Monday 23 June 2014

Sounds and words

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, they were all very different, but all of them were great! The first performer was Agata Maslowska, who played the guitar and sang two songs, one of them from 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:



 The blog won't let me post the YouTube video for "Get to Know Me", but you can watch it here.

I hope not to have overwhelmed you with so much good stuff! If you have any recommendations, or if you didn't know about the people I've written about here and are glad you do know them now, please tell me in the comments section! :) I'm away to London on Wednesday and until Saturday, so that'll probably be the next thing I write about!

4 comments:

  1. WHY YOU GOING TO LONDON JUST AS I AM GOING BACK

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  2. Ohhh I love it! I wiwh I could have stayed more in Glasgow so you could take me to all these places...
    Love the songs, by the way, keep writing and including more amazing new singers/bands!
    Always here to read my favourite Señora de la noche.

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  3. And I want a complete report of your trip to London, no excuses.

    ReplyDelete