The city's heating up, but does the warm weather spell trouble?

A good Monday to you all, readers. As Glasgow looks forward to a balmy (and bammy?) weekend, Calum has returned refreshed from a trip to sunnier climes himself. If you want to see whether he can take a tan (he can’t) or if he’s sporting a Harry Potter-style scar from walking into a door (he is), then the only way to do so is by copping one of the few remaining tickets to our event this Thursday. We’re very excited to meet you all in the flesh. It's shaping up to be a good one; snacks from Parveen’s, the inside scoop on our first nine months, robust discussion about the future of the city, and hopefully a few laughs (possibly at Robbie and Calum's expense). Tickets here; sleep on it at your peril! 

It’s a dizzingly busy week for Glasgow. Whether Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Billie Eilish, Kneecap, TRNSMT, the Orange walk, avoiding the Orange walk, 26 degree heat or indeed our aforementioned party, there’s a lot going on where music and what we will loosely term “culture” is concerned. 

But with hedonistic pleasure also comes great potential for things to go wrong. Few of the events which transpired over the weekend went without one hitch or another, and already there has been plenty of drama and chatter in the build up to the coming weekend. Let’s get into it.

Glasgow in Brief

🍊 The most important weekend of the year for the Orange Order in Glasgow (and the most dreaded for many others) passed very much with incident. On Saturday, thousands of members of the city’s orange lodges marched through town. As one procession made its way through the Finnieston end of Sauchiehall Street, four marchers were struck by what is suspected to be air gun pellets. No one was seriously hurt, and Police Scotland are looking into the incident. We’ve had it confirmed by a source close to the Orange Order that the current investigation is “concentrating on ladies and children” who they say “appear to have been targeted”. 

Over the weekend, a spokesperson for the Grand Orange Lodge released a statement saying they are seeking an audience with first minister John Swinney to discuss concerns over what they claim is an “escalating tide of anti-Protestant sentiment” in the city. This week, the Orange Order in Scotland is also preparing to send members to Northern Ireland for the “Twelfth”, the yearly celebration on 12 July which marks the Battle of the Boyne. The events take place across Northern Ireland and involve tens of thousands of people from across the Protestant world. 

🎤 Tomorrow, Kendrick Lamar and SZA play Hampden (tickets still available for £90 at the time of writing) while Billie Eilish plays the Hydro on the same night (we spotted one ticket left going for £462, although resale ticks are available at the bargainous price of £167). As if the city won’t be busy enough, Kneecap will be doing what both Kendrick and Billie seem unable to do: sell out the Glasgow leg of their tours. Tickets for the Belfast band’s O2 Academy tomorrow show sold out in less than a minute when they went on sale at the end of May.

Kneecap had also been due to play TRNSMT on July 11. But after Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terror offence, the band were dropped from the lineup. However, this was only after Police Scotland voiced concerns about safety and the need for “a significant policing operation”. Might those concerns have had something to do with the tricolour trio’s TRNSMT appearance falling on July 11, marking the eve of the biggest day in the Protestant marching calendar?

🚄 Coinciding with TRNSMT, Unite has announced its staff on the subway will walk out on July 11–13, striking over pay and “intolerable” working conditions, with the union claiming the subway is badly understaffed. Whether or not the subway will actually be running this weekend remains unclear — and believe us, we have tried to find out. SPT has told customers to make alternative travel arrangements between Friday–Sunday, and confirmed to us earlier today that full services will not return until 6:30am on Monday 14 July. What’s not clear is if the subway will be closed entirely on the strike days. A SPT spokesperson wouldn't — or couldn't — confirm either way.  

🎛️ Like much of the city, we were shocked and saddened to learn last week that Keith McIvor — better known as JD Twitch and one half of legendary duo Optimo — has been diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumour. Over the weekend, McIvor’s partner put out an appeal asking for urgent help. The Facebook post, first reported by Resident Advisor, explains that he is “extremely distressed on a busy hospital ward with five other patients”, and “urgently needs somewhere peaceful, private and dignified” to move to as he is not yet eligible for hospice care. The family is looking for a fully accessible place in or around Glasgow, suitable for a hospital bed and wheelchair, with outdoor space for his dog. Email Love2JDTwitch@gmail.com if you can help in any way. 

Stories you might have missed: 

• Gangland arrests rise to 52 
• Poverty premium is hitting Glasgow’s poorest 
• Would you cosy up with a Partick Thistle player? 
• No evidence of stolen data in Glasgow cyber attack

Read/listen/watch: Optimal impact

Optimo’s influence on the city’s music scene is immeasurable. JD Twitch and JG Wilkes ran Optimo (Espacio) every Sunday between 1997–2010. They also founded the Optimo Music label in 2009, and brought significant international attention to Glasgow’ dance music scene, touring the world from Europe to America, Australia to Japan. But it was their Subclub residency that shaped their undefinable sound and defied expectations at every turn. There are too many Optimo sets and mixes over the years to point you in the direction of a single one, so we thought we’d recommend this 2016 Guardian article instead. “Optimo was a club, a sound and a way of a life that defined Glasgow nightlife in the 2000s, and its influence is felt now in labels from the city such as Numbers and LuckyMe, in DJs such as Jackmaster and Éclair Fifi, and producers such as Warp’s Rustie and Ross Birchard, AKA Kanye West and Anohni producer Hudson Mohawke.” 

We also rec:

• 102-year-old Glasgow woman says cheesy puffs kept her going: Glasgow Times
• Anas Sarwar’s dilemma: The Times (£)

Catch up and coming up: 

• Glasgow City Council still isn’t paying women equally. Eve Livingston looked into why those who won a £500m settlement after their contracts were deemed discriminatory still haven’t been paid, and why it’s still costing the council millions.

Six years ago Glasgow settled its equal pay problem. Except it didn’t

The council still isn’t paying women on par with men — and it’s costing millions

The BellEve Livingston

• Robbie once again discusses the most important questions facing the city, this time asking whether you can “sum Glasgow up in a dish and a drink”?
• Later in the week, he's taking readers on a tour led by formerly homeless people as they show us the city through their eyes.

Unconstructive critique -  Kelburn Garden Party

Is there a better independent music festival in Scotland than the one that just took place in Ayrshire over the weekend? If you’re wondering what the Glasgow connection is here, the annual Kelburn garden party takes place on the grounds of the 13th century eponymous castle, the seat of the Earl of Glasgow, Patrick Boyle. It’s the 10th earl’s son, the Viscount Kelburn, (although he prefers to go by David), that has run the festival on the estate since 2009, after having had the castle painted in polychromatic colours two years prior. Boyle junior once appeared on the reality TV show Ladette To Lady, but he probably doesn’t want you to know that. (He also says cringe stuff like “this year marks the outrageously juicy 15th edition of Kelburn”.) All that aside, the man knows how to throw an excellent party. This year, there were memorable performances from South African outfit BCUC, legendary drum and bass DJ Dillinja, Rebecca Vasmant ensemble, Kai Reesu and Lezzer Quest. There was also time for a jaunt up the verdant glen, as well as a few dips in the bracing pool of a waterfall. If there’s a better Scottish festival than this one, I’d love to hear it.—Robbie.

Glasgow calendar: Comedy capers in Queen’s Park

7.30pm, Queen’s Park Arena, Saturday 12 or Sunday 13 July

If mega-gigs and street parades aren’t your thing, there are still tickets for Laugh In The Park’s Sunday Service, added as a second day of comedy after the Saturday event sold out (although there appear to be a handful of tickets left). Queen’s Park Arena has also released their summer programme, which features many free and cheap events such as community showcases and cinema screenings.

Other dates for your diary:

• Grand National Tour: Kendrick Lamar and SZA; 8 July, from £90+booking fees
• Scotland Vegan Festival; 12 July, from £5.60