STEPHEN FOLEY

Richard King on Steve Foley

Steve is a great friend of mine; so, I am very honored and excited to be working together with him to bring this competition to actuality. Steve plays the Bass Drum in the LA Scots Pipe Band. Most people in the bagpiping community already know Steve due to his outgoing personality and his ability to make everyone feel good about themselves no matter what grade they play in or the quality of their performance. Steve has won many events including: Best Bass Section 1997 Grade 2 World Pipe Band Championships, Best Bass Section 1999 Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championships, winner of the first Drumming for Drinks at The Lord Todd, and most recently Best Bass Drummer at the 2009 Winter Storm.

I want to thank Steve for being a great friend and for his passion and desire for this competition to succeed. 

Steve Foley on Steve Foley

Hi. Hows it going? A lot of you out there may already know me, so I'll bore you with the details. I was born in Glasgow, moved to the states at age five, and I return almost every summer. I am so happy to be a co-organizer of an event in my home town.  Pipes and drums are not just a hobby, their a lifestyle. 

RICHARD KING

Steve Foley on Richard King

It should be Richard "Jesus" King!  Imagine a guy that is lucky enough to find a hub cap and turn it in to the supreme award for bagpiping... Lucky!   Richard and I have been great friends for about twelve years now. We have traveled the world, and the Southern California freeways. I consider Richard to be truly one of my best friends. The coolest part about him is that nobody really knows how to take him.  You will find that after you get to know Richard King at this wonderful Silver Cap Piping Competition, that he is not only extremely educated, but also one of the nicest and most contagious personalities. Oh Yeah, he is also an ex-professional skateboarder, a small business owner, a college graduate, a Harley rider and the permanent Super Open Piping Champion. How can a guy go wrong?  It is my privilege to partner with Richard for the SilverCap. We have already come up with some "twists" for the years to come.

Richard King on Richard King

I'm just some idiot who plays with the LA Scots Pipe Band www.lascots.org I also found a hubcap on the side of the road once. The Super Open Piper came to be from this hubcap. I also have the best band-website-bio of anyone in the world.

THE HUBCAP STORY   Display Only. Not the Trophy

The story goes, on the morning of a competition, Richard found a chrome plated plastic hubcap on the side of the road while walking to the games.  When he got to the games, rather early, he decided to use the band’s Dremel tool to turn this hubcap into a trophy. The trophy reads Super Open Piping Champ. in the middle, and the many years Richard has won this fictitious competition are written on the spokes of this magnificent trophy.

This stupid “trophy” that inspired Richard to create a solo piping competition which would rival the very best solo competitions already in existence.  Through some not so serious banter between Richard and Steve, the ideas for this competition started to build. Now we are faced with the task of putting on this competition at a professional level so as to stir up interest to cause the need for continued success.