April 2006

New stunning images

Having recently visited Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirling, near Glasgow, I've finally got round to uploading a few pages for you about it.

I recommend going there if you've got some time to spare in Glasgow, and by the time I come to building my list of the top ten places to go near Glasgow, without a shadow of a doubt this park'll be right up there in all its shiny glory.

Check out why below...

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Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Art

Phew. What a title.

Glasgow City Council has announced this year's GI Festival: Glasgow's festival of contemporary visual art returns on 19th April until 1st May, with an exciting programme of exhibitions, seminars and talks across 30 venues.

Glasgow International, curated by Francis McKee, is expected to attract more than 25,000 visitors and firmly establish Glasgow as a leading destination for international art fans.

A major highlight is set to be The Work of Patti Smith, an exhibition at the Mitchell Library of drawings, paintings and photographs by the artist, poet and punk rock icon. Curated by Ben Harman of GoMA, the exhibition will feature works from 2002 retrospective Strange Messenger, which was held at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

Glasgow artist Ross Sinclair, who created neon installations for last year's Radiance festival, will present his debut exhibition of paintings at the CCA – a project titled Real Life Painting Show that investigates the role of colour in transforming perception and meaning.

Another local artist exhibiting is Karla Black, whose process-based sculptures will be created on site at a new gallery space on Dixon Street. Made from such materials as Vaseline, tissue and polythene, the objects will explore aspects of gender, psychoanalysis and psychology.

South African artist William Kentridge will address the legacy of apartheid and colonialism in his home country with his show at Glasgow School of Art, featuring charcoal drawings, prints, collages, animation and film, while at the Modern Institute Mark Handforth from Miami will present a new large-scale, site-specific sculpture.

In total, the festival will feature new work and commissions by some 140 artists. Some of the biggest names in British art will be represented in Material World, for which the Gallery of Modern Art has selected 17 sculptures from the Arts Council Collection, including pieces by Edward Lipski, Sarah Lucas, Rachel Whiteread and Grayson Perry.

So if you'll be here between 19th April and 1st May, I'd suggest that you check out the official site below and get yourself along for a wee bit of Glasgow's unique art and culture.

Click for more info

Hail Hail my Glasgow Celtic Champions

At 11.10pm when Glasgow Celtic went out of Europe against Bratislava at the start of this season, our new Manager Gordon Strachan's watch stopped. Last night he let loose that he still had that watch on his wrist as a reminder, still showing 11.10pm.

A class act, and I'm glad his name was chanted by the whole of Celtic Park last night, me included, as we beat Hearts 1-0 to win the SPL title.

So there you go. I've been keeping my affiliation masked as the site began to grow, and I'll try to be as fair as possible to the other teams in Scotland whenever I report from now on, mainly as a means of ensuring I can walk the streets without having to look over my shoulders every two seconds (to the tourists out there though - don't worry, I'm only kidding - just amplifying a stereotype for poetic effect).

But for me, last night was simply outstanding. The atmosphere at Parkhead was electric, and when big John Hartson knocked in his goal, well, absolutely everyone going through life should be allowed to experience a moment like that.

So I'll keep this short, so as not to annoy the other half of Glasgow's football community as well as those who couldn't care less about the game:

From one, tired and hungover fan of the Magnificent Bhoys in the Green and White, congratulations and thanks for the memory.

New iTour of Glasgow's world famous Music Scene

Just got this from the icscotland site, and am definitely going to check it out and report to you.

From Stephen McKenna: 'You've heard of the iPod and iTunes. Now there is a new addition to the digital age - the iTour. What is that I hear you say? The iTour is an amazingly innovative new concept for your mp3/CD player. Created by Tennents Lager with support from the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, the iTour is a downloadable mp3 file, which gives the user an audio tour of Glasgow's famous musical hotspots.

The tour entitled Glasgow: Sounds of a Music Capital is narrated by famous Beat 106 DJ Jim Gellatly. The iTour comes with a map of the city and whilst listening to their mp3 player and using the map for navigation, city visitors and veterans alike can take a trip to The Horseshoe Bar where Travis used to play and rehearse or visit the trendy Glasgow School of Art where Franz Ferdinand used to play.

The extensive map gives detailed information on and exact locations (and telephone numbers if you get lost) of some of the coolest places to go in Glasgow's music scene. Not only does the tour take in venues but also places of inspiration such as music shops and the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). The tour covers the hustle and bustle of Glasgow's city centre and it also takes you to the student haven that is the West end.

Best of all the iTour is free. Free to download, free to share and free to copy. Tennents are being truly pioneering and groundbreaking with their ethos behind this tour. They realise that in today's digital world to make something popular it should be available instantly and if it is free then it will be even more popular.

I can see this catching on in other cities throughout the UK and abroad, with Liverpool being the next obvious one to take you on a tour through the city that spawned The Beatles.'

And now, you can even download the new Light Magic: The life and work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and get a pratical and realtime insight into the life and works of one of the most revered characters in Scottish history.

Technology eh? I'm away to prepare my ears for a listening they'll never forget...

Click for more info

Xscape Braehead Glasgow Launch Party

Tomorrow evening sees Glasgow open its new and slick entertainment venue, Xscape, Braehead.

Featuring indoors (always a good idea in Glasgow) a Snowslope, rock climbing, skypark, cinema, Robocoaster and a great deal more, this looks like it could become one of the hottest attractions in town.

We're planning on going once the rush dies down a bit, and I'll no doubt furnish you thereafter with plenty of photos of me breaking my leg ski-ing, falling off a rock, being sick on the Robocoaster and so on - you get the general idea...

If you can make the launch party tomorrow though, I'd recommend you shimmy along, as it's promising to be a free night of extreme amusement. As for me, best to leave it for a while methinks, at least until my old denial of danger mechanisms kick in and allow me to face my fears with confidence.

Click for more info

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