Bagpipes & Penguins

Subject: Bagpies & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 09:57 PM

My wife, a library technician, has provided me with this research item from "Antarctica and the Arctic: The Complete Encyclopedia", by David McGonigal and Dr. Lynn Woodworth, foreward by Sir Edmund Hillary, pub. 2001 by Firefly Books, Ltd.; Part IV : Polar Exploration, "The Heroic Age, 1901-1917"; 'William Spiers Bruce - Scottish National Expedition: 1902-04', page 437 - description accompanying a photo of a bagpiper and a penguin:

"CAPTIVE LISTENER -- It may appear that this Emperor penguin admires piping -- until one notices the string tying it to Kerr, the laboratory assistant. The expedition doctor noted that 'these lethargic, phlegmatic birds' responded with complete indifference to a wide range of bagpiped tunes."

Remarkably, I have been in fairground audiences which responded quite similarly. Of course they, too, were lethargic, phlegmatic, and sometimes tied to the tent-stakes with twine. Nonetheless, it's odd. Wonder how Polar Bears respond to the Bodhran? :)

Subject: RE: Bagpies & Penguins
From: Mr Happy
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 10:05 PM

my brother's just returned from the arctic wastes of the frozen north pole. i'll ask him.

ps. even though he found no sessions in Spitzbergen- there was a guitar on the ship, so he annoyed his fellow adventurers with it!

Subject: RE: Bagpies & Penguins
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 11:12 PM

I wonder why anyone would even TAKE a set of good pipes to the antarctic, anyway....(The only penguin I have seen with a taste for music was Opus, in a comic strip, "Bloom County"...and he played the tuba..(Pachbel's Canon in D, I think)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 02:40 AM

There's a morris dancing penguin somewhere in the UK.... a team called Rock Hopper were performing at Hastings and I swear I saw a penguin going round with the bag...... or maybe I should lay off the booze for a while......

LTS

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 09:22 AM

Heh heh heh heh...personally I'm pro-arctic; none of this go-negative anti-arctica stuff fer me...but I thought spitzBergen was Manhattanites' opinion of a nearby county in New Jersey...come to think of it, they dance in Morris County NJ, too...but no Penguins...Walruses, I think (Walrae?)...Of course they're drunk, they're drunk, the silly old fools. But never fear, LTS: in the morning you'll be sober. Or I will. Somebody will. Well, maybe. But Speaking of Squeak (so to speak), Lizzie, 'twas the Tin whistle I played one fine day, to a flock of Murres in Newfoundland. Boy did they Squawk.

And never was piping so bad
And never was piping so fey.
(apologies to yer man Billy Yeets)

--Pachbel Pook
('mid Canon's roar, and Riffles' peal)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 10:06 AM

Recently a penguin was found in the waters off Alaska. Perhaps trying to flee the memory of that fateful day when he was tied to a piper.

A penguin walks into the bar and asks "Has my father been in here today?"

"I dont know," replies the bartender. "What did he look like?"

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 07:19 PM

It's true, I've spoken with the penguin....

LTS

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 07:56 PM

Heeheeheehee...oy...the poor traumatized little birdie...an' himself *flightless* into th' bargain...swam th' wild & wasteful ocean, dam' near from Pole to Pole, for to escape the skirling pibrochs...lethargic & phlegmatic, my eye...wonder wot his father looks like? HAWHAWHAW...whew. // PIPERS! To ARMS!! Or, uh, to CHANTERS! The foreign foe is upon ye! Rise and Follow Charlie! Scots, wha' th' Hae!?! DEE-fense! DEE-Fense!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 01:30 AM

I think ig a pengwin falls over, they cant stand up again on their own, 9you have to pick them up), but Im not sure about this really.john

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Hrothgar
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 06:45 AM

Liz,

What's this about a Morris dancer in a dinner suit?

:-)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 08:06 AM

It wasn't a dinner suited morris dancer, it was a white clad morris dancer with a penguin head. I really do need to stop mixing red wine and white.....

LTS

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 11:21 AM

Lizx the Squewk, nono, as lang as yo can shtan upe agan on7 yuor owt ig you ballsover, its just fine. But where *are* our bagpipers? Damn. They're forfeiting the battle, here. Maybe somebody needs to pick them up, though I'm not sure. Not a claymore in sight...

The piper is drowsy, his pipes laid away,
He won't be around for his vino today, The skies o'er Messina are heavy and gray
And all the poor soldiers are weary...

Well 'scuse me now, I must go visit the penguin head.

Temperantly yours,

The Puke-a
(Our Motto: Erin Fa' Doon & Go "Bragh!")

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: vectis
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 02:17 PM

It's true there was a morris dancing penguin at Broadstairs. I must take less water with it.

derry down down

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 03:43 PM

I knew it... I knew it wasn't me or the beer!!!

Now if we could only tell if he was a Weddle Waddle penguin or not....

LTS

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Dave Swan
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 04:42 PM

There was a photo published shortly after the Falklands war which showed a piper in battle dress playing for half a dozen of the locals. Six penguins sat at the piper's feet looking straight up at him in rapt attention. That's five more in the audience than I've ever held.

Note to self: Get penguins.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 18 Aug 02 - 11:01 PM

Ha! I knew Maggie Thatcher must've had a good reason to send the fleet. Apart from the Sheep, I mean. British Penguins! & Loyal subject of 'er Majesty, Gaw'bless 'er. Sovereignty, sir!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 02:42 AM

That's because he was in Highland dress and had a fish up his sporran!!

If you want rapt attention, go stand outside Selfridges (or almost anywhere on Oxford St) and watch out for the piper. The rapt attention is everyone trying to find a space on the opposite pavement to get away from him! He's been moved on from several pitches because shop managers complain he prevents customers from getting in because they don't want to come near him. Others have complained that he blocks the doors with groups of people stopping to listen to him. Poor sod can't win!

Off to find a penguin now... there are some questions I need to ask the little buggers.....

LTS

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Hrothgar
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 06:26 AM

Liz

Ask them why they never have the bow tie. One would think that this is de rigeur with the rest of their gear.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: InOBU
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 08:14 AM

I like your question about bodhran players and polar bears.... I will have to bring a polar bear to the next session, and introduce him to the bodhran players and find out which he prefers, the players or the drum. Cheers Larry

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 09:14 AM

Larry *BG* Good idea.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 05:59 PM

Larry, please don't bring him to the chantey sing this Saturday, he might eat a child. Of course, there are worse possibilities...

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: InOBU
Date: 19 Aug 02 - 06:26 PM

If he goes for a kid, throw him a Bodhran (player?) Larry

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Hrothgar
Date: 20 Aug 02 - 05:45 AM

Eaten by bears, eaten by bears,
Raggy bears, baggy bears, shaggy bears too,
There's nothing on earth anybody could do
And my Uncle Walter, poor Uncle Walter,
My Uncle Walter got eaten by bears.

Bob Townshend, 2002.

There are four verses to go with this chorus if anybody wants them.

:-)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Kim C
Date: 20 Aug 02 - 04:11 PM

Is that like, "he went to sleep and the hogs ate him"?

Now is the time for the penguin on your television set to explode.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 20 Aug 02 - 04:16 PM

no penguins at the North pole or in the arctic, all southern hemisphere birds.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: InOBU
Date: 20 Aug 02 - 04:56 PM

I DO WANT MORE BEAR VERCES!!!!!!! Please! and a tune as well!!!! Cheers Larry

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 21 Aug 02 - 01:07 AM

Dave Swan, True; the piper was Alastair Gillies who teaches bagpiping at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Melani
Date: 21 Aug 02 - 02:04 AM

I was sure this thread was going to be how when you squeeze a penguin, it makes a sound like a bagpipe. I have actually never done that, but I got to pet a penguin once.

Dave--you usually have ONE penguin in your audience?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: GUEST,Sledge
Date: 21 Aug 02 - 03:59 AM

Bill D asked "why anyone would take a good set of pipes to the Antarctic anyway", I say what the hell take them all down there, please. :-)

Sledge

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Hrothgar
Date: 21 Aug 02 - 04:02 AM

Larry, the tune is "Waltzing With Bears"

My Uncle Walter's not right in the head,
"I want to go waltzing with bears" Walter said,
So he went to the zoo and climbed up on a shed,
Jumped in with the bears and he ended up dead.

CHORUS:
Eaten by bears, eaten by bears,
Raggy bears, baggy bears, shaggy bears too,
There's nothing on earth anybody could do
And my Uncle Walter, poor Uncle Walter,
My Uncle Walter got eaten by bears.

He went to the zoo in the middle of the night,
Jumped in the bears' cage and turned on the light.
He started to waltz - they started to bite,
And my Uncle Walter got eaten that night.

We begged and we pleaded "Oh, please won't you stay,"
We managed to keep him alive for a day
But the bears all marched in and they took him away,
Now the bears all demand at least one Walt a day.

My Uncle Walter got eaten by bears,
It's a most unbearable state of affairs,
But he left me a fortune so nobody cares
That poor Uncle Walter got eaten by bears.

Bob Townshend (Yorky Bob) 2002. Lovely man.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 21 Aug 02 - 10:48 PM

Ho ho ho...y' Never Know where a Thread will Go. Gaw'bless th' Mudcat. :)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 02:05 AM

Hrothgar - they said they don't wear bow ties because being penguins with no opposable thumbs they can't tie them and the made up ones are just SSOOoooo vulgar.

Is it time for my medication or yours?

What am I saying, it's not even 7.00am, I went to bed at 1.30am after painting a dragon on a bedroom wall (and my leg too, but that was an accident.... at least, that's what I assume this morning....)and I'm asking who needs medication!!!

LTS - off to find a Penguin and give it a serious talking to......!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From:
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 04:19 PM

Ya know, years ago I saw the cutest photo of a conductor who'd taken an Antarctic cruise. He was in full tux w tails, and they'd boated him over to this little island that was covered w penguins and got a shot of him standing in the middle of the crowd! I wish I could find that photo again, but I looked thru several search engines w no luck....

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Hrothgar
Date: 25 Aug 02 - 07:10 AM

Liz,

A cuppa tea, a Bex (an analgesic, now off the market because it contained addictive nasties), and a good lie down used to be the cure for lots of things.

p.s. I wonder if that is why penguins are opposed to thumbs.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Mr Happy
Date: 25 Aug 02 - 08:09 AM

liz,

how did you paint a dragon on your leg accidently?

or did i misunderstand? did you mean you painted your leg on the wall?

was it a still life?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Aug 02 - 08:03 PM

didja know that when penguins hear bagpipes, they dance?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 25 Aug 02 - 08:30 PM

Bill D - I'm not getting an image; just "Hosted by Angelfire" & blank space. Izzit my coal-fired antique computer? I'll reboot & try again. This I gotta see.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Aug 02 - 08:39 PM

hmmmff...it may be Anglefire not allowing a direct link...I went to this first and then copied the address for just ONE set...

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: The Pooka
Date: 25 Aug 02 - 09:53 PM

Got it! via that link. *HAHAHAHAHAHA* woo hoo Wonderful. Thanks Bill. Whew!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Hrothgar
Date: 26 Aug 02 - 04:38 AM

Beautiful, Bill!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: smallpiper
Date: 26 Aug 02 - 05:06 AM

Take to the hills boys and girls the pipers are coming with an army of penguins in tow!!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: johnross
Date: 27 Aug 02 - 12:31 AM

I've had a copy of that picture of the penguin serenaded with bagpipes since about 1977, when it was part of a museum exhibit. I've often thought that if I ever opened an English pub, I'd use that picture for the pub sign, and call the place The Penguin and Piper.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: smallpiper
Date: 27 Aug 02 - 05:25 AM

I'd deffinately be a customer - can we have a session?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Aug 02 - 03:11 AM

The dragon was on the wall, the paint ended up my leg, due to a phone call at an inoportune moment. The paint is still on the wall, and also my leg.

The penguin concerned doesn't like bagpipes much but did admit to liking the tuba that was next to him at Towersey this weekend.

LTS

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: namedbard
Date: 28 Aug 02 - 09:24 AM

if a penguin plays the bagpipe at the south pole and there's no one there to hear him play? etc

Subject: RE: Bagpipes & Penguins
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Aug 02 - 02:57 PM

is he still a social outcast??

LTS