Sorry about not having written in a while! :( Let’s go straight to the good stuff: I’ve been to a couple of literary/musical
events in the last month, let me tell you about them! :)
Rally & Broad
Venue: Tron Theatre
Price: £5
Date: 28th May
I knew about this event because one of my
classmates was performing at it. Knowing her, I expected this to be amazing,
but it surpassed my expectations! The hosts were excellent (a bit too
enthusiastic and shouty for my taste, but that’s because I’m a bore, haha), and
the performers even more so! The Rally&Broad people are hosting another event at the Tron this Wednesday 25th June, you can read about them here.
Katy Hastie’s reading was a great mix of sexist
stereotype smashing, howling laughter, nostalgia, word ritual and macabre
humour. I’m sure everyone in the room remembers the piece for which she had to
invite over a male friend to read bits of “advice” from an old magazine for
teen girls, while she shouted, from the back of the stage, a reactionary sexist’s guide to understanding women / getting sex from them. The last thing
she read was a short story about a “game” her family plays at funerals… Hearing
about new ways to show love is always welcome. Death, love and playfulness all
together. Human condition right there, guys. :)
Alan Bisset performed an extract
from his new play. He played all the characters (from Scottish folk tales)
masterfully, to the point that he felt like a total stranger when I walked up
to him after the show to talk to him. We hadn’t seen the least bit of him
during the performance. I still think he should record that bit and upload it
on YouTube… it’d make him a worldwide star. Also, it’s a really clever way of
looking at the “Better Together” campaign’s arguments: there was no
need for counter-arguments. [Note: about the independence debate, check this out]
Katherine Leyton is a poet from Toronto . Her poems felt
like colourful pebbles: rounded, polished, smoothly creased, beautiful little
things you can hold in your palm. Actually, that idea might be stolen from one
of her poems, and that’s why I associate it with them. If so, please tell me!
:) I think she didn’t get all the applause she deserved (because she didn’t say
“thanks” at the end / make a pause / indicate, or maybe her indications were
too subtle for us…). So, in order to make up for it, please receive a written
HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE from me!!! She also founded the How Pedestrian
project.
The last appearance of the night was a
different kind of writer. Shambles Miller is a singer-songwriter (or is it
singer/songwriter?) from Glasgow .
His songs are honest, unpretentious, hilarious, witty, sweet, playful, sensitive
and full of pop culture references. Here, see for yourselves:
I bought “How to Be a Ghost” from him. It’s a
comic book he wrote and his friend Neil Slorance illustrated. Again, it’s cute,
intelligent and funny, and it even has a feel-good message/advice (slightly
cheesy for me, but that’s because I don’t have a heart, and that doesn’t make it
any less true). Plus it features the best ghost dog you’ve ever seen. What else
can you ask for? :) You can check out Neil's stuff here.
New Writing Showcase
Venue: Cottiers
Price: Free
Date: 12th June
This event was part of the West End Festival,
which I have to say I haven’t made the most of. Again, I knew about this thanks
to Katy! I trust her taste, you see. Again, I had a great night! To start with,
the theatre at Cottiers (church reconverted into pub/venue) is a beautiful
place (stained glass windows and all, mind you). Katy was playing "compère" (I
don’t know how this is different from host, but that’s the word they used). The
performers were members of the creative writing programme at the University of Glasgow Poland , and the other one of her
own. Her voice, the guitar, the stained glass windows… You should have been
there! After this lovely opening, there came the readings: Alice Seville, Molly
Vogel, Jordan Mulligan, TC, Rose Ruane, Martin Cathcart Froden and Jonathan
Walker all wowed us! My memory when it comes to coupling poem/author is not
very good, so by way of general comment: you should see them live. I’m sure
their poems look great on the printed page and they also sound great in your
head, but the way they read them… So much passion and talent! I'm looking forward to hearing/reading more about them! :) You can take a look at the Facebook event here.
Shambles Miller + Reverieme
Venue: 13th Note
Price: £1
Date: 17th June
The venue was a basement, it had no windows, it
was incredibly hot for Glasgow .
But there was cake, smiley faces and great music (and happy dogs). None of my
friends came to this concert with me (thankssss guuuyssss…^^’), but I had a
great time and ended up making new friends! :D
I’ve already talked about Shambles Miller in
this post, so I’ll make this short. Highlight: he broke one of the strings on
his guitar mid-song and had to use someone else’s. Also, he doesn’t seem to be
content with all of the good stuff people like me say about his music (fair enough), and his
new song “Worriers” makes it clear that he can do thoughtfulness too (which everyone already knew, but then again, I understand his discomfort with being labelled
as a “comedy musician”). As a mark of respect for both his funny and his
serious stuff, here’s “Worriers” (around 13:30, but you should listen to the whole thing!):
The main act of the night was indie pop band Reverieme (Airdrie). I am SO glad I went to see them live. I am going
to go on and follow them around like a crazed fan from now on. I kept swinging
my head to the music and closing my eyes, and the people around me must have thought I was
high, but I was just taken away by the beauty of their music. The lead singer’s
voice is mesmerizing, as are the lyrics and the tunes. Their lyrics remind me a little of REM's lyrics: fragmentary, eloquent and suggestive. I can’t recommend them
enough. Only “bad” thing: they kept making self-deprecating jokes which were
absolutely out of place given their awesomeness! :) Here you have a couple of their songs:
