Subject: KCRF, Act VI
After the loud, percussive, and brassy movement of the previous weekend, Columbus Day weekend was for me a refreshing slow interlude featuring soft strings and woodwinds. Lots of interactions with people I had been with before, greetings turning into longer conversations, acquaintances perhaps promising friendships. Not as much dancing this time, only occasional stop and hops as I passed acts by. No epiphanic highs like in Act V, but a moderate but continuing parade of pleasure. Being able to spend the day with acoustic guitars, vocal harmony, bodhrans, and six eight time, and never once having to endure a drum set or a Fender. Oh, but I'm already in Fiddler's Green.
Saturday and Sunday both started out sunny, and the afternoon highs were in the low 70's, better Faire weather couldn't be had. A blast of rain blew thru Sunday night, and at 9:00 on Monday morning it was still raining sporadically with 50 degree winds that felt much colder. I thought the day was gonna be a torture, but by opening cannon at 10 the clouds were leaving and the day turned out to be as pleasant as the preceding two.
I made effort to get on the parking lot by 9 each morning, because all three days there was an unbroken line of cars coming in by quarter to 10. The grounds were teeming populous Saturday and Sunday, and the crowds stayed almost until closing. On Columbus Day Monday, there had to have been at least 50 school busses parked in a line outside the gate, and the place was inundated with pre-teenage kids. The atmosphere was rowdy in children's way, yelling, laughing, and sometimes screaming, like on the playground during recess. This continued until about 2 in the afternoon when most of them left, then what felt like a refreshing calm descended over the grounds.
I stayed in butterfly mode the whole time, flitting about and settling for a while on anything that caught my attention, staying until it ended or lost my interest. There were lots of choral groups from assorted high schools and colleges, singing the one kind of music at Faire that I am frustrated at not being able to buy CD's of (like I can from all the pro bands). I dropped in on shows that I had seen before, seeing them performing before now huge audiences, often with more energy. The festival company actors, and especially the musicians playing for the dancers, were more polished after 6 weeks of performing.
The Faire continued to be perhaps the most affirming environment for my crossdressing that I have ever been in. There were continuous remarks like "nice dress" and "beautiful outfit" I walked the grounds, most of them from people in mundanes. It was something to be stopped by teenage girls and be told as they ran their hands over my bodice, "You look so PRETTY in that", in complete seriousness, with not a trace of sarcasm. Just about any woman I made eye contact with gave me a smile, and sometimes kids in black goth punk attire would give me a thumbs up.
I started giving out automatically the answers I'd developed to most of the frequently asked questions I got:
"Why are you wearing a dress" (asked by a preteenage kid) - because it feels good and it's fun.
(asked by a teenager or older) - because in this place you can wear anything you damn well please, and I do.
"Milady, or is it milord? - whichever you want it to be
"(My God) You're wearing a DRESS!" - actually it's a bodice, skirt, and chemise.
"You look like you need a shave" - actually, this is the latest in face warmers, they're all the rage in the court of France.
"Are you the medieval (or the royal) crossdresser?" - all I had for that was "yes".
After all the frustrations of the preceding weekend trying to get a picture taken of me, I not only had Dan give me the picture he'd taken that came out, but Brother William brought his digital camera and got six shots of me to choose among. I took one and cropped another, and put them on my website to replace the Polaroid taken almost 3 years ago. (Now everyone can see what the commotion is about.)
One more act to go...
-Butterfly Bill
"Greetings, milady...or is it milord?...or..um...."
First Rogu'ench of Renntopia
homepage: http://www.grapevine.net/~butterflybill/BB.htm
music on mp3.com: http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/247/butterfly_bill.html