Jig Blog

Eco Coke Bottle design

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

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

Choir of the Year 2010

A spine-tingling choral performance down the Duck and Switchblade. Maybe Bigdaymusic should see if these guys are available for singing at weddings.

Apple Iphad announced

Apple's new tablet PC. Full unbiased reviews, pros & cons, measured and thoughtful analysis of the Apple iPad. On the Jigblog? iThinknot.

 

 

(yeah, these are all from b3ta, obviously)

Sign Up for the Jiggers Ceilidh Band Newsletter here...

I've finally figured out a simpler way to allow people to sign up to our newsletter without us having to process their email, add it into an xl file and upload the file to a server. This form does it automatically. Add your name and email address to sign up if you've never received a Jiggers newsletter. It's the surefire way to hear about any special offers or Big Jig ceilidhs we're running.

Name:

Email:

An interview with Pete Waterman

Paul Morley, on his "Showing Off..." series talks to Pete Waterman about Simon Cowell and the x-idol-pop-factor phenomenon.

Pete Waterman is experienced in the mechanisms of music and business, so I'm always interested to hear what he says. The work Stock, Aitken and Waterman produced in the 80s and 90s is a brilliant example of people who knew how to work the music industry.

One thing that frustrates me, though, in conversational interviews is that a question gets asked, but rarely answered properly. Waterman, seems to struggle with decisively articulating the nature of the x-factor show, or the role of Simon Cowell. He talks, certainly, but after 15 minutes, I'm still not sure of much of what he was trying to say... He doesn't sound like Bob Dylan or anything, but I'm not sure I'm enlightened by this discussion.

This is strange to me, as I would assume that a key to success in one's own industry is the ability to define it with precision. But perhaps that's not the case with media-related enterprises. Maybe that mystery and ambiguity is at the root of success, and why they even named the show "X-Factor". People talk about Simon Cowell being the only star of his show, and I believe they're right. Every interview he does simply reminds us of his mystery: the part he doesn't reveal about himself.

When I read or watch interviews with masters of industry,I often find they are rarely capable of holistically encapsulating the nature of their job. They give examples of "lessons", describe "behind the scenes" events, but rarely is there an overall guiding principle, a law by which they are governed.

They seem like specially engineered products of their environment, with their subconscious senses guiding them, but often without the intellectual capacity to fully rationalise their environment, or explain their actions. Perhaps this is true: maybe they are like the unthinking popstars that are so valuable to the likes of Waterman and Cowell, and that's why they themselves are so successful.

But perhaps these people, when being interviewed, are not concerned with revealing their own secrets? I wonder whether exposing the true motivations of their heart is too uncomfortable? Each interview becomes an opportunity to propagate their own mystique, so why should they make themselves smaller by articulating themselves into a box? They may have made their millions, but they still have their mystique to lose. The magic trick is forgotten about once you understand how it is done.

Glaswegian translators wanted. Gonnie Geeza Joab?

I noticed this BBC article  last month about a company needing Glaswegian-English translators.

Since running Scotland's best wee wedding music agency seemed like tough work in comparison, I decided to email them my application. 

Hi there. You've got to be kidding, right? Do you really need people to translate from Glaswegian? In what context?

I may be able to assist, having a fairly strong haunel oanna Glesga patois (though I have rarely seen it written). Sometimes I slip into it without realising. Gizza joab, eh?

G’oan yersel’

(Kind regards) etc...

----------- 

Today I received the following reply:

Dear Greg Thank you for your interest in the position of Glaswegian Interpreter. We received applications from a large volume of candidates and have been following a careful process to determine the individual best suited to the job.
Unfortunately, on this occasion you have been not been selected. We appreciate your taking time to contact us in relation to this opening, and wish you the best of luck in the future.
With best regards,

Andreas Schwarz

Trainee Project Manager

todaytranslations ltd

-----------------

Shockaroonie.

Big Jig video : Strip the Willow instructions

I've finally gotten around to getting the video from the first Big Jig off of 8 digital video tapes. Unfortunately, the tapes seem corrupted somehow,which is quite disappointing... I think I have a "be Kind Rewind" video jinx thing going on...

***edit*** 11/12/09 as it turns out, the videos WERE working after all...I'm currently editing videos for both the Big Jig last year and the Wee Jig last month. Expect new "moving picture!" videos in the new year... ***edit***

Luckily, I recorded the audio separately so here's a promo video I put together with some stills (courtesy of good pal Simon Varwell) using the good ol' Windoze Movie Maker. It's hard to capture the energy of your typical Jiggers Scottish ceilidh using static images, but it'll have to do until we get another video made! (maybe the Big Jig 3 beckons?)

A brief guide to electronic music

I've been spending a few hours enjoying this site: Ishkur's guide to Electronic Music. It's rude, ironic, opinionated and really quite funny. But it provides a fascinating insight into the development of electronic music, and traces stylistic strands and influences across such genres as house, hip hop, disco, jungle, dub and numerous ludicrous subcategories (booty bass and terrorcore to name but two).

Many of the inferences and deliniations will no doubt be highly contested by dance afficionados, but to do that is to miss the point. It documents the chemical reaction of culture, youth, media, politics and creativity over the dawn of the electronic age, and highlights key figures, moments and places in the history of electronic music. It also provides numerous audio samples to let you hear for yourself.

The funny thing is that I seemed to come to electronic music from completely the other end. I've grown up with the pop-ified version of electronic music: only the most accessible, catchy material that made it out of the clubs and onto radio (mine was a relatively innocent childhood!) But I didn't necessarily hear anything I definitely wanted to emulate. My musical training was classical and rock & pop. Guitars and keyboards and verse-chorus-bridge stuff.

I first developed an interest in making electronic music when I discover the sequencing software Logic Audio while studying music at uni. It just seemed to make sense, much more than written scores (I've always been poor at sightreading).

The interesting thing is that most of the electronic music I've made has not been consciously imitating certain artists or style. I had no idea that the drum loop I was using under that synth line meant I was making a breakbeat record. Or that adding reverb to that patch made this section sound like epic eurotrance. So it added a kind of naivety, but also a kind of freedom. You just make the music that sounds good to you, and don't worry about whether it's cool, or whether it's been done before. I wonder whether that stands in your favour if you want to get your music noticed? Does it help to "know" the genre you are working in? Or does it just make you seize up, discarding every idea that sounds a little like something else, because you're on a mission to make something original?

I have to say though, I think my favourite genre in this whole list is what he calls "VGM". Video Game Music. Created using the audio chips from Commodore 64s and ZX spectrums, this music was probably the music I listened to more than any other in my youth, and still creates a soft nostalgic feeling when I hear it. You can hear that influence quite strongly in much of my own electronic music. Go listen: it's on the bottom left of the Techno category.

And another great example of this kind of music I discovered today (on Spotify), listen to this.

Rave on, ravers, as my dad used to say.

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.

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

England: Where I went (and how it smelled)

Just back from a lovely fortnight down in England. It's a nice place. Do you know it? Just a bit south of Glasgow. I like it down there, even though they don't really do mountains properly,and even if they're a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to knowing how to run a ceilidh.

I like to live a bit of a rock and roll lifestyle, I'll admit. I'm a crazy, thrill-seeking, caution-to-the-wind, adventure junkie kind of a chap. So it's unsurprising that the highlight of our holiday was a visit to this place. That's right. We went on a guided tour of a Perfume Factory in the Cotswolds.

It was actually pretty interesting.

No, really.

Centred around the skills of their master perfumer John Stephen, the business depends on his developing and combining scents to create a perfume which successfully tick the boxes of the remit of a corporate client order. It's hardly glamorous. But please enough people in those marketing test groups, and you could find your secret concoction flying out of the door by the thousands of gallons, appearing on a million different shelves around the world.

 And yet it's basically a business that revolves around one guy's nose. That aspect appealed to me as a music producer and songwriter. You can get all the delivery infrastructure you like,whether it's a factory or a multi-faceted delivery and promotion network. But in the end it all comes down to the core product, whether it's a song or a smell. A riff or a whiff, if you will.

 If you ever intend to visit the Cotswolds (and I recommend you do, just to spend a day in the amazingly quaint Bourton-On-The-Water, which looks as though it should be populated entirely by Hobbits) then do go on the 45 minute tour of this factory.

Scents and perfumes is a market dominated by marketing companies. The brands of perfume you buy are nothing more than that: brands. About 80-90% of the cost of the product is ploughed into marketing. The global cosmetics, toiletries and fragrance industry is worth £6.2 billion.

Not something to be sniffed at.

(re: the pictures...Perfume marketing has a glamorous sexy public image, but I like to think these images uncover the startling reality of the seamy underworld where perfume really comes from.)

How does a musician arrange car insurance?

This promises to be the most exciting blog post about insurance that I'm ever likely to write. However, that is like saying that "4 Weddings And A Funeral" is the best film ever made by Richard Curtis which features a funeral and four weddings.

I hope to spice it up a little by including exciting pictures not really related to the blog, the ceilidh band or indeed anything to do with insurance.

Ready? Here goes.

Car insurance costs me a flippin fortune, despite the fact that I have never had an accident, and a number of years of no-claims bonus built up. I'm 30, so I'm probably outside the "psychotically dangerous" age range for guys. "Nul points" on the license (of course! what are you suggesting?!)

Computer says NO, NO, NO.

The problem (apart from my unsettling knack for honesty) is my choice of career. Tell insurance people that you manage and play in a Scottish wedding band, and it seems to blow their circuits.

"Hmm. No... the computer doesn't have that one. What about 'nurse'. Would you say you're a nurse?"

They don't like entertainers, and certainly not music agents, those insurance companies. There's an impending sense of doom attached to finding out that the insurance people, the most hated of all people, are making judgements about my trustworthiness.

They think I might get famous and do an Amy Winehouse on them. I wonder what *her* insurance costs...

ALL OVER THE INTERNET

Our quest to find a company willing to take our cold hard cash from us took us into some slightly worrying areas. My wife had a most surreal experience talking to someone at "Sheila's Wheels", the insurance company whose name suggests that kind of whimsical impulsiveness everyone looks for in a company responsible for handling fatal accident enquiries.

The woman my wife spoke to, however, seemed to have job confusion all of her own, believing somehow that her role was really some kind of careers counsellor, or maybe a clinical psychiatrist.

"I know what the underwriters are afraid of...they're worried that you'll sign the next big thing and they really don't like celebrities."
"but it's really mostly a wedding ceilidh band called the Jiggers".
"Let me just google them... "
(sounds of big stupid elephant fists mashing up and down on a computer keyboard)
"Oh no no no...they're ALL OVER the internet"

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. So nice to be "famous". I'm amazed that she found us, just by googling, oh, I don't know, "the Jiggers ceilidh band glasgow". What are the chances?

 OK, thanks, Sheila. I think I hear your home planet on the other line. Next?

MY DRINKING PROBLEM

I can understand it a bit...driving late at night from venues where (eek!) alcohol was dispensed. They don't really believe when I say I'm a tee-total musician. "Ha!" They say "How else does he cope with the crushing insecurity, eh?" (answer: I blog.)

Well, anyway, I managed to get a quote from a company called Bell insurance. They actually have "dance band musician" as a legitimate occupation. How validating! Plus, they're happy to insure me to use the car for full business purposes, not just to occasionally nip out to stock up on paperclips for the office cupboard.

The quote? Well it wasn't as much as £700 for fully comp, but it wasn't much less than that.

I may yet become a nurse.

Top 10 records every wedding DJ needs: No. 2

Why is Van Morrison's Brown Eyed girl such a successful record?

People "hear" music before they "hear" words. But what do they actually remember? Neither, I think.
It's confusing for a songwriter to hear that, but I think it's true. So what do listeners specifically remember about a song?

In the vein of “Summer of 69” , “Brown Eyed Girl” is an enduring classic record. Who can avoid its charms at a wedding disco?  It’s a simple song about the reclamation of youth, about love, simplicity, passion. And it has the added market appeal that it references about 25% of the world’s population in the title. Van was not writing this for a niche market.

I was playing pool in the student union when this record came on in the jukebox. I could probably give you a good guess as to what I was wearing, eating, who I was with, what I was thinking about, how much I was losing by...

Brown Eyed Girl is a soundtrack for happy times. Evocative. Music is a catalyst for emotion, but it's the emotion that people remember first, and the music second. Songwriters hoping for that enduring classic should think in terms of creating moments: enhancing experiences rather than creating notes and melodies.

Songs help human beings to feel alive. Once your song is indelibly associated with a certain emotional experience, listeners will return to the song to reclaim and re-examine that experience. The more firmly the song is rooted in a clear emotional experience, the more enduring the song will be.

I know a couple who admitted that Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" was their favourite all-time record. Need I say more?

Songwriters...musicians...people who enjoy good music... What are your thoughts? Do you agree, or am I way off the mark? Post a reply below.

Musician spotlight: Yvonne Lyon

I think Yvonne Lyon is one of the most exciting voices emerging from the Scottish singer-songwriter scene at the moment. She's gigging around the country just now, so do check her myspace page for her latest gigs near you.

She's doing her official (or is it unofficial?) album launch for her fourth album, "Ashes & Gold" on Saturday 8th August in City Halls. Gig details here.

Remember Yvonne, it's only official if an actual physical CD is actually physically launched. Not a lot of people know that.

 

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.

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.

targetted marketing: how NOT to do it.

HT: Failblog

www.facebook.com/ceilidhband

A few days ago, Facebook allowed people to create their own facebook address (e.g. for business cards etc...) Myspace made this an integral part of their business model, and it was always a bit annoying that I didn't really know how to link people to my facebook profile. Well, now I can. And as the profile pic suggests, I'm happy about that. (that's my wife, by the way. She's happy too.)

The Jiggers Ceilidh Band personal facebook profile address is now http://www.facebook.com/ceilidhband

What's yours?