History Lesson, Part Deaux

It’s All True, We Promise….

From the barren fields of DooDah came a Pipe Band. A band with a mission. A band with able-bodied persons of hard-fast gender. A band with a dream. This band was the Wichita Caledonian Pipes & Drums, and even though we were mis-pronounced most of the time, there was no trepidation.. Except for money. And a place to rehearse. And matching kilts. And good drums. And gigs.

The band began a very vagabond existence: rehearse “here” on week, “there” another; haven’t seen that dude since last month; I left my pipes at home (this is true. As a side, how the hell does a person show up at Pipe Band rehearsal sans bag pipes?); I don’t know that tune because the clown in charge of the battery hasn’t written the score yet and i need to practice and there’s no way i’m gonna site read this stuff in front of people and by the way do i need special socks for this gig and where do i get them and what shoes do i wear and i lost my drum sticks but it’s cool i have jazz brushes to use and let me just run out to the car and oh i gotta go see ya next week. Maybe.; sorry I’m late, I went to the “other” church; so, so many struggles. Hard times for our intrepid band. This is true.

Slowly. Painfully. With extreme intentionality (not true) did the WCP&D grow. Much like the dandelion in a drive way they set roots, stretched for the sun, flowered and finally began pissing folks off! The first St Patrick’s Day tour was a hodge-podge of gigs that left both the band and the crowds in a stupor. Bar owners had never seen such vigorous sales thanks to the stirring emotions wrought forth in their well-imbibed patrons and were more than pleased to pass on their boon to their new favorite Scottish music troupe who lives on an Irish holiday in a town with an Indian name! This is questionably true.

Again, we skip the commercials and land in the time of high cotton for our beloved Pipe Band. Some number of years have passed and we have truly developed toward the realization of being “good” (for those not familiar with music industry jargon, “good” means that a musical act doesn’t suck as much as they could). We’ve played in our Nation’s Capital, Boston, Philadelphia and all over the mid-west; we done more parades and bar gigs and concerts than the local typewriter repair dude; we have played tribute for several fallen heroes (this is our biggest honor-this IS true) and even produced an album of our tunes! We’ve seen dozens of members join and depart the band-some for incredible life changes, some because their address remained unavailable for a, uhm, talk . . ..

Here we are, in our 18th year of what began as a “hey, whadya think about this” idea. And, if it’s possible to be humble and say “still the first, still the biggest, still the best”, we would (this is true). At the end of the day (because cliche is the worst thing to put in writing and this essay is deplorably shy of those), we’re still getting “good”. Always will be ‘cause we have too. But, check us out, have a pint and a chat. Give it a listen, take a lesson (we teach for free!) and become a fan. The WCP&D guarantees you like it. This is true