Tag Archives: hiring

Male Solo Acts

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Quality Male vocalists and artists. The perfect choice for corporate events, weddings and parties.

Available as a solo artist or with numerous live band options, these captivating male vocalists have years of experience, bags of talent and cover a wide range of music to suit any occasion.

From Corporate events to private parties our team are experts in the field of entertainment, events and performances, ensuring our clients always get the best possible service available. Providing entertainers for a variety of different events is what we do. From new up and coming male solo singers for hire to top male vocalist for hire, you can be confident that the acts we present are the best acts that are on offer.

Our friendly team are there to help assist you in finding the perfect act for your requirements and are happy to help if you need any ideas or inspiration. Booking a male solo singer for an event couldn’t be easier. We offer honest and creative advice, understand the importance of budgets and timescales and always aim to provide the perfect entertainment solutions whatever the occasion. No one knows our acts better than us and it’s our honest, can-do attitude, friendly approach and ability to always deliver that makes PLM Entertainment the perfect choice when it comes to event entertainment. Booking a male solo singer for your party or event is made easy thanks to Red Masque.

Click here to view all Male Solo Singers and Performers for hire

History of the champagne glass

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When hosting a corporate event and even a private party we guess most would have champagne glasses. When the subject of champagne arises, it’s often accompanied by a debate on which glass best suits the sparkling wine. However, the evolution of the champagne glass is much more complex and historically significant than a discussion of glass shape would at first imply.

Here, we briefly explore the history of the champagne glass, and the effect that a glass has on the taste and experience of a sip of champagne.

Champagne and the Restoration
Champagne, though not quite as we know it today, first arrived in England with the exiled Norman, Chevalier de Saint-Évremond, in 1670 and rapidly assumed prime position as Charles II’s favorite libation.

Shortly after, in 1674, the invention of lead glass by George Ravenscroft changed the art of glassmaking forever. Ravenscroft’s discovery was only made possible by the higher temperatures maintained over longer periods achieved by coal- (as opposed to wood-) fired ovens. It would, of course, have important ramifications.

The Importance of Lead Glass
Lead glass paved the way for innovative new techniques. First, glassmakers could manipulate their material in its softened state for longer. This led to glass free from the trapped air bubbles so characteristic of earlier English, Bohemian and Murano glassware.

The Late Victorian Era to the 1920s
One of the great myths about champagne (aside from that concerning the contribution of Marie Antoinette) is that the coupe was simply superseded by the flute. In truth, there has never been one dominant type of champagne glass.

As champagne consumption spread, so did the variety of glasses. In England, glassmaking was in demand among crystal manufacturers such as Edinburgh and Leith, and Thomas Webb & Sons (later Webb’s Crystal Glass Company Ltd.). Their owners would travel the world in search of both designs and customers.

Music for your Irish party

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We thought we’d provide a few ideas on Irish entertainment. When thinking about the Emerald Isle and the entertainment that it has provided to the world, an obvious place to start is the harp.

It is known that the harp was revered across Celtic culture and Europe in the 1100s with various leaders having their own resident harpist who enjoyed a high status and special privileges. What did they have to do? As one might expect, they were expected to play music in accompaniment to other forms of party entertainment – poetry recitations or reading of psalms, etc. Alas, no music for the harp is written down from this period.

As any lover of history may tell you, Celtic culture wasn’t as popular as it used to be and the social status of a harp player began to lessen as the years wore on. No longer retained amongst the higher echelons, they took to the streets, performing as travelling musicians to the delight of crowds. Perhaps they were enjoyed too much; although the Irish harp was a symbol of the country and embraced around the world, it was now see as an emblem of resistance against the Crown and England. It was henceforth banned from the end of the Middle Ages and in just a few centuries, the Irish harp had all but disappeared.

…Well, almost. In 1792, a group of harpists travelled to Belfast for a traditional harp festival. A passionate musician, Edward Bunting, noted down the music they played and it is thanks to him that traditional Gaelic music lasts to this day; it had never previously been written down on paper (presumably because nobody ever saw the point or most harpists couldn’t read or write sheet music.)

There are less than a dozen Celtic harps that have survived from the medieval period. The oldest one is also the most famous – the Trinity College Harp, upon which the official emblem of Ireland is now based. It can be seen if you decide to visit Trinity College in Dublin and no doubt, you’ll learn even more about this lovely instrument.

An intimate dinner party

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When thinking about the best Entertainment for an intimate dinner party, an obvious place to start is with the music.

Pianists

Pianists are fantastic for creating mood and providing a soundtrack to your evening, no matter the function. Providing a repertoire of modern and classic hits, they tend to provide a fun and informal atmosphere for a whole host of events including dinner, drinks receptions or a small networking function.

Classical Guitarist

What is there to say about classical guitarists that hasn’t already been said (or assumed)? Well, for starters it’s not only western styles of music that are often booked; flamenco is extremely popular whilst many prefer a slightly different sound to what they ordinarily listen to as it promotes a sense of occasion for the evening.

Cello

The cello is the perfect sound for a classy dinner private party amongst a few choice guests. It has a sound that many people absolutely adore, its low timbre fitting perfectly with a number of other instruments or in a solo setting.

Violin

The Violin is popular across all private parties and corporate events, no matter intimate or otherwise. Mixing a Cello and a Violin are extremely popular which fits for virtually any occasion. Another act combination that people enjoy for intimate dinner parties is violin and…

Harp

The harp is a gorgeous, gentle instrument that many adore but rather interestingly, rarely get to experience live. It could be because it’s a rather bulky instrument for a child to play, so many performers actually learn when they’re adults. Perfect as an accompaniment to dinner, the harp is also great in combination with strings or woodwind.

Magician

Now you may be thinking that a magician wouldn’t fit in at all at your intimate soiree but they can be extremely effective for engaging a room and have been proven to be great for informal networking events. For dinner parties, there are some brilliantly parlour magicians that can sit with you at the tables.

As ever with these things, it’s all about finding the right entertainment for your party.

Venues for events

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The Floating Cinema
This is one of London’s top 8 coolest art venues in 2013, the floating cinema is now available for private venue hire offering a unique event space for product launches, corporate away days, film shoots and special occasions.

This intimate venue has a capacity of 12 passengers when cruising and 20 people standing while static. The Floating Cinema is a purpose-built wide beam barge with a flexible ‘whitespace’ auditorium that offers a unique and original experience for guests. The space can be easily reconfigured to accommodate meetings and team building sessions. As a cinema it offers state of the art high-spec lighting and surround-sound facilities, a fully equipped cinema auditorium space and a stunning central viewing deck from which guests can enjoy a new perspective of London’s most iconic views.

Beach Blanket Babylon
Is a decadent venue in trendy Shoreditch perfect for exclusive events and celebrations with an impressive capacity of up to 800 people. The venue has a number of opulent event spaces on offer that lend themselves perfectly to stylish corporate networking events, cocktail receptions, corporate event dinners, gala events, conferences and fashion shows.

The Champagne Lounge is ideal for private parties of up to 300 guests with rich wooden surrounds, decadent mood lighting and unique decorations. The Gallery offers a versatile self-contained space, with rustic wooden floors and white walls it is the perfect blank canvas for conferences and exhibitions and can hold up to 175 guests. The Mezzanine and The Bar are both gorgeous spaces; The Mezzanine elegantly holds up to 70 guests while the vibrant cosmopolitan bar holds up to 250 guests.
To complete the look and enhance the atmosphere Red Masque entertainment have a few Swing and Jazz bands on our books from London to provide standout musical entertainment that will.

The Warner Bros Studio in London
Home to Harry Potter film sets – offers an exciting event space not just for fans of the Harry Potter franchise. Corporate event organisers can choose to host exclusive dinners and award ceremonies in the Great Hall, sip cocktails and tankards of butter beer in the Three Broomsticks, and host networking events in Dagon Alley.

What better entertainment to accompany a corporate event in the place where Harry Potter was filmed than a string quartet that will create an atmospheric setting fit for the Harry Potter films and could even play the film franchise’s iconic theme tune!

Russian party ideas

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If you want to have a Russian themed event, here are some great entertainment ideas for your party..

Cossack Dancers

Perhaps the most obvious option for your event, book Cossack dancers for a fabulously Russian experience! Able to perform a choreographed performance that is guaranteed to have guests thinking that they too can accomplish this most difficult of dances, they are the most sought after Russian entertainment act. Oh and don’t try to copy what you see; the dancers only make it look easy because they are professionals!

Ballet Performance

If you had to list famous Russian or Russian entertainment, we feel that Tchaikovsky would be quite high up on your list. Whether you prefer Swan Lake or The Nutcracker is immaterial because ballet dancers can perform both! How better to pay homage Russia than by enjoying a bespoke five to ten minute performance of a ballet in a stunning venue?

Moscow State Circus

Okay, we aren’t advising that you book the entire Moscow State Circus but many excellent circus performers are Russian and we can highly recommend booking an aerial silk artist, aerial hoop artist, an acrobat, etc. Booking circus acts always ensure shocked faces and a roar of applause so you can’t go wrong!

CSI

Okay, so this one is a bit of a joke entry due to the links between the UK and Russia in the news over the past six months or so! That being said, booking CSI is a great idea if you are looking for a team building activity that is also great fun. Climb into your Silent Witness-style jumpsuit, learn how to search for fingerprints and solve the crime! Unlike any other form of entertainment that we put out, booking CSI is a must!

Visual effects

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As with most corporate events, your décor should be key. Your venue needs to wow your guests from the moment they walk in, creating a special and uniquely defined space for your event. Two highly contrasting themes are high tech interactive and natural materials, enabling your company to show off its tech prowess, or boost its eco credentials.

You could extend the theme beyond décor and food into acoustic musical acts, for a more ‘natural’ sound.

Take lighting to the next level and illuminate your event to create spectacle and visual interest. Any venue can be transformed with clever and creative use of lighting even on the more limited of budgets.

Use lighting to throw unusual shadows, to colour tables rather than using flowers, and use wireless technology to alter lighting states to reflect the various stages of your event. Look for party bands and DJ’S with their own light shows, hire function bands that provide their own lighting, and artists that use light in imaginative ways.

For larger corporate events, book artists that have a strong visual impact enhanced by theatrical style lighting, such as dance troupes, ballet dancers or aerial artists.

Choose musicians that blend performances with tech, such as our interactive VJ’S, or a live DJ. Get
your guests interacting with each other playing giant games with your very own theme.

Find ways to make your entertainment a pleasure for everyone by choosing acts that blend superb musicianship with accessible humour, such as a comedy string quartet. Or present musical acts with an international flavour, such as 1920s swing band just make people smile!

Enjoy your party without having to host

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Organising a party can be stressful enough, then if you have to play host, you don’t really get to enjoy it.

There are a whole host of staff that you could hire for your event from Red Masque Directory that will make any event you had in mind run smoothly and add a bit of class, to really make you relax and enjoy the event that you have organised.

Good caterers make it look easy whilst all your guests are enjoying themselves the champagne keeps flowing. Finger food is always available and most importantly at the end of your event everything is clean and tidy for you.

Cocktail bartenders are also a must to have at events. Charming, dressed to impress, whichever way you would like your bartender to be we think we have just about every cocktail bartender advertised on our Red Masque directory.

Canapé girls can be used for Adult themed evenings, family entertainment and children’s parties so they are not stereotyped to just one event. Their colourful costumes and special props means they will adapt to any event very well.

Party butlers are probably for the ladies where they could be serving champagne naked from the waist up or leaving little to the imagination wearing just an apron for modesty. Now that ladies would be a great addition to a Hen party!!

Professional butlers can be hired also for very grand corporate event entertainment where professionalism will be shown at all times, it’s just up to you what sort of butler you require.

Promotional staff and you have a launch party to organise. You could have a gym opening and you could hire a team of fitness coaches are motivating your guests. Or how about a fashion show where a team of catwalk models could be just the thing to make your evening a success!!

Hiring can take alot of stress away, why shouldn’t you enjoy your party that you’ve organised? Let you and your guests remember what a great time you’ve all had and not you remembering how rushed off your feet you were!!

Event magic

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Magic is undoubtedly an ancient art. The earliest reported magic trick (the ‘cup and balls’ trick) is almost 5,000 years old (2,700 BC) by Dedi in ancient Egypt. The same trick was performed over 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome.

The cup and ball trick has been used for centuries since by street hustlers to con people out of money. In fact, throughout time magic has often been used to trick people into believing that the magician held some other kind of ‘power’, such as great gambling skill, the ability to make mechanical objects that are ‘alive’, or the possession of almost miraculous skills at lock-picking, psychic abilities or psychological ‘mind-reading’.

Another example of an ancient magic trick is the ‘Indian rope trick’. The trick is performed outside. The magician throws a rope up into the air. The rope surprising stays standing up, reaching up into the air. The Magician’s boy assistant then climbs up the rope and apparently disappears into thin air at the top. The magician then climbs up the rope and also disappears. The audience hear them argue, then the limbs of the boy all fall down to the ground. The magician comes back down, places the boy’s limbs into a basket, and the live boy climbs back out.

Recent researchers have claimed that the magician hypnotised all the audience at once, and performed the trick at dusk, with the low sun in the eyes, near a tree with low-hanging branches, which could have held the top of the rope up.

A lot of ancient magic came out of tricks used to cheat people at gambling. Playing cards have long been used in magic tricks. Although their exact origin is a mystery, it’s widely believed that playing cards were invented in China. They then arrived in Europe, via Egypt, around the late 13th Century. The four suits of this pack were different to the ones we have today, they were polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups. The modern design originated in France in 1480.

The best modern example of the use of magic tricks to fool the public into believing that the performer has some amazing mind-reading skills. Sometimes, however, they act like they are not a magician but are genuine mind-readers, using advanced psychological, or even psychic techniques.

Whilst we should admire the ingenuity and skill of magicians who put on honestly described performances, we believe we should remain alert to those who claim additional powers when in fact they are just using the traditional effects of trickery

Ideas to surprise your guests

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It’s fair to say that despite what we in the industry try to do, many people roll their eyes at having to go to certain events. The mind numbing drudgery of chatting to people you don’t know, the leaning in to read the name tag at a networking do, and the fact that the food can often be unappealing or cliche.

It’s time to change all that by sourcing some top notch entertainment for your event. Whether you’re organising a corporate event, an awards show, or a private party, event entertainment is a great way to keep your guests…entertained!

1. Event Walls

An event wall? If used correctly you will get great reactions by simply putting up an event wall that adds style and character to your event. Whether it’s used to promote your brand or simply look stylish, a bespoke event wall can help your event stand out as soon as your guests arrive. This could also be a great place for attendees to take selfies and ‘red carpet-like’ images of themselves.

2. Living Topiary

With a Living Topiary on hand, your event will really spring to life. What at first appears to be human-shaped hedges, are in fact hedge-shaped humans. They can happily walk around your venue, waving, hugging and generally putting a smile on the faces of your guests. A unique novelty act!

3. Silhouette Artist

Strolling acts are perfect for making sure that nobody misses the fun by coming to you! There are various types of wandering acts including magicians and caricaturists. Silhouette artists gets a great reaction as it’s generally something attendees have never experienced. A form of art extremely popular at the beginning of the twentieth century, guests have their profile cut into paper and stuck onto a card for them to take home. This is a perfect momento your guests can take to remember all the fun they had at your event!

4. Edible Mist Orbs

Many parties make do with basic nibbles, whilst catering companies serve up dishes that unfortunately we’ve all tried before. Change things up with edible mist orbs, allowing your guests to literally taste the air! Pop a straw in your mouth, breathe in the air from the orb, and see what flavour you get. Mint? Apple? Cheesecake? It could be one of many different flavours. The best bit thing about these are you can even put in a request for a bespoke flavour to be made!