The tale of Dr. Macdoo - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by Baby A. Gil

This is story of Dr. Macdoo:

"Thirty years ago inside the unknown jungles of Bengali, there was a reasonably tall man with red hair and a matching beard. His name was Uncle Macdoo and he was a long, long way from his home, a castle situated by the foot of mountain Ben Macdui in the Scottish highlands.

"For weeks he had wandered deeper and deeper into the jungle. One day a very hungry tiger spotted Uncle Macdoo. Dinner in sight, the tiger readied himself to leap at Uncle Macdoo.

"Uncle Macdoo, who had travelled the world for many years, sensed the danger from above. A wild and fierce struggle broke out! The tiger and Uncle Macdoo wrestled about like crazy. After an intense fight the tiger was defeated. From this day on we can promise you that the tiger would think long and hard before picking any fights with any redheaded Scotsmen.

"Just as Uncle Macdoo was to continue his journey he heard a faint cry from a nearby set of bushes. Curious as he was he decided to check it out. When he unfolded the leaves, he found a tiny baby crying. To his surprise he found the baby’s hat very familiar.

"All of us who remember the story of Dr. Bombay and how the mean tiger took his family will now have guessed just who the lad was. None other than Dr. Bombay’s lost younger brother who was to grow up to be Dr. Macdoo. Uncle Macdoo decided at once to take the wee lad to Scotland to raise him in his clan’s tradition.

"Young Macdoo’s upbringing was a rough one. Scotland was a tough place for someone who spent his childhood in the jungle. To cope with all problems and to be happy Dr. Macdoo would run around playing his bagpipe and making a terrible noise. The noise he made even made the ghosts of the castle pack up and leave. The years passed and Macdoo excelled in his bagpipping skills.

"When Macdoo was old enough, he decided to go out into the world and try his luck as a popstar. This was something he had dreamt of since the day he got his first bagpipe. He decided to try his luck at the local town square. Pretty soon the whole square was full of people admiring his musical genius.

"Hours and days later, Dr. Macdoo took to the next town to perform. Soon rumors of the sensational showman travelled faster than he did. People filled the open places where he would perform during his travels. He got to write his first autographs.

"Macdoo played like never before and he discovered that he loved entertaining. And he was good at it. His audiences grew for every performance. Fanatics even followed him from town to town just to see him again and again. Soon there was no show quite as good as his.

"After his first shows back home, Macdoo decided he had passed the test. The world seemed ready for his music. But where could he get the peace and quiet to write new songs? Macdoo’s castle? Hardly. The rumor of Dr. Macdoo was all the rage up there. Bengali? Yikes. He couldn’t cope with his brother Dr. Bombay.

"What place in the world was so far away that there wasn’t the slightest chance that anyone would have heard of a Scotsman with popstar plans? The answer was there. Hawaii!!! After a long and troublesome journey he had reached his destination. In Hawaii he got his peaceful surrounding and found inspiration to write new songs. And he wrote and wrote.

"Finally one day, the time had come to try the new songs out. Macdoo, supported by a new hula-hula band started playing in a village close to the beach. Everybody loved his music. They just danced funny, he thought. But when he tried the new dance steps himself, he just loved it!!! Afterwards, he wrote the perfect song to go with the new dance. What Dr. Macdoo didn’t know at the time was that his song would become his first hit single, the Macahula Dance."

Tired of boy bands? Have you had enough of oldies and teen-aged divettes with tight midriffs? You might want to go and check out Dr. Macdoo’s Under the Kilt. The music is a mixture of Scottish jigs and hula-hulas laced with Bengali. I admit the combination is somewhat exotic and improbable but it is different and very danceable.