Here’s a great photo of Christian Mehat, composer of Concerto Ascenseur (Elevator Concerto), taken this month while on tour in China. Christian is a member of Brittany’s Bagad St Nazaire, one of the best bagads anywhere.

“This is a great pic for a lot of reasons”, said G1 band P/S Michael Grey, “It’s got Christian mugging with the band’s latest T but, funny to me, because when I first started corresponding with Christian he would always sign his name, ‘Xian’. I asked a Breton piper I knew if he was Chinese. Christian got wind of this and laughed his ass off”.

Most would know that ‘Xian’ is only a short-form of his given name. But that’s our clever Pipe Sergeant.

You can hear Concerto Ascenseur on the band’s new CD, “Live at the el Mocambo“.

The Toronto Police Pipe Band’s new recording, “Live at the el Mocambo”, is now available for downloading from iTunes. Over the coming days other major international download sites including puretracks.com, napster.com, etc will also host the record.

Here’s an interesting “panorama” shot of the grades one and two band playing together at Fergus Highland Games, Saturday, August 14, 2010.
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The kind of drone reeds a piper plays is always a topic for discussion – between pipers. Some like the traditional cane reeds, some like the more reliable synthetic inventions.

Here’s a humourous take on one piper’s passion for cane reeds – courtesy of Bryan “Huddy” Huddleston, an excellent piper in the grade one band.
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A selection of photos courtesy of the el Mocambo:

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We thought we’d pass along a photo from our trip to Brittany.  This of the band in mid-performance on stage at the Espace Marine, Festival Interceltique Lorient, August 5, 2009:

Photo: Janet Pollock

Tom Foote and I, having spent many an hour on the road together pursuing the pastime of drumming, have developed a certain breed of comedy only available to, and perhaps only understood by, those who have shared similar experiences in the quest of a common goal. This humor emanates from a need for entertainment, and utter road-crazy, both of which I’ll attempt to convey here via illustration and written word.
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As the man once said, when it comes to success, “the secret is: there is no secret – it just takes a lot of hard work” and (I’m adding this part) ‘grit’. Grit: a supremely excellent word.

Here’s your inspirational photo of the hour (taken while walking along Cowcaddens Road, towards The National Piping Centre, Glasgow, [August 2008] with TPPB alumnus, Derek Midgley).
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