The Printed Word

Forget Edinburgh’s posh galleries –the very best art can be found, for free, around the people’s republic of Leith. In fact, the city is awash with murals just waiting to be discovered. All you need to do is get your best walking shoes on and go and explore. Leith is a vibrant, creative melting pot, and tracking down the artworks will lead you into side streets and cul de sacs you probably didn't even know existed. But it’s a fascinating tour you can take at any time. The boarded up shop fronts down at Leith Depot - scene of contentious development plans which the community has rightly resisted - are a constantly changing gallery in their own right. The drawings, sketches and writing sum up the spirit of Leith. They do what all artwork has to do to resonate - speak to the people who live there. The recent Leith Late Mural Tour was fascinating as it pointed out gems which otherwise blend into the background - from a nod to Trainspotting to Eduardo Paolozzi, to the fabulous celebrati...

  In 2021 it will be 40 years since I first saw Bruce Springsteen play live. “He’ll change your life” my music teacher told me when I said I had a ticket to his 1981 gig at the Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh. The River was my induction into E Street. Letter To You is its perfect bookend. Two albums, four decades apart, both infused with the same mesmerising vigour and spirit which are the hallmark of his epic concerts. It’s ironic that an album built for stage and stadium can only be played on repeat in our homes, but it gives us something special in dark times - hope. Letter To You may well tick every box in Springsteen’s armoury (sure it's got trains, journeys and a girl called Janey) , but it is still something quite magnificent. Raw, reflective, personal and powerful, and all of it wrapped in those unmistakable ties that bind E Street. Recorded live in a matter of days, it has that same ‘live’ feel that the movie of Western Stars captured so beautifully and delivered to the big...