My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing

Subject: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Chanteyranger
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 04:04 PM

Saturday, August 5th marks my 10th year as the park ranger at the helm of the monthly chantey sing at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Before me, Revell Carr had hosted the sings, from 1992-96, leaving the NPS to start graduate studies in folklore (and then on to doctoral studies in ethnomusicology).

It's been an amazing decade at the sings. I've seen kids grow to adults, and those who had never before sung in public come out of the woodwork and begin to sing. I've had the pleasure of seeing several people who started coming to the sings become inspired to start their own nautical bands (including the Mudcat's own Salty Walt), and seeing some become inspired to volunteer at the park (including Mudcatters Melani and BillR). My greatest pleasure has been in seeing so many people taking part in the joy of singing together. I like to think of it as "a safe place to sing."

Sailors, stevedores, and fishermen have left us a great heritage of work songs, and songs sung for pleasure. September 9 marks the 25th anniversary of the sings, which will coincide with the park's Festival of the Sea. I'll put up a separate thread about that.

Please join me, if you're within range of San Francisco, for this next chantey sing. It would be great to see other 'Catters there. To reserve space, call the ranger office at 415-556-6435.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Barry Finn
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 04:24 PM

Wished that I could, if it weren't for the distance & the fact that the USS Eagle will be tired up at Portsmouth NH & our shanty gang here on the east coast will be singing on it I'd be there in a NH minute (that's hour longer than a NY second). Please give my warmest to, Riggy, Richard, Pam & Dave, Redman, Ed, Susanne & your other long time regulars.
Have a great sing Peter & here's to another decade of treasureable singing.
Barry

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Rev
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 04:24 PM

Congratulations Peter! It's hard to believe it's been ten years. Does that mean that of the four rangers who have hosted the chantey sing, you've hosted it the longest? I salute you for your committment and devotion to preserving chanteys and the chantey sing. It's been great watching you develop from a knowledgable enthusiast to a real expert in the genre. I'm sorry to say I won't be able to make it up there August 5 (I'll be at a wedding in Flagstaff), but I'll see you in September.
Cheers,
Rev

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 04:40 PM

He is the neatest (swoon!. And oh that ship!!

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Jeri
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 05:43 PM

Peter, who are you swooning at? (If there's a hunk around, I want to know about it!)

I shall be on the the Eagle singing, and probably should learn a couple more songs. And Peter T, I'll see you this weekend.

We'll see if we can't sing one for San Fran while we're on the Eagle.

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Chanteyranger
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 06:19 PM

Good to see you on this thread, Barry. I'll send your greetings to the SF gang. Keep me posted on your CD, eh? I hope it's going well.

Rev, thank you. I'll see you at the fest and at the 25th anniversary sing in September!

Peter T., I remember your visit to the ships with p.j. from a few years back. All's well in your Canadian neck of the woods? Jeri, I think he's swooning over the park's historic ship collection...or maybe p.j. Swan :-).

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Greg B
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 11:31 PM

Astonishing. It's been that long has it.

Before Rev, it was Celeste Bernardo on the sister
keelson, it seems with yours truly ever at her
starboard side (port side was risky of Guild guitar
head assault).

Before that, it was Dave Nettell, who founded
the whole thing with encouragement of the
notable Bob Walser.

The SF Chantey sings introduced a great paradigm,
the art of 'running it without seeming to be running
it.' That means no 'round robin' and no calling on
folks to sing (except as by truly popular acclaim)
but a 'mighty hand in a velvet glove' that keeps
order while encouraging disorder.

It's one of those things that just works.

Memories...of demo-squadding the day of, the kids program
in the afternoon, the Thayer stove going all day to feed any and
all between closing and sing. Of moving the cars to the pier
for the night, the BV after, and a good stagger down to the
pier after that, to find some bunk or carefully deranged
exhibit into which to sleep and whatever. The sun coming
up of an early morning, perhaps in the cabin of the ferryboat
Eureka, at the bay-ward end, and the rapid un-dishevelment of
the area before breakfast at Lou's with the fishermen, then
either home or to my boat at South Street to sleep the rest
of the night off.

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Greg B
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 12:06 AM

But I just have to add that I remember the day that you
came in, a rather quiet and shy fiddler whose Scottish
style invited favorable comparisons to Alasdair Fraser,
to your first chantey sing.

Geezus could you ever play; one of those guys who always
had the right part that added, not subtracted. Never obtrusive,
but given the opportunity, bloody well brilliant.

It took you a while to find your voice, and the nerve to
use it.

Even after you came in part time, in green pants and grey
shirt, with a cavalry hat, as a part-time interpreter.

But that voice got louder and stronger, and its owner surer
and surer.

And now you're one of the leading contributors to those who
find and renew lesser-known sea songs, especially in your
region.

And, of course, you're running the program that keeps them
going out there.

Peter, it's a privilege to know you.

Happy anniversary.

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Barry Finn
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 03:40 AM

Geezez Greg, for a not too old bugger you sure got a sweet tongue & a sharp memory, either that or you had an eye out for the young lad, "green pants and grey shirt, with a cavalry hat". Hope that next time I see you I'm presentable. Were you out there at the begining? My memory's not even close to yours, I can't remember were I met you 1st, NYC, Mystic or at the very begining of those sings. Don't remember Bob there either. I do remember Dave Nettell & aside from those that I mentioned above. I also remember Piper & a tall blond woman who used to sing with Richard, great voice & a fine musician but dam me I can't remember her name & I think Marla was there at that time too. This was a bunch of great people & very friendly that also happen to be fantastic singers & they all deserve a share in the credit for getting the shanty sing off the ground so quickly with their feet hitting the deck running, they did make it so easy, in those early days, that it was able to run on it's own steam.

Peter, you've been a great helsman, many thanks, you sweetie.

Barry, again

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 05:30 AM

San Francisco is a remarkable city, and the most remarkable thing I've found there is the Chantey Sing and the wonderful people who sing there. I wish I could go more often. You do a wonderful job, Peter.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Greg B
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 08:21 AM

Geez, Barry, I used to *live* out there! I was there until 1993,
and the chanty sing program was just a few years young when I
first joined in. I believe it came about following a Festival
of The Sea at which Walser was in attendance. He and Dave held
a one-off evening chantey sing that went off so well that it
became a monthly event. At least that's the way I recall the
folk-lore. For many years the date was random, not
first Saturday, which led to tons of phone calls and screw-ups.

During those years as well, Mariide Widmann used to come down
from Seattle for nearly every sing; a few of us would gig around
with her during her visits.

When Dave was there, the program got quite complex...we started
developing a demonstration squad of sorts, doing various ship-work
during the day (raising sails, shifting cargo, running the galley)
with a kids sing tossed in during the afternoon. We then consumed
the output of the galley, and started the program, frequently
adjourning to the Buena Vista for Irish Coffee (at midnight).

On the days of the sings, it wasn't unusual for me to arrive at
8AM to fire up the galley stove.

At the time, I had a boat at South Beach Harbor, so it was
fairly convenient. On occasion, I'd actually sail the boat
up and moor in Aquatic Park, but not very often. It added
a great deal of complexity and the idea of rowing a skiff out
to the boat in the wee hours after the BV didn't seem too wise...

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: radriano
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 02:06 PM

We need to get Chanteyranger a tin or aluminum star to mark the occasion.

It's almost impossible to please everyone but Chanteyranger has done a stellar job of running the Chantey Sings. Hey, old buddy, singing with you is an honor and a privilege.

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Barry Finn
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 02:50 PM

Doesn't he still have the ranger's hat? Pin the star on that. He has down a fine job at that, hasn't he. If only I could make it out there more often, Peter, I'd sit at your feet. HEY, Peter stop kicking me, quit it, now, stop, please, your hurting me.
LOL, Peter
Barry

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 05:47 PM

If only...anyway, ENJOY!
Would you all like me to find a suitable gift? Specs? And keep in mind, it has to ship cross-country.
SINS

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 08:14 PM

Oops I did it again--wrong place at the wrong time. August 5 I'll be at about 35,000 feet for most of the day, and not the kind that need shoes. Have a terrific tenth anniversary chantey sing. And don't forget to bring the ceremonial shower curtain for the shy 'uns to sing behind.

Elmer

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 11:59 PM

Greg, Rev, Barry, you got me blushing. Thanks for posting those memories of chantey sings past. I'll post a festival of the Sea/25th anniversary chantey sing thread, and it would be great to add memories there, as well. Greg, good to see you here!

Elmer, if you can parachute from 35,000 ft onto the Balclutha's main deck around 9:00pm, Alice Watts (the galley queen) will set out a large pot of cider for a target and soft landing....and bring Elmo, Elvin, and Elrod with you.

Greg, you remember my first time there! it was november, 1989, and some friends from Irish music sessions invited me to the sing. I was so taken by it all, I decided to make a career change (I was looking to become a librarian). Celeste Bernardo, who led the sings from 1989-92, was a great inspiration and became a lifelong friend.

Rev, you were always a patient teacher, taking newly minted rangers aloft in the rigging, guiding us through pumps and capstan demos, and the incredible Dead Horse ceremony, not to mention your encouragment on singing and taking me along to our first gig together, in '96. I owe alot to you and Celeste. Greg, being one of the true anchors of the sings, our loss is the East coast's gain.

Barry, you have no idea what an impact you have on the sings, via songs you've brought to the forefront of the current chantey singing universe. "Hard Times In Old Virginia" and "London Julie" have become mainstays of the sings, as known to Bay Area chantey enthusiasts as much as the old standbys John Kanaka and Away Rio are known to chantey singers everywhere.

Thanks, Joe! Always a pleasure when you can make the fests and sings.

The honor and privilege is mine, Radriano........well, ok...it can be yours, too.

Funny you should mention Specs, SINS. It happens to be the name of an historic San Francisco bar, an old sailors hangout that has survived and mutated into a popular North Beach establishment. So, yes, ship us some Pisco Punch :-).

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Greg B
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 03:57 PM

And don't forget Ranger Dave, who got it all started 'way back
and came up with the 'running it without seeming to run it
formula' which has been handed down from master to apprentice
over now four generations of 'chantey rangers.'

When Simon Spalding and I conspired to re-start chantey
sings at South Street in New York, we instituted the same
paradigm. It was met with some skepticism from folkies who
were more used to 'round robin' sorts of thing "what do you
mean we just let people jump in and sing, that cannot
possibly work?!?" only it does and extraordinarily well
if the leader knows how to 'lead without seeming to lead.'

The pub sings at Mystic's festival work the same way.

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Chanteyranger
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 06:19 PM

I haven't forgotten Dave, but am saving info on him for the sing's 25th anniversary thread, as his tenure was before my time. I'm just writing here about the times I've had since I've been at the sings. Good for y'all at the South Street sings, Greg. I had a great time there when I came to a sing, back in...hmmm..2002 I believe.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 06:44 PM

That's wonderful news, Peter. Your Doo Wop set is done and will go in the mail on Monday. Maybe you can try a sea chantey as it would have been done by the Del Vikings. Or at least do White Cliffs Of Dover..

Jerry

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Rev
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 09:23 PM

So are you singing doo wop now Peter? For the last year or so I've been singing with a doo wop group down here in SB. We're called The Escalades, in the old tradition of naming ourselves after a fancy car. We do it street corner style, mostly a cappella, and we mix in some tasty mid-60's Jamaican rocksteady. Maybe we'll work up some Jamaican sea chanteys and bring our act up to SF!
Rev

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 01:53 AM

Ten more years, Chanteyranger! ten more years!
O rock and roll me over
Ten more years!

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Dave Swan
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 12:18 PM

Wow. Ten years and you're not getting any older, while the rest of us go gray and wither. Must be all that salt air and clean living. Congrats and many thanks,

D

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: RiGGy
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 09:32 PM

Petey ! Waddaguy for the chanteys and all that. Thanks.
Hope to get there SatNite after Julia's wedding.

Hey Barry - how they hangin ??

That "tall blond woman who used to sing with Richard,
great voice & a fine musician but dam me I can't remember her name"
was Sylvia Herold ! And still is.

Back to you Peter :
Why not take everybody's kvelling about "not round robining"
as a suggestion to NOT ROUND ROBIN ? I'd be good.

Riggy

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 09:55 PM

Hi, Riggy -

We haven't round robined in several years! I did it as a temp thing around 2001, to spread things around after I saw that fewer and fewer people were leading songs. it did the trick, and things got back on track since I stopped with it, though it was unwieldy, and never meant to be a permanent arrangement. On rare occasion since then round robined down the line only in the front row among the six or seven peformer types, just to give newcomers a sense of what chanteys are all about, but hardly have the need to even do that anymore. It sometimes takes gentle prodding, but many more people are now singing.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 02:55 PM

Congratulations, Peter, for doing a great job and having a great job to do!

It's nice to be able to read some of the history of the Chantey Sing.

Is the Thayer back in operation as the Chantey Sing site or are her hull accoustics still being tuned?

Looking forward to your new CD with Richard.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Barry Finn
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 06:40 PM

Yes RiGGy, thanks for & to your memory. It was Sylvia's name who I was trying to remember, she was another one who made it regularly in the beginning, at least for the short time I was there.
I'm hanging fine & well, thanks for asking. Seeing as your memory is still up to snuff, Riggy, when did I start going to these sings or maybe I should ask when did you 1st start attending these, a few months or was it the following fall or was it following a fall? I can't remember once the fog starts to setttle in.

Peter, when is this 25th gonna be? I'd like to plan an excuse ahead of time. Like maybe there gonna hold a convention for transplants from Boston or East Coast Veggies from the ER?

Ya, how is the Thayer doing? And now that Saturday's over how was your 10th anniversary sing & who was there?

Barry

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Gary K
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 07:13 PM

Hi All,

It warms the cockles thinking of al those long evenings in the Thayer, rain or shine, tearing out a tonsil in those halcyon days of the early 80s. Thayer actually had all 3 masts then. ;)

I recall in those first months the crowd was small enough to fit into the Thayer focs'l, Dave would light up the pot bellied stove and put a pot of coffee on it and we'd be snug but stiff from those bunks and benches at the end of the night.
From the first event Dave past around a sign up ledger of who was there so people could get on the mailing list and to keep track of the number of attendees for security and record keeping purposes.

I think it only took about 3 or 4 months before we had to move into the hold and it was no longer a small gathering of 35 or so.
Many of the first folks were either SF or Berkeley Folk Club folks, like Ricky and Richard. Some were Renn Faire or Dickens Faire folks. And then the yacht club and boating community started finding out about the event. Doug Olsen, Jon Berger, Jerry Peterson, Dick Holdstock and Allen McCloud, Redmond (when he was O'Connel)adn so many others ehlped it along that fiorst year.
I think it was only 8 months or so before the mailing list was close to one thousand. I was a ranger at Alcatraz and Fort Mason at the time, due to Simon Spauldings having introduced me to the Pier during Dickens Faire workshops in 1979 when I was in college. The Pier became my employment goal after that, and it took a couple years at the park before I finally made it into the job of second banana and after hours copier slave for Dave. We had some fun mailing out the chanty fliers when you had to do it all by hand. I think we did them quarterly so Dave could schedule around major holidays and other waterfront events like 4th of July and Fleet week.

Lots of folding, stamping and stapling when the mailing list reached 2500. It was time for serious editing so we would send out a flyer with a return card for those who wanted to stay on the list.

I do recall one event int eh early to mid 80s when the singing went on all night until the sun came up. I think I was sleeping inthe ARK or the Eureka, but you could still hear the voices. Then off to the Eagle Cafe for corn beef hash and pancakes before the tourists arrived.

Somewhere are those ledgers with all the names and signitures of even the first chanty sing attendees.

Way to go Peter, a great milestone. IT s all thsoe volunteers at the gat and in the galley plus everyone with a love for raising voices in harmony and good humor that have kept it goign all these years.

Hope the Thayer is wheelchair accessable for us on the 50th anniversay when wer'e real old codgers!

Gary Keep

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 07:46 PM

Somehow this thread and Gary Keep's last post reminds me of this poem which Gordon Morris (UK) has adapted for singing:

By Cicely Fox Smith, SAILOR'S DELIGHT, Methuen & Co., © 1931, pp. 74-77

The Ship-Keeper

When dusk comes round again
And red goes down the sun,
And all the stevedore's men
Have finished up and gone;

When silent all and dark
The tugs and lighters lie,
And derricks stand up stark
And still against the sky;

When solemn, slow as doom,
The dock policeman's tread
Wakes echoes in the gloom
Of each deserted shed –

Old Mike, his nightly tale
Of tasks at length complete,
Limps slowly to the rail
On lame rheumatic feet,

Lights his black clay, and leans
And thinks, as old men do,
Of bygone things and scenes
His lusty manhood knew;

Until, when stars begin
To gleam by two and three,
He sees the ships come in
That no one else can see –

The ships that wait no tide,
The ships that take no steam,
But to their moorings glide
As quiet as a dream;

The ships he served of old,
When blood was young and hot,
Long wrecked or scraped or sold,
Their very names forgot;

The ships that raced the wool,
The grain, the jute, the tea,
Titania beautiful,
And proud Thermopylae;

The "Lochs," the Irish "Stars,"
Old fleets of far reknown,
Green's Wigram's. Some's, Dunbar's,
The pride of London town.

Cold Alps of shining snow,
He knows them one and all,
The fast ships and the slow,
The big ships and the small;

Knows too each glimmering queen
Or craven king they bore,
Each dragon gold and green,
Armed knight or turbaned Moor.

Lost shipmates of old years
Along their bulwarks throng;
Old speech of theirs he hears,
Old yarns, old scraps of song.

The last rose leaves the skies;
The river breeze blows chill;
But still with age-dimmed eyes
He dreams, as old men will,

His pipe between his lips;
Still, dreaming, seems to see
The lost and lovely ships
That no one sees but he.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: GUEST,Chanteyranger
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 04:34 PM

Thank you, Gary, for your memories of early days. Since this has morphed into a 25-year remembrance, I won't keep a good thread down, so I'll add what history I know of the chantey sing's formation. Dave Nettell was indeed the first of the four lead rangers. I didn't get involved until after his term, so unfortunately have no memories of my own on the first 8 or 9 years. As others have told me, the chantey sing was in utero around 1978-80. There were intermittent gatherings aboard ship, and after one of the early sea festivals, (79' or 80'), at the end of a singing session, someone said "Do we have to wait to next year to do this again?" So, during the next year or so, there were more frequent chantey sings. In 1981, it became a regular and official park program, with ranger Dave Nettell leading. The hold of the 1895-built lumber schooner C.A. Thayer was the home of the sings, with occasional sings aboard the Balclutha. In 1986, Alice Watts begain to regularly run the ship's galley with her volunteer galley crew, serving hot cider, chocolate, tea, and coffee. At this September's sing, we will honor Alice's 20 years of galley work.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: My 10th anniversary at SF Chantey Sing
From: open mike
Date: 11 Aug 06 - 02:27 PM

it all happens near here: http://www.nps.gov/safr/
is there an opportunity to experience the bunks
overnight on board, as in the past? this was great!