December Shanty Session (NH)

Subject: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 04:28 PM

The December Shanty / Forebitter session at the Press Room in Portsmouth NH will be happening this Saturday, 18 Dec. from 3:30 to 7:30 PM.

Thanks to the kindness of the city of Portsmouth, you won't have to feed the meters, BUT, the parking cops to get fussy about the two hour limit. One solution is to park as close to the front or back line as possible and reverse your position at the two hour mark, thus moving the chalk mark. You can also park in the city garage for .75 per hour.

Charley allowed as how he and Nor will be there as will Linn and I, and Jeri?
I expect a lot more of the usual suspects as well this time.

Uncle Jacque, I fear, may be a lost cause, unless of course he wants to come hear the song that Jeri is writing about him; every miss should be ammo for a new verse.

Looking forward to seeing all of you -- Tom

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 05:48 PM

I guess I better pay my Portsmouth parking ticket. It was only $10 but then I procrastinated and the total is now $25. I suppose if I miss the next deadline they'll send a SWAT team into Maine and boot my van.

Any idea if the film crew will be in residence?

Seems like it's been months since I've sung with the gang.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 06:24 PM

Don't know about the film crew, but I've sent a reminder to Will.

It does seem like months; we will make up for it -- Tom

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 07:21 PM

I plan to be there. See you all.

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: beetle cat
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 08:00 PM

same day as a j girls concert.. : (

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Dec 04 - 09:53 AM

I note that Barry Finn posted on the "Hexagon Zombies" thread. Maybe he'd be willing to grace the Press Room with his dulcet voice. It's been too long.

I'll see if I can round up a few more of the usual suspects.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 16 Dec 04 - 09:00 PM

Will's going to try to be there; don't know about film crew. Linn contacted Barry Finn - doubtful.

Anyone else?

See you Saturday -- Tom

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 09:21 AM

Maybe I'll refresh my brain cells for leading "Snow Shanty."

We really should experiment with what songs might be most appropriate or inappropriate for commemorating Brett's marriage to Wakana. Let's see, there's "Another Man Done Gone," "Nine Times a Night," and my current C. Fox Smith favorite "Port of Dreams."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 09:24 AM

Ah ha! Nobody's posted yet.

Charley did dust off the "Snow Shanty" (which I really should learn one of these winters) and I ended up doing Brian Chadburne's "Shopping Shanty" (Santa Come Back) twice.

We did veer off the beaten path of sea music with a few non-nautical seasonal selections as well as a short contest for who could sing the fastest song (Barbara Benn with "Ise the Bye" and "Rattlin' Roarin' Willie" and me with "Torn A', Rippit A'")

Will the video developer showed up sans videographer & sound personel, but with handmade Guatemalan Yuletide gifts all round.

Jeri needs to sing the first song that she sang more often because I really like it and would like to be more familiar with it. (How's that for being cryptic without meaning to be?)

Nice, laid back singing session.

Linn

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 10:41 AM

Then there were the lingerie songs, the drunken maidens regaled at least twice, Paddy West's School of Improbable Navigation, but, alas, no wedding celebration songs for Brett and Wakana.

I sang my Appalachian version of C. Fox Smith's "Limehouse Reach," which logically led to a discussion of minor and modal mountain tunes, and I then was intrigued by Jeri's description of visiting a music reunion at the Oak Grove near Staunton, Virginia, back in the late 1970's. The Oak Grove is a magical place that has been run by Fletcher and Margaret Collins for years, old family friends of my parents from their days of teaching at Arthurdale, WV, in the 1930's.

My other holiday song, other than "Snow Shanty"(words by Eileen McGann by the way), was a new arrangement of "Christmas at Sea" by Robert Lewis Stevenson in which he described the trials of a sailing ship trying to escape "the impervious horrors of a leeward shore" while embayed between two rocky heads.

Nice to get together once again with the Press Room folks.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Jeri
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 12:21 PM

Erm...'more often'? It was the first time I sang it at the P.Room! Yeah, I'll do it more.

By the way, it was, and is, a cold. The throat is sore, the nose is stuffed up (although quite dry), and I'm glad I got the songs in yesterday, 'cause I sound like crap today.

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:03 PM

Well, you may not have sung it previously at The Press Room, but I think you sang it sometime recently, like Hallowe'en, your birthday or Thanksgiving . . . or something. I've HEARD you sing it at least once before.

Linn

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:07 PM

Sorry I missed it. A bout of the flu or some such horro. Anyway, for anyone interested - New Years Eve at my house?
SINS

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Jeri
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 04:46 PM

The 20th year Oak Grove festival I went to was in '98, not 'the late 70's', and the performers were (among others): Robin and Linda Williams, Paul Geremia, Bob Zentz, Steven Bennett (Norfolk-area guitarist), and Sheila Kay Adams.

I did the song at your house. It might have been my birthday...no, I did one I wrote then. It wasn't Thanksgiving, or SINSULL would remember it. Must've been way back on Halloween!

Sorry you were sick, SINS. I'd rather be allergic to winter than have this cold, but it seems like it's a pretty wimpy cold so far. (Knocking on cedar, pine, mahogany, oak, spruce, maple, and any other variety of wood I can find around here.)

As for weddings and the lack of celebratory music, Bat Goddess knows one: "Bottoms up, me brave boys, and fall down."

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: GUEST,The Lurking Ghost of Uncle Jaque....
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 02:06 PM

(This was begun 2 weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to finishing it) -

O Lordy! I yam in dire staits now!!!

I fully deserved that, Jeri - although I hate to tell you, that after 5 1/2 years as a New Hampshire State Trooper, I've been called a lot worse! };^{D~

About my only plea is that I really don't watch much TV; pretty much just the news and once in a while the Discovery or History channel at night while I'm noodling around the internet at some of my other cyber-haunts.

Actually Domestic Management was ameinable to the idea... up until about noon when she decided she'd rather stay put and play solitare on the computer.

Driving myself down would have cost around $40 in gas and tolls I figure, not to mention potential domestic consequences, and I'd just started a new medication via the VA which was making me feel a bit dodgy, so wasn't keen on driving for about an hour and a half each way.

I actually considered calling Charlie N. about a ride down, but had forgot his phone no. and lost his E-mail addy about 3 crashes ago. So I finally threw in the towel and called it a miss.

The following week I was in the middle of writing this when she pops in and demands that I rush out and walk the dogs before we rush off to go Christmas shopping, while she settles back down to "bonk" (My term for playing innane computer games).

Now when I gets a bit tissed, I usually don't holler, rant, rave, or otherwise fuss; I just takes my hat and get some air.... which for the next hour or so the dogs and I did.   
Needless to say, Her Majesty was not amused, but about 2 weeks later we seem to be back on speaking terms... and I've quit taking that new stuff the VA had me on, after noticing some fine tremors...
That medication (Zyprexa - Jerri knows what that's all about) can cause parkensonian symptoms in higher doses, and since I was still on a very low dosage, and the Parkenson's can be irreversable, we got clear of that.
Pity too; I got to feeling fairly OK about hanging around above ground for a while there... Wed. we go back in to Portland to see what else they can dig out of their bag of tricks.

The holiday season around here tends to be hectic, despite having carved our giving exchange down to immediate Family and our only Daughter having grown up and on her own.   Holidays mean a lot more to Management than they do for me, and she delights in getting all wound up tighter than a 9-day clock over 'em, and flusters to no end if I don't play along.

At times I can see why more people blow their brains out between Thanksgiving and New Year's than at any other time of year.

I still can't seem to log back on to Mudcat, so guess I'll just lurk about as a perpetual "guest" off and on.

Gotta get back into the music, methinks; it's good for the Soul.

How's Kendall doing, BTW?

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 02:17 PM

Kendall's OK, but just getting over some sort of virus that laid him low for a couple of days and stopped him visiting Sheffield with me last night. My daughter took care of him and fed him KFC, making gravy and mash especially to make him feel more at home. He's developed a liking for English scones - the closest thing we can get to biscuits.

However he's now recovering and hopes to be OK to visit a session tomorrow night where we're hoping to meet Sir jOhn from Hull.

We're looking forward to Christmas with the family and New Year with friends before heading back home. See you for the January Shanty and I'll try and persuade the Cap'n to come as well this time. He says that he will come if he has a voice by that time as he's "not going to come and sit in a corner like a giraffe"

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 05:07 PM

"not going to come and sit in a corner like a giraffe"?

I've seen Kendall stick his neck out further than that!

We'll miss you at Sinsull's New Year's party, which according to my updated calculations won't be beginning till around 10 pm. I'll try not to be there too early.

Maybe we'll see Uncle Jaque there.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: December Shanty Session (NH)
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 06:12 PM

Fed KFC to Kendall with the flu?????? Are you trying to kill him? Kentucky Fried Chicken, right? Now I know why Bilge Pumps are in the ads below.
SINS