Summer highs
Day by day guide to festival highlights
1 The Edinburgh Kilo is on today from 10am at Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny St, where the café is open daily. The idea is that you choose from the retro fashion on offer and pay by the kilo. Bring your own bag. £2 admission. www.shopkilo.co.uk
2 Time for a visit to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art where the Ray Harryhausen - Titan of Cinema exhibition continues until 20 February 2022. Film special effects superstar elevated stop motion animation to an art with films such as Jason and the Argonauts. His innovative and inspiring films, from the fifties onwards, changed modern movie making forever. For the first time, highlights chosen from the whole of Ray's collection are showcased in the largest and widest-ranging exhibition of his work ever seen. nationalgalleries.org
3 Archie Brennan Tapestry Goes Pop! Pop artist, weaver, bodybuilder and former Mr Scotland, Archie Brennan changed the course of modern weaving and is considered one of the greatest unrecognised pop artists of the 20th century. Unrecognised because he chose to work in tapestry. Exhibition at Dovecot Studios 10 Infirmary Street, EH1 1LT from 10am to 5pm. Tickets £9.50. dovecotstudios.com
4 North Edinburgh Arts is running summer sessions for all ages. This one is for young people aged 11+. Every Wednesday a variety of artists hosts a session for young people exploring different art making techniques. northedinburgharts.co.uk
5 River Dipping with Water of Leith Conservation Trust at 2pm for children between 7 and 11. Drop off event. learning@waterofleith.org.uk
6 Edinburgh Zoo After Hours Nights at Corstorphine Road. Food and drink kiosks available and acoustic music on the main lawn. Timed entry from 6pm. Adults only on 13-14 August. www.edinburghzoo.org.uk
7 Free event with RSPB Scotland at Lauriston Castle from 10am to 4pm. A chance to hear about your local feathered friends and to get a chance to do a quick art activity. Double up with a picnic and family day in the gardens. Free, drop-in, no need to book. 2 Cramond Road South, EH4 6AD. Tel 0131 529 3993
8 Scotland's Gardens Scheme invite you to 5 Greenbank Crescent, EH10 5TE. Newly designed, sloping terraced garden with views over Braidburn Valley Park to the Pentlands. Colourful chaos of herbaceous plants, shrubs, roses and small trees. Features include a gazebo, pergola, greenhouse and water feature. www.scotlandsgardens.org
9 A Grand Night For Singing is an Edinburgh International Festival event at Edinburgh Academy Junior School. The glitz and glamour of
the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals such as Carousel and The King and I, will entertain you for 90 minutes. Conceived and created by Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Walter Bobbie, A Grand Night for Singing took Broadway by storm at its opening in 1993. This new staging is conceived by Kim Criswell, one of today's pre-eminent musical theatre singer/actors. She stars in the production, one of a handpicked cast of brilliant musical theatre performers that also includes lyric soprano Danielle de Niese. www.eif.co.uk
10 A voyage around the Scottish islands. Join the National Library of Scotland's Map Curator, Chris Fleet, for a fully illustrated excursion through Scotland's islands. The circumnavigation of Scotland will use selected maps to provide insights into the distinctive history of particular islands. The voyage will also look at who made these maps and how they did it. 2-3pm Free. www.eventbrite.co.uk
11 Fringe by the Sea in North 11 takes place from 6-15 August. There are 150 events in all - and sadly some sessions are already sold out. On 11 August Brian Taylor speaks to Richard Demarco, CBE, in a lunchtime blether. Everything here from guided walks, comedy, music, spoken word and yoga. Easy to get there by train from Edinburgh Waverley or by East Coast Buses. Also on 15 August STORM will pay a visit to the seaside. First unveiled in Glasgow, STORM is something to behold. Standing 10 metres tall, the puppet walks to a soundscape created by Portobello resident, Mairi Campbell. fringebythesea.com
12 Curious is a programme of events run by the Royal Society of Edinburgh bringing Scotland's leading thinkers and practitioners together with the public for an informal conversation. Join in the Tea and Talk events at 3pm every day on Zoom, reminiscent of the coffee house discussions during the Scottish Enlightenment. Book early as numbers are limited.
13 Leith Comedy Festival's Lassies of Leith at 3pm and 4 pm. Join Invisible Cities' award-winning tour guide, Paul, as he returns to tell you all about the women of Leith throughout history, from Mary of Guise to the former owner of the Port o' Leith, Mary Moriarty. This joyful walking tour is packed with historical curiosities and uproarious anecdotes that will make you gasp with amazement and roar with laughter. Dates between 7-29 August. www.leithcomedyfest.com
14 Edinburgh Climate Festival 2021 at Leith Links East from noon to 7pm. The event is free and family-friendly and will be an opportunity to celebrate and inspire climate action. There will be upcycling workshops, henna painting, seed planting workshops. Free bike repairs, e-bike trials, swap shop for clothes and books, yoga classes and music. Search for Edinburgh Climate Festival on Facebook.
15 Admission to Fruitmarket Gallery on Market Street is free, but you must book on Eventbrite to secure an arrival time to see the opening exhibition, a retrospective by artist Karla Black with two new works included at the newly reopened and extended gallery. But you can go in at any time to the café or to fill your water bottle at their newly commissioned £15,000 water fountain. This was created by artist Tania Kovats and is intended for visitors to fill their own water bottles. www.fruitmarket.co.uk
16 The Laughing Horse's Free Festival Fringe has a full programme of events between 6-30 August with some events which are Pay What You Want and others where Fringe goers can actually turn up in person. But you must have a ticket as this is the only way that their venues can run events safely. For your outing today we think the best of the best is, well…the best . The Best of Fringe Stand up takes place at 32 Below (32 West Nicolson Street). www.freefestival.co.uk
17 Edinburgh International Book Festival 14-30 August. Today Sara Sheridan appears at the Book Festival in person talking about On the Scent of Untold Riches. There cannot be many novelists in the world who have a sideline in perfume production, but Sara Sheridan is one of them. The Edinburgh-based author runs a company named Reek whose scents celebrate “powerful, unapologetic women” and their often-overlooked stories. This passion for the evocative qualities of perfume has been of particular use in researching The Fair Botanists, a thrilling new historical novel that Sheridan launches today. www.edbookfest.co.uk
18 The Edinburgh International Film Festival goes back to its original time slot in August. The fun begins today until 25 August with the opening gala Michael Sarnoski's Pig with Nicholas Cage as a reclusive truffle hunter and closes with the UK premiere of Here Today from the comedy legend, Billy Crystal. edfilmfest.org.uk
19 From today for a week Film Fest in the City will return to St Andrew Square in partnership with Essential Edinburgh. Outdoor screenings of films.
20 Stobo Castle Ladies Day at Musselburgh Racecourse. The place to be seen this month wearing your most stylish outfits. musselburgh-racecourse.co.uk
21 Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival is on 20-21 August at Edinburgh Corn Exchange. Thirty world class breweries will pour hundreds of beers along with
pop-up food stalls and music. Tickets for over-18s only include beer and a free tasting glass.
www.edinburghcraftbeerfestival.co.uk
22 Monkey Barrel Comedy returns during the Fringe in August at 9-11 Blair Street, EH1 1QR. Tonight will be the final show by Nish Kumar which is a work-in-progress show ahead of his 2022 tour. He said: “It has been a period of upheaval and uncertainty with Covid and the political situation. You will be amazed by my capacity to somehow take all of these things personally.” Tickets £6. Lots more shows and big names to choose from.
www.monkeybarrelcomedy.com
23 What appear to be hundreds of events at Summerhall during the Festival are available to watch online. Covering all creative offerings like theatre, dance, some music and physical theatre, there is also a range of happenings at the Secret Courtyard. One of those takes place tomorrow 24 August and is an opportunity to meet Martin Creed, thr Turner-Prize winning artist-performer-composer who has such a big influence in the city with the remodelling of the Scotsman Steps and the Everything is Going to be Alright installation at the Modern Art Gallery. We are told there may be piano juggling.
www.summerhall.co.uk
24 Damian Albarn, former Blur frontman has a brand new show which will be presented in the pavilion at Edinburgh Park. Accompanied by a band and string quartet, this rare solo appearance will feature music from his new work The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, as well as other music from his back catalogue.
www.eif.co.uk
25 From 22-25 August Chrissie Hynde & Co will appear at Queen's Hall singing Bob Dylan and other songs. These will be four stripped back shows featuring songs from Hynde's latest album, recorded almost entirely by text message. Special guests for all four shows will be The Rails, Kami Thompson (daughter of musicians Richard and Linda) and James Walbourne (guitarist with The Pretenders) previous winners of Best New Artist at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Tickets £34.50. thequeenshall.net
26 Kokoroko will appear as part of the Edinburgh International Festival at Edinburgh Park.
Tickets £21-26. Bringing feelgood Afrobeat music from London, this mellow eight-piece collective takes its name from the Nigerian Urhobo dialect, meaning “be strong”. Their music celebrates a longrunning tradition of West African legends such as Fela Kuti, Tony Allen and Ebo Taylor, while giving it a 21st century update with warm jazz and soul arrangements.
www.eif.co.uk
27 The Bluebells at The Old Dr Bells Baths at 7.00pm. The Bluebells were a Scottish pop group in the 1980s. Peddling a kind of jangly guitar pop not dissimilar to their Scottish contemporaries Aztec Camera and Orange Juice, they had three hit singles in the UK, all written by guitarist and founder member Bobby Bluebell (aka Robert Hodgens) - "I'm Falling" with Ken McCluskey, "Cath", and their biggest success "Young At Heart". The latter was co-written with Siobhan Fahey (with whom Hodgens was romantically linked for a while) and made it to No.8 in the UK singles chart on its original release in 1984. www.skiddle.com
28 The Normal at Talbot Rice Gallery, EH8 9YL is part of Edinburgh Art Festival. This exhibition reflects life during the pandemic exploring the asymmetrical effect of it on society due to socioeconomic and racial inequality. The artworks express hope, grief, survival, violence and solidarity and the need for reorienting to planetary health after the Covid-19 wake up call. www.trg.ed.ac.uk
29 Jupiter Rising is on this weekend from 28-31 August. Held at Jupiter Artland at Wilkieston it is another hangover from last year. It is a camping festival with music for all ages to revel in art, music and nature. There are some luxury add ons such as Wild Dining and a Gateway Bathing Session in the Joanna Vasconcelos designed heated swimming pool, itself a work of art.
www.jupiterartland.org
30 Meet at Main Visitor Car Park at Hopetoun
House for an August wander - a popular month to get out and explore. Enjoy this Ranger-led walk taking in interesting corners of Hopetoun. Walk around the historic landscape of Hopetoun House and onto the Estate, including Abercorn Church. Bring a snack/lunch. Not suitable for children under 12. Cost: Grounds entry fee £5.50 adult, £3.50 child. Booking essential.
www.hopetoun.co.uk
31 Book a tour of Edinburgh with a guide from Invisible Cities. These can be either in person or virtually. More information here about the charity which has turned people who previously experienced homelessness into tour guides. www.invisible-cities.com