PETITION TO AID BURNS' MUSEUM

We received the following petition from Adam Ingram, MSP asking people to sign the electronic petition


I am contacting you due to the current situation with the Burns Cottage and Museum in Ayrshire. The complex has deteriorated to a state where many of the artefacts have had to be rehoused to protect them. As your organization is concerned with past present and future generations of writers I thought you would be interested to know that members of the local community council in Alloway have lodged the following epetition to the Scottish Parliament:

Petition to the Scottish Parliament
We the undersigned are greatly concerned at the impending dissolution of the Joint Board of the Robert Burns National Heritage Park in Alloway and at the recent collapse of the investment plans for Burns Cottage and Museum. The latter are cultural assets of national importance but are clearly suffering from lack of investment with the museum by common consent no longer fit for purpose.

The petitioners therefore request the Scottish Parliament to:
(a) review the policy and commitment of the Scottish Executive to place Robert Burns and his legacy at the heart of its culture and tourism policies
(b) urge the Scottish Executive to assume responsibility for bringing together all interested parties to ensure the flagship assets of our Burns heritage are properly restored and developed in good time for the major events planned for the 2009 Homecoming Year, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of the national bard.
The members of the group would be very grateful if you could post this message on your website and encourage visitors to sign the petition at http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk
If you wish to discuss the matter further please do not hesitate in contacting me at the numbers given below.
Kind regards
Adam Ingram
It is quite simple to use the "e-petition" and we urge you to do so.

David Russell - classical guitarist

(information thanks to Ken Pfeifer)

David Russell won a Grammy February 13, 2005 for his album "Aire Latina". David is one of the top classical guitarists of this time. He has an earlier CD of music from his homeland.

He was born in Scotland, but did not spend many years there. His family moved to Spain, where he has lived since. He and his wife Maria now live in Vigo right on the Atlantic coast of Spain. David spends most of his time doing concerts around the world. He takes a few months off each year to learn what he will play on tour. He also lectures and gives master classes around the world. He is quite the hero in Vigo where they have done a mural of him. He did, of course, study with Segovia for awhile, and Segovia was quite impressed with his talent. I think what distinguishes David are two things, one musical, the other not. His playing has excellent tone and color. While many musicians focus only on speed, David (who is very fast) also plays more musically than most guitarists to whom I have listened. The second aspect of his is his genuine modesty. He and his wife are the most generous, kind, self-effacing people you could ever hope to meet. This combination of traits has made David a hero among most young classical guitarists. There are thousands of stories that combine these two traits. I will share one with you that I witnessed when we brought him here two times ago. One of our lifelong audience members was dying of terminal cancer. After David's concert, he went back stage and asked David if he would play some Bach for him. Without hesitating, David gave this man a private performance of an entire Bach Suite. This is the sort of man he is, and his wife is in every way worthy of being his wife. She now functions as his manager, and, as a result, they are able to travel together. He has the Scottish CD out that I wrote to you about; he also has several other CD's - most notably one of Bach and one of the works of Barrios, one of my favorite composers. He also has a website that may contain more of the sort of information that you are seeking. Even though he has lived in Spain for most of his life, he still speaks with a heavy Scots dialect. Like most Europeans, he is multilingual and speaks several languages all with his Scottish accent. I hope that you get an opportunity to meet him some day.

If not, try a CD. The tone-thing I spoke about really comes across even on the CD.

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