Tag: Summerhall

Whisky pillage film to be premiered at charity ceilidh tonight

Three brothers rowing across the Atlantic in the 2019 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge at the end of this year are throwing a musical evening at Summerhall in Edinburgh tonight to raise money for their chosen charities. 

In August, the team pillaged bottles of whisky from distilleries across the West Coast to help bring 3000 people in Madagascar clean water. The ‘whisky pirates’ captured this on film and will premier the mini-documentary at the event.

A unique blend of whisky will be created by Scotland’s leading whisky expert (and father of the boys) Charles MacLean. This ‘BROAR Blend’ will then be auctioned to fund life-saving freshwater boreholes, delivered by Argyll-based charity Feedback Madagascar.

Team BROAR , Edinburgh-based brothers Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan MacLean, hope to raise £250,000 for Children 1st and Feedback Madagascar by undertaking this gruelling row.

Pickering’s Tradlantic at Summerhall will be a celebration of Scottish music and two fantastic charities. Being musicians, the brothers know how music can bring people together like nothing else. Top acts will be performing including Edinburgh’s Samuel Nicholson, the Isle of Mull’s Sorren Maclean & Hannah Fisher and Tony McHugh from Belfast.

“Over the years, music has certainly been the thing that has brought us together as a trio – which maybe explains why we’ve opted to spend up to 60 days on a 28foot long raft together this Christmas.

“The plan is to take scaled-down versions of our instruments for the crossing and record a tune in the middle of the Atlantic – Christmas number one here we come … !

“To help reach our fundraising target of £250,000 we thought that a musical evening would be very fitting – come along to Summerhall to enjoy some gin and music for Pickerings Tradlantic this Saturday!”

Managing Director of Feedback Madagascar, Jamie Spencer, said: “We really appreciate the boys undertaking this challenge for Feedback. We will be building new boreholes with the funds they raise to transform the lives of over 3,000 people in Madagascar.

“Clean water is taken for granted but only 14% of the rural population of Madagascar has access to clean water, and as a result, hepatitis and typhoid are widespread. Diarrhoeal disease from dirty water causes 20% of deaths in children under five.”

Tickets are available here. 

Is homophobia alive and well at The Fringe?

Flyering Fringe performer encounters homophobic abuse on the streets

Fringe performer Nick Cassenbaum has encountered some extreme reactions on the Edinburgh streets when promoting his show. 

Nick’s show is about his childhood hero, a TV personality loved by millions and once the highest paid man on British television. His name: Michael Barrymore.

Barrymore fell from grace 17 years ago, enduring tabloid fury after a tragic incident at his home left a young man dead and the star came out about his bisexuality.

The show, My Kind of Michael, chronicles Cassenbaum’s childhood infatuation with the Strike it Lucky presenter and how he was inspired by Barrymore to take to the stage himself.

But flyering the show around Edinburgh has proved eventful.

“After all this time I thought people may be prepared to accept him as a brilliant “working class boy made good” entertainer, but it’s become apparent that not only do some people hold strong views about him but that they are prepared to use blatantly homophobic language to make their point”, said Nick.

‘He’s as bent as a ten-bob note. He killed a man. He raped a man. He’s a pervert’
‘He raped a man and drowned him’
‘He’s alwight in the back hole’
‘Get that murdering pervert away from me’ (referring to a cardboard cutout of Barrymore)

Others have accused Barrymore of being known for preying on young boys.

“I have been flyering for this show for two weeks now and this type of language has shocked and surprised me. Especially at a ‘liberal’ arts festival that is known for controversial and cutting edge productions’ said Cassenbaum.

“Barrymore has had to put up with this for nearly 20 years now. I want to make it clear that he was never charged for anything, yet people treat him as if he is a perverted murderer and child molester, tarring him with the same brush as those convicted following Operation Yewtree. It seems that old fashioned homophobia and trial by tabloid is alive and well at the Edinburgh Fringe.”

But not everyone shares these views. Recent audience members have included comedian Mark Thomas (above) and TV actor and musical theatre star Claire Sweeney.

Leaving the show Thomas described Barrymore as a ‘comedic hero in fact the last great working class hero to strut the boards.’

Sweeney said: ‘I Loved the show, it was so lovely about Michael and I’m glad about that as he was brilliant and such a nice man, I really enjoyed it.’

You can judge for the show yourself. My Kind of Michael runs at Summerhall to 26th August at 7.30pm (no show 20th).