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The latest ceilidhs, traditional music events and classes in Scotland compiled for you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 31st AUGUST
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Orkney - St Magnus Centre, Palace Road, Kirkwall - Alex McIntyre Stronsay Silver Darlings

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Here is the latest recipe from The Kitchen Café. To be downloaded, kept, cooked and enjoyed.

Kirsty Wark's Four Fruit Jam

The Kitchen Café is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400

As part of the My Favourite Place in Scotland competition Pennie Latin tells her story...

My Favourite Place

Assynt. It was entirely love at first sight on my part. I remember with amazing clarity the first time we met. My parents introduced us - they were old friends with Assynt having spent many years making the long journey from Cambridge to camp at Inchnadamph with groups of school kids they'd taught over the years. I was heading north with them, hitching an introduction on a school reunion. We stopped just north of Ullapool - my folks being incurable twitchers thought they'd spotted an Eagle - I sat in the car and stared at Cul Mor rising away from me, hardly one of the most dramatic of hills, particularly from the A835 where it sort of shrugs its back at you, but I remember feeling a spark, a flicker.

Across that first wintry week Assynt gave up little. It was a week spent in smirr, mist, dense cloud, rain and occasional snow but the glimpses she did afford were enough.

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As part of the My Favourite Place in Scotland competition Euan Mcilwraith tells his story...

My Favourite Place
Euan Mcilwraith

It isn't pretty, just roughly cast,
On it, waves they rise and fall.
Its soaked with love, with pain with hope,
The whitehills harbour wall.

The harbour wall : a beacon , gate.
A concrete welcome arm.
That points the way and holds the sea,
Gainst natures fickle charm.

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My guest this Sunday Morning, is Palestinian Christian , founder of the human rights organization . In the first hour of the programme he talks about his work both as a human rights lawyer and his latest book 'Occupation Diaries' about his daily life in the West Bank.

Tony Nicklinson's death last week came less than seven days after he lost his High Court case to allow doctors to end his life.Joining me to discuss the human, philosophical and spiritual dimension to the 'right to die' debate are Hospital Chaplain Blair Robertson and - Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, Edinburgh University.

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Here's a few pics from the live session.

Deacon Blue live in session, Studio 1, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Scotland for Edith Bowman's Album Show

A childhood dream is kind of fulfilled this week on the Album Show as Deacon Blue perform their first radio session in 20 years. I can't actually put into words how I feel or how many times I listened to when I was a kid. I had it on every format and would always keep a cassette copy in my dads car. Great to have them back with new album 'The Hipsters,' whilst also celebrating 25 years since the release of Raintown. My only problem will be holding it together, surely I can be professional? Well tune in from 8pm tonight to find out.

On other news we have a fantastic collection of tunes coming up for you from new releases, classic albums and reissues and this week's evolution of music is the awesome Ry Cooder. So expect everything from The Darkness to Jesse Ware, Lee Hazelwood to M83.

Edith Bowman's Album Show is on 20:05-22:00 Friday, repeated 22:05-00:00 Sunday

Here are the latest ceilidhs, concerts and classs courtesy of the Take the Floor team:

FRIDAY 24th AUGUST

CEILIDH
Edinburgh - Lauriston Hall - Ceilidh with caller Ken Gourlay and featuring music from HLI/Macalba/Scott Leslie/Willie Fraser Ceilidh Band - 9pm

SATURDAY 25TH AUGUST

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Langholm - Royal British Legion - Iain MacPhail Scottish Dance Band (Fundraising Dance) - 8pm

CEILIDH
Edinburgh - Lauriston Hall - Ceilidh with caller Ken Gourlay and featuring music from HLI/Macalba/Scott Leslie/Willie Fraser Ceilidh Band - 9pm
Elgin - New Elgin Hall - Social Dancing with Marion Anderson - 8pm

CLASS
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Improvers - 11am)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Beginners - 12 noon)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Whistle Class (Beginners - 12.30pm)
Dundee - Wigton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Medieval Harp with Simon Chadwick - 2pm

CONCERT
Irvine - Marymass Folk Festival - the Outside Track
Edinburgh - The Assembly Rooms - James Grant

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Here is the latest recipe from The Kitchen Café. To be downloaded, kept, cooked and enjoyed.

Tom Kitchin's Mackerel Escabeche

The Kitchen Café is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400

On her album show on Friday night (24 August), Edith has a live studio session with Deacon Blue - their first in 20 years - ahead of the release of their new studio album The Hipsters, and to mark the 25th anniversary of the release of . The band members also share favourite records from their own music collections.

In the meantime, here a little bit of Edith talking about the impact the band has had on her as she looks ahead to the live session.

Edith Bowman's Album Show is on Friday, 20:05-22:00, repeated Sunday 22:05-00:00

The tenth and final day of our festival shows and our final blog post from the brilliant Festival Café runners - Sophie Stephenson, Rebecca Davies, Maria Smith and Andrea MacKinnon.

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This week on Sunday Morning with me, Cathy Macdonald, my studio guest is screen writer and novelist who's known for the China Thrillers or more recently the Lewis Trilogy. He talks about his early years in journalism, his television career as scriptwriter on the popular Scottish soap, Take the High Road, and latterly the Gaelic soap Machair, which was filmed on the Isle of Lewis, and his books.

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It used to be said a good woman was only in the public eye twice - once when she married and once when she died. aims to put an end to that sort of notion. Recently with their partners Women's History Scotland and the Girl Guides they've been running a project - to locate and record memorials to women throughout Scotland. It's a rather nifty which shows you the monuments in your area and tells you about them, but they're looking for help and information from the general public.

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A list of the week's trad, ceilidh and music events taking place around Scotland, brought to you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 17th AUGUST
CEILIDH
Edinburgh - Lauriston Hall - Ceilidh with caller Ken Gourlay and featuring music from HLI/Macalba/Scott Leslie/Willie Fraser Ceilidh Band - 9pm

CONCERT
Edinburgh - Acoustic music Centre, St Brides - Maggie MacInnes - 6.45pm
Innerleithen - Memorial Hall - The Battlefield Band - 7.30pm - tickets £15

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So there are a huge number of awesome ladies involved in the music industry, both in the past and in the present. Tonight if feels like we are highlighting just a few of those. We take a look at the evolution of the music of a woman who is not only a singer/songwriter but a poet, author, photographer and huge icon. Patti Smith released her first album 'horses' back in 1975 and since then has released at least one album every decade, most recently 'banga.' We have a listen to how her music sounded back then and how It is still relevant and influential 37 years later.

She also pops up in conversation with Shirley Manson, another woman in music who I think is a fantastic role model in so many ways.

I got to spend some time with Shirley just before they went on stage at the Glasgow Barrowlands last month to talk about, well loads of stuff that you can hear on this weeks show. All that and new releases, classic tracks and reissues to beef up your music collection. Look forward to you joining us x

The Edith Bowman Album Show, Fridays 2005 - 2200, repeated Sundays 2205-000.

Runners Sophie Stephenson, Rebecca Davies, Maria Smith and Andrea MacKinnon with the penultimate Festival Café blog post, and today they've included a backstage interview with Tom Thum.

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If you think media archaeology is new - think again! Glasgow's 1930s answer to Time Team was Ludovic Maclellan Mann, an archaeologist who loved to get his work in the papers - the Daily Record and Glasgow Herald were favourites.

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Festival Café runners Sophie Stephenson, Rebecca Davies, Maria Smith and Andrea MacKinnon have written this blog about day eight working on the show.

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Runners Sophie Stephenson, Rebecca Davies, Maria Smith and Andrea MacKinnon with their Festival Café blog post.

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Festival Café runners Sophie Stephenson, Rebecca Davies, Maria Smith and Andrea MacKinnon have written this blog about their sixth day working on the show.

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An end of the week blog by Festival Café runners; Rebecca Davies, Sophie Stephenson, Andrea Mckinnon and Maria Smith.

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Your weekly list of ceilidhs, traditional music events and classes in Scotland compiled for you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 10th AUGUST
CEILIDH
Edinburgh - Lauriston Hall - Ceilidh with caller Ken Gourlay and featuring music from HLI/Macalba/Scott Leslie/Willie Fraser Ceilidh Band - 9pm

CONCERT
Edinburgh - Assembly Rooms - Songs of Struggle with Alastair McDonald, Dave Anderson, Arthur Johnstone and Sheena Wellington

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Maria Smith provides the latest behind the scenes Festival Café blog ....

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Festival Café runner Sophie Stevenson has written this blog about her third day working on the show.

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Graham Angus is working as a runner at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Potterrow for Fred and the team and has provided this day two run down of MacAulay and Co. at the Fringe....

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Sophie Stephenson, one of the runners working on this year's Festival Cafe has written this blog about the second day.

Sophie Stephenson

Day two of the Festival Café and instead of lots and lots of rain we had glorious sunshine. The green room was buzzing with our international array of Finnish, American, Australian and Irish acts warming up and getting ready for their soundcheck. The arrival of Electro-vocalist group caused quite a stir of excitement especially when they huddled together in a corner to run through their songs. In fact, the warm ups were so catchy comedy duo joined in, singing along to chorus of the classic Madonna tune Like a Prayer.

The utterly gorgeous cabaret singer even made it a family affair during sound-check which came in the form of her two year old daughter who came onstage and helped her mum check levels. The vibe backstage today was very jovial indeed! Ali McGregor's adorable daughter and our four piece acapella act, Fork, extended the greenroom outdoors with energetic leaps! Fork are a Finnish group who look like stars and dress like stars - tall, striking and gorgeous these guys certainly dressed to impress in their sleek black attire.

One man show was the epitome of cool in the green room as he waited to sound-check - instantly coming alive once that microphone turned on. Festival Café presenter Clare English who looked fabulous again today led the guests and the audience through 45 minutes that was full of laughs and incredible musical performances. Fork brought unbelievable harmonies and Ali McGregor brought a dash of glamour all the way down to her gold sparkly heels. Mark and Shenoah of The Pajama Men brought the house down with laughter performing a part of their show and Johnny O'Callaghan had the audience gripped with tales from his show Who's your Daddy.

We couldn't have asked for a better day and we still have 8 shows left. Roll on tomorrow - it's going to be great.

Sophie Stephenson who is one of the runners working on this year's Festival Cafe has written this blog about this first day.

Sophie Stephenson

The first day started off with rain... lots and lots of rain. Fortunately we came equipped with an army of red, tartan brollies. However the dreich day was soon to be brightened up with the arrival of and her band. In the Festival Café's Green Room Camille spotted a quirky table lamp which she excitedly switched on - the light setting the mood for her glowing performance to come. Sure enough, no sooner than Camille took to the stage in her glittery boots mirroring her sparkling presence on stage with the song 'In these shoes' did the sun start shining outside.

Next to arrive were soldiers turned actors Cassidy and Maurilla along with Owen Sheers the writer of their show . Last but certainly not least Linda Marlowe arrived just in time to warm up that famous voice.

After an enthusiastic warm-up from Andrea, one of the team of runners, the audience were fired up and ready for the colourful cabaret which awaited them. On stage everyone was in place and everything ready to go live after the one o'clock news. With Clare's red, ruffle dress and Camille's striking red hat, red was certainly the flavour of the day. Our fantastic presenter Clare English lead the crowd through a fabulous 45 minutes of laughs, cheers and at some points even tears.

Linda Marlowe gave us a flavour of her powerful one women performance of Dickens' most infamous character, . As Cassidy and Maurilla from The Two Worlds of Charlie F each in turn took the stage the crowd quickly quieted down as they were engulfed in the sheer emotion of the performance. We felt very humbled by their presence off - an admiration which grew as they shared their experiences with the audience. In particular their physical and emotional challenges which we witnessed were revealing of the day-to-day realities brought about by the injuries they have endured.

After the whirlwind of day one, we can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

Sam Bradley's working as a runner at the Edinburgh Festival for Fred and the team, Here's her behind the scenes blog post...

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The Edinburgh Festival is now upon us, and on the show this morning I'm joined by one of its leading lights, the dynamic conductor Christopher Bell. Described by one admirer recently as someone who 'has some magic dust he sprinkles on his singers', Christopher's early love of music flourished in the local cathedral choir. He went on to become one of the founders of the , and talks passionately about his enthusiasm for introducing music to children and adults alike.

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This year Off The Ball starts off ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland's stint at the Festival. There's a debut too from Vic Galloway who takes his Monday night show through to Edinburgh with guests including Frightened Rabbit.

Here's a list of programmes which are either coming live, or being recorded at the festival:

• Off The Ball


• MacAulay And Co


• The Festival Cafe


• Vic Galloway


• Christopher Brookmyre's Comedy Bookcase


• Comedy Zone

There a whole load more Radio and TV programmes from across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ coming from the Edinburgh Festival and you can find out more here.

Another week and another incredible selection of music, if we do say so ourselves. This week we chat to The View about their new album 'cheeky for a reason,' as well as their career so far. They also pick the album they can't live without, I think you'll like it! They are a band that I've been a fan of from the start, seeing them perform to about 100 people back before they released 'Hats off To The Buskers,' and realising there was something special and chaotic about the band that was quite magical.

We look at the the musical evolution of Dr John which brings him bang upto date thanks to a brilliant production collaboration, we play you a classic track of his and something from his latest release 'Revolution.' I also have a track from a woman who will transport you to your fantasy dream beach holiday, you really have to hear it to believe it.

So, tonight from 20:05

Your weekly list of ceilidhs, traditional music events and classes in Scotland compiled for you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 3RD AUGUST
CEILIDH
Edinburgh - Lauriston Hall - Ceilidh with caller Ken Gourlay and featuring music from HLI/Macalba/Scott Leslie/Willie Fraser Ceilidh Band - 9pm

CONCERT
Edinburgh - Assembly Rooms - Karen Mathieson

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Back from two weeks on holiday - lots of sun, eating, drinking, eating, sun, drinking, oh, and reading. I took some homework away with me - amongst them, two thrillers - one set in Glasgow by a Scottish writer and the other by a Swede tipped as the "new Larsson". The slenderest book squashed into my overweight bag was the one I enjoyed the most in my out of office state of mind.

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Here is the latest recipe from The Kitchen Café. To be downloaded, kept, cooked and enjoyed.

Josh Doherty's Eggs Florentine

The Kitchen Café is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400

Another weekend another festival...only this time I headed north up the A9 to the which took place in Perth (Fri 27th to Sun 29th July).

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