I woke up this morning after bad dreams involving work, which I had actually forgotten for awhile. Still, I did actually sleep. Despite the external noise, the bed is actually really comfortable. I looked out the window and it was raining. It has pretty much rained all day. A little break earlier for some struggling sunshine then back to the rain. I can't be bothered with the umbrella, so I am cold and wet.
I went for a walk and as well as the statue of Hume, I saw many other things I would have liked to have photographed including one of the Commedia dell'arte masks, the one denoting sadness, but I had no desire to keep trying to take shots in the rain. Ironically, a shop was playing the Eagles' 'Last Resort'. Truly, the last song you want to hear on a bloody awful Scottish morning (great song but so moody).
After killing a bit of time wandering and getting wet, I went to the first production of the day. 'Elise' (Dixie Fried Theatre with Bristol Spotlights) at the Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker Two). This play basically explores the memories of various characters in relation to Elise Cowen, a female Beat poet who had a relationship with Allen Ginsberg and tragically committed suicide. It was staged in a venue called the Bunker Two. Prior to it starting, I hung around outside and it was odd looking in and seeing the actors warming up. I think they noticed me looking and then turned away. The pre-show moment reminds me of a sacred tribal ritual. A coming together, a communal reminder of the creative journey to come. Needless to say, the doors were then shut (I think they had been left open maybe to dry out the venue or to cool it down). Tantalising glimpses into the worlds of theatre craft are reserved for those in the sphere. The audience are assigned their metaphorical roles when they take their seats. The play was cleverly staged with fragments of recorded poetic recitation, puncturing the emotional conflicts exhibited by the characters. Elise's parents allegedly destroyed the majority of her work, so the set was circled by fragments of torn paper. It was a well acted, rewarding play that will motivate me to read more about the Beat movement and the women it chose to neglect. It is definitely the year for plays exploring the patriarchal omission of the strong, female characters who created their own powerful works and collaborated with leading male cultural figures who became more prominent as the years progressed.
I then left the theatre and began to walk to the National Museum of Scotland to see the 'Rip It Up: The Story of Scottish Pop' exhibition. The exhibition explores major bands and individuals who have come from Scotland including Jack Bruce, the Proclaimers and Franz Ferdinand. Short videos accompany each section of the exhibition elaborating on different eras. Some of the artifacts on offer are fascinating. For example, the guitar burnt at the Reading Festival in the Noughties by a band, which had been lent by the band. I find such acts of auto-destruction to be so derivative these days that they lose the significance they once had when The Who and Jimi Hendrix were dabbling with creative destruction as both an act of defiance and also deference. You are destroying something that you have used to create music, rhythmic links to moods and tempos, not always expected. Now a burnt guitar, just looks like something that has been wasted. The saddest exhibit was the live Runrig CD that was given to the band by the family of one of the Columbia space shuttle's crew (I am not sure which one, the shuttle had broken up on reentry killing the crew). Something tragic about learning that a certain song was always played by one of the crew in space in a certain context (I believe that she always played it when she woke up but my memory could be playing tricks on me). The exhibition really works well and I hope that it attracts the attention it deserves.
After the exhibition, I began to walk to the next venue, aware that it was further away than the other venues I have visited from my hotel. I popped into a Pret A Manger and achieved a first, a free Mocha. I think it was because I did not get impatient when a member of staff was performing her duties. To be fair, why would anyone have a go at someone who is working hard and at that moment, on their own? But sadly, people do. After eating the sandwich, crisps and drinking the Mocha, I continued walking. I stumbled on lots of gems, St Cuthbert's Church and its graveyard, the Lyceum Theatre and the Usher Hall. The graveyard actually helped to cheer me up for a short while. I took a number of photos of flowers and stones. I resisted the very scary skull and crossbones on one of the stones. I guess even I can be superstitious.
I found the Traverse Theatre and saw 'Meek' (Headlong in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre). The theatre auditorium was quite deep and the stairs to the front row were very steep. The play 'Meek' explores a dysfunctional and pious future, in which a woman is imprisoned for writing and performing a song. Religion in this play is domineering and designed to hold people in their place. It reminded me a bit of 'The Handmaid's Tale'. As plays go, it was engaging up to a point. The frequent scene changes (basically blackouts and the three characters changing position on the stage) gave it a fragmentary quality. The play may have been more powerful if we had got to hear 'Song 1', although it was well acted and the slightly predictable ending worked. One thing that was explored well was the power of social media and its ability to change the possible outcome of a given situation, both for better or worse. Being a political prisoner is never a good thing but no sensible regime wants a martyr on their hands.
After this excursion into the horrors of a religious dystopia with its opening line, 'God is dead' spoken by the prisoner, I went off for a meal. I ate in a South African steak restaurant. My steak was huge and I spent ten minutes chewing on a lump of gristle, which I didn't feel I could take out as there was a couple seated beside me. I have learnt that less is more. I then walked quickly back to my hotel. So far today, I have imagined all of the random camera shots I could have taken; a woman reclining inside her window (on the ledge) reading a book, the man leaning outside his window, clutching his chin with a whimsical look. Also the man in the doorway, bent over his phone with a cigarette directed at the floor in his other hand. I am existing on the periphery of everyone elses' lives. An observer but not a true participant. My involvement determined by necessity and my levels of self-confidence or self-esteem. It's an odd paradox, the need to be noticed, whilst fading into the background.
Today, I also heard a lone singer busking and performing 'Wild Mountain Thyme' in the rain. It's moments such as these that make life meaningful.
To date, the unofficial soundtrack to my holiday includes 'Fake Plastic Trees' by Radiohead (I heard this song whilst queueing in the bar for the Ace Dome) and the Eagles' 'Last Resort' (I heard this song earlier today). Also 'Nothing Ever Happens' (Del Amitri) and '500 Miles' (The Proclaimers) (a couple of the many songs played in the 'Rip It Up' exhibition). Oh and 'Take Me Out' (Franz Ferdinand). These songs will no doubt repeat their melodic charms for awhile to come.
I headed off to see 'Felicity Ward: Busting A Nut' at the Pleasance Courtyard (Pleasance Above) and after the customary queue, the audience traipsed upstairs through another University of Edinburgh campus building. The University of Edinburgh apparently loves the Fringe. Well, I guess it keeps the buildings in use throughout the summer months. A very organised usher filtered us into rows from the front row upwards, refusing to let anyone pass further back until most of the seats were full. Felicity Ward was her usual fired up, endearing self recounting pivotal events in her life including her marriage and not mentioning Brexit once. She should win awards for that fact alone. Her aside about podiatrists and their habit of shaving the feet as part of the beautification process was one of the funniest things I have heard all year, especially when she described how the practitioner goes about their work.
After the event, I went off with my friends. One friend went back to her place of accommodation and I went off to the pub with my other friend where we met some other friends. I drank red wine gradually relaxing, whilst two folk performers played their instruments and sung behind me. I was astounded how much the musical arrangement of 'St James Infirmary Blues' sounds like Bob Dylan's 'Blind Willie McTell'. I wonder if it's another case of Dylan 'borrowing' the melody line. His lyrics are different but the music certainly sounds similar. Having said that, the history of folk music does involve a lot of reinterpretation of traditional songs that are essentially out of copyright.
On the way home, a man jumped out at me and handed me a flyer for a show tomorrow night where 'everyone is fabulous' and I can apparently be fabulous too. Yeah, right!
Then a rather strange and slightly disturbing thing happened in the hotel. A man let me into the hotel and opened various doors for me then asked if I was taking the lift or stairs. I said the stairs. He was climbing faster than me, stopped a flight of stairs higher than me and as I began walking down the corridor to my room, seemingly said 'Wrong way!' I walked very quickly down my corridor and internally prayed I wasn't being followed. I got to my room and the bleeding hotel key card took three attempts to work. You couldn't make this stuff up.
Also thinking back on today, on a funny note, a lady handed me a flyer for a kids show called 'Eaten' that was just about to start (I couldn't have seen it if I wanted to) then as I went into the Pleasance Courtyard to find out where my show was being staged, a lion waved at me. It was a guy in a lion costume promoting the same show, he must have felt I was a kindred spirit. Roar and other such animalistic noises.
Barry Watt - 19th August 2018.
Afterword.
David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and economist. Not well known for his shiny toes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume
Karl Marx was another well known writer and philosopher. Best known for 'The Communist Manifesto', which he co-wrote with Friedrich Engels. Still available from most good bookshops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre originating from Italy, which used stock character types and masks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell%27arte
The Eagles are a fairly well known band best known for their album 'Hotel California', which contains 'Last Resort', one of the saddest songs ever written:
https://eagles.com/
Elise Cowen was an American poet associated with the Beat movement:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elise_Cowen
Allen Ginsberg was perhaps the most well known of the Beat movement. His writings are still widely available:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Ginsberg
The Beat Generation is a label given to the movement associated with the above writers and with many others. Their writings regularly infused with images and emotions, most commonly experienced when in a trance like state or stoned out of your head:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation
National Museum of Scotland was a lovely museum. The 'Rip It Up' exhibition is still on until November 2018:
https://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland/whats-on/rip-it-up/
Jack Bruce was a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter who is best remembered for his work with the supergroup Cream:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Bruce
The Proclaimers are a Scottish duo comprised of two brothers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Proclaimers
Franz Ferdinand are a rather nifty Scottish rock group. I have seen them once as a support act at one of Morrissey's gigs in 2004 (they had a twenty minute support set and I am not exaggerating).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Ferdinand_(band)
The Reading Festival is a yearly music festival. I went once and lost my friends until the end.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_and_Leeds_Festivals
The Who are a major rock band who still tour. Here's their website:
https://www.thewho.com/
Jimi Hendrix was a great guitarist and singer/songwriter:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix
Runrig are a Scottish rock band:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runrig
Pret A Manger is a chain of coffee shops:
https://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb
'Wild Mountain Thyme' is an Irish/Scottish folk song. It was written by Francis McPeake. It has been covered by pretty much everyone associated with the folk scene:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Mountain_Thyme
Brexit winds me up, so I won't talk about it. It's mentioned quite a lot.
'St. James Infirmary Blues' is an American jazz song:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Infirmary_Blues
'Blind Willie McTell' is one of Bob Dylan's most beautiful songs. Bob Dylan being one of the most important singer/songwriters of all time:
https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/blind-willie-mctell/
BW.
Photos.
Hume's shiny toes.
David Hume.
Elise - Sad but very well made play.
A life model.
Flower in the graveyard.
Gravestones and their sorry maintenance.
The flowers are taking over in the graveyard.
I like cranes and lampposts.
A poster advertising one of the best shows at the Edinburgh Festival.
BW.
