So Hi anyone looking at this. Never done anything like this before but have been musing on doing a fringe blog for, oo, the last four years. So finally I’m taking the plunge! The first fringe show I saw was way back in 1985, The Bald Prima Donna at Buster Browns on Thursday 22nd August for £2. That Prima Donna keeps coming back every year, still bald as a coot. So if you fancy a stroll along the byways and alley ways of my Fringe experiences, feel free to drop in.
Like I said, I’m new to this so there’s gonna be plenty mistakes (though at least my typing seems ok for a moose) as I’m not really up with this modern technology stuff. So wish me luck and do check in again!
Yay! The tree in Gullan’s Close is back in bloom, beautiful as always. Had a wander past in today while the sun was out, almost springlike. The temperature is forecast to drop to -1° tonight, just to catch out those fooled by the sunshine, jackets will be required. I’ll be toddling up to the Jazz Bar to catch Louis Crosland, he’s the featured musician at tonight’s Blues at the Jazz Bar, a monthly do to showcase Edinburgh’s Blues scene.
Louis will be on stage at seven for an hours set, then there’s an Open Blues Jam until eleven when Louis returns plus the other two of the Trio to play the night out. Should be fun! I’ve only seen him at the Jazz Bar once before a while ago, it was after midnight, I seem to recall it was one of those bit odd nights, the feeling just wasn’t quite right, know what I mean? Ah, haha, yes, I’ve just remembered more about that evening, no, I’m not going to share.
After this evening, he’s next back playing with the Moanin’ Bones at Whistlebinkies on Saturday at seven, and then the following Saturday at midnight. That’s after supporting the Cinelli Brothers at the Voodoo Rooms, should be another great evening of blues, I have my ticket! Louis’s also supporting Giles Robson on the Scottish part of his UK tour (and playing guitar for him), eight dates from the 7th through to the 18th April, with a Louis Crosland Trio date at Stramash slipped in halfway. I’ve seen that the Inverness gig is at the Castle Tavern (14th April), a cracking pub I discovered when I was up there last year, and the food was divine. I’m almost tempted to pay Inverness another visit!!
After that busyness there’s two more midnight appearances for the Trio at Whistlebinkies in April. I know all this because the dear boy put up a list of his gigs up until the end of April, on Instagram, very handy to know. Of course, there may well be additions towards the end of April, as is often the way of things. I do know Louis is stepping into the studio in May to get some of his new material recorded (apparently twenty new songs to date), nice!
Anyhoo, I need to eat if I’m going to be in the Jazz Bar ’til the small hours. Toodle pip!
I bought a new fridge freezer this week; after being extra cranky for a while, the old one chilled it’s last sometime at the weekend. I hadn’t realised quite how old it was, fifteen years! So not a bad run at all. I was filled with dread on the Saturday evening, knowing I had to get my act together very quickly, no procrastinating, no ignoring it, or no milk in my tea! Luckily, I had some herbal teabags in the cupboard (though I wouldn’t want to check their best before dates) and putting all my freezer blocks and frozen food into one compartment gave me some breathing space. Enough time to look around on the Sunday, have a good mull overnight, then buy on the Monday, arranged delivery for Thursday. Okay, some food did get chucked but I ate the best bits first, like the lamb cutlets (very very tasty, from Annanwater, oh yeah), and I’ve been pretty well-behaved regarding takeaways, so I was due a couple. Mind, I didn’t figure on having to allow the fridge freezer to stand a few hours before switching it on, then letting it get to temperature for going on a day; so, the Mosque Kitchen it was for tea on Friday!
What goes up….
Friday was a particularly sunny day, about bloody time, it deserved to be marked, so I finally got round to trying out the Alpine Coaster at the Midlothian Snowsports Centre at Hillend just outside Edinburgh. It’s not “the ride of your life” as the website says, but it is fun! A short blast of fun, a teensy bit longer if you apply the brakes on some of the corners (and you probably will at least the first time, my brain was not convinced that the cart could not go flying off the track). Tickets are generally booked (online) for three rides and many folk just went straight through to queue to go again; me, I took some minutes to just savour each time. Tickets are booked for within half hour slots through the day, so there’s time to pause (some were immediately on their phones afterwards, to book another three). And on phones, there’s big signs all around, no phones on the ride, haha, yeah; meaning, well, we did tell you not to (some people just won’t be told).
The views from Hillend back over to Edinburgh are stunning. I was reminded that I really should go walking around the Pentland Hills more (I do have a map somewhere).
Holyrood Park from a distance
Another first for me on Friday was seeing the Jon Mackenzie Band in Stramash. I’ve seen him playing with Jed Potts a number of times, so when I saw the listing in the Edinburgh Gig Guide, definitely worth a look. And how! A lively trio, all three taking turns on lead vocals (and some great acapella harmonies on Country Roads); rockabilly, americana, blues, a bit of Beatles, and the segue from Cocaine Blues to the Enter Sandman riff and back again (with some fun lighting courtesy of John Mackie), loved it!! Oh, and I could be wrong here, but I think I recognised the bass player as previously in Babyfaceand the Beltin’ Boys, another cracking band.
It’s very late now, the early hours of Sunday morning, I shall away to my bed. Next time will be movies and music, soon, promise. G’night!
The warmth of the sunshine streaming in my windows the last three mornings has been so lovely, then I opened my windows and discovered the somewhat cooler reality, to say fresh is being kind. The sun was every bit as bright as the previous three mornings in Malta, ah well, ho hum. Yes, I went to Malta, didn’t you get the postcard?! How nice to stroll around in warm, balmy temperatures; mind, plenty were layered up like it was cold, but at 18° it suited me. Even the evenings only dropped to around 13°, I was okay with that, it was warmer than the daytime here. Hey, I’m British, of course I’m going to mention the weather! It was the continously miserable weather we had through February and a pic on Instagram taken in Malta (I recognised the style of window), that had me looking at Skyscanner, hmmm, such very reasonable prices; oh, I umm-ed and ahh-ed for a few days before making a very late night decision to bloody well just book it!!
So six very early mornings later, I trotted up to Waverley Bridge to catch the airport bus. The sun was just rising as the plane took off, sweet, I was glad that I’d last minute booked a window seat, I do so enjoy the views (and the poster of the Malta pic had mentioned his flight went over the Alps, indeed, they were spectacular). No, I didn’t catch up on any sleep.
I had visited Malta ten years ago with a small group tour, it was a good holiday but pretty full-on. visiting tourist sights all around Malta and Gozo; none of that this time, apart from a lot of walking, as is my wont. I recognised some bits but there have been plenty of changes around Valletta since I was last there. Luckily, Ta’Kolina was still there, right where I remembered it (on the front in Sliema), a traditional Maltese restaurant still serving amazing rabbit dishes (when in Malta, you have to try at least one rabbit dish!). I had the rabbit spaghetti for my main, omg, the flavours in the sauce, divine, and with a very nice Maltese red to wash it down.
Rabbit ravioli, very tasty
A couple of days later I had a plate of exceptionally tasty rabbit ravioli with a Maltese white at a back street restaurant in Valletta (annoyingly, I don’t remember the name but I know my feet will be able to guide me back next time). A traditional lamb stew saw me nicely full for my journey home on Sunday. Why go to a place without trying anything local?
And, oh joys, I discovered a local IPA to try, well, it would be rude not to. Stretta Session IPA went down very nicely, not cheap, but I was drinking in moderation so my wallet didn’t suffer much (and I could trust myself to find my way to back to my bed). I knew from my old guide book to check the Strait Street area (I never throw away old guide books, you never know when they might come in again, it won’t all be out of date).
Hmmm, not my scene some of it, but I had fun meandering round the little streets and stepped alleyways. I went in 97 Notes promising to buy a drink once I’d made room for it (it’s an awkward thing, walking into a bar alone and heading straight for the toilets, well it is for me). Oh wow, the main room had a stage at the far end, it was like something from a David Lynch film, being midafternoon it was empty and kinda eerie with a promise of night-time debauchery. I also thought it would be an cool place for Logan’s Close to play, hell yeah, I’d make the trip!
I noticed a large old billboard showing the local bars, handy!
I had a long peek into the Oyster Grotto as I passed by, promising myself I’d go in sometime later, it did look a fascinating, quirky place. I also meant to pop in the Offbeat Music Bar, I’ll go next time I’m in town. My moosedar was telling me to find Babel Bistro, I do like the sound of the word Babel and yes, I know the biblical story of the tower. To Babel, it was. Ha, I’d stopped awhile to listen to a band who were playing at an open-fronted bar before I realised it was the very place I was looking for, nice. Memphis Mac was the band, playing mainly covers with a some originals thrown in, but honestly, if they hadn’t mentioned them, I would have assumed they were other seventies blues/rock tunes that I hadn’t heard before! There were a couple of Free covers in there, not surprising as the influence was very clear, no bad thing. The singer introduced one of their songs as off their album, oo, an album (self-titled, available on Spotify), well, I had to check it out. Wowzah! Soooo good!
Memphis Mac at Babel Bistro
Babel Bistro is a fine establishment, friendly staff, a tasty IPA (other drinks are available) and great live music (great as in my type of music, ha), just what my Friday evening needed. Needless to say, I was back there the following evening, a different band but still plenty to love. One of the barmen mentioned to me that his favourite band were playing on the Sunday evening, dang, I’d be away home; but on the plus side, I’d be back in Edinburgh in time for the Louis Crosland Trio at midnight in Whistlebinkies. Sweet, huh!
It’s Friday late afternoon, another weekend of excellent sounds and a little rugby looms. Kicking off with tonight’s 7pm slot at Stramash is Louis Crosland plus trio, yes, the keyboards are back! I’m looking forward to that (not that I don’t always enjoy the band! but, you know). Louis plus two will also be rounding off the weekend in the midnight slot in Whistlebinkies; and in-between, he’s playing there at midnight on Saturday with the Moanin’ Bones. Busy guy!
Tomorrow afternoon sees Jed Potts and Nicole Smit and their assortment of blues, country, jazz, rock’n’roll numbers in Whistlebinkies. A delicious pick’n’mix of music genres, you never know what’s coming next but you do know it’ll be something great. Yeah, definitely Jed and Nicole over the first Six Nations game (England v Ireland), the later game is Scotland v Wales, much more interesting! Can Scotland play like they did last weekend?!
Last weekend Edinburgh went nuts after Scotland soundly beat England, and as Stramash shows the rugby there was a buoyed up crowd ready and waiting for the Moanin’ Bones. Bloody excellent it was to see them again!! The usual bag of great covers with the occasional original thrown in. And we’ll do it all again tomorrow night, yay. Thank goodness the matches alternate, so Scotland are away in Cardiff this time (though it’s always fun when the Welsh are up), town won’t be quite as mental. I say, not quite, but there’s still many, many out to watch in the pubs, it’s tradition!
I’d thought after the Saturday night madness, that Binkies wouldn’t be so busy last Sunday midnight for the Scat Rats, it wasn’t, but the ones that did come out were loons. Honestly, it was one of those times, like a very strange Fringe show when I haven’t a clue what’s happening or why, or is there nothing to comprehend, I’m meant to just appreciate the oddliness?! I ended up surmising that Valentine’s Day had been a disappointment, so each was out determined to finish the weekend, erm, with a bang?!
Oops, time to eat before heading oot. Enjoy your weekend, folks. Toodle pip!
It’s been a while, I know, miss me? I was down in the old country (Yorkshireland) for a while, to catch up with family, seeing how I stayed in Edinburgh for Christmas. Like most of the country just now, it was very wet and very cold, but it was lovely to see everyone. After a very dry summer the weather changed with a vengeance, as illustrated below…
So low for so long the banks became like meadows
Back to it’s darkest, dankest self
Anyhoo, this is merely a quick wave before I head out into the wet night. Carl Marah is playing at the Auld Hundred this evening and at midnight the Louis Crosland Trio are at Whistlebinkies, yay. It’s quite a weekend ahead, plenty good music and a Six Nations Rugby weekend too (the Scotland v England game, yikes). Louis is solo at the Canons’ Gait tomorrow evening, I may pop along, or save myself for Saturday…
There’s Chris Buckley in Binkies at two, he should be fairly buzzing as he’s got a new single out tomorrow. The Scotland v England game is late afternoon, watch at home, or in a pub? Hmmm. Seven o’clock Chris will be down at Stramash with Louis and the rest of the Moanin’ Bones, wow, it’s been ages since they last played together, or it feels like it. Midnight it’ll be back up to Binkies and the Louis Crosland Trio, yes, twice in one week!
Sunday may be quite a lazy day, get myself recovered enough for the Scat Rats to round off the weekend in Binkies midnight slot. Oh, and they’ll be back in 48 hours later, it’s one of those Tuesdays.
I do intend to write more tomorrow, honest. Now where’s my brolly? Toodle pip!
It’s evening on 20th January 2026, that’s Tuesday, one of those Tuesdays, yay. Whistlebinkies calendar shows that next Tuesday is as well, two in a row? Indeed, confirmed by Mr Marah himself. Tonight will be the fourth time I’ve seen the Scat Rats this month, then there’s Stramash at 7pm this Saturday too, yays. The Louis Crosland Trio were on the late night slot a couple of weeks ago at Stramash, that was a lot of fun!
I hadn’t been out at that late at Stramash in a while, the LC3 hadn’t played that slot before, didn’t quite know what to expect, I told them, students, lots of them, I wasn’t far wrong. As students go, they were a good crowd, enthusiastic dancing going on, I include myself in that, I couldn’t resist, being a bystander really wasn’t an option. The final number 7 NationArmy was an awesome ending to the night. Since then they’ve played Binkies twice, and they’ll be back there again on Thursday at 9.30pm. Yes, I’m having a rather fine January!
Last Tuesday was cinema time, I took myself off to see Marty Supreme. It’s a long film but it keeps up such a frenetic pace, it didn’t feel as long as it might have. I enjoyed it, fascinated by the place of table tennis in 20th century cultural history; partly because my mother and her sibling were keen players when they were young, sadly, though I was briefly keen, my abilities were seriously lacking. It is based on a real table tennis player, one Marty Reisman, I have a good dive into the facts behind the fiction and having watched clips of Reisman, yeah, Timothée Chalamet’s character wasn’t far removed from the reality.
Other bits this month, hmmm. Oo, jam on crumpets, it works! Or, at least my bramble jam does. One lucky recipient of a jar, mentioned that he spread it on crumpets. This appalled me, being a buttered crumpet fan, but, I decided later that I should at least give it a try, just a dollop so not to waste a whole crumpet if it was awful. Reader, it wasn’t, not quite a green eggs and ham moment, but certainly much better than I’d anticipated. I may even try it again sometime!
Happy New Year! Oh, the ninth day of 2026 has just begun as I finally get round to writing something. So, circling back round to 22nd December 2025 as promised last post, I went over west to see Logan’s Close at TheHug and Pint in Glasgow for their usual Christmas gig. There were plenty of familiar faces in the bar by the time I arrived, grabbed a pint, a few hugs and headed downstairs to the venue where the crowd were enjoying the Raeburn Brothers, also over from Edinburgh (yes, I quite enjoyed them too). It turned out that one of them was on a double shift, as keyboard player (and occasional percussion!) for Logan’s Close. I wonder, did the guys get the gig then LC went oo, actually, while you’re there, could you, or did they get the gig with that already in mind? Anyhoo, a fine choice, the Raeburn Brothers had the crowd nicely warmed up for LC taking to the stage; I say stage, it wasn’t much higher, more a performance area.
The lads opened with a brand new song Crystal Ball, Scott and Stu looking sharp in suits, Carl had already lost his jacket (it was definitely going to get hot), Gavin was way back in the gloom (shame), while the keyboard guy took the prize for coolest shirt (sadly I didn’t get a pic of it). From there, straight into Babestation, the first of seven songs from Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi; newish songs Chillz and Costume Changes were there, both of which occasionally pop up in Scat Rats setlists, so well-known to some.
The brand new song I presumed to be called Giddy Up, Baby at Leith Arches was there and it is; a stark, sparse song, Scott put down his guitar, picked up his drink and donned a cowboy hat, plenty keyboards in the mix on this one (I have to say it was the LC sound is better with keyboards rather than Carl juggling between instruments). After some outstanding singing from the gathered, along to more Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi numbers (a grand sound!), we were treated to another brand new bouncing baby of a song, Not Love (the prospect of another album is starting to get exciting).
Carl, Scott and Stu in harmony
The guys didn’t bother to leave the stage between the “last” number and the first encore, which was, yay, Lonely This Christmas by Mud. This is one of my favourite christmas songs and have previously loved the Rats doing it, but the full LC treatment, and the crowd all singing, oh, my heartses! Only something big with grandiose could follow it, so that would be Mock Marble Linoleum then. Love that bass riff and Carl gets to have fun with his theremin to emblemish Scott’s tale of a sad loser. A class ending to the evening, well, mine. I know there were plans for where folk would continue drinking after the gig but I headed back to the subway into the centre, happily fuzzed up.
I had hoped to hear Lonely This Christmas once more by the Scat Rats the following evening in Stramash but, well, it was a solo Carl Marah instead! I’m saying nothing. Except that the crowd loved him, Carl was in fine voice (the overall sound was excellent, beautifully rich, well done, whoever was on the buttons). From where I was sitting, I could see a number of folk going over to check the poster of the month’s listing to see who he was. His penultimate song for the evening was the full version of American Pie, well, it’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I had to make that my final advent calendar clip.
It’s now very late, or early?! Time I toddled off to bed. I’ll share this on Instagram tomorrow along with videos of LC in action. I did put one up shortly after the gig but it seems the sound has gone, if it was ever there, I’m sure it was!
Oh boy, that was a great evening last night! I knew the early part would be good but expected to be home by ten-ish, ha. First port of call, Whistlebinkies to catch the first set from Jed Potts and Nicole Smit, mighty fine as usual. Just a shame that once again there were a couple of very loud folk spoiling the music, so good on Jed for his public service announcement that there were other areas of the bar for people who just wanted to natter. They didn’t bother to move but at least they quietened down. They did leave after the first set, but so did I, I had a ticket for Sneaky Pete’s.
The headline was Callum Ford but my ticket was primarily to see Carl Marah on second support. My timing was just nice to get down there, grab a pint and manoeuvre into a good spot (Sneaky’s was heaving, if it wasn’t sold out it was very close to it!) Marah and moustache took to the stage (I mention his moustache because, it’s there, a double-taker on first meeting, I think it might be staying around awhile), no fancy looping this time, just straight forward man with a guitar.
What a cracking set! Opened with the wonderful Roll the Dice and ended with the awesome CatsEyes. In-between, Carl gave Cold Cold Christmas one more play, the crowd joined in the dah-dah-dahs to Oban, while Stags and Hens somehow sounded better than ever (how is that even possible?). There was more, but I wasn’t taking notes, didn’t video much either, I just blissed out on the sound, especially Cats Eyes at the end, oh, my heartses.
To be honest I wasn’t sure earlier if I’d hang around for the headline band but being there, yeah, plus it was a fairly quick changeover. Callum Ford and his band were worth staying for, engaging and witty songs; with a fiddle-player and one song set in Captains Bar, definitely a folky leaning. The crowd had been lovely and enthusiastic with Mr Marah, now they were turned up to ten and buzzing. Oh my, when the band started the final song the place went wild, Fairytale of New York no better to end a gig at Christmas, the band and audience gave it everything.
Back out on the Cowgate just going home didn’t seem right, so I decided I’d pop back to Whistlebinkies for one more pint. The second band should have been on at that point, nope, huh? Ah, they’d double booked themselves or something and Binkies took second place, who could they call on? Oh yay, the Louis Crosland Trio, how sweet could one evening get?! It may have been because Max, who occasionally plays drums with LC3 was working behind the bar so only two more bodies were needed.
The man himself, Louis Crosland turned up first, the room started to fill more as folk expecting some live music rolled in. A cheer like a mexican wave heralded the arrival of bassist Rob Henderson to the stage, no time to waste, the band cracked on and the crowd, yes, indeed, did go wild. Wow, I’ve seen LC3 plenty of times, that was one of the best, kind of like a giddy joie devivre from unexpectedly playing; it definitely put Max in top spot of my favourite of the band’s various drummers. The evening really could not have ended any better, well, unless the final band had cancelled too and the Scat Rats were called in, oh yeah (hey, I can dream!)
I’ll be seeing the Rats tomorrow midnight, yes, it’s one of those Tuesdays, I can survive til then. It’ll be a very late night, so maybe having no definite plans for Hogmanay is a blessing, after all, I’ll want to be doing my usual scamper up to Arthur’s Seat bright and early New Year’s Day. I was up there on Christmas Day, I did mean to put something on here about it, just like I’ve been meaning to say how totally epic Logan’s Close were in Glasgow. I’ll circle back round to that next.
It’s the Sunday evening before Christmas, thought I’d tap out a quick update before I head off to see Fackham Hall, and joys, the Louis Crosland Trio are playing Whistlebinkies at midnight (one can never too sure too soon). My Christmas week starts tonight!
A bit of a departure on my advent calendar today, I reposted a montage of ice creams from Thistle & Churn, well, the track with it was Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits, a classic in my book, and so are their ice creams. Oh, and I have three precious tubs from T&C in my freezer! Two of Caledonia Cream and one of Clootie Dumpling, they should see me into the new year, yeah, should.
It was my first time back in the reopened Filmhouse to see Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Mind, I’m still a little confused about the scene that was meant to explain what happened in the wood, nah, kept running it through my head. Help, someone. Even better for me was The Running Man, and I went in not sure about it, but yay, Edgar Wright wove his magic again. Had a wee inward cheer to myself, when I spotted Rich Hall in a brief scene, nice one.
On a much smaller screen, Carl Marah has a video on his YouTube channel to go with his latest song Cold Cold Christmas, do give it a watch. Mind, if you want to just listen to it, I wouldn’t bother asking your smart speaker! Certainly Alexa refuses to understand the name Carl Marah, stupid, stupid !!#*?!! I was round at a friend’s, it just confirmed to me why I’ll never bother getting one.
Tonight will be the second time this week seeing Louis Crosland as I caught the band in Stramash on Thursday evening, but it wasn’t a trio, oh no, added keyboards. I did wonder beforehand, but any doubts were quickly dispelled, a part of the puzzle that we hadn’t even realised was missing. A perfect fit for Louis’ sound, especially his own songs; sadly, it was only for the one evening so far, but hopefully, he’ll be back, that’s Guilhem Forey.
With more originals on the setlist some of the usual had to go, so not much Dylan except, of course, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Louis’s all time favourite song. I’ve heard the band play Louis’s My Kind of Heaven a few times, but it was a first outing for Losing Game, apparently voted into the set by the rest of the band, they all really like playing it. Yeah, I could tell you the names of the other two new originals, but I wasn’t taking notes, just enjoying being in the zone. Like I’ve already said, the keyboards slotted in so sweetly, the bass vibe was brilliant as ever, thanks to Rob Henderson; I’ll leave that there, just add a few pics for you.
Blimey Charlie, time I shifted! More very soon. Toodle pip!
Bruce on the Fringe 