Weekend update -- War of the Roses
May. 27th, 2008 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassWar of the Roses was fantastic.
After the fastest, easiest border crossing I've ever experienced (thank you, border gods!), I arrived on-site with *just* enough time for some helpful Vestfell people to help me pitch my tent, change, and grab a lift with Toki over to the bardic competition. The competition was great -- well-attended (I think the final count was 15 competitors) and high-calibre. Yes, there were three "Heather Dale" entries, but there were also some wonderful original pieces. I found out afterwards that I didn't win, but I placed quite highly, which is good enough for me.
After the bardic competition, I hunted around for Alethea and retained for a little while (read: "went shopping with her") before taking a half-hour down-time break back at Vestfell. Then it was time for court, which was mercifully fast (only 11 items of business, I believe). After court, I bid a fond goodbye to Alethea and Liam and high-tailed it back to my camp to get all the stuff *in* my tent set up before the onset of darkness.
While back at camp, I made the acquaintance of Katrusha, and we quickly realized we were kindred souls. She, too, is a performer of bawdy bardic, and she's quite good at it. On the other hand, she's only been doing bardic (or, indeed, been part of the SCA) for about a year, so her biggest challenge right now is repertoire and recognition. I actually found myself in something of a mentorship role this weekend, which was both cool and unexpected.
I hadn't bought any food for dinner (or any other meal, for that matter), but Toki promised me I would be well-fed, and I was. After dinner, it was time to head over to the bardic circle. The circle itself was a bit delayed in the starting as we herded cats for an apprenticing ceremony (Toki took on Aifa -- and I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong -- as his second apprentice).
As soon as that was done, the circle started. Their Majesties were in attendance, and actually stayed about an hour and a half, which is practically unheard-of. The circle was wonderful, and I've got at least 5 new pieces I want to learn (and one story I already have). After an hour or two, Toki looked at me and said, "Katherine, you've never been down here, and I don't usually get to hear you perform. You should perform more." Well, twist my rubber arm, why don't you?
It pleased me, by the way, that in a circle running from about 10 to 2:30, in which I performed far more than my fair share, I *still* didn't run out of material. Yay for an ever-expanding repertoire of memorized pieces.
The circle ended, I crawled back into my very cold tent (it was about 7 degrees celsius, I swear!), and thus ended Saturday night.
Sunday dawned and I went off with Katrusha and her fiancee for breakfast. While waiting for my eggs to cook, I found out that His Founding Excellency of Concordia of the Snows was trying to perform the bits of Storybook Beowulf he could remember (I had performed it at the circle the previous night) for his family, who had not been at the circle. So I asked my companions to bring my breakfast over and performed the real thing for His Excellency. While I was there, I performed some more, and was rewarded by payment in bacon (mmm... bacon).
After a while, I went off to find my companions, who had installed themselves at a coffee house. Since I was on a bardic roll anyway, I performed for *them* too, and wound up getting some tea and cookies on the house. Yay!
The rest of the day was pretty chill. Katrusha and I did our "let's compare books!" meet-up, which resulted in at least a few new pieces on both our lists. (She wrote a wonderful song called "The Anti-Singalong Song" -- Fiana, ask me about this one.)
Also very cool: one of the innkeepers (ie: food merchants) had his tent blow away last year. (There were gale-force winds.) Apparently, four of the prominent bards in the areas happened to be walking along around then, caught the tent, un-pitched it, folded it up, and sat on it until the innkeeper arrived. As thanks, the innkeeper declared that any bard could sing for his supper at his inn for the entirety of the next year (ie: this past weekend). So I sang for my lunch, which was wonderful. Point of note to myself: don't try performing over the sounds of a loudly-frying wok. It's just not worth it.
Learned a new bawdy song ("Maggy is baking today") and, together with Katrusha, wrote a new verse for it featuring girl-on-girl action (people who are interested may comment or email me).
Went to court. Lancaster won, despite the preferences of His Excellency, and we found out that Katrusha won the bardic competition. (Much to her shock and amazement.) Moreover, Grim and Katrusha were both given tokens by Their Majesties for their performances at the circle Saturday night. (Again, much to Katrusha's shock and amazement.)
Did a bit of battlefield tear-down with Toki, and then it was time for dinner and Sunday night's circle.
Sunday's circle was far sillier and bawdier than Saturday's. It was lots of fun. Grim brought out Ludefisk and Yam (a parody of Green Eggs and Ham); Toki performed a story about Sven (a parody of Something from Nothing); and His Excellency Concordia of the Snows performed a few stories which he claimed were really just extended jokes. Not to be outdone, I brought out Storybook Beowulf again, along with some of my sillier / bawdier pieces, and had a great time. I went to bed to the sounds of Barrett's Privateers (to which no one seemed to know the call line "drink more beers!" -- alas).
Woke up Monday, helped do a bit more battlefield tear-down, and then it was time to go. I took my time returning. The mad rush down to the event site took about 4.5 hours; the trip back home took closer to 6.5. Admittedly, I stopped for lunch, two 15-minute naps (I'd had about 9 hours of sleep for the two nights combined), and a half-hour wait at the border, but I wasn't in any rush.
And that, as they say, is that. I came home, unpacked, and just need to send off my requests for lyrics to new bardic pieces. I received two very nice compliments this weekend, one from Katrusha and one from Toki. Both were wonderful to hear. Also, I got to do a lot of chatting with Toki and Grim about bardic performances and ancillary topics, which was also wonderful.
For the record, I will probably be day-tripping to Ceilidhs, Combat, and Crossbows (June 21; local event) and camping at Northern Region War Camp (July 4th weekend; Glenn Linn).
So that's it. Today's big project is setting up my new computer. To that effect, I'm off to buy a FireWire cable. Cheers!
After the fastest, easiest border crossing I've ever experienced (thank you, border gods!), I arrived on-site with *just* enough time for some helpful Vestfell people to help me pitch my tent, change, and grab a lift with Toki over to the bardic competition. The competition was great -- well-attended (I think the final count was 15 competitors) and high-calibre. Yes, there were three "Heather Dale" entries, but there were also some wonderful original pieces. I found out afterwards that I didn't win, but I placed quite highly, which is good enough for me.
After the bardic competition, I hunted around for Alethea and retained for a little while (read: "went shopping with her") before taking a half-hour down-time break back at Vestfell. Then it was time for court, which was mercifully fast (only 11 items of business, I believe). After court, I bid a fond goodbye to Alethea and Liam and high-tailed it back to my camp to get all the stuff *in* my tent set up before the onset of darkness.
While back at camp, I made the acquaintance of Katrusha, and we quickly realized we were kindred souls. She, too, is a performer of bawdy bardic, and she's quite good at it. On the other hand, she's only been doing bardic (or, indeed, been part of the SCA) for about a year, so her biggest challenge right now is repertoire and recognition. I actually found myself in something of a mentorship role this weekend, which was both cool and unexpected.
I hadn't bought any food for dinner (or any other meal, for that matter), but Toki promised me I would be well-fed, and I was. After dinner, it was time to head over to the bardic circle. The circle itself was a bit delayed in the starting as we herded cats for an apprenticing ceremony (Toki took on Aifa -- and I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong -- as his second apprentice).
As soon as that was done, the circle started. Their Majesties were in attendance, and actually stayed about an hour and a half, which is practically unheard-of. The circle was wonderful, and I've got at least 5 new pieces I want to learn (and one story I already have). After an hour or two, Toki looked at me and said, "Katherine, you've never been down here, and I don't usually get to hear you perform. You should perform more." Well, twist my rubber arm, why don't you?
It pleased me, by the way, that in a circle running from about 10 to 2:30, in which I performed far more than my fair share, I *still* didn't run out of material. Yay for an ever-expanding repertoire of memorized pieces.
The circle ended, I crawled back into my very cold tent (it was about 7 degrees celsius, I swear!), and thus ended Saturday night.
Sunday dawned and I went off with Katrusha and her fiancee for breakfast. While waiting for my eggs to cook, I found out that His Founding Excellency of Concordia of the Snows was trying to perform the bits of Storybook Beowulf he could remember (I had performed it at the circle the previous night) for his family, who had not been at the circle. So I asked my companions to bring my breakfast over and performed the real thing for His Excellency. While I was there, I performed some more, and was rewarded by payment in bacon (mmm... bacon).
After a while, I went off to find my companions, who had installed themselves at a coffee house. Since I was on a bardic roll anyway, I performed for *them* too, and wound up getting some tea and cookies on the house. Yay!
The rest of the day was pretty chill. Katrusha and I did our "let's compare books!" meet-up, which resulted in at least a few new pieces on both our lists. (She wrote a wonderful song called "The Anti-Singalong Song" -- Fiana, ask me about this one.)
Also very cool: one of the innkeepers (ie: food merchants) had his tent blow away last year. (There were gale-force winds.) Apparently, four of the prominent bards in the areas happened to be walking along around then, caught the tent, un-pitched it, folded it up, and sat on it until the innkeeper arrived. As thanks, the innkeeper declared that any bard could sing for his supper at his inn for the entirety of the next year (ie: this past weekend). So I sang for my lunch, which was wonderful. Point of note to myself: don't try performing over the sounds of a loudly-frying wok. It's just not worth it.
Learned a new bawdy song ("Maggy is baking today") and, together with Katrusha, wrote a new verse for it featuring girl-on-girl action (people who are interested may comment or email me).
Went to court. Lancaster won, despite the preferences of His Excellency, and we found out that Katrusha won the bardic competition. (Much to her shock and amazement.) Moreover, Grim and Katrusha were both given tokens by Their Majesties for their performances at the circle Saturday night. (Again, much to Katrusha's shock and amazement.)
Did a bit of battlefield tear-down with Toki, and then it was time for dinner and Sunday night's circle.
Sunday's circle was far sillier and bawdier than Saturday's. It was lots of fun. Grim brought out Ludefisk and Yam (a parody of Green Eggs and Ham); Toki performed a story about Sven (a parody of Something from Nothing); and His Excellency Concordia of the Snows performed a few stories which he claimed were really just extended jokes. Not to be outdone, I brought out Storybook Beowulf again, along with some of my sillier / bawdier pieces, and had a great time. I went to bed to the sounds of Barrett's Privateers (to which no one seemed to know the call line "drink more beers!" -- alas).
Woke up Monday, helped do a bit more battlefield tear-down, and then it was time to go. I took my time returning. The mad rush down to the event site took about 4.5 hours; the trip back home took closer to 6.5. Admittedly, I stopped for lunch, two 15-minute naps (I'd had about 9 hours of sleep for the two nights combined), and a half-hour wait at the border, but I wasn't in any rush.
And that, as they say, is that. I came home, unpacked, and just need to send off my requests for lyrics to new bardic pieces. I received two very nice compliments this weekend, one from Katrusha and one from Toki. Both were wonderful to hear. Also, I got to do a lot of chatting with Toki and Grim about bardic performances and ancillary topics, which was also wonderful.
For the record, I will probably be day-tripping to Ceilidhs, Combat, and Crossbows (June 21; local event) and camping at Northern Region War Camp (July 4th weekend; Glenn Linn).
So that's it. Today's big project is setting up my new computer. To that effect, I'm off to buy a FireWire cable. Cheers!
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Date: 2008-05-27 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 03:36 pm (UTC)(I know it's in Sing for the East, but I've leant my copy to someone else. Either I'll have to find it online or get my copy back.)
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Date: 2008-05-28 09:17 pm (UTC)It's The Innkeeper :-D
Date: 2008-05-28 08:41 pm (UTC)Wonderful words you sang and spoke, and sarahbrydd is still talking about Beowulf!
BTW, the lady who taught you "Megan is Baking"; if it wasn't Catherine du Fay (who wrote it) I can direct you to Catherine :-D
Distinct pleasure meeting you and hearing you. At Pennsic I'll be camped at The Black Pearl Tavern (named looong before POTC, I promise you!) in B-08. Stop by if you wish!
Re: It's The Innkeeper :-D
Date: 2008-05-28 09:21 pm (UTC)I'll try to stop by to see you at Pennsic. (B-08, man? Isn't that on the other side of the battlefield?) Always good to have a few more Pennsic places to wander.
I'll be camped near the performing arts pavillion with McGuire's Marauders. (Don't remember the block number, but our camp is attached to Ansteorra Royal.)
Re: It's The Innkeeper :-D
Date: 2008-05-29 01:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, it's on the other side, but my protege has invited me for years to camp with him (before he was my protege) and after 21 years in the same camp at Pennsic I opted for a change!
I hope to do some wandering around myself and hope to run into you at Pennsic.