Gig - Burns Night

There will be poetry at the Burns Night celebration in the Black Horse, but not necessarily by the great Scot himself. “My friend Bob Golby will be reciting his poem about porridge,” says Tab Hunter. “Last time I heard him do that was at a wedding full of Scots. I thought he was going to get lynched.” Tab is one half of the ‘Blazing Strings’ duo who will be providing the music for the evening. Tab’s on guitar, his mate Ben Paley is on fiddle. “We’ll be doing at least one Scottish song,” he says. “But we’ll be giving a Scottish slant to the rest of the numbers in our Klezmer-American-Old-Time-Swedish set. We’ll be playing songs like Lannock Boulder, and Kilmarnock Ohara.” Tab will also be wearing a kilt for the occasion. “I’ve found in the past that women have no problem groping men who wear kilts,” he says. Tab and Ben will both be singing, and stomping their feet a lot. It sounds like it’s going to be a scream.

The Black Horse is currently in the third week of a guest ale promotion, and to mark Burns Night will be serving Scottish real ales all week. They will also, tonight only, be serving haggis, neeps and tatties, reason enough to head down there (see previous page). Or as Scotland’s favourite son put it, in his Address to a Haggis:
‘Fair fa’ your honest sonsie face
Great chieftan o’ the puddin-race!’
AL