Issue 662

House Cabaret

18 Aug 2010

Getting up close and personal has never been easier with a personalised performance from your house. Host your very own cabaret at your own venue with your own friends. For one night only, a small troupe of dedicated cabaret artists arrives at your…

Things to do in Scotland when it’s dead

12 Aug 2010

So, apparently there’s some sort of small gathering happening in Edinburgh, and that means the rest of the country is effectively closed for business? Er, wrong. Here’s our essential guide to getting yourself a festival experience without going to the…

Edinburgh Book Fringe - Elaine Henry interview

The owner of Word Power Books answers five questions

12 Aug 2010

Why did you set up the Edinburgh Book Fringe in the first place? To give local writers, small publishers and writers outwith the mainstream the sort of voice or platform they wouldn’t get access to during the festival period. Can you describe the…

Hi Fives for Diversity

Celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity

12 Aug 2010

It’s the kids’ last chance to take part in Our Dynamic Earth’s International Year of Biodiversity celebrations this week, with activities all over the centre. High five the Community Tree, learn about how Arctic animals have adapted to their harsh…

Profusion of painting at 2010 Edinburgh Art Festival

Richard Wright, Joan Mitchell and Julie Roberts head up painting programme

4 Aug 2010

Painting has inspired some epic declarations over the years. In the 1960s Donald Judd declared the medium dead. In 2005 Young British Artist Damien Hirst advised people that they were more important than paintings. And this year, in light of the…

Gyles Brandreth - middle-aged, ex-MP, author, and Fringe show stalwart

4 Aug 2010

British author-cum-broadcaster-cum-Fringe show stalwart Gyles Brandreth talks about the highs and lows of his festival fortunes. "Edinburgh is a parallel universe. We do things differently here. I was a middle-aged, ex-MP with a tragic comb-over and…

Taste returns to Edinburgh's reopened Liquid Room

The Liquid Room's Sunday regulars are back

4 Aug 2010

Here are some reasons to attend the 16-year-old Taste club night at the Liquid Room as the club re-opens in the middle of the of the Edinburgh Festivals

Piping Live!

4 Aug 2010

Bagpipes, it’s fair to say, have a bit of an image problem. But while the masses have been busy groaning and cringing at our national instrument, Piping Live! has spent the last seven years building up a vibrant, exciting and internationally-reaching…

David Benson's Unfinished Business

3 Aug 2010

Award-winning performer David Benson talks to Steve Cramer about a powerful new piece of theatre that explores the Lockerbie tragedy from the point of view of a grieving parent Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic froth at the mouth about the…

Headspin festival date to be its last

DJ Yoda date marks end of 12 years of clubbing

3 Aug 2010

As Headspin comes to an end, DJ/promoter Allan Dunbar talks to Henry Northmore about their final date and why they’ve booked DJ Yoda to play their last night.

Jack Bond's movies stand the test of time

3 Aug 2010

In 1965, Jack Bond, a young director freshly fired from the BBC for faking letters to Points of View, managed to persuade Salvador Dali to make a feature film with him. The result Dali In New York, screens on the art-house circuit to this day, and this…

Comedians you might know from TV at the Fringe 2010

Five faces from the telly making a beeline for the stage

3 Aug 2010

Alex Zane He’s the cheeky wee chappie from Rude Tube and a man described as a saviour to sensitive lads everywhere. Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 16), 10pm, £10–£10.50 (£8.50–£9). Previews until 6 Aug, £5. Norman Lovett There will be…

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

3 Aug 2010

The combination of big-budget producer Jerry Bruckheimer and deep-pocketed studio Disney bore attractive if banal fruit with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but the muddle-headed fantasy The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is more likely to make audiences…

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in Knight and Day

3 Aug 2010

‘I’m the guy!’ smirks madcap assassin Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) to mousey June Havens (Cameron Diaz) as he kidnaps her at gunpoint from a Boston cafe. Sadly, on the evidence of James Mangold’s pumped-up spy thriller, Cruise has little to be so cocky about…

Javier Fuente - León's Undertow

3 Aug 2010

Talk about having your cake and eating it. Impossibly good looking Peruvian fisherman Miguel (Cristian Mercado) has an adoring pregnant wife (Tatiana Astengo) and a hot male lover in the shape of visiting artist Santiago (Manolo Cardona). It’s all…

Edinburgh Festivals’ Cavalcade

3 Aug 2010

With floats from all aspects of the Edinburgh Festivals, as well as community groups and commercial ventures and the entire cast of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the cavalcade returns to Holyrood Park to kick-start yer official Edinburgh Crazy Season.

Farm Boy wins this week's best bribe by sending a miniature tractor

2 Aug 2010

This week’s best bribe was this charming miniature 1922 Fordson Tractor, sent by the folk behind Michael Morpurgo’s Farm Boy (adapted by Daniel Buckroyd). The play is a sequel to War Horse, which focused on a young boy and his horse on a journey through…

Quartet of notable U.S. comics stand-up for America

Jennifer Coolidge, Bo Burnham, Caroline Rhea and Charlyne Yi hit Fringe 2010

30 Jul 2010

Jennifer Coolidge is having trouble describing her own stand-up show. She asks a friend who is within shouting distance for help. ‘Michael?’ she calls, in a sugary purr. ‘I have Scotland on the line. What’s my show like?’ After a pause an answer booms…

Fringe 2010 cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever

Smoke & Mirrors, Alan Cumming and The Crack

30 Jul 2010

From pared down to jazz-hands up, this year’s variety and cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever. Anna Millar meets the makers to find out why we just can’t get enough It’s a certain man who can shimmy from club door whore to straight-talking…

Fringe show Willy Wonka Explained tracks down the original Veruca Salt

Matthew Hardy and Julie Dawn bring a pinch of Salt to Edinburgh

30 Jul 2010

Everyone reaches a low point in their lives, when it feels natural to seek solace in objects that remind us of happier, perhaps more innocent times. When Matthew Hardy was dumped by two girlfriends (years and continents apart), he couldn’t stop sticking…

The Rizla Riverboat Shuffle on the Waverley Steamer

Optimo and Melting Pot DJs play second set on board landmark Glasgow landmark boat

30 Jul 2010

David Pollock climbs aboard the Waverley Steamer as Melting Pot and Optimo set sail on another Rizla Riverboat Shuffle It wasn’t meant to be more than a one-off party in a unique location, but the DJs from Glasgow’s Optimo and Melting Pot nights had…

Toby Williams brings Dr George Ryegold back to Fringe

Applying surgery to a subtle character creation

30 Jul 2010

For someone who has suffered crippling stage fright, it seems extraordinary that we have even heard of Dr George Ryegold. Having heard from his agent that a parting of the ways might have to come, Toby Williams (the actor behind the maverick medic) told…

Kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley at this year's Fringe

The Glasgow comedy queen Jane Godley answer 5 questions

30 Jul 2010

Glasgow comedy queen Janey Godley has pushed all her blue material aside to team up with daughter Ashley Storrie for their kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley. She tells us why we should go along. Give five reasons why people should come and see…

Singles and downloads - July 2010

This month's batch of songs to look out for

30 Jul 2010

Mercury Prize nominee Corinne Bailey Rae takes a sassy new direction in ‘Closer’ (Parlophone) ●●●● – from her new album The Sea – a smoother, more soulful, more kick-ass effort than the sugary rom-com soundtrack stuff she seems to have, mercifully, left…

Tuck into the Fringe - five shows you can watch while you eat

See it all without missing a meal

30 Jul 2010

We have compiled a list of shows that you can watch while also being served some delicious shows. Don't miss your dinner without also seeing a show!

Five new faces in British comedy to watch in Edinburgh

A quintet of bright and shiny debutants from the UK

30 Jul 2010

Joe Rowntree Hindsight is a great thing, but who knows where this guy would be now had his planned collaboration with Laura Solon in 2005 arrived in Edinburgh. She only went and won the Perrier on her tod and half a decade later, he’s making his…

Futuristic Retro Champions play in Glasgow's Mono

And here are five reasons for you to go and see them...

30 Jul 2010

1. Futuristic Retro Champions Yep, like we said above. After all, this is the Glasgow-based (aside from the one who lives in Edinburgh), all-girl (aside from the one who’s a boy) electro-pop quartet’s launch party for their single ‘May the Forth’, and…

Festival Briefing 2010

Some things we think might help you at this year's festivals

30 Jul 2010

Here's a short briefing about some things to look forward to during the Book Festival, the Fringe, in Music events, and Shopping opportunities in Edinburgh

Addy Van Der Borgh brings Advanced Mumbo Jumbo to Fringe

Five words and their more honest definitions

30 Jul 2010

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is not strictly true, especially in a fight, but there is some truth in it. Words, as we know, can be very powerful, especially when put together in the right order. Here are five words and their more honest and thus…

Five of the best improvised comedy shows at the Fringe 2010

Edinburgh shows making it up as they go along

30 Jul 2010

The Noise Next Door Five slightly posh Brighton-based blokes don shirts and colourful ties before transforming your daft ideas into blindingly witty songs and sketches. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 11, 18), 7pm, £11–£12 (£9.50–£11).

Lady Carol - Malady

We asked the singing, ukelele playing, dark-humorist five questions

30 Jul 2010

This ukelele lady has an inky-black sense of humour, and can turn the sweetest of love songs into a creepy stalker anthem. Just, please, keep her away from bright light and cakes. Five words you’d use to describe your show Sad songs, silly…

Mitchell Museum at the Edge Festival

Jangly, indie-pop by Weegie flatmates

30 Jul 2010

Mitchell Museum, so legend has it, live, write and record together in a flat in the centre of Glasgow, Monkees-style. ‘It’s true,’ reveals their singer, Cammy MacFarlane. ‘It’s on Sauchiehall Street, just above Nice ‘n’ Sleazy. Well, above and to the…

Lach’s Antihoot - anti-folk night imported from NYC

Birthplace of Beck, Regina Spekto and Jeffrey Lewis comes to Fringe

30 Jul 2010

‘The Antihoot is the heartbeat of the anti-folk revolution,’ explains its infamous founder, Lach. ‘It produced US acts like Regina Spektor, Beck and Jeffrey Lewis, and inspired UK practitioners like Kate Nash and Laura Marling.’ It also prompted…

Villagers at the Edge Festival

Tender, poetic pop, now with added Mercury nomination

30 Jul 2010

‘I usually have a picture or a colour in my head as I’m making a song,’ says Dublin’s Conor O’Brien – the dulcet bard and multi-instrumentalist behind Villagers’ picturesque rock. And so it was with Becoming a Jackal (Domino), the dramatic…

NeWt play Led Zeppelin at the Jazz Bar

Hyper-imaginative and unconvential jazz trio

30 Jul 2010

What Is It? A hyper-imaginative and unconventional jazz trio formed by Australian trombonist Chris Greive, Aberdonian guitarist Graeme Stephens and American drummer Chris Wallace, all Edinburgh residents. Who are these guys? Three of the best…

Edinburgh Mela 2010

An international and ceremonial start to the Festivals

30 Jul 2010

These days the Mela is just as much of a ceremonial start to Edinburgh’s Festivals as the (often far less exciting) Fringe Cavalcade. This year, alongside Bollywood dance shows, multi-artform companies from China, traditional Sufi music from Rizwan…

Sleigh Bells' Treats

30 Jul 2010

From the moment ‘Tell ‘Em’s machine-gun beats and bombastic guitars pummel your ears into stunned submission, Treats struts up and down before you like some aggressively flirtatious hipster girl, just daring you not to fall for its fuck-you…

Vladimir McTavish - The Idiot's Guide to Whisky

The first in a series of whiteboard show introductions

30 Jul 2010

In the first of a regular festival series we’ve asked a comedian to draw the essence of his or her festival show on our List festival wipeboard. This summer Vladimir McTavish is teaching the world about whisky. Well, kinda. In a show originally called…

Holly Burn back at Fringe with 'renegade' character-sketch show

Living and Dying follows site-specific show of 2009

30 Jul 2010

For her previous Fringe shows, Holly Burn has tunnelled into the mind of the Angel of the North and invited people into the flat she was living in last August for a site-specific experience, which our reviewer described as ‘torturously exasperating but…

Arcade Fire releases their all-important third album

The Suburbs is a rewarding and solid LP.

30 Jul 2010

History dictates that many rock greats affirm their credentials upon their third album: Radiohead’s OK Computer, U2’s War and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run all follow this pattern, and Montreal’s six-strong Arcade Fire aren’t so far from these ranks…

FOUND play at Electric Circus

30 Jul 2010

This experimental pop outfit have been putting out records since 2006, after Tommy, Kev and Ziggy (pictured) met at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen. They won a BAFTA round about this time last year for their slightly fame-obsessed…

Piping Live! Glasgow's International Piping Festival

8000 pipers and 30,000 visitors descend on Glasgow

30 Jul 2010

This is always a huge deal in the world of traditional music – when 30,000 visitors, and 8000 pipers from around the globe descend on Glasgow for the annual International Piping Festival. This year’s highlights include evening concerts by…

Norrington to step in for EIF concert

Conductor to replace Sir Charles Mackeras for Idommeneo performance

30 Jul 2010

Following the sad news last month that Sir Charles Mackerras had passed away, the Edinburgh International Festival has announced that Sir Roger Norrington will now conduct the performance of Idomeneo with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Fri 20 Aug.

Piping Live! Family Fun Day

Try your hand at piping, or other musical instruments

30 Jul 2010

If you’ve ever fancied a shot at Tenor Drumming or a wee blow on the pipes, then the Piping Live! Family Fun Day is the perfect opportunity to try out a musical instrument, safe in the knowledge that everyone around you will probably sound just as bad.

Rhythm Drum & Dance

High-energy show comes to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre

30 Jul 2010

We needed a lie down just after watching the YouTube trailer for this one. A high-energy, high drama drum show which began as a 20-minute show in Berlin (and has since expanded to tour around Europe) – this is a celebration of rhythms. And the RD&D…

RM Hubbert performs solo show

The acoustic guitarist supports Dananananaykroyd

30 Jul 2010

Fans of Sparklehorse (RIP, VIP) may care to check out Glasgow acoustic guitarist RM Hubbert’s moving cover of ‘Spirit Ditch’. Hubbert was a big Mark Linkous fan, and his recording is part of a series of covers (Elliott Smith and Vic Chestnutt have also…

Depthcharge teams up with Massimo DaCosta

Expect a night of underground Chicago and New York house

30 Jul 2010

Massimo DaCosta Depthcharge is joined by Belgian DJ Massimo DaCosta who will be demonstrating his profound love of underground Chicago and New York house. He started DJing at 17 and has now played across the globe but moved into production in 2000…

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival

Promising line-up in an absolutely stunning setting.

30 Jul 2010

All festivals have their own unique selling point. Be it the buffalo burger stall, the grass sledges, the giant headliners, or a Ferris wheel. Here, besides the performances from Harper Simon, Badly Drawn Boy, The Divine Comedy, Erland & The Carnival…

Meow Meow – Feline Intimate

The post modern showgirl delivers a unique type of cabaret

30 Jul 2010

With more purr than a panther, divine diva Meow Meow slinks back to this year’s Fringe with her unique brand of kamikaze cabaret kitsch. With sell-out shows around the world and the likes of David Bowie on her fan list, Meow Meow’s hypnotic performance…

Ali McGregor – Jazz Cigarette

A sexy soulful rendition of songs that inspire

30 Jul 2010

It’s a fine woman who can wrap her vocal chords round Ella, Billie and, er, Britney, with suitable pizzazz. This is sexy soulfulness at its finest, with a harp thrown in. Having warmed up with stints in La Clique and Variety-Nite, here she keeps it real…