The Man Who Led NYC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade for 33 Years | Joe Brady

🎙️ In this episode of the Irish Snug Podcast, we sit down with legendary bagpiper Joe Brady —a cornerstone of Irish-American piping and a key figure in New York City’s rich musical and firefighting traditions.

Joe shares his journey from learning the pipes as a young boy in the Bronx to becoming an elite open-level piper by age 17. He reflects on decades of experience with the FDNY Pipe Band, founding the FBI Pipe Band, and his remarkable 33-year run leading the iconic Fighting 69th Regiment up Fifth Avenue in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

We dive deep into:
• The legacy of Irish piping in New York
• The history and honor of the Fighting 69th
• Performing with world-renowned groups like The Chieftains and The High Kings
• Playing at historic events, including for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey
• The rise and fall of the Hunter Mountain Celtic Festival

This episode is packed with unforgettable stories, humor, and insight into a lifetime dedicated to music, tradition, and service.

👉 Whether you're a bagpiper, firefighter, or fan of Irish culture, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

🔥 Episode Highlights
• [00:00:02] Introduction to the podcast and Joe Brady
• [00:00:16] Early days with the FDNY Pipe Band
• [00:01:38] Becoming an open piper at 17
• [00:02:22] Leading the Fighting 69th for 33 years
• [00:03:10] Joe Brady Sr. and Irish roots
• [00:05:44] First trip to Ireland at 17
• [00:07:26] Winning a drum major competition in Kilkenny
• [00:08:59] Stories about his father
• [00:11:24] Learning the pipes as a kid
• [00:13:30] Worcester Kiltie Pipe Band & flying to practice
• [00:15:50] Founding the FBI Pipe Band
• [00:19:10] Joining the Fighting 69th
• [00:20:46] First NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade
• [00:22:30] Marching up Fifth Avenue
• [00:24:03] Playing the entire parade route nonstop
• [00:25:10] History of the Fighting 69th
• [00:26:49] Teaching the FDNY Pipe Band
• [00:29:51] Training FDNY drum major Liam Flaherty
• [00:33:04] Playing with The Chieftains & The High Kings
• [00:34:18] Performing for General Martin Dempsey
• [00:35:25] “The Parting Glass” performance story
• [00:37:20] Behind the scenes at The Jay Leno Show
• [00:43:14] Hunter Mountain Celtic Festival origins
• [00:44:53] Massed bands marching down the mountain
• [00:46:17] End of the festival and legacy

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#Bagpipes #Fighting69th #StPatricksDay #FDNY #JoeBrady

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Irish Snow Podcast. Let's get going here. Joe Brady. Normally I have like a little bit of a introduction for people and I write it up, but I've known you for so long. You're a longtime friend. I've known you since.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

When did you start with the band?

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Yeah, so it was 1994. I came to the FDNY Bagpipe In, and you were the instructor of the band. I remember coming to practices, and and then you said to me, Go get yourself uh a private instructor, and you led me to uh John Chalmers. And I I went to John Chalmers, who lives upstate by where I was living at the time. Right. And uh he was a great instructor, and you know, I stayed with him for a bit, and then I kind of stuck with the band and did my own thing there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah, Johnny, Johnny's a good guy, a good instructor. I'm proud to call him one of my better pupils. Uh I think you had talent that I didn't want to see get uh um kind of washed away in a group session, so it was good.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

You know, it's great you're gonna come into a band like that, and they have group lessons, and you know, that's that's what's available, and that's great. But having an individual uh uh instructor was really I think that was the greatest thing to, you know, it was just better. You learn better, you learn you learn not to make mistakes on certain, you know, you learn from your mistakes.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

You don't get away with the mistakes as easily, you get that individual attention, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But 1994, holy cow.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I know. So um Joe Brady, um, legendary bagpiper, uh Joe's an uh an open piper since he's uh probably since before he was born. Uh an adjudicator.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

I was 17 years old. I was 17 when I hit the deal.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

17 when you became open? Yeah, yeah. Oh wow. You're an adjudicator when the FDNY band was competing. We'd see you out on the field there. I remember seeing you, uh, your dad there as well uh back in the day, but um also a drum major adjudicator as well, right? Yes, yep. You're you're famously known for leading the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade as the as the regimental pipe major of the Fighting 69th for what 30-something years, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

33 years, yeah. Hard to believe. I think that's uh yeah, that was uh quite the uh the run.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah, that's a it's a great run. And we'll get into that, we'll talk about that. But uh just kind of giving like an overview of what I remember, like just you know, uh and another another highlight is awesome, is the Hunter Mountain Celtic Festival.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, enjoyed running that thing for Mass.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

The mask bands, right? Uh you were the drum major for that.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah, I also organized that with my uh peak skill people. We uh kind of conducted the whole bagpipe portion of that for a whole bunch of years. It was uh very sad to see that go by the wayside.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

I know. Let's go back to before we even get into yourself, let's hear about Joe Brady Sr. What was his uh background with bagpiping and what got him into it?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Well, first of all, it was really the sound of the instrument. You know, uh his parents came over from Ireland, his father was from Armagh, his mother was from uh Roscommon, and they did not like the bagpipes. They did not like them. He did not learn it because he was Irish, he loved the sound of it. Um and I remember stories of him saying he'd have to lock himself in a room to practice, which he did. Um first band, I believe, was County Cork or Armagh, I'm not sure which one at this point. Um, but he started learning, and uh um um I I guess he started when he was about 17, and at some point he he realized he was hearing some good bagpiping and he was not playing like the good bag pipe that he was hearing. Um and he had the opportunity to start learning from a recently immigrated uh senior pipe major, the Black Watch, who immigrated here uh in the early 60s, I believe. Yeah, 61, 62. Uh was John McKenzie. So my father started going to lessons uh with John McKenzie steadily and uh improved and became quite a piper. John McKenzie uh taught quite a few good bag pipers. My father was one of them. Another one of interesting note was uh uh former attorney general Bill Barr, who was a student of John Mackenzie and then of my father's. And McKenzie was the uh became the instructor for the Thistle Gildry pipe band, of which my father was pipe major. And my father um did quite a good job uh uh competing solo-wise and with the band and uh was totally immersed in it. And uh um uh his parents finally came around to appreciate the the music itself and what it could do for him and his family.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Do you think that was their dislike of it was had anything to do with the just the times? Like there was that time where a lot of the Irish kind of they were setting aside the language, they were setting aside the music, they were setting aside a different culture.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, my recollection really is that they just didn't they were not exposed to it enough. It just it wasn't music that interested them. You know, they had other likes when it came to music. Bagpipes was not something they were exposed to. Um so I I don't of course they're all gone now, but I don't recall anything until later on in my career, any kind of uh uh political issues.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Uh do you remember your grandparents?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yes, very, very fondly, yes. My yes, my grandmother passed uh it I was married in 77, she passed in 19 uh 1982, uh 81 actually. Uh my grandfather years later, he lived to be 93, so I do recall them fondly. And visiting Ireland with them was a was a treat. But my I first my first trip to Ireland was 17, and they make sure they were there with me. So uh they were great. Great people.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

What did that feel like? What was that like, that trip?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Oh, first of all, I'm 17 years old. I was actually drumming with the city, New York City Transit Police Pipe Band. When they went over, that's who we went with. My father and I went, and so his parents went. Now you gotta realize I'm 17, so at that time my father is what these 25 years old I am. So he's like 42, so he's ready to party with these guys besides playing. I mean, they had a great time, and here he's dragging along a 17-year-old kid, which I'm awful glad he did. Um and I had a great time with my grandparents. They spoiled the hell out of me. And I think uh uh there had to be more than one time, but I remember um being out with the band, and you know, after playing some events, they had a special room in the in the hotel to party, which which we did. I did as best I could at sneaking in at 17, but uh uh we'd be going over to go back to the room, and uh uh who'd be coming out of the elevators getting ready to go to church for a six o'clock mass was my grandparents, and they're looking at my father and saying, Oh, so this is the way you're bringing this kid up, you know. Uh but we had a tremendous laugh about it afterwards. We're going to bed and they're going out to mass. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Okay. Yeah. I had the conversation with um Eric Stein was on the podcast, and we talked about how how after like whatever competition or whatever, the the po the real party and the the great time is in the hotel afterwards, right? In the in the hanging out in the pub afterwards. Uh that's when all the stories come out.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Oh, yeah. After you do all your work and uh and especially if you're you if if all the work you put into it uh you're satisfied with your performance, sure, it's time to celebrate. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

So you remember anything else from any of your trips to Ireland with your with your grandparents?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Oh that trip, that trip was kind of special because uh the band was playing at the Kilkenny Festival, which was a big contest there, and I had just started drum major like the year before. Um and I did enter the castle.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Was it at Kilkenny Castle? Is that where they had it?

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Or no, it was in Kilkenny, but I don't recall being at the castle. It was a big fairgrounds or someplace there. And it was a big festival. And uh kind of as a goof, the the band encouraged me to join the uh the drum major contest, which I did. And I I know the stories afterwards was that the organizer committee were uh they said, hey, we got this kid from New York and American here amongst, I think there was about 18 or 20 drum majors, and they wanted to get a consolation plaque or a prize or something to give me, but it was a Sunday, and every place was closed, so I did them a favor. I won the contest, so the plaque I got was the uh uh the first place trophy. So that was uh really my my first big prize in the drum major contest was in Ireland. Oh wow, yeah, it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

That Kilkenny is such a great town.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I love I love Kilkenny.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Great well my best I my best night there, although my father was never a problem with me. I mean, uh looking back, he treated me pretty well, but my best my best night there was with the night he was not feeling well, he stayed back at the hotel and I was out on my own. It was good.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah, yeah. Uh so my dad, I'm still hearing stories that I've heard a hundred times over and over and over again. And and I love hearing them. You know, I'll never say, Dad, I already heard that one again. You know, I I love hearing the stories because there's gonna come a day where I don't hear those stories anymore. Is there any good stories that you your dad always told you that you wish you could hear one more time?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Tim, I wouldn't know where to start with that. For anybody that knew my father, he was considered quite a quite a character. Uh, I often say my father never grew up. I mean, a lot of times he's a pain in the neck to me, but then I realized later on in life that was him. I would, you know, I I would kind of he would take over a room. Yeah, there were a ton of stories. I mean, it certainly in the bagpipe world, we travel together a lot, and uh um he was quite a character. And like like you say, you enjoy hearing them even as I go to the festivals and the contests now, there's always somebody coming up, uh, relating some story about my father or from my father. It was uh everything from his business cards to doing this and doing that and wearing wigs and the masked bands, which would drive me nuts. Um just he he he he was he was he was he was quite the character. I I do know at one time uh the president of the Pipe Man Association, McLean McLeod, uh referred to him as uh one of the color most colorful characters in the association. So I don't I wouldn't know where to start story-wise, really. Um but as we go on, if something pops up, I'll share it with you. Okay, great, great.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

How about mom? Did you was her Irish roots pretty strong in while you were?

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Not nearly as my father. My mother grew up in the Bronx. Her parents are both born here, then she had grandparents in Ireland and Scotland. Uh she was the opposite of my father. She was very quiet, always supporting him, but she was always always uh in the background, uh, quiet. You know, she went to a lot of contests, uh, and later on in life when she only went when she felt like it. My father would still go as I was playing and go competing, he would go with me. And she had a choice to either come along or stay behind. She had a couple of favorite ones, but uh uh she was the quiet one in that couple. My father more than made up for it.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Okay. Did she did she keep him grounded?

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Uh I she's probably tried to at times, but she they they were they were a great match for each other. They really were.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yeah, I I I feel like my wife keeps me grounded a bit.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

I'm glad I could say the same thing. I'm telling you, I'm kind of glad she went out shopping as we're doing this. But uh yeah, and looking back on any anytime my wife uh did keep me grounded, I'd look back on it and say, Yeah, it was probably the right thing to do. Maybe at the moment, you know, it's not you're not too excited about it, but in retrospect, uh, she saved me for myself a couple of times.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

So what got you into I mean, obviously your dad played the bagpipes, but what was there anything, any spark? How old were you? And then what kind of what was your initial?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Well, in in a nutshell, my father started teaching me when I was seven years old. We lived in Parchester, and uh uh I guess he was kind of pushing it on me, almost almost forcing it on me. Um and I didn't want to learn, and I actually the practice channel, the piece you'll learn on the finger ring. Um, I actually threw it out the window of our sixth floor apartment in Parchester, and uh that was that. Um but when asked what I wanted for my ninth birthday, I wanted my channel back for some reason, and that's what I got for my ninth birthday. And you know, the old saying is that my father learned a lot between the ages uh when I was seven and nine, and he took a totally different approach. And it's it's funny to mention that because we were just talking about the other night. Um uh I was at the Iona College Pipe Band, 60th anniversary reunion, which was a just a tremendous function. And I'm one guy that was there 60 years ago because I was 10 years old. My father would bring me to Iona College. Uh he was instrumental in starting that band uh and instructing the band. Uh so then I was exposed to some of these college guys, and it was it seemed to be a lot of fun for 10, 11, 12-year-old. And I was I was learning and I was doing okay and playing with the different bands. Um like I I played with Iona, I played with the Thistle Gildry band, the Yonka's military band, and uh kind of enjoying it. And I gotta say this, I was taught well enough that going into high school, um, I was able to keep on playing. I w I wasn't as distracted as so many people who who maybe who just started in high school would be, and it carried me through. Um and then uh because of my father's uh insight, he was he was one that was instrumental in getting Iona College to uh offer scholarships uh for pipers and drummers, and I was a recipient of that, so I went to Iona and uh I could not have done it without the scholarship, and uh um that just offered me so many opportunities to play and to travel and to learn more and more.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah, I know a handful of guys that got scholarships to go to Iona. Uh Brian Maher. Brian Maher.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Yeah, sure. He was there Saturday night too. Great guy. Yeah. Yeah. I could share this with you. One of the things I was very happy and lucky to have my father who was a good piper teach me. But um I was like 16, going on 17, and he encouraged me to enjoy the Worcester Kilty pipe band out of Worcester, Massachusetts, because the Worcester pipe band at that time in the early 70s was typically the the prize winners throughout North America. It was the best pipe band in North America, and it was it was being run by pipe major James K from Shots in Scotland, and uh my father thought just spending a year with with the Worcester band would help my piping immensely. Um so I don't know how it happened, but uh in 1973 I joined the Worcester Pipe Band. Um and I was uh I was the only Irish Catholic in the band. The rest were Scots Protestants, but um they didn't um they they bagpiping was was the was really the nationality, and they welcomed me with open arms, so much so that I I actually stayed there. I played there for 17 years. Uh I learned a hell of a lot. It was uh Pipe Major James Kerr who really really got me on the right track. He didn't let me get away with anything. When it started off, the relationship was very tough. He was like a a sergeant major, but he knew his stuff. He knew how to make pipes, he knew how to teach, he knew how to play. Uh he also knew how to lead a pipe and uh but the way I was treated, I wound up staying there 17 years.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Sounds like a lot of driving.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Well, you know what? Um yeah, it is a lot of driving. But so what I did was while I was at Iona, I went ahead and got my pilot's license. And I actually flew from White Plains to Worcester. Luckily, James Kerr lived a mile or so from the airport. So typically on a Friday, and even when I was working, I'd finish work at 5 o'clock. I'd go to White Plains airport, I'd airborne at 5 30, land at 6 30, we'd have a cold beer, then go to band practice, and I'd fly back in the morning. So that's how I got around the driving.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

I didn't I never knew that.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Uh I don't think I could have driven, I couldn't have driven as much as necessary to practice up there. And then the later years, um, I became one of the veterans in the band. Our relationship and the relationship between James and his wife, Ruby, my wife Ann and myself became more like brothers and sisters uh after I left the band. He continued to help me and we traveled together and and judged it. But I didn't go as practice all that regularly near the end. I knew how to do what needed to be done, and I would fly up on a Sunday for a good a good session and then fly back. And that's how I got around the traffic stuff, you know. And then James left, stepped down, and uh uh I left the band in 1989, is when I started the uh band that was sponsored by the FBI, and James was helpful in making the channels we used, and you know, helped me get the band started off right as a pipe major. He was great as a solo piper, but then I I also learned a lot about being a pipe major from him.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

So you were one of the guys that started the FBI band?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

I was the one that started with my father's band. Yes. Yeah. Now the FBI band was not FBI agents. Uh, you know, here in around the New York City area, you expect the FDNY band, it'll be FDNY guys, it's the same same thing with the NYPD. Uh there, the FBI Emerald Society slash FBI Marine Corps Association uh sponsored a band to represent them. Uh and to tell you the truth, there was only a couple of FBI people in the band, uh, my sister being one of them, as a matter of fact. She works surveillance for the FBI, she was a piper in the band. Otherwise, it was all civilians. Um, and you would you knew some of them. There was a couple of guys from the the fire department, some guys from the police department. I had students.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Was it Richie Finer?

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Richie Finer. He was in he was in the band, yeah. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

So a little quick quick side note on Richie Finer. He's the first person that took me to Glackens pub. You remember Glackens on 149th Street in the Bronx?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Vaguely, yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah. Yeah. Uh that they just closed, actually. But uh I I digress. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

No, Richie was a big help to me in the band between Richie Finer and John Rancieri, who was uh a Yonkus cop. Um those guys watched over the kids I had the band, so all I had to do was worry about teaching bagpipes, make sure the band went well. They took care of the discipline. Um by the way, I was Richie Finer with I was with Richie Feiner in Florida just around this time last year. Um we had to go to Florida. I was in Cancun, but I had to stop in Florida for a funeral for uh my wife's uncle, uh, who I wanted to play for, and Richie was kind enough to travel and meet me. He's in Vero Beach, uh, and he was kind enough to travel and meet me and lend me his bagpipes that I played for the funeral uh around this time last year in Florida. And he's doing quite well. So he's playing, yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

I I don't think I've seen him in over 20 years. It's been seen him in a while.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Had talked to him, but uh now that he was in Florida, a couple of years ago we went to went up, we went out to lunch together, got caught up. Uh he is the same character now that he was then, trust me.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Next time you talk to him, ask him if he remembers taking me to Glackens.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

First time ever. And then that was when I worked like in the Central Prox. I I was on uh 183rd Street and Jerome Avenue back then. But then I ended up working on 150th Street, uh uh 150 Courtland or Morris, and Glackens was right down the road. We used to drive by Glackens every day, so it became a little bit more of a regular hangout years later. But Richie Finer was the first person to that was a big um a lot of Yankee fans there at Glackens. Even though it's south of Yankee Stadium, but it it was definitely a big Yankee hangout. The South Bronx was a uh was a lot different, you know, many years ago. You know, with uh a lot of pubs and Irish pubs and everything. And my father, that's one of the my father's stories. He just talks about the the number of pubs that used to be because it was all Irish back then.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Yeah. Sure. I mean the St. Patrick's Day for Pete's sake's. Uh I remember my father would take us to a whole bunch of them making it back to uh making it back to Parchester.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

What year was it that you started with the fighting 69th?

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Uh 1989. Um there there was a piper for the 69th that was uh starting to uh uh make political statements, and the 69th didn't want any part of that. And uh it was General Flynn, who's another Iona guy who was a friend of my father's, became the uh adjutant general. And uh I went down early at some event, I believe it was a Macon Dinner early in 1989. Um in fact I'm sure it was Macon Dinner, um, and uh they were interested in in filling that spot with somebody else. I had already been a member of the New York State Guard, um, so it was pretty good to keep it in under the military umbrella. So uh General Flynn asked me if I would uh consider taking that spot kind of officially. And without hesitation, and I think without consulting my wife too, in fact, I'm almost positive of that, I can tell you why in a second now. Um I accepted it, and for that I got a t-shirt and uh went home and uh um was on the back porch with my wife, uh saying that I was gonna become the regimental pipe of uh 69th, and she's saying, How are you gonna do this? Where are you gonna do that? The time-wise, she was concerned about that. And into my driveway pulled uh uh Colonel Colonel Frank Riggio and uh Sergeant Major um Mike Sheehan with a uniform for me and everything else, and they come by to say hello. I'm saying, How look at this? I got the Colonel and the Sergeant Major coming to me. How bad could this possibly be? You know? And she laughed. They came, they had a cup of coffee, and they were very grateful they were on their way up to Fort Drum. Um and it started off uh that way. Uh the first parade I led with them, it was exciting as could be. It was it was never any less exciting. It was just great every year. First parade I did with them was uh 1990. Um and through the years developed tremendous relationships, just fabulous people slash soldiers. Um relationships I maintain now with these guys. You know, the uh Colonel of the Regiment changes every two, possibly three years. Sometimes there's an option for third years. So those guys change, but they were always grateful to have me there as uh kind of consistent. Um and by the way, the first year in March, it wasn't quite leading. The pipe at that point in time is kind of several rows back, and I wasn't really satisfied with that. I wanted to be, you know, kind of being more of a showman. And uh uh spoke to my pal Liam Murphy, who did some history, you know, some studying. He's a historian, he did some looking into it for me that the piper belongs with the colonel in the front, and then from the second year on, I was right in the front with the colonel because that's that's where he should be.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

How far back does that go? Like, how far back has the fight in 69th been leading the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade?

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Oh, it's 150 some odd years, 156 years, I think it was this year. Um they got involved when the they they were the the Irish were being threatened, the uh parade was being threatened. Friend. And the 69th is the one that stepped up and protected the parade. So that's that's that's what they've done every year since, including right through COVID. Wow. That's a great honor, Joe. That's a great honor. Well, thank you. It is. I don't take it lightly. It's uh um um it is an honor, and I don't take it lightly, and I do what I can for them. Um I didn't have to ask you.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Let me ask you, you're you're you're marching up Fifth Avenue, and you you know, obviously we got all these high-rise buildings, and I know what it feels like to be piping up that avenue with uh, you know, with a big band, but you're coming up there by yourself. You got the fighting 69th behind you. What's going on in your mind? Like the when you are you thinking back at like what the history is behind that specific regiment? I mean, and I'm I'm gonna say this it's because of that regiment that this country is what it is today. Yeah, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Yeah, well, it's the most decorated regiment in the country, uh, and they have traditions galore. And although it may not be full of Brady's Martins, Grants, McLaughlin's that now, uh, it may be a lot more Martinez and Frances, whatever, they all still have the tradition. You it's great seeing some of these uh people in foreign uh uh nationalities uh singing Gary Owen and uh know the traditions. It's it's great. And what's going through my mind is these people have been waiting for the number one, waiting for the parade to start. A lot of them know what the 69th is all about. Um it is it is it's thrilling because he they're cheering like crazy, the adrenaline flows. Typically until late later on in years, probably until I was probably the first 20, 25 years, uh, I played that parade route non-stop all the way. Um because if you stop playing, there's a big vacuum. That means you should play. And they say, is it difficult? Well, physically I was in okay shape. I was able to do it. So I said, well, worry about the the pains later on. We'd only stop at the cathedral and the reviewing stand. Uh, other than that, it was just basically non-stop, and I played the whole way.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

You played no stopping, you just kept playing the street.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

I just kept on going. Yeah, and right up to 86th Street.

unknown 24:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

You know, and then we turn around. By the way, the I mean the morning starts at six o'clock with a toast of the fallen soldiers. Then we march from the armory to the cathedral, then you then we have the mass, which the mass is for the soldiers at the 69th, and then we'd then we'd march down to 38th Street, turn around, then do the parade, and then have the uh um um regimental day back at the armory after the parade. March 17th, years ago, was designated by the governor to be the day that the regiment would recognize and promote soldiers. And that was always uh that was just a wonderful, wonderful celebration special.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

I I want to share a story. Um, or it was about a year or two after 9-11 that uh Chief Nigro, who was the chief of department at the time, um he gave a speech at Squad 252, which was one of the houses that lost all their guys on 9-11. He gave a speech there, and I was there because we were playing the pipes there, and he talked about he compared the fireman going in on 9-11 uh to the fight in 69th. And he he had this story that, man, it had everybody's ears. He talked specifically about the Battle of Antietam, and how had it not been for the Irish regiment of the Fighting 69th and how they reacted to take this specific bridge, um, that battle might have been the the North might have lost that particular battle, which was a major battle to win for the North, because the South would have had a stronger hold, um, as I understand it on Washington after that. But it was after that battle that they were in Fredericksburg, and I think it was General Lee is looking down the hill, and he says, Oh, here come he sees the green flag and he says, Oh, here comes those fighting 69th again. And that's when the uh the name, the fighting 69th, was coined. That's what I was told. Is that something you might have heard in circles?

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, that's that's pretty much uh pretty much spot on from what I've what I've gathered. Yeah, it was like uh like oh no, here they come. He named them the fighting 69th.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

It's it's an incredible story. And then I don't know if you ever read, did you ever read The Immortal Irishman?

SPEAKER_00 26:22

I think I did many years ago.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

But uh Timothy Egan is the author. Uh it's about Thomas Francis Maher.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yes, yes, Thomas Francis. I thought so, yeah. What a great book. Yeah, there's some real real heroes associated with the regiment.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah. Well, listen, I think it's a great honor that you did that for 33 years.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

It was my honor, trust me.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Now, now, what year was it that you actually started uh as the instructor for the FDN Wybag Pipe Band?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

I believe my first year was 1973. It could have been 1974. It was either my last year in high school, first year of college.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Uh it was that it was that early.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Yeah, I forget who I took over for because it was the same year I also started the uh the drum section with the Kerry Pipe Band. Um I would have taken if I if I knew then where I am now, I would have taken better notes for a lot of this stuff. But yeah, it was uh that just around that time when I started the Fighter Parton pipe in, and and I've had I had fabulous years with that the FDNY pipe band is unique, uh spread the call, they're full of spirit, those guys. I'm looking for the word to say just a fabulous fraternity. I love being there every Monday night uh for all those years.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Yeah, it it's uh I mean I I didn't come in until 1994, but uh I mean you were there for all those years of uh Gene Freyer and all the Oh yeah, oh I could have sold tickets for his shows.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Oh yeah, the stories forget about it. Yeah, yeah. Um there are stories galore with the FDNY group. I mean, and I enjoyed for a good part of my being there, the pipe major was Bill Duffy, and we had a fabulous relationship, and I missed that guy. Uh I was honored to be able to play after his uh funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Um, but uh and working with uh Tom McEnroe. I mean, I don't I hate to mention names, I'm gonna leave somebody out, but those some of those guys, I mean, that you just don't get better than the Crowleys and the Dugans and the Fitzpatricks. I mean, and they they treated me fabulously. And we I was there. I didn't want to leave, but I all of a sudden I started getting the feeling that it's time to leave. And uh in 1995, um, I won an election here in the city of Peeksville to become a council person. Um and their meetings are Monday nights, so that meant I had to leave the pipe band. And have if I didn't have something that forced me out, I could still be there, maybe. I don't know. But that's that with my last year of teaching, it was 1995.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

At least I got one year with you there.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah, that's that was when we first met.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

But um And that's probably part of the reason why suggested you go to Charmers, too, because I didn't know who was going to take over after me at that time. I I don't know if they had anybody lined up.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Yeah. Well, and also there was they had just finished a uh Bill Duffy was teaching the groups, and they just finished a group. Like that was when Liam Flarity and Tommy Kaneen and Joe Duggan, and there was like a there was a whole group of guys, and they just kind of finished, and I kind of came in late. So I went and got my own private instructor, but it worked out because I kind of got in at the same time anyway, because I learned I I learned pretty quickly. I I bought my chanter in August and I tried out for the band in January with my pipes, so that was pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

So it is doable if you taught right, and you uh you apparently have some talent too. You mentioned Liam Flarity, working with Liam was was great with the band too. Um he used to come up here to Peak Skill for his drum major lessons and uh well I actually wrote that down as a note.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I wanted to talk about that because Jimmy Corcoran passed away. Um that was 1995. What a great guy! What a I mean he was a he was the presence of the four.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

He was that's the right, yeah. He certainly was.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

You know, and then and then we had this thing where all right, who's gonna be the next guy? And and I like I was a big proponent of having Liam. You know, there was a bunch of guys that were trying out for to be the next drum uh drum major. And but I was a big proponent of Liam. You know, number one, he's got the presence. He's at the time, he's probably the most Irish guy in the fire department. He was always at every engagement we had, you know, we used to have a point system, and if you ever looked at the sheet with all the points, he had the most points. So, you know, he was definitely an obvious guy. However, the thing that really made it different was he was going to you for lessons, and they actually did have a tryout. So when when he went out there and he was marching with the stick and everything, I mean it was just it was you it had to be unanimous. You know, he looked great, you know, and that was that was uh him going to you for lessons.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Well, you know, just a little side note on that, uh Tim is that the you know where the lessons were, um it was in the back room of uh Kelly's bar down there on the riverfront, and uh word got out that I was teaching this good-looking fireman, drum single firemen, uh drum major lessons, and uh some of the uh the young ladies in the area were all coming by trying to get a look in the window. Sometimes I I turn around for a counter march, and there was a few uh lassies out there eyeballing uh Liam, you know. So but uh but he A long time ago. It's a long time ago, but I I recall it like it's months ago.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

He he he did and still continues to do a great job.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Yeah, he's the face of the the band. You know? Um, well, that was one thing I said too is when John when Jimmy Corcoran passed away, he had been that face of the band for so many years. And I know we had a couple of old timers in the band that thought that they should be the next drum major, but the way I looked at it, and I mean I was a new guy in the band, but the way I looked at it was have a have a young guy take this position so that he can j create that same exact long-term you know thing. Why why have it be a transient type of position? Yeah, but I think you're right.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

I know I know the other guys that tried out, they they were they were good. Um, but the way you're uh assessing it, I I would agree with too, because if any of the other guys got in there, it's not a job for an older fella, and they were already, you know, they were older than I was at the time.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah, it it was a unanimous uh thing. I wish I could talk about the tryout, but I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

I got I got you. I know where you go with that. We'll talk about that one later, too.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Oh god. Oh my god. So, Joe, how about notable performances? Like uh did you play with any I don't know, any l legendary bands? Like uh I played one time with the Saw Doctors, you know, just uh hanging out. But did you play with any like the Wolf Tones or anybody else?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Yeah, I played with the Wolf Tones a couple of times. I played with the Chieftains. Um several I played with Andy Cooney, I toured with Andy Cooney, um I play with a whole bunch of others. Uh I played with the High Kings.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Um that that must have been recent then.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Well, I did I was you want me to share the story with you quickly?

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Um because of the six, I was a through the 69th, I got to know General Martin Dempsey. Uh General Martin Dempsey was a four-star. Uh he was an honorary member of the 69th, same position I held with the regiment. And uh I went down to play for uh uh Marty Dempsey's uh when he became Chief of Staff of the Army. I went down to play when he became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And then from out of nowhere, by the way, if you don't know Marty Dempsey, uh he's an Irish historian, he's a fabulous singer, besides being a fabulous person in general. And I was taken back uh when I was golfing, I mentioned Brian Maher before, I was golfing with his cousin Ken Maw, uh, when I got a text from Marty Dempsey asking me if I would consider playing the bagpipes at his retirement ceremony. And I was floored by that. You know, I really was. Um so again, without checking with my wife, because she had no choice in this one. There are certain people you don't say no to, he said, I'd be honored to go down to go down to Washington to play for his retirement ceremony. He says, That's great. I'd like to play the parting glass, uh, the High Kings version. So I said, fine. And it was kind of weird because this is 19, this would have been 1980, no, 19 2015. It was 2015. Um and it was kind of weird because I said to Kenny, who between the two of us had 100 plus years of piping experience, I had never been asked to play that before. Really? And I said, Yeah, the first request is coming from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Holy cow. So anyway, fast forward, I did go down and uh uh wound up playing that. Marty Dempsey sang The Parting Glass. Uh, and as he walked off, I walked on and I played with the the Marine, the Marine Corps band and the Army band, they're all there in the chorus. It was uh it was uh by far, I think, the most fascinating performance for me. It was just I was just taken back by it. It was quite the uh thing. You can you can Google it and easily see it. Uh but having said that, I was then just that that September, I happened to be up uh judging a contest up upstate New York where the Hikings are playing. And um I was brought over to meet Finbard. Finbard didn't even say hello to me. He says, You're Marty's buddy. I says, Yeah. He says, You got the pipes? I says, No, but I'll get a set. He says, We're gonna close out tomorrow night with the parting glass. I says, Aces, we'll do that. And I did, and it worked out very well, and I played with them a whole bunch of times since when they anytime they were in the area, uh, which is a blast. I got to know the guys pretty well, and playing the parting glasses to me was uh very special. Um, yeah, and I've had the honor to play, I did uh play with a lot of the other military bands. I was had the uh honor of attending some of the uh uh military music bands in the Virginia area, and got to, you know, not only spend time with them to play with them. And I play with the Commandant's own uh every year at a performance at Camp Smith here. There's probably a few others, but I've been pretty darn lucky over the years to be exposed, exposed to him. Another one I played with, I was with her just Saturday night, Eileen Ivers, of course, and um Joni Madden and Cherish the Ladies. So after you when you do this only. Oh, is that right? Okay, well, she's she she she's a live one. Uh she'll be a lot easier to uh talk to than me, I'm sure. But uh yeah, you know, but I've done this. Well, I'm 70 now, I'll be 71 this year. So I've been doing this a lot of years, and I've had the opportunities to to perform, be exposed to, join, and and enjoy uh all these a lot of these groups and these peoples. You know, uh going to festivals.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

I'm sitting here listening to you talk about, and I'm thinking about some of the things that that I've even like you forget, you forget some of these things that you actually played at. I mean I I actually played twice at Carnegie Hall. And you know, I guess a lot of people would think that wow, that's a freaking that's that's a great thing. And I'm like, I just remembered it.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Yeah, there you go. There you go. Sometimes my father played at Carnegie Hall, I have not. Uh do you recall when the FDNY band was on the Jay Leno show? That was a thrill.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

That was yeah, I was in the band then, but it was I I wasn't at the I couldn't make it.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

Okay, I was that the band asked me to be the point guy, and I actually sat down at Jay Leno's desk um and for, I don't know, half hour or so, and he was like so personable trying to figure out what the band is gonna do, but as he he and I would discuss what the band was gonna do, he kept getting this is the time of facts. He was getting the facts from here and a facts from there about jokes, and he's asking me about this joke or that joke, and he he would say it, and if I didn't laugh, he says that's no good, he'd throw it away. That was a thrill, you know. Yeah, it was it was pretty funny. You know, so uh um after playing at the you know the Waldorf Astoria for so many years in the big hotels in the cities, you get exposed to a lot of these, and uh sometimes you just jam with them, which is always a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Have you ever heard of El Divo? Uh they were on the Regis and Kelly show, and they they sing Amazing Grace. So uh I went on the show with them and played Amazing Grace for them when they sang. So that was a kind of cool. Uh again, I just remembered that.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

You forget, you honestly forget all these the different I did a fair amount of playing with some Mexican bands. I I traveled quite a bit down to Mafa, Texas, uh, because uh um Dan Don Judd, who's uh kind of a world-famous architect, um, was a fan of Pebrock, and certainly a fan of my father's, and became a fan of my Prook playing. And he would have his play, he owned a place down in Lower Manhattan, but he owned uh basically he was Mafa, Texas, and we we'd have uh I'd go out there for a few days and then play Prock for his audiences there. It was pretty pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

So you were a big were you a big Prairie player?

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Uh I wouldn't say big. It wasn't uh uh I was able to play. I learned what I needed to play so I could compete and win these Pipers in the Day awards. Uh it was I could play and I did okay with it, but it was never something I was always thrilled with. I always could I I kind of joke, I'm guy I'm a guy from the Bronx. I don't have the patience for Prague. Yeah, yeah, it was. Prayer takes some patience. Um and by the way, I mentioned before, James Kerr was not a big Praok player. He was great for the solo player. Stuart Robertson was Prairie. I learned a lot of Pirate from Stuart Robertson and Donald Lindsay. So I played what I had. I probably played maybe 20 in my life. I've enjoyed it, but I just never seemed to have the patience for it. Scott Walker, wasn't he a big PROK guy? Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. He's a fellow, he's he's a fellow competitive friend of mine for many years.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Now, you know what? Here's a good question, I guess. You know, like the Metro Cup, uh big things like that. Um obviously it's the best pipers in the world coming around to compete in these things, but well, was, right. Uh but you gotta be a judge. So were you the were you ever a judge of the at uh Metro Cup?

SPEAKER_00 40:01

No, I played the Metro Cup a few times. I've never had the opportunity to judge it. And uh one of the reasons I used to conflict them with some of my trips to Texas, but uh I never judged the Metro Cup, but I I did play in it. Um and I'm hoping that they can get it back here. But Eric Stein, God bless him, he's uh does so much piping. He was he was yeah, and he's done that with the Metro Cup down there, and it's fabulous. I've been and I have gone down there for every year he's had it so far down in Orlando.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Is that the Sun Belt that he called it?

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Yes, the sunbelt, exactly. And you got 10 to 12, if not a couple more, maybe 14, of the best pipers around the world. So we've been down there enjoying that. That's become the south, the southern uh uh Metro Cup, if you would.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Right, right. That was that was always fun going to to watch the Metro Cup.

SPEAKER_00 40:44

Oh, it was it was a fabulous thing for bagpiping, yeah. Great concerts.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

I remember going, you know, I was younger, and I remember seeing I think his name was Stuart Little. Uh I guess newer bagpipers now would definitely know who he is, but he was young then, and it was unbelievable watching this.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Yeah, he's still he still is unbelievable, trust me, he's still unbelievable. Yeah, and some of the other ones um I became pretty close friends with Alan Tully. Uh the Tully family's always been in Orlando. My my kids and his kids enjoy each other's company down. I've golfed with him a few times. Um yeah, those those those pipe and contests are just they're great. Terry Tully, right? He's that's that's Alan's father.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

That's his that's the father? Yes. Okay. Isn't he? Oh, that's called the pipe. Okay. He's the one that wrote the song for Eric Stein, I think, right? Wasn't it Terry Tully wrote that song? I believe it was Terry.

SPEAKER_00 41:36

He was pipe major of St. Lawrence at all until Alan took over, I think 15 years or so ago. That may be off a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

The solo competition thing I did a little bit with John Chalmers, you know, back then, but I kind of got away from it just so so involved with the fire department and the amount of functions that we were doing. It just it kind of now. You you have any idea how much stuff the band is doing now?

SPEAKER_00 42:00

I'm not even I can't imagine any any band being busy on how you guys split it all up and right.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

I mean, they split up, but I think they're handling like anywhere like around 450 engagements a year. That's I mean, think about that. It's more than one additional.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

I'm not surprised. Uh that you know, it it's shocking, but knowing what they do, I'm not surprised. I mean, you've got numbers. I don't know how and uh it I don't know how it's managed, but apparently it's managed just fine. Somebody's got to be delegating who's doing what, but it's uh it's pretty impressive. You guys have a uh fabulous reputation, it's well deserved.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Well, the guys uh thank God for the new guys, you know. And and the old. There's plenty of retired guys that are still.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Yeah, no, I know. And very also I admired from a distance after 9-11 what you guys did. It was just a phenomenal um accomplishment. But I gotta tell you, I I remember seeing guys that were doing that. I would see I maybe not see them in two, three, four months, and they aged. You could sell the how it was getting to them. These guys, you guys doing four or five funerals a day, uh days on end. Um, and the devotion is something uh truly to be admired.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Yeah, it was uh those were tough times.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Um let's go on to one other thing here, Joe. I do want to talk about Hunter Mountain Celtic Festival. Uh how that started, what your involvement was, because I know you had a big uh involvement with that.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Hunter Mountain was owned by Orville Sletzky, and Sletsky wanted a whole bunch of bagpipers. It's uh marching down the hill. And um this has been really kind of before my time was John Allen, who's chairman of the uh local the USPBA branch, uh met with him and suggested the only way you're gonna get all these people to march down the hill is to have a pipe band contest. And that's the way that's the way you attract them to the mountain for the contest, and that culminates in the mass bands. So that started, I even forget what year it was, Tim. Uh and John was the chairman for a little bit, and the contest grew and grew. And that back then it was uh the festival itself was. four days. Although the bagpiping was really uh some Saturday, mostly all Sunday, because the festival was supposed to conclude with the bands coming down the hill. Uh Jerry Stack took over as chairman, then when Jerry passed it along to me, I even forget what year that was, but I guess it's over six, seven years now. And I I I agreed to run it as long as I could use uh the same people I used to run the Peak Skill events. And uh um I guess I ran it with that group for about 15 years and Orville was great to work with. He he was super and the the staff up there was tremendous. They gave me every anything I asked for they would not make changes unless they conferred with me. And that contest grew. I mean you probably know that the location of the actual contest moved around the grounds but always consulted me sometimes it seemed like the pipe bands were getting pushed around a little bit because they were bringing different acts but uh um that mass band is so talked about um and when it was still we'd have 40 bands up there and you get all those guys at the top of the hill um you could have sold tickets or should have somebody should have videotaped it because it was a mad scene up there and somehow we put it put it together and uh uh again for me being a senior drum major that coming coming over that cliff and seeing thousands and thousands of people I mean they started coming in there the there was a miles long wait coming in starting at three o'clock on Sunday for the 630 mass bands coming down that hill and it was it was just it was just phenomenal and uh people still talk about it everybody misses that contest yeah I I miss that that was I remember going there when I was a little kid and then when I got in the band you know now we're competing at Hunter and we're we're participating in the mass bands walking down the hill slipping down the hill. Yeah yeah well and I joke one of the reasons why I said I wouldn't do it unless I'm out front I'm by myself so I'm not gonna get hurt what happens happens back there I don't know but uh um it's it's a wonderful thing and I run into Manhattan a lot and um especially if I'm wearing my kilt you might go into a pub and somebody will say hey do you ever see those bands that march down the hill at Hunter Mountain and I I can honestly say no I have never seen it I mean I've seen it on TV but I've never seen it live and I would let them go on and on and I would joke that this is the first face you see coming over that hill. Yeah yeah so it was great but then uh Orville passed away and the mountain was sold um and the people that took over the the mountain was a private actually I think it was a public company it was peak it was a it was a skiing company peak construction I think peak um something entertainment um they looked at the the money and everything else and basically they got rid of all the festivals one by one I think they still do the German fest for a couple of days anyway but uh it was they were not interested in doing what we had been doing.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Shame it really is a shame that was that was one of my favorite weekends of the whole year.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Yeah well so much fun I gotta tell you when I told my kids there was no more Hunter Mountain they cried because that's where they spent every third weekend of August for basically all their lives which was always the same weekend as the world's well the world's is always the third Saturday we could we conflicted every year except for maybe once every six or seven years where they would be different just because of a weird uh uh the the cal just because the calendar the worlds was we were always the third Sunday the world was always the third Saturday or the Saturday after the third Monday or something like that but yeah it did conflict with the worlds I have I have great stories that came out that that rent a house for like three four nights you know oh yeah no and they had some great entertainment up there I enjoyed playing up there especially with the groups like McTallamore we did have uh the Wolf Toners there but uh um you know who the first act was up there I remember remember people it's a trivia question but uh Donald Sutherland was the yeah the first act that uh Hunter Mountain had for the Celtic Festival was Donald Sutherland believe it or not that's that's a great trivia question yeah yeah I would never get that no nobody does no I remember seeing the prodigals there uh I guess Shaley Law probably played there too I'm sure they did Tannehill Weavers did uh Tannehill Weavers yeah yeah I remember seeing them McTalamor um over the years probably a few bands have not played there yeah Joe so Joe is there anything else you'd you'd like to add or any no I you know what uh at 70 years old I look back and say I've been pretty damn lucky this the bagpiping has opened a lot of doors for me um and I I think I am grateful for the opportunities that I've had had and and took a take advantage of met a lot of people I still enjoy okay so I stopped leading the parade in New York City because it just became too physically demanding but more importantly I had a person by the name of Sean Gower fellow I own a guy that was already helping me out with the regiment takeover and he's doing a fabulous job. So that's the only thing I'm not doing. I still enjoy going to the local schools to play around St.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

Patrick's Day which we've done uh for years um and I'm still playing some uh some real nice events meeting people like you having relationships uh with with the all the bands all these people we're we're a tight fraternity and what's good is that very few of us in in our groups uh play bagpipes exclusively they all do something else and you can always pick up something else and do something you know um and I've been very lucky not only to be I you know maybe with Hunter Mountain they associate it with Joe Brady but I'm not stupid enough to know that it's not just Joe Brady it's all the people that I've been able to count on over the years not only Hunter Mountain a lot of other things have been involved with so in that respect uh I'm grateful and I'm lucky you know it's uh it's been a it's been a great time it is all about relationships and we've we we've been uh we're very fortunate to you know accumulate a lot of great friends over the years and uh I'll I'll say this every Christmas time we have our our uh the FDNY band has our Christmas Mass and all the years that even after you were not our instructor anymore uh you would you would still come to our Mass uh and and it was always great to see your face there so you're always appreciated that Tim and you're always enjoying getting a call from Jim Ginty and and then the whoever followed his shoes it's the name will come to me after we've finished talking and I always enjoyed the red carpet that's been rolled out for us especially with you guys it's always um and you know always great to see all you guys and even now with the new guys uh they don't know who I am but somebody put something in their ear that all of a sudden they're uh treating me royally as well you know so uh uh I like to spend more time with the new guys too even with the new guys I saw at Iona the other night it was kind of fun I didn't never thought I was gonna be in the position I'm in as a senior citizen uh but here we are I'm gonna make the most of it I'm gonna enjoy it as much as I can yeah well uh my buddy always said we're not here for a long time just a good time there you go not gonna argue but we're we're gonna we're gonna keep going there you go and never younger than you are today remember that yeah that's right well Joe it was great to have you on the the podcast I really appreciate it and uh again remember you're always welcome you're always welcome at our uh any events we have uh our mass uh and and all that so uh great having you on the show and we'll we'll uh we'll definitely catch up uh again soon you're great sim thanks