NH Highland Games At Loon 2012: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
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…by Anura Guruge
Companion Post:
>> NH Highland Games At Loon: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012 — The REPORT CARD — Sept. 23, 2012.
I realize that the above Report Card is way too long. So here is the pithy summary.
The Good
1/ Hadrian’s Wall. The BEST of the Games 2012. They rocked. Dave Gossage will remind you of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull!
2/ The Massed Bands at the Closing Ceremonies. Spectacular. Hard to beat.
3/ The perennial, ‘never bad’ favorites: The Briagdoons, Albannach, NH Pipes and Drums, Mohwak Valley, Catamount, Rob Roy and Governor John Lynch. Thank YOU.
4/ Good free coffee by Green Mountain Coffee (along with free plastic water cups, a chocolate ‘something’, which was addictive and cute, Green ‘St. Patty’s‘ headbands). Many thanks. Much appreciated.
5/ Celtica, U.S. Border Patrol Band, all of the St. Andrew bands, the Drum Majors (even the guy that kept on dropping his mace).
The Bad
1/ No Grade I band.
2/ No bands from the U.K., let alone Scotland — when this is supposed to showcase Scotland; Albannach alone can’t always be the token Scots.
3/ Having the Clan Roll and Opening Ceremonies separate.
4/ No Denis Carr at the Opening Ceremony.
5/ No real innovation over the last decade.
The Ugly
1/ $5.75 for a sausage roll — that is Scottish Highway Robbery.
2/ No trophy for the Amateur Drum Major even though it was a proper, slated competition and they announced a winner and said that they had no award for him.
3/ The ‘Performance Tent’ is the same, with the very same dirty, blue curtains, as it has been over the last 10 years; no light show, no big screens, no dancers … just shabby, tired and dark.
4/ Prevailing sense of general apathy by the organizers.
5/ The event and program looks and feels tired, lackluster, flaccid with no efforts at re-invigoration.
Yes, with those same resources I can do better, just in case you were wondering.
As a member of the NH Pipes & Drums, a sincere thank you for your kind words my friend. It is a pleasure playing at Loon all the more a pleasure to get a friendly response online.
Thank you. You folks, as ever, were GREAT. A real pleasure and honor to have a band as good as yours as our local band. Bravo.
I had to do a double take when I saw YOUR name. You do realize that you have a very famous namesake, albeit ‘Marc’ rather than ‘Mark’. He might even be the next pope. He is my #1 pick right now. All the best. See you around soon. Cheers, Anura