Pennsic 35

[cellio]

I went up to Cooper's Lake on Thursday of the first week and came home on Friday of the second week. This seemed to be just about the right amount of time. Some people in our camp stayed the full two weeks, but most arrived on Thursday or Friday of the first week and stayed through the final Saturday. (We were supposed to finish tear-down this morning, but halfway there we got a phone call saying not to bother -- they'd finished without us. Oops.)

The weather was very good; we only had significant rain once (naturally, at dinner time on my night to cook). Next year Pennsic will be a week earlier, and July is pretty consistently hotter and more humid than August, so it may be a while before we have such good weather again. (The decision to move Pennsic was made for some good reasons and some bad ones, but either way, the implementation was poor. Fortunately, that did not generate a lot of grumpiness at Pennsic this year.)

Bertram, who used to live in our group and now lives in Atlanta, was there for the first weekend. Or rather, I should say, half of him was -- he's lost a lot of weight, enough that I might not have recognized him had I not been clued in. Another ex-local, Tofi, has also lost a lot of weight since moving to California; that he can commute via bicycle certainly helps.

On the first Friday I met up with mbarr and his fellow campers, who kindly brought me challah from New York. (Zomick's, which I can't get locally. Yummy!) No one was prepared to host Shabbat dinner for everyone, so we all went our separate ways. I had dinner with a lady from Israel (now in New York) named Toshiko. She comes from a traditional background (some non-Lubavich Chassidic, I think). She has a Japanese persona and did a nice job of dressing up a modern tent to look less modern.

osewalrus and beckyfeld (and Aaron) joined me for Shabbat lunch. (I thought we were getting someone else too, but I think our wires got crossed.) We didn't get to talk as long as I would have liked due to time constraints, but it was an improvement over last year. They will be at Darkover this year, so I hope to get more time with them (and, particularly, adult-conversation time) there. Aaron is now old enough to not require constant attention, and he was well-behaved at Pennsic (when I was around him).

Saturday night ariannawyn held a memorial/reception for Johan. There were a lot of people there; alas, it was fairly dark, and I was having trouble recognizing people except by voice. This was also true at the kingdom party Monday night, so in both cases, I didn't stay long. Part of this is just that outside at night is generally dark (even with some torches), but part is certainly my vision. Drat.

There was an arts and sciences display with a lot of nifty entries. There weren't as many from our kingdom (AEthelmearc) as I'd expected, but there were several. I was glad to see a wide range of skill levels; the novices weren't afraid to exhibit alongside those with much more experience. I talked to someone who's growing herbs for cooking and plants for dyeing; she's currently growing hops but doesn't like beer and wants to get rid of them, and it turns out she lives two hours away, so I'm putting her in touch with the head of our brewing guild. It's nice when things like that work out. :-)

Random observation: the map in this year's Pennsic book didn't label the roads. That's less than helpful. I hope they don't do that again.

Purim

Over the course of about three days, some of us hatched a plan to hold an event on Purim next year. It started with someone observing that (1) the people who always invite me won't be hosting for Purim this year as they'll be out of town, and (2) Purim is on a Sunday this year. I've been wanting to cook another SCA feast for a while, but the vast majority of events are on Saturdays. Someone else in my camp would like to autocrat again and really doesn't care if it's on a Saturday or a Sunday, so she latched onto the Purim idea and we both ran with it. The candidate site is owned by someone who was at Pennsic, so the autocrat was able to confirm availability (and he's into the idea of doing it, and wants to organize some games for the kids). I've already had one volunteer to help cook.

The event might not be approved by the officers because -- finally! -- we have several event proposals vying for the February/March timeframe and we don't know who might be willing to move. I hope we can do it, though. We're going to talk to the local commedia del'arte troupe about presenting the Purim story, which could be a real hoot! (Commedia del'arte is improvised theatre with stock characters who can be adapted to many situations, sort of the way Bugs Bunny can show up in a number of contexts but is always Bugs Bunny.)

Random camp wackiness

At dinner one night early on, someone offered for dessert a pound cake with Amaretto drizzled over it. Someone complained that insufficient Amaretto had been poured on, and I passed the bottle and suggested a "dipping sauce". This -- both the cake/alcohol thing and the "dipping sauce" in particular -- took on a life of its own, and we ended up doing similar things for several nights running. I agreed that we could do this for my night to cook provided that a parve cake was procured (as I was serving meat); angel-food cake works just fine too. :-) (On several other nights I just ate dessert first, because dinner was almost always meat.)

Early in the first week, two camp-mates decided that a third person's straw hat was in need of replacement, though he asserted that it was perfectly functional. They bought him a new hat, painted his badge on it, confiscated the old one, and waited for him to notice. Later one of the perpetrators lost her hat, so the "victim" procured a new one for her. (I suggested that his old one was still available, but she rejected the idea.)

Heard late in the second week: "Look, we're growing penicillin!".

Go not to the elves for counsel...

One night someone came to our camp looking for directions to the bus station in Pittsburgh. That's a perfectly reasonable request to make of someone from Pittsburgh; it's apparently more of a challenge for a group of people from Pittsburgh. A comedy of errors ensued, which can be sumamrized thus:

Someone: The bus station is at [intersection], right?

Someone else: No, they moved it. It's now on [street].

Someone: Ok, you want to take 79 to 279 to Pittsburgh. Follow the signs for the airport and don't take 579, and --

Someone else: No, don't do that. It's much easier to [...]

(Huddle among half a dozen people ensues. Someone to questioner: "Don't listen to any of this yet; we'll get back to you." Questioner shows signs of doubt.)

Someone: Ok, here's what we decided. Do follow the signs for 579, and then follow the signs for 376. But don't take 376; instead you need to get off at [...]

Someone else: And here's something important. When you get lost and accidently go through the tunnel, about 50% chance, here's how to recover.

I do hope the poor guy found (1) the bus station and (2) his way back to Pennsic. :-)

Dancing

Judith of Northumberland, a prominent dancer and dance instigator from Drachenwald (Europe), was given notice that she will be elevated to the Laurel in a few weeks. (This is the SCA's highest award for arts and sciences.) They held a vigil for her at Pennsic so that more of the SCA's dance geeks and Laurels in general could talk with her. I knew her electronically but don't think I'd actually met her before, so that was nice. One amusing bit: they don't really do Playford dances in Drachenwald, because they don't need to. (Whereas over here, Playford is the bone we throw to keep out the truly-out-of-period dances...)

She is also getting married soon, and had already been planning to host one of the evening balls to celebrate. The ball was limited to 15th-century Italian dances, which are some of my favorites. She had arranged for musicians who played a variety of instruments. (Am I correct in remembering shalmestere as one of them, or am I mixing up my music contexts?) Domenico (one of the primary sources for this repertoire) makes a point of instructing people to vary their dancing based on the instruments being used, so I tried to do that. It was a lot of fun. I got to dance Rostiboli Gioioso with lyev and a piva with a very energetic and fun dancer from Concordia (whose name I have failed to retain). There were a lot of good dancers at that ball.

Performances

Sunday night I Sebastiani, (say it together) "the greatest commedia del'arte troupe in the entire world!", gave a fun performance. The cast was smaller than some of their shows in the past have been, but that's fine -- it made it easier to track what was going on and who was scheming which schemes. There were many funny bits which I've now forgotten, alas. The "interludes" between acts were fun, too (music and dance).

I Sebastiani does "high-brow" commedia; I Genesii, a local troupe, does a raunchier form. (I believe this is an earlier- versus later-period distinction; I don't know if it's also geographical.) I Genesii made a point of advertising their show as not suitable for kids. I'd call the show PG-13 rather than the R they were implying, though; they have definitely done much raunchier shows in the past. I enjoyed this year's show; there has been a lot of turn-over in the group and it seemed that some people were still getting used to their roles (and their interactions with others), but there were some very good bits there. blackpaladin did a very nice Capitano, and the actors playing Columbine, Arlequino, and the new Virginio seemed very comfortable and in-character.

Virginio deserves special mention. There used to be a young lover named Cinzio; they're no longer using that character, but Virginio fills that niche. (And yes, the name is chosen to be evocative.) Cinzio was a little more targetted (wooing particular women) and perhaps a little more worldly; Virginio seems to be in love with the idea of being in love and is very much the young puppy. His white-and-pink garb and habit of skipping around the stage (he never walked, only skipped) completed the character. The plot revolved around a letter he wrote to his true love, whomever it might be -- addressed "to whom it may concern", and asking the bearer to meet him in the garden at midnight. You can see all sorts of ways for this to go wrong, right? It did. It was fun.

We showed up early for I Genesii and caught the end of a performance of middle-eastern dance. There were many dancers (not all on stage at once except for the final piece), and at a wide range of skill levels. Dani and I were speculating that this was a group of people who'd taken a series of classes at Pennsic and this was the "graduation", but I later looked it up on the schedule and it's a dance troupe called Desert Moon. (I think they're from the East -- can any of my readers say more about them?) I was particularly impressed by one dancer -- tall, on the thin side, blonde, left-handed -- who seemed to have mastered moving precisely but not mechanically. I don't really know much of anything about middle-eastern dance, but I've seen bad "belly bunnies" and this was not one of them. I wonder who she was.

The Debatable Choir performed Monday night, doing a program of songs about songs and singing, including "Cantate Domino" by a quartet singing one on a part. (It's nice to see that song back; it's pretty.) I think this was the first Pennsic for a couple of choir members, but if they were nervous, it didn't show.

The Pennsic Choir, directed by ariannawyn, performed a program of Spanish music Thursday. Dani's comment was that they sang eight Spanish songs in five different languages -- some were in Latin, and then there was Catalan, Galician, and I'm not sure what else. The Pennsic Choir is impressive because it's not a regular group; it's 50 or so people who rehearse two hours a day for a week at Pennsic and then perform. They do get the music in advance and some people actually work on it before Pennsic, but some don't. They did some challenging pieces, too, and sounded good while doing it. They didn't say anything about next year's director or program; I wonder if that means they haven't decided yet. (This year's plans were announced at last year's concert.)

Several times in the marketplace I ran into Istampitta, Master Avatar's group. I was glad to see them -- they're from Texas, so Pennsic is a bit of a distance for them. They are very good, and I hope Pennsic will be one of their regular stops. As the name suggests, they do mostly medieval (rather than renaissance) music, mostly instrumental (but I heard a song or two from them).

They had three CDs with them. Two of them looked familiar, but I couldn't tell whether that was because I already owned them or because the art was familiar. That's the danger of using period art for album covers. :-) So I bought the new one that I couldn't possibly have yet, and I'll have to check the shelves for the other two. (This is complicated because there is another group named Istampita and I have two of their recordings...)

Other people

My friend Baron Steffan didn't come this year, though I saw his lady (who has more vacation time than he does). It's been a long time since he and I were able to sit down and talk, and I miss that. He's the person who really helped me sort out my early feelings about Judaism.

Dof and Thora were also not there this year, though I didn't find that out until fairly late. (I'd visited their camp and not found anyone in.) They, too, are people I only see at Pennsic, alas.

I did get to spend some time visiting with woodwindy and her lord, and I met loosecanon there too. That was fun. woodwindy and her lord have been building up a small Andulusian enclave within their barony's camp; this year they had some new walls with carved stucco. (Ok, not really -- but it looked right.) They have a nice little fountain in their courtyard, too. Fun stuff! (loosecanon, do you camp there too, or did you just happen to be visiting at the same time I was and we got lucky?)

I also got to spend some time visiting with dglenn, and saw anniemal and syntonic_comma in passing. (I don't think I'd met the latter previously.) I had a brief goldsquare sighting but never really got to visit. ("When are you in camp?" "When I'm sleeping.")

Friday morning I recieved a visitor, a man from Brooklyn at his first Pennsic (first event?) who was attracted to the star of David and mezuzah on the house. We had a pleasant conversation (almost entirely in English; he's fluent in Hebrew), and I once again realized that I could have had more of a conversation in Hebrew if I were just better/faster at context-swapping. Gotta work on that. I directed him to the Ostgardr camp (people local to him); I hope he and mbarr connected before Shabbat (assuming everyone was staying through).

Cats

My cats are getting old; they should have years left in them, but especially with Erik, I'm mindful that every time I say goodbye to them could be the last time. So especially before leaving on a long trip like for Pennsic, I try to give each of them some snuggle time.

Fortunately, everyone weathered Pennsic just fine, and they even greeted me when I got home instead of shunning me until dinner time. I had three cat-sitters trading off, and I was amused to find a little "cat diary" that one of them had started and the others had continued. I got to read a day-by-day description of what was going on. Thanks, guys!

Comments

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Desert Moon are Mistress Su'ad's troupe, from Beyond the Mountain. I don't recognize the specific dancer from your description.

[spiritdancer]

Speaking of the cats (and not really anything to do with Pennsic, but since you're posting ...)

There's apparently a study into idiopathic hypercalcemia going on at the veterinary teaching hospital at Ohio State. IIRC, one of your kitties has that? If so, I can get info on the study for you, if you are interested (you can email me via my LJ address).

The other is that I have a client moving to the Pittsburgh area who's looking for a referral to a vet in that area for general cat for her cat. I thought you might have some suggestions? (she mentioned Squirrel Hill, IIRC - I've got it written down at the office).

Sounds like you had a good War :-)

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I live in the tentement just outside the ghetto, though next year it looks like my family will be moving inside the walls to the period encampment.
Woodwindy and the LC very kindly allowed us to use their excellent kitchen. They not only had the ( handmade ) fountain, there were palm trees!
I'm so glad you had the chance to see some excellent performances.

[ariannawyn.livejournal.com]

They [the Pennnsic Choir] didn't say anything about next year's director or program; I wonder if that means they haven't decided yet.

Unfortunately, it wasn't up to me. Erlandr Nordenskaldr of the East coordinates the Known World Choir and makes the decisions regarding directors, and she didn't decide until Friday that next year's director will be Mistress Arianna Morgan of Lochmere in Atlantia. She was my second in command and soprano section lead this year, and I promoted her heavily to Erlandr, as did another previous PC director, Anne of Carthew. Arianna M is the lady who stopped by our camp several times and sang through the cantiga with me. I expect she'll do a good job next year.

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

[Judith] had arranged for musicians who played a variety of instruments. (Am I correct in remembering shalmestere as one of them, or am I mixing up my music contexts?)

Yes, that was I (and Dr. Science) :-) N.B. I was also in the intermezzi for the I Seb commedia on Sunday night (I was the snowy owl playing pipe-and-tabor in the first, and the taller treble in the second :-D)

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Keep me posted on the Purim plotting -- if I can go (which should be doable), I'll make us some Ypocras. :)

I am sad to have missed Pennsic!

[jducoeur]

I Sebastiani does "high-brow" commedia; I Genesii, a local troupe, does a raunchier form. (I believe this is an earlier- versus later-period distinction; I don't know if it's also geographical.)

Mostly it's a matter of what shows you catch, I think. I Seb *has* toned down a bit in recent years, but they can raunch with the best when they want to. The old ICOD shows were paragons of suggestiveness (including such memorable bits as Anton's infamous exploding codpiece)...

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

Dov found us, nicely. He managed to get to the Reform services that my GF & Leoflynn missed, but found in the end. He & Leoflynn stuck up a nice conversation, and he followed them home, for dinner. (He was a Vegi, but joined us for challah, and kiddush.) Sean & his lady also joined us.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to catch up w/ you, I was taking the marshall class in Thrown Weapons this year. It takes *forever*, on top of the concept called sleep... 9am's are not designed for me....