November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing

Subject: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 Nov 15 - 01:18 PM

Our monthly Shanty, Forebitter and Fo'c's'le Ballad Session will be this Saturday, November 21st, from 3:30 to 7:30 PM at The Press Room on Daniel Street in Portsmouth, NH.

There was an article two weeks ago in The Hippo on "Find Your Jam" (niche music) that included a substantial bit about maritime music in New Hampshire, the session and the PMFF, so that might draw a few people who didn't know we existed.

I know Jamie Bishop will be coming to join us from western Massachusetts.

It is so good to be having regular sessions -- both the Friday trad session and the shanty sing -- at The Press Room again! We've got a lot of singing to do to make up for not having the July or August sessions.

Hope I see you Saturday and we'll make the rafters roar!

Linn

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: maeve
Date: 16 Nov 15 - 01:25 PM

Happy Roaring Rafters!

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Charlie Ipcar
Date: 16 Nov 15 - 04:47 PM

Hoping to attend but things are getting very busy right now.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 18 Nov 15 - 02:18 PM

Please leave a note if you check in...♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Linn

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: maeve
Date: 18 Nov 15 - 02:25 PM

B flat.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Don Hale
Date: 18 Nov 15 - 02:47 PM

If I left a note every time I took a look, there would be a Beethoven symphony posted. Looking forward to Saturday! I expect Pete will be in attendance, fresh from the Ennis, Ireland Trad sessions. Hope we might be graced with some of the north Shore/Cape Ann folks making the trek North.
                        Don

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Nov 15 - 07:41 AM

Tell Pete to wear a flower in his lapel…to make sure I recognize him. ;-)

Linn

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Nov 15 - 03:19 PM

F Sharp
I will be at a house concert in SoPo.
Have fun.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: ranger1
Date: 19 Nov 15 - 07:30 PM

Hoping to be there, but still waiting to find out if I get the day off from the market.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Nov 15 - 10:31 AM

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Nov 15 - 04:44 PM

We're involved in a recording project Saturday morning and we're not sure when we'll be clear to run down to Portsmouth.

Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Trad Folkie
Date: 21 Nov 15 - 12:31 PM

Carol & I are planning to come.

See you then.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Nov 15 - 01:34 PM

I will be going after all. The recording session went well. I left a message for Tami but haven't heard back from her.

Charlie

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: ranger1
Date: 21 Nov 15 - 02:07 PM

Have to work :(

Thanks for thinking of me, though, Charlie.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,Bupkes
Date: 21 Nov 15 - 06:47 PM

Sorry to miss today's session. But I was reading Kafka…

"You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." — Franz Kafka

— Marty

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Nov 15 - 07:57 PM

I stayed home, avoiding getting into the meeting minutes this month. Too sad about Danny McCleod.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Nov 15 - 03:46 PM

It was another fine session with some special guests.

A number of songs were dedicated to Danny McLeod.

Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Nov 15 - 03:54 PM

I'll post the wrap up probably tomorrow. I'm a bit overextended right now.

Why isn't there an obit thread here at Mudcat for Danny? I don't feel I'm the right person to start it.

Linn

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 23 Nov 15 - 06:19 PM

All righty, then…
The crew was Me/Linn (Bat Goddess), Susan, Charlie (Charley Noble), Dianne, Hutch, Martha from Gloucester, Tony from Gloucester, Janice (wearing a turkey hat) and Gail D., Jamie from western Mass., Don from the deep south (of Massachusetts), Gail Finn, Bill and Carol from Boston, Dave J., Pete (Peadar formerly of Portsmouth), Justine, Mike M., W.B., and Jeff W. And later a young man named Luke who is living on his boat this winter and had discovered us at the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival in September came in and sang a few.

I'd heard on CBC Friday night on the way home from the session that Ron Hynes has died in St. Johns, Newfoundland, then on Saturday heard the news that Danny McLeod had passed away (Friday? Thursday?)

Here's what we sang --

1. Strike the Bell - Tony
2. Crossing the Bar - Martha
3. The Chanteyman - Charlie
4. Lukey's Boat - Hutch
5. By By, My Roseanna - Dianne
6. Fisher Lassies - Susan
7. Johnny, Come Down to Hilo - Jamie
8. Home, Dearie, Home - Linn
9. All Coiled Down - Don (for Danny McLeod)
10. Sonny's Dream - Gail Finn (for Ron Hynes)
11. Navy Hymn/Eternal Father, Strong to Save - Tony
12. Noah Built the Ark/Sitting On the River By the Levee - Susan
13. Astoria's Bar - Martha
14. Roll the Old Chariot - Hutch
15. All For Me Grog - Dianne
16. Ballad of Captain Blanche Leathers - Charlie
17. Johnson Girls - Justine
18. South Australia - Peter H.
19. Rolling To Cairo-Town - Don
20. Nine Times a Night - Linn
I told the story of the Durham, NH town report sometime in the 1980s which came in camera-ready so we couldn't do anything about it. There was a chapel often used for weddings that came under the Cemetery Report…which listed how many "weddings were consummated" in the chapel. I want to know if it was in the aisles or on the altar...
21. Bay of Fundy - Tony
22. Old Zeb - Hutch
23. Sugar In the Hold - Jamie
24. High Noon In the Tropics - Charlie
25. The Voyage - Martha
26. Knickerbocker Line - Linn
27. Shawnee-Town - Hutch
28. Saltpetre Shanty - Justine
29. White Squall - Peter
30. Never Turn a Blind Eye To the Storm - Charlie
31. Tiny Fish For Japan - Tony
32. The Jeannie C. - Dianne
33. The Thanksgiving Round - led by Linn, sung by the company
      STRICTLY TRADITIONAL -- at least at The Press Room for over 35 years
34. Fall Down Billy O'Shea - Hutch
35. With Me Rubber Boots On - Mike (Newfoundland fishing variant of "With Me Pit Boots On"
36. Hills of Isle Au Haut - Martha
37. Tinker, Tailor - Dianne
38. We Are Three Jolly Fishermen - Jamie
39. Jamestown Homeward Bound - Don
Discussion of a need for a song parody, "Turkey On a Raft"…
40. Bread and Gravy/parody of "Silver Threads Among the Gold" - Linn
41. Fire On the Mauritania - Jeff
42. Hammers On Stone - Tony
I told the story of Newburyport captain Charles Tyng and the kid in the molasses vat in Havana -- I'll post it later after I massage the text from the memoir. The story reminded me very much of "Dead Dog Cider"…
43. Dead Dog Cider - Charlie (who got cross threaded and put it on hold)
44. Isle Au Haut Lullaby - Martha
45. Dead Dog Cider (continued) - Charlie
46. Salt Water Cowboy - Mike
47. Lowlands - Gail Finn
48. Johnny Come Down to Hilo - Justine
49. Tommy's Gone to Hilo - Luke
50. Yangtze River - Charlie
51. Sailor Cut Down In His Prime - Jeff
52. Santiano - Jamie
53. Ben Backstay - Luke
54. Rabbit Has No Tail At All - Mike
So I had to follow with the similar song I learned from my Dad
55. The Horse Ran Around With His Foot On the Ground - Linn
56. Nelson's Prayer/Seaman's Hymn - Don and the company

I'll post the molasses story later.

Linn

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Nov 15 - 12:43 PM

Okay, here's the story that's similar to the story in "Dead Dog Cider" --

It's from the memoir "Before the Wind" by Charles Tyng, sea captain, ship owner, and merchant of Newburyport, Massachusetts. This memoir only covers the years 1808 to 1833. —

Captain Tyng writes --
I generally carried a goat with me on my various voyages for the sake of the milk, and on my passage from Antwerp I had a very superior one, with two kids a good size, and on our arrival in Havana, I had put them put on shore at my friend Patterson, who had a molasses establishment on the bay near where our vessel lay at anchor, so that they could run about and pick up shrubs & grass. After being there a week or more I called to see how they were getting on. I met Mr. Patterson, who was a man of 60, and of rather an irascible disposition who told me one of my kids was lost. He expected it had been stolen. I told him it was of no consequence as I did not care about them, as it was only the goat that was of any use.

About two days after, it being Sunday, I thought I would go over and see my friend Patterson, who invited me to stop to dinner, which I did. After dinner he wanted to show me his establishment, which was a large stone building divided into three parts. On one and was his molasses tank, built of brick and held twelve hundred hogsheads molasses, in which she received the molasses from the various plantations he contracted with. It was full, and covered over with planks. The other end of the building was filled with empty hogsheads to put the molasses in when he sold it to the American vessels which hauled to his wharf to load. The centre of the building was used by his work workman & coopers. Over the tank was a second story where he lived. There was a bad smell all through the building, which he thought was caused by dead rats.

He said he would like to show me his molasses, and called some of his men to remove one or two of the planks, when the first thing that came in sight was the beginning "long-lost" kid, puffed up tremendously with the hair all off, and producing the most dreadful scent. The sight of Patterson at this discovery would have made a picture for a Hogarth. He threw off his hat, and his gray hair stood on end. He could at first hardly speak, and when he did such a round of curses poured forth that would have frightened all the goats in Cuba, could they have but comprehended it. The amount of it was that he considered his molasses spoilt, and himself ruined. I am course felt very bad but could say nothing, except to express my sorrow, and take myself and my goat and kid off.

The day before I sailed I called to bed my friend P. good bye. There was a Portland brig loading molasses at the wharf, Capt. Winslow, one of the oldest traders in the article. Patterson, as soon as he saw me, called me one side, and asked me not to mention a word about the kid, as he wished it kept a secret. He then told me that a few days after I was there last, old Winslow called to enquire about a cargo of molasses, the price &c. "I did not expect to sell, so I put on a high price, half a bit higher than others were selling for. He said he would like to look at it, so I called the hand and ordered him to bring a bucket full from the tank. Old Winslow examined it, and after a little while decided to take a cargo. He said it was the best molasses he had seen. He told other captains and I have sold every hogshead I had in the tank, and could sell as much more. Your kid incentive doing me harm has put $1000 in my pocket."

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Nov 15 - 08:20 AM

So...anybody reading this?!?

Linn

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 15 - 09:03 AM

Yes, of course.

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: GUEST,maeve who must take time to restore her cook
Date: 25 Nov 15 - 09:31 AM

♪♫•*¨*•¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♪♫
('Twas I, LeClerc O>O )

Subject: RE: November Press Room (NH) Shanty Sing
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Nov 15 - 08:36 PM

Linn-

Thanks for posting the list and the perpetrators.

Charlie