Speaking of pipes. . .

. . . .as I often am. Elinor dropped me a note a week or so ago asking about the piper who played for President Reagan's funeral. I have tried to respond 4 times now and for some reason her e-mail is not receiving my answer.

For Elinor and those who might be interested: the piper was local Los Angeles piper Eric Rigler. He used to be Piper Major of the old LAPD Pipe Band and has played for a while with the L.A. Scots, one of only three Grade I pipe bands in the U.S. He also played uillean pipes with the London Symphony for the score of Braveheart. (Yes, Braveheart was scored for Irish pipes. There are no Scottish pipes played in that movie. Don't know why; you'll have to ask Mr. Horner who wrote the score.) I believe he was also the uillean piper in Titanic. These days he spends most of his time playing with the celitic-rock band Bad Haggis.

As for the kit he was wearing, that was a sort of generic military number one dress. He had Royal Stuart tartan and pipe major's stripes but with no specific regimental insignia. E.g., where the collar dogs would be, there was instead just a lot of gold braid. I couldn't tell what the cap badge was. On our tv it was just a bright blob.

For those who would like to see it again, there is a digitized version available here. Please don't play it here. Right click, download and play it on your hard drive. The fellow piper who has kindly provided this on his site will appreciate it.