On the Road
When Helene and Finn visited Mordenvale for the Tocal Token Tourney, they began to get a feel for being troubadours, travelling from town to town to entertain the masses. We thus decided that maybe it might be a good idea to keep a diary of events we have been to, more for nostalgic reasons than anything else.
2004
Flametree Ball, May 2004, St. Malachy
Hi guys, just a quick run down of Flametree Ball.
Hunydd, Raphael, Bella, Eilif, Firkasse, Tatia, Helene, Wod,
Serephina and I all went on down to St. Malachy last night for
Flametree.
Raphael did very well in the fencing tourney, showing off his prowess
and came second to Don Tariq ibn Jelal. Huzzah for Raph!
The ball itself was a lot of fun. We played ourselves to exhaustion
and were joined by Jennifer from Rowany and occasionally Gildas, when
he wasn't kicking up his heels), finally playing the last note
somewhere around 11pm (and they still wanted more...). We were a
little nervous at first, but after a couple of songs, we warmed up
and got into the swing of things and really enjoyed playing. It's
always such a buzz when people are dancing to your music.
Yet again, the food was great! Brian and Marcus (of Ironforge) looked
after us and made sure we were well fed (but we chose not to sample
the jellied eel, not quite that adventurous). The pastries were
great, but the Digby Small Cakes are now the official energy booster
for Jouyessance, they were just fantastic. I said it last year and
I'll say it again now, if you don't go for the dancing, go for the
food (and the music, the company and the great vibe)!
Court happened and lots of people received some well earned
recognition. Aelfred and Llewlyn to the Golden Tear (Llewelyn's came
nicely packaged with an AoA, can't believe he didn't have one!!!)
Brian received the Roman Lillies (for Arts and Sciences) and there
were a couple of AoAs as well. Tatia receieved a ring from Her
Majesties hand, she had been impressed with Tatia's drumming.
There were some nice frocks as usual, Bella looking lovely in her
blue gown. And that's pretty much it, if anyone else who was there
can think of stuff I forgot about, feel free to jump in!
Finn
(Jouyessance even had one screaming fan...the Queen...and my ears are
still ringing, She's very good at that!)
Cold War, June 2004, Rowany
It was very cold and Finn got very drunk.
Tocal Token Tourney & Feast, July 2004, Mordenvale
On Saturday the 10th July, Helene, Caspian and I wayfared to Mordenvale
for the Tocal Token tourney and feast, celebrating the first birthday of
the Barony of Mordenvale. The day itself was overcast to sprinkling,
which provided a welcome lack of heat for the fighters. The tournament
saw each fighter providing a list shield and 10 tokens. As the fighters
lost a bout, they would inform the Lists and they would take a token
from their list shield, putting it on the fighter who won's list shield.
All fighters fought very well, but the Victor of the day was Sir
Berengar, who came out of it all with a record breaking 44 tokens for
his troubles. He was given a rather impressive victory pouch, which had
been embroidered by Jane of Stockton (*embroiderers - you should really
see her work!)
We were enterained during breaks in the tournament by a bagpiper and
apart from sounding like a strangled cat, it was kind of nice.
Mordenvale pulled out all stops with the feast and the food was
excellent! The highlight certainly for me was the baked salmon. Usually,
I am somewhat dubious when I am served fish at events, but this looked
so healthy and good that I just had to try it. I was suitably impressed!
They did serve up some haggis, but I kept away, haggises can be
dangerous, you know...
Courts were courts. Their Excellencies, Ragnar and Lucrezzia, gave many
awards for service (the Unfurled Lymphad) to some well deserving people.
Their Majesties gave three AoAs, one of them went to Jane of Stockton,
who if you haven't heard of her, it's a wonder, she does lots of stuff.
Helene and I spent most of the evening (like, when we weren't eating)
playing music and we were often joined by Fergus (from Dismal Fogs) on
fiddle. We got a lot of positive feedback from people and it seemed that
Mordenvale were stoked to have some live musicians. I had a tambourine
and finger chimes with me and just as well because some of the children
wanted to get in and play with us. They weren't bad, but I just wish I
had more instruments for them! They left after a while, so I resorted to
playing the tambourine with my foot while I played the bodhran or
recorder (there's much to be said for multi-tasking). I got some really
amusing reactions from people when they realised we didn't have someone
to play the tambourine and it was infact me. On the whole, our music was
really well received and we got a real gas out of playing for
Mordenvale. Some dancing (not a real lot...) was taught and danced and
we all had a fun night. Just wish there had have been more Stowegians
(we were asked where you all were...repeatedly...) at the event.
Helene and I finished playing at about 1 o'clock in the morning. Our
heated dormitories were very welcome and comfortable and we slept
happily and like logs. Breakfast was the routine Mordenvale breakfast of
bacon, eggs, mushroom and bread and then we said our goodbyes, promised
we'd come back and drove off into the fog.
Yeah, it was a good event, really enjoyed it, hugely recommend more
Stowegian participation, even if you don't fight, go for the feast! And
they don't bite!
Stay tuned for more Stowe Away when we visit Dismal Fogs for their
newcomers feast!
Finn
Saturday, 31st July: Party Pig Studios.
Jouyessance (fka, the Stowegian Happy Happy Dance Band) turned up at 5pm
with fingers crossed and were told that itwould take about half an hour
to sort out that technical hitch...it was a loose plug...(rule #1,
always check your plugs when trouble shooting...). So instead of waiting
half an hour, it was sorted in like a minute...and off we went. So it
was Helene, Firkasse, Peter of St. John and myself.
And woah, what an experience that was, on lots of levels!!! Very much
the learning experience! If you're a band or vocal ensemble, I would
highly recommend spending the money to do it. We learned alot about our
strengths and weaknesses and how we work together as a team, how we
behave under (immense) pressure, what we sound like, where we need to
tighten up, where we are already pretty tight and how scrutinizing we
are of ourselves! We didn't sound as bad as I thought we might, though
there were some times when we just couldn't get our collective s**t
together and we would play one song over and over again (would you
believe the worst was Washerwoman's Bransle? Yerk!). Plus you can hear
on Black Almayne where things are getting a bit tense between the group,
there's an edge and you can hear that I'm a bit narky even in my playing
(at least I can hear it...it's kind of cool...)
We were pretty nervous to start off with so there were the expected
jitters initially. Then we started to put ourselves under pressure for
time and financial constraints. This was at around the three hour mark.
Once we realised we had more time (like another 7 hours to go) we
relaxed into it and things flowed more smoothly (and tempers settled
down). The cool thing was multi tracking! It allows you to do stuff you
just can't do live, like playing the recorder, plus drums, tambourine
and finger chimes all at the same time. And the really cool thing about
digital was being able to rub out your mistakes. I mucked up one song at
the thir bar before the end of the song and it was only one note. They
gave me the headphones (sorry, cans!), played us back and got me to play
along and then they just dropped me into the trouble spot which I played
over the top of and look! New bar! Or if one of us was having troubles,
everyone else could go outside, usually to listen at the control booth
while the song was played back and a new line created. Very neat!
Putting down a vocal track on Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie was weird! I only
did one verse on the third repeat and woah...I had never actually heard
myself before, had no idea what I sound like to other people, so it was
bizzarre to hear myself being played back over music. Weirder again
after they said to do a second take and chose which one I liked better.
The buggers double tracked me, so not only did I get to hear one of me
but two! Now that's just freaky!!! But kinda cool, the guys reckon it's
really nice, I think I sound more like a 70's backing singer (but even
then, I reckon that's far too complimentary...) Apparently the sound
guys were really impressed with the vocals, but I think there was some
funny, sweet smelling tobacco type stuff happening in the control booth
(which they probably needed, you would too after several hours of
listening to recorders and all the errors that recorders and their
players can make...) so it was probably a really groovy medjeval
experience for the sound guys at any rate...
So now all we have to do is put the Horse's Bransle down (which I am
doing on Monday morning, so it will just be me playing recorder and
percussion) and fix Helene's line for Korobushka, mix it and then we'll
have a CD that people can learn basic dances from, listen to, or learn
the basics of dance music with. All in all, a totally excellent
adventure and something I hope we can do again with some more complex
dances on it (just not next week!). We're toying with making a package
that will have the CD, dance steps and dots so it can be used as a
learning tool. Know it's already been done with Del's dance book, but
there's nothing like live musicians as opposed to midi files, to get a
feel, certainly for the music itself. Will let you all know how it is
when I have the final product, which will be at the end of the week.
Kind Regards,
Finn
Saturday 14th August: Berengar's Birthday Ball,.
This was a nice little Ball, food was good (as usual) and lots and lots of dancing! Were joined by Gildas and Jennifer and overly enjoyed ourselves very much.
Saturday 14th August: Berengar's Birthday Ball,.
Saturday 21st August, 2004: Zanobia and Adam's wedding (Sydney, NSW).
Saturday 4th September, 2004: Guild Ascenion Day, Rowany (Sydney, NSW)
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