Edinburgh Festival Fringe

As expected, my golf got rained off again on Thursday, but at least we managed to get a game of squash doubles. We were sitting in the clubhouse having a beer afterwards and Richard casually mentioned that his visitors this weekend had been delayed because of a landslide on the rail line south of Stonehaven - uh oh - we had only just booked our return journey down to Edinburgh. Sure enough, it was still blocked in the morning so bang went my relaxing trip down to the Fringe - we had to drive after all - and hope that First Scotrail respond to my request for a refund.

Anyway, we made it in good time - after lunch at the Horn of course - and Colin and Johanne arrived not long after us. It was going to be a busy Friday evening but we thought we'd have time for a quick beer in the Cafe Royal before heading off to the Assembly Rooms to see Clive James in conversation.

We weren't quite sure what to expect from the first show - there were 2 chairs on stage and Clive James walked on and said that a surprise guest had just flown in (to publicise his new book) - it was Rick Wakeman. I never cared much for his music - in Yes and solo - and used to think he was a fairly pretentious prat until I saw him in Grumpy Old Men. Well, he could talk - entertainingly - for England - one question and he was off! Very enjoyable, although I could hear a few mutters at the end about wanting to hear more from Clive James himself.

We didn't have much time to get to the next show and it was too far to walk it in time, but we were fortunate enough to pick up a cab which got us to Bristo Square in good time for the News Revue. Last year, it had been very funny, satirical and fast paced, but this year's show passed the latter 2 criteria but failed miserably to amuse us much.

Another taxi took us down to Jeffrey St in time for some supper before our next show. The first restaurant we saw was a Spanish Tapas bar, so we didn't hesitate - it's hard to get in anywhere at Festival time. The meal was excellent and it was just a short stagger from there down the hill to Jury's Inn for A Tribute to Bessie Smith. It was a typical Fringe Venue - one room in the hotel, with about 40 chairs and a small space for a keyboard and double bass player, plus the singer - a little old lady called Liz Dicks. She was far from a Bessie Smith sound-a-like - and definitely not a look-alike! If you don't know who Bessie Smith was, she was a giant of a woman - check out this movie clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7S2w6v2No and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Smith for information about her.

Liz Dicks was small, Scottish, frail and probably approaching 70, but she gave a rather charming rendition of some of Bessie's better known stuff, and it was a delight to watch her musicians up close and personal. I've tried to Google Liz Dicks, thinking she might be somebody with a musical past that I was unaware of, but have failed to come up with anything other than a brief reference to somebody going by that name compereing some Jazz shows in Scotland. Jo and Colin reckoned she was just a wee old wifie who had been encouraged by family and friends, in the true spirit of the Fringe, to get up and have a go!

After that, it was back over to George St to see the legend that is Geno Washington. You may not know of him, other than through Dexy's Midnight Runners number one from the '80's - "Geno" - but check out his web site - http://www.genowashington.com/ and Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geno_Washington for some background info. I first saw Geno in 1966, I think it was, when I was but a callow youth of 17. It was the Maryland Club in Glasgow, which had a bit of a reputation for trouble - in those days, the Glasgow gangs - Fleet, Tongs etc - were running amok - so it was with some trepidation that I set foot in the club. The atmosphere was intense and the joint was jumping - I'd never experienced anything like it in my life.

Geno never had hit singles but his live albums sold well. His act - and that of Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, who covered similar territory - was based purely on American soul. The Stax label had become hugely popular on the UK club scene through Sam & Dave, Otis Redding etc and, at that stage, the original acts hadn't toured here, but we were thrilled to listen to American voices covering their music.

Geno played the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen several years ago and Jo and I went along and danced the night away - he was great. In short, when I saw he was appearing at the Fringe, I had to go and see him again. We arrived at the Jamm Club and who should be stepping out of the taxi but the man himself. I took some photos outside and one of him on stage with his famous Ram Jam Band:

Jo and I danced to the band, but, in truth, the accoustics were so poor that Geno's voice was lost in a strangled, high pitched wail, drifting up to the high ceiling. I do remember he started the band on every song with the words "Kick It!".

Breakfast at McRae's Organic B & B was very good - although only Colin managed the full Scottish. It was dry and sunny when we stepped out and opposite our B & B was a house with a strange name on it:

Don't know what that's all about! Anyway, a kind neighbour, out for a quick fag - sorry, Scott - make that cigarette! - took a photo of the 4 of us outside our B & B, just before we headed off to Foodies at the Festival at the Sheraton:

The event was excellent - lots of free food and drink, plus shows, demonstrations etc. We managed to get tickets to see Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedian, writer, TV star and occasional part-time chef (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardeep_Singh_Kohli). He was hilarious - but he seriously burnt his hand as he tried to move a hot pan. Watch the One Show to see if he's still got the bandage on!

Dave Williamson, having retired from BP, now has a new job with BG, based in Reading, but with the project in Brazil. He flew in to Edinburgh direct from Rio (via Heathrow) and was texting me suggesting we meet up for a beer - so we went to an old haunt - Kay's bar:

Suitably refreshed, it was off to the Scottish Storytelling Centre to see an abridged version of Kidnapped. Here's Jo and Johanne afterwards, just outside John Knox's house:

Dinner was at Shamoli Thai and Indian restaurant overlooking the High St and then we headed off to the Old Town Literary Pub Crawl. We had all enjoyed the Rebus walking tour we went on last year and hoped that this might be similar. Unfortunately, it wasn't - and it was all down to the presenter - last year, we had an actor, who read out passages from Ian Rankin's books, but this guy was, frankly, lazy. First stop was exactly the same pub we had started at last year - it's couthy and there are strolling musicians there, but was that any reason to just dump us there without a word for the first 45 minutes of his two and a half hour tour? He did the same at 2 other pubs on the tour.

At the end of the tour, we felt a bit short changed - but we still bought his CD to see if we could learn any more from it than we had from him - unfortunately, we didn't - the CD contained even less than he'd told us - and his speeches were the same as - no - worse, verbatim - he'd said.

Anyway, he did spark a debate/quiz amongst us - how many Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson novels can you name (without checking Wikipedia)? The answer was very few from our group - a pretty poor show really.

Edinburgh was alive, not just with Fringers, but also Hen parties and Stag nights. We saw these Superheroes outside Greyfriars Bobby's:

The long walk back was broken with a quick p... stop at the Guildford Arms - but we didn't have a drink there. Instead we went in to the Cask and Barrel in Broughton St, near our B & B for our bedtime drink. They had some excellent ales on and they also had high seated booths, with headrests and footrests for our weary legs:


Sunday was slower - Jo bypassed mass in Edinburgh in favour of a mid-afternoon return home in time to get to her local church by 6 pm. We went back to Foodies at the Festival to listen to the Real Ale Masterclass, given by Stewart Brewing - no really, that's their name! After that, we saw the wonderful Soweto Gospel Choir and their highly energetic and entertaining show.

We then wandered along George St and took in a bit of the Book Festival, set in Charlotte Square. As we walked down, I spied a glimpse of Edinburgh Castle and, as Iwas wearing my Kaleidoscope t-shirt, I thought this might be an appropriate photo to send to Medford - what do you think?:

End of marathon blog!