AROUND TOWN

Returning to Edinburgh for its second year, The Hi-Land Fling (Friday 15 & Saturday 16 May) is Lost Shore’s international surf competition featuring more than 20 international pro surfers, along with food, music, film screenings and awards.

At the city’s The Pitt, Northern Rodeo Country Festival (Saturday 16 May) sees the Wild West riding into town for a day of live country-themed music and fun. Includes a bucking bronco challenge, line dancing, horseshoe throwing, plus American-style food and drinks.

Meanwhile, the SEC in Glasgow is the setting for Kaiju Con (Saturday 16 May), Scotland’s anime, manga and Asian culture convention. Previously known as Rai Con, it brings together panels, cosplay competitions, retro gaming, a silent disco, props and more.

MUSIC

Fuzz Bat Gigs returns to Edinburgh’s Leith Depot for what sounds like a belter of a triple bill featuring Shinlifter / Baker Island / Diet Of Worms (Saturday 16 May), a line-up that combines indie rock, indie pop and scuzzy garage punk. 

A legend of the local music scene who has also played at clubs from Tokyo to LA, DJ Holly Calder (Friday 15 May) will be taking over the decks at McChuills in Glasgow, delivering a mix of contemporary garage and psych mixed with some 60s and 70s gems.

Also in Glasgow, rising indie pop star Charli Lucas (Monday 18 May) headlines SWG3’s The Poetry Club, playing heartfelt tunes that have amassed more than two million global streams.

STAGE

At Edinburgh’s Summerhall Arts, Emma Lynne Harley’s autobiographical Walking On Eggshells (Thursday 14 May) is a theatrical celebration of survival and a humorous take on living with complex PTSD, incorporating such diverse elements as Britney, neuroscience, cabaret and theoretical physics.

Glasgow’s Tramway Beyond Walls brings a free contemporary circus show to Pollok Park with JOURNEY (Sunday 17 May), a thrilling and emotional ride through stories of change, challenge and connection from Scotland’s Cirqulation Ensemble.

And the city’s Òran Mór will be hosting their latest A Play, A Pie And A Pint production, Members Only (Monday 18–Saturday 23 May), a rib-tickling comedy revolving around a high-stakes bingo game.

SCREEN

Known for the likes of Kill List, Sightseers and A Field In England, ace British director Ben Wheatley is back with Normal. It features Bob Odenkirk as a disinterested sheriff phoning in his duties in a highly suspicious Minnesotan town, before things kick off in spectacularly action-packed style.

Glasgow’s The Old Hairdresser’s will be hosting a screening of Gakuryū Ishii’s Mirrored Mind (Thursday 14 May), the third offering by DV8, a new film club celebrating the weird and wonderful world of digital video.

You can check out the 4K restoration of Guillermo del Toro’s cult favourite Cronos (Friday 15–Thursday 21 May) at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse. Regular Del Toro collaborator Ron Perlman features in this ingenious Mexican twist on the vampire movie.

PODCASTS

In series three of The Gift, host Jenny Kleeman returns with more stories of the life-changing revelations brought about by online ancestry tests, with tales featuring law breakers, true-crime, sperm donors and twins.

Bad Chat sees presenting pals Greg James and Alice Levine join forces to share the best and worst parts of the week, including shame spirals and mild injustices, with listeners encouraged to get stuck in.

Kicking off this week, The Guardian Stateside is a thrice-weekly podcast hosted by journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman, looking at US life through a left-leaning lens.

VISUAL ART

Edinburgh’s Modern Two is the setting for Joan Eardley: The Nature Of Painting (until Sunday 28 June) a free exhibition of Eardley’s vibrant oil paintings presented alongside a selection of works by the likes of John Constable, Claude Monet and others.

Ending soon at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre, Unmasked: Exploring Scottish Portraiture (until Sunday 31 May) examines this age-old artform using highlights of the institution’s permanent collection, from historic portraits by the likes of George Jamesone to contemporary works from artists such as Sekai Machache.

And finally, opening next week at Glasgow’s Street Level Photoworks, William Ellis: The One LP Project (Wednesday 20 May–Sunday 28 June) is a unique photography project in which subjects were asked to hold a recording that is of great personal significance to them and explain its meaning and value in a short, accompanying interview.

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