October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing

Subject: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 14 Oct 14 - 11:09 AM

Our monthly shanty, forebitter and ballad session will be this Saturday, October 18th, from 3:30 to 7:00 PM at the Press Room, 77 Daniel Street, Portsmouth, NH.

PLEASE NOTE! We are wrapping the session a half hour early this month because several of us want to get to a house concert in Dover.

I hope as many of you as could make it enjoyed the 15th annual Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival last month! The weather couldn't have been better and our new venues turned out to be real gems.

See you Saturday!

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 08:58 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 02:26 PM

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Anybody reading this?!?

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: maeve
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 03:17 PM

Every time, Linn.

Maeve

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Don Hale
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 04:05 PM

Ditto, Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 04:29 PM

Please comment or otherwise refresh the thread when you check in -- it reassures me that it's read before I post the song list.

Thanks!

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: maeve
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 06:53 PM

Tide's in!

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 12:49 PM

What's the September shanty sing thread doing up?

I'll have to check and see. Meanwhile THIS thread had dropped off... Confusion about what month it is?

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 09:47 PM

Nah. I just came from reading that thread, and by now I imagine you've read the late comment added there, too.

It occurs to me that it was last year's October Shanty Sing that I was able to attend. I hope some day to return.

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Guest-Dianne
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 08:09 AM

That would be lovely Chantey Lass.

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 11:14 AM

Googled Richard Johnson (who wrote "The Plum Island National Anthem" the other day and found an email address and office phone number. Was going to email him, then said, "What the heck" and picked up the phone.

And there he was on the other end of the line. We spent about an hour reminiscing about 40 years. I hadn't seen or heard from him (except rumors about a prison ministry -- he IS a prison chaplain -- and Christian radio show) since 1982.

And he gave me permission to record "The Plum Island National Anthem"...

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 02:18 PM

Nice!

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Oct 14 - 10:31 AM

Our gang ran out of energy yesterday and couldn't get it together to make the trek out of Maine to Portsmouth and back again. Sigh!

Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Oct 14 - 11:05 AM

I understand, Charlie, but you were very much missed. And, since I knew you planned on coming, I had Sue Young check here on her phone to see if anything untoward had happened.

By the way, since next month's sea music sing falls the day after the first anniversary of Tom's death, we agreed that the November Shanty Sing should be the Tom Hall Memorial Shanty Sing.

I'll post this month's songs and shenanigans later today.

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Guest-Dianne
Date: 19 Oct 14 - 03:37 PM

Charley,

I'm sorry you were not able to be there 'cause I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed listening to Roll and Go Friday while driving out to Henniker.

Next time?
Dianne

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Oct 14 - 03:38 PM

I read this during the session, so here's the transcription.

On Tom's birthday a few days after the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, I didn't really want to be at home…so I headed to the Maine coast. First I went to Portland and took the Casco Bay Lines mail run ferry cruise around the islands in Casco Bay – a delightful three hours on the water while they delivered mail and cargo to Little Diamond, Great Diamond, Long, Chebeague and Cliff Islands. Sailed past Fort Gorges, watched gannets and other sea birds, observed two massive cruise ships coming into harbor and talked to a lot of people from Puget Sound, Salt Lake City, Richmond, Virginia and other places. When I got back to Portland, I HAD to stop at the Dry Dock pub and restaurant for lunch on my way to my car. I had just finished Linda Greenlaw's book "All Fishermen Are Liars" the previous morning and it had taken place at The Dry Dock. And had a chance to hear the story of another woman who had been on the mail run with me. (It's all about the stories…)

Then headed to Brunswick, poked around, ate a great dinner at Bombay Mahal and found a reasonably priced place to spend the night. Next morning I explored down Harpswell Neck, Orr's and Bailey's Islands, and Cundy's Harbor – all places Tom and I had last been 16 years ago.

In Cundy's Harbor went right to the three prominent slate markers for poet Robert P. Tristram Coffin, his wife Ruth, and their daughter Peggy…right where Tom and I had left them sixteen years ago. Besides taking photos (I think I did rubbings last time I was there), I transcribed the epitaphs. RPT's was probably from one of his poems, but I've not yet located which one. I'm sure he wrote the epitaph for his wife Ruth, and that's what I read at the session. I teared up as I transcribed it and I choked yesterday on the last lines as I read it aloud. (The tympanum has three fir trees and a 6-inch band of life-sized strawberry plants – same as her husband's.)

Ruth Phillip Coffin
Died April 5, 1947

Summers, when the years were young,
You climbed this hill, you chose
This graveyard for your own between
The spruces and wild rose.

Now on this island where you found
Wild strawberries and love
You lie, in the graveyard of your choice.
And the sea winds blow above.

Deer stare at the tinkling cows.
Rest, where you chose to be.
The high fog comes in over the hill
Gray eternity.

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Oct 14 - 03:57 PM

2014-10-18_Press Room Shanty Sing

The crew was me, Susan Young, Jeri, Gail and Janice, Emery Hutchins, Ernie Pigeon, Bill Lehrman and Carol Pierson, W.B., Dianne Lavoie, Nicole Hourihan, Don and Cathy Hale, Dave Nune, Steve Smith and Justine Donovan, and Carol Coronis. Charlie Ipcar, whom I expected, didn't show up, but we got his "note" (accepted) this morning. Bruce MacIntyre breezed in and breezed out…who was that masked man? And Jaki was our server (yay! Jaki!) (Since I was working on a severe sleep deficit, he kept me well supplied with black coffee…and snifters of rum.)

We also had a mob of loud and masked and costumed merry makers who descended for lunch just as Larry Garland's jazz group was breaking down their equipment and we were setting up. Managed to take control of our corner – ha! They had no idea what they were in for!

1. Bully In the Alley – Ernie Pigeon
2. Whiskey-O, Johnny-O – Linn Schulz
3. Pay Me My Money Down – Emery Hutchins
4. Essaquibo River – Susan Young
5. All For Me Grog – Dianne Lavoie
6. West Indies Blues – Hutch
7. Backside of Nantucket Point – Linn
8. Help Me To Raise 'Em – Ernie
9. Mollymauk – Jeri
10. Maggie May – Linn (accompanied by Hutch)
11. Bib Bowwow – Don Hale
12. Bonnie Bunch of Thyme – Dianne
13. Dundee Weaver – Linn (because it basically had the same moral as Dianne's song)
14. Sammy's Bar – Ernie
15. Final Trawl – Hutch
16. Saltpetre Shanty – Justine Donovan (Don added more verses)
17. Slav Ho – Ernie
18. If Not For the Whiskey [David Stone] – Dave Nune
19. Bottle of the Best – Linn
20. Boozing – Dianne
21. There Stands the Glass [Webb Pierce] – Justine
[after which I injected a verse of Ernest Tubb's "Pass the Booze"]
22.The Nellie J. Banks – Ernie
23. Drink To the Laddies [Sue West] – Susan
24. Albertina – Don
25. Albertina, Pump Her Dry – Dianne (different song from Barry Finn's)
26. With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm – Dianne
27. Down Below – Linn [which I found out a couple weeks ago from Evan Leonard, from whom I learned it back in the '80s, that he'd gotten it from David Jones, and it was written by Sydney Carter]
28. Susanna Martin – Justine
29. The Last Saskatchewan Pirate – Nicole Hourihan
30. We're Newfoundlanders, Not Canadians – Ernie
31. It's Halifax [David Stone] – Dave Nune
32. Sailor's Prayer [Tom Lewis] – Linn
33. Cornish Lad Are Fishermen - Susan
34. Drinkin' That Wine - Ernie
35. The Jeannie C. - Dianne
36. Reading of Ruth Phillip Coffin's epitaph [see above] - Linn
37. Annie C. Boline - Ernie (not sure I spelled that right)
38. Greenland Whale Fishery - Don
39. Santiano - Carol Coronis (not sure who Carol got this from, but it's the same version the Highwaymen used back in 1961 to back up "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore" -- Santiano was the B side of the 45 RPM record)
40. The Rosabella - Dianne
41. Fire, Fire (Fire Down Below) - Carol & Justine
42. Jamestown Homeward Bound - Don
43. Jolly Roving Tar [but not THAT one!] - Nicole
44. I Wish I Had Someone To Love Me - Dianne
45. Rolla Bolla - Ernie
56. Cannery Shed - Linn
57. Nelson's [Seaman's] Prayer - Don and the Company

Wrapped a half hour early so I could get to Dover to Red & Shorty's for the Cosy Sheridan house concert. Really glad Cosy is back in the New England! It was a great concert.

Since next month's session is the day after the first anniversary of Tom's death, it was agreed that the November Shanty, Forebitter, and Foc's'le Ballad Session will be the Tom Hall Memorial Session.

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Guest Dianne
Date: 19 Oct 14 - 05:09 PM

Hi all,
I am trying to be a better scholar, so I looked up the tune Albertina. I could only remember a couple of verses, but learned that this version is in Stan Hugill's Shantys From the Seven Seas. It is Norwegian ( pumping shanty) and there are nine verses.

Dianne

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Oct 14 - 04:44 PM

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Thanks, Ernie, for your message.

You have no idea how much I needed that encouragement today.

Linn

Subject: RE: October Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 20 Oct 14 - 09:57 PM

Linn, I'm glad you came up with a plan to help you get through Tom's birthday.

It's been years since I heard We're Newfoundlanders, Not Canadians! I'm glad someone (Ernie!) is still singing it even though I wasn't there to hear it.

Ernie, if you come to Mystic's Chantey Blast on Jan. 3 http://www.mysticseaport.org/event/chantey-blast-and-pub-sing/ , just remember, I'm putting in my request for this song now!