Last night's shenanigans...

[Bad Monkey]

So I'm a working musician, I don't often get free weekend nights in my home port very oftern as a result. However last night was one of those happy exceptions so what do I do? I shout up Alice (fiddle) and Tall John (acoustic guitar) from my home band and tell em to meet me at the whisky shed later Then John rings back to tell me that Sean has been tagged in on bodhran. Ambush session at the shed full of whisky is a go!

Now the whisky shed is a small outbuilding at a larger venue just north of Seattle; it's a cottage with a nice fireplace, a well-whisky bar, and terrific ambience. It's perfect for a nice Scots/Irish trad session. I'll try and post pictures of the shed, wonder if I'll figure out the parameters before I have to bounce to the studio...

Anyways, we're well over an hour into playing and things are jumping; people are dropping rounds on the table (it's like quarters in a jukebox for session players...) and there are even a couple of stepdancers hopping up now and again. I'm playing my reelpipes for set when a redheaded lass slides onto the bench next to me with another round of Yellowspot and as I wrap up asks in the thickest burr I've heard since my grandad "Arrrre ye a trrrrrrue Scot?"
Now since I wear a kilt to most gigs these days I'm pretty used to hearing 'THE QUESTION' and usually just play it off as quickly as possible. It's a pretty stale joke at this point.
So I reply "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Which usually stops that funny business right in it's tracks.
But no, she persists: "Arrrre ye a trrrrue Scot? D'ye have the peat up yerrr nose???"
I figure out she's asking if I was born in Scotland and not the 'OTHER QUESTION' so I tell her no, I was born in the States, 2nd gen, grandfather's from Rothiemurchus and my Nan was from Inverness. She tells me all about how she grew up in Elgin and how much she misses that part of the world.
The conversation came with a few more rounds, a couple requests for a strathspey or two, and a promise that I would learn "The Maiden and the Selkie" for next time.
Thank for friends that'll give you a ride home. Just got back from retrieving the car.

[Blupiper]

Sounds like a great time. But 'shenanigans?' Maybe more of a 'ballyhoo.' Definitely a rowdy ceilidh. You'll have to give us a bit of GPS, so we can drop in the next time we're west of the mountains.

JMB