edinburgh
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Edinburgh
is Scotland's second city. Its population of 300,000 - which
swells to double this during the Festival, or to 2 million (approx)
on Hogmanay) consists mainly of interloping luvvies and herion
addicts (if you don't believe me watch Trainspotting. Or visit).
Most common phrase - "you'll have had your smack then?"
See a map of the city
centre (east). That's the the Waverley
Station end. Note that some of the venues on these may have changed
recently...
Quick guide: 1=Bongo Club / 2=Studio 24 / 3=The Venue / 4=a vinyl
shop whose name escapes me / 5=Avalanche / 6=another Avalanche
/ 7=La Belle Angelle / 8=yet another Avalanche / 9=Fopp / 10=Liquid
Room / 11=The Tron / 12=Ripping Records / 13=Potterrow Union
/ 14=Queen's Hall (1/2 mile up the main road / 15 =Vinyl Villains
(1/4 mile down Leith Walk)
Or another map covering Lothian Road
towards Haymarket i.e. West
End.
Quick guide: 21=Wee Red Bar (Art College) / 22=Gaia / 23=Avalanche
/ 24=The Merkat / 25=Heriot-Watt Uni (head west for 4 miles)
Media:
radio - ForthFM scrapped all its alternative programming this year. Avoid. RSL's will pop up for a month at a time, usually when the students are about, as you may discover with Telford's ETCFM or Edinburgh Uni's Fresh Air.
tv - There was a local cable channel once which was apparently a downmarket version of LiveTV. That's probably yer lot.
newspapers - The Scotsman's supposedly a national paper but has a bit of an Edinburgh bent. Occasional live reviews and features but aims at highbrow-ness mean precious little in the 'rock' area. Far better is the Evening News - its music section is pretty big. Edinburgh-based The List is, yes, the local listings mag (it now tries to cover the entire Central Belt).
Record shops - 2 Fopps - Rose Street (0131 220 0310) and Cockburn St (0131 220 0133), 4 Avalanches - in Cockburn St (0131 225 3939), West Nicolson St (0131 668 2374), Teviot Place (0131 226 7666) & Lady Lawson St (0131 228 1939). Ripping is the place for tickets (South Brisge - 0131 226 7010) And a couple of dance specialists in Cockburn Street. Have a look at the map, or better still this handy guide
Education: Telford College has a music technology course and Jewell and Esk has something similar which spawned the AposseAdesse label. Your standard big universities are Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt, and that's where you'll find student union gigs, as well as at the Art College - but Napier and Stevenston are perhaps more likely to cover media and music-related subjects.
Events - In August the city is awash with goings-on - sadly Planet Pop is now defunct, leaving T on the Fringe and a mini-festival at Bannermans - after the Festival's over, that's your lot!
Football - Since Meadowbank were hijacked and taken to Livingston, there's only Hibs and Hearts left in the city. Hearts somehow never seem to have any cash, while Hibs went through that bankruptcy thing several years back. Both teams make a virtue (or an excuse) out of buying star players on the cheap but both the Jambos and Hibbees do have a few young 'uns coming through, ripe from the Old Firm plucking.
Clubs
Missing
When: Sundays9pm - 3am
Where: Cabaret Voltaire, 36 - 38 Blair Street
Who: varies, check www.cabaret-voltaire.co.uk
How much:£3/4
What:Hip-hop, bossa beats, d'n'b, funk, broken soul, electro
& boogie - freestyle.
Links
email us to supply gig , venue or other info...