HOW I PASS THE TIME

What You Need To Know

I'm working in Batesville, AR as the Instructional Technologist for  Lyon College.  I'm a piper in the Lyon College Pipe Band, and instructor with Oklahoma Scottish Pipes and Drums out of Oklahoma City.  It's a LONG drive to practice with them.

Yeah, I still have long hair.  Sometimes I wear it back in a pony-tail, sometimes down, and sometimes in braids.  The French dug that.

What You Might Care To Know

Ovation

I am a guitarist, a singer and a songwriter. 

The illustration above is Your Humble Narrator at my former in Fayetteville home with an old friend.

I collect GUITARS. Right now I own about 15, but have had as many as 30 at once. There was a time when I had six Teles, three Strats, a Les Paul, and several Rickenbackers hiding amongst a bunch of Danelectros in my bedroom. It was frightening.  Most of the time these days I keep a Martin HD-28 on a stand in the living room and play it more than any other.

I have had songs played on the radio, but you probably haven't heard them. KBCO in Boulder put "I Don't Want To Be The One" into their regular rotation about ten years ago. I like hanging out in the recording studio. I just recently finished an acoustic record. You can hear some 30 second soundbites if you so desire.

I don't do as much live performing as I once did, but do still occasionally gig. 

I  write POETRY and the like. I placed third in a contest for poems with a VAMPYRE theme. Whoooooo. Very scary!
I like to ride bicycles. My main glide is a Specialized Rockhopper Comp with Manitou front suspension. I also have a Scwhinn 434 aluminum racing bike.
I collect books on Arthurian legend.  I have quite a few, including several from the 1920s. One is beautifully illustrated by N.C. Wyeth.  I also love Tolkien.  I've probably read Lord of the Rings 25-30 times since 1975.
I can fly an airplane if necessary (like if the pilot in command had a heart attack or something).  I learned to fly in a 1946 Cessna 140 back in 1989. If you can land a taildragger in a crosswind at Aurora Columbine, you can do ANYTHING.
Until recently I haven't flown in about 15 years, but am back at it again, and really enjoying myself.
 
 
Vette

I used to own this lovely Corvette. You start running out of money, and some things become less important than others. The thing was so fast it was scary. The do NOT make 'em like that any more.

I'm a piper. I wanted to learn to play since I was a kid, and there is no time like the present. I hooked up with The Ozark Highlanders as a student piper and played some drum for them in the year I was learning to pipe. They wear the tartan of MacLeod of Harris.

After a couple of years I was asked to become Pipe Major and held that position for a year. We finished in the prizes at every competition we participated in during that time.

I moved to Batesville in order to play with Lyon College. I  learned a great deal about piping from my Pipe Major and instructor, Will Muirhead. I moved up into Grade III under his tutelage. I had a lot of success in that grade and moved up to II in Spring of 2001. 
 

Kilt

This is what I looked like in my Ozark Highlanders uniform in 1997

The Lyon band is now under the direction of Jimmy Bell, and it's one of the best times of my life.  We've had a blast in 03-04, including and INSANE weekend playing in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and a great trip to new York.  It's the Worlds in 05. 

Check out Bob Dunsire's Bagpipe Web for information about piping.  One of the best bagpipe resources available on the Internet.  You can also feel free to write me if you have questions about getting into it yourself.  another good place to start is Lyon College Scottish Heritage  Tell handsome Jimmy Bell that I sent ya.

Return to Sender
kadler@lyon.edu