More notes from a Renfaire

In the immortal words of thatliardiego "It's an Ibuprofen Monday".

Saturday was just brutal. Heat index near 100, humid enough that sound didn't project properly, audiences just sort of laying there gaping at you, the MC of Pub Sing was unexpectedly out with a family emergency leading to what has been described as "A Mongolian cluster-fuck" and we ended up performing 4 times when everyone was already a quart low...Long Day is Long...

But there were good things too - not sure if it's that people's schedules are settling down, but Pub Sing on Sunday was really much more of what Pub Sings ought to be - people showed up, did one or two numbers, and then we kept going.

See, we have an ongoing issue with some performers that show up late (and *not* because they have other sets scheduled) and want to do multiple numbers. Um - no. If you turn up at 6 you can pretty much have all the stage time you want. If it's 6:30, things are getting crowded and we're on a deadline. Two days in a row we've not been able to do the closing song as usual - Saturday it just didn't happen and Sunday we had to do it after the Queen left for Closing Gate. Bleh. It's the only show we do where this seems to be the case.

Other moments:

• It was apparently Cute Puppy Weekend. Most were 6-8 weeks and all fuzzy and wobbly and adorable.


• I mentioned this fact to the owner of a small black floopy dog and she replied "Oh, she's not a puppy. She's Two!". I then went nose-to-nose with the little thing and went "other dogs make fun of you, don't they?", and she licked my nose in reply.


• Our regulars are starting to turn up - people who come to several of our shows per day, tip well and/or buy us drinks, and want to chitchat. It's nice to be known.


• Premiered a couple of new numbers this weekend, and they were generally well-received without too many screw-ups. Also worked with some adaptations of tip shill and bench arrangements. Yeah - there is a LOT more involved than just getting up there and singing.


• As mentioned, Caleb the Piper who is the usual MC of the Pub Sing never turned up on Saturday and at the time we had no idea why. We figured this out when he didn't turn up to his noon set, so we got with Kevin (Conor Savage) to make vague plans. I did get up on stage and announce "All right - Caleb isn't here today, but it's going to be fine. He sent written instructions! *reads from paper* Welcome to the Pub Sing you bunch of inebriated freaks!" which got a laugh.


• We had also asked some of the newer acts if they could come over and fill some stage time for us. The Bawdy Boys agreed but didn't know when it was supposed to start. I could see them just down the street, and totally blanked on their name, so when I called and they didn't answer, we ended up with the whole pub turning and yelling in unision "Hey! You guys! You're on!". Yeah. So now they are all convinced that we were pulling random strangers off the street and putting them on stage...


• Saturday was also the CheezMeet - several of the other folks from the yahoo group associated with ICanHasCheezburger came and we all met up at my 11:15 show. I had a sign on my hat that said "O HAI!" so they could find me. They came to two of our shows, and then I met up with them after closing to go visit another CheezFrend who was in the hospital in Ann Arbor. She had a stem cell transplant on Wednesday and is stuck there for at least another few weeks, so visitors are MOST welcome (though we can't touch her). I made it through the visit being all perky and cheerful, but as soon as we headed back to the cars I said "OK - we need to feed me because I do NOT feel well. I kept hydrated well enough all day but my electrolytes were all shot to hell and I was headachy, dizzy and nauseated. A Fillet-O-Fail and a quart of powerade later I was much better, and we got back to the Motel 6 around 11:15.


• Caleb showed up on Sunday, just as Kevin and I were pondering "What the hell do we do if we have to cover again". 'Pleased to see him' does not adequately describe it.


• Queen's Tea is also starting to settle into a groove - we have a better idea of who is there when and what needs to happen in generally what order. That didn't prevent Nigel from requesting in front of everyone that we do a song that we don't actually know. Whoopsies!


• It was Highland Fling weekend, so I spent a lot of time on Saturday working the mirror-on-the-shoe gag. For the first time ever, I thought I was going to get slapped for it! One of the guys from the pipe band had his wife with him and she just went off on me. Wow - clearly she's kind of new at this. Usually, when a guy wears a kilt, he expects a certain amount of teasing for it. And when a woman is with her man in a kilt, it's always been "see - look how lucky I am!". This was a first for me, and I've been doing this gag for a decade. Personally, I don't really WANT to see anything - out of context male dangly bits just aren't that attractive. But it's funny, and that's what counts.


• Sunday I was conserving my energies because I was still feeling it from Saturday, so I didn't do as much street stuff. But I think I made up for it at Pub Sing - I laid down on the stage behind the Bawdy Boys and mimed peering up their kilts - they played with it of course, as they are all former street characters. But when I did thing from the aisle for Tartanic, of course they all marched right over me as I lay on my back with my feet up in the air, to the hysterics of most of the audience. (None of them are exactly shy and they all shave). I had 6 wenches come up to me afterwards and say "Wow - I want to be you!".


• I didn't even bother trying to watch a movie on the way home - as soon as we finished dinner I curled up in the back seat and tried to sleep. It always takes a while, but I did manage to sleep at least halfway home and we got in at 12:15. So I 've had a decent amount of sleep but I need some light exercise and lots of water to work out the fatigue toxins in all my crampes muscles, and then a handful of vitamins, a couple of decent meals and an early bedtime. The only way I can possibly keep up this kind of schedule is to monitor myself rigidly and make sure I take care of myself.

Hi Bunny, I'm home!

Pepper is conflicted.

One the one hand - I have returned! I was away and now I'm back. This is a cause for rejoycing!

On the other paw - I LEFT! How *DARE* I leave her!

So when I got home last night, she binkied and did a little dance, and then nose-bonked my foot But when I knelt down to give her pettins, she turned around and gave me the bunny butt, and the ran away foot-flicking. Then she stood there just out of reach looking at me, to make sure that I saw just how annoyed she was with me.

Sigh.

condo update

OK - Seller's attorney called my lolyer and wanted to schedule for Wednesday at noon. However, my mortgage guys need 48 hours notice so that won't work. We're proposing Thursday, preferably in the morning.

If that comes off, then my plans are to take off that day, and work the day-job on Friday and MiRF all weekend. Then move Tuesday afternoon and have Wednesday as the unpack/install day. THis is all dependant on being able to get a moving crew and as it's around the first of the month it's likely to be an issue, as well as costing more. Grrrr.

So hopefully within the next day or so an actual schedule will emerge. Which would be nice.