The Scat Rats

Christmas is coming ….

bruceonthefringe 2022, a rant, Christmas, Cinema, Edinburgh Fringe, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

…. the goose is getting fat, but this moose is keeping trim. After lapsing somewhat from my daily walks, I’m getting back in the swing, after all it’s just three weeks to my annual NYD hike up to Arthur’s Seat. Well, that and the smattering of snow we had yesterday morning enticed me out, so two days on the trot I’ve been up in Arthur’s foothills. There is more snow forecast over the next week, yay. I do hope there’ll be enough for sledging. One time recently when I was down in Yorkshireland, I snaffled the old tray sled from the garden shed, well, no-one else uses it; bought years ago it was, in Aviemore when I was but a wee calf.

Christmas plans seem to be going well, cards all sent, presents mostly bought, the date is set for heading to the mothership. I’ve decided not to make a christmas cake this year – shock, horror! I know! Instead I’ll make plenty of parkin, it’ll be good sustenance when I’m freezing in the bleak midwinter! And, a cake is in the process down Yorkshire way, so I will get some of that (yeah, it won’t be a patch on mine, but I applaud the effort).

At the cinema they’ve reissued Elf, you know I’ve never actually sat down and watched it all the way through. I must have seen all of it over the years, bits here and there when it’s on telly, so I reckon this maybe I should take the opportunity to see it – I was going to add with no distractions, but, have you been to the cinema recently?! I went to see The Menu last week, a brilliant, dark film but the amount of noises from rustling various food packaging, folk unwrapping sweets, aargh, atmosphere flattened time and time again!! They obviously not really into it that their attention was on putting something it their mouth, rather than was what about to happen next. And breathe, rant over.

I’m almost tempted to see The Menu again, hope for a better crowd. I do fancy seeing Matilda at the flicks too, I wasn’t bothered about it but then I went to see Tim Minchin: Back when it was in cinemas last month – wow, he’s so good, and he wrote the songs for Matilda, I’m going! Back is bloody excellent, the man is so sickeningly talented and brilliant. I got home after seeing it, wondering what I put in my Fringe diary when I saw him, I had the feeling it wasn’t an outstanding review….

Ah, yeah. Thinking back that may well have been more about other stuff than Mr Minchin. Bud and I had just seen Aeneas Faversham Forever by our favourites the Penny Dreadfuls earlier that evening, the night before included Dead Cat Bounce … Late Night Radio. Our Fringe starter had been Sammy J‘s brilliant first Edinburgh Fringe appearance; the bar was set very high, our fourteenth and last show of the opening week, I was probably pooped out at that point (oh, it was 2008).

There’s also Violent Night in cinemas, I’ve enjoyed the preview clips and it is a christmas movie. I’m one of the few who quite enjoyed the other Hellboy film starring David Harbour and not Ron Perlman, I recognised him immediately, even under the Santa garb. Yeah, it looks like fun, switch your brain off time. I probably won’t be making it to the cinema until next midweek, mind.

There’s way too much good music around this weekend to go to the pictures! Tonight The Scat Rats are at Whistlebinkies at seven (well, the website says that, time enough to go see something if not, I suppose). The late afternoon slot at Whistlebinkies tomorrow is Jed Potts with Jon Mackenzie, followed by The Moanin Bones at seven. Annoyingly, Black Cat Bone are playing Stramash at eight, what to do?!

On Sunday Chris Buckley is back at Stramash doing a solo set at seven, then just a minute down the road, Jed & Nicole will be at Bannermans from eight thirty. Another slight overlap with The Buccaneers in Stramash from ten. So many good sounds, a great build-up to Monday and Tuesday when Logan’s Close finally play again in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete’s. Sooo looking forward to that!

I’ll leave you with a pic I took this morning in Holyrood Park, adieu!

I had the Salted Caramel

bruceonthefringe 2022, Christmas, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Farmers Market, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

…. And very nice it was too! That’s the Salted Caramel chocolate from the Co Co Co. Festive Selection, a packet of six different christmassy chocolates. No, I’m not starting my christmas this early, its purely research for presents, honest, but I did hold back from trying them since last Saturday when I bought them at the Edinburgh Farmer’s Market at Castle Terrace.

Co Co Co. are usually at the Farmer’s Market fortnightly, selling an amazing array of sumptuous chocolates all made by Rob, naturally at this time of year he’s turned his hand to a few Christmas treats. Edinburgh is just one of a number of markets he goes to around the South of Scotland, and this weekend he’s back in Edinburgh at the 3D2D Christmas Art, Craft and Design Fair in the Assembly Rooms. Stalls with amazing stuff from all over the UK, it’s always worth a visit, maybe find a Christmas present or two!

Stramash had their Christmas decorations up when I went along on Sunday evening, it looks very nice, nothing too much, just right. It was Chris Buckley from Moanin Bones with the Handsome House Band, a shame that I only caught the last few numbers; mind, the Handsome House Jams are filmed so I can watch it on Facebook (Carl Marah‘s night will be on there too, if you’re interested!)

Stramash was nicely busy by the time the Scat Rats came on. Plenty of the seats around the balcony were taken and on the ground level any vacated tables, with a view of the lads, were immediately swooped on by eagle-eyed drinkers. Luckily I had a lovely Spanish couple next to me, who were happy to guard my seat for me whenever I got up (that’s one snag of solo drinking – keeping a good seat!) A stand-out for me was the Rats Norwegian Wood especially the intro; they like playing around with long intros and this time Carl threw in a snippet of a Scottish melody, nice! Not as good as his intro to Runaway, that’s very special.

A recent addition (at least to me) is Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again a jaunty country number. I was singing it as I wandered down home afterwards and just had to google the chords to have a bash at it when I got in. Not sure what the neighbours must have thought!? Well, they never banged on the wall – I’m counting that as approval!

It’s rather late, so I’ll leave you with pics from a recent walk up in the Park. Oh yeah, and exciting news – the video for Heart-shaped Jacuzzi comes out tomorrow! Yay! ❤

No, it wasn’t chianti

bruceonthefringe 2022, Edinburgh, Edinburgh bands, Live bands in Edinburgh, Music, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

If someone told my young self what I cooked for my tea tonight, my response would definitely have been “Yeuck, no way!” Even my teenage self and probably mid-twenties self would have reacted the same; and what is this terrible dish I served up tonight? Liver, a bain of children’s lives, we’re told it’s good for us, certainly the version dished up at school dinners wasn’t!

Mind, I still wouldn’t particularly want liver and onions old-fashioned British style, mine has tomatoes, oregano, garlic, paprika, a generous slosh of red wine and a dod of double cream in there. Sometimes I have it with rice, tonight it was accompanied by sweet potato mash and broccoli. Scrumptious! Oh, and some more of the red wine to wash it down. My young self would not have known what to make of my plate, how times change.

And tonight when I pop along to Stramash, I wouldn’t dream of having a cider, whereas twenty years ago ale would have been my last resort. Umm, it’s over three weeks since I was in Stramash (wow, yeah, that long), there was a very nice new ale from Stewart’s, I do hope it’s there again. Tonight it should be Chris Buckley with the Handsome House Band, then at ten it’s that dynamic, edgy duo The Scat Rats, yay! It’s a fine weekend when I get to see them twice!

They were on the four o’clock slot at Whistlebinkies again yesterday. Now that afternoons are shorter before the darkness descends and temperatures have finally dropped, more folk seem inclined to seek a warm pub much earlier on. Binkies is well placed for people coming or going from the town, music from four is a good enticement to have another drink, especially when it’s this good! Last week Jed Potts & Nicole Smit were dishing up the goodies, and I do believe they’ll be back next Saturday at four, sweet!

I suppose I should do the washing up before I head along. It won’t get done when I get back in, that’s for sure, so I’ll bid you adieu.

Adieu!

Long-forgotten but well-remembered

bruceonthefringe 2022, Edinburgh bands, Hallowe'en, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Dusk yesterday found me at Powderhouse Corner in Holyrood Park with Lady Evil blasting in my ears. What’s that? Lady Evil from Black Sabbath’s first album with Ronnie James Dio singing. Why? I’d been in Fopp on Rose Street earlier and as I moseyed around I started wondering what I was singing along to, I seemed to know all the words, Rainbow, perhaps? No, then it dawned, omg, it was Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell, god knows when I last heard it! There was a time when I loved that album, it was one that I used to “borrow” from my older brother (he had no idea and to keep it that way I handled his records very carefully). He like many others had bought it but then hardly played it because “it wasn’t real Sabbath without Ozzy” it just wasn’t right.

Just listening to it by my young self, outside of the rock fraternity, I had no idea how it had fractured the fans. I remember later on confusing folk by liking that but nothing by Dio (it was much later again before I finally appreciated the earlier albums with Ozzy). Hearing Heaven and Hell again wandering round Fopp was amazing, I remembered why I loved it so much, I would have bought it but at £15 for the CD, no, I’ll have a ganders in some second-hand record shops for it, meanwhile there’s Spotify. And that’s why I was listening to it when I went up into the Park to take some photos. When the last track started I suddenly remembered that was the one that really caught my attention, Lonely Is The Word, bloody brilliant it is. I never did care for anything else Dio did, or much of Ozzy’s own stuff, they don’t move me.

The Moanin Bones didn’t move me on Hallowe’en – they weren’t there to! I heard that apparently someone was still on holiday, well, I hope he’s back as they’re meant to be playing Whistlebinkies this evening. Oh, it’s been posted on Facebook today so there’s a good chance! The post also said Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters are on at 21:30, yay, twice in one week! Yes, I got me a ticket for the Leith Dockers Club show, definitely was worth going, though an odd venue for them (mind, being a club bar, the drinks were cheap). The band were on fine form, playing some from the new album, some old and some to just mess around with, mighty fineness!

Such a good evening couldn’t end yet, so I headed up to Stramash to catch the Scat Rats second set. They’re playing the midnight slot at Binkies on Sunday but I doubt I’ll be there. I did see them at Hallowe’en as they were pulled in late on to play the seven o’clock set at Stramash, so at least it wasn’t all disappointment that night, and I got to see Carl Marah two nights in a row. On the Sunday evening he was playing with the Handsome House Band being very bluesy (and rather excellent too), I haven’t yet but I’ll put a clip of something up on Instagram.

Stramash really went to town with their Hallowe’en decorations, they looked brilliant, folk with severe arachnophobia would have had a few problems! The bar staff dressed for the occasion too, one guy accessorising with a blow-up chainsaw (first time I’ve seen one of those). Tonight is Bonfire Night here in the UK, I can already hear fireworks exploding in the distance. Ah, for the long-gone years of the village bonfire, firing rockets across the valley out of milk bottles stuck in the ground, Catherine wheels that rarely spun round as well as they should, treacle toffee and parkin.

Its almost time to trot up to Whistlebinkies, best eat first. Toodle pip!

Never leave the dishes piling up, just don’t

bruceonthefringe 2022, Live bands in Edinburgh, Logan's Close, Music, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s oot, Heart-shaped Jacuzzi is out there (on all good music streaming sites), the brand new single from Logan’s Close and, in my opinion, it’s rather damn fine. I had a first listen as soon as it launched as I headed from Binkies down to Stramash at midnight – not a complete coincidence that I wasn’t in a noisy pub just then! I mentioned in my last post that the Scat Rats were playing at Stramash Friday night, this week they also played Whistlebinkies late Thursday night and after midnight Carl was in Stramash with The Buccaneers (Scotty was there with a beer). Busy lads!

I reckon Heart-shaped Jacuzzi is set in the same district as Never Bloom and Mock Marble Linoleum, these folk are neighbours, bumping shoulders in the street unaware; facades of chirpiness hide creeping despair, each numbed by feelings of inadequacy and inevitabilities that are seem unescapable. The songs are like a voyeuristic camera sweeping through the neighbourhood spying on their little worlds; I see the last riff of Mock Marble Linoleum as a montage of his day, ending with him setting out again into the night, the camera pans away from him, swooping up through an upstairs window to the first strains of Babe Station. 《BTW this is one of those very late night train of thoughts that I climbed on-board and went with. Just a personal, moosed up idea inspired by the music of LC and a lack of sleep》

It’s now another day in the Close, another house to peer in, who lives in this one? The intro suggests early 70s sitcom with a slightly creepy edge, then those last two chords, uh oh, “Stale beard…” and Scott paints the scene for us. Messrs Marah and Rough always have great lyrics and even when they’re on the bleak side, there’s still a lightness and wit; and the arrangements of their music combine with their words perfectly to enhance whatever scene or story is unfolding. Here Scott is letting us in on how disillusioned the wife is feeling about her husband and how her life has turned out, “golden days distant memories for you”.

Scott’s vocals are as gorgeous as ever, like a coarse velvet (ok, that may sound odd, if I ever think of a better description I’ll edit it), narrating the wife’s turmoil, almost like her own subconscious dispassionately assessing her life choices. The discord builds up with some dark moody guitar, the keyboards reappear, finally the thoughts break back in, everything is swirling around building up and up (okay, I haven’t yet deciphered all the words in this part of the song yet, but I reckon safe to say, the lady is not in a good place, the video really can’t come out soon enough!) then it all cuts out to a sparse guitar ending, plaintive, but our lady has survived to, hopefully, move on.

Plenty of keyboards in this one, plenty space too. The production on this is brilliant, still the LC sound (definitely worth the Hamburg trip to get it right) but there’s been gradual shifts as the band grow together. The lads do like a tempo change or two, well, they help with scene-shifting, cutting to another camera. Talking about cameras, on first hearing this I thought, oo, another Lynchian tune but on further listens it’s more Edgar Wright to me (a game I play, matching music with film directors).

Of course Heart-shaped Jacuzzi gets 5 stars from me, heck it can have a few more!

Toodle pip!

one sexy red heart-shaped jacuzzi

A cobbler, a duke and a bear ….

bruceonthefringe 2022, Beer, Halifax pubs, Live bands in Edinburgh, Logan's Close, Pubs, Uncategorized, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’ve been back down in deepest, driest Yorkshire again, yup, those reservoirs aren’t looking any fuller. Oh, there’s more rain now but not nearly enough to make a difference, just enough to get soggy while dog walking.

Fun fact I discovered – Halifax once had a zoo! What?! Yes, a zoo that even had a visit from the King and Queen! That was King George V and Queen Mary back in 1912. It had hundreds of animals including lions, monkeys, an elephant, llamas, a pelican and two bears, one russian and one grizzly. It’s because of the grizzly that I became aware of the zoo’s existence, that and the desire to go explore the drinking establishments of Halifax, from the ancient to the barely out of the wrapper.

Halifax has a fine variety of pubs and bars for all tastes, old pubs like Lewins, the Plummet Line, the George, very very old pubs like the Union Cross and charming newbies like The Victorian (okay to me it still feels new but I’ve just realised its been there about seven years!) There was one pub I didn’t get the name of, they just refer to it as the Ikea Pub and I could see why; hmmm, probably more bar than pub. Actually more like Habitat was, than Ikea is now, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Halifax Borough Market

From there we trotted through the market (Halifax Borough Market to give it it’s full name) to Dukes in Market Arcade, very very new this one and I liked it very much. I love the style and decor of the place, it has a lovely friendly, quirkly feeling to it, the setting within an old Victorian arcade helps, that and the interesting selection of beers. Next time I’m down and in the market….

Dukes, but really, no
Dukes, very very tasty
Meandering Bear, why thank you!

After Dukes we headed straight over to the Meandering Bear, I know this because i)the photo of the pump clip was taken after four o’clock, that’s when the Bear opens, ii)I remembered (i) when Dukes pointed out that the final pic on my Instagram post wasn’t one of theirs. So the story behind the name? The aforementioned bears escaped from the zoo and while the russian bear was quickly caught, the grizzly went on a long walk around the district before it was finally recaptured. Drinking in pubs can be educational!

Enough about pubs in Yorkshire – Logan’s Close are finally getting round to doing a gig in Edinburgh, yay, yay, and triple yay! In Sneaky Pete’s on 12th December, crikey it’s been a while since I last saw them in there. Very excited about that but there’s even more!! On the 10th of this month the lads announced that their first single Heart-shaped Jacuzzi from the new album will be digitally released on the 21st, wowzah ❤ And as if that wasn’t enough to get the fans excited, four days later they gave us a wee taster of the video, oh my heartses!! It looks sooo good, how to ratchet up the anticipation 👄

So that’s Logan’s Close, new single Heart-shaped Jacuzzi out on 21st October on a music streaming platform near you, do yourself a favour and check it out. Methinks the Scat Rats will be on fine form at Stramash on Friday, yes, it’s their usual seven o’clock time. I had wondered if they would be playing as there’s still nothing for Friday night on the website, but Stramash have now put the week’s band list up on Facebook – huh, the Rats are playing late tonight as well, what!? Much as the heart is willing, my body needs to sleep, I’ll be seeing them on Friday. Sweet! 《Update. I did go see the first set, excellent as per usual, maybe a wee clip will find it’s way on to Instagram. Oh, and the video will come out a bit later after the single》

Toodle pip!

as the sign says, Dukes
he used to be big in these parts!
I snaffled a bear mat

I’ve been away, did I miss much?

bruceonthefringe 2022, Edinburgh, Live bands in Edinburgh, Music in Edinburgh, Pubs, Uncategorized, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hello! I know it’s been a wee while, I’ve been down in the old country doing family things – what a time to be out of Edinburgh, eh! In case you somehow missed it, our queen Queen Elizabeth II died on the 8th September at Balmoral, three days later the Queen’s coffin was brought down to Edinburgh by hearse to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, from where it was taken the following day by procession up the Royal Mile to St Giles Cathedral. Her Majesty’s coffin stayed in St Giles for 24 hours, so that folk could pay their respects, before being flown to London. Many thousands came to Edinburgh to bid farewell to a much respected and admired lady, the queue reached right back to the Meadows apparently.

Queen Elizabeth II will be a tough act for King Charles III to follow, I wish him well in what may well be turbulent times. She was a strong figurehead for the United Kingdom, without her the status quo has been shifted, there may well be a few aftershocks before a new equilibrium settles in. Will some take this opportunity to make the changes that they’ve said would happen after the Queen’s reign came to an end?

So, I was down in Yorkshire for a while, a place name I usually precede with “deepest, dampest”, well it’s not so damp at present and water levels are far from deep, see how low one of the local reservoirs is…..

Yup, seriously low.

When the water level was low was in the mid seventies, the area below the road bridge was littered with looted safes, shot guns and the like! Now if we trot back up to the bridge and look upstream from the dam wall, you can see the much, much older bridge I was standing on to take the above photo.

The old packhorse bridge is usually well under the surface. It’s like a local barometer, can it be seen just under the surface? Oo, the top of the arch is visible; this view of it is extremely rare, possibly the first time there’s only been the smallest of streams trickling below it. It’ll take an awful lot of rain to refill the reservoir, anyone know any good raindances?

I came back up to Edinburgh on Friday after a longer stay than I’d intended, the Scat Rats were playing Stramash so it was definitely time to head north. What a gorgeous day for travelling (unlike the journey down) and at the end of it a lovely pint of Stewart’s and great sounds, yay! As I was leaving Stramash afterwards I asked the lads if they could confirm a date down in the Edinburgh Gig Guide of a midnight set in Whistlebinkies on the 27th – err, not in their diary! Then I mentioned it was the same night that Fur are playing the Mash House, oo, that perked them up, indeed yeah they’ll be playing that night! Goodo.

The Rats were out to play again on Saturday afternoon in Binkies; a new ale for me to try, mmm, so good I treated myself to a pint. And yay, Mr Marah is out again tonight with The Buccaneers, midnight at Stramash; before them it’s Nicole and the Back-up Crew, so thats four sets for some folk tonight. Maybe one time there could be a big mash-up of the two bands right through, I’d love to see that! To take me up to ten o’clock I’m shortly off to see See How They Run at the flicks, the trailer looks wonderful.

Best be off now, toodle pip!

The Fringe of ’22 is over

bruceonthefringe 2022, Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe 2022, Flyerers, Fringe 2022 reviews, Last night of the Fringe, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Its all done for another year, everyone’s left town, so many venues already look like there’s not been anything happening at all, even the streets are looking cleaner (yes, the binmen went back to work yesterday – was it really a strike or a dirty protest against the Fringe?!). At least I was able to console myself watching the Scat Rats yesterday evening in Whistlebinkies, and at the reasonable time of half nine! It’s Scotty boy’s birthday today, I’m sure there’ll be shenanigans afoot; just as long as he’s recovered by Friday when there’s a double dose of Marah and Rough – at five in Binkies, then down in Stramash at seven, sweet!

Anyways, you probably popped in for some end of Fringe waffle, like, did Accordion Ryan do a new song? Yes, he did and very good it was too, all about him seemingly giving off long term relationship vibes when, well, sometimes it’s nice just to have a bit of fun! Another clever, funny, slightly bittersweet song. It was a brilliant last show, a total blast, it’s gotta be ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. As is the usual with these things venue staff came along for a final send-off, I’m sure Ryan brought plenty of sunshine into their lives this last month (mine too!)

Earlier that evening walking up Blair Street I noticed that the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society Awards 2022 were taking place that night, obviously I had to get a ticket, what better way to round off the Fringe (especially in case nothing turned up on Monday)? Needless to say it was very silly, rather anarchic and quite random, like any evening at the ACMS. Thom Tuck managed to keep some semblance of order (Professional), or did a good impression of doing so. Throughout the show various nominees for Best Song went up and performed, my favourite was definitely John Robertson’s, short and very much to the point BINS!! As this was ACMS Awards there wasn’t actually an award for Best Song, of course not. The whole thing was done and dusted by around two thirty, a very reasonable time, considering.

announcing the winner of the Least Likely award

Monday? The few flyerers left descended on the remaining Fringers, by god, they had one last show to flyer and they were determined to got some bums on those seats! They circled around us like seagulls going for discarded chips, saying you already had a show to go to almost felt mean. Oh, I wasn’t just saying it, I did, the chaps from Out To Lunch were quite engaging so I bought a ticket, and that was my final Fringe show, in the afternoon! No final night, didn’t even bother with Binkies Open Mic Night, this slow, wheezing demise of the Fringe is no fun. Just end everything on the Sunday night!!! The last Monday gets more tragic each year.

Out To Lunch was rather good, by the way. It’s a comedy-musical but there’s not too much singing in it. Indeed, when the first song started I’d forgotten that it was a musical it was a fair way into the play, oh and the two male actors weren’t particularly musical when they tried to sing but that just made it funnier. Emily Cairns playing Angie made up for them, she has an awesome voice. I was amused by the main protagonist Marcus Tuckwell, a failing food critic, when I realised he was coming across like the bastard love child of Bernard Black (Black Books) and Jack Whitehall! Yes, I had that going on in my head.

Must finish, I’m hungry. There may be a ranty post later, possibly; well, a Fringe round-up that may become ranty. I may even get round to some Bruce T Moose awards this year, I’m feeling a tad inspired by the ACMS, Best Song nominees welcome!

Thom took his MC duties very seriously

Zombies, rats and hot tubs

bruceonthefringe 2022, Comedy, Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe 2022, Fringe 2022 reviews, Live bands in Edinburgh, Music in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

First off a big WOOHOO!! and YAY!! for those Grubby Little Mitts who won an Amused Moose Award yesterday, brilliant news, well-deserved. Second, the Fringe is coming to an end, shows are starting to wind up (sniff!) and there are a few that I have neglected to mention how much I enjoyed them, in case anyone pays attention to what makes a moose smile. Here goes…

Aidan Goatley, the loveliest man on the Fringe is back with Aidan Goatley: Tenacious in ZOO Playground 1, a slightly out of the way venue to find but still very central. If you’ve seen Aidan before you’ll know what to expect, if you haven’t, like I said, he is a very lovely guy, you do not need to fear the front row (mind, he did demonstrate that without his glasses and a change of tone, with his size and tattoos he could come across as very menacing – and then he put the glasses back on, phew!). He always tells a great story, some older stories have come round again used as springboards into new material; he’s mentioned in previous shows that he started out in stand-up with the likes of Ramesh Ranganathan but Aidan’s not bitter, no, he’s bloody tenacious! ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Nathan Cassidy is back with two shows, one at City Cafe (PWYC) the other at the Three Sisters (Free). I saw Hot Tub God in City Cafe in a small square room, comfy seats around the walls and uncomfy seats in the centre – there was just enough room for what audience there was to fit around the sides – like we were all in a big hot tub. Another great storyteller, more bite, snarl and sex than Aidan, whatever type of storyteller you want they’re here at the Edinburgh Fringe! I haven’t seen his other show yet but on the strength of Hot Tub God, I may well visit the Three Sisters very soon. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This morning I finally saw a show at Paradise in the Vaults, one of my favourite Fringe venues, and happy to say, it was another belter (I’ve seen some great stuff in those Vaults over the years). It was in my to-see pile as soon as I saw it in the Fringe programme, Apocalypse Kernow; great venue, zombies, Cornish, comedy – what’s not to love? Absolutely nothing! So much funny and satirical content in one hour, the writing and performances are brilliant, turns out its father and son, both are so good in their many roles. Like all the best multi-character shows various soft toys played small parts (very well, too) and the ongoing Trago Mills worker’s updates of the situation were pitched perfectly. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Enough Fringery, though this kinda is as bands don’t start playing at two in the morning in Binkies at any other time of year. The Scat Rats had told me in advance that they’d be playing Whistlebinkies on Wednesday night (just as well, a night that late requires a little forethought and Binkies made no mention of it til last minute), they did also mention the strong possibility of some level of inebriation, okay, it’s Fringe, it’ll be very late, a few drinks in would be perfectly reasonable to expect.

Back in March I wrote It’s going to be a special night a direct quote from Mr Marah the night Logan’s Close played the Running Horse in Nottingham (click on it, it should link to my post). Wednesday night was another special night, only this time it was Scott’s turn as the soberer one! I was concerned when Carl first took to the stage and sat on his stool that he would stay on it, clearly instinct kicked in and he performed pretty well considering (oh yes, there’s a couple of clips on Instagram!) He coped pretty well with the ongoing technical problems, I felt sorry for the poor girl who was on sound that night, she was doing so her best. It was indeed another fine fun performance through to around four, hugs all round and home to bed.

In other Fringe music news, did I mention the other day that Accordion Ryan had to cancel his show because his voice was suffering? Well, anyway, he did, it was. Poor guy had to cancel another two shows, but today he’s back up and running, yay! I won’t be seeing him tonight but I’ll definitely be there for his last show on Sunday (22:15 at The Counting House on West Nicholson Street), I reckon it’ll be banging!

Must go, need to eat. Toodle pip!

Spending time in Spaces

bruceonthefringe 2022, Comedy, Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe 2022, Fringe 2022 reviews, Venues Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Yesterday I hit the hut, the Half Price Hut tickets, plus others just to get a good return for the overall £5 booking fee. In doing so I finally saw shows in theSpace venues, third week and I hadn’t been to any of them yet, unusual for me. I’ve noticed theSpace host a lot of small theatre companies, many that just come up for one week; so if it’s theatre at a reasonable price that you’re after, it’s a good place to check out.

TheSpace on North Bridge is on the first floor of the big hotel there, the big posh hotel, lovely staircase up, but somehow a building devoid of any, erm, emotion is not quite right, very airport lounge-y, very impersonal, a total lack of atmosphere (just my opinion, others may say differently). This does mean that the actors really need to be able to create their own atmosphere. Once Upon A Midnight Dreary certainly pile in on, a sumptuous musical play about Edgar Allan Poe, sadly it wasn’t quite to my palate. It was the Edgar Allan Poe element that attracted me (there’s always at least one production about Poe or his works at the Fringe every year). The music was very good, very fitting and the three performers all have great singing voices but the play itself just didn’t sit right with me, but any Poe fans, fans of the macabre should consider giving it go, especially if the tickets are on HPH offer.

In the evening I had back-to-back shows in Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall. Be warned, Theatre 3 is a very warm room, warm enough to have your head nodding if you’ve recently had a large meal. First off, You’re Dead, Mate a dark comedy where Death has to process his latest client and send him to the Hereafter, but his client is, understandably, rather confused and disbelieving. This is the debut play of Edmund Morris with himself as Death and Harry Duff-Walker playing the recently deceased. It’s very funny and entertaining, a few poignant moments in there amid the laughs; for a first play I reckon he done good, not brilliant but sound and some great ideas. It would be interesting if Morris re-visited this in five years time, with tweaks from all his accumulated knowledge and experience this could be really something (yes, Morris has a future in theatre of that I have no doubt). ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Another young man with a bright future is Fraser Brown. After a brief step outside to gulp down some fresh, cool air it was back into Theatre 3 for It’s Fraser Brown, I’m Afraid. He comes across as a personable young chap who’s a tad anxious, or is that part of the act? No, I think his occasional apologies to his audience weren’t without basis in his true self, they may be in there as part of his routine but it would still be telling that he put them in. Brown has some wonderfully pitch-black comedy moments where a few cracked a laugh and others gasped or laughed like they shouldn’t be finding the funny. He seemed to take a while to relax into his stride, I felt he was trying to hard to be edgy, it came across just a bit uneven, disjointed; when he got in his groove he had a lighter touch and delivered the dark punches with more effect. Definitely one I’ll be keeping my eye on ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yesterday early evening I finally indulged myself with a HPH ticket to see Blueswater Presents: Blues! The 10th Anniversary Show in the Grand Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall. I know that I shouldn’t begrudge spending a bit more to see some top class blues but I’m a terrible moose and I do. Wow, though, this is a brilliant show, it’s the last year Blueswater will do this particular show, definitely worth seeing before it finishes on Saturday if you like the blues. Worth it just for Nicole Smit coming on and performing I’d Rather Go Blind, followed by a blindingly good rendition of The Wizard by Black Sabbath!

Yes, this show takes us for the beginnings of the blues (with just Nicole Smit and Felipe Schrieburg on stage singing John the Revelator – exquisite) right up to modern day. Members of the band came and went off stage as each number required, with Nicole adding to the mix occasionally; all the various Back Up Crew were there along with some brass on the side. Just have to mention The Wizard again, I don’t usually pay much attention to drummers but I do enjoy watching Simon Gibb and he was sooo good on this; and Jed Potts and Charlie Wild going nuts on guitar, awesome (oh, Ewan on bass and the harmonica player were great too, and Felipe on vocals). I am a bit tempted to go back for the final show.

Last but not least from yesterday, not in any Space, the Gilded Balloon Wine Bar instead, was Yippee Ki Yay and if you can’t guess what this show takes its name from it’s possibly not the show for you. If, however you are a fan of Die Hard, are not averse to some verse and like a slice of silly, this could be right up your street. Richard Marsh tells two stories side by side, one Die Hard the movie, the other of our narrator’s life having fallen in love with a fellow Die Hard fan. His Hans Gruber is priceless (with plenty of little Rickman and Potterverse quips); the proposal scene to the music from The Princess Bride, such a great little detail. So glad I decided to get around to seeing this romp ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The sun has finally decided to come out – it was very gray and wet before lunchtime. Must go out and get a few rays, maybe catch another show or two. It could be a late one tonight as I believe those Scat Rats are playing Binkies in the early hours, will I make it?

Toodle pip!