"Professional piping for the people"
A bagpiper for any occasion: enliven your wedding, wake, or special event with the energy of the great highland bagpipe.
In case you didn't get enough pelvic thrusting from the last performance at the Roseland, Oregon Piper will again be humping microphones into submission with the awesome AC/DC tribute band "Shoot to Thrill"
I've never really had anything against birds (HAD being the keyword), but apparently some birds like bagpipers as much as Star Wars fans like Jar Jar Binks.
It started off a completely normal gig: a grieving family huddled together, stone faced men in uniform saluting respectfully, a piper dressed in black standing at attention under a nearby tree, and a bird chirping casually above.
As the service came to a close I got the signal to begin playing Amazing Grace. I struck up the pipes and played the first note, a fairly loud event, which apparently scared the sh** out of the bird (literally) who then unleashed it's hefty payload onto my shoulder. It may have been the first time I saw a military man nearly burst out laughing and struggle to suppress a smile. As I was already mid-tune my options were fairly limited, so I chose to glance over, take note of the damage, and continue playing as if this was completely normal and unsurprising.
I really can't complain though as it COULD have been much worse. It COULD have gone down my bass drone like a torpedo shooting down a tube into the heart of the Death Star, or worse- it COULD have gone in my mouth...
This weekend Oregon Piper made balls fly at not one but TWO golf club events!
First, the 100 year anniversary of the Portland Golf Club, one of Portland's finest and oldest courses. Upon arriving I realized I was not the only one in a traditional costume: golfers were decked out in retro-looking 1920's golf attire that I'm sure any Portland hipster would kindly kill for. One group apparently even rolled up in (what looked like) a shiny Ford model-T.
Second was an 83rd birthday party for a man by the name of John Maslen, who just so happened to be a former member of one the oldest and longest running pipe bands in the nation, the Clan Macleay Pipe Band.
"Do you still have your pipes?" I asked him after finishing a set.
"I do, but the chanter was broken in half by a stray basketball..." Maslen replied.
So...the moral of the story today is two-fold. 1) things get better with age (and the parties get better too), and 2) if you happen to playing your pipes on skid-row and a stray ball comes your way, RUN (or play the most aggressive D throw you can muster and YOU SHOW THAT BALL). Foooour!!
Well random/dilligent readers I know it's been awhile...but you have to understand a bagpiper has two main gigs: weddings and funerals. And since it's cold and depressing in Portland this time of year there's not a plethora of people getting married in the rain, BUT
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