A YEAR IN MUSIC - 1987

At the start of 1988, Street Life magazine published this review about some of the bands who played in Dundee during 1987.
Acts who performed at various venues around town featured the likes of, Hipsway, Doctor & The Medics, The Proclaimers, Mighty Lemon Drops, Beat Poets...........and plenty of others mentioned on their list of favourites.
The photos in the article are of local act Joe Public, the Hue & Cry gig at the Dance Factory and The Communards at the Caird Hall.
You'll need to click onto the review to read or download the large version.

DUNDEE JAZZ FESTIVAL - SUMMER 1988

July 1988 saw another installment of the annual Dundee Jazz Festival.
Here is the events list published in Street Life magazine.
There were 3 parts to the festival - the main big acts with the likes of Remmy Ongala, Donald Byrd, Humphrey Lyttleton etc. Then there was a secondary late night line up featuring local acts such as Dougie Martin and Jimmy Deuchar. Finally there was the Jazz Village which was basically lots of gigs taking place around the city pubs.
Being spoilt for choice was courtesy of the reliable Platform Jazz team.
If I was still in Dundee back then, I'd have been along to the Rep like a shot to catch Donald Byrd!

WILDCAT - BONAR HALL - 1988

Wildcat theatre company received this rave review in local mag, Street Life, in November 1988.
The show they put on at the Bonar Hall was for Wildcat's 10th anniversary, and they really went to town with their production of "Fancy Rappin'".
It was a storming satirical rock drama filled with a variety of music styles and the main theme being a typical 80's youthful pastime - putting the boot into Thatchers loadsamoney society!
Meriting a well deserved round of appaws..!!
You'll probably need to click on the image to read the large version.

THE RAINMATES INTERVIEW - 1988

Pete Hood shares a chubby with The Rainmates for an interview he did with them in September 1988.
The duo were - Alison Burns, vocals, and Derek Thomson on keyboard.
They originally started off doing session work for Danny Wilson before teaming up together as The Rainmates.
They'd only been on the go for a few months at the time of this interview but even then had high hopes for commercial success in the future.
Click onto the item to read the large version.

BRIAN HILL CARTOONS - 1988

Dundee's What's On guide, Street Life magazine, used to run a series of cartoons drawn by Brian Hill.

Signing them "Hilly", his surreal sense of humour was an eye catcher, and a rib-tickler.

Here's 3 silly Hilly's from 1988...

L'eau et l'eau - a gendarme getting himself in a hat/pot muddle. There is a clever wee wordplay bonus. The British police cliched phrase of "'ello, 'ello" is rephrased into French as "et l'eau".

It also reminds me of a cartoon I did of a magician who cooked his rabbit inside his top hat on the stove!

Barbecue - how to make good use of all that junk that gets chucked through our letterbox.

Self control - the best thing on telly is the off switch.

I remember a kids tv show from the 70's/80's called "Why Don't You". The words to it's theme tune went - "Why don't you just switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead".

Always good advice I thought.

DON CHERRY - WHITEHALL THEATRE - 1987

From Street Life magazine, here's a review of Don Cherry's NU gig at the Whitehall Theatre on 22nd October 1987, organised by Dundee jazz promoters, Platform.

Although Cherry's mainstay was jazz, having worked with big hitters like Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler and many others, his lifelong global travels with his wee pocket trumpet saw him become one of the innovators of World Music, fusing various cultures along the way, and so this show had a bit of both.

His band in Dundee were - Mark Helias, bass - Ed Blackwell, drums - Carlos Ward, sax and the peerless percussionist Nana Vasconcelos.

My brother was at this gig and managed to get a signed copy of a cassette called "Garden Of Music" - that's Don Cherry's autograph in gold ink!

As well as being a highly regarded trumpeter, Don was also genuinely "cool", and remained young and hip to new musical trends right up to his death in the mid 90's.

Click the review to read the large version.

DANNY WILSON INTERVIEW - 1988

From the pages of yet another Street Life comes this interview with local lads, Danny Wilson, who were back in Dundee after a busy schedule of touring, tv and recording, during which their single "Mary's Prayer" went mega!!

All 3 members, Ged, Kit & Gary have a say and talk about their time in the recording studio, life on the road, the local music scene, fame, and so on.

One of their comments, however, did turn out to be a bit premature - with Ged saying Danny Wilson wouldn't play the Caird Hall because a seated audience was too inhibiting. You may recall though that the band did perform there shortly after!

Ahhh the pressure of the biz!!

Click on items to read the large versions.

Thanx to the Bear

STREET LIFE MAGAZINE - LATE 80'S

I've already posted quite a few articles up on Retro taken from Street Life magazine, so thought it was time to give the mag itself a wee mention.
This was Dundee's free "What's On" guide for the late 80's, and as you'd expect, covered the local music scene, theatre, style, art exhibitions, cinema and generally showcasing the most interesting entertainment on the go at the time.
The main Editorial team were - John Harding and Andrew Martin - who had a good squad of contributors to work with, such as Pete Hood doing music, Joe Jordan doing photography, and a few others in the mix.
As well as the info inside vying for your attention, the covers were pretty eye-catching too, with their distinctive red, black & white graphics.
Here's 4 examples plucked out at random - top left was the 1st anniversary issue and featured a few of the previous years covers, on the cover. Top right has local band Joe Public. Bottom left was a May Week special and bottom right features The Rainmates. All from 1988.
Big thanks to the Bear

THE BEAVER SISTERS

One person who was at the Rocky Horror Picture Show was Jock Ferguson, resplendent in leopard-skin!
Jock, as I'm sure you all know by now, was a member of The Beaver Sisters, Dundee's answer to The Tubes!
Above, you can get an idea of the kind of humour they had, in this witty mock interview, full of double entendres, twisted word play...and even putting the boot into - or should that be digging the stilettos into - Danny Wilson. Ouch..!!
Quite a few members came & went in the band line-up, but the main core of The Beaver Sisters who had the longest run, were - DREW RAMSAY - PETE SILVERS - JOCK FERGUSON - ANTH BROWN - BARRY GIBSON and STEVE HAMILTON.
The band did tons of gigs locally, with their shows in Foreigners being notoriously riotous affairs.
The above line-up were together for around 5 years, but in total, The Beaver Sisters were on the go nearly 7 years - mid 80's to early 90's.
The interview (all Jocks work) comes from Street Life mag - 1988.
Click image to enlarge.

To get an alternative insight on the band, here is a well written piece about the Beavers live shows - click link - Beaver Sisters live