Here are our photos from our May Day Morris Dancing bash!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59717925@N00/sets/295143/
I’m still so tired I can hardly stand it, but it was worth every minute. A good time was had by all…dancers, musicians and spectators alike. We even got one impromptu gig (a birthday party at the park)!
Redwolf
Great photos. I just wish I was computer literate enough to return the favour by posting some of ours. (Though that would give away just how much higher the average age of our team is. 
)
Those are real nice. Glad to see young people into something besides rap.
A couple questions.
Where are the photos of you swilling gin?
Is that a rec**der you’re playing? 
LOL…no gin in these…that’s what I drink with the choir. With the Morris Dancers (at least at the end of the day, when I’m not driving kids around) it’s beer! Sadly, though, the camera ran out of charge before we got to the brew pub where we finished up the day, so no photos of me swilling at all, I’m afraid. (BTW, if any of you ever finds himself in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Boulder Creek Brewery brews an excellent stout!).
The lovely little instrument I’m playing in these photos is a Sweetheart Professional pennywhistle! Isn’t she pretty? I tell you, it’s the definitive whistle for these outdoor gigs…wind and cold don’t faze it, it NEVER clogs, it has the authority to be heard even over sticks, bells, traffic noises and melodeons, and it sounds fantastic (Ralph and Walt, if you’re reading this…I got several compliments on the lovely sound of my “little flute”!). Being made of laminate, it doesn’t require the special care a regular wooden whistle requires, which is nice when you’re in and out of the car all day. Best investment I ever made!
Redwolf
I enjoy Stan Rogers’ explanation of Morris Dancing:
This song has a very strange title, it also deals with a pretty strange subject, at least from the point of view of Albertans. You see this song irritates Albertans because of all the carpet-nagging Easterners and all the creeps and bums who are uh… infesting the West. Everyone’s out there trying to get their hands on that Heritage money. This song ofcourse, also irritate Ontarians, because Ontario is now a have not province, Ontario has just qualified for equalization payments. In any event, this song really irritates Ontarians for this reason, they don’t like being reminded of the plight their in.
This song also irritates Morris Dancers… Do any of you know what Morris Dancers are? How many don’t? Hands up! (applause) Lots of you (Garret: That’s no shame.) Morris dancers are cute little people who dress up in white suits, and they have little green sashes and little pork-pie (sp?) hats with feathers in them and they tie sleigh bells to their feet and they tie hankies to their wrists with long white hankies and they sorta prance around. And they do this in mobs or teams (Garret: Usually in San Francisco or…) In any event they get together at folk festivals and they gather around in their little clot or a mob and they do their little dances. And there is nothing really alarming about this, except for the fact that, every once in awhile, they will arms themselves with cudgels or bludgeons or some kinda blunt instrument like that and to the accompaniement of accordian and violin they will rythmically and ritually hit eachother again and Again and AGAIN! And this is considered to be some kinda entertainment or British fertility ritual or something. (Garret; It works to, we’ve played this song and enpregnated whole audiances) In any event, this song has the sorta knuckle dragging, neaderthal beat that Morris dancers like. And there is lots of room tonight, so if there are any closet Morris Dancers out there, the floor is yours. And with apologies to the people of Alberta, and even to the people of Ontario, but, ofcourse, no apologies to Morris Dancers… this song is entitled… the Idiot.
No offence to Morris Dancers of course.
ROFL! Sounds like a pretty accurate description to me! BTW, we actually have a dance called “Buffoon” that looks a little like a Three Stooges routine.
Redwolf
Don’t worry, when you start to research the history of Morris you soon find an awful lot of source documents are court records of dancers being done for disorderly conduct.
I liked the modern interpretation using computer keyboards. Good to know you’re recycling those old computer parts! Have you tried old mufflers? You could pick up some sponsorship dollars from Meineke…
RW–you mentioned stout in a post above which reminded me of a posting of yours a while ago–weren’t you going to make some home brew with a home brew kit? How’d it turn out?
We’re having trouble with the main seal on the brew kit…it leaks, no matter what I do, as soon as the pressure starts to rise. We’re going to try fiddling with it again this weekend, I think.
Redwolf
That’s too bad on the balky equipment–hope you get it fixed as making home brew can be fun. Fortunately, it sounds like you have a good alternate supply of suds from the Boulder Creek Brewery. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m out in that neck of the woods (I visited Scotts Valley last summer, so probably not too far).
It’s not far at all…just down the hill (Mount Hermon Road) into Felton (about 4 miles), then another eight miles up Highway 9 along the San Lorenzo Valley. Pretty drive.
The stout at BCB is very good, and their “Redwood Ale” is really quite delightful.
I’m hoping we can get the seal problem fixed too. It seems to hold fine until we pressure-test things, and then it springs leaks all along the sides.
Redwolf