Southside Crafters: Craft Fair + Tea Room

Tomorrow sees the first of four exciting events organised by the Southside Crafters. They'll be taking over the Shawlands Kirk Church (at Shawlands Cross) and filling it to the brim with a variety of stalls selling  Hand Knitting, Cards, Jewellery, Gifts etc.

There is also a tearoom with a large selection of homemade baking. Buy a cake and get a cuppa free. If you have kids take them along with you as there are Arts and Crafts workshops at £2 per child, however this month there is a special introductory offer buy one get one free.

It all takes place between 11am and 3pm tomorrow at Shawlands Kirk Church

The next event will be taking place on the 10th September.

RBS Film First - Pollok Park

Last night we went along to one of the new Film First events that RBS are putting on for their customers. We weren't really sure what to expect but the idea of watching a movie outdoors in Pollok Park sounded like great fun and we both really fancied seeing Super 8.

Got to say the guys that organised the whole thing last night did a brilliant job. It was superbly organised with a ton of staff to guide and advise you when you arrived and big bold signage and pop up tents making the whole thing feel like a mini festival. We were greeted at the gate and then led through a series of wee tents where we were given two tubs of popcorn (one sweet, one salty), two bottles of water, free blue ponchos and these funny little cardboard seats which I initially thought would be rubbish but turned out to be really comfy. The staff found us a good central pitch and then sorted out our seats and made sure we were comfy. There was then a little film quiz and a wine merchant wandering around and handing out free samples of their products.

It was just really professionally put together, with a lot of care of the small details, like the multitude of top of the line toilets, the well laid out site, the fact the surrounding trees had been back lit in green

Super 8 was a really good wee film and I can totally see why people are making comparisons with the Goonies and other classics of the early 80's. I'll not say too much more about it as its quite fun to discover without really knowing where the film is going.

We had a really great night and would love for it to become a more regular event or for there to be a mini outdoor festival next summer. The band Stand in Queens Park would make for an excellant additional venue when its finished being upgraded though I suppose the remoteness of Pollok Park made the security a little easier.

If you can get yourself an RBS friend, then get them to buy you a ticket and go along for the second night, 26 August. You have to buy tickets online before hand and the gates open at 6:30pm for those eager for a good spot. The film doesn't start til 9pm though so you prob don't want to get there too early. (A suggestion for the organisers would be a selection of short films playing while people arrive and getted pitched.)

For those who are going our advice is, wear lots of warm clothing, it gets pretty chilly, bring a couple of blankets, one to sit on and one to wrap yourself up in. Don't bring any chairs or umbrellas as you won't be allowed to use them but possibly do bring a little hat/cap with a peak on it so that if it does rain you can still watch without the water getting in your eyes. There were lots of people with picnics and bottles of wine but our top reccomendation would be a large flask of hot chocolate.

Anyway, its highly reccomended and we are looking for to their next event already.

For more info then go here.



Strawberries and Cream

We've been watching quite a lot of tennis this year. Pretty glued to the French Open and then Wimbledon, so when we heard that the GB v Luxemburg Davis Cup tie was being held in Glasgow we decided to go along. Unfortunetly it seems a lot of other people also had that idea and by the time we got round to booking tickets there were only a few left for the middle day when the doubles was on. (Davis Cup runs like this - two singles days on day one, a doubles match on day two and then two singles matches on day three.)

Going to watch the doubles match on the Saturday was actually quite good as the Murray brothers were teaming up for the first time. On the Friday night Murray A had ripped apart his opponent 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 so the odds were it was not going to be a close match and that was how it turned out with the Murrays winning pretty comfortably.

 

It was a really fun event but unsurprisingly bore little in common with Wimbledon apart from there being a net, a court and some players hitting a little yellow ball.
Where the Londoners have Pims, stripey blazers and strawberries with cream, we had Irn-Bru, baggy t-shirts and some not very tasty nachos with congelled cheese dip. (Knew I should have gone for the hotdog.) Where Wimbeldon has respectable clapping between points, we had a large group of people in identical t-shirts with a host of prepared routines, shouting out such things as "Ooooh, Oooooh Murrays on Fiiire" and "Forehand, backhand, Ace, Ace, Ace". The Murray brothers and the rest of team GB seemed to be really enjoying this, it must be quite a pleasent change from the quiet tones of the Grandslams to be allowed a bit of banter and fun with the audience. Not so sure the Lux guys would agree though, might have been getting slightly put off by the slow hand clapping, the chants of "Who stole your Milky Bars?" (to the young blonde player) and the funniest and cheekiest chant of the day "One more than yesterday, one more than yesterday" when the Lux players got their first game on the board.
The other major difference from Braehead to Wimbeldon was the entertainment. While London once famously had Sir Cliff to "entertain" during breaks in play we had short blasts of Scottish rock and pop from the Proclaimers to Glasvegas and the rather odd sight of a couple dressed in silver sequend outfits dancing around playing electronic violin covers of rock songs. We only caught the last few moments of their performance and it was a pretty startling and unsettling thing to walk into the arena and discover.

All in all though I'd highly reccomend it for a wee day out and with Andy Murray on top form after his great win in Cinncinati its the perfect time to give it a go. The event was so popular with everyone that they are doing it all again with the end of season playoff match against Hungary 16-18 September again at Braehead Arena. If you want tickets then go here. Remember though that the actual players in each match can shift around and that following the US Open Andy might be exhausted (hopefully from winning the event) so there's a possiblity he might not be taking part.

Creative Thursday with Honey

This week we are interviewing a young Southside band called Honey who blend audio experimentation with pop music. For a chance to win a copy of Honey's debut E.P. titled "Taste i and See" then see the bottom of this post.

Whereabouts in the Southside do you guys come from?

With exception of our drummer Alan, the rest of us are spread out over the Southside. Dave lives in Battlefield, and before that Craigton. Gary lives in South Nitshill and me (Nick) I live in Pollok. Alan stays way out in Linlithgow but just for the purposes of this interview we'll say it's the Southside of Linlithgow.

We’ve all known each other for years, Dave and Alan were in a band together and Gary and I were also in a band. Those bands ended and we formed Honey. It’s a pretty generic tale, not exactly the stuff of Rock ‘n’ Roll legend. We do have a mutual love of obscure and rare records though. I've always been interested in strange records, and with Honey I've found a platform to pass on and discover new music. Individually we’ve got quite a mixed taste, but common artists we all like are The Velvet Underground, Scott Walker and CAN.

What do you do?
We took a long time to get ourselves moving as a band. It took the best part of a year before we even considered a gig, we wanted to perfect the sound we had in mind.

We like to blend audio experimentation with pop music. It makes for some interesting sounds.Generally speaking we don't have a set creative practice, however every piece of music we write is usually born from a single idea. That could mean a guitar part, a single chord, a lyric or even just a thought. When we have our basis we throw it around in the rehearsal studio through free-form playing. We'll mix around different instruments and sounds until we're happy with an outcome. Many of our songs can become unrecognisable or twisted from their original form but that is what we hope to achieve from a rehearsal session. New concepts blossom from a single idea. And our music is all about developing these ideas through collective thought.

What's your favourite piece of work?I think I'd have to say its the film Gary made for our song 'Counting Seasons'. He used a collection of old propaganda footage and stunning psychedelic imagery that gives a strange, wobbly experience that resemble a nightmare or some sort of Aldous Huxley novel. It pairs well with the artistic vision of the song which was to create the feeling of unknown fear. That odd sensation of melancholy and nostalgia for no apparent reason. You can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTxHTL0GLvk

What's next?

We've got a run of shows in Glasgow to look forward to at the moment. We've spent most of our time as a group locked away in rehearsal spaces so it's been a great release to get out and gigging. Other than that we have a recording session coming up. One of the greatest parts of being in a band is the recording process. It allows us to be as artistically free as our minds can gauge.

The Captains Rest - September 3rd

The Bay - September 10th

G2 - September 30th

The Captain's Rest - October 9th

Stairway - November 4th

What is your favourite creative blog/ website or other source of inspiration?

We've found loads of new music from blogspots. There are hundreds of sites which specialize in specific genres of music, and I've personally discovered many artists I would never have before. I like to trawl the psychedelic blogspots. Ongakubaka is a good one (http://ongakubaka.blogspot.com/). It focuses on more modern, underground music.

What key piece of advice do you wish you'd known? We've been lucky with regards to good advice. I went to Reid Kerr College with Gary to study Music and we got great advice from the lecturers there. The only thing I would say to other bands would be to join the PRS (Performing Right Society) as soon as possible. We've only recently joined but it is so important that you become a member as soon as possible.

Tell us your favourite place/ space in the Southside?Pollok Park is quite incredible, it's a great place to lose yourself in. Also the Barrhead Dams. I'm always amazed at the great scenery right on our doorstep in the Southside.

Name another Southside creative whose work you admire?

Matt Harvey, the owner and sound engineer of Maybank Studios at Eglinton Toll. We recorded our E.P. with Matt, and are also working with him again on our upcoming recording session. It can be quite hard to convey a bands vision for a recording across to a 3rd party but with Matt we have found someone who understands our objectives and also has his own ideas. It's always a productive outcome when we work together and it's great to collaborate with him when we are looking to achieve a certain sound.

If money was no option what would you change about the Southside?

It would be good to build a creative arts hub somewhere. Somewhere where people from different artistic styles can come and work together. Starting up more music venues would be a priority though. We find there aren't enough local places for us to perform in the Southside so it would certainly be a benefit to musicians if there were more venues around.

Tell us one other interesting fact about you?Our song 'Summertone' hit number 5 on an online Czech chart. It looked like it was run by one person with no logic as to how the chart was decided. I think we were ahead of the Arctic Monkeys at one point. I bet they're gutted.

LINKShttp://lifetastesbetter.bandcamp.com/album/taste-it-and-see (free download of tracks from here)

www.soundcloud.com/honeyband
www.facebook.com/honeyscotland

WIN AN E.P.(To win a copy of Honey's debut EP titled "Taste it and See" just answer the following question. Which "Southside" recording band connects with the second largest American state? Drop your answer in the comments below and the winner will be chosen at random on 30 August.)

New Victoria Gardens - Open Day

New Victoria Gardens will be hosting their annual open day,this Saturday at 1pm. The gardens are one of the oldest  of the 27 allotment sites in Glasgow, and are located at the Glenapp Street cul-de-sac off Albert Drive, through to Maxwell Drive. They may have originated in Govanhill in 1865 (as the Victoria Gardens) and transferred to Pollokshields around 1871. They have been holding an open day on the last Saturday of August for the last 111 years.
Entry is just £1