OOTB – Give Give Give Me More More More!
The students must be back or something, because Edinburgh’s starting to explode with artistic and creative activity. You all know i’m about to launch into a list of events for you to go to, so let’s get started. First thing is the Hidden Door Festival which is on from this Friday to Sunday at the Roxy Art House, just have a look at the performers, there’s dozens, and the ones i’ve heard of are very good indeed (in some cases exceptional, including Lipsync For A Lullaby and Iona Marshall), so do consider going to that.
Before that though, a band you may have heard at Out of the Bedroom, Divide and Rule will be performing on Thursday 21st October at 9:30pm in Sofi’s Bar at 65 Henderson Street in Leith. Show your support, and have a great night out.
Also on Thursday 21st October, at Henry’s, 8a Morrison Street, it’s TV21 Acoustic, a night which features Iain Shaw, Sam Barber And The Outcasts, and Shock & Awe. It’s £5 on the door.
Did you know it’s currently the Edinburgh World Justice Festival by the way? And there are a lot of free events you can attend. Here are a few of them, they’re not musical, but you know there’s a history of musicians being politically active, so why don’t i tell you anyway? You can skip to the paragraph after if you really aren’t interested in justice.
Okay, these are all free and unticketed by the way, tonight (Tue 19 Oct) in the Quaker Meeting House (up the steps off Victoria Street) at 7pm, it’s a debate entitled “Private Gain, Public Pain: Campaign Against the Arms Trade“. Then tomorrow (Wed 20 Oct) in the Augustine United Church it’s a discussion called “For Our Honour: Scotland’s Role in Tackling Honour Based Violence” at 7pm. On Thursday 21st at 7:30pm it’s “Afghanistan: 30 Years of War and Poverty” at the Augustine United Church again. And on Saturday at St Columba’s by the Castle (at 14 Johnston Terrace) it’s “Cuba and Health“, a film and then a debate, that’s at 2:45, and then it’s followed at 4:45 by “Son Cubano y Salsa“, a celebration of music and Cuban culture. Not bad for free, i suspect i’ll be there all afternoon.
Now, it’s actually just over a week away, but i thought i’d just mention the next Lot Acoustic Showcase on Wednesday 27th October (which is next Wednesday), featuring The Last Of Barrett’s Privateers, Quickbeam, the captivating Hailey Beavis and Kat McKenzie. It’s 7pm-10.30pm as usual at The Lot in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket it’s a 14+ gig and it’s £4 adv/£5 on the door.
There are some more good things on the horizon, like a special Hallowe’en evening at Medina featuring Matt Norris and the Moon, Dry The River and Lorraine McCauley, and also Norman Lamont’s tribute evening to Leonard Cohen on 30 Oct at Captain’s Bar. I’ll give you all the details next week, but do search for these yourself on the ‘net (either google for the venues or for the bands, it’s how i get quite a lot of the information for this newsletter, and why should you wait on the newsletter when you can find out the info for yourself?)
I got an email from Paper Truth this week telling me about his new EP, “Tame” that he’s just released. So go and check that out, Paper Truth is excellent, for those of you that remember him at OOTB (well, he’s just as good for those of you who don’t, i suppose!).
Quite a few people have been asking how the search for a new OOTB venue is going, and it is proceeding apace. well, when i say “apace”, i mean quite a slow pace. However, the OOTB inner circle have been wheeling and dealing with key people in all the right places, and we’re not prepared to put up with OOTB being out of action for too much longer, so hopefully i’ll be able to give you an announcement in the next couple of weeks at longest about where and when you can get your OOTB fix again. And thanks to all the people who’ve told me how useful the OOTB mailouts are in the meantime, it makes it all worthwhile! 🙂
On the other hand, it’s nice to see that our “sister” nights at the Blue Blazer/Listening Room (Sundays 8pm) and the McEwan’s Ale House (9pm Fridays) are being so enthusiastically attended in OOTB’s absence, McEwan’s Ale House was stuffed with people last week, and the Listening Room’s been very well attended too.
One other thing i was going to mention is the Hog The Stage competition. Bands and performers from all round Scotland are entering this competition to play as part of Edinburgh’s famous Hogmanay celebrations, and many of them will be known to you from Edinburgh’s music scene and from Out of the Bedroom. You can enter your own band, and you can listen to, and then “like”, other bands who have already entered. Obviously, i’d be really happy if you would “like” my song, but i’m honour bound to tell you that you’ll find songs by Aaron Wright, Joe Viterbo, Augustalia, Banana Sessions and many more on the Hog The Stage website. So go and have a listen and click the ones you like.
I kind of feel like i’ve missed something out. If you sent me an email about a gig and i’ve not mentioned it, then sorry about that. I don’t think i have though, it’s just a feeling. Anyway, all the more reason for you to go and fire up google and find out who’s playing where near you and when for yourself! 🙂 And remember to “like” all the bands you enjoy on facebook, and friend them up on myspace, oh and buy their CDs too! You may be surprised how much of a boost it is when bands sell some of their CDs, and you get a permanent record of what one of your favourite bands sounds like. In my experience you don’t get a lot of opportunities to buy a band’s CD either, they either sell them all or split up, so buy the CDs now while you can, i say. Remember you can get beer any time, but music will fade away without constant financial nurturing! Okay, sermon over, see you all here next week, same time, same channel.
Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom