Take time to tango
Published at 21:37, Wednesday, 08 August 2012
MESCHIYA Lake & The Little Big Horns perform their traditional New Orleans jazz with a twist at the Buccleuch Centre on Wednesday, August 29.
The dates came about because of the band’s friendship with veteran Hawick rock ’n’ roller Bob Fish.
Meschiya said: “We spent some time with Bob when we were last in the UK and he said we shouldn’t miss playing in that part of Scotland when we returned.
“He told us all about the history and promised to take us to Hermitage Castle for a great bit of sightseeing and we can’t wait.”
When the band flew in from Louisiana for their first UK tour earlier this year, they made many new friends, playing to full houses everywhere they went, confirming their reputation as one of the hottest acts on the American roots music circuit.
Accompanying them are two of the world’s top Lindy Hop exhibition dancers, Chance Bushman and Amy Johnston, who blew the socks off everyone who came to see them.
Meschiya was named female performer of the year in the 2011 Big Easy music awards and this year she carried off the title again.
When the album Lucky Devil was released on this side of the Atlantic, it received glowing reviews. A new album is being released later this year.
There was never any question that The Hairy Bikers would enjoy the music and sassy style of Meschiya Lake & The Little Big Horns and Dave Myers and Si King are big fans of the lady and her band.
On a recent visit to New Orleans, while recording their latest series for the Good Food Channel, they headed straight for The Spotted Cat in the Big Easy’s French Quarter to film the band in action and have a chat with Meschiya. See the outcome when the new series is screened later this month.
Their tour includes a date in Heart of Hawick on September 6.
Picnic Cinema, presented by Eden Arts, a charitable organisation based in Cumbria, is about seeing a great film, listening to fantastic music and having a picnic in wonderful places during August and September.
It’s simple. Bring a picnic, listen, maybe have a boogie to the live music and watch the film, while doing something for a good cause.
Funds raised from ticket sales will support the rural touring cinema scheme REMOTE. Details at www.picniccinema.co.uk
Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery has come up with crafty ways to keep kids occupied this summer. There are drop-ins this month and family-friendly workshops which are free to everyone.
These craft-based sessions explore the Tullie House collections in creative ways to help kids learn while having fun and adults can join in, too.
Tullie House gets touchy-feely this summer with Sensational Clay which runs until September 23.
Sensational Clay is a visiting exhibition of ceramics created by Jon Williams and inspired by the five senses. Touch the textured ceramics, smell the fruity shapes and listen to the sounds you make by playing the ceramic pots.
The Georgian Carlisle exhibition runs until September 9. Enhance your experience by joining the Thursday drop-in sessions. This one focuses on Carlisle’s long-gone Georgian theatre. Paint your face to portray different characters in a play, just as Georgian actors did.
Next Tuesday create your own copper-coloured work of art and learn to create patterns on a piece of material which looks just like copper.
Wetland Wednesday next week explores the flora and fauna of the Solway bogs with Alex Kaars Sijpesteijn of the Solway Wetlands landscape partnership scheme, then get crafty with creatures.
For years he has photographed the Highlands of his native Scotland but for his new exhibition Rab Mercer’s subject will be himself.
The award-winning photographer from Glasgow is exhibiting 12 black and white works at Crown Gallery in Lonsdale Street in Carlisle in a new show of his work, Vitreous Humour.
The exhibition features a series of self-portraits taken in disused factories and other industrial landscapes. They show the fragility of humanity in the harsh, jagged landscapes we have created and the blurred exposures make Rab almost a ghost, haunting long-empty buildings.
Vitreous Humour runs until August 30. Crown Gallery is open Monday to Saturday. Admission is free.
Argentina’s finest tango artist will make his first appearance in Cumbria on August bank holiday weekend. Martín Alvarado will sing at the Tithe Barn in Carlisle as part of an international tour.
The concert on Monday, August 27 will be preceded by a tango social dance, a milonga, during the afternoon.
Advance tickets cost £10 and can be bought at Carlisle tourist information office or call 01228 625600 or £12 on the door.
A new exhibition of paintings by Alex Girdwood and Dennis McCallum runs in Castle Douglas Art Gallery until August 18.
The exhibition has a particular link to one of Kirkcudbright’s most celebrated artists, Charles Oppenheimer.
When he died in 1961, his easel and other materials were sold.
His box of oil paints was passed down to Niall McGill Duncan, an art specialist, and he gifted them to wildlife artist Dennis McCallum. Like the previous guardians, he stored them unused in a dark cupboard.
Last year Dennis looked enviously at these 60-year-old tubes but he does not paint in oil. He had the idea of passing them on, yet again, to his artist friend Alex Girdwood with the proviso that he used them to paint fresh pictures.
In 2012 they agreed for them to be included in a joint exhibition featuring the work of the two artists.
Alex’s exhibition depicts Galloway scenes in his abstract style, not emulating the work of Oppenheimer but as a tribute to the many varied aspects and styles of art.
Every day Oppenheimer’s work is viewed by many millions of people around the world and four of his paintings are currently on show in the Gifted exhibition in Kirkcudbright town hall until August 27.
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