 I have two questions. First of all, two of you referred to a club as the KRT or XYZ. What club are you talking about? ARB was the Knights of the Red Branch. It was on Mission Street between 7th and 8th. And it was right across from the old Greyhound. Station. At one time, St. Patrick's Church, which is located on Mission, I think, between 4th and 5th. And one statement about the church was when it was built, they even were a little political. Because if you ever go by St. Patrick's Church on Mission, if you look at the front of it, inside the church, it has all of the saints from each county in Ireland. But on the outside, it was political because it has the four provincial coat of arms right on the front of the church. Well, the KRB, I'm not sure what year it was built, but when we used to practice, we would go in the parking lot behind it. And Dan would give us the key to run around to open it up. And one of us would go around, and then we'd all go down the steep steps. And I went down there one night. And just as I put my foot down, some fellow that was sleeping there stood up. That part of San Francisco became very rundown in the early 50s, maybe. And there were a lot of homeless people at that time. And I jump in, Dan, I was going to just add to that. So the KRB was a social club, really, that Irish built. Had to be in the 20s because my grandparents met in the 20s. My dad was born in 27. And as I remember, there were three floors. And we would practice in the basement. And then there were two floors with dancing. And of course, there was a bar on each floor. And that's where the Irish used to go and congregate and meet as they came to San Francisco from either different parts of the country or from Ireland directly. And so, like I said, my grandparents, my dad's parents met there, and my dad and mom met there in the 50s. So what was the name again, the Knights of the Red Branch? And the Knights of the Red Branch is the Ulster, right? It's the Ulster, right? It was also, it's a literary reference to the Ulster cycle of tales. It's a reference to an ancient Ulster-based literary cycle. But Carribee was also a branch of Clan Agale. So it was a, it had a political function. It was a fundraising organization. And it burned down 10, 15 years ago or so? Yeah. One more question. Why orange neckties? Because you had the color of the Irish flag. You had the white, the green, the white, and then the orange. We used to wear hats when I was a kid. And a lot of kids, again, they weren't ready for kids. So they had to stuff them with, you know, you wouldn't be able to see my eyes. So we had to stuff them down. You'll see, Brian brought the uniform and a hat. There's a hat in the back that we all used to wear for a while when we wore the ties. And the real old uniforms were blue. And I just remember they used to have a locker. And I remember seeing them and a lot of uniforms were mimicked after the local police uniforms and the Union soldiers uniforms. And the only difference between the policemen's uniform and the Pierce Connelly uniform was the harp on the insignia on the hat. And the beer stains. How is the band financially supported? Basically through donations from the community. We do very little actual fundraising, but we do get donations occasionally and a lot of the generosity of the members. Hi, this is really fun. We were in Butte, Montana last fall because my wife has roots there. Her grandfather was the editor of the newspaper around the turn of the century. And they have an amazing archive there and reference for a historical reference. And they have a couple of things chiseled into the granite on the front. I thought I would read them to you. One is, now don't forget, Lizzie, when you get to the New World, don't stop in America. You go straight to Butte, Montana. And then Teddy Roosevelt was there. He visited and he says, Butte was mercurial. The wicked, wealthy, hospitable, full-blooded little city, welcome to be with wild enthusiasm of the most disorderly kind. We had a wonderful time. So the band is actually traveling to Butte on Thursday to march in their St. Patrick's Day Parade. We've talked about it for years and actually Dan and Eugene McPeak had hoped to do it in their lifetimes. They never made it, but we figured for the 100th anniversary, we'd try to get back there. The drum came from there from 1917, so we figured we'd bring it back there. So we'll be marching there this Friday. We're hoping to get some pictures and video taken and put something together. We do have a Facebook page, so Pierce Conley Band. So check it out in a few weeks' time and hopefully you'll see some footage from the parade up there. I think you answered my question. I was gonna ask you if the band had ever been back to Butte, Montana for St. Patrick's Day Parade. Not yet, but this will be the year. As I told you, I was there at the parade last year. I'm from Butte and it was 12 degrees and four inches of snow, so be prepared. We're hoping for something a little better this year. The worst parade I remember was marching in the rain and we didn't have the common sense like the Pipers to drive and get out of the cars at McGoverns and walk the final two blocks. We marched the whole distance and unfortunately I was wearing colored underwear which everybody was able to tell me what color it was afterwards. Any other questions? Paolo. Who started the band? If you want a name, I can't tell you. What Mary's grandfather says is when he joined the band, it was being run by somebody by the name of McNulty, I think, I forgot his first name, maybe it was Joe. But I don't actually know the answer to that question, Paolo, it's a good question. All we know is there are about 30 or 40 of the original members who came to San Francisco and I don't have an exact date for you either. I think it's about 1923, but I have to do more research on this side to find out when they actually landed. I know they were in Butte in 1922 and that's my last trace of them in Butte that I've seen. But good question, Paolo. And another question is how old is the drum? 100 years this year. Older than everybody in this room. Several people have carried the drum at various times. I think they used to look for the heaviest people to carry it at one time. I carried it once or twice before they used to have, if you look at the drummer today, he'll have a special harness. Before that, they used to have what they call the horse collar and it went around your neck and you carried it with your neck. And Margaret's dad, Gene, hit, I think it was Jones and Market and if you look, there's a wind tunnel there. And I was watching Gene and he did a 360, the wind hit the drum and it just spun him. And it's a wonder he had any neck left because that's how we used to carry it. Anyone else for a question? Hello everybody, thanks for a great presentation. In the 1980s, I went on a number of times on the Noray tour that was organized out of San Francisco, actually. And wondered if anybody ever went and played music in Ireland, going back to Ireland to play any of the music that you were playing here. My brother and I both used to play the Yulem Pipes. And the man who taught me was one of the O'Neill brothers that left the Pierce Connolly to join, to form the San Francisco Pipes Band. He taught my brother and me, my brother and I, the Yulem Pipes. When my brother died, my son took over. Oh, I was gonna tell a little story, a Noray story. So last year at the Irish Center, the dinner before the parade, there was a presentation about the Pierce Connolly, Mr. Connolly Pierce and the seven who had organized Easter Uprising. And there was a man from Noray that spoke, if you guys remember. And I went up to him and introduced myself and he said, I remember your dad, little Eddie McGovern, we used to plot revolution in your restaurant. My dad was, I guess, funding the revolution in Ireland though. Thank you so much. When and where do you practice? It depends if it's just music or if it's marching. So if it's music, we usually practice in individual homes and if it's marching, any open laptop we can find. This might be a good time to mention that we're looking for recruits. Yes. And if you're interested in joining Pierce and Connolly and maybe becoming a new member or you have kids who are interested, like Paolo is his hand up here, has a potential. Choice. You know please see one of us in the back or give us your contact information and we'd be happy to talk to you. Yes, no experience necessary. Everyone welcome. Okay. Alrighty, well thank you all for great questions and what we're gonna do right now before anybody leaves is we're gonna clear the stage and the band is going to perform. So you get a musical piece after the spoken piece.