Bummer of a night at session

[davidlpope]

Well, to be honest, this particular pub moved from their previous locale, to a new locale, and I don't think these folks were regulars at the other locale. Although, in America, you simply need to understand that you will see Scots garments in an Irish pub known for playing jigs, reels and the occasional Pogues tune.

And oddly enough, most of the female wait staff was also concerned that my glass was full enough. It's just rather odd to have extremely rude looks. Double-takes? Sure.

Meh, in the end it all comes down to the fact that, while wearing a kilt, some men will inevitably question your sexuality, but on the other hand most women will question whether or not you're single.

Was it an "Irish" pub?

[artroland]

Not as Irish as you might suspect.

[McElmurry]

Folks have a wide variety of reactions to mixing Gaelic traditions. I am new to the session scene and still feeling out my group so I haven't sprung my kilt on them yet.

[artroland]

Well, we have actually moved session to a different pub, one with a more open mind towards mixing traditions. All that being said, I'll be wearing my Heritage of Ireland tartan there, just to be on the safe side. ;)

[McElmurry]

I am considering a kilt in Ulster weathered, the HOE dark brown version, for just such occasions. Or I might just stick with my Morrison. Lots of Morrison musicians in all the Gaelic traditions.

[ronin6290]

I may need quote you on this as it made my day! Well said Sir.

Tis the way my friend the clones can get a bit jittery when faced with folk who don't conform to their slanted view on the world

[Urbane Guerrilla]

And oddly enough, most of the female wait staff was also concerned that my glass was full enough. It's just rather odd to have extremely rude looks. Double-takes? Sure.

Along with all the cheerful maidenly young things who want to have their pictures taken with two or more pipe band guys... grinning all over their faces, they are.

I remember talking in a California Starbucks with a kiltie who on first examination did not have the air of being in a pipe band. He wasn't.

Guess it's time to go max out the weird: kilt up and go eat phô at a Vietnamese restaurant. Because haggis and kimchee, eaten with chopsticks, just doesn't startle any more. Fusion cuisine, yes; startling, no.

[artroland]

Urbane for the win! As an aside, I dig thai food, however I can't understand how anyone can brown peppers in a pan and not be pepper-sprayed out of their own home. It was quite the ordeal.

[OCD: obsessive collie dog]

Just to add my pennyworth,Try getting a lift from a group of "outlaw" bikers when I was hitching in my kilt in Ontario in '80s. mad guys but totally sound, ended up getting drunk and talking bikes all night.

[tripleblessed]

I co-host a weekly bluegrass jam, and after the Stone Mountain Games went straight from the park to the jam. Folk smiled and said they knew where I'd been, and they wished they could have gone. Now, kilted more than not at that jam. Was encouraged to expand to other bluegrass events. At "Bear on the Square" in Dahlonega, GA, I was not the only person kilted, both days had bunches of questions about clans and comments about their kilt, or their husband's kilt and how they should have worn theirs. One guy in Royal Stewart asked if I would come meet his Dad to show him the tartan, Isle of Skye that day; that's his next kilt. One guy said he'd play me a Scottish tune, and did. I asked if he knew any Niel Gow, and he played Gow's "Lament on the Death of His Second Wife". I said I'd heard that played on Niel's own fiddle, made by him, and played by a well known Scots fiddle player, Pete Clark, and maybe you've heard the name. A big grin, and he said he and Pete swap fly-fishing pictures and tunes over the web. You just never know.

Keep smiling, and showing up in the kilt. It'll work.