Here is an eclectic roundup of what’s on in the capital in the next five days…..
Nathan Bell will appear at Soundhouse on Friday 3 February 2017.
Tennessee singer-songwriter Nathan Bell is known for his straight forward yet poetic lyrics, and expert musicianship. His stories are of everyman, sung with honesty and empathy. Though his subjects are often dark and troubled, Bell never leaves the listener without, as Cohen wrote, ‘the crack, where the light comes through.’
A master guitarist, Bell often performs solo, allowing his instrument to turn his poetry to song, his metaphors to melody. Acoustic Guitar Magazine described his music as “rock-tinged country-folk,” his voice as “rustic, coupling the grain of Levon Helm with the gruff troubadour lilt of Kris Kristofferson.” And his playing, “encompassing delicate rhythms, mountain drones, and surging melodic fills. His fingerpicking marries thumb blues to his guitar’s mimicry of frailing banjo…”
Son of famed poet-laureate of Iowa, Marvin Bell, his early years were filled with the comings and goings of literary giants such as Kurt Vonnegut and Studs Terkel. But Instead of picking up a pen, he picked up a guitar. “I learned to play by listening to blues greats Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGee. I learned to write lyrics by reading Jack London, William Carlos Williams, and Frank Herbert.”
Bell has shared the stage with Emmy Lou Harris, Townes Van Zandt, Taj Mahal, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. He is currently touring in support of his new record, Blood Like a River, which has topped Folk/Roots charts in the U.S. and in Europe.
7.30 for 8pm start.
On Saturday 4 February 2017 get along to the Central Library from 2-4.30pm to learn how to create a pocket book with an artists’ books workshop led by artist Susie Wilson.
Working with postcards, re-cycled papers and ephemera, learn to make a book which has secret pockets for keepsakes and pages that pull out. This two and a half hour workshop will use artists’ books from the Art & Design Library collection as inspiration and will introduce ways to combine content and structure to create a unique book.
This event is suitable for beginners and no previous experience is necessary.
It is free to attend but you can register here
The 14th Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival will run from 4-5 February 2017.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW – click here for details.
The future of the Church of Scotland will be the subject of a series of three lectures beginning on 1 February 2017. The principal of Trinity College, Glasgow who is a lecturer in practical theology promises “candid, forthright and bold analysis of the state of the Church of Scotland and the choices facing it.”
Each lecture will take place at 6.30pm at St Giles’ Cathedral on the 1st, 8th and 15th February. The lectures are free to attend, or watch online on the Church of Scotland home page.
There is racing at Musselburgh this weekend with a very strong line up of horses as this is the Scottish Cheltenham Trials Weekend.
Click below for tickets.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
