"Electro Swing?" "Well.. it's kind of more Swing than Electro. But still is Electro. You know?"

White Mink

Voodoo Rooms 
12 August
Midnight  - 3am

Electro Swing is exactly what it says on the tin. A literal blend of various elements of electronic music mixed with samples taken from the swing and jazz of the 1920s to 40s, it is hard not to stop your toes tapping and hips shaking when you hear it. No, honestly. It's like Astaire and Rogers, or vodka and lime, or marmite and cheese, this is mix that works. A sort of Creamfields meets The Great Gatsby. 


And although Edinburgh may not be renowned for its decadent demeanour or its banging swing scene, this year's Fringe Festival sees White Mink come to West Register Street's Voodoo Rooms each Thursday, Friday and Saturday night this month. Pioneered by DJ Chris Tofu, godfather of the movement, and founder of London's Electro Swing Club (of which there are now several throughout Europe), this is a blend of cabaret, swing, dance, magic, drum & bass, jazz, house and many more that is guaranteed to please even the most dubious of punters. 


As the fringe blurb proclaims, White Mink "blur[s] the line between fantasy and reality", and this couldn't be more right. White face paint, pearls, polka dots, cognac cocktails, crackly black and white cinema reels, cigarette holders and shiny shoes; from the moment you entered it felt as though the clocks had actually gone back, but raving was totally the thing to do. 


Featuring guests Le KKC Orchestra and The Twilight Players, interspersed with mixes from the DJ booth all night, the all-dancing crowd had plenty to get their teeth into. The French KKC Orchestra - fresh from Too-luuuse - were a sure-fire crowd pleaser; with their franglified rap, dextrous guitarist-cum-bassist, and Amelie Poulain-esque demoiselle on keys. Effortlessly charming the crowd, the band cranked out some vessel-bursting energetic swing mixes, and had just enough English for the somewhat well-oiled crowd to be able to bark out the choruses. Their finest moment was undoubtedly the break into drum and bass, which not only sent the dancers into raptures, but was evidently the kind of thing the KKC-ers lived for. Speaking to the band member after it became obvious that, as players on such a new platform, they essentially assess crowd reactions and adjust their set accordingly, something which worked to win the audience over in Glastonbury's Shangri La this year. Watch this space for more from this French trio...


Although this seemed like a seriously hard act to follow, dancing laddies The Twilight Players, didn't even break a sweat. Their understated entrance, air of self-consciousness, and preppy dress - each sporting wide-shouldered tweed jackets and matching brown and white loafers - didn't provoke much confidence. Yet they soon proved us wrong, and embarked on a remarkable display of energy, hilarity and (surprisingly) flexibility. Mission most certainly accomplished.

For both the acts, the DJ, the dancers, and even the unassuming punters of the bar next door, this was a night to be proud of. Electro Swing, fresh from it's somewhat hidden adolescence, shows that it is made of tough stuff, and there is no doubt that it is here to stay.

White Mink
The Voodoo Rooms

19a West Register Street

Edinburgh, EH2 2AA

Phone: 0131 556 7060

Email: info@thevoodoorooms.com

Website: www.thevoodoorooms.com

19 - 20 August, 25 - 27 August 2011

Schpank

Spank
16 - 23 August, Midnight - 3am
Underbelly, Cowgate

Spank is infamous. Three hours of comedians, music (of sorts), heckling and an obscene amount of alcohol in the dank depths of the Underbelly.

To be honest, you've got to be drunk.

Aside from that, there really isn't that much else to say.

Knob gags anyone?

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Get Your Dance On

In Edinburgh, you go to shows, right? And after the show, if it was good and if you're sufficiently lubricated, you have a dance. But how about if you want a show and a dance? Can this even work? Are the two synonymous?

Usually not. Yet, descending into the dark depths of the C Venues basement for Hartshorn and Hook’s stellar production of Blues Brothers Live, it’s impossible not to start shakin’ your tail feather as soon as the lights go down. Running at just 55 minutes, this is more of a party than a production and right from the second number the audience were in the aisles joining in with the singing, dancing, and unashamed rockin’ and rollin’.

The relentlessly enthusiastic cast, complete with a full jazz ensemble, blazed their way through well-known numbers such as Soul Man, Gimmie Some Lovin’ and Jailhouse Rock. Songsters Sam Parry and Josh Mumby made extremely plausible Belushi and Ackroyd lookalikes in the title roles, sporting suits and dark glasses even though it was most decidedly not sunny on this rainy Edinburgh night. Their dream team was joined on stage by the somewhat typecast but nonetheless extremely effective Ncuti Gatwa with his three-in-one Ray Charles, James Brown and the Rev. James Cleveland. The energy of the singers was matched only by the band, whose enthusiasm in both their playing and their cameo roles lit up the theatre. A special mention needs to go to trumpeter, ‘Mr Fabulous’, who most certainly lived up to his namesake with a glass-shattering array of top notes and a tone to die for. Another highlight were the sashaying, smiling backing singers, with sparkly sequin dresses and ahellalotta attitude. Giving stunning performances, amongst others, of the mildly disturbing Minnie the Moocher and Aretha Franklin’s feel-good girl-power-ballad Think; these lovely ladies effortlessly charmed the rather rowdy front row clientele.

Directors Louis Hartshorn and Brian Hook certainly seem to be seasoned veterans at putting what seems to be “the best party at the fringe” having now championed the show for three years running. Both producers and performers know exactly what the audience want, and were expert in coaxing even the most reluctant audience member into the all-singing all-dancing party. As the sweaty audience poured out into the driving rain, hats off to the cast, band and crew for what was yet another fantastically energetic show stopper.

Mission from God? Well, I don’t know about the big man, but everyone else certainly had a darned good ol’ time.  

Blues Brothers Live will be at C Venues at 23.00 from the 13 - 29 August. Tickets available from edfringe.com. The same cast and company are also staging The Rat Pack  at C ECA (Edinburgh College of Art)

Pleasance Press Launch

Saturday 6 August, 2011

Pleasance Grand

10.40am

It often pays to have friends in high places. Or rather with friends in high places, you don’t have to pay. Courtesy of Miss Sophie Tolley and her job at the Pleasance, we landed ourselves complementary tickets for the last of the venue press launches by Edinburgh’s ‘big four’: Assembly, Guilded Balloon, Underbelly and Pleasance. 

On entry, Aindrias de Staic’s slightly dubious folk violin was easily usurped by the first act; charming songstress, Camille O’Sullivan. Her sultry voice effortlessly mesmerized the audience with an unaccompanied rendition of Jacques Brel’s Amsterdam, followed by an equally enthralling and no less theatrical interpretation of The Ship Song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

However, like a butterfly being followed by a warthog, Nick Helm’s somewhat abrasive entrance was a little bit of a shock to the system. Screaming, ‘Do you like jokes? DO YOU LIKE JOKES?’ repeatedly at a bleary-eyed 11am audience may have seemed like a sure-fire way to piss everyone off, but his expert timing and crude delivery quickly won over the now fully-awake spectators.

Unfortunately, this left a rather hard task for Henry Paker, whose genteel comedy seemed weak and slow in comparison. Yet kudos to him as he only started stand up in 2006, although perhaps he needs slightly more originality and slightly less Michael McIntyre-ness.

Comedy was followed by theatre, and Steven Berkoff (complete with dodge Scottish accent) introduced an excerpt from his adaptation, Oedipus. Firmly sitting in the physical theatre camp, the disturbing choreography and haunting subject matter indicate that this is one thing to catch on the Fringe this year.

Pleasance director Anthony Anderson then came on with a rather clumsy ‘thank you’ speech. Basing his address on various ‘c-words’ – cobbles, Candida, and Kermit (?) to name but a few – as we came to ‘c-word-number-fifteen’, you rather hoped he would shriek an obscenity and be done with it. However, he was joined by charming magician Pete Firman, who managed to wile the reluctant Anderson into a guillotine, along with a couple of unsuspecting carrots.

Sheeps was on next; a ‘sort of sketch group’ whose awkward self-conscious humour left many in the audience cold. However, the softly spoken drawl of New York comic Hannibal Buress smoothly won the audience over. Looking as though he was enjoying himself as much as the audience, this is certainly the hands down hot ticket at the Pleasance this year.

Bringing the event to a close, all male a capella group Out of the Blue shimmied their way through a Bon Jovi and Final Countdown medley before rounding off with the Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody. Hailing from Oxford University, it was more the ‘mathletes’ than The Monkees and although we may have been spoiled by the glitz and glam of Glee, to be frank it was difficult to get excited about these somewhat mediocre musical misfits.

For more details visit www.edfringe.com or http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh

Blank Page Blank Screen. The Grumpy Scot Part II

So my rural French idyll is over. And I am once more on home soil; ecstatically racing up to the dizzy heights of Arthur’s Seat and breathlessly gulping in the view of the Firth.

NB. [Old habits die hard. Or rather, they are exceptionally easy to fall back in to. Although I have now renounced my former Imogène-the-intriguing-and-mysterious-foreigner identity, this does not automatically mean that I will give up my penchant for hyperbole.]

But seriously, location has now changed to home sweet home: Edinburgh.

Am I happy to be back in the land of the mountain and the flood? Well yes. Although I am still firmly of the opinion that it should be renamed the land of the midge and the chip-bap. I can’t work out whether the spots covering my body are due to the nightly invasion of buzzing-biting little creatures or the fact that I have had six battered sausages in five days.

Yet there is no doubt that it is the best time to be in the capital. We are but a few days into the Edinburgh International Festival – tourists are thronging the Royal Mile in all weathers, drinking licences are lengthened until ridiculous o’clock, top hats and  are the fashion norm, and you can’t go anywhere without hearing some sort of a capella troupe. I myself am lucky enough to be working for the Edinburgh International Book Festival (check us out: www.edbookfest.co.uk) while Celyn is holding down (propping up?) the bar at the Bristo Square’s Udderbelly (Yes it is a huge upside down inflatable purple cow. No I don’t know whose idea it was, but if I met them I probably fall to my knees and call them Jesus).

Where does this leave the Grumpy Scot? With so much going on, it is less a case of finding things to write about, than a case of selecting the best reviews in order not to bore you into early mid-life crises. Already I have been lucky enough to sample some Comedy in the Dark (Guilded Balloon, Teviot: http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/comedy-in-the-dark) as well as a fantastically diverse press preview at the Pleasance, including Camille O’Sullivan, Henry Packer, Aindrias de Staic, Steven Berkoff (OH EM GEE!), and dubiously named comedian Hannibal.

Becoming a little less personal and a little more like a very low budget and soon-to-be-on-its-way-out magazine for irritatingly eager writers, watch this space for news, reviews and general goings on in the next month. Obviously objectivity is out... ceebs. So for Part II of this extremely exciting saga (take what you will... I think it is riveting), welcome once again... to the Grumpy Scot.