The Sassjoy Forums

[LeeP]

Hello Ya'll,

Suzanne and I went to the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh on Saturday, November 10, 2007, to see the bagpipe and drum performance of the St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band of Dublin, Ireland. This event was part of the weekend-long, and first (now hopefully annual) Balmoral Classic. It was sponsored by the Balmoral School of Piping and Drumming here in Pittsburgh, PA. The St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band consists of 17 bagpipers and 12 drummers, and, as one might suspect, the performance was quite loud. The pipers were really good, and I liked the way the drummers twirled their mallet sticks in showy displays of pageantry. I enjoyed hearing some of the old standards, and was very impressed with the new and original compositions the band performed. As well as the pipe and drum portions of the show, there was also a smaller, Irish band that consisted of 7 instrumentalists; a violin, guitar, uilleann pipes, banjo, two flutes, and a drummer. This band was pretty good when they were playing on their own, but when they were playing with the bagpipe and drum band you couldn't really hear them over all those pipers and drummers. As well as the music, there were also Irish dancers and Scottish dancers. I liked the Scottish dancers better, because they dance with more than just their legs. Also, they had an old, rickety Irish man come out and tell two stories. From what I could decipher of his lymrical talk, it was a comical story. The people laughed when they could understand him, and sometimes it was worth a laugh even if one wasn't exactly sure what he said. Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening. I've enjoyed Scottish bagpipe and drum music for many years, and I have some old recordings of Scottish military pipe and drum bands. It's an interesting genre of music that is generally under the radar as far as most "popular culture" is concerned, and generally relegated to the traditional music category. It's great to see that there is a thriving community of bagpipers keeping these traditions alive, and it's great to know that many of them are writing new and interesting material to help progress and expand this musical genre as well.

Here are some pictures that I took at the performance:




As I was watching the performance, I kept thinking about the Whirling Dervishes we saw perform on this exact same stage a couple weeks before, and how neat it would've been if they could've magically appeared and whirled around while the bagpipers were piping. Pictures of the performance by the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi were posted by the Pittsburgh Dialogue Foundation, and if you would like to see those pictures click here.

Last time I did not bring a camera, but since I was impressed with the foyer of the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, I made sure to bring a camera this time around. When we arrived a little bit early for the performance last Saturday, the front doors of the Music Hall were not yet open for whatever reason, so people were going into the main entrance of the Carnegie Museum instead. There are doors in the Museum lobby which can be opened and lead into the foyer of the Music Hall. Well, as we were in the lobby of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, I saw the dinosaur they have in the lobby there and took a picture of it before we went into the foyer of the Music Hall. Here's the dinosaur:


When you walk into the foyer of the Music Hall, this is what it looks like:


That policeman in the picture was wearing a kilt. It seems there is a Greater Pittsburgh Police Emerald Society of Pipes and Drums. I wonder if they play you a tune when they are carting you off to jail? Haha! I hope I never have to find out one way or the other.

The foyer of the Music Hall has two stories, and you can walk up to the second level and get a good view:


This is a view of the hallway on the second level of the Music Hall's foyer:


On the first floor of the Music Hall's foyer, there is an almost monarchial-looking statue of Andrew Carnegie at the far end of the room:


A couple of weeks ago, we went up to the old mill to get some pictures of the foliage. McConnell's Mill was built in the 1800s. There's a great lookout point nearby where we got some great pictures last Fall, but it started to rain a little bit, so we didn't make it to the lookout point this time around. However, I did get a couple of nice pictures near the old mill. Here's one:


I've taken many pictures of and around this old mill over the last four years; it's become one of my favorite places to photograph. After doing a Google picture search of "McConnell's Mill", I saw that plenty of other folks have posted some nice pictures of this area on the net as well. It's a nice place to go and enjoy some natural beauty.

Oh, and something else that I found to be interesting; at the Spaghetti Warehouse in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, there are these neat-looking rotating fans over the bar area. They are attached to a metal pole that rotates above the bar, and the fans spin around providing a light breeze. I just thought it was neat, so I took this picture:


Well, I just thought I'd write and post some pictures. I'll write more later.

Take Care, and Peace,

- Lee