... (LJ idol week 1)

[labelleizzy]

Once upon a time, not in MY time, not in YOUR time, but in somebody's time...

I had a Guildmaster. His name was Bryn.

...actually his name still IS Bryn, though sadly he's not my Guildmaster anymore. The guild's name is Travellers Union, and we specialized in music and dancing at renaissance faires both small and large. He played mandolin, sang, and told really bad jokes on stage.

zindelo is Bryn's twin brother, a little taller, and a little quieter, usually playing guitar. gypsy_ritsa, always beautiful and beautifully dressed, played recorders and whistles, and sang. tshuma, my beloved Seester, also played recorder and sang, and often danced. samayam had a bodhran contraption (he'd added a cymbal to the wooden frame, if I recall correctly), toxgunn and bedpimp sang as well, and lots of the rest of us sang along, tagged into the band from time to time, danced or were set decoration. (tigman, sarabellae, miss_mimsy, willrabbit, dotarvi, foseelovechild, pushkie, parnasus and tara_bella, I am looking at y'all, among some others.) *grin*

Bryn told jokes in between songs. They were almost always horrible.

I still tell them.

One. My favorite short musician joke: How do you define perfect pitch? It's when you chuck the accordion across the stage. and it lands perfectly on the (bagpipes, banjo, insert your favorite horrible instrument here) and they both explode into splinters.

Two. My ex husband fools_and_irish learned his favorite shaggy-dog musician joke from Bryn: A session musician dies and goes to heaven, St. Peter gives him a rock-star tour of heaven, whereupon the musician, flabbergasted and flattered at first, eventually gets suspicious. Peter takes him off to one side, checks exaggeratedly for eavesdroppers, and confides, "yes, we need you to head up the band, because... (select the text below to read the answer)
God? Yeah... He has a girlfriend. And... he thinks she can sing."

Three. My favorite horrible joke OF ALL TIME was the one we all tried to con the audience into believing was good, with wide eyes, eager faces, and full attention on Bryn.
"What's Brown... (long pause) and Sticky?"
(select text below for answer)
"A... STICK!"


I know it's horrible. But I can't help but laugh Every. Single. Time.

Maybe you did have to be there. But maybe it was the joy of wearing the costumes, being in a playful mood, listening to good live music, and new friends working together to entertain. Maybe it didn't matter how corny we were.

Because I'm still over here smiling, and that was sixteen years ago.

Comments

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

I seem to be changing eras recently. Doing a bit more Victorian and steam punk and rather less SCA and faire over the last dozen years or so..
Funny how our tastes change.