#and I always get requests for queer books aimed at a younger audience

[makingqueerhistory]

A Fright to Remember (Monster High School Spirits #1)

Adrianna Cuevas

The Monster High ghouls are back and more spooktacular than ever in this all-new, original middle grade series set in the world of Nickelodeon's animated show and written by Adrianna Cuevas! As Monster High prepares for its annual talent show, Frankie Stein is left wondering what they could perform. When Torelei Stripe mocks Frankie's music playing abilities, Frankie is left even more confused about which of their brain parts is exciting enough for the talent show. Luckily, Headmistress Bloodgood presents Frankie with new information about their brain that might hold the answer. Except Frankie discovers that their brain part is from a disgraced scientist accused of unethical experiments. Plagued by dreams from the scientist's life, Frankie teams up with Draculaura and Clawdeen to discover the truth about their past--and save Monster High in the process.

(Affiliate link above)

[dstrachan]

LUCY SPRAGGAN / KATIE KITTERMASTER at MACARTS, GALASHIELS Friday 1st November 2019

There is common trope that “age is only a state of mind,” and I tend to believe that.  Getting older is inevitable, but does aging have to be? Chronologically we age each year, as our physical bodies deteriorate, but mentally how we age is up to us.  If we accept the attitude that we are only as young as you feel, we will act younger, feel younger, and therefore look younger.  We show our age when we get fixed in our opinions and perspectives.  It should be possible to stay young by being open, curious, and excited to keep learning.  That has certainly been my general philosophy for many decades, from enlisting in the TA shorly before the then upper age limit of 33 to train alongside late teen and early twenty fellow recruits, up until the current day when I often feel that I am the oldest in the audience as I enjoy the performances of inspirational young talented musicians .  Having laid that out I have to say that it's not always easy to feel young, and approaching the MacArts Centre in Galashiels on Friday evening 1st November did get me wondering why this mid sixties, retired male teacher was joining the end of the queue of, predominantly, obviously much younger, mostly, women.  The preponderance of females in the audience probably reflects the fact that Lucy came out as gay at age 14 and is clearly lauded by the lesbian community, however, that was not what made me question my attendance as I feel perfectly comfortable with members of the LGBTQ community and, over the years, seem to have gathered a significant number of friends there.  Perhaps I may sound hypocrital because mentioning the potential sexuality of the audience really shouldn't be an issue, but as the Scottish Borders community gears up for the first local Pride event in 2020, it probably is an important consideration – I'm not sure who was responsible but I did hear that somebody had expressed that they were very pleased to see that Lucy had managed to gather such a large number of young dykes all in the one place.  With such support perhaps Lucy might be persuaded to perform again in the Borders at the planned inaugural Pride event?

Back in my youth one young man left school to become an apprentice gasfitter working for the East Midlands Gas Board, that was the mega talented Joe Cocker from Sheffield whose first hit was his cover of The Beatles With A Little Help From My Friends – that sprang to mind when Sheffield born Lucy, mentioned that she had previously worked as a plumber!   During her marvelous performance, it wasn't just the music that impressed, her explanations between songs was a entrancing; one of these releated to her belief that with her plumbing background she often fell into the trap of believing that she was able to fix any problem – she then went on to describe her decision to buy an old property in need of doing up rather than one that was all up to spec because she “could fix anything” – her advice to the audience was  quite simply, “DON'T!!!”   

Lucy's openness throughout the set was a revelation – she had such a natural rapport with them and the result was a truly enchanting experience – from her first minutes on stage it was quite clear that she had a very receptive audience in the palm of her hand.  BUT before I expand further on Lucy Spraggan's performance I must first turn my attention to the support act, Katie Kittermaster, a 19 year old from Kent who has already built up  a considerable portfolio of peformances with a number of very big names.  Her debut EP is 'Coming Home At Dawn' and she included songs from that in her very well received set.  It can often be the case that support acts are poorly supported if the majority of the audience opt to arrive just in time for the headline act – this was not the case for Katie as the venue was clearly around capacity when she took to the stage.  She opened with a track called 'T Shirt' and continued to entertain on what was certainly a very special day for her as it was the official release date for her EP.

Now to get back to the evening's headliner, Lucy Spraggan, who quit her run on 'The X Factor' due to illness, subsequently finishing in ninth place, and second in her category.  Following the show she was signed to Columbia Records. She was the first contestant in the show's history to score a Top 40 single and album before the live show.  A few days  later and I was still buzzing after her stunning showcase of talents at MacArts, Galashiels - oh how I wish it had been possible to capture the total performance on video, particularly to highlight her empathetic and enthusiastic rapport with the audience as well as the beauty of the venue; she said that she liked the venue and would like to return, so maybe next time?  Thankfully previous shows elsewhere have been captured for posterity with many individual songs being readily available on YouTube.   After playing a number of her original compositions she began to discuss the fact that she rarely does cover versions and then went on to mesmerise the audience with what she explained as a rare, for her, cover – she didn't say what it was but the Scottish Borders audience instantly recognised it and was quick to join in when the chorus came!  I was quickly able to track down a live recording of Lucy performing 'Im Gonna Be (500 Miles)' from her visit, earlier in the tour, to The Booking Hall in Dover.

From the moment she arrived on stage she had the capacity crowd enthralled with her powerful, engaging performance which was full of humour, passion and brilliant 'showmanship' in equal measure.  She absolutely owned the venue and it was such a privilege to be in attendance to experience it.   Listening to Lucy as she engaged with them to outline the inspiration and motivation behind her songs was a true joy to behold - I was paricularly taken by her story about how her initial post 'X Factor' success turned into a realsation that her songs were no longer being played on the radio – this moved her to write a song 'Don't Play This On The radio' which, rather ironically, she subsequently heard being played on the supermarket Morison's in-store radio!  Please believe me when I say that I most definitely will be aiming to include more of Lucy's songs in my radio playlists over coming weeks and months.  Her honesty about her mental health troubles was clearly appreciated by the many in the audience – I found her song, 'As The Saying Goes', triggered by self-harming particularly moving. Her set also included a song spurred by her realisation that it's best not to dwell on the negativity engendered by abusive on-line trolling attacks and others who resent success – she now believes it better to focus on the positives as outlined in the lyrics of 'Love Is The Best Revenge'.

At this point I would like to extend my thanks to ex-student Taz McDougall who introduced my to Lucy's music a number of years ago when she requested that I play something in my 'Lunchtime Review' show.  At that time, avid speedway fan, Taz was providing me with weekly reports about our local speedway team 'Berwick Bandits'. Subsequently from that time Taz has developed self-confidence, both by providing regular reports and then using her interest in photography to be able to get access to all areas at the speedway track in Berwick to be able to capture some wonderful images of speedway riders in action!  Her interest in photography has since developed and she had examples of her work included in an exhibition this summer in Hawick = 'Queer Connections' in Unit Four, The Cornucopia Room.  Her exhibits included some gig photos and I am happy to have been able to arrange for her to get AAA access for her idol Lucy Spraggan's gig at MacArts – check out the results on her photography FaceBook page.  Many thanks to Taz for permission to use one her photos in this review.