Quick March

Bring on the cans

When: April 5th, 2009 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Where: Parking lot of Rare Olde Time
What: Bring canned food to help the Central Virginia Food Bank and enjoy fine Celtic music and dance.
Who: Albaferie, Ancient Order of the Hibernians, Emerald Society, Greater Richmond Pipes and Drums, Irish American Society, Ladies Ancient Order of the Hibernians, Mary Smith, Thistle and Shamrock Dance Academy, Scottish Society of Richmond, St. Andrew’s Legion Pipes and Drums, St. Andrew’s Society or Richmond

For those of you that don’t know, here is what Celtic Cans is. Celtic Cans at its simplest form is a food drive to benefit the Central Virginia Food Bank. It is also an opportunity for all the local area Celtic groups to get together have a good time, maybe get some interest in the various groups and do some good in the community.

So why Celtic Cans? In order to answer that I need to tell you about my dad, Bill Elder. If you’ve seen me or met me you’ve kind of seen my Dad. Just picture me on a grander scale. My Dad was a BIG dude. He used to say there were three sizes medium, large and Elder size. He had no use for small. Whether it was entertaining or helping my Dad never did anything small. If you came over you were immediately family and what ever we had was yours.

For Thanksgiving he’d buy an entire meal from Turkey to stuffing and all the trimmings as well as the roasting pan to cook it in and deliver it as many families in need as he could. He always said it was better to let those that needed help help themselves at the same time. After my Dad passed in 1994 from leukemia my brother and sister and I carried on as best we could my Dad’s tradition.

Cut to 2008 As a member of St. Andrew’s Legion, The Scottish Society of Richmond and The Irish American Society of Richmond I decided to put my memberships to use. My wife and I have a philosophy that if you don’t ask you won’t know and the worst that can happen is you are told no. So with that in mind I emailed all the groups I knew and threw the idea out there with a Thanksgiving date in mind. The idea was greeted warmly the date and time frame were not. Combination of too little notice and the Richmond Games there wouldn’t be enough time to adequately plan. So we decided April 5th in conjunction with National Tartan Day would be a good date.

I want this to be a fun event where we come together as Celts and people concerned about our fellow man and do some good in the community. We can show our pride, have some fun and lend a hand. I am thankful for all the help, good wishes, and overall enthusiasm that this effort has been met with. So I look forward to seeing everyone at Rare Olde Times this Sunday… all your family and friends as well. For more information about the Central Virginia Food Band and items most in need please see their web site here.

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In the press again

Wow! What a grande weekend we had! Two days of gorgeous weather, crowds packed, and great comaraderie. It’s was one of those events that, through out the entire two days, you just could not hold back from letting everyone know how great they were doing. This band owes a lot to Mary Wallace, Brian Erbe, Chance Bell, and all the rest of Greater Richmond Pipes & Drums for all their help, when two years ago, we stepped to each other in friendship and asked for their help to make St. Andrew’s Legion a better sounding group of pipers and drummers. ChurchHill Irish Festival proved to the public, that the endeavor truly was a wise step in that direction. Both days, the two bands sounded like power houses to themselves, and when they came together for the On Ragland Road/ Dawning of the Day set, the crowds went absolutely “nutz” with cheer and applause. Drones set correctly, chanters true, drums in perfect synch’, and every individual putting out their very best. Again, everyone sounded strong when Greater Richmond P&Ds, St. Andrew’s Legion and Va Scots Guards combined for Mass Bands on both days.

Despite being told on Friday I should be in the hospital, I couldn’t resist, nor ignore this event, and the results proved true. At least if I would have dropped dead, I would have had a big smile on my face. I hope that other bands across the globe who ponder across this blog, that may happen to have another pipe band near them, can enjoy what can be shared together as fellow musicians, like what SALPD & GRPD are enjoying. As the leader of one of those bands, I also have to commend all my own people for their roles. Pipe Major Shuff , Corporal Fox,  and Mike Hohman did spectacular jobs of tuning, along with Drum Major Johnson staying on top of every detail of scheduling and deportment. DSgt. Lainharts drum line was tight, and it all made for a very memorable experience. Senior Drum Major Milligan, on medical light duty, did a grande job with Valerie and others, including our students, manning the tent and acting as our “PR” people. Last, but not least are all you Pipers, who listened to what I, and other instructors have been teaching you, really showed your skills so well. Despite some of our people had to miss a day or both, we made a great showing in numbers.

Even though I can still knock a the right ear off a flea at 800 yards, and look like a Viking that stepped off the long boat for a mid night rampage, my passion as a Piper makes me a big lush, and my eyes can get a wee bit wet with warm thoughts of days such as this, and I’m very thankful to be a part of such a great bunch of people.

May the skirl of the Pipes and the beatings of the Drums, continue to emanate out of Richmond and let the people know, there’s two Pipe Bands that can rock the ground beneath the people’s feet and when they come together, become one hell of a powerhouse.

Hell yeah! Now give me another Guinness!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wanted to take a quick second and wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We’ll be playing at Capital Ale House in both Innsbrook and Midloathian. Time could vary but we are scheduled for 6, 8 and 10. In case you missed it some of the folks from the band were on Virginia This Morning yesterday promoting the event and they interviewed Tim as well. Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out Virginia This Morning (You may have to scroll down some to see it.)

After tonight it’s on to one of everyone’s favorite events the Irish Festival . This is always a fun event. After that our next big event is Celtic Cans. I’ll explain more on this in a later post but it’s a food drive in the parking lot of Rare Olde Times that will involve Celtic groups, musicians, and dancers from all over central VA to help the Central Virginia Food Bank so stay tuned. Please check the St. Andrew’s Legion web site for more upcoming events. Thank you all for your support and we hope to see you out and about “Raising your Irish”

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It’s good I type with my hands and not my toes, for my feet are numb after Roanoke and playing the pubs.

Thanks to all who went down to Roanoke. Despite that freezing cold rain, we had fun. I wish Roanoke was closer. After the parade, Kenny “Cheezi Poo” and I walked about with Burt Mitchell and I was amazed at all the neat restraunts, pubs, and specialty shops in Roanoke.  Despite the economic times we’re having, it appears that Roanoke knows how to keep things going. Burt’s group Warpipe looks sharp in their new Drummond of Perth muted tartans. We’ll be seeing a lot more of Burt once VMI is out for summer break.

  I want to acknowledge Keith Porter for helping my partner Ralph at the tent, that was very commendable and also to Dave Irving and Keith Lainhart for transporting some of my equipment down to Ralph.

I want to kiss the official who made the parade shorter this year. That made it so much better.

From Roanoke it was a race back to O’tooles and that too, was alot of fun, not to mention, much warmer- aaahhhhhhhh!

 With all the packed events we be will doing from now, through to Church Hill Irish Festival, I can’t emphasize enough, the importance of Pipers checking their instruments, cleaning and making corrections, in between events. The cold wet weather has some serious effects on Pipes. If a reed seems to be giving you a fit, don’t just throw it away thinking it is spent in this sort of enviroment. The chanter reed may be fine, and just balking at the extreme conditions, just like what we heard, and saw today from every pipe band that was there.

 Keep Brad Trimble in your thoughts and prayers. Seems Lt Trimble had an altercation with a K9 Officer Butt Munch on base yesterday that bit his hand, and Brad may need surgery.

After 24 hours of Piping, I’m going to bed.  Good job everyone and it was fun. It’s great when your face hurts from smiling and laughing too much.

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