Playhouse

A day around the house doing stuff and then out at teatime for a big swim and a wander into town to meet up with just sitting in the Cafe Royal.

All before the really pretty bloody brilliant The Poet Speaks event at the International Festival over at The Playhouse, Philip Glass and Patti Smith's homage to Allen Ginsberg. I was really apprehensive beforehand that this collaboration and its subject matter might be a little, well, "up itself" for want of a better phrase, but the balance between the elements was nigh on perfect really. There was some Ginsberg poetry to start, and then some solo Patti Smith stuff, followed by a big Philip Glass piece, a bit more of the Ginsberg poetry and then a bit more Patti to finish. And all this was accompanied by some big projections of original Ginsberg-annotated black and white photographs behind the perfomers that looked beautiful. I'd never seen Patti Smith before but she had a real quality about her, a real presence. Powerful stuff.

She did a version of this track, from 1976. Blimey, she sounded fantastic tonight.

Went for a drink in Tourmalet (down off Leith Walk, first time I'd ever been, thimbs up) afterwards to mull it all over and generally catch up post-holiday and then had plenty more opportunity to catch up with just just sitting on the l-o-n-g walk home after missing the last bus back to our part of town. (Actually writing this bit the next day, a bit weary, and with packed lunches to make for the first day back at school for my girls. Best crack on, two children in the house, so far only one up!)