OOTB 292 – 13 March 2008

John Downie, Rosie Bell, Hannah O’Reilly, Susanna McDonald, Jake Cogan & Ross Coburn, Ivor, Mike, Furious

Colin’s songs are tender, sweet and full of the wisdom of a long life. Colin (so a birdy told me) is 87 but could easily pass for 20 years younger, I only hope that I will be writing songs as witty, wonderful, and occasionally filthy at that age. Tonight he plays his glute* unplugged and really engages the audience. I particularly like the one about sleeping with (or not sleeping with) a ‘pro’. The songs and playing have always been great, but Colin is really growing in confidence.

*[that’s a cross between a guitar and a lute, rather than the muscle of the same name]

The Canon’s Gait was packed for a fun-packed night of stylish performers – Big Jim wore his compering hat and an exceedingly fetching Out Of The Bedroom t-shirt (available at OOTB, be quick to get hold of this season’s limited edition must-have!).

Darren Thornberry, Colin Milne, Starship, Hannah O’Reilly, Johnny Pugh, Aaron Lowen Berger, Rossco Galloway (Featured Act), Yogi, Colin Donati, Nigel Ashworth (debut), Ian Petrie

Our compere, Darren Thornberry, kicks things off with ‘In Theory’ which features his trademark soaring counter-tenor. The tentative early days of a relationship trusting nothing do not last and the novelty cannot sustain forever, love was meant to hold us.

A bit of an apology to go with this review, as essentially I’m writing it from memory. I was compering the night and our reviewer sadly couldn’t make it. I didn’t take any notes or anything, but this morning I decided it would be a pity not to document the night in some way. So don’t expect much detail (and if you want song names you can pretty forget it). Nonetheless I shall do my best to convey the mood of what was a superb (if short) evening in the company of a wistful few music lovers who have nothing better to do on Valentine’s night.

OOTB 287 – 7 February 2008

Performers: Nelson Wright, Aaron Lowenberger, Jonny D, Fletcher, Jim Tudor, Will Tomson, Lindsay Sugden, Mike, Jim Whyte.

A quick break occurs during which the bar does a roaring trade, several people decide to inhale the fumes of burning plants through small paper tubes in the freezing cold, and i find out how to spell Simon T Munro’s name…

Our humble compere ROB SPROUL-CRAN now does something I’ve never witnessed. He’s written a song while Ross was playing, and now he performs it, having had no time to pick up a guitar or give it a good sing. It’s something to do with death. I saw you cryin’ the day he died. It’s rather tender in that Rob way. I want to hear this one again soon. Well done sir!

‘Twas a fine winter’s night to be venturing forth to the Canon’s Gait and many of Edinburgh’s musicians seemed to think this was true as the list filled up thick and fast. Alas, despite so many there appeared to be few willing to brave the challenge that faces the OOTB reviewer. However, for the first part I decided it was time to be a worthy citizen and give something back to the community. Ably aided and abetted by Ms Hannah O’Reilly read on to discover how our perilous journey unfolded before us (until the second break when we buggered off). I want to add at this point the disclaimer that I cannot be held responsible for any mis-quoted lyrics (you should sing more clearly), omitted or mis-quoted song titles (you should make them more obvious) or mis-spelled names (if I’ve not read them how am I supposed to know). We have also tried to be fairly honest and our mothers always told us that if you can’t say something nice then you shouldn’t say anything at all (oops, that means I shouldn’t really sing any of my songs. Ah well, hypocrisy makes life more bearable…). As a reward, we were given the first slot to share, and, delightfully compered by Mr Daniel Davis,

Another great session from some of the finest wits in the unamplified Edinburgh drinking scene, and topics such as Beethoven, poker and Presbyterianism had the pub ringing to the throng of heartily raised voices and occasionally strong opinions. Magnificent- it must have gone on for nearly forty minutes. Some people even took their coats off. Apologies from Rob Sproul-Cran, who was strangely ‘aff the drink’.

Immediately prior to this, some of the assembled went to the Canons’ Gait for an evening of musical interruption to their drinking.