Clann An Drumma – “Boudica’s Revenge”
“But Dana,” you’re saying, after perusing the other music videos I have shared here, “where are the pipes?”
Glad you asked.
The younger of the two pipers is internet-famous in his own right: Grant MacLeod, the Munro Bagpiper. Congratulations to Grant, incidentally, on the occasion of his recent wedding. Lang may yer lum reek!
Skerryvore – “Good Times Never Die”
This one’s new!
Nazareth – “Hair of the Dog”
You should have seen my face when I heard these guys were Scottish.
Probably looked a lot like yours does now.
(Unless you already knew. Then never mind.)
Random thoughts
1. So… you’re saying it’s raining in Scotland right now?
[ducks]
2. I just read a thing where apparently, the Blarney Stone in Ireland is related to the Stone of Scone in Scotland, the latter being basically the seat of the Scottish monarchy. Blarney seems to be a piece of Scone (okay, I’m tempted, but I won’t) gifted to Ireland by the Bruce after the Battle of Bannockburn (there’s room for another pun there, but… nah). First I’ve heard of this but, then again, I didn’t know about the Stone of Scone until sometime in the past four years, so I’m hardly the reliable source. If my source is correct, I’m sure I’ll hear about this again.
3. For the record, I do not agree with the recent political grandstanding by this organization‘s campaign Scotland is Now. I will always come down on the side of LGB rights and equality. No question there. But I refuse to support a movement that works against the rights of women and homosexual people and that targets children for poisoning and mutilation. You may do whatever you like with that information, and I in turn will respond appropriately if I don’t like what you do. Fair do’s.
And this is not “well you’re just some American fanny,” either — people in your own country agree with me, dear Scots. If you don’t know what’s going on, perhaps it’s time you listened to your most famous English resident. Oh, she’s not really Scottish either? These women are. Stop playing dumb.
It may seem silly and self-defeating for me to come out like this so early on, but I would rather not be followed by woman-hating, homophobic, delusional people in the first place. If I scare you all off now, I won’t have to do it later. So go on. Tell everyone how horrible I am. I’ll be over here continuing to enjoy myself. Ta.
(And now you know why the comments are turned off.)
When someone says “I’ll eat my hat”
Just learned today there’s a childhood treat from Scotland called a top hat and I find myself thinking, once again, that people in the UK in general are much more creative with treats than Americans are. I’d already thought that about baked goods.
That one might be a good one to pass on to friends who typically complain that they can’t make the things they see on Pinterest. I feel like if you can’t get this one, are you really trying?
Happy Birthday, Helix!
…I almost said “Happy Birthday, Kelpies,” but that won’t be for a couple more months.
The Helix is a park in Falkirk which is now internationally famous for its two gigantic horse-head sculptures, the Kelpies, meant to be a representation of the kelpie spirits of Scots folklore. You can also find the Falkirk Wheel here.
Administrivia: 11 September 2023
You have probably noticed that one of the things I post here is Scottish music. Yep. Expect more. Sometimes it will be bagpipes and Highland music. More often it won’t be, because that’s only one facet of Scottish musical heritage. And I’m no expert yet. I’ve only started exploring and have barely scratched the surface.
I am still thinking about how to arrange links. I’m evolving around to the idea of arranging everything by location instead of by topical category. Like, have one big menu for Scotland, then submenus for different towns with a whole list of different things for each town, and then maybe a nationwide category if I can’t seem to fit it any other way. But we’ll see. I suppose I had better make up my mind before I add so much stuff it takes me five years to rearrange it.
(Not that… ah… I’ve ever done that before. Heh.)
For the record, I know it still looks bare-bones here insofar as website art and such. I have a logo in mind, I just have not gotten around to figuring out making it. Yeah, I could hire someone, if I weren’t broke. Anyway, I have artistic tendencies myself, such as they are. Whatever I come up with here will need to be usable on social media too. I’ll sort it out.
There will likely be affiliate links here at some point. I’ll add a notice about that on an About page or in an About section when I get it going. I’m thinking possibly a book list, possibly a product list (did you know you can find Irn Bru on Amazon???), possibly one or two other things. I don’t know yet. We’ll see.
And, I’ll be slightly less boring here in the blog. We need more variety here, like profiles of famous Scots and that kind of thing. I gotcha. Watch out for that.
Texas – “Tell That Girl”
Speaking of Rory McCann. Who’s that drummer?
I love how he gets into it as he goes along.
The LaFontaines – “Release The Hounds”
[Song lyrics here at Genius]
First got turned on to this via the Rory McCann fandom because Mr. McCann turned up at a LaFontaines show and introduced this specific song for, I hope, obvious reasons. I like rock anyway, and rap-rock too, but this song is also musically interesting. Give it a listen. If you’re at all inclined you’ll hear what I mean.