A dream gig for piano man in Shanghai

THE gig to die for. Six months in Shanghai spanning the Olympics, playing in the cocktail bar of one of the city's upmarket hotels, the newly refurbished Ritz-Carlton. Tom Finlay has clinched it, starting May 1.

Well known on Edinburgh's society circuit but better known in the Jazz Festival for backing many internationally renowned names, the versatile pianist, while admitting the hotel will make his extended residency well worth his while, says there's one snag.

"I've been booked for several gigs in Edinburgh during the Jazzfest and I can't recall ever not being involved. Also, I wanted to play at a concert celebrating bandleader Tommy Sampson's 90th. I thought of coming back from Shanghai just for a week. But the air fare looks prohibitive."

While Finlay ponders, he will fulfil a private booking at Bruntsfield Golf Club tomorrow. Could be a language problem in Shanghai. How's his Mandarin? "I'm a piano player, I don't play the Mandarin."

Apparently he has a hearing difficulty. Musicians. What would you do with them?

Hip to be square
It's looking good, the all-new, lovingly-landscaped garden in St Andrew Square. Civilised, a credit to the city centre. I had occasion to traverse it for the first time on Tuesday en route to a men's fashion evening in Harvey Nichols.

No "park benches" (which would be vandalised anyway), you'll notice. If you want to linger you have to plank your bum on concrete, chilly enough in this weather to induce piles. The Square's owners might be persuaded to provide the ointment and Marigolds, you never know.

Good news from the catwalk at H Nicks. "Military is always somewhere about in men's fashion," said the head buyer, and "cardigans are back". I'm ahead of the game on both counts.

The store's general manager Gordon Drummond was off to Istanbul next day for the launch of the chain's latest outlet. How much for a fez there?

Afterwords . .
. . . Mocking my supposition that their services are listed on poles so lofty at the West End that they must be for stilt people from the circus, Lothian Buses are putting me right. They tell me this is, in fact, for the benefit of itinerant Masai warriors.