Welcome to the EUSPBA Southwest Region

Due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy on Newark, NJ (the site of the AGM this weekend), the AGM has been cancelled. Arrangements are being made to count the ballots, consider the proposals, etc. More information will be posted to this blog and the Southwest Branch facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southwest-Branch-euspba/155432564477893?ref=ts&fref=ts) as more information becomes available.

Link for the AGM Livestream

For those of you planning to watch the AGM,
 here is the link:

http://www.livestream.com/thebagpipechannel 

Please tune in at 12 noon Saturday July 28th, and 
see what's going on in YOUR 
Branch of the EUSPBA!

Red Stick Regional and Southwest Branch AGM this Saturday

This year's Red Stick Regional will be held this Saturday, July 28th, from 8:30am-3:30pm.  We will also be holding the Southwest Branch AGM during the day, and it will begin at 12:00. 

Kenton Adler has offered to livestream the meeting, so we hope that even if you aren't able to attend, you can view the meeting and offer your comments.  Please check with Kenton at   kenton.adler@lyon.edu   if you need info on connecting to the streaming video site. 

Bios of the nominated candidates

Bios of the nominated candidates

 

Treasurer:

Patrick McLaurin

Patrick is a post-doctoral researcher at Texas Tech in physical chemistry. When he's not pretending to do work while thinking about bagpipes he tries to play bagpipes or update his bagpipe blog and website which serve as an outreach to those pipers who also live in piping voids. Patrick is a grade II piper from Lubbock, TX where he leads the Llano Estacado and District Pipe Quartet. Patrick has played the pipes for about 15 years but is also a tenor drummer, which is how he got started in pipe bands. Previous band experience includes the Texas Highland Pipes and Drums under his father Hilton McLaurin and the Lyon College Pipe Band under Willie Muirhead. Patrick is married with two kids and figures they'll be old enough to play the bagpipes in short order.

 

Officer-at-Large Drumming:

Pamela Rossi

Pamela Rossi took up tenor drumming in 2008 after marching several New Orleans Mardi Gras parades as a support person with The Kilts of Many Colours in Mandeville, La.  She attended the North American Academy of Piping and Drumming in 2008, joined KOMC as a tenor drummer, and quickly fell in love with all aspects of Bagpipe Bands.

 

Rossi competed in solo tenor drumming in 2008 at Grandfather Mountain and Stone Mountain, and has competed at Stone Mountain every year since. She returned to NAAPD in 2011 and 2012 (pending) and, through hard work and sheer determination, has become the Lead Tenor with KOMC.  Her efforts also resulted in an accepted invitation to compete with The Baton Rouge Caledonians at Stone Mountain in 2011.

 

In addition to her competition awards, Rossi has won recognition from within KOMC where, in 2011, her entire section was awarded Most Improved Drummer.  In 2012 she was recognized by KOMC as Best Mentor, and Best Overall Band Member.

 

Not content with merely playing the tenor drum, Rossi became the Co-Quartermaster for KOMC where she tracks member attendance, organizes bulk purchases of uniform parts,  helps decide what the band will wear for events, and helps keep everyone properly outfitted on performance days. She also serves as Quartermaster for a sister group, The Pipes and Drums of New Orleans, where she quickly divested the band of many leftover and  unneeded possessions.

 

Branch AGM/Nominations

Hello everyone,

The Southwest branch Annual Meeting will be held following the Red Stick Regional Piping Competition in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 28, 2012, at the First Presbyterian Church on North Blvd.

Nominations for the Treasurer and Officer At Large – Drumming positions are now being accepted.

Please send nominations for any or all of these positions to either piper2be@yahoo.com or AlfredLBarrow@hotmail.com.  Include a short bio of your nominee, including piping/drumming experience and affiliations. 

Ballots will be mailed on June 28, 2012.  Please remember to write your EUSPBA membership number on the return envelope.  Ballots returned without EUSPBA number cannot be counted.

Votes will be counted and new officers announced at the AGM in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 28, 2012 following the Redstick Regional Piping competition.

 

Red Stick Regional 2012 registration open

The Red Stick Regional Indoor Solo Piping competition registration forms are now available.  More information and the forms can be found at:

http://www.csbr.org/redstickregional2012.htm

As noted earlier, this years event will be held on Saturday July 28, 8am-5pm at the First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, LA.  We hope to see many of you there!

Save the date! Red Stick Regional 2012

   This year's Red Stick Regional Sanctioned Indoor Solo Piping Competition will be held on Saturday, July 28, 2012, from 8am-5pm at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Judges will be Iain Macey and John Recknagel, and the sanctioning papers have been sent in and the official approval will be given shortly. Sanctioned events offered will include AM Piping Grades 4 through 1. 

   New this year, we plan to offer both a Grade 5 practice chanter event, and a Grade 5 bagpipe event, for those who have never competed on pipes before.  These two events are fun events that are unsanctioned, so you do not have to be a member of EUSPBA to participate, and our judges can give you plenty of pointers on your playing.

   Once the final approval has been given, we will post the regisitration forms on the Caledonian Society of Baton Rouge's website (www.csbr.org)  For any questions in the meanwhile, please contact Rosemary John, Chair, at rhsjohn@cox.net.    Hope to see you there!

33rd Arkansas Scottish Festival

33^rd Arkansas Scottish Festival
 April 13-15, 2012

www.lyon.edu/scotfest
Lyon College  2300 Highland Rd
Batesville  AR  

Contact: Ken Adler  kenton.adler@lyon.edu  870-307-7548

Judges: Jimmy Bell, John Recknegal, Chris Apps, Mike Brisch, Iain Macey, Tom Ogilvy, John Recknagel.

Arkansas Scottish Festival Kick-Off Concert

Arkansas Scottish Festival Kick-Off Concert
Concert   April 12, 2012
7:00pm. Come see the first ASF Kick-Off concert, produced by Lyon College's Bagpipe-Music majors. Music includes traditional pipe band selections, contemporary tag-team highlights, Civil War poetry and traditional ceilidh music.

First Presbyterian Church  775 East Boswell Street
Batesville  AK  72501

Contact: Elliot Smith  elliot.smith@lyon.edu  603-219-5317

EUSPBA’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY DRUM SALUTE CONTEST !!!

The EUSPBA/Northeast Branch is hosting a "COMPOSITION COMPETITION" to establish a EUSPBA Massed Band Drum Salute.  The intention is to play it at highland games, concerts, or performances and the deadline for submission is the AGM in November 2012.

The prizes are:

·         1^st prize: $500

·         2^nd prize: $250

·         3rd prize: $125

The first prize entry will be declared the “EUSPBA 50th Anniversary Salute”. It will have the composer’s name and will be used by the EUSPBA. The top three entries will appear on the branch website for free distribution to the public.

Each entry should meet these qualifications:

·         Comprising a minimum of four parts, or three minutes of playing time, with a maximum length of five minutes

·         Represent a level of difficulty, such that a grade 4 corps could play it well

·         Based on styles, typical to the pipe band drum corps tradition

·         Forming a comprehensive piece for a minimal corps of one bass, one tenor and two snare drummers

·         Incorporating flourishes in bass and tenor scores

Additional options:

·         Providing “stick tricks” for some snare sections

·         Including additional parts for more accomplished drummers

For more information, please contact Brendan O’Reilly at bpo15@earthlink.net and Sarah Hsieh at asjhsieh@hotmail.com, with "EUSPBA’s 50^th Anniversary SALUTE" in the subject line.