Back from Siouxland

[asthran]

There were a lot more people at Siouxland from MN than in years previous - lots of Chess Match folk, Zilch and Lolly, the Royal Guard, and Gilly Dew.

... I need to rave about Gilly Dew for a moment ... I absolutely adore him - It's so wonderful to see him interacting with little (and not so little) kids... there's this touch of awe as they sit with him in his nest, for truly, he is magic made flesh and blood.

Roleplay goal for this August - In-character, talk to Gilly and see if he will say what manner of faekith he is.

I tried out my new home - a REI Base Camp 4. It's very nice, I like it lots, and I will have plenty of room. Now, I need to get a reflective-tarp-thingy to put over it and maintainence stuff (lube for the zippers and waterproofing for the seams).

On a similar note, I found out I can take down my tent in full garb, in sunny, low wind, 80-some degree weather, by myself, in under an hour.

My great big happy - I finally screwed up my courage and stood on the side of a thoroughfare and sang ... *big nervous breath* ... and people liked it! And I didn't suck too much! I even got tips - after Woeful Tones of all things! ... but now I have a bunch of people saying I should do something with my voice, and I need to figure out how to accompany myself on a bodhran, which will be interesting - I am used to singing while I walk, not singing while I wield things in my hands.

Comments

[gem-handler.livejournal.com]

We ought to figure out what we both know, song-wise. Maybe I'll sing with you when we come visit. I bet I can get other people who actually play instruments to join in. Depending on who comes up.

~D

[asthran.livejournal.com]

*ponders*

I would be up for an after-hours (or before-hours, or backstage) dual-singing thing, but I would be very worried about just jumping out and trying to sing with someone else without rehersing... a couple reasons....

- I am notoriously awful at blending. Because I am mostly used to singing solo while I walk to work (or the bus stop, or whereever), when I am in a large group-singing situation, I'll all of a sudden go, "Hey! Wait a minute! I can't hear myself singing!" (which is, of course, what you're supposed to do in a group), and do something (not musically trained, don't know... change my pitch? octave? key?) so that I can hear myself... and making the entire group turn and glare at me accusingly. (Well, I made that last part up. Minnesotans are too nice to do something so blatant. *laughs*)

- another side effect of singing solo a lot is that I have tweaked many of the songs - melodies, notes, vowel-sounds, words, whatever. Not to mention that ballads, by their very nature, are subject to such variation! I mean, Scarborough Fair and The Elfin Knight are the same song! The Twa Corbies and The Three Ravens are too! boggles*

But, yes, that sounds fun, if you think you can stand me making a mash of things! One of my future posts will include a list of songs I know.

[gem-handler.livejournal.com]

Okay, we'll practice back stage this time. We'll get enough together to do something in the lanes for Scarby or next year's MNRF. Actually, 2 years ago we had quite a lovely impromptu sing-along before the afternoon dance. One of the musicians (a guitarist who sat out this season) was just strumming along, one of the girls recognized the song, started singing. I recognized the song once she started singing, joined in. We got another guy, and by the 2nd or 3rd song, another girl. Yes, it was rough in places, but we all knew the basics of the words, and the melody, if not harmony. It helped the guitarist was using a 12 string, so about any note was harmonic ;) If mikeoquinn comes up, we'll have enough talent and backup for just about anything you'd want to do. Frankly, I'm jealous of the man.

~D

[unknownpoet78.livejournal.com]

Deba, I'm willing to sing with you too! I'm pretty good at melding/matching tones (due to being in a choir with older ladies whose voices are not what they used to be...) and we can practice at chess match, like we plan to do bella (thanks again!)...