I had a chance to see the Battlefield Band last night at the Aladdin Theater, a small hall in Portland OR. My wife and one of my daughters accompanied me, but very few others chose to come. I estimated 100 people in the theater, less than a quarter of capacity for the room. It was a shame really because the show was great and deserved a much larger audience than it got. There were about 20 kilted guys there, by the way. Like any band tha's been around for 30 years the membership has changed but this current group was fun and put on a good show with pipes, fiddles, whistles, guitar, bazouki, and keyboards.

Fiddler Mike Katz, who hails from the Isle of Lewis, told about living under the shadow of "the Gaelic Mafia". He said they're just a mysterious as the Italian Mafia, but where the Italian Mafia makes you an offer you can't refuse the Gaelic Mafia makes you an offer you can't understand.

Jamie