Wednesday 18 July 2012

AC/DC Return To Scotland! (Well Malcolm Anyway!)

Malcolm Young and Classic Rock reporter Eric Mackinnin
Great things that you find in Classic Rock Magazine's website - hopefully they don't mind me pulling the copy from their website (I am a subscriber to Rock's best monthly magazine!!).

Anyway this is about Scottish born AC/DC frontman Malcolm Young but also acts as a nice wee travelogue to the Western Isles!

"AC/DC mainman Malcolm Young discovered he’s less famous than his folk musician relative when he took his family to explore their roots on a remote Scottish Island.

He and brother Angus were born in Glasgow and remain proud of their Scottish ancestry.

The rhythm guitarist, wife Linda and son Ross travelled to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides to find out more about her past, where he discussed plans for AC/DC’s future.

He confirmed they’re working on a potential follow-up to 2008′s Black Ice. But he warned fans are in for a longer wait than expected, after singer Brian Johnson suggested there would be new material next year.

Young explained: “You know what Brian’s like. He just says things and then walks away. It’ll be a little while – a year or two anyway.

“I’ve been doing some jamming on some song ideas but I do that all the time, as do the rest of the band. We are still working. But we had a long rest between Stiff Upper Lip and Black Ice, so I think we need a couple of years to recuperate and work on it a bit more.”

He added it’s unlikely any world tour in support of a future release will grow to the scale of the AC/DC Black Ice trek, which lasted almost two years and sold nearly five million tickets.

His son Ross pitched in: “It would probably be a bit less, a year or 18 months. That was very long last time.”

The family met with Linda’s long-lost relatives in Stornoway and its surrounding villages. They enjoyed a visit to a lifeboat launch and relaxed in the town’s only hotel, the three-room Scarista House, overlooking some of the island’s most picturesque beaches.

Young said: “I still feel very Scottish. I love coming back to Scotland. We’ve never been to the Western Isles before but it’s been really good – it’s lovely up here.”

Stornoway resident Sandi MacIver, a cousin of Linda, is also a well-known local musician. She said: “We were having dinner in the motel with Malcolm and his family. A friend of my aunt came in and joined us. He looked at Malcolm then whispered: ‘Is that the one in the band?’

“Then he saw me and said loudly, ‘Oh – is that Sandie MacIver?’

“Poor Malcolm Young… I was recognised before him! It could only happen in Harris.”

Monday 9 July 2012

Seniors Open Qualifying on Scotland's West Coast Links

Of course the thing about Scotland's West Coast Golf Links is that it provides so much more than just three Open Championship venues and that has been shown this year with the number of clubs involved in providing venues for big events.

2012 has seen The Amateur Championship being held over Royal Troon and Glasgow's Gailes Links, The Scottish Amateaur at Barassie Links and the Seniors Open is on its way to Turnberry's Ailsa course - however three other great west coast links courses are involved in the Qualifying for the Seniors Open.

Dundonald Links, Kilmarnock Barassie Golf Club and Turnberry’s Kintyre Course will be hosting an estimated 300 hopefuls hoping to seal a spot in the Championship on the Ailsa course at Turnberry.

The 18-hole qualifier will be played across the three courses on Monday July 23 ahead of the star-studded Senior Open Championship starting three days later and it will give non-exempt players the chance to join some of golf’s great names in the Championship with the hope of reproducing the performance of Pete Oakley in 2004, who came through qualifying before going on to win the Championship at Royal Portrush.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, R&A Assistant Director of Championships, said on behalf of the Championship: “We are delighted to bring this most prestigious tournament back to the wonderful Ailsa course at Turnberry, which has produced so many historic and memorable moments in the past. The quality of golf courses on display for the qualification stage of the Senior Open Championship, as well as the main event at Turnberry, only serves to highlight the plentiful golfing assets in the region of South Ayrshire.

The 2012 staging will be third time since the turn of the century that the Championship has been held at Turnberry and if the previous two occasions are anything to go by, it is sure to produce some drama.

We think the drama will start on the three qualifying courses and if you get the chance why not pop along - it's free admission at all three clubs.

Seniors Open Returns to Scotland's West Coast Links

If you're looking to generate interest in a golf event the press release often needs embellishments and facts and figures and lots of pictures and price incentives.

This blog has none of these; here is our content to promote to Seniors Open Championship at Turnberry from 26th - 29th of July 2012. You decide whether more words are required...

Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer and Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Tony Jacklin, Tom Lehman, Corey Pavin, Sam Torrance...