The Word on the Streets by Gerry Cassidy

the

AYRSHIREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEW ARTS, MUSIC AND CULTURE MAGAZINE!

on the streets ISSUE 1: JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014

Home is where the art is

Stuart and Sarah Green rented the house next door and turned it into a gallery for local artists

Nicola Benedetti

and composer

6 ACTION: Film maker Alberth is focussed

James MacMillan

Festival plans to bring international stars to Cumnock

PREACHER: Concept written in the stars

Editor: Gerry Cassidy M: 0798 543 9752 E: gerry@ theword ayrshire.com Design and Production: Raspberry Horse Limited 97 Crofthead Road, Ayr KA7 3NE 01292 268671 Advertising: 01292 268671

Hello and welcome to the pilot issue of The Word on the Streets, the new magazine that will keep you up to date with all that’s happening on the arts, crafts, music and theatre scene across Ayrshire. This is a magazine aimed at local residents. We want to tell you about all of the fantastic work that is going on in the towns and villages from Largs in the north to Ballantrae in the south. We’ll be reporting on theatre, art, craft groups, filmmaking, poetry, photography, music – from local bands to classical recitals – and we’ll be talking to the people who

ON THE COVER

Maybole Beach by SARAH GREEN See the interview on page 16. The Word on the Streets is a

the

are producing the work we want to see and organising the events we want to attend. There is so much talent and so much happening in Ayrshire we felt it was time to shout out about it and encourage more people to take part in the vibrant scene that is playing all around us. And we want to hear from you. Are you creating work that you would like to share? Is your group or organisation preparing a show, exhibition or performance? Are you a musician or playing in a band and have plans to launch a CD of your songs? Get in touch and we will offer you whatever publicity we can. We firmly believe that Ayrshire, a county of festivals, is among the most creative corners of Scotland and we want to spread the word. It’s happening here, come and enjoy it!

production

Gerry Cassidy Editor THE WORD ON THE STREETS

Burns walk is a scream

Celebrate the Bard’s birthday with a series of ghost walks in the days leading up to Burns Night on January 26. Nightly from Wednesday 22, the Auld Alloway Ghost Walk weaves through the streets of the village to explore the haunting history of local landmarks. From Murdoch’s Loan to Brig o’ Doon with lots of grave and sinister surprises in between, uncover the dark secrets of Scotland’s spooky past. For details, visit alloway1759.com – tickets are available from scruffydogtours.co.uk

on the streets n A Play, a Pie and a Pint returns to the Gaiety Theatre Studio in Ayr in February with lunchtime and suppertime shows. The lunchtime plays, which start at noon, are on offer from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22. Suppertime plays start at 7pm on Friday 21 and Saturday 22. Entry price includes the performance and a pie – pints are extra.

n SCOTTISH close-up magic champion (yes, there is such a person) Michael Neto appears in a hilarious one-man show at Irvine Harbour Arts Theatre on February 13. Tragic Magic tells the story of Alan Sparks, one of life’s perennial losers. The heart-warming tale features some breath-taking magic.

And the beat goes on

2014 is shaping up to be just as busy for Troon guitarist and singersongwriter Alan Frew, pictured right, as his hectic 2013 has been. He sandwiched a month of summer festival appearances in between regular weekend gigs which took him all over Scotland. He played at George Square in Glasgow at the start of December and was juggling gigs in Thurso, Dingwall, Inverness and Balloch

over Christmas and New Year, and is organising an event in Troon for the Clutha in January. He’s back at Ayr Gaiety on January 10 with his new band. Drawing breath during February, he will be heading out on a Dutch tour in March and will be playing Paisley Abbey in April with Eddi Reader and the Proclaimers. And relax....

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Scots songs aim for Nepal

A FIVE-track CD of traditional Scottish songs has gone on sale to raise funds for a school charity trip to Kathmandu. Sixteen young people from Girvan Academy will be visiting the Nepalese city next July, helping to build and lay foundations for a school. During their visit they will trek in the Annapurna region for a week and will take a boat safari to visit elephants. The CD, recorded by singer Lorna McColm and guitarist David Hunter, features Flow Gently Sweet Afton, Dumbarton Drums, Ye Banks and Braes, Ned of the Hill and The Dark Island. Lorna’s crystal clear vocal is backed by David’s beautful, acoustic finger-picking playing. Fans of traditional folk will lap this up. The CD costs £5 and is on sale at Big Sparra Vinyl in Ayr and other local outlets. All proceeds will go towards the cost of the trip.

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Alastair’s on the fiddle for Beith Arts Guild

CROWD PLEASERS: Have Mercy Las Vegas rocked the Gaiety

THE Savage Trio – led by Ardrossan violinist Alastair Savage – bring their unique blend of classical and traditional Scottish music to January’s Sunday Afternoon concert organised by Beith Arts Group. He’s joined by Euan Drysdale and Iain Crawford on guitar/piano and double bass for the event in Beith Community Centre on January 12. Alastair, an award-winning folk fiddler, is a member of the BBC Scottish Symphony Are yo u with Orchestra and has toured a band widely with the Savage Trio, planning and a CD with appearances at the launch event? or an Let us Edinburgh Festival, West know. E e End Festival and Celtic mail vents@ thewo Connections to name a few. r d ayrshi Tickets are £9 (concessions re.com £7; students and children £2). See www.ayrshirearts.com for details.

W HA ON EA T RT ARE Y OU U H P TO?

Well-versed coffee night

POET and story teller Rosie Mapplebeck hosts monthly Open Stage events at The Basement, Ayr. The first of 2014 gets underway on Wednesday, January 8, at 7.30pm. On February 12, three special guests will perform – poets AC Clarke, Sheila Templeton and Maggie Rabatski. See the events page on The Basement Coffee House Facebook page for details.

WHEN THE RAIN DRUMMED DOWN He enters as the rain drums down sea of drool spewing from eager maw nails impaling flesh in ecstasy of coupling green-eyed grunter seeking approval and I, lusting for reverence, for crush of fur on flesh melt under his blink-shut, squint-eyed stare Tonight he thrusts demands towel massage, recharge, re-fuel heuks forth rejected hair and kibble marking my palace and his silk-cushioned throne no more than a convenient one night stand yet I can't resist his dustbin rattling snore When dawn wipes the skies and puddles clear his nod to domesticity will rescind he will stride out a-murdering again leave my bed indented with his form me wrapped around his presence dreaming of summer showers rosie mapplebeck

Vegas know how

THEY came, they played, they conquered, without mercy. Rounding off the first year of the Studio Sessions at Ayr Gaiety, Have Mercy Las Vegas took no prisoners with a 100-miles-anhour performance that has surely earned them a new branch of followers. Already creating a stir around the West of Scotland, particularly in their West Dunbartonshire home and in Glasgow, the band finally made it south for their first Ayr gig – and let’s hope there will be many more to come. They have a highly individual sound, a rocky country-folk fusion whipped along by the shared lead vocals of Crispin McAlpine and Eilidh Trotter. The six-piece is made up of multi-instrumentalists, with Eilidh and Crispin both playing guitar

and ukulele and Crispin adding the accordion to his range of expertise. They’re backed by Stephen Scott on banjo, mandolin and harmonium; Marc McLean on bass and guitar; Phil Plunkett on drums and djembe; and Andrew Napier, who is credited on the band’s website as being in charge of fiddle and war paint distribution. Whatever. A very entertaining hour-long set that would have been longer if the crowd had had their way. They rounded off a great night, compered by Little Fire, which kicked off with singer-songwriter Alan Howie, an accomplished performer with a varied stock of great self-penned songs. In the Paolo Nutini mould and surely one to watch. The incomparable Alan Frew, who stepped in for the absent

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Picture: MJSFerrier.com

Book now to give Burns third degree

ADVANCE tickets are now on sale on for the third annual Third Degree Burns festival which will take place at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in June. A blend of traditional and contemporary music with a Scottish theme, the two-day event, which always features a very high class of performer, has become a popular audience members with date for visitors and her casual banter. locals. Another Ayrshire Host and organiser We want to hear what favourite, Rose Jamie McGeechan you’re involved with. If you will be joined by Parade, caused a commotion of their violinist Milla Crann. are planning a show or own with a vigorous Early birds can exhibition, Email us at set taken largely from enjoy a discount on their debut CD, Grace, events@theword tickets bought now. It’s released earlier in the just £10 per night (usually ayrshire.com year to great acclaim. £12) or £15 for a two-night Their growing army of fans ticket (normally £20). Visit will be pleased to hear they are www.littlefiremusic/thirddegreeburns for details. currently putting the finishing touches to their second album. January’s Studio Sessions TENOR David Douglas and harpist Esther promises to be another belter, Swift present a mid-day recital of music in with the superb Tragic O’Hara the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum on sharing the billing with talented February 8. Among the Burns favourites singer-songwriter Louis Jenkins, included in the programme are Ae Fond Kiss, Troon’s rising star Andy Bargh – Ye Banks and Braes and The Parting Glass. and Alan Frew. You just can’t The performance starts at noon. Tickets, keep a good man down. See costing £10 each, are available online from ayrgaiety.co.uk for ticket details. http://daviddouglasmusic.ticketsource.co.uk

to put on a show Trusty and the Foe, gave another stunning display of his guitar dexterity, launching his set with a perfect run-through of Lucy Ann Maria from his debut solo album, Go Easy. Troon-born Frew must be among the hardest working musicians in Scotland with a hectic gigging schedule that regularly takes him across Scotland and the UK with a few forays into mainland Europe. He’s an experienced pro who never fails to please. Kilmarnock’s Kate Cassidy followed, confessing straight off that she was a nervous wreck. She needn’t have been. Her husky rock vocal belting out her own songs won the audience over within a couple of bars. She’s also a natural at the microphone, winding up

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WHAT’S gOiNg ON?

An afternoon of music

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It’s a wrap:

Alberth moves on from London to the bright lights of ... Hollybush? THERE’S something not quite right about film-maker Alberth MG’s story. It’s the wrong way round, surely. Aren’t you supposed to leave the small town and head to the bright lights of London to make your mark? Not if you have the drive and determination of this Colombian artist. He arrived in London, aged 20, via Spain, having left his South American home town of Anserma with a degree in System Technology, but found himself having to take a job as a salad chef. It wasn’t an especially happy time, he recalls. “I was living with a group of other Latins,” he said. “I was speaking constantly in my native Spanish – and then I learned Portuguese. Can you believe it? I was living in London and I learned Portuguese before I learned English.” Then he met his future wife, Margaret, who had moved to the capital from Ayr. “I really wasn’t enjoying the culture in London,” said Alberth. “Then one day Margaret said; Why don’t we move to Scotland? “I asked her – Any Spanish people there? She said No. I asked her – any Portuguese people there? She said No. So I said ‘Great! Let’s move to Scotland!’” That was in 2003. They arrived in Ayr

and married shortly afterwards. Still with only a little English, Alberth decided the only way to improve his language skills and meet new friends was to become involved in the local community. With a long-standing interest in acting and the theatre since childhood, it was natural for Alberth to explore local drama groups and the first one he approached welcomed him with open arms. He joined the acclaimed Borderline Theatre Company. Unfortunately, he joined just as it was entering its final year, but Alberth looks back fondly on the strong friendships he made and the experienced he gained as an actor during that short time. Meanwhile, baby Daniel had joined the household and was chalking up all the childhood landmarks – first tooth, learning to walk, uttering his first words – and Alberth, one of ten children, wanted to share those moments with his family back home, so he began to make a vlog – an online video diary – which his brothers and sisters could enjoy thousands of miles away. “At first it was just short clips of us around the house, just doing everyday family things. But a lot of people started watching them and encouraging me to do more, so I started to make short films – sketches I call them – and it has all taken off from there.” He set up ‰

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EARLY DAYS: Alberth with Borderline Theatre (above and middle) and with theatre colleagues in Colombia ELGATo Film Productions, launched a website, created a Facebook page and began uploading what is now a varied body of work from sketches to short films and music videos. Alberth’s latest short film, Skeletons in the Closet, is to be showcased at a launch night in Crumbs and Cocktails, Smith Street, Ayr, in January. It’s a Hitchcock-esque psychological thriller written by Margaret, with screenplay by ELGATo script writer Nicola Smith. Alberth said: “I gave Margaret three characters and all I said was: ‘Write me a story featuring these three people.’ She went away and wrote a thriller about a man who has an unnatural obsession with his mother.” In true ELGATo style, Alberth went around knocking on doors, seeking sponsors to help support the film. He encountered several rejections, but persuaded enough local businesses to give the team the support they felt they deserved. Most of the help ELGATo receives is support in kind. Alberth explained: “We do not receive a penny for making our short films. We make short films for the passion of filmmaking and nothing else. We work very hard in gaining sponsorship from local businesses and that is how our projects are funded.” Actors and crew who have established links with the film-maker, mainly through Facebook and the website, queue up to take part and help out. “We are not yet at the stage where

“We do not receive a penny for making our short films. We make short films for the passion of film making and nothing else. We work very hard in gaining sponsorship from local businesses and that is how our projects are funded.”

we can pay everybody who helps,” added Alberth, but our sponsors have been fantastic. “We shot the film over four days in September and we were offered the use of a large house by one friend of ELGATo to do some interior shots. “He just said to us: ‘I am going away to Glasgow for the day, you can use the house while I am gone.’ That was so good. And we were so grateful we tried to make sure we didn’t mess the place up,” he laughed. other sponsors, such as the Basement Coffee House in Ayr helped feed the crew while Popplewells, a longtime supporter of ELGATo, helped out with costumes, as did Ayrshire Cancer Support, who donated clothes from charity shops. “People are so good at helping us. We help them in turn whatever way we can by giving them publicity. We make showreels and do photography for the actors. Vennel Cameras gave us frames and Minuteman Press Ayr do our printing. The Gaiety Theatre has also been a tremendous support. The theatre gave us a lot of help with the film-makers’ showcase we organised in July. “It is a great community thing. We want to help the community in whatever way we can by working together with people, making films and letting the wider public see what amazing talent there is around here.” Among Alberth’s future projects is the setting up of the ELGATo Film Club as a charity to help young people interested in film-making and

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Thursday evening cinema treats for Ayr Film Society

theatre. “We want to give something back by helping them to become involved. We will help to train them in drama, music and film-making. Alberth has become such a part of the community in Ayr, you might wonder whether he ever misses his home in Colombia. Very much so, he says. In fact he is planning a trip back home next year to introduce his new family to their South American relatives. “I haven’t been back in 13 years,” he said, “but I am really looking forward to going. “My home town has a theatre festival in September and it would be a dream come true for me to help to incorporate a film festival. I would really love to be able to organise that.” And not one for thinking small, Alberth is also contemplating the chance to make his first feature film while he is in Colombia. It would be bilingual, in English and Spanish, with subtitles throughout. It’s just a thought at the moment, he concedes, an idea that he is hoping to work on. And for this systems analystturned-salad-chef-turned-actorturned-director you get the feeling he might well just pull it off.

n THREE thought-provoking films – one British, three foreign – provide the fare for Ayr Film Society’s opening offerings of 2014. Le Havre, on Thursday, January 9, is an off-beat, gently amusing tale of shoeshine boy Marcel who befriends a young illegal immigrant on the run. He decides to hide the boy from the authorities and the ensuing drama plays out against the background of Marcel’s own private grief as his wife languishes in hospital. A heart-warming and satisfying film which addresses current issues, Le Havre is directed by Finn Aki Kaurismäki. The following Thursday, January 16, features the multi award winning Sightseers, described as “a pitch black comedy” starring Alice Lowe and Steve Oram and directed by Ben Wheatley. Among its haul of trophies are the Evening Standard’s Peter Sellers Comedy Award; Best Screenplay winner in the Moët British Independent Film Awards and Best Screenplay in the International Fantastic Film Festival 2012. Las Acacias, an Argentina/Spain production, is to be screened on January 23. It’s an almost silent film founded on the relationship between truck driver Ruben – played by German de Silva – and his young female passenger, Jacinta – played by Hebe Duarte – as Ruben drives between Paraguay and Buenos Aires. Beguiling, exhilarating and moving. A very satisfying love story. Pablo Larraín's No, on February 6, dramatises Chile's Berlin Wall moment in 1988 when Pinochet called a referendum to decide whether he should be allowed another term in office. Larraín's film is simple and direct, heartfelt and involving, shot in a kind of televisual realist style, a happy bookend to his dark Post Mortem, about the Pinochet coup. Ayr Film Society screenings are on Thursday evenings in Ayr Town Hall. The Society offers an interesting, varied and eclectic mix of contemporary, classic, European, Asian, Latin American, documentary and short films. Membership for a full season is £55, but Guests (who are welcomed at any time) may purchase tickets on the night for £5. Screenings start at 7.30pm (sharp). For more information, visit the website at

Learn about film making

n THE University of the West of Scotland Ayr Campus offers a four-year honours course in Film-making and Screenwriting. The university is well-equipped with the latest digital film technology, television studios, and performance spaces and modules are taught by industry professionals. Students also benefit from guest lectures and workshops (which have included visits from film director Peter Mullen and film and TV writer Sergio Casci). The course develops essential creative, critical and professional skills that are important within cinema, TV and • Skeletons in the Closet. Premiere. related cultural industries. It also offers experience in key Crumbs and Cocktails, Smith Street, areas of production such as research and script-writing, Ayr: 7.30pm, Friday, January 24 camera and sound operation, and current postproduction 2014. Music by The Hostiles. Tickets techniques. £5 from Crumbs and Cocktails and The Basement Coffee House, Ayr. Entry requirements are BBBC, including English at B. Visit • www.elgatofilmproductions.com m www.uws.ac.uk for more details. 9 THE WORD ON THE STREETS

Viva Tango! REVIEW Gaiety Theatre, Ayr

T was a sultry night. Latin beats, a beautiful South American woman, her strident voice belying her petite frame as the tango was stripped bare before us by two expert dancers. This was hot, this was spicy, this was Viva Tango! at the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr. It was another welcome visit to the town for Edinburgh-based group Mr McFall’s Chamber, the ensemble augmented by a clutch of guests including Chilean singer Valentina Montoya Martinez, who also wrote several of the evening’s offerings. With a rich repertoire that stretches from contemporary rock to jazz and classical, Robert McFall’s ensemble has been earning plaudits from audiences across the country. For Viva Tango! the core string quartet of Robert McFall (violin) Brian Schiele (viola), Su-a Lee (cello) and Rick Standley (double bass) welcomed French musicians Lysandre Donoso on bandoneon and Cyril Garac on violin with Hungarian pianist Maria Martinova and its regular percussionist, Iain Sandilands. Their captivating performance delivered a richly textured slice of Latin America, all the more so when joined by vocalist Valentina and dancers Jenny Frances and Ricardo oria, pictured, whose slick moves, laden with sexual tension, were riveting. There’s something about the tango and its music that tends to reach a place deep within the soul. Maybe it’s the knack it has of evoking the exotic, of conjuring up clashing images of chic beaches, smoky nightclubs, steaming rainforests. Whatever it is, for most of us it’s a world away from reality, an opportunity for escapism, an enjoyable interlude. Not so for everyone, though. Introducing one song, set during the days of Chile’s recent dictatorial past, Valentina spoke of a four-yearold girl, sitting on the edge of her bed, wondering whether she would ever see her ‘disappeared’ father again. Then she added: “That child was me.” A poignant moment in an evening of superb entertainment from this versatile group of performers.

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Teachers can be free spirits too, just check out this couple

ART gallery owners. You expect a bit of a Bohemian back story when you ask about their past. You know the sort of thing – educated at the Sorbonne, spent their childhood in the caravan of a travelling theatre company, earned a living carving puppets from the branches of a baobab tree in the Kalahari.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise when Sarah Green reveals she was a Principal Teacher of English and husband Stuart is a retired Deputy Head – and was once a tax inspector. It all seems a bit straight-laced for this happy, laid-back, fun-loving couple who opened the doors to their first gallery, Greenheart Scotland in Ayr’s Bath Place, six months ago. But you only have to scratch the surface to reveal the expected bona fides lurking underneath. True, they have enjoyed formal careers in teaching – but they have had their moments out of the rat race at several points along the line. You have to admire the spirit and sense of adventure that led them to packing in decent jobs and travelling to Scotland to set up home in a 68-foot fishing boat moored at Girvan Harbour. oh, and they had two children, aged six and 10, and the boat had to be converted first – so home for four months was a VW camper van. With low overheads, they lived off Sarah’s earnings as a supply teacher whilst Stuart spent his days converting the boat and hanging out with the local fishermen. Sarah sighs: “It was an amazing time, one of the best periods of our life.” Earlier in his career, Stuart had made another leap off the treadmill of

How Gree

life when he realised being a tax inspector was not going to provide him with the fulfilment he wanted. “I was living in Lincolnshire at the time and was friends with a mad Scotsman, Andy Hunter, and he said to me: ‘What this town needs is a record shop. Do you fancy doing it?’ “Well, I just thought; absolutely.” And so Talking Heads was set up. From there Stuart became involved in organising gigs in the nearby Corn

Exchange. “We had some big names in the early 80s,” he recalls. “The Mission, Chumbawumba – God they caused me some trouble – we had Dr and the Medics, New Model Army. These were great gigs. We had people coming from all over. It was just brilliant. It was fantastic.” Then big business intervened. Virgin opened up in a nearby town and just as Stuart thought his music shop was going to be squeezed out of

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en is my gallery existence, Virgin’s area manager approached him with the offer of a job to manage their store and to buy out all of his stock. Stuart jumped at the chance. All went well for nine months until Virgin made some local managerial changes. “There was cut-throat rivalry between them and HMV,” says Stuart, and the new area manager had his own ideas about how to run a music shop. “We’d had absolute autonomy

until then. I bought in whatever I wanted but to the new regional manager it was all about ‘product’. He would tell us what we could have. We went from selling records to selling sausages.” He made another life-changing decision; packed in his job and went to university and did a Mathematics degree, which led him into teaching. Meanwhile, Sarah was developing serious health problems. She was

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diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder. By the time the family had been living in their houseboat in Girvan for a year, Sarah’s condition was beginning to cause problems and they both felt life for the whole family would be a bit more comfortable on dry land. They rented a farmhouse in Crosshill, near Maybole, and with rent to pay they “were drawn back into ‰

the the system” as Sarah describes it, and found jobs. Sarah began doing supply teaching, which led to full-time employment and her post as PT in English, while Stuart returned to the education system, eventually becoming PT at Belmont Academy in Ayr and later Deputy Head at Wellington School. But ironically, it was the move from the houseboat and back to the “normality” of renting and full-time employment that rekindled Sarah’s interest in art. “The farmhouse had a huge attic studio with full-length windows at either side and I got huge canvases and just started to paint. I wouldn’t even start off with an idea of what I wanted to do, I would just channel whatever it was and just start painting. I just had to do it.” Sarah has had a love of art since childhood. She says: “I used to hang out at the art studio during the day, but it was one of those things. Because I was academic when I was at school I did three sciences and three languages. I was always being asked was I going to study languages or science, when what I probably really wanted to do was art.” Languages won out, and Sarah went to Leeds University where she graduated in English and French. But art has never been far from her heart and around 10 years ago Sarah sold her first piece while on holiday on the Isle of Lewis – a regular destination for the family during the summer months. Until the couple opened the gallery, most of Sarah’s finished work was dotted around places in Lewis. “We had to go round and collect it all to bring it back down to Ayr,” she laughs. Currently working on her HND in Art at Ayrshire College, having completed an HNC last year, Sarah has such a diverse interest in her subject that she can’t even decide which is her favourite medium. “I am part of open Studios Ayrshire and I was looking for a piece to put up as a sort of signature piece and it was quite difficult because I paint in oils, I paint in acrylics, I also paint in watercolour and I do mixed media as

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well. I consider myself a colourist. Colour is just really, really important. For me there is a kind of gut feeling. People who have been in and looked at my work have said that my palette is really Scottish – the range of colours I see are what they would consider really Scottish. “There are other painters whose palette is more pastel which to me isn’t Scotland. When I go out, I see the purples and the greens.” Sarah feels a definite affinity with Scotland and the Scots and describes her background as “a bit of a mongrel”. “My dad was in the RAF and as a child we lived all over the place, including Wales. “I was actually born in Devon but have absolutely no other connection with the place whatsoever. “My dad’s family were Northumberland and my mum’s family were from Lancashire way, but I have also got a bit of the Celt in me,

a bit of Irish and Scottish – just look at my hair!” As they approach the six-month mark in their business, Sarah and Stuart are content at the way their gallery has taken off and are quietly proud that its performance has exceeded their expectations so far. Stuart adds: “I revisited the business plan the other day. I had projected to break even in the first year but we are doing slightly better. We had a fantastic July, a fantastic August, we had a really quiet September but october was the best month so far, which is really amazing when you think about it. “I have always thought the reaction we had from the local people would be what sustained us. The key to our business is the reception we get from the local community, which has been absolutely fantastic.” As well as providing support for local artists, Greenheart Scotland has extended its reach into the local

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Kate Downie: a journey through a resonant life

community by offering art classes for schoolchildren – via the Little Art School by the Sea – and workshops in various crafts including textiles, basket weaving and furniture making. The gallery also opens up for special group nights, recent bookings being made by the likes of the Inner Wheel and Kilmarnock Sketch Club, and there are Christmas craft fairs planned. There are solo exhibitions which change monthly, and one special show is being prepared for next June: Sarah’s first ever solo exhibition. Tentatively called South Ayrshire Up Close and Personal, it will reflect Sarah’s love for and relationship with the area she has come to love and call home. It will also exhibit another of her skills, poetry. “My plan is for it to be a bit of a mixture, with poetry alongside the paintings.” Now if that isn’t boho I don’t know what is. m

SCOTTISH artist Kate Downie enthralled an audience of digital art students at UWS Ayr when she delivered a talk on her experiences working in Beijing with Chinese ink painting masters. Her talk, titled A Walk Through Resonant Landscapes, was a rich account of her visits during 20102012 from which she produced an exhibition of large scale scroll ink paintings. She illustrated her talk with a series of photographs which showed her at work and in the

Amsterdam, Paris and New York. She said: “I have always loved Chinese ink paintings and this opportunity to work with the masters was incredible.” Next year is shaping up to be just as thrilling for Kate, who was born in the US of a Scottish father and English mother. She is to be Artist in Residence at the Forth Road Bridge, an appointment marking the 50th anniversary of the iconic structure. “I have been granted access to

streets of Chinese villages, often surrounded by crowds of fascinated locals. One particular photograph showed a young girl absorbed in the artist’s work. Another showed the resultant work – featuring the same girl as a central character. Kate, who became a member of the RSA in 2008, fulfilled her trips to Beijing and Sanghai as a result of being awarded the RSA William Gillies Bequest. The chance to make the trips was welcomed with relish by the graduate of Aberdeen School of Art who has lived and worked in

all parts of the bridge,” she said, “and will be aiming to produce around 50 works to represent the bridge.” The artist, whose work often elevates the mundane to the level of the extraordinary, told her student audience: “It’s amazing how much culture you can learn by looking in very ordinary places.” She added: “I decided to become an artist when I was five. I am 55 now.” And offering a small slice of her own philosophy she said: “What’s the point of being an artist if you can’t control the path through your own life?”

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Write on:

Ayr club members take top places in story-writing contest AYR Writers’ Club pulled off a club also holds feedback nights, clean sweep in the Imprint Book which offer a chance for Festival short story writing members to bring their own competition. work for peer appraisal. Club member Ann Burnett’s The focus is always on entry, Konrad Lorenz’s Geese, supportive and constructive took top prize with stories from criticism. As all work is Janice Johnston and Pat Young submitted anonymously, even selected as the runners-up. the most apprehensive writer feels quite safe. In fact, of the 76 short stories submitted, there were seven The club meets in the Carlton from the Ayr club members in Hotel in Prestwick every the shortlist of 10. Wednesday night from about 7.15 until 9.30. Formed over 40 years ago, Ayr Writers’ Club is now one of Commenting on the success of the largest and most successful club members in the Imprint writing clubs in competition, Janice Scotland with a wide Johnston wrote in her membership including blog: “For us it was writers at all levels from oscar Night minus the prizewinners to posh frocks.” enthusiastic beginners. Read the full blog on In the main, people join the club website at simply because they ayrwritersclub.co.uk love to write. The club The Imprint festival, provides a programme run by East Ayrshire of activities that is Council, took place inspirational, informative from Tuesday and practical. over the November 5 till ANN BURNETT: course of the year the Saturday 16. The Winner of Imprint list of speakers will Festival competition festivL featured include some bestdozens of events for selling authors such as adults and children, including Christopher Brookmyre, who workshops, talks and events for visited the club in September. schools. Workshop meetings are Among the guests was TV usually a buzz of creativity as personality Tony Robinson, members listen and learn, taking possibly best known for his role advantage of the opportunity to as Baldric in the Blackadder benefit from the skills and series and as presenter of the wisdom of fellow writers. The archaeology show Time Team.

www.ayrwritersclub.co.uk

It was a horrible night to be driving but Kate had no choice. She was late. The rain whipped across the windscreen, making it virtually impossible to see through the glass. She had to hunch forward and peer between demented wipers. She glanced over to her left. The football field where she’d drop off a young Adam and his friends all those years ago was obliterated by the storm. Ahead, the avenue of trees seemed to take on a life of their own. They crouched over the road, throwing small branches to the ground and sending swirling eddies of leaves to perform a macabre dance in front of the car. She gasped as she almost hit the youngster. One minute there was nothing, next minute he was right in front of the car. With his dark clothes flapping in the wind, it was almost as if he was part of the storm. She knew she shouldn’t stop for hitchhikers but she couldn’t leave any soul abandoned, especially tonight. As she rolled down the window, the rain fought its way in to the car. ‘What on earth are you doing out here?’ she asked. He looked frozen – black hair clinging to his white face. ‘They cancelled the buses because of the storm.’ He spoke so softly she barely caught the words and as he bent down to peer in the window they both gasped. ‘Jamie?’ ‘Mrs Wilson?’ Kate recovered first. ‘Get in quick, Jamie, before you get even wetter. You should have waited in the city for the first bus in the morning.’ She fussed over him as if he were her own son. He eased himself into the front seat, barely making an indentation in the leather upholstery. A

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The Anniversary A short story by Janice Johnston

mist formed round him as his clothes steamed with the heat of the car. ‘No, I have to get home tonight.’ He sighed as if every breath was an effort. ‘It’s important. I’ve been … travelling … for so long. I can’t give up on this final stretch.’ He sounded so far away. She risked a glance from the road. Black eyes stared straight ahead, hypnotised by the oncoming lights. His skin was waxen, raindrops still clinging to his cheeks. His clothing gave off a faint aroma of hot spices and strange cities that brought back memories of her own. ‘So, did you make it to all those exotic places?’ Kate asked. ‘How did you know about them?’ He twisted in the seat, animated for the first time. ‘You and Adam used to sit in the back of the car as I took you to and from football practice savouring the names like favourite sweets – Karachi, Mumbai, Jakarta.’ She remembered the two youngsters on the cusp of their future. Jamie eyes brightened, ‘Jakarta is awesome. I worked in Calcutta for nearly a year. Then I caught a bug ...’ He turned to look out of the window. His silence filled the car. He seemed to doze off so Kate abandoned all her questions and concentrated on driving through the storm. Before long she saw the warming lights of the town flickering in the blackness.

She spoke gently, not wanting to startle him. ‘Jamie, I’m picking up Adam from college – he finally decided to buckle down and study after all my nagging – but I need to hurry.’ She glanced at the clock. ‘Do your parents still stay in Church Street?’ Jamie nodded. The short rest in the car seemed to have revived him, Kate thought. He had some colour in his cheeks and his breathing seemed more normal. ‘Thanks Mrs Wilson, you’re a lifesaver.’ She watched as he trudged up the path. As the door opened, two silver balloons escaped and played leapfrog all over the garden. She heard Jamie’s mother squealing ‘... didn’t think you’d make it back in time, sweetheart.’ She called back through the open door, ‘Paul! Paul! Jamie’s home.’ Kate watched as she reached up to brush the hair from his forehead. ‘Let’s get you inside. You look half dead.’ In amongst the mumbled voices, Kate heard her name. His mother’s face turned ghostly white as Jamie twisted round to wave. Kate wondered if his parents had remembered that this was her anniversary, too. She hoped Adam would be waiting by the college entrance just as he had been last year. She hoped that this time she would avoid the jack knifed lorry, the horrible, sliding inevitability, the blackness. She hurried to pick him up. She was late.

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n Janice Johnston has been selling stories to magazines in Australia and South Africa, as well as the UK, for over 20 years.

She has also had work broadcast by BBC Radio and TV, and non-fiction and poetry published.

She is a member of Ayr Writers' Club (ayrwritersclub.co. uk) and part of LiterEight (litereight.co.uk), a group of eight Ayrshire-based writers whose latest collection of short stories Dark Twists - is available for Kindle and in paperback from Amazon.

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Newspaperba Author and journalist Douglas Skelton talks about IF you fly with the crows you get shot with the crows – an old saying which springs to mind when you leaf through Douglas Skelton’s first novel. Not only because of the stark crow motif on the cover on Blood City but also because newspaper editor Skelton has also written a dozen true crime books and interviewed countless members of the Glasgow underworld on behalf of solicitors over the past decade or two. He was also closely involved with the news coverage and campaign surrounding the notorious ice cream wars which eventually led to the convictions of Thomas Campbell and Joe Steele being quashed. It is perhaps because of his familiarity with the goings-on of the characters involved at the sharp end of serious crime that the book has such gritty realism. Skelton, editor of the Cumnock Chronicle, visited UWS Ayr recently to discuss his books and writing techniques with creative writing and screenwriting lecturer David Manderson, who is also a published author. He told an audience of students, lecturers and invited guests: “Blood City is a thriller set in Glasgow in 1980 against the backdrop of the explosion of the heroin trade in the city. It

deals with a young man called Davie McCall who is 18 at the time of this story and although he is a ned, he could go either way. The main thrust of the book is the pressures that build up around him and the pressures within him because he has a bad past. Which way he will go, will he go to the dark side or will he change?” Skelton added: “There is an urban legend that round about 1981-82 some of the city’s biggest criminals came together to form a cartel – it’s like the Big Six energy companies – and to

bring heroin into the city in sizeable chunks and really carve up the trade. The story goes that they put so much money into the pot to help create the routes and the smuggling and bring it in and distribute it throughout the city. So I have taken that and used that as the backdrop for this. “I don’t know if it is true. I am told it is true but i can’t put my hand on my heart and say that definitely happened. The thing about Blood City is that I hope it is believable, and I hope that people believe that it is realistic

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ck writer

POETRY

his first foray into crime fiction CHAPTER AND VERSE: Douglas Skelton, left, in conversation with author and lecturer David Manderson at UWS Ayr

but it is not necessarily a realistic depiction of the Glasgow underworld. It is a thriller, I do want to tell a story and I do want people to turn the page. I don’t want to put people off, but I’m dealing with criminals. I have softened some of them and given them some trace of humanity so that they become sympathetic.” Skelton spoke about his introduction to writing books, which began with a series of real-life crime stories for the Evening Times which became so popular they were brought

together in a book called Blood on the Thistle. It all took off from there with a string of true criime books including his campaigning book on the ice cream wars. He said: “After that, I began investigating crime for a couple of Glasgow solicitors, walking the streets at night, banging on doors at 11 o’clock, interviewing a lot of criminals, victims, police officers and a lot of this fed in to what eventually became Blood City.” It has been a whirlwind year for the author. His book was accepted by publishers Luath in January and since then he has been busy editing book one, writing book two, starting book three and making appearances all over the Central Belt for the book launch – as while holding down a full-time job as a newspaper editor. “It has been a roller-coaster ride,” Skelton commented. “One minute you’re on Cloud Nine then you’re down low because sales might not be going well – then the next minute you’re up high again.” One piece of seasonal cheer came with the news that the Argyle Street branch of Waterstones had made Blood City their Christmas Crime book and the hope that Santa would play his part in the book’s promotion. Book Two in the series of four will be called Crow Bait. Expect to see it in bookshops in May or June 2014.

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Closest Thing To Flying

By WENDY MILLER

I am a two-wheeled warrior atop Brooklyn Bridge bold as a hurricane headline or hipster riding my bike full pelt I chase icy winds with hot sweat Forty one metres below me New York is skating, shopping, jogging, dying I’m alive, freewheeling, flying I could take out all of these tourists in one go if I wanted to challenge a skyscraper to a square go and win when you find a moment like this claim it climb in I doubt I’ll use my brakes again...

n Wendy Miller is creative projects co-ordinator and tutor at HMP Barlinnie and Shotts. Born in Dalrymple, she has worked as a journalist in Ayrshire and Glasgow. As a published poet, Wendy is the driving force behind Verseatye, a collective who write and perform their own gutsy poetry at various venues in Glasgow. She is currently hard at work on her third play, her two earlier works having been performed to critical acclaim at theatres in Glasgow. She says of Closest Thing to Flying: “It’s about the idea of being infected with all the confidence and swagger of New York as a Scot while riding a bike around the city.”

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World music

Cumnock Tryst will bring global stars to Ayrshire “A compact little festival of great music” was how composer and conductor Dr James MacMillan modestly described his project to bring some of the greatest musicians in the world to a new annual Ayrshire festival from next october.

But he added: “There will be great musicians – one of the greatest choirs in the world will sing there on the first night, one of the greatest orchestras in the world will play and Nicola Benedetti, our patron, will perform twice.” Cumnock Tryst, a four-day festival of music, is a dream project for MacMillan, one of the world’s foremost composers, who grew up in the town and says his exposure to wonderful music there shaped his life. Speaking as a guest of the University of the West of Scotland in Ayr, he said: “While I was growing up in Cumnock there was a lot going on – local amateur operatic societies doing Gilbert and Sullivan, the Kyle Choral Union and a marvellous music club run by RD Hunter, which brought the Berlin octet and some of the finest musicians in Europe to Cumnock. “It is because of those interactions with fellow amateur musicians as well as young musicians and teachers and being exposed to great musicians coming to the town that I am a musician.” organising the Cumnock Tryst is partly about wanting to be part of the community as a musician, he says – and this has been a long-standing tradition in the world of music, he added, citing renowned musicians of the past who have set up community projects. He said: “Throughout the 20th century British music did this, whether it was Vaughan Williams doing his

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Words: GERRY CASSIDY Pictures: RICHARD CAMPBELL

HIGH NOTES: Artistic Director and Founder James MacMillan and Festival Patron Nicola Benedetti at the Dumfries Arms, Cumnock, which will offer facilities during the Cumnock Tryst.

“I thought the time was ripe for something like this to happen in Cumnock. It could be a marvellous, exciting thing for Cumnock and my hope is that it will grow and grow as the years go on.”

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hymn arrangements for choirs, Benjamin Britten writing for children’s opera groups or Maxwell Davis doing something similar up in the St Magnus Festival in orkney. It’s something we British composers see as being important – we have to feel part of a community. “I just thought the time was right for something like this to happen in Cumnock. It could be a marvellous, exciting thing for Cumnock and my hope is that it will grow and grow as the years go on.” He added: “East Ayrshire schools continually win prizes for their music departments. It is marvellous to go back to places like Cumnock Academy and Auchinleck Academy and see the music-making that is going on. This is something I want to be able to have an input into but also to bring them into the workings of the festival. We have a very imaginative creative educational project for our first year that will involve hundreds of music students in the area and beyond. “My plan is that we will have music courses, composition courses for kids in local schools, that I will have an input into as a composer but also that will have an input from some of the great chamber musicians from Scotland too. “There will be other commissioned work from young people in England, Russia and Estonia and eventually I want to be able to make the composition course work feature in the festival too so that there will be a place for people to hear new work, whatever that may be emerging from schools in the area.” Concerts will take place in Cumnock Town Hall, the stunningly refurbished Dumfries House and in two churches in the town. It is anticipated that there will also be an overspill of smaller events as more venues want to take part. The greater the community ‰

the

involvement, it seems, the greater the success of the festival. Macmillan cites the school, teachers and the church as early musical influences on his life, but says his grandfather was another figure who helped to kindle that love of music. “My grandfather lived in Cumnock and was a coal miner all his life and had a great love for music. “He was a euphonium player and played in colliery bands. He enthused me in brass and started taking me to silver band and brass band rehearsals in Dalmellington.” It’s clear that a huge part of the motivation for setting up the Cumnock festival is to restore some of the dignity and self-respect that this former mining area once had in large store but which has been diminished in the brutality of the mine closures and the collapse of other industries in the area – shoe making, carpet making, truck building to name but a few. “I left Cumnock in 1977,” MacMillan continued, “and many

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Cumnock Old Parish Church, above, will be the largest venue during the four-day festival which will also see events held in Dumfries House, left.

things have happened since then. The area has not had its troubles to seek. Quite a lot of devastating things have happened to places like Cumnock over the years. “I still have relatives there and I still go back. But over recent years, some things have happened which have made a few alignments come together. “When Prince Charles and his

consortium bought that marvellous Adam mansion Dumfries House and linked its restoration towards regeneration, it caused a few little lights to go off in people’s heads – now there are signs of little embers being blown back into life. People are talking about regeneration in a political and economic sense. I always imagined that real regeneration needed to be a spiritual thing too, a spiritual regeneration. “And people do say that music is the most spiritual of all the arts. “That’s not a religious thing to say. People of very different world views know that music can have this huge impact not only on the individual but on whole communities.” m

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Herborg Hansen

I can’t get enough of these guys! This Falkirk based trio released their debut six- track EP Bring Us Together in early 2013 and it has since been a permanent feature on my playlist. From the catchy rhythms of the single Girls Like Guns (which make it impossible not to tap on your legs and pretend you’re on a huge stage in front of thousands of screaming fans) to the almost anthem-like chorus of We were Electric that will have you walking around thinking you’re invincible, this EP has great power and incredible replayability. 2014 will see the boys working hard towards their next EP and I personally cannot wait to hear more of their infectious sounds. Head over to monosix.co.uk to find out their upcoming gig dates and find out for yourself why everyone is talking about them! Purchase “Bring us Together” @ http://monosix.bigcartel.com/ or on iTunes.

Mono Six

Erika Sionis, proprietor of the Basement in Ayr – voted Scotland’s Best Small Venue 2013 by NME readers – selects three acts she reckons are well worth watching out for.

MICKEY 9s

n Forget every live show you’ve ever been to! The Mickey 9s will make you rethink everything you think you know about what a captivating live show is! This “funk-tastic” Glasgow foursome have it all, from the groovy beats to the unstoppable frontman, they can make everyone and

their Gran get up and show off their best moves (or worst in my case). In the days following the show, you will find yourself randomly singing something about a Shark in the Water and Ammunition. People will think you’re crazy, but you won’t mind; in fact you will pity anyone out of the loop. 2014

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looks like being a promising year for these lads, with the release of a full album, remix of old favourites and festival dates that will spread the funk. Until then get yourselves over to mickey9s.com where you’ll be able to purchase tracks and find out about all their upcoming gigs.

n SHE sings True Values and everyone is listening to the dreamlike sounds produced by her guitar. Her gentle voice resonates in the silent room, and you know she means every word, you can hear it in her voice and you can feel it in your gut. The song ends and the crowd raise a delightful cheer. What beautiful sounds will we have the pleasure to hear next? The anticipation grows among the crowd. “My next song is a cover of System of a Down – Toxicity”. An acoustic cover of System of a Down? You must be joking! I’m incredulous, like most of the crowd. She begins, and I can’t believe my ears. She has transformed this headbanging metal classic from my teen years into something wonderful and pleasing, I glance over to my mother in the corner of the room to find she’s tapping her foot to one of the tunes that caused many “turn down that noise” arguments just a few years ago (maybe more). Herbie’s passion, coupled with her talent, is the perfect combination. Her plans for 2014 include touring Scotland in March with Roadway and David Colwell (former guitarist of Bad Company) and recording a full album. To find out about her next gig look for her on Facebook and check out her Soundcloud page.

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Watching the skies Debut CD from Preacher is simply out of this world

SIGNALS, a richly layered, highly polished concept album is the hugely impressive debut from Preacher – but it has been a long, long time in the making.

Martin Murphy, singer, guitarist, songwriter and the driving force behind this creative team, and keyboards genius Arnold Burgoyne have a few decades of experience in the music industry behind them. Martin was a member of rock-funk outfit Slipstream who caused a few ripples with a string of singles in the early 1980s and who played support to the likes of The Stranglers. Arnold, a veteran of several local bands including Fragile Sky and Bakerloo Line, joined Echo and the Bunnymen on a European festival tour a couple of years ago and took to the stage with them as support to Coldplay, playing before a crowd of 60,000 in New York. But not all of that history – in Martin’s case at least – could be described as happy. He recalled: “Until about 7-8 years ago, my involvement in music was purely pubs and clubs doing a bit of acoustic, doing a broad range of stuff from my era. If I wasn’t being asked to stand in on vocals for another band I was doodling away writing song and lyrics.” He was also running his own landscaping business, and eventually the pressures of business and a hectic life began to take their toll. “I always liked a wee pop into the pub on a Friday and that became a Friday and a Saturday until it got to the stage where I was drinking

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE..? Martin, Greg and Arnold ponder the mysteries of the universe

myself under the table. I became a binge alcoholic, and finally realised it was time I stopped drinking. “But once I had stopped drinking I had all the hours of the days on hand from half four onwards and I thought: ‘What the hell am I going to do with my time? I’m not going to sit and watch the TV.’ “I always had four or five guitars in the house and I was always playing them so I just decided I was going to pull a band together and that is how Preacher came about. Obviously, at that age the music is a wee bit more

mature, there’s a bit more thought goes behind it.” There’s no denying Preacher’s music is mature. It’s thoughtful, intense and well crafted. The flawless Signals, even at a first listen, gives the impression that the band have been playing these songs for quite a few years, which turns out to be the case. Martin picks up the story: “When Arnold and I got together we realised we had the same sort of interest in music, so I started writing and he started putting keyboards parts to it.

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“What if there are people up there looking down on us – people from the past, maybe close relatives who have passed away. Wouldn’t it be great if they could come down and help us?”

PREACHER PERSONNEL n Martin Murphy: electric and acoustic guitar, backing vocals. n Arnold Burgoyne: keyboards, synthesisers. n Greg Murphy: lead guitar. n Iain Duncan: drums. n Larry Primrose: bass, drums. n Angela Bell: backing vocals. n Kerry McWhinney: backing vocals. n Herbourg Hanson: backing vocals.

We started gigging with the songs long before we went into the recording studios and they developed and matured the more we played them. “About six months before we did go into the studio, I realised that a lot of the songs seemed to be heading in the same direction and the lyrics all seemed to be going in that direction too. Signals was a concept album.” So what is the concept? “It’s a thought that has been going round my head for a long, long time,” said Martin. “What if there are people

up there looking down on us – people from the past, maybe close relatives who have passed away. “Wouldn’t it be great if they could come down and help us? So when I thought about the first track, Time, it is asking you to think about what time is all about and what do we do with our time. It’s about the earth, the wind, the rain, the moon, the stars, the sea... and that we don’t appreciate what we’ve got. We go home and watch the telly at night instead of looking up at the sky or going for a walk, getting some fresh

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air – it all came from that. Then I looked at some of the other songs that didn’t quite fit the concept and tweaked them, sometimes rewriting the lyrics so that they fitted in.” Preacher have been compared to another great band famed for concept albums, Pink Floyd. Does the comparison annoy them? “No, not at all,” said Martin, who is a huge fan. “I regard it as a compliment. People also say the vocals are slightly Bowie-esque in places and that is probably because I used to sit with my 12-string and sing all the Ziggy Stardust songs. “Bowie has a fantastic way of confining words into music which sometimes don’t meet the timing criteria, so he would actually tweak the melody of the song and I think some of that has rubbed off me.” Martin is now turning his attention to the next album, tentatively called Aftermath. Will this be a concept album, too? “No, it won’t. There will be, I think, a wee bit more up-tempo stuff kicking in and it will probably be a wee bit harder driven. It will be very much a mixed bag of tricks, in a similar style to Signals.” Preacher are a big-venue act with a huge stage presence. They have played King Tut’s, The Garage, Carling Academy and the ABC1 in Glasgow. Few venues are big enough for the band in Ayrshire, but you can catch them in the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr, on March 1, 2014, when their support will be Pond Floyd, a tribute act to guess who? Martin has spent a lifetime in music and every triumph is a bonus. But what if Preacher don’t take off in a big way despite all their efforts? “In six years’ time I might put together a Pink Floyd tribute act myself,” he said. “And maybe we would play a few Preacher songs.”

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Into the Valley TO a rapturous reception, Echo Valley launched their debut EP with a blistering show at Ayr Town Hall. With the crowd suitably warmed up by supporting acts Desert Roses and The Magnetic, Echo Valley started off their set against a background of fans chanting their name – quite an achievement for a band all still in their teens with only a limited number of appearances behind them. But the crowd knew what they wanted and Echo Valley delivered, Daniel Taylor’s distinctive vocals soaring above the tight guitar playing of brothers Shaun and Liam McCluskey, bolstered by the energetic drums of David Henderson. And judging by the appearance of the crowd, the Echo Valley merchandise stall also enjoyed a brisk trade. The fans weren’t shortchanged in terms of music, either as the band ran through a ninesong set before being called back for a two-song encore – all of them band compositions. Every track from the new EP was given an airing, with a handful of live favourites also thrown in.

USELESS EATER– Echo Valley

DESIGNED to look like vinyl – a grooved black disc complete with fake label – the appearance of the CD is not the only original thing about this collection of songs. All six tracks – eight if you’re lucky enough to have the bonus tracks version – were written by the band and they demonstrate a diverse range of styles from the rocky

opener, Lucy’s Games, to the plaintive Forgotten Son and the thought-provoking 4am. Get Away moves along at a fair lick and Twisted in a Spell and Backseat Woman are packed with memorable riffs. Bassist and vocalist Daniel Taylor provides the lyrics throughout. Well worth a listen.

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A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE Simon Atkinson and the Foundryman’s Apprentice

Court musicians THE Courtyard in Ayr’s Queen’s Court Centre was the perfect venue for Duffy’s Gypsy Band CD launch. Small, dark, packed and with just a whiff of the forbidden back-street speakeasy about it, The Courtyard seemed almost tailor-made for Duffy and his team of troubadors, with their smoky tunes of love, heartbreak and loss. Their sound is a heady mix of John Duffy’s strident bouzouki, the double bass of Luther Sean Hall, the drums of Richard Hamilton and the superb guitar playing of Emanuele Pasquino – laced with heart-rending clarinet of Laura Hyslop. There’s just nothing else quite like this band.

A WALTZ IN THE DARKNESS Duffy’s Gypsy Band

THERE’S a timeless quality to Duffy’s Gypsy Band’s sound. You feel it could have been recorded at any point in the last half dozen decades – and yet it’s as fresh as a bagel straight from the oven. And in fact three of the tracks in this collection of eight have their origin in the 1930s – the classic Boulevard of Broken Dreams and I Have Lost My Heart In Budapest – which sold enough

Duffy’s Gypsy Band set the scene for a waltz in the darkness There’s little floor space in The Courtyard at the best of times, but despite the throngs present for this special performance, a few folk did manage to clear enough room for some appropriate shape-throwing to Duffy’s insistent music. Most of the new CD, A Waltz in the Darkness, got an airing, as did Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love, which was a perfect fit for the band. as a single to put Duffy at the top of the Scottish charts during the summer – and Django, which was composed by Jean Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in 1937, embellished here with Duffy’s own lyrics. Hesitation Blues is another traditional tune, but the remaining tracks, written by Duffy, sit quite happily side by side with their elderly companions. Hilary’s Tango, with its languid clarinet and athletic guitar is superb as the closing, title track which sounds like an instant classic. Another timeless production.

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IF you think the sound of the band’s name harks back to another era, you’re probably not far wrong. There’s a not unpleasant 60s vibe to this CD, a cosy, black-and-white photograph kind of world when the biggest concern in your life was how much pocket money you were going to get at the weekend. The musicianship is faultless, with songwriter Simon Atkinson providing lead guitar and vocals and a collection of muso pals chipping in with sundry others. It was recorded at John Duffy’s Crosshill studio and features Duffy himself on bouzouki and backing vocals. Adding to the rich texture of the sound are a touch of mandolin here, a bit of cello there with some fiddle and cornet too. It’s a pretty atmospheric collection and is sure to strike a chord with fans of soothing sounds. This is classic songwriting in the mould of The Divine Comedy – a bit like well-told short stories put to catchy tunes. Atkinson has a decent bit of voice, too, sounding a bit like an easy-going Andy Williams in places.