How do you dress?

[WyoBadger]

Monty Python Does Irish Trad!

[The Weekenders]

<rant>
Few things irk me more than "are you a true scotsman?". Well yes, I was born in Scotland to Scottish parents in the same part of the country that they themselves were born and brought up in and I can trace my family as far back as you can go to the same part of Scotland. I'm as true a Scotsman as anyone living in this country and whether or not I wear my boxer shorts under my kilt doesn't change that fact
</rant>

However many people choose to freeze their bollocks off in the name of "being a true scotsman" and it is them than find themselves running away from drunken ladies who want to lift up their kilt and take pictures (Imagine if a guy did this? How quickly would they be arrested?).

I hatehatehatehatehate that bs, too. Come to think of it, it's often accompanied by it's noxious corollary: "and which clan are you from?" Then there's the blank look and/or slight contempt if you say you're from the lowlands or an island or something.

Look, I don't even own a kilt and only have one Scots ancestor, and an Ulster one at that, but even I am sensitized to this nonsense.

It's a cross to bear for everyone who dons a kilt to listen to some of the most inane drivel about ANTYHING Scottish. I wish people would just drop it.....but there's one born every minute. "Hyuck,hyuck, look at that dress! Hyuck,hyuck!"

If it's any consolation, when I wear my old California clothes to gigs, I usually get a moron who mentions Zorro, the concept of which is nemesis to ancestral Californians. Now, I guess, it's Esteban, based on a recent wisecracker.

I reckon the same lot that insist on dressing commando under the kilt would also tear you up for adding water to your whisky.

[s1m0n]

This topic reminds me of something that happed to an Irish music trio I knew.
They were very good, very traditional, pipes, flute, and fiddle, no accompaniment whatsoever.
They wore ratty jeans, stained t-shirts, etc.
One day they were playing dressed like that at some sort of Irish function, and afterwards an old Irish woman came up to them and said, "You young people are very good. You have put a lot of work and thought and respect into your playing. It's a pity that how you dress doesn't reflect that. You should look like you take pride in what you do."

It's reminding me of some of the folk revival groups who set out to play Old Time music in the later sixties and early seventies: most dressed as they thought sharecroppers should dress with boots, dungaree overalls, plaid shirts & bandanas round their necks--a look you'll see emulated by acts from Hee Haw to Dexy's Midnight Runners.

It took people as close to the music and musicians as the New Lost City Ramblers to realize that the source musicians they wanted to emulate dressed in the best clothes they had, not the worst.

John Cohen's steely-eyed photo of Roscoe Holcomb, dressed in his work clothes and holding his banjo

may have captured what northern city folk thought of as the essence of his music, but his wife and family were insulted. Here's the image that they thought appropriate:
or

[The Weekenders]

Nice post, Simon. Hits the nail on the head about college/urbanites "doing" folk. I am more of a late 50s-early 60s folk revival detractor because it was just so weird to hear very educated people trying to sound bluesy or folksy.

"A Mighty Wind" basically covered it for good.

[Gordon]

Nice post, Simon. Hits the nail on the head about college/urbanites "doing" folk. I am more of a late 50s-early 60s folk revival detractor because it was just so weird to hear very educated people trying to sound bluesy or folksy.

"A Mighty Wind" basically covered it for good.

While I agree with you, emotionally anyway, I think you really have to think about the detraction a bit... Most musicians not born in (any) tradition of the music they playing are faking - to an extent - authenticity. That same revival you're talking about also brought ITM to the (non-Irish) mainstream. Doesn't mean we have to dress in tweed and fake accents, but college/urbanite types interest in folk music - from blues to ITM to Appalachian music - keeps these forms alive, in pubs, and on records - um, CDs..

I'm sure the Spinal Tap boys that also parodied folkies in A Mighty Wind could do just as fine a number on Irish bands, sessions and the like, leaving no cliche unturned there as well.

[irish69]

I for one think that theres nothing wrong with looking nice when you go out. Button down shirt and nice jeans for a session. Shirt and tie with slacks for a gig.

[Gordon]

I for one think that theres nothing wrong with looking nice when you go out. Button down shirt and nice jeans for a session. Shirt and tie with slacks for a gig.

We must play different gigs.

[MarkP]

I can't believe we're having this conversation but I guess there are two possible answers.

Either... (a)




Or... (b)

it's 'folk' music for feck's sake!

[Denny]

I'll have ta take b

I'll never get my ears to do that

[Montana]

I'll have ta take b

I'll never get my ears to do that

But wouldn't you like the other accoutrements?

[Denny]

I'll have ta take b

I'll never get my ears to do that

But wouldn't you like the other accoutrements?

do I have to talk to them?

[Montana]

I'll have ta take b

I'll never get my ears to do that

But wouldn't you like the other accoutrements?

do I have to talk to them?

That's the beauty of playin' flute - if you're playin' tunes, you can't talk.

[Denny]

But wouldn't you like the other accoutrements?

do I have to talk to them?

That's the beauty of playin' flute - if you're playin' tunes, you can't talk.

an how do ya stop them?

[Ro3b]

I never gig in anything but a wetsuit and surgical gloves. I learned my lesson the hard way...

[Il Friscaletto]

It's like people who show up to the airport in their pajamas, or something close to it.

When you see the world, the world sees you!

;)