Halloween Started Early, Posted Late

It didn't look like a miracle on 39th Street last Halloween afternoon, but it sounded pretty good! Riggity Jig played at friend Tom McKieth's request at the annual 39th Street Halloween block Party in Sacramento.

May the Road Rise Halfway Up to Meet You

(Yawwwn.) Hmmm? Oh, I must have dozed off for a few months there.
Let's see -- September. If it's September, we must be coming up on half-Pat's, the day on which they celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the planet Leonard, Earth's secret twin, which of course we can never see from here because it's always on the opposite side of the sun from us. There's some debate over whether Leonardians have a more advanced civilization than we do or the other way round, but either way it's just a matter of 6 months' difference. So either they're 6 months behind and their economy is still a total and absolute wreck (rather than a total but no longer absolute wreck), or they're 6 months ahead and have already seen all of the holiday-release movies and are busy reading the surprise 8th volume of Harry Potter ("Harry Potter and the Big, Scary Monster with a Silly-Sounding Name").

September . . . September . . . Let's see . . . What else is supposed to happen in September. Oh, right! It's time for Riggity Jig to raise a half-pint in celebration of Half-Pat's! And where better to do that than at Yolo County's premier Czech restaurant, Little Prague Bohemian Restaurant?

The music starts September 19 at 6 pm and continues til 9, with occasional pauses so the band members can regain their composure.

Come join us for half a minute, half an hour, or half the evening. As ever, reservations are recommended: Call 530-756-1107.

Picnic Day Impromptu

Riggity Jig is playing on the patio at Little Prague on Saturday, April 18, from 3 to 5 pm . . . an impromptu set celebrating UC Davis Picnic Day. After enjoying the parade, the dachshund races, or the edible cockroach exhibit, stop by Little Prague on G Street for a cold beer or one of Eva's fabulous desserts.

No rain forecast for Picnic Day this year!

P.S. That's RJ flautist/whistler Lee Riggs in the photo, squeezing his way to the Picnic Day Milk-Off championship a few years back. (Lee's the one with his EAR toward the camera.)

It's March and we're Irish again!

Riggity Jig enthusiasts have a busy week coming up, as has your favorite Celtic band (meaning "us"). March 14 (Saturday) will be a pre-St.-Pat's bash at Little Prague in Davis, and we'll be back again for a Little Prague dinner gig on Tuesday, March 17. Six to nine pm both nights. And to make sure we don't suffer from low-corned-beef syndrome or cabbage insufficiency, we'll also play for the Dixon chapter of the Knights of Columbus at 6 pm Sunday, March 15. By the end of that day, I'm sure we'll all feel that we've et tu much.
Be there or wish you were!

Thanks for Kind Words

Thanks to Tom McKeith for sending us a link that proves we have been mentioned elsewhere in the blogosphere! Take a look at Rookie Cookery for an upbeat and unbiased account of the goings on at Sunday night's Burns Supper at Little Prague. Even before-and-after photos of a feerst-time taster o' the haggis!

Thanks to Burns-o-philes

Thank you, everyone, for coming out the Sunday night's Robert Burns Supper at Little Prague in Davis. We had a full house for at least part of the night -- pretty good for a rainy Sunday -- and some folks sat up front and stayed right through til the end at 9 pm!

One of our fans may have felt a cool breeze on his or her neck on the way home last night, though: A lovely, brown, cable-knit scarf was found up near the front of the room near the band when we were cleaning up. Send us a note if it's yours, and we'll try to get it back to you.

And thanks again to Vaclav and Little Prague for having us, for supplying the substantial haggis, and for providing the band with such a delicious meal afterward. And those desserts!

Serious Burns Unit

Maybe it took 250 years to happen, but Rabbie Burns is gettin' his due this year in news media near and far. Take a look at these:

The Sacramento Bee, January 23, 2009

The New York Times, January 18, 2009

BBC News, January 16, 2009

The Sacramento Bee's print edition includes a list of Burns Night events, including our gig at Little Prague as well as a sit-down dinner for Dixon and Davis folks and a reading of the Bard's poetry in Sacramento. Get out there and grab a copy!