Page 43 - With Alex Currie, Frenchvale

ISSUE : Issue 73

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1998/6/1

again about the evening of bagpipes during the Celtic Colours festival. That was in October 1997.) I'm just trying to tell you the truth; I'm not telling you no b.s. (Paul MacDonald) is a hell of a good player himself, on the guitar. He took me over there. (To St. Ann's.) In concert, like. All I had to do was sit down and listen. I had the grace of everything. I had the full knowledge of what was going on. But when I got up on the stage and--Johnny was playing, my nephew--he blew the pipes and I turned the chanter around--I guess they thought I was going crazy or something. I wasn't playing the pipes but, geez, there was some music coming out! (Oh, there was. Paul MacDonald said, as happy as he was through that whole week of Celtic Colours, and as happy as he was at that concert, when you did that--right over the top!) And pipers there had gold medals, they came to me and congratulated me, as soon as I left the stage. (Morrison) was down off of the stage: "I never heard any bet? ter!" I said, "You don't tell me I'm good when you've got gold medals for playing!" "That makes no difference," he said. "I never enjoyed anything any better." That's more or less what self-education does. I never learned by note or nothing like that. But my mother and my father and my brothers taught me. Nothing else-- nothing in the world taught me any more. There's not a book made that had more tunes Scotiabanking means believingin people. And provingit every day Scotiabank first opened its doors in 1832. Today, there are more than 1,000 Scotiabank doors across the country. Walk through any one of them, any time, for products and services designed to meet today s special needs. After more than 150 years of helping Canadians and Canadian business to grow and prosper, we'd like to do as much for you. Scotiabank S than I had. Barry Shears--I think he got most all the tunes.... (He'll be back.) Oh, he'll be back, once the spring comes. (Well, you know, when you're in a band, es? pecially when all you're expected to do is marches, you can hide a little bit. But when you're piping for a dance, there's no place for you to hide.) No, no. (I've al? ways thought that's very courageous, to take on that responsibility.) Well, I was never ashamed to get in the pipes with the best piper, when I was piping. I was into bands of all kinds. You've got thousands of bands in Toronto, we'd go down once a year. from all over the world to go in that big outfit--what do you call it? It's outside of Toronto, they've got a big field there. And there was a hundred, thousand, pipers in there. And you'd have a band of your own, you'd have to go there with them. So I went here as a greenhorn, you may Jasper' Family Restaurant George St., Sydney ''r% ''t rrk (OPEN 24 HOURS) 539'71U9 King's Rd., Sydney River 564-6181 Mayflower Mall 539-9909 WINNER OF TOURIST ASSOCIATION'S AWARD OF EXCELLENCE Island Vinyl Siding Ltd. LeBlanc Siding Ltd. ' Authorized Dealer ox JfdnTCJXN Aluminum & Vinyl Siding Aluminum Windows & Doors 1YCA N Shutters / Softfit / Fascia / Awnings ' Heavy Duty Vinyl Replacement Windows 109 Reservoir Road SYDNEY Professional installation of Aluminum & Vinyl Siding in Cape Breton for over 22 years. FREE ESTIMATES, and any siding inquiries, Call Collect: BRUCE or SONNY MacPHERSON 539-3665 & 539-4626

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