Dingwall Word on the Street 2017
Programme details here
Now in its third year Dingwall’s Word on the Street Festival goes from strength to strength. The Festival, which runs from 12 – 14 October in various venues throughout Dingwall is this year offering its most ambitious and exciting programme yet.
With events including readings, talks, walks, storytelling, music, drama and workshops there is something for everyone.
The official opening of the festival on Thursday 12th will feature the ‘lighting’ of a Viking Long Ship in Pefferside Park. Those interested in helping build the boat or create there own small boats can join local artist Lizzie McDougall in The Pillar Box (the old post office) everyday from Monday 9th.
An undoubted highlight of this year’s Festival will be the presence of Mike Heron, one of the original members of seminal sixties Scottish psychedelic folk group, The Incredible String Band.
Together with Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer, Mike Heron was a founder member of The Incredible String Band. Formed in Edinburgh in 1965, they soon broke from the folk club beginnings they shared with other emerging artists such as Bert Jansch, John Martyn, Davey Graham and Billy Connolly to pioneer an eclectic "world music" approach.
Signed by Joe Boyd to Witchseason, they produced over 10 seminal albums including "Five Thousand Spirits or the Layers of the Onion", the Grammy nominated "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", and "Wee Tam and The Big Huge". In 1969 they were the only Scottish band to appear at Woodstock.
Mike has recently published a book (with poet Andrew Greig) titled ‘You Know What You Could Be: Tuning in to the 1960s’. The first half of the book charts the early days of Mike’s musical adventures through Edinburgh's 1960's rock and folk scene, to the forming of The Incredible String Band. Mike will talk about the writing of the book on 12 October in The Croft
The following night, Friday 13th October, Mike Heron and his band play in concert, performing songs of The Incredible String Band, at the National Hotel, Dingwall at 8pm. This event is sure to be a highlight of the Festival. Tickets are only £10 and are available now online through Ticketsource at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/wordonthestreet . Mike recently appeared at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival so it is something of a coup to bring him to Word on the Street.
Authors featured at this year’s Festival include James Robertson, Sarah Fraser and Angus Peter Campbell. The programme also features Rob Gee performing his award winning one man show, ‘Forget Me Not – The Alzheimer’s Whodunnit’, a funny, poignant and moving play about the challenges of living with dementia. The performance can be seen in The National Hotel at 3pm on Saturday 14th. Earlier in the day Rob will run a performance poetry workshop and will appear in the Festival Finale in The National Hotel at 7.30pm, alongside rehearsed readings by Dingwall Players and music and song from Liz McLardy and Accordion Too.
Apart from Mike Heron events are free or Pay What You Want. The full Word on the Street programme is available in local shops and community venues and can be downloaded from www.word-on-the-street.weebly.com
Word on the Street is grateful for grant support from the Highland Council.