GCRF, Sunday

[fbhjr]

Sunday morning we all got up and headed back to the faire. Our extra time given to us by the faire was cancelled by the start of daylight savings time Sunday morning. But, I guess that only left us even with where we started, so it wasn’t too bad.


For the last several years, Steve has had us do the very first show of each faire day with our historical sword show. That’s a fairly nice complement to have the faire organizer say “I want your sword show to be the first thing that the hardcore people that show up at faire opening get to see.”


Every single time we do it, we start with only a couple of folks watching. By the time we’re done, there is always a crowd.
And, I think we put on a good show.


The show is currently made up of 9 different examples of historical European martial arts from more than 300 years of written documentation.


And, it’s good for a laugh or two as well.




There was one moment that made me quite happy. It wasn’t with the show itself, but was when reviewing the pictures of this show Sunday night.
While waiting for the table at the restaurant, perrin_o_ravnos and I found this picture of us doing the Falchion demo at the historical show.


“Look at how fast you do that arm wrap!” perrin_o_ravnos said.
In the move, we bring our swords together, I knock our swords away and grab him in an arm wrap.
You can see in the photo that my sword is still falling past my elbow as I’m grabbing his arm.
He seemed very impressed that my hand had gone from my sword to his arm with the sword still well above the ground.

I am very close to 20 years older than he is. (7295 days if you’re counting…)
It makes me feel good to have someone that much younger than me impressed with how fast I move.

As a way to pay for our dinners after the show, we sell sword lessons. (We used to do games too. But, after a year of making $0 on games, we stopped doing the work it took to run them.) Down south they never sell all that well. But, we can often make enough to at least cut into the cost of food.
I was worried this year wouldn’t go well. We only make $15 in Mobile in November, and the economy is not doing well.
But, faire attendance was huge. 9000+ people for the weekend, which is a new record. (Last year was 8000.)
So, I had Jose and Carol position themselves down the road from our booth and try and send us folks for sword lessons. Several times I swung by to see how they were doing.
I can’t say I was super impressed with Carol’s job of it. But, Jose was selling his heart out. No one walked near him without him trying to get them to go up to our booth.


So, we did OK for dinner money. Not ISD faire great, but OK. We sold about 30 lessons a day, and that was more than I expected. (ISD was more than 100 for every year out of the rain and in the spring.)

Drunk ‘n Sailor seemed to do well with their shows too.


I do really appreciate the folks from KY coming to these shows. We’ve always had fun at these shows, but these folks really seem to fit in well with our group and add a lot to our shows.


At the end of the day Sunday, we gave Steve his regular Phoenix group hug.


I felt really bad for him. His dad died less than a week before. His dad usually ran the ticket booth for him. So, Steve spent both days in the ticket booth where he couldn’t help but think about his father not being there.
It’s tough.
The very first performance sword fight I did was the day after I buried my father. And, we didn’t get along. I still had concentration issues.
Steve and his dad did get along and worked the faire together.
I talked with him a bit about it. He thanked me and told me it was good to talk with someone who had been through something similar. Hope I helped as he looked really sad.

We went back to the hotel and folks had a “I have the most burned chest” contest.
morgan_lafaye:


kismets_kiss:


Jose:


Then, we went off to McGuire’s Pub for dinner.
I would have been happy with the alternate plan of take out and sitting around the hotel, but a lot of our folks were still fired up from performance and that was a good place to let them burn it off.
We called ahead for a party of 16 and didn’t have to wait all that long.


A few of the folks had gone in to the bar to wait. I went in to check on our table, and could hear sea shanties being sung.
“Can I help you, sir?” the woman at the font asked.
“Just checking on our table for 16,” I said.
“They’re putting the silverware on it now,” she said. “If you want to tell your group that I think they’re all outside waiting.”
“Some of them are in the bar,” I said.
“Really?” she asked. “How can you tell?”
“That’s them we can hear singing,” I said.
I looked around the corner just as they went into the “huh!” song. No doubts about who it was…

They had a drink in a jar that seemed almost as popular as the buckets of rum from the crab place.


Lots of it was consumed. A very dirty toast was made.


David was still on, of that there was no doubt.


His wife joining us didn’t seem to slow him down at all. It is always nice to see them together as it puts a very different spin on him. No less over the top, but different.


I have to say, I’ve been spoiled by my regular Irish pub, O’Connor’s.

I ordered the Steak and Mushroom pie as it seemed close to the beef and Guinness pie I get at home.
“Don’t do it!” perrin_o_ravnos said. “You’ll be disappointed!”
“I know,” I said. “But, I’ve got to give them the chance.”


I’m told the burgers were very good. If we ever go back, I’ll try one of those. But, most folks seemed to have a good time. Some folks had a really good time.


I was sad saying my goodbyes with folks that night. I really had hoped to have some more time just to chat with folks. But, it’s tough to spend all day performing and not use any down time just to sleep. Especially after the long drive down and with the drive back coming.
Hopefully we will get some time to visit at some point.
I hope we can get some of the KY folks out to visit us. That would be cool.

Comments

[gypsykate1890.livejournal.com]

I plan on dragging Dieter up north in the fall, if we can get the time off from work. :-) Maybe we'll fly this time.

And, yes, Sunday night was truly fun...I'm still not exactly sure how many times I shook your hand. :-)

Thanks so much for letting us be a part of your weekend!

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

Great pic-post

yeah, Jose did a kickass job of hawking us, I was really surprised, and more than once I suggested he try and take a break from the heat.

FYI, that green alcoholic beverage in a jar was called "Irish Wake"

I don't remember David's toast, but I do remember how raunchy it was.

I had a good time, too, it was really great to meet the KY folks and all

[medievaloracle.livejournal.com]

I believe it was "Here's to Honor: If you can't come in her, come on her." :)

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

HA! Yeah, that's the one, alright!

[mythfish.livejournal.com]

I had the steak and mushroom pie too, but I thought it was one of the yummiest things I've ever eaten.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Really?
It was way too salty for my taste.

[kismets-kiss.livejournal.com]

We had a blast, which seems to be a consistent event when with the Phoenix troupe! You all are fantastic and we thank you so much for including us!
And on a personal note, thank you for trusting me with a sword fight! It's been a while and I appreciate the belief, or at least the hope :) in my abilities! Hope I didn't disappoint, lol.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good time. We try to make it fun for folks.

No worries on the sword fight. It looked good to me. Sorry for the timing problems the first day.

[kismets-kiss.livejournal.com]

No worries, life happens, lol.

You do make it fun, and what I like to call a "safe place" a place to try out new things and find out how to succeed without fear of being laughed at in a bad way, lol.

[adorabrightmoon.livejournal.com]

I agree with that. The Phoenix people make me feel more safe to try new things and just more safe in general than most other groups. It's a very nice feeling