I hear your frustration with the control of gigCalendar. I first would suggest you check out some of the uses of gigCal that are non-musical posted at our forum:
http://gigcalendar.net/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=76&board=6.0

There are some other examples here in the reviews at the Extensions Directory. This should give you some ideas of how to modify the display the the pages that gigCalendar generates.

Secondly, check out the help section of our site - gigCalendar.net. In particular, you might concentrate on the pages that directly control the display like the "Skinning gigCalendar" pages or any of the "gigConfig" pages. These are the help files that list all of the options on these pages and explain how to control them on your site.

We will be implementing a new filter on the upcoming events and archived events pages that will be a benefit to all users of gigCalendar. Keep an eye out for a beta release soon at http://gigcalendar.net