Mandolin Gig Costume

[HonketyHank]

One more reason that I do not aspire to become a professional mandolin artist.

[JEStanek]

Mike Marshall doesn't dress like that.

[MontanaMatt]

My performance costume involves pearly snap shirts and a mic stand beer holder

[JPS]

Mike Marshall doesn't dress like that.

As far as you know.

[MikeEdgerton]

Mike Marshall doesn't dress like that.

Apparently Danny Roberts doesn't either.

[allenhopkins]

I have my own quasi-19th-century garb, which I don for historical programs -- when I use my bowl-backs, gut-strung banjo, old Wheatstone concertinas, etc., and play the "hits" of 175 years ago.

[Eric Platt]

I have a folk "costume" for certain gigs. I call it my fakelore outfit. It's a Scandinavian look based around an Irish grandfather shirt.

[pops1]

I have clothes for civil war gigs that are period recreations, otherwise it is a Hawaiian shirt if it is warm, if not flannel. I have a lot of Hawaiian shirts, some I bought in 1970 and they were old then.

[Jess L.]

Mike Marshall doesn't dress like that.

As far as you know.

[Astro]

Before a gig with my Americana band I do feel like I need to match the vibe and fit in with the band.

So I just fish something back out of the dirty clothes hamper and shake it out. Good to go.

[MontanaMatt]

Before a gig with my Americana band I do feel like I need to match the vibe and fit in with the band.

So I just fish something back out of the dirty clothes hamper and shake it out. Good to go.

That's how you select your drawers, how do you select your pants?

[foldedpath]

I'm embarrassed to admit I've done the Plastic Paddy thing with a black wool "Fiddler's" cap for a few gigs. A green shirt if it's an actual St. Patrick's Day performance. But that's as far as I go.

[MontanaMatt]

I'm embarrassed to admit I've done the Plastic Paddy thing with a black wool "Fiddler's" cap for a few gigs. A green shirt if it's an actual St. Patrick's Day performance. But that's as far as I go.

I never knew there was such a thing as a fiddlers cap until today...
Now I think I needed to get one!

[Ranald]

I'm embarrassed to admit I've done the Plastic Paddy thing with a black wool "Fiddler's" cap for a few gigs. A green shirt if it's an actual St. Patrick's Day performance. But that's as far as I go.

Well, I never! I've been fiddling for decades, I've been around fiddlers since I was an embryo, and have seen hundreds of fiddlers in my life, but never heard of a "fiddler's cap," let alone saw a fiddler wearing one. A local Irishman, who plays whistle and flute, wears what I now realize is one. Are North American fiddlers making a major faux pas with our dress code? In truth, I don't give a fiddler's...

Here's a link so people can see fiddler's caps:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fidd...w=1051&bih=598

And here's a Canadian fiddler's cap:

[foldedpath]

Well, I never! I've been fiddling for decades, I've been around fiddlers since I was an embryo, and have seen hundreds of fiddlers in my life, but never heard of a "fiddler's cap," let alone saw a fiddler wearing one. A local Irishman, who plays whistle and flute, wears what I now realize is one. Are North American fiddlers making a major faux pas with our dress code? In truth, I don't give a fiddler's...

Here's a link so people can see fiddler's caps:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fidd...w=1051&bih=598

That's the one! Basically what's usually known as a "Greek fisherman's hat" but without the foofy braid on the front. Kevin Burke might have started that back in the 70's with the Bothy Band, but it probably goes back further.

It's actually a very practical hat during the Winter months up here in the Pacific Northwest. Keeps 'yer noggin warmer than a trucker hat, and it sheds the misty dew they call "rain" here.

And here's a Canadian fiddler's cap:

Yep, I've seen that one on a fiddler too!

[Foolish Frost]

Not much for me to say...

I mean, I could say something, but why?

[Jess L.]

Y'all are funny! I just voted this thread as 5 stars (excellent).

[Astro]

That's how you select your drawers, how do you select your pants?

What drawers ?

-gig free or go home

[Eric Platt]

What drawers ?

Isn't commando a different forum?

[Astro]

Isn't commando a different forum?

Yeah, you're pretty safe with guitar but for me, mando also provides plenty enough coverage...gotta be careful playing uke though.

[Ranald]

re: fiddlers caps

I'm always finding out about musical opportunities too late. I lived for years in Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit. After moving away from Windsor, I learned that Detroit had a great blues scene, with John Lee Hooker and Howard Armstrong among others, living there. Furthermore, Windsor and Detroit had a dynamic Cape Breton fiddle scene, with many Cape Bretoners (like my father) having moved to the region to work in the salt mines and auto plants. I also learned too late that Joe MacLean, one of my favourite Cape Breton fiddle players (now gone), lived directly behind my grandmother's house in Sydney, Nova Scotia. More recently, while running a folk club in Ottawa, I turned on the news to hear an obituary for Willie Dunn, from Nova Scotia, one of my favourite singer-songwriters, who it seems had been living a couple of miles away in Quebec. When I lived in Toronto in the 1970's and 80's, I regularly passed a couple of mainly-male bars on Yonge Street, in which many of the customers wore black caps with short peaks. If I'd known that these were "fiddlers caps," I would have realized these bars were traditional music venues. I haven't figured out why the men never seemed to be carrying instrument cases though.

[Bertram Henze]

Tights would not go well with my hairy T Rex's legs, but I have played outdoor sessions in a white Aran sweater, and I am wearing a bowler hat on a regular basis (a sure way to get a smile from total strangers). Nobody has brought me to wearing a kilt, though, yet.

[Roger Moss]

I always thought David Akeman (Stringbean) had the greatest costume of all time.

[Randi Gormley]

There are always the Nudie suits, if you want to talk glitz.

[mandroid]

Mean like appearing on Hee Haw?