acroyear | the soundtrack for this weekend consisted of...

...pretty much the score for every Mahler symphony ever written.

It was that damn intense.

Things outside the faire had as much to do with things as within. My mom was dealing with stress over my brother's growing depression whilst riding/driving down to Jax for my uncle's birthday, then gets a call that another uncle had a heart attack, yada yada. Then there's work, where I find that my workload keeps increasing on a particular project as it reaches its end rather than winding down the way most of these projects do, leading to more pressure (and more excuses for the other work commitments I keep having to postpone, things I wanted done a month ago...). Add to all that the lack of sleep and excessive driving during hell week, and thus my post about a lack of sanity last week.

So the festival started.

Nothing in particular went dramatically wrong, but there were lots of little corrective actions needed that kept me on my toes, trying to find my new rhythm in things. Saturday was entirely a matter of logistics.

Doing the Shakespeare at 12 means getting from the info booth (10-11) to the Dragon for rat-pucking and socializing, then to the Globe by 1130 to start set-up, is impossible. So 11am rat-pucking was out. It'll probably stay that way most of the run.
Trying to get the music coordinated with the morning gate show (when one member remains perfectly content to just play over it even as I can tell audience people are having trouble hearing and making sense of things)...
Being the most mobile of any of the morning musical merrymaking musicians does tend to have me bouncing off the walls with saying "hi" to everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) as they walk in the gate.
I always have mixed feelings about opening weekend anyways. On the one hand there's the "hey, its faire, and here's all these people i haven't seen in 9 months and we'll have 9 weeks together". On the other hand, my system can't wait for october weather to arrive. just hopefully with fewer drunks.
My first dance, whilst impressing Mr. Bob Tupper (who had a great time both days this weekend), left me exhausted nearly to the point of nausea and sweating enough to darken my already dark pants (which would never dry - there's reasons I have a second set of garb at all times in the hot days). The lack of any breeze the rest of the day certainly did not help.
As posted elsewhere, there were a LOT of "I thought you were bringing this..." discussions betwixt faireraven and myself. Nothing was really lost or forgotten, just lots of trips back and forth to the costume house or the car.
Midsummer went smooth, as far as openings go, but we were still finding our feet up there with regards to how to all fit up there, still be heard, and not make a racket while switching instruments.
I made a point of trying to relax after that, again on the whole logistics theme, of figuring out what can stay @ the globe vs what I need with me so I can minimize the chances of forgetting something later in the run. This took about 35 minutes, well through the Skum's Tag Team Romeo and Juliet (which rocks as always).
A little time in the White Hart, a quick bite @ the costime house, still trying to stop sweating, and its 230pm and time to head to the Dragon and the boardwalk for our 3pm set. Good set, good kids, and the king and entourage walk by to give my "fool"ish side a little playtime.
At the end of the set, I was finally given the news...
No time to deal with that, particularly in the exhausted state I was in, but listen to the half-way mark of the 1st movement of Mahler 5 and you'll get an idea of how much was running through my head. Skipped my way through the 4pm rat-pucking, as I tried to "connect the dots" of people who needed to see other people who might know or need to know. I did make it a personal choice not to tell anybody who didn't seem to already know, more to avoid making the day a total downer for everyone rather than the "rumor" thing. Like everybody else in this, I trusted the source that i got it from.
430pm set goes ok, impressing a few in the cast who didn't know just what it was we did around here (having only seen us @ pubsing where we do very little, relatively speaking, or our little support for the other shows). had to play around with locations to avoid stepping on a street show that runs at the same time.
beer-o'clock. Down to the costume house to change into my oddly appropriate blacks, then to the pub 'cause, well, I needed to.
pub sing.

pub sing was different, and not because of "the news", but because of the new seating. having the campers on my side pushes other regulars back a notch, so I have far fewer new people to cheer on, and everybody around me either knew the songs or were talking more than singing, so I'm finding my pole to be not nearly as satisfying as years past. Maybe it'll change as the season progresses, I don't know. I wasn't fighting anything, I just didn't feel I was accomplishing anything, either. Slightly distracted, plus accidentally spilling a beer on a chap, and pub sing was kinda a downer. also discovered one of the regulars from my side of the pub also passed on, which when combined with "the news" and Diego's rememberence, kinda keep an odd chill amongst the heat.
decent dinner (hunan) with 2 hengravers who've been friends for years, then to the hotel. all the time i spent trying to make sure i had my music and stuff to read and i was out in minutes of lying down after a good shower. so much for planning ahead...

Interesting changes

Patrick Orwell's flutes are gone.
this unused space under the Bee Folk is now the "Bee Hind" selling more of the wax candles and honey candy and sticks to those passing by the globe.

Sunday. Knowing the intensity will continue, I take everything slower than usual. However, saturday's logistical study paid off and I had few incidents of needing to double-back on things.

a more mellow morning dance. cathy's got "callers" trying to do participation dances and the guy she got today, while ok, was used to more "captive" audiences and isn't used to trying to gather crowds. if he's there on other sundays, I may end up with a little more work to do that i might be comfortable with.
to the soundtrack of the o'danny girls singing downstairs, I take a nice long 45 minutes to set up the upstairs for midsummer, finally confident that i've got the layout perfect. i was actually able to stay seated most of the show for a change AND was out of there in 10 minutes. plus we ate during the show instead of after. if the rest of the run goes this smoothly (ok, admit it, it won't, but still...) I would be content.
especially if that breeze continues. yeah, the joust and the dragon sucked, but the globe and white hart were fantastic most of the day
more time hanging out between then and 3, with a good conversation with a team wencher on a proposed event for next year and the entertainment options.
Excellent 3pm set. faireraven hath spoken.
Again, I skip rat-puck to keep my sanity intact. a little shopping instead, as I decided to invest in a higher quality high-D whistle as the one I had before is too damn much trouble to keep in the right octave
prepping for the 430, i keep conversation with Lady Edina, trying to help keep her going through the meds she's on
decent 430 set
beer-o'clock
pub sing. see those related to the news gathering, then splitting up. a quick follow-through and wham! the news isn't. wrong person, wrong everything. yeah, its sad that our audience lost another someone, but then again...
decent pub sing, good jokes from the front. a few other old friends and regular audience members in attendence made things a little more comfortable, but i still had the moments of "nothing to do" over my usual. heck, with Jack "phoning it in" (literally - that was damn funny), I even didn't do my usual line during the teaching part of Health the Company, a first for me in about 5 years.
the top-10 rocked, particularly leading into
the beer-ball! nice to have at least some part of my "old" job back, even if just the one last time...
good dinner with the traditional crowd, and even as we left for the restaurant late, we still were out at a decent time and home by 11 (something that usually NEVER happens).

next week, 2:30 by the info booth, 4:30 boardwalk (dragon if it rains).

later this week, i'll post my full thoughts on "the news" and what it really means even as it wasn't really true.