Barry Didcock

1 month ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Dan Richards' grandfather aboard the Bristol-Plymouth TPO in the 1960s (Image: free) There’s nothing like real danger to sharpen your mind and bring a little clarity. It was certainly true for Edinburgh-based writer Dan Richards. But in his case it also generated an idea for a book. The danger for Richards came 3,600 metres up Dent Blanche, one of the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps. He was with his father and they were stuck. By the light of morning, the worst was averted.

1 month ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

MacKenzie’s lament For the most recent instalment of On The Record, his excellent survey of Scottish rock and pop albums, The Herald’s Russell Leadbetter has turned to Sulk by The Associates. Released in 1982 it was described by Billy MacKenzie, the band’s singer and lyricist, as “ABBA meets Bet Lunch on acid.” It’s a neat distillation of the band’s sound and of MacKenzie’s vision.

1 month ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Ryan Mutter in Govan holding his work The Streets Where (Image: free) As a child, drawing and painting were an important part of Ryan Mutter’s life. Anything else would have been odd given his father’s background in printmaking and his job as an art teacher.

1 month ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

To go from making a pair of Oscar-nominated documentaries about the Indonesian genocide to shooting a musical inspired by the Hollywood Golden Age might seem like the very definition of the word pivot. But Texas-born director Joshua Oppenheimer doesn’t see it quite like that. “I don’t think that’s a strange leap,” the American tells me via Zoom from Malmo, where he is currently based.

1 month ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Tim Roth and Japanese actress and singer Koki at the GFF world premiere of Tornado Premiere (Image: Amy Muir) Main features Whisper it, but Scotland’s two major film festivals appear to be in reasonably good health. Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) opened on February 26 with John Maclean’s new film Tornado, and sold its last tub of popcorn on March 9 when Martyn Robertson’s documentary Make It To Munich closed the event.