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Tunes of Glory
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Before
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Friday 5th
We drove down from Newport, Rhode Island and made it into town around 5pm. Checked into the Edison Hotel on 47th W and I was immediately happy to bump into the Scottish Power Band on their way out the door. They were waiting for a coach to take them to the fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria. "How many of you are there?". "We think 52" was the reply "....but we are not really sure - we are all split up playing all over the place - I think this is our 8th gig of the day, Fox News, NBC News, ABC News, The open top bus...... We are off to the Waldorf now........"
A quick walk around Times Square and we found the St Andrews bar and dropped in for a pint of Belhaven served (nearly) as it should be - Americans do chill their beer excessively! "Big Rusty" and his two buddies from East Kilbride were planning strategy. "We booked as individual pipers but when we found we were here together - we are going to march as the East Kilbride Pipe Band - which is who we play with normally". A band of three - should be good!
Our daughter, who had come up from college in Washington for the night, joined us and we moved on to the Studio 54 to see "Cabaret" - good with a tougher political twist than the famed Lisa Minelli movie. After dinner supper in the Russian Tea Rooms with our daughter's friend from Columbia University in NY and then back to the hotel. Our daughter was supposed to stay the night and go back to college Saturday morning but plans mysteriously changed! No argument - those cute Scottish Power boys had worked their charm and I left the girls at the St Andrews bar. Of course when I got back to the hotel I found the band - exhausted - going off to their beds! I think the girls had a night listening to Pipe Majors planning strategy..... In truth there didn't seem to be many parties Friday night (oh there WERE some) but I was impressed by an overall air of "Off to bed early - got to put on a performance tomorrow - don't want to be tired"
Saturday 6th 7.00am I went for a walk to scope out the lie of the land. 6th Avenue was being barricaded and swept and piles of police-line barriers were being stockpiled at intersections. Police cars were cruising and I was able to stand right in the middle 6th and look up the empty Avenue of the Americas. First stirrings of emotion about how the day could go......
I dropped by the Today Show window on Rockerfeller Plaza - for those who don't live here a daily morning news program where people stand outside in the hope of being interviewed about their cause or why they are in NY that day. A few members of the NY Fire Department band were drifting in. "We are on at 8.30 to remind people what is happening today". "Scottish Power played it yesterday morning."
I worked back to the hotel - got changed into rig of the day. It was cold and there was no promise of it getting better so I wore a Harris tweed waistcoat and jacket. I think I met two others that day who did the same. Other spectators were in everything from the Full Charlie jacket through a Lovat jacket to Kilt and big wooly jumper! Pipers - of course - were in their best. Went to brunch with friends from NY who were joining us and on the way to the assembly area dropped by the hotel to pick up an extra jacket for my wife. The lobby was crammed with bands and the streets were filling up. Bands would form up and move out in a loose assembly. Indivdual pipers were quietly standing looking for someone to team up with, calming their nerves or just taking their time. People were having fun but there was an air of quiet determination. 12.00pm
We marched off to the assembly areas on 45th through 43rd and immediately ran into the first big issue of the day. Firstly the bands were forming up to the EAST of 6th Avenue and not to the WEST as the joining instructions had indicated - and 43rd Street was NOT in use but 46th had been substituted instead. It was clear that if you were supposed to be in 44th and 45th - you were basically OK but there were a lot of confused people who were supposed to be in 43rd looking for their mates or a home! There did not seem to be anyone from the organizers to sort it out but the professionalism on the day rose to the occassion and the pipers sorted it out for themselves, tuned up and formed up.
Big thumbs up to the bands who took in lines of individuals in their ranks, Made the day for the individuals - I am sure - and overcame a clear organizational problem. The crowds were happily mingling through the bands in amazement and there was many a piper looking for a quiet spot in the hard walled echoing streets trying to get tuned. Doorways were popular! The door girl at the New York Yacht Club was kept busy gently asking people to leave. Then it started to snow! For New Yorkers - it was clear that it was only a flurry but the Bermuda Pipe Band must have had it tough. Used to playing in high Caribbean temperatures their spotless, white THIN COTTON tunics must have had them thinking of the proverbial brass monkeys. I heard more than one band express their sympathy.
As the bands got ready to form up and move out we moved out onto 6th Avenue to find a good spot to spectate. It was hard to find. While in the side streets 6th Avenue had filled as far as the eye could see with spectators pressed against the barriers. We moved up to around 48th so we would have a chance to catch all the bands as they swung out the side streets. New York's finest were humorously juggling the needs of the cross street traffic - still being allowed to flow - and the spectators looking for holes to spectate from. The cross streets were the obvious place!
I talked to one policeman who told me the city was having a hard time finding enough policemen to cover events right now. Losses from 9/11 coupled with the increased police presence required down at ground zero meant that he had been drafted in from the suburbs. That in itself was not uncommon but he has a plain clothes detective and hadn't worn a uniform in 10 years! That was uncommon. His young kids were part of the crowd and had never seen Dad in uniform - they were amazed! Thank you New York for doing what it took on the day!
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