Jig Blog

Venue Review: House For An Art Lover, Glasgow

A popular wedding venue where the Jiggers are regularly invited to play is Glasgow's House For An Art Lover in Bellahouston park. (It's just round the corner from where the Jiggers are based, which is nice!). This is the venue of choice for lovers of Charles Rennie Mackintosh art and architecture.

The venue has an upstairs section for the reception ceremony and meal, with the downstairs "Art Lover's Cafe" which is a kind of mini-gallery that transforms into the gathering place for the evening ceilidh.

We often provide clients with music for the full day there, and were performing there again at the weekend. A popular choice is our bigdaymusic Wedding Silver Music Package, which includes a piper for welcoming guests (handy, if you're lost in the park and can't find the venue) and our jazz pianist usually tickles the ivories on the venue's baby grand piano during the meal. We also supply our string quartet for e.g. the drinks reception or the ceremony which can be held in the venue too.

Clients often ask what size of band is suitable for the House for an Art Lover...We usually suggest 3 piece or 4 at a push. 5 would be tight, especially if it was a full function band with backline. You can see the relatively small stage setup of the 3 piece Jiggers band, including DJ & lights, in the picture below. Including lights with the entertainment is a must for the art lovers cafe, whose white walls really benefit from some nice party lighting, i think.

If you've had an event at the House for an Art Lover, please do post a comment to tell us about your experience there.

Me, Katie & Dougie, the 3 piece Jiggers ceilidh band outside the House For An Art Lover.

The baby grand piano in the dining room

The 3 piece band & DJ option has a smaller footprint and fits snugly into the corner of the room!

 

Eco Coke Bottle design

This new coke bottle design looks very cool. I would buy it. They should make it.

15 tips for the worried bride (part 1)

So here are some thoughts on wedding worries. You'll have to balance the fact that I've been helping wedding clients with their entertainment for 12 years with the fact that I'm still only a bloke, and will never fully understand the deeply disturbing psychosis of the female mind :-)

1. Develop a sense of perspective.

This is easier said than done. But the truth is that you've probably been planning for this day for a very long time, perhaps even before you met your spouse-to-be. Some women start planning the details at the age of 3 or 4. That's a freight-train of expectation which is going to be hard to stop. Learn to put the brakes on your expectations, and find ways to cross-reference them with this thing the rest of us call reality.

2. Move your expectations to marriage, not the wedding day.

Marriage is for life, not just for weddings. The wedding magazines don't tell you that, because they don't make their money out of your marriage. One way to get a rein on your expectations is to shift them to marriage, rather than your wedding.  Marriage can be so much more rewarding, and give you so many more great experiences and memories than your wedding day ever can. Speak to the person who is marrying you both. If it's a minister, he might offer marriage classes. These are surprisingly valuable, and can help contextualise the cultural and spiritual importance of marriage itself, rather than just the wedding ceremony.

3. Forget yourself.

The bride is the only one who gets to dress in a big amazing white dress. Don't be fooled into thinking that makes you a princess by default, though. The wedding day is as much about the guests and family as it is about the bride and groom. Remember that guests have made an effort to get dressed up to come along, and that's something to be grateful for. The entertainment and food are secondary to recognising the fact that you guests are people too. They have emotional needs, and nothing will make a wedding gathering more enjoyable than guests who feel appreciated. But before you think I'm saying you should go about apologising to everyone, and worrying about them...

4. Remember yourself.

Maybe you've got an awful lot of friends and extended family, and enough money to feed and entertain them all. If that's the case, then be aware that you are not planning a small informal social gathering, and as a result you just cannot get around all your guests. The speeches are a perfect time to communicate to everyone how grateful you are for them making the effort, but let them know that if you can't see them much today, you're really looking forward to hearing from them as you start your married life. Make firm offers of dinners and get-togethers for after the wedding...And not just so you can talk about the wedding: so you can find out about what's happening in their lives.

People do want to see you enjoying yourself, not getting flustered. Let them be gracious to you as you are gracious to them.

5.Think about the symbolism.

A wedding day is heavy with symbolic meaning. It is not just a party, it's a celebration. Think about what you are celebrating; what you are marking. Your lifelong commitment to your spouse. It symbolises The importance of friends and family and community. Remember not to place more value on the symbol than the thing it symbolises.

So that's the first five ideas for starters.  I'd be grateful for any responses to this. Just click on the comments box below this post and add your thoughts!

Stay tuned for part 2...

Tips for Brides: Scottish Weddings Without the Worry

I recently asked Brides-to-be over on the Scottish Wedding Directory wedding forum about what they worried most about when planning their weddings. I'd like to repeat the question here.

I've dealt with brides and grooms-to-be for the last 12 years of running the ceilidh band, but I have to say I was pretty shocked and amazed by some of the answers. Shocked that there could be just so many things to worry about, and amazed that women can enjoy or look forward to their wedding day at all!

Worries include:

Wedding Dress: fit or split?

Weather: will it rain? Will it ruin the photos?

Guests: will they enjoy it? Will they be bored?

Family: will they show up? Will they show me up?

And then of course you've got the long list of wedding suppliers. Are they all reliable? Will they turn up on time? Will they deliver on their promises? Will they ruin everything?

As a Scottish wedding music supplier, I've worked with clients at both ends of the spectrum: those who are lovely, relaxed and enjoying every minute of it, and of course the occasional "bridezilla" (though to be fair, it's often just as much dad-zilla, groom-zilla, or sometimes even the vicar...man-of-God-zilla)

Next week I'll be posting on this subject, trying to understand *why* people get so frantic about their wedding day, hopefully outlining some of the practical solutions to the problem of wedding worry.

So to all the brides-to-be out there...what are you worried about?

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)

Map of McDonald's Restaurant in the U.S.

If you're unlucky enough to be a cow in the U.S this map might be useful. For the safety of your family, you might consider moving to the  McFarthest Spot. That is, the area located furthest from ANY McDonald's restaurant. It's 145 miles by car from this spot to the nearest Maccie Dee's. I don't know any cows who drive, so I'm assuming you'd have to hoof it.

It's nice to know that if you ever plan to visit the U.S., wherever you go, you're never more than a couple of hours away from some disappointingly flavourless grilled meat.

HT: weathersealed

Toto's "Africa", performed by a choir

Last night I attended a free concert at Wellington Church on University Avenue (as part of the West End Festival) to hear various works including Vivaldi's Gloria (not Gloria's "Vivaldi".) We heard an organ piece which attempted to emulate a thunderstorm as it interrupts a typical church service. It was a brave attempt (the thunder was more convincing than the lightning, it has to be said).

Coincidentally in my email this morning is a link from the Innocent Smoothies newsletter of Perpetuum Jazzile Choir.

It's hard to get traditional choirs to do this kind of thing well, because the disciplines are so different for pop music than they are for classical, particularly with respect to groove/feel.

But I think these guys do it very well indeed.

Looking forward to the JS Bach Mass in B Minor tomorrow performed by the Dunedin Consort in the same venue.  Tickets are still available for this work, sometimes described as the humanity's most eloquent argument for the existence of God...

Tickets are £10 on the door (contrary to what the festival website says), or £5 for students. 7.30 start.

Restaurant review: Number 16 (Byres Road, Glasgow)

First of all, don't worry if you think you've missed the other 15 restaurant reviews on the Jigblog. I'm not A.A. Gill, you know. And in case I need to prove that, here is my first (and possibly last) restaurant review.

Number 16 Byres Road, a restaurant in the west end of Glasgow was the venue of choice for Mrs Jiggers birthday lunch. A ludicrously good deal of £10.50 for 3 courses and a free drink/glass of wine courtesy of their deal on 5pm.co.uk.

I'll point out that when it comes to food reviews, my lexicon of outlandish adjectives and deliciously inane similes is pitifully undernourished. I've used most of my best vocab in the last sentence.

From the generously-proportioned set menu we ordered the fishcake and the ox-cheek for starters. I couldn't tell you if it was like an unexpected punch to the solar-plexus from a well-meaning friend, but it did taste like the most fantastic thing I've eaten in a good while.

The main course of pork-belly (her) and pan-fried chicken breast for me were probably quite dissimilar to an uneventful bike-ride off a pier, but again, like I say, I'm not A.A. Gill, so I couldn't say for sure. It tasted amazing though. Lots of distinct flavours. That's a good thing,with food, isn't it?

Desserts of sticky toffee pudding (me) and baked meringue with strawberry sorbet were most definitely not comparable to discovering that the reason your history teacher gave you funny looks in class was because he was actually your dad, but they tasted brilliant. Especially the sticky toffee pud. Mmmmmm.

Number 16 is a pretty tiny restaurant at the bottom of Byres Road seating maybe 20 people. They have 2 or 3 front of house staff (is that the right term, or am I getting mixed up with P.A. systems?) and 2 or 3 chefs working in a tiny kitchen through the back. The desserts chef has to use suction cups on his elbows and prepares his work from the ceiling, I'm told.

I like small restaurants. You're not going to get lost or forgotten about in number 16. The decor was elegant and understated, and conveys a sense that these people understand what a restaurant is for. Paper tablecloths with heavy cutlery. Friendly an efficient staff. A gratis bread roll and excellent oil and vinegar during the short wait for our starters. This all boded very well, and I always trust my bode.

At number 16, they know food. How to present it, how to cook it and how to serve it. And I'm worried that one day the bubble will burst and they'll figure out how to price it. FIVE...count them, one, two, three, four FIVE STARS.

Fun Friday links

More fun stuff for Fun Fridays.

Jean Luc Picard dance (video)

Things we have in common: we are human (pic)

The mysterious death of Chung Ling Soo (wikipedia)

The psychology of incompetence (video)