Marathon Weekend

May Long weekend is most definitely a long one for us around here...starting with the Comox Valley Highland Games on the Saturday. James P., Ryan and I headed up island early that morning to play at the first outdoor contest of the season. We all made out okay....Ryan with two 3rds in H/J and MSR, me with two 3rds in MSR and H/J and James P. with a 1st in the H/J, 2nd in Piobaireachd and 6th in MSR. It was nice to see the bands from the mainland out and playing at this one! James P. judged the bands in the afternoon while Ryan and I enjoyed the first ever Mexican food booth at the highland games! 

While we were up island, James W. was leading the Police band at the Victoria Highland Games. That games has expanded into a two day affair with Saturday being more of a festival with an entertainment tent, whisky tasting, haggis hurling etc. The Police band was the guest band and debuted the brand new full dress.

  
 

Sunday at the Victoria Games is when the piping and drumming contests are now so once again, early morning. Ryan came away with a 4th in the H/J while James P. won that event, and a 6th in the MSR with James P. winning second. Both James W. and James P. were on the judging panel for the band contest. The bands seem to be working hard early in the season as everyone was sounded pretty decent for the start of the outdoor season. 

Ryan and I had a pleasure of sitting with two friends during the contest. One is a fabulous guitar player, channeling Stevie Ray Vaughan in a seriously scary way...and the other is a wicked photographer who was documenting her first time at the highland games. Neither one has ever been involved with any of this but both were making acutely valid comments and exceptionally relevant questions. I found it interesting to be in the middle of two extremely creative and sharp individuals who actually were making an effort to understand the little musical world we immerse ourselves in every weekend - and to my delight, were catching EVERYTHING and got the end result spot on. Talk about an unbiased opinion. 

Monday is Victoria Day which means the Victoria Day Parade. Although it's not the most fun thing to do after two days of highland games, we geared up and played with the Police band...there's nothing like marching behind a bunch of buses breathing in their exhaust and in front of ambulances with their sirens going. Despite all that, it went well and we wrapped up the day with a barbeque (in the rain). A nice end to the longest weekend of the year. Literally.

-JLT