91Èȱ¬

So farewell Michael Jackson.

Sad that he'll be remembered by a whole generation for his increasingly bizarre behaviour and not for the thrill of Thriller. (I can still recall the excitement of catching the full 14-minute video on television in the days before video recorders, DVD or YouTube, when you had to be tuned in at just the right moment.)

It's hard to align the Jackson of those groundbreaking video performances with the shambolic masked figure of latter years - although even I'm struggling to understand why his death merited both Newsnight and Newsnight Review.

Like a lot of Scots of a certain age, I saw him at Glasgow Green when he performed there in 1992.

Last performance

Again, a spectacularly theatrical show in the days when everyone else was still plodding through stadium rock gigs, it began with Jackson springing from a trapdoor onto stage in a storm of fireworks and ended with a stuntman wearing a jetpack flying over the crowd.

It was his first Scottish concert in almost two decades - he'd last appeared in Glasgow as part of the Jackson Five in 1977 and, though we didn't realise at the time, also his last performance in Scotland.

Coming just two years after Glasgow 1990, you'd think people would be used to cultural extravaganza but as one of the first gigs on the green, it also sparked a rash of complaints from locals about the noise and disruption who urged the city council not to allow him to return.

His last musical performance, perhaps, but not his last appearance.

Bizarre expedition

He did come back in 1997 for a bizarre househunting expedition which involved a heavily disguised Jackson and his entourage driving across Scotland, hotly pursued by the press.

Now the waiting begins for thousands of fans who bought tickets for the 50 gigs due to take place this summer at the 02 arena in London.

The promoters - AEG Live - say they'll make an announcement shortly about the refunds, but with millions already spent on staging the show, and the complications of fans buying tickets from many different sources, it could take some time to resolve.

For the past few weeks, I've been trying to avoid all adverts for the SECC show Walking with Dinosaurs.

Not just because the show might confuse my four-year-old with eyes like saucers that dinosaurs do still roam the earth, but because the ticket prices are almost as huge as the dinosaurs in the show.

But even in the midst of a recession, it seems like we're all still prepared to shell out for a show.

Perhaps there's a performance equivalent of the "lipstick index" - a sign that even in the most difficult financial times, we'll stretch to a ticket for something that cheers us up, helps us escape all those financial fears - or I suppose, now and again, gives us a better understanding of why we're all going to hell in a handcart.

Hate to mention Take That in the same blog as dinosaurs - but it's all about the same thing. Sheer unadulterated entertainment.

That's why 50,000 fans a night packed into Hampden last weekend for three nights on the trot; it's why my brothers are off headbanging to ACDC next week and yes, I give in, I'm off to see the Boss the following week.

It's hopefully a good sign, not just for the stadium shows and the outdoor performances but for the scores of festivals, big and small, which will take place across the country over the summer.

And the four-year-old got his share - with a trip to the Scooby Doo stage show. Well and truly aimed at his age group.

Think panto - "it's behind you" - and you'll get the drift. The grown-ups might grimace at some of the cornier lines - they flew right over the little ones' heads - but there's some nostalgic moments which will raise a laugh among those who remember the original series.

The cast are brilliant - particularly in the wake of all those quick-fire costume changes, and first night technical problems on the radio microphones.

And there's a lesson too for other arts organisations who're wary about tampering with traditional start times.

Most of the evening shows begin at 1830 BST - meaning tiny theatre-goers don't have to stay out too long past their bedtimes.

And going by the contented little faces packed into a sticky Kings Theatre in Glasgow on Wednesday, it seemed to pay off.

Many years ago, when I worked on a national newspaper, a new editor arrived with a set of house rules.

Or tidy house rules, since these involved sweeping our desks of all belongings at the end of each day.

He was even known to take a can of Mr Sheen round the newsroom himself - and give the desks a final polish.

Journalists are not the tidiest of creatures - I have a colleague who claims to be cultivating a collection of rotting oranges on his desk for scientific reasons - but one day that old newspaper cutting/theatre programme/council agenda will provide a vital piece of information for a story you've been working on.

On a personal level, it's also a chance to bring a little individuality to your workspace whether that's a family photo, a bunch of flowers or those aforementioned rotten oranges.

Harmless too, unless you work in a call centre, share your desk or accidentally eat one of the decomposed oranges.

Not so at the National Library of Scotland though, where there's been a right old rumpus about flags.

According to a series of emails, released to SNP MSP Christine Grahame, a member of staff was told to remove several Saltires, a Lion Rampant and a red tartan chair from his work station.

It was, according to Director of Customer Services Alex Miller, a nationalistic display "more appropriate to the football terraces."

Ms Miller's concern, she said, was that the display might intimidate non-Scottish colleagues.

When she returned two weeks after the first email to find the offending flags and tartan chair still in place - not to mention a movie calendar she found offensive - she personally took down some flags herself and put them in the culprit's in-tray.

It was at that point that Ms Grahame was alerted and tracked down the incriminating email conversation.

She was so outraged that she wrapped herself in a giant saltire and posed for photos on the steps of the library.

Ms Grahame said the incident was a "completely unacceptable slur on Scotland's national flag", but the National Library, in turn, insisted it hadn't banned anything.

According to Martyn Wade, National Librarian, "We merely asked a single individual to remove what we considered to be an excessive display of large flags from a desk in a shared, professional work area, and we would have done so regardless of what the flag was or indeed any other adornment."

Meanwhile, back on the stack floor - which is a grey and gloomy place, beneath George IV Bridge - staff are no doubt wondering whether they've all accidentally dozed off and ended up on the pages of George Orwell's 1984.

Scots actor Alan Cumming may have made it all the way to Hollywood but it seems like Edinburgh still plays on his mind.

It was there, at the Fringe, back in 1984, he first appeared with Forbes Masson in the cult (and camp) cabaret act Victor and Barry.

Cumming recalls on his blog that not everyone appreciated their humour.

The Scotsman's critic - none other than our own Andrew Marr - gave their show a feeble review, leading to a suitably cabaret response from Victor and Barry, who paid tribute to him at a Best of the Fest event with a variation of the Dean Friedman classic Lucky Stars - "We can thank you, Andrew Marr, that you're not as smart as you'd like to think you are..."

Cumming is one of the jurors at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, which got under way last week.

He was particularly keen to support Sam Mendes - director of the opening night film Away We Go - and the director of the Broadway version of Cabaret, which won Cumming a Tony award.

Speaking to critic Mark Kermode in a live broadcast of Radio Five Live's Simon Mayo Show, he said he preferred Edinburgh to Cannes at film festival time.

"Edinburgh is what Cannes would be like if it took place in a civilised country with a decent climate and reasonable licensing laws and good pubs," said Kermode.

Cumming agreed, particularly as an actor as he said most of the focus was on sales.

"You have conversations here about film rather than about sales of films and distributors."

Cumming, who recently took up joint US citizenship, was awarded an OBE in Queen's birthday honours.

He said: "You know what was great about it - it was for film and theatre and the arts but also for my activism trying to get equal rights for gay people in America.

"I thought it was very nice to get something from the Queen and those that love her for doing something in another country.

"I said thank you, your majesty, for highlighting the omission of the Obama government on this issue.

"I don't she will have had anything to do with it at all actually.

"I think there is some nice homosexual in the 91Èȱ¬ Office."

Cumming said he took up US citizenship to vote for Obama.

"It took too long. I missed it by three days but I'm glad I did it."

He said the main advantage was that he now did not have to worry about losing his Green Card and never being allowed in the country again.

Cumming also told the audience he will be providing the voice of Adolf Hitler in the stop-motion film Jackboots on Whitehall.

He said: "I use my acting skills. I do one of my range of German accents. There was the Nightcrawler in X-men, that was a German accent, Emcee in Cabaret - that was a German - and now this."

"In the story of this film, it is what would happen if the Nazis had invaded Britain and Hitler goes and lives in Windsor Castle and tries on all the Queen's dresses, so it is kind of like a drag-queen Hitler."

As a member of the international jury, Cumming recommended a film about phone sex called Easier with Practice.

"It is not a family film. It is like a phone sex road movie."

What a difference a week makes. Just before setting off on my hols, I mentioned the fact that Kelvingrove was lagging in the polls for the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year.

At the time, the Wedgwood Museum in Stoke was in the lead with almost half the online vote.

Kelvingrove had a mere 10%.

Then, in the space of a week, Kelvingrove took the lead.

If voting had closed on Wednesday at midnight, as planned, it would still have been in the lead but by Thursday lunchtime, the Wedgwood Museum had returned as favourite.

Then came the news that the Guardian website - which was running the poll - had closed down the site after had been discovered.

I'm told they were concerned about the extra 15,000 votes cast for Kelvingrove at the last minute and wanted to investigate possible "unusual fluctuations".

Over at Culture and Sport Glasgow, they're adamant it was simply a last minute flurry of votes, part of a concerted campaign to boost the museum's votes.

They say they sent staff e-mails to encourage last minute votes, and persuaded the Evening Times to get on board, despite their reservations about sending readers to another newspaper's website.

When the numbers rallied, they got coverage on radio and television, encouraging further voting.

"It's a popular museum and when people found out it was lagging behind, they voted, it's that simple,"says my source at Kelvingrove.

"It then became a viral thing, with people using Facebook and Twitter to spread the word.

"As far as we're aware there's nothing irregular about it at all - it's just late voting."

And that's an opinion The Art Fund shares.

It says the Guardian has verified the voting is correct and that the People's Choice vote will be announced as planned in London, on Wednesday night.

However, the overall decision for the prize lies with the judges, chaired by Lord Puttnam, and it's clearly overshadowed the prize in the first year it's asked the public to make its opinions known.

Is apathy to blame for a poor turn out at the polls?

And no, I don't mean the European elections.

The one Scottish hopeful in the running for the £100,000 Art Fund Prize - Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery - is apparently trailing in the polls.

The prize - for the most original and imaginative museums collection - is decided by a panel of judges (including this year, film-maker Lord Puttnam and Turner prize winner Grayson Perry) but this year, for the first time, the public is also being given a say.

The Wedgewood Museum in Stoke on Trent seems to be the favourite so far, with almost half the vote although both Orleans Gallery in Twickenham and Ruithin Craft Centre in Denbighshire are also doing well.

But Kelvingrove seems to be lagging. Last week, it had a mere 8% of the vote.

This week, there seemed to be some rallying and the figure was up to 10%.

Perhaps the fact the voting is via the is putting some voters off (the Evening Times is a strong supporter of the museum but can hardly be seen to send readers off to another paper!)

Or maybe it's just that its educational scheme is less newsworthy than Wedgewood.

Whatever the reason, supporters of Kelvingrove are anxious to rally support and increase the vote by 11 June when the online poll closes.

The winner will be announced in London a week later.

Returned to Stirling on Monday for the first anniversary of Scotland's first El Sistema project - the Big Noise Orchestra.

El Sistema is the pioneering Venezuelan network of orchestras, which has inspired millions of children, many from the barrios, the poorest inner city areas, to take up music.

It's as much about the team spirit and the discipline of the orchestra as it is about making music - although 30 years on, with more than 150 orchestras, including the flagship Simon Bolivar Orchestra, music is now one of their most important exports.

The much acclaimed Gustavo Dudamel - who recently won a classical Brit for his work with the orchestra - is a product of the system as are many professional musicians.

Thousands more have simply used it as a foothold onto less musical careers.
Here in Scotland, it was the Raploch area of Stirling which was chosen for the Scottish pilot.

While it would be unfair to class the area alongside Venezuela's barrios, it has its fair share of problems, and a reputation for less worthy pursuits.

Many were sceptical about how well the project would be received by its tight-knit community but going by this week's concert, it seems to be well and truly established.

Many of the families are now seeing the second or third child joining the orchestra or the pre-school activity.

Rehearsals are hard work - three or four times a week but the results are already showing, with some of the players moving on from open strings to more concentrated playing.

They're a long way off from being a symphony orchestra but in some ways, that's not the point.

The social interaction and determination of this little band - many of them still only six and seven years old - is as important as their ability to perform in a packed Albert Hall in Stirling.

While they're still trying to convince the Scottish Government it's worthy of funding - the new English scheme meriting a whopping £2m pound grant from the UK Government - it's not stalling plans for further expansion with both Glasgow and Aberdeen on the radar for possible new orchestras.