minstrlmummr | Belated Pennsic Highlights

In between tent - bailing episodes (my tent is actually good sound canvas -- it just rained TOO #$%&!!! MUCH ) several lovely things happened.

I fed onion soup to potluck partygoers   (see, when it was pouring down buckets of not-warm rain, soup seemed like a real good idea).     After the rain was replaced by more heat, soup seemed less and less of a good idea, but since it all got eaten I suppose I shouldn't complain.
I got to see fellow buskers Kuji (complete with his "Real Japanese Mermaid" exhibit) , HenryB (who spent much of Pennsic rather ill, poor "camp-mom" dude ), and the ladies of Wandering Gypsy Theater, who took me with them will-me nill-me for a mildly debauched party-crawl around the lake.     I walked.    I spilled wine.   I danced on the fringes of a drum circle.   I helped a Wandering Gypsy trap her friend in a porta-castle ("IF I GET BLUE STUFF ON ME I'LL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!").    I followed the Gypsies up some steps to a part of the lake shore I hadn't seen before -- the reflections of the sky and trees in the water were clear and beautiful and magical.

They took me to Vlad's and I saw part of the slave auction.     One guy creeped me out by frequently bellowing, "BRING ON THE BLONDE BOY!!!!!!!!!!"     Finally out came a young crew-cut blonde guy in glasses.    He looked athletic / military.     After he was sold,   I became less creeped out by the bellowing when a drunk guy near me looked back towards the bellower and mourned, "Man, we just sold our squire brother to a DUDE!!!! "    (Thinking about the purchaser might have creeped me out again, so I didn't.)

One performing goal was to busk in three different locations.     I "debuted" in Beggar's Row on Middle Friday (actually cleared out the row *blush*).     Next day I worked a while under the big tree (during the hotter part of the day because I'm a $#&*ing idiot).     Then there was all this rain 8P       I didn't count the four Wakefield stages because another goal involved working to attract / build a street audience and the Wakefield audiences were already sitting.     I got to the tree and bench near the barn's back entrance on the final Friday for two short shifts.       It was reassuring to know that I could turn a space into a busking "stage" no matter who else was working elsewhere -- although during the last shift someone did say they "felt bad for me because everybody was watching Volgemut over there" (however, they didn't feel sufficiently bad to tip me 8P
As far as I was concerned,   They-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named might as well have been on a different planet -- most of the time I couldn't hear them and when I did it wasn't for very long.      I could start another song as soon as the noise finished.

Pennsic audiences are like subway audiences in that they like the upbeat music and appreciate teh funny.
Goal for next Pennsic is to bring CD's to sell -- it looks as if the CD is the "income bridge" between the musician's "passive" show and the audience's wallets.     I did not pay for my trip but I did earn enough to pay for the little bit of shopping I did and some extra food.

shalmesterepassed along an offer I made to sing "The Shawms Of War" for one of i Sebastiani's interludes, and she and

hudebnikagreed to play recorders and a SHAWM BREAK during the song 8)
They also did a bawdy song with SnowShawm Lady. i Sebastiani made me laugh a lot.

Improv shows and classes with

charles_midairwere first-rate as always, although I was frequently reminded I / the team I led for "Whose Line"  was going to come in second.

DON'T ASK !!!

   (perhaps if I lead a team for "Whose Line" next year I should call it "Second To None", if I can prevent the other teams from dubbing themselves "None"   8)   The players I picked at random turned out to be three other girls, so we proclaimed ourselves "Belles Of STEEL".       After the show and a quick ice-cream break / Coxcomb reunion I had to take off to make some Spanish music (see, there was this vigil going on...) .

The Wakefield plays showed a tremendous amount of work and talent by all concerned.    I was glad

gurdymonkey joined the buskers (the tale she told of confronting a knavish youth who trifled with her tips convinced me she possessed the "bruise-proof" quality Kuji was looking for).

"Lion In Winter" was amusing and entertaining, and especially good considering the production weathered to loss of both its male lead and his understudy due to unrelated Attacks Of Real Life. The man who soldiered on with book in hand made the play possible, and was able to raise his head off the page at the critical moments.

Now if the sun could just return here the way it finally did in Slippery Rock...