Ian Smith – Hurty Gurty Man, Merchant City Festival, Glasgow 2009

Mischief La-Bas

Welcome to the world of Mischief La-Bas, a performance company specialising in interactive comedy, walkabout characters, corporate event entertainment and outdoor theatre. For over 15 years, they have devoted themselves to ‘gently warping the underlay of the fabric of society’.

The Hurty Gurty Man

Occasionally over the years, Ian Smith has inflicted his singing on the public in a variety of guises, from ersatz pop singer to faux crooner. In this instance however, he wishes to return to street level, whether you like it or not. Subverting the jolly image of the Organ Grinder by croaking out inappropriate chansons of doom and despair, he will ignore his plague-ridden minkey and vehemently refuse your money. Musicians Andy Frizell and La Chunky agreed to prepare his organ.

http://www.mischieflabas.co.uk/

Scott Walker version of Angels of Ashes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Walker_(singer)

Really beautiful song that I’d never heard until Ian’s lovely rendition during the Merchant City Festival. I’d be interested in learning more about the song and will look into this further. In the meantime though I found interesting parallels between Lorraine Lamond‘s stained glass work and Chagall – see video and link below.

Lorraine Lamond – Stained Glass, Glasgow 2009

http://lorrainelamond.wordpress.com

Had the pleasure of filming Lorraine Lamond a few weeks ago, on the completion of her latest stained glass commission for St Alphonsus Church, Calton, Glasgow. We filmed on five levels of scaffolding as far as we could go, luckily we didn’t have an aversion to heights. Mark Campbell (http://whitehouseglasgow.blogspot.com/) was instrumental in arranging this opportunity as well as assisting in the interview. I’ve edited about 15 minutes of film of Lorraine explaining the background to this commission, which spans approx 23 years, going back to the first section – The Beatitudes ‘Rose Window’ from 1996.

The opportunity to view Lorraine’s work close up was a real treat which I made the most of, taking as many close up photographs as possible (approx 300). This work, which is truly stunning in my opinion, will be unveiled to the public in November. We’re also working on a collaboration with Glasgow Museums – St Mungo Museum of Religious Life & Art for 2010 to increase awareness of Lorraine’s work.

JF