I watched Ace of Cakes last night on the Food Network. This is a great show, about a funky cake-making company, Charm City Cakes,with a cool owner, Duff Goldman.

Last night Duff was commissioned to make a Scottish-themed cake, so he chose a Highland Cow. The cake looked like a million dollars (probably was) and, to add to the atmosphere, Duff had a piper come to the bakery to play for the staff. (He hired Ian Coletti, of the City of Washington Pipe Band - Ian acquitted himself very well, and even offered a positive opinion on the cake!)

Then Duff kilted up for the remainder of the day and delivered the cake bekilt. I have to say, having watched the show, that the kilt Duff hired for the occasion was probably designed for a taller person. From the moment I started watching the show, I thought Duff would be a prime candidate for a Utilikilt. He sometimes wears a black chef jacket and a Utilikilt would look excellent with it.

If he does go for the Utilikilt, Duff should measure himself carefully. Remember, if it goes past your knees, it’s just a skirt

The weekly BBC Radio Scotland piping show, Pipeline, was on hiatus this week. In its place was a live concert broadcast from the Celtic Connections Festival, a two-week festival of celtic music in Glasgow. The concert was titled Scotland’s Music Live, and featured various “celtic” performers, sometimes playing with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

I paid particular attention to two works: Calgacus, by Eddie McGuire, and An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise, by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Both are scored for orchestra and Highland Bagpipes and the piping was supplied by Robert Wallace, of the College of Piping.

I had heard of the Orkney Wedding, but never heard the piece performed; Calgacus was completely new to me.

According to a review of the concert in The Scotsman newspaper, Robert Wallace suffered “a critical memory loss” during his part in the performance of An Orkney Wedding but, since I don’t know the music, I couldn’t tell - it sounded fine to me.

The Eddie McGuire work was inspired by the exploits of Calgacus, a kind of Caledonian Boudicca. Apparently he led the Scots in battle against Agricola and the Romans. The piping in this piece was interesting - it sounded a lot like piobaireachd, and I may have to canvass the folks on the piping boards to find out if the tune was written by McGuire, or if it is an existing tune.

In both cases, though, it was interesting to hear the bagpipes played in serious orchestral music. I will also check in with my father - Elis Pehkonen. He is a composer, and was a colleague of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies when they both taught music in my home town of Cirencester. He will probably have something interesting to say about An Orkney Wedding, and he may know Eddie McGuire. I’ll keep you posted.

Last week was the annual Midwest Highland Arts Fund Winter Storm competition in Kansas City, Missouri. The event features three top-flight piping competitions - two in piobaireachd and one in light music.

The list of competitors is interesting, because they are mostly quite young, and many already play with some of the top bands. Some have also competed in major solo competitions in the UK. Despite all their experience, it must still be quite intimidating to play in front of the panel of world-class pipers who were assembled to judge the competition. The formidable list included Andrew Wright (President of the Piobaireachd Society), Willie McCallum and Angus MacColl.

The Captain, Ken Eller, has generously made recordings of the three competitions available on his website, so I’ve spent the last few days listening to the prize-winning performances. The recordings show the healthy state of piobaireachd in North America, and I think anyone listening should feel optimistic about the future of the Big Music in the hands of the next generation of pipers.

Last night my kids and I were having dinner in a local restaurant. I heard a familiar voice at the table next to ours and immediately recognized Kim Peek and his dad sitting next to us.

Kim Peek is a mega-savant and the inspiration for the Dustin Hoffman/Tom Cruise movie Rainman. He is also the subject of several TV documentaries on savants and people with unusual mental abilities. Our conversation ranged widely, as anyone who has seen the documentaries might expect. Kim asked about my kids’ bithdays and told them what days they were born and what days they would retire. He answered obscure history questions for them, and talked about music.

When I mentioned that I was a piper, he said that he and his dad both enjoyed the bagpipes. He told me about listening to bagpipes at Fort Douglas, an old fort in Salt Lake City. Then he asked me if I knew the tune “Scotland the Brave”. I said yes, of course I did. He said “do you know that the tune has words?” Living in the Salt Lake area, it’s impossible not to come across this - the LDS (or Mormon) church has a hymn called “Praise to the Man”, which uses the tune to Scotland the Brave. (When we play it in my band you can usually see people in the crowd singing along.) I told him I was aware of the words to the tune, and then he started to sing it. Very Loudly. In the crowded restaurant.

It was a marvelous moment, and anyone who has seen the documentaries about him would have an idea what it might be like. He was a fascinating person to spend time with, and a genuinely likeable guy too. My kids have been talking about the experience all day, and I’m sure they will remember this for a long time.

I was watching South Park last night. (lately, South Park functions as my bedtime story.) In the episode I was watching, the boys try to prevent Ike (Kyle’s little brother) from being circumcised. At one point, owing to a misunderstanding, the family gathers for Ike’s funeral, believing him to be dead (he’s actually in Nebraska). Imagine my surprise, when a piper shows up, playing Hava Nagila.

A little research revealed that the piping for this scene was supplied by Eric Rigler, “the most recorded bagpiper of all time”. Turns out Eric is the piper you hear in the movies Braveheart, Titanic and a number of other well-known soundtracks. Based on what I have read about Eric, it seems that he has made himself the go-to piper in Hollywood circles. He started out on the Great Highland Bagpipes, but now plays a bunch of other pipes and also the penny whistle. He also has a celtic fusion band called Bad Haggis, which is very successful. To quote the “All About Mormons” episode of South Park, “smart smart smart smart smart”.

This segues somewhat obliquely to me pointing out that my own band contains pipers to the stars - Mormon stars, that is. My Pipe Major and his brother feature on the soundtrack to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints-produced movie Joseph Smith:Prophet of the Restoration. Well, it’s a start.

Yesterday I attended a workshop for the pipe bands in the Wasatch Front. I had a great time and it was really good to just hang out with members of the other area bands.

The highlights were a piobaireachd class I took with local pipemaker and teacher, Gordon Nichol, and then later, the instructors’ recital.

Gordon has taken the initiative (along with some others locally) to found the Utah Piobaireachd Society. I missed their first meeting back in November, so this was the first time I had met him. He seems like a really nice guy - knowledgeable, but unassuming - and clearly has a great love of the music. It turns out he also teaches some of the younger members of my band, and he offered to give me any help I needed.

At the recital Gordon played The Desperate Battle, despite some rib pain, which he said was bothering him. I certainly didn’t notice. It was also really good to hear our band instructor, Justin Howland, play some of his competition tunes. You’ve got to feel good about being in a band with an instructor of that caliber - Justin sounded just tremendous. Of course, he would probably disagree, but the whole day sure made me feel good about having access to this level of help with my piping.