Jun 162014
Jun 132014
It was a night, generally, of brutal thrash at Aberdeen’s newest live music venue, Downstairs. Andrew Watson was there.
First up were Perth’s Blackened Ritual. They were a man down, so played as a four piece of drums, bass, guitar and vocals.
They combined thrash with a bit of groove, and if the guitar levels were a bit better the subtlety and technicality of the riffs would’ve been realised and more so appreciated.
The singer was enthusiastic and was able to laugh at himself. It’s nice to see people on the stage genuinely loving what they do.
Local act Drekavac were probably the most pounding and heavy band on the bill. It wasn’t just about loudness wars, either, with clean guitar atmospherics brooding throughout. This black metal four piece (again, drums, bass, guitar and vocals) put tremendous effort into stage props.
Goat skulls, face paint and black cloaks were all included onstage.
The main support act were Nolti Nan Gana Nan Nolta or NNGNN for short, of Edinburgh. In the build up to their set their drummer was clearly seen pacing the width of the stage floor, from end to end. He was so psyched it’s a wonder he wasn’t punching holes in the wall. His bandmate said the ritual helped him play drums better.
Anyway, the three piece consisted of said drummer, vocals/bass and guitar. These guys were intense and distorted blackened thrash.
Headlining were Croatia’s Evil Blood, who reside in Fife and are were made up of guitarist, vocalist/guitarist, bass and drums. They seemed to hark back, at least a little sometimes, to the times of classic metal with dungeons, dragons and ice maidens amongst the subject matter. There was no shame in the subject matter, which in itself is a positive.
All round a colourful night of headbanging, windmilling, devil horns held aloft and swilling of beer.
Jun 132014
Local artist Elinor Grieve, gallery owner Melissa Arcaro and local MP Eilidh Whiteford.
Eilidh Whiteford, MP for Banff and Buchan, joined Melissa Arcaro at the weekend to cut the ribbon on Arcaro’s expanded Peterhead arts project. With thanks to Paul Robertson.
Arcaro Arts, which previously stood on Kirk Street, has expanded into enlarged premises opposite Morrison’s on Queen Street.
The gallery is set to continue its work in providing an artistic space for local groups, as well as hosting exhibitions and other arts events.
Cutting the ribbon on the new gallery, which hosted an exhibition from self-taught wildlife artist Elinor Grieve on its opening day, MP Eilidh Whiteford commented:
“I am delighted to be able to declare Arcaro Arts’ expanded premises open for business. The new gallery is a fantastic venue in a great location. It will breathe new life into the town centre of Peterhead and offers great opportunities to local artists to exhibit their work and my congratulations and best wishes for the future go to Melissa and the team.”
Melissa Arcaro, who heads the gallery, commented:
“The fact that we have had to expand into larger premises shows what a real appetite there is for this kind of amenity in Peterhead. The stunning new venue is also well-placed to benefit from increased footfall. As well as continuing our arts work with local groups, the new venue will act as a showcase for talented local artists.”
The gallery, on Balmoor Terrace, is open 10am-4pm from Monday to Saturday and 12pm-3pm on Sundays.
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Jun 132014
Julie Thompson continues her series on photographing bands in and around Aberdeen and the Shire taking in local and touring bands – far too many to list here – and concludes her chat to local music photographer Dod Morrison.
The Sex Pistols Experience – Credit: Julie Thompson
So, it’s been a while. I’ve been keeping busy and with the festival season on the way, I kicked it off by visiting Inverness for Brew at the Bog.
This was a fun day with many great acts, including local band, The Little Kicks, who played the main stage early in the afternoon before having to dash off on a train southbound. You can see my review of it here.
Another thing I’ve been doing was to join forces with Still Burning, of Flares n Seagulls and to try and get into writing reviews a bit more.
This has been hard work and has not left a lot of time for much else – but I’m hoping that will calm down a bit once we have proper workflows in place.
So, gig-wise, what’s been on my radar since my last musings?
Going back to April there was the much better than I’d expected The Sex Pistols Experience on the newly expanded stage at The Moorings Bar, a very lively Pulled Apart by Horses at The Tunnels, and the fantastic The Temperance Movement at The Lemon Tree – a gig I’d been impatiently waiting for.
A review of The Temperance Movement by Suzanne Kelly is here. My review of that is on Flares n Seagulls.
Kicking off May was the bouncy rapper, Stanley Odd at The Tunnels and the ever-popular UK Subs playing a sold out show The Moorings Bar – a busy 3 days was topped off by The Brew at the Bog festival, where Stanley Odd and Admiral Fallow headlined.
The Media Whores played The Moorings bar the following weekend, and mid-May brought the Mickey 9’s to The Moorings Bar.
A week later the American foursome The Octopus Project played The Tunnels – a tricky low lighting gig with a very colourful backdrop and very catchy music.
Most recently, I had a trip down to Dundee to catch Peace at Fat Sams.
That was a good gig with a very bouncy crowd.
Just around the corner from Fat Sams is Buskers, another music venue. Playing there were Fat Goth, who were launching their new album.
Just in that small area of Dundee I could hear live music coming from multiple buildings – I was really surprised by the amount. Dundee is not so far away for this sort of night out – we drove down leaving Aberdeen around 4pm, went to 2 gigs, had some takeout food then drove home, arriving around 12:30.
Dod Morrison has also been keeping busy, with The Rebellion punk festival and recent trip to America.
I asked him what he is most proud of in his music photography career so far:
“I’m proud of my Scottish music photo of 2013 winning pic http://thepopcop.co.uk/2014/02/the-best-scottish-music-photographs-of-2013/ . But have quite a few that I like but the Rebellion punk Festival mini magazine probably pips all the rest.”
Festivals – yeah or nay? Any favourites?
“Fooking yah, Rebellion festival without a shadow of a doubt the best festival anywhere in the world.. Where I do both sides I take photos and run the photo side of and get all the requests for passes, so I know how some PRs do feel. And Glastonbury too… Great festival.”
Finally, any tips for those just starting out?
“Not to compare to other Photographers , we all have different styles… and that when you apply for photo pass it really is only for the main band and does not include the supports, this has luckily only happened to me a couple of times once at the SECC Glasgow and most recently at the Music Hall Aberdeen. Also if you want to watch the bands you also should purchase a ticket- in some cities you will be asked to leave and not see the show if you don’t have a ticket.”
Thanks Dod!
The Manic Shine played The Moorings Bar on the 6th June. I first came across this band at the Fat Hippy studios last year.
I was suitable impressed – so much so, I went home and bought their first album. They crowd funded their second album, which you can listen to in full on their website here.
Mid June takes me to Northallerton in Yorkshire for 4 days of festival fun at Willowman Festival where I’ll be shooting for Flares n Seagulls. Headliners are The Wailers and Craig Charles.
The Blockheads and Ruts DC are also playing, along with many other tasty treats.
Pretty sure I’ll be knackered after this and tied to my PC for a very long time processing photos – but it will be worth it.
It is inevitable that these musing will come to an end, certainly in their current form – after a very intensive ‘apprenticeship’ and with my experiences levelling off in the main, anything new I have to tell is limited.
Rather than repeating myself, ad nauseum, I am debating either ending the series or changing their nature to a roundup (maybe monthly) of live music in and around Aberdeen and the Shire.
What has been and how it was and what is to come.
Some things I mention may be even further afield, like the festival on my to-do list for June.
For the live music scene to continue and grow it needs people to attend.
Maybe I can help a little by informing people what’s on out there. Anyway, comments are enabled – let me know what you think.
May 232014
On Friday night, the 16th of May, Aberdeen Art Gallery hosted an opening evening for adults. The verdict: huge success. Suzanne Kelly attended.
A programme of fun, varied, creative, and thought-provoking activities awaited the many visitors to Aberdeen Art Gallery on Friday 16th.
When closing time came at 10 p.m., it came too soon.
The activities were, by and large, based around the theme of World War I.
Local historian, published writer, and my former neighbour Graeme Milne held writing workshops.
Participants selected random words pulled from an envelope and composed poems on the war theme.
The theme was beautifully, touchingly and sometimes humorously brought to life in a series of postcards Milne showed the attendees, and by the poems he read. One postcard from Christmas Day 1914 is reproduced at the end of this article.
Peacock Visual Arts had a massively popular printing workshop. Visitors queued and talked about the events, while waiting to choose from a number of famous WWI propaganda images and create their own screen print in a choice of colours of ink and paper. Alphabet blocks and ink also allowed those participating to create their own propaganda posters.
Finished posters by the score hung to dry on a line; Kitchener’s famous image was surreally reproduced in many colours. Peacock didn’t stop printing all evening.
People milled around exhibitions, tried on period costumes and posed for photos, and wrote telegrams. Paper crane making gave people the chance to hide origami cranes in the gallery for people to discover the next day. Another popular activity was designing and making poppies.
People worked in near silence as they concentrated on making individual poppies from felt, ribbon, paper and tulle; these were mounted on rings, pins and headbands. The interactive, informative, creative, and overall fun nature of these events made the night the success it was.
Wartime sketching workshops allowed people to try their skills at quickly capturing models in army uniform. A prize was awarded during one session to Marion Black, who had this to say about the evening:
“I think there should be more things like this in Aberdeen; I think the creative art scene needs to be encouraged. I study history of art, and there’s not that much out there for events; there’s Peacock and a few others… we have an amazing gallery; the collection here is amazing.”
This event was part of the Festival of Museums event programme taking place across Scotland from Friday 16th May to Sunday 18th May 2014. Visit http://festivalofmuseums.com/ for details.
Before the event, Anna Shortland, the informal learning officer and event co-ordinator for Aberdeen Art Gallery, said:
“The Art Gallery is an amazing, unique place at any time of the day, and so we are confident that people will have a brilliant night.
“We know that our visitors are keen to see the gallery in a more informal and social context – having fun in a museum or art gallery is not just for children but for adults too. The line-up is sure to bring in new audiences and we’ve already had lots of interest in this event.”
The evening was exactly the sort of event Aberdeen needs: well thought out behind the scenes, and spontaneous, fun, unrestricting and educational for the attendees. More like this please! But amid all the creating, singing and socialising, I could not forget the words on the postcard that ‘Jamie’ wrote to his mother.
His words in pencil were quite faint; the card they are on is ageing, but the sentiment of a young man at war, thinking of home on a Christmas Day, are something I will remember for a long time:
“December 25 1914 – Dear Mother, This is a board to remind (thou) it is Xmas, but as this is the day of ______ it well may be in time for next Xmas. At any rate it will be in time for the new year or sometime after it. We are holding Xmas day so we are getting a fed [sic] off them so we will have to make it as merry as we can. I am longing for a few lines from you soon. Hoping this Xmas you are all well, and wishing you all a Happy New Year as this leaves me in the best of spirits, but would of [sic] been pleased holding the New Year at home. This is Xmas day in Italy – Jamie”
– I found myself hoping that this ‘Jamie’ made it home and saw many more Xmas days; so many never made it home again.
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May 232014
Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.
Tally Ho! It was a particularly good week for arts and events, a bad week for local Labour, a grim week for the environment, and a grimmer week still in the field of freedom of information.
On the positive side, the Aberdeen Artists Society show is up and running; it’s a hit by all accounts. But the best event locally for ages in the arts was the Aberdeen Art Gallery’s “After Hours/ Creative Invasion” evening.
Over 500 people came together to participate in a blend of art, writing, history, music, socialising and fun. The central theme was World War I, and its wee impact on society.
Thankfully, these days there’s no danger of any conflicts brewing in Europe which could lead to any wars.
Anyway, the evening was great, and I am still thinking about a postcard I read as part of Graeme Milne’s writing workshop.
It was written by a man (or likely boy) named Jamie to his mother on Christmas Day 1914 while he was stationed in Italy. I’m sure he had a jolly time in the trenches.
I am minded that Michael Gove, our Education Secretary, criticises shows like ‘Blackadder’ for being critical of ‘The Great War’ – Gove thinks those lefty types are trying to make WWI seem like a bloody, futile, cruel exercise (how could they?). More on the event and the text of the card can be found here.
Elsewhere in the Deen, Craig Adams (aka Flash of the Moorings) is leading the charge to reopen Bon Accord Baths.
With virtually no notice, Adams managed to muster nearly 100 people for a photo call for the BBC, Northsound and STV (and Aberdeen Voice – story here). All the different political parties seem to want the baths to run again, and I’m certain the city’s new Chief Executive will want to get as many sensible, workable community-led initiatives like this one going to rejuvenate communities. For some reason, a number of simple, desirable proposals have been turned down to date that other cities and towns would have welcomed.
The people want the baths; the politicians want the baths. Could there be someone in a position of power who’s blocking this and other initiatives with red tape, needless delay, and an agenda of their own? Surely not – but if there is such an officer, perhaps they’d best put on their MacIntosh and Gord on the next bus out of town. Just a thought.
But has warfare broken out in the hallowed halls of Aberdeen’s Townhouse?
Depending on your perspective and who you’ve spoken to, either Labour is in complete meltdown with backstabbing and intrigue worthy of a particularly gory Game of Thrones episode – or after discussions and strategising, Barney Crockett is simply no longer council leader – although he is very much still a councillor.
The way the P&J put it, you’d have thought Young Willie and Crockett were going to be duelling with pistols in UTG. But it’s not like the P&J to exaggerate. Surely there are no previous cases of Aberdeen Journals Ltd. bending the facts to make headlines? Perhaps a definition is called for.
For some reason, no one seems very fond of the plans for replacing ugly glass block St Nicholas House with a newer, shinier uglier glass block. Few people are thrilled either with the building of yet more homes over the greenbelt, what’s left of it. Fewer people still are on board with plans for the persecution of people who beg for money.
As for the building work going on, I’m sure anything going up will be as iconic, dynamic and brilliant as St Nick’s was.
After all, this steel and glass curtain wall style of skyscraper is the last word in architectural style; there’s nothing cheap, nasty, dated, brutal (or lame) about putting up glass box buildings all over town and country. They just show us how outdated things like the Citadel, Tollbooth and Provost Skene’s house really are.
Surely people will flock here to live in an iconic Stewart Milne Home in some nice, sanitised suburbia close to a dual carrigeway (formerly wildlife habitat and recreation ground), and work in iconic glass box buildings which they drive to in iconic cars. And if we get resultant loss of green space, even poorer air quality, lack of biodiversity and urban sprawl, just lie back and think of the money.
As to the kind of people we’ll be attracting, they’ll surely not want to see any signs of poverty. We’re doing what the Tzars did – covering empty buildings with false fronts (this ploy of covering up problems in a town with a thin veneer was laughably called a ‘Potemkin village’) and clearing the poor out.
We seem to be keen on clearing the streets of the poor, while the gap between rich and poor grows. Get rid of the poor, hide any squalor or empty buildings behind false fronts, and hang up some bunting. I’m sure it will make us all better off, after all, look how things worked out for the Tzars.
But at this rate there won’t be time for any definitions, so on with it, or I’d tell you about the nice drinks I’ve had at BrewDog, where I attended yet another well-run, fun tasting event.
Begging: (Eng. gerund – form of noun) – to solicit money or aid of some sort when in need.
We are one of Scotland’s wealthiest cities. We are one of Europe’s wealthiest cities. It’s bad enough people from other countries want to come here; now we’ve got people who aren’t satisfied with our generous minimum wages, food banks and quality doorways to sleep in; they also want to ask for money.
Well, this is obviously what’s stopping us from enjoying our shopping trips to malls and the West End. Being asked for money while trying to buy a new pair of Jimmy Choos is, well, trying. Thankfully, some of our wiser people in power want to ban begging. And just the thing to make begging go away would be to fine beggars for begging.
No one’s got any reason to ask for any help; it’s not as if there is a growing gap between haves and have-nots. It’s not like our taxes are sky high – for those who aren’t smart enough to put their money in fake charity accounts, offshore schemes, or other avoidance vehicles. It’s not as if those who are cleverly avoiding tax are depriving others of services the taxes should be paying for, and it’s not like there is anything immoral about not paying your fair share.
It’s not as if our Ma and Pa high street shops suffered when we gave multinationals sweeteners to open yet another shopping mall at Union Square. No, if you’re poor, it’s your fault.
Apparently we also have ‘aggressive’ beggars. I hear these aggressive beggars are upsetting the fine upstanding citizens who regularly throw up, brawl, shout, rob and intimidate people of your average weekend night in town. I’m very glad we’ve prioritised the kind of criminal activity the hungry and cold perpetrate as compared to our traditional thieves, fighters and drunks, who sometimes seem just a tad aggressive.
Complaints have apparently been made to ACC about begging: a whole handful. It’s time the city sprang into action, just like it did when it had complaints over the half-baked idea to destroy Tullos Hill’s ecosystem and deer. Three thousand of us complained we didn’t want the deer killed, or the wildflowers destroyed (and with them the existing animals, bees and butterflies).
Well, we know what effect that had. Beggars beware! Just go and get yourself a job; what could be easier?
Press & Journalism: (modern Scottish compound noun) the type of reportage and editorial policy as practiced locally by Aberdeen Journals Limited.
Not since the outbreak of WWI, WWII and the Sinking of The Titanic have we seen such a massive story with giant, emotive, shocking headlines. Well, not since ‘TRAITORS’ was the headline over pictures of those who decided to vote against Donald Trump taking over the SSSI sites at Menie for a golf club.
‘STABBED IN THE BACK’ was the headline in single quote marks over a photo of Barney Crocket at the time of his relinquishing the role of council supremo. Did he say he was stabbed in the back? Er, no. This quote was a bit of speculation. The word ‘OUSTED’ was used quite a bit, despite the man not actually being ousted.
Has the P&J previous form in mixing fact, fiction and in hiding inconvenient truths? Of course not.
During the referendum it printed on one of its front covers a box labelled ‘facts’. These ‘facts’ included tidbits such as building in Union Terrace Gardens would not cost the taxpayer anything, and 6,000 jobs would be permanently created if we put two giant granite clad ski slopes over the poor sunken garden.
The Press Complaints Commission had complaints on this ‘facts’ box (in fact, nearly the same number of people complained about this as people complained about aggressive begging in town). But the PCC decided that if people read the full article, spread over several pages, they would have realised the box marked ‘facts’ were not, er, facts. And of course everyone reads every single word in a P&J piece.
So, facts aren’t always facts; this seems clear to me. I wonder if Mr Damian Bates, P&J editor and member of the PCC team had a hand in coming to the conclusion the article wasn’t misleading?
The P&J’s stable mate, the Evening Express, once had a front page with headlines blaring ‘DEER FOUND DEAD AHEAD OF CULL’. On further investigation, it emerged the deer that were found dead had died – two years before the proposed cull of deer for trees. Somehow, this minor detail was not initially published on the paper’s website –who exactly planted this story, and why was never cleared up?
I may write a piece ‘Mastodon found dead ahead of last ice age’ or similar.
And who could forget how conveniently both papers supported Mr Donald Trump, how they vilified the Menie Estate residents who wouldn’t sell up to Trump, and how they ignored award-winning film maker Anthony Baxter, whose documentary ‘you’ve been trumped’ won awards round the world.
It was almost as if they chose to run photos of Turnip and his luxury jet because that was great news and not because Bates’ Mrs works for The Donald.
For some reason the AJL circulation seems to be dropping these last few years. I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Perhaps tomorrow’s free copy of Metro, awaiting me on my bus to work, will offer some clue.
I wish I had time for more definitions, but duties at home have taken over for now. As mentioned at the start of this piece, it’s been a bad week for press freedom and for freedom of information. More on this next week.
Next week: another look at the police, some local crime info, and more on our council.
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May 162014
With thanks to Kirsty Young.
On Friday 16 May 2014, Aberdeen audiences will have the opportunity to see the results of Cecilia Stenbom’s participatory art project Manual.
The work will be shown on a loop in the gallery at Peacock Visual Arts from 9:30 – 5:30pm.
Cecilia Stenbom will then be present on the evening of Friday 16 May at 6pm for an informal question and answer session, for members of the audience to find out more about the project.
Manual started with a public participatory research event hosted by Peacock Visual Arts, which took place at Aberdeen City Council building, Seventeen, in November 2013.
The event consisted of a series of one-to-one interviews with members of the public that explore people’s everyday behaviours and habits in public space.
Participants were encouraged to talk about their own experiences, routines and preferences within the framework of everyday situations; How do you choose a seat in a restaurant? What do you do in order to feel secure? Does surveillance make you feel safe or watched?
Do you take measures to avoid catching infections from other people? Do you have a system for staying safe in public space? How do you act when you run into someone you don’t want to run into? What do you find unacceptable behaviour? Do you have a preferred toilet cubicle?
The material recorded during this event was developed into a fictional artist film about how we deal with anxieties and hang-ups whilst in public space. Set entirely inside a shopping centre, the film follows the interactions between two sisters; one anxious about her personal safety, the other concerned with the invisible threat of infection.
The sterile atmosphere of the environment quickly becomes menacing as the women’s personal safety systems begin to fail.
Cecilia comments:
“I am really excited to come back to Aberdeen to show the work that came out of the participatory event ‘Manual’. The opinions and stories about behaviour in public space that I captured during the event in November is the basis for the fictional film about two women navigating a shopping centre. It is great to finally bring it back to Aberdeen to screen it.”
Manual has been supported by Arts Council England through the Grants for the Arts scheme.
Cecilia Stenbom (1976, Stockholm) is a visual artist and filmmaker. Originally from Sweden, has previously been based in Reykjavik, Helsinki and Glasgow and currently lives and works in the North East of England.
Q&A 6pm, Free admission. Please RSVP to sarah@peacockvisualarts.co.uk
Location: Peacock Visual Arts, 21 Castle St, Aberdeen, AB11 5BQ
May 162014
Three years ago, a new one-day music festival began, managed by Northern Roots Events, up near Inverness and hosted at Bogbain Farm. Sponsored by Brewdog, Brew at the Bog took shape.
Brew at the Bog ( http://www.brewatthebog.com ) is a festival which was created to showcase emerging Scottish music. Local craft beer and gin are also part of the attraction. This year it was a sell-out, and Julie Thompson went up there to see what the fuss was about.
Comprising four stages, the venue was compact and easy to navigate.
The Main Stage was obvious with its large arched frontage.
The other stages were smaller: the Barn stage is inside one of the stone buildings surrounding the Main Stage area.
The Gin Stage was accessed through the Barn Stage and became almost impassable when an act was performing in the Barn. Luckily there were only a few acts on in the Gin Stage, mostly in the afternoon. The Pond Stage was around the back of the buildings.
Food was varied; there was the inevitable burger van, with pretty good burgers in fact, but there were also tents providing more varied street food.
There was an ice-cream seller too, who proved popular as the day was quite warm and sunny until late afternoon.
Headliners on the Main Stage were Admiral Fallow and Stanley Odd, but to be honest, the whole day on the Main Stage was pretty strong, from the very entertaining Shiverin’ Sheiks, perfect for a lazy afternoon sitting drinking beer, through to Kid Canaveral, who had the place singing along and dancing.
I came across a few new (to me) acts that I will make a point of catching again in the future.
King Creosote kicked off the day on the Barn Stage, which was crammed. Along with their set, they showcased a new archive footage film which was shown on a large screen behind them.
Later on in the afternoon, Fatherson turned out to be the secret act that had been widely discussed.
Roddy Woomble, originally planned for the Main Stage, but swapped with Friends in America, played on the Pond Stage. Jo Mango stoically played though dripping water as the stage was leaking badly by this point, and Miaoux Miaoux closed the day.
Sadly, with events on the Main Stage and the Pond Stage clashing, and the Barn Stage being impossible to get into if you were not there as soon as the last act ended, I was a bit limited in what I could catch. I did manage to see all the Main Stage acts, as well as King Creosote and some of the Pond Stage acts; and I had an excellent, if very long and tiring day.
It’s very easy to get to Brewbog and it can be managed as a day trip, although some people did camp on the small camping area adjacent to the car park.
Both these areas are, at most, a five minute walk from the entrance to the venue, which is wheelchair-friendly.
The portable toilets were restocked through the day and were remarkably clean, for a festival, from what I saw.
There was also a portable loo with wheelchair access.
I chose to start early and drove up from Aberdeen. Gates opened at 11:45 a.m. and the last Main Stage act was playing when I reluctantly left at around 11:30 p.m.
I left, well-fed and very happy, and looking forward to seeing what they have to show me next year.
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May 092014
Quids In Theatre Company (Aberdeen) present Macbeth: Son of Light. With thanks to Annie Begg.
Scotland 1040, a Nation in Turmoil, striving for unity and independence.
Torn by battles and political corruption the land needs the hand of a great Leader to steady the journey to destruction. One man will emerge through bloody conflict and murder to lead the nation bringing seventeen years of peace and unity to a divided country.
Husband to the beautiful Gruoch, adopted father to her son Lulach, Educated statesman, Royal mormaer , Christian pilgrim and fearsome warrior, he strives to fulfil his ambition to lead his people with bravery and fairness.
Yet, haunted and persecuted by the nightmarish prophecy borne from the pen of an “upstart crow”, Macbeth, Son of Light, True King of Scotland, faces his greatest battle, as he struggles to come face to face with the Macbeth of legend, the o’er reaching, murderously ambitious creation of the “scribbler”, William Shakespeare.
This new play from professional Scottish Company, Quids In, presents a fresh theatrical vision of Macbeth as he becomes the murderous marionette of William Shakespeare.
Fusing new modern writing with Shakespeare, this small cast work with drama creates a powerful production; beautifully simple, the plot and evocative primitive setting nonetheless, weave a web of magic around the audience, binding them as the Witches devastating prophecy unfolds.
Quids In Theatre Company are a professional theatre company based in Aberdeen committed to providing quality theatre at affordable prices.
Macbeth: Son of Light
Aberdeen Arts Centre Theatre
May 14 – 16 2014
7:30 pm
Tickets from Aberdeen Box Office
Info/Contact:
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Apr 082014
Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.
Tally Ho, Cheerio, etc. It’s genuinely been a great week in the granite city. I had some great new BrewDog single hop beers this week; the Amarillo on draft was heavenly (yes, I still have my 5 BrewDog shares).
I also had a great vegetarian meal in Café 52 (yes, I know them, too – funny that my weeks often involve doing things I like with people I like); congrats to them on being named one of the city’s top 10 restaurants in an article by Kirsty Ellington Langan (whose father I know – but I’d no idea she’d written this review – which also rates Rustico and Yatai, both of which I greatly enjoy – though I don’t know the people behind them).
There are however restaurateurs who review their own places on the Trip Advisor website and even offer incentives for good reviews. Such practices are totally against Trip Advisor rules of course (thankfully I don’t associate with anyone like that).
I’m also busy working on some paintings for a group show at Under The Hammer which will be going up next Saturday; do stop in if you’re around (wine will be had around 3pm).
Aside from that I’m busy getting my garden in shape with help from some friends. Lots of bee and butterfly friendly plants coming soon from the excellent Poyntzfield nursery on the Black Isle (don’t know them, but have used them for years). Best of all, Lord Warner (don’t know him) has a scheme which will save the NHS! Result! And that’s how the spring is starting for me.
The campaign to save and re-open Bon Accord Baths has cross-party support and thousands of supporters throughout the area. Lions and lambs are lying down together, doves are flying around with olive branches, and editorials in different local media all seem to think this great idea is a great idea. (PS I’m happy to be helping the campaign in some small measure).
A gathering place for all citizens in the centre of the city, offering affordable exercise and a social hub? What’s not to like? Could this ‘mend our broken heart’ (copyright P&J)?
It looks as if some £5 million or so will be needed to get the baths running. At present a team of volunteers with all sorts of expertise are working on it; help if you can. No doubt some of the city’s better off multimillionaires who want to see a unifying city centre gathering place that benefits the public will be keen to get involved. Let’s see – £5 million is 4.6% of £92 million, and 7% of £140 million. Just saying.
In case anyone’s wondering, that is. Find out how to help here.
Let’s face it; war is hell
It is understood that the officials who banned the BBC from entering the art deco baths to do a spot of filming are going to soon see sense and let the BBC film there after all.
Dangerous buildings are of course something to be taken seriously; no doubt the city’s Westburn House, a listed property at high risk, will be given some tlc.
On the dangerous structure note, things are very grim in Edinburgh. A 12 year old girl is dead after a wall in Liberton High School’s PE block fell on her. Edinburgh Council had an unfortunate recent history of managing public and private property repairs. A scandal is still unfolding wherein its repairs officials forced private home owners to undertake remedial works at hugely inflated fees – some of the work is thought to have been unnecessary.
As the BBC put it:
“Two reports which reveal how a £40m black hole emerged in Edinburgh City Council’s property repairs department have been published. Auditors from Deloitte were called in two years ago to investigate allegations of fraud and mismanagement. They found serious failings and a lack of accountability in how the department was run. The department’s head, Dave Anderson has since resigned.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22314731 . (I hope Anderson got a nice golden goodbye package).
No wonder they didn’t have time to ensure the city’s own properties were well maintained. City Council teams have since “..found nine walls similar to the one which collapsed on Keane in Castlebrae Community High and Leith Academy secondary schools. A number of smaller free-standing walls were also identified in 11 primary schools.” according to Metro 4/4/14). Let’s hope the city will get its act together soon. Perhaps Aberdeen could take some proactive measures and fix its problem properties?
Perhaps it’s time for a few definitions spawned from this week’s news reports.
Trauma training:
Let’s face it; war is hell. Once you’ve signed up to defend your country/king/queen/economy, you may have to kill people. Mostly this can be done these days without anyone but cannon fodder leaving command central. It’s great that we’ve drones that can whiz round to search and destroy; no one’s hands ever need get dirty (well apart from the odd Afghani wedding guest and the like).
Still, if you’re going to send out the infantry now and again (for police actions, obviously not wars), best to make sure you know how to give them proper first aid.
we can’t hurt business, bad for the economy don’t you know
You might get away without giving troopers the right kit for where you fly them, but you’ll need medics; it’s good PR if nothing else. When missile are going off, a medic might well be as useful as a 747 instruction card at 30 thousand feet or ducking and covering in the face of an incoming nuclear weapon. But it makes us look good.
Still, you’ll have to show you’ve got trained medics, and training can only mean one thing: defence contracts. Defence contracts can only mean one thing: money.
How can you possibly train medics and others how to deal with soldiers who’ve been mildly wounded by automatic weaponry, mines, chemical warfare or missiles? Why, by tying up live farm animals, shooting and stabbing them, operating on them as they suffer, and then killing them. Repeat as necessary. Stabbing and amputation is apparently a big seller on the trauma training circuit, though Old Susannah wonders whether there is really that much stabbing happening on our front lines? Not so much I suspect.
Is there a great deal of automatic weaponry created by east and west being used to turn soldiers into Swiss cheese who will be nearly impossible to save? Definitely. Are there plenty of mines out there ripping off the odd human arm and leg? Most definitely.
There are no alternatives to the tiny amount of suffering that the pigs and goats get when their limbs are hacked off by ‘trainers’. You’ve got an industry going now, and we can’t hurt business, bad for the economy don’t you know.
However, according to those pesty people at PETA,
“U.S., Canada, Norway, Denmark, the U.K., and Poland were the only six NATO countries—out of 28—that still stab, shoot, blow up, and kill animals for cruel military training drills.”
What else can we do but make money and make animals suffer? How better to prepare someone for treating a wounded troop than being able to take a bullet out of an enemy piglet? Well, while we’re busy sending troops out to make the world safe (how’s that working out for you by the way?), 36,000 victims of gunshot wounds were treated in United States Emergency rooms in 2010. According to the Los Angeles Times:-
“The medical journal Pediatrics this week reported that, based on the most recent data from 2009, children are hospitalized for gunshot wounds at a rate of 20 a day, or one child every 72 minutes, for a total of 7,391 hospitalizations in 2009. Nine of 10 wounded kids are male, and disproportionately African American, which focuses the problem even more.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/28/news/la-ol-kids-guns-hospitals-gun-control-20140128
I don’t know why a Los Angeles paper would be interested in gun crime; perhaps it was a slow news day.
It’s gratifying that people in this kind of training work are so entrepreneurially creative
I think it’s so wonderful we’ve got doctors in the armed forces who want to save lives (doctors who nobly uphold their Hippocratic oaths by being complicit in shooting and killing animals and people). I suppose we could train the forces doctors in emergency rooms where people, not animals, were the ones who were being shot, but that’s probably not much of an income generator.
Then we come to landmines. That would be a good case for blowing live animals up, because there are only 70 landmine injuries a day every day in the world. I’m not suggesting anything ludicrous like sending troops to clean up the landmines of past wars and helping the civilians who get injured by our left behind junk; for one thing, I doubt there’s as much money in cleaning up after military actions as there is in setting them up.
Then we come to the scientific, medical, ethical and logical reasons why we need to stab pigs, sheep and goats to teach people how to treat stab wounds. I’ve no solution to that, as I can’t find any record of knife crime in the US, UK or Europe. Nope, guess we’d best stick it to the animals, literally. As usual.
It’s gratifying that people in this kind of training work are so entrepreneurially creative that they’ve come up with the wheeze of making money by torturing animals for democracy. If that’s not capitalism at its finest, then I don’t know what is.
There is one theory that briefly crossed my mind for a second; I dismissed it promptly. What if the real purpose of getting people to accept the squeals of suffering animals, and to be able to cause that suffering was not to teach how to suture up wounds, but rather to make the trainees immune to suffering, to bond them together in a bloody slaughterhouse, and to weed out anyone who would object to this ‘training’ and say ‘this is wrong’.
I guess my imagination must be in overdrive; surely the military wouldn’t engage in any psychological conditioning. The only stupider idea that came to me was to cut our military spending, and buy more bread than guns, solve conflicts peacefully by building infrastructure, and leave the animals out of trauma training.
To bring it closer to home, an Aberdeen University trained doctor hit a sticky wicket in Afghanistan after he failed to notice that detainee civilian Baha Mousa was beaten to a pulp and then to death by the UK’s peacekeeping forces. A witness reported hearing the murdered widower say:
“I am innocent. Blood! Blood! I am going to die. My children are going to become orphans.”
Did former healer Dr Keilloh act like a doctor should? Well, his pals think so. Dr Jim Rodger, medical adviser at the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, said:
“Dr Keilloh is extremely disappointed at the decision of this Fitness to Practise Panel and he will need time to consider the implications of this erasure and his future course of action. He would like to say how much he appreciated the wealth of support he has received from his family, patients, colleagues and friends.”
Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, said:
“The medical profession is well rid of such a man. All those UK doctors in Iraq who also saw signs of ill-treatment of Iraqi detainees but took no action had best start to instruct lawyers.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/former-army-doctor-struck-off-over-death-of-iraq-detainee-baha-mousa-8428695.html
The NHS is saved! Thank you Lord Warner!
It would be good to know if Keilloh had undertaken trauma training. It seems he hadn’t had enough training in the first place, and he was traumatised. How dreadful for him:
Doctor who denied he saw Iraqi detainee’s injuries is struck off BMJ
The panel acknowledged that, at the time, Keilloh was still a junior doctor who had not been given the predeployment training he was supposed to have … accepted that Keilloh’s judgment may have been clouded by the traumatic experience [I dare say Baha Mousa’s experience was probably a bit more traumatic than Keilloh’s; and the torture of the trauma training animals was probably not a great time either]
NHS “membership charge” (Modern English compound noun c. Lord Warner) – a proposed flat £10 per week charge for using the National Health Service.
That nice Mr Nick Tesco of The Members was on Facebook this week, issuing some curious anthropomorphic swear words I hadn’t previously heard. What caused his distress? A think-tank has said we should all chip in £10 per week for the NHS. For some reason, Nick seemed unhappy.
Well, I’m sure like me you’re wondering why we didn’t just think of this sooner. The NHS is saved! Thank you Lord Warner! Warner once worked alongside St. Anthony Blair, who of course had nothing at all to do with sweetening the NHS for privatisation or carving it up for private companies to jump in. (or in engineering wars).
Everyone has a spare ten pounds per week, don’t they? Well, let’s get with Warner’s plan, and pay it, along with our Council tax, to keep the NHS going. Clearly there is no bureaucracy in the NHS, no extraneous middle managers, no ridiculous bean-counting exercises, supply chain mismanagement, fraud, waste or pre-privatisation manoeuvring that could be got rid of.
No, it’s up to you and me to start paying our way for the NHS. Some of you may have been of the naïve opinion your taxes went to the NHS, but that seems to have eluded Warner and his co-author Jack O’Sullivan when they proposed a fair, flat tenner per week tax.
Here’s what my Lord Warner said:
“Many politicians and clinicians are scared to tell people that our much-beloved 65-year-old NHS no longer meets the country’s needs… Frankly, it is often poor value for money. The NHS now represents the greatest public spending challenge after the general election. MPs taking to the streets to preserve clinically unsustainable hospital services only damage their constituents.”
Warner, in a report he has co-authored for the think-tank Reform, says dramatic action is needed as the NHS faces an expected £30bn-a-year gap by 2020 between the demand for healthcare and its ability to respond, and needs several new funding streams to remain viable.
I’m sure we’ll all be queuing up to help the government monitor our bodies
Revenue could also come from higher, hypothecated “sin” taxes on alcohol, tobacco and gambling, and taxes on sugary foods because of rising obesity. Inheritance tax needs to be collected from more than the current 3.5% of the 500,000 people who die each year, and visitors staying overnight in hospital should pay “hotel charges”.
A £10 monthly fee would be used to fund local initiatives to improve prevention of ill-health and an annual “health MoT” for everyone of working age, say Warner and co-author Jack O’Sullivan, an expert in new thinking in health and social care.
I’m sure we’ll all be queuing up to help the government monitor our bodies – and then get even more money for its new wheeze of selling our health data to private companies. We’ll be in great shape soon! Result!
And it gets even better: Warner wants alcohol and cigarette ‘sin taxes’ for those in the herd who won’t be squeaky clean (but surely government officials will be immune). Sin taxes on the way soon? I’ve enough trouble with my syntax as it is. Let’s just get down to privatising the whole system, and setting up weekly blood and urine tests for the poor to boot.
Alas, reading the 191 page report when I should be painting is giving Old Susannah high blood pressure, and I’m not getting any younger. More later, particularly on the interesting Mr Sullivan and Lord Warner. I wonder if either of them have any reason to want privatisation? Surely not.
Nicky Tesco is interested in this stinktank, and so am I.
Next week: More definitions, if I pass the State’s health tests, and more on the police and related arresting new developments.
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