Noticeboard NewsGossipOpinion Idlewild’s Rod Jones who is part of the Music Like A Vitamin project

Healthy endeavours The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival returns in rude health Words: Anna Millar

I f there’s one thing that Scotland has in spades, it’s a proliferation of mighty fine smaller scale festivals, and the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (now in its fourth year) has more than earned the credibility to rub shoulders with some of the cities’ finest. This year’s programme, running from 1–24 Oct, showcases nearly 200 events and sets its stage across the cities, from galleries, cinemas and theatres to pubs, libraries and town halls.

Essentially designed to raise awareness about mental health, 2010 once again invites artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers to make their contribution, in a line-up that includes film screenings of such cult hits as the Bill Douglas Trilogy; a theatre programme boasting the world premiere of David Greig’s Monsters in the Hall; a five-week exhibition of people’s stories about mental health at the Kelvingrove; comedy at the

Paisley Arts Centre with Gary Little, Scott Agnew, Susan Calman and Jojo Sutherland; talks with writers Janice Galloway, Bernard MacLaverty and Elizabeth Reeder at the CCA, plus the much-anticipated music strand, Music Like a Vitamin in Edinburgh and Glasgow, featuring two concerts celebrating the launch of a new collaborative album with Idlewild’s Rod Jones, Emma Pollock and friends. Look out for our feature with Jones in the next issue of The List. Author Janice Galloway said of her contribution and of the festival itself: ‘Mental health is just health, full stop. Awareness of that fact for everyone, not just the troubled is priceless. This festival, already going from strength to strength, is for anyone with a mind. It crosses boundaries and art forms and offers a rare and properly open opportunity to dig beneath surfaces, which is exactly its value. Go.’

SOUND RETURNS IN FINE TUNE Minimalism looms large at this year’s 2010 sound Festival, set to take to the stage in over 20 venues across north east Scotland at the end of next month. Offering over 60 performances, this year’s music jamboree opens on Wed 20 Oct with a performance by the Red Note Ensemble in Banchory and runs until Sun 14

Nov. Boasting its trademark melee of musical genres, this year’s line-up veers from electro-acoustic to instrumental and choral and includes some much- anticipated performances by sound newbies including Rautio Trio, FOUND and Hoot, as well as Festival regulars such as Hebrides Ensemble, Sally Beamish and Richard Craig.

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5 Things. . . MARKING 666 It’s issue 666, so we’ve planned some appropriate activities

1 Reading the book of Revelation

From the King James Bible: ‘Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast . . . Six hundred threescore and six.’

2 Drinking of the wine of the

wrath of God . . . which, for those marked with the

number, ‘is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.’

3 Dissing Emperor Nero

The Hebrew version of Nero’s name links to 666. Was the number originally a code used to bad-mouth the anti-Christian emperor?

4 Supporting capitalism 666 theorists have found the number in barcodes, credit

cards and computer chips. A sure sign of the end of the world.

5 Surfing the net ‘www’

transliterated into Hebrew is ‘vav vav vav’ numerically

correspondant to 666. The internet is evil. Long live print journalism! WWW.LIST.CO.UK Visit us daily for arts & entertainment news

ALLEN WRIGHT AWARD WIN It’s celebration time at List Towers following news that assistant editor Claire Sawers has won a coveted Allen Wright Award for writing on the Edinburgh Fringe. The Awards were set up in 1998 to honour the contribution of the former Scotsman arts editor by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. Sawers won the feature writing category. See her fine wordsmithery at www.list.co.uk.

9–23 Sep 2010 THE LIST 7