The Spinning Blowfish

Throughout August in Edinburgh there are surprises waiting at almost every turn and around each corner.  On our way from venue to venue we happened across a great sound at the foot of the Mound.  This band was a delight to dance to and to photograph.  Unfortunately the party after this musical surprise somewhat dulled my memory and I did not remember their name.  Fortunately I have been reminded that this band are The Spinning Blowfish.

https://www.facebook.com/thespinningblowfish

ThatLadyWithTheCamera  http://www.flickr.com/photos/47911363@N05/ was kind enough to make a comment on this set on Flickr which has given me a chance to link these pictures to the band.  If you have a chance to see the band and to buy their CD do not pass by if your feet are tip tapping and your hands are clapping join in the fray and enjoy a musical interlude to your day.

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

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www.phhsykes.blogspot.co.uk

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Mabel Lucie Attwell Boo Boo Mushroom Teapot

Mabel Lucie Attwell, Shelley Pottery, Earthenware Teapot, c1930

Photographs all hand held low light no flash

This teapot is fantastic.  The somewhat grumpy characterisation of the Boo Boo at the door is superb.  I wish that it was me that was disturbing the elf like creature to make a pot, or two of tea with a sandwich, a scone and a cake served from a three tiered stand.

From 1926 Mabel Lucie Attwell was designing children’s tablewares.  Her elfin figures in brightly coloured romper suits were known as, “Boo Boos.”  This teapot is fashioned in the broad shape of a mushroom.  Her work was so popular that the illustration continued in calendar form and in pottery long after her death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_Lucie_Attwell

Eccentronic Presents We Won't Rock You

The venue was superbly subterranean and suitable subtly lit.  This hampered the production of photographs, but made for a superb setting.  The show was light and bright with pop and rock anthems featuring around the rules of comedy and the way to produce a show.  John Callaghan was a one man riot as he tore up the place with many raucous acts whilst Hypnotique kept the rhythm and beat to bounce us all the way to her finale as chosen by the audience.

Eccentronic present their first ‘mainstream musical’ featuring eccentric, electronic, enthralling songs about time-wasting, socks and visiting Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.  A zesty melee of musical mash-ups and oddball humour, with influences from The Smiths to Nine Inch Nails and Black Lace. Eccentronic are John Callaghan (Warp Records) and Hypnotique (TV's glamorous Theremin player).

www.eccentronic.co.uk

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/cabaret/eccentronic-presents-we-won-t-rock-you-free

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

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www.phhsykes.blogspot.co.uk

www.phhsykes.co.uk

Bound

Bound but not gagged on the high street.  That is how I came across members of Noosfeer from Belgium advertising their roller-boxcar-coaster of a hobo play.  The cast of the play were so welcoming that they took one of my cameras and proceeded to take their own photos.  When you have been bound to railings on The Royal Mile a few moments of shutter release is more than a relief.

This new play is a true international collaboration, bringing together Christoffel Hendrick's Antwerpian New Wave direction and Dylan Dougherty’s unmistakably American script for a sensual and lyrical theatrical experience. The rhythm of the rails echo in the live musical accompaniment and an iambic pentameter frees the language by confining it.

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/bound

http://www.noosfeer.org/ - you may need to make use of a translation

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

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Machinal Edinburgh Festival Fringe Fancies

Harlem, Jazz, speakeasies, and social revolution with a tale of love, gender imbalance and murder, what more could you ask for?  The performers of Machinal decided to advertise their show on The Royal Mile by making a stand.  They choose to hold poses and flyers to attract the attention of the passing crowd.  Their striking outfits and great detailed hair and makeup made them into superb living sculptures.  With the constant ebb and flow of tourist and performers it is good to see the ‘stand still’ approach.  Every now and then again a performer would burst into dialogue and from time to time there would be a change of poses.  There is always something eye-catching on the Royal Mile in August and that which catches the eye may well be worth following back to the theatre.

Oxford University Dramatic Society

www.ouds.org

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

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Unicycling and Fire Juggling St. Giles Cathedral Edinburgh Festival

Aren't men supposed not to be able to multitask? Cycling, talking and juggling seems possible to some, but it is way beyond me.  I can talk and walk, but I have to put one of those on hold to take pictures.

On my way up the Royal Mile I caught just a couple of pictures of the start of this Fire Juggler’s act.  As if juggling with fire was not enough he was perched on what seemed like a very tall unicycle.  The wonders on the streets throughout August in Edinburgh are a marvellous spectacle.

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

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The Indescribable Phenomenon – Ghostly Pictures

By the pricking of my thumbs, something phenomenal this way comes…

Whilst advertising The Indescribable Phenomenon on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh the cast seemed to interact with unseen, or maybe even spiritual entities.  It is most unlikely but maybe some of these ghostly encounters swell the auditorium and add to the magical effect of the theatrical performance?

The Ghostly pictures;

The Indescribable Phenomenon (104)

www.flickr.com/photos/phhsykes/7723786698

The Indescribable Phenomenon (105)

www.flickr.com/photos/phhsykes/7723785026

The Indescribable Phenomenon (106)

www.flickr.com/photos/phhsykes/7723783308

The Show – including magic & mind reading

A bizarre and beautiful true story of one remarkable woman and her rise to fame in a world of mad scientists, escapologists, fraudsters and thieves. Anna Eva Fay is the leading stage spiritualist of her day and the first woman to be accepted into the magic circle. Audiences obsess over her, scientists study her, assistants want to own her and one woman tries to become her. Anna will open the spirit world to you in a play that incorporates magic and mind reading as life, death, belief and illusion entwine.

Venue Greenside

www.haberdasheryproductions.co.uk

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

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The Three Half Pints

The Three Half Pints are a slapstick comedy trio, who create work which is both nostalgic and contemporary. They revitalise the fading art of physical variety comedy, and work closely together to create hilarious, original sketches.
Join the Three Half Pints for an hour of different sketches with a multitude of characters and settings leading to side-splitting comedic chaos. Watch them slip, trip and tumble in a fast-paced foray into timeless comedy and endless giggles. Prepare yourself to see three shorter-than-average men struggle in a world that’s too big for them.  Note: This show contains innuendo jokes.

Venue: Edinburgh City Football Club

www.facebook.com/ThreeHalfPints

https://twitter.com/threehalfpints

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

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Frank Sanazi’s Das Vegas Night

There are always sights set to make a reaction and when you advertising Extreme Cabaret then you have to have an image.  Taking to the stage styled as the 'Leader of the Iraq Pack' and affecting a character based on Adolf Hitler certainly works for Frank Sanazi.  The pictures displayed here show the cabaret stars on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh advertising the show bedecked with Swastikas.  The Third Reich show will undoubtedly raise a reaction, or two.

The 'Leader of the Iraq Pack' returns to the Fringe Front Line with a new show featuring outrageous guests and renditions of classics like 'Strangers On My Flight' and 'Third Reich'.  Frank will have audiences literally nailed to their seats.  Frank Sanazi, The Ubermeister of Lounge brings a NEW ORDER and discipline to the usually more relaxed swing style. He has embraced the modern idiom by singing about and reflecting on the world around him.

http://www.franksanazi.com/

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

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Free Hugs at Edinburgh Festival Fringe Fancies

Free – Yes!

Hugs – Yes!

Free Hugs – Yes!!!

Free Hugs seem to come with free exclamation marks

Back for another year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Fancies is the phenomenon of signs being held in the air to offer free hugs.  These random displays of Free Hugs tend to get some quite diverse reactions from en masse sporadic group hugs, to severe changing of pedestrian routes to avoid possible suspected molestation!  

Sometimes there is something for nothing that is worth a whole lot more than you might presume;

Free – Yes!  Hugs – Yes!  Free Hugs – Yes!!!

Free Hugs seem to come with free exclamation marks and ask for nothing but participation if you choose to be a part of this global phenomenon.

www.freehugscampaign.org

All photographs copyright 2012©PHH Sykes

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

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The Buffalo Skinners

No Buffalo were harmed when these Skinners set to work on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh.  They describe themselves as a, “Zyde-folk & Roll band born in Scarborough, England.”  With passion and flair they are worth making time to see their set.

http://thebuffaloskinners.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/TheBuffaloSkinners

Day 1 Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe is out on full display

The crowds are beginning to fill the Edinburgh streets and some performers are entertaining them on the cobbles and tarmac whilst others are tempting of the streets with the lure of artistic performance.  The Edinburgh Festival 2012 has begun and there’s room for everyone.

All photographs copyright 2012

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

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www.phhsykes.blogspot.co.uk

www.phhsykes.co.uk

MacBeth – As Told By

At the height of the Second World War, amidst the thunder of blitzing Doodlebugs, Macbeth returns from battle victorious. Unbeknownst to him, the Weird Sisters, three women who have newfound power on the home front, won't let him celebrate for long. They plan to plunge him into a far more personal battle. An innovative telling of Shakespeare's sharpest and bloodiest tragedy, exploring the role women play in the creation and destruction of the infamous tyrant.

As Told By with Greenwich Theatre www.astoldby.co.uk

All photographs copyright 2012

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

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Faust/us

On the day that I caught up with Mephistopheles there seemed to be a sponsorship deal in the offing with Café Nero.  This is the World Premiere of an innovative new solo version of the classic tale of a man who sold his soul to the devil.  The performance fuses animation, mixed media, and physical theatre to retell the tragic story of Doctor Faustus the notorious philosopher and reputed magician and necromancer.

By DBS Productions www.dbs-productions.co.uk

 at Sweet Grassmarket

All photographs copyright 2012

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

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Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox

With Sophie Crafts on accordion, “playing back Student Loans,” never sounded so good.  Squeezing is believing.

http://sophiessmokinsqueezebox.webs.com
http://sophiessmokinsqueezebox.blogspot.com

Day 1 Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe is out on full display

The crowds are beginning to fill the Edinburgh streets and some performers are entertaining them on the cobbles and tarmac whilst others are tempting of the streets with the lure of artistic performance.  The Edinburgh Festival 2012 has begun and there’s room for everyone.

All photographs copyright 2012

Please be in contact if you wish to use them

phhsykes@googlemail.com

www.flickr.com/photos/phhsykes

www.phhsykes.blogspot.co.uk

www.phhsykes.co.uk