Phil, welcome (back?)! Dicky Deegan must live down there somewhere near you… You guys friends, and do you get together for tunes?
Hi elbogo and thanks for the welcome,
When I said “I’m back”, I really meant just posting on the UP lists in general…before I was on the David Daye list, but I haven’t written anything for ages…still, there are people on this list who will remember me.
Dicky Deegan and I first met in 1988 or so, when he and Geoff Wooff came up to my then home on the mainland to have a look at, and measure, my C# Coyne set. Dicky was so wrapt in them that he commissioned Geoff to make a copy for him ASAP. Dicky now uses a chanter that he and Malcom McLaren made here in Tasmania about six years ago, but the rest of Dicky’s set is still a copy of mine.
When I moved back to Tasmania in 1989 Dicky lived at my place for a while and I’m very proud to tell you that I proceeded to teach him absolutely everything he has forgotten 
Actually he was still learning then and I did pass on a few tricks…but it wasn’t long before the student was giving the master a hell of a run for his money (Dicky had been playing whistle and flute for years mind).
We’ve played together countless times, not least when we were in the same band together, “Rakish Paddy”…the only band in Australia (and maybe the world) with TWO uilleann pipers. I carried on with the band solo when Dicky went overseas. Believe me, we had some wild times…he only had a practice set in D at that time so I often played regulators on my D set while he played the tune…we could get chords and rhythms that would otherwise be impossible, then I’d come in with my chanter and the place would go ape…what a hoot. Playing airs on stage together was also very nice.
As for Dicky’s whereabouts at the moment, I’m not too sure. Last I heard he was employed as a doorman at a fancy hotel in Paris!! (knowing Dicky I can well believe that too…I can just see him all dressed up in a fancy coat and top hat). He may be back in Australia now it’s summer down here, but if he is, he must be on the mainland. I know most of his stuff is still stored down here at a mutual friends house. Dicky comes and goes, but it would be nice to see him back here in Tasmania, he’s been away too long.
Cheers, Phil.
Ah, nice bit of history there, Phil. Thanks. I’ve become quite a fan of Deegans and really enjoy his playing. I don’t suppose the Rakish Paddy band made any recordings? Be interesting to hear.
Dicky now uses a chanter that he and > Malcolm > > McLaren > made here in Tasmania about six years ago, but the rest of Dicky’s set is still a copy of mine.
Wow! Hey, I had no idea that the creator of The Sex Pistols made pipe chanters! Or that he made them in Tasmania. Perhaps he had to flee there after that whole “Bow Wow Wow” thing went sour…
Unfortunately Rakish Paddy made two recordings…both complete shite! 
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The recordings were both made live at the “New Sydney Hotel” in Hobart (the pub was always a little lost). We had a regular wednesday night gig there that ran for over ten years…magic, some of the most enjoyable times of my life. Trouble was that as part of the pay deal we all got as much free Guinness as we could drink! Therefore the playing sometimes went downhill a wee bit on big nights…and we had a lot of those, as it was always packed out.
The first,“Rakish Paddy Live” was recorded before I joined the band..at that time the band comprised Dicky (pipes, whistle, flute) Roy Newman (guitar, vocals, filthy jokes) , Dot Newman (Master of Ceremonies, vocals, more filthy jokes), Declan Pickering (great tenor banjo player, guitar, vocals) and a truly spectacular fiddle/zuke player, from Japan of all places, called Atsushi something-or-other-unpronounceable (we all called him “Ashtray”). This guy was unbelievably good, but unfortunately he moved back to Japan…which was when I joined, ostensibly as a fiddle player.
The first recording was OK musically but unfortunately the sound guy was an idiot and the tape that was released was marred by too much crowd noise.
The second tape was also not very good technically (we managed to find another idiotic sound man) and does not include Dicky, as he was overseas at the time.
No way I’m going to release any tracks from the first one, because Dicky would break my reeds if he found out!! 
BUT, there must be hundreds of good private recordings of yer man floating about…maybe someone reading this has some they could share?
Dicky certainly is a phenomenon and, I can assure you, is a really, really nice guy.
Cheers, Phil.
Um, we try and keep that quiet (“piano” in music talk, heh heh).
Nah, Malcom is a real sweety and after retiring from teaching moved up to Queensland, where he mostly makes small pipes (he’s not very tall).
Your profile says you are living in Japan…have you heard of Atsushi by any chance? Last I heard he was living near Kyoto, but he may have moved to Tokyo…he had to train a bunch of guys so as to form an Irish band over there. He’s a must to hear…him and Dicky together was really something special.
We met Dickie Deegan last year and he was then living in an old house up the road from me in Harrogate in North Yorkshire
How interesting! (thanks for that Harper).
I do declare that man gets about more than, well, whoever.
Dicky in “ee-by-gum” land?..he’ll be playing cricket next!
Newsflash! NASA has just announced that the Mars rover has photographed Dicky playing the pipes in a crater, wearing a fancy coat and top hat.
Bottle of 12 year old Scotch for the person who guesses what tune he was playing :roll:
“You get out for nout and very little for sixpence”
Hi Phil, welcome to C&F.
Do you still have a website going??
Can we get you to post some pictures of your pipes on the ‘pictures’ topic??
Go here for for the link:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=8172&sid=0020a71929a1daa1f0429b2e01639bc3
Well, the Morning Star is Venus, so it can’t be that one. And, it couldn’t be Frost is all Over or The Rainy Day. If he’s playing the “alien” pipes, I can see him doing The Cuckoo’s Nest in that crater, or maybe Scatter the Mud (except there’s no water). There’s also a tune called The Moving Cloud which is called The UFO Reel in Ireland.
Maybe when he returns he can join that infamous band from San Francisco called Hillbillies From Mars (Kevin Carr played uilleann pipes) http://instantharmony.com/HfM/
Hi Tony and thanks for the welcome,
My old website is defunct, along with the the ISP I used, sorry to say…and I’ve been too slack to start up another one as yet. I’m not sure if I still have any decent digital photos of my pipes…I had a major computer disaster last year and lost the ones on the hard drive. I’ll scrounge around and see if I still have them on a floppy disk somewhere. If not, I’ll scan some regular shots and post them up.
Cheers, Phil.
P.S. If anyone has copies of the photos from my old website please contact me by e-mail.
Ha! I think he’d fit right in with the Hillbillies from Mars!
Well done on the tune by the way…I was indeed thinking of the alternate title for “Moving Clouds”, ie “The UFO Reel”.
Unfortunately, I have already drunk the Scotch! 
Cheers, Phil.
No doubt. I have heard of a fiddle-playing Atsushi but have never met him. There are several first-rate fiddlers and fluters here in Japan worthy of much wider attention. Unfortunately, as I am located under a rock due east of the middle of nowhere, I don’t make it out to sessions here that much.
Hey, I still want Candy, and I understand that if you hit just the right note in Tasmania you can split the beer atom and blow up outhouses.
Royce
Dickey Deegan was spotted in Wolverhammpton around New year. He has a sister living around here somewere, maybe he`ll turn up at the Birmingham pipe day on Sunday next. Has been known to play in the Barley mow on penn common(well about 12 years ago)