Last April I combined several objectives in one trip from Montana to NYC. I visited my son in Queens, and the two of us attended the Tartan Day parade. I learned several things watching the bands prep in Bryant Park:


  1. These must be good times in Scotland, because several impressive (competitive) bands made the trip to NYC.
  2. The schools (or some of them) must be well funded. I was VERY impressed, for example by a high school band from Glasgow. MY only high school trip 65 years ago was 25 miles north to experience a "trip" on a passenger train back to my tiny Upper Michigan birthplace. In this ensemble, the kids made good music while kilted assistants ran around tuning their drones with an Apple iOS frequency-analyzing app with iPhones held just above the drones!
  3. The parade itself made the trip worthwhile, but it's always fun to visit NYC. One surprise came from visiting a Brooks Brothers store—when I was a youngster I LOVED to dream while looking at the New Yorker full page ads from Bentley, Rolls Royce, Brooks Brothers, (and Ballantine Beer and Volkswagen). I learned somewhere recently that Brooks Brothers had its own registered tartan. In the store, I asked to see something created from it; the clerk responded that he had NO idea what I was talking about, because the store was living on a name that had been sold multiple times just in the last decade.


But, for a guy whose earliest musical memories emanating from my parents' record player (Harry Lauder, the Black Watch, et. al. rather than Elvis and other early Rockers),the parade itself was a treat. This year's will have "Jamie Fraser's" doppelgänger (Sam Heughan) as the Grand Master, and he'll be wearing a new tartan designed just for the event by Geoffrey (Tailor) Kitlmakers (whose shop is on the Royal Mile). One of the current principals of that firm claims to have invented the "21st Century Kilt." I certainly hope that "Jamie" will not be wearing one of them for the occasion. Here's an example, from their website (others are available, and to me they look even uglier, and less practical, to boot):


This one sports essentially inaccessible pockets on the back as well.

But, if you click the right link, you'll learn that many people famous for being famous don't agree with me. And, you'll discover that Sir Richard Branson doesn't dress "regimental."