Outside my window the sky is a soft blue with wispy clouds hanging around, butter wouldn’t melt in it’s mouth if it had one. It’s monsoon time again, lovely summer weather to draw everyone out, then down it pours; we’re talking cats, dogs, frogs, fish, there’ll be kitchen sinks hurtling down next. So far I’ve been pretty lucky but for how much longer?
It’s partly due to the deluges that I read a whole book yesterday, from late afternoon, a quick break to make tea, then through until late evening. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, and it wasn’t a short book, but it was very gripping! A Death at Fountains Abbey is the third novel set in the early eighteenth century following the escapades of one Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson. By’eck, the lady knows how to write a good thriller, all three books have been great but this one, wow (no, I’m not biased just because it’s set in Yorkshire).
The evening before was a movie marathon of Asteroid City followed by Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse about five hours at the cinema with just time in-between to grab coffee and cake. Yeah, I needed reviving after Asteroid City oh, it was okay, a very very Wes Anderson film, you know it’s his immediately, arty and clever, and so like so much else he’s done; I guess I’ve gotten bored with him. The new Spider-Man film bounced along nicely and held my attention through all the multidimensional wibbly-wobbliness. But aargh, I didn’t know it was gonna end on a cliffhanger!
On films, there is an Edinburgh International Film Festival this year, running from 18th to 23rd August. I did have a quick glance through the programme online (I don’t know if there is a printed version this year) but nothing grabbed my attention, I’ll maybe have another ganders at what’s on offer.
Fringe-side, the new Fringe App is now available, time will tell just how good it is. Hopefully it won’t be as draining on my battery as the previous incarnation, that was very greedy! Bad news about the Half Price Hut is it’s back in the Fringe Box Office again, so shuts at 6pm, sooo stupid!! Once again folk coming into town for an evening (well, any time after 5.45) won’t be able to take advantage of HPH offers.
Must dash, the Cumbiatones are doing their thing at Stramash, in fact they’ll have already started. Toodle pip!
Uufh, time is marching quickly on! Less than four weeks to go now. Still no mention about this year’s Half Price Hut setup nor a peep from Assembly about ticket offers for locals. I have a pile of possibles if they are HPH-ed and a pile of Assembly offer possibles, and another pile to be moved over if Assembly don’t come through. Oh, I have lots of piles, hahaha. There’ll be some whittling down, obviously; without further cheaper options it’ll be an axing not a little whittle.
On closer inspection of all my possibilities I’ve spotted there is a distinction between Pay What You Want and Pay What You Can. Call me unobservant, well, I was kind of aware, just not paying much attention.
Pay What You Want has been going a few years now, most noticeably at Monkey Barrel Comedy and Just the Tonic. Oo, I’ve spotted that a couple of my fancies are PWYW at Paradise in The Vault, which I believe is new for that venue (it happens to be one of my favourites). Hmm, I wonder how it works, does a venue have to okay having PWYW tickets or is it just up to the shows themselves?
I notice Ahir Shah is doing a show at Monkey Barrel, he’s very popular (well, he is a very intelligent, funny guy), always does very well; tickets are £12 to guarantee entry or PWYW – you’d have to be there pretty early to be in with a chance of seeing the show without a ticket, there’ll be some seats still available but not many!
Pay What You Can is the new kid on the block from the Free Festival folk (possibly brought in as a response to controls during covid?), alongside their free non-ticketed shows. Rather than one ticket price there’s usually three or four options ranging from £5 to £12.50 to guarantee entry, or donate at the end. There is occasionally a £2.50 option – c’mon, that’s just a deposit, I would definitely give more at the end, unless it was a really duff show.
Whilst these newer payment options are great and no doubt help to put bums on seats, they are a cause of consternation for some Fringe-goers. They shuffle out past the bucketholder quietly mortified or feebly mumbling, “I bought a ticket, honest”, poor things (I am a bit like that at times, it depends on the demeanour of the bucket-person!) Of course, there’ll be others who feel great that they can breeze out of a show without anyone knowing they haven’t parted with any money (w*****s).
So there you go, the difference between Want and Can. You may Want to see a show but can’t because you didn’t buy a ticket, but you Can see a show when you’ve already paid what you could. Got that?
I have Fringe tickets, woohoo. I mentioned as much at the end of my last blog post, I have even more now, thanks to an email update from Underbelly. I just wish I’d opened and read it sooner – I’d have saved a few quid! Only a few but it all adds up. Underbelly had announced a special offer of £6 tickets for shows up until 10th August, one just had to be organised enough to buy them by midnight tonight, oops. I only read the email after I had booked a wodge of preview shows; I did feel a tad disgruntled, my own fault, I know, I really should check my emails more regularly.
At least I’ve managed to save on booking fees, that old bugbear! The Fringe and Underbelly box offices have once again capped the booking fees at £5 per transaction (£1.25 a ticket). Organisation is key, fifteen tickets in and a tenner spent on fees, not that I see that as a saving, just less irksome.
Assembly have for a number of years now done an offer for locals at the start of the Fringe, they just like to announce it quite late on. To make us sweat or just so’s we might have already paid full whack? There’s a number of Assembly shows I quite fancy, that I may fancy even more with a cheap offer, only one has made my must-see pile.
My favourite comedy duo from last year are back, and with a new show, Grubby Little Mitts: Hello, Hi. Well, I had to get a ticket, this is one second outing I’m confident will be as funny, clever and dark as the first (not always the case).
It’s a tad late, I shall away to bed. I leave you with a peek at my possibilities…..
Today is the last day of June, it’s raining but still warm (for Edinburgh, that is); I’m often surprised how warm it is when I step outside, the moose cave is always fairly cool (in all ways, daddio). Was mid-June the best of this year’s Scottish summer? Don’t laugh, it might be! We could be in for a wet, miserable August – mind, at least Edinburgh doesn’t have midgy problems like plenty of Scotland (always look on the bright side, eh). It has been good being out late night without feeling chill. Oh, I did go along to The Jazz Bar to see Duke Duncan & the Hurricanes last Saturday, walking home going on three in the morning was rather lovely.
On my way there I glanced in the window of B Bar and noticed Nicole Smit with a couple of her Back-up Crew (Simon on drums and Ewan, this time on guitar), as I had plenty of time to hand I popped in. Not really my style (it’s quite a cocktaily place) but nice enough, the bartender was cheery, for a late Saturday night it seemed fairly quiet. Once in The Jazz Bar I noticed there were more hurricanes this time, a female backing singer and a saxophonist had blown in. Whilst I enjoyed the full band experience, I reckon I prefer the version at Binkies (harder and more intense?), yeah, sans sax for me; the backing vocals were very good (great voice), a different feel again, hmmm.
I was at the cinema last night til late, popped into Whistlebinkies on my way home as Willie Dug was playing, along with two musicians I haven’t seen before (at least I don’t reckon so) – as long as the name written up let’s you know what to expect, I guess. It was fine, but no Cosmic Gents outing. I left before the end of the first set because down the road at Stramash it was time for The Buccaneers to be taking to the stage (indeed, they just started their first number as I paid for my pint of Stewart’s, perfect). No keyboards tonight, again, you never can tell who’ll actually be up there, but hey, I love both versions equally with these dudes.
Stramash was heaving, plenty of students boisterously (or, drunkenly) dancing/colliding enjoying the music as much as The Buccaneers looked to be enjoying playing it. Oh, that iconic lick on I Heard It Through The Grapevine so, so fine, and the sparseness without the keyboards shows off the tight rhythms on the drums and bass (yes, that would be Simon and Ewan again, from Saturday night). I think I grinned from ear to ear through the whole set, such an irresistible joie de vivre when these guys are playing. Black Magic Woman finished the set in style, I finished my pint and popped back to Binkies, caught the rest of Willie Dug before home. No, I was too tired to stay up any later, hey, it was going up to two!
Oh, the film? I went to see The Flash, I knew very little about the film and even less about the character, apart from snippets in The Big Bang Theory. I actually quite enjoyed it, for a DC movie it had some humour to it! Okay, so the timelines thing was a bit, huh, but seeing all the various Batmans was fun. The Flash is a long film but as it keeps up quite a pace throughout, I didn’t really notice the time; if you go to the cinema to see it just be sure to go to the bathroom beforehand!
Must go and make something to eat, I’m Hank Marvin. After that, Fringey stuff – yes, I have tickets! More later……
I’m baaaack! Miss me? It’s lovely oot there, so a brief catchup then I’m getting me some sunshine. Yes, I could write this later but, well, that doesn’t always work out. I had peek at my last post and spotted a big error that has now been rectified, I put Duncan Duke instead of Duke Duncan & the Hurricanes . Oh, and the Amarillo was finished, in its place was Project 7 Juicy IPA and indeed it was, another hit from Stewart Brewing. Those hurricanes blowing along with the Duke, I wasn’t sure beforehand so didn’t mention it in case it had been only a one night stand (you know how musicians are), but yay, Mr Marah is now officially a force of nature (he’s gonna run out of fingers for all those pies soon!)
Duke Duncan is the drummer (and sings) with the Miracle Glass Company, here he sings centre stage, but he just can’t quite let go of those percussive instincts – he has a triangle and a tambourine close by! Some seriously psychedelic vibes going on here, music swirling from light funkiness to hard heavy blues grooves. I liked it, very much. I may well head to TheJazz Bar tonight, where DD&TH will be celebrating the release of their single High On Love. You can catch a clip of it from Binkies last week on my Instagram.
I never got to Heptonstall on my trip south but I did have a wander round Hebden Bridge, discovered a very nice new café called The Excited Goat on Crown Street. I just had to try their eponymously named The Excited Goat Hot Sandwich (their version of my favourite, bacon, brie and cranberry) with goats cheese, streaky bacon, apricot jam and spinach. By’eck, it was very tasty, I’ll have that again! I also discovered Hotcakes a fab little vintage and retro shop, which, to my shame, I’ve never noticed before – it’s only been going fourteen years apparently! On this visit roadworks made me head up a side street (Hilton Street) and there it was. Definitely worth popping in for a look!
I managed a few glances at the Fringe programme, marked up quite a number so far. The ticket prices are definitely up this year, previews are generally between £8 to £10, Mon to Thurs tickets expect to pay £10 to £15, and weekend tickets a tad more. The Pay What YouCan ticket option is at some venues again, and of course, there’s plenty of Free (to enter) shows. Hey, I’ve been very busy, there’ll be much Fringeyness coming up soon, promise.
Anyhoo, I’ll be heading out now. Toodle oo!
Duke Duncan & The Hurricanes blowin’ up a storm in Whistlebinkies
Crikey, it’s been a week since my last post – I’ve been busy, honest. I’ve been very busy today too, no sitting out in the sun for me, and just when I thought I was done, I discovered a new moth infestation, bastards! So I writing something short and sweet just now as I’m not sure when I’ll get time next. Short because very shortly Duke Duncan & The Hurricanes will be on at Whistlebinkies – my excuse for a drink. I’ve never seen them before but by all accounts they’re rather good, so it’s beyond time that I checked them out.
Why won’t I be posting for a while? Some long time followers may have noticed this is one of those times in a year that I head back to the old country, Yorkshireland. I’ve kind of sorted stuff to go, uke and music, chocolates from CoCo Company, the Fringe programme (two, mark-up and cut-out), sunglasses.
I’ve already watched the last episode of The Gallows Pole and by’eck its good. Loved the bit when Grace tells David he needs to rally the troops, he turns to the gathered room “Ayup!” Perfect! And there was Peaches by The Stranglers in the soundtrack, pure class. I’ll definitely try to fit in a visit to Heptonstall while I’m down. Oh, I did find my copy of the Cragg Vale Coiners Walk but maybe not this trip down, it’s going to be bloody hot! Maybe next time, let’s face it, these temperatures most likely won’t last long.
Anyhoo, must go, make my way to Amarillo, that’s a pint of, very tasty, from Stewart Brewing, of course. Toodle pip!
Oo, it’s less than 48 hours until this year’s Fringe programme is out! This time on Thursday I’ll be perusing a copy, maybe in the Jolly Judge with a nice cider, yeah, good idea that. And as if the day couldn’t get any better, The Scat Rats are playing in Stramash at 7pm! That in itself is sweet enough, but the fun continues as Nicole & the Back-up Crew are onstage next. Mmm, a twixt sets mash-up?!
I’ve had a ganders at the online programme for this year’s Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival in case there’s anything I fancy. It’s on from Friday 14th to Sunday 23rd July with the Mardi Gras in the Grassmarket on the first Saturday afternoon. Most late evenings there’s a Jam Session in the Jazz Bar, I guess it would be potluck who’d be there any evening, do I feel lucky?
The Spiegeltent will be back up in George Square Gardens, with bands every evening and Blues Afternoons at the weekends (at three hours long, thank heavens there’s a bar!) It’s a tent that travels around, so it fits that Nicole Smit: The Travelling Tent Show is back – promising to be bigger and better! I’m tempted, but then again there’s Sister Cookie to consider, hmmm.
Naturally, Jed Potts & the Hillman Hunters will be out to play; they’re at St Bride’s Centre, a great venue hosting a lot of acts throughout the Jazz Festival. I’ve been to a number of events at St Bride’s over the years, I like it, it has a lovely ambience; it’s tucked away on a little street in Dalry, a short bus ride or taxi from the centre of town.
Completing the circle back to the Fringe programme; I have had a few sneek peeks at it online and noticed Aaaah Look Who It Is: Nicole Smit and Jed Potts! at the Jazz Bar. Just four dates and the first is 241 Tuesday! A chance for all those not fortunate enough to live in Edinburgh all year round, to see these two great talents together.
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a blog post A Tale of Cards and Coiners about my trip to Yorkshireland when the first lockdown eased. I’d discovered a piece of local history that I’d had no idea about; that bit of history has now been brought to life on the telly. Well, it’s a three-part drama prequelling a novel based on events that happened around the Calder Valley in the later eighteenth century. Yes, that, oh so happy valley is on the TV again! I had wondered at the time if this was something that Sally Wainwright might take an interest in (well, she’s made Gentleman Jack about a local historical character).
Shane Meadows (known for This Is England) is the chap behind The Gallows Pole, starting it back to when David Hartley (the later leader of the Cragg Vale Coiners) returns home from being away in Birmingham for seven years. Those years had seen the onset of the industrial revolution which caused major upheavals for weavers and land labourers in places like the Calder Valley, many had to leave to find work in the new mills.
The opening scenes are of Hartley staggering across the moors, it’s all quite trippy, who/what are the weird stag men figures? Are they real or hallucinations? Then the opening titles kicked in, oh, they’re good, brilliantly done, they promise so much. Well, I wasn’t disappointed, that was a cracking first episode for me! This being Shane Meadows there’s quite a few first-time actors in there; he has all his cast working together, improvising to get into their characters, for quite some time before filming; and even then Meadows doesn’t have a full script, just outlines for the actors to follow.
My favourite scene from the first episode is when David steps outside from his father’s wake for some air, to discover that the girl he was courting before he went away is also outside and does not want to see or talk to him (so she says). David ends up sitting on steps round the corner from where Grace is sitting, and boy, she starts talking! Both are obviously quite shook up from seeing each other again; it was a lovely moment, tentative, angry, funny, coy, even a bit flirty by the end, testing each other out.
And it took me sooo long to figure out where I knew Grace’s voice from – Downton Abbey, she was Daisy, would never have figured it out from her face but the voice was so familiar (no, I didn’t cheat). I did a few double-takes at one character Tom, he had a real look of Tom Hardy but it was one of the first-time actors (Dave Perkins), I suspect it won’t be his last.
Much of the filming was done in the area, in Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge, just along the valley from Mytholmroyd and Cragg Vale (where David Hartley lived). I know the road through Cragg Vale up on to the moors very well, been along it many many times, with no idea that this was once the birthplace of a counterfeiting enterprise that almost toppled the British economy! Oh, one thing that struck me watching the first episode – the drystone walls. They’re quite dilapidated in areas now, but back in the late 1700’s they would’ve probably been in better condition than they are today (funny, the thoughts that pop into your head!)
No doubt the series will help attract yet more tourists to the area. I did get a copy of The Cragg Vale Coiners Walk but never got round to doing it, if this fine weather keeps up I shall give it a go next time I’m down. I might also pop into the Heptonstall Museum which has recently reopened (the local council had previously closed it as unviable), one of it’s rooms was used as a set in The Gallows Pole. The museum is open from Thursday to Sunday 11am – 4pm. It’s not far from the graveyard where David Hartley was buried after his hanging in York.
If you’re an energetic type you can walk up to Heptonstall from Hebden Bridge! (well, a very energetic type, it is a very steep climb) There are two fine pubs up there, The White Lion and the Cross Inn, both frequented by coiners back in the day. The place is literally steeped in history, sorry, I just had to get that in.
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!!!”
Well, that was rather excellent on Thursday night! Most definitely if I had a time machine I’d go back and enjoy it a few times more! Support band the Cumbiatones certainly warmed up the crowd with their South American grooves, bodies relaxed and loosened, gyrating to the band’s compulsive rhythms – warmed up and chilled out!
Scott’s green Gretsch was sat waiting centre stage, it truly is a magnificent creature!
The last time Logan’s Close played The Caves was back in February 2020, to launch the new single Lost In You,played as the final number that night. Quite fitting then to open with it – the crowd went wild with approval, the LC roller-coaster had begun, everyone was onboard, time for some fun!
Naturally, most of the setlist was from the upcoming album Heart-shaped Jacuzzi (and part of the set too – recognise the telly?) with a few classics thrown in the mix. Funny, that, Listen To Your Mother is now an old LC number, most definitely a classic though. I first saw them perform it in Sneaky Pete’s six years ago (exactly six years ago on the 23rd); it’s been the end number, an encore number, now its settled within the set. Party bangers, introspective moods, tales from the Close, they were all there, changing the pace, leading us on.
The crowd were putty in their hands, gleefully bouncy to Eleonara, strung out by Give It To Me (or is that one just me?), punctuating every start and end with rapturous noise. The latest single Gouching On The 33 popped up about midway, bloody great it was! We were pulled sharply from the laguidity of Gouching by a cracking drum solo by Gavin, and how good was that ease into the start of Babestation? Oh, it was good, so succulent a transition.
From possibly the classic from current LC, to their first classic LTYM, on to the heavy stuff, Mock Marble Linoleum is a wondrous creation with it’s heavy guitar sounds, swirly keyboards and Scott’s velvety narrative. After a wander over Curious Terrain it was time for another LC classic, I’m so so glad it’s still in there, I Want You, always a stunner, if it doesn’t give you chills, well.
Swirly keyboards in mind, I was kinda wondering why SeanKeys was seated, he’s usually jumping around! Was he injured? I caught up with him after the gig, nah, he was fine, he’d been told to sit there and although he missed bouncing about, he admitted that his playing was probably better for it. I actually quite liked the little scene with the lamp, SeanKeys isn’t always very visible off to the side, not tonight!
Fantastic Man was on the setlist too, but the lads were running out of time (there’s a very strict ten o’clock finish in this venue); they made a quick dive off the stage to be cheered back on for encores. I’ll just say here that Dans Le Jardin will forever now have a subtitle Sorry Mum for me (you had to be there). Go out with a bang, they say, Hot Blondes In Your Area Tonight did that with bells on.
What a belter of a gig! Again, please! The lads had James Gilhooly of Dislexic Film onstage with them, filming the whole thing (never play Twister against that guy, he’s very flexible). I wonder what they’re planning to do with the results – should be great viewing! And if I were to pick a favourite from the night? Oo, tough choice, Merry-Go-Round.
Bruce on the Fringe 