The 'Wall has been hitting the e-press since the turn of the year (2008). 

Initially it was a forum and a Myspace, but such was the interest in the 

local music scene, it quickly set itself up as a website. Below is a wee hack 

type story, which ended up on the cutting room floor. I think it's good though :), 

and includes as many Falkirk bands and artists i could fit in, FOR NOW! 

MARLOW was ranting and raving as usual. Eight weeks our story; THIS   
 INHUMAN MASSACRE had been running and the Chief Editor was sweating   
 on a breakthrough.

 The Police officer running the investigation, LIEUTENANT STARDUST,   
 had no LEADS and our Papers constant cut-and-paste frontpage was   
 somehow BREACHING COPYRIGHT.
 Everyone wanted to know WHO SHOT MARVIN and the five other stiffs in  
  the morgue plus the two CITISINS who were in a CROMA, we were   
 clueless.

 It was time for this reporter to go undercover.
 I had a tip-off, which in LAMENS TERMS is a piece of info the Police  
  don’t know about from a source or suspect.
 BATEMAN was the name.
 ‘Disco Dave’ was a local fence, mainly stolen or ringing antique   
 motors plus the odd Hendrix signed guitar. Murder wasn’t in his   
 profile, but FAIGAN, one of the henchmen in the notorious McLERNON   
 crime family was capable of anything, and had been seen hanging   
 around with Disco Dave.
 One of Faigan’s victims, RAY SUMMERS; who just lived to tell the   
 tale told me Faigan once walked out from a bus stop in Stenhousemuir  
  and, he claims, “LE MANCHOT me!”
 I quickly drove up to FIVE PARK DRIVE in Denny, dumped the old   
 Morris Spitfire that Bateman had sold me just a few months earlier   
 and hid it behind those DAFT PSYCADELLIC IGLOO‘S they live in over   
 there.
 There was a HAZE ON A HILLTOP overlooking Park Drive so I made my   
 way up there to some HIGHER GROUND overlooking the Bateman Plaza.
 The place was awash with HOOKS-N-CROOKS, including ALANA, the   
 baby-faced heir of the McLernon dynasty. LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING   
 though, and I wondered if she had maybe made her DEBUT in some sort   
 of initiation test?, and could she be the main suspect?

 I decided to test my CIVIL LIBERTIES and ran down through the ULTRA   
 DEEP FIELD to the edge of the house, and climbed the DRAINPIPE   
 before jumping over THE FALKIRK WALL into the party James Bond   
 stylee and grabbing a glass of Bateman’s Pomagne. It was an acquired  
  taste for Bateman.
 Two bouncers and Bateman immediately approached me,
 “We want you to leave” they said one after the other.
 “What?”, I said pretending I never heard.
 “WE WANT YOU TO LEAVE”, they repeated again, one after the other.

 “I think I can hear an ECHOFELA or is it a parrot?”, I smiled.

 My body hit the side of the building cartoon style at 100mph, before  
  I fell dazed to the ground. I looked up to see a blurred IDIOTCUT-OUT of   
 my frame embedded in Bateman’s blue and buff stone cladding.
 It was funny, almost like a GENETIK BLUEPRINT but like visual art or  
  something!

 ROSS FAIRWEATHER came over and waved my tormentors away. He was the   
 calm before the storm, because when he speaks to you it normally   
 means BILLY SHEARS is about to have a word. Shears is hell on earth.
 Thankfully Billy never had his shears with him, but he did seem   
 quite amused when he threw me across the garden, with me ending up in the kids paddling pool which seemed  
 painless really, and hysterically funny for all the guests including  Alana.

 She helped me OUT OF THE SWIM, and I couldn’t help but notice her   
 KRIMSON dress.

 “It’s a VALENTINES party”, she stated.
 Wow!, well with me being EVER THE OPTOMIST, I just had to ask for a dance.
 “AKOLAYD”, she said
 “EPIC”, I replied.
 It was time to blow this case out of the water, so to speak.

 We took to the ROSEWOOD floor and slow danced for ages. It was an   
 ACID WONDERLAND EXPERIENCE. I’ve been in the DOLEDRUMS for so long I  
  forgot what it was like to have female company like the lovely Alana.
 I noticed Bateman and Faigan had disappeared so I made my excuses to  
  Alana and ran up the stairs and into the study.
 

 Faigan was dead.

 Bateman was gone, probably in a stolen mini.

 How could I have suspected the lovely Alana.

 Marlow was happy though, i had solved the case. 

The link to the site is below the blog, thanks

Scottie 

Part of the Wall was next to my old school, and it was part of our studies. We got to walk along it one afternoon, and although you don't really appreciate it's structure at that early age, it did get us out of the classroom for a few hours!

Over the years, I've seen various parts of the wall and it is probably more iconic nowadays as you can appreciate the huge effort that went into building it. Some parts have been damaged and corroded over the years but still good to be recognised for something other than the Falkirk Wheel.

 From the BBC

An ancient fortified wall which formed the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire has been made a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

The Antonine Wall, which stretched 37 miles across Scotland's central belt, was given the status at a summit of the UN cultural body in Canada.

It joins a host of renowned sites across the world including the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.

The wall was built 20 years after Hadrian's Wall and 100 miles north.

It runs from the Clyde in the west to the Firth of Forth in the east.

Although much of it was destroyed over time, sections of the fortification can still be seen at several points.

Highest accolade

It is now hoped the World Heritage Status will bring with it a tourism renaissance to museums and Roman sites in the area.

The wall, which was completed in 142 AD, takes its name from Emperor Antoninus Pius.

He ordered its construction in a bid to halt the advance of Caledonian tribes into southern Scotland, then under Roman rule.

Built of a rampart of soil and turf and resting on a stone foundation, it stood 12ft tall and was dotted with 19 forts.

It was occupied for about 20 years, until the Romans retreated around 160 AD to Hadrian's Wall, a stone structure straddling northern England.

The bid for World Heritage Status was launched in 2003 by the UK Government and was also backed by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said the announcement represented "the highest accolade of a nation's heritage".

On the sixth of June, six of Falkirk's top bands came together to celebrate the life of young Kiran Martin.

The Kiran Martin story is so touching it could bring a tear to the most hardy individual. The haemorrhage which had tried so hard to beat this young lass had won just a few weeks before this band night, so you'd have expected some tears.

You'd be WRONG!, not that i seen anyway, this was a celebration of life and of one of life's little battlers. Her friends who organised the night can take great pride in the work and effort of putting this night on , and the place was jumping almost from the word go as the Bands and the 200 or so friends rocked the Glen Village Club like never before.

I must admit, me and my mate Chris had been busy watching things unravel outside, and we never noticed the FULL sign going up on the door. We were lucky we were recognised as Z-list celebrities so we were shown straight to the V.I.P section, which was downstairs out of sight!

The night kicked off with the arrival of SYNERGY, who blasted a few tracks but were unfortunate that folks were still outside ogling , but by the end of their set the hall had started to fill up and they got the audience they deserved. For a three piece, they make an excellent noise and they strike me as talented confident guys. They have a great wee anthem in Gaybar which i'm sure was a result of a few drinks, makes me laugh anyway, so sure to be popular.

VALENTINES were next on, and we caught the end of their set, which had the folks sitting next to us nodding in approval. The best sign of getting views on bands is by asking, and most seemed to agree both bands by this point had been brilliant. I couldn't disagree, and was pretty impressed to hear them live.

EVER THE OPTOMIST created a very good sound, and pretty much at this stage the crowd started to loosen off a bit. Even Chris, who was on his 4th beer at this point was asking who they were, and this speaks volumes for any band! I like this bands sound and i think they'll do well, certainly judging by their live performance.

CROMA were the night's surprise package for me. I thought they done extremely well to adopt to the acoustics of this small club, and they stomped through their set. I'm pretty unsure if there was any equipment changes here, but whatever it was, it worked to perfect effect

VIP loomed quickly again, as Chris and I sampled another Ale, before rejoining the very busy dancefloor before the arrival of MARLOW. Not giving any favouritism to Marlow, i was looking forward to this after failing to attend their show at Big In Falkirk. Their set was very well received, and the crowd certainly had been warmed up for the arrival. Quinny and Telfer got the crowd lifted immediately with some showboating, and both were in their element. Great sound, and quickly on stage. They even afforded us a listen to their new song, which i thought was unique and only raised expectations of seeing them live.

Sadly, at this point we had a taxi booked so were standing outside when Marlow finished. I apologise slightly for that, but i'm sure i'll see Marlow and all the others soon enough. I can't say the same for IDIOTCUT, who apparantly had their set cut short and have since split. For those there you know the reasons, but personally i'm gutted for the team who worked so well organising the evening for some to spoil it so needlessly. I'll say no more.

During the evening, we chatted to a few of Kiran's friends and all agreed the Night had went well. Some were friends, or sisters or brother's of friends and only too happy to express to a stranger what this girl was all about.

I have to say, i knew exactly when i walked through the door of the Glen Village Club.

I had the camera on hand, and took some photo's of the night although the video was a disaster. They are on FLICKR, type in her name and you should get them.

On Monday, Falkirk-Ppl posted a selection of Old FALKIRK Photographs on Bebo. It suddenly took me back to my younger days, and how Falkirk used to be. I added some more up to date photo's, and MARLOW lead singer Chris Quinn allowed me to add his music as a theme-track to the montage. (YOU CANNOT STOP NYC).

Marlow are a local band, and recently played BIG IN FALKIRK, the annual party laid on by the Council which replaces the old 'Family Day' by several notches.

This year alone, not only was there a fringe tent for local talent, there was music by THE LEVELLERS, and 10CC. Over the years there have been some great bands, more notably on YOUTUBE you will see clips of HEAVEN 17 and THE HUMAN LEAGUE!

I really hope you like the montage, please feel free to leave comments, and try and visit Marlow's Myspce at...

Below are a band that go by the name of Echofela. Formely known as The Barry Price Band, they are one of at least half a dozen Falkirk bands who are on the verge of great things just now. This song Envy is just typical of the unique style of lead singer Barry, who has a good ear for songwriting, and tongue twisting lyrics. The band are to play alongside The Zutons at ROAR on the 6th of June after their fans voted for them to be the support. More from Echofela later, but in the meantime if you click the link for the Falkirk Wall below, you'll get more info and links to their own sites.

please now go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaepptSrRtk

Thought i'd take advantage of this great site and post a blog, basically about the place where i live, Falkirk.

If it gets a good reception i'll continue to update the site with news and feature topics. Thanks for looking in.

Scottie