me.
So, I’ve decided that from now on murnie lyrics are going to be translated into French and back again*.
I’ve tried it out on some old favourites. See if you can spot them:
In the country of the housewives, with their full silver plated beefsteak knives. And all slags on the allowance for risk, functioning during their lives.
All the arms and shameless chattering, alarms and observe them disperse. Splash the money cash and obtain brilliant. Monkey d’ spider.
You known as that you seek the significance, thus why come with me? Your windows of the world have need to clean and you want my scraper.
Its head is dug, except a paper fall. Golem’s code in a trap of vacuum. Not a thought obtains in its being reflected skin. Here which comes, he’s the brass boy.
Kermit is an upholder and Fozzy in a costume of ganse now. The flicks porcine its wicks, my resistance breaks, wow! Since I want a leather muppet.
How much fun?
**Ok, possibly not *really* but I like the idea, okay.
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