Cowboy Confessional

Can’t say I wowed the crowd at Jekyll and Hyde’s last night in Edinburgh (a pub near Hanover and Queen Streets for people navigating the town). But open mic audiences late on a Tuesday night are hard to please, and belting out Texas blues/country fusion in Scotland might have been a miscalculation on my part.

Not that Nate seemed to mind. Nate (I think I got his name right – hard to tell when the room acoustics are slightly worse that an echo chamber in a dungeon, which incidentally is the décor in Jekyll and Hyde) is an interesting world man. Born in South Africa and looking mulatto, he is an Australian now residing in Edinburgh. This means Nate has the most eclectic English speaking tongue known to man, blending the staccato cadence of SA, the relaxed drawl of the Aussies and the round, near-belch bubble tones of the Scotts.

I asked Nate if my song selection would offend the locals, and he nearly erupted in comic release, saying that not only was every song style good at his open mic, but Americana was popular. So I had high hopes despite being in a strange venue, using a borrowed guitar and before an audience that could not be anticipated.

The audience may not have been blown away, but the other musicians seemed to like some sounds they had not heard before. I had shared a table with a chap (Allie by nickname and one of two Allie performers that night) who I mentioned Ray Wylie Hubbard to, then opened my set with Hubbard’s “The Way of the Fallen”. After my set Allie said he would go out of his way to buy Hubbard’s “Growl” CD.

Ray, you owe me a buck.

Just a note or two about Jykell and Hyde. It is an amusing bar in as much as they have played up the old Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde story for their motif, lapsing only into insane excess occasionally. Chains and medieval restraining devices adorn the walls, which should be a draw to my buddy Reverend Chuck and other practicing sadists. The place is riddled with niches to hide from jealous lovers and a walk down bar called the Crypt. Be warned that doors to the bathrooms are hidden in the bookcase of the “library” and there are annoying recordings of spooky sounding people played once you are taking a wiz.

Nightlife aside, I had to do a random walk-about of Edi today. I’ve been through Old Town before, which wraps neatly about the Royal Mile (the road between the Castle and Holyrood Palace). None the less I used this as the launching point this morning as the strip is still sleepy before tourist mobs descend around 11AM. Breezy and a bit bitter, still it was an interesting excursion into a rare region preserved for the tourist trade and yet loving held dear by the locals. If you find yourself on The Mile, bank south to some of the evolutionary terraces that sit upon the roofs of old houses that line the road. One charm of ancient cities is the perpetual reuse and reinvention of buildings designed to last centuries.

I also hiked throughout New Town, with its stunning modern architecture of the 19th century. It is tough for other Americans to make such comparisons – that the “new” part of Edinburgh was being built-out while we were busy killing one another during our civil war. Time is the ultimate perspective — I write this missive in a café in a building that existed before the American Revolution.

Speaking of Revolutions, I think Scotland is ripe for a quite secession, which for historic purposes I suggest scheduling for 2045 (if this reference is too obscure seek out information on the last of the Jacobite revolts). Scottish independence is inevitability. As such they simply need to pick a due date and backward plan the steps to get there. Thirty six years should be plenty of time to plan and execute.

My larger curiosity is if the Scotts will have the wisdom to secede from the EU and the UK in one grand step. Reentry into the EU can be accomplished later if for some reason being an outside nation doesn’t fulfill their interest. Having some Scottish blood in my own veins I suspect it will be considered as the Scotts have a generalized dislike for being controlled.

Alas, it is time to board a plane and head home to San Francisco. If God be merciful I will return dearest Edi.

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This entry was posted by Guy Smith on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 7:56 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.