He’s lived a life that’s full. True. And travelled each and every highway (well, up and down Elm Row, where he runs the Valvon & Crolla deli).
Much more than this, Phil Contini has done it his way and I’ve just seen him doing it Cole Porter’s way, at Vin Caffe in Multrees Walk. His respectful tribute to the song-writing genius. Contini singing to accompaniment by his own Be Happy band. He’s doing three Sundays with dinner, one more to come this Sabbath.
Piles of Porter. I’d heard all these songs before, of course, but never tire of hearing again Porter’s wizardry with words.
You won’t hear anything in the Fringe that comes within a million miles of this and Contini, who has done similar salutes to Dean Martin and Louis Prima, clearly was in his element here. Wonder if Cole, a colossus in the composer’s art in popular song, ever managed to see the Euro Contest before he departed the planet. Hope not. I, and Phil Contini, would have want see him wave goodbye with a smile, not a grimace.
Gael farce
Classic case of the old school tie. To satisfy the ‘‘soaring demand’’ for Gaelic-medium education in the Capital , the City Council have rubber-stamped the redevelopment of Bonnington Primary in Leith. Cost to you three and a half million pounds.
Michty me, it’s problem enough, teachers will tell you, dragging youngsters away from computers to speak, read and write basic English, let alone a language from another planet.