Fringes Friends And Memories

As I have been missing in action for most of the 2019 Edinburgh fringe I thought I would share a few photographs of myself and my friends which have been taken at previous Edinburgh events I’ve attended over the years.

Picture (1) I’m doing what I do at every fringe and that’s performing my work at the Scottish poetry library. As you can probably tell from the badges on my jacket this was taken in the run up to the independence referendum 2014

Picture (2) Shows me meeting Wonder Woman in the form one of my favourite poets Sophia Blackwell in the best bar in Edinburgh which as every poet knows is the Banshee Labyrinth

Picture (3) Was taken on the opening day of Fringe 2016 when poems became fierce and the tribe known as Women With Fierce Words came in to being.

Picture (4) Matt Panesh in performance mode in the Cinema Room of the Banshee in August 2017

Picture (5) Sophia Blackwell rocks the Banqueting hall in the Banshee as she performed at Other Voices 2017

Picture (6) He’s a friendly poet is Rowan McCabe so much he goes Door To Door for inspiration from people who think that poets don’t know people like them.

Picture (7) This man told us all in 2017 that he would never treat his friends like an IPod and I loved listening to the wise words of Domanic Berry.

Picture (8) If you want to catch a fever at the fringe this shot taken in 2018 shows that the best way to do it is to come Other Voices in the Banqueting Hall of the Banshee and get your introduction to the spoken word fever as hosted by the brilliant Fay Roberts.

Picture (9) When your convinced Everything About You Is Beautiful you’ve just watched a wonderful show by Tina Seiderholme in August 2018.

Picture (10) This Belfast born bard is one of my favourite poets she is the very gifted wordsmith Elizabeth McGeown

Picture (11 ) If you like your poetry well crafted by threads woven from contrasting parts of Scotland then look no further than other voices Matt MacDonald to meet your cultural needs.

Picture (12) In this shot Dan Simpson is teaching us language of emoji on the last day of fringe 2018 .

Picture (13) I may not have made it to much this year but I was lucky to see one of Glasgow and Scotland’s rising stars and a fellow Strathclyde graduate Jade Mitchell perform her work at She Grrowls

Picture (14 ) Talking of She Grrowls this picture one of the founders this wonderful feminist spoken word caberet night the brilliant and lovely Carmina Massoliver taken at this year’s fringe

And Finally

Picture (15) Goes back to 2018 and was taken at Other Voices on the day I moved up from open spot to cast member which has to be one of my favourite memories of the fringe

I hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of fringes , friends, and memories as much as I’ve enjoyed compiling it because I’ve really enjoyed putting it together.

Till next time

Gayle X

Platform 24 (For Carys Hannah)

In this poem which I’ve written for my friend and fellow poet Carys Hannah I look at the value of friendship. The poem relates the story of last year’s parting as Carys made her way home at the end of her fringe for the year I’ve titled it Platform 24 as that’s where we said our cheerio for 2018. I hope you enjoy the read.

Platform 24

I hate goodbyes cheerios are much better
I remember our last one
Buchanan Street platform 24
as you waited for the bus
to take you home
out of sight
though not out of mind
friendships are not defined by accents
nor miles
they are crafted by memories and smiles
shared moments
on stages bearing our souls
it is the work of the poet
I hate goodbyes
cheerios are much better
they remind us that we will meet again
even as we part
as we did on platform 24
and you never saw my tears
as I ran for the last bus home.

© Gayle Smith 2019

A Month Full Of Journeys On The Rollercoaster Ride (My Personal Review Of Edinburgh 2018)

And so it ends. Well it ended on Monday night to be precise with most of the performers who made it what was now back in more familiar surroundings and the 2018 Edinburgh fringe now goes in to our history and our memories. So I’d like to thank all friends both old and new for making it worth the rollercoaster ride. I’d especially like to thank Fay Roberts and the team at Other Voices for their continued support for me both poetically and personally and being a cast member of my favourite show in the fringe meant more to me than I can ever put in to words.

I must also give a special mention to Hannah Lavery for being the first performer to make me cry at a show since Sophia Walker in 2014, and Tina Seiderholm who did exactly the same on the final day when I finally made it to her stunningly beautiful show Everything Wrong With You Is Beautiful.

Speaking of emotional moments, it is ever so slightly biased opinion that no fringe would ever be complete without the aforementioned Sophia Walker who can melt my heart in a way only Jen Hughes has ever beaten. As for Jen she provided one of my favourite and one of my soppiest moments of the entire fringe when we had a wee catch up in The Banshee. Yes there were very nearly raindrops but I just about held it together and I mean just.

It goes without saying that an event as huge as the fringe will of course have its regulars and my thanks go to Elizabeth McGeown, Matthew Macdonald, Matt Panesh , Jenni Pascoe, and Sophia Blackwell, all of whom have been consistently supportive of me through the years and great sources of friendship and inspiration and new friends made at Other Voices such as Carmina Masoliver, and Sara Hirsch. Talking of friendship I have to mention David Lee Morgan for being not only a valued friend but a very respected mentor and for a show which deserved bigger audiences than it got.

This year also saw the rise of a real star in Imogen Stirling with her fantastic show Hypocrisy which was on for a five day run and challenged our attitudes to others and asked us to examine them and then ask if we would like to be treated in the way we treat others and somehow I don’t think we would.

If Imogen’s show was running for limited time only it was still a marathon compared to Catriona Knapman’s 2016 show Out On The World returned to the fringe for one night only and I’m really glad to say that I managed to see it. Trust me this 45 minute world tour combined poetry , geography and politics in a way which was creative, entertaining , and informative.

It has to be to said that there some shows I was never going to miss and one such show was Robin Cairns giggle fest of a comedy The Weegies Have Stolen The One O’Clock Gun. This is comedy at its brilliant best as we follow the adventures of the hapless Morningside Malcolm who gets caught up in a plot to steal the one o’clock gun from Edinburgh castle. The result of course is hilarity and a great way to spend an hour in that time between afternoon and evening.

From comedy we move on to grief and one of the most moving shows of the fringe namely the In The Works production The 900 Club. This was an excellent thought provoking piece of spoken word theatre where four friends have a reunion to remember the loss of a friend and all of them struggle to cope with the grief and the issues each of them has to confront before moving on.

Still on planet poetry I was making new friends like Amy Kinsman, and Connor Byrne two brilliant young performers I hope I’ll see a lot of in years to come. In comedy Marc Jennings, who reminds me of a young Des Clarke in his rapid fire delivery and top quality material is in my opinion a star very much on the rise. I also enjoyed Funny Lassies a trio of Scottish comedians I went to see on the recommendation of my friend Emma Mooney. Other comedy shows of note included Jimmy Hogg in Tales Of Petty Crime, Jocks, Geordies, and Aussies, in which John O’Brien was top man , and an excellent one woman show by Coventry based comic Stella Graham whose tales of cars, class difference and cookery made for a very entertaining hour filled with warmth wit and more than a few pearls of wisdom. Another show I really enjoyed was the Hot Mess production Bezzie Mates which was part of Just The Tonic comedy at the caves and was billed as the only LGBT sketch show on the fringe. Now I don’t usually do sketch shows but I’m glad I made an exception on this occasion and saw a duo whose comedy tackled real issues like Brexit, sexism, fake news, and toxic masculinity without being preachy.

There were also the shows which were so enjoyable I went to see them twice such as Dan Simpson’s Worried Face Emoji and the majestic Kate Smurfwaite in her show Clit Stirrer but more on them later as I will hopefully be reviewing later. That is of course providing I can actually remember.

As for performance opportunities they were fewer than I would have liked due to factors such as geography and time of the event. That said I have to say I was in all probability happier with the level of my performances than I have ever been at any previous fringe. Sometimes it really is about the quality rather than the quantity and this year was easily my best in that respect.

Talking of respect I have to give a massive shout to the cast of Kin a short spoken word play written by Noah Kinworth. This was beyond doubt my favourite show of the fringe as it tackled the social and economic problems faced by families society labels dysfunctional. To say this show was powerful passionate and thought provoking would be the understatement to end them all. Indeed it was a total injustice that on a night I attended I was only audience member to see this superb cast of fantastically talented performers and was treated to a very intimate show where the cast was five times the size of the audience. This to me was an outrage especially after two hours of flyering so I hope that the rest of the run provided a more fruitful harvest in terms of bums on seats. Since I was the only audience member this lovely and talented team from the University Of Worcester didn’t bother to pass round the traditional free fringe donations bucket , I naturally felt that I had to give something back so I asked if since I was a fellow spoken word poet I could do a payment in kind performance as my thanks for them performing to an audience of one. This was an offer they were only too glad accept and performed two of my favourite crowd pleasers Karaoke Queen and Every Saturday Night and though they enjoyed my choices as much as I enjoyed performing them, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them that I got five times the audience they did Though to be fair I think it cheered them up a bit that I did it for them. I just hope they come back next year and get the kind of numbers their talents actually deserve because there are some times the truth really is stranger than fiction and this story is undoubtedly one of them.

As for my other gigs I gave a good account of myself in my two performances at Scottish Poetry Library and my two shows at part of Other Voices in what was my first year as a cast member in my favourite event of the fringe. I particularly enjoyed my slot on the final day when using typical Glasgow girl subtlety I silenced the crowd in the alcolve outside the banqueting hall by using my two most lethal weapons of choice my mouth and microphone before starting what was my best set of the entire three weeks and one of my best ever in my 25 years of spoken word history.

So as I look back and reflect on this amazing rollercoaster ride that was Edinburgh 2018 I do so with a sense of contentment as I remember that the fringe is about so much more than performing. It’s about the chance encounters with strangers who become friends, and great chats with fellow fringers as share time between shows like those I had with Chris O’Neill, and the amazing Ley La who provided. moments of hope at times when I needed them and Sophia Walker for that chat on a Friday when she knew without asking I was breaking and didn’t ask why. She didn’t need to she knows me too well and she knew it was a transwoman’s issue and before too long she had me smiling again like she always does in a way only Jen can beat.

So that’s almost all I have to say on what was fringe 2018 except to thank the staff of the Banshee Labyrinth for looking after me and all the other regulars who call this place our Edinburgh home. Also mentions must be given to the staff of Piemaker, home of the delicious Tattie Dog, and of course Bene’s at the Cannongate end of the mile which is in my completely unbiased opinion having been a customer for all of my 14 fringes the best chippy on the mile by a mile. And one final mention must go to my friend and flatmate Janette who has put up with incessant ramblings on Edinburgh every year since 2005 without so much as a moan and even goes to the trouble of making me packed lunches so I might be able to see an extra show or two. Now that’s what I call five star friendship. So that’s it over till we meet again next August. Until then I wish you well in all you do, and thank every single one of you for making my August as enjoyable as it was and a month full of journeys worth the rollercoaster ride.

Till next time

Gayle X

A Memorable Journey Where Bards Were The Stars And Musicians Made Magic In Song (My Cultural Review Of 2017)

As I look back on the year just ended it is fair to say that it has been both enjoyable and challenging and that some of the challenges in both poetry and blogging have proved to be both enjoyable and rewarding in ways I would never have expected . 

 As I started 2017 I did so with my customary optimism.  Well I’ve always been a glass half full kinda girl and my year got off to a good start as I met my first challenge and completed a whole new set of poems specifically written on climate change for my first billed appearance at Extra Second. With that and an excellent Celtic Connections and SNP Burns Supper under my belt and a good start to my poetry events at both Words And Music and Rio I had hit the ground running and given the New Year the start it deserved.  

February slowed me down as usually always does, well if nothing else it gave me time to reflect and focus on my writing. It was towards the end of the month I wrote what I believe was my best poem of the year in a highly personal tribute to my late dad it was also around this time I wrote Game Changer a poem in support of LGBT football fans and made what has so far been my only visit to Aloud. 

As we moved towards the lighter nights I not only hosted Words And Music I was once again a billed reader for Extra Second and this time the subject was Mental Health and yet again I produced a completely new set of poems for the night. I also attended the Visable Women festival at the Kinning Park complex on the first Saturday of the month where I was privileged to see Confessionals a brilliant hour long spoken word show by my friend Victoria McNulty and the  last ever last Monday at Cafe Rio as we bid  an emotional farewell to one of the spoken word scene’s most loved poetry homes hosted for 10 years by the genial Robin Cairns. On a more personal note I was delighted to learn that I had two poems selected for publication in the Mind The Time football memories anthology. The poems chosen were Rampant Lionesees about Scotland’s Women becomming the first team to represent our country at a major championship for 20 years and Through The Hoops which was written about my journey as a transsexual Celtic fan.  

April started quitely enough in terms of performance and continued  in the same vein till the middle of the month.  This however can be a blessing particularly during a period when some poets like this are demented enough to participate in the NaPoWriMo challenge of writing 30 poems in 30 days. As the month wore on I made the opening night of Last Monday at Waterstones during which Robin had asked me to captain a team in the four ages slam at The Tron in mid May. Needless to say I accepted the challenge and relished the idea of it. Though I must admit that putting a team together is a harder job than you think.  By the end of the month  I had added a new event to my list of places to go as I made my debut appearance at Express Yourself which is excellently hosted by Carla Woodburn. However on the Wednesday after Rio I had a nasty fall whilst returning from the newsagents where I had gone to play the lottery. Make no mistake this was a bad one which resulted in a sprained ankle and left me unable to walk for around 10 days and a distinctly wobbly feeling for most of the summer. 

Unsurprisingly perhaps my injury meant that I had to cancel Words And Music and that May was almost a poetry free zone. I say almost because I did honour my promise to Robin and captained my team at the four ages slam. Not only that I captained them to victory though it has to be said that my team mates Angie Strachan , and Lesley Traynor (see picture below) were the real stars of the show especially Angie who actually won the individual event and a place at the 2018 Scottish Slam Finals.  The day after this momentous victory I decided to launch a second blog skirting round my life also on wordpress. Wheras tartan tights is as you know the place for my general musings I decided this one would focus more on trans and women’s issues. Yes I know I’m mad but you know what its improved the quality of my blogging and I’m glad I decided to do it as allows me to show a more personal side and I think it helps readers to get what makes me who I am.  

Also on the blogging front I was invited to join the hosting team for the Bloggers Do It Better twitter chat This was a challenge I accepted and embraced and I’m delighted to still be part of the team as we move in the new year. Don’t get me wrong it’s not easy and can be stressful at times but it is also really enjoyable  and the buzz I get from hosting is incredible. 

Picture (1) Angela, Myself and Lesley pose for a victory photo after winning The Four Ages Slam At The Tron. 

If May had been quiet due to injury June at least initially looked like being the same, and though I did manage to attend the Extra Second snap election special and also to focus on my main priority which was to host Words And Music. To be honest I thought that might be all I’d make  it to, particularly since injury prevented me from taking my usual place at a polling station to help the party I’m member of win my local constituency.  Still, there was a positive in this situation as at least I didn’t need a lift to the polling place as I did to the local elections just one month earlier. As it turned out with a new candidate in place my party did hold the seat though with a much reduced majority on a night which wasn’t our best.  If ever I needed a pick me up it was now and it came that Saturday at the annual McGonagall supper which I made a last minute decision to attend. Though my mobility was far from perfect it felt great just to be in the company of friends. 

It was another last minute decision the faith/unbelief open poetry competition the following Saturday which gave me my biggest surprise of the year as I went on to win the title and a £50 book token which has since been very well spent.  I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at this result if only because my poem Faithful Daughter which is my poetic appeal for the Church of Scotland to modernise may have been a bit too controversial for some people’s tastes. 

With Edinburgh and the fringe looming ever closer it is no great surprise that I was very cagey during July appearing only at my own event at Words and Music and an Extra Second for which the theme of activism was too strong to resist and yet again I got on the billed readers list and produced another new set of poems tailored to suit the occasion. I also returned to express yourself for the first time since my fall but time I was purely there to enjoy the evening and believe me I did as some of us including yours truly ended walking all the way from The Project Cafe in the heart of Cowcaddens to Delmonicas and eventually Speakeasy in the heart of the Merchant City and that by the way is a longer walk than you think. 

Come August and all roads led to the fringe. Well they did eventually though not before my usual stint at Words And Music, my attendance at the funeral of our much loved sister poet Catherine Walker, my participation in Pride’s Got Talent, where I tried my hand at stand up comedy and a fantastic Extra Second on Sexuality to coincide with the upcoming Glasgow Pride weekend. As a trans woman this one had my name on it and  I made sure I was not only on the bill but that I produced my set yet and believe me judging by the compliments I received I think it’s safe to say I delivered.  

When I eventually did get to the fringe I was welcomed with open arms by fringe favourites and friends such as Jenni Pascoe, Fay Roberts, David Lee Morgan, Hannah Chutzpah, Sophia Blackwell, and Matt Panesh, to name a few. I may not have made it through as often as I wanted but I saw all the shows I needed to see and some extra gems which were recommended by friends including what was in my opinion the best show of fringe 2017 The Door To Door Poet By Rowan McCabe. All that and I still managed to take part in three shows including my now compulsory appearance at Other Voices. Well let’s be honest the fringe would never have been the same without it. 

Picture (2) Sophia Blackwell rockin it at The Banshee Labyrinth as part of the Edinburgh Fringe

As the fringe ended for another year it was back to Glasgow and last Monday at Waterstones. With that we moved on to September and the usual round of cultural engagements in what was a low key month for yours truly in terms of performing my poetry but not in terms of culture. However this slight shift in scene was just what I needed after the drama that was August. It has to be said however the highlight of what was  an enjoyable month when I actually had time to relax, was without doubt the official launch of the women with fierce words poetry anthology at the Griffin Bar in Glasgow city centre. This was an amazing and uplifting night and shows what can done when a group of women have both talent and determination. On a slightly different note the following Saturday I attended the  hope over fear rally and on the same night I went to see a play called Adam  about a young transgender man and it was a brilliant and thought provoking peace of theatre.   I also made my return to the last Monday stage and believe me it felt good. To conclude the month I received the news that one of my poems had been published in the 10 Red anthology and on  the final Thursday and a week earlier than usual I was one of the hosts of the National Poetry Event at the Gallery Of Modern Art which had been moved from its usual slot on the first Thursday of October to accomadate Hull’s place as city of culture.  

October saw me doing my stuff at Words And Music and at Last Monday at Waterstones with another team slam sandwiched inbetween. My team didn’t win this team but hey you can’t win them all.  I was also interviewed for a spoken word radio show by my friend Carla Woodburn which I have to say was an interesting  and enjoyable experience, and thanks to impromptu Facebook conversation with Jim Monaghan I managed to get a last minute ticket for what had to be Glasgow’s poetry event of the year with Hollie McNish at Oran Mor. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Hollie McNish is the best poet in Britain today. Well when you’ve got Liz Lochhead as your support act it speaks volumes for your ability. I also had a lovely night at Extra Second where I ended up on a date with a gorgeous man called Brendan. We finished our evening at Katie’s Bar where we enjoyed each other’s company in a relaxed and intimate manner. 

As we got to November Words and Music kicked off the month in style with brilliant featured sets from featured writer Katharine MacFarlane and featured musician Bob Leslie. It was then back to the Tron for another Sunday team slam but this time I was on the judging panel along with Kevin Cadwallender. After that I performed at Extra Second even though I didn’t expect to as it turned out this would though I didn’t know it at the time be my last apperance at the Blue Chair before it closed its doors for the final time. It was as always an enjoyable night made even better by the fact Brendan turned up and just like the last time we ended up at Katie’s for more special times. During what was an eventful month I made my second appearance at Express Yourself which just so happened to be on Angela Strachan’s birthday and ended up forming the female version of The Proclaimers with my new karaoke partner the wonderful Antonia Seaward. Honestly the regulars of Lauder’s Bar have never heard anything quite like it. I finished the month at Waterstones where I gave my best performance since the move from and ended November on a high. 

December saw me have a quiter month than I’d planned managing to attend only three events as a combination of icy weather and a seasonal illness ruled me out of at least four events I had planned to attend. I did however host an excellent Words And Music Christmas Cracker  at the Tin Hut with Karen Jones and Bernadette Collier in outstanding form as the featured acts. My final performance of the year at the Tinsil Tales event at the Gallery of Modern Art on the Thursday before Christmas when I compared the first section of this four hour poetry marathon before focusing on  my set. In my set I lulled the auduence in to a false sense of security by reading two new sensible Christmas  poems on consumerism and homelessness before reverting to two of my Christmas comedy classics to have the audience howling louder than a winter gale to finish my performances for the year on a high. 

For my last event of the year I journeyed west as I accompanied my friend Janet Crawford the Dram Bar where she was competing in the Loud Poets political slam which was deservedly won by Jim Monaghan to finish off the year 

So there you have it my poetic year. Thanks to all who made it what it was, a memorable journey where bards were the stars and musicians made magic in song . Here’s hoping that the next twelve months will be just as exciting. So I’ll close by wishing all my readers A Happy, Peaceful, Successful, New Year.   I hope you’ll keep reading tartan tights throughout 2018. 

Till next time 

Gayle X 

As A Poet Talked Of His Mother’s Faith And The Dread Of A Black Forever A Musical Minstrel Made Memories As He Told Of An Amber River

There are sometimes when I really can’t believe how quickly time passes and one of those times is when I write up my review of the previous edition of Words and Music . It seems like only yesterday I was preparing to welcome you to our wee Tin Hut and now it’s time to tell you about the events of an very enjoyable and entertaining evening when we welcomed both old and new friends to our club . The fact I’m doing it two days after our October meeting is due a combination of a very busy life and my haphazard style of organising my notes

At the clock struck 8 it was time to get under way. Since this was the first night since the fringe I decided to kick off with Jewel Of The Clyde which is my take the events of 1990 when Glasgow was European city of culture.

Having done my duty it was now time to introduce the billed readers to the stage. First up was Susan McKinstry who though a recent addition to our team is a very welcome one. Susan read two poems Tolerance and Intimidation and both were excellently delivered by a writer with something to say about the state of both our nation and values. While I enjoyed both poems I particularly liked tolerance as far from being what many people aspire to as the benchmark of democracy Susan explained in a carefully crafted way that tolerance should be the least we expect of others in a civilised society and that acceptance of others rather than merely tolerating them is the key to building the fairer more inclusive country we say we want to see.

As one Susan returned to join the company another took her place on stage and Susan Milligan performed two pieces Cats and Holiday In Heaven both of which had that quirky humour which has become Susan’s trademark. As usual Susan finished her set with a song. In this case the song of choice was The Carpenters classic Don’t You Remember You Told Me You Loved Me Baby after which she went back to her seat to enjoy the rest of the evening.

After two writers called Susan the next performer also had a similar sounding name and it was a pleasure to welcome Suzanne Egerton back to the stage for the first time since March having been absent from the company to a combination of holidays, hillwalking, and hospital appointments. I have to stress at this point that the hospital appointments were in no way related to either the holidays or the hillwalking . Anyway it was great to see her back where she belongs . Unusally for Suzanne,she started her set with a poem on growing older entitled No Mauve . This was followed by the tale of A Curious Incident At The Falkirk Wheel she then read a poem on hillwalking which she described is the lot of the older lesbian titled I Loved A Girl Wandering, before concluding her set with a story titled Autumal which was both enjoyable and appropriate since we were now in what the romantic poets described as the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

As Suzanne went back in to the body of the kirk, it was time to welcome our first male reader of the night and Jim Ewing would take us to the bar break with a set of three poems Granny Barbour, Orange, and a poem on suicide written in memory of the late Catherine Walker titled It Is Never The Only Solution. In this the final poem of his set Jim appealed to anyone harbouring these thoughts to speak to someone who may be able to help them and this seemed the appropriate time and place to take a break and enjoy the company of those in the gathering including what looked like half of Skelmorlie who had come up to support our featured musician Billy Pryce.

It was due to half of Skelmorlie turning up for Billy and the cooperation of our featured writer Adam V Cheshire that I was able to make an intelligent adaptation to the programme and reverse the featured slots to suit the needs of the many not the few as some of the Skelmorlie crowd had to return earlier than they would have liked. This meant that instead of the featured writer kicking off the second half of the evening that task would on this occasion fall to the featured musician and as a seasoned Words And Music regular though he was making his first apperance at The Tin Hut , Billy delievred in the way I knew he would.

Billy started his set with an old favourite of mine Spontaneous Acts Of Sorrow, before moving on to Beautiful Suit. This was followed by songs which could be considered ever so slightly topical and both The Invisible Hand, and Drones, have powerful messages contained within the lyrics. After this Billy (Pictured Below) went for a change of dirrction with the more gentle Autumn Song. This was followed by Keep Talking, and the brilliant Amber River which has not only a beautiful melody but stunning lyrics which move me every time I hear them. He concluded his set with Cats Contentment and showed why he’ll always be welcome at Words And Music and valued member of our family.

( Our Featured Musician Billy Pryce makes a welcome return to Words And Music as he enjoys his first appearance at The Tin Hut since we took up residence in our new venue in June 2016)

Having waited patiently for his turn in the spotlight it was time for our featured writer Adam V Cheshire to share his thoughts with us and he certainly gave us plenty to think about in a passionate and powerful set which that a featured set doesn’t need to mean a lot of poems if as he and Billy did you place the accent on quality rather than quantity. Adam who made history by being our first Welsh featured act in the 27 years of Words and Music started his set by drawing on his roots with My Mother Is A Christian. This poem in which he talks with openess and candour about his mother’s life and how her faith has helped her through difficult times and how despite his own lack of belief he will still go to church with her on Christmas Day. In his next poem Poetry Is, Adam (Pictured Below) gives his personal insight in to what poetry means to him and explains his relationship with it. Adam then moved on to a poem on Mental Health Issues with particular reference to depression entitled The Pining Dread Of A Black Forever. This is a topic on which Adam has very intimate and personal kbowledge and this really comes home in as authentic voice as you’ll hear on what has always been and always will be a highly emotional issue.

Adam V Cheshire makes history at the Tin Hut by becoming the first Welsh featured Writer in the 27 years of Words And Music.

Adam finished his set with a brilliant polemic on capitalism titled Capitalism Is Eating Itself Alive. In this amazingly well thought rant our poet puts capitalism the world’s most globally powerful economic system in the dock and makes a compelling case for the prosecution. This was a top class set from a quality poet and a principled compassionate man. A man I was proud to have at our club.

After two great featured sets it Claire McCann who had the difficult shift of following them and she gave it her best shot performing a piece called Chalk before rejoining the company.

With all the billed readers having performed it was up to me to bring the evening to a close which I did with a set of four poems. I started with Ten Days, a poem on both the ski similarities and differences of two girls born only ten days apart. The two girls in question were myself and Princess Diana who was only ten days my senior .

I followed this up with Glasgow Boy, a poem in memory of the late Glasgow folk singer Ian Davidson who died last Christmas and who for many years was a Words And Music stalwart gracing our stage on many occasions when the event was held at Sammy Dow’s. As those of you who knew Ian will know he was a principled man of the left and campaigned fervently for CND so I’m sure he would have enjoyed my penultimate poem of the evening which used a combination of comedy and feminism to make the case against neuclear weapons in Tights Before Trident. This poem in which I look at things from the legally blonde school of economics shows why we should focused on a millon little things rather than wasting money on an expensive white elephant. Well little things contribute to the economic well being of the country whereas neuclear weapons only contribute to destrucstion of global civilisation and could bring about the end of the world as we know it.

I concluded my set and the night with a poem which was written about one of my favourite events at the Edinburgh fringe. The event is an alternative caberet which caters for those acts you won’t see too often on mainstream bills which is why it is called Other Voices and funnily enough so is the poem with which I brought the curtain down on this edition of Words And Music.

You know after the excitment of Edinburgh and the fringe the September edition of Words And Music is a welcome reality check as it’s good to get back in to the routine of attending local events , especially when it’s my responsibility to host the night. Though it is seldom one of our busiest 2014 being the obvious exception it has that relaxing atmosphere that lets you know your home and whoever said 13 was an unlucky number wasn’t at a night where a poet talked of his mother’s faith and the hole of a black forever and a musical minstrel made memories as he told of an Amber River.

Till next time

Gayle X

Other Voices

A long time ago in a haunted banqueting hall I promised Fay Roberts a poem. For those of you who don’t know who Fay Roberts is allow me to culturally enlighten you.  You see not only is Fay a valued mentor and friend, she also hosts Other Voices every year at the PBH free fringe and Other Voices which gives a platform to LGBT and other performers who are under represented on the bills on mainstream poetry nights is one of my favourite spoken word events not  just at the Edinburgh fringe but anywhere. So with this in mind  I made Fay a promise to write a poem to say in  my words what other voices means to me and I’m delighted to say that promise has now been honoured with this poem which strangely enough entitled Other Voices I hope you enjoy the read. 

Other Voices

Other voices 

far away from mainstream stages

come see us performing without fear 

poets who identify as LGBT 

some who proclaim boldly 

their queer or non binary status,

love us or hate us come and see us first 

before making your decision on how we should be perceived

we have stories to share with you

some of which you would never believe

listen to our words let us woo you 

with our tales of adventure, heartbreak, love, and lust 

place your trust in us to be your guides

in the majestic underground cave 

that is our spiritual home 

at this crazy time of year

come and see us perform without fear

far away from mainstream stages 

hear the sage advice that you will never give yourself  

it may even be good for your mental health 

and make you start a poetic journey of your own 

on the other hand you might just become 

a regular audience member 

we have no agenda except to entertain 

listen to us seduce  your ears with sentences 

rapped with rhyme and reason 

and delivered with the rhythm method 

we will pepper the air with salty phrases

if the need arises

 but should that be the case 

 it will be done with style 

we will make you think, cry and smile

 as we provide you with an hour of fun filled frivolity

in the banqueting hall of Madame Fay’s boudoir 

and when you see the brightest stars

the stars that  will dance but never lie 

when you are mesmerised by  them in an evening sky 

long after the show you came to see 

you will hear the cry of the banshee

and when you least expect it 

 you will remember us 

© Gayle Smith 2017 

In A Busy Month For Poets Filled With Festivals And Fringes I Made Fierce Friends And Partied On Wherever Words Were Spoken

Hey  Readers 

I’m two thirds of the way through October and I’m finally ready to post my photographic journey through August. Yes I know its late, this is late even by my standards but you see though I often claim to be a lady of leisure this isn’t strictly true as  I attend so many events these days that I quite often meet myself coming back and this is why there has been such a delay in putting this post together.  Well that’s my excuse and I’m damn well sticking to it as it happens to be at least 90percent true. 
Anyway I hope your getting ready for a rollercoaster ride because believe me this is a journey well worth sharing and like all or at least most of my journies it starts and ends in Glasgow though I will concede that for this month at least most of the action took place in a city 50 miles to the East and yes I do mean Edinburgh. However, as is almost always going to be the case our story starts on a Tuesday night on the south side of Glasgow in a place that’s made for Words and Music 

Picture (1) In what is the busiest month of the year for us poets is taken at Words and Music where featured writer Victoria McNulty held court entertaining a small but select gathering

Picture (2) is of Bob Leslie who provided the music for the company on that early August evening.

Picture (3) takes me on the the first of many visits to Edinburgh. The venue is the salubrious surroundings of the Merlin Hotel for the Pick Of The Fringe night organised by Rose Ritchie. Here you can see Rose on the right with Michelle Hogg belting out a song to the highly receptive audience.

Picture (4) This sees us at the Scottish Poetry Library where the amazing Katharine MacFarlane was a joy to behold at the Women with fierce words event.

Picture 5 Is one you could makar up as current Federation of Writers Scotland makar Elizabeth Rimmer imparts her words of wisdom to the gathering.

Picture (6)  Sees me reading my poem The Lemon Dress on the topic of transformation

Picture (7) We were fierce, female and fabulous and we were prepared to shout it from the rooftops and here’s the evidence to prove it as Katharine and I show what it’s like to be on the top of the world or at least the Poetry library with Nancy Lippold Ingram smiling in the background.

Picture (8) By this time the fierce women had left the poetry library and were enjoying each other’s company over a coffee in the local Starbucks.This picture shows from left to right  Rose, Michelle, and the otganiser of the event Lesley Traynor

Picture (9) This is possibly the best action shot I’ve taken so far as Carla Woodburn has her warrior moment as she performs a poem from her phone.

Picture (10) Shows a poet I always look forward to seeing and not just for his poetry but I also enjoy the company of  David Lee Morgan as this is a man who always has interesting stories to share. Here I capture the man outside the place I call home at every Edinburgh fringe the Banshee Laberinyth.

In Picture (11) The girls are banging the drum for Glasgow and who better to do it than Sheboom, Glasgow’s finest all female drumming band who had been playing at the Merchant City festival earlier that morning

In Picture (12) I’m in political mode as I attend the campaign launch of Tommy Sheppard’s bid to become Depute Leader of the SNP. This picture shows me smiling for the camera with the candidate I am proud to have supported.

Picture (13) Shows me bargain hunting at River Island which is one of my favourite fashion Festival

Picture (14)  was taken at the indoor market at the Merchant City Festival at the indoor market and showcases some of the amazing jewellery on offer at very reasonable prices.

Picture (15) Was also taken at the indoor market and contains the best advice anyone can ever be given. If you look really closely you will see it written in pink.

Picture (16) Shows me standing at the entry to my home in my new dress from Logo and if any bloggers reading this post think you recognise the dress you would be right as I have since featured it in an outfit of the day post.

Picture (17) features James Christopher whose one man show What’s The Tory Mourning Glory? took a very witty and topical look at the fiasco surrounding Brexit.

Picture (18) reminds me that I’ll always make time to for music especially when the music is provided by one of my favourite musicians the lovely Josephine Sillars in salubrious surroundings of the Gin Bar.

Picture (19) Sees me tired but happy as I make my way down the North Bridge to get the late night bus from Edinburgh back home to a very sleepy Baillieston. Well it was sleepy by the time I finally got back to the village.

Picture (20)  Demonstrates that the more things change the more they stay the same as I make my annual visit to see my good friend Matt Panesh aka Monkey Poet entertain the audience in the Cinema Room in the Banshee Laberinyth.

Picture (21) Shows the lovely Catriona Knapman performing poems from the heart at the Merlin Hotel at part of the pick of the fringe event.

Picture (22) sees us back at the Banshee for some early evening entertainment in the company of David Lee Morgan

Picture (23) Shows that Every girl loves her girl cave and on a wet and windy Friday night the girlie comedy of Harriet Kelmsley seen here really was just the tonic I needed.

Picture 24 Takes me yet again to the Banshee or as I prefer to call it my Edinburgh home as I attend a show which shows no topic is off limits as the brilliant Chella Quint talks periods in a most unusual way. Now I know you might not think that this is a topic for a comedy show but this is an educational comedy show as Chella takes us through Adventures In Mensuration.

Picture (25) Is the sign that all performers want to see on the venue door before they start the show.

Picture (26) Shows the best poetic fitness instructor on the planet Katharine MacFarlane in her show Home Words. It was during this show I learnt of the ancient Scottish tradition of Waulking and the lovable if slightly mischievous Katharine made sure I learned of it the hard way along  with fellow fierce woman Emma Mooney, and Janet Crawford as we tried this traditional job and reached the conclusion that the women of the Highlands and Islands would never need to go the gym after such heavy manual labour.

(Picture 27) Is of yet another poet Tyrone Lewis. (Yes I know a lot of them) This was taken on a lovely Sunday when I went to the Pilgrim Bar just across the road from the Banshee (The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree) for an event which I’m sure which will keep pulling me back every year from now on. Poetry at the Boomerang Club was an excellent way to spend an hour and I even managed to perform one of my poems (Two Hours) on my first of two visits I made to this night.

Picture (28) Sees  me back at the Cinema Room at the Banshee for some late night comedy from Kane Brown 

Picture (29) Sees me back on home turf attending the launch of Verse Clique Glasgow’s newest spoken word night which is hosted by one of the most exciting new talents in years the highly likable Michelle Fisher.

Picture (30) Shows the amazing Hollie McNish rocking the opening night at Verse Clique

Picture (31) Sees Jenny Lindsay performing Verse Clique on what was a spectacular opening bill.
and a great night for Scottish poetry

Picture (32) Mark McGhee and his band the Giro Babies supply the music to provide a fitting finale for the first ever Verse Clique. Michelle Fisher should be very proud she put on such a fantastic night.

Picture (33) Every year there is one show you need to see twice and this year it was Chella Quint’s Adventures In Mensuration. This picture was taken on my second visit to the show and shows me embracing the stain for every girl whose ever had a difficult period.

Picture 34 Shows a poet at work as Jenni Pascoe inspired by the muse suddenly decides to get writing.

Picture 35  Captures my friend and fellow poet Andy Bennett in thoughtful mood as he muses over the fringe in that part of the Banshee which will forever be his office. 

Picture 36 Shows the wonderful Tina Seiderholme during her final performance of her show Till Debt Do Us Part.

Picture (37) This picture sums up what the fringe is all about to me. The wee stage in the banqueting hall is where I have made more appreances that any other venue except for the poetry library and the majority of those appearances have been at Other Voices cabaret. This groundbreaking event gives a voice to those who are traditionally underrepresented in mainstream poetry such as members of the LGBTIQ community, disabled people, people of minority ethnic groups, and women. Superbly hosted by the brilliant Fay Roberts, this is an event I am so proud to play my part in and it is also a place  where I have taken risks and made friends I know I’ll have for the rest of my life. 

Picture (38) is for the woman I call boss and I mean that in the nicest possible way as it shows the wonderful Fay Roberts doing what she does best performing at other voices. 

Picture (39)  This picture is of a poet will never need Permission to read her thought provoking poetry and that’s why I love Hannah Chutzpah.

Picture (40) This is the face of poetry’s future and her name is Malaika Kegode 

Picture (41) is of a power packed poem who performs with passion and pride that poet is Katherine McMahon 

Picture (42) Demonstrates as if there were ever a doubt that can’t visit Edinburgh without doing the tourist bit and if ever a shop summed up Scotland it’s this one. 

Picture 43 Shows a view of Scotland’s seat of power  Edinburgh castle. 

Picture (44) Shows that though locations may change the spoken word world never stops. So with the fringe over and Edinburgh drawing drawing the curtains after three weeks of excess we move to the wild west. Well the wild west end of Glasgow where I spied a young poet with a great future in Ross MacFarlane who was first familiar of the many I saw at Last Monday at Rio 

Picture (45) Shows Robin Cairns back in his rightful place as our genial host welcomes us back to Glasgow and Last Monday at Rio much to the delight of the expectant crowd 

Picture (46)  Having got the crowd in focus I decided to get a clearer picture of the man I call the maestro commanding an audience as only he can and I think this action shot shows Robin at his best 

Picture (47) As is always the case at Rio Robin had lined up a top quality poet as his headline act for the night  and this month it was brilliant Edinburgh based poet Kevin Cadwallender who I hadn’t managed to see in the whole run of the fringe. Kevin is in my opinion a poet I always enjoy seeing as anyone who can give beauty tips to daleks is a man to be taken seriously. Well I was scared of the daleks when I was wee so anybody brave enough to tell them to clean up their act has got to be admired. 

So that was my journey through what was I’m sure you’ll agree a very busy month but it  was also a month when I made a fierce friends and partied on wherever words were spoken. It was a month in which I made friendships and memories which will warm my heart in the coldest days of winter.

Love And Best Wishes

Gayle X 

The Tartan Tights Awards 2014

Hey everyone Welcome to the third annual tartan tights awards. This has been the third year of this blog and so it is only right that those who have made this world a better place gain the recognition they deserve. Forget the queen’s new year’s honours list this is one you really want to win so let’s crack on and see whose won what this year and who has had made the past year more enjoyable, entertaining, stimulating, and thought provoking than it otherwise would have been.

I start this awards ceremony with my first award that of politician of the year. Now what can I say about the winner of this award which hasn’t already been said a million times already. My winner started the year by delivering a brilliant immortal memory at the Shettleston SNP Burns Supper and ended it as leader of her party and our country. My tartan tights politician of the year award goes for the second time in three years to our First Minister the brilliant Nicola Sturgeon.

My young politician of the year
is like last year’s winner Adam Miller someone who cut her political teeth in Shettleston where she stood as her party’s candidate in the by-election caused by the sad and untimely death of Labour councillor George Ryan. Though she didn’t win the seat she put a brave fight and campaigned hard for every vote. A stalwart campaigner for Yes Scotland she has now risen through the ranks of her party and is branch secretary of Shettleston SNP. A young women with a determination to get things done and win a better future for our country, I know we are going to hear a lot more from her in a future she will play her part in shaping my young politician of the year is Laura Doherty.

My Vision of Scotland Award goes to the politician or member of the public who contribute something to improve the quality of life for people in the country. This year the award goes not to a politician but to a campaigner who has done much to secure the right to equal marriage for the LGBT community and brought the issues of trans and inter sex rights to the Scottish Parliament. So it is with great pleasure that I give this very well deserved award to Tom French.

My next award is the Unsung Hero/Heroine Award. This goes to the politician who does not seek the limelight but represents their party with that quiet dignity and diligence which can restore people’s faith in a political system often knocked by those who are not involved because they only read what’s said in the press or reported on TV. This year it’s another heroine and yet again another change of party. The first award went to a woman in the SNP, her successor was a man from the Conservatives. This year it goes to a woman in the Liberal Democrats and if I say so myself it was an absolutely shoe in for the excellent Caron Lindsay.

Now it’s time for the One To Watch Award. As the title suggests this award is for someone whom I think may be worth keeping an eye on and when it comes to this year’s award, this is certainly the case It is I think fair to say that she is someone who I have always rated very highly and someone whom I believe will one day fill the boots of a certain Ms Sturgeon and lead both our party and our country. Like her party leader she started the year at the Shettleston SNP Burns Supper where she gave a brilliant lassies reply. Another of those I tipped for stardom a few years ago and she is one of our country’s brightest and most articulate young voices. My One To Watch award goes to one of the brightest stars in the political galaxy our current Minister For Children. Aileen Campbell.

The next award is the Impact Award. This award goes to the politician who I believe has made the biggest impact on one or possibly more than one issue in the course of the last 12 months. Amongst those considered were newly appointed Education Minister Angela Constance, The Labour Party’s best and brightest talent Jenny Marra, that traditional tartantights favourite and Ms Marra’s tag team teammate Kezia Dugdale, and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson but in the end there was only one winner and he won by a considerable distance. In the year of our independence referendum he gained more votes for his party and for the yes campaign every time he opened his mouth. The winner of the Impact Award for 2014 is the joint convenor of the Scottish Green Party Patrick Harvie.

My last political award is that of political blogger of the year. In what everyone agrees was a momentous year for Scottish Politics in for Scotland and for Scotland in general there were plenty of blogs to choose from Bella Caledonia, National Collective, and the slightly more controversial Wings Over Scotland amongst those on the side of Yes campaign along of course with my favourite blog of them of All A BurdzEyeView written the woman who is and ever shall be my inspiration Kate Higgins. The Better Together campaign are represented by Caron Lindsay and one or two others which I’ve tended to forget along the way, however though all those mentioned were intelligent thought provoking and immensely enjoyable to read, there was I have to say a very clear winner in this category.
The award for best political blogger 2014 is the man who gave me my first ever guest post on his blog in which I explained why as a transwoman I would be voting Yes in the referendum it’s Paul Kavanagh for weegingerdug.

Now it’s time to focus on the community awards where better to start than with blogger of the year and I have to say that this is and will probably always be one of my hardest decisions. The standard of blogger in Scotland is higher than the hem line of a micro mini skirt and there are many excellent bloggers who are always worth a read. These include the 2013 blogger of the year the original Foodie Quine Claire Jessiman. Caron’s Musings, Mummy Central, by Donna Gorse, and A Life With Frills by Laura Pearson Smith
but my winner is someone who despite the title of her blog, you can always rely on to keep you both entertained and on trend. Our winner may call herself Last Year’s Girl but she is this year’s blogger of the year Lisa-Marie Ferla.

My next award is for the activist of the year. Now before our readers say that this award should be awarded in the politics section, I say that activism is not confined to politics but is also about those people who commit themselves to assisting and empowering others in any number of communities be they christian, cultural, or social. This year award however is going to someone deeply involved in politics. Though a member of the SNP she was also a founder member of the non party group women for independence she travelled all over Scotland with the hope of building a better tomorrow where women’s voices will be not only heard but respected. The winner of activist of the year 2014 is Natalie McGarry.

My young activist of the year is also from the world of politics. A teenager who took on the full might of the better together campaign and emerged not only with credit but credibility she is one of the most outstanding young voices of the future Scotland. My tartan tights young activist of the year is the mighty Saffron Dickson.

Now I move on the subject of poets and poetry, it is time to select my poetry performance of the year. In a year of many so outstanding performances this decision was not an easy one but eventually after changing my mind at least a dozen times I did pick a winner and this year it goes to Sophia Blackwell for 50 minutes of poetic magic in Becoming Wonder Woman her one woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe. This was to paraphrase the words of former Celtic Manager Martin O’Neill 50 minutes of astonishingly brilliant poetry and deservedly walks away with this year’s award.

The next award is for the best show of the fringe. This is never easy because there is so much quality on offer but despite magic of Monkey Poet and his excellently entertaining show Shit Flinger, the amazing Munich by Brendan Dunlea which was and I have to say this the best play I’ve seen on football which wasn’t on the subject of Celtic and too many other quality shows to mention, there was one show which was so totally amazing it stunned me and reduced me tears of rage about what happening to the care system in 21st Century Britain. For that alone and believe that is more than enough the winner of the best show of the fringe 2014 is Can’t Care Won’t Care by Sophia Walker.

Next up is the award for the most original show of the year. Yet again this one occurred in the wee back room at Sammy’s. This year it was the September edition which made me proud to be a part of that great cultural institution that is Words and Music. You see in the run up to the referendum some voices more sensible and cautious than mine wanted a no politics night on the First Monday in September. I however had other ideas and decided that far from having no politics I would on that last First Monday before our historic vote have a referendum special in which performers from Yes and No camps could give their poetic thoughts on whether we would be better together or as an independent nation. Those who were don’t know or even don’t care were also allowed their opinion. Well I didn’t mind if they didn’t know or didn’t care providing they could tell the rest of us why they had come to their conclusion. The result was and I have to say a victory for both poetry and democracy and some of the poems performed by supporters of both sides and neither that night were outstanding. So yet again Words and Music wins the most original show in what could be described as a champion night for spoken word.

Talking of champions, brings me on to my equality champion award. This one is for the man or women who has really made a stand for equality in this last year and there are no shortage of top quality candidates for this one. Patrick Harvie, the Equality Network’s Tom French and Stonewall’s Sophie Bridger were all major contenders but in the end my choice was someone whose very public stance on LGBTI bullying earned her a few more gold stars than I would normally give to a Tory. That said she did inspire one of my best blogs of the year on LGBTI bullying in school and that is why My equality champion for 2014
is the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party Ruth Davidson.

My award for quote of the year was never going to be easy especially in a year filled with so many memorable one liners but it has to be the Mailman Delivers from Commonwealth Games boxer Charlie Flynn. Had I gone the political route Charlie’s namesake Labour MP Paul Flynn would have won it in a canter as he defined the Gordon Brown vow with the following statement. ‘A political vow is a solemn binding promise that endures until the votes are counted’.

Moving on from words to music it’s time for musician of the year and this has to be the toughest year so far in what has always been one of the hardest categories in which to select a winner. In a year when I saw many new musicians such as the excellent Declan Welch, the ever entertaining Zara Gladman aka Lady Alba, Billy Bates, Georgia Gordon, and Laura Corrigan I really was spoiled for choice but in a really close contest I decided to call it for Declan Welch not just because he has a fantastic voice but also because he has a gift for song writing which is in itself a real talent. Mark my words and mark them well, this is a young man with a very big future

My vocalist of the year which is an award I always keep separate from musician of the year is always a pleasure for me as ever since I can remember I have always loved quality singers.
This year were a couple of vocalists who stood out for me. One was Zara Gladman and the other was a certain local lass for whom I have always had a soft spot. I mean she is after all a Baillieston girl and this award is coming back to the village due to a brilliant set at the St Patrick’s Day family event my tartantights vocalist of the year is our very own Michelle McManus.

The event of the year has to be the Independence Referendum or the Commonwealth Games. At least it does if you believe the mainstream press. I however challenge that perception and say that my personal event of the year was to be asked to take part in one of the most liberating spoken word events I have ever participated in. It was the final Saturday of this year’s fringe and on that day I attended and performed in the Other Voices event organised by the wonderful and majestically talented Fay Roberts at my Edinburgh local the Banshee Labyrinth and gave according to good friend John McGlade the best performance he has ever seen me give and I have to take that as a great compliment as John and I have attended many events together over the years. Not only that but the quality of performers at that event was quite simply breathtaking and it was a real honour to be included in such a line up.

Next I move on to the best new band. In what was a quiet year for bands, the stand out act was one I saw at the Danny Kyle Open Stage on a cold January afternoon. This band have since went on to further success at Scottish Traditional Music Awards and a band I think we are going to hear a lot more of. The tartantights award winners for the best new band are the Scott Wood Trio.

As for the campaign of the year it has to be one which hit all the right notes for all the right reasons. I am pleased to say that though the referendum in which it was born has now passed into the annuals of history, this campaign shows no signs of going away in fact if anything I believe it will get stronger. After all independence is not just a political issue it is also a highly personal one. This is especially true for women and as a transwoman I am exceptionally proud to be part of this ongoing fight to win full equality for all women. My campaign of the year is one I will proudly wear my tartan tights for every day of my life Women For Independence.

Now I don’t know about you but to me every campaign every campaign needs good songs to get those involved singing along and in the referendum there is no doubt that the yes campaign had all the best songs Like last year this year winner also went viral on the internet though it did have more competition most noticeably from last year’s winner Citizen Smart whose brilliant take on the pro union bias in their reporting I heard about it on the BBC was seriously considered as captured the moment perfectly when he sang it outside BBC headquarters on the final Sunday of the campaign. In the end however my choice was the song that had everyone rocking at the National Collective and had Stereo and other venues GAGA every time it was sung. My winner of the tartantights song
Is Bad Romance by Lady Alba also known as the magical Zara Gladman

My venue of the year is yet again a bar but this time it’s not in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile but in Glasgow city centre. This is a bar which until last year I would have struggled to find but now thanks to those National Collective sessions I view maybe not as my second home but the home of a favourite relative. The winner of the venue of the year is Stereo.

For my next award I move on to the discovery of the year and this was a much tougher category this year than it was in 2013 when two outstanding talents stood at opposite ends of the age scale fought out a duel which was eventually won by that poetic tour de force that is Craig Scott. Attending so many events in the past 12 months that I ran out of fingers to count them meant I saw I lot new upcoming stars in a year in which was packed with brilliant performances. Amongst those considered were from music Declan Welch, Zara Gladman, Dol Eoin MacKinnon, and from poetry the excellent Shaun Moore, and recent Glasgow slam winner Kevin McLean. A tough list from which from to make my choice but finally after at least three changes of mind I have to give it to the shy lad from the Western Isles who can sing in both English and Gaelic. My discovery of the year is Dol Eoin MacKinnon.

Every year the spoken word scene not only produces brilliant new stars to enjoy there are also comebacks from those who have taken a break for a wee while and decided to re-engage with their muse. This year winner is someone I respect not only as a poet but also as a man and a friend. His comeback though brief was still the best of the year and those in authority better be worried as his new material has lost none of sharpness and indicates that the man is back on form. This is someone of whom I hope to see a lot of more of in 2015 and I’m sure there will be much more to come from our comeback of the year winner the brilliant JJ Turner.

My award for best sporting moment in a summer which was full of them as the Commonwealth Games came to Glasgow when in the rising out of her sick bed Lynsey Sharp defied both the odds and laws of nature by running the race of her life to win a silver medal in the women’s 800 metres. This to me sums up what sport is all about and when dedication meets determination it always results in success so this is a very well deserved success for someone who totally deserves it

As for my team of the year there is really only one choice to make. For representing their country with passion, commitment, and dignity and being great ambassadors for their sports, medal winners or not this award is for every single member of my team of the year The Scotland Commonwealth Games Team 2014.

Moving on from sport it’s time for one of my favourite awards. The I think I Must Be Mad Award is given to only to the bravest of the brave in my virtual village. These are the friends who are there for me during the hours of darkness when most sane people are in bed. So this award is for someone who has been there to support me above and beyond the call of duty. This year’s winner is at times far too sensible and despite my repeated requests is unlikely to change now. A friend who can be relied on when I really need her to be there the winner of the I think I must be award for 2014 is Audrey Marshall

Having given an award on the value of friendship and shown that true friends are the ones who stay the course. I now move on to my lifetime achievement award. As I look back on the last year I see there is really only one winner for this award this year and our winner is a man of outstanding calibre who joined his party whilst a student at St Andrew’s University in 1973. A man who has served twice as party leader first from 1990- 2000 and again from 2005 to September 2014. This is a man who made history not only by leading the first SNP government in Scotland’s history but by leading a minority government which survived it’s full term which the unionist parties and their friends in the press said could not be done.

Our winner then went on to lead a majority SNP government by winning a landslide victory in election of 2011. This again was something which our unionist parties and their friends said would be impossible to achieve. After all they had written the devolution rule book to make sure it couldn’t be done or so they thought. It seems to me that the unionists had forgotten one basic rule of democracy it’s votes that decide elections not party hacks and their pals.

Having secured a mandate for the independence referendum he had always promised the people of Scotland, he and his deputy leader who is now his boss Nicola Sturgeon reached an agreement with the coalition government that a referendum be held in 2014 to decide Scotland’s constitutional future.

In the end that referendum was lost and Scotland at least in the short term remains part of the United Kingdom but throughout a distinguished career in politics this is a man who unlike so many in the political village has conducted himself with diligence and dignity in his duties and Scotland must never forget the debt it owes our former First Minister, the former leader, of my party and our country. The winner of the tartantights lifetime achievement award for 2014 is Alex Salmond.

Now it’s time for the main awards of the event my man and woman of year and as always I’ll start with my man of the year. Well it’s only right we girls should have the last word on such an occasion. For now though I’ll focus on the men and name the outstanding man of 2014.

To say this was a tough choice would I think would be an understatement. Succeeding such figures as outgoing man of the year Chris Stephens and my first tartantights man of the year Jim Monaghan is no easy task but there were no shortage of suitable candidates. Amongst those whose names were in the frame were my writing mentor and friend Derek Read, Glasgow Poet Laureate Jim Carruth, Former Chairperson of the Federation of Writers Scotland Marc Sherland, The chair of Faith And Unbelief Jim Ewing
the excellent poet and playwright Matt Panesh, and the brilliantly talented and ever reliable Chris Young. In the end however, after much thought and careful consideration I made my selection and my choice is a man who not only a man who campaigned for independence but who kept yes supporters entertained throughout the duration of the campaign with some of the best political songs I have ever heard. My tartantights man of the Year is Alan ‘Citizen’ Smart.

As I have always said and always will it is only right and proper that the women should have the honour of final award of the year. Therefore the final tartantights award of 2014 is for my woman of the year and though succeeding last year’s winner Katie Walker and my first tartantights Woman of the year Althea Maxwell was not an easy choice, believe me when I say there was a number of very suitable candidates from which to select my winner.

Amongst those considered were Audrey Marshall, Caron Lindsay, Jenny Lindsay, Jenni Pascoe. Natalie McGarry Samantha Hands, and Sophia Blackwell. However after much careful thought and consideration I decided that our winner would be someone who not only has pride in herself and her community but someone who on a wet day in a car park at this year Pride Glasgow escorted me to a trans tent an idea she come up with to provide an inclusive for the trans community when her company bosses at Tesco Bank asked for suggestions at how they could contribute to the festivities.
On my arrival at Pride was escorted to the tent and I was VIP guest of honour and was made to feel like Cinderella for the day. So you treating me like a princess and making me feel like I’ve never felt before my tartan tights woman of the year is the one and only Lisa Tait.

So there you have it, all the winners of the tartantights awards for 2014 and I thank each and every one for making my year more interesting, thought provoking, entertaining, and enjoyable than it would have been without them. How they decide to celebrate is entirely up to them but I raise my glass to all of them and indeed all of those nominated. Having looked back over the past year I now look forward to this one with all the choices and challenges it will bring me. At this stage I can only wait and wonder they’ll be. There is one thing I will say though I’m sure the coming year will be an interesting journey for us all.

Love And Best Wishes
Gayle X

It Was The Best Of Times It Worst Of Times But I Always Try To Look On The Bright Side Of Life

Hey everyone As I look back on 2014 I can’t help but think that the old Charles Dickens quote ‘It was the best of times it was the worst of times is the perfect summary of the year which is now in it’s final round of the clock.

Speaking personally this year has had it’s fair to say more up’s and downs than a rollercoaster ride at the shows as we Glasgow girls would say. There have been some moments which were truly magical many of them poetry related and others which were and I’m putting this politely beyond my wildest nightmares.
These were mainly due to my flatmate’s depression which resulted in her losing her job and
trust me it has not got any better or at least not yet. You see I am one of nature’s optimists, after all being Scottish I see this as not only my nature but also as my duty.

So if begin this review in a wet and windy when my life was centred around. Celtic Connections and SNP Burns Suppers I would say that even in a difficult year the good has tended to outweigh the bad yes I know I’m a proper little Polllyanna but sometimes you have to be and that was certainly the case for yours truly in the 12 eventful months of 2014.

With the Independence debate being the key theme of the year
There was of course the excitement of campaigning for something I really believe in and no words can describe the privilege I felt at 7.45 on the morning of the 18th September when I voted Yes for the proposition that Scotland should be an independent country. Then the next day there was the searing pain of defeat and temporarily at least I have never felt such hatred towards many of my fellow country men and women. I soon realised however that hatred was not the way to go and slowly but surely I started to love my unionist friends again.
It was during the referendum campaign that I met some of the most inspiring women I have ever known and many were young enough to be my daughters. On my side of the campaign there was the lovely and highly energetic force of nature that was, is and ever shall be Saffron Dickson, and we were also blessed with one of main the driving forces behind the national collective Glasgow sessions the brilliant Victoria Kerr. On the other side of the debate I was particularly impressed by the articulate intelligent and passionate commitment of Alison Clark Dick. This is a young woman who like Saffron and Victoria is destined for great things in life and I wish all three of them well in the coming year.
Talking of the National Collective, the Glasgow sessions at Stereo provided me not only with great entertainment and motivation to get out and do my bit for my country but also with several new creative contacts and some friendships which I am sure will only grow stronger with time. One of these friendships was particularly inspirational in providing ideas which have resulted in new poems being written. Yes I do mean you Margaret McCabe. Those Monday night discussions on why the price of a pair of tights is more important to the Scottish economy than the renewal of the trident missile system resulted in a poem which has been performed at various venues throughout both Glasgow and Scotland and Tights Before Trident is amongst my top five of all the new poems I’ve written this year.

Still on the subject of the National Collective it was perhaps my greatest honour in over 20 years of performing my poetry to get the chance to perform at the Glasgow session in July which was held just three days after my birthday. To perform at a pro independence event when I’ve campaigned for it all my adult life meant more than many of you will ever be able to imagine, so setting out the kind of independence I would like to see for Scotland I read two poems. The first of them centred on the issue of immigration and why as a progressive Scot of the sensible centre left, the UK government’s stance on the issue truly appalled me. Twenty Four Romanians was written at the beginning of this year as a response to the ludicrous claims of UKIP and the right wing press that the UK was going to be overrun by more than 24 million economic migrants from Bulgaria and Romania then a month later red faced they had to admit that only twenty four had in fact made the journey to their not so Great Britain. I think they were what you call flattering themselves

My second poem on that never to be forgotten evening was written to celebrate what I liked and for that matter still like about being a member of National Collective. Titled I Am National Collective needless to say it went down a storm with an audience who were very clearly onside. However I have to say when you were as I was personally thanked for performing the first of my two poems by a young Romanian woman who just happened to be in the audience that night I did tend to put the cherry on top of a lovely cultural birthday cake.

On the Wednesday of the same week I was delighted to accept an invitation to attend the installation of the new Glasgow poet laureate Jim Carruth at the Tron Theatre and privileged to be asked to perform one of my poems as part of the celebration. Jim is a poet I respect tremendously and a man I respect even more. With Glasgow at the heart of this event Jim wanted all those who compare or organise events in the city to be part of an inclusive evening which whilst celebrating his new role would showcase poetry and spoken word events around the city, Naturally I was proud to attend such an event and to read as part of the programme on behalf of Words and Music was indeed a great honour. The poem I selected My Glasgow was I thought the most appropriate given the circumstances of the evening.

As if that wasn’t enough celebrating in one week I then went to Pride Glasgow the following Saturday where I was VIP guest at a transgender tent which was hosted by Out At Tesco and my good friend Lisa Tait. This was the day I finally knew how Cinderella felt nothing was too much trouble for Lisa and her team and it was the perfect end to one of my best weeks of the year.

In late July the world or at least part of it came to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games and it was impossible not to get swept away by the atmosphere of the event as peace and goodwill threatened to break out in our city for which I hope I like every other Glaswegian was a good ambassador at this time as I managed to chat with athletes from England, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Zambia. I even managed to have a chat to an official goodwill ambassador when I was attending the Merchant City Festival. The ambassador concerned was none other than Words And Music’s very own Steve Allan.

My next stop was the Edinburgh Festival where I packed in a lot more than I ever thought possible performing at more events than ever before and taking in some wonderful shows the highlights of which have to be Becoming Wonder Woman by the multi talented genius that is Sophia Blackwell and Can’t Care Won’t Care by the equally lovable Sophia Walker. As for performing I really enjoyed every set I delivered but according my good friend and Words and Music regular John McGlade My slot at Other Voices on the final Saturday of the fringe was the best he’d ever seen me perform my work. Personally I have to say that my performance at the May edition of 10red hosted by that ever genial dalek fan Kevin Cadwallender would give it a run for it’s money but it was certainly nice to receive such a great compliment from of life’s good guys.

After the festival it was back to reality and what in my world passes for every day life. This meant attended my first ever mammogram screening and having to do it not once but twice. The reason for my second invite was the fact that a couple of the x-rays didn’t show up first time. Thankfully the x-rays which needed redone were the ones you have to be able to stand like a ballerina rather than the ones where your breasts are actually clamped like a car parked somewhere it shouldn’t have been. This I have to say was a considerable relief as though Darcy Bussell is under no threat from me it is by a mile the more the comfortable of the two positions.

After the mammogram was sorted it was back to the referendum campaign and I have to say the week before the vote was probably one of the best weeks of my life. The gatherings in Buchanan Street on the last Saturday before the vote and in George which the yes vote reclaimed for a time as Freedom Square were history I was proud to be a part of. I think I must walked the road of a long distance runner that hot September Saturday when I helped out at the Women for Independence stall and I also distributed leaflets on behalf of Labour for Independence, Business For Scotland and the Scottish Green Party well Patrick Harvie was and remains a real asset to our cause that I was glad to do my bit to help his party’s vision of an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable Scotland to let the voters know there was more to our campaign than just the SNP of whom by the way I am proud to be a card carrying member.

Looking back over the course of the campaign this was a time which shaped my poetry more than perhaps I realised at the time. Also I have to say that amongst many great memories
of a fantastic campaign will be the September edition of Words and Music. On this night the poets of one Glasgow spoken word event showed the politicians how it should be done as poets of all shades of opinion be it yes, no, or don’t know, selected their poems of choice and the rest of the gathering listened intently to what they had to say. No friendships were lost that night indeed I believe quite the opposite to be true and many politicians may have been better behaved if they had attended an evening where genuine respect shown to all sides by all sides.
My choice of my very good friend and no voter Chris Young as featured writer for that evening was not made by accident, it was made to show that you can have principled differences of opinion with those who matter most and in all my years at Sammy’s I have never been prouder of the spoken word community than I was that night.

Eventually the votes were cast and counted and it is I think fair to say that the result did go the way I had hoped for. After the disappointment of the vote I needed something to cheer me up and preferably quickly so a singsong with Citizen Smart and guests was the perfect tonic before heading along to the Centre For Contemporary Arts for the launch of Prodigal the latest collection of poetry by Jim Carruth. It has to be said that this not so manic Monday was the perfect pick me up for my post referendum blues.

After this and Glasgoes Poetic which followed almost immediately after my year began to wind down and draw to it’s inevitable close. This though would not be without some drama from a flatmate who is struggling to cope with her depression and mother nature who decided on a cold November to send me to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary because n the words of Kylie and Westlife I was Spinning Around and Flying Without Wings perhaps to remind me that I am not as invincible as I sometimes like to think.

This resulted in me being out of commission for a few weeks gave me a chance to focus on my blogging. This has I think been a good year for yours truly as I have hosted my first guest post from senior SNP member and former parliamentary candidate Iain Lawson on why Scotland’s Conservatives should embrace Independence. Not only I have hosted my first guest post I have also written my first guest post for another blogger. The blogger in question being the weegingerdug as to why as a Transwoman I said yes to independence. This to me is a sure sign that tartantights is maturing as a blogger though not too much I mean you don’t want me turning sensible that would never do. Please notice I did say maturing and not growing up, let me say here and now I have no intention of doing that in coming year or any year. I am only sensible when I have to be and when my injury forced me to rest more than I wanted to, I focused on tartantights and began to think of plans to improve it and bring in a touch more variety in this post referendum Scotland.

So I used my health setback in the most productive way possible, but having said that I was disappointed to be missing two events I would have been very proud to attend. The first being Nicola Sturgeon’s sell out appearance at the Hydro and the second being the launch of the new clinical services for trans people. Missing these events hurt me more than you will know but sometimes you’ve just got to take the bad days and make what you can of them. I did however make it to both the Christmas Words And Music at Sammy’s and the Tinsel Tales event at GoMA to finish off my year in spoken word.

This I thought would be a perfect place to finish my review of my 2014. Then in Christmas week disaster hit my city and reminded me that no matter that whatever challenges 2015 decides to present to me at least I am still here to face them and for that I thank God and remember the that though this has not been the easiest of years at least I’m still here to make the most of the coming one and hopefully many more after that. You see to me 2014 really was both the best and worst of times but I always try to look on the bright side of life.

Love And Best Wishes
Gayle X

From Transition To Trident I Told My Story My Way And I Told It In My Own Authentic Voice

Hey everyone All too soon it had crept up unnoticed. It was the final Saturday of the fringe and my final day of Edinburgh 2014 so I was determined to leave the stage after having the best time I could have in short space of one day. Little did I realise how much this day would test both my performance skills and my emotions and make me laugh and cry in equal measure.

Running late or at least later than I had planned I hurried up the North Bridge and made it to the mile just in time to see the excellent human dynamo that is the one and only Sophia Walker in her thought provoking show. Can’t Care Won’t Care

I don’t want to say too much about except that it made proud to know her and even more proud to call her my friend. This show was performing in the raw and believe me it touched parts of my heart I never knew existed. Anyway I have already posted on that particular show so I know dear readers that if you have read my review you will know just how much how I enjoyed an entertaining if emotional start to my day.

Next up was an appearance at Other Voices not just to watch the show but also to participate as one of the open mic slots. This was my last performance of 2014 so I wanted to make it count and finish my fringe on a high. As the crowd began to gather it was good my friend and Sammy’s regular John McGlade in what was a packed house. This I think was only fitting for such a quality event and it made me even more determined to give it my best shot.

As our genial compare Fay Roberts kicked off the show in her own unique way little did we know of the drama which lay ahead. This included a fire alarm during Sophia Blackwell’s set which to paraphrase the old football phrase meant it was a set of two halves both of which were excellent. Amongst the poems included in Sophia’s set Red which showed her at her glamorous and daring best, and the poem with which she finishes becoming wonder woman I want to do more than survive.

After Sophia it was time for the open slots who on this occasion were myself and Stephen Barnaby who is well known on the spoken word for his amazing 50 word stories. Since neither of us expressed a preference for going first or second it was up Fay to decide who went in which order. As luck would have it I was chosen to be first up and I decided to read one of my favourite and most autobiographical poems A Trans Daughter Remembers I had thought about reading The Lemon Dress which I know would have went down well or even taking a selection of appropriate poems and letting the audience decide. In the end however, I decided not to do what we at Words and Music would call an Andy Fleming but to make my choice and stick to it and it seems I chose wisely because at the end of my set I got the biggest round of applause I have had in 21 years of performing and 10 years at the fringe. Indeed John McGlade went as far as to say it was the best he had ever seen me perform in the seven years he’s known me and Fay said the applause from the crowd should tell me all I needed to know.

After my set it was the turn of the other mic slot Stephen Barnaby to entertain us and this he most certainly did with three of his trademark 50 word of stories. Personally I would find this an extremely difficult thing but Stephen has got his storytelling down to a fine art and it was a joy to listen him performing some quality prose.

After Stephen it was time to return to the main acts and Hannah Chutzpah was at her devastating best delivering a brilliant set including Permission which has to be one of my favourite poems of this year’s fringe stating as it does in no uncertain terms that no women need ask any man for permission to be herself. I think someone should have imparted this pearl of wisdom to the Better Together referendum campaign so they could have said no thanks to that ridiculous advert which is turning no voters to Yes at a speed unmatched even by Usian Bolt.

Last up on a great day for spoken word was the man who came second in this year’s BBC slam Toby Campion. On taking the stage, Toby announced he was bisexual or he prefers to call it equal opportunities. This to me has to be the quote of the fringe from a young man with a very bright future and a poet who very clearly has a lot to say for himself. And you know what, I thank god he does have a lot to say because as any poet or spoken word artist will tell you there is a lot which needs to be said. Be it in Scotland, the British Isles or the wider world we can’t keep ignoring the elephants in the room because burying our heads in the sand and pretending they don’t exist will solve precisely nothing.

In his first poem Toby tackled the thorny issue of language and why it will take more than a change of wording or labelling to change the attitude behind the labels so often ascribed to the disadvantaged and the marginalised within our wider society. As a former disability equality trainer I found this poem had an all too familiar ring to it in the sense that too many people are unaware of the power of language and the potential dehumanising effects it can have on certain groups but also that no matter how often you change a word or phrase it will achieve nothing if you don’t change the thinking behind it. This was brilliantly powerful and thought provoking stuff from someone I hope to hear a lot more of.

At the end of the event I went upstairs and had a quick drink with Mr McGlade to celebrate my performance and I thought about going to see Matt MacDonald’s show but I managed to get lost and nobody I stopped to ask for directions even came from Edinburgh. I kid you not, even the police I stopped were fellow weegies. So unfortunately I missed a show I really wanted to see but this is Edinburgh and it happens.

Disappointed but determined to enjoy my last few hours in the city I go to the bottom end of the mile as I know there is a shop there where I can play the lottery. Well I believe in the slogan I could be you though my numbers hardly ever come out and when they do they certainly don’t do it together. This is so unfair it’s unbelievable and I’m not even playing for the big money I’m playing the hot picks I only want smile money and still those numbers make sure I’m not smiling.

Before I put my lottery on I go to the Bene’s for my last meal of the fringe and get myself my final haggis of the fringe. On saying my goodbyes I told Maria I would be back next year and for some reason she didn’t doubt it. Well I have been gracing Bene’s for more years than I care to forget and as long as I can attend Edinburgh I will be back to see the team at the best chippy on the mile.

Having finished my haggis and sorted out my lottery I began to wander back to my more traditional home of the Banshee or at least I thought I did. You see I had barely walked a few yards when I was approached by the very chatty women with a flyer who persuaded me to come and see her show Too Cool To Care she explained that it was a comedy about the care system and her journey about caring for her parents. Now some people would say that two shows on the care system would too much to handle on any one fringe let alone on my final day but I decided to risk it and you know I’m really glad I did. This show was a real breath of fresh air. Yes I know a comedy about care sounds like a crazy idea but sometimes crazy ideas work and this was certainly one of them.
Well when your dad has dementia and your mum is a full time wheelchair user as is the case with Lollie you won’t be short on material especially when your dad becomes a naked Santa Claus and you have desires to go to Las Vegas.

This show had me laughing and thinking in equal measure and though it may have been a comedy but the topic was very sensitively delivered with crisp clear one liners in all the right places by a woman who has actually won the her local area’s carer of the year award.

At the end of the show I did finally return to the Banshee for one final show before boarding the bus home to Baillieston. On arrival I caught up with Sophia Blackwell who had just finished her penultimate show in her run of Becoming Wonder Woman. During our chat she said I had performed brilliantly at other voices earlier in the day. Now I know Sophia has my back but I also know that she would be honest with me as that’s what good friends are and bearing in mind the compliments from John McGlade and Fay Roberts I think I must have done well. However I think in what I believe has been my most successful fringe to date I have set myself a new bar in terms of performance and it is now my duty to maintain the standard I’ve set. Make no mistake maintaining this level of performance will not be easy but I certainly I believe it’s achievable.

As Sophia went on her way I decided to go my final show Colm Finn and friends. This show was hosted by Galway comedian Colm Finn who invited to us to share the thoughts and musings he and his friends have on the world and I must admit I rather liked it.

As the show concluded I made up the stairs and said my goodbyes to the staff at the Banshee the place I’d called home for the duration of the festival before making my exit and heading home.

On my journey to the village I reflected on what I believe was easily my most successful fringe yet, I realise I have taken my performances to a new level. This pleases me greatly, however it is not the only thing which brings a smile to my face as I look back on the events of Edinburgh 2014. You see this was the year I spoke louder and prouder than ever before no matter the topic of my poetry. From Independence to Immigration. From Dancing To Dresses From Transition To Trident. I told my story my way and I told it not as an other voice but as an authentic voice who said it in the only way I know with honesty and integrity .

Love And Best Wishes
Gayle X