Dundee-born writer and musician Tom Doyle returns to the city this weekend to present two musical events.
On Friday at the Steps Theatre, Tom, who wrote the Glamour Chase, his biography on the late, great Billy MacKenzie, co-hosts a screening of the documentary of the same name, alongside a chat with Dundee journalist and author Lorraine Wilson.
“We’ll be having a wee chinwag about the documentary and it should be fun,” Tom said.
This event has been organised to accompany the exhibition What Presence! The Rock Photography of Harry Papadopoulous at the McManus Galleries.
Then on Saturday, Tom dons another hat, this time as Tommy Turntable, to host Stylus Stories, where fans of vinyl can bring along their favourite records and tell the assembled audience the story behind why it means so much to them.
Tom said: “Along with Stylus Steve, Victor Vinyl and Dansette Dave we usually have a great time. It usually ends up being pretty raucous. As long as the people can take a bit of stick, it’s such a laugh.
“We’ve done about four of these events in London, we started because people have been doing vinyl nights, like playing Dark Side of the Moon.
“We thought: let’s do it in the local pub and add in the story element. It’s a total laugh, almost a cabaret night, Steve dresses up and looks like something out of Twin Peaks, with his suit and white gloves.
“It’s a real show, people pass up their records and he cleans the discs first before Dansette Dave plays the record. The people then get up on stage and tell their stories around their track.
“If it takes too long or if it’s rubbish then there’s a gong so we can bang, it’s like the long shepherd’s crook round the neck and you’re off.”
But as Tom says, those moments are few and far between as they’ve had some amazing tales of why a record is special to people.
“You do get some great stories. One guy came up and played If You Leave Me Now by Chicago and said it reminded him so much of when he was a kid and his mum played it all the time in the car.
“Every time she played it, she cried, but she wouldn’t tell him why. Then his mum and dad split up, and it dawned on him. He was only about six or seven at the time and he had no idea until they broke up.
“And there was this Welsh guy called Jake, who went to Knebworth to watch the Tubes. It was like Homer’s Odyssey or something they were up all night hitchhiking and when they got there, they were so tired they fell asleep and missed the gig.
“It’s brilliant stuff and it’s so easy. All you have to do is come along with your favourite record, give your name to the guys and get up and tell your story. As long as we get enough people to come along to make it worthwhile we’ll have a great laugh.”
Stylus Stories takes place in Clark’s on Lindsay Street on Saturday from 5pm and it is free entry.
Admission for Friday’s Glamour Chase documentary is free but booking is required. Call 01382 307200 or email themcmanus@leisureandculturedundee.com.