By Marcus Kernohan

Despite a lengthy and fruitful career (2010 marks his 50th year as a professional musician), Glaswegian folk guitarist Bert Jansch still isn’t quite a household name. That’s not to imply, however, that the 66-year-old Pentangle founder is some kind of music industry ingénue – far from it. Jansch’s influence stretches many miles beyond his own discography, with a litany of high-profile musos from Jimmy Page to Mike Oldfield all crediting him as an inspiration. Jansch’s intricate playing style and lightly-accented vocals mark him out as an enduring force in traditional folk in Britain. He’s also, thankfully, an Edinburgh Festival veteran of many years, so his two dates at The Queen’s Hall are sure to be a triumphant homecoming after several months touring the USA with Neil Young. [Marcus Kernohan, Fest magazine, 15/07/2010]

If your plan for a Fringe show is to stand alone on a stage for 90 minutes talking about yourself, you’d better bring some ammunition. Fortunately, Scottish actor, writer and director Alan Cumming is armed to the teeth: with a long and storied career behind him, Cumming is perfectly poised to pull off an ambitious one-man show like I Bought A Blue Car Today. Taking the form of particularly personal cabaret, Cumming’s new show is pitched as a lofty blend of music, comedy and spoken-word introspection, so expect an eclectic mix of anecdotes and ruminations from the actor’s varied life thus far (from rural Perthshire to Hollywood via the West End—all in 40 years and change—isn’t bad going). But, if that sounds to you like a somewhat self-indulgent sort of hour-and-a-half, never fear: Cumming’s tales are liberally interspersed with musical interludes, as he turns his multi-talented hand to material by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Cyndi Lauper. [Marcus Kernohan, Fest magazine, 15/07/2010]