DANNY ROBINS' EVENTS GUIDE: 25TH NOVEMBER 2010

Queen of Clubs Cabaret

Oxford's Queen of Clubs cabaret night celebrates its second birthday on Saturday 27th.

They've got a great eclectic line up, including music from The Penny Black Remedy - "a fusion of country, punk, ska and Balkan folk" according to 6 Music's own Chris Hawkins. Funny how so many people are getting on that gypsy/Balkan folk punk tip right now. I've listened and they're pretty good I reckon.

In addition to the band, there's comedy burlesque from Kiki Kaboom. I'm not normally the hugest fan of Burlesque and when paired with the word 'comedy', alarm bells ring, but having checked Kiki out on Youtube I'm quite impressed and being voted one of the Top 50 Burlesque Stars in the World and Best Newcomer at London Burlesque Week all adds to her case.

There's also Victorian magic from Oxford-based magicians Morgan and West, who've done well at the Edinburgh Fringe the last couple of years, and performance poetry from Pete The Temp.

And finally, there's Handbaked Arcade - who come and set up a room full of lots of retro arcade games like Pacman, Space Invaders and Streetfighter.

All in all, it's a pretty decent line up for a mere £5 (in advance, £10 on the door).

It's at Baby Simple on Cowley Road in Oxford. Tickets available here.

St Andrew's Day

It's St Andrew's Day, Scotland's national day on Tuesday 30th. Like a lot of patron saints, Andrew doesn't really seem to have much connection with where he's patron saint of - he was born in Palestine and died in Greece - as far as I know he never set foot in Scotland and certainly never tried on a kilt, but let's not let that get in the way... there will be events all over the world to celebrate.

Loads of Scotland's tourist attractions are free this weekend (27th-28th) in honour of St Andrew's Day. So, if you've ever fancied visiting Edinburgh Castle, Skara Brae in the Orkneys, Stirling Castle or a host of other Scottish heritage sites and been put off by the ticket price, now's your chance. Lots of other places are offering 2 for 1 discounts.

They'll be plenty of parties and events in Scotland both over the weekend and on Tuesday. And one little coincidence that the Scottish Tourist Board website is getting excited about is that the recently engaged Prince William and Kate Middleton met whilst studying in the town of St Andrews. Apparently, St Andrews is Britain's 'top match-making university' and 1 in 10 of the students meet their future partner there. So, if you're thinking of applying for uni and finding love, could be worth a look - especially if you like golf too.

The website also tells you that if you fancy following in Kate's footsteps, there's a folk legend that "advises single women who wish to marry, to ask for St Andrew's help. The night before the 30th, if they sleep naked, they will see their future husbands in their dreams." Worth a go surely?

Anyway, check out your local listings for any St Andrew's day events or take advantage of getting into places for free.

Dead Cat Bounce and The Drums

And finally a couple of gigs, one for a proper rock band and one for a spoof one.

You may already have heard this if you're in the Indie know but The Drums are doing an 'intimate' gig at The Queen of Hoxton bar in East London. This is a bit of a heads up as it's on December 13th, but those indie kids are going to be all over this.

It's being done on a first come first served basis from who's the first through the door when the venue opens at 6.30pm. So, presumably, that means people queuing a fair bit earlier than that. The band are onstage at 10pm. Good luck should you choose to go - more info here.

And our spoof rock band is Dead Cat Bounce.

They're from Ireland and they're creating a bit of a buzz on the comedy scene with their funny songs. I saw them supporting Jason Manford at the Hammersmith Apollo this week and they went down very well. Good name for a band too. Check out this Wikipedia entry if you don't know where it comes from.

You can see them in London at the Ministry of Sound's comedy night Ha Hoody Ha on Saturday 27th

(the club's tagline is "comedy comes to the Ministry of Sound" - something some cruel people might say happened a long time ago), or doing their full hour long set at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington on Dec 9th and 10th.

See their song for Movember - 'Every Time you Shave, a Moustache Dies'.

This is pretty funny too.

And if you're inspired by that to try and do your own musical comedy, or are doing it already, remember the Musical Comedy Awards that I talked about last month. The deadline for entries is December 12th.

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