Tag: scotland

dazza dazzles

A quick trip to the Captain’s Rest last night for some classic antipodean singer songwriting courtesy of our favourite man from Gympie – Darren Hanlon.

He was great as always, the gig was ned free, lots of old friends present and correct, and he played lots of our old faves as well as a couple more rootsy tracks from his new albumn.

battles battle the arches

Last minute gig decision last night – gotta love living in the heart of town. Without their frontman they were a little less entertaining although their fantastically talented musicianship was still on display. The acoustics and shape of the Arches didin’t help either, it was a much less crisp sound compared to when we saw them at ABC a few years ago

Garter Stitch 100 – Centenary of International Women's Day

D-Day is approaching rapidly, knitting is popping up in all sorts of unexpected places across Glasgow , and indeed the world.

My work – one of the 100 events showcased at Loop at the Tramway on the 8th of March is getting there if a little behind schedule – knitting machines are complex beast and Hermione and I are only just getting to know each other properly 😉

Check out the event website for more details and hippy love

pianist envy strikes glasgow

We caught a magnificent set from Chilly Gonzales last night at a very intimate ABC2. He was on brilliant form, relentlessly entertaining yet showing true mastery of his piano. Riffing on rap, minority keys and classic show tunes there were definite echos of Flight of the Choncords, with an overlay of a  more sophisticated musical palette. It was the sort of school night outing that makes living in the city so great.  Next some classical piano – he has hetted our appetites.

belle and sebastian sing about love

We were at the first of three B&S shows prior to Christmas – it has only taken four years to see them in their home town! While we were risking derision from the locals for revealing our taste in twee, nevertheless it was a very enjoyable gig. B&S were extremely polished and although they had perhaps lost some of the quirky intimacy from when we last saw them in Brisbane many years ago (one of the reasons we ended up in Glasgow actually) they certainly know how to put on a show. The set list was focused on Dear Catastrophe Waitress, so perhaps not enough oldies for C’s taste but we managed, and the Barra’s is such a great venue it was hard not to have a good time.

I like your old stuff better than your new stuff

In amongst a crazy weekend (for work not partying unfortunately) we went to Goldfrapp on Friday night for Dr Dave’s birthday. Alison Goldfrapp’s outfits were amazing and the classic tracks were suitably atmospheric, but her new stuff was just the wrong side of pop (the kylie side in you will) for my taste.  All the girls seemed to enjoy themselves although I’m not sure about Dr D…

deck the halls: round 3

the crowd

Another historic post coming up for a year ago… I was reminded to post this by our invitation to the fourth Wilton St ‘Deck the Halls’ Christmas party,  without us as householders thsi year it will be a very different feeling!

Last years built on the successes of the previous events, upstairs did a marvelous job of decorating and it was packed to the gills again,  with the fire and Chhay and Krista’s potent martinis keeping everybody suitably warm. In fact a number of peeps have expressed their disappointment that we won’t be hosting it again this year!

deck the halls invite

cold but bright launch

We have had old school friend ‘the Guru’ around to stay this week – it has been a fun few days. On Wednesday evening we popped in to the liquid ship to catch our old friend Jamie Flett play, along with his brother Andy (together they are the sometimes duo Feltt). They were both in sparkling form and their sound really suits the intimacy of the Ship, when they play with a bigger band I feel they lose some of their uniqueness.

Listening to Jamie play reminded me to post on his album launch, now over a year ago – at a busy evening at the Griffin’s Head. The support act torturing a guitar with a hairdryer was interesting but knocked the tone of the evening a little and it never really recovered, the album, and its electro remixed cousin Bright but Cold, that wa sonly distributed on the night are excellent little nuggets well worth a listen.