Words Per Minute

The rather excellent Words Per Minute are coming to the Southside having teamed up with the Scottish Refugee Council to present WPM:Home, a one-off event for Book Week Scotland 2012. 

In a line-up packed with live music, stories and short film, artists will reflect on what ‘home’ really means in relation to refugee experiences. Well-known faces will perform, alongside writers and performers from refugee communities in Scotland.

Award-winning novelists Karen Campbell and Sophie Cooke

Brilliant theatre from Martin O’Connor

Wild blues from Jethro Kinavuidi

Rapper Amir Mohammadi 

Soulful electro from Glasgow Girls composer Patricia Panther 

Dundee based emerging writer of Ugandan Asian heritage Jaimini Jethwa 

Screening of short film Destitution by Chris Leslie

Described by both Radio 4’s Front Row and GQ Magazine as one of the best literary salons in the UK, WPM mixes the best of live music, performance, new writing and film into a fast-paced showcase of Scottish and international talent.

Tickets: £4/3 available on the door on the day of the event. Free for asylum seekers and refugees.

You can see more on the Facebook Event Page

Glasgow Chamber Orchestra Concert

No need to trek into the town to listen to beautiful classical music. Come to Sherbrooke St Gilbert's Church on Nithsdale Road this Saturday @ 7.30 pm to listen to Glasgow Chamber Orchestra perform Beethoven Symphony No 6, Prokofiev's Classical Symphony and Bruch's Violin Concerto, soloist the fantastic Fiona Robertson.

You can find out more information here

Saturday December 1, 2012 at 19:30
Sherbrooke St Gilbert's Church 

240 Nithsdale Road, G41 5AD

£12 (adults), £9 (concessions), £4 (under 18s)

Tickets "at the door" - until sold out

Christmas Markets in the Southside

Pretty spoiled for Christmas gift buying in the Southside this Christmas. Not only do we have a whole host of fabulous shops to wander around we also have a huge selection of craft/ art and design markets happening this winter. The Galgael, Govanhill Baths and Albert Drive Studios events in particular sound really interesting.

Saturday 1st December
10:30 - 1:30pm Jack & Jill Market, Bellahouston Sports Centre
10am - 4pm Shawlands South Church on Regwood Street
10am - 1pm Christmas Fair at Shawland Primary School, 1294 Pollokshaws Road
10am - 2pm Luv Christmas Fair
11am - 3pm Pollokshields Christmas Fayre

Sunday 2nd December 
12:30pm Afternoon Twee at Tusk, 18 Moss Side Road
12pm - 5pm Big Boutique on the Hill
2:30pm - 5:30pm Old Barn's Crafty Christmas Chill-out

Wednesday 5th December
6pm - 9.30pm St Margaret's Church Newlands

Saturday 8th December
10am - 6pm This is not (a craft) fair, Govanhill Baths
12pm - 8pm Govan Artists Studios

Sunday 9th December 
12:30pm Afternoon Twee at Tusk, 18 Moss Side Road
11am - 4pm This is not (a craft) fair, Govanhill Baths
2:30pm - 5:30pm Old Barn's Crafty Christmas Chill-out

Thursday 13th December
5pm - 9pm Opening of exhibition and pop up shop at Maxwell Park Station

Friday 14th December 
12pm - 7pm Pop up art sale in Maxwell Park Station

Saturday 15th December
10am - 4pm Galgael Christmas Fayre
10am - 5pm What a Wonderful Weekend at Albert Drive Studios
11am - 4pm Giffnock Primart School Fair
12pm - 7pm Pop up art sale in Maxwell Park Station
12:30 - 4:30pm Shed Christmas Market

Sunday 16th December
12pm - 4pm Christmas Market at House for an Art Lover
10am - 5pm What a Wonderful Weekend at Albert Drive Studios
2:30pm - 5:30pm Old Barn's Crafty Christmas Chill-out

The Queens Park Farmers Market is also on 10am - 2pm, 1st and 15th of December

Greater Shawland's Republic - Christmas Event

The Great Shawlands Republic will be meeting again this weekend and here is what they had to say for themselves.

"The Executive Committee of the Greater Shawlands Republic have thought long and hard about whether Santa is a construct of a rich, feckless, corrupt Western elite only concerned with material possessions or if he is in fact the greatest socialist hero known to humanity. No means testing for Santa. He is a universal benefit. In the end we couldn't decide but we have asked him for a new coat of paint for our submarine.

The next gala night of the Greater Shawlands Republic falls on Sunday December 2nd and will once again be held in the Bungo on Nithsdale Road. We have the wonderful Pearse James and a very special, mystery guest. All we've told people so far is that HE's been on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and last year he sold out the Kings. Further information will be unveiled on our facebook page.

The night starts at 8pm and tickets are 5 polloks and 99 shields for Southsiders and 6 polloks for Westenders."

Sunday 2nd December 8pm at The Bungo

NOW SOLD OUT

Oxfam/ Scottish Wave of Change Event 29 November

Very interesting event happening at Galgael on THursday, with the Scottish Wave of Change project presenting three films showing how to change Scotland and its future; the themes of them are:

• the limits of the enlightened system
• what time is it in Scotland?
• who and how you bring about change.

3pm 29 November at Galgael. See the flyer above for details.

Headhunters @ The Film Club

I've not read any Jo Nesbo but Ann has and she enjoyed them and I've heard good things about this film.

On Tuesday 27 November the Southside Film Festival will be screening Headhunters as part of their new Film Club in partnership with The Glad Cafe.

The film will start at 8pm, doors at 7:30pm. Tickets are £6 (£5 for concessions*) and are available on the night from the Glad Cafe and also online from Tickets Scotland (search by date or for Southside Film, with £1 booking fee).

Headhunters (subtitled) is a 2011 Norwegian-German film based on Jo Nesbø's novel Hodejegerne (The Headhunters).  It was critically acclaimed, described by the Guardian as "a cool, brutal, deeply Scandinavian thriller" and follows in the recent success of others in the 'Scandi crime' genre.

Synopsis: Roger Brown is an accomplished headhunter living a life of luxury well beyond his means, and stealing art to subsidize his expensive lifestyle. When his beautiful gallery owner wife introduces him to a former mercenary in the possession of an extremely valuable painting, he decides to risk it all to get his hands on it, and in doing so discovers something which makes him a hunted man.

Art at Maxwell Park Station

In December four artists, including Pollokshields resident Louis Skehal, are presenting a selection of their work, for sale, at Maxwell Park Station. The artists are:

• Robyn McLean, jewellery designer/maker, whose work (pictured here) is based around the relationship between the body and the mind, using a range of mixed media including silver, resin and dyed bone to convey ideas of fragility and strength.
  
• Vicki Williamson, painter & photographer, whose work involves juxtapositions of situations and events via the use of mixed media.
  
• Annabel Sinclair, a painter, based at the Courtyard Studios in Irvine, whose work reflects the human form, and who uses mixed media to invoke colourful energy.
  
• Louis Skehal, sculptor, whose work represents our relationship to place, boundaries and self, often through large scale architectural works. Drawings and photographs will be on display/sale.

December 13th Opening 5-9pm

December 14th – 16th 12-7pm (Also that weekend is the Albert Drive Studios open day and What a Wonderful Weekend Art market. Sounds like a good excuse for a day out, a wonder and getting all your Christmas shopping done with local artists.)

You can read more about the history of the station and its conversion into a public meeting space and art venue here. 

Railway Club - Colquhoun & Hollingswoth

New exhibition at the Railway Club, Queens Park Station.

From the website

"Colquhoun & Hollingsworth

Two Ruins Steve Hollingsworth and Jim Colquhoun are Two Ruins, a collaborative investigation at the intersection of performance and sculpture. Hollingsworth and Colquhoun are both interested in those places where the boundaries between disciplines and ideas become blurred and malleable and praxis helps to further corrode these, often arbitrary, distinctions. In this performance the two artists are adrift amongst a scattering of neon tubing with proximity oscillators attached to their chests allowing them to interact with the neon not just physically but sonically. There is more than a hint of the homo-erotic as the they crawl infinitely slowly amongst the tubing, semi-naked and bending close to and straddling the light to bring forth a sonic wail that rises and falls with their movements. The deliberately ponderous movements and the overwhelming soundscape fuse to create a mesmerising mise-en-scéne, a wordless Beckettian shadow play that begins and ends in darkness.

Preview  -  7pm to 9pm Friday 16 November 2012

Show open 2pm to 6pm Tuesday to Saturday

17th November to 8th December"

To Bee or not to Bee*

How cool is this, lessons on how to look after your owns bees in Toryglen organised by the good folks of Urban Roots.

*Apologies for the terrible joke in the header.

Creative Thursday - Laura Hudson Mackay

This week we interview Photographer Laura
SSH:What was the last exhibition that inspired you and why?

LH: I am thoroughly inspired by Maison de la Photographie in Marrakech. It is a collection which dates from 1870-1950 and the black and white photography looks stunning displayed against the backdrop of a traditional Riad, central courtyard and fountain, deep in the heart of the Marrakech Medina. Some of the photographs on display are anonymous and others by some of the first western photographers to ever capture images of the indigenous people of the High Atlas mountains of Morocco, the Berbers. The exhibition beautifully illustrates the history, culture and ethnology of this fascinating country, giving an insight into its daily life which has changed so little in thousands of years.

SSH:Where do you get your inspiration from?

LH: Living in Scotland is a great source of inspiration, after living most of my life in England I really notice a difference in the light here and particularly love the sea and coastline.

I also find inspiration for my work whilst travelling. My husband and I are currently rebuilding a traditional Riad in Marrakech and a big part of my life is now there. I find it a magical and vibrant place and I’ve met many interesting people; designers, artists, filmmakers and writers, drawn from all over the world who now live there. The Red City is host to a number of festivals including ‘Arts in Marrakech International Biennale’ and ‘Marrakech International Film festival’.

SSH:Where do you work? Include a photograph

LH: I have a studio at my home in Strathbungo, but my latest place of work is 'Herman' our VW campervan.

SSH: Tell us about Herman and his influence on your recent work

I recently spent a month driving in Herman, through Europe and North Africa and the road trip opened up some great photographic opportunities. I get out more, see more and shoot more. Travelling in Herman allows me to get off the 'tourist trail' and into the lesser seen places. It was in these places I found fresh inspiration for my most recent work.

SSH: What are you working on at the moment?

LH: I'm totally fascinated by tales from the Arabian Nights. Last year I found an unusual copy in Young's Interesting Books on Skirving Street. The late Victorian collection, published in 1893 is taken from the much loved 'Thousand and One Nights'. I'm working on a photographic collection inspired by jinns, genies, sultans and the magic of those tales. I have a few commissions on the go too, which I always find enjoyable as they are so varied.

SSH: What is important to you?

LH: Living life to the full and not being bored! Looking for something interesting and new is important, or looking at something you previously might have overlooked, in a new way. For example, I recently started a photographic study of snails.

SSH: If you could change one thing in the South Side what would it be?

LH: A few years ago I asked myself this very question and the answer was to do something about the amount of litter and fly tipping in the area. So I became a Neighbouthood Improvement Volunteer (a bit like a Womble) and set up a group called Brighter Bungo! We are now a group of about 30 volunteers who meet regularly for 'clean ups', work with the council and make a difference to our area on the southside. Brighter Bungo has recently been nominated to receive an award from Beautiful Scotland.

SSH: Tell us about some of your recent projects

LH: I've spent time working on a number of self portraits, using a polaroid camera which gives the images an interesting retro style. I also have an ongoing project titled 'Daily Life'. Taking inspiration from the Maison de la Photographie exhibition, I have created a series of images of daily life in Marrakech and Essaouira.

SSH: What advice would you like to share?

LH: The important thing is not the camera, but the eye. If you want to improve your photography, the worst thing you can do is buy a new camera. I don't treasure my camera, I use and abuse it.

SSH: What do you have coming up?

LH: I have recently been asked to host a couple of creative photography workshops, so I'm busy preparing for those. The workshops will be a new area for me but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

SSH: Tell us your favourite place in the southside and why?

LH: I really like Mulberry Street Bar and Bistro, the food is consistently good and the staff friendly. The owners commissioned a number of artworks from me, some of which are displayed in the restaurant. I also love Urban Beauty, it's one of the best places for a relaxing facial.

You can see more of Laura's lovely work here - www.hudsonmackay.com

Let there be light

Come join the Pollokshelds Quad for a festival of light.

Creative Thursday: Beatrice Collins

SSH: What was the last book or piece of writing that inspired you?
Beatrice: I read Jeanette Winterson’s book, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal on holiday and found it breathtakingly good. It’s a book about her life, her strange upbringing with her adoptive parents and finding her birth mother. It’s both hilariously funny and very sad, with moments of real insight. Her honesty in admitting difficult truths and in capturing so vividly the North in its recent, although seemingly very distant, past, is absolutely inspiring.
SSH: So where do you get your inspiration from?
Beatrice: I like digging up histories that haven’t been told before. I also like looking at other times from the point of view of women. It’s hard to work out where an idea comes from, though, sometimes a place, a comment, a sense that there is something out there worth exploring.
SSH:So where do you work?
I moved to the South Side a year ago and now have a small study with a view. In it are lots of books, a computer and a load of old paper that should be in the bin.
SSH: A lot of your work explores narratives - what is your favourite story and why?
Beatrice: I don’t really have a favourite story. Fiction does give you the chance to explore other worlds and make your characters make choices that I don’t have to. I like stories that make you laugh and cry.

 SSH: Tell us about your mentoring and Creative Writing Classes
Beatrice: I mentor new writers both privately and for the Scottish Book Trust. I also run a creative writing class for adults at Albert Drive Studios.
SSH: What are you working on at the moment?
Beatrice: I’m working on a historical novel about the Eiffel tower.
SSH: What is important to you?
Beatrice: Obviously not money or I wouldn’t be a writer.
SSH: If you could change one thing in the Southside what would it be?
Beatrice: A really great cake shop would be nice. Also a swimming pool you could walk to.
SSH: Tell us about some of your recent projects
Beatrice: I've written a novel for children called The Pyrate Boy. It’s a fast paced adventure story set in the Caribbean and Scotland in the 1750s, which I’m talking to publishers about at the moment. I’ve also just finished a novel about the Spanish Civil War, which is in my agent’s hands. My Invisible Sister, a novel I wrote with my friend, Sara Pinto, has just been optioned by Disney to make a TV film. So there’s lots happening . . .

SSH:What advice would you like to share?
Beatrice: Write for yourself. Make yourself forget that anyone else is ever going to read it.
SSH:What do you have coming up?
Beatrice: More classes at Albert Drive and another trip to Paris to look at the catacombs, for research.
SSH:Tell us your favourite place in the Southside and why?
Beatrice: I love strolling through Pollokshields. The large houses, leafy parks and slightly faded grandeur make it hard to believe that it’s so close to the city centre.

More Comedy

Raising money for the Southside Fringe (to take place around the Southside Festival) a whole team of local comedy stars will be appearing at The Glad Cafe next weekend.