The 5th Street & Farmers Bagpipe Hip Hop Band

Sometimes we get a little too impressed with ourselves, take ourselves a little too serious and over estimate our place in society. Yesterday I had a “Reality Check”. A friend up in Mohave County called me looking for a bagpiper for a Cancer Awareness Walkathon weekend after next. He couldn’t find one but was certain I could. After scouring my PDA, the internet, and every other contact I had, it suddenly occurred to me that I was the only piper in the area when I left 3 years ago. No matter how important we think we are there simply are not that many of us! We are at best a rare oddity in this part of the world!

White Tanks Cemetery improvements

I just returned from my weekly visit to White Tanks Cemetery. Though I must confess, with Dad’s recent illness this was the first visit since early March. Regardless, Maricopa County has done a wondrous job of upgrading the landscaping. There are new cinder paths through out the facility, fresh crushed granite everywhere, including the southern half which lacked any improvements until now. There are new benches, and from the looks of it there will be some new trees placed about as well. Is it “Forest Lawn”? No, of course not but it is dignified and does reflect the proper amount of human compassion. Kudos to the Maricopa County Fiduciary. When you got the funds you did the right thing!

A Season of New Hope

Thursday before St. Patty’s Day and Dad winds up in the heart Hospital. At ninety this was nothing to take lightly. Still, he is a tough old Marine and pulled through in better shape than when he went down. None the less the stress of those two weeks pretty much eclipsed the festivities of St. Patty’s this year. However, the relief brought about by his remarkable recovery has filled us all with new joy. And at Easter no less, a wondrous time to celebrate new hope. I hope the season puts as much spark into your life as well (though without the stress of course).

Slainte,
Pops

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.

Bagpiping for the Desert Foothills Theater

This afternoon was the final performance of “Unnecessary Farce” by Paul Slade Smith at Desert Foothills Theater. I hope you had an opportunity to see it, Petey Swartz did an outstanding job of directing and the cast were fabulous.

Todd (the character, AKA the Highlander) is living proof that there is such a thing as “Death by Bagpipe”, and it is to be feared!

I want to thank Desert Foothills Theater for inviting me to pipe before each performance, it was a joy. Well, in light of Todd’s method of execution, it was at least a joy for me! Thank you all for a wonderful time.

Pops

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

Unnecessary Farce

The year is starting off grand! No Burn’s Night engagements but I have been piping at Desert Foothills Theater before each performance of the play “Unnecessary Farce” by Paul Slade Smith. Petey Swartz is directing it and it is absolutely delightful. It gives a whole new twist to “Death by Bagpipe”. If it comes to your town be sure to see it! You will love it.

On a more somber note, we had a local Police Officer gunned down yesterday morning. He leaves behind a young family. All of this because some dirt bag had an outstanding warrant. So tragic.

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"