BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!

Subject: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 09:14 AM

I do have a sense of humour. Honest! Ask anyone who knows me or read some other posts but does anyone else get a little cheesed off with the ad men using Folk music and dance to get cheap laughs?

It used to be amusing once but if I see one more Morris dance or folk song piss-take I think I will scream. The latest, btw, on UK TV is for Coffee (Don't even know which one) and the bean is being tortured by being shown horror movies. The one that cracks it is a team of Morris dancers. Funny? Maybe 10 years ago but not now surely.

Perhaps we can get our own back by having folk club members being tortured by being forced to drink crappy instant coffee? Any sponsors?

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: kendall
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 09:34 AM

May I volunteer? I hate instant coffee!

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Tiger
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 09:49 AM

USA folk coffehouses (translation: church basements) serve real coffee but, by the time the performer(s)' break rolls around, it's burned to a crisp.

It's just how it's done here.

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 09:59 AM

Of course I don't really mean we should torture folk clubs with instant coffee! We should just produce an ad showing it...:-)

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 11:43 AM

Dave,

why go in for half-measures just tie the ad producer down in the middle of an Upton Stick dance!

:)

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 12:10 PM

I thought morris dancing was joke enough on it's own...

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 01:24 PM

Watch it there, Cinton, I have a stick and I know how to use it!!

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 01:25 PM

Uh, CLinton. Sorry!

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Crane Driver
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 05:51 PM

Ani - you were right the first time - knock the L out of him! A saying in these parts is that line dancing was invented to give Morris dancers something to laugh at.

As a concertina man, the advert here that really hurts is one for some brand of fish product which shows a trawlerman playing concertina - til some berk rips it in half. Ouch!!

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 01:18 AM

If you can't laugh at yourselves, you have no right to laugh at others.

I, on the other hand, snigger myself sick every time I see it!!! Manitas is determined to identify the team, and the London Borough of Newham denies that Morris Dancers actually exist!

(This is because LBN has the highest number of CCTV cameras trained on streets. A TV presenter called Mark Thomas got a team of Morris Dancers, got them to dance in front of a camera for an hour or so, and then went to the town hall to request a copy of the footage they were in. You are allowed to do this under the Data Protection act. They applied properly, gave very clear descriptions about where they came from (Channel 4) and what they were doing (dancing in a public place, at a certain time, on a certain day, wearing full Morris kit) and waited. They waited a long time. They re-applied. They waited some more. Eventually, they were told that the fully kitted Morris dancers, dancing at a certain place, on a certain day COULD NOT BE RECOGNISED!!)

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 02:14 AM

Bring it on...

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 03:43 AM

I know what you mean Liz but it's not a question of laughing at myself - I do that enough anyway! It's a question of how long can a joke go on for. I have not danced morris for some years btw but I still go around once a year with Abram as either King or Fool (apt) ;-)

"Which one of you is Morris then?" is wearing a bit thin. As is going to the bar at the folk club while someone sticks their finger in their ear and goes 'Nearrrrggghhh' or asks where my wooly jumper is. Of course we smile politely and say 'Hey - good one - not heard that before!' but it still gets monotonous.

Is there nothing original any more? Can the TV ad men not come up with something that we have not seen? Guess not - but here's hoping!

Q. How many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb?

A. 5 - 1 to change it and 4 to sing about the dead one in close harmony....

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: GUEST,Manitas
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 04:24 AM

No Dave, don't go there!

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 09:34 AM

Speaking of instant coffee -- is there such a thing as instant tea in Britain? Well, it exists here in the US, although it's mainly used to make iced tea. Even some restaurants use it. But I can always tell the difference and I don't like it. Instant coffee is much better than instant tea, although I've never heard of a restaurant serving instant coffee.

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: GUEST,Fiver
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 01:13 PM

Even the saddest, dumpiest little greasy spoon here in the US is proud of its coffee(not always for good reason) though many fancy bars don't care what kind of garbage they serve from the tap--In the UK, it is the opposite, with beer, ale, stout, being a matter of pride(not always for good reason) and the coffee, well, some places serve instant...

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 02:38 PM

How does Lawrence Welk change a lightbulb? He holds it up while his cast turns the house around.

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 07:24 PM

Jim - yes, there is. It tastes even worse than ordinary (or 'proper') tea, but then all proper tea is theft.... so where does that affect the price of kippers?

And Dave - it's 8 folkies to change a light bulb - 1 to change it, 3 to sing about how good the old one was and 4 to lament the demise of gas lamps and candles!

LTS - I went there Manitas, so hard cheese!

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Nov 01 - 05:19 PM

I just remembered Terry Pratchetts 'Lords and Ladies' and realised that there is soem fresh humour about folk song and dance after all!

Eeeeeh - I feel much happier now. I think I'll go and read it again!

Gas lamps and candles, Liz? Nothing that modern surele;-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 15 Nov 01 - 04:34 PM

I'm just a banjo player, but I've learned what it means to have abuse come with the territory. Morris dancing, like banjo playing, is apprently not for the emotionally fragile or needy. Gotta be tough.

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Nov 01 - 01:21 PM

Liz the Squeak: I'll bet most Americans didn't get the pun in your message. I only got it on the second reading myself, and I heard the slogan to which you allude for the first time only a few months ago. I did hear it from an American. Maybe it's just because I just don't hang out in socialist circles.

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: The Walrus
Date: 17 Nov 01 - 05:46 AM

DtG,

Perhaps we should form a team and teach the advertisers the Lancre Stick and Bucket dance (from the receiving end)

Walrus

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 04:54 AM

There is a team somewhere in the UK that performs the Stick and Bucket dance, and have even done it in front of the man himself. I'm sure they would be happy to oblige....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 04:56 AM

Failing that, try Royal Liberty who perform in Doc Marten boots, leather biker jackets and use scaffold poles instead of sticks.... At one point most of them rode bikes, and they are all seriously mad.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 06:36 AM

I got the joke, Liz! But I do think that no one should be judgemental about morris dancing until they have seen the White Rats
(warning: not for the squeamish or faint of heart!)

Subject: RE: BS: They are taking the !'£$ again!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 08:48 AM

Alison, that is gross! I don't suppose they are available for bar-mitzvahs?
Jock