No Rats, Bones, Buccaneers or mild-mannered janitors this weekend, suppose I’ll just get on and write to you guys. I have a chicken leg roasting in the oven (along with tatties, carrots, red onion, garlic and rosemary, all sloshed with olive oil), so fifty minutes to spare! At least I think none of my favourites are playing nearby, some website calendars have gaps in them and others, well, are not necessarily right by the night (if you read this blog much then you’ll know which local hostelry I’m referring to here).
Next weekend’s better, I believe the Scat Rats are at Stramash on the Friday early evening slot (well, Mr Marah thinks they are), then at midnight the Moanin Bones are rattlin’ and rollin’ at Whistlebinkies. Saturday sees the Scat Rats at Binkies at seven o’clock, a fine way to start a Saturday evening, folks. And it’s the Handsome House Band’s 100th gig at Stramash next Sunday! It’ll be featuring Tim Elliott (Blues’n’Trouble frontman, harmonica and vocals) and hopefully more unannounced guests. Come on, the 100th has to see a few “previously featured” getting up there for a jam!
Earlier this week I went to see Empire of Light at the cinema, there’s been mixed reviews but I loved it. Olivia Coleman is always great to watch, and with Toby Jones, Colin Firth and Micheal Ward in there too – well, it ticked plenty boxes. What a cinema it’s set in! Apparently it’s the Dreamland Cinema in Margate (first opened in 1935 with a very chequered past, like many old cinemas), almost another character in itself. The story takes place in the early 1980s, a time I remember, the good and the bad, I thought Empire of Light portrayed it well.
In other news, show registration for Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 is now open. I don’t know about anyone else but I do know Accordion Ryan has registered, yay! So that’s one show on my list to see, sweet.
Well, my tomato timer has ticked round to almost zero, I’d best go check on my chicken.
One of the best things about unlimited viewing at Cineworld is not being annoyed for wasting money on some rubbish film, time maybe but not money, hey, I’d have probably frittered the time away anyway! The film on this occasion was Black Adam, boy was it bad. I should have paid attention that it’s part of the DC Extended Universe, even with Dwayne Johnson in it I would have thought twice about bothering. For me Black Adam was dull, oh there’s lots of action scenes but they do get tedious and boring when there’s no decent story between them, no interesting characters, no sparkling wit. The few attempts at humour were obvious, sad or cringey, or all three (like some Radio 4 comedies).
The shazam thing had me a tad puzzled, was this the same as in Shazam!? Actually that’s a DCEU movie that I did enjoy. What really bugged me were the sanctimonious Justice gang, were they meant to be nice guys? I really couldn’t tell, and that locking him away ’cause they didn’t like his attitude, next minute, please, please break out of that prison we put you in and save the world. Come on!
I also went to see The Banshees of Inisherin this week, a definite go-see for me as its written and directed by the chap who did In Bruges which also starred Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (that film truly blew me away). Banshees is a quiet, oddly compelling film; I really felt for Pádraic (Colin Farrell), his bafflement and sorrow at the sudden end of a long friendship, his attempts to try to put things right, always making the situation worse. Oh, there’s lots of dark humour in there and so many little absurdities scattered around along with just a little violence (well, this is a Martin McDonagh film, there was definitely going to be at least a bit of violence somewhere). The slow pace of it won’t be to everyone’s taste but it’s got more going for it in one of Colm’s (Brendan Gleeson) cut off fingers than the whole of Black Adam.
In between seeing The Banshees of Inisherin and Black Adam I went to see Call Jane, a completely different kettle of fish again. I knew it was a fact-based film about abortions in America in the late 1960s, sounds heavy, but with Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver in it, I was fine when a friend asked if I’d chum her along to it. Wow, yes, a heavy subject but here it’s tackled so well, it’s written with a lightness and positivity, showing women joining together being proactive, helping each other; a very welcome change from how this subject is usually portrayed on screens according to my friend.
Bet I wasn’t the only one who got home afterwards and immediately went on Google – there’s plenty about The Janes and their background (the Smithsonian Magazine had one of the better pieces). Call Jane may be set just over fifty years ago but it is a very relevant film, especially with the overturning of Roe v. Wade by America’s Supreme Court in June this year.
It is a very human trait to want to have superheroes of one kind or another, enjoy watching films where cities are smashed to smithereens by great hulking chaps, superheroes who will return again in our hour of need. Then there’s real folk who go about under the radar helping others even when it puts themselves in danger, doing the right thing just because.
It’s been an interesting week since I last posted, some bits sublime, some ridiculously weird, some totally unexpected; it’s all left me too bamboozled to put anything down ’til now. Let’s start where I finished last time, about to head to see See How They Run, I didn’t see it. We arrived rather late, my chum wasn’t fussed about seeing it so we saw Bodies, Bodies, Bodies instead (I still haven’t seen it yet but I shall). Yeah, umm, we should’ve just call it quits and gone to Stramash early, really I could not have cared less if all they’d all ended up dead (I don’t think we were the intended demographic for it).
At least after that particular ridiculous, there was the sublime Nicole & the Backup Crew to pick us back up, and she was wearing another unitard, oh my (I’ve seen her wearing one before, I get it, very comfy, like a onesie but with sexy sass). Stramash was jumping, a great crowd. After midnight The Buccaneers took over, the crowd kept dancing, it was a lot of fun but I called it a night after the first set, hey, beauty sleep is required if I’m to stay so handsome!
A last minute decision saw me heading to the cinema on Tuesday night to see Clerks III, I hadn’t been aware it was even out, just as well I flicked right through the list! The first time I saw Clerks I was not impressed, then some time later I saw it again, much better, I loved Clerks II; I’m sure I have them both on dvd somewhere. If I can find them I can have a Clerks Day, watch them both then see Clerks III again. I enjoyed it but its definitely just one for the fans, quite poignant at times and it really points out how old we’ve all gotten (wow, Dante looks sooo young in clips from the first film!).
Sad news, Accordion Ryan has now left Edinburgh, he’s taken his two bags and accordion to Vienna. Good news, Ryan enjoyed Edinburgh and his Fringe experience so much that he may well be back next year, yay.
Wednesday saw me back at Legends for another blues evening. I missed the first band but arrived just as Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters took to the stage; or in my head as they became, The Janitors, the mild-mannered janitor (as previously explained in this blog), the cooler slightly edgier janitor and the janitor you really wouldn’t mess with (yes, my mind does wander down some strange paths). As brilliant as ever and I do believe there was mention of an album coming soon?!
Headliners were The Cinelli Brothers who have just won The 2022 UK Blues Challenge, needless to say they were pretty damn fine – but my mind went for another walk…… Okay, so at the time it was very funny, I wasn’t drunk or nothing, I mean no disrespect, but come on, I bet I’m not the only who’s looked at the drummer and thought “porn star”. He had the ‘tache, the hair style, the satin shirt; actually I blame the guitarist/keyboard guy (they all sang various songs) he started it with his odd vaguely eighties trousers with a pattern that reminded me of curtains my Mum had in her kitchen years ago (probably the eighties). Then the other two band members, tiger print shirt and blue tinted glasses, paisley shirt and a hat straight from the seventies; obviously the director and producer of the porn movies. Like I said, they were great, it was a great evening – the deflated blow-up doll lying abandoned in the Cowgate made for a bizarre ending.
That wasn’t the bizarrest part of my week though. Oh, I had a good idea that the gig on Thursday would be different – I had no idea how different it would be! Firstly, it was in the Banshee Labyrinth, not a pub I frequent (just in August for the odd Free Fringe show, usually in the cinema room), well named as I wandered what was obviously the long way round to find the right room. Just about another dozen souls had found their way there to see Nestter Donuts with support from Diogo Augusto, and the trip began.
Loud doesn’t come close, ear-splitting, the backing track for Diogo Augusto was intense, I’ve never done it before, but thank god for a spare tissue to stick in my ears. The guitar was pretty low in the mix so was hard to made out a lot of the time, maybe if he’d just turned down that infernal backing track. Aside from the music he seemed quite a funny Portuguese chap, definitely preferred the stand-up bits, haha. I realised it did seem like some odd Free Fringe show I’d stumbled upon; the headline act stripping down to his undies at the side of the stage to put on his leopard print unitard did nothing to dispel this thought (personally I reckon Ms Smit wears a unitard much better than Mr Donuts).
the artist prepares
Nestter Donuts was another solo act, he sings while playing electric guitar, bass drum and high hat; he has two large Spanish fans as stage adornments (trying for a kinky boudoir look?!) He describes his music as flamenco trash, a fair description, there’s flamenco stylings in his singing and guitar. There’s also a lot of bizarre, like getting an audience member up to sing the words for his song Meow Meow (those are all the words and boy, did she go for it, obviously a fan). A strange act that somehow compels you to keep watching, thank god I was able to avert my eyes away at the end, most of the few there did – he’d pulled the unitard down and his undies, yes, deliberately! Ye gods! Ridiculously unexpected that was.
More sad news, the Scat Rats won’t be playing Binkies after the Fur gig on Tuesday night, good news is it’s the Willie Dug Duo, or at least that’s what Binkies have their website, hmmm. Unexpected good news, I should be picking up a new toy that I bought on EBay tomorrow. One of those quick ganders that threw up a beauty, I won’t actually say what it is, don’t want to jinx it, maybe I’ve already done so by just mentioning it. Yes, it’s paid for but you do hear things.
Anyway, my tea’s almost ready, I can smell it, yum.
Last night I went to see Top Gun: Maverick, nothing unusual there, I am a regular cinema-goer; the thing is, I’ve never particularly liked Tom Cruise and I’ve never watched Top Gun all the way through (even on telly, the bits I’ve seen have never enticed me to sit and keep watching). I still don’t get the guy’s appeal, but Top Gun: Maverick was an enjoyable watch even if it was fairly predictable. Yes, yes, the flight scenes were great but that’s only as expected from a Tom Cruise movie.
I saw a much better film on Sunday afternoon, I was dragged along for company (why are some folk unable to go to the cinema on their own?!), certainly wasn’t expecting to enjoy it I as much as I did. The movie? Good Luck To You, Leo Grande a film about a retired widow who hires a sex worker so that she might finally experience all the things she missed out on through her very unfulfilling marriage. It helps that the widow is played by Emma Thompson, who once again turns in an amazing performance; and Daryl McCormack as Leo, he’s well grand, acts as fine as he looks (in his case I can see the appeal).
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is intelligent, funny and frank, hats off to Katy Brand for creating and writing such a great grown-up film. All the self-doubts, fears, overanalysing of Emma Thompson’s character will be well recognisable to many, myself included; oh, to have been more gungho and fearless through life. The denouement of the film was perfect and completely satisfying (he said with a wink), of course I say this as a moose, what older human males will make of it I really couldn’t say.
The cinema wasn’t my only outing on Sunday, in the evening I went along to La Belle Angele for the launch of Nicole Cassandra Smit‘s debut album Third In Line (that’s Nicole as in the one with the back up crew). Tonight the crew weren’t backing her, instead they were all out front in the audience. Wow, she sure gave a captivatingly awesome performance with a fine brass section on the side. The album will be released on 8th July, there’s already a single off it on Spotify. Yeah, I really should get on and book a ticket for her show at the Jazz Festival.
Let’s just go back one day further to Saturday, a fine afternoon – until I trotted along to Waverley Bridge to see if The Kennedy’s Project were playing. They were, with extras, and they kept playing through the shower, it went on for a good (or bad?) ten, fifteen minutes or so, but it was fairly light. Lucky for me the person behind put up a brolly which nicely sheltered me from much of the precipitation. The band retaliated against the weather with Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (I’ve put a clip of it on Instagram, you can indeed see the rain on it). The extras? Dara Watson trying to keep her harp relatively dry (yes, she from Whistlebinkies a few weeks back with Bart from TKP) and Jay Supa (frontman for Supa & Da Kryptonites).
Dara on harpJay on mike
Even after the sun came back out during Hound Dog, the rain refused to give up for a while, not that anyone was driven to seeking shelter elsewhere, most stayed to watch. Finally the band outplayed the rain and finished the set in glorious sunshine. Ah, the joys of a Scottish summer!
It’s Saturday evening, thought I’d probably get an early(ish) night after being out socialising for most of the day but Facebook tells me that Whistlebinkies will be serving up an exquisite snack late on tonight. So I thought I’d write a few lines before I head out….
I’ve made good use of my cinema unlimited pass this month with four films seen; a fifth too, at the Filmhouse, which only cost me a fiver as I went to see it on a Sunday. Let’s start with that one, Boiling Point; this was recommended to me by a friend, I hadn’t heard much about it and what I had heard didn’t sound like my thing, but my friend nudged it into the hmmm pile. Would I have bothered if it hadn’t been on for cheap? Not sure, the draw was Stephen Graham along with the intrigue of it being a one take film – I’m glad I saw it, even if I did feel pretty raw, like I’d been dragged over hot coals by the end of it. It’s ninety two minutes of building tensions during a busy evening shift in a restaurant kitchen, Stephen Graham is brilliant as a chef trying to keep it together while his life falls apart. The film becomes quite claustrophobic as it reaches its boiling point, and it occurs to me that watching it alone at home in a dark room could be a tad overwhelming for some (inducing traumatic flashbacks for restaurant workers). You may feel more kindly disposed to restaurant staff after seeing this!
And at the other end of the movie-going experience Spider-Man: No Way Home. Three Spider Men, Doctor Strange (I’m still at odds with Benedict Cumberbatch’s American accent) and baddies a-plenty, it’s fun, snappy, full of action but for me, well, not as awesome as I was expecting. I may well see it again though before it disappears from the big screen, just because I can. I kinda feel the same way about The King’s Man; a great film, not as comically violent as the first two, almost somber at times in comparison, not as brilliant as I was expecting. Still, I reckon Matthew Vaughan should have a crack at a new version of Royal Flash, if anyone can make a good job of it, it’s him. Whilst I love the 1975 film directed by Richard Lester starring Malcolm McDowell, Flashman was played too much as a buffoon for comedy purposes. Flashman is a cad, a coward, a scoundrel, a rogue but not a buffoon. Give old Flashie another chance, I say!
A couple of weeks ago I went to see Benedict Cumberbatch being very British in TheElectrical Life of Louis Wain. Louis Wain was the eccentric artist famous for his pictures anthropomorphising cats. It’s really quite a poignant tale beautifully narrated by Olivia Colman; though Wain was extremely talented as an artist, he sadly lacked any business sense, was poor most of his life and had increasing mental health problems (he spent the last fifteen years of his life in psychiatric hospitals). A sweet, sad, compassionate film.
Late Wednesday evening I saw Nightmare Alley the latest Guillermo del Toro film. More like Desolation Alley for me, an uneasy, uncomfortable watch through the life of a rather unpleasant chap. Oh, visually the film is a treat but it’s rather cold and my lack of empathy with most of the characters didn’t help. Oh well.
Anyways,its nearly midnight, time to head out to Binkies for The Buccaneers. Well, they were rather good the other night at Stramash. I’ll leave you with a pic of the very talented Carl Marah doing his thing….
Aaaand the moose is soon home again, somewhat deflated. No buccaneering going on tonight! That’s the second time now (the first time was before Christmas but the band had to cancel ’cause of a case of Covid). Mind, I think Binkies need to get someone else to do their Facebook updates, yesterday afternoon they put up a post advertising the evening’s entertainment, as usual with pics of each band – one was the new pic of The Buccaneers, by elimination they were now called Size Queen?!? When I looked again later neither The Buccs nor Size Queen were playing, it was yet another band!
….2021 is nearly over, just enough time for one more little drama – a fire came up from the bowels of the earth in Holyrood Road, just outside what was the Apple shop many, many years ago (back when Apple was a sweet little thing). Okay, maybe not from the bowels of the earth, just a few feet down, dramatic enough to close the road for five hours or so, anyway.
Meanwhile in Chez Bruce I was polishing off the rest of last night’s Chinese takeaway for brunch. My, it was good after a hard day travelling back up in rather dreich weather, don’t reckon I’ve ever have a duff dish from Silver Bowl on Leith Walk in, oo, thirty or so years. They do their own deliveries rather than allowing the delivery companies to pick up from them, I like that.
The evening’s entertainment? Well, after playing Hedwig and the Angry Inch up and down the country (on looking properly it’s the Stage Musical Cast CD not the film soundtrack – I have both) what else could I watch?! There was time to unpack, warm up the old cave and sort some drinks before the delivery guy buzzed up. OMG! It really is as good as I thought it was. But, woah, it’s now twenty years old! What? Yes, it came out in 2001 when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Dramatic Directing Award and the Dramatic Audience Award. Also, a quick check on Rotten Tomatoes shows 92% and 93% scores – so it’s not just me!
John Cameron Sinclair is incredible as Hedwig, a point really underlined when I watched the dvd extra Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig (you can find it on YouTube). This documentary tells how John Cameron Sinclair (director, writer, Hedwig) and Stephen Trask (music, Skszp) met and went on to develop the idea of Hedwig as a character in a stage musical and then the movie; it was some process, these guys were on a mission, definitely worth a watch especially if you’ve seen Hedwig, the movie or a stage production.
I saw the stage musical at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004 at Greenside Church on Royal Terrace. It was so, so good and just to carry on the party a little longer the band would do a few more numbers at the end for everyone to get and dance to, the likes of SuffragetteCity and The Jean Genie. Utterly awesome! There have been other productions of it on the Fringe since but I”ve not seen them, not sure they could measure up to the one I saw. Mind, I would have loved a chance to have seen Neil Patrick Harris or Michael C Hall when they played Hedwig, oh my!
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – funny, uplifting, wickedly delicious, heartbreaking, a revelation. A great film for the end of a year ❤
As the evenings draw in, it can be too easy to accidentally cocoon oneself at home, so this week I’ve been catching up at the cinema again, three films seen so I’m already quids in for the month on my Unlimited card. This was the final week for Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch so I started with that on Tuesday evening……
The French Dispatch is a sumptuous, visually stunning film to wallow in, if you like Wes Anderson films, be warned this is a very, very Wes A film. As usual he has a large returning cast, does he write characters with people in mind, or think who he wants and writes for them? The French Dispatch is a magazine supplement produced in Ennui-sur-Blasé (a fictional town in France, Angoulême was used for the location shots) for an American newspaper; the film has a beginning, an ending and three feature articles in between, like I said, it’s very Wes. There’s a lot in there but personally I found that whilst it was sensory overload in many ways, it lacked something for me, the whole was less than the sum of the parts. Hmmm.
Next up was Venom: Let There Be Carnage and there was, indeed! Well, it is a Venom film so violence is part of the territory, accompanied by lots of fast quips and dark humour, of course. Again, a film to enjoy, but for me, not quite up to the first one. Tom Hardy is very watchable as always, and Woody Harrelson has a whale of a time! I was thinking back thirty years and more, to when he played Woody (the dopey bartender) in Cheers, who would ever thought that same guy would go on to do so much and win awards?! In Venom: Let There Be Carnage he plays locked up serial killer Cletus Kasady, who by managing to bite Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) gets a piece of the alien symbiote, which makes him even more psychotic and he becomes Carnage. I have a few niggles about plot holes and bits, but it is a very entertaining watch, just don’t think about it too much.
Then, last night I went to see Last Night In Soho, Edgar Wright’s latest film. Oo, he’s good. Great story, script, cinematography, atmosphere, soundtrack, and wow, the actors! Sixties iconic actors, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg and Rita Tushingham, former Dr Who Matt Smith and two of the best young female actors around, Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie (plus a number of other recognisable faces). This is a beautiful stylish film right from the first scene when modern day wannabe fashion designer Ellie (McKenzie) is dancing around, wearing a dress made from newspaper, to A World Without Love, in her room which is plastered with posters from the sixties. She’s soon heading to London and college; overwhelmed by student life (and a bitchy, shallow roommate), she moves into a room on Soho (oh, and we know she has some kind of spooky gift), and so it begins……
Everything is so brilliantly realised, the fashions, the clubs, Ellie sleep-watching Sandie’s world, slowly becoming most absorbed into it. The lightness at the start of the film gives way to the darkness, the seedy sordid side of the swinging sixties. Scenes like Sandie’s (Taylor-Joy) audition as she sings Downtown, and the dream dance sequence are mesmerising. I can’t actually say too much more that wouldn’t spoil the slow reveal of the film, oh, but Matt Smith as the sleazy charmer, Jack, is really excellent and quite unnervingly scary. There’s plenty to think about from watching this film, the attitudes and morals of the times, the victims. I think I need to see Last Night In Soho again, and seeing it a second time, knowing all the truths from the start could be quite fascinating.
This was Diana Rigg’s last film, in some ways a good film to finish with, a bookend to her start in The Avengers tv series as Emma Peel in a somewhat surreal swinging sixties. Rigg was also an early Bond girl (reader, she married him!), but filmwork didn’t entice her away from tv and theatre work, she was a very busy lady! Of course, many now know her as the magnificent Lady Olwen Tyrell from Game of Thrones, and some may remember that she appeared in Doctor Who during Matt Smith’s time in the tardis. I wonder if Diana Rigg and Rita Tushingham shared any stories of their younger sixties selves with their young co-stars, bet they have some good ones!
No cinema tonight as The Scat Rats were playing Stramash, so still sticking with the sixties vibe! A number of Beatles covers amongst other songs from the sixties, and of course, a few of their own. Carl waxed lyrical about their old haunt, Babylon Cafe, which was sadly a victim of covid, before breaking into In The Morning. I’ve put a clip of this ode to a fried breakfast on my Facebook (that’s Bruce T Moose), the ending is a running joke of who can hold the note longest. Oo yeah, exciting, there was a brand spanking new song too!! It promises to be another cracker from the lads.
I finally got round to seeing Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings on Wednesday night – the last evening showing of it at Cineworld. It’s only been showing for about, oo, five or six weeks! I actually knew nothing about it, hadn’t seen any adverts or previews, I hadn’t even noticed it was a Marvel film, yeah! How? I know! Just the poster and the title pulled me in and I’m so glad I went.
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings is not a brilliant film, but it is really enjoyable (great fight scenes) and, as I had only just found out it’s part of the Marvel-verse, a tad befuddling when Trevor the Scouser turned up in it. If you’re now wondering who Trevor the Scouser is, you either haven’t seen all the Marvel films or you weren’t paying attention when you did. I recognised him straightaway and my brain was whirring trying to remember the details, thankfully he gave a long flashback exposition to fill all the blanks. There’s a number of long exposition speeches with accompanying flashback scenes in this film, possibly annoying to some; the lead-ups to them are a tad trite, but then I came to the conclusion that it was intended that way and went with it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story, it is quite unusual these days to see a mainstream film without being aware of any of the plotline beforehand. I wish now I’d seen it earlier so I could have gone back and watched it again; and how good to see Michelle Yeoh on screen, such serenity! The actress playing Shang-Chi’s friend Katy was bugging me as she seemed familiar but, no, it wouldn’t come. Turns out it was her voice I knew, she played Sisu in Raya And The Last Dragon that I saw back in May, she is Awkwafina an American actor and rapper and I reckon she’d be a great laugh on a night out!
The following evening saw me back in the cinema for the latest Bond movie, No Time To Die. Well, its a Bond movie with all that entails – great villains played by class actors (Rami Malik and Christoph Waltz), beautiful ladies (I particularly liked Paloma played by Ana de Armas), the team back in Blighty (including of course Miss Moneypenny played by, the more beautiful than ever, Naomie Harris), a great theme song and musical score with an added bonus of We Have All The Time In The World woven through it. Oh, and a plotline that necessitates plenty of international travels, of course! I liked it, one of the better recent Bond movies for me, though I’m not sure about where the franchise will go next!?
Last night (yes! out three nights in a row!) I was in the Voodoo Rooms to see The Eclectic Electric Ukulele Blues Band, I was intrigued by the name and had to check them out. The fact that Willie Dug and the Cosmic Gents were the Support may have nudged my decision to go. Just as well the support were excellent, ’cause the EEUBB were rather uninspiring. Oh, the main guy had some fancy electric ukes but they were just an average pub blues band, nothing to write home about! If they didn’t have the word Ukulele in the name it would hardly have registered that two of the band were playing ukes, but I guess it helps intrigue the punters in, like it did me.
A lovely surprise bonus to the support band was one Carl Marah! Didn’t see that one coming! I hope he didn’t feel too comfy there, to lose a drummer or bass player is one thing but …….. Nah, he wouldn’t. But he would promise, and I quote, “a big ol’ bauble banger Xmas bonanza”, yay! A Logan’s Close Yuletide Special, can’t wait!
I shall leave you with pics (taken with my new phone, I’m sorry!) of The Scat Rats doing their thang…….
Just time for a quick catch up before I head off for a wee while, bags are packed, ukulele by the door so I won’t forget it. Yay, I did get to see Free Guy again! Still great on second watch. I also got to see the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, like wow, WOW!! Jennifer Hudson is sooo good. The film ended at the time when she recorded the live album Amazing Grace, the recording of which was filmed, a film I saw two years ago in the Filmhouse, sweet!
This week I luckily spotted that The Green Knight was on at the Filmhouse, a “last chance to see” Facebook post . It’s a re-telling of Gawain and the Green Knight, in this version Gawain is played by Dev Patel (the reason I wanted to see it, he’s getting better and better as he ages). Sumptuous and kinda arty, lots to enjoy, but I did feel it lacked a bit towards the end.
Stramash have very kindly released a lot of gig dates for October and November, so there’s Jed Potts, the Kennedy’s Project and Willie Dug to look forward to, and yay, the Scat Rats (aka Messrs Marah and Rough) will be back, and, double yay, not until after I’m back in toun. Ah, thinking of the Close, I recently went on a coastal meander and popped by Dunbar, look what I found, yay!
Just a jog away from Dunbar is Belhaven Bay, plenty sand, sea and surf. Oh yeah, the surf was up! A great place just to idle a while, shame I didn’t discover it midsummer, ah well. Beach Boys songs swam around in my head as I strolled across the sand; it struck me that it could well have been the Beach Boys sound that heavily influenced the Scat Rats if they’d spent more time on the beach…..
Last night wasn’t a good Friday night, it was a great Friday night! Oh yeah, I finally got round to seeing Free Guy and I think I may have to go see it again on the big screen before it disappears, I ❤ Ryan Reynolds. There’s a lot that I love about this movie – RR, Jodie Comer, Channing Tatum, Taika Waititi, great choices of music for some of the big scenes (especially the scene using Mama Cass’s Make Your Own Kind of Music), it is sooo visually stunning, a wickedly funny, witty script and, for me, great ideas and layers all delivered with a weirdly gentle innocence and charm.
I didn’t actually know much at all about Free Guy but it’s got Ryan Reynolds in it so that’s enough for me. I had heard stuff but had forgotten the details, like that Jodie Comer is in it. When Molotov Girl first appeared she made me think of Danni Minogue, then when I saw Millie, oh yay, it’s Villanelle, ah, yes, when you need someone who can do accents! The opening sequence with all the “sunglasses guy” stuff was such fun, and Channing Tatum too! Something of the premise came back to me, Free City is an online open-world video game and Guy is a background character who somehow breaks from his programming, game world and real world interactions ensue …. As I’m not a gamer at all I floundered a little, er, NPC? A non-player character? Ah, a background character within the game, yeah, I don’t play these games at all.
So, Guy, a mild-mannered bank teller, living a regular life, doing the same things every day, happens to spot the girl of his dreams – not part of his daily routine, it triggers something and he starts being more than he should be, he does the unexpected, he takes a pair of sunglasses off a bank robber, wow, the sunglasses let him see things he didn’t know were there (bit of an unwitting Matrix blue pill moment there). What Guy doesn’t understand is that the glasses are showing him what a game player sees, with them on the NPC becomes a game player and he moves away more from his programming, which causes Millie and everyone in the real world to think he’s a player/hacker. Guy finds Molotov Girl but she tells him he must level up to above 100 if he wants to speak to her again and shows him how to click the side of the sunglasses to see his level. He doesn’t really understand it but he really wants to see her again, how to level up? Take guns and money, she tells him, but he’s a good guy, and so begins the ascent of Blue Shirt Guy.
No more plot for you, just that Guy helps Molotov Girl in his world to help Millie in the real world fight the bad guy Antwan, played deliciously by Taika Waititi. Guy’s fight to be free to do whatever he wanted made me think of Wreck-It Ralph (another great film imo). There’s plenty in this film that sparks thoughts about other films, oo, a fresh one, remember Chris Hemsworth’s dancing in Ghostbusters and Bad Times At The El Royale? Channing’s moves in this made me think of how good he was in the tap-dancing sequence in Hail, Caesar! We need a film with the two of them in a dance-off – Mr Waititi, if you’re not busy?!
Yes, I need to see it again, there’s also Respect to see this week before it finishes, possibly Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings too. Thursday sees the new Bond film oot, that looked pretty good on the trailer. Oh yeah, I saw a trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage too, really looking forward to that!
You may be thinking that was my Friday night done, oh no, I hoofed it quickly down to Stramash to catch Willie Dug and his band (not the Cosmic Gents as seen at the Voodoo Rooms a couple of weeks ago). This was Willie on guitar and vocals with a drummer and a guy on harmonica, nothing more needed to make sweet sounds! Willie Dug is one magnificent hound, oozing style and charisma, shades of a young Malcolm McDowell, especially when he stripped off his shirt and put on a faux leopard fur jacket that was lying on a barrel just in front of the stage.
The Stramash crowd were really up for dancing, the band delivered and then some. For me the best of the bunch were Come Together (I notice it’s become a popular one to cover since the lockdowns), Roadhouse Blues and the final, one more song, Not Fade Away, ah, a song with many fine memories for me. The minimalness of the band recalled Bluefinger for me, Not Fade Away was a fitting number to head out into the night air on. To paraphrase from Free Guy.….
I may not be real, but for a couple of hours there I felt pretty alive
Bruce on the Fringe 