Wanted: collaborating musicians with didgeridoo, duduk, fiddle and guitar. But how to find them? Singer songwriter Abi Rooley-Towle shares secrets of her debut album and the challenge of finding the right mix of creative collaborators ‘in the middle of nowhere’. […]
Where did Johnny Rotten have one of his best gigs? Which venue was pivotal in Rachel Sermani’s career? Where did Gerry Cinnamon nearly take the roof down? What’s the best place to play in the Highlands? […]
The young dads, a group of single parents, needed somewhere to take their kids at weekends. Why not try the museum, asked the outreach worker. “Oh no”, the young dads say. “That’s for posh people.” But then, persuaded, they come. They see among the displays Dundee football, factories, familiar faces, and they say, “Wow! This is about us. My dad, my granddad, worked in that mill….” […]
The sign by the door says BATHS in big white letters. A voice in my ear says this is it. This is where Gina had her bath the night before she got married. What? Here in a swimming pool? […]
How to make a music career in the middle of nowhere? Ask Abi Rooley-Towle. She writes her haunting songs and stories from ‘a tumbledy cottage’ roughly half way between Elgin and Forres on that sturdy north-east shoulder of Scotland. […]
Up or down? What does the future hold for Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street? Could this fire-haunted place become the centre of Glasgow City of Music? […]
A gateway opens. Where does it lead? To a wider world? To inspiring people in unexpected places? To be honest right now I have no idea, but I’m tentatively opening the gate…. Why? […]
The audience falls silent as Alloysius Massaquoi takes the mic. ‘You’re hearing right,’ he says with a smile, ‘I’m a black guy with a Scottish accent. I’m not here to take your jobs, or steal your women…’ A pause, the smile grows wicked… […]
How to create a pop-up, open-air short film festival? Just do it. When darkness falls city streets and blank walls take on a different identity. Is that a threat or a promise? […]
Where shall we begin? In an echoing Cumbernauld underpass maybe. Or with street artists painting forgotten parts of Kelty. Among poets of diversity congregating in Dunoon. Or with female dancers challenging the granite-grey masculinity of Aberdeen? […]
Gloriously gruesome stuff. No shortage of blood and gore in the usually shiny clean shopping centre, and the air filled with ghastly shrieks. Clearly security staff had been well briefed. No-one turned a hair as a young woman gorged on a corpse in the doorway of Carphone Warehouse. […]
When darkness falls HER story comes to light. Fay Young takes an evening walk in Edinburgh and accidentally discovers a message from the skies. […]