Freshly Squeezed

Seattle on Black Friday

EJ — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:56:46 +0000

It’s always wonderful to see a good busker and in front of the original Starbucks today I heard a whole band of them. The girl playing the fiddle had an amazing clear voice and I hope they made a fortune today because they deserved it.

The original logo for this first Starbucks depicts a mermaid’s bare breasts. They probably changed it when they went national to protect our children. I’m just glad the kids I saw in there with their parents didn’t seem to notice. Who knows what damage might have been done.

Also this is probably the only Starbucks in the country where they won’t call the cops on you for playing music out front. Just sayin’.

Smallpipes going out to Japan and Galicia

EJ — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:55:05 +0000

I’ve finally got video of the two latest sets of smallpipes, both coincidentally going overseas. the Galician one has a sharp seventh which I love but I’m not used to the open fingering.

watch?v=5rk39FJyX0M

Here are the videos of the standard A/D set going to Japan:

A chanter

D chanter

Big Spring 08

EJ — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:22:16 +0000

Thanks to the wonderful Marshall family, Linda Hill, and the warm congregation at St Mary’s Episcopal church of Big Spring Tx, I was able to play pipes with a couple of friends and catch this beautiful Texas sunset.
Richard Kean and Randy Wothke were both in good form as we played some tunes at the evening St Andrew’s service and then jammed in the courtyard while an excellent reception meal was had by all. A bass drummer named Roy from the Thorn and Thistle pipe band helped us out on a few tunes which was great.
On the way back to the airport I caught a picture of a working oil field with giant windmills in the distance. The future looks bright.

Renaissance Festival 08

EJ — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:33:15 +0000

Three weekends of playing medeival music in garb accurate down to the underwear but this picture is just as true for what’s going on out here.

The two aren’t together. The little girl just happened to be standing near there and got into the picture spontaneously when she saw me taking a picture of McVader.

Galicia and Japan

EJ — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:36:15 +0000

At long last I’ve completed the two sister sets of pipes to customers in Galicia and Japan. It’s very exciting to make instruments for people in these countries and I’m hoping it will lead me to visit these places one day.

Everything takes forever when I go on the road and set up the workshop in a different place and this month has been no exception. Here in Houston I have family and friends and a gig on the weekends so there’s hardly any time to get work done.

Salt Lake City

EJ — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:30:33 +0000

I had thought the long post I wrote about last weekend had published but I guess that’s what one gets when one doesn’t check one’s own website.

Clandestine played a Ceilidh at the First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City last weekend and we were treated to some excellent hospitality and found this great Mexican restaurant. It is a great feeling to be back in this band.

First frost (and I’m gone)

EJ — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:26:58 +0000

I hear Houston is getting a freeze this morning but so is Asheville and I know which place is going to be warmer in the next month so off I go with the workshop all packed up into one suitcase.

It’s a bad picture but the lathe is buried in there somewhere. The pipes going to Spain and Japan are almost done but now I’m playing shows for the next few days and won’t have time to finish them until next week.

Blackwood/antler October 2008

EJ — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:19:14 +0000

When photographing waxed, polished blackwood you have to really watch the fingerprints. This is a set in A for a customer in New York. I’ve still got a few days of playing to do on them and I’ll be starting turning on the next set during the next few days as well.

waynesville nc festival

EJ — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:41:06 +0000

This was a picture on the way back from a town festival in Waynesville NC where I played with the local pipe band.

Tomorrow we’re playing two church services and I’m doing the finishing on the turned drones for the latest set of smallpipes and going to the local Irish session. It’s going to be a full day.

Chanter and Silver

EJ — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:09:24 +0000

Hand-turning means you can make every instrument unique and I’ve found that the bottoms of the chanters and for some reason, the blowpipe is a place where I’m free-handing without knowing exactly how it’s going to turn out. I happened to have some fairly big pieces of antler so I wanted to leave a big sole on the chanter. This one’s different from all the others I’ve made and the antler itself has a lot of character.

Since I’m learning about silver casting from the jewelry school down the road I’m happy I’ve been keeping all the shavings from cutting silver tubing all these years. This is a handful of silver from cutting the drone ferrules for about nine sets.

Tomorrow I’m on to the drones.