Driving with Elsie

bruceonthefringe 2022, Logan's Close, Music, Uncategorized, What makes you happy? Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Today has seen bright sunshine and blue skies over Edinburgh, very chilly with it, as the forecast predicted. Annoyingly they got it very wrong for yesterday morning! The forecast had promised snow from the early hours, some heavy, awoke all expectant and excited I did – bloody none! And I’d come back up on Thursday for it. Well, and also to avoid Eunice, that’s Storm Eunice (who came up with Eunice?! What sort of name is that for a storm?).

I was down in deepest, dampest Yorkshire again. Very damp indeed, not much time was spent out-of-doors, it was ‘orrible! The few hours of fine were spent wandering round Hebden Bridge, note to self, some shops are closed Tuesdays as well as Mondays. Still a tasty lunch was had and a few purchases made, I do like Hebden Bridge, and there’s usually a fine calibre of busker in the Square.

Naturally, my choice of travelling audio accompaniment included my new Logan’s Close Live CD, at 63 minutes its perfect for the last legs down and up. In the gathering dusk I hurtled across the moors to Scott letting rip on I Want You, followed by the classic Listen To Your Mother – that’s when the low fuel light started flashing (yeah, yeah, mother, make sure there’s plenty in the tank, I know); after that first, oh bugger, I reasoned there was actually around 40 miles worth left so no worries. On the homeward leg it takes about an hour to get from Abington services (junction 13 off the M74) to home, that is, without slowcoaches on the road; so perfect, with a second playing for Eleanora as I pulled up.

Eleanora is a bouncing upbeat babe of a tune, a catchy infectious earworm so it is! Everything a good Logan’s Close song should be, and also something slightly new, different but still undeniably LC. Sean Keys’ (that’s what he gets called, anyway) keyboards are at times reminiscent of Jon Lord on early Deep Purple, noticeably so on Mock Marble Linoleum. I’ll admit it’s taken me a while to get into this track, my original take was “fine but nothing special”, I’d like to update that, Mock Marble Linoleum is fine and dandy, like a mid 70s rock opus, swirling keyboards, grand majestic riffs, Scott going for it, yeah, it is pretty special.

Paralysed is a whirling dervish of a tune with Carl taking lead vocals this time. This lady who “reached inside and stripped you of your core” sounds like AC/DC’s Soul Stripper; two very different songs but the same female lineage (in my head, anyway). Gallus Laces is great, a lackadaisical swing and hook to it, love Scott and Carl’s vocals together on the chorus.

Probably (at least at time of writing this) my favourite track is Babestation, from the opening drumbeats, sultry keyboards, offhand guitar, and then Mr Marah plaintively narrates the girl’s nightlife; the spacious sleaziness and Carl’s vocals almost echoey, with added Scott on backing, omg, it’s like sliding into a hazy drug-addled dream state! I’ve also had the pleasure of hearing The Scat Rats take on this song a number of times ❤

Mind, Give It To Me is a very close second on this, right from Sean’s piano intro and Scott’s and Carl’s harmonies; the guitar sound, the space, more beautiful desolation from the lads. I Want You is always near the top spot at any gig but the competition is tough here, even with Sean back on the piano and Scott’s sublime vocals. It would be hard to place all fifteen tracks in an order of preference, really, after my top five I couldn’t separate the others. God, I love this CD! Will this recording, this moment in time, ever be made available to anyone else? I don’t know, but if it is, no self-respecting LC fan would be without it!

Toodle pip!

If you don’t ask ……

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Remember my Highlights of 2021? No? Well, go back and read it later, for now I’ll recap that my top treat of 2021 was Logan’s Close’s LimbicTV performance back at the end of March. I’ve watched it, hmmm, a few times since, okay, maybe a few more just to get me through the hard times of not being able to see live bands. Is it a polished performance? Is it ‘eck, but it really shows how talented the lads are, how well fitted they are together- it’s five guys enjoying finally getting to play as a band again and making the most of it (it was obviously still going to be a while before live gigs would be allowed).

Before writing a blog post about it I made a few notes, call me sad but I kept those notes; I think I wrote them on my third viewing. A few snippets……

You get the picture? I wondered if anything would be done with the recording, and if nothing, why? Sorry but I needed those tracks, yes, needed, doing nothing with them really wasn’t an option. A moment in time, a live moment, never to be repeated like that again, ‘specially since bassist (from the very start) Ollie Turbitt has moved to Italy. Aargh! I started thinking, mulling it over, hey, I could always just ask Logan’s Close for them!? I could, and Scott did say…

on listening again, Scott’s spiel is “we want to make an album, but we don’t have any cash, so give us money and we can make it”

There’s a phrase “put your money where your mouth is” and I’ve been telling folk for the last five years how brilliant Logan’s Close are, so yeah, time to step up moose, give the lads some real support. And it would help towards a whole album of juiciness! Yes, please! Just one thing, if I donate please can I have all the tracks from the LimbicTV session on a cd? Reader, they said yes, oh yay!

I’ve spent the last month listening to my new LC cd; a polished studio album will surely be a wondrous thing but these songs are how I think of the band having seen them live plenty times. I have it on my phone so I can listen on my meanderings round the Park. My precious ❤

Hmm, so how good does his coffee taste?!

I do like a bit of Willie to start the weekend

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First Saturday in February and the Six Nations tournament is under way, as I type this Ireland are currently beating Wales 22-0 in Dublin. Later this afternoon it’s the battle for the Calcutta Cup, Scotland v England, here in Edinburgh at Murrayfield. I don’t envy anyone going to the game, it’s a horrible day out there! I popped out to the Farmer’s Market this morning and grabbed a paper on my way back, I’m not setting hoof outside again today.

Everywhere in town will be busy tonight, extra so than usual with a Six Nations home game on. Mind, many will peak earlier than they envisaged they would due to lack of grub to help absorb all the alcohol – I’ve seen it so many times! I was out getting my live music fix for the weekend yesterday evening, Willie Dug and the Cosmic Gents were playing the early slot at Stramash. A shorn Willie Dug! Like nae hair – is February really the month to do that?! No Carl Marah on guitar tonight, he was up in Morningside playing a solo acoustic set (and not as Whistlebinkies’ website had shown earlier in the week playing the midnight set there with The Buccaneers, yes, another error by Binkies). No mind, the band were good.

Stramash was fairly quiet at the back of seven when I rolled up, I say quiet, quiet as in the the number of bodies in, some of the bodies were quite loud and boisterous, their weekend was well under way. There were more in by the time the band opened the second set with Come Together, always a cracking tune; followed straight on with Roadhouse Blues, harmonica to the fore, he’s rather good that harmonica player. Back on to Willie’s own stuff Don’t Mess With The Walrus is a great tale about the Walrus Cafe on Easter Road (sadly now a victim of the Covid lockdowns it seems). Only Love Can Save My Soul is always sung, sometimes a cappela, with handclaps, with tambourine, tonight was with drums then a few guitar notes before bass and harmonica finally joined in, rather bloody good tonight!

I always feel for the band in the early evening slot, folk are just starting to loosen up and jig about as the end of the second set comes closer. More folk will have drifted as well, the place is warming up ….. and the band finishes, ah, but it was good last night! I finished my pint of Stewart’s Holyrood Pale Ale and headed home. I could have written something up then, but I decided I needed more music instead. You know how it is.

Well, the rugby is done for today, Ireland beat Wales 29-7, Scotland beat England 20-17 (okay, so I paused writing this a number of times to give my full attention to the excitement on the telly), there will be much celebrating around the town tonight. And many sore heads tomorrow!

Time I ate something, I think. Toodle pip!

And I was looking forward to a midnight snack too

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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 The Electrical 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!

So ends another Saturday night. Toodle pip!

Sum pluses + minuses

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Three weeks into 2022 already; three weeks of tighter restrictions again in Scotland, thankfully they’re ending on Monday. Its been back to table service and strictly no mingling in bars. Hence I’ve only been out for a drink once since New Years Day, that was a midweek drink in Whistlebinkies as Willie Dug was on and I really needed a break from the moose cave. On entering I was leapt on by a member of staff who proceeded to escort me to a table, oh boy was it quiet in there! Just as well, the staff didn’t seem to be in a rush take orders and serve drinks. In some ways I quite like good table service, but I prefer to have an option on it.

I even gave a miss to seeing the Scat Rats in Stramash, well, they were on the ten o’clock set on a Saturday night; an ordinary Saturday night has a queue outside the door by ten, so with restricted numbers allowed in, hmmm, I stayed home (with a very precious new toy, more later). At least the restrictions will be lifted in time for Carl Marah‘s latest thang, The Buccaneers, playing Stramash in the late night slot next Thursday. They were meant to play a few weeks ago in Whistlebinkies but a case of covid got in the way, fingers crossed all will be well this time. Their bio on Facebook reads “Blues/Rock/Soul 4-piece based in Edinburgh …” who promise to be “an exquisite late night sandwich”, oh my! I’ll let you know just how tasty they were next week (touch wood).

At the start of February Scotland will have a new regulation on smoke and heat detectors come into force. It was meant to start in 2020 but, well, the nation was kinda busy with other things. All homes will be required to have interlinked fire alarms, that’s a heat alarm in the kitchen, a smoke alarm in the most used room and a smoke alarm in every hallway or landing (also a carbon monoxide detector in any room with a carbon-fuelled appliance). While it will be the law to have interlinked fire alarms in Scotland, it won’t be a criminal offence not to have them, so no penalties, however, if you have a fire and no interlinked alarm system in place, good luck with any insurance claim. Of course, there’s plenty of opinions about this on social media from the downright bolshy to the paranoid – like Scotland’s gonna light up like an octogenarian’s birthday cake on the 1st February!

Way more important to many Scots – can Scotland beat England on the 5th February? Yes, this year’s battle for the Calcutta Cup takes place at Murrayfield on the opening weekend of the Six Nations Championship. Auld Reekie will be packed out that weekend, fun will be had.

More later, toodle pip, mes amis

So 2021, any highlights?!

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Oh 2021, we started the year thinking we might get past Covid and all the restrictions, ha, here we are a year later! After all the lockdowns of 2020, more of the same just made 2021 drag. This time round it just got boring, lethargy set in, no point trying to look forward to anything as it would most likely be cancelled, at best postponed indefinitely. So, were there any highlights? Hmmm.

Highlight numero uno, the snow in January and February, all from the east, so lovely powdery stuff, snowmen everywhere, sledges, snowboards, even skiing in Holyrood Park! Yes, decent snow in Edinburgh, again! Okay, so slippy as hell, but beautifully scary is better than greyly dull.

Highlight number two, finally being able to head down to see family in May. It felt so different to other journeys home, and so nice to see faces right in front of me and not on a screen. And hugs!

Numéro trois, cinemas re-opening, yay. I like seeing movies on the big screen. Oh what? Pubs were re-opening too? Sorry, not a highlight for me – too many constraints, the new normal; being able to go back to the cinema was way better to me. Tied for my top cinematic highlight of 2021 are Free Guy and Last Night In Soho both brilliant in very different ways.

Nummer vier, enjoying the beautiful summer weather at Portobello beach. After spending so much time in solitude in Holyrood Park, it was great to be among people on the beach, and so many nationalities, it felt quite cosmopolitan. Oh, I love the wildness and nooks and crannies of the Park but sometimes I do need company, to hear voices and laughter, a sunny day at the beach ticks those boxes.

Numero viisi, it had to be there, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2021. Okay, so it started real slow and I was dubious how good it would be, how many actual live In Person shows there would be, but as it progressed more acts came up (as the line from Field of Dreams says “If you build it, they will come”). Every few days more shows would be announced, more venues opened up, more seats became available at previously sold out shows because of the restrictions being eased; it was exciting and unpredictable, regular checks for updates were vital (I have no idea how the Online version went, I was done with screen-watching). The lack of the Half Price Hut meant I had to adjust my sights to fit my budget, Pay What You Can and Free Fringe shows featured a lot for me.

The Monkey Barrel Comedy Club was a highlight hosting weird and wonderful comedy; including John-Luke Roberts, Rob Kemp and two thirds of the Privates, all of my Fringe highlights! Oh, except one, the only show I saw at the Pleasance Courtyard, Tim Fitzhigham: Here Now. Tim’s always entertaining but he really was on top form for this one show in the Cabaret Bar, almost manic with glee at sharing his stories with a live audience.

August saw highlight numer pięć – live music back again! A band had started playing almost every day on Waverley Bridge, like, why not? It was good weather in general, the road was closed to traffic, plenty of room for people to pass by while others hung around and watched (generally safely distancing). All this fringing and good music got me itching for more, Stramash was open again with bands playing, I had to go along; and who was playing my first time back? The band from Waverley Bridge (aka The Kennedy’s Project), oh joys! They were such fun.

The autumn months of 2021 were as good as any time I can ever remember for seeing great live music: the Voodoo Rooms (especially The Courettes ❤); Stramash, of course; I became reacquainted with Whistlebinkies (I’m not sure why I didn’t go there for years!?); and, a particular highlight for 2021, Fur at Sneaky Pete’s! Yay! I’ve discovered the likes of Jed Potts and Willie Dug these last few months, it’s like a new vista laid before me; there’s been old friends in new guises, The Scat Rats, aka Scott Rough and Carl Marah from Logan’s Close, playing covers with a few of their own songs thrown in (bloody marvellous as per usual).

Sadly, what promised to be the highlight of the year, Logan’s Close Presents … A Christmas Pudding had to be postponed because of the latest covid variant. Mind, even without that shindig Logan’s Close take the top highlight of 2021 spot with the wonderful Logan’s Close on LimbicTV (Live from Aluhpasonics) back on the 27th March 2021; still available to watch on YouTube and I think there’s still a way to donate if you feel inclined to show your appreciation. I could wax lyrical about how great it was, or I could attempt a pingback to the post I wrote at the time So Close so fine, let’s see, by George, I think I did it! Hopefully if you click on the highlighted post title it should open up in a new tab [EDIT If it doesn’t open, try twice more, it may need coaxing], I hope (or you could scroll right to the bottom of this page and do a search for it).

If you do read about why this live music session takes the prize for 2021, you’ll notice my pleas for the audio recordings, well…….. I’ll tell you later.

Toodle pip, and may your god smile upon you in 2022 💛

How to start a year well…..

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Happy New Year, dudes! Hope you all had a good one! Made any new year resolutions? Broken them yet? Did I make it up Arthur’s Seat? You bet I did! Just. I was in much danger of being blown over to Fife, it was a rather hair-raising experience. At least we had none of the rain that was previously forecast, the skies were clear and blue, a few clouds to whizz across the sky might have indicated how windy the Seat would be. Apparently the wind was around 20mph with gusts up to 40mph, scary stuff up high!

looking up realising there’s a way to go yet!

Atop Arthur’s Seat are a triangulation pillar and a toposcope (one of those compassy thingies that point out all the high surrounding landmarks), roughly fifteen feet apart; after making it to the summit many take a photo at one or the other. This year I very dubiously clambered on the toposcope, it’s one thing to head up a windy hill staying low to the ground, another to sit on a high point in high winds inviting the next gust to whisk you away! So here’s me, clinging on for dear life….

If you look closely you can see Edinburgh Castle in the distance behind.

You can imagine after my exertions I decided a little treat was in order. What better treat than an evening in Stramash watching the Willie Dug Band with Carl Marah on guitar?! With current restrictions in place, that’s a pretty good treat to keep spirits up; oh yeah, shots with every round helped too! Well, it was New Year’s Day and I had been well-behaved the night before. I rarely do shots any more, waking on Monday morning I remembered why. Hey ho, fun was had! I’ll leave you with a trio of pics of Mr Marah, well, a trio of the same pic after I tinkered about with it (I would have put up a pic of Willie Dug but it really didn’t come out well, I blame the camera).

The clock is ticking…

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….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 Suffragette City 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 ❤

Not your run of the mill Christmas cake

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Well, that’s another Christmas over, almost time to head back up north in time for the New Year. First thing after breakfast I’ll get going, or at least, that’s the plan. Back home to my Christmas cake, oh yay! And how was my cousin’s cake? Well, interesting, different, erm, one of a kind. You know how some folk “feed” the cake with brandy? He thought he had, turned out when he grabbed the same bottle to make some brandy butter on Christmas Day morning, he realised it was whisky as he poured it over the butter and sugar mixture! Not wanting to waste the whisky he continued on, possibly the first whisky butter to accompany Christmas pudding. Indeed, it worked rather well.

The cake itself? The fumes that escaped as the first slice was cut and removed were quite intoxicating!! A brave few tried it – not bad! The nuts were annoying but big enough pieces that I could pick them out. Once the initial aroma had dissipated, the cake was still quite whiskified but the flavour of the almond paste went really well with it. The decoration of the cake, well, no penguins for one thing. The pictures made me think of a horror film with things emerging from snow. See what I mean?

Whilst Christmas was fine indoors, the weather outside was horrible, except for Boxing Day morning when we awoke to a layer of the white stuff. Not from the east though, so it was wet and quickly turned slushy, bah. It did look good first thing with the mist still swirling round the trees…..

Time I got some shuteye.

G’night, folks!

‘Twas the night before Christmas…

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And all through the hoose, not a creature was stirring, not even a moose, everything was ready for the morn and all presents wrapped….

Yes, I’m down in deepest, dankest Yorkshire for the festivities. I’m on veg duties tomorrow – a thousand sprouts to be prepared and cooked! Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, we wouldn’t have room for the carrots and tatties for mashing (roasted parsnips and tatties has been assigned elsewhere). There’s a cake courtesy of a cousin, it looks okay but it won’t be a patch on mine waiting for me back in Edinburgh (for one thing, mine doesn’t have any nuts in it – I’m not allergic just not keen).

I had been starting to wonder if things would go bonkers in the run-up to Christmas again, thankfully not so much as last year. I made it down on possibly the greyest day of the year, at least I had a great soundtrack for it: Logan’s Close for exiting the Lothians, on to 70s Black Sabbath (Fluff is just an amazing piece), followed by Christmas tunes from the last seventy years, and as I still wasn’t quite back in happy valley, a dash of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I may have sung along on the odd occasion.

Have a very Merry Christmas wherever you are in this big wide world. Now I must go to sleep or Santa won’t come! I’ll leave you with a couple of pics of Old Hummus bedecked with tinsel!