When Rosalind Main and her dad Graham decided to start Borrowed Nostalgia, a radio programme about Edinburgh’s lost music venues, they had plenty of material to play with. As an artist, model and researcher steeped in the local scene, Rosalind had been spoon-fed war stories of gigs past by her old man. The fact that Graham’s first hand experience came, not just from attending gigs as a music hungry teen dating back to the 1970s but, as bass player with auld reekie’s premiere art/punk combo, Fire Engines, playing some of them as well. The result in Borrowed Nostalgia, which airs monthly on Edinburgh’s community radio station, EHFM, is a mix of historical inquiry, anecdotes and a series of top tunes associated with whichever venue is being investigated. ‘Growing up with dad’s music was really important’, says Rosalind. ‘Driving round, he would point out places where he’d seen things, so I’d be listening to David Bowie in the car, dad would point out the Empire Theatre, which...
An archive of arts writing by Neil Cooper. Effete No Obstacle.