It’s Nyk Stoddart giving us the featured set this week at OOTB 398, in the Tron on Thursday (I’ve had a lot of people emailing me recently asking where and when OOTB is, check out our info page if you’re at all unsure of our particulars. So, Nyk Stoddart’s going to be playing songs from his next CD, some of which you may have heard, some not. He’ll also be accompanied by a mysterious and enigmatic cypher on the bass guitar so get yourself down there and check out the uniqueness.

Also, i wanted to mention to you something you might find very useful if you’re a songwriter, it’s The Ten Tips For Songwriters e-book, now available for FREE online. It features ten tips each from 18 songwriters (so 180 tips in total!), and it’s quite an enjoyable read too.

Out of the Bedroom 400 is nearly upon us (it’s on the 8th July) and it’s our first (and only?) covers night of 2010. Learn some covers, especially covers of someone else you’ve heard at OOTB, and come along. There should be cakes too. Not only that but there should be the return of the Out of the Bedroom reviews!!!!!!! Yes, you read correctly, OOTB 400 to 403 will be being reviewed, or that’s the plan anyway, by the good people at Visual-Opinions.com. So if you want to be reviewed, come along during the month of July, and if you would like to write a review, then get in touch with Visual-Opinions.com here.

Here’s something you may like, it’s a song being performed live by Thorn’s Musical Journey, in Colorado last month.

There are bound to be some other events on this week, obviously, there’s The Listening Room at The Blue Blazer on Spittal Street/Bread Street, it’s on Sunday, get there before 8pm if you want to play in the opn mic section of the evening. This Friday too, there’s the McEwan’s Ale House open mic night, starting at 9pm on South Clerk Street, across the road from what used to be the Odeon. There are a lot more gigs than that though going on. This week, i’m going to let you all figure them out for yourselves. Read posters! Go and see bands you like and listen to the other bands’ sets too! it’s all good clean fun. And then see you at OOTB on Thursday.

Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

The remarkable Joe Roberts filmed this at OOTB this March. It’s Audigy, who are great. Enjoy!

This week at Out of the Bedroom number 394 it’s the enigmatic Stephen McLaren, who is, i believe, one half of Collar Up. He uses the piano to impressive effect and this Thursday he’ll be playing a featured set for us at OOTB. Come along, Out of the Bedroom’s been really good this year and I’m sure this week’ll be no exception. Also, you can hear the cream of Edinburgh’s performing songwriters (no dodgy covers at OOTB!) plying their trade, so why would you want to be elsewhere on a Thursday evening? PLUS you get a highly reasonable chance of winning a quirky and interesting prize from the Silver Bag o’ Dreams (TM)

Now, none of you wore the sunglasses last week to OOTB, so I’m not going to even try and instigate a theme for this week! I’m not even sure any of you are reading the emails! Just in case you are though, let me tell you a few other things about OOTB. First of all, it’s OOTB 400 coming up soon, on 8th July 2010 no less. We’re going to celebrate by having our first “covers night” of 2010. You’re encouraged to come along and sing your own songs, or covers of other OOTB performers’ songs, or imaginative covers of popular hits and classics. There will probably be other fun stuff on the night, but we’ve not finalised the details yet.

The other thing I wanted to tell you is that we’re hoping to have the occasional video up on the Out of the Bedroom website. It’s just on an as-and-when basis at the moment, ie: if a video comes our way, we might put it on the website if the artiste has given us their permission. But what this means in real terms is that you’ll get to see some OOTB performances from the comfort of your own computer. Watch this space…

Okay, now we’re onto the “also this week” section. Tonight (Tuesday 25th May) there’s a new open mic night at The Cruz Bar, 14 The Shore, Leith. It starts at 8pm, Perhaps I’ll see you there. Tomorrow (26th May) It’s Edward and the Itch (aka Sam Siggs, our feature act for OOTB 390) performing live at the GRV. 7pm start, I’m not sure of the admission cost. On Friday you can of course go to the excellent open mic night at McEwan’s Ale House on South Clerk Street, which starts at 9pm and on Sunday it’s The Listening Room at The Blue Blazer on Spittal Street (on the corner of Bread Street, just off Lothian Road). It starts at 8pm, and it’s great fun. You always get a good selection of interesting performances and from 9-10pm there’s an invited artiste playing a featured slot. That’s it from me, see you on Thursday at The Tron…
Calum Carlyle
Out of the Bedroom

It’s Hannah O’Reilly this week, playing a solo featured artiste set, without her band, Augustalia. Stripped bare as it were! Come along and hear Hannah’s particular brand of sassy songs. That’s this Thursday at Out of the Bedroom in the sub-sub-basement bar of The Tron. And as a special bonus I’m declaring this week HAT WEEK, so if you’ve got a hat, no matter how outlandish or discreet, please wear it to Out of the Bedroom this week to show that a) you read this and b) you’ve got a bit of a sense of fun!

More imminently, tonight at The Regent Bar (it’s just at the top of Abbeymount), Cameron Phair is running his second Regent Bar Showcase, it’s an acoustic extravaganza. The first one was last month and it was a great success. It’s free, and it starts at 8:30pm tonight, so go along and check it out.

So of course you’ll be along to The Tron on Thursday, but on Friday, if you happen to be in Glasgow, you could go and see the excellent Machar Granite, who you may have heard at Out of the Bedroom, performing at the Glasgow O2 Arena. Contact them using the link above if you would like tickets.

Then on Saturday, at The Lot, in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket,
Neoviolet are playing an exclusive gig, with the full five piece line up. I’m certainly looking forward to it! Support is from Julia and the Doogans (who you may have heard on BBC Radio 1’s Vic Galloway Show) and Becky Gowans. Tickets are £6 on the door, but I have heard you can get a noticeable discount if you order them in advance, get in touch with Neoviolet through their MySpace for more info.

While I’m here, I’ll just mention something that’s happening next Tuesday at The Southern Bar at 22 South Clerk Street, it’s a free gig featuring Sam Barber And The Outcasts, who you may have heard at OOTB and similar evenings, and Seafield Foxes, who I really enjoyed when I heard them at Henry’s last week, and there are two other bands playing as well (sorry! Didn’t get their names).

Also, if you’re free, and in Edinburgh this Friday and/or Sunday, pop in to the McEwans Ale House Open Mic on Nicolson Street on Friday (starts at 9pm) or The Listening Room, at the Blue Blazer on Spittal Street on Sunday (starts at 8pm). They’re both great nights out, and are both free.

Hi folks,

A couple of things of interest to tell you, the first is about BBC Radio 6 Music. You’ve all heard it’s being axed this month, you’ve probably joined a Facebook group about it, but this will actually have no effect. What you really need to do to save BBC 6 Music is send them an email using this form:

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/save6music?js=true

Just fill in the details and click through, in the section where you can edit the email you’re sending, please mention your own personal thoughts about why 6 Music should not be axed, and remember to add your name at the bottom. There are some helpful hints on the right side of the page for what to add.

This is important. BBC Radio 6 Music is a platform for all sorts of music that won’t be heard anywhere on a national level if the station is closed. Vote now and maybe we can save it, you’ve got about a week. Go to it! And thanks in advance.

________________________

Also, here’s something that may interest some of you:

Are You Britain’s Best  Music Act?

If the answer is ‘YES‘ then we want to meet you…

From the producers of ‘Got To Dance’, comes a brand new prime-time TV music talent show, that’s open to all ages, and all genres – as long as you can sing or play music (or both), then you’re in.

Are you the next Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen, Kings Of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, Susan Boyle, Girls Aloud, Take That, Il Divo, Jamie Cullum, Vanessa Mae or Katherine Jenkins?

Solo artists, musicians, bands, groups and choirs of all sizes are welcome to audition.  For the winner, £100,000 is up for grabs PLUS the chance to perform at Wembley Arena.

For more information, and to register your interest,

email louise.metcalfe@princesstv.com and include a daytime contact number.

Plenty of things for you this week… I’ll do them in chronological order… Firstly, tonight (Tuesday 6th April) it’s Acoustic Edinburgh at Medina (on Lothian Street). It’s free to get in, and the headline act is Stephanie Lambring, from Nashville, Tenessee. Also featured this month at Acoustic Edinburgh are the Stu Goodall Band, Calum Carlyle, James Ross and Paul Gilbody, many of whom are Out of the Bedroom favourites.

Speaking of OOTB favourites, Neoviolet are featured this month at Blue Wednesday, which is on Wednesday 7th April (tomorrow), beginning at 8pm or shortly thereafter. Usually hosted by Roger Emmerson, The Bluesfather, this month it’ll be guest hosted by Calum Carlyle, and admission is, of course, free.

Also tomorrow (7th April), it’s Secret CDs! Another stoater this month, by the looks of it, with four incredible acts, any of whom would be worth seeing on their own. They are Lorraine Macauley, Susanna MacDonald, Miyagi and Mark Corbett. Admission is £2, and worth every penny.

On Thursday, of course, it’s Out of the Bedroom, in the basement bar of The Tron in Hunter Square. Open mic slots are available as usual, and this week’s featured act is the intriguingly named offbalance, so make sure you’re there for that, it’s free admission as usual.

One more thing, just a quick reminder to check out the OOTB Colorado website, run by the invincible Darren Thornberry, there are one or two videos on there of OOTBers from the other side of the globe, doing their thing. Most enjoyable.

…And just before we sign off, if you are an OOTB performer with a gig you want mentioned in the OOTB newsletter, please do let us know, and we’ll endeavour to include it in the OOTB mailout. Just send details of your gig to reviews@outofthebedroom.co.uk and, while we can’t guarantee we’ll include it, we’ll try our best. The deadline is 9am on Tuesday morning, if you want to be included in that week’s mailout.

The Secret Bedroom, Wednesday 31st March, 7.00pm, Voodoo Rooms Ballroom

Featuring GECKO 3, MATT NORRIS & THE MOON, EMILY SCOTT, THE BEGGAR GIRLS

The Secret Bedroom 31st March 2010

Edinburgh open mic night Out Of The Bedroom has been encouraging local acts to take their songs out of the bedroom and onto the stage since 2001 and is something of an institution in the Capital. Together with Secret CDs, a website and monthly music night which showcases local talent, OOTB is putting on an exciting fundraising gig on Wednesday, 31st March at top Edinburgh music venue The Voodoo Rooms called The Secret Bedroom.  Doors open at 7.00 p.m. and entry price is £5.

“The Secret Bedroom is a great mix of local up-and-coming talent alongside an already successful local band who will headline the show” commented Publicity Officer Cameron Robinson.  “The idea is to reel people in with the familiar headliners, and then knock their socks off with top quality, little known support acts. On top of that, we are really excited to prove to people that if you are a local musician just starting up and thinking of giving it a bash, then taking part in and supporting OOTB is a real way into the scene, and a framework to move on to bigger and better gigs in the future.  And who knows what from there…?”

Local Edinburgh-based groove trio gecko 3 will be headlining the night and are ten year veterans of the Edinburgh Music scene. Their exploits include gigs in the US and across mainland Europe as well as collaborations with many of the UK’s top musicians including KT Tunstall. Support for the evening comes in the form of a choice crop of capital talent featuring Matt Norris & the Moon, Emily Scott and The Beggar Girls.

Doors are at 7.00pm and entry fee is £5