December 2009

backstage in Paris. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s rather good! The limited edition vinyl box set of Sunny Side Up is still available (1000 copies only) and is a dead cert for collectability, particularly if you don’t play it! But that would be a shame, as the vinyl mastering is a bit of a revelation.

…from Mr Cockburn. Those Canadians!

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, wishes us a very merry Christmas with his official card, seen here. It’s a painting by Gerard Burns called ‘A New Journey’. I’m afraid it sent me off on a disturbing trip through Google Images. Hyper-realist art, flags, and young girls with blond hair? Some images cannot be redeemed from…

Unsubbed copy for those unable/unwilling to access the print version, which comes with pictures. Though I believe you can subscribe to a full digital edition online athttp://www.heraldscotland.com December Sunday Herald Diary 13th December Monday At this time of year, the Greater Zetlandics, in which I live and breathe and have my tattie soup, are darker…

These were all taken on a Nokia 5800 phone on the drive into Lerwick. the first picture is Johnnie Mann’s Loch in Northmavine, a place I once stopped next to at night for a sleep, until I woke up remembering the horrifying ghost story associated with it (headless horseman). No sign of the fellow. Anyway,…

…and curiously, I heard this lovely song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn just as I sat down at my computer after a walk in the utterly still, starlit Shetland night. Don’t think I’ve ever seen Orion so clearly outlined. But no aurora! The sun is too cool for Da Merrie Dancers to make their appearance.…

Leo Kottke is a genius. I bought the album My Feet Are Smiling in 1974 on the basis of a review in the NME and a poster I saw in the SRC building at Glasgow University, advertising one of his gigs. The poster showed him juggling oranges. I knew nothing about him, but I was…

Impossible to find via the Herald website, so…buy the paper. Loads of good stuff in there. But if you want to read the unsubbed column, it’s here. And here. TOM MORTON’S WEEK Monday It’s St Andrew’s Day, and what better time to debate Scotland’s history. As opposed to ‘Scotland’s History’, the BBC series that is…

‘a camp cross between Black Watch and The Broons’