The gang I work with are all going nuts because of St. Patrick’s day. When I got to my office, I was the only one not wearing green. Someone said “I thought it was traditional to wear green on St. Patrick’s day” to which I replied “Yes, but not if you’re Irish”. 
To keep them happy, I brought the pipes to work and will give them a blast of the Bucks while they digest their Pot Noodles and V8.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all.
And to you Peej.
I’ll determine whether or not is was a happy one at roughly 1 am tomorrow morning… when my day of gigging has ended… it begins at 2 pm and runs pretty much non-stop all day.
Cheers to all! The green is nice, but the time honored (and frequently practiced) tradition of having a pint with the lads is the tradition we like to observe. A rousing chorus of Amhran na bhFiann, stories about fallen comrades, and then more ITM round out the eve…with the occasional shady hookup providing stories for the next gathering. We even invite our orange inclined friends…ahh, the all healing pint.
Little factoid: St Patrick’s color was originally blue. The association of the saint with green coincided with the use of green in the Irish national cause.
May the food be hot, the beer plentiful, and the gigging money ample!
–Blake
Have fun Joseph 
I actually make more money playing my Big Bagpipes (Highland) . I started playing with a great Irish Bagpipe band - Inis Fada Gaelic in NY and was taught TONS of Irish tunes on the pipes.
Enjoy - and drink a full glass of water and pop a few asprin before crashing at night!
Slan,
we have a 3 bands with St Paddys day celebration..here some pics:
http://www.tormala.net/galleries/patrickparty2009/
My day was pretty low key: I played to a wall of arses (literally: it was a small room and people’s butts were right in my face while I played) for the Mayor’s Breakfast. I used my bass drone as a prod to give me some space. I then gave a half hour seminar on the pipes at the local big event, and then busked…made $80 bucks in a half hour thanks to drunk people not really being aware of what they are doing. There was even a $50 tip in there!
Oh, and I wore my John/Johnny Cash black suit with my St. Patrick-blue shirt for those of you who are fashion obsessed.
tommykleen
Thats disgusting tooo much information for a family forum. 
O’er here if’n folks stick their butts in yer face it is normally tring to tell ye something.
St.Patricks Day here was whit is really aw boot…Ireland beat Scotland in the Rugby on Saturday.Celtic beat Rangers on Sunday.People beat the feck oot a each other in between.To be alive,uninjured and sober in Coatbridge come Wednesday morn was a miracle.Thankye the Blessed St.Patrick fer your kindness in bestowing yer name to such a festival.Not quite whit the Church had in mind methinks.I blame the parents mesel.
Uilliam
Yeah, mine too. Not the usual madness at all… I blame the economy, even though I choose not to participate. Had a nice enough little gig last night for the dinner crowd… there were arses there too
Pat.
As far as it went, and considering the length of the day, it was a pretty low-key day for moi. Economy and it being on a Tuesday I feel played a large part in this. Not a bad day, still got paid…
Pictures! Sound clips! 
We had three gigs yesterday; all pretty lively. I think the good weather had something to do with the good-size crowds. And then there’s the fact that a whole lot of folks seemed to be getting their feck-beating out of their systems after the Saturday parade, leaving the survivors with time to recover in between.
Best of all, the whole mess paid for my new chanter. Yipppeeeeee!! 
The last gig I did Tuesday was five hours in a tent at a bar increasingly packed with screaming drunks. Madness. Insanity. Stage irrelevance. Demands for “Free Bird”. Ear-splitting ambient volume. Gambrinous women trying to climb up on our stage full of instruments during breaks. Did I mention insanity?
Sounds like you had the same kind of night as I did, Nano. Insanity, indeed.
…and then there nothing quite like a Miami St. Patrick’s Day…
it was the usual large stage ona blocked off street (which contained the closing U2 cover band’s gear-great sounding band too w/Bono look-a-like as well), too many mics, and the obligatory intermittent dose of ear splitting feedback from the monitors, which usually arrived just as I was totally relaxed, shocking me into a state of what one looks like when struck by lightning.
Aside from that, there was a wide array of enough partially exposed body parts on exotic bodies. At one point of weakness, my distraction led me down the lane of playing the first bar of 17 different tunes all strung together to make one complete pile of horse manure, causing me to eventually finish the “tune” (the leader told me to "keep playing) on an up beat. Just lovely!?
And then, in pure state of bliss (i.e. ignorance) the nearby audience cheered, as the ghost of Ennis threw another bolt of blinding feedback my way.
Luckily, my vision remained unaffected!
… when this happens, do what I do, flip them off while declaring: “No charge”.
My St. Patrick’s Day events started over two weeks ago.
First, I played with The Chieftains in San Francisco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D84buZsmmRo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo1dfwDV6kk
Second, I was invited to play for the Lord Mayor of Listowel, Ireland at a private dinner.
Third, I played for the Spirit of Ireland events in San Jose for the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland.
Then, I played at an all day controlled chaos at my local pub, C.B. Hannegan’s. Even got a whole 10 seconds of coverage on the local news channel.
Got free food and Guinness of course!
I only got paid for one event. Otherwise they were great advertising events for me.
The poor economy is really affecting the live music industry. People are way less anxious to part with their money for such a luxury item.
I have updated my website with new photos at:
http://katzwerk.com/infopage.htm
Cheers! Richard
…ok Richard wins! 
WOW! I won something?
I didn’t even know it was a contest.
What is it? A new set of pipes???
yup! you won a new set of pipes pitched in F…above concert 
PJ,
sorry you didn’t win, but we have some lovely parting gifts for you. A lifetime supply of rock hard cane…
What, nothing for WannabePiper and me for throwing ourselves on the ol’ grenade?