Alfonzo's new CD goes stratospheric – but it's a shame no-one was there

Published on Wednesday 30 September 2009 22:35

PORTOBELLO indie band Alfonzo have launched their new single – literally launched it, aboard a home-made rocket. A breathless press release claimed an 8ft rocket carrying their CD Blind As Faith was fired from an undisclosed location in Scotland, capable of travelling up to 30,000ft at a speed of 1,000mph.

The launch was witnessed by the UK Rocketry Association's chairman, Colin MacLaren, and allegedly cleared for take-off by air traffic control at Prestwick and Edinburgh.

As publicity stunts go, this one looks set to give Fringe acts a run for their money. However, the band overlooked rule No1: tell the press about something daft before you do it. E-mailed pictures from the scene suggest something more prosaic than the high-flying claims.

Two unlikely lads from Alfonzo are shown holding out multiple copies of their single, in front of what looks like a miniature version of Tintin's moonrocket, attached to a giant firework pole.

Another snap appears to show it taking off into very low cloud with an impressive blast of orange flame.

But it all looks suspiciously like an anoraks' outing in the heather.

THE Discovery of Spain has been outperforming expectations by a mile, says the National Gallery of Scotland's director, Michael Clarke.

The summer exhibition on The Mound has pulled in 63,000 visitors to date, and it is hoped that number will rise to 70,000 before its last day on 11 October.

It explores images of Spain from masterpieces by El Greco and Velazquez as well as works by Scots including Arthur Melville and David Roberts.

The galleries had estimated some 40,000 people would turn up, but visitors have kept coming at the same rate as they did during the festivals, says Clarke, so it has clearly appealed to city and local audiences.

Giant posters around the Royal Scottish Academy building have helped to offset the negative impact of the tramworks.

The exhibition includes 130 oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints, but none was shipped in from overseas. "All of the loans are from British collections," says Clarke. "It just shows you can do really interesting shows from the resources within these islands."

In past years, the biggest summer exhibitions on The Mound – with works by Monet, Ron Mueck, or Andy Warhol – have drawn more than 100,000 visitors.

But the gallery never hoped to rival those favourites with Old Masters centred on Spain, he says.

&#149 SO POOH has a new friend. Lottie the Otter is set to join Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger in Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the forthcoming sequel to AA Milne's 1920s classics Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.

Egmont Publishing has commissioned the new instalment from writer David Benedictus, and it will be in bookshops next week. A BBC editor, Benedictus produced the audio adaptations of Winnie-the-Pooh starring Judi Dench and Stephen Fry, and had his second novel filmed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Lottie the Otter is described as "a feisty character who is bound to cause a stir in the Hundred Acre Wood". She has a swim in Christopher Robin's bath, helps to set up an academy and is surprisingly good at cricket. It remains to be seen if she will match the amiable eccentricity of the originals.