May Day

Celtic Fire danced at a May Day celebration at MSU, and my wife called me that morning to tell me that a highland piper was performing there. "Oh boy," thought I, "another piper in Springfield. Maybe it's time to form a band."

When I got to MSU and listened to him play for a few minutes, I was really impressed with his repertoire and technique. During a break, I spoke to him and found out that he had travelled up from Dallas not once but twice to play for MSU. (Originally, I was contacted by someone from the Student Activities Council about playing, but I didn't follow up until it was too late.)

The piper's name was Jimmy Mitchell, and here is me shaking his hand. Does't he look like an Oreo cookie? Just kidding. But, we couldn't help but chuckle "Jimmie Mitchell Motors in Aurora - where nobody beats ARE deal" Over the course of several minutes worth of conversation in several different locations at PSU, I found out that Mitchell went to St. Thomas Episcopal in Houston, TX and had played the pipes in several World Pipe Band championships with Mike Cusack as pipe major. No wonder his technique was near immaculate; he had worked for years under the first American Gold medalist.

When Mitchell mentioned the name Lars Sloan, I was taken aback. I downloaded some of Sloan's music and was humbled by his impressive technique. Mitchell was the other guy on the webpage that Google had automatically posted to my blog, the picture that reminded me of John Higgins, my own teacher for a time. So once again, the magic of Blogger gives me the opportunity to experience the serendipity of being at the right place at the right time.