Blog

Ryan supports Thomas Truax

September 20, 2014

Back on the trail, folks, at the Banshee Labyrinth on Friday 26 September with Thomas Truax, our friends Faith Eliott and Jack of Diamonds of Black Diamond Express and Dog on a Swing. It costs £5, doors fly open at 7pm, hope to see you there.

New York City’s Thomas Truax (pronounced troo-aks) is a left field troubadour and inventor/player of strange self-made instruments like his now legendary ‘Hornicator’ and a motorized mechanical drum machine called ‘Sister Spinster’. He employs these and other contraptions as well as traditional instruments in exceptionally crafted, witty and often touching songs. Splendid magazine recently called him “one of the five or ten best singer/songwriters in the world that you’ve never heard of…an exceptional talent, unique and resistant to comparison, yet fairly accessible even to casual listeners.”

Ryan Van Winkle is a poet, a performer and someone that makes things happen. His first collection of poems, ‘Tomorrow, We Will Live Here’, won the Crashaw Prize and he has been published in The American Poetry Review, The Scotland on Sunday and many magazines you have likely never heard of. Ryan will be joined on guitar by Jack Of Diamonds, founding member and frontman of Scotland’s most exciting eight-piece blues band; The Black Diamond Express.

Faith Eliott performing music is merely one string to her artistic bow, and as such is a rare treat. Heartfelt, heart breaking, passionate songs, that will give you goosebumps and shivers down your spine.

Dog On A Swing is the pseudonym under which Ed Ritchie writes and plays music. It’s usually just him, but he likes to bring in other musicians on a fluid and flexible basis.

What: Thomas Truax (+ Support)

Where: Banshee Labyrinth, Niddry Street, Edinburgh

When: Friday 26 September, 7pm.

How Much: £5.

Ryan in Conversation with Alasdair Gray

September 1, 2014

I was hugely pleased and honoured to chair a conversation with a unique and committed artist and writer, Alasdair Gray. You can hear the whole conversation on the Edinburgh International Book Festival website, or if you’d prefer, you can take a two-dimensional vision at us in action on the wonderful artist Grace Wilson’s website. What a pleasure to be so colourful. There will soon be an edited version of that conversation, keep your eyes peeled.

Ryan performs at Tricolour

August 31, 2014

I’ll be reading alongside Kevin McLean and Jane McKie at the NLS’s free spoken word event Tricolour, tomorrow, Monday 1 September, from 6.30. Hope to see you there!

What: Tricolour

When: Monday 1 September, 6.30pm

Where: National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh

How Much: FREE.

Ryan with Rally & Broad in the Book Festival Spiegeltent

August 13, 2014

Delighted to be joining the genial hosts of Rally & Broad for the very last show of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It’s the glorious return of the Ampersand Edition, in which poets and musicians are teamed up to make something new and glittering. There will be whisky, there will be gin, and even better, it is FREE ENTRY. It’s on Monday 25 August, 9pm, Charlotte Square. Do come and join us.

We’re the closing Unbound at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and to celebrate we’re putting on one of our Ampersand Editions! 

We pure love oor Ampersand Editions, we do! Chucking two awesome acts together to create a set is one of our favourite things to do, to the extent that we’re actually doing it ourselves this time too! The collaborations are…

Don Paterson & Rachel Newton!

Ryan Van Winkle & Dan Willson ( Withered Hand)!

Rachel McCrum & A New International!

Jenny Lindsay & Lake Montgomery!

….. and Rally & Broad, of course….

It’s free and drop-in (arrive early to ensure entry!)

It’s also our last event til October…. Come gin with us! 🙂

Culture Laser LIVE! at the Edinburgh Fringe

August 1, 2014

culture-edfringeCulture Laser Live

6 August, 19:00

Forest Down

141 Lauriston Place

FREE

“That’s Right – We’re Doing it Live”

culturelaser.com

The Multi-Coloured Culture Laser enters the Fringe fray for a night of performance, discussion, drinking, and hot hilarious august action. A podcast experience for your eyes & your hearts – done fucking live.

Featuring:

* ROOM w/ Jemima Yong & Alan Fielden

Room is bound to be a highlight of the 2014 Fringe Festival. Part radio play, part interactive storytelling, ROOM is inspired by analogue, literary based computer games like Dungeons and Dragons & Interactive Fiction. Catch the show at Pleasance all August

* PRETTY UGLY w/ Louise Orwin

Pretty Ugly is a show about a recent worldwide trend of teenage girls posting videos on YouTube asking viewers to rate their looks. This is a show about our obsessions, pretensions, and teenage girls. Catch the show at Forest Fringe

* THE JELLYMAN’s DAUGHTER

A mesmerising concoction – part melancholic, part unplugged post-rock, part bright folk lullaby. We love it. You’ll love it!

+ tunes from the Culture Laser Collective Band feat Jack of Diamonds & guests from the Midnight Train!

Ross Sutherland’s documentary: Auld Enemies

Auld Enemies was a very special project. Our friend Ross Sutherland has documented the entire experience, and you can watch the 35 minute documentary right here, or head to SJ Fowler’s YouTube channel for all the individual collaborations. Many thanks to everyone involved, please enjoy.

The Enemies project: Auld Enemies was a transnational poetry collaboration where six poets worked in rolling paired to produce original works for readings across the breadth of Scotland and where in each event also featured numerous pairs of writers from the region, who also presented brand new poetry collaborations. Beginning on July 9th and finishing on July 27th, the project visited Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Lerwick and Kirkwall, before a wrapping up in London. Auld Enemies was a groundbreaking exploration of contemporary Scottish poetics through the potential of collaboration. Supported by Creative Scotland

During the tour, Ross Sutherland documented the project in this extraordinary documentary.

Ryan is all over the Edinburgh International Book Festival

July 29, 2014

I’ll be chairing two events and reading at two more this year at the EIBF. Great to be back in sunny Charlotte Square!

SYRIA SPEAKS: AN EVENING OF RESISTANCE & CELEBRATION

Tue 12 Aug 9:00pm – 11:00pm — The Guardian Spiegeltent

Reel Festivals presents Syria Speaks, a celebration of contemporary Syrian writing and music. With readings from Samar Yazbek’s Pinter Prize-winning war diaries and Malu Halasa’s sly (but not shy) Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie, this event highlights the humour, resilience and strength of Syrian art, even in these most challenging times. Through the poetry of Golan Haji, the adventures of novelist Robin Yassin-Kassab, and the storytelling and songs of the irrepressible Raast Collective, Syria Speaks will make you laugh, cry and maybe even dance.

GRAY: THE COLOUR OF SCOTLAND (Chair)

Wed 13 Aug 1:30pm – 2:30pm — Baillie Gifford Main Theatre

Of Me and Others is as close to Alasdair Gray’s autobiography as we are likely to get. Described by its editor Alistair Braidwood as ‘ribald, humorous, angry and incisive’, this new tome by one of Scotland’s literary superstars describes his meetings with authors such as Anthony Burgess, and explains how he went about writing his masterpiece Lanark and recent Faust adaptation, Fleck.

A STAR IS FINALLY BORN (Chair)

Sat 16 Aug 9:30pm – 10:30pm — Baillie Gifford Main Theatre

Faber and Faber is world famous for publishing the giants of poetry. Now, with My Prefect Cousin, Faber offers us the poems of cult poet Paul Hamilton. His cousin, the renowned comedy actor Kevin Eldon, has pieced together Hamilton’s story, the man once described by the Poetic Literary Review as ‘a diabolical libertarian’. Join Eldon as he charts the rollercoaster ride of a life dedicated to verse.

RALLY AND BROAD

Mon 25 Aug 9pm – 11pm — Guardian Spiegeltent

The Edinburgh Cabaret of Words, Music & Lyrical Delights comes to the Book Festival! Details to follow…

Ryan Guest Starring in Knife Whimsy

July 28, 2014

I’ll be doing a ten-minute guest spot with Ross McCleary, Andrew Blair and the aptly-named Knife Whimsy on Sunday 10 August! Comedy and poetry, huzzah!

ViewMaster at the Edinburgh Fringe, Tickets Now Available!

July 27, 2014

Our audio-visual extravaganza ViewMaster is now open for business. We’re running shows every fifteen minutes from 2-3.45pm and 6-7.45, on 1-5, 7-12, 14-19, 21-24 August. Do join us in the cool marble corridors of Summerhall.

A personal slideshow for your eyes and ears only. Poet Ryan Van Winkle and musician Dan Gorman lead you on a playful, sometimes surreal, journey to a distant land and bring you back in under 15 minutes. Ryan Van Winkle is Poet in Residence at Edinburgh City Libraries. In 2012 his show Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel was one of the top ten best-rated shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. Dan Gorman is a musician who has done field recordings in Afghanistan, Syria and an abandoned military base in Germany. Part of the Made in Scotland showcase.

Viewmaster Pamphlet Launch! With Jo Clifford and Stewed Rhubarb

July 26, 2014

Really excited to launch the Viewmaster pamphlet with the lovely people at Stewed Rhubarb Press. The launch is happening this Tuesday 29 July in Looking Glass Books (3 Porter’s Walk, EH3 9GG) at 6.30pm. The show is free, the pamphlet is £3 (you can buy physical or e-book copies here), and it would be awesome to see you there.

Stewed Rhubarb is unhealthy ecstatic to announce its publication of two new pamphlets: Jo Clifford’s “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven” and Ryan Van Winkle’s “ViewMaster”.

We’ll be celebrating with a launch party at Looking Glass Books. It’s FREE ENTRY, with a WINE RECEPTION and READINGS by the two authors.

The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven – Jo Clifford

A candlelit, peaceful, meditative end to a hard day on the Fringe. The archbishop of Glasgow called this vision of a transgender Jesus ‘an affront to the Christian faith’. He never saw it. Listen to those who did: ‘Queen Jesus reminds us of the purity of sex and pleasure, the importance of empathy. We hold hands, and remember what it means not to be alone’. Jo Clifford’s revolutionary and spiritual work reaches the Fringe for the first time since its explosive and controversial 2009 opening. It promises to be very special.

ViewMaster – Ryan Van Winkle & Dan Gorman

A personal slideshow for your eyes and ears only. Poet Ryan Van Winkle and musician Dan Gorman lead you on a playful, sometimes surreal, journey to a distant land and bring you back in under 15 minutes. Ryan Van Winkle is Poet in Residence at Edinburgh City Libraries. In 2012 his show Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel was one of the top ten best-rated shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. Dan Gorman is a musician who has done field recordings in Afghanistan, Syria and an abandoned military base in Germany. Part of the Made in Scotland showcase.

Fuelled by ginger wine & late nights, Stewed Rhubarb Press specialises in publishing pamphlets & poetry by the best spoken word artists out there.

Event URL: http://stewedrhubarb.org/post/91489572391/stewedrhubarbpresentsryanvanwinkeandjoclifford

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