The past two weekends have been pretty complicated. I spent the weekend prior to this last one out at Canterbury Faire . This is a relatively new event – a mere two years old – but it’s showing signs of building nicely as a regional RenFaire out in the Salem, Oregon area.
I had the pleasure of sharing a stage with the inimitable Alexander James Adams and hanging out with him and some other friends in between shows. On Sunday, we conspired to bring a little music to the Tobias the Adequate Magic show during the “Escapist’s Meditation” chain escape bit.
“And now, Alexander James will play some dramatic, slow music whilst I work my way out of this… mess…
Alex begins to play, slowly… then speeds up.
Tobias turns to Alex. “You’re speeding up.” Alex slows down.
Tobias turns around to continue the escape. Alex speeds up. Tobias glares at Alex. Alex slows down and looks innocent. Repeat several times much to the increasing ire of the magician.
Finally, Tobias growls at the poor musician. “Hit it.” Alex goes into Ramming Speed and much flailage ensues. Laughter, applause, and amusing bruses are the result. I had a great time doing this “gig” with Alex and would love to do it again!
This weekend was a split schedule – I spent Saturday at the Celebrate Hillsboro event, sharing a stage with Charlie Brown, Curtis Carlyle, Trash Can Joe and a host of other talented performers.
I used that cart I babbled about in my previousl blog entry to get my gear from the parking structure down to the performance space – and as I said earlier, this cart is downright nifty. Once I got on site, we all oohed and aahed over it (this is what itinerate variety performers do, we geek out over infrastructure) quite a bit before my set started.
Charlie and Curtis had to brave the Big Yellow Ball in the Sky (out here in Oregon we view this with suspicion and dread) whilst throwing things up into the air. For Curtis, it’s an added challenge as he’s one of those Highly Combustible Red Headed People. All hands did their sets and were very well received. I opened the stage at 10:00, which let me use the excuse of “Hey it’s early!” to justify why the jugglers got bigger crowds than me. That’s my story and to it I shall stick.
I did some more strolling entertainment, doing the “stick schtick” balancing bit and adding in some silk magic thanks to a 3′ green silk scarf. I learned that if there’s a nice breeze blowing, you can tie said scarf to said stick and, balancing carefully, have the scarf blowing out behind the stick. This makes for a good photo op. And then Curtis came rolling by on his 10′ tall “Sucicycle” and so much for the magician. Heh.
Sunday found me back at Canterbury for three shows, all of which were well attended and well received. The story comes during my final show at 5pm. This show happens after the 4pm Joust, which occurs out in a large, unshaded, dusty area. I was dealing with folks who were tired, hot, dusty, and in need of a place to sit down. They were a great crowd, and as I was setting up to do the Big Stupid Finale… they started looking over my shoulder.
“There’s a raven… in the trees… behind you.”
Cue. Ominous. Music.
Well, Tobias Rule #5 is Work with it, not against it soooo… I did. Playing up the Ominous Circumstances… “Well now I’m worried…” the chan slides, the loop passes through my neck… and the raven flies away, disappointed.
I turned to the trees, shook my fist, and shouted “HAH!”
No kidding, there I was…
