Subject: OKRF MMIV, Act II
I spent the week between the first and second weekends of the faire down in Oklahoma continuing my investigations of a possible new place to live (I've gotta leave the place I'm renting in Lawrence, Kansas, and I am thinking of leaving the town as well, cuz it's time for change in general), and on Monday I made it to the store in Tulsa that Bruce recommended and bought the Snap-Locks and a plain black guitar strap. That evening I installed the knobs for them on my harp at Bruce's house borrowing his electric drill (the connectors were inserted into the already existing holes at the ends of the strap). The result, after I put it on, was close, but not quite a cigar. A corner of the body of the harp was what rested against my torso, and I had to steady it at all times with one wrist to keep it from flopping over and getting the sound hole covered. I thought a bit, then finally came up with an addition to the rig to solve this problem.
At a Lowe's in Muskogee I bought a three foot length of flat steel bar, about a quarter inch thick and three quarters wide. I carry a hacksaw and a metal file with my auto tools, and later in a motel room I cut it down to 17 inches and rounded its ends. One end of the bar I planned to lay flat on the left side of the harp at the bottom with the other end extending beyond the rear corner. I bent it by the corner to a 160 degree angle. With the harp strapped on, the other end of the bar rests against my hip, holding the harp out so the sound hole remains uncovered. I wanted to see if it was basically going to work while actually performing before I drilled any holes, so both days I attached it with duct tape for the length of the maypole dances. It worked satisfactorily the times I put on enough tape, so when I got back to Lawrence Monday I drilled two holes in the bar and installed some threaded inserts in the harp for two knobs that can be quickly screwed in and removed with the fingers.
Saturday was partly cloudy, meaning more sun than clouds, with south winds that got the temperature into the 80s before noon and midway into them by evening, a Sedalia day, unseasonably hot. I was going to wear the velvet Guinevere dress, but I didn't have it all the way over my shoulders in the van before I said to myself, "This isn't going to work". I put on the lavender cotton chemise and just the bodice, no overskirt, and wore a floral crown instead of a hat.
There was now a porta-potty out in the parking lot, which I liked. (Inside the gate they are all flushies.) But it was a handicapped one, which I don't like as much as the regulars because I have to stare thru the toilet seat into the pile of excrement and paper when I take a leak. I went in there before opening and found that it hadn't been emptied since the weekend before. Shortly after opening I also noticed that the tables in the BAT didn't look like they had been cleaned since last Sunday either.
Just after going thru the gate I spied Queen's Gambit and asked Bruce about a place to park instruments when not in use, and he told me the alcove beside the stage area in the Black Boar Pub inside the castle. I then got my harp from the van and deposited it there. I fetched it out for the first time at 1:30 and played the maypole with Bruce and Beth. I regretted not having brought it out sooner at 12:15 right after parade, where the Bedlam Bards assembled a bunch of jamming musicians around them, including Michelle the fiddler who directed the maypole band at KCRF last year.
This day Karen's harp was in tune with mine, and we made duets for about a an hour in the Golden Harp. I put mine back in the pub and didn't use it any further that day, and took it out to the van as the faire closed.
At 3 I beheld the human chess match, which was very athletic, with much dodging of swishing sword blades, several kicks in groins, and such moves as a man's face being slammed into a woman's cleavage, causing her to be victorious as he swooned. Her Majesty was also a chess queen, but she had proxies to do all her fighting and didn't have to swing swords in her farthingales. Pub sing ended with Minstrosity responding to His Majesty's request for "something short" by singing, "There once was a ship called the mighty Mary Lee. And it sank."
Sunday was partly sunny, meaning more clouds than sun, and there were a few times I even thought it might sprinkle (but it didn't). The high only got as far as about 80, and the winds now made it comfortably cool. This day I wore the Guinevere. During morning pandemonium two of my Live Journal readers introduced themselves to me, Sedjet and Lady Tamber.
I brought in my harp right after the pregate show ended, and I was walking toward the castle and pub to park it, but first spied Karen Troeh playing away in the Golden Harp, so I joined her. Tamber and another friend of hers came by and sang with us. When her time at the Golden Harp was thru, we all moved over to a bookstore near the Meadow Stage and continued.
This time I was at the maypole as soon as parade was ending, and got to play with the Bedlam Bards and Bruce and Beth and a former OKRF maypole fiddler, but there weren't as many as there Saturday. I played the pole again with Bruce and Beth at 1:30, then went over and this time just listened to Karen and observed her hands, then took my harp out to the van.
I wanted to be sure to catch a complete set of Boru's Ghost before they would leave for two weeks, so I got to the Hidden Grove at 3:30. They put on a spirited and somewhat athletic set of rapidly flowing eighth notes and more lush vocal harmony. Then they quit for a twenty minute intermission. Audra Blankenship, the pennywhstle player, asked me if I had my harp with me. I told her it was out in the parking lot, and she said, "Well, that's a long way away", and I thought I had just blown an opportunity to jam.
But then Llewellyn showed up with his harp. I asked to play it and he let me, then he took put a recorder and we started making music together sitting on the audience benches. John McGaha, the fiddler, came over and picked up the little harp, and we went on for maybe an hour. We continued playing right into the time Boru's Ghost was supposed to be playing their last set on the stage, but we had an audience around us and Van Williams, the drummer, said, "We weren't about to try stopping you". John then took hold of Llewellyn's harp and showed us that he is also rather proficient on it.
That was followed by Pub Sing, which ended with about 15 women all acting out the words as they sang "and the stormy winds do blow" to the accompaniment of the Bilge Pumps, then all of us standing and holding hands and singing "Castleton Farewell", bringing a few tears to my eyes. (Does anyone reading this have the words and music to this?)
(There are two more acts to follow. I'm planning on doing the full run of this faire this year.)
-Butterfly Bill
"Greetings, milady...or is it milord?...or..um...."
"So did you lose the bet?"..."No, I won it, he bet me I wouldn't"
Ren Geek with pewter computer imputer
Solarus Juvenilius Pastritis of Sarcastica. He who Grouches
while Biting the Wax Tadpole.
"possunt vincere nothi solum si facetias tuas a te tollunt"
more faire reviews like this one are at
http://members.isp.com/farfallabill@isp.com/RbStories.htm#renfair
some of my computer music can be heard at
http://music.download.com/butterflybill
my Live Journal page is
http://www.livejournal.com/users/butterflybill/
(take out my appendix to reply by e-mail)