Merry Quizmas! The Quarterly Pub Quz at the MAC

Manic is one word to describe the first 'Quarterly Quiz' at the MAC. Fun is another. As you walk in you are greeted by the sight of a roaring fire being projected on to a screen that occupies most of the reception desk - an electric guitar, pedals and amp are there too. Also there are fairy lights, a small table, a chair, a pint of Guinness and local comedian Paul Currie. It's at this point you feel under dressed. Starting at the floor he is wearing a pair of perfect white cuban heels and a Ron Burgundy style suit (only in blue). He has teamed all this with shoulder length hair and a wonderful beard. Standing at least 6 feet tall, he is, quite literally, a feast for the eyes.

The Quarterly Quiz happens every 3 months (hence quarterly) and is £5 for a team of 5. It started about 8:30pm on Sunday night, finishing about 3 hours later (for a full nights entertainment it was certainly value for money). As the Quiz started, Paul revealed that he had a different prop for each round.  He had a snow hat and goggles for the Geography round (as he made wind noises into the mic and quoted Captain Scott) and a visor and sunglasses for the film round - oh and a rubber hand on a ten foot pole for the "draw a horse" round. Yes thats right, there was a draw a horse round and the results were quite surprising, in a good way. Our team won this round with help from our friends over at The Skeleton Blog, as the rubber hand of fate picked our flying horse to be the best.

Guitar Intros

The other rounds consisted of film, Geography, culture, general knowledge, picture rounds, guitar intros and sport.  The picture round, rather ingeniously, consisted of pictures of various bar staff behind their respective bars and you had to guess what bar it was. Extra points if you knew the bar person's name.  The usual "guess the intro" round was replaced by the intros being played on an electric guitar.  It's always great to bring a bit of live music in when possible and this was a fun round.

Currie also conducted the sports round in a "spide" accent the whole way through, like. Because who loves sport more than spide.

Wall of Horse

We didn't win the overall quiz, but the awarding of the prizes was no less frenzied than the previous 3 hours. The first place winners were disqualified from winning prizes because they had sneaked more than 5 onto their team.  The second place winners were also exempt from winning prizes because they were made up of MAC staff. So the 3rd place winners won the 1st place prize and 4th place won the second place prize. Stop me if any of this is making sense...

The prizes consisted of jotters, Lowry prints and colouring in books, tickets to shows at the MAC and vouchers for meals at the MAC restaurant.

The winning Horse

All in all it was a brilliant evening. I was designated driver so ne'er a drop passed my lips all evening and even stone cold sober it was a brilliant time.  We'll be back in 3 months, you should probably get a team together and do the same.

Pigstock & Glasgowbury - Local Festivalling at it's best

So with the sun shining and temperatures reaching as high as 20 Celsius, for the music lover this can bring to mind only one thing - festival season is upon us!

See that picture above?  The one with a terrified looking Duke Special?  That's me (fairly drunk) at Glasgowbury 2010. Look how much fun I'm having scaring this poor man.  you too could have that much fun.  Just read on...

Over the last 13 years I have been to festivals of all kinds, in different countries and of all shapes and sizes -  Leeds weekender, Download, Sonisphere, Oxegen, Forfay, Novarock, Electric Bay to name a few.  I actually met my wife at a festival 13 years ago, so they'll always hold a special place for me. I have been to at least one festival every year for the last 10 years and wouldn't consider a summer complete without one. So I would consider my self somewhat of an experienced festivaller (is that a word?) They're a great time to get away for a few days, immerse yourself in music and have a laugh with your mates.   This year I'm pretty skint, so with that in mind I'm forgoing attending a major fest and instead keeping it local, I know I'll spend no-where near the amount of money on the 2 weekends at the smaller festivals that I'd spend on the one big festival. So..I thought I'd write a few of my thoughts on festivals of all sizes and then preview the 2 I'll be attending this year.


Having been to a festival with 100,000 people and one with a few hundred, I wanted to put a few points across for going local, to the smaller fest that's crammed with local talent.

Money

A big reason is money, there's a recession on and people are wanting more bang for their buck. For example Pigstock festival is £35 for the weekend  and that includes camping, so for £35 you get 2 days and nights of non-stop music, accommodation and night time cinema/shenanigans.Usually about £70 would do you for booze and food, so you can see for about £100, it's a cheap enough way to spend a weekend.  On the other hand a ticket to Download festival will set you back £200 plus plane fare and spends when you're there. I've never come back from a major festival without spending at least £250 and that was purely on food and booze. At the end of the day you're not walking away with change from £500. 

 

Local Talent

Supporting and discovering local talent is a great reason to go as well.  This country is crammed with talent, and while international acts are all well and good, it's always good to check out what's on you doorstep.  The smaller festivals tend to be top to toe local entertainment and as such are a great time to check them out and possibly find your self a new favourite band.  

The Undercard

Swanee River @ Pigstock

Always look at the under card, we know that the big boys are on the main stage, but when theres not a band on you like go and check out a band you've never seen before.  It's all too easy to plonk yourself in front of the main stage near the bar and just check out the "mainstream" acts, and if there's band on you love - by all means do exactly that, but when there's not, take a wander and see other bands, it's a great opportunity to see band's that you normally wouldn't. Perhaps bands that you wouldn't listen to at home but make for a great live show, or even some local talent that don't usually play near you.  I've discovered loads of bands that are now in my CD collection this way - Mental Def, Triggerman, General Fiasco, 2 Door cinema club, ASIWYFA.  Also before you go to the fest perhaps give a few bands a listen, that way you will know earlier if they're something you might like.

This year Pastie Bap will be going to 2 festivals - Pigstock and Glasgowbury. We've been to both of these before many times and love them both dearly, like our own special sons, so here's a wee preview of both.  We'll be reporting back after the events too!

Glasgowbury

Wonder Villians @ Glasgowbury

The big Daddy of Norn Irish fests  - it may only be 1 day and 1 night, but what a day and night it always is. Statistically the last weekend in July is NI's hottest and that’s when Glasgowbury is held, so chances are you're in for a fine weekend weather wise.  Put that together with 4 stages at the foot of the Sperrins, some drink and a tent to sleep it all off in and you can see why this is such a good time.  This is the biggest of the local fests, so the "Small but Massive" motto that they boast is entirely apt. 

The Signs @ Galsgowbury

 I've been to Glasgowbury 4 times now and it keeps getting bigger and better, they added a comedy tent last year that went down a storm, they have excellent food vendors and awesome extras like drum circles, (the now infamous) sign making and guys from the circus school bouncing around.
The early bird camping ticket will set you back £40 and it's money well spent.

Therapy? are headlining this year and there's always more acts being announced.

The Japanese Popstars / Fighting With Wire / LaFaro / Axis Of / RunawayGO / Best Boy Grip / Soak / Pocket Billiards / Sons Of Caliber / The Wonder Villains / Farriers / Marc O’Reilly / Amidships / Silhouette / Paddy Nash & The Happy Enchiladas / VerseChorusVerse / Pretty Child Backfire / Our Krypton Son / Kowalski / Enemies / Katie & The Carnival / The Man Whom / Droids / Master & Dog / Tied To Machines / The Dead Presidents / Tucan / The 1930s / The Jepettos / Scorpion Jack / Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters / John Deery & The Heads / Humanshield / Mojo Gogo / Intermission / 4 Conors /Psycatron / Deep Fried Funk / Boxcutter presents The Host / Space Dimension Controller /Ryan Vail.

http://www.glasgowbury.com/

http://www.facebook.com/glasgowbury

https://twitter.com/glasgowbury

Pigstock



No Mean City @ Pigstock

If Glasgowbury is the big daddy, then this is the naughty school boy of NI festivals.  With a leaning more towards rock music but with something for everyone Pigstock is a weekend of loud music and good times.  Improving every year and forming from humble beginnings, Pigstock expanded last year to 2 nights and a much batter layout.  It has 3 stages of music, a spoken word tent, late night cinema, an on site bar and of course the famous hog roast that it's named after, that truly has to be tasted to believe.  It's a very family friendly festival with separate campsite away from the rowdys with its own noise curfew.  It's held in a field in the middle of nowhere, well Killinchy to be more precise. 

Mental Deficiency @ Pigstock

A weekend ticket with Camping will cost you £35 (and possibly your soul)

Headlined by MOJO FURY and Fighting with Wire with supporting cast from

Jogging/ More Than Conquerors/ Colly Strings/ Jamie Neish/ Not Squares/ Rarely Seen Above Ground/ Kowalski/ Tieranniesaur/ Ryan Vail/ Team Horse/ Chris Campbell/

Mojo Fury/  Mmoths/ Squarehead/ Pocket Billiards/ In Case Of Fire/Silhouette/ Run Away Go/ Farriers/ Eatenbybears/ In Elegance/ Not Squares/ Rarely Seen Above Ground/ Kowalski/ Tieranniesaur/ Ryan Vail/ Team Horse/ Chris Campbell

http://www.pigstockfestival.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/Pigstock

https://twitter.com/pigstockfest

Vive le Cabaret! - Cabaret Supper Club joins Belfasts Dinner Theatre Fraternity

People like going out for something to eat, and people like being entertained, so it comes as no surprise that in the last year - the year in which Belfast has most flourished - we see a growing trend towards dinner theatre type venues. We've seen Burt’s Jazz at the Merchant and Cabaret Teatro at Botanic, both of which serve delicious food and sumptuous entertainment.  The latest addition to this is AM:PM’s offering  “Cabaret Supper Club”.

Living Social

PastieBap recently went to Cabaret on a Living Social Voucher. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, Living Social is a deal based website (like the ever popular Groupon) where they team up with local businesses to offer you a great deal every day.  In this case it was £24 for 2 people to attend the Sunday brunch at Cabaret and have a main meal each.  You just buy the deal online, print out the voucher, book your place and then show up. This is a great way to drum up business especially during opening weeks and to spread the word of mouth from (hopefully) satisfied customers. 

The Cabaret Supper Club

Situated near the Corn Market area of Belfast and next door to City Hall, The Cabaret Supper Club is directly in the centre of town, just an easy walk from Victoria Square also (as seems to be oh so important these days). It is also fairly close to the new Titanic Belfast building and Titanic Quarter too.  If anyone has seen the old film Cabaret with Liza Minnelli or the more recent Burlesque you will know the sort of look they are going for. A kind of Parisian, decadent, slightly gaudy look.  Mirrors everywhere, red velvet on the walls giving it a fairly plush look.


So the first thing you see when you go in is a giant mirror, a poster for Cabaret and red velvet everywhere.  As you walk up the stairs to the first floor you are greeted by a concierge who then takes your reservation and seats you for the performance.  When you are seated in your booth, you will notice there is a small bell which looks like a gold door bell just behind you. 

This bell is a great novelty and is used to call the staff should you need them.  We attended a Sunday Brunch where we were treated to a main course and a show.  Our party was six people strong and they were able to seat us all together in front of the decadent stage.

The Food

So we sat down and we were presented with the menu.  From the menu I selected roast beef, others in my group had the chicken and the lamb and it was all described beautifully in a delightful looking menu.  The roast beef turned out to be more like a thin cut of steak served on mash with a slightly sweet gravy like jus. This was delicious and cooked to perfection.  One wouldn’t expect to get such a nice piece of meat being described as roast beef.  We then ordered some drinks.  We did order tap water and were presented with a kind of self-bottled water which they charged us £2.50 for. This was a bit of a niggle as when you ask for tap water, you expect to get water from the tap which is free, so we were a little bit disappointed when we got the bill for that. 

We had some wine, deserts and coffees all of which were delicious.  The coffee came out warm, not piping hot which wasn't to everyone's liking, but suited me just fine. The staff were fairly attentive and well decked out, in matching black and white uniforms and when we rung the bell they came quickly enough.

The Entertainment

The entertainment afforded to us on the Sunday was a Magician, followed by a man playing the grand piano. He played all the rat pack favourites and then a few contemporary tunes done in a swing style. 

The first of the entertainment was a magician/comedian.  I would say that he was more suited to nighttime entertainment than perhaps Sunday mid-day, but he did the best with what he had and his tricks were good, and he was entertaining. He tried to get audience participation which people weren’t really having, perhaps they were hungover or perhaps they didn’t want to be taken up on the stage while eating, but he then said he couldn’t find enough volunteers and had to strip a bit off his show.  The bits he did perform were really good though and as somebody who really enjoys magic I thought his tricks were traditional, yet well done, which made for an entertaining act.  After that a tuxedoed gentleman came out and tinkled the ivories on a grand piano which sat in front of the stage.  The grand piano was an impressive sight to see and to heart being played over Sunday lunch was great.  The volume was pretty good too, loud enough to hear but low enough to talk over should you want.

The Facilities

A pet peeve of mine is that a lot of places put great effort into the decor of the main room and neglect the toilet areas.  It kind of ruins everything they’re working towards, especially with a themed restaurant.  But the toilets here were done out in the same style as the restaurant.  The mirrors were framed ornately and lacquered in black which gave them a slightly gothic look. They were clean and well kitted out.

The Round Up

Looking around the restaurant, it’s quite a large place, it looked like it could seat about 200 at at time.  Every table looked individual, some of them had high backed booths, some of them had individual seats, some stools etc.  There were chandeliers around and all in all the place looked fantastic.  The waiting staff were quick to serve and my only gripe would be about the tap water.  I think it said re-filtered water and it was presented in a glass re-usable bottle.  We asked for the bill and received it promptly and paid the remainder of what we owed, the rest had already been covered by our purchase of the Living Social voucher, and all in all everyone in the group agreed that it was a great way to spend Sunday lunchtime. 

We would all love to go back on a weekend night, when they have the full bill of entertainment, like the burlesque dancers, singers, magicians, and fire breathers, so it is definitely a place we will be re-visiting and a welcome addition to Belfast’s dinner theatre scene.

The Caberet Supper Club webpage
Living Social Belfast

Belfast? There's an App For That.

Four new Belfast related iPhone Apps have recently been launched to the iTunes App Store. The Belfast Music, Literary Belfast, Go To Belfast and My Tour Talk Apps were all launched last year in order to help raise Belfast’s profile and to engage tourists who may be visiting Northern Ireland for such events as the MTV Europe Music Awards or the Titanic Centenary.

Click on the  images below to be taken to the iTunes app store where you can download these apps!

The Belfast Music App has been created by Belfast City Council in partnership with NITB, Filmtrip, Culture Northern Ireland and OhYeah to accompany the new Belfast Music website and the music bus tour, and to lift the international profile of music in the city. The app itself showcases many of Northern Ireland’s top venues and homegrown legends alongside more modern musicians. This exciting new app features musical accompaniment from Neil Hannon, The Undertones, David Holmes, Ash, Therapy? and the Ulster Orchestra and takes you on a journey through Belfast’s rich musical heritage. 

The Literary Belfast App has been developed by Belfast City Council in partnership with NI Tourist Board, Filmtrip, CultureNI, Queen's University and the BBC. The app boasts video guides by Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Paul Muldoon, Sinead Morrissey, Leontia Flynn, Bernard MacLaverty and Ciaran Carson, and offers the audience a unique view ‘Through Writers’ Eyes.’ Alongside this is a News and Events section, which keep you up to date on festivals, readings and literary events across Belfast. The app also features guides through literary landmarks and facts about famous writers from the city such as The Chronicles of Narnia writer, C. S. Lewis.

For locals and tourists alike, the Go To Belfast App is the perfect app for finding your way around the city. The Go To Belfast App is the official tourist app for Belfast and is full of information, suggestions on where to go, what to do and what’s on. The app has a number of unique features which help to make it stand out as the number one tourist app for Belfast. These features include telling the app where you are and how much time you have and the app will suggest what you should do and where you should go, a restaurant finder, local recipes and an offers section to show you great deals and where to find them!

Finally, the My Tour Talk App lets you listen to fantastic audio tours of many places around Northern Ireland, from the Giant’s Causeway, to the Fermanagh Lakelands. This app offers full length or ‘bitesize’ tours both of which offer advice on where to eat, shop, drink and what events are on, alongside giving information and facts about the surrounding area.

These apps offer a wide range of information on many areas of tourism and culture and are available to download from iTunes. 

Titanic Week and Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Picks!

Titanic Week

The Titanic Belfast Festival is finally here to commemorate 100 years since the big boat sailed away.  They're putting on MTV concerts, boutique festivals, light shows, dramatisations, tours, plays, movies, all sorts to mark the occasion.  But the Biggest news is the opening of the 90 odd million pound Titanic  Belfast Centre.  Now PastieBap.com hasn't had a chance to go yet but we will be there at the end of the month and we'll be giving our opinion on whether its been £97 million well spent.  But I have to say that the buzz surrounding the opening was phenomenal.  It was all over the social media and world wide; the news papers were spreading the news. I personally am excited to see what it's like and I'm excited for Belfast to get such an impressive looking building.  It certainly makes my train ride into work that little bit better looking and it's a welcome addition to the port of Belfast.  The rejuvenation of the Titanic Quarter as a whole has been a breath of fresh air for Belfast and securing these sorts of monies can't have been easy especially during this recession. I feel it firmly secures Belfast as a world class city and an excellent holiday destination for anyone visiting for the UK or world wide.  In fact we like the building so much we've put it in our banner!  Come back at the start of May for our full write up.

Titanic Belfast

Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Picks!

These are our top picks from the upcoming Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.  There is a lot to choose from however so go and have a wee look for yourself.

Tickets

 

Tickets

Tickets

Tickets

Tickets