#Bagpipe player san francisco for free
A few performances have even included rides in helicopters and on yachts.īut his simple sunset serenades played for free to delight his sheltering neighbors will always stand out in his mind.
He has played for the British royal family. Wilkes, who’s in his 50s, has played the pipes professionally since he was a teenager. He raised his whiskey glass to a few neighbors gathered on the rooftop to listen. “Take care of yourself! Stay safe! Stay healthy!” “That’s it! That’s it!” he hollered back, clearly choking up.
Unseen neighbors in far-flung homes cheered loudly and hollered their thanks, the noise surprisingly loud. And finally “Auld Lang Syne” to remember better years gone by and to hope for a happier tomorrow. And then “Amazing Grace” to honor those who’ve died of the virus and their loved ones. He played “Farewell to Oban,” a traditional piping song. But on this night, it was four, played back to back in one long melody. A little strange,” he said before he played. We needed it.”Īnd so just before sunset on Sunday, Wilkes walked up his back wooden steps to his roof. the unique place we cherish.” And another wrote, “Thanks for your service. Imperfections and all.” Another wrote, “It’s part of what makes S.F. This is another example of why I love this city. One wrote, “I have heard those pipes several times at 17th and Church.
#Bagpipe player san francisco plus
Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts. His good friend and neighbor, Ruth Nott, let the whole neighborhood know Sunday would be the final show via a Nextdoor post. 100, but he really wanted to pipe “Yankee Doodle Dandy” on the Fourth of July. He thought about stopping at Sunset Serenade No. “Starving people think of food,” he said with a wink. One night, he admitted, he thought the pink lights looked like a man’s six-pack abs. He played so long, a whole new city icon, the illuminated pink triangle on Twin Peaks, was added to his nightly backdrop. He played in seemingly gale-force winds that nearly knocked him over. He’s played so many nights in a row that when he started March 17, sunset occurred at 7:19 pm., and when he stopped July 5, the sun set at 8:35 pm. “People are looking for little bit of light, something positive,” he said.Īnd so he kept playing.
He was featured in numerous papers and news shows, and a documentary filmmaker recorded him using a drone. Notes of thanks.Īfter this column featured Wilkes in March, he received calls from journalists around the Bay Area and even in Europe. Other neighbors have left bottles of whiskey, his drink of choice, on his front step. On her birthday, Wilkes piped “Happy Birthday,” and the girl’s mother sent him a picture of her daughter’s beaming smile in response. Her mother wrote him a note about how the little girl loves his bagpipes. Like the 6-year-old girl with curly red hair who lives in the purple house a couple of blocks away. The piper even knows his neighbors farther afield now, too. “We got to meet all these really great people, and that will last.” “We live on the first floor,” explained her partner, Boston Nyer. “I didn’t even know we had a roof deck!” she said with a laugh. They wrap homemade cookies, cakes and bread in aluminum foil and toss it to each other “deck to deck,” Wilkes said.īethany Fisher moved into the building nine months ago and knew nobody before the nightly piping performances. They share a text chain and always ask if anybody needs anything when they head to the grocery store. They’ve held socially distanced rooftop and backyard potlucks. Now that time has slowed and there are few places to be but home, they’ve become fast friends. In fact, Wilkes’ neighbors near 18th and Sanchez Streets are exponentially more neighborly than they were before March 17, the first night the Pied Piper of the Castro played for them, his music carrying from the valley in which his apartment building sits to the hills all around it.īefore the pandemic, his neighbors in this typically bustling city barely even said hello. Hal Wilkes plays his 111th and final bagpipe performance to delight his weary neighbors.
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