Not long now, i bet you’re all counting the days… That’s right, it’s only four weeks till OOTB starts again! 🙂  Our “welcome back” evening will be at the Montague, on the corner of St Leonard’s and Montague Street, on Tuesday 18th January, and then on Tuesday 25th January, we’re having a Burns Night special, so in addition to doing your own original material, you’re encouraged to do a song (or poem) by Robert Burns! I don’t think we’ll be having haggis, but you never know, certainly whisky will be available! 

Next thing I’m going to plug is Edinburgh Unplugged. It’s a monthly showcase (happening on the second Wednesday of every month) of acoustic music, four bands per month, for an all time low cost of only £2 and the first one is on Wednesday 12th January (which is the week before OOTB starts again), and it’s in the downstairs bar of the Royal Oak on Infirmary Street. Edinburgh Unplugged’s not directly related to OOTB, but it has been inspired by OOTB, i just wanted to put on a regular evening which showcases some of Edinburgh’s best music, in an acoustic setting. The first one on 12th January stars Lorraine McCauley and the Borderlands, Hannah Werdmuller, Paper Truth and Atomic Pigeon. Please join the FB group to keep updated of future Edinburgh Unplugged events.

Speaking of Lorraine McCauley and the Borderlands, they’re playing tonight (21 Dec) at Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin. I’ve been assured this gig is going ahead, but wrap up warmly if you’re going. Also performing are the Forest Choir, John Langan and Souriba Kanoute from Senegal. It’s actually sold out, so i suppose there’s not a lot of point me mentioning it, except to say i’m really looking forward to it, and hopefully i’ll see some of you there (if you bought your tickets before it sold out!)

And before i forget, i hope you’re having a good winter solstice, and i hope you all got up at 3am to see the lunar eclipse. I saw it on the TV this morning actually, which was good enough for me to be honest! So, from now on the days are getting longer, and it’ll be summer before you know it.

Right, one more thing before i get onto the events. Some of you may remember an excellent OOTB regular from the Canon’s Gait days called Ben Young. For the second year running, he has been writing one song every day for the whole month of December! You can hear his songs at www.atheistadvent.com. Remember to check back at the end of December too, because he’ll have one more song every day till then. And do give him some feedback on his songs as well.

Okay, it’s winding down a bit on the events front, probably due to the festive season, but also due, no doubt, to the weather situation. Here are a few things which are happening though:

Tomorrow (Weds 22 Dec) at the Captain’s Bar on South College Street, from 6pm it’s an event called “Havers and Blethers“, which will feature short performance readings from authors Gavin Inglis, Andrew Ferguson, Andrew Wilson, Rosie Bell, Colin Baptie, Morgan Downie, Juliet Wilson and Kirsty Jacqueline Lingard. It’s a 6pm start, then at 8pm there’s a music session with Nuala Kennedy and Cammy Robson. Free entry and the atmosphere in the Captain’s Bar is great.

On Thursday 23 Dec, at the Pleasance Bar at 8pm, it’s Martin Boland’s CD launch. Brave the frozen wilds for that if you dare!

That’s pretty much it for now. The Listening Room has closed down for the next couple of weeks, so it won’t be happening on Sunday, but i think the Espionage open mic on Sunday is still on, and the open mic at the Captain’s Bar on Monday is definitely still on (at 8pm). I’m pretty certain the McEwan’s Ale House open mic is still on this Friday from 9pm as well.

So, have a good Christmas, or whatever holiday you may be celebrating this week and i’ll see you in your inbox next week, with one or two (but probably not many) event updates.

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

Hi everybody,

You know it just occurred to me that this might be the first year since OOTB began that we’ve not had an Out of the Bedroom Christmas Extravaganza of some sort. Luckily the Lot Acoustic Showcase are having one, featuring highly entertaining Tigertown favourites Matt Norris and the Moon, and Caro Bridges and the River. That’s not happening till the 16th of December though, so let’s deal with this week in the meantime…

Tonight at Forest Cafe it’s the second Inky Fingers open mic, mainly poets i believe, though they are definitely open to all kinds of performers (I know this for sure now, having chatted with Harry who runs Inky Fingers, at the Word of Mouth open mic night last Friday (which was excellent by the way). So go along, it’s Forest so it’s free, and it’s an 8pm start i think.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 24th November) it’s the long awaited (by me anyway!) Lot Acoustic Showcase featuring Lipsync For A Lullaby, Hannah Wermuller, Arran Arctic, and Calum Carlyle and the Mixed Reactions. By the way, this gig isn’t technically an EP launch, but it is actually the first real chance you’ve got to buy a copy of my new mini-album “Another Side of Calum Carlyle”, so it’s kind of sort of an EP launch. It’s just there are a lot of EP launches around recently, with Hannah O’Reilly/Augustalia’s one last week (which i ended up watching on ustream.com actually! How hi-tech of me!), and Supermarionation and Three Long Words this week, and then Lorraine McCauley next week, so I just thought i might jump on the EP launch party  bandwagon! 🙂   Do come along tomorrow, it’s at The Lot at 7pm, it’s £5 or £4 concession.

Last week’s “Magic Letters” gig with the debut appearance of Caro Bridges and the River was great by the way, and it’s encouraged me to use the Royal Oak for further similar gigs in the future, so watch this space for low cost high quality acoustic giggage at The Oak in the new year…

On Friday it’ll be the McEwan’s Ale House open mic night again, a relaxed open mic in a relaxed pub. Always a nice atmosphere. 9:30pm i think, and it’s on Clerk Street opposite the old Odeon.

On Saturday 27th Nov, Eagleowl, Found, Dan Haywood’s New Hawks, Iona Marshall, Wounded Knee, The Oates Field and more are playing at a Leith Tape Club special on a boat in Leith. It’s at Cruz, right down the watery end of Leith. It’s £8 and it’s 2pm till 10pm on Saturday.

Also on Saturday 27th Nov, it’s Sneakyfest, at Sneaky Pete’s, Cabaret Voltaire and Electric Circus. A Fight You Can’t Win are playing, and so are Come On Gang, Aaron Wright and the Aprils, Kid Canaveral and tons of others. You’ll have to google it i’m afraid, too many details for me to give you here, and if you’re determined to go, i think ten seconds on google is probably something you’ll be willing to endure.

On Sunday 28th Nov, at The Listening Room, in the Blue Blazer on Bread Street, at 8pm till 10pm, there’s the usual open mic night, and then Underclass are the featured act. This should be interesting, as far as i know they’re quite an electric band. Also, Neoviolet‘s drummer Angus fully recommended them to me, so i’ll be making sure i don’t miss that anyway.

PS – SORRY – FORGOT TO MENTION THIS IN THE MAILOUT –

On November 28th at 8pm UK a bunch of US artists will
be doing a live broadcast performance of a selection POL Arida songs. The
concert will be live on various internet radio stations and you can listen
live here  http://www.cultx.com/livestream.html  at 8pm. Songs covered
will include “Winning” “Deathbed Lovesong” (which is being covered
by LA`s hottest solo act Craig Lyons) “Love Confessions of a Serial
Killer” and many more. This is a very flattering (and humbling) tribute
to a songwriter from Edinburgh and should be worth a listen. POL Arida`s
website is now well into the top million sites worldwide and in the top
200 featuring solo musicians. Currently his web site gets more UK traffic
than U2.com. SOURCE = http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cultx.com#

For the history behind this `never out of the bedroom` songwriter go here
http://www.allmediascotland.com/media_releases/27742/the-rise-of-the-virtual-microstar.

On Mondays, there’s the new Captain’s Bar open mic night of course, from 7pm, as mentioned last week. It’s not got a PA, but it does have one mic for vocals and a piano if required.

Also on Mondays, in the Parlour Bar on Duke Street in Leith,a fairly new jam session evening called Homemade jam, hosted by Andy Lang every Monday from 8pm. Everyone that turns up gets a pint or glass of wine.

Next week, one or two things to mention in advance, Supermarionation are launching their EP at The Electric Circus on Wednesday 1st December from 7-10pm, with Lee Paterson and Otaku playing support. Its £4 in advance/£6 on the door and tickets can be gotten from http://goo.gl/H9aR plus , everyone buying a ticket will receive a full retail copy of the EP on CD.

Also on 1st December Lorraine McCauley and the Borderlands are launching their excellent EP “Haunt Me” at Coda Music Shop on the Mound at 6pm. They’ll be playing live, and providing mince pies and mulled wine, then at 7pm, it’s drinks next door at the Deacon Brodie.

Next Friday (3rd December), Three Long Words are launching their EP with a gig at Calton Studios on Calton Road at 7pm. Tickets are £6 in advance, as far as i can see, you need to buy them from one of the band members, though their EP is available online.

Also next Friday 3rd December, the highly characteristic Matt Midgley (Matt James as he used to be known) is playing a gig at Maggie’s Chamber on the Cowgate, with support starting at 7pm. I’ll give you next week’s ones again though in next week’s email.

So yes, another busy week in music, and if you miss it, you’ll miss it! I’d advise against that. 🙂

See you all out there in musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom