June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH

Subject: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: curmudgeon
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 03:06 PM

The monthly shanty/forebitter/ballad session will be happening at The Press Room, Portsmouth NH from 3:30 to 7:30 PM.

Our numbers have been down a bit, but not the quality. Still, it would be nice to enjoy some quantity and quality together again - Tom

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: maeve
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 04:47 PM

I 'd love to know the date, please.

maeve

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 04:54 PM

This Saturday, June 20th.

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 05:28 PM

I'm certainly planning to come.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: maeve
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 06:18 PM

Thank you, Jeri.

maeve

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 06:38 PM

Argh! I haven't had time to listen to (& transcribe) the tapes (and the digital recording) of the MAY session! (Double arghh!)

Linn

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 09:18 PM

Linn-

So, we're doing pirate songs? I've got some Somali friends I could bring down from Portland.

They're not really pirates but they do know some real pirates.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 02:34 AM

Who said anything about "pirate songs"?

Barry

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 08:34 AM

ARGH! said Linn.

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 10:05 AM

" 'Arghh!' said Linn." -- Ayuh, that must have been it. (I've got pirate SOCKS on, though...)

P.S. -- I don't KNOW any pirate songs...

Linn

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: GUEST,Peadar (formerly) of Portsmouth
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 06:38 PM

Alas, I will not be in attendence unless I pop in late. I have a client event I will be overseeing in Boylston MA.

Please sing one for me and hoist a few as well.

Peter

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 08:44 PM

Linn-

How could you not know at least one pirate song?

And someone needs to lead "You Can't be a Pirate" in four-part harmony.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 09:03 PM

That song is great...maybe once a year. Not worth learning other than the chorus.

Novelty songs only remain a novelty and a joy if they're sung very sparingly.

Linn

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 09:49 PM

Henry Martin, Linn?

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: curmudgeon
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 12:12 PM

With barely three hours to go, I only have definites from Charley, Jeri. Jeff and Barbara, Peter and Joanne, Dave H., and a maybe from Barry. Anyone else?

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: adventure
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 12:56 PM

Wow Linn.....criticality of the pirate song.....and only once a year.

So does this mean no more parodies, too?????

No more laughing, no more fun....etc....

Doryman

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 01:32 PM

No -- I'm just pointing out that parodies, etc. are MOST effective and funny when used sparingly such as with a new audience or after a previous audience has been deprived for awhile. Like any joke. Might just as well say, "Thirty-seven" and have everyone fall about with laughter. (Talk about old jokes...)

Unfortunately, too, sometimes a parody or funny song all of a sudden becomes the flavor of the day -- and SOMEBODY seems to be singing it everywhere you go. Happens, too, with non-humorous songs, but they have a little more staying power. Even if it's a song you like a lot, it gets very tedious by the end of a festival when you've heard the same song a dozen times by nine different performers or groups. ("Aw, not again!")

Just my coupla pennies' worth.

Linn

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 01:44 PM

Linn-

That's very true on recordings as well. Once you've gotten the joke, the parody tracks are invariably the one's I skip over. I even tire of some of Jon Campbell's classics!

Judy will be joining me on the trek south today.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Barry Finn
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 02:44 PM

See all of you there. I believe Mark will be there too.

Barry

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 10:30 PM

It certainly was a nice session. When Judy and I walked into the Press Room there was Tom & Linn, Mark, Jeri, Emery, Dave, Marty, and a new Barry (from Vermont). Then the Gloucester gang came in: Peter, Joanne and Rose, followed by Barry Finn & Justine, and finally Barbara and Jeff. There may be a spouse or two I've missed but I think I've got all the folks who led a song.

I finally got Emery to sing "West Indies Blues" which he does a great job on; I got to play concertina rather than banjo!

I led "Mobile Bay," "Tramps (a coaling shanty)," "Lee Fore Brace," "A Ballad of the Old Navy," and "Evening Shadows Fall."

Barbara did a new one by Andrew MacKay (Cranedriver) that sounds ancient, and she collaborated with Jeff on "Keep the Lower Lights Burning."

I'm leaving lots of room for others to fill in but it was a really nice evening.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 08:19 PM

Barbara's sung that one before -- but nowhere near often enough. I've started to learn it, too, over the winter at moments when the shop was quiet and all the other work done. (Which maybe explains why I don't know it yet.)

Linn

Subject: RE: June Shanty Session @ The Press Room (NH
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 09:59 AM

The new feller Barry is resident in Vermont in the winter and then cruises up and down the New England coast. He led "Mary Ellen Carter" and "Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers and I'm thinking he led some traditional shanties as well.

JudyB led "So Long (Good-Bye Old Ship)" by C. Fox Smith and "Neptune's Daughter" by Bob Watson.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble