What’s on in Edinburgh This Week? Fucking Christmas, that’s What
It’s just vaguely possible that there are some amazing gigs taking place somewhere I know not where in Edinburgh this week, but in all honestly I do not give a tinker’s cuss. It’s Christmas, you should all either be wrapping presents, buying the bastards, or just cooking something nice and stopping in with friends and family with some nice music. Far be it from me to lecture people on how to enjoy themselves but… well, you know me well enough by now, I’m going to do it anyway aren’t I.
So honestly, balls to gigs this week, there’s really no point in worrying about them is there, it’s just not what this time of year is for. I’ve seen a few emails recently saying things like Happy Holidays and people making reference to non-denominational Winter whateverthefucktheywereonabout and all that, and I know they mean well, but fucking hell, I am about as uncompromising an atheist as you’ll meet (ie I find it very hard not to see religious belief as a form of learning disability) but Christmas? It’s not even a fucking Christian holiday.
I’ve never been offended by being wished happy anything, and I went to a school where that might have been Ramadan, Chinese New Year, Chanukah, Christmas, some solstice or other, or whatever the fuck else. Who fucking cares? It’s just a greeting and someone wishing you well, get the hell over it you fucking coward. As long as no-one asks you to personally give a shit, then someone else having different beliefs to yours and celebrating their own festivals does not fucking oppress you. So yeah, happy Christmas, whatever.
Personally, apart from the Pagan celebration of light in the darkness of Winter, which has a rather magical quality of its own, just symbolically, I couldn’t care less about the religious implications of Christmas. It’s not a Christian festival, it was simply adopted by the Christians because they realised that they had far more chance of foisting their religious babble on populations they wished to convert if they respected and adapted to existing rituals, it has nothing to do with anything in the fucking Bible and anyone who tells you that ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’ is basically a fucking idiot.
Apart from those of us in the Northern Hemisphere needing the celebration of light and warmth to combat the cold and the snow and increasing absence of sunlight (welcome to the shortest day of the year, incidentally) there is another big benefit to the Christmas and New Year period which I really appreciate. It’s the punctuation of the year. One thing about living in a society which is still fairly homgenous is that the Christmas and New Year breaks are pretty much celebrated by everyone, or at least acknowledged by everyone, and consequently pretty much all of society just stops and pauses for breath.
Life gets pretty fucking hectic, and things develop a sort of helter skelter momentum of their own and you can go on holiday, but the fact that you and everyone around you kind of has to take a break and put their feet up for a week seems to punctuate the natural forwards motion of life for just long enough. So as long as you can ignore the rapacious commercialism and observe the break on your own terms, something I have very little difficulty in doing, then that week just stopping and doing nothing, looking back on where you were this time last year and musing on where you might be this time next year is just a relaxing, peaceful and nurturing way to recharge the batteries and draw breath before it all goes mental in the New Year again. Which it always does.
So I’ll appreciate the next couple of weeks and all the silly rituals people, including myself, choose to observe. It’ll be nice just to do nothing for a while and feel no guilt about it whatsoever.
Burl Ives – Wayfaring Stranger
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Neko Case – Wayfaring Stranger
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You are sooo going to hell. See you there!
Erm, are we supposed to talking about gigs this week then? Sod it, go to Leith Dockers on the 23rd where all these lovely people will be playing christmas songs…
Broken Records
Chutes
Jesus H Foxx
We See Lights
Eagleowl
Come On Gang
The Electric Ghosts
Bear Bones
The Stormy Seas
PS. Happy winter break!
Back home, we used to go to the same pub every Christmas eve. When we were suitably sozzled, we’d strike up a chorus of “Happy Birthday dear Jesus”, as loudly as we could.
It was just great to see the angry stares from the locals that propped up, as they tried to work out if they should be offended or not.
You mean the one time of the year I can actually get a lie in, there aren’t any gigs? What a disgrace!
Dav, is that the Christmas Songwriters Club, or something like that? It looks amazing.
Bart, pleeeease can I come too next time?
C&B, am I not defending poor, oppressed Christians’ right to say happy Christmas instead of happy holidays? Surely that’s some quality heavenly shit right there.
Yeah, thats the one, it looks ace. I’m away so won’t make it but it looks fantastic.
Merry Christmas to you Matthew.
My Meursault singles arrived on Saturday, they really are things of beauty. Thanks
Fucking lovely, aren’t they! I am really please with them, and they sound amaaaazing! Happy Christmas old chap
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/real_life_grinch_celebrates
I won’t be in town for the songwriter’s club either, which is annoying.
Except for the songwriters.
At 0841 hours I saw Toad and Mrs Toad walking up Stockbridge main street hand in hand. It’s good that Mrs.Toad is helping the trampy homeless in such a direct fashion. It’s true Xmas spirit, right there. Makes me feel warm inside…..
It was a mere fleeting glimpse this time however and, as such, I failed to be aroused.
Madcow’s starting to freak me out.
Yeah…..I think I am going to stop now. It’s getting tiring…..and tired.
The Shelter shop is not far from the Toad Castle….maybe he should check it out….get some to robes
anyone seen this shite http://www.jockrock.org/jockrockpoll2009.html
There’s a new charity shop opened up in Stockbridge which is apparently owned by some woman off the telly.
I walkied past it the other day, it was very bright.
I don’t know what to make of that Jock Rock site. Despite the awful design it seems to be aimed mainly at the skinny jeans & haircut set from Glasgow.
Yes, I walkied past it.
It was that kind of day.
i dont see whats wrong with the jockrock thing to be honest. it looks fine to me. i like all the bands they have nominated. de rosa, phantom band, seventeenth century, second hand marching band, frightened rabbit. all magnificent. whats wrong with it??
For me, mainly that tartan background.
Apart from that, nothing ‘wrong’ as such. Even the Glasgow skinny jeans and haircut set need a blog they can call home.
yep just like the bearded cardiganed edinburgh set.
Precisely!
What blog do they go to?
I’d like to see Grazia for Edinburgh Indie/folk types.
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Beards are sooooo 2008.
Like… get with it, guys.
Guys?
I don’t have a cardigan.
Does anyone know what time the christmas songs things at the Leith Dockers kicks off?
I think it’s doors at 7pm.
And it’s very nearly sold out, so doubt there’ll be tickets on the door.
Cheers Bart – I’ll nip along to Tickets Scotland and see if I can get a hold of some.
Mrs. Toad hits a home run in the saracastic old bitch stakes once more.
I like the Jockrock lists for the most part. I think they massively overrate DeRosa and the Phantom Band, but then they’re hardly alone on that score.
I don’t have a cardigan.
Or anything corduroy.
sorry but if anything de rosa and phantom band are underrated.