Edinblog: Day 2

Today was a ridiculously pretty day. I even did laundry and hung it outside, which is pretty baller for Edinburgh which is like Melbournex100 for temperamental skies.

I wonder if I should tweet out the short spots I'm doing for whatever help it would give the promoters. But I have lots booked in, so I'm worried it would simultaneously be pretty useless and a bit annoying.

Doesn't stop me tweeting about Empire though. I guess there's just that extra level of desperation and hope.

I went to Sameena Zehra's birthday party in the courtyard of the Pear Tree and saw that the scuttlebutt is true(!) The renovation of the bottom floor means that the downstairs room (which used to be the main performance space) now no longer has a wall between it and the bar.

It reminds me that for many people, arriving in Edinburgh involves a nasty shock. On the performers Facebook groups, I'm seeing a lot of people desperately asking for accommodation at late notice because they've been scammed or the room they were promised turns out not to have a floor. Venues change configuration, and admin is all done at a distance. So some people have the emotional shock of stepping onto the escalator and find it's not working.

It reminds me of my first year at the Free Fringe, when I walked into the bar that was my venue, asked which room was The Gothic room and walked in, to find some men building the stage. That was my tech run. The next day I walked in, and there was the stage with microphone and lighting panel. I sort of looked around a bit to see if I was meant to be asking someone for permission, and then walked up and plugged my phone into the iPhone jack and twiddled the soundboard til I figured out which slider did what. Doing Savage in a room with two archways into the main bar of a noisy pub during the soccer grand finals weeks was a great education. Like boarding school in the 1800s I imagine. I certainly pulled my bloody socks up in terms of performance intensity perforce. One time a fight rolled into the back of my room mid-show.

The show that's in the present, Empire, last night was lovely, the crowd was warm and sweet like a delicious pudding. On the other hand, just to take the edge off my own smugness, some reviewers are coming tonight, not last night, which means last night isn't the one that'll be on the record and I have plenty of time to drop the ball.

Also I have the memory of those Friday nights in the room without a door to give me both the confidence of having a door, and the fear of how rowdy a late night Friday Edinburgh crowd might get. 10pm is late o'clock on a Friday. Fingers crossed.