Someone buy this guy a pint!

Bagpipes, Music, pints!, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

If you’ve not seen it yet there’s a story that popped up over the weekend of an angry bride demanding a refund after calling him unprofessional for drinking a pint. That was bought for him by the best man. That was blackcurrant and lemonade.

It’s pretty crazy and understandably the piper, Craig Lawrie, a Scottish wedding piper that’s been doing this for a while was having none of it. I know if I see a piper at a wedding I’ve no problem with him having a cheeky pint of juice to cool down. For Craig it’s probably a happy ending, he’s ended up getting a fair bit of free publicity out of the argument, you can find the story from the Daily Record here. To be fair it’s a wee overreaction by the bride and I’m sure when she thinks about it in the future the event will have in no way had a negative impact on her big day, she even went out of her way to praise the piper initially before requesting a refund!

My question to you reader is simple, would you by a Scottish piper a pint whilst he was playing bagpipes at your pals wedding? Let us know in the comments below! Maybe buy Stuart a pint too if you see him!

The Highland Heavy Games in Belfast

Bagpipes, Festival, Music, Piper

Yesterday in Belfast the last day of the 2015 Maine Celtic Celebration took place with several athletes competing in the Highland Heavy Games. There included games involving having to throw large stones and throwing heavy weights attached to chains. Not to mention tossing cabers and Scottish hammers. Big lads eh?

There was pipe band music to be found throughout the day which is always appreciated as you can find here. Pipers taken the day off playing wedding music to share their talents with an new audience is always a cool thing.

Whilst I didn’t make it myself I read that something called the New World Cheese Roll Championships took place which sounds crazy and interesting. Apparently different age groups chase rolls of cheese down a big hill, assuming the first to get to it is the winner. Are there videos of this event I hear you cry, to which I say of course there are, albeit I couldn’t find any from specifically yesterday there are tons of cheese rolling videos to be found on youtube.

It looks mental.

Anyhow it looked like a fun day out for families in Belfast and I really loved that bagpipers were doing there thing. More information about the event can be found here!

Did you catch any Scottish pipers (or any pipers really) this week? Let us know in the comments below! Did you have anyone play at your wedding? Any Scottish wedding piper stories are always appriciated!

Flashback: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at T in the Park

Bagpipes, Festival, Piper, T in the Park, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Seeing as the festival was just this past weekend I thought I’ share with you one of my favourite memories of T in the Parks from the past. 6 years ago in 2009 the mighty New York rockers The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played the main stage of T in the Park and brought with them the East Kilbride Pipe Band to help in there rendition of ‘Skeletons.’

That’s right, pretty much at their peak Karen O and friends played one of their best songs with a pipe accompaniment! It was a pretty cool moment from one of the coolest live acts I’ve ever seen and the crowd went mad for it!

I did a wee google search and was able to find the performance in question which you can watch below. It’s pretty crazy to me that it was 6 years ago, the landscape of popular music has changed pretty dramatically in that time. I had a look at the line up for this years T in the Park and barely saw anyone I’d be interested in seeing, although based on reports of the state of the new site i’d say I dodged a bullet not going this year.

What are your favourite T in the Park moments? Any of them involving bagpipes? Share in the comments below!

Piping Live! Festival

Bagpipes, Glasgow, Piper, Piping Live!, Piping Live! festival

The Piping Live! Festival is held every year in Glasgow by the fine folks at the National Piping Centre, it’s about to go into it’s 12th year and has been described as the largest bagpipe festival in the world! It’s running this year from the 10th till the 16th of August and is going to bring something unique and special to the city of Glasgow with performances all around the city.

For instance on the first day there’s tons of performances occurring down at the city’s George Square which definitely has the potential to be memorable. There will also be performances for all the public at Buchanan Street, here’s a cool photo just next to the Buchanan Street steps:

These one’s seem to be free and there are several more, all reasonably priced, occurring over the week. For more information you should 100% check out the Piping live! website (the events page specifically) which can be found here. While you’re at it might be worthwhile to give them a wee follow on their twitter feed @GlasgowPiping.

Curiously there are several stories on the website stating that the festival already kicked off back in the Springtime which means that people have been able to enjoy performances around the city for a lot longer in the build up to the festival proper in August.

The artists in attendance make up an exhaustive list of the who’s who of piping in Scotland and around the world including performers from New Zealand, Columbia and Belgium!

We’re definitely going to make our way down to a few of the performances as this is a unique opportunity to catch a ton of bagpipes! Overall the organisers expect 50,000 people to enjoy the 200 events and 8,000 performers (!) that make up the festival! Can’t wait!!

Happy wee dog singing along with bagpipes.

Bagpipes, dog, Music, Piper, viral video

This video is so cute! Watch this adorable wee dog sings along with the bagpipes in a video that will but a smile on your face. The pooch can’t resit joining in with the bagpiper, wagging his wee tail as he goes.

I’m a sucker for a sweet dog video, what can I say? If it doesn’t put a smile on your face then I can only guess you have a heart of stone. PURE STONE!

Any fun viral bagpipe or Scottish Wedding Piper videos you’d like to show us? Feel free to put them in the comments below. Until then make sure to visit here if you’re looking for a piper for a wedding or function.

The Unipiper returns!

Bagpipes, Musical Covers, Piper, USA, Wedding music

The Unipiper, Portland’s favourite bagpipe playing unicyclist, apparently had a moment in the sun last month on American TV. The piper featured on the massively popular America’s Got Talent, auditioning in front of judges including shock jock DJ Howard Stern, model Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel (I’m not sure who that is.) No idea how he did, although if this picture is any reflection he at the very least looked awesome, dressed as Uncle Sam this time.

Obviously he left the Darth Vader mask at home but hopefully he’ll get the chance to perform the Star Wars theme on national TV again, possibly by the time The Force Awakens is released! I can’t find the video online but I imagine it’s awesome, hopefully this guy keeps getting exposure, maybe one day we’ll be able to book him as a piper for our wedding. Maybe a Scottish wedding piper will steal his gimmick! Who knows!?

You can like the Unipiper on Facebook here. If you haven’t watched his videos already then you’re missing out and we recommend them wholeheartedly!

The best of Groundskeeper Willie

Bagpipes, Groundskeeper Willie, Piper, Scotchtoberfest, the simpsons

It had to happen, struggling to find new content and having binge watched a ton of Simpsons episodes we give you some of the best moments of North Kilt Town’s favourite son, Groundskeeper Willie.

Scotchtoberfest

“Congratulations, Simpson. You just fell for our sting and won yourself three months detention. There’s no such thing as Scotchtoberfest.”

“There’s not? Ya used me, Skinner! Ya used me!”

Grease me up woman!

“Ok.”

Natural Enemies

ABERDEEN RULES!

Finally a quote for day to day use.

Ok so we’ve missed loads of great moments, let us know in the comments below what your favourite memory of Scotlands piper, bagpiper, groundskeeper, greatest character is!

Till then if your looking for a Scottish wedding piper head here.

Bagpipes news and links

Bagpipes, Music, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

Rather than regurgitate a bunch of stories I thought I could instead just post a handful of links to Scottish pipers (and for the matter American pipers) news stories I’ve found interesting the last few days.

Here’s one about James Rivers, a fantastic musician with both jazz and the bagpipes making for a unique combination of instruments. http://wgno.com/2015/06/22/rivers-master-of-jazz-and-bagpipes/

Here’s a story about the College of Piping offering some new courses and credits that some of you may find interesting. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2015-06-22/article-4190971/Bagpipes,-highland-dancing-now-high-school-credits/1

if you are looking for a Scottish Wedding Piper look no further than big Stuart on the bagpipes. http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper

Some more about the Swords and Bagpipes tabletop game I was just talking about, including a discussion with the creator. http://geekdad.com/2015/07/swords-and-bagpipes/

I’ll leave you this time with a picture of Scotland’s greatest hero. Groundskeeper Willie!

Swords and Bagpipes

Bagpipes, Piper, tabletop games

Something a little different today, caught sight of this just now and thought it was pretty unique, a tabletop board game about the first war of Scottish independence featuring bagpipe cards and a map of Scotland on the board. Each round, the players, representing noble houses of Scotland, are asked to choose a side in the current battle—either to ally with England or stand for Scottish independence.

It’s an interesting idea, one that could make for a fun strategy game on the PC, reminds me a bit of a Scottish twist on the old Sid Meier game Colonisation actually. I like the idea of any piece of media featuring Scottish pipers so I could be tempted to pick this up.

The project reached it’s Kickstarter goal and then some and you can find out more about it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1957487380/swords-and-bagpipes-freedom-treachery-power?ref=card

The company is apparently based in Florida so I don’t know how Scottish it truly is but still an interesting curiosity for sure. It does make me wonder if any other games, be they board games or video games, have prominent roles for Scottish pipers on their bagpipes. Can’t think of any myself but if you can feel free to let us know in the comments section below, thats why it’s there!

Something I love about Glasgow….

Bagpipes, Music, Musical Covers, Piper

So it was a couple of weeks ago now but one of the things I absolutely love every year in Glasgow is the Mela festival. 40,000 people (according to their website) headed to Kelvingrove park for a festival that has a combination of different cultures and some really interesting performers. One of my favourite things about the day is that you’ll sometimes see performances combining two or three different types of music you wouldn’t usually see, for instance this video from 2009 featuring the bagpipes:

The Mela has a great variety of food, a nice wee part of the park to go hide in and have a beer and a stage featuring a lot of interesting performers you wouldn’t usually get the chance to see. It’s always a decent day out.

On the subject of Scottish wedding pipers I didn’t see any bagpipers this year but that’s not to say they weren’t there. Will have to keep an eye out next year.

If you were at the Mela and got any decent photos or videos why not post them or a link to them in the comments below! Also check this out!

Wedding Piper Scotland

A blog about Scottish Wedding Piper s and everything else Piper related