Have you seen the price of onions lately? Okay, so I don’t pay much attention to the price of staples usually, but when a bag of three, yes, three is £1.10 in the local Tesco’s!! In a bag too (why?), I prefer to pick my own, especially at that price (bagged vegetables have a nasty habit of having the odd dodgy one, don’t you find?) No, I didn’t buy any onions there. And breathe.
I missed the anniversary of the first Bruce On The Fringe Fringe Awards yesterday. I say I missed, hmm, missed or procrastinated the entire day?! The double Fringe there was deliberate, by the way, in case of any non-Fringe Awards I choose to bestow in the future, you never know. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook (and why not??) you may have noticed the latest pic on my storyline featuring flyers and cut-outs, and so, without further ado,
Mesdames et monsieurs, ceux entre et ceux au-delà, welcome to the Bruce on The Fringe Fringe Awards 2023!
Best Epic Fantasy Adventure: Shadow Kingdom
Best Double Feature: Voloz Collective with The Man Who and The Life Sporadic
The Pugwash Trophy: Max Norman: A Pirate’s Life For Me
As the Actress Said: to the Bishops
Best Flounce: Yippee Ki Yay
Best Bedcaps: Finlay and Joe: Past Our Bedtime
Best Blood and Gore: How to Eat a Bear
Best Game of Jenga (ever): Laser Kiwi: Rise of the Olive
Best Docucomedy: The Last Gun
Loveliest Fringe Thing: Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant
Best Fringe Follow-up: Grubby Little Mitts: Hello, Hi
MostBeguiling Poster: Ginzel’s Little Cordoba: A Double Bill
Best Aidan on the Fringe: joint winners, Aidan Goatley and Aidan Sadler
Yes, maybe a couple pictured didn’t make the final cut but they were so so close. And what? No Best Musical Moment nominees this year?! Nope, my favourite, hands down winner will be on Instagram shortly. That’s it from me, and thank you to everyone who brought shows to Edinburgh this August, I may not be real, but for a few weeks there you made me feel alive ❤️
At the start it stretches ahead, but now it’s shortening unseemingly quickly. Now it’s the beginning of the final weekend, hoards descend upon the town from Down South, party time! Then from the aftermath of Saturday night, everything just fizzles out. Sunday morning some shows and venues are already packing up. Still, one more blow out on Sunday night, hey? Before more packing up with sore heads Monday morning.
Monday the last remaining flyerers will scrabble around looking for the last punters, it can be quite tragic to witness! Those final few are probably very glad to depart what feels like a ghost town by Tuesday. Yes, I know it isn’t, dur, but for those few Fringe workers still around, all the Fringey places that were so full of life are now empty. Like I’ve said before, let’s end the Fringe on the Sunday, hey, the official start day has been brought forward over the years, so too can the end date.
Anyway, there’s flyering to be done and shows to see, a HalfPrice Hut to check. I’m not sure how much the HPH list gets updated this year, there may be some additions later on?! I notice that Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant (5☆ from me) and How to Eat a Bear (4☆) are on there again.
Also on, I saw them the other night but haven’t got to writing a review, the utterly fabulous (and even more talented than I’d perceived them to be from our many chats) Aidan Sadler with their new show Melody, well worth 5☆. All their own songs too! Not on the HPH list yet, but it has appeared plenty, Yippee Ki Yay, I saw it yesterday, intrigued as it’s a different actor from last year and oh boy, so, so, so glad I went 5☆!
Oo, just glanced out of my window, it’s teeming down out there!! Jeepers! On the one hand flyering will be bloody soggy, on the other, folk will be more inclined to go indoors. This last week has been mostly sunshine with gentle warm breezes, folk wanted to make the most of it, not sit in stuffy dark rooms in the middle of the day.
Ah well, no rest for the wicked! I must have caffeine and away, but I’ll leave you with a quick list of shows that I’ve enjoyed this year, for your consideration this final weekend. I’ve scribbled it down quickly from looking at my Fringe schedule, so some may not be on any more.
Have a great day, whatever you’re doing, mes amis!
Is it just me or is this Fringe a tad quieter than last year? Oh, it is busy, but just nicely busy, transversing Royal Mile is actually quite easy! Okay, so there’s the usual blob of bodies standing watching a street performer, but apart from that it’s a doddle. Again there’s no craft stalls by St Giles, just a few sketch artists, shame, I liked them there; neither are there any on the Mound by the art galleries, nor on the recently reopened walkway to Playfair Steps (okay so that could be hard to negotiate at times, but it was fun and bustling).
In fact there’s not much at all going on by the galleries apart from a pop-up bar, like we needed another one! Why still no new Half Price Hut there? Really, no sponsors could be found, at all? Major publicity like that? This six o’clock closing at the Box Office is nonsense, and they’re charging booking fees too! Come on Edinburgh Fringe, as I said last year, it’s very little help to the later evening shows when folk can’t get to a box office in an evening to take up the deals on offer.
I did procure two HPH tickets yesterday, I’d had an eye out for them appearing on the list and yes, my Fringe-dar is in fine working order; two of my favourite venues too! Paradise in The Vault and Greenside @ Infirmary Street. First off Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephantwas a joy, just one man telling a wonderfully funny absurd tale (supplanted from America to Salford and around the UK).
What a storyteller! He kept me captivated as he told us about Jumbo the white elephant from Siam, and Inspector Blunt’s attempts to catch the thieves. The language is so gloriously old-fashioned and hilarious, plenty harrumphing and tushing, and telegrams flying everywhere! Great incidental music too, it really added to the experience. Just one thing, a screen set up to show illustrations wasn’t working at the performance I saw, a shame but our storyteller was so eloquent my imagination easily filled in the blanks. A wonderful hour ☆☆☆☆☆
Luckily the rain had stopped when I stepped out of Paradise in The Vault, so I had a wander through up to Teviot Square to take in the fringeyness (again noting that it’s not so busy as I’ve known it), before heading to Infirmary Street. This venue is an old school, a proper old school building, go to a show there just to see it! I went to find out How to Eat a Bear or how not to, as two slackers Mark and Dave find out.
These two slackers have absolutely no redeeming features, they will never become better human beings, they are truly awful (think Bill & Ted but even worse). If you haven’t been put off by what I just wrote, if you like American slacker movies then this is the show for you, you will love it! It is very funny, sharp, dark in places (oh, the Bill Cosby joke!!) and it should be a good time in the evening for it’s intended audience (a shame there were as many working on the show as in the audience when I saw it). Yup, How to Eat a Bear is a lot of fun ☆☆☆☆
As I seem to be reviewing in threes, I’ll just throw the charming Alex Farrow in here. His new show Alex Farrow: Wisdom of the Crowd at Cabaret Voltaire is another hour of philosophical fun. This is the third year I’ve seen him, he just gets better and better; he’s engaging and interesting, I could quite happily listen to him for much longer! ☆☆☆☆☆
It’s been a tad sunny in Edinburgh, and warm too! Summer concerts at Murrayfield are back, Harry Styles was playing the other evening, feather boas everywhere! I hadn’t been paying attention, so first thought was, oh my god, so many hen parties in one day?! The bands playing on Waverley Bridge had a fine day of it providing pre-show entertainment.
Naturally, The Kennedy’s Project were there taking turns with other buskers, they always pull a good crowd anyway, but the sunshine and Styles fans really busied things up! I had things to do, so couldn’t hang around but as I went past I thought the band were louder than usual, did they feel the crowd’s enthusiasm and cranked up the volume? It is a fairly noisy area with all the traffic and people, a few steps further on and you’d hardly be aware of any live music – unless it’s bagpipes.
There’s plenty of areas in the city centre where buskers set up and play, and since the dark days of lockdowns there have been plenty of buskers around to add a little sparkle to the day. Why, I might not have become aware of the awesomeness of Ol’Times if I hadn’t happened upon them busking. They packed out Whistlebinkies and no doubt other venues across the UK, by busking locally to promote themselves and help finance the tour.
Are you going somewhere with this, Brucie? I can hear you wondering – yes I am. See I recently became aware that the council have launched a consultation regarding busking and to help “determine if we need additional powers to manage amplification of sound in public places”, ummm. CEC (City of Edinburgh Council) are consulting the people? Not possibly with their minds already made up? – I say this, as I’ve completed their questionnaire and really felt it was trying to lead me to being down on busking (from Facebook I know I’m not the only one with this impression). My worry is that the council will go seriously OTT on this, they’re not known for being level-headed and rational.
There are already signs up in some areas to remind buskers of local guidelines of no amplification after 9pm, fair enough, though a busker without any amplification would be unlikely to be heard over the noise in the Grassmarket on Friday and Saturday nights! Buskers are asked to keep to a “considerate volume” and regularly move pitches, I reckon most do. Sure there are some bad eggs, there always will be in all things, and they’ll continue on their merry way no matter what regulations come in, they won’t give a damn. In Scotland the police already have powers to move on performers if necessary, so what additional powers are CEC wanting?
I find it quite sad that some humans seem to have lost the ability to just talk calmly, listen to each other calmly, pause to give thought out responses, accept that other points of view can be valid even if disagreeable; and whatever happened to magnanimity and grace in defeat? I get that some businesses may find it difficult to tell a busker just outside their door to turn it down, but maybe they’re just not thinking and are unaware how annoying they’re being? Maybe they are d**kheads, but maybe they’ll apologise, even be embarrassed by their lack of awareness (of course, embarrassment can also lead to an altercation if they try to defend the undefendable).
I think the problem will be with what the council consider as overamplification and their reactions. Sure there is just too loud, then there’s too loud in one place that couldn’t be heard in another. Times and places, people! Blanket rulings would be overly harsh, while overcomplicated rules will deter shy, new buskers (who should be nurtured and encouraged as possible greats of the future) and the bolshy ones won’t care. And what about bagpipers? Where will they fit in with their noise levels?
This issue has had me remembering back to the mid-nineties and one of my favourite Fringe bands Bean. They came over from Australia for three Fringes, mainly busking on the Mound, but they also managed to get a few very late night gigs in the original Gilded Balloon on the Cowgate. This was the Mound before the Half Price Hut took up residence, so a lot busier and packed with folk.
Bean only had an amp for the acoustic guitar, (the trombone and drum didn’t need anything), but no mics for voices – can you imagine that these days?! They were really quite fine without, but then the ever nearby panpipers added amps!! Really, no! Those panpipes were in-bloody-cessant at the time (I swear some tourists must have left Edinburgh thinking that panpipes were a Scottish thing!) No-one else got a look-in when they piped up, yes, problems with overamplification are not anything new!!
I’m guessing final song of the set, Moondance 🧡
Bean and gone
I’ll leave you with a great comment I saw on Facebook on the subject of how the council will deal with buskers, “You’ll no doubt find a way to charge them by the decibel, and then the louder the better!!!”
…. the goose is getting fat, but this moose is keeping trim. After lapsing somewhat from my daily walks, I’m getting back in the swing, after all it’s just three weeks to my annual NYD hike up to Arthur’s Seat. Well, that and the smattering of snow we had yesterday morning enticed me out, so two days on the trot I’ve been up in Arthur’s foothills. There is more snow forecast over the next week, yay. I do hope there’ll be enough for sledging. One time recently when I was down in Yorkshireland, I snaffled the old tray sled from the garden shed, well, no-one else uses it; bought years ago it was, in Aviemore when I was but a wee calf.
Christmas plans seem to be going well, cards all sent, presents mostly bought, the date is set for heading to the mothership. I’ve decided not to make a christmas cake this year – shock, horror! I know! Instead I’ll make plenty of parkin, it’ll be good sustenance when I’m freezing in the bleak midwinter! And, a cake is in the process down Yorkshire way, so I will get some of that (yeah, it won’t be a patch on mine, but I applaud the effort).
At the cinema they’ve reissued Elf, you know I’ve never actually sat down and watched it all the way through. I must have seen all of it over the years, bits here and there when it’s on telly, so I reckon this maybe I should take the opportunity to see it – I was going to add with no distractions, but, have you been to the cinema recently?! I went to see The Menu last week, a brilliant, dark film but the amount of noises from rustling various food packaging, folk unwrapping sweets, aargh, atmosphere flattened time and time again!! They obviously not really into it that their attention was on putting something it their mouth, rather than was what about to happen next. And breathe, rant over.
I’m almost tempted to see The Menu again, hope for a better crowd. I do fancy seeing Matilda at the flicks too, I wasn’t bothered about it but then I went to see Tim Minchin: Back when it was in cinemas last month – wow, he’s so good, and he wrote the songs for Matilda, I’m going! Back is bloody excellent, the man is so sickeningly talented and brilliant. I got home after seeing it, wondering what I put in my Fringe diary when I saw him, I had the feeling it wasn’t an outstanding review….
Ah, yeah. Thinking back that may well have been more about other stuff than Mr Minchin. Bud and I had just seen Aeneas Faversham Forever by our favourites the Penny Dreadfuls earlier that evening, the night before included Dead Cat Bounce … Late Night Radio. Our Fringe starter had been Sammy J‘s brilliant first Edinburgh Fringe appearance; the bar was set very high, our fourteenth and last show of the opening week, I was probably pooped out at that point (oh, it was 2008).
There’s also Violent Night in cinemas, I’ve enjoyed the preview clips and it is a christmas movie. I’m one of the few who quite enjoyed the other Hellboy film starring David Harbour and not Ron Perlman, I recognised him immediately, even under the Santa garb. Yeah, it looks like fun, switch your brain off time. I probably won’t be making it to the cinema until next midweek, mind.
There’s way too much good music around this weekend to go to the pictures! Tonight The Scat Rats are at Whistlebinkies at seven (well, the website says that, time enough to go see something if not, I suppose). The late afternoon slot at Whistlebinkies tomorrow is Jed Potts with Jon Mackenzie, followed by The Moanin Bones at seven. Annoyingly, Black Cat Bone are playing Stramash at eight, what to do?!
On Sunday Chris Buckleyis back at Stramash doing a solo set at seven, then just a minute down the road, Jed & Nicole will be at Bannermans from eight thirty. Another slight overlap with The Buccaneers in Stramash from ten. So many good sounds, a great build-up to Monday and Tuesday when Logan’s Close finally play again in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete’s. Sooo looking forward to that!
I’ll leave you with a pic I took this morning in Holyrood Park, adieu!
It’s really warm out there and really busy, so many people everywhere! So many people who have totally forgotten everything they were ever taught as kids about crossing the road. The human gene pool could do really without them. They’re quite often the same people who walk two or three abreast across the pavement and expect you, the oncomer, to step into the road to avoid them; I used to, every time, now I check myself and carry on my own path, let them moved aside instead – so many times they completely, like a refusal to give way, keep coming on, then are astonished/annoyed that I expected from them what they expected from me (it is in fact less, I just expect the courtesy of being able to walk on the pavement, they expect me to walk into the traffic). And breath, rant over, humans, huh?!
Space Hippo is a case in point of how dumb humans can be; why is a hippo sent into space? – because all life on earth will be wiped out in five years and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Yes, you’re right, there is absolutely no follow-on logic there, this is the bizarre premise of Space Hippo but considering some the world leaders around today, hmmm. This is like an epic sci-fi movie, but told using shadow puppets projected on to a large screen. A poor female hippo is captured and sent into space, this is her story, meeting aliens, being used, lied to, befriended, getting caught up in an intergalactic war and ultimately discovering the power within herself. I told you it was epic!
The two puppeteers are amazing using over two hundred shadow puppets whilst also performing all the characters’ voices. The story whips along with laugh out loud bits along with wry and poignant moments; it is quite out there but if you see it, I’m sure it will charm you too ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A very different puppet show is Famous Puppet Death Scenes, this is dark, very dark, unsettling, grotesquely funny. Oh, it’s very funny if you have a macabre sense of humour; lots of puppets die, one poor thing dies over and over. The puppet show stage set is impressive and there’s quite an Edward Gorey feel to the whole thing. Mind, the first death will make most think of Monty Python as the big foot comes down. Catching strange and wonderful shows like this and Space Hippo is what the Fringe is all about ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Famous Puppet Death Scenes has an air similar a Tiger Lillies performance, their music would be the perfect accompaniment to it. Speaking of the Tiger Lillies, they’ve finally returned to the Fringe with a new show One Penny Opera, I have a ticket for next week, yay.
And now, something completely different Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers playing at the Counting House as part of the Free Fringe and popping up in various places during the day. He is the sweetest guy, a gentle, laidback soul, who (you may have worked it out) plays the accordion, rather well. The show is mainly his twist on popular pop songs but he sneaks in a few of his own compositions (I do like the Holister song). He arrived in Edinburgh a few weeks ago now, I first saw him performing at Whistlebinkies’ Open Mic Night and made a mental note. At 22:15 in an evening it’s a good time when folk will be up for taking a chance on a free show. He is highly entertaining with his mix of music and comedy, not for the prudish though! I’ll probably go see him again before the end of the Fringe ⭐⭐⭐⭐
That’s your lot for today, I’ll leave you with a pic of my latest Fringe mementos. The programme from Famous Puppet Death Scenes with a selection of cut-outs on the back to make my very own puppet death scene; and the Mochinosha Puppet Company’s comic book/flyer for Space Hippo (what a great idea!)
It’s another glorious day in old Edinburgh town, gonna be hot today, maybe I should escape the Fringe madness for a couple of hours and go down to Portobello beach, soak up a few rays. For the Fringe acts this is the day it gets real – the giddiness of arriving in Edinburgh, previews, first weekend going wild, the packed houses of the 241 days, that’s all done now. Of course, apart from the initial Yay! We’re in Edinburgh! the PWYC (pay what you can) shows and the Free Fringe hit reality sooner, especially as folk (myself included) will have been making the most of the cheap offers, but now the pendulum swings the other way. The free Fringe shows puts the punters in charge of how much a show is worth, do they pay a tenner for a show that turns out to be rubbish or see a show that may turn out to be really good and worth every penny of that tenner? Or fiver or fifteen pounds if you’re really flush.
Today is also the day the Half Price Hut usually opens for business, sadly it’s no longer on the Mound and open until nine o’clock in the evening so that revellers can decide on a whim to take in a show as part of their evening. Instead, this year the day’s offers will be posted online and must be bought by six o’clock at the Fringe Box Office – am I the only one that thinks this is rather rubbish? For starters, the Fringe was going to make itself more popular with locals, hmmm, be at work, get home, eat, maybe a change of clothes, catch the bus into town and have already decided what you want to see, all by quarter to six?? (There will be a queue at the box office, let’s face it) Sorry, if you have a day job to go to and don’t live in the very centre of town you can forget HPH-ing for a fun evening.
The Hut’s old location also gave flyerers somewhere else to hang around, ready to give punters that extra push towards their show, the Royal Mile is packed enough as it is. There were obviously staff rotas for up until nine previously, so why not until nine now to help manage the crush there’s going to be late afternoon? Anyone who’s been on the Royal Mile in the last week knows it’s back up to peak capacity already in the afternoon; the times and place may deter some from bothering to get HPH tickets. I get that the old Hut was past it’s sell date and the Fringe don’t have the funds right now to get another one, but surely there’s a business in Edinburgh or Scotland that would like the publicity and prestige of putting up the dosh for a new hut? We need a new hut and laserboard, next year will do.
End of unexpected rant. Normal service will resume next post.
Toodle pip!
coming up next time, the Establishment comes apart!
…. Oh, but they are. I mentioned in my last post that I was up dancing to The Buccaneers last week, not just tapping a foot or swaying to the beat, full on dancing, shaking it baby! Man, it felt good. Friday night saw me in Stramash for The Scat Rats doing the early evening slot; the lads were on top form, the audience (scant as we initially were) were audibly appreciative but no one danced. I know I praise Messrs Marah and Rough a lot, but really, In The Morning was sooo good – are they getting fired up now that their mini-tour is getting closer?
Second set started with a bang, One After 909 by the Beatles (great song, a regular inclusion in Bluefinger sets back in the day), still no one dancing. The place was starting to fill nicely, everyone was having a great time tapping fingers and feet, not even Listen To Your Mother could entice anyone up (and it really should have), and then, too soon, the final song You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover.The Buccaneers finished with that in Binkies, I danced then, by god I was going to dance now, so screwing up my courage I headed over to where a vague acquaintance was showing increasing signs of needing to dance. Would she like to? – Oh no, not just us two in front of everyone. She clearly wanted to dance! – But her friends wouldn’t. Turning around there was a line of folk all itching to move more than just a shoulder to the beat, if we got up they’d follow – Really? So I asked them, will you dance if we do? Yes, hallelujah, we started dancing and they joined us, as did plenty others.
Amazing what desperation will make you do, but someone had to get the ball rolling and last night that someone was yours truly. After that the ball stayed in play and any half decent tune got people dancing, the crowd were raring to go by the time the next band came on. I took my leave and headed home some time after midnight, if I’d been wearing socks they would have been well and truly danced off! That was truly a moment of happy for me, I miss my dancing days, or rather, nights. Oh, I never chose to stop dancing but, well, places close down, friends’ lives drift apart. But Brucie, you go out to see bands plenty, why not just get up and dance if you want? Because, because, like the lady and plenty others last night, I feel the fear.
The fear is a powerful deterrent, it can be subdued by copious amounts of alcohol but that can often result in the fear plus a dose of shame the following day, not good. My fear was drilled into my psyche in my teenage years good and proper; twice, a few years apart, I learnt that others are watching, judging, mocking, condemning you as a wierd freak. I learnt that if you’re out alone, but still trying to make the best of things, without the protection of a bunch of buddies, any hyenas nearby will sniff you out. Yes, that was many years ago now, but it can be hard to shake these things off. And hey, everyone has their own doubts and fears – next time someone tells you your fears and worries are irrational and daft, ask how they feel about spiders! Now that would be irrational, to fear spiders (here in the UK anyway).
And while I’m letting off a little steam, here’s another thing ……. a relative of mine recently accused me of being obsessed with a certain band! What?! Me? At the time, I made some feeble, mumbling jokey retort. Well, he’s just a scornful old misery guts, always out to deflate others’ enthusiasm because he feels none for anything anymore. Wish I’d turned round and asked when was the last time he felt passionately about anything! Certainly never in this century. Yes, my enthusiasm when I find something I love is amusing to others, but sorry, not sorry, that’s just the way this moose is.
Must go now and tidy round a bit before I head up to Stramash for the late set after midnight – it’s The Buccaneers, yay! Will I be dancing? Who knows what the night will bring, but probably not. In the morning though, I totally intend to do something that’s really scary to me but is water to a duck’s back to others. Wish me luck!
I did it! It took a while and a few wrong turns but I did it! Indeed, Great Uncle Hubert looks great on my wall, a fine head!
He’s so going to be tinseled and baubled up for Christmas. How could I not?! Yeah, it’s nearly crimble time again. The Edinburgh Christmas Market is up and running; a lot smaller than previous, which is no bad thing. I had a quick scoobies at it yesterday and can report that it’s nothing to write home about (yes, the irony is not lost on me). I hope no one makes a special trip to Edinburgh for it, there’s surely much better Christmas markets to visit. I used to treat myself to a drink and a snack on one wander each year just to get into the Christmas spirit but, like (call me Scrooge if you want) not at those prices, especially for Rekorderlig Swedish spring water with added apple flavours!
There is an ice rink in town this year, I think it’s at the west end of George Street, and there seems to be some fairground rides at the west end of West Princes Street Gardens. Haven’t been for a tootles at either, I shall report back when I do. I can report that Frites on Lothian Road do rather good chips! Yes, they probably prefer to call them french fries but I reckon they’re large enough to count as chips, good mayo too. I was heading for the cinema and realised I needed to eat but also needed to keep moving; I’ve passed it a million times but never stopped before, I couldn’t wait until I had popcorn, a good choice!
The film I was seeing? Venom: Let There Be Carnage for a second time, actually I reckon that I enjoyed it more on second viewing. I’ve also been back to see Last Night In Soho again, such a brilliant, brilliant fillm ❤
Talking about brilliant things, Fur finally made it back to SneakyPete’s, yay. This was a rescheduled date from March this year – oh, how confident folks were in summer ’20 of Covid being controlled by early ’21. Now at the back end of ’21, we can see bands again by masking up to enter venues and buy drinks at the bar ….. then removing them to bop and jostle about in a packed out box! I did notice the air-conditioning seemed to be rather better than pre-Covid, no bad thing, it still got very warm but not like before.
Fur last played Sneaky’s in September 2019, I actually just went because Logan’s Close were supporting, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by this band from Brighton. Reader, I was so blown away I bought the EP! The sound, the songs, the vocals, wow. You’re probably expecting me to give some description of them next, erm, sorry, fully formed sentences ain’t happening. Retro, jangly, disturbing, disquieting eeriness, wistful, euphoric; there’s a few words that come to my mind about Fur.
This time round they have a new album out, When You Walk Away, so natch, I had to buy one. White vinyl, no less! And all the lyrics on the inside sleeve, nice. I rarely buy records these days but it does feel so good to have these two spicing up my collection. Plenty in Sneaky’s were obviously already well acquainted with the new stuff, as Murray (vocals and guitar) was blown away by how many were singing along. Me, I just bobbed about, soaking it all up, a blissed out moose; I love Murray’s voice, and the new stuff is more of the same, no bad thing! And you’ve got to love a band who take table lamps and a rug on tour to add ambience to the stage, oh yeah.
The evening was too good to just head home after the gig, you know how it is! The night ended in Whistlebinkies, a late night bar with live music just off the Royal Mile, Fur were there drinking with the Scat Rats (The Close weren’t support this time). Just had to get a couple of shots for the files…….
that time of night when conversation gets serious(ly drunkenly random)
And on Logan’s Close, they’re having a big Christmas bash at the Voodoo Rooms with three support acts, including Julen Santamaria from Awkward Family Portraits. Now that’s how to get into the Christmas spirit!
I’m in the wrong place, Gromit. No wonder l feel out of sorts, bloody Covid, I should be a couple of hundred miles south in darkest Yorkshire. I haven’t spent the second weekend of October in Edinburgh for eons! It’s one of my annual pilgrimages back to the old country. Some would say I should have just gone down but, having left the decision right up the night before I would have gone, the family all agreed best to leave it. The law may be an ass, but annoyingly my tribe are way too law-abiding for our own good at times!
My disgruntledness hasn’t been helped by an article I saw this week on Facebook from the local paper; the headline read “Curbs on amplified music, concerts and fireworks proposed for Edinburgh’s Old Town”. What! Are they having a laugh? Mind you, reading stuff in the local paper is like hearing about stuff from my mother – not necessarily the actual facts, just something with a resemblance of them. It’s written to read like everyone in the Old Town area came together and all agreed, no more fireworks, castle concerts, and we don’t care for the Tattoo either, really? A numberof people compiled this ducument, by no means should it be taken as the views of all Old Town residents. See, that irked me but what really got my goat was when the article went on to say that this group also have “a radical solution …. to ban all amplified music in the Old Town, from …. individual pubs”.
I was annoyed with the way local pubs in the local music scene were being linked to the council’s greed for the tourist buck and everything else that’s bad about inner city living; the night-time noise in the Grassmarket area is from drunks spilling from the other pubs, the live music venues really don’t add anything much to that hullabaloo. I was so incensed I almost wrote a comment (having read the Comments section of the local rag posts, I know the savagery of the regulars and how adept they are at missing others’ points). Almost, then I noticed a Facebook friend had already pretty much made my comment for me, oo, and indeed there were already two replies that would exasperate anyone level-headed.
Would my friend reply back? From reading through all the comments I discovered the first reply was from a serial ranter with a rather smug, patronising attitude towards any dissenting views; please, don’t rise to it, I prayed, he’s so not worth it. Ha, no reaction back (I bet that irked him), but a good handful of likes in support of our local music scene. Crickey, if these recommendations were implemented it would be a serious blow to Sneaky Pete’s, Stramash, Bannermans, just to name a few. And if that happened where might the new puritans strike next?! Oh, I do get the need for some restrictions and noise controls, absolutely, but not by people who don’t know apples from oranges!
Bruce on the Fringe 