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Night Owl Shows presented an eclectic range of tributes to a wonderful array of music icons. From Aretha Franklin to Amy Winehouse, there’s always something spicy on the menu. This meal is one of the hottest, with the incredible Cleopatra Higgins fronting The Whitney Houston Story to glorious effect.

Houston has some of the most cathartic tunes in pop – that intangible tension and release, pulling something eternal up from your soul and making you sing it out to the universe with abandon. This band was able to capture that sheer joy in being alive that only the greatest pop can deliver, with Houston being one of the greatest ever in delivering that feeling.

Higgins has such a set of pipes on her and a stage presence that she can lay claim to being a legitimate queen of the night. Two shows a day for the whole of the Edinburgh Fringe and I saw this show at the end – about one of the greatest pop singers in history with an incredibly difficult technically ability to replicate – and she sounded as fresh and strong as if it were opening night.

The respect for Whitney is endearing and you feel honoured to bare witness to the love for her that is being celebrated. With Higgins, it feels like you’re going to church. Not just because of her gospel influence (she heads the Aretha Franklin show earlier in the day) but also because she leads a worship beyond the simple concert format, so we’re on our feet, crying out high notes and tears for a trail-blazing women of colour who sat on the throne of pop music.

Sitting in the audience, during the bows at the end, we got a surprise when Derek from the Derek Awards presented her with an award for best voice and best show. She cried with honour, played a bows, we danced, Derek danced and for a moment, we were reminded of the power of music to heal the world. An utterly joyous experience.

Stuart Bruce

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theSpace @ Venue45
Edinburgh Fringe, 2023

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The French say “joie de vivre”, the Germans, “Lebensfreude”. For blues musicians, you take ‘groove’, add ‘mojo’ and when the room is just right, it brews that sweet elixir – the joy of living. For the Rhythm and Booze Project, they’ve cracked the recipe because they have the secret ingredient – whiskey.

Felipe Shrieberg (lap steel guitar and vox) and Paul Archibald (drums and washboard) are true bluesmen and as purveyors of live music experiences, like wizards with their alchemy. It’s a potent brew; a sensory marriage that will seat you at the table of the gods. Two highly somatic stimuli, aural and alcoholic, envelope your being and leave you with a deeply healing case of the warm and fuzzies.

Shrieberg’s rich, gravelly voice intones with soul and experience, like it too was aged in an old, oaken barrel. He slides to whispered sweetness with such gentleness you submit to falling inside his sublime guitar-work as it sings a sombre lament of the soul. Watch out, the washboard’s out, and in the hands of the immensely talented Archibald, the crowd whoops with delight as we rock along to a time-warp that puts a skiffle rhythm in rhythm and blues.

Along with three samples of top notch whiskeys, you’re also tasting a blues education, from Willie-Dixon-era Chicago blues, to the deep south and Mississippi Delta, they draw from rich seams of blues history. The audience participation was like the drink, spirited. If you conjured correct adjectives for your nips (a small portion of whiskey), you got a second one but don’t worry, they’ll teach you how to talk about it and access the enchanting treasures of the drink.

It felt like everything had that rare ‘in the pocket’ perfection, until you realise these master entertainers have deliberately cultivated that feeling to make their show the sweetest night of the Fringe. They played, ‘I put a spell on you’, a classic tune originally recorded by “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins when he was totally drunk on whiskey. Reeling from this magic, the night already feels like a dream – a warm and fuzzy one.

Stuart Bruce

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Gilded Balloon Teviot
Aug 26-28 (14:30)

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I must confess I am quite in love with the Jive Aces. I first caught them here in Edinburgh several years ago, & then last December travel’d all the way to London to catch a fascinating ‘medley’ performance of cameo singers & players. Then, the other day, while cruise & carousing thro the Fringe boiling streets of Edinburgh, I saw some of them in the distance, bright yellow beings from the planet ‘Cool’ plugging their show to the people. Like a moth to a custardy flame, I was soon embrac’d by their warm amiabilities, had bagg’d me a press comp, & was now extremely excited for my third dose of the Jive Aces. Y’see, I know them now, I know their act & I know they’re really good at putting a smile back on my face & the swing back in my step. 

This year they have a nice room at the Teviot Buildings, taken over by the Gilded Balloon, but are on a tad early, & despite general encouragement from lead singer, ever excellent Ian Clarkson, for us all to all get up & have a dance, the vibe is not quite drunk-a-clock boogie time. But, y’know what, it gave me a great opportunity to enjoy the performers more than the performance; the double bass player (Ken Smith), the pianist, the trombone (Alex Douglas), the sax (Big John Fordham), the drummer (Vince Hurley), female vocalist Noelle Vaughn, & Grazia playing her accordion are all wonderful musicians, & work together incredibly tight. Of them all, it was Vince’s mad scientist solo work on his piano providing me with the highlight of this Fringe. It’s just mental like, his fingers & feet like radioactive atoms being heated up pre-nuclear – & he does it all with his eyes closed, pure feel, pure brilliant. 

The other chief pillar of the Jive Aces experience is their choice of tuneage. There’s some reyt numbers in the repertoire, such as 1931’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills; Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” from 1936; the original version of ‘Hound Dog’ which inspir’d Elvis  & Henry Mancini’s 1963 theme for the film Pink Panther, which I swear down is the best version I’ve ever heard. Each of these & all the other classic numbers, are then divided into segmented show-offiness & sing-a-longs, all of which put the ‘woah’ back into sh-ow-bizness. Nice one guys, can’t wait til next time! 

Words: Damo
Photography: Byron Turner

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We all need more soul in our lives and there’s been no greater purveyor and innovator than the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. She began as a gospel singer and from a very young age, seemed to have a voice well beyond her years. We’re very lucky, therefore, to be able to hear a similarly powerful and transcendent voice from renowned pop singer, Cleopatra Higgins fronting Night Owls Shows’ The Aretha Franklin Story. This isn’t toe-tapping covers – this is a full on booty-shaking, hollering at the heavens, sweaty, sassy good time. Just as Aretha would have wanted it.

The band rocked through her biggest hits, easily putting the audience on their feet and then brought things down with some tender sweet moments. Documentary clips projected onto the back wall positioned the audience to appreciate the historical context of Aretha’s climb to superstardom and her incredible numbers of awards and chart-topping hits.

But in the end, it’s all about the voice and Higgins has it, no doubt about that – bringing more than a few punters to tears. She has big charisma and a voice that is both soulfully simple and spectacularly acrobatic. It’s everything I hoped for from an Aretha Franklin tribute, but I also hazard a guess that one day there might be a Cleopatra Higgins Story tribute show – let’s wait and see.

The rest of the band are similarly excellent with a tight rhythm section and backing singers with strong enough voices to lead a show of their own. The whole scene at the Symposium is impressive and Night Owl Shows, as one of the major companies there, have built a wonderful community of artists honouring the legacies of some legendary artists.

I recommend people check out their entire suite of shows as there is bound to be some celebrating your favourite musos and you can trust the bands will be superb. Higgins also fronts Night Owl Shows’ The Whitney Houston Story which I will have to catch as well. If she captures Houston to the degree she did Aretha, it will be another unmissable show. Get on it.

Stuart Bruce

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Life Care Center, Edinburgh
Aug Wed 9th, 2023

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Man, did we get a good deal on this Wed 09th Aug in the ever giving Edinburgh Fringe. The aptly named Sound & Vision was to be hosted at LifeCare Centre venue number 524. In its Gallery room on the top floor (which was the 1st floor) we were dipped into the fantasist and always will be of David Bowie. But let’s reel it back an hour or so.

Coming from Glasgow going to Edinburgh has many stages of prep for another trip to the Internationally present and one of the largest Theater Festivals there are ‘the Fringe’. I traveled down the City’s plenteous zones from Haymarket to the Venue near Queens Ferry where I crossed a huge bridge, anyway enough tourism let’s have a chat about ‘Sound & Vision’ and all it meant.

This Care center has a large premises, it was open, friendly and above all a charismatically caring place. As I went through the door I was taken aback by its relevance as a Studio, the room itself is used for many things but today it was a studio. Quite the painting studio it would turn out to be, and as I gazed I was introduced to all the participant Artists aficionado’s.

A nice air of focus filled the attic room already, Denise Harrison began with a ginormously giving smile for everyone, at an already streaming pace, and her techniques hitched a ride in our hearts as we sat imbued.

Light poured in through skylights and windows, a huge space with spread out tables magic foldable easels, this event was to enlighten us with something she called ‘Bowie cut-up lyrics’ technique. This included listening to him as the 5 hour phenomenon passed. There was even a live performance of a few of his songs to date, all the while working on this thing called painting.

She had such a style and communicated with a very adopting well made idea of teaching in the forms of something immersive that was well planned for. A figurative mood was let loose as we stared at our blank page. One could see with this guide (Denise) whose unravelling Art in the making, began with a revolutionary starter technique that was washing your page using the colours that were of your own choosing. Of your own choosing is a wonderful term if heard in an art studio with a tutor in progress. Her energy was unending; as was her excitement, she mentioned other events accomplished mixing music with painting along with the time it created.

We all took to it with no little gusto, a choice of brushes at our disposal in a new (for me) work of layers, layers, layers and layers. In her material interests were flowing and too had a stem to them from the wide array she is bringing to the table in art and life. Varied in this way she laid down ‘Sound and Vision’ for the art world to hear and not ignore.

While she was undoubtedly of a huge success having been commissioned to write a book which she completed and is a go to book. I again will mention that this fringe event was quite the deal financially and tutorialy). With a spectacularly accomplished sense of calm and focus she rubbed off her roots and made up our experience’s as the painter (having chosen to focus on it) with all the collective artistry being brought forth.

She reached to a depth of something remarkable and essentially made painters of us all. This depth could only be interpreted as good, and a wholesome way to spend the hours that went by fast but had lots of time in between. Having the fun intentions of an event like this as a venue of the Fringe showed us the way to work, passing as we were through its relative stages and into the acrylic Art of painting in the arms of one impressively awesome and astute artist.

Daniel Donnelly

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Friday 4th August, 2023
Summerhall, Edinburgh

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Mull Historical Society hit the stage on the first night of the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe last friday, to find a packed crowd eager to celebrate the highly acclaimed band’s latest album, ‘In My Mind There’s A Room’. For their ninth studio album and first in five years, we see a diverse collection of remarkably poignant and evocative songs that connect songwriter, Colin MacIntyre, and collaborators to ‘place’. In this case the notion of a room or rooms from childhood which hold a special significance, shaping them into who they are today and specifically shaping MacIntyre into one of Scotland’s great creative talents.

The band delivers on this conceptual challenge in spades and one is immediately struck by their depth of connection to the material and how it yields a veritable kaleidoscope of sonic architecture. The playing from each member of the band positively shines where they’ve clearly mastered being individually expressive whilst never overstepping and undermining the whole. It’s a joyous carnival atmosphere.

The songwriting hits hard and is never dull. There are many vague flavours to my ear – from Radiohead to Flaming Lips, David Gray to Wilco – but MHS are known for their own sound having innovated stylistically for across many albums. The emotional power of the writing clearly establishes their authority in this regard and MacIntyre delivers the words with a deep understanding of his craft and a supreme lyrical prowess.

The collaborative process behind the album is one he describes as asking people to be the Bernie Taupin to his Elton. Words were written for him by literary giants such as Nick Hornby, Ian Rankin, Alan Warner, Jason Mott, Sebastian Barry, Scottish poet laureates’ Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead, Jacqueline Wilson, Val McDermid, Jennifer Clement and Stephen Kelman. Using their words as inspirations MHS created a rich collection of tunes that will appeal to anyone, given we all have that metaphorical room that was once a literal room and which has now become something beyond the corporeal. More a symbolic plane that serves as a metaphysical container for the great journey of life itself and that’s the level of depth that MHS have captured here.

There’s a sense of folk homeliness mixed with an acerbic modernity which enables them to revel in their element – channelling equal parts nostalgia and aspiration. And the audience love it. Singing along to their hits and hanging on every word from their new songs. With recent singles like “1952” and “Panicked Feathers” fitting in beautifully, we can look forward to a fresh suite of hits to get stuck in our heads on long drives and sleepless nights.

The album, in its entirety, is hugely evocative, intellectually curious and calls forth the listener’s imagination to join them on a journey. There’s plenty here for fans new and old to fall in love with and it could just become your favourite album of the year. The melodies are equally at home soaring over rolling hills or winding their way through the back alleys of great cities. This is humanism and nature in symbiosis. The writing speaks of history and hope, suffering and salvation and the sum of it all is the authentic gift of the soul’s revelation.

The last track is MacIntyre’s father reciting his own poem about Mull in a rich baritone voice and it’s the perfect final weave to an immensely rich tapestry. “Do you remember, brother, those times of long ago” it begins. Mull Historical Society have again delivered work that serves to traverse the grand narratives of the human story and much power to them.

Stuart Bruce

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@theSpace, Symposium Hall
August 4th – 27th at (13.35)

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The name is Bond… James Bond. Who is James Bond and where did he originate from? James Bond was a fictional British Agent who worked for the British Secret Service and was the creation of Ian Fleming in 1953. Six decades on, Bond is an international phenomenon and is recognized as being one of the best known spies of our time. Night Owl Shows, recognizing Bond’s appeal, have created a show that takes you on a journey, deep into the world of espionage with more famous villains than an octopus has legs.

As soon as the first guitar chord was struck my gut feeling was this show is a guaranteed winner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2023. With just a few people short of a full house this certainly was a beautiful way to start any Sunday afternoon, let alone the Edinburgh Fringe. 007 Voices of Bond is being hosted in the quaint auditorium that is Symposium Hall. Moderate in size, but acoustically perfect for the thought-provoking themes of the Bond movies. With a voice as smooth as silk, Phoebe Katis takes the lead vocals for some of the more famous soundtracks to have graced our screens, while delivering a short but informative account of the background and evolution of each song preformed. The accompanying band, consisting of guitar, keyboards, bass and drums, were as tight as a jam-jar lid, with no quarter given.

Well synchronized and beautifully executed, I couldn’t help but notice that the hairs on my arms and legs were twitching to stand up, goose bumps and a warm sense of joy filling every part of my being. Hands clapping, heads rocking and feet tapping were a clear sign of an audience that was totally emerged in the world of James Bond. Whether you’re a big fan of Bond or just a lover of cinema, this experience will stay with you for years to come.

Driving through the James Bond time capsule from Casino Royale in 1953, to the most recent outing No Time To Die, the now captivated audience were treated to such delights as Diamonds are Forever, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and, well you will have came and engage in Voices of Bond to be part of something that is truly special.

This show definitely honors the legacy of John Barry and Monty Norman, not forgetting to mention the incredible voices of Sheena Easton, Gladys Knight, Billie Eilish , Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon and Adele whom are all showcased by the highly talented Phoebe Katis. Direct in its approach, 007 was created and crafted with only one purpose in mind, to thrill you, excite you and expose your inner love for all things Bond.

Music at its best!

Raymond Speedie