Smoke Project by Mikel in San Sebastian. Recieved a lot of local, Basque then national media coverage.

Moderate drinking was dealt an early blow when signal failure, delay and cancellation forced entry to the pub. No sooner had the froth met the lips, the announcement came - 'the 16.30 train to Edinburgh will depart from platform 5'. Supplementary information such as 'the train will not arrive for a further 20 minutes' may have averted the need to down a £2.90 fresh pint for fear of standing room only.

The support came from the same charlatans from two years ago and if the dirge they peddled was not misery enough, the interjected uninteresting anecdotes were sheer torture. Any endurance was fully compensated for with the eventual appearance of Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson. Harmonies, instrumentation and song were sublime throughout a fantastic set by performers who deserve the utmost admiration and adulation, even from the typically dour and reticent Edinburgh audience. I on the other hand was inclined to give a standing ovation after nearly every song, a decision part involuntary and part attributed to a large intake of whisky. Eck met half of Grangemouth 70's counter culture and soon three part gospel and bluegrass harmonies were underway in the foyer, then the taxi, then the pub (or so it seemed) and then finally the train, all the way to Falkirk. The stage had arrived, where anyone else on the carriage was either not considered or had become part of the audience. A brisk walk down (or up?) Sauchiehall Street followed by a late night meal washed down with white wine completed a thoroughly enjoyable (and expensive) evening, safe in the understanding that even if you did make an a**e of yourself, no one knew you, and anyone who did, you were unlikely to seen again for a long time.

Watching 'Later with Jools Holland' last night, it seemed as though the programme had returned to it's original ethos of providing a platform for world, independent and 'proper' music rather than pandering to the mainstream with increasing numbers of chart acts, as seemed to be the case during the last couple of series. It could be argued that the appearance of Robbie Williams and suchlike consequently exposes lesser known acts (and Jools' spin off cd’s for that matter) to a broader audience, but I wouldn't want to watch ‘artists’ of his ilk if they were playing in my back garden if I had one. Last nights show had the Eels, Kaiser Chiefs, the impressive Martha Wainwright, John Legend, a folky Frank Black and Van Morrison. Everyone played two numbers each and with five minutes to go I assumed that the only legend (other than John and, arguably, Frank Black) would play the show out...I nearly spilled my whisky however when Van 'The Man' was bypassed for Kaiser Chiefs! To be fair the Kaiser Chiefs were no bad with their other numbers, but I was enraged (and had to fetch and play at high volume a Van Morrison CD in protest) that the usual motto of 'he with the greatest stature playeth the maist songs' had been overlooked in favor of a song whose name I don't know but should certainly be 'On my God I can't believe it, I'm getting hit with this p*sh instead of Van Morrison'. I can only surmise that the typically crabbit Van either refused to play any of his hits or couldn't be a***d.