Forever remembered as the voice of Fairground Attraction, celebrated Scots vocalist Eddi Reader celebrates her 40th year on stage with a 40 Years Live concert tour across Ireland this March.
We asked Eddi for her choice cultural picks...
FILM
Once a week or month, or indeed anytime I need to centre myself, I watch the movie A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.
This is a quiet classic of a true story. A cynical journalist writer called Lloyd Fogle is tasked to write a kind of exposè for the magazine Esquire on the topic of "American Heroes".
The writer (played by Matthew Rhys), is so acerbic he has a reputation and no celebrity on the magazines list of 'heroes' will allow this man near them, except one, the USA television children's show host, Fred Rogers, (played by Tom Hanks).
As the story unfolds, the writer's damaged relationship with his father becomes the topic of the movie and the writers journey towards forgiveness. Mr. Rogers' joy for all children and considered efforts to give them space to talk about their powerful feelings manages to somehow influence the child in the writer. It’s a remarkable film which feels like heart medicine to me.
Also remarkably, it appears to me the only movie I have seen which encourages the observer to meditate in silence, on those who brought us into being, good and bad, for a whole minute.
MUSIC
Lately I have been adoring Ren Harvieu.
As a vocalist, of course I focus on the storyteller in song. She is one of the greats. A powerful welcoming tone and intelligence in what she chooses to bring to our ears. I hear every syllable and I notice the warmth of the emotion she conveys.
She's got soul.
BOOK
Lately I've been swimming in the work of Byron Katie. She provides a practical self-help method to free yourself from ego illusion. She has been using this song at the start of her seminars:
Her book Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life is like a bible to me. I have been focusing on writers who bring us all into alignment with the joy we are supposed to be, that is our natural inheritance.
I can also recommend Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now) and Esther Hicks (The Law of Attraction).
THEATRE
Hands down the best play I've seen in recent years has been Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland, with Stephen Rea.
Covid stopped me being transported by live theatre. I travelled to Dublin to see this at the Abbey.
The madness of prejudice laid bare.
TV
I was delighted by PEN15, a wonderful series about what being a 13 year old girl feels like.
Written by two 30-year-old women, I resonated so profoundly with their depiction of what burgeoning womanhood feels like. They have cast themselves as 13-year-olds in the year 2000 and employed actual teen actors to explore the pains, frustrations and overwhelming feelings of being 13.
Written and acted by comedians Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, it's a remarkable piece of work.
GIG
I've been to so many outstanding performances, it’s hard to choose.
So I will choose the last gig I saw in Glasgow before we all had to stay at home, which was a sold-out talk by Blindboy Boatclub.
His guest was the Glasgow Comedian Limmy. Their exploration of how they both tackle their mental wellbeing as young men in these recent years helps so many. Funny as f**k, also.
During lockdown I experienced the latest Bob Dylan streamed concert, Shadow Kingdom. It was so magical as only Bob Dylan can be. Playing his old songs in a setting, which I thought looked like a smoky fisherman’s pub circa 1952.
The magic of the internet.
ART
If you get the chance to see the immersive Van Gogh experience coming to Dublin this summer. I recommend it. Our band saw it in Manchester and it was so beautiful. Seeing Van Gogh's artwork coming to life before your eyes was otherworldly. The room swam with colours of crashing waves and starry nights.
At the end, there was the opportunity to don a virtual reality headset and travel through the world of the 19th century, to glide through the fields as Van Gogh would have experienced.
PODCAST
From Margin To Mainstream is a BBC Wales sounds podcast on which I was privileged to be one of the speakers invited by Michael Sheen to read excerpts from new writers.
It focuses on writers who voices are perhaps not from backgrounds of privilege.
Michael explains more about the project here:
Available now @BBCSounds 🎧
— BBC Radio Wales (@BBCRadioWales) March 1, 2022
🔸 Margins to Mainstream: St David's Day Special 🏴
This St David's Day @michaelsheen introduces new writers from under-represented backgrounds on a journey to reveal truths from the margins of society.#StDavidsDay pic.twitter.com/6mZHycGdiQ
TECH
Well it's got to be the gift my whole family got when the Covid lockdown hit - the Oculus virtual reality set.
My 84 year old mother put it on her head in her home in Ayrshire, Scotland and we took her, virtually, to walk the streets of Tralee Co. Kerry with Google maps. Tralee, where her mother Madge was born and where she holidayed as a girl.
The teenagers and cousins were able to play golf with each other even though one was in Florida, one in Ayrshire, three in separation in Glasgow. A miraculous invention.
THE NEXT BIG THING...
The salvation of the beautiful heaven that is our shared earth. As Jimi Hendrix so aptly put it: "When the POWER OF LOVE overcomes the LOVE OF POWER the world will know peace".
Eddi Reader's Irish tour kicks off in Galway's Town Hall Theatre on 23 March, with dates in Cork’s The Everyman Theatre on 24 March, Drogheda’s The Cresent Concert Hall on 26 March, Wexford’s National Opera House on 27 March, Armagh’s The Market Place Theatre on 29 March, Belfast’s Ulster Hall on 30 March and Dublin’s Vicar Street on the 05 June 2022.
