MD part Cinque...long and interesting
Sep. 24th, 2008 12:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ptpgradA long and detailed weekend. lots of things with standard caveats. Hope you enjoy and away we go...
PREPARATIONS
So, earlier in the week, Trinket cancels a rehearsal because she is ill. One trip to the doctor later and she is on antibiotics for a sinus infection. Oh joy. I inform her that I love her, but she needs to stay away from me until she is non-contagious. Friday brings a trip to site to pick up the sound system I forgot weeks ago and to drop off costumes, etc. needed for the weekend. More work in the evening after dinner with the Hoods, and a late night to sleep with me.
DON’T WANT TO, CAN’T MAKE ME
I am tired and hit the snooze alarm, which I never normally do, but I was just that tired. I still get organized and out the door in time picking up breakfast on the way. I get to site, stretch and am midway through a vocal warm up when my phone rings. Trinket is lost in Annapolis and with one or two simple directions, I get her on the right track and to site. I continue to get ready and get a call she is already at the White Hart. I finish make up and head over. She is still fighting her cold and not having fun with it, but she has a voice and we just make sure she will rest between shows. We set up sound and test what we have. Once done, Mirth and Trinket head to breakfast and I to the costume house, stopping to be Seeaytee on the way. She is very happy to see me it seems and recognizes my smell quickly.
IT’S CHILLY – STUNT STITCH
It’s only going to 74 today, which is great faire weather. I have worn layers for warming up as I want to keep my voice safe. Getting dressed, I am about to pull out and use my NCRF socks, when the queen notes that she forgot hers. I ask her if she wants socks. She notes that she won’t be able to pick them up from home…but do you WANT socks? Well I …DO YOU WANT SOCKS? Yes? Ok, here you go. I give her my pale yellow ones, as they will go better with her outfit. I realize I have already put my shoes on without them, and figure if I keep my throat warm, that’s enough. Stitch has asked me to step in as her stunt double to make sure people have their questions answered and that they get their cast call times. I stay till 9:25, give five minutes and head out to cast call. Before I go, I show Swami my new Ukulele that I got back in June when in Hawaii. It’s blue. I hang it up in the back. I pull out one white sock and wrap that around my throat while finishing getting dressed. Then off I go.
CAST CALL NOW
I get to the stage and the ED’s hair is looking particularly fabulous. Something about not having humidity helps. Jack Rackham is not around this weekend, we get announcements of changes to the pub sing and other notes of a general nature, I even give one, whoo hoo. We beep and I find the watch that sometimes works and set it and push the pin in hard hoping it will keep time. Off we go and I head to the front gate. I take that last morning pee and sit down. I sing a verse of a song I have been working on to Anna of Cleves once she is done with her part of the show. I hear the court come in, face up, fix the itches and am ready when the gate booms open. The horses are a bit persnickety this morning and the cannon goes off as one of the Jousters is trying to mount the steed. It’s a bit hairy as audience is coming in as the horses are still getting riders. We try to avoid this, but today it is not to be as smooth. Soon enough, they are on their way though.
STUPINA – A.D.D. GIRL
Today, we greet the crowd, which is full and pouring in pretty quickly. It’s not as full as I expected as the crowd dies down earlier than I anticipated, but it is healthy and people are still coming in. There is no theme this weekend, but the weather is perfect. Cool in the shade, warm in the sunlight. We just need the trees to turn colors and it will be perfect. Stupina finds friends in the crowd in strangers and dusts, hugs, and falls asleep on random people. This is always fun. I take a moment to sit with Bertilda and chat with patrons, I wander into the village a bit more and see the Hermit and a few others, but not far, until it’s time to go in.
BACKLOGGED
I am used to Juliet getting ready for R&J when I get there, but she is not to be seen. Turns out she is stuck behind some accident and not on site yet. Yeesh. This may be awkward for the show. I continue to get ready and soon she arrives. Trinket is also moving a bit slower today and is still getting ready while I am starting to get dressed. She is still ready to help me with some odds and ends. We get out to street a bit later, but it’s perfectly fine. I have reversed my back up bodice with it’s new trim. It looks pretty.
THE BENDING BODICE
We head to site and begin the first show. I am noticing that the bodice is starting to buckle under the weight of my upper physique, but this is slightly normal. I just keep an eye on it. The first show is Show 1 and, while we receive no errant zucchinis, Trinket’s family is in the audience and we make sure to use them for our first song. The show goes well and the audience is having fun, though it is definitely a lighter crowd than what we have been used to. We finish the show and I see the bodice is buckling more. I take it to Kitteblue for her to look and and come up with a plan. She adds a second busk underneath. We have a few thoughts and I head back to the street. Trinket is still feeling low, so she takes a break and rests while I hit the streets.
FAMIGLIA
I come up to an older woman and younger man sitting on a bench. It turns out that they are 81-year-old mom and youngest son celebrating her birthday at the faire. I sing happy birthday in Italian…and she is Italian, but was never taught the language. We talk about home, elections (she is disgusted with people who are bigoted an lie about why they will or won’t vote for someone), art, travel, espresso, and more. She asks what I do and I inform her I sing naughty songs at the pub down the hill. She and her son decide to come and see the show. Cecilia is in the house for that set. I am not sure if she appreciates the material, but they did stay. In the house were 5 men who were chatting in the house. We made them sit down for the show and they seemed to enjoy it. I used two of them in the opening song and was utterly amazed at how silky smooth their skin was. REALLY. Like baby soft, amazingly unnaturally soft. I could have easily pet that man for a little longer…but I behaved for the show’s sake.
WHOOPS, THERE IT IS
So the bodice is continuing to buckle…BADLY. By the end of the set, I realize the second busk has settled ON my ribcage between my breasts and the separation factor is making my chest push out at bad angles and is pushing the main bodice down more while sliding the second busk that is covering everything loose. By the end of the show, it is at risk of being obscene, since the chemise is see-through. I rush to get changed at the costume house into my old standby and take everything back to Kitteblue for emergency repairs. Nothing that I was able to do was able to make it work and we adjust our game plan and focus on making even greater changes to make this work. Yeesh, that could have been VERY awkward.
IS IT LUNCH YET?
I keep thinking of things I need to do or stuff I need to see and not getting to lunch. I run into Neidfyre and we talk about pub sing when Cat arrives and we re run what we were talking about. Everywhere I turn, there is another thing I had to do, yeesh. FINALLY, I start feeling the need for food more intensely than before and know I HAVE to get something to eat. There are lines for the first time and I turn away from some options, just because they will take a while. I go get my wooden bowl.
NEW LUNCH OPPORTUNITIES
I have been eyeing the barbequed ribs for the last few weeks and today is the day I will try them…yeah, I know I wear silk, but I CAN be careful if I have to. I get the ribs and chips and, while ordering I chat with a young man and father in line. They end up joining me at a table with a few other strangers. The slab of ribs is HUGE and barely fits on my bowl. I end up offering 1/3 to the man and son. Turns out he lives in a vegetarian household and rarely gets meat, so he is very appreciative. It makes me happy too as I just can’t finish the darned thing. I used the wet wipe and head back to the street.
MEETING STRANGERS
I decided to head toward the front and run into Mirth who kindly takes my bowl from me for safe keeping,..so safe I don’t know where it is now. I will have to ask him. I am approached by a lady who wishes to help me in an evile plan, and we plot for another time to prepare. I am also told by Mirth that Trinket is really starting to lose her voice. We are scheduled to sing during Pub Sing tonight. So, after watching the end of the 3 Sillies, we discuss what we can do and realize we can still do our original plan, slightly modified. I head out and grab Baby Stupina for a little bit of walkies and gate duty. My feet are really starting to bother me, so it doesn’t last long. I head back into the village and stop by Bertilda briefly with Baby Stupina, then take her back to rest.
FRIENDS AND ISSUES
I head back toward the White Hart and am informed by a pink, but invisible Lady Foxchase that a mutual friend has had an issue. I head down toward the boardwalk to find out what happened. He had some car trouble but already has the plan to fix things. I am glad to hear it. I head back up to check on how my Romance War Hit was received (yayee, it went well), and to the petting zoo to go over the dance steps and song list.
PREPPING FOR A CRACKER
At the petting zoo, we meet Flo and her daughters, one, we discover, had been renaming our poor Trinket after a cracker. We laugh. Trinket’s voice is getting a bit weaker, but she is doing ok, so the fiddlers, Rose and I run through the table dance section and the rest run through the Master Leary song. It’s time and we head in.
THE EVILE PLAN
Trinket finds out that this is Cercamon’s last night. She has been preparing for this event the entire time. She has a bag full of bloomers, which she sneakily hands out. Health to the Company is in a boy key (either too high or too low for me) and I struggle through the melody, but it’s better than it has been in weeks. Trinket had to sit out (this is not why it was better). Then after a song or two, Cercamon arrives. About 2/3 through the song, she runs up and throws her pink bloomers (as she did last year). A moment latter, I pull bright yellow undies out of my bodice and throw them up….next, a line of women come up throwing bloomers, undies and bum rolls up at the boys. Lastly, Robin Hood himself adds a pair of ladies panties to the mix. The crowd goes wild and the boys are amused. Evile plan completed.
THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO PUB SING
So after weeks of discussion and some practice, the fiddlers (Neidfyre and Cat) play. They start to play faster and faster. Suddenly, Neidfyre breaks into the Devil Went Down to Georgia, and Rose and I note, “Hey, we know this one” and jump up onto the tables. Anyone seen the Coyote Ugly bar dance…yeah, we did that. Well, Rose did, I did a sort of facsimile of it and smiled a lot. Amazing what a confident face gives you. The audience cheered. We agreed that was a keeper.
OLD MAID IN THE PUB SING
To simplfy things, Trinket is just only going to sing her comedy lines for Old Maid in the Garrett. This time, people know what is coming, but non-regulars are laughing pretty well as I get more and more insulted. We end up with me chasing her off stage again to much amusement. As I am standing in the crowd, I feel something drop over my shoulders. The Whats-it found it’s home, and it is perfect now. Warms what it needs to and keeps the other stuff visible…just like it should. It was perfect as the lights went low and things started getting a bit chilly. We ended on a sad song and separated cannon and bells. It’s getting dark enough now that we need the lights on the stage by the end. As we finish, we do our quick clean up and head back to the costume house.
BIRTHDAY DINNER MOVEMENT
We get changed and head out to celebrate Rose’s birthday. We plan for Chili’s, but that is not happening, so we head over to house of Hunan. My first time this year. I love the hot towels and dirty fortune cookies with sorbet. The Peking duck is very filling. The company is a group I haven’t eaten with so far this year and it is very enjoyable. We end dinner after my bedtime and I rush home to sleep. Morning comes TOO early and I hit the snooze alarm for the first time. Bleah.
RUROH REORGE
I get to site and begin to stretch. I really need it today. As I am putting on make up, I get a call from Trinket…at least I think it’s her, because that’s the number on the phone. What I hear is a barely whispered “I’ll be at the White Hart.” That is NOT a good sound as it is barely any sound at all. I finish my make up and head over. As expected, Trinket has no voice left. She can’t hold a note, she can barely make a noise. Her friend stops by with some of her meds that she left at home and we look at what songs we can change into a new set. Trinket is very upset but I assure her we will make things work out. I admit, I was REALLY nervous.
BUELLER?
At the costume house, I am initially reticent to talk about it but finally start telling people that Trinket is pretty much silent and we may need some help. I am checking schedules and not many are free, but those that are offer the time to step in for a song here or there. I head to cast call and ask a few others. I am starting to get enough to fill a set. I let the ED know and she says she is fine if we run short, as the stage has been running off recently. This is also a relief. We talk, are reminded its payday, get notes, and head off with a BEEP. Again, I start asking about more.
BOOM, FAIRY GODMOTHER IN TRAINING
Gate show goes smoothly and the horses are remounted really quickly and smoothly, so the jousters are on their way even before the gates open. MUCH better. We greet the crowd and give a tour, but the lines disappear much more quickly than we expected. I do however see one face from my long ago past who makes me squee with glee as I thought he had disappeared. He is just a happy to see me and I give him my schedule for the day. In he goes. With no crowd around the gate, I wander inwards. I see that Bertilda isn’t up yet, so I take her seat and begin to call out that I am a Fairy Godmother-in-Training. The only spell I know is “you will have fun today, poof!” It seems to be enough. Finally, Bertilda gets to the chair and we switch over for her. She is feeling deeply this day and I can see she is doing everything she can to keep the smile on her face, but that’s only because I know her well. I leave her soon after to get ready for…whatever the shows are to be.
HELP?
Backstage, I continue to find people who can step in. I also realize I still have my Ukulele here from the other day. I ask Swami if he has a tuner, as I know he also plays Uke and he does, on his IPhone. I borrow it to tune my instrument and get ready. Trinket has even less voice now. Once changed, we head out. We have agreed there is no point to having body mics if we keep changing people, so we will just go with stage mics. At the stage, we are prepping what we can and see the queen nearby. We beg her assistance and she agrees to step in for a song. I teach her the melody and we run it a few times till she is comfortable.
THE SHOW THAT WAS, #1
In the house, I see the face of the grand Bliss Goodbody in the house. I am excited to see her and sad she won’t see any of the new material, since we can’t do it. We start the show and I begin as if we are normal. Trinket pulls on my sleeve. She shows that she has no voice and I say she must be lying and being to call her by her “cracker” name and say other things to upset her and make her speak. Then, when it’s clear she can’t, I ask her what we are going to do. She drags up the queen. The queen joins me for a lovely rendition of Thing Be, to which she asks what the thing is. We send her back to the king for lessons. Trinket removes the pink fluff of feathers she has placed on the Queen’s French hood.
WHO’S NEXT
I ask her what else we can do and she pulls up Rose Jones who joins me in a rendition of Roll me Over in the Clover…when I finally get the song right. She heads off and Trinket painfully explains, with what is left of her voice, that the Sword in the Stone guy is going to dance his adult song interpretively. Neidfyre obliges with music as he gyrates and uses his accoutrement with mildly obscene insinuations. Trinket and I stop him in a panic and send him on his way. With more time to kill, I pull out the Ukulele. I had learned a song while in Hawaii in June and hadn’t played it in a while, but had spent the last week working on a version with new lyrics in hopes to sing it closing weekend. Funny, this didn’t look like closing weekend. I hope I can play it right and offer many caveats before I start, but the audience seems charmed. Especially as we discover that I can’t play it across my chest, since I can’t see the strings, and have to lay it ON my chest. This gets a laugh. Finally, we pitch our CDs as “so you want to hear what we normally sound like? Want to know what Trinket’s voice is like?” and we do sells some. Finally, Neidfyre joins me for a melody only version of Parting Glass. One down, WHEW!
DUCK!
Bliss and I chat for a good while as well as my friend has arrived at the show (and ironically sat right next to Bliss). It was amazing catching up. People think that I placed the uke on my chest as a joke and are more amused that I really did need to play it that way. I am offered duck from a friend who has made amazing wraps. MMMmmMMMmM. It IS tasty. I don’t remember much more of the break between shows other than my feet hurt, I was panicked that we had everyone we needed and everything was slightly off kilter. About 15 minutes before showtime, the people who were available to help for this show arrive. Trinket has been writing out lyrics for everyone and I have been running melody lines with those singing with me. I tell Trinket of my plan for the second show theme, and she is greatly amused.
AUDITIONS!
So at the start of the second show, I announce that I am now going to hold auditions to replace Trinket in the show. I first bring up Noelle, the rose seller. She and I sing Thing Be and she is very funny and sings well. As I turn to the audience to say she is a great replacement, Trinket starts shoving her off the stage, followed closely by her roses. Next I bring up Bonny Jean the Pirate Queen, After sharing info on her spank plank, we sing Pump Away with Trinket bringing the men to the center of the stage front. The audience is having fun, Jean does great and I say we can hire her. As I turn my back, Trinket shoves her off the stage as well. I tell Trinket, if she isn’t happy with my choices, then she has to show me who she would replace herself with. She brings up Dinty the Moor.
WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT
He plays blonde well and sings King of the Cannibal Islands. The audience joins in and I try as well as I don’t know this one well. I am told afterwards of the PERFECT joke that neither Dinty nor I thought of. DAMN! If it ever happens again… We decide he isn’t female enough and instead we bring up Mary Lacelles Hall, the most puritanical woman in the village. She joins me in Nine Inch Will Please a Lady. As she sings, some of the lyrics begin to dawn on her, especially as Trinket and I are using gestural language to clarify images. As we finish, she is running off the stage before I can pronounce judgment. There was one other performer who had offered to come by, but he is across site and can’t make it. Pity, as the Hermit would have been hysterical.
THE INTERPRETERS FILL THE TIME
I tell Trinket if she doesn’t want to be replaced, she has to fill the time with her Interpretive Dance. Neidfyre again joins us and Trinket flails around appropriately. I stop her after I get a panicked look from her as she turns upstage. I come down and decide to again sing my Ukulele song, which goes better this time, but still needs work to be sure. We bring Neidfyre up to sing Parting Glass when I note that her “glass” is a bowl. I take the bowl and, in an Italian accent, sing Stupina’s Bowls Song. I am informed that Dinty ran out of the pub the second he saw it coming. This pleased many regulars, though others didn’t get the intensity of the humor. Finally, we sang Parting Glass again.
**I have to take this moment to say THANK YOU to all of those who stepped in and helped out and those who offered who we, thankfully, didn’t end up needing. It always amazes me how wonderful this family of performers and vendors is. They are ready in a heartbeat to help their fellow family members in need. I am so very grateful to each and everyone one of them for giving of their time and skill to help us out. This reminds me of why I love this place so much.
I’M LATE
I promised a friend I would meet her at 2:30 to complete our evile deed and after packing up and signing CDS and chatting with patrons, I rush to greet my appointment, who is not there as I am early. Ok, I run off for a steak on a stake and sit with some patrons. This always seems to be a better place to patron lunch. I chat with this group of couples and eventually the conversation turns to hand kissing. One of them says he is brave enough to learn, I said it will stop a big crowd, He was fine with it. Ok, I bring him to the street and begin to give him one of my lessons. There is a HUGE crowd circled around watching. He does rather well when I bring his wife up and the crowd cheers. This was fun. Once that is done, I hand him back to his wife and I head to my appt.
SILKY
I head to the silk scarf place for the umpteenth time this season and we find the perfect piece, we hope. We part ways and I head to get Baby Stupina. We head to the gate and greet people. My feet are KILLING me, but it is much better to stand when doing this. After only 20 minutes, I have to give up. However, before I go, Richard Southwell notes he is rather pleased to see Subpeona (not Stupina) and tells everyone they must follow her. There is amusement. I wander her back and briefly sit in the FG chair with her until FG returns. I greet Bertilda who is holding up ok.
BABY STUPINA LOVE
I find a girl in Barbie pink and ask her if she is Trinket’s voice. I explain my partner wears that color lost her voice and perhaps she is it. She is not, however, she is entranced by Baby Stupina. She shakes her hand and takes her face and kisses her. Stupina responds by hugging the little girl and the girl holds her back. This is the first time this season that a child has done this. It does my heart good to see the emotion. This makes me happy. I take Baby Stupina back and let her rest. Backstage, I see Trinket who should have left site eons ago. She had some last minute things to take care of and is leaving site now. I wish her well, there is a small vestige of voice in her and she goes home to rest.
WANDERING THE STREETS
I hit the streets and check again on how my hits is going, and find out things are going swimmngly, I am also approached by a woman with lovely earrings for me and a rose, with more poetry in Italian. I can translate some of it. I see a couple and ask the lady if the gentleman has treated you well. I ask him if he has kissed her hand and he starts to hem and haw. I convince him I can teach him the right ways, but he won’t have any of it . His parents try to convince him, but he just won’t. I can’t say I didn’t try. At the end, I kissed the girls hand and told her if he doesn’t do it that well, then he doesn’t deserve her. So there. I will make the world experience romance if it’s the last thing I do, gosh darn it.
WILL YOU WON’T YOU
I stop by the petting zoo to see when I am singing to find that I am not. Given Trinket’s health, we have been replaced. I had already pulled my uke, but ah well. I put it back safely. It’s almost time and I start to the stage. We start with Health, FINALLY in my key and FINALLY in a part I can sing clearly. For once, I feel ok with what I sang. YAYEE. Wolgemut comes in and plays to an enthusiastic crowd. The fiddlers kick in and we dance on the tables again to enthusiasm. I am dancing with the audience for Drunken Sailor when I am stopped by the SM for the show asking if I have my uke still as they had an issue and need me to jump in a song later. I say yes and run and get it, flirting with Julienne Romero on the way, cause that’s what friends are for.
REVEL GROVE, OH, I AM COMING BACK AGAIN
I come up to share my little song. I am informed there are hula dancers in the background. Given that I hadn’t expected to be playing this song at all this weekend, and after rehearsing all week, I was happy with how smoothly it went. The biggest joke is still the placement of the Uke, but the regulars cheer when I sing about them. All in all, it went over well. This makes me happy. When I leave, I see my friend again and he gives me a rose. I do adore my friends. The rest of pub sing is a bunch of new music and one very well hidden racial joke…yeah, if you didn’t hear it, that’s fine. It was a concern before it happened, but it got the blessing of the powers that be, so we were ok. Finally, we finish the last song, call to the cannon and the lights go out. Another weekend ends.
ARRIBA
I head back with my 3 roses (romance war, old friend, and one of two). They are lovely. I rush back to the costume house, get my paycheck (and a compliment, yayee) and change as fast as I can, as I am always one of the last in there. As I come out, my dinner companions are leaving and I verify where we are meeting. I head out to the sounds of Elvis and Moulin Rouge (as Stitch was in a musical mood). Dinner is a social and pleasant affair with old and new cast members and unusual conversation. I went against the grain and got fried ice cream instead of flan, but might try it another time. I come home and almost have to work, but don’t. I am BEAT and crawl into bed.
This weekend is Pyrate Adventure Weekend. Fletcher runs the pub sing and who knows what craziness may ensue. See you all in the grove!
PREPARATIONS
So, earlier in the week, Trinket cancels a rehearsal because she is ill. One trip to the doctor later and she is on antibiotics for a sinus infection. Oh joy. I inform her that I love her, but she needs to stay away from me until she is non-contagious. Friday brings a trip to site to pick up the sound system I forgot weeks ago and to drop off costumes, etc. needed for the weekend. More work in the evening after dinner with the Hoods, and a late night to sleep with me.
DON’T WANT TO, CAN’T MAKE ME
I am tired and hit the snooze alarm, which I never normally do, but I was just that tired. I still get organized and out the door in time picking up breakfast on the way. I get to site, stretch and am midway through a vocal warm up when my phone rings. Trinket is lost in Annapolis and with one or two simple directions, I get her on the right track and to site. I continue to get ready and get a call she is already at the White Hart. I finish make up and head over. She is still fighting her cold and not having fun with it, but she has a voice and we just make sure she will rest between shows. We set up sound and test what we have. Once done, Mirth and Trinket head to breakfast and I to the costume house, stopping to be Seeaytee on the way. She is very happy to see me it seems and recognizes my smell quickly.
IT’S CHILLY – STUNT STITCH
It’s only going to 74 today, which is great faire weather. I have worn layers for warming up as I want to keep my voice safe. Getting dressed, I am about to pull out and use my NCRF socks, when the queen notes that she forgot hers. I ask her if she wants socks. She notes that she won’t be able to pick them up from home…but do you WANT socks? Well I …DO YOU WANT SOCKS? Yes? Ok, here you go. I give her my pale yellow ones, as they will go better with her outfit. I realize I have already put my shoes on without them, and figure if I keep my throat warm, that’s enough. Stitch has asked me to step in as her stunt double to make sure people have their questions answered and that they get their cast call times. I stay till 9:25, give five minutes and head out to cast call. Before I go, I show Swami my new Ukulele that I got back in June when in Hawaii. It’s blue. I hang it up in the back. I pull out one white sock and wrap that around my throat while finishing getting dressed. Then off I go.
CAST CALL NOW
I get to the stage and the ED’s hair is looking particularly fabulous. Something about not having humidity helps. Jack Rackham is not around this weekend, we get announcements of changes to the pub sing and other notes of a general nature, I even give one, whoo hoo. We beep and I find the watch that sometimes works and set it and push the pin in hard hoping it will keep time. Off we go and I head to the front gate. I take that last morning pee and sit down. I sing a verse of a song I have been working on to Anna of Cleves once she is done with her part of the show. I hear the court come in, face up, fix the itches and am ready when the gate booms open. The horses are a bit persnickety this morning and the cannon goes off as one of the Jousters is trying to mount the steed. It’s a bit hairy as audience is coming in as the horses are still getting riders. We try to avoid this, but today it is not to be as smooth. Soon enough, they are on their way though.
STUPINA – A.D.D. GIRL
Today, we greet the crowd, which is full and pouring in pretty quickly. It’s not as full as I expected as the crowd dies down earlier than I anticipated, but it is healthy and people are still coming in. There is no theme this weekend, but the weather is perfect. Cool in the shade, warm in the sunlight. We just need the trees to turn colors and it will be perfect. Stupina finds friends in the crowd in strangers and dusts, hugs, and falls asleep on random people. This is always fun. I take a moment to sit with Bertilda and chat with patrons, I wander into the village a bit more and see the Hermit and a few others, but not far, until it’s time to go in.
BACKLOGGED
I am used to Juliet getting ready for R&J when I get there, but she is not to be seen. Turns out she is stuck behind some accident and not on site yet. Yeesh. This may be awkward for the show. I continue to get ready and soon she arrives. Trinket is also moving a bit slower today and is still getting ready while I am starting to get dressed. She is still ready to help me with some odds and ends. We get out to street a bit later, but it’s perfectly fine. I have reversed my back up bodice with it’s new trim. It looks pretty.
THE BENDING BODICE
We head to site and begin the first show. I am noticing that the bodice is starting to buckle under the weight of my upper physique, but this is slightly normal. I just keep an eye on it. The first show is Show 1 and, while we receive no errant zucchinis, Trinket’s family is in the audience and we make sure to use them for our first song. The show goes well and the audience is having fun, though it is definitely a lighter crowd than what we have been used to. We finish the show and I see the bodice is buckling more. I take it to Kitteblue for her to look and and come up with a plan. She adds a second busk underneath. We have a few thoughts and I head back to the street. Trinket is still feeling low, so she takes a break and rests while I hit the streets.
FAMIGLIA
I come up to an older woman and younger man sitting on a bench. It turns out that they are 81-year-old mom and youngest son celebrating her birthday at the faire. I sing happy birthday in Italian…and she is Italian, but was never taught the language. We talk about home, elections (she is disgusted with people who are bigoted an lie about why they will or won’t vote for someone), art, travel, espresso, and more. She asks what I do and I inform her I sing naughty songs at the pub down the hill. She and her son decide to come and see the show. Cecilia is in the house for that set. I am not sure if she appreciates the material, but they did stay. In the house were 5 men who were chatting in the house. We made them sit down for the show and they seemed to enjoy it. I used two of them in the opening song and was utterly amazed at how silky smooth their skin was. REALLY. Like baby soft, amazingly unnaturally soft. I could have easily pet that man for a little longer…but I behaved for the show’s sake.
WHOOPS, THERE IT IS
So the bodice is continuing to buckle…BADLY. By the end of the set, I realize the second busk has settled ON my ribcage between my breasts and the separation factor is making my chest push out at bad angles and is pushing the main bodice down more while sliding the second busk that is covering everything loose. By the end of the show, it is at risk of being obscene, since the chemise is see-through. I rush to get changed at the costume house into my old standby and take everything back to Kitteblue for emergency repairs. Nothing that I was able to do was able to make it work and we adjust our game plan and focus on making even greater changes to make this work. Yeesh, that could have been VERY awkward.
IS IT LUNCH YET?
I keep thinking of things I need to do or stuff I need to see and not getting to lunch. I run into Neidfyre and we talk about pub sing when Cat arrives and we re run what we were talking about. Everywhere I turn, there is another thing I had to do, yeesh. FINALLY, I start feeling the need for food more intensely than before and know I HAVE to get something to eat. There are lines for the first time and I turn away from some options, just because they will take a while. I go get my wooden bowl.
NEW LUNCH OPPORTUNITIES
I have been eyeing the barbequed ribs for the last few weeks and today is the day I will try them…yeah, I know I wear silk, but I CAN be careful if I have to. I get the ribs and chips and, while ordering I chat with a young man and father in line. They end up joining me at a table with a few other strangers. The slab of ribs is HUGE and barely fits on my bowl. I end up offering 1/3 to the man and son. Turns out he lives in a vegetarian household and rarely gets meat, so he is very appreciative. It makes me happy too as I just can’t finish the darned thing. I used the wet wipe and head back to the street.
MEETING STRANGERS
I decided to head toward the front and run into Mirth who kindly takes my bowl from me for safe keeping,..so safe I don’t know where it is now. I will have to ask him. I am approached by a lady who wishes to help me in an evile plan, and we plot for another time to prepare. I am also told by Mirth that Trinket is really starting to lose her voice. We are scheduled to sing during Pub Sing tonight. So, after watching the end of the 3 Sillies, we discuss what we can do and realize we can still do our original plan, slightly modified. I head out and grab Baby Stupina for a little bit of walkies and gate duty. My feet are really starting to bother me, so it doesn’t last long. I head back into the village and stop by Bertilda briefly with Baby Stupina, then take her back to rest.
FRIENDS AND ISSUES
I head back toward the White Hart and am informed by a pink, but invisible Lady Foxchase that a mutual friend has had an issue. I head down toward the boardwalk to find out what happened. He had some car trouble but already has the plan to fix things. I am glad to hear it. I head back up to check on how my Romance War Hit was received (yayee, it went well), and to the petting zoo to go over the dance steps and song list.
PREPPING FOR A CRACKER
At the petting zoo, we meet Flo and her daughters, one, we discover, had been renaming our poor Trinket after a cracker. We laugh. Trinket’s voice is getting a bit weaker, but she is doing ok, so the fiddlers, Rose and I run through the table dance section and the rest run through the Master Leary song. It’s time and we head in.
THE EVILE PLAN
Trinket finds out that this is Cercamon’s last night. She has been preparing for this event the entire time. She has a bag full of bloomers, which she sneakily hands out. Health to the Company is in a boy key (either too high or too low for me) and I struggle through the melody, but it’s better than it has been in weeks. Trinket had to sit out (this is not why it was better). Then after a song or two, Cercamon arrives. About 2/3 through the song, she runs up and throws her pink bloomers (as she did last year). A moment latter, I pull bright yellow undies out of my bodice and throw them up….next, a line of women come up throwing bloomers, undies and bum rolls up at the boys. Lastly, Robin Hood himself adds a pair of ladies panties to the mix. The crowd goes wild and the boys are amused. Evile plan completed.
THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO PUB SING
So after weeks of discussion and some practice, the fiddlers (Neidfyre and Cat) play. They start to play faster and faster. Suddenly, Neidfyre breaks into the Devil Went Down to Georgia, and Rose and I note, “Hey, we know this one” and jump up onto the tables. Anyone seen the Coyote Ugly bar dance…yeah, we did that. Well, Rose did, I did a sort of facsimile of it and smiled a lot. Amazing what a confident face gives you. The audience cheered. We agreed that was a keeper.
OLD MAID IN THE PUB SING
To simplfy things, Trinket is just only going to sing her comedy lines for Old Maid in the Garrett. This time, people know what is coming, but non-regulars are laughing pretty well as I get more and more insulted. We end up with me chasing her off stage again to much amusement. As I am standing in the crowd, I feel something drop over my shoulders. The Whats-it found it’s home, and it is perfect now. Warms what it needs to and keeps the other stuff visible…just like it should. It was perfect as the lights went low and things started getting a bit chilly. We ended on a sad song and separated cannon and bells. It’s getting dark enough now that we need the lights on the stage by the end. As we finish, we do our quick clean up and head back to the costume house.
BIRTHDAY DINNER MOVEMENT
We get changed and head out to celebrate Rose’s birthday. We plan for Chili’s, but that is not happening, so we head over to house of Hunan. My first time this year. I love the hot towels and dirty fortune cookies with sorbet. The Peking duck is very filling. The company is a group I haven’t eaten with so far this year and it is very enjoyable. We end dinner after my bedtime and I rush home to sleep. Morning comes TOO early and I hit the snooze alarm for the first time. Bleah.
RUROH REORGE
I get to site and begin to stretch. I really need it today. As I am putting on make up, I get a call from Trinket…at least I think it’s her, because that’s the number on the phone. What I hear is a barely whispered “I’ll be at the White Hart.” That is NOT a good sound as it is barely any sound at all. I finish my make up and head over. As expected, Trinket has no voice left. She can’t hold a note, she can barely make a noise. Her friend stops by with some of her meds that she left at home and we look at what songs we can change into a new set. Trinket is very upset but I assure her we will make things work out. I admit, I was REALLY nervous.
BUELLER?
At the costume house, I am initially reticent to talk about it but finally start telling people that Trinket is pretty much silent and we may need some help. I am checking schedules and not many are free, but those that are offer the time to step in for a song here or there. I head to cast call and ask a few others. I am starting to get enough to fill a set. I let the ED know and she says she is fine if we run short, as the stage has been running off recently. This is also a relief. We talk, are reminded its payday, get notes, and head off with a BEEP. Again, I start asking about more.
BOOM, FAIRY GODMOTHER IN TRAINING
Gate show goes smoothly and the horses are remounted really quickly and smoothly, so the jousters are on their way even before the gates open. MUCH better. We greet the crowd and give a tour, but the lines disappear much more quickly than we expected. I do however see one face from my long ago past who makes me squee with glee as I thought he had disappeared. He is just a happy to see me and I give him my schedule for the day. In he goes. With no crowd around the gate, I wander inwards. I see that Bertilda isn’t up yet, so I take her seat and begin to call out that I am a Fairy Godmother-in-Training. The only spell I know is “you will have fun today, poof!” It seems to be enough. Finally, Bertilda gets to the chair and we switch over for her. She is feeling deeply this day and I can see she is doing everything she can to keep the smile on her face, but that’s only because I know her well. I leave her soon after to get ready for…whatever the shows are to be.
HELP?
Backstage, I continue to find people who can step in. I also realize I still have my Ukulele here from the other day. I ask Swami if he has a tuner, as I know he also plays Uke and he does, on his IPhone. I borrow it to tune my instrument and get ready. Trinket has even less voice now. Once changed, we head out. We have agreed there is no point to having body mics if we keep changing people, so we will just go with stage mics. At the stage, we are prepping what we can and see the queen nearby. We beg her assistance and she agrees to step in for a song. I teach her the melody and we run it a few times till she is comfortable.
THE SHOW THAT WAS, #1
In the house, I see the face of the grand Bliss Goodbody in the house. I am excited to see her and sad she won’t see any of the new material, since we can’t do it. We start the show and I begin as if we are normal. Trinket pulls on my sleeve. She shows that she has no voice and I say she must be lying and being to call her by her “cracker” name and say other things to upset her and make her speak. Then, when it’s clear she can’t, I ask her what we are going to do. She drags up the queen. The queen joins me for a lovely rendition of Thing Be, to which she asks what the thing is. We send her back to the king for lessons. Trinket removes the pink fluff of feathers she has placed on the Queen’s French hood.
WHO’S NEXT
I ask her what else we can do and she pulls up Rose Jones who joins me in a rendition of Roll me Over in the Clover…when I finally get the song right. She heads off and Trinket painfully explains, with what is left of her voice, that the Sword in the Stone guy is going to dance his adult song interpretively. Neidfyre obliges with music as he gyrates and uses his accoutrement with mildly obscene insinuations. Trinket and I stop him in a panic and send him on his way. With more time to kill, I pull out the Ukulele. I had learned a song while in Hawaii in June and hadn’t played it in a while, but had spent the last week working on a version with new lyrics in hopes to sing it closing weekend. Funny, this didn’t look like closing weekend. I hope I can play it right and offer many caveats before I start, but the audience seems charmed. Especially as we discover that I can’t play it across my chest, since I can’t see the strings, and have to lay it ON my chest. This gets a laugh. Finally, we pitch our CDs as “so you want to hear what we normally sound like? Want to know what Trinket’s voice is like?” and we do sells some. Finally, Neidfyre joins me for a melody only version of Parting Glass. One down, WHEW!
DUCK!
Bliss and I chat for a good while as well as my friend has arrived at the show (and ironically sat right next to Bliss). It was amazing catching up. People think that I placed the uke on my chest as a joke and are more amused that I really did need to play it that way. I am offered duck from a friend who has made amazing wraps. MMMmmMMMmM. It IS tasty. I don’t remember much more of the break between shows other than my feet hurt, I was panicked that we had everyone we needed and everything was slightly off kilter. About 15 minutes before showtime, the people who were available to help for this show arrive. Trinket has been writing out lyrics for everyone and I have been running melody lines with those singing with me. I tell Trinket of my plan for the second show theme, and she is greatly amused.
AUDITIONS!
So at the start of the second show, I announce that I am now going to hold auditions to replace Trinket in the show. I first bring up Noelle, the rose seller. She and I sing Thing Be and she is very funny and sings well. As I turn to the audience to say she is a great replacement, Trinket starts shoving her off the stage, followed closely by her roses. Next I bring up Bonny Jean the Pirate Queen, After sharing info on her spank plank, we sing Pump Away with Trinket bringing the men to the center of the stage front. The audience is having fun, Jean does great and I say we can hire her. As I turn my back, Trinket shoves her off the stage as well. I tell Trinket, if she isn’t happy with my choices, then she has to show me who she would replace herself with. She brings up Dinty the Moor.
WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT
He plays blonde well and sings King of the Cannibal Islands. The audience joins in and I try as well as I don’t know this one well. I am told afterwards of the PERFECT joke that neither Dinty nor I thought of. DAMN! If it ever happens again… We decide he isn’t female enough and instead we bring up Mary Lacelles Hall, the most puritanical woman in the village. She joins me in Nine Inch Will Please a Lady. As she sings, some of the lyrics begin to dawn on her, especially as Trinket and I are using gestural language to clarify images. As we finish, she is running off the stage before I can pronounce judgment. There was one other performer who had offered to come by, but he is across site and can’t make it. Pity, as the Hermit would have been hysterical.
THE INTERPRETERS FILL THE TIME
I tell Trinket if she doesn’t want to be replaced, she has to fill the time with her Interpretive Dance. Neidfyre again joins us and Trinket flails around appropriately. I stop her after I get a panicked look from her as she turns upstage. I come down and decide to again sing my Ukulele song, which goes better this time, but still needs work to be sure. We bring Neidfyre up to sing Parting Glass when I note that her “glass” is a bowl. I take the bowl and, in an Italian accent, sing Stupina’s Bowls Song. I am informed that Dinty ran out of the pub the second he saw it coming. This pleased many regulars, though others didn’t get the intensity of the humor. Finally, we sang Parting Glass again.
**I have to take this moment to say THANK YOU to all of those who stepped in and helped out and those who offered who we, thankfully, didn’t end up needing. It always amazes me how wonderful this family of performers and vendors is. They are ready in a heartbeat to help their fellow family members in need. I am so very grateful to each and everyone one of them for giving of their time and skill to help us out. This reminds me of why I love this place so much.
I’M LATE
I promised a friend I would meet her at 2:30 to complete our evile deed and after packing up and signing CDS and chatting with patrons, I rush to greet my appointment, who is not there as I am early. Ok, I run off for a steak on a stake and sit with some patrons. This always seems to be a better place to patron lunch. I chat with this group of couples and eventually the conversation turns to hand kissing. One of them says he is brave enough to learn, I said it will stop a big crowd, He was fine with it. Ok, I bring him to the street and begin to give him one of my lessons. There is a HUGE crowd circled around watching. He does rather well when I bring his wife up and the crowd cheers. This was fun. Once that is done, I hand him back to his wife and I head to my appt.
SILKY
I head to the silk scarf place for the umpteenth time this season and we find the perfect piece, we hope. We part ways and I head to get Baby Stupina. We head to the gate and greet people. My feet are KILLING me, but it is much better to stand when doing this. After only 20 minutes, I have to give up. However, before I go, Richard Southwell notes he is rather pleased to see Subpeona (not Stupina) and tells everyone they must follow her. There is amusement. I wander her back and briefly sit in the FG chair with her until FG returns. I greet Bertilda who is holding up ok.
BABY STUPINA LOVE
I find a girl in Barbie pink and ask her if she is Trinket’s voice. I explain my partner wears that color lost her voice and perhaps she is it. She is not, however, she is entranced by Baby Stupina. She shakes her hand and takes her face and kisses her. Stupina responds by hugging the little girl and the girl holds her back. This is the first time this season that a child has done this. It does my heart good to see the emotion. This makes me happy. I take Baby Stupina back and let her rest. Backstage, I see Trinket who should have left site eons ago. She had some last minute things to take care of and is leaving site now. I wish her well, there is a small vestige of voice in her and she goes home to rest.
WANDERING THE STREETS
I hit the streets and check again on how my hits is going, and find out things are going swimmngly, I am also approached by a woman with lovely earrings for me and a rose, with more poetry in Italian. I can translate some of it. I see a couple and ask the lady if the gentleman has treated you well. I ask him if he has kissed her hand and he starts to hem and haw. I convince him I can teach him the right ways, but he won’t have any of it . His parents try to convince him, but he just won’t. I can’t say I didn’t try. At the end, I kissed the girls hand and told her if he doesn’t do it that well, then he doesn’t deserve her. So there. I will make the world experience romance if it’s the last thing I do, gosh darn it.
WILL YOU WON’T YOU
I stop by the petting zoo to see when I am singing to find that I am not. Given Trinket’s health, we have been replaced. I had already pulled my uke, but ah well. I put it back safely. It’s almost time and I start to the stage. We start with Health, FINALLY in my key and FINALLY in a part I can sing clearly. For once, I feel ok with what I sang. YAYEE. Wolgemut comes in and plays to an enthusiastic crowd. The fiddlers kick in and we dance on the tables again to enthusiasm. I am dancing with the audience for Drunken Sailor when I am stopped by the SM for the show asking if I have my uke still as they had an issue and need me to jump in a song later. I say yes and run and get it, flirting with Julienne Romero on the way, cause that’s what friends are for.
REVEL GROVE, OH, I AM COMING BACK AGAIN
I come up to share my little song. I am informed there are hula dancers in the background. Given that I hadn’t expected to be playing this song at all this weekend, and after rehearsing all week, I was happy with how smoothly it went. The biggest joke is still the placement of the Uke, but the regulars cheer when I sing about them. All in all, it went over well. This makes me happy. When I leave, I see my friend again and he gives me a rose. I do adore my friends. The rest of pub sing is a bunch of new music and one very well hidden racial joke…yeah, if you didn’t hear it, that’s fine. It was a concern before it happened, but it got the blessing of the powers that be, so we were ok. Finally, we finish the last song, call to the cannon and the lights go out. Another weekend ends.
ARRIBA
I head back with my 3 roses (romance war, old friend, and one of two). They are lovely. I rush back to the costume house, get my paycheck (and a compliment, yayee) and change as fast as I can, as I am always one of the last in there. As I come out, my dinner companions are leaving and I verify where we are meeting. I head out to the sounds of Elvis and Moulin Rouge (as Stitch was in a musical mood). Dinner is a social and pleasant affair with old and new cast members and unusual conversation. I went against the grain and got fried ice cream instead of flan, but might try it another time. I come home and almost have to work, but don’t. I am BEAT and crawl into bed.
This weekend is Pyrate Adventure Weekend. Fletcher runs the pub sing and who knows what craziness may ensue. See you all in the grove!