Yes, there were stories about unpleasant burning surprises and the crimp they can put on one’s ability to get the job done well. But I don’t have this on personal authority, so bear in mind that I’m just repeating what I heard. 
Are you sure? I have a lot of friends who would wear them to such an event to show their kindred spirit. Sort of like how if I went to see a Big 10 team play an SEC team I might wear my Tennessee hat. It wouldn’t be because I was confused and thought my Tennessee hat was an icon of Alabama – it’s just that I want them to beat Ohio as much as they want to beat Ohio 
And I’d probably have some interesting conversations with some of them as a result.
If I was wearing my blue denim kilt (which I don’t think is a symbol of Scotland) I might be inclined to talk with some other fellow wearing a similar garment. I tend to wear it with combat boots and Hawaiian shirts too. That probably doesn’t make any sense to most people, but it’s part of the culture of us who camp at Scottish games. Hard to explain now that I’m trying. Come visit sometime. We’re good, fun people.
I actually just thought of a great analogy that illustrates what I was trying to get at. Amongst my friends who go to the Scottish Games, there are two “trends” that I have seen developing over the last decade.
Belly dancers, and hula hoops.
These two things obviously have nothing to do with Scotland. That doesn’t matter. They are part of the culture of the events, which as I previously mentioned, are primarily social gatherings. So we do things we enjoy doing, just as people have at like social gatherings all through the ages.
They’re like a plague, aren’t they. For parity’s sake I want to see them turn up at the local Swedish festivals and Native American powwows, too, if they haven’t done so already.
No, I’m never sure. 
I don’t think we disagree, because I’m not talking about Scottish games or events.
I’m thinking of those performers, yer local folkies or rockers who don kilts and bodhráns to belt out bad Clancy Brothers / Flogging Molly / Chieftains covers at specifically Irish bars and fests. They’re just appealing to audience (and promoter) expectations. But where did those expectations come from? Bill Whelan?
Not that selectively commercializing culture mash-ups to feed the distinct American appetite for a particular sort of ethnic consumerism is anything new. But Gresham’s Law of pop culture, the banal American forte, seems very much in play here.
Like this, you mean:
I was looking for images of Celtic Rockers, but I did find this in the meantime:
Nice design.
What is it? 
A rocking chair. What gets called a “rocker” for short.
so, some guy at IKEA was on LSD?
Kinda looks like a thumb pick, doesn’t it.
I thought it was a big thumb-pick
Jinx!
yup, sure does
All the kilt stuff and pseudo “Celtic” stuff at Irish Fest bothers me. But I put it down to people having a good time and pretty much ignore it. OTOH all that semi drunken jumping around in front of the stage drives me nuts. And, so do the Trad/Contemp groups who seem to think that faster, louder, more out of tune and maximum drums are the key to true musical enjoyment.
But I believe we have to see these “Fests” for what they are: chances for large groups of people to get together and enjoy a day based on some very vague concept. Art Fairs are like that. The Ren Fest (at least the Minnesota one) is like that. There is almost nothing at the Ren Fest that fits into any historical period comfortably, from the costumes to the musical selections. I’ve always giggled when the big dinner is announced by trumpets playing a piece by C.P.E. Bach. I’d giggle at the Pachelbel “Canon” too, to say nothing of the Irish beer hall songs, the contemporary madrigals and the English madrigals 200 years off the target dates, the bassoon quartet, etc. etc. The Scottish Country Fair (at least when it was at Macalester ) was at least mostly Scottish…except for some of the music performers. And they were at least playing trad music and not comtemporary “versions” of it.
In sum, put all knowledge aside and enjoy what the Fest does provide. I had to miss Trian this year and was very sad…
Haven’t been to one of these in yonks, as I don’t live in the US anymore. It always seemed to me that people didn’t know or care about the differences and the local Highland Games – in Estes Park, CO – were a massive Scottish/Irish/pan-Celtic makey uppery gathering. There used to be a session tent for tune-inclined Irish players, a stepdance competition, a Highland piping competition, Highland games, lots of dudes in kilts, lots of green things for sale, a whole field dedicated to family history, as well as a huge tent selling things that would be better placed in a Medieval Re-enactment conventions. I mean, you could buy broadswords, daggers, cloaks (like they wear in the Lord of the Rings), funny hats, as well as instruments you don’t want at your session like didjeridoos and bodhrans. Ain’t never seen anyone in Scotland wandering around with a broadsword!
Ah well… it often gives local tradheads a wee gig, so it’s kind of a good thing in that sense.
I understand now. I had been thinking you were talking about people you spotted wandering about the festival wearing Utilikilts.
Thanks!
People who ignorantly mix their musical influences bug me. When it’s done intentionally, with style, after decent research, it can be pretty cool though.
It all kind of reminds me of going to the Renaissance fair. Spandex leggings? Chromium tanned leather? Tomato throwing? Turkey legs? Not likely. I’m sure the sheep herders didn’t have fancy dog whistles, there were fewer goths, and ninjas wouldn’t wear black and wouldn’t have been in Europe.
When I go to a Chinese restaurant, I know most of the food is nothing like what you would get in china, and the food you get at a Mexican restaurant is not the same as what you would get in Mexico.
I go into an “Irish fair” with about the same expectations. Unless a venue has very specific rules for what is allowed, there is going to a lot of vender/performance drift. The best I hope for is that the 85% of the drift gives the 15% of those that have a genuine background in the tradition. I feel the same way about the kitsch some “Irish” pubs hang on their walls. Admittedly, I’m not one that knows what is “truly Irish” and cannot spot all that is authentic, but I do know much of it is a facade.
Unfortunately many people do not want to experience/understand the genuine article and are more comfortable getting a watered down stereotype.
I always think of a snob as someone that can find nothing good or enjoyable in something that doesn’t measure up to their standards of perfection. A true snob wouldn’t dirty their hands with such things.
1940’s: War rationing reduces production. Heat conducting crotch rivets are removed after Levi CEO Walter Haas suffers embarrassing campfire burn.
Here’s another thought, Peter: If C&F had been a nominally Canadian-oriented website instead of a US one, the majority music we’d be talking about here would in all probability be, in fact, Scottish and not Irish. There’s a fair amount of historical reason for these differences.
I wonder how many Scottish tunes ended up in the US fife and drum tradition. I can think of several Irish and British tunes that have.
But they’ll think nothing of dirtying their mouth over it.
Easy for me to say. I’ve had my moments, and the things that bother tommykleen are the same things that bother me. Not at all to imply a charge of snobbery on anyone; this is in large part due to one set of goals and commitments coming into collision with another.