Raising Heck ... and Some Kilt Money

Pamela Drake, left, and her dad fireman Glenn Drake (Engine 12)

By Denise Foley

You have to love a band that can unabashedly play “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” while wearing kilts and playing bagpipes.

That would be the Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drums, which performed this and more traditional music on Friday, Sept. 1, at Canstatter’s in Northeast Philadelphia.

They shared the stage with hot local Irish band, Blackthorn,

and The Immortals Ceili Band, regulars at the Blarney South’s Thursday night session (328 South Street, in Philadelphia) and at Mitchell’s Café in Lambertville, N.J.

Blackthorn lead singer Mike Boyce

The 10-year-old band, the first pipe band for Philly’s finest and bravest, has nearly three dozen members. Last year they opened the annual Hero Thrill Show, marched in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and played as part of a massed band at Irish Weekend in Wildwood, N.J.

But on Friday night, they were just having fun and raising money to keep them in kilts and pipes.