Frazer Stone of the Old Blind Dogs.
I’m a drummer. (Yes, we all know that, Jeff. And subtle like a drummer, too.) So naturally I planted myself down in front of Old Blind Dogs drummer Frazer Stone as the band took the stage at the Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Music Festival. Hey, if I could have Krazy-Glued my right ear to his bass drum, I would have done it. But I guess that’s why they hire security guards.
I’ve been going to Bill and Karen Reid’s festival for years out at the Valley Forge Convention Center. Every year I say to myself, hey, what will you see or hear that you haven’t seen and heard before? The claddagh jewelry and all the other Celtic tchochkes on sale at the vendor tables, the meat pies and assorted evil brews, the tattooed Caledonians wearing camo kilts, Doc Martens and safety pins in their noses. Still, every year I go, and every year I think … wow, what I would have missed if I hadn’t gone.
For me, this year’s highlight was the Dogs, whose amazing CD Four on the Floor made my socks roll up and down when it was released last year. Piper Rory Campbell (a Scottish dude, yes … what was your first clue?) couldn’t make the tour, so we were treated to Ali Hutton who, if anything, seemed to be having even more fun than we were. It wasn’t long before a whole bunch of audience members were up and dancing.
I was never a died-in-the-wool traditionalist. I’m always going to be a much bigger fan of lunatic experimentation. Not surprisingly, then, the Dogs—who find weird and wondrous ways in which to combine Scottish pipes and djembe—are my cup of tea exactly.
Which brings me back to Frazer Stone’s kit, a strange collection of hand drums, cymbals and a thumping great bass drum. (Yes, I have kit envy.) Stone has referred to that setup as “a fantastic array of pots and pans.” And you can kind of picture him as a kid, playing away on the kitchen floor, bouncing flams off the Farberware. He plays with that kind of childlike joy and reckless abandon.
The band plowed through many of the tunes on the most recent release, and we in the audience were happy to accompany them on more than a few. (The tune “Braw Sailin'” is great fun with a few hundred well-lubricated voices.)
Did I do or see anything else? Well, sure. I made the rounds of the vendors, just like always, and picked up a few buttery bricks of shortbread (just like always). I took in Scocha, another great Scottish band, and communed for a while with my buds from the Washington Memorial Pipe Band, who provided the ‘chunes between acts. I couldn’t pass up the chance to catch John Grimaldi’s act. He’s known as “The Kilted Juggler,” and he does strange but cool things with breakable plates and bubbles.
And now, it’s over for another whole year.
No problem, though. Bill and Karen Reid and their East of the Hebrides Entertainments always have something going. If you can’t wait ’til next February for your Celtic major event fix, check out their Web site.
And check out our Festival photos.
