Travel: Books and bagpipes in Edinburgh

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Wouldn't be Edinburgh without some bag-piping!

Garrett Palm takes a break from the Festival Fringe to visit the Edinburgh Book Festival

Story and photos by Garrett Palm

I went to the Book Festival, which is a completely different world than the one I’ve been living in. This festival is in Charlotte Square, a good walk from my usual after-show hangouts in George Square.

The Charlotte Square readings are held in a spiegeltent, an old-fashioned wood-paneled and mirrored tent designed as portable entertainment venue. Instead of raunchy comedians, burlesque shows and loud rock musicals, it is full of intellectuals watching serious authors read from their upcoming works. The hosts and readers are calm and measured, stuttering to find the right words.

It fit  in better with the U.K. I experienced 11 years ago when I toured the isles with my professor, a respected British author. We met his friends and colleagues around the country, all of whom gave us copies of their books. I left with a stack of books and the idea that everyone in the U.K. is an author. I thought that, because of the rain, they wrote  regional histories, obscure biographies and guides to British gardens to entertain themselves. (more…)

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Travel: Coffee and rain at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

The Festival Fringe in Edinburgh comes to life with a cast of colorful characters roaming the street. PHOTO BY GARRETT PALM.

“A stone city clinging to rock surrounded by green on the edge of the island …”

Garrett Palm reports from the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh

“It’s summer. It’s warm out,” our guitarist said when a member of the production team asked him about the cold and rain. While we hand out flyers for our show at the Festival Fringe during the day the Americans wear jackets and some of the Scottish wear t-shirts. The temperature has been in the 50s and 60s, with a dip down to 48.

Everything is wet. We recently survived 36 straight hours of rain. The Foodies festival was delayed due to muddy conditions. It takes a lot of rain to affect the plans of the Scottish. I love how the city looks in the rain, but it makes our jobs difficult. Our flyers warp and go limp and people are less inclined to stop and listen to us. It makes daily life difficult, too: dishtowels at the flat don’t dry off, the skylight leaks and all my clothes are damp.

Even in the height of the international festival, Edinburgh feels a part of the British Isles. It is a stone city clinging to rock surrounded by green on the edge of the island. The rain and wind come right off the channel. Our cast is staying a block past World’s End Close, a tight alleyway, where the old city, and thus the world, used to end.

Rain or no rain, it's thumbs-up at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh. PHOTO BY GARRETT PALM.

(more…)

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Travel: Trimming the ‘fringe’ in Edinburgh

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Bob Berwyn
Garrett Palm communes with his Edinburgh barber

The Edinburgh skyline from Colton Hill. PHOTO BY GARRETT PALM.

Garrett Palm is working at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh and posting occasional reports from the scene.

By Garrett Palm

I got a haircut today. The barber was not pleased with the festival and the crowds it brings. I did not fear for how my hair would turn out because he seemed like a nice enough man, but he did have a temper. His biggest complaint is trying to drive around the city while masses of people stroll along the already crowded sidewalks and pour over into the streets completely unaware of  car traffic.

Edinburgh is a beautiful and exhausting city to wander. Short cuts lead to stairs, to deep ravines full of hidden shops and then … more stairs back up. This is wonderful if you’re exploring, but exhausting if you have to be someplace quickly. (more…)

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Travel: Notes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

New York Improv show to play one the main stages at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. PHOTO BY LEAH LAX.

*Editor’s note: Summit Voice contributor will be in Edinburgh the next few weeks. Look for updates from the city’s renowned Festival Fringe

By Garrett Palm

Next week I will be in Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I remember Edinburgh as a particularly good place to brood. I passed through the city during the fall while studying British Literature more than a decade ago. My memories are now eroded down to just the strong sights and the emotions they evoked.

This time I will be there for the month of August. I’m curious if the city feels the same in the summer. In the fall, the dark, mist-filled cobblestone streets and alleyways going up and down the highland city were built just right for aimless wandering. Half my attention was on whatever was going on inside me that felt so important and deep and half was on the medieval beauty I wandered through.

They are streets where I can turn a black corner at night to be drawn up to the orange, floodlit castle on the hill and out of myself. The view provided a respite from whatever sorrow I was working on at the time.

I saw my first drunk sleeping under an awning here — a businessman curled up in front of a jewelry store. It was past midnight on the main commercial esplanade, empty and shining from the rain. The only other person out was a lone bagpiper playing a quiet dirge. It felt too spot-on to be real. (more…)

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