--- title: "Live Scotland in New York · Rampant Scotland" description: "Manhattan will be transformed into MACHATTAN over three days in April 2002 when a selection of the most talented and exciting musicians, writers and visual arti" canonical: "https://rampant-scotland.pages.dev/features/bldev_distilled.htm" last-updated: "2026-11-11" date-basis: "git-content-change" --- # Live Scotland in New York · Rampant Scotland Festivals and Events # Live Scotland in New York [Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20061017135540/http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/bldev_distilled.htm) Restored from the raw archived page capture: original scripts, advertisements and shared site navigation removed. Original wording, photographs and layout order preserved. New York Skyline ** Manhattan will be transformed into MACHATTAN over three days in April 2002 when a selection of the most talented and exciting musicians, writers and visual artists arrive to show-off what's happening today in Scottish contemporary culture. Arts and travel writer Vivien Devlin provides the background to the plans to paint New York tartan. ** > **Tunes of Glory** Former Mayor Rudolph Guliani, recently awarded with an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth for his outstanding endeavours following September 11th, will be named Honorary Chieftain on Tartan Day - April 6th, 2002, in the heart of New York City. Alongside thousands of spectators, he will be there to observe one of the largest massed pipe bands every gathered together as they parade up 36 blocks of Sixth Avenue all the way to Central Park. Many leading dignitaries from Scottish national and local politics will also be present to extend the hand of friendship between Scotland and the United States. Tartan Day is sponsored by VisitScotland and Scottish Power, which is one of the world's largest utilities, and Dewar's Scotch Whisky. This is a fund raising event to assist American and UK cancer-research charities. Toronto Police Pipe Band The "Tunes of Glory" march, with an estimated 10,000 pipers drawn from around the world, will take place on the last day of a three day showcase of contemporary Scottish arts, quirkily entitled ["Distilled"](http://www.distilledny.com) - and there's sure to be a few drams being enjoyed. The festival will feature performances of jazz music and Gaelic song, stand-up cabaret and comedy, poetry readings, art installations and a programme of seminars on a diverse range of topics from architecture and design to the art of the novelist. The aim is to offer New Yorkers a tempting taste of what's great about Scotland today. While the traditional image of the Highlands, tartan and whisky will always appeal to visitors, the importance of Distilled is to illustrate a new modern image and the dynamic energy, talent and innovation that is part of everyday life in Scotland. **A Sneak Preview of Distilled....** Distilled Logo Music will play an important part in the festival with an eclectic mix from some of the best known solo performers and bands. Whenever the name of the Mull Historical Society appeared on the website announcing their forthcoming appearance in New York, requests for information came from as far afield as Japan, California and the East coast of America. This popular young rock-pop band founded by Colin McIntyre, has a fast-growing worldwide reputation. They appeared at the Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations in 2001, alongside the Proclaimers and their first single, Barcode Bypass was recently named Debut single of the year by the New Musical Express magazine. Their latest single, Watching Xanadau is currently riding the UK charts. Tommy Smith Edinburgh born jazz saxophonist Tommy Smith (pictured here)is no stranger to American shores. As a young teenager he won a scholarship to train at the prestigious Berkeley college of music. He is now internationally acclaimed as a performer headlining the top Jazz festivals around the world as well as a recording artist. Rhona Cameron They often say that comedy is difficult to translate internationally as the nuances of language, dialect and culture is specific to a particular country or region. Scottish comedy has always been a very strong aspect of entertainment and the task of wooing the Americans goes to three very distinct and contrasting stand-up comedians, Arnold Brown (a Glaswegian Jewish "Woody Allen"), Rhona Cameron (pictured here - bright, sassy, sharp), and Craig Hill, (popular comedy club host and zany "story-telling" performer). As they are all stars of stage and screen and the Edinburgh fringe, with its mixed international audiences, they perhaps have little to fear. The various platforms and events featuring several writers and poets will offer a valuable insight for New Yorkers into the burgeoning contemporary literary scene in Scotland. There will be readings by Hebridean poet, Kevin Macneil from his collection, "Be Wise or Otherwise" and the award winning Alan Spence, poet, short story writer and novelist will present extracts from his delightful book of haikus, "Seasons of the Heart". A. L. Kennedy Spence will also join A. L. Kennedy (pictured here), Janice Galloway and Andrew O'Hagan for a seminar on Scottish writing with the aim to discuss the nationalistic and cultural aspects behind what it is to be a writer and the individual creative process. This event will be chaired by Catherine Lockerbie the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which takes place each year for a fortnight in August. She is also a contributing writer to the New York Times Review of Books. It would be unfair to believe that Americans are unaware or ignorant of Scottish literature although perhaps their knowledge stems from reading the classics - Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson - at school or college. There are certainly Scottish literature courses at many American universities, distinct from English literature. Interestingly, so popular are Scottish writers that the University of Wisconsin runs a specialist course in Scotland, at their base at Dalkeith House, near Edinburgh. The beat writer, Jack Kerouac, author of "On the Road" was an avid reader as he tried to develop his own individual prose style back in the 1940s, and he adored the great American classics. He also read Scottish literature as he describes in this passage about a hitchhiking encounter : > * "Well I got a ride from a man who loved books and music. He recited William Cullen Bryant and praised Sir Walter Scott and Stevenson and Reid. He drove slowly and talked about himself. It was amazing, riding in a sleek car with a tender soul who loved the romance of Scott through streets strewn with realism - filling stations, stores, hydrants, window fronts, but no sign of Ivanhoe." * Odyssey - from Early Stories - Jack Kerouac This mini Book Festival in Manhattan will therefore literally "spread the word" and give a welcome and valuable taste of the diverse literary world of contemporary Scotland. The visual arts will also take centre stage with an exhibition and two conferences drawing together key artists, professionals and academics to discuss topical issues in connection with design, architecture, and the development of arts venues for the 21st century. **Where it's all at....** New York Distilled will take place at the Boylan Studios, at the Starret -Lehigh Building on west 26th Street in the downtown Chelsea district of Manhattan. This is where receptions, performances and cabaret shows will take place. Visitors will also witness art and sculpture installations by the cream of Scotland's innovative artists, Douglas Gordon, and double acts, Dalziel and Scullion and Stewart and Smith. This will be exhibited within a specially created white cube in the Boylan studios. In the era of virtual reality, the taste and smell of the natural environment of the Highlands of Scotland will be experienced within the building, with the scent of peat-fires and swirling mist enveloping visitors. **The people who are making it happen.....** Distilled is a partnership project planned and developed by the British Council, with special credit due to Sheila Murray, the Edinburgh based arts director, VisitScotland, the Scottish Arts Council, Scotland Development International, the Scottish Executive with funding support from the City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council. Through the focus on the rich arts and culture climate in Scotland, the festival aims to promote travel, tourism, business and commerce in many diverse areas. As the American Consul in Edinburgh, Ms Liane Dorsey commented on the launch of Distilled, > *"This event and others planned to celebrate Tartan Day will forge new ties and further enhance the long standing American -Scottish relationship".* The minister for tourism, culture and sport Mike Watson MSP believes the festival is a vital tool to promote Scotland on an international basis. > *"While Scotland's excellent heritage is central to our branding, we also need to promote the excellence of our contemporary culture. We must develop to the full the potential and significant contributions that Scottish arts can have for tourism."* New York This is not the first time Scotland has staged an arts festival in New York. For three years running, from 1997 to 1999, Scotsfest took over theatres, concert halls, cinemas, galleries and restaurants to spread the word about Scottish rock music, film, visual arts and of course food and drink. Scotsfest was organised by Scotland the Brand, the marketing arm of the former Scottish tourist board, with sponsorship from several whisky distillers. It was launched each year with a spectacular Burns Night ball at the New York Public Library , a magnificent grand building on 5th Avenue. The whisky was poured, the bagpipers played and everyone danced till dawn in the ceilidh and hip hop disco. Tickets were red hot for this party with a guest list aimed at the young, glamourous Manhattanites, to introduce them to the image of a contemporary Scottish fashion, music and films. The signs were even in the late nineties that it was not too hard to get the message across about modern day Scotland. As 22 year old student, Jason commented in January, 1998: > *"We don't have to wrap ourselves in tartan to appreciate the cultural contributions of what Scotland has to offer. My buddies and I like things as varied as Trainspotting and Rabbie Burns, the Proclaimers and Scotch - single malt. Especially the malt."* Scotsfest paved the way a few years ago - now Distilled - Live Scotland in New York, can take over the challenge of winning the New Yorkers to a Scottish sense of style and culture. --- ## Source From Rampant Scotland, restored from the page as it stood on 17 October 2006. [Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20061017135540/http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/bldev_distilled.htm). Links to pages not yet restored here lead to the original page or elsewhere on the web; 0 of 1 links on this page are restored on this site.