Shambles

Well you can rest assured that I'm not that other Cap't Bob (Robert Maxwell), though at times you can find me floating behind my yacht (a little 22 foot Westerly Nomad) ~~so far I have not been harpooned although when floating I do somewhat resemble a whale. I'm often not only the captain but also the crew, head cleaner, cook, & what ever else it takes to make it go through the water. Some of my friends call me Cap't Row Bare if you find that name easier to deal with.

Actually the hornpipe that I wrote (Havlena's Hornpipe or Humbolt Clarksburs Hornpipe) started out as a song and is thus one of the few hornpipes that has words. I wrote it for a friend of mine who always playes his fiddle muted with usually two or three mutes. The words are as follows:

"There was Dennis Havlena, he was sitting on the ground ~~~~~~He was trying to play his fiddle but it wouldn't make a sound~~~~~~~He was turning all the levers, twisting mutes to make it go~~~~~But Dennis forgot to rosin up his 8 hair bow.

While I was playing penny whistle~~~~standing in the weeds~~~~~with fifteen strumming rythmn guitars, they had to have a lead~~~my breath was running low~~~my fingers would not go~~~~would somebody hury and go find some rosin for Dennis Havlena's bow...." (actually it goes better with music)

I do wish that someone would come up with a list of around 200 tunes that all players of Irish music would be required to learn. That way when we get together we would be assured that we would have at least those tunes in common. We live in a rather remote area (especially when it comes to Irish music) so I always look forward to getting together with other folks.

As to why there are so many tunes I have the following theorys: (a) years ago people lived so far apart that they seldon got together and hence more tunes evolved. (b) they are just fun to write. (c) everybody made their own beer so there was no reason to go to the pub.

Cap't Row Bare