Blossom ‘n’ Blues

Yay! The tree in Gullan’s Close is back in bloom, beautiful as always. Had a wander past in today while the sun was out, almost springlike. The temperature is forecast to drop to -1° tonight, just to catch out those fooled by the sunshine, jackets will be required. I’ll be toddling up to the Jazz Bar to catch Louis Crosland, he’s the featured musician at tonight’s Blues at the Jazz Bar, a monthly do to showcase Edinburgh’s Blues scene.

Louis will be on stage at seven for an hours set, then there’s an Open Blues Jam until eleven when Louis returns plus the other two of the Trio to play the night out. Should be fun! I’ve only seen him at the Jazz Bar once before a while ago, it was after midnight, I seem to recall it was one of those bit odd nights, the feeling just wasn’t quite right, know what I mean? Ah, haha, yes, I’ve just remembered more about that evening, no, I’m not going to share.

After this evening, he’s next back playing with the Moanin’ Bones at Whistlebinkies on Saturday at seven, and then the following Saturday at midnight. That’s after supporting the Cinelli Brothers at the Voodoo Rooms, should be another great evening of blues, I have my ticket! Louis’s also supporting Giles Robson on the Scottish part of his UK tour (and playing guitar for him), eight dates from the 7th through to the 18th April, with a Louis Crosland Trio date at Stramash slipped in halfway. I’ve seen that the Inverness gig is at the Castle Tavern (14th April), a cracking pub I discovered when I was up there last year, and the food was divine. I’m almost tempted to pay Inverness another visit!!

After that busyness there’s two more midnight appearances for the Trio at Whistlebinkies in April. I know all this because the dear boy put up a list of his gigs up until the end of April, on Instagram, very handy to know. Of course, there may well be additions towards the end of April, as is often the way of things. I do know Louis is stepping into the studio in May to get some of his new material recorded (apparently twenty new songs to date), nice!

Anyhoo, I need to eat if I’m going to be in the Jazz Bar ’til the small hours. Toodle pip!

Of course, I had a photo took, duh

Some new things this week

I bought a new fridge freezer this week; after being extra cranky for a while, the old one chilled it’s last sometime at the weekend. I hadn’t realised quite how old it was, fifteen years! So not a bad run at all. I was filled with dread on the Saturday evening, knowing I had to get my act together very quickly, no procrastinating, no ignoring it, or no milk in my tea! Luckily, I had some herbal teabags in the cupboard (though I wouldn’t want to check their best before dates) and putting all my freezer blocks and frozen food into one compartment gave me some breathing space. Enough time to look around on the Sunday, have a good mull overnight, then buy on the Monday, arranged delivery for Thursday. Okay, some food did get chucked but I ate the best bits first, like the lamb cutlets (very very tasty, from Annanwater, oh yeah), and I’ve been pretty well-behaved regarding takeaways, so I was due a couple. Mind, I didn’t figure on having to allow the fridge freezer to stand a few hours before switching it on, then letting it get to temperature for going on a day; so, the Mosque Kitchen it was for tea on Friday!

What goes up….

Friday was a particularly sunny day, about bloody time, it deserved to be marked, so I finally got round to trying out the Alpine Coaster at the Midlothian Snowsports Centre at Hillend just outside Edinburgh. It’s not “the ride of your life” as the website says, but it is fun! A short blast of fun, a teensy bit longer if you apply the brakes on some of the corners (and you probably will at least the first time, my brain was not convinced that the cart could not go flying off the track). Tickets are generally booked (online) for three rides and many folk just went straight through to queue to go again; me, I took some minutes to just savour each time. Tickets are booked for within half hour slots through the day, so there’s time to pause (some were immediately on their phones afterwards, to book another three). And on phones, there’s big signs all around, no phones on the ride, haha, yeah; meaning, well, we did tell you not to (some people just won’t be told).

The views from Hillend back over to Edinburgh are stunning. I was reminded that I really should go walking around the Pentland Hills more (I do have a map somewhere).

Holyrood Park from a distance

Another first for me on Friday was seeing the Jon Mackenzie Band in Stramash. I’ve seen him playing with Jed Potts a number of times, so when I saw the listing in the Edinburgh Gig Guide, definitely worth a look. And how! A lively trio, all three taking turns on lead vocals (and some great acapella harmonies on Country Roads); rockabilly, americana, blues, a bit of Beatles, and the segue from Cocaine Blues to the Enter Sandman riff and back again (with some fun lighting courtesy of John Mackie), loved it!! Oh, and I could be wrong here, but I think I recognised the bass player as previously in Babyface and the Beltin’ Boys, another cracking band.

It’s very late now, the early hours of Sunday morning, I shall away to my bed. Next time will be movies and music, soon, promise. G’night!

What’s ahead this weekend?

It’s Friday late afternoon, another weekend of excellent sounds and a little rugby looms. Kicking off with tonight’s 7pm slot at Stramash is Louis Crosland plus trio, yes, the keyboards are back! I’m looking forward to that (not that I don’t always enjoy the band! but, you know). Louis plus two will also be rounding off the weekend in the midnight slot in Whistlebinkies; and in-between, he’s playing there at midnight on Saturday with the Moanin’ Bones. Busy guy!

Tomorrow afternoon sees Jed Potts and Nicole Smit and their assortment of blues, country, jazz, rock’n’roll numbers in Whistlebinkies. A delicious pick’n’mix of music genres, you never know what’s coming next but you do know it’ll be something great. Yeah, definitely Jed and Nicole over the first Six Nations game (England v Ireland), the later game is Scotland v Wales, much more interesting! Can Scotland play like they did last weekend?!

Last weekend Edinburgh went nuts after Scotland soundly beat England, and as Stramash shows the rugby there was a buoyed up crowd ready and waiting for the Moanin’ Bones. Bloody excellent it was to see them again!! The usual bag of great covers with the occasional original thrown in. And we’ll do it all again tomorrow night, yay. Thank goodness the matches alternate, so Scotland are away in Cardiff this time (though it’s always fun when the Welsh are up), town won’t be quite as mental. I say, not quite, but there’s still many, many out to watch in the pubs, it’s tradition!

I’d thought after the Saturday night madness, that Binkies wouldn’t be so busy last Sunday midnight for the Scat Rats, it wasn’t, but the ones that did come out were loons. Honestly, it was one of those times, like a very strange Fringe show when I haven’t a clue what’s happening or why, or is there nothing to comprehend, I’m meant to just appreciate the oddliness?! I ended up surmising that Valentine’s Day had been a disappointment, so each was out determined to finish the weekend, erm, with a bang?!

Oops, time to eat before heading oot. Enjoy your weekend, folks. Toodle pip!

It’s gonna be a fine weekend

It’s been a while, I know, miss me? I was down in the old country (Yorkshireland) for a while, to catch up with family, seeing how I stayed in Edinburgh for Christmas. Like most of the country just now, it was very wet and very cold, but it was lovely to see everyone. After a very dry summer the weather changed with a vengeance, as illustrated below…

So low for so long the banks became like meadows
Back to it’s darkest, dankest self

Anyhoo, this is merely a quick wave before I head out into the wet night. Carl Marah is playing at the Auld Hundred this evening and at midnight the Louis Crosland Trio are at Whistlebinkies, yay. It’s quite a weekend ahead, plenty good music and a Six Nations Rugby weekend too (the Scotland v England game, yikes). Louis is solo at the Canons’ Gait tomorrow evening, I may pop along, or save myself for Saturday…

There’s Chris Buckley in Binkies at two, he should be fairly buzzing as he’s got a new single out tomorrow. The Scotland v England game is late afternoon, watch at home, or in a pub? Hmmm. Seven o’clock Chris will be down at Stramash with Louis and the rest of the Moanin’ Bones, wow, it’s been ages since they last played together, or it feels like it. Midnight it’ll be back up to Binkies and the Louis Crosland Trio, yes, twice in one week!

Sunday may be quite a lazy day, get myself recovered enough for the Scat Rats to round off the weekend in Binkies midnight slot. Oh, and they’ll be back in 48 hours later, it’s one of those Tuesdays.

I do intend to write more tomorrow, honest. Now where’s my brolly? Toodle pip!

It’s Tuesday again…

It’s evening on 20th January 2026, that’s Tuesday, one of those Tuesdays, yay. Whistlebinkies calendar shows that next Tuesday is as well, two in a row? Indeed, confirmed by Mr Marah himself. Tonight will be the fourth time I’ve seen the Scat Rats this month, then there’s Stramash at 7pm this Saturday too, yays. The Louis Crosland Trio were on the late night slot a couple of weeks ago at Stramash, that was a lot of fun!

I hadn’t been out at that late at Stramash in a while, the LC3 hadn’t played that slot before, didn’t quite know what to expect, I told them, students, lots of them, I wasn’t far wrong. As students go, they were a good crowd, enthusiastic dancing going on, I include myself in that, I couldn’t resist, being a bystander really wasn’t an option. The final number 7 Nation Army was an awesome ending to the night. Since then they’ve played Binkies twice, and they’ll be back there again on Thursday at 9.30pm. Yes, I’m having a rather fine January!

Last Tuesday was cinema time, I took myself off to see Marty Supreme. It’s a long film but it keeps up such a frenetic pace, it didn’t feel as long as it might have. I enjoyed it, fascinated by the place of table tennis in 20th century cultural history; partly because my mother and her sibling were keen players when they were young, sadly, though I was briefly keen, my abilities were seriously lacking. It is based on a real table tennis player, one Marty Reisman, I have a good dive into the facts behind the fiction and having watched clips of Reisman, yeah, Timothée Chalamet’s character wasn’t far removed from the reality.

Other bits this month, hmmm. Oo, jam on crumpets, it works! Or, at least my bramble jam does. One lucky recipient of a jar, mentioned that he spread it on crumpets. This appalled me, being a buttered crumpet fan, but, I decided later that I should at least give it a try, just a dollop so not to waste a whole crumpet if it was awful. Reader, it wasn’t, not quite a green eggs and ham moment, but certainly much better than I’d anticipated. I may even try it again sometime!

Must dash, toodle pip!

A pint and a hug, please

Happy New Year! Oh, the ninth day of 2026 has just begun as I finally get round to writing something. So, circling back round to 22nd December 2025 as promised last post, I went over west to see Logan’s Close at The Hug and Pint in Glasgow for their usual Christmas gig. There were plenty of familiar faces in the bar by the time I arrived, grabbed a pint, a few hugs and headed downstairs to the venue where the crowd were enjoying the Raeburn Brothers, also over from Edinburgh (yes, I quite enjoyed them too). It turned out that one of them was on a double shift, as keyboard player (and occasional percussion!) for Logan’s Close. I wonder, did the guys get the gig then LC went oo, actually, while you’re there, could you, or did they get the gig with that already in mind? Anyhoo, a fine choice, the Raeburn Brothers had the crowd nicely warmed up for LC taking to the stage; I say stage, it wasn’t much higher, more a performance area.

The lads opened with a brand new song Crystal Ball, Scott and Stu looking sharp in suits, Carl had already lost his jacket (it was definitely going to get hot), Gavin was way back in the gloom (shame), while the keyboard guy took the prize for coolest shirt (sadly I didn’t get a pic of it). From there, straight into Babestation, the first of seven songs from Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi; newish songs Chillz and Costume Changes were there, both of which occasionally pop up in Scat Rats setlists, so well-known to some.

The brand new song I presumed to be called Giddy Up, Baby at Leith Arches was there and it is; a stark, sparse song, Scott put down his guitar, picked up his drink and donned a cowboy hat, plenty keyboards in the mix on this one (I have to say it was the LC sound is better with keyboards rather than Carl juggling between instruments). After some outstanding singing from the gathered, along to more Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi numbers (a grand sound!), we were treated to another brand new bouncing baby of a song, Not Love (the prospect of another album is starting to get exciting).

Carl, Scott and Stu in harmony

The guys didn’t bother to leave the stage between the “last” number and the first encore, which was, yay, Lonely This Christmas by Mud. This is one of my favourite christmas songs and have previously loved the Rats doing it, but the full LC treatment, and the crowd all singing, oh, my heartses! Only something big with grandiose could follow it, so that would be Mock Marble Linoleum then. Love that bass riff and Carl gets to have fun with his theremin to emblemish Scott’s tale of a sad loser. A class ending to the evening, well, mine. I know there were plans for where folk would continue drinking after the gig but I headed back to the subway into the centre, happily fuzzed up.

I had hoped to hear Lonely This Christmas once more by the Scat Rats the following evening in Stramash but, well, it was a solo Carl Marah instead! I’m saying nothing. Except that the crowd loved him, Carl was in fine voice (the overall sound was excellent, beautifully rich, well done, whoever was on the buttons). From where I was sitting, I could see a number of folk going over to check the poster of the month’s listing to see who he was. His penultimate song for the evening was the full version of American Pie, well, it’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I had to make that my final advent calendar clip.

It’s now very late, or early?! Time I toddled off to bed. I’ll share this on Instagram tomorrow along with videos of LC in action. I did put one up shortly after the gig but it seems the sound has gone, if it was ever there, I’m sure it was!

Goodnight, sweet dreams!

A wee catch-up … and more

It’s the Sunday evening before Christmas, thought I’d tap out a quick update before I head off to see Fackham Hall, and joys, the Louis Crosland Trio are playing Whistlebinkies at midnight (one can never too sure too soon). My Christmas week starts tonight!

A bit of a departure on my advent calendar today, I reposted a montage of ice creams from Thistle & Churn, well, the track with it was Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits, a classic in my book, and so are their ice creams. Oh, and I have three precious tubs from T&C in my freezer! Two of Caledonia Cream and one of Clootie Dumpling, they should see me into the new year, yeah, should.

It was my first time back in the reopened Filmhouse to see Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Mind, I’m still a little confused about the scene that was meant to explain what happened in the wood, nah, kept running it through my head. Help, someone. Even better for me was The Running Man, and I went in not sure about it, but yay, Edgar Wright wove his magic again. Had a wee inward cheer to myself, when I spotted Rich Hall in a brief scene, nice one.

On a much smaller screen, Carl Marah has a video on his YouTube channel to go with his latest song Cold Cold Christmas, do give it a watch. Mind, if you want to just listen to it, I wouldn’t bother asking your smart speaker! Certainly Alexa refuses to understand the name Carl Marah, stupid, stupid !!#*?!! I was round at a friend’s, it just confirmed to me why I’ll never bother getting one.

Tonight will be the second time this week seeing Louis Crosland as I caught the band in Stramash on Thursday evening, but it wasn’t a trio, oh no, added keyboards. I did wonder beforehand, but any doubts were quickly dispelled, a part of the puzzle that we hadn’t even realised was missing. A perfect fit for Louis’ sound, especially his own songs; sadly, it was only for the one evening so far, but hopefully, he’ll be back, that’s Guilhem Forey.

With more originals on the setlist some of the usual had to go, so not much Dylan except, of course, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Louis’s all time favourite song. I’ve heard the band play Louis’s My Kind of Heaven a few times, but it was a first outing for Losing Game, apparently voted into the set by the rest of the band, they all really like playing it. Yeah, I could tell you the names of the other two new originals, but I wasn’t taking notes, just enjoying being in the zone. Like I’ve already said, the keyboards slotted in so sweetly, the bass vibe was brilliant as ever, thanks to Rob Henderson; I’ll leave that there, just add a few pics for you.

Blimey Charlie, time I shifted! More very soon. Toodle pip!

I’m beginning to feel christmassy

It’s late on a Tuesday evening, not one of those Tuesdays, last Tuesday was meant to be, but it didn’t happen as Mr Rough was unwell, the next of those Tuesdays isn’t ’til the 30th, boo; but the Scat Rats are playing Stramash at the more reasonable time of 9.30pm on Tuesday 23rd, yay. The night before, Marah and Rough will be in Glasgow with the rest of Logan’s Close at the Hug and Pint for the band’s annual Christmas bash; I’ll be there too, of course. Just one downer (apart it being in Glasgow), sadly it’s the same night as Blue Christmas 2025, a wonderful evening of blues, r’n’b and rock’n’roll festive tunes performed by Jed Potts (curator of the event) and a bunch of his friends (honestly, the amount of talent in that one room, wow, only for LC will I miss it). It’s like a warm fuzzy hug of Christmas cheer (and it’s happening at La Belle Angele off the Cowgate, Monday 22nd).

Aw sweet, the night before again (so that’s Sunday 21st), the Louis Crosland Trio are on the midnight slot at Whistlebinkies, well, that’s what the poster says. Oh, but that would be a great three night run of great music, please Binkies, don’t screw it up! At least I know they’re definitely playing Stramash on the 18th, but not as a trio, no, there’s gonna be keyboards too! I’m looking forward to it, I’m intrigued. Up until then things are a tad quieter, no bad thing, I’m recovering from a bad cold and there’s a number of films I want to see. Oh, I may wander into Binkies on Saturday afternoon for Louis Crosland solo; I wonder if there’ll be any Bob Dylan covers. Instagram says the Moanin’ Bones are playing there this Sunday midnight, go on, I’ll believe them.

There’s four films that I want to catch before they disappear from the big screen, The Running Man is a definite, being Edgar Wright’s latest, well, I’ve loved everything else he’s done. It could be good, it could be awful, but I’m willing to give Fackham Hall a shot. The cast looks fun, but will it be funny or a tad cringey? Would I go see it if I didn’t have an Unlimited card? Probably not. Another that I’ll see just because I can is Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, I enjoyed the previous films, how will this one measure up? Annoyingly, Benoit Blanc’s latest investigation, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is not on at Cineworld (I’m so not impressed), but it’s still a definite for me. There’s a second Five Nights at Freddy’s coming out on Friday, the first was okay, I thought about it but then I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes, hmmm, don’t think I’ll bother. Fitting the four in will be interesting enough.

In other pre-christmas news, I’ve finally made jam from this year’s harvest of park brambles, my fridge freezer needed defrosting so it made sense. There’s also new batch of bramble wine just started fermenting! That made sense too. I’m a tad nervous about the jam but my previous attempts have always been well received, so hopefully this lot will be just as delicious. It’s the frozen plate test bit that never works for me, but afterwards the jam sets perfectly well anyway!?

I’m doing another Advent Calendar of music from the last year on Instagram, it’s fun going back over stuff, picking out what to include has been fine so far but I know it’s gonna get harder, too many to choose from, too few days! Haha, I just can’t help going in deep with my silly notions. They’re all still available to view in my highlights, including a clip of Carl Marah singing his new Christmas tune at the Auld Hundred last week! I’m looking forward to hearing it in all it’s full glory!

Anyhoo, it’s very late, I must away to my bed. I’ll leave you with a pic….

My box of jars is now somewhat depleted

What happened to November?!

Last post was all about Carl Marah‘s latest Voodoo Rooms gig, yeah, that post almost three weeks ago, oops; you can now see an eight minute video from said gig on his YouTube channel featuring You’re Always Right and It Takes One To Know One. Oh, and while you’re there do check out the Live at Everyman Cinema video filmed in August, see why I love Carl’s song Cat’s Eyes so much! That’s on there along with Roll the Dice, well worth a peek. You want more? Check out his latest posts on Instagram, I particularly like the ones where the camera is looking down on the piano keyboard, yes, the lad’s tickling the ivories with his tunes! Nice to see a proper old piano being played.

The dark evenings are bringing folk into the pubs earlier now, I’m used to wandering into an almost empty Stramash at the back of seven for the Scat Rats, but now it’s miserable and colder outside, all the best views are already taken by the time Babe Station lures me in (despite my determination to be in before the Rats started on Friday evening, once again I made my entrance to it, haha). They’re playing Stramash again next Friday, can I make it in earlier?!

I also caught Jed Potts and Nicole Smit both times they played at Whistlebinkies this month, always a delight, and oo, they’re back in Binkies next Saturday afternoon (two Saturdays in a row, great stuff!). Jed was back there this evening with his new band Power Denim, yeah, I gave it a miss just to catch you up, but I will be trotting up the way soon for the Louis Crosland Trio at midnight, third time this month. It has been a pretty fine month for me music-wise, I just won’t think about the rest of it.

I’m determined to get back on top of things next month, er, tomorrow. After a lull in my Park meanderings I’ll have to get back out there more, get into practice for going all the way to Arthur’s Seat for New Year’s Day, and probably Christmas Day before that; yes, I’m staying here in my moose cave this year!

Anyhoo, time to toddle off. Toodle pip, mes amis!

Yeah, I like me some live music

Saturday evening, six o’clock and it’s already almost dark, bah. I’ll be heading out soon, the Louis Crosland Trio are on at Stramash at seven, but there’s just enough time to catch you up, well, it’s been such a great week music wise.

Wednesday evening I was in need of a pick-me-up, a quick scroll found one in the form of Jed Potts at The Jazz Bar early evening. One leisurely half and a set of Potts and I was restored! There were plenty of people in, well, all the tables had folk at them, oh, I was fine standing (swaying along) at the back, but I was also ready to swoop in when a couple left.

Thursday evening I trundled down to Leith Arches where Messrs Marah and Rough, in LC mode, were supporting Native Sun over from New York on tour. There were two more bands playing but I missed the first and just caught part of the second, they were quite psychedelic, not bad, music for an indie movie soundtrack. Hey, I was there to see Logan’s Close and the boys did not disappoint!

Babe Station started the set in style, so lush; for me, one of their best, the intertwining vocals towards the end send me every time. The newish Costume Changes was next up, a moody tune, with flits of foreboding and melancholy. After Hot Blondes we were treated to a brand new tune, they didn’t mention it’s name, so I’m calling it Giddy Up until I hear otherwise. Half and Half had a notch more echo on Scott’s vocals, oh wow, and combined with Carl’s Gretsch, chillingly atmospheric (I’m thinking an Edgar Wright film soundtrack).

Gouching On The 33 had the crowd singing and swaying along, and on into Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi too; that was meant to be the final song but of course, the crowd called out for more and from the way the guys were debating, they hadn’t planned for another, they asked for suggestions, oh my heartses, we got Merry-Go-Round!! I’ve not heard a duo version before, I’ve wondered how they’d do the long instrumental part, I think they were still wondering about that too, haha. I reckon the acoustic version should just wander off on its own track there, do it’s own thing, it’s such a different creature to the studio showpiece. Whatever, I do hope it’ll start appearing on Scat Rats set lists.

After that, the headliners Native Sun were good, but honestly, the evening had already peaked for me, I did enjoy them, the lead singer sure has it. I would see them again, if they’re ever back in Edinburgh.

That’s how far I got writing (and rewriting) bits of this on Friday and Saturday early evenings; the hour between six and seven is much shorter than any other hour of the day! Hence, on Friday evening the Scat Rats first set was nearing it’s end by the time I strolled into Stramash. So I was a little freaked to realise that yes, once again, it was that spell of summoning, Babe Station being played! Scotty clocked me and looked equally bemused. As Stu from Logan’s Close was in, Hot Blondes had extra harmonies, yay (like they’d have let the opportunity go to waste!).

It was back to Stramash, the back of seven, on Saturday for the Louis Crosland Trio, yes, this time they were playing! But only as mentioned on Instagram at the start of the week, the poster and website both showed Safehouse, who, incidentally, were the band that played instead of LC3 the previous Saturday (hmmm). Sorry, but it is a bugbear of mine, the poster, okay, but why not correct the website, huh?

And that’s been my week for music so far. So far – I’m tapping this out on a megabus heading to Newcastle. Turns out that pub that Carl Marah is playing in at four this afternoon has a fine selection of real ales and decent ciders! It’s Station East just over the bridge in Gateshead. Well, why not? It’s actually my first time on a megabus, not only is it cheap, the views from the top deck, travelling down the coast have been excellent!

Next week is not nearly as good as this has been. On the other hand, the week after does have Mr Marah doing his thing in the Voodoo Rooms, with a full band too! You really should go if you’re in Edinburgh, really.

Toodle pip!