Some of you that were in the know will remember the two Dundee musicians Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain aka Silibil and Brains who were aspiring rap artists. The duo, who were sick and tired of being ignored, simply because they were Scottish, by record industry fat cats decided to take matters into their own hands and dupe the industry by pretending to be Americans. The plot lasted a year before the duo finally decided to come clean after a series of delays in the release of the debut album.

Following the creation of a book, California Schemin’, based on their story and authored by Gavin, their story is to be made into a feature film with Irvine Welsh at the helm.

Full story and more reader comments

Now, where did I put that early demo CD?

The Six Cities design festival, which took in the six cities of Scotland, has been cancelled. Due to be held again in 2010 the SNP have decided that it was not worth funding, along with various other arts and cultural events.

First held in 2007, it was funded by a £3million investment by the then Labour government with a view to making it on of the biggest arts festivals in Scotland if not Britain. Drawing over 300,000 people over 300 events the festival was a promising way to promote and encourage the design industry in Scotland.

Full story on DesignWeek.

Cupar Arts Festival takes place this coming October 2008. The two-week event includes an innovative visual arts programme where artists’ work can be seen at both indoor and outdoor sites across town. The enormous grain silo at the Cupar Trading Estate will be a main focus of artistic activity, and other sites will include shop windows, closes, and flagpoles.

There are also a number of dedicated indoor exhibition spaces. Invited artists are Will Maclean and Marian Leven who have long-established connections with Cupar, in addition to a growing line up of participating artists include Gair Dunlop, Paola McClure, Anton Beaver, Delia Baillie, Iain Sturrock, and Adrienne McStay. Artist, Margaret Bathgate, who is known for her juxtapositions of large-scale colourful knitted artworks against the environment, will create a “moving” artwork, and curators at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art’s Exhibitions Department have put together an exhibition specifically for the Festival: Fifeman is an unconventional exploration of the psyche of ‘Fifeman’ by four male artists all hailing from towns in Fife.

Music features prominently in the Cupar Arts Festival programme, with acts such as King Creosote and The Fence Collective and Lau appearing at the Corn Exchange and Elmwood College respectively. The two week event also includes performance poetry, literary events, a heritage walk, puppet shows and a series of events and exhibitions organized by local groups. An exciting programme of workshops, talks and activities including arts & crafts for children, and workshops held by the Scottish Dance Theatre will run in tandem with the main Festival programme.

Cupar Arts Festival is the inaugural event of the recently-formed Cupar Arts & Heritage Project (CAHP). Further information can be obtained from their website at www.cupararts.org.uk, or by contacting the organization at enquire@cupararts.org.uk / tel: 07910499924. Programmes are available from September.

FRIDAY 10TH
Venue - ELMWOOD College
‘Cupar Blues and Beyond’
Main Act: Tam White
Support Band: Milton Balgoni
Doors open: 8pm
Starts 9pm
Tickets: £10

SAT 11TH
Venue - CORN EXCHANGE
Cabaret /Music Night
Local musicians, bands, poets, comedy
Acts include: ByreRythm Drummers, Strollo’s Cafe, El Paso v El Paso, Los Trios Gringos, Comperes, comedy and poetry - Milton Balgoni , Joon Broon and friends.
Doors Open: 8.30pm
Starts:9pm
Tickets: £7 / £5 conc.

THURS 16TH
Venue - ST. JAMES’ CHURCH
SAVOURNA STEVENSON - harp
support: Sandi Forbes & Sandy Stanage – fiddle and guitar duo
Tickets: £8 / £6conc.
(includes refreshment)
Doors open: 7pm

FRI 17TH
Venue - CORN EXCHANGE
Zuba
support: Moonzie Allstars
tickets:£10 / £8conc.
Doors open: 7.30pm

SAT 18TH
Venue -ELMWOOD College
RAB NOAKES
support:Amy Rayner
Tickets:£10/£8 conc.
Doors open 7.30pm

SUN 19TH
Venue -ELMWOOD College
LAU
Support: Clatto Junction
Tickets: £12/£10conc.
Doors open 7.00pm

THURS 23RD
Venue -CORN EXCHANGE
STELLAR JAZZ – Louis Armstrong, Glen Miller etc
‘Teadance’ - Bring your own refreshments
Tickets: £7/£5 conc
Doors open:7pm

FRI 24TH
Venue -CORN EXCHANGE
ROBBIE MACK’S CAJUN/CEILIDH BAND
Support: Black Cat Jook Band
Tickets: £8/£6 conc.
Doors open:7.30pm

SAT 25TH
Venue -CORN EXCHANGE
KING CREOSOTE and The FENCE COLLECTIVE
Support:Pictish Trail
Tickets: £12/£10 conc.
Doors open: 8pm

Tickets are available in person from The Ceramic Experience in Cupar, or by calling Rothes Hall Box office on 01592 61 11 01
or email boxoffice@attfife.org.uk

For more information take a look at the discussion thread in the forums.

Make That A Take Records, a small DIY punk collective based on the east coast of Scotland, is putting on an all-day festival at Perth’s Mucky Mulligans to raise money for the benefit of local charity Safe Tay.

It promises to be an absolutely fantastic event and for a worthy cause.

Safe-Tay is a voluntary water safety and drowning prevention registered charity dedicated to promoting Water Safety.

For more information take a look at the discussion thread on the forums.

The UGS has grown from its roots as a local music community to encompass Scotland in general. We have a dedicated reader base who form the most important part of that community. With this in mind we are inviting you to become part of that by contacting us directly with your news and tips whether you’re a musician, artist, photographer, promoter, producer or anything outwith and in between.

But even if you’re not we’d still like to hear from you about what is inspiring you, what’s caught your imagination recently.

If you’d like to submit news to the site you can do so by emailing us direct.

Photo by karlfrankowski under CC license.

Canadian fans seem to have a strange way of showing affection for their favourite musician as Oasis’ Noel Gallagher found out this week after he was introduced to a monitor by a crazed fan who somehow managed to get onto the stage and slam the guitarist from behind. For discussion on this plus a link to the full video and other musician vs. fan escapes take a look here.

Photography by Anirudh Koul under CC license.