Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: GUEST,Turtle
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 02:28 PM

Well, dang! How about one of these when I'm back in Vermont the first weekend in August? I hate to miss all the fun, and I could swell the ranks of Vermonters by one, at least...>br >br Turtle

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 01:36 PM

Okay -- last post and chorus on this thread, but I feel the need to announce...

We found the owner of the bodhran!!! (And not a Mudcatter, either.)

Kendall will get his chowdah pot back tomorrow, the banjo player with the bat in his pants (only once! it's gone now!) gets his jacket back tonight.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 31 May 01 - 07:27 AM

I think we really should do it again, maybe right after Labor Day.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: GUEST,karen k
Date: 31 May 01 - 12:03 AM

Sounds like a great time. Wish I could have been there. Maybe next year.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 30 May 01 - 05:08 PM

This weekend, the weekend of Sables, Pirt et al at our Press Room session on Friday and up in Brunswick, ME on Saturday or next weekend, the weekend of my birthday?

Party, party, party (she says while taking a break from redesigning a menu and a catalog).

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 May 01 - 04:43 PM

How about next weekend?

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 30 May 01 - 07:54 AM

So, any suggestions on when to hold the next one? (Please, before snow flies and with a fighting chance of being able to be outside as well!) Any Vermont input?

Again, thanks to everyone for making it such a glorious gathering!

Linn

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Noreen
Date: 29 May 01 - 03:50 PM

BG, that's what I thought after the Yorkshire Gathering... so many wonderful Mudcatters, a weekend wasn't long enough to even talk as much as I'd have liked to with everyone, never mind all the music and songs that were there to be shared.

Here's to the next time!

Noreen

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 May 01 - 03:41 PM

Well, the guy showed up to retrieve the porta-potty about an hour ago. Didn't check for missing bodhranistas. Ah well...

Still haven't settled down to any work today, though I did deliver a job this morning. Still working off a warm glow from the party. Wish I'd taken notes. Can't remember half of the jokes, limericks, etc. not to mention songs I wanted to remember or even ask about later. Kendall, what was that limerick again? You know, that one. (I hope you know which one, cuz damned if I can remember; it was late, you know.) If anyone's interested, I'll post "The Adventures of the Rear Admiral and His Maid."

And then there's all the songs we didn't get to sing. Why can't we do this all week, anyway?

Too much fun!

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: SINSULL
Date: 29 May 01 - 10:24 AM

Uncle Jaque,
Your domestication has come as a total shock to me. When first we met, I assumed you were a member of the local chapter of Hell's Angels. What next? Will Kendall become a staunch Bush Republican? Will the Pope convert to Judaism? Good to see you, Love. And thank you for your music.
Mary

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 29 May 01 - 10:14 AM

Unclaimed Bodhran, eh? We wonders if ye Bodhranist might yet linger lost amidst the aftermath; have ye checked the portapot, BG? They have been known to fall in. Can the hounds get a scent off of the jacket?

A banjo-picking Lawyer... now that surely sends the collywobbles down me back!

Memorial Weekend is pretty nutz here, and we did well to make the celebrated ChanteySing, and were abundantly blessed thereby.

As much as I would have loved to join the huddled masses in NH (State of my nativity and home of over 20 years by the way) Sounds like I might be way too domesticated by now to fully appreciate such a fling. Your descriptionn reminds me of days of cherished yore up in Crystal, NH in the rambling home / shop of dearly departed Friend and Mentor "Ken" Vinyard and Family. Does anyone out there remember him? I can hear his Martin guitar and tenor banjo yet; sweet musical memories.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 May 01 - 10:08 AM

Memories of the day:

* Curmudgeon, face twisted and gasping for breath as he laughs at some remark/joke/story/song...

* Too many musicians in a small space, a critical mass resulting in endless O'Carolan tunes, massed voices harmonizing on various choruses, ducking fiddle bows and swinging guitar and banjo necks.

* Food spread all over the kitchen, Captain Kendall's fish chowdah, beef curry, cakes, nuts, cheeses, pasta salads, stuffed bread, lemon squares and, of course, BOURBON BALLS!

* The quiet that falls over a room full of people during a quiet song, and the rush of sound as the chorus comes up.

Thanks again, Tom and Linn.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 May 01 - 08:27 AM

I'm realizing I'm still tired, but have to get the tables that weren't used Sunday out of the car before I head off to meet a couple clients. Then HAVE to get some (paying) work done!

The party itself was as usual fairly easy to clean up after, mostly throwing ambient paper plates and beer bottles into trash bags. Have to deal with the quarterdeck stuff (beer, etc.) sometime today and wash some of the pots left here. Still have unclaimed a bodhran (with tipper) and a jacket. I think everything else has been claimed and has gotten back to its owner or will be soon.

Thanks again to everyone who made it such a delightful gathering! We'll definitely have to do it again before snow flies.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Noreen
Date: 29 May 01 - 08:16 AM

Ah- is there no end to the things I learn via the Mudcat? :0)

Hope you're all recovering from your wonderful weekend and not too 'down' in the aftermath...

Noreen

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:36 AM

No, my reference was a little newer than ol' Bill. Ill Met In Lankhmar is the title of a sword and sorcery fantasy featuring Fafrd and The Grey Mouser.

Sorry to be so shallow....:-)

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Noreen
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:06 AM

No, don't recognise it... don't remember that bit in A Midsummer Night's Dream ...?

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 May 01 - 05:09 AM

Ill met in Lankmar?

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Noreen
Date: 28 May 01 - 10:42 PM

fading fast by midnight eh, Brett? You're obviously not the man I took you for! :0)

ill-met by midnight, perhaps...

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 May 01 - 09:51 PM

Why Sandy, we haven't even begun to gloat!

Actually, it was too bad you couldn't make it. Late in the evening we got into the raunchy songs. Quite exilerating! Between Kendall and Curmudgeon we had enough material to write a book.

I, of course, was shocked into silence (eager listening silence) by such thoughts being musically expressed.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: bigchuck
Date: 28 May 01 - 08:32 PM

ALL RIGHT....that's about enuff gloating about the weekend. I could have found a way to make it, but I didn't dammit. So shut up about it already. Sinsull...not enuff banjos? Hie yerself to a therapist right now. Maybe it's not too late. Bah Humbug.
Sandy the green.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 May 01 - 08:22 PM

CET, glad folks could make it; we did have a lot of fun!

Send some more good music folks down for one of our shanty sings at the Portland Observatory on the 4th Sundays, 7 PM, starting in June and ending in September. There's actually a full summer of nautical music happenings in Maine and NH we can tell you about.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: CET
Date: 28 May 01 - 08:06 PM

We are back. It is now 7.45 p.m. The trip back to the Great White North was mostly uneventful, powered by diesel and happy memories of two extraordinary gatherings at The China Sea Marine Trading Company in Portland and chez Bat Goddess and Curmudgeon.

The "mostly" refers to the rapid deterioration of the muffler on our VW Golf. It started getting loud somewhere in Maine. By the time we left Linn and Tom's place it was sounding like a Hercules transport plane. After disturbing the citizens of New Hampshire and Vermont on their Memorial Day Holiday the damned thing finally fell off on the bridge over Lake Champlain. We had visions of a State Trooper pulling us over and ordering us to "step out of the car, please". Luckily, we made Cornwall, Ontario before 5 p.m. and Speedy Muffler effected a muffler transplant for us.

What a joy this was. I'm still buzzing and am looking forward to my next music fix. I have never seen such a combination of friendship and musical skill. I hope to see as many as possible of you at the Old Songs Festival. Alas, it's too laste for Mystic this year, but God willing ...

Edmund

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 May 01 - 07:45 PM

Even banjo players with bats in their pants?

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 May 01 - 06:29 PM

Brett,
There will never be enough banjos in this world, or banjo players.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 May 01 - 05:23 PM

More rubber squids? I don't think so. You might as well say the world needs more lawyers or banjos.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 May 01 - 05:13 PM

Whadya mean, the world doesn't need another rubber squid? Us rubber squid collectors (Loyal Order of Vulcanite Calamarians, New Hampshire Chapter) beg to differ. I'll have to write an editorial for our journal.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 May 01 - 04:33 PM

It would be fruitful and multiply, I guess. I think Jeri's plan to put Scotch in there makes more sense. No offense CN but the world just does not need another rubber squid!

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 May 01 - 04:06 PM

Wonder what would happen if one put a "squiggly" in Brett's beer cooler... ;-)

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 May 01 - 04:06 PM

Just arrived home. I told Brett on the way to the airport that I feel as if I should pay admission to these events. Wonderful people, wonderful music. There is no better way to spend a weekend.

Linn and Tom are congenial hosts as are the cats and the bats. The squirrel is another story. I am somewhat miffed at being chastised by a rat with a furry tail.The songs and music were pure joy but the after activities including limericks, naughty songs, and jokes...well, what can I say. It got so bad, Kendall made himself blush!
The kitchen brought to mind the wedding feast at Cana and the Sermon on the Mount. Wine, beer, fish, and everything else kept multiplying. Thank you all.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Jeri
Date: 28 May 01 - 03:06 PM

Naemanson's Cooler of Plenty. Next time, stick a bottle of single malt scotch in and see what happens!

I think you misinterpreted Bat Goddess's grab for the balls. I think she was in it for herself!

Better get off line...thunderstorms now.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 May 01 - 02:16 PM

No bodhran's for this boy. I want people to continue to think of me as civilized.

We had a great time. It was great to see old friends and make sdome new friends as well. Once they get home I'd like to hear from CET on his thoughts.

I was fading fast by midnight but almost managed to stick with it to the end. I counted it as training for Mystic in two weeks.

Thanks to Bat Goddess and Curmudgeon for opening their home and letting us in. Also, thanks to Bat Goddess for helping me pry the tin of bourbon balls out of Jeri's hands....

By the way, on Saturday I bought a cooler for this party. On Sunday morning I put about a dozen bottles of beer and three bottles of water into it. On the way I drank one of the bottles of water. Once we arrived I placed the cooler on the porch next to a washtub full of beer on ice. I kept taking beer out of that cooler all Sunday evening.

This is the tricky part. This morning I opened that cooler prior to loading it into the car. There were easily two dozen bottles of beer and several cans of soda in there! And the wash tub was still full. I know I saw people drinking beer, as well as other beverages, all night long. Somewhere along the line the cooler and the washtub were blessed and the beer kept multiplying. I now have more beer than I started with!

As I said, Great Party!

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 May 01 - 12:59 PM

Actually Kendall, it must have been 5:30 when you came inside cuz I tiptoed downstairs at 5:45 -- I woke up at 5, but the body didn't really want to move for a bit. Yup, we've got your chowder pot and will figure out how to get it back to you (maybe Naemanson can bring in home with him from The Press Room Friday). We also have a tuner (just claimed by Bruce), a bodhran (Brett? Yours?), a jacket, and Nunzilla that Sinsull forgot to take with her, so I'll mail it to her. Haven't found any other stray items yet, but haven't looked either.

I just polished off one of the salads washed down by root beer (carbohydrates! carbohydrates!) and cheese straws. Four hours of sleep really wasn't enough but I don't want to waste the day with a nap and besides, I don't nap well. Maybe I should just watch "Oversexed Rug Suckers From Mars" and veg out.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: kendall
Date: 28 May 01 - 12:36 PM

Spaw, you are certifiable! Actually Bat, I did sleep in my van, but, I came in at 6:30 for coffee and there was no sign of life, so, I took a page from my dogs' book and just laid down until something happened! By now you have noticed that I forgot my chowdah pot! What a party, man, it was great! Thanks again for opening your diggin's to us all.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 May 01 - 11:34 AM

Well geez BG, that was a helluva' boring ending.......I mean we had things building up and all and now people just leave? Oh well.............................

I still think Kendall would make a great killer........"New Hampshire Twelve String Massacre"

Spaw

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 May 01 - 11:00 AM

Actually, the party just broke up after a mosquito-infested tour of the ladyslippers at the head of the driveway. Naemanson and Sinsull off to catch Sinsull's appointed plane home from Portland Jetport; Jeri home to under-react and possibly nap -- or, more likely, to spend the rest of the day on-line, probably here at Mudcat. Kendall left a coupla hours ago, as did the Thomases who had an all-day drive back home to Ottawa.

What a wonderful gathering! It wasn't an all-Mudcat gathering, but it was the Mudcatters who had the most stamina. Wow! We'll be basking in the glow for quite awhile. Thanks to everyone who made it so grand!

Bat Goddess & Curmudgeon

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 May 01 - 10:10 AM

Hi," said the leather-winged bat,
"I'll tell you the reason that,
The reason why I'm pissed and' scowling
Is them Mudcats won't stop howling."

Come on, share more details!

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Noreen
Date: 28 May 01 - 10:08 AM

plot-thickening, pulse-quickening music....

JERI!

BEHIND YOU!

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 May 01 - 09:45 AM

Just came back for coffee this morning. Hey! Where is everyone? Hmmm, wonder when the ketchup bottle broke. It's quiet...too quiet...

Jeri, posting on BG's abandoned computer, after cleaning off the sceen

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 May 01 - 07:55 AM

You woke up hungry and came downstairs to find Kendall Morse asleep on your couch? Ya' know BG, what ya' got there is the beginnings of a good Hollywood horror film. Next, you find everyone else has been clubbed with an Appolonio 12 and are about a pint low on blood. And Jeri is missing altogether, just a few dragonflies hovering about a broken and bloody fiddle..............

Spaw

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Noreen
Date: 28 May 01 - 06:50 AM

Sounds wonderful, BG... thanks for keeping us informed Coffee over here please!

Noreen

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 May 01 - 05:54 AM

And now it's 5:45 a.m. and the coffee is almost made. I just tiptoed downstairs to forage (must have eaten too much yesterday -- I woke up hungry!) and had Kendall, who was sleeping on the couch rather than in his van, ask if the coffee was ready yet.

After Jeri wimped out last night, Naemanson, Kendall, Sinsull, Curmudgeon and I stayed up til about 1 a.m. talking, telling stories and jokes and singing. What a lovely party despite the rain which forced us to sit in each other's laps in the house rather than spreading out under umbrella'd tables in the (dreamed about) sun outside,

The ladyslippers liked the rain, I think.

Coffee sounds and smells almost finished and I know more people will be returning early for breakfast. As Ian Shoals would say, "I gotta go."

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Jeri
Date: 27 May 01 - 09:40 PM

Well, I'm home even though the party is still sort of going. For the first part of the day, folks were practically sitting on one another's laps. A bunch of local folks left, and it got a little less like an exercise in phone booth stuffing.

At some point, SINSULL was yelled at by an irate squirrel in the window. (See 2nd verse I wrote above.)

Naemanson behaved himself with the bourbon balls, but now that I'm gone, anything could happen.

Kendall sang a Bob Coltman's Patrick Spencer, and a few folks wanted the words. Great music, great food, great party!

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 May 01 - 11:54 AM

Have fun! Hope the leftover from our Shanty Sing still have energy to contribute. Jeri wanted to bring you the squigglies for show and tell but I was worried about them being hassled by the NH Customs folks. Sorry...;-(

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 27 May 01 - 11:16 AM

You're supposed to show up around noon-ish. Just finished vacuuming, spiffifying, putting the beer in the bucket on the deck. (Yeah, the beer's in the rain and so is the porta-potty -- there will be umbrellas at the door!)

Jeri, please bring lilacs! Our neighbors weren't home yesterday afternoon (and even though I had their okay, I didn't want to snip any when they weren't around) and though I talked to them this morning, it's been a bit on the damp side to walk up there since.

It'll be cozy -- the better to sing!

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Jeri
Date: 27 May 01 - 09:51 AM

Uh...what time are we supposed to show up?

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Jeri
Date: 27 May 01 - 09:47 AM

Well, my voice works just as well in the rain, but the fiddle may not like it much.

Completely irrelevent: I've been watching a pair of (I think) goldfinches. They pounce on dandilion stems, then walk down to the end and to eat the seeds.

Need any more lilacs? Need any Johnny-Jump-Up, which is what that stuff is that just decided to grow in my garden? (For folks who heard me whining about spring taking forever in the garden thread, this stuff was green and blooming under the snow.)

(Here comes the sun, dada da da...)

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 27 May 01 - 07:50 AM

Okay, okay. So it's a little damp. Maybe it will be gone by noon. There's umbrellas for the tables, but I don't suppose they'll do that much good if it drips too much. (Come on, concentrate -- we've got enough mental power to push the clouds away!)

The chairs are all in the house and dry -- as is the interior of the house. Not quite as much room as the great outdoors, but plenty of room for music and food and all. We'll have to trek up the driveway to admire the ladyslippers anyway.

The porta-potty is, of course, still outside and is still the preferred choice for that sort of thing as our poor composting toilet can't take the stress of parties.

Come on down!

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 26 May 01 - 03:03 PM

Well, I'm definitely not going to be able to make it to Portland tonight. Just finished folding the sheets that I'll soon be unfolding onto the guestroom bed. And hacking down grass. And removing piles of winter mulch leaves. Still need to spiffify the house, vacuum the cobwebs that will surely be visible tomorrow, dust the dust that will be visible again all too soon, etcet etcet. Martha Stewart definitely does not live here! (But we can sing that song tomorrow as Pat Favorite who wrote it says she's coming to the party.)

I'm off to collect some lilacs! See you tomorrow.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 May 01 - 01:08 PM

BG,

I'll bring a couple of the "squiggly gang" to the Portland Chianti Sing. If you're not there, at least you'll get a first hand report of the prowess, if there are any survivors.

Subject: RE: Nottingham, NH Mudcat Party
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 26 May 01 - 06:45 AM

Oh, Sinsull, I removed the rubber snake (temporarily) that was wrapped around the beam in the guest room. I, uh, well, I thought, I mean... I didn't remove it for Naemanson, but I wasn't sure, what with everything else...

I have some unusual ideas about home decoration. (Actually, my housecleaning philosophy is that if you've got enough cool stuff to look at, nobody notices the house is a mess. That concept and tarps work wonders.

It was great seeing Barry last night at the Press Room. He's in fine voice, though he claims to be out of practice. He's thinner, but looks fine. (Justine looks great as well -- and very relieved! It was quite an ordeal for both of them.)

Bat Goddess