Edinburgh Bands Together on Sunday 6 March at The Jam House (5 Queen Street) to raise money for St Columba’s Hospice. Standing tickets are £10, balcony tickets £20, available through Tickets Scotland online or on Rose Street. Doors are at 6:30pm and acts include Davie Paton, Nobby Clark Experience, Al James, Liz Dicks and Shorty Rogers to name but a few.
Pancake Day falls on Tuesday 8 March, as does the 100th International Women’s Day. I’ve yet to find any events combining the two, although Edinburgh University has a programme lined up for the latter that includes a conference, lectures and drama.
Later in the week, Dundas Street Gallery (6a Dundas Street) host an exhibition by contemporary artist Jamie Primrose. ‘Auld Reekie – A Timeless Journey through Edinburgh’ features pen and ink drawings of the Old and New Towns, and runs from 11–19 March.
You may have noticed big pink signs on the fence at the bottom of Broughton Street lately, cluttering up the place with talk of weddings. The upshot of this is, if you fancy a nosy at what the website calls 'Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel', The Mansfield Traquair Centre (15 Mansfield Place) is having an open day on Saturday 12 March. You can either drop by or book a consultation in which 'experienced Wedding Designers will be on hand to showcase this stunning wedding venue and discuss your wedding plans', which sounds terrifying, but on the other hand it would be quite nice to see inside. Apparently there are murals.
The 8th annual Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace Festival comes to the Botanic Gardens on Sunday 13 March, bringing a Mindful Peace Walk in its wake. Led by The Edinburgh Sangha of the Community of Interbeing, before the walk begins there’s an introduction to mindful walking as meditation practice. Which is nice. Admission is free, you just need to get to the John Hope Gateway for 9:30am to depart at 10:00am. For more information contact Neill Walker on 0131 331 4469 or email mesp2011@hotmail.co.uk.
For those in need of a night of music/comedy, John Shuttleworth (aka Jilted John, aka Graham Fellows) brings his Yamaha PSS to the Queen's Hall on Wednesday 16 March at 8:00pm. And they are so convinced you’ll fall in love with the character that they are offering a money-back guarantee – if you hate the show in the first 15 minutes, you can go to the Box Office and ask for a refund, no questions asked.
No such offer is available for money spent on Red Nose Day, which falls on Friday 18 March. Doubtless the people of Spurtleshire will raise funds for countless mosquito nets for David Tennant to wear as a cape when he visits children in third-world countries. And once you’ve claimed that moral victory, you can settle down to watch the exciting climax of the Six Nations on Saturday 19 March – showing in many a pub including The Cask and Barrel.
As you shuffle down the road to Tesco for a post-match lasagne sandwich (anybody know if they’re still selling those?) you may pass a sign that shouts ‘COVIES!’ This is not a gang, or even a new curse word, but a youth group at Bellevue Chapel on Rodney Street. They profess to bring the world 'church, but not as you know it', a bold mission statement indeed. If you’re in possession of a bored young person in S1 or older, you might want to send them along from 7:30– 9:00pm on a Wednesday for games, sports, music, chat, trips, or a place to chill. And at least you’ll know that if they get up to any mischief, God will be watching.
In a more man-made phenomenon, on Sunday 27 March the clocks change, heralding summer by jumping forward and insensitively depriving us of an hour's sleep. Surely there must be an easier way? Then the following day, we must groggily fill out the 2011 Census, trying to remember how many people live in the house as we wipe the sleep from our eyes and accidentally get pen on our faces in the process.
Here’s hoping April will hold fewer tribulations.