remote cards

Three punk girls. One with a ragged blonde mullet slash unruly misshapen Mohawk. One with hair dyed red, faded down to near pink, a ring through her lip, wearing glasses. The palely black girl, with short black hair, studs through each end of her lower lip, black framed glasses. The three of them fluttering around with an element of youthful energy. They end up in the line in front of us going up the stairs. A line going nowhere. Like them, I look back, at the other flight of stairs which is empty. They switch between English and Spanish in a manic manner, that is impossible to follow, speculating as to whether they should abandon this line. We come to our conclusion first, turning round and heading back for the other flight of stairs. That spurs them along, one of them saying, come on! As we reach the bottom and switch to the other flight of stairs, a member of staff appears, shouts - folks that’s the queue for the cloak room, if you don’t want the cloak room use the other flight of stairs! We laugh, where was he a minute ago when that would have been useful information?

Labels: edinburgh, gig, girl, ojos de brujo, punk, spanish

Gigs are always curious. The mix of people. Pretty girls and of course boyfriends. Spaniards here for reminders of their home lands. Pasty faced locals. A grey haired couple, here for the world music. People holding place, wondering when the others will show up. Casual smokers, getting that last puff before they go inside - the sign on the venue door saying “no pass outs for smokers”. Beside that casual Spanish girl, her boyfriend so Scottish, with a mop of ginger hair on the top of his head. Further back, a stoop shouldered, long haired metal kid, here with his parents, who look lively and aged just right.

Labels: edinburgh, gig, girl, ojos de brujo, spanish

Waiting for Ojos De Brujo. A Spanish band. You can see people hovering in the street outside the venue. Skin tones and manner clearly not Scottish. A chatter of Spanish voices in the coffee place, initially two olive skinned girls with long dark hair, though their numbers have doubled by the time I leave. Outside, a girl who looks something like the band’s singer - the way her hair is bunched and curled, the cheekbones and attitude. With her boyfriend, the two of them lean against the glass and smoke. While their friend paces smoking and drinking, taking mighty swigs from a bottle of beer. She has her hair tied back, bunched in a bun at the back of her head. Beneath a white cardigan, that is about to slide off her shoulders, she wears a slight summery top, green with white dots, fitted around her breasts, hanging by straps, leaving an upper stripe of torso and shoulders bare. Ten minutes before the scheduled doors opening time an official queue has started to form, so they wander along to join. People building up behind them, and extending in front of the coffee shop window.

Labels: edinburgh, gig, girl, ojos de brujo, spanish