One of my favorite acts, the one that I will sit and watch for hours is Belly Dancing.  There is something about the movement, the art form, the inclusion of fire in some cases and sword in some cases that I really dig.  I was sitting here trying to think if I have ever been to a Ren faire that didn’t have Belly Dancing in some shape form or fashion and I can’t think of one at all.  First let’s look at the history of the art form of belly dancing.

Bellydancing is the Western term for traditional Middle Eastern styles of dance.  In Arabic it is called Raqs Sharqi, in Greek it is called Ciftetelli.  Either way, these are the origins of the dance.  It is possible that the first styles of bellydancing may have been involved in assisting in childbirth and it is true that some of the moves in traditional bellydancing were used to aid child birth in Middle Eastern societies.  It most be said though that this is a chicken and the egg argument and we don’t know which came first.  Historians throughout the ages encounter bellydancing in civilizations from Greece to Egypt.  You can track the spread of bellydancing as we became more globally interconnected.

In modern times, belly dancing has become not only an art form but it is taught in dance studios across the US both as a movement style and as a form of exercise.  The gyrations and the involvement of the entire body make it a great work out but you can’t deny the basic sexiness of bellydancing.  The photos above were taken at the Georgia Renaissance Festival, the Carolina Renaissance Festival and the Tennessee Renaissance Festival.  As you can see I wore the shutter out on the camera at all these shows.  It is a beautiful art form and the dancers don’t have to be any particular body type to be fantastic!  It is a dance form for everybody.

And let’s talk about the costumes and props.  The costumes that they wear are incredible.  They are part of the act.  They have to wear something that flows with the music and with their movements.  You can usually tell what style of bellydancing they practice by what costume they are wearing.  A lot of what we see at Ren Faires is tribal style bellydancing but that it not always the case.  Throughout these Ren Faire season, try keep track of the variation sof the costumes.  Go and ask the leader of the group what style of dance they are practicing.  Watch the props they do as well.  You will see canes, swords, candelabra headdresses, fire sticks fans and everything else you can imagine.

The art form known as belly dancing or belly dancing is one of my favorite shows to watch at the faire.  Flowing, graceful, dynamic and historical.  You will be hard pressed to watch a bellydancing show and not be moved.

-Bobaganush the Pirate

A new word for you today my dearies:  Rennie.  I love this word.  I refer to myself as a Rennie.  I refer to others that I know as Rennie and I now have people in my life that want to become Rennies.  So here is the question is Rennie a condition or is Rennie what you are?

I would say that it is both.  I am a Rennie and I have a case of the Rennies.

I am a Rennie.  I am a person that loves Renaissance Fairs.  I love the people, I love the food, I love the shows and I love the shopping.  I am a Rennie.

If it were permitted I would wear the garb all the time.  It is comfortable and except for the sword, much easier to get around in that the clothes that I wear the rest of the time.  I am a Rennie.

I also have a bad case of the Rennies.  I think about fairs and write about fairs.  When I attend fairs I do so with a camera stuck my face the whole day so that I can capture every moment of the day.  I have the Rennies.

Here is a list to help you decide whether you have the Rennies or not:

• Do you have more money in ‘garb‘ then you do in regular clothes?
• Do you sing along with the shows that you watch like Hey Nunnie Nunnie or the Washer Well Wenches?
• Can you name all of the Tortugas?
• Do you know how to replay to Ded Bob when he says “Hey Audience?!”

If you answered yes to even one of the above questions, you are  Rennie and I would postulate that you have the Rennies as well.  There is no cure!  But there is a treatment.  Find all the fairs that are close enough for you to attend.  Go watch shows.  Go shop.  Visit the merchants.  Buy garb (and accessorize, people).  Wear your Rennie badge with pride!

-Bobaganush… Rennie!

Had  a great experience with one of my nephews the first time that I took them to the Ren Fair.  We were at the Carolina Renaissance Festival and the youngest nephew, Riley.  Was walking around not really watching where he was going.  He found himself among the legs of the Green Man.  It took him a few minutes to realize that everybody in the area was watching him.  Whenever he turned he found a tree trunk in his way.  About the time he recognized that the tree trunks were moving, he looked up and noticed that the was not alone.

Needless to say, he scampered away and put his uncle the pirate in between him and the walking tree or the tree man as he called him the rest of the day.  Great Ren Fair memory and something he still talk about when we go.  He is always mad when we go to a fair that doesn’t have a Green Man roaming the streets.

History:
The Green Man appears throughout the ancient world, especially in European architecture.  Being a simple of renaissance or rebirth it is hard to image him not being a huge part of a vastly agrarian culture. Looking for the spring and hoping that the Green Man would bless your crops and make for a good harvest, I believe I would have had one on the sid eof my barn as well.

With this idea, it is no wonder that the Green Man or Jack in the Green started to appear in festivals in the 17th and 18th century.  At first these costumed characters were in suits that looked vaguely like Christmas Trees and then over time took a look mor elike the modern Green Man that you might see at the local Ren Fair.

I am sitting here trying to think about it from my nephews point of view.  Here is this huge lumbering tree looking thing.  The Green Man from the CRF is great.  He inches along.  The arms and legs moving slowly as if in the wind.  He is as much treant as he is Green Man.  I think, had I been 4-5, I might have looked for a pirate to hide behind too.

-Bobaganush the Pirate

I don’t understand sword swallowing.  I get the concept, I enjoy watching it, but I don’t get how you find out that you have the ability to do that.  Slack rope walking:  you got good balance.  Sword fighting:  practice, practice, practice.  Juggling:  playing with balls.  I also understand how you get good at these things.  But Sword Swallowing?  How do you find out that you have an affinity for this.

So, when I see sword swallwoing advertised, I am there.  At the GA Ren Fest several years ago, I saw on the list of entertainment for the day:  Thom Selectomy – Comedy and Sword Swallowing.  I was sold!

WOW!  What a fun show. It was the first show of the day.  The crowd was not huge or awake… yet Thom Selectomy treated it as a sold out house at Madison Square Garden.  Funny guy with great timing and he is an awesome sword swallower.  He does some of the other geek acts from the sideshow as well.  Old-fashioned drill in the nose and for those that like that sort of thing, a hammer and a nail driven into the nose.  Here is where I again protest my ignorance:  how do you figure out that you can drive a nail into your nose.  Or more importantly how well do you trust the person that suggests you ought to try it.  Regardless, Thom does it all.

My favorite part of his act was when he brought the kid on stage to remove the sword from his throat.  This was a great piece of business.  He had been building the fact that people think the sword that he uses are not real.  He cut things with them and proved they were sharp.  He then takes out a blade and removes the grips.  It is just the blade, the cross piece and the tang.  He then removes the cross piece.  He is holding a piece of metal that vaguely resembles a sword.  He calls a kid up on stage from the crowd, swallows the sword and then has the kid remove it.  Talk about Uhhhs and Ahhhs from the crowd.  But more importantly this kid just had an experience at a Ren Fair that he will never forget.  He just pulled a sword out of a sword swallowers mouth.  Unbelievable!

Thom Selectomy
http://www.swordswallowing.com/
or on facebook

Smoky Mountain Highland Games

Last year (2011) was the first year that these Highland games were held in Maryville and they did an amazing job. Plenty of room and plenty of parking, lots of entertainment and food and merchandise galore.  The Smoky Mountain Highland Games are now an annual event for me and I can’t wait for them to start this year.

The event is held at Maryville College in Maryville, TN.  Maryville is in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.  When you exit your car you understand why so many immigrants from Scotland settled here.  The mountains and rolling hills had to remind them of home in the Highlands of Scotland.  Maryville College’s campus is designed for these kind of events.  They have lots of parking and plenty of land so that the event can spread out and hopefully grow.  Gorgeous setting for a Celtic festival and the town has embraced the event.

The entertainment, from the pipe band competition to the bands that work the main stage are out of this world.  In 2011 I got to see one of my new favorite bands, Cutthroat Shamrock.  The pipe band competition and especially the mass band are great.  I dig bag pipes anyway but the sight of a mass band with everyone playing the same tune, the drum lines rousing the crowd and all the pipes droning the same note is a thing of beauty.

After the mass band, I roamed around the merchant area for the second time of the day.  The first stop for me at any Highland Game is to find someone that is selling Irn Bru.  With Irn Bru in hand I roamed from shops selling kilts and clan pins to jewlery booths to authors set up and signing their books.  This is a great fair that brings it all.  Great food (haggis for me), great merchants and terrific entertainment.  If you are in East TN, make sure that this becomes a stop for you.

Entertainment:

• Albannach
• The Celtic Martins
• Colin Grant-Adams
• Father Son and Friends

Merchants:

• Grandfather Scottish
• Heelan’ Hound
• Near & Far Scottish / Stitch Traders
• Renaissance iron Works
• Scotland Yard
• Scottish Armoury

Check the map below for directions to the college:

View Larger Map

Allow me to reminisce.  There are two accessories that I wear to every Ren Fair:  a small bronze cuff and a large bronze cuff.  They are not fancy, they are simple, hammered bronze.  They were both bought from the same place in consecutive years:  The Bronze Jewelers.  I love these two pieces and they are part of the costume as much as my sword and as much as my tricorn.  They are part of my everyday wear in fact and they go with me to work and to church throughout the year.  I have also purchased a ring and a twisted bracelet from them in the past that I wear all the time.

Now on to the meat of the article.  The Bronze Jewelers produce some of the most incredible pieces of wearable art that I have ever seen.  Their work is detailed, timeless and they cross-over themes so it is easy to find something that you like.  Bronze was one of the first metals that man harnessed.  Bronze was easy to extract from the earth, or at least ‘easier,’ and The Bronze jewelers are working with this metal much like the artisans of old used it.  They are making both jewelry and art.  They are building pieces that will last for all time and that, due to the nature of the metal used are historic without having to have a lot of age, by the very fact that they are made of bronze.

If you look through the images above you will see that they have pieces that cross over many different themes.  They cover Celtic, pirates and because they are working with Bronze any ancient culture you can think of.  Also, because they are true artisans, they can make you anything you can think of.  Also, if you want to view their merchandise, that is not to hard to do.  Each year they will be at the Carolina Renaissance Festival (this is where I saw them) and the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, along with other events throughout the year.  Be sure to visit their website and  check out what they have to offer.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood of one of the fairs they attend, stop in a look around, buy something and marvel at what they can do with Bronze.

BTW, they work with precious metals as well.  So if Bronze is not your thing, they have lots of choices.

-Bobaganush the Pirate

Imagine, if you will, Celtic music, sunglasses and ober-coolness in a kilt covering the whole stage.  You have just imagined:  Tartanic!

I love the bagpipes!  These guys take bagpiping to a whole new level.  The mix the sound of the two bagpipes into harmonies that will bring the most resolute Highlander to tears.  Take the sounds off the two highland bagpipes and add to it three percussionists playing a variety of instruments and you have a band that will take Celtic music to the extreme.  Their sound is all their own and you have to love the stage presence.  Seldom do you get to see a band take the audience ona musical journey.  And of course, if you see them at a Ren fair you will get to see the crowd, dressed in their period finest, dancing to the beat.  Check out the video!

Video:

Tartanic started in 2001 and they have become a mainstay of the Renaisssance Fair, Steampunk Fair & Highland Game circuit.  This year they will be playing at the Arizona Renaissance Festival & Georgia Renaissance Festival to name a few.   They also play Highland Games and Steampunk Festival throughout the year.  Check their website or facebook page to check out their tour schedule.  If you visit their facebook page throw them a LIKE so that you can keep up with the band.

Besides their touring, Tartanic also spends quite a bit off time in the studio preparing new albums.  Their latest album, Unbelievably Steamed, will see a lot of play the Arizona Festival this year.  Whatever fairs you go to, make sure to check out Tartanic if they happen to be playing the fair you are at.  Great band, amazing sound and a show that you will never forget.  Listen to them once and you will be hooked.

Have you ever noticed that most fairs allow the performers and the entertainer to the pass the hat at the end of the show?  There is a reason for this andd I would like to go into that now.

Passing the hat is how you tip the performers.  This is no different then tipping a waiter or waitress for good service.  When you recieve good service you tip.  When you are entertained at the Ren Fair… YOU TIP!

Now, the question becomes, how much do you tip.  Well I would say that should depend on how much you enjoyed the show.  If you really dug Barely Balanced, then tip them accordingly.  Put a 5 spot in the hat, bag or whatever it is that they are passing around.  If you came back for every show that they had that day, put a 10 in the bag.  Realize that this is how these folks make heir living.  they spend the majority off the year on the road.  They tour from town to town, city to city, trying to make our lives more enjoyable by doing what they love.  They have spent time and money learning their craft.

The entertainers spend money each season going to fairs. They also have to outfit and stage a show each year.  Mounting a show (costumes, props and promotional items) each year is not cheap.  They also have to make sure that their choices will work at every venue they work at.  If they are working a small stage at one fair and then a big stage the next, that has to be taken into consideration.  If your act involves a lot of props, then you will have to replace those props.  Think about the amount of fuel that Paulo Garbanzo uses to keep his flaming clubs alight.  Think about the pasta that Don Juan and Miguel use up during a season.  Think about the sheer amount of tights that the Tortugas go through.  All kidding aside, shows are not cheap and the passing of the hat keeps these tremendous entertainers working to make us happy.

They have also spent time learning to do what they do.  Let’s take juggling for an example.  I am a horrible juggler.  I can keep three balls in the air but that is about it.  Juggling poorly is one of the hardest things I have ever learned.  I can not imagine the  amount of time that it would take to learn to be proficient at juggling, much less good enough to do it in front of people and get paid for it.  When you add to that the fact that some of these performers are learning multiple acts, writing their own material, producing their own swag and doing their own marketing they have tied their entire lives and countless hours into their craft.  Appreciate them!

The Ren Fair performers have spent a lot of time getting good at what they do, when the hat is passed, don’t slink away from the crowd when the hat is passed.  Don’t pretend that you don’t have any cash by checking your pockets furiously.  Reach into your pocket and pull out some ones or fives or tens and begin to stuff them into the hat.  You will be amazed at the smile you will bring to the performers faces.  In fact think about the smiles they just brought to your face and see if you can’t return the favor.

-Bobaganush the Pirate

Juggling is a big deal at Ren Fairs.  i wish I was bettter at it.  I wish I was as good as Paulo Garbanzo.  If you have been to a lot of Ren Fairs, you have probably seen him.  I have seen Paulo at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival, the Carolina Renaissance Festival and at King Richard’s Renaissance Faire.   Each show was a little different and each time I saw him I thought:  ”I wish I could juggle like Paulo.”

Some History:

Paulo has been a member of the Flying karamazov Brothers, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Juggling Association and won the International Jester Competition in 2007-2008 in Manchester England.  This final award made him the official jester of Manchester castle and the first American in history to be made the official jester of an English castle.  Of course, beig made the official jester of an English castle is no big deal to someonee that spends alot of their time each summer in Europe anyway.  Paulo performs his show overseas in countries giving him a world-wide following.

What you will see:

Paulo Garbanzo is a juggler, knife-thrower, fire-eater, uni-cyclist and a fantastic comedian.  That means that you are never sure what you are going to experience when Paulo takes the stage.  You might catch the juggling show, where I have seen him having flaming clubs thrown to him by audience members or eat an onion while juggling fire and a knife.  I have seen him throw knives at a partner on stage with percision, all the while keeping up a banter with the crowd.  Or you might catch him’warming up’ by swallowing fire.  Any part off his act that you catch has been planned out by a consummate professional that practices and works hard to make sure that the audience is entertained.

He is also one of the hardest working people on the Ren Fair circuit.  He not only headlines his own show but at times teams up with other entertainers for additional shows.  As with all Ren Fair performers, you are looking at someone that works hard to entertain us.  make sure that you take the time stop in and see his show.  You will not be disappointed

-Bobaganush the Pirae.

I am feeling a little extra geeky today and thought that I would add to your vocabulary.  If you are ever looking for a word to express joy, and I mean joy found on the internet, then might I suggest that you begin to use the word woot.  Woot as defined in the dictionary is an expression of joy and yes, it was added to the dictionary in 2011 so it is even scrabble worthy.  First some definitions.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary added woot and several others word sin 2011.  They say that woot is used to express elation, enthusiasm or triumph.  According to some online sources, woot may have orginally been spelled w00t (with zeros) or w007.  Either way it started being use don the internet and its usage is wide enough now that it is a real word like sexting or googling someone.  I have always heard that it started with MMORPGs like Everquest (wonderful loot) and World of Warcraft (WOW loot).  I don’t know that it really matters where it started but it is a good word and here to stay.  Let’s practice shall we.

Rennie 1 – Do you want to go to the last jousting match of the day?

Rennie 2 – Woot!

Rennie 1 – What did yo0u think of Paulo Garbanzo’s show?

Rennie 2 – Woot!

Did that help?  Woot is a one word sentence.  It can be used in place of a huge explanation.  Why spend time explaining how great Paulo is?  Why say “Of course, we are going to the last jousting match, you idiot!”

When asked if you thought the mead wench was hot should you have to say more then… Woot!

Keep your new word in mind.  The next time you bowl, let out a loud woot if you get a strike.  When you win while you are playing an FPS online, scream WOOT!  And remember woot is always said with and exclamation point.

-Bobaganush the Pirate – WOOT!