emerald08's blog

Saturday, February 19, 2011

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We've got lots more pictures in the gallery.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker John McDonald, who also pipes with the Pasadena Scots in California, is still seeking enough funding to complete his feature-length documentary on the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band.

Entitled ON THE DAY, the documentary follows the band of elite players during its one and only week together in August 2008, as the group of more than 40 pipers and drummers assembled and practiced for the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship at Glasgow Green. The film is set to premiere as part of the week-long Piping Live! festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre on August 14, the day before the Worlds. Adding another dimension to the story, McDonald will actually be competing with his Grade 4 band in the Worlds this year.

An initial donation from a private party enabled McDonald and a cameraman to travel to Scotland, and he has raised additional contributions from the piping and Scottish-American community. “I have given a year of my life working only on this film,” McDonald says. “It has been a labor of love for me, my dream project about the dream team of bagpipers. Every dollar I’ve received has gone directly into the film.” However, with a total budget for the film of more than $200,000, he says he still has a ways to go in order to finish the editing and audio mixing.

Each week McDonald has been offering short clips from the rough cut of the film that feature some of the musicians, such as Roddy MacLeod, Jim McGillivray, Angus MacColl, John Fisher, Niall Matheson, Alasdair Gillies, and Willie McCallum. These “clips-of-the week” are first launched in the ON THE DAY Facebook Group and then later go up on YouTube.

The project has non-profit status through a fiscal sponsorship with the International Documentary Association (IDA), making contributions tax-deductible for US residents. A $100 donation gets you a credit in the film's titles and a special pre-released first-edition DVD, and for $200 or more you will additionally receive a collectable Spirit of Scotland cap badge. A preview of the film can be seen and donations can be made at www.OnTheDayMovie.com.

Photo Courtesy of Stephen "Butch" Moran

By the way, the New York City Firefighters Hockey Team won. 6 to 3

The FDNY pipes and drums would like to wish all of our friends and family across the world a happy Holiday season and a happy New Year

The run benefits the FDNY Fire Family Transport Foundation and the Wounded Warriors.
More details here.

If you or your corporation would like to make a donation to New York City's premier Fire Department bagpipe band, we invite you to please click-on the above Donate button or on this link to the Donations page.

For more pictures of the parade, check out our Gallery.

*Photos by Butch Moran, and our web guy, Alex Synnott