Ö÷²¥´óÐã

In her final post for Fred at the Fest, Charlotte Runcie summarises Friday's show and her festival experience ...

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I first met and Karen Matheson of Capercaillie in April 1992 at . The occasion was a benefit for a community recording studio in Drumchapel hosted by Ricky Ross featuring mony a braw chanter, among them Gary Clark (the campaign for CSA: Danny Wilson starts here, no?) and Lulu. It is written in the Book Of Scottish Pop Music that ones first exposure to the pipes of Karen Matheson tends to the heart stopping and so it was that evening for your correspondent and I well remember standing transfixed in the wings.

When I finally got my hands on a copy of the album it seemed pretty clear that a real musical shape shifter had been born; it's interesting to hear in our programme just how much dedicated effort went into making that leap into new musical territory. It certainly leapt into my territory in fact for a significant period my kitchen in Garnethill became a kind of sensory pod of odd green plastic surfaces, seriously loud Northern soul from the downstairs neighbours and Northern soul of different kind on my wee cassette player. I floated round the horseshoe breakfast bar, newly in touch with something, anything, being floaty and Celtic and imagining I knew what they were on about. Oh, and just knocked out by that thrilling, transporting music.

The worlds of Capercaillie and my own group became loosely entwined for a while with various musical collaborations and ultimately a shared office, run by our mutual manager the late Lindsay Chapman. The world of Scottish Pop Music is inhabited by big colourful characters, strange wee characters, grafters, slackers, drummers who don't drive, quasi-military sound engineers, insert cliché here. It is also inhabited by those whose role in life seems as much about making people feel great, and excited about music and its possibilities, and loved and valued as much as anything else. Ex-Simple Minds manager is one of them. Lindsay Chapman was another - so please let me momentarily indulge myself and dedicate my part of Classic Scottish Albums: Delirium to my old pal with love and thanks...

Back to the heart stopping voice of the divine Ms M: I was swiftly disavowed of any notion that the environs of the Glasgow Concert Hall or the use of shiny digital reverbs had added smoke and mirrors to that wonderful sound when she came along to our studio in Glasgow to sing on the Pearlfishers' 1993 album Za Za's Garden. In the middle of industrial Yorkhill Quay, in an old red brick building that had been The Recovery Room for ailing dockers, with mould growing out of abandoned mugs, feet sticking to 1970's carpets, live wires trailing out of electricity meters, microphones and speakers that kind of worked, manky old couches and an atmosphere that can be adequately described as mingin' she opened her mouth and laid a harmony on our song You Want Love that had Brian McAlpine, myself and Karen's husband Donald shaking our heads in disbelief. You just can't beat natural, God given talent.

Capercaillie have gone on collectively and individually to create an astonishing legacy of Scottish music and culture; Delirium remains the piece where it all came right. A cool wee curve ball for you next week folks.

Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland - Classic Scottish Albums: Capercaillie's Delirium

Here are the final blogs from the Festival Cafe runners. Our thanks go to them for taking the time to share their experiences with us here on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland blog.

Andy Mallon

Andy Mallon

Finished. Finito, it's done. Two weeks of The Festival Café has been and gone, but as the saying goes all good things must come to an end, and it certainly has been a great couple of weeks. Before I get to reflective and poignant, I'll tell you about Friday's show.

Friday's show, the festival finale, finished in style with great guests such as comedian turned crime-writer , opera extraordinaire from Operation Adelmo!, the hilarious (their comedic Girls Aloud medley is definitely worth a listen) and winner of the prestigious competition.

I was tasked with looking after Tommy Rowson who was completing his first media appearance since scooping the £2,000 prize and a spot at the Montreal Comedy Festival. He treated our audience to a radio-friendly minute of his set which, I'm told, generally uses some more industrial language! Tommy was still a bit gobsmacked that he'd won, either that or he was simply tired after a late night - 6.30 am to be more precise. Around the same time us runners get up! Another highlight from Friday's show was Frisky & Mannish, who treated our Potterrow audience to grime and a medley which combined Girls Aloud with some well-known nursery rhymes, so that was Friday.

The past couple of weeks have been eventful, but very enjoyable too. I'll miss the tartan umbrellas, the portakabin green room and the slightly annoying fire safety announcement that we heard every day. I enjoyed looking after a vast array of guests from the extremely talented , to fringe legend to film star comedian . I'm glad to say, that all of my guests were lovely, there were no divas- so thanks to all of them for being so polite!

The final thanks is to the lovely Festival Café team, it was a pleasure working with you all, and I hope next year's Festival Café is as good, if not better than this year. Thank you and good luck!

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You'll have seen her on or , she was all over the news bulletins after the riots, and you'll instantly recognise her distinctive look: bright ethnic clothes, colourful turbans. I'm talking of course about Camila Batmanghelidjh, the woman who founded , the charity which looks after the hardest to reach of London's inner city youngsters.

When I spoke to her this week she told me she wasn't surprised the riots had happened. She and her fellow workers at street level had watched things building up for some time. What she says about how to deal with those involved in the riots won't be popular with many people. It's love, she says they need. She's had a remarkable success rate in turning these kids' lives around using just that. Of the thousands of kids under her wing only two got caught up in the riots, and while they too were angry, they didn't smash and loot because they had university places to look forward to. Camila's own story is pretty remarkable too. I urge you to listen to the longer version too.

This week my studio guests couldn't agree on anything: from whether Steve Jobs is a genius to whether Jacqui Smith was unfairly pilloried for hiring ex-cons to paint her house. Paul McNamee, Kirsty Scott, and Ewan Crawford were still arguing when we came off air. The only thing everyone could agree on was that the Edinburgh Trams are a shambles. Well, yeah.

Well folks, that's it for another year ... The final episode of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland's flagship festival comedy show from Potterrow was on Friday and Fred hosted a star studded show featuring Al Murray, Jon Richardson and Robin Ince, amongst others...

There's still time to listen again on iPlayer, but for your viewing pleasure, we've compiled a highlights video from the show featuring, Ed Byrne, Al Murray, Hannibal Buress, Andi Osho, Patrick Monahan and Terry Alderton...

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Here's this week's Take the Floor events guide featuring traditional music concerts, scottish country dancing, ceilidhs and classes.

SUNDAY 28th AUGUST

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Forfar - Plough Inn - Graeme Mitchell Scottish Dance Band

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
Edinburgh - Bongo Club - Heeliegoleerie - 10pm

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The producer fell ill this week, giving me a headache... no one to order around and bark instructions at... all those things that the alpha males do so well. Still I hear she is struggling in tomorrow. What a trooper. In her absence a programme of sorts has been arranged so it's probably worth listening in. And it seems more of you are doing just that, according to the latest audience information. Anyway, here's the plan.

We will ask some questions of the Labour leadership in Scotland. Like: Where is it? Iain Gray is going, or is he? Nobody at Holyrood has definitely said they will stand to replace him. There is only one candidate and he's an MP who says he's flushing out other MPs. Could an MP (Tom Harris) really lead for Scotland if they are not inside the Scottish parliament? Henry McLeish (ex MP and MSP) says not.

This looks like Labour's constitution coming back to haunt it. What used to be a strength - money and power from London - now looks like an anachronism. Perhaps it's even an analogy for Unionism as a whole. What is more disturbing surely is that there is virtually no open discussion about who should be leader or who shouldn't.... Not even a debate about the role of the party. Is it really at such a low ebb that nobody cares? Where is the passion? Maybe everyone is waiting for the to report next month, but since when did Labour activists shut up in deference to a leadership-ordered review? We hear from and .

Whoever becomes Labour leader won't quite match the status of the . He is a kind of God to his Tibetan countrymen. (I'm hearing myself say: Welcome to the programme Your Holiness Tom Harris, earthly representative of the People's Party). Anyway he is keeping his spiritual role but has given up his political function in favour of a replacement (the Dalai Lama, not Tom Harris) so what will the Chinese make of all this? I speak to a man who is writing the history of the Dalai Lama from the 17th century on. Isn't it fascinating that someone actually does that for a living?

of the Herald is hoping to be in Tripoli and if he is and has access to a sat phone, we will try to speak to him for the latest on the ground in Libya followed by a discussion with and and wondering just how much of this rebellion is truly Libyan as opposed to run by military experts from Third Countries. We will expand beyond Libya into the wider movement across the Arab world.

We'll have more interesting stuff too if I can whip the producer into shape. Sick or not, there's no slacking on Newsweek... Join me tomorrow at 8.

On Thursday I spoke to , former nuclear physicist, missile guidance system designer, now rock musician, author and whisky connoisseur. He was appearing at the Embra Bookfeast on the publication in wee paperback of his latest tome, Smokeheads. This is an excellent, thrilling and very funny book set amid the distilleries of Islay. But it's also full of swearing, ultraviolence, peat and sex, so be warned.

Anyway, Doug's not one to mince his words when it comes to whisky and so-called 'experts'. So he didn't. But it's only fair to point out that not all whisky connoisseurs have red noses. Only me...

This email came from Ruairidh Macdonald in Muir of Ord, and I'm including it on the blog for its...forthrightness!

"Good interview anent the Uisge Beatha, Tom. Couldn't agree more about those effete, middle-class, professional bletherers' whisky jargon. I was brought up in the real culture of whisky. Blends, malt and the "clearuck". I've never heard any of the men I played the pipes or Shinty with talking about seaweed, almonds, cinnamon notes or hints of freshly mown grass. Who the hello are these monkeys and what metropolitan zoo do they come from?"

The Tom Morton Show, Mon - Thurs 1430-1600, Fri 1400-1600

Andrea McKinnon writes a review of yesterday's penultimate MacAulay and Co. show of the fest...

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And so, farewell, big starry roofed tent at Potterrow - job done for another festival.You were a strange temporary home after a few years at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre with its warm and dependably dry stage and the comforting aroma of coffee wafting in from the foyer.

The starry roof of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã @ Potterrow tent.

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What happens when a band splits up then comes back together? It's a question I've asked myself often and on Friday you'll get a chance to hear the experience of two men who have who have done just that. Mark Olson left The Jayhawks and recently has rejoined them and written a new album of songs with his old buddy Gary Louris

On a very warm afternoon in Glasgow's ABC I met up with both of them in the dressing room and we talked about the past and I heard how much they are enjoying the present. They also talked about the people they love and the music that has influenced them.

Interestingly enough, and not wholly surprising the group that loomed large over them was The Band. By a nice coincidence our Bob Backwards series reaches 1974′s which features the great playing of The Band. We'll play Bob and we'll play The Band too.

We're also going to celebrate country-rock with a reminder of some of the great land-mark records from the past. If you don't have any of the albums we mention you might want to correct that over the weekend.

All very well Rick, I hear you say...but we like new music too. You do - and for that reason we will play new things from Richmond Fontaine, Ry Cooder and Matraca Berg. It's going to be a grand old ride across that landscape and it will all start at five past eight on Friday evening on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland.

Sunday Morning With Ricky Ross...

....will be a delight too. Due to a technical foul up way beyond my paygrade the interview I promised with Dave Batstone didn't happen a couple of weeks ago.

So I'm recapping here.......

I first met Dave way back in 1986.He was then an activist and PhD student.Now he is a professor at San Francisisco University,an author and more active than ever. He is also one of my oldest and best friends. However Dave is visiting us to talk about the organisation he heads up: .

Dave was asked to write a book of the same name a few years back to coincide with the anniversary of the abolition of slavery and the imminent release of Hollywood's film of the struggle. When he started to research the subject he was amazed to find that far from slavery having been abolished, it was still hugely rife in many parts of the world. He has since set up his own Anti-Slavery movement (Not For Sale) and he will join us to talk about how that organisation is affecting the business ethics word-wide. To bear witness to that we'll will also be joined by Stephen Craig who is joint CEO of All Saints clothing company to tell us how he is responding to the challenges Dave's organisation is posing.

We'll also chat to Elspeth Atkinson about 's Centenary and how she combines all of that with being the wife of a Bishop.

Later I'm going to chat to who has written my book of the week. The God Species is the book for you if you are feeling overwhelmed by climate change, water conservation or how we should generate our electric power. Mark thinks that the Environmental movement has got a lot of these things wrong. He's not afraid to admit his own mistakes along the way too...which means he's definitely a thinker and not a politician. I think you'll find him very interesting.

Anna Magnusson also brings us news of an Icon inspired exhibition from Beauly in Invernessshire. We've got music from Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Campbell, Rascall Flatts, Jimmy Cliff and Billie Holiday...so I'm pretty sure we'll keep some of you and hopefully most of you very happy. All from seven on Sunday morning on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland.

Here are the Festival Cafe runners' blogs from the penultimate Cafe from Ö÷²¥´óÐã @ Potterrow...

Andy Mallon

Today's show was the penultimate Festival Café of 2011 (I can't believe it either!) The show was full of light and shade with fantastic, joyful and exuberant performances from multi-cultural and multi-talented A Capella group "," improv performance group "" and Chris Larmer who gave us a poignant rendition of his one-man show "" in which he recounts his experience of taking his ex-wife to an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.

Guy Masterson and Janice Forsyth

I was looking after one of the best known and most well-loved performers at the Fringe. Guy Masterson has performed at the Edinburgh festival for a total of eighteen years in a row, and this year he bring his form one-man show, "," to Assembly Hall at The Mound. He performed a short extract for us, looking very dapper in his white shirt, top hat and dark trousers. He plays a number of characters in the play, in today's extract he was Tubal a character from the who he reminds us "only has eight lines.. but Shakespeare intended him to be the strong and silent type." Guy brings a lot of humour and wit to the performance and Janice, and the audience, were lucky to have him in conversation with our various guests for the whole show!

Tomorrow is Friday which means that it's the last Festival Café this year, which means that it will be our last blog! However, don't despair it's been a great couple of weeks so we need to make sure that we top it off with another great show tomorrow. Coming up we've got comedian turned crime writer , the self-professed "clown prince of opera" star of "Operation Adelmo." We've also got comedy duo and musical educators and the winner of the "" comedy competition. See you at Potterrow today from 1315, if you can't make it then listen into the show on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland!

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Here are the runners' blogs for the Festival Cafe on 24 August 2011.

Lalita Augustine

So, we are halfway through our last week at the festival (boo), but we had yet another excellent show today (hurrah!).

I was looking after the excellent multi-award winning Irish/French chanteuse and her entourage. They were all so much fun and her show has been receiving excellent reviews from the likes of the Scotsman (five stars) and The Telegraph (four stars).

She told me this was her seventh Fringe festival! But she still very much enjoys coming over from Ireland, were she is from. She wowed the audience and Clare English with covers of Nick Cave's The Ship Song and Nine Inch Nails' Hurt.

She was very nervous in-between performances and toyed with the idea of something stronger than tea! But she was reassured with the reception she received once out on stage!

We also had a look at some shows that you can go and see for free at the festival (we like free!) with performances from the and .

There was champion beat boxer Beardyman also and talking about his show "Fighting Talk" and "The Men Who Stare at Goats" author (who was fresh off a plane from New York) talking about his book "Are The Corridors Of Power Packed With Psychopaths?"

All in all, it was a pretty interesting if hectic show. If you didn't manage to catch the show today, you can listen again on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland website.

Tune into Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland the rest of the week from 1315 for the Festival Café live from Potterrow and we'll be here for another couple of days blogging and tweeting away with all the gossip and our photos so check it out and keep in touch.

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Day 8 of MacAulay and Co. @ Potterrow and runner Iona Bannerman shares her impressions of yesterday's show .

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Coming soon to Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland is Christopher Brookmyre's Comedy Bookcase. Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland Comedy is at the Edinburgh Festival recording a brand new in-conversation series hosted by Christopher Brookmyre. In this show, Chris will chat to the likes of Richard Herring, Jonathan Lynn, Alexei Sayle and Christopher Douglas. The series will be on air from 23rd September.

Here's a words few from Joanna Hall, who was a runner at the recording

The evening of the 23rd August saw the staging of two of Christopher Brookmyre's new Comedy Bookcase programmes. The wind had picked up throughout the afternoon and we runners were feeling the full force of Edinburgh's harsher weather. Both guests, equally prestigious literary figures, were Douglas Gordon and . Having such fantastic names on the show, everyone from the audience to the production team were anticipating a great evening ahead.

Christopher Brookmyre with Alexei Sayle

Christopher Douglas is perhaps best known for his radio comedy performances with fictional characters such as cricketer Dave "Pod" Podmore and the infamous writer Ed Reardon. With these performances in mind, it was fantastic to hear Douglas' views on the characters and his career at large in radio format. Gordon cleverly interwove the narrative behind his life and career with playful and witty remarks keeping both audience and the production team enthralled.

After rejigging the tent in parts where the wind had gotten the better of it, the second audience were admitted and Christopher Brookmyre began his second interview of the evening. Alison Kennedy, or ALK as she is commonly known, took to the stage heralded by a cheer from the audience. Having spent much time exploring the world of mysticism and mediums ALK entertained the audience by explaining the effects these discoveries had on her literature. Alison's confession to having contemplated suicide exemplified her bitingly sharp wit and at times satirical tone which, in this instance, had the audience suspended between wanting to laugh and cry.

The evening's double bill was fantastic! Christopher's brilliantly angled questions prompted some very thoughtful, yet highly humorous answers from both Douglas and Kennedy. All in all, the evening was a great success hailing what is guaranteed to be an excellent series of follow-up shows.

Christopher Brookmyre's Comedy Bookcase starts on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, 23 September

Fiona McKay provides an update of her second week, working as a production runner for MacAulay and Co. at the Edinburgh Festival.

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Here are the Festival Cafe runner blogs for Tuesday 23 August...

Andy Mallon

Today's show at Potterrow was a theatrical delight as our audience were joined by the magnificent Frank Sinatra & the delightful Doris Day. Let me explain... it wasn't the real Hollywood legends, however we were glad to welcome who is playing Frank Sinatra in the production "Frankly I Was a Fool for Love" and who is playing Doris Day in "Sentimental Journey: A Life of Doris Day." We also had the pleasure of being joined by , a world renowned Sarrod player, (it's a traditional Indian instrument!) and actor who is starring in the play "Rose", which was specifically written for him, and explores the concept of Britishness.

Today I was looking after Frank Sinatra, not a phrase I expected to be able to say before today! Richard brought a couple of people with him in his entourage including pianist David Patrick and a couple of the producers of his show, it's on around the corner, so it's not far for them to travel! Richard wowed the audience with his performance as Frank; I noticed that some of the female members of the audience were transfixed by Richard's glow and rather pleasant aftershave! He performed two songs for us "You make me feel so young" and "Fly me to the Moon." Richard then had to quickly dash away for the 2.30pm performance of his other show, "iCroon", in which the audience chose the songs he performs. Two shows every day - we salute you Richard!

Tomorrow is Wednesday, and it's Clare's last day of the Festival Café this year (aww!). However, fear not, we've got a great array of fantastic guests to entertain you. Author and journalist joins Clare on the sofa to discuss whether the most powerful people in the world are actually psychopaths (interesting!), world champion beat boxer entertains us with his rather unique talent, and singer and festival favourite will be performing for us. That's not all, you know us at the Festival Café we like to give you more, so we've also got the cast of one of the most interesting shows at this year's International Festival, "" and will be performing a radio ghost story for us- scary stuff!

Tweet us on to let us know you're favourite guest on today's show, and also, why not join us at Potterrow tomorrow from 1315, there will be a few tickets available on the door if you don't already have one!

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It's week two of the Festival Cafe, and here are the runners' blogs from 22 August...

Andy Mallon

Week two has begun, and begun with a bang! Today we were joined by the fabulous who is bringing her one-woman show "Midnight Your Time" to Assembly George Square. We were also given a glimpse into the life of and in the form of an extract performed by the cast of "." And to top it off we were joined by the cast of "" and world class mezzo soprano both of whom performed for the appreciative Festival Café audience.

Today I had the pleasure of looking after Andrea Baker and her fabulous accompanist Richard Lewis. Andrea is such a unique talent with a voice that is so versatile, one minute she treated us to a few bars of opera and the next it was soul - worth a listen via the iplayer if you missed the show! I wasn't required to fetch Andrea a hot water bottle for her fingers (last week we were entertained by guitarist who needs a hot water bottle to warm up her fingers before performing!), however I did need to photocopy some music for Richard. After running around the streets of Edinburgh for about fifteen minutes I finally managed to locate an internet café which had a photocopying machine, just in time for the sound check.

Andrea performed three songs for us including "Stampin' Ties" which featured some great stamping provided by the fantastic Potterrow audience! We were also treated to some insightful pieces of advice by the fantastic Diana Quick who advised the youthful cast of "I Hope My Heart Goes First" to "be themselves" and to use their own experiences and perform what they know - sounds like good advice to me!

Tomorrow's show is another busy one. (What else would you expect from the Festival Café!) On the show we've got actor , Sally Hughes star of "," Richard Shelton who is currently playing another musical legend Frank Sinatra (in play ) and virtuoso Sarod player . So join us at Potterrow tomorrow (if you've got a ticket, a couple of tickets available on the door too...) or listen to Radio Scotland from 1315!

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MacAulay and Co. runner Joanna Lee embarks on a second week of festival frolics and keeps us updated on all the behind the scenes banter with her backstage blog...

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Mark Beaumont and the crew are 50 miles away from the 1996 position of the magnetic North Pole, but that doesn't mean it's going to be an easy paddle to get there - the weather's keeping them in place for the moment but at least they can play golf to keep themselves entertained...

I've just spent a hugely enjoyable week at the recording some fascinating interviews for the show. You'll hear them over the coming weeks.
The first, broadcast this week, was not with a writer but a footballer.

When I met the former Celtic player, John Hartson inside the Authors' Tent, he proudly showed me his badge: "John Hartson, Author". He told me he was keeping it.
I'm sure you're familiar with John's story. Two years ago he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He'd found lumps seven years earlier but left it so late to see a doctor that the cancer had spread to his lungs and his brain. His book "" recounts the harrowing journey from near death to the picture of health he is today. And it is harrowing. But uplifting too.

He admits he still can't bring himself to read the book himself. It's too painful. But he believes it's important to tell his story so that other men don't go through what he went through. I'd never met John before but knew of his reputation in his playing days as "Big Bad John". He is a changed man and spoke very movingly of how the support of his family and his determination to stay alive to see his kids grow up helped him get through it. There were times, he said, when he was "on the slab, gone" and he thought he'd never see his children again.

He says he now realises that the fame and money he had as a footballer count for nothing if you don't have your health. John is clear of cancer now but still has to go for regular check ups. In the meantime he's living life to the full, making the most of every moment he has with his family, and enjoying the simpler things in life. He told me he's just returned from a caravan holiday with the kids. Now when did you last hear of a footballer going caravanning?

As he told me his story, from his happy childhood, to his football successes, to conquering his addiction to gambling, to his battle with cancer, it was clear how important the support of a strong and loving family has been to him.
I don't mind admitting I had tears in my eyes by the end. "Sorry I made you cry" he said. And then he was off laughing and joking again, ready to do his Book event.

Listen to Shereen, Sunday 0900 on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland and available to listen again on iPlayer.

MacAulay and Co. runner Andrea McKinnon provides a summary of the guests, gags and best bits from last Friday's show ...

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The Festival Cafe runners share their experiences of day five of the show from the Edinburgh Festivals...

Lalita Augustine

Welcome to the last day of our first week at the Fringe! Today's show was an eclectic mix of guests with Iranian/Persian British stand-up comedian, , comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act, , comedy FOUR piece and the actor , with his Tommy Cooper tribute act.

I was looking after the Three Englishmen and at times it was pretty hard to keep an eye on all of them as they kept scattering off in different directions. The guys - Ben Cottam, Nick Hall, Jack Hartnell and Tom Hensby, have brought the London based sketch show up to Edinburgh again this year after the success of their production last year.

I spoke to Nick about how the festival had gone for them so far. He said that they had accumulated a loyal fan base from last year and a lot of people who saw last year's show have returned. They were in high spirits for today's performance and were even going flyering after the Festival Café.

Today's live show was great and went off without a hitch. The Three Englishmen and Fascinating Aida performed their most catchy songs and everyone later on in the green room was caught humming Fascinating Aida's "Cheap Flights". It was very catchy mind you.

There was a poignant chat with Clive Mantle about . It has been 27 years since he passed away now. I can't believe it's been that long and also how much Clive looks like him in costume, it's uncanny.

There were laughs aplenty though from the songs and also from Omid Djalili and the audience seemed to enjoy the show very much. You can listen to all the best bits of the past week's shows with hosts Clare English and Janice Forsyth.

We runners are off for a well deserved weekend now but we will be back to work first thing on Monday morning! Catch you all later.

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Another episode in an emerging sub-series of Classic Scottish Albums this week: Relatively Recent And Therefore Risky Classic Scottish Albums. As it is extremely unlikely that an actual series bearing that title will be commissioned by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland my proposal is to carry on making regular Classic Scottish Albums occasionally firing a newbie into the mix. Hope that works for everyone...

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Some big and interesting stories around this week but none compare to the momentous event of little Hannah Bateman starting school. What is it about a white shirt, grey skirt and schoolbag and the earnest look on a five-year-old's face that fills a parent with awe, hope and worry all at the same time? We pretended not to be choked and waved her off.
What kind of world will she grow up in, we wondered. Will she become a rioter? To be honest there are occasional early signs of rioting tendencies at home. But after some of the sentencing this week we're keeping quiet in case David Cameron has her off to boot camp.

We will discuss with Simon Lee and James Cusack the reaction to the rioting by the Conservatives and ask if their hardline is undermining their attempts at "detoxification". It's interesting that there are no complaints about real rioters getting their just desserts but it's pretty hard to justify jailing first offenders and blighting their lives with a prison record when their pathetic attempts at initiating trouble totally failed. England's prisons are already full, remember, and costing taxpayers a mint. And do you turn silly young men into model citizens in a prison culture?

Mr Cameron welcomed the verdicts. Maybe it's because he's learned his lesson about giving people a second chance. Which brings us to another stain on the Tory side of the Coalition... the Prime Minister's links to the phone hacking affair. The latest revelations about the NoW look terminal for some. We might soon be able to contrast rioters' sentences with those of newspaper executives. Is it reasonable to jail a first offender for four years for inciting trouble on Facebook but give an executive a shorter term for perverting the course of justice (allegedly). The ultimate sanction for that is life.

A year ago we let you listen in to me taking our correspondent Reevel Alderson to task over Lockerbie. The multi-layered enigma of Flight 103 drives me insane. I just don't know what to believe. Since tomorow is the second anniversary of Megrahi leaving Scotland we will do it all again with me getting ever more exasperated. Since Scotland got it in the neck for the release, I might ask him what would have happened if the tragedy had occured over England. Would there even have been a trial and conviction? Or was it only Scots law that made that possible? You can eavesdrop on us again.

And we hear about the Indian anti corruption campaigner terrifying the government in Dehli. Don't you just love it when a simple idea catches fire and spreads through the people with or without Facebook? Now I'm off home to find out how the first day at school went. Join me tomorrow at 8.

Get It On's Miss Babs has just sent us this (even though she's on holiday!)

Miss Babs
One of the great things about radio is that, like a good book, it tells you the story but allows the listener to colour in the pictures of the places and characters. It's especially true of dramas, features and documentaries, but also music shows. Every evening on Get it On, Bryan hears stories of your life.....what's cooking in your kitchen, what activities your family are up to and how your day has been. It provides a picture of what is going on but of course we have no idea of what the characters look like!

Easier perhaps to imagine life in Scotland, but it's the contact with our listeners overseas that provides thoughts of more exotic lifestyles. One of our most ardent overseas listeners is Nancy Cantor from Arizona. She's been contacting many of our shows for over 6 years now. So when I realised my holiday this year would take me to her hometown of Scottsdale near Phoenix I decided it would only be polite to look her up.

What makes someone from the Sun Valley in Arizona listen to a radio station over 5000 miles away? Well today I found out! Over coffee we chatted about family, holidays - and of course Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland. Nancy's breakfast show is Tom Morton, her mid morning music provided by Bryan Burnett and her drivetime show is Iain Anderson! And why does she listen? Well it's all to do with personality. Nancy is a huge music fan, but more than that she loves informed chat about the music and to hear new artists and a variety of genres.

After 3 weeks in the States I can understand the attraction.....with their 10 in a row all music from the 80s stations to nothing but classic country it's hard to find a station with presenters far less variety.

It was a real pleasure to meet our correspondent in the American South-West, and I wonder if I could swing it that next year I can visit more of our overseas listeners ...all in the name of audience research of course!

Oh and if you are wondering what Nancy looks like.....I'm going to leave you to create the image yourself. I'd not want to spoil the story for you!

Here's this week's Take the Floor events guide featuring traditional music concerts, scottish country dancing, ceilidhs and classes.

FRIDAY 19TH AUGUST

CONCERT

Portsoy - Folk At The Salmon Bothy - 7pm

SATURDAY 20TH AUGUST

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING

Elgin - Bishopmill Hall - Jim Lindsey - 8pm

Pitlochry - Pitlochry Town Hall - David Oswald

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I'm in the music business, if anyone understands hyperbole, it's me. But even I have to say that the two radio experiences I have for you on Friday and Sunday are going to be well, something else.

Firstly we land on Friday with two very special features. We come to the point in Bob Backwards where we listen to '' and I think you will be pleased to hear how we are going to do this. It will all become clear on Friday evening.

We are also delighted to welcome Highgate's latest stalker, (see the facebook page to clear this one up!) Mr . His song, 'The Girl On The Motorbike' has been one of my favourites of the year so far. Sentimental, nostalgic and very evocative, it has all the hallmarks of being from the pen of one of the UK's best songwriters. Mark has much to discuss and we will also have him live in studio one performing tracks from 'Stand Bedside me In The Sun' and throwing in a great cover version.

Much new music too... Look out for new releases from Wilco and Cashier No 9...Anyone else going to Dolly Parton this weekend? We won't forget her.

On Sunday...

on walking the Israel/Palestine wall...or as near as he could get!

on what happened after Jubilee 2000 and the author of saddest yet most inspiring book I have read in a long time. is a Human Fertility Expert, Public Health Consultant and Nobel Peace Nominee. His book 'I Shall Not Hate' is a remarkable testament to living and suffering in the Gaza Strip.

Did I mention there will be some great music? Everything from Benny Goodman to Johnny Cash via Maxine Brown.

Another Country is on Friday at 2005. and Sunday Morning with Ricky Ross on Sunday 0700.

MacAulay and Co. runner Joanna Lee describes the comedy antics of yesterday's morning's show...

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Here are the runners blogs for day four of The Festival Cafe...

Annabel Cooper

Tally ho' chaps, and welcome to day four of one's daily dispatch from the wireless village at Edinburgh's Potterrow. Today's was a frightfully jolly broadcast featuring the cast of , the exotic sounds of and friends, a showcase of Scottish musical talent courtesy of 'Kist' and a trip down memory lane to the Golden Age of radio, supplied by the simply marvellous . It seems that the latter may have rubbed off on one somewhat, as this frightfully cut glass English accent simply will not abate...

The guys from The Fitzrovia Radio Hour with nice hats!

Hm hm...right enough of that...as we move into our fourth day, the 'pop-up OB - outside broadcast - bubble tent', as us young hipsters like to call it, is starting to feel more and more like home and the production team are becoming sharper than a clipped Fitzrovian consonant. And it's a jolly good thing too because today's was definitely the most technically exacting show yet.

Several Guitars, one (a Senagalese stringed instrument), a selection of Brazillian drums, a number of effects pedals, a dozen or so mics, another guitar...we can cope with easily, but throw into the mix the Fitzrovian sound effects box and we're into unchartered territory.

Gavin Mitchell & Clare Waugh performing Casablanca

It was almost as if the Festival Café itself had become part of the act as the Fitzrovian's box of tricks overflowed on a specially mounted table in the centre of the stage with an itinerary that included: a machete(!), a partly sliced cabbage, a false door and lock, a single white rose, several miner's helmets, one Nazi uniform and a gong. Despite this audio minefield (can you imagine the chaos a dropped cabbage might cause!), the stage and production crew, and host Janice Forsyth barely batted an eyelid, gently escorting the guests to and fro with the style and ease of a Quickstep. Forget the 1940s, you're in the golden age of radio right here!

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Those of you of a certain vintage will remember the era of the TV-advertised Compilation album. Still almost with us but not like the old days. Not for today's lily-livered consumer 20 Town and Country Greats, Moments In Love or The Shadows Do Dylan. And the stamp-em-out-rack-em-out labels that spawned these compilations, Ronco, K-Tel, MFP, now largely reside crestfallen in dwindling vinyl bins of charity shops up and down the land. My folks, like most folks of their day were quite partial to a cheeky wee TV-advertised compilation album and it is because of this that something life-changing happened to yours truly.

At some point in the late 1970s a compilation album titled Good Morning America appeared in the vinyl rack (a kind of wiry oversized toast rack that held around 24 crap albums) in our front room. A cursory listen revealed that my parents had suddenly acquired stunning taste in music. This shocking development offered only one course of action - to steal the album. Once lashed to the turntable of my Fidelity UA4 record player Good Morning America offered a world of utter wonder. There was At Seventeen Janis Ian's hymn to loneliness, a version of Van Morrison's cinematic romp through early 1960s Belfast Brown Eyed Girl, and Randy Edleman's short story / song Uptown Uptempo Woman. The singer-songwriter (stated hero of this vinyl slab) was clearly some kind of alchemist as I was transported out of the window of 16 Queen's Crescent Falkirk and into a vivid new world where colour was rendered in the tone of an acoustic guitar and the novelist's eye for detail. This was not "She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah", rather "I was wearing moleskin trousers and I had a cup of coffee with one and a half sugars and you cried when I mentioned that I might be going to work abroad in two weeks but cheered up when I bought you a bag of chips with some brown sauce and vinegar on the side and now let's get onto the second line of verse one". Rich stuff.

And every time I listened to that compilation album there was one moment that stopped me in my tracks:

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
We go strolling through the park like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime

Even in its edited form Al Stewart's Year Of The Cat was so chock full of lyrical, harmonic, performative and technical detail it was impossible to imagine how it could be over in four or five minutes. Interviewing Al for Classic Scottish Albums it quickly became clear that this reductive art is to some extent God given. Every story, every anecdote was shot through with pin sharp detail. We were there in the bedsit with Al listening as Paul Simon wrote Richard Cory next door, there on the high seas with Lord Grenville and there as Yoko Ono filmed a considerable number of nude bottoms (you can hear that particular anecdote here as a wee extra). Al's words whether in conversation or in song have the wonderful effect of painting scenes and scenarios that seem to actually live and breathe. When I started to write songs and make records for a living, inspired in many ways by that TV-advertised compilation, I always tried to remember that one could aspire to the creation of something approaching another world, another space to walk around in. Songwriters don't always quite manage that trick but when they do, oh boy, look out.

the album creates new worlds every five minutes or so thanks to an amazing marriage of imagination, words, music and the incredible arrangements and production of the albums cast. Please enjoy our tribute.

Lots of treats for you still to come in this series. Keep the comments coming in!

Classic Scottish Albums featuring Al Stewart
Classic Scottish Albums is every Monday, 1405

Apart from the general wave of approval for the first playing of Frank Zappa's Peaches En Regalia on the Tom Morton Show (courtesy of author , whose choice it was) this tale from Murray Nix fairly took the biscuit when it came to strange things found in hotel rooms...

Working a few years back for Bass Hotels and Resorts at the EMEA HQ (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental Hotels, etc.) I heard many a tale through our Guest Relations department aka Complaints.

A couple booked into their room in a Florida Holiday Inn and soon were on the phone to the lobby complaining about the Gawd-awful smell in the room. Duty manager and Head of housekeeping appeared and concurred. The couple were sent off to the hotel's bar for some complimentary refreshments whilst the room was 'sanitised'. Couple returned to the freshened room and about an hour later recalled the lobby with the same complaint - the smell. Further investigation discovered a murdered body slowly decaying under one of the beds!

The Tom Morton Show, Mon - Thurs 1430-1600, Fri 1400-1600

MacAulay and Co. runner Fiona McKay, provides a "run-down" of guests, performances, and her own personal highlights from Wednesday's show.

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Here are The Festival Cafe runners blogs about Wednesday 17 August...

Joanne Smithers

Today's show was stuffed to the gunnels with talent, so much so I was feeling a wee bit apprehensive about the logistics of getting all the guests to the stage. Especially as I was looking after the very wonderful , a nine piece brass band with their own brand of 'brass-bound lunacy.'

Leading the band up for sound check was a man with the biggest horn I have ever seen. This thing was massive; apparently it's called a sousaphone. Gi-nor-mous. And no, there will be no jokes to be made about it. Olly the only female member there today did spark a bit of a girl crush in me. In fact if I am honest they all did, Orkestra Del Sol are a pretty cool bunch. I am definitely going to catch their show at the Spiegletent. I think you would be pretty much guaranteed a good night out.

I was also looking after and it was an honour. I have very treasured memories of watching and as a girl. Both iconic series with the family gathered round to watch. I remember being amazed to see The Inversnecky café from Aberdeen beach in Your Cheatin' Heart. Television seemed so impossibly glamorous and remote that I couldn't believe my hometown was on screen. And in a programme as great as Your Cheatin' Heart too.

John Byrne is one of those talented people who probably deserves to be filled with their own self importance but what a man! He was so interesting and interested; it was an absolute pleasure to meet him and a definite highlight of my time so far. I think I am meant to keep a cool head when meeting the talent and I know I am gushing but I can't help it. Trust me he would have that effect on you too.

What is so great about this job is that you get to know new people all the time. Everyone on the show today was so diverse but had such interesting experiences and back stories. Henry Rollins was fascinating, what a life well lived. And I have to confess I have never read but the next time I get some free time I plan to settle down with one of her novels. That may be a while away but its good to have something to look forward too.

And what can I say about ? I wish I could pull off his look, it's nearly as wowy as his voice. His show comes very highly recommended and hearing to him sing and listening to his back-story its easy to see why.

So I am off home to revitalize myself for the next installment and to look up some more superlatives because the way the Festival Café is going I will definitely need them for this blog.

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Day two of MacAulay and Co. at the Edinburgh Festival and a show that was packed with music, comedy, celebrities and laughs. Runner Iona Bannerman tells us all about it...

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Below are the Festival Cafe blogs from Tuesday 16 August, written by the show's runners, but first here's a video of highlights from the programme...

Andy Mallon

Day two at Potterrow has been and gone and the show ran to plan which is always a plus! Thankfully on hand to protect our guests for the elements were some beautiful tartan umbrellas!

Madeline and Andy from The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart going over lines backstage.

On the show we were joined by female Acappella singers , comedy duo , actor and Andy & Madeline from the play .

Today I was looking after the guys from The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. Madeline who plays the main character Prudencia Hart, and Andy who plays her colleague Colin Syme, performed a short extract from the play. They had to slightly adapt their script due to a couple of expletives that were included in their extract that they were performing. Like true professionals, Madeline and Andy managed to tailor their script so that it was friendly for daytime radio, despite the fact that it is written in the style of rhyming verse - very impressive! It was a busy day for them as they jumped straight into a taxi in time for their performance at The Ghillie Dhu at 3pm. I went to see the show on Friday with Rob, one of the producers, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a tip for the festival!

We've got another jam-packed show planned for tomorrow and are joined by six guests including hard rocker turned spoken word superstar Henry Rollins, author and festival favourites .

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Fred and the team are having a great time at the Edinburgh Festivals, but not everyone can drop into the Ö÷²¥´óÐã @ Potterow to see them. While we're in Edinburgh Mark Beaumont is still slogging away at his attempt to Row the Arctic - I talked to Mark this morning in a fog and ice bound boat with the prospect of a very interesting lunch..."

Listen to MacAulay and Co., weekdays 1030 - 1200 on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland.

Iain Macinnes, producer of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland's Pipeline programme, and a piper himself, has written this blog about the World Pipe Band Championships which took place on Saturday 13 August at Glasgow Green...

"Probably this is the strongest band that I've ever played in". This was Richard Parkes speaking to Gary West shortly after his band, Field Marshal Montgomery from Belfast, had finished playing at the Worlds on Saturday.

Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band

Richard doesn't make this sort of comment lightly, and few will have been surprised to see the Field Marshal register one of the most decisive victories in the Grade One arena in recent years. They were imperious in both the MSR and the medley, despite a heavy cloudburst in the latter, and have put together a medley selection which will certainly stand the test of time - a canny blend of the traditional and modern, beautifully weighted, and rounded off with 's wonderfully free-flowing setting of the 'Train Journey North'.

Richard's bands have been a by-word in creative excellence and tonal quality for over 20 years, and this latest line-up of Field Marshal Montgomery has certainly done him proud. In some ways it's hard to imagine his style and approach ever being bettered, but the 2011 Worlds perhaps gives a hint of what's to come. Scottish Power have broken into the top three with a good clean sound and classy arrangements. Inveraray and District have a hint of the peat-reek - good music, well played, with a Highland sensibility. These are bands under young leadership, keen to get on, and with the potential to win. SFU, SLOT and Boghall will always be in the mix. Shotts and the Strathclyde police are rebuilding, but can certainly pull themselves back into contention. Fife Constabulary and Dowco Triumph Street have put down a strong marker.

Anyway - you can judge for yourselves. The clips are online (thanks to Nick Dempsey and his team), and we'll be featuring further highlights in Pipeline on the 20th and 27th of August, the first in the company of pipe band veterans Alistair Aitken and John Wilson.

Iain MacInnes

The Festival Café began a two week run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe yesterday, and the runners have kindly offered to write blogs about their experiences working on the show. Here they are talking about Monday's Café...

Joanne Smithers

How to embody all that Edinburgh is in a 45 minute show? Well the first day of The Festival Café live from Potterrow managed to pull it off.

From flamboyant Finnish a cappella from , to achingly beautiful classical guitar from , to a visit from one of Edinburgh's most famous streets, 44 Scotland Street adaption , all wrapped up with the record breaking longest running comedy show, the satirical songsters . Phew

Edward Fulton & Clark Devlin from 'The World According to Bertie'

As a runner I was charged with looking after the guest from The World According to Bertie and I struck it lucky. Three nicer gentlemen you couldn't hope to meet in Clark Devlin, Edward Fulton and producer Andy Jordan. As we relaxed in the green room before they went on, they patiently answered all my questions about their show.

The World According to Bertie has been getting great reviews. Watching them run through their lines was amazing as they instantly transformed into their characters, Clark Devlin regressed to a six year old before my eyes - a feat only my husband can match with such aplomb. Also I would like to state that Clark looks nothing like Keith Chegwin (critics can be so harsh!)

My nerves were fraught as the show started. I can't imagine how Clare English and the performers managed to stay so calm, even through the inevitable technical hitches that come with doing live broadcast - Keep Calm and (the Show Will) Carry On being the motto of the day.

This was my first experience of being involved in a production like this and you would not believe the amount of work that goes into producing a forty-five minute radio show. It is testament to the talent of everyone involved that it seems so easy. Am I including myself in that? Why not!

If you didn't manage to catch the show today listen again on the Radio Scotland website to judge for yourself.

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For the next two weeks MacAulay and Co. will be coming live from the Edinburgh Festival, and will be featuring the biggest and brightest stars from the comedy circuit.

We've asked the team to keep us updated on all the "behind the scenes gossip", and today, runner Charlotte Runcie gives us the low down on day 1 of Fred's shows from the Fest.

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Well, that's the World Pipe Band Championships over for another year. Congratulations to the newly crowned World Champions, Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, for their outstanding performance. Though I am no expert, even I could hear that there was something special about their playing - every note sounded clear as a bell. Have a listen. Every Grade One performance is now available as a video on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Worlds website.

For three years now, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã has been able to stream the Grade One contest live around the world. This year we added a live chat box to our coverage, and across the roughly 12 hours of the contest over 20,000 people signed into it. We had messages from as far afield as Turkmenistan, Borneo, an oil rig in the North Sea, a ship in the Gulf Of Mexico, from every corner of the United States, from Canada, Australia, Uruguay, Argentina, India, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy...

At times there were as many as 20 messages a minute coming in. As well as knowledgeable insights about the performances and predictions for the outcome, there were conversations with relatives from the other side of the world, stories about watching in big groups in bars, about police being called to investigate the early morning noise disturbance and then staying to watch.

For those in the Americas, the event starts in the middle of the night. So it takes dedication (and gallons of high grade coffee) to tune in to the morning qualifiers. As last year, we asked people to send us pictures of them watching - here's a wee selection.

Until next year!

Oh, and for the people in Sydney asking about our esteemed commentator Bob Worrall's tie...

Spectacular gentleman's attire from Bob

Atlanta contingent

Wacthing in a bar in Cleveland, Ohio

Chicago Highlanders in Palatine, Illinois

Scottish dancing, ceilidh and traditional music events in Scotland for the next seven days, brought to you by the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 12TH AUGUST
CONCERT
Drumnadrochit - Glen Urquhart Public Hall - Joy Dunlop - 8pm *Tickets at the door*

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
Edinburgh - Edinburgh Academy, Henderson Row - Dancing Forth Ceilidh

SATURDAY 13TH AUGUST
CLASS
Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle with Karen Hannah - improvers' class - 11am

Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Whistle with Helen Forbes - 12:30pm

CONCERT
Inverness - Bogbain Farm - Joy Dunlop - 8pm *Tickets at the door*

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
Elgin - New Elgin Hall - Sheilia Peters - 8pm

MONDAY 15TH AUGUST
CLASS
St Andrews, SCD Club - live music from Dierdre Adamson on Accordion (learners welcome) - 7:30pm

FOLK CLUB
Glenfarg - The Glenfarg Hotel - Nathan Rogers - 8.30pm

HIGHLAND NIGHT
Pitlochry - Pitlochry Recreation Ground - Vale of Atholl Pipe Band - 7.15pm

TUESDAY 16TH AUGUST
CLASS

Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Scots Song - suitable for beginners - 2pm

CONCERT
Isle of Skye - Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Sleat - Joy Dunlop - 8pm *Tickets at the door*

FOLK CLUB
Edinburgh - The Village, South Fort Street - Smith, Byrnes and O'Sullivan

WEDNESDAY 17TH AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUBS
Banff - Fife Lodge Hotel - Garioch Blend

CLASS
Fife - Kenoway Community School - Accordion Class - George Lawrie - 7-9pm - *Tickets £5.60/half price first lesson*

Midlem - Village Hall - Live Music - Old Time Class (GB Scott) - 8-10pm - *Tickets £2*

CONCERT
Edinburgh - Pleasance Cabret Bar - Paul McKenna Band

Inverness - Thistle Hotel - Scottish Cabret Evening - 8.00pm

Isle of Lismore - Lismore Village Hall - Joy Dunlop - 8pm *Tickets at the door*

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
RSCDS - Aberdeen -The Boys Brigade Hall, Crimon Place - 7.30pm

THURSDAY 18TH AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUBS
Skye - Royal Hotel, Portree - ceilidh dance with Ally K MacPherson and his Band

Tynedale - Hexam ex-service club - South of the Border

CLASS
Penicuick - Town Hall - Ceilidh Class - 8-9:30pm - *Tickets £2.90/£1.50*

Fiddle Frenzy
7th - 14th August - Lerwick
Fiddle Frenzy's showcase concerts will feature Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham headlining the opening night concert on Sunday 7th August with Bodega, Harris Playfair's Youth Big Band Project, Nordic Fiddler's Bloc featuring Kevin Henderson, Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson, Fullscelidh Spelemannslag and more performing through the week.

Fringe ceilidhs
5th - 27th August every night except Sundays - 8pm
Lauriston Hall, 28 Lauriston St, Edinburgh, EH3 9DJ
With caller Ken Gourlay & HLI / Scott Leslie / Wild Geese / Willie Fraser ceilidh band

Scottish Autoharp Weekend
12th to 14th August
Moniaive, Dumfriesshire
The first ever Weekend in Scotland devoted to all things Autoharp. The main programme of autoharp-related workshops and concerts will happen on Saturday the 13th, but additional music sessions on Friday and Sunday offer the opportunity to extend the music and the pleasure for the entire weekend. A Sunday morning Autoharp Gospel Service in St. Ninian's Parish Kirk will also showcase the weekend's tutors and performers - Nadine White, Heather Farrell-Roberts, Mike Fenton

Scottish Beatles Weekend
12th to 14th August
Various venues, Dundee
With bands, theatre, exhibitions and memorabilia, this is a superb opportunity for Beatles fans to come together in Dundee.

Mearns Connections Festival
12th to 14th August
Grassic Gibbon Centre, Arbuthnott near Stonehaven
Events Include Mearns Connections dinner and Jimmie MacGregor in Concert

Marymass Folk Festival
17th to 21st August Irvine
Featuring concerts and sessions and daftness Artists include - Stephen Quigg, Johnny Silvo, Heather Heywood, Arthur Johnstone, Doris Rougvie & The New Rope String Band

I made a film in Berlin, in about 1990 I think, with Margo Macdonald, looking at the unhappy relationship the immigrant Turkish community had with the Germans. This coming so soon after the fall of the Wall, we filmed at the site where it used to stand.

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I know you believe me when I say, 'I love radio,' I imagine you do too, or you'd not be reading this. The question arises at some point... how much?

I've run a bit of a radio marathon this week. This Friday we return with Another Country. This show (all be it in smaller chunks and a different name) has run since 2007. You'd think there would be a bit of me that might feel a little jaded. But no. There is a spring in the old step at the though of sitting across from my best radio pal Mr Murdoch and playing (what we consider) to be country. And why? Well more than anything because great new artists and albums keep coming out and we keep finding older things we should be reminding you about.

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Some tales of hitchhiking took up Monday's Tom Morton Show...and some didn't make it on air. For Graham Harris Graham, the kilt was his salvation...

I'm a regular listener & have tuned in on line here from Allentown, Pennsylvania while on a business trip. Your hitch hiking segment reminded me of a climbing trip I made to the Pyrenees many years ago. After a week ticking off some fabulous peaks, we finally ran out of food & descended about 4,000 ft to find a village to restock.

Unfortunately we reached a road & found ourselves separated from our objective by a narrow, unlit 7km road tunnel, far too dangerous to navigate on foot. Of course, we decided to hitch it & after two frustrating hours we were amazed to get a ride from a Glaswegian driving a beaten up old Fiat. Asked why when no one else was in such charitable mood that day, he pointed at our legs, saying that it would have been just plain rude to drive by two Scots standing in the middle of nowhere wearing kilts.

We safely navigated the tunnel of course, restocked with rations & decided to take a long, steep path above the tunnel back to camp, calculating that the odds of getting another ride from a Glaswegian in the central Pyrennees, about as remote as some of the mountains we had just climbed.

So the moral is for all hitch hikers is if you have a kilt, wear it.

...and then there was Graeme from Rutherglen on Wednesday, talking about 'honesty boxes':

Two friends and I once played a round of golf at the little course on the west side of Bute. It's more "adventure" golf really as there are no fairways, just fenced off areas for teeing and putting. These are designed to keep away the cows and sheep which also double as "natural hazards". Anyway, after trudging through the bracken we came upon the little green club hut and went inside. No one around except an honesty box and a room replete with bottles of every variety of alcohol under the sun! Tempted we decided to play our round and see if the stuff was still there when we finished.

Off we went hacking through the heather and our conversation largely filled with who fancied drinking what on our return.

Then, out of the undergrowth emerged three guys dressed in full Old Course finery - pink Pringle jerseys, grey slacks and white golf shoes ."Are you in the medal competion? they asked. Us, I should say, wearing jeans, gutties and in my case an old parka replied that we were not. We were then suddenly aware of more of these threesomes, all equally sporting lavenders, mauves and various garish golf gear.

Turned out that the booze was the entry requirement for their competition. So, I'm thankful we resisted our initial urge to help ourselves.

Wouldn't want to get lynched by a mob of golfing fascionistas !

The Tom Morton Show, Mon - Thurs 1430-1600, Fri 1400-1600

Fred MacAulay will be the first voice from the new Ö÷²¥´óÐã@Potterrow venue. MacAulay And Co will start a two week Edinburgh run from Potterrow on Friday August 12 with a special preview programme ahead of the venue being opened to audiences.

Fred MacAulay:

"The atmosphere in Edinburgh in August is unique. There is so much going on - a fantastic blend of the artistic, uplifting, humorous, moving and sometimes bewildering. That's why I love it. "For over ten years we've moved my Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland show from Glasgow to Edinburgh in August and broadcast live from various venues. Having a live audience means that we can capture that special Fringe feel and give the listeners a taste of what's going on in the biggest arts festival in the world. This year we've got our very own Ö÷²¥´óÐã venue in Potterrow which we'll be sharing with other Ö÷²¥´óÐã Shows. I can't wait."

From Monday August 15 Janice Forsyth and Clare English will also be at the venue for a two-week run of the Festival Café.

Off the Ball, with Stuart Cosgrove and Tam Cowan, will be the last broadcast of the venue's Fringe run on Saturday August 27.

As part of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã-wide collaboration at Ö÷²¥´óÐã@Potterrow, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland is also recording a number of features and special programmes for Scotland and network radio transmission. A six-part series of comedy monologues, Can You Hear Me at the Back, and a new five-part comedy conversation format Comedy Bookcase are being recorded for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland broadcast.

Here's the latest recipe from The Kitchen Cafe, by chef Mary Contini, to be downloaded, kept and printed.

Download the recipe.

The Kitchen Cafe is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland every Wednesday, 1315-1400.

A hat-trick of festivals for me these past three weekends which kicked off with the superb in Dumfries and Galloway. I only managed the Saturday night but it was truly awesome - from the main headline acts including Feeder, The Coral to the Pigeon Detectives to Ö÷²¥´óÐã6 Music's Craig Charles Funk and Soul which kept me up all night long not that I was complaining!

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This Sunday I will be welcoming an old friend to the studio. I first met in 1986. He was then an activist and PhD student.Now he is a professor at San Francisisco University and an author and activist. He is also one of my oldest and best friends. However Dave is visiting us to talk about the organisation he heads up: .

Dave was asked to write a book of the same name a few years back to coincide with the anniversary of the abolition of slavery and the imminent release of Hollywood's film of the struggle. When he started to research the subject he was amazed to find that far from slavery having been abolished, it was still hugely rife in many parts of the world. He has since set up his own Anti-Slavery movement (Not For Sale) and he will join us to talk about how that organisation is affecting the business ethics word-wide. To bear witness to that we'll will also be joined by Stephen Craig who is joint CEO of All Saints clothing company to tell us how he is responding to the challenges Dave's organisation is posing.

Also...in the first hour we will speak to from Aberdeen University. John will talk about his current research and the 'theology of disability.' I'll also get a chance to learn more about his recent publication 'Living More Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness' which he published with Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier. John was, for sixteen years, a nurse involved in the field of mental-health and latterly with learning disability, so he has plenty of insight to share on current practice.

Later we'll discover how a flower competition 100 years ago bequeathed a beautiful church in a borders village and we'll also eavesdrop on Richard Holloway's visit to an important Art Exhibition by David Mach celebrating the anniversary of the . Oh yes....and there will be music: Ennio Moricone, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Agnes Obel...all great. Sunday Morning from 0700 on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland.

Instead of a blog this week I'd like to publish this exchange of correspondence.

Newsweek Scotland

Pacific Quay

Glasgow

Dear Rupert,

It was a great pleasure to make acquaintance with your newspapers again this week, in particular the Times which I found especially enlightening. As always, it was entertaining and insightful and I always find spending time with the paper to be invigorating and challenging. As a way of saying thank you for this publication, I'd like to invite you to a prestigious and traditional Scottish event held annually.

It is my daughter's summer fete and sale in Hyndland in Glasgow which raises money for a local charity. You will be guest of honour and I can arrange one-to-ones with Hannah and her nursery school staff. I can make you a gift of a specially wrapped pack of tablet to mark the event. Hannah is already acquainted with your work through the kids channel in our sky family package. Only yesterday she asked: When can I meet Uncle Rupert? I can also arrange for you to appear on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã flagship news programme Newsweek Scotland. If there's anything I can do, please get in touch.

Yours aye

Derek

Dear Derek,

Rupert is too busy to bother with pond life like you. Tell Hannah she can upgrade to HD for £10 a month.

Yours

The mail room staff

So there it is. It's all out in the open now. There is no hiding place for those of us who rub shoulders with the rich and powerful. This momentous event clearly requires further elucidation and all will be revealed in tomorrow's programme.

Also we suggest some practical solutions to the ever more ludicrous sovereign debt problem in which countries owe each other money. Should we follow the bank bail-out principles and save them or let 'em go to the wall like Lehman Brothers? We catch up with events in Egypt and Syria and look for signs of process towards democracy in the Mubarak trial and the total collapse of credibility of Assad in Syria. It all makes you wonder too about our policy on foreign aid and who gets it. Does it shore up corrupt and dangerous regimes. Oh yes. But does enough get to those in need. Also, yes. Mostly. We have a debate on this tricky subject.

We look at puzzles and crosswords. Why can I do a crossword but can't even begin Sudoku? I fear the bank manager knows the answer to that one.

And just in case you think it's all a bundle of laughs, we look back at which is 50 years old. Funny, but nobody's suggesting we kill it off!

Join me tomorrow at 8. Must fly. Rupert's on the line....

It's been three weeks now since my gardening guru Craig Holland was last in my garden dispensing advice and criticism in equal measure. In fact I'm beginning to wonder if he ever really existed at all, and whether in fact I made him up! On second thoughts that can't be the case, because I remember eating some eggs that he brought me from the chickens he keeps...

Anyway, on hand in his place was the splendid fellow Brian Petrie, who has ably stepped in to Craig's shoes, or wellies, on two previous occasions. I like Brian, he possesses Craig's great gardening sense, but none of the sarcasm that comes with it. Furthermore, when asked by Fred in last Monday's weekly Garden slot on MacAulay & Co, whether or not he felt that I was becoming a gardener he answered in the affirmative without a hint of irony! In short he's welcome back anytime.

The reason for the positive response was, in fairness to me, based on the fact that I had worked my socks off whipping the garden into shape after the volley of abuse for neglecting my duties that I suffered last week. I'd weeded the whole veg patch, and dug in some compost to add nutrients to the 'resting' piece of land where I grew the potatoes. After a month-long vacation recovering from rigours of growing the tatties, the land, Brian now suggested, was ready to have some lettuce leaves sown in there. This is in addition to the rocket seeds which I have re-sown following their abject failure to grow in the first attempt. A chance encounter with the Beechgrove gardener George Anderson made me feel better about this when he revealed that the indifferent summer weather had made gardening, a tricky business for even the most experienced of gardeners and that in his words "we all have failures Richard". Lovely fella that George.

The onions are still looking good and should be ready in a couple of weeks, but despite the rain that has fallen this week and indeed was falling in large quantities on me and Brian throughout the whole item on the show, the advice is to keep watering them in order for them to swell in size. The radishes are coming along nicely too and most remarkable of all is the news that the rhubarb is making a comeback! Last time Brian was in my garden he found some roots of the failed fruit and replanted it in another part of the garden. Two weeks later and evident for all to see are the green shoots of recovery, a term often applied to matters of a financial nature that prove to be nothing more than political rhubarb, is, in this instance highly appropriate for the rhubarb! In fact it's the gardening equivalent of Stuart Broad's renaissance as an England cricketer, a brilliant performance all round.

And on that note it only remains for me to once again apologise for the lack of photographic evidence of my gardening exploits, which I may remind you is due to the fact that my wife took the camera and the kids away on holiday. She'll be back next week and so will I with another blog, until then happy gardening!

Here are the Scottish dancing, ceilidh and traditional music events in Scotland for the next seven days, brought to you by the Take the Floor team.

Take the Floor Dancers: St Andrews, April 2011

FRIDAY 5TH AUGUST
SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING

Glasgow - Netherlee Pavilion - Alan Ross and his Band - 7.30pm

Fort William - Caol Community Centre - Ian Cruickshank's Band - 8pm

CONCERT
Ayr - Wellington School - The Alistair McCulloch Trio

SATURDAY 6TH AUGUST
CLASS
Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle with Karen Hannah - improvers' class - 11am

Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Whistle with Helen Forbes - 12:30pm

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
Edinburgh - Polwarth Church Hall - James Coutts Scottish Dance Band - 7.30pm

Fort William - Caol Community Centre - Ian Cruickshank's Band - 8pm

Pitlochry - Pitlochry Town Hall - Marian Anderson

CONCERT
Peebles - Eastgate Arts Centre - The Alistair McCulloch Trio

COMPETITIONS
Aboyne - Masonic Hall - Fiddle Competitions 15 and Under and 16+

SUNDAY 7TH AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUBS
Arbroath - Arbroath ARTISAN Golf Club - Marion Anderson Dance band

CONCERT
Haddington - Lennoxlove Castle - Pipe Concert featuring Allan MacDonald and Others - 12.30pm

Aberdour - Aberdour Hotel - Poems and Pints evening hosted by Yard of Ale

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
Fife - Old Parish Church Hall - Kirk Wynd - Ceilidh, Old Time & Social Dance Club - 2-5pm - *Tickets £3*

East Kilbride - Girl Guide Hall - Ceilidh, Old Time & Social Dance Club - 7:30-10pm - *Tickets £2*

MONDAY 8TH AUGUST
CLASS
St Andrews, SCD Club - live music from Dierdre Adamson on Accordion (learners welcome) - 7:30pm

FOLK CLUB
Glenfarg - The Glenfarg Hotel - Kinrick - 8.30pm

HIGHLAND NIGHT
Pitlochry - Pitlochry Recreation Ground - Vale of Atholl Pipe Band - 7.15pm

TUESDAY 9TH AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUBS

Blairgowrie - Red House Hotel - Leonard Brown and Malcom Ross

CLASS
Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Scots Song - suitable for beginners - 2pm

FOLK CLUB
Edinburgh - The Village, South Fort Street - Rod Paterson

WEDNESDAY 10TH AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUBS
Banff - fife Lodge Hotel - Graham Geddas Scottish Dance Band

CLASS
Fife - Kenoway Community School - Accordion Class - George Lawrie - 7-9pm - *Tickets £5.60/half price first lesson*

Midlem - Village Hall - Live Music - Old Time Class (GB Scott) - 8-10pm - *Tickets £2*

CONCERT
Edinburgh - Pleasance Cabret Bar - Paul McKenna Band

Inverness - Thistle Hotel - Scottish Cabret Evening - 8.00pm

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
RSCDS - Aberdeen -The Boys Brigade Hall, Crimon Place - 7.30pm

THURSDAY 11TH AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUBS
Windygates - Greig Institute - Roy Magna and Friends

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING
RSCDS - Alva, Summer Dance, Cochrane Hall, West Stirling Street - various musicians - 7:30-10:30pm

CLASS
Penicuick - Town Hall - Ceilidh Class - 8-9:30pm - *Tickets £2.90/£1.50*

Battlefield Band's Music Tryst festival
5th - 7th August at the National Mining Museum Scotland
Artists include - Battlefield Band, Michael Marra and Mike Whellans

Fiddle Frenzy
7th - 14th August - Lerwick
Fiddle Frenzy's showcase concerts will feature Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham headlining the opening night concert on Sunday 7th August with Bodega, Harris Playfair's Youth Big Band Project, Nordic Fiddler's Bloc featuring Kevin Henderson, Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson, Fullscelidh Spelemannslag and more performing through the week.

Fringe ceilidhs
5th - 27th August every night except Sundays - 8pm
Lauriston Hall, 28 Lauriston St, Edinburgh, EH3 9DJ
With caller Ken Gourlay & HLI / Scott Leslie / Wild Geese / Willie Fraser ceilidh band

Frankie Goes To Hollywood were the most exciting new band of 1984. I know this because as a teenager growing up in a small Midlands town it was a revelation. Their music was an exciting mix of dance, pop, electronica which gave the 80's (and the town of Newark) the big kick it needed. They had attitude, imagery and lyrics that shocked my parents & Radio 1 DJ's.

Read the rest of this entry

A slightly convoluted tale from Fiona Mackay, on the subject of made-up place names...and what smell personifies Scotland. She says this:

"On journeys up north we used to distract ourselves as children from my father's appalling driving by making up place names with the same prefix as other places. Inver was a favourite- think it meant "mouth of the river" So we had Invera penny and Invera pound , Invera hot dog , Invera dump/slash Inverbein ripped aff? Eh?

The other one was "ard" Ardmental Ardcrappy Arddays night, Ardcheese Ardcookie Ardweird Whatever the character of the town we had an ard or inver to match it.

Smell of Scotland? Kelp in Tobermory Marina and smoke and beer in a famous Mull pub- I was immersed in it a few days ago. Other than that the smell of a chunky Scottish bloke-oh no it's the mentalpause again! I digress. Loving show stretched out under mackerel sky on deck...

Visit Tom Morton web page and listen to the programme.

Here's the latest recipe from The Kitchen Cafe, by Hardeep Singh Kohli, to be downloaded, kept and printed.

Download the recipe.

The Kitchen Cafe is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland every Wednesday, 1315-1400.

Watching the news broadcasts and reading the newspapers in the week following the tragedy in Norway it's been interesting, and sometimes shaming, to compare our reaction to that of the Norwegians. Here the coverage has often been hysterical, intrusive, and cliché ridden.

In Norway it's been much more restrained reflecting the dignity with which the Norwegian people have handled themselves. There's been no rush to judgement there, no crowds baying for blood outside the court, no looking to explain the unexplainable. My panel dissected the coverage on this week's show.

My guests were , , and and they found a few choice examples of the lame attempts in our Sunday papers to "put a kilt" on the story.

The media's handling of Amy Winehouse's death also came under scrutiny, with the Sunday papers showing no signs of letting go the endless analysis of her life, her career, and her demons.

This week's special guest was Scotland's top QC, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Richard Keen. Known as the Rottweiler, he has a forensic mind and is a formidable and flamboyant presence in court. In person I found him considered and modest. He chooses his words carefully but there was a surprising moment when he got very emotional talking about what it meant to him to be elected Dean.

Visit Shereen website to listen again to the show and an extended interview with Richard Keen QC below: