Jig Blog

Nick Clegg: "Call me Chas"

I've created a new political facebook group. The noble aim is to get a nick-name to stick for Nick Clegg. Apart from performing at a few SNP and Lib Dem party parties in the past, that's about as political as the Jiggers is going to get, to be honest...

Nick Clegg Needs A Nickname. I vote for "Chas".

BBC spending 08-09

My favourite radio station, BBC 6 Music is being threatened with closure. It costs 9 million pounds a year to run, and has had a growing audience since its inception, and "had an average weekly reach of 695,000 listeners in the final three months of last year". I agree with Richard Bacon's comments about 6 music that "6 Music is a beautiful example of the BBC at its best."

This chart shows spending of the BBC in 08-09. Click for bigger. From here

The obvious cuts the BBC should be making, in my opinion, are in talent. If times are hard, they should be investing in fresh presenters. Removing Ross, Robinson and Clarkson alone would keep 6 music afloat. I'm a fan of Top Gear, but I'd be happy watching reruns of the first 12 series on iplayer if they had to drop the presenters. Jonathan Ross is great on radio, but on TV he is cringe-worthy and doesn't deserve the slot (or the money) he gets.

6 music is a fantastic station, with a brilliant variety of witty, intelligent DJs who are passionate about the music they play. I've been a great fan of Adam & Joe, Jon Richardson, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq to name but a few. How many stations can land Bob Dylan to present a radio show?

It goes on every morning in my house, and often throughout the day too. Nothing else comes close to the quality of this station's output. The fact that they deliver it on such a small budget is incredible.

Support the petition here

Update: Jiggers Ceilidh Band on Scotland's BBC Live hogmanay show?

I have a theory that if everybody spoke like Robbie Shepherd, there wouldn't be any wars.

Sadly, this year the Jiggers ceilidh band will NOT be performing on Radio Scotland's live Hogmanay show. A bit gutted. That would have been fun. It was an honour to be asked, though! We've got some of our musicians playing at Hampden, others at the Hilton, AND (to further disappoint those of you who like fortuitous alliteration) at the Mormon Church. (maybe they could call it a Hootenanny?) It's going to be a pretty tight stretch as it is...

Good news, however, is that I discovered the DV tapes from the original BIG JIG were NOT corrupted after all, it was just the video camera I was playing them in! D'oh! Well, that means that I'll have TWO events to get a new Jiggers video from (the other being the Wee Jig on Saturday night there). So all in all, things are going OK.

 www.bbc.co.uk

Brother, can you spare $3000 billion?

Look at this diagram. Do you understand it? Tell me what you think it means in the comments section.

via www.informationisbeautiful.net

Statistics are supposed to be able to speak for themselves. They don't, though, really. I mean, even when it is explained what a billion dollars is, what does the concept "a billion dollars" actually mean? Who really understands economics?

HOW MANY CD's IS THAT, EXACTLY?

My wife tends to work out the value of something in CDs. If you rate a CD at £10 (and right away, our figures are outdated), then a new top might cost the equivalent of 3 CDs. Get one, miss out on the other. It works when looking at comparable luxury items. But what about a meal out? How do you quantify the value of a nice evening with friends? 4CDs? It's a different kind of pleasure, with different anticipation and memory, which in themselves are types of pleasure. Already it's breaking down as a unit of measurement.

And what about getting new tyres for the car? 5CDs? This has to be measured against negative propositions...what would the cost be if I had a blow-out at 70mph? How much is hiring a hearse, these days...and how often do they change their tyres?

Comedian George Carlin has a curiously incisive understanding of the true nature of economics. In the end, it's all just "stuff". (NSFW)

Planning a Jiggers charity ceilidh

A client phoned me this morning. They've booked the ceilidh band for a big Edinburgh ceilidh fundraiser in the Assembly Rooms for the charity FAIRBRIDGE, which works with young people aged 13-25, helping them "develop the confidence, motivation and skills they need to turn their lives around."

They work with people who are NEET : Not in Employment, Education or Training. I think this is an excellent charity, and it's well worth having a look at their website. Also worth reading some of the newspaper articles that mention Fairbridge, too.

I've always thought it would be so frustrating working for a charity: always asking people to give of their time and money, or discounts on their services. Appealing to good will rather than capitalist self-interest always struck me as a difficult route, but it's certainly a vital part of our culture.

It's no easy thing, running these kind of events. There's a lot of competition out there, especially in Edinburgh, where they go in for ceilidhs in a big way.

The Jiggers ceilidh band do offer discounted rates for charity events, and we do our very best to accomodate and support the charities who hire us. I'm happy to mention any public Jiggers events in the blog or newsletter, too! We've also got useful resources for anyone planning and promoting a ceilidh on our website.

And since we're talking about charity, did you know that the Jiggers plant 5 trees for every ceilidh we play? Carbon neutral ceilidh: it's the way forward.

Michael Jackson: King of Controversy

I was called this morning to do a live interview on a radio show, talking about Michael Jackson's death and his legacy. That's right. They called...me. I'm assuming people really want to hear about the opinion of some guy from a ceilidh band in Glasgow about Michael Jackson.

 Or maybe he's such an easy subject to have an opinion on, I guess you could call anyone...It was a breakfast show. They called me and got waffle.

People are attracted to dramatic conflict. Maybe the most influential celebrities are the ones who learn how to polarise public opinion over matters which don't really affect the public. Actors. Musicians. Sportsmen. You can have an opinion on them without worrying about the consequences. It's not a political or religious opinion, after all. It's not an opinion about something that directly affects you...It's not important.

If you want to know my opinion of Michael Jackson (as far as it goes) I mentioned him a couple of months back here. Other than that, I'm sure you're quite bored of people spouting opinions on something they don't really care about. Sham...off.