New Member from Alabama

[uncledelphi]

Greetings, all. I have been lurking for some time and finally decided to register and post. I am a musician in Huntsville, AL, USA. My ancestry is mixed, with relevant Celtic ancestry including Clan Armstrong (Nixon sept) from Scotland, Davis family from Wales, Rogers family from Cornwall, and who-knows-what from Ireland.

I currently have two kilts on order, a traditional "tank" in the Armstrong Ancient tartan from Alexis Malcolm, and a casual Blackwatch off of eBay.

I look forward to discussing kilts, etc. with all of you, but I probably won't post very much. I am mostly here to learn.

BTW, please let me know if my avatar is inappropriate.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Welcome! You have found the best kilt wearing resource on the net.

I notice that you mention Davis descent from Wales. Have you actually been able to trace it back to Walses? I am a Davis as well but still trying to trace the geneaology.

[starbkjrus]

Welcome to the board. We're a bit of a nutty bunch but we're mostly harmless. :mrgreen:

[chasem]

Welcome aboard!

Whereabouts in Alabama are you from? My father lived there for a few years, near Huntsville (Toney specifically).

Anyway, nice to see another new face.

[uncledelphi]

Whereabouts in Alabama are you from? My father lived there for a few years, near Huntsville (Toney specifically).

I live in beautiful Huntsville, AL. Not a bad place for kilting, I might add, since most of the people here have some sort of Celtic ancestry and seem to clamour for all things Celtic. We have a small highland festival every year.

[Mike1]

Welcome to X Marks. I hope you will enoy the time you spend here.

There is nothing inappropriate about your avatar, BTW.

[chasem]

I live in beautiful Huntsville, AL. Not a bad place for kilting, I might add, since most of the people here have some sort of Celtic ancestry and seem to clamour for all things Celtic. We have a small highland festival every year.

Excellent! I enjoyed my visits there. Watched several Huntsville Stars games. I really liked it in Huntsville.

[Sherry]

Welcome from Dallas, Austin. :-D

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Sherry

[MacMullen]

Welcome!

What kind of music do you play?

[uncledelphi]

What kind of music do you play?

Before I start, let me say that this message does contain kilt content.

My main musical passion is the banjo in all its forms. I play olde tyme five-string banjo in a style that I call "Appalachian Scotch-Irish Clawhammer" (clawhammer is also known as frailing or rapping, with the different terms implying distinct stylistic nuances). I get a great kick out of arranging jigs and reels for this style, which is often rather difficult. Hornpipes tend to fit it pretty well, though.

I also play tenor banjo in the modern Irish style.

As my profile mentions, I am a banjo designer and consultant. I work with a major modern manufacturer (I don't want to get in trouble for pluging our product). My specialty is prewar Vega banjos, which I collect, analyze, and try to reproduce (manufactured under the names Fairbanks, Fairbanks-Vega, and Vega before the WWII).

Recently, I became interested in the bagpipe. I play a set of Scottish Smallpipes right now (the kitchen pipes, to accurate, and hope to upgrade to a three-droned Walsh smallpipe soon). I have an Uilleann practice set on order, but all the decent Uilleann makers have quite a backlog.

It was the bagpipe that made me take the plunge and order a kilt. I had wanted a kilt for several years, but just couldn't justify the expense. I am allergic to high-quality woollen fabric, and the climate here in Alabama doesn't lend itself to heavy fabric anyway. But I did take the plunge and went with a lightweight Armstrong Ancient. I guess it's not a tank in the truest sense of the word, but it's probably the closest to a tank I'll ever get. Expected delivery date is December 16th. My cheap eBay kilt, an acryllic Blackwatch (which I bought so I could practice wearing it modestly) should be here any day now.

Out of curiosity, could someone please tell me what "jonesing" means? I have seen that term used quite often in these forums. From context, I guess it describes the condition of impatiently pining for a kilt that is on order, but not yet delivered. If so, then I am guilty of it myself!