There was a Jazz Band playing at my local pub a few months back and I couldn`t decide whether or not to go down, for a few weeks before the land lady had been raving about them, insisting they were excellent, but I didn`t take much notice as a Jazz Band isn`t exactly my cup of tea on a Friday night. There had been posters up for some time promoting the Jazz Band and giving details of previous gigs and upcoming events they will be attending, admittedly it did look impressive but anyone can make up things like that and claim they were here and there cant they…? Anyway back to the point, a few of my pals were going in with their wives and what not, me being single thought it would be a drag and give me even more of a headache when I wake up Saturday morning then I usually have, as I will probably have to get very drunk to put up with the band! To cut a long story short I went and really enjoyed it, jazz music isn`t really my thing but I thought it was a good form of entertainment, catchy tunes, lifted the mood and everyone seemed to enjoy it, even me!

The youngest one always gets the worst jobs… It`s a known fact and being the youngest in my family, I personally know that fact has been proven…several times! When it came to the organization of my big sisters grand wedding I was in charge of finding Jazz Bands, getting some back ground information on them, a picture, previous experience details, a demo CD and contact numbers I had my work cut out for me. Having to spend hours online searching for the same thing over and over again was not the way I wanted my Sunday to go, but I didn`t want to look like a kill joy did I, I simply had to grit my teeth, dig my heels into the floor and get on with it. Besides I am sure she would do the same for me when I am getting married… whatever! I typed Jazz Bands into various search engines and it brought up lots of results, I then just went through each one, taking notes and contacting the companies requesting the CDs. After hours of boring yet hard work I had plenty of feedback to hand over to my sister all we had to do was wait for the Jazz Bands CDs to arrive and choose the appropriate one.

With the takings dropping significantly each week I knew I had to do something drastic in the pub to give it any chance of survival at all. The credit crunch has hit everyone hard and lots of people are struggling, being in this trade if the punters have no money, I have no money. Sounds selfish I know but it is just the way it goes for me and all the other pub/shop owners across the country. So I decided to sit down with the staff and brain storm cheap ideas of getting the punters in where they can too have a cheap night out and enjoy themselves so they want to come back. We eventually narrowed it down to having some form of entertainment, its something different to what they usually see, will defiantly bring them out of their homes and wont cost them any more then a normal night in fact it will be cheaper as for each entertainment night we put on we will create a new cocktail which will be sold for very cheap on that particular night. We were all very excited and happy we had come to a conclusion; however the next stage was finding the appropriate band everyone will enjoy. A Swing Band, the head chef suggested. Something for everyone not irritating, usually not too expensive to hire, upbeat and unique, I loved it and everyone agreed. So I got online looking for a Swing Band to perform in my pub and I found one. The Swing Band was very professional and great fun.