Concrete Playground

Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Ecstasy, Reheated Cabbage) is coming to everyone's favourite den of despair, Oxford Art Factory. If you've found yourself thinking that maybe there's something more to life than getting drunk all the time and that you should read more, you should come to this. There you'll realise that there is more to life: namely reading a few books about getting drunk all the time, doing drugs and beating people up.

This event is a bit unusual so we're all still a bit unclear on what exactly Mr. Welsh will be doing. Hopefully he'll yell obscenities at Jack Ladder and the Disbelievers who are "supporting" and throw a bottle at also-an-author Dominic Knight who is "presenting". We do know that he will be signing books and I will give 20 bucks to anyone who turns up with a Trainspotting DVD.

As for me I'll be asking Irvo whether he's worried that maybe his audience might be a wee bit bored of reading about pretty much the same characters doing pretty much the same things they were doing in 1993. "And another thing," I'll say taking a long swig of beer, "that last collection . . . 'Reheated Cabbage' is a pretty good title, eh Irvo? HA HA HA. What's that? Glasgow kiss? That sounds nice . . . yes, please!"