The (Pipe) Dreams of Glasgow

What Oasis, Milwaukee Dave, and the City of Dunedin (Fla!) Pipe Band have in common

“Is this a franchise?,” I asked. “Are they owned by the same people?” 

“Nae,” said the bartender.  “I’m pretty sure we just stole the name.”

It was around 4 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon when I walked into King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, and inquired how it came to have the same name as a bar I knew of in New York’s East Village. I looked around the nearly empty room: one well-dressed, slightly bemused couple who seemed like they might not be from around here. A pair of downtrodden women, staring silently into their beers. Two guys in late middle age, one of whom bore a marked resemblance to Steve Earle, if Steve Earle had definitively renounced shampoo. Still, I admired the bartender’s honesty.

“It’s open mic,” she said. “You should take a seat.”