Thrown in front of the Bus!

One of the neatest birthday parties I have ever played was for the hostess's husband's 40th birthday. As a surprise present to him she was going to take the celebrant and all guests (some 40 of them) "pub crawling". In a remarkable display of social responsibility she had rented a double-decker London Bus for the job.

I was to meet the bus half a block from the house and out of sight, and then when I received a phone call I was to Pipe the bus up to the house. The call came and to the skirling of Scottland the Brave and The Minstrel Boy I piped the bus up to the house where all were assembling in the front yard. I continued piping while guests and copious provisions were loaded onto the bus, and then as it drove off into the night.

I have always regretted not being able to accept their generous invitation to accompany them on their grand adventure. It must have been quite the party as late the next afternoon I received a call asking if I had found any items left on the bus!

Slainte! Pops :-)

A Local Legend

August 10, 2011: We raise a pint in honor of Frank Murray, a great man who passed away this week.

Frank, a Korean War veteran, moved to Arizona in 1954 and managed a cotton gin in the West Valley during the day while tending bar at night. For over 50 years, Frank was in the bar business in some way, shape, or form.

He worked at the Dubliner Irish Pub before becoming the manager at Seamus McCaffery’s – which he eventually purchased after ten years. And in 2009, he opened the Turf Irish Pub nearby. For those of you who knew Frank, you knew that Phoenix was his town. Frank was a visionary for downtown Phoenix and for that, he will always be remembered as a legend.

“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”

Slaintè Frank!

December?

December already! Where did the year go? Looking back there have been some changes. I’ve analyzed my wed traffic and dropped non-performing sites. This obviously wasn’t one of those :-). CD Baby .com is turning out to be a great experience. Gigsalad.com has provided me with more leads than I can handle. Thumbtack.com has also been a very good source of gigs. Surprisingly (at least to me) so has Google maps. I find I am using my Droid as much as my laptop now, and it looks like that will only increase with time and new apps from Gigsalad.com.




This coming year I want to release more singles, a couple extended plays, and maybe even an album. We’ll see. I’ll have to balance that with gigs, oh, and with busking. A late 2010 development! Busking in the Park is morphing into Busking on the street (mostly at street festivals and markets). What a gas that is! I still plan to pipe each morning at the park though.



So, may you and your’s have a joyous holiday season, and I’ll see you around!



Pops :-)

Catching up

I had a really great weekend!  Saturday afternoon I piped for a wedding.  Always feels good to be involved in "beginnings".  It was a beautiful ceremony.  Lots of smiling faces!

Later that evening I had the pleasure of piping for a fiftieth Wedding Anniversary!  How great is that combination!  Again, it was a lovely, lively party.  It was wonderful to see the honored couple surrounded by family and friends, celebrating their life together.

Lately I've been doing a lot of piping in the park.  I'm there almost every weekday morning and  I really enjoy it.  I am beginning to think about branching out into other locations, down town, light rail platforms, flea markets, etc.

I've also released a Christmas carol (God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen), and am working to get another one out before December (Oh Come All ye Faithful).   It will be close though because I've got an engagement in Las Vegas, followed by Thanksgiving.  Doesn't leave a lot of November!

Wow!  June 25!  I didn't realize it had been so long.  Well whats been going on this past month?  I've started releasing mp3s through http://cdbaby.com/ .  About one every other week.  These are in turn distributed through Amazon, Itunes, Verizon, Myspace, about 40 e-distributers in total, where they can be downloaded as mp3 singles or even ring tones.  Its a lot of fun!  I'm also working on a Christmas collection to match the tunes I go carrolling with. I hope to realease it by Thanksgiving. 

I've moved at least my Monday and Friday parctice sessions to Road Runner Park.  Usually from 8:30 to 9:30.  It is great fun to watch people trying not to watch you!  And, I've met some interesting individuals.  I'm also going to try going to Squaw Peak Park this weekend, it has sort of a natural ampitheater and I am curious about the acoustic effect with pipes.

That's about it for now, it's time to load up and head for the park!

Have a great day.  :-)  Pops

Piper's Field of Dreams

“Build it and they will come.” Great premise for a movie, but a little out of touch with the real world. If you’re looking to turn a buck with your music you need a strategic approach that will expose the maximum number of people possible to all aspects of your performance, clubs, parties, events, and yes recordings. Each is a facet of your profession that must not only shine, but must seamlessly interlink to every other facet.

Your pub performances should be a platform for promoting your party gigs and recordings, etc. just as your recording should promote your pub gigs and parties and your party gigs should promote everything as well.

Do this on the Web with your various sites and you will go “viral”. That is what you want to do with your music. Use the web as a tool or tactic to help link yourself together into a package that everyone wants a piece of.

Then, play your a$$ off! It’s what you love doing anyway, and that is contagious. Your linked out persona will result in as many opportunities as you need to be in front of your market. Give your performances away if you must in order to be out there. If you build the following, the following will in time take care of you.

That is what must be built and if it is then the dollars will come.

Techno - Piper

I'm trying to step into this century.. Yes its true, I'm setting up sites on MySpace.com, YouTube.com, Ilike.com, thumbtack.com, twitter.com, trying to inter-link them, my existing websites, and my gigsalad.com site.......  good Lord, I thought learning to pipe was difficult!  Even with the grandkids showing me what I've done wrong (far more often than I've "done right") I don't grasp it!

I'm thinking that the best thing I can do is leave it to the kids, and go learn a new tune or two.   Far less stressful, and for me just as rewarding.

Welcome Home

I had occasion this past Sunday to Pipe a warm “Welcome Home” to one of our veteran’s returning from Afganistan. His friends had gathered at Joe’s Grotto, a local pub, and the vet was actually in Alaska, easily 2,000 miles away! Thanks to the electronic wizardry of Skype and the internet we were all able to see and hear each other just fine. Perhaps not as nice as if he were here at home, but at least he is safely back in country. I will continue to do gigs like this for free as long as I can. Regardless of how you feel about the politics, you must support the young men and women.

The Bagpiper and Gigsalad.com

http://gigsalad.com has a website where aspiring performers can post their talents, something which you may have noticed I do. Recently they began a feedback/rating/review service on the site. If you have ever seen or heard a performer, hired the performer, etc. you are invited to leave a review. This is much akin to the feedback systems used on Amazon, eBay, and many other sites (excepting it requires no purchase) and is intended to give the potential consumer some insight into what they may be getting.

To hear the performers crying “foul” you would think they had all been told they were being “blackballed”. Concerns about everything from shameless self-promotion to fears of hordes of people “bashing” their favorite performer’s competitors.

And initially some of this may occur. But with a provision to respond to criticism, and a promise to investigate the “irregular” I believe the system will sort itself much as eBay has done. I’ve sold on eBay for almost a decade and seen the feedback system significantly refined, to the benefit of BOTH the buyer and seller. I fail to see that this will be any different.

At any rate, with blind faith in the basic integrity of my fellow man, and a belief that the consumer is entitled to as much information as possible, I have put a link on my contact page at http://mcgeesplace.com inviting all who have heard me to leave a review. At best it will be great for promoting me, and at worst it will help to keep my ego in check!

Slainte,
Pops

Street Art and Artists

While surfing other blogs I found this post, and thought it might prove interesting to the pipers here. I have no idea who Marion is, he may be a piper, singer or guitarist. Regardless, this common sense approach has merit in my book!

"I'd like to propose the following rules of etiquette for busking, based on my own experiences and intuition.

RELATING TO OTHER BUSKERS

1. Share the best locations. If another busker indicates that they'd like your spot, agree on a time for them to come and take it over (at most one hour later) and then don't leave until they arrive. Conversely, if another busker has the spot you want, ask them how long they plan to be there. And if they're really on a roll when you get back to claim the place, i.e., they have a crowd built up, give them a few extra minutes so their roll isn't broken.

2. Share information. If somebody has harassed you or tried to steal your tips, warn buskers taking over your spot. If a passerby compliments your show, tell them they should come back in an hour and hear the other busker, too.

3. Keep a respectful distance, especially between musical acts. A musical act and a non-musical one can be closer together, but should be careful not to interfere with each other's visibility/traffic flow.

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC

1. Respect a captive audience. If your location is such that everyone who hears you is just passing by, then you can be as repetitious as you want. But if you are close to market vendors or an outdoor cafe or such, don't play the same tune for 10 minutes or sing the same song five times an hour.

2. If you're amplifying your music, keep it at a decent volume.

3. Be careful not to block traffic flow, along the sidewalks or especially access to vendors or stores.

FOR PASSERSBY, ON RELATING TO BUSKERS

1. I've been photographed, filmed, and tape recorded while busking; none of which I minded particularly, but I think it would be reasonable to expect a tip for it.

2. I've had people want to tip me by giving me a two or five and taking back a smaller amount, or just want to change bills for coins; again, I don't mind this, but the person should wait until I finish a tune then ask for permission. Until then, hands out of the case!

3. If you like the music but can't give much or anything for a tip, it's still OK to respond to it (by stopping to listen, letting the kids dance, talking to the busker between tunes etc.). Perhaps some buskers will disagree with this, and be annoyed if someone tips 5 cents or stops to listen without tipping at all. But personally I find that small tips or people responding to the music provides a lot of encouragement. When busking is a crucial part of your income, and you go for a stretch of time without any tips, it can get really discouraging; a kid dancing or someone smiling at me can give me the energy to keep going.

Additions, arguments?

Marion"

Happy New Year

As we enter the waning hours of the year I suppose some reflection is in order. The question was raised on another site and I echoed it here as to whether or not Piping was in a recession. I put together and posted a little survey. Judging from the responses I can only assume that Pipers are far too busy to take time to reply (read prosperity) or they can no longer afford their internet connection!

This got me thinking (very dangerous). There really are many different economies to consider. If you work for a large company you haven’t seen a raise, probably have experienced some manner of work furlough, and possibly a cut in wages and or benefits, all the while experiencing no cut in living expenses. This economy really sucks!

On the other hand, if you are self employed and you service a local need you are probably doing rather well. You have not experienced any reduction of income and so your purchasing power relative to your neighbor who is sweating out a “pink slip” in his next check has improved.

For example, you are the village Piper. People continue to die (sad but inevitable) and you are continuing to pipe them home. People are depressed about the current economy, but they continue to socialize at the pubs, one of the last amenities surrendered. So, you continue to get gigs there. Now your compensation may not always be in cash (maybe car repairs, meals, chickens, pigs, etc.) but you are still compensated.

Maybe we need to reorganize our society around the micro economy, rather than the macro economy and let the bankers and brokers eat each other.

Just my thoughts at the end of a rather remarkable year. Regardless, have a Happy and far more prosperous 2010.

Slainte,
Pops

Veteran's Day Parade

Well... it seems that on my last visit to the cemetery I managed give my right knee a pretty good twist. While it is bad enough to have to put up with the discomfort, I have now missed the Veteran's Day parade in Anthem yesterday, and will in all likelihood miss the Veteran's Day Parade in Tempe as well. El Zaribah Shrine is participating in both! I just cannot bring myself to pipe from a "float". It just doesn't seem right.

While getting old is better than the only known alternative, it is beginning to have some draw backs!

I’ve read the bios on so many pipers now and there seems be some very common threads. They fall into the one or more of these categories:


1.) I am the most experienced piper alive (at least in this area).

2.) I play at the highest level possible (as defined by those who should know).

3.) I am very competitive and have won many prestigious awards (surely you’ve heard of them).

4.) I have been playing most of my life (maybe even longer).



Wow, not much room there for anyone else!


Well, I thought I should write my bio.

“I am a piper who plays for the joy of playing. I leave and always will leave competition to athletes, businessmen etc. and of course to many bagpipers. I have no idea what level I play at I only know that it brings me great joy, and if you enjoy hearing me play I will be happy to play for you as well. I will not play for anyone who has not already heard me play, and I will only play for such a person at thier request. I do believe that if my piping is advertised, promoted, and whored out like a business the joy will leave and I can’t bear to think of that. I also believe the joy is contagious and infects those who hear me. So it is my mission to protect the joy my piping brings, and share with those who so desire. Nothing more, nothing less.”

A passing

I parted with an old friend this past week. I closed my Ebay store. for over a decade I have been importing and selling bagpipes, harps, bodhrans, sporrans, pins, brooches, etc. With the recent economic meltdown I had a horrible holiday sales season, and with our moving, and starting a new company there just wasn't time. I sadly put the remaining inventory in storage and vowed to re-open upon retirement.



Now I will focus on my own piping with what free time I have! Things are beginning to settle down and I have actually found time to play again. I discovered that horses (the neighbor has four) have a fine appreciation for piping, which of course is what you would expect from such a noble beast! And, as I have told you before, my dogs love to sing along. All in all it is quite a spectacle.

While the neighbors themselves have yet to express their opinion on piping, at least they have not shown up at the door with pitch forks and torches!

All things considered life is getting back to a pretty good place. :-)

Slainte,
Pops

Breast Cancer Relay

The local pub (Joe’s Grotto) participated in a 12 hour Breast Cancer Relay May 1st. The enthusiasm was such that the pub patrons, headed by Kellee, a survivor, actually signed up two full teams of participants. Initially, they had asked me to Pipe the two teams around the course, a task I would have been honored to perform. Sadly, organizers got in the way. Regardless, there still was an entire Kilted contingent from the pub. Let me be perfectly clear, this was an event the pub was participating in, not hosting.

By the time you are my age you can not help but have been touched in some way by the tragedy of this awful disease. It is wonderful to be able in some small way to contribute to the fight against this bane.

So Jan, Liz, Tori, Kellee, here’s to you ladies and to your good health. You beat it and God willing so will many others!

Pops

Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year!

Well, looking at the calendar this will probably be the final post for the year, so some closing thoughts may be in order.

I had something of an epiphany this week. I was driving down the road and noticed all the graffiti. It occurred to me that in general the only person who normally sees it is the tagger who did it. Then it hit me! Cyber space is just one big vacant building. And 99.99% of us posters are just cyber-taggers. We put up the best sites we can, we are very pleased with our work, and we haven't a clue how to drive traffic to our sites. I did some research on the visitor activity on my blog, and found that the most heavily visited page was one of the earliest posts. It contained a semi-erotic picture of a European performer. It gets hits from all over the globe even now, six months later, while the other posts get random hits if any! Hmmm... I wonder if there is data base of erotic bagpipe art?

The really important thing to remember is that we love Piping. The cyber world is just a place to go when the lips give out! Have a great and prosperous New Year! See you again in 2009.
Pops

Piping... Who Cares? Just do it!

I was just reading a discussion board where the topic de joure was “How do you ask a bad piper to stop playing?” and I wondered, why would you? If you don’t like it move on, if those listening do like it (why else would they be listening) leave them alone, they’re having a good time.

I thought back a few years to an event where our club had retained an Elvis and a Neil Diamond impersonator. No one thought them the real thing, or held their music to that standard (besides it was kareoke), yet everyone had a great evening.

I think more people piping and enjoying pipers is far more important than all pipers sounding the same (no matter how good that may be.) For Christ sake people, just do it! You’ll be amazed how much fun you have.

Worthy of your patronage!

As we are all out shopping this time of year I want to share one of the best customer service experiences I have ever had. I have a set of "Kitchen Pipes" made by Scott’s Highland Services, LTD. I purchased these back in 2004. I always thought it strange that these pipes which produce a much lower volume than my GHBs would be noticeably harder to blow. You know, one of those things you always intend to inquire about but never get around to.

Well, I finally sent Jim at Scotts Highland Services an email asking about this phenomena. Not only was he full of useful suggestions, he insisted I return the pipes to him for a complete refurbishing. It is a rare thing for me to encounter a manufacturer who is so proud of his product as to offer this level of support. In fact, you would have to call him a craftsman, not a manufacturer.

Good on you Jim!"

The Holidays begin

Well here we are, with only two days left in November. Despite an overload of Thanksgiving turkey, I have finished prepping and practicing my Christmas set. First I’ll inflict it on family and friends, and then it’s off!

And, while I’m goofing around with Christmas, I will begin prepping for St. Patty’s day.

I also want to pick up another march or two as I have six parades between now and the next Shrine Ceremonial in March (right after St. Patty’s.)

It is just one continuous cycle. But such fun!!

Sharon and I want to take this opportunity to wish you and those you love the Merriest of Christmases and a Happy New Year.

St. Patty's Day at the Celtic Curtain

Kevin invited me to busk me bagpipe at his pub (The Celtic Curtain) for St. Patty's day. I was there from Three in the afternoon until Ten in the evening with my son Evan (directly behind the buxxum young wench). Ev is learning to play the bagpipe, but he sings an absolutely outstanding repertoire of Celtic songs. Most are drinking songs although he also does many ballads, and a lot of music made popular by the Wolftones. His infectious personality quickly captures any crowd and sucks them into the party. We spent some time outside on the side walk to chum in patrons, but most of the time was spent inside. By 8 pm almost everyone was well fed with Kevin's outstanding fare, and well, pretty well into their cups. By request I closed my last set of the evening with Amazing Grace (remember most of the Celts here were "Celts for a day"), and as I looked around the room at 200 drunken Celts and Celtic Wannabes singing along at the top of their lungs I knew it was time to "get out of Dodge".