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Open List is designed to cover public events not covered elsewhere in the magazine. We welcome submissions, which will be included sublect to space, to reach our Edinburgh oilice not later than seven days betore publication.
POLITICS Tuesday 15
I Picket the US Consulate 3 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh. Info: 071 3751702. 6.30pm (free coaches run from QM Union, Glasgow University at 4.45pm and from Strathciyde Student Union, John Street at 5. 15pm). The Hands Offthe Middle East Committee has sponsored this protest against the West‘s aggression in the Middle East.
Ffiday18
I Public Meeting: Glasgow For People Anti-Motorway Campaign Dolphin Arts Centre, 7 James Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow. Info: 248 2008. 7pm. Free. Glasgow‘s popular pressure group will appeal to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on 5/6 Feb against plans to build two new motorway bridges across the Clyde. The hearing to be publicised at this meeting is a test case, since a Structure Plan decision has never before been challenged in court by a voluntary organisation.
TALKS AND WORKSHOPS Fndayli
I Shock States in Psychotherapy Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, 667 5438. 8pm. Entry by donation. Sander Kirsch leads a seminar on chronic shock — a freezing of body and psyche — in which he will explain the nature, biological importance and treatment of shock, using a systematic study of the condition‘s elements as presented by his clients.
Saturday 12/Sunday 13
I Voicework Salisbury Centre , 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, 667 5438. 10am—5pm. £35 (£25). Harriet Buchan leads another weekend voice workshop at the Centre, designed to explore the connections between body, voice and psyche.
Sunday 13
I Human Evolution Theosophical Centre, 28 Great King Street, Edinburgh, 556 5385. 7.30pm. Free. Anna Harmon discusses signs and indications for the future.
Monday 14—Friday 18
I Start at Well-being and Development Classes Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, 667 5438. Weekly, ten-week courses run three times per year at the Centre. Prices for the term are £35 (£25) except where stated. This tenn’s classes begin this week as follows:
Tal Chi-Wu Form Mondays, 5.30pm. With Stuart Hanratty.
Soto Zen Meditation Mondays, 7.30pm. By donation. With Neil Rothwell.
Tai Chi - Yang Style Mondays, 7.30pm. With Adrian Martinez.
Women's Group Mondays, 7.30pm. By
BURNS ON THE BOX
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is...th Sign ‘0 r. . “Panzcboltc {126 st)». Those oi us who remember what we were doing on Hogmanay may allow all recollection to dwindie, but the truly patriotic Scottish soul is already iocusing on a iuture date. One such torward-looker is Scottish Television producer Donny O’ Rourke, perhaps best known ior Nil. A passionate admirer oi the bard (whom he believes not only to be Scotland's greatest poet, but also ‘the greatest songwriter the world has produced’), he is one oi the iour speakers at this year’siiums Now conierence at Strathciyde University on Saturday 12.
O’Rourke, who is currently at work on a Burns Night television special (by no means his iirst), will lecture on televising Burns. The title oi both programme and lecture is Supperrnan. ‘There's a hint ol cheek and irreverence in the title,’ he says. ‘I’m trying to startle people into a trash look at Burns. It's not a gimmick, but it’s certainly intended to be an encouragement to trash thought.
‘What l'll be looking at in my talk is how Burns has been represented by television since the medium began in Scotland. in the 19th century there was a distorted picture oi Burns as a kind at lewd, drunken, irresponsible, iairiy sullen character, and I think that television has perhaps occasionally contributed to a misunderstanding of Burns. I’ll be looking at how television has succeeded in portraying the man as he was and also how television has let him down.’
The programme itseli will be ‘serious but not po-iaced’, with some oi Bums' best songs given the earthy rendition lor which they were designed. ‘ln the
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early days,’ says O'Rourke, ‘a Burns programme would include a selection 01 tartan-clad tenors and sopranos warbling tunes that Burns would not have recognised, in trained voices that he condemned in his poetry- he makes some very iunny swipes at that kind of singing in “The Jolly Beggars”.’ Nowadays, Burns on television would normally be sung in a colloquial, ilexible way, and i think that’s been a significant cultural development in the past ilve years or so, and one that i want to see consolidated.’
Though he describes Supperrnan as ‘trying to rescue Burns lrom the worst excesses oi the Burns cuit,’ O’Rourke is clearly undismayed by the pedestal on which the hard is enshrined. ‘lie is a very representative type ior Scottish culture: the man who was both outgoing and occasionally introverted; the man who could be very austere and meditative, and yet could indulge in bout-drinking; the man who could take a very elevated view at womanklnd and at the same time lather a number oi illegitimate children and be irresponsible with regard to women. Ours, as MacOlarmid probably most iamously noticed, is a culture oi contradictions, and Burns himseil embodies those contradictions better than most, although they caused him a great deal oi paln.’ (Andrew Bumet)
Burns Now1991 is at the John Anderson Building, Strathciyde University on Sat 12 (see Open Extra listing), details on 552 4400 ext 3515. Supperrnan will be screened on Scottish Television on Fri 25 at 11.15pm.
donation. Self-led.
Yoga Tuesdays, 10.15am. With Christine Howden.
Yoga Tuesdays, 5.30pm. With Clare Stephen.
Sell Management Tuesdays, 7pm. £65 (£45). With Terry Gower.
Circle Dance lst and 3rd Tuesdays of each month, 7.30pm. By donation. Self-led. .Soto Zen Meditation Wednesdays, 7am. By donation. With Rawdon Goodier. Dream Group Wednesdays, 7pmthursdays, 5.30pm/8pm. £50 (£40— no concessions for Thurs 8pm course). With Gelda McGregor.
Raia Yoga Meditation Wednesdays, 7.30pm. By donation.
Shiatsu Wednesdays, 7.30pm. By donation. Self-led.
Men's Group Wednesdays, 7.30pm. By donation. Self-led.
Tai Chi - Wu 8ton Thursdays, 7pm. With Keith Woods.
Open Meditation Fridays, noon.
Open Anemoons Fridays, 1—4pm.
Yoga Fridays, 5.30pm. With [an Gray. Soto Zen Meditation Fridays, 7.30pm. By donation. With Anthony Linforth.
Saturday 19
I Soto Zen Meditation Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, 667 5438. 9am—2pm. Entry by donation. Led by a priest from Throssel Hole Priory.
Sunday 20
I Aromatherapy Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, 667 5438. 10.30am—6pm. £18 (£12). Gelda McGregor leads a session on the complementary therapy, a combination of aromatic oils and massage. This workshop is intended for people with some experience of aromatherapy.
OPEN EXTRA Monday 14/Thursday 17
I Start at Call That Singing Sessions John Anderson Hall , Taylor Street, University of Strathciyde, Glasgow. Info: 227 5558. 7.15pm. The community singing programme begun in 1990 continues, with concerts coming up on 25/26 January (The Bard, the Blues and The Beatles) and 3 March. All are welcome to join rehearsals, which take place every Monday and Thursday at the same time and place.
Saturday 12
I Burns llow1991 John Anderson Building, University Of Strathciyde, Glasgow. Info: 552 44(1) ext 3516. 10am—4pm. £5 (plus £2 for optional lunch). Four lectures and a concert for Burns night. The lecturers include Dr Ken Simpson, Thomas Crawford, Dr Andrew Noble, and NB producer and poet Donny O’Rourke , who discusses ‘Televising Burns’ (see panel). The concert is given by Stramash, who will play some of Burns‘s best songs.
56 The List 11- 24 January 1991