What a great weekend of piping! As my first time seeing actual pipers piping (no maids a’milking, sorry to say) I"ve been inspired! I had to leave before hearing Kevin Henry on pipes… just heard several of his flute tunes and part of an epic poem on the grand theme of “…said the glass of water to the glass of wine…” (straining to hear him through the brogue).
And what a set of pipes he carried! No hardshell case, just a nylon napsack with drones hanging out the top and duct tape spread liberally.
Celtic Fest is quite wonderful, and especially for the presence of the
Piper’s tent, thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of Bob Kellam.
My first time ever, and I have to say I was enchanted.
Much smaller than Milwaukee’s Irish Fest, but it’s the Piper’s tent,
and the amazingly good pipers in attendance, that makes Chicago
the place to go. Irish Fest is big and great, no doubt about it, but
has no Piper’s tent and suffers greatly in that respect.
I was quite excited to see and speak with Tim Britton
and Tommy Martin, both very friendly and knowledgeable.
Just love Tommy’s piping, who’s teacher was Mick O’Brien…
in case anyone didn’t know that! Tommy, by the way, has
some really great stories!
I think if anyone has questions about Tim Britton’s pipes, should hear
him play them… they’re quite nice!
Brendan McKinney is an excellent piper as well. I’m personally very impressionable,
and was just in Piper’s heaven actually. The playing
was incredible all around.
Heck, I even got to meet the mysterious Jim McGuire too,
who really does play a mean, very lovely set of pipes.