Something for the weekend: Big Burns Supper & Neu! Reekie!

For anyone planning on being in the Edinburgh or Dumfries area this weekend, here’s a heads-up on a couple of events I’m involved with that might be worth checking out.

The monthly Neu! Reekie! culture club returns on Fri 27th with the usual eclectic mix of film, spoken word and music.  This Friday we’ll be celebrating the birthdays of two very different Scottish poets.

Today would have been Paul Reekie‘s 50th birthday and we’ll be showing some rare footage of Paul as well as toasting his life and work.  And of course this Wed would have been Robert Burns’ 253rd birthday when  most sensible folk Scotland will be celebrating in the time honoured way with haggis, neeps, whisky, poetry and song.

At Neu! Reekie! accompanied by the gorgeous films by Alastair Cook – which tell the story of Burns’ life and times – I’ll be performing a selection of the radical Burns verse from the Festival show “Robert Burns: Not In My Name”.  There’ll also be live music from three quality acts: Emelle, Robert King (formerly of Scars), and Tango Rhums.

This Friday @ Scottish Book Trust in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile

BIG BURNS SUPPER

If you wanna see the whole unabridged ‘Robert Burns:  Not In My Name’ show there will be a special one-off performance on Saturday, 3pm, at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre in Dumfries. This is part of the inaugural Big Burns Supper festival which has some wonderful events in and around Dumfries this week. Tickets can be got here.  Full details can be found here at the Big Burns Supper website.