Five things you need to know today
Tourist dies after collision in West End – Science Festival – Petitions Committee – Summerhall – Hard Rock Edinburgh is 15!
A tourist has died following a road collision in Palmerston Place around 8.30 last night. It is understood the lady was in her 70s and was visiting the city. More details here.
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The Edinburgh International Science Festival begins tomorrow and runs for a couple of weeks from assorted venues. The City Art Centre is one of the main venues and offers five floors of fun. We will have video of our interview with the Chief Executive of the Festival later today.
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The council began to hear petitions from the public in December 2012. Since then there have been several successful petitions which have gone on to become issues for the council to discuss more fully. One petition which has now just crawled over the finish line is the call for a whistleblowing hotline for Edinburgh council staff. Put more officially the petition is titled “A safer mechanism for reporting Edinburgh Council mismanagement”. Only yesterday it achieved the 502 signatures which it needs to be heard at the next Petitions committee meeting on 18 April 2013.
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Summerhall is continuing to go from strength to strength as the city’s newest and most exciting space for events and business development. Have you been? What did you enjoy? If you haven’t been then there is a list of upcoming events at Summerhall here. Tonight the artist John Byrne is in conversation with Joyce McMillan and there are still tickets available.
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Hard Rock Cafe in Edinburgh celebrated their 15th birthday yesterday. The Edinburgh Reporter was not invited but it seems to have been a good night…Here is what they were doing to the outside of the restaurant yesterday, and this is what they said about their party:-
“Last night, Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh celebrated its 15th anniversary in true rock ‘n’ roll style with an exclusive VIP party, which saw local band Bags of Rock perform to over 200 invited guests, and a special appearance by Hard Rock’s original and longest serving waitress, Rita Gilligan MBE.
The great and the good of the city all turned out to raise a glass to 15 years of Hard Rockin’ in Edinburgh, including Edinburgh Rugby player Greig Tonks, who rubbed shoulders with acclaimed Scottish musicians and bands such as Gun and El Presidente, plus Forth One / Clyde presenters in addition to local businesses and media.
Bags of Rock blew the crowd away with a piping hot medley of rock covers including Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ and Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’, to make sure everyone got their dancing feet on, with Forth One DJs keeping the party going until the wee hours.
A silent auction in aid of Nordoff Robbins Tartan Clef Music Therapy took place with guests bidding on a signed Iron Maiden guitar, a Big Country acoustic guitar and signed t-shirt, and a Harley Davidson bike weekend for two.
Earlier in the day, a bevy of Hard Rock Edinburgh waitresses posed with their party hats outside the Cafe with Rita Gilligan on a fleet of classic Harley Davidson motorbikes.
Since pop icon Finley Quaye officially opened Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh in 1998, thousands of locals and visitors from all over the globe have walked through its doors, either for a slap up meal from the all-American menu or to attend one of Hard Rock’s many live music events and parties – making it one of the crowning jewels of the glorious city of Edinburgh and a true hotspot for rock ‘n’ roll history and legendary food.
In the past few years, a variety of fantastic acts have taken to the stage at Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh, including band-of-the-moment The Courteeners plus Ocean Colour Scene, El Presidente and the hugely successful KT Tunstall, who performed live on stage for the cafe’s highly memorable 10th anniversary in 2008.
Memorabilia currently taking pride of place on the walls of Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh includes a tuxedo worn by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger during their 1976 tour, and a black leather skull jacket worn by Ringo Starr, Additionally The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll himself, Elvis Presley, has his sombrero up on the wall of the cafe alongside a T-shirt worn by guitar legend, Slash and a 1970 air ticket under the name ‘Jimi Hendrix’.”