Bootleg Pony: Piped In

In the spirit of a popular front against the forces of anti-poniness, the Anarcho-Syndicalist Pony Liberation Front (ASPLF) has allied with more mainstream pro-pony forces to bring you an officially sanctioned Bootleg Pony.

As for your author ? Well, the subject of my Scots roots has come up lately, and ranged from nicknames to the inevitable kilt questions (“Well ?”) to a sporran-and-kilt reunion of sorts with our own outstanding climatologist stormchaser. One thing that comes to my mind is the love-hate relationship Scots themselves have with aspects of their own culture. For example, do you choose to say someone’s “strangling the cat,” (no, not that …) or playing the pipes ? Myself, I love the bagpipes. Never learned how to play but given their skill with wind instruments I have some hopes for my kids (actually I think the youngest will skirl, the middle one’s more of a Highland dancer.) But pipes, hmmm, different things come to mind.

What constitues “good pipes” ? Well, if you want to range a little more broadly, it’s hard to get better pipes than the Divine One had, the Michael Jordan of jazz voices (no — Mike was the Sarah Vaughan of basketball):

Of course, different cultures have their own pipes too. I like the Galician and Northumbrian ones a lot. This ? Ehhhh … not so much. But like my eldest he’s from Romanian stock and you might recognize the tune from a certain Tarantino flick:

The bagpipes themselves of course can be subject to misuse … ’cause, really. Dude :

This is more what I had in mind (sound’s a little poor, but they raaaawk) :

Or, if you want to go old-school as I sometimes do:

But on matters Scottish, I save the final rebuttal to Robin Williams for the pride of Govan, one of Glasgow’s very finest. Yer ladies and lairdships: Mister. Rab. C. Nesbitt.

Wha daur meddle wi’ me, Jimmy ? Awa wi’ yeh, yeh chavvies.

So, knock yourselves out with poniness. Me, best be off, Ahm blawin’ fer tugs.

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    • yes on February 5, 2008 at 18:07
      Author

    safe and legal.

  1. on most things Scottish. But about 30 years ago, I realized that I had a rather consistent, but strange attraction to all things Scottish. Then I realized that my maternal grandmother was McIntosh. In relaying my interest to my mother (who’s family hails from Kentucky), she said that I could be twins with some of my McIntosh relatives. When I asked her if she meant in looks or in personality – she said “both.”

    I’ve thought about changing my last name – seems I’ve found my heritage. And it would be a grand slap in the face to the patriarchy that gave me a really goofy french last name. But alas, I’ve lived in this one too long now.  

    • nocatz on February 5, 2008 at 18:29

    beef uct.

  2. Her parents were born in Scotland, she was born in Canada. I do like tartan and I do not like haggis….

  3. My dad loved to tell the story of the Black Watch coming over the top and Germans fleeing.  It always sounded a little fishy to me.  I tried to find a video or something and discovered they’d lost their regimental status in 2006.  

    • RiaD on February 5, 2008 at 19:35

    my kids are the 23 or 24 greats grands of dear Robert the Bruce… or so the claim goes,anyway. We try to get to the Scottish Games fairly regularly but have missed it the last several years.

    We had a piper for MrD’s father… he played a medley of amazing grace & scotland the brave outside the church and then taps at graveside. hauntingly beautiful.

  4. some british, some welsh….so close…  ðŸ˜‰

    • pfiore8 on February 5, 2008 at 20:41

    but can not listen to them inside on CD, for example.

    too much sound. one needs to be out in a field amid a great bustling crowd of eager listeners

    or caught in the reverie of mourning and eternity… the chaos of sound signaling another soul freed from earthly bounds…

    • kj on February 5, 2008 at 22:14

    neighbor across the way (doesn’t everyone?) who played the pipes.  my dad and i would sit on the porch and listen to him in the evenings. beautiful, of course. the piper let his lawn go to seed and we just to joke that he just missed his moors.

    paternal grandmother was full-blood scots. her parents came down via Nova Scotia (as did many), and she retained a bit of an  accent (from her upbringing) all over her life.  very faint, but it was there.   i am the spitting image of my father, who was 1/2 scots, 1/2 scots-irish.

    bloodlines are amazing to study and/or discover.

  5. The ASPLF does not work with those pro-pony fascist pigs!  They tried to turn my brother into glue!

    All you who are for the liberation of ponies, come to the real Bootleg Pony where all your ponies can run wild and free!

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