Madrid gets decked out to host the XXV Jazz Festival anniversary. It will start on the 30th of October, and will extend until the 29th of November. The three best double-bassists in the World (Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller y Victor Wooten) will open the Festival with a special concert at the Joy Eslava venue.

There are 17 foreseen concerts: 15 will take place in the Fernan Gómez Theatre and the other 2 in the Real Theatre; in addition to the Joy Eslava concerts and those in the Carlos Amberes Foundation, the Nicolás Salmerón Cultural Centre and the 17 other clubs gathered together for La Noche en Vivo Association. At this year’s edition, the Festival counts on a wide musical and cinematographic programme.

As usual, the Fernan Gómez Theatre will be the principal venue of the Festival. It will host such important artists as Richard Galiano and Gonzalo Rubalcaba; Omara Portuondo together with Martirio and Jorge Drexler; Arturo Sandoval, or the first flamenco big band (the Perico Sambeat Flamenco Big Band). On the other hand, Antonio Serrano and Ivan Lins will inaugurate the Guirau Hall on 4th November. It will also play host to the vocal band Take 6 and the vocalists Laika Fatien and Kurt Elling, together with Laurence Hobgood, Clark Sommers y Ulises Owens Jr.

Some very famous people such as Chucho and Bebo Valdés will be playing at the Real Theatre. They’ll present some of their latest works: “Siempre Juntos”. Dianne Reeves (winner of four Grammys for ‘the best jazz vocalist’) and Barry Harris (one of the biggest talents in bebop style) will play in this theatre too. Both concerts will be able to count on some special scenery, designed by Erich Wonder.

According to the Arts Delegate, Alicia Moreno, the Jazz Festival aims to extend the Jazz music throughout the city and spread its contagiousness among the citizens of Madrid.

In addition, the Live Music Concert Halls Association (La Noche en Vivo), will offer up to 250 concerts distributed among 17 concert halls, such as the Café Central, the Clamores concert hall, the Segundo Jazz or the Berlín Café.

Finally, the Carlos de Amberes Foundation and the Cultural Centre Nicolás Salmerón join the Festival as the new headquarters of this edition. They will show a cinema and jazz music cycle with a special programme based on the American filmmaker John Cassavetes and another one based on the movies in which the composer George Delerue took part.

To listen to the best Jazz in Spain come to Madrid. Look for the best accommodation and lodging in an Apartments in Madrid Enjoy your time in the city.

Just as you get different styles of venues and dresses, there are also different styles of Wedding cakes. Choosing the wrong wedding cake for your wedding style or theme is actually a very common wedding mistake. Brides sometimes see a cake in a magazine and then insist on having that specific one even though is doesn’t suite their style, theme or personality.

Different types of Wedding Cakes to consider:

The Classic Cake:

This will be a classic round or square cake with multiple tiers with cream or white fondant icing. Nothing daring or over the edge, just beautiful and timeless. Tiers can be stacked, freestanding or on pillars. Although fruitcake is being faced out, it is sometimes still being used especially if the bride and groom want to keep a part of the cake for their first anniversary. In this case they will make one layer the fruitcake and the rest of the cake can be marble, caramel, white chocolate or carrot cake.

2010 Trends:

Simple iced with decorative flowers on top with ribbons bordering the base of each layer.

Black and White themed cakes are very much in style at the moment.

The Themed cake:

This cake is best described as the colorful, no fear, no rules imaginative cake.

This cake will be a reflection of your individuality and daring personality. If you like to stand out and probably want your cake to be remembered by your guests, then this is the way to go.

Find inspiration in your theme or your venue. If you are having a beach wedding, you might have a sandcastle cake or a cake with a scuba dive couple as the topper.

2010 Trends:

Multiple shapes such as squares combined with round and pyramid tiers are very trendy at the moment

Use your Honeymoon location as inspiration – If you are going skiing, try a snow-white cake in the shape of a snowy mountain. For a Parisian honeymoon, a sophisticated black and white cake with an Eiffel tower topper will be well suited.

The Cupcake:

Individual, beautifully decorated cupcakes stacked high are still very popular amongst brides. It is perfect for a buffet reception or a garden wedding. Because cupcakes have their own cases, they can be enjoyed while standing and is therefore perfect for a relaxed informal wedding reception. The sizes can also differ from muffin size (if this is perhaps your only desert) to mini cupcakes.

2010 Trends:

Heart shaped cupcakes with red and pink icing for a romantic theme.

Gluten or dairy-free cakes for guests with dietary requirements are also very important, as more and more people are being diagnosed with food allergies

The Chocolate cake

Imagine a delicious chocolate ganache exterior, decorated with chocolate swirls, shards and shavings, with a decadent fudge or caramel interior. Chocolate cakes are very fashionable, versatile and popular right now, but are recommended in very cool months or for air-conditioned venues.

2010 Trends:

Dark Chocolate mouse cake with fresh fruit, dipped in chocolate or dusted with coco or icing.

Color contrasted – butter cake or milk chocolate cake interior with dark chocolate outside and visa versa.

The Contemporary cake

This is a cake with a modern twist on the classic / traditional cake. It is ideal for a wedding in a distinctly modern setting, or for an artistic couple. With a ‘less is more’ mantra, these classic square cakes should be an innovative and contemporary work of edible art. For an elegant yet modern look, square shaped cake layers can be stacked slightly off centre in shades of ivory or white.

2010 Trends:

Add a fake ‘display’ layer to give the cake some height.

A Single layer cake, simple decorated with a highlight on top.

Match the exact color of your theme or highlight to the cake color

Adding a little ‘bling’ to your cake – such as Pearls or Swarovski crystals, will give it that wow factor.

Create unusual shaped stands using Perspex, metal or glass to give it a contemporary feel

The Croquembouche

The croquembouch is a hot trend. It isn’t just very tasty, but can be beautifully decorated with flowers and caramel sugar strings.

The Wedding cake gives you the perfect opportunity to add to your color scheme or theme, and that is why you should really put some thought into it and discuss your theme with your Cake maker.

Make the process of choosing your wedding cake fun and personal. Whether you are having a fun and funky theme or a romantic traditional celebration, it is very important to fit the style of the cake into your wedding.

This is one of the details in your wedding that allows you to step out of the box and have a cake that your guests will remember for a long time

A Martini glass, also known as a cocktail glass is stemmed and has a bowl shaped like a cone situated on a stem above a base which is flat. It is generally utilized to serve a myriad of cocktails. The structure of a Martini glass is obtained from the actuality that all true-blue cocktails are ice-cool and include a perfumed constituent. The consumer is able to hold the glass at the stem and will not risk ruining the temperature of the drink. As an added bonus, the expansive bowl seats the surface of the drink unswervingly under the drinker’s nose, guaranteeing that the fragrant component achieves the most wanted result.

The Martini drink is said to have been invented in the late 19th century in Martinez, California.

An average Martini glass is measured at 4.5 fl oz, although there are now larger Martini glasses ranging in the capacity from 6 fl oz to gargantuan ones of 12 fl oz and more. Ever since Martini cocktails have enjoyed a refreshing resurgence, the demand for Martini glasses has steadily escalated.

Martini glasses are a division of a superior assemblage of drinkware identified as cocktail glasses. Originally, cocktails are presented with the accompaniment of ice, thus the contour of the cocktail glass is for the most part purposeful. Martini glasses are termed as stemware; the exaggerated stems allow you to grasp the glass without the risk of changing the drink’s temperature. This is a universal rule – the main purpose of the stem is to ensure that the drink remains cold by keeping the drinker’s hands absent from the beverage. It works similarly like a Champagne flute.

Martini glasses are more notable from other cocktail glasses by their piercingly conical bowl. The narrow shape assists in keeping the drink components from unraveling. Many believe that the tapered bowl is meant to display the cherry or olive condiments to their best advantage, while others say that the expansive brim of Martini glasses was invented to facilitate disposal of alcohol in case of a major authority invasion during Prohibition times.

Because of the popularity of Martini drinks, naturally there will be a demand for everything remotely connected to them. With new martini recipes invented daily, so is the invention of new and improved Martini glasses. What was before a glass pure in its design has been reborn as ones decorated with color, creating stark contrasts between the drink and its container.

Before the Martini drink was invented, the Martini glass was simply known as a cocktail tumbler; with the invention firmly in place, slowly, the Martini glass was made with wide brims for one purpose – to help bring about the aromas of the concoction. Due to the renaissance of “old Hollywood” glamor, the Martini glass has been converted as a symbol of superiority and elegance.

The stems of Martini glasses have also enjoyed a recent makeover; in the Czech Republic, expert artisans in the vicinity of Vizovice make breathtakingly beautiful hand-blown Martini glasses worthy of a King’s table. These are of course expensive and mostly for decorative purposes. Many martini glasses available are strictly for decoration – because Martinis are meant to be consumed ice-cold, so the ones made out of pewter or silver would take away the pleasure of drinking a Martini.

Bombay Sapphire, a well-known Gin Company, held a Martini glass design contest in 2008. The winner was Mia Ferrera Wiesenthal, a Brooklyn based artist who ingenuously designed a stemless Martini glass dubbed “on the Rocks”.

Wine drinking was never in a glass vessel in the ancient days. In fact, glass making was unheard of way back then. Wine used to be served in baked clay pottery, animal horns, leather gourds, silver and gold cups among others. And when the technology of glass making was introduced, it was not the easiest method to practice. The process of glass making was intensive and expensive, too. This makes glass a prized product in those days that only the aristocrats could afford to use them.

Wine glasses were so revered; they were just as expensive as other precious metals like silver and gold. Wine glasses are believe to be used somewhere in the 15th century based on the discovery of the earliest glass goblet with stem and base. During the Industrial Revolution, glass becomes more accessible with the improvement in the technology that makes glass a lot easier to manufacturer.

The beauty of the clear glass vessel soon makes wine appreciation an art. The luminosity of the glass makes it a habit for wine connoisseurs to check and appreciate the color of the wine. This then encourages the spin off of several types of wine glasses. Wine lovers decided to examine the color of wines more closely with the availability of such clear drinking vessels. With the advanced of glass making technology, the usage of wine glasses has evolved into not just one but several types of glasses to appreciate a variety of wines.

There is the narrow tall flute glass on a stem for champagne; a wide ‘bowl’ with stem for red wine; the shallow ones for chardonnay and so on. However, the ancient wine glasses were not even what we know today. Some of the early wine glasses went through several design flaws and they were bizarre looking.

But the clarity and luminosity of the vessel seem to excite wine lovers. They could inspect the color with great admiration. Throughout the years, the designs of the wine glasses evolve, not just to admire the color but the availability of glass making prompt the experiment with shapes that could affect the quality of wine.

Thus, the wide range of wine glasses we have today. Some of them are made with blown glass and the discerning ones would go for the crystal glasses. They were design to specific perfection, to the extend that the wine when sipped, would hit nicely on the right area of the tongue. Although the technology of glass making today allows for the glass to be tinted, glasses are never tinted or it would be hard for the connoisseurs to rave about that fine wine from the previous century.

Have you ever reached the point of doing dishes non stop and feeling like you’re going insane because of them? And especially dishes with a wedding party, you would be doing dishes till late in the night and up till morning. Your problem is solved by using disposable wedding plates. And are you sick of having your party plates breakable and having to replace them or by reimbursing people with lots of money that shouldn’t have been used? This is the answer and here are five reasons of many to use disposable wedding plates:

No More Washing Dishes: Well, this is an obvious one. You don’t have to wash the dishes by hand or in a dishwasher anymore. You can use them and throw them away right on the spot. No more staying up late and losing sleep over dirty dishes and you can relax while the garbage takes the job you would’ve had for hours.

Fit for a Wedding: These plates are not like your commonplace disposable plate. These are very much suited for a wedding. They are prettily decorated and can come with several designs and colors to match your other decorations and have the look you want without your wedding celebration looking cheap. One of the most common styles that is used is the clear tableware because of their versatility and will match almost everything.

Sturdy Dishware: Now days, these dishes aren’t your average plastic Walmart plate. They are sturdier than the disposable plates you buy at the store. They will hold your food with ease and will not crack or break like the popular “Chinet” paper plates. Your guests can eat and enjoy their meal with out any fear of embarrassment by having their food fall off or through their plates.

Low Cost: How would you like to have the wedding you want without paying out loads of money as well? You can get the quality of plate you have wanted with low cost. Just renting the tableware can cost you a lot of money that could be used elsewhere and for more important things to make your wedding a celebration you can be proud of. Save your money!

Stress Free: You don’t have to worry about anything with these plates. They are so stress-free that they will allow you and your future spouse to have the day you have always wanted without a single worry.

Disposable plates are low cost, unbreakable, and will make you and your guests happy without fail. Clean up will be a breeze and will give a memory all its own. Who would’ve thought that clean up could be fun? Disposable wedding plates will definitely make it a memory worth keeping. So, what do you do? Buy these plates and see for yourself how well they work for everything and you will be surprised at how many other things you will find they work for as well. Just sit and relax while the clean up is done for you. No more worries and have the day you’ve always dreamed of! Happy Celebration!

Every year, different colors, themes, and trends emerge for weddings. Suddenly, one look that had been going strong for a few years hits the tipping point of overexposure, and it becomes “so last year”. Here are some tips on the hottest trends to make your wedding feel fresh and exciting:

Color: Your color palette is one of the biggest ways to impact the overall look and feel of your wedding. The new “it” colors are yellow and silvery-grey. Yellow can be easily incorporated into a wedding in little doses like yellow-and-white daisies, or big ones like buttery table linens or bridesmaids’ dresses (beware of making your bridesmaids look sallow, however – if you have attendants with olive skin tones, stick to yellow accents like sashes). Silver or silvery-grey is also everywhere. Metallics add zip to shoes, napkins, floral arrangements, and dresses. Silver and grey also pair well with the aforementioned yellow, as well as jewel tones like deep eggplant. A great way to include the hot colors into your bridal ensemble is with handcrafted wedding jewelry. For instance, if you like the silver and gray tones, you could wear handcrafted wedding jewelry made with rhinestones or dove gray pearls. The color that has been pushed “out” for 2008, by the way, is the ubiquitous celadon green. People are just tired of it.

Websites: Many couples have been creating wedding websites for years now. They are a great place to include information and updates for your friends and families. Brides also often enjoy blogging about the whole wedding planning experience. What is new about these sites, is that they are becoming more interactive. The bride and groom are having fun posting polls where guests can vote on aspects of the wedding (salsa band or ’80s cover band – you decide). It is a great way to get the guests excited about your wedding.

Green Weddings: Eco-friendly weddings have become a meaningful and important trend over the last few years. Couples are hoping to host a fabulous event while lessening the impact of it on the environment. Organic food, flowers, and wine are just the starting point. You can also consider arranging hybrid shuttle buses, plantable trees for favors, even purchasing carbon offsets to “green” up your special day.

Opulence: On the other end of the spectrum are extravagant and opulent weddings. Think big, dramatic, rich, and spectacular. Wedding planners are creating not just weddings, but living fantasies based on inspiration like Versailles or the Russian Czars (imagine how incredible that would be for a winter wedding). Centerpieces are towering, filled out with accents like feathers. Cakes are also larger than life, often with a different flavor for each tier. Instead of plain white linens, brides are opting for rich looking fabrics like metallic brocade to set their reception apart.

Tasting Bars: Another way that couples like to personalize their wedding is with the food. Instead of compromising on just one type of food, they are setting up little stations offering all different options. Cheese and champagne stations are perennial favorites, as are ethnic and regional fare. If the bride is from Kentucky, she might want a tasting bar offering favorites from the Bluegrass state, such as mint juleps and burgoo stew, while the groom can’t live without a raw bar. This way, everyone is happy, and the guests are treated to a little bit of the best of everything. This is perfect for 2008, because the hottest trend of all is making sure that the bride and groom get exactly what they want!

Your wedding should be the way you have always dreamed it would be; right down to the reception decorations. The fact that we are in a recession may scare you, but it is possible to have the look you want on the budget you have.

First you should find your inspiration from elements of the wedding that you have already decided on. It may be a color, a favorite song, a theme ,etc., the sky is the limit. Find your personal passion and make it part of your special day.

Should you decide that a color will be the focal point of your decorating theme, you might choose paper napkins in several shades of your choice color simply tuck them inside a stemmed water glass (much like tissue paper in a gift bag) and set them at each place setting. You can vary the hues at each table or use a different one for an entire table. This gives the room a sea of color. Finish the center of the table with a tall pillar candle wrapped with a wide band of ribbon, surrounded with greenery such as plumosus or boxwood which is available at most bulk shopping stores. You can also request an order of greens from your local grocery with a floral department. The order should be placed two to three weeks prior to the wedding so they will be able to have this item available for you.

If you choose a season for your inspiration, use items that represent it, in Fall, hollowed out pumpkins with fresh fall flowers like colorful mums, provide a splash of color and the lovely scent of flowers. Spring could offer silver pails banded with bright ribbon and filled with lilacs or blue bonnets. Surround these centerpieces with tea lights and you have the perfect table setting. For further table pop add printed napkins that you have made yourself simply by cutting squares from beautiful fabric with scrapbooking scissors or pinking shears to finish the edges. Easy and Lovely!

For timeless elegance go with candlelight, a variety of sizes works well. Place the assorted candles on a 12×12 mirrored tile (available at your home improvement store). Sprinkle confetti, flower petals, candy kisses or greenery around the candles and you have a very simple and elegant table decoration.

If the room you will be having your reception in needs help; consider purchasing inexpensive black flat sheets and covering the walls or any particular eyesore in the room. Place strands of white Christmas lights behind the sheets and you will add an elegant ambiance to any room. Please check with the venue before you use your staple gun. They may have strict rules on what you can and can’t do.

Provide elements that you and your fiance love and incorporate them into your special day. If you love sailing use colored water and sea shells, if he is a big football fan incorporate the team colors in your decorations. It’s all up to you! Your wedding is exactly that, YOURS!

I am an avid follower of Khushwant Singh columns in English dailies. Deccan Herald, one of the oldest South Indian dailies publishes his columns every Saturday. Today (3rd July, 2010), as usual, in his column there were three parts,- one his personal, second a humorous piece, -sometimes own and sometimes contributed by others and the last part ends with a joke most of the time resulting in uncontrollable laughter in the reader.

Khushwant Singh belongs to the first generation of Indian English writers alongside Manohar Malgonkar, again a classy writer who died at the age of 99 last week, Raja Rao, a novelist whom I did not read much and the legendary R.K. Narayan.

The most appreciable thing I like about Singh is his straight forwardness, calling a spade a spade without caring how and to whom or what it effects. Comments are ironical and very pungent, often reminding me of Russell’s (Bertrand) pungency, and the language very simple yet superb. Sometime back he pondered over certain English words taking roots in our own Sanskrit. And the word Singh chose to explain its origin was that four letter word widely used by the Americans and Europeans. As such, I have also read long back about arguments by Indian Sanskrit scholars proving Latin, the mother of most of the European languages, mainly English was a dialect of Sanskrit! Their contention is that in any language the first and basic words are for mother, father, son, daughter, brother and sister. In Latin they are matre, patre, etc. which are clear forms of maatr”, pitr’, soonu, dhatr”, braatre’ and swasr’ in that order. And some Sanskrit scholars put forward difficult questions to their Latin and English counterpart. They ask when in English, doer is one who does, worker is one who works etc., is widower one who widows?! They argue ‘widower’ comes from Sanskrit word vidhur and ‘widow’ from widhwaa. However, Khushwant Singh’s analysis is uniquely different and perhaps in his own funny ways. According to him, the pronunciation of the syllable ‘bh’ in Sanskrit changes as ‘ph’ or ‘f’ in English and that of ‘g’ invariably becomes ‘k’. So the word ‘bhog’ of Sanskrit becomes that four letter word in English, so freely used in the far and mid western countries in!

In today’s column Khushwant Singh indulges in nostalgic memories of the kind of his favorite ice cream he used to get during his childhood days and its journey from thereon to the present day form. This nostalgia was followed by a highly humorous write up which I explain briefly.

A couple celebrating their silver jubilee wedding anniversary was approached by a journalist asking them to explain their success. They were a famous couple in their circle for having not quarreled even once in those long twenty five yeas of marriage. The husband says – We went to Kashmir for our Honey Moon and and hired two horses for climbing the hills. Whereas my horse rode me well, my wife’s horse after a few gaits, jumped up causing her fall. She got up and told the horse ‘OK, it is the first time’ and coolly mounted the horse again. After a few steps the horse again jumped and my wife fell. Unperturbed, my new bride once again told the horse ’second time, its OK, now common’ and climbed again. The horse caused a third fall for my wife. She slowly got up, calmly took out her gun from the purse and shot the horse dead! Shocked by her action I shouted at her what the hell you have done! Calm and silent as she was and told me, -”OK, IT IS THE FIRST TIME”

That was Kuhuswant Singh class. May the old Sardarji live for ever.

Not every bride requires a wedding dress filled with lace, pearls, or other fancy ornamentation. A fancy wedding dress is great if you are into that kind of thing, but what if you prefer to be more casual? What if you and your fiance want a very laid back wedding? You could go for a ceremony where blue jeans and t-shirts are the formal attire, but if you are looking for a more casual wedding dress, you can easily find them at the many bridal stores around the country, both online and in person.

Casual wedding dresses are becoming more and more popular with today’s brides. Fewer women want to sink hundreds or thousands of dollars into a dress they wear for a few hours before packing away in a box for another member of their family to possibly wear years down the line. Instead they like the functionality and practicality a more casual dress offers. Additionally, they can be worn for other functions whenever a fancy dress is needed.

Informal wedding dresses can also be made in a variety of styles. They can be long or short, sexy or modest, white, black and white, pink, or any other color that suits your fancy. Silk, tulle, chiffon, cotton, denim, linen, gauze, and hemp are just a few of the fabrics we have seen these relaxed dresses made in. Whatever your particular tastes are, there is an informal wedding dress waiting for you.

When would you wear a casual wedding dress? You could wear them for ceremonies that take place: at home; on the beach; at the courthouse; during a second or third marriage ceremony; or if you elope. These dresses are simply the newest way to celebrate your marriage.

If you are getting married in an exotic destination, then a beach wedding dress is ideal for your fun in the sun. Your dress can be light and airy, something flow that can catch the warm breezes of your location, but still functional enough to wear at another gathering. Your dress can still reflect your personality and should reflect it while being fun and not confining. A sarong or sundress is the perfect choice for a beach wedding dress.

Plus size wedding dresses also come in a casual style that not only flatters the bride but makes her feel beautiful as well as comfortable. Plus, there is nothing wrong with a plus size wedding dress being a chic suit instead. Many women who are concerned about the way they look in a dress will find that a chic pant suit is the better option and they still look fantastic standing next to their beloved on their special day.

Casual brides no longer have to limit themselves to uncomfortable formal wedding dresses that simply do not fit who they are. Dressy pants suits, flowing sundresses and sarongs, and colors other than white are all the new casual wedding dresses of today. There is no reason why the bride cannot be comfortable. After all, it is her day.