... (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]

the prompt: Jayus
“From Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.”

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

I love that musician joke. That is just awesome, haha.

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

The Third Joke is still roaming around Faire looking for new victims. Barnabas has been in the Panto Pit long enough to also do Rats sets and so he's gradually meshed with parts of this circle. I'm hovering around the periphery, but got to be a stage-edge-sitter on one set last Folsom Faire. I know a few lyrics!

I had no idea that LJ was so friends-of-friends huge.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

Bryn has Rats in the Haggis working the Dickens Faire with some of the same Schtick. Go go Gadget Recycling!

\o/

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

always happy to amuse!

[shay-writes.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

I missed the heyday of Travellers Union, but I will always remember "The Death of Zutalor" gig. I think it was probably last performed at Pittsburg (when they had a faire there), because nobody would ever ask for it to be performed a second time, if they knew it was coming.

Not because it was bad, but because it was so good and *so* depressing.

I also have fond memories of the first Travellers Children's song set, which was Valhalla. Which may have been the first time I heard The Babee Song.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Having the friends to share the lame humor made it much more fun I'm sure!

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

oh and for anyone who might be interested, here is the song list from my guild:
http://www.travellersunion.org/music/

and that's a photo of Bryn playing mando.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

oh, I *know.*

*grin*

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

S'trewth!

[miss-mimsy.livejournal.com]

I use some of the bits for my class. I have to admit that I always love the looks I get when I tell them that I was part of a group that did shows and juggled fire.

They don't believe when I tell them about playing Bango. Thanks for the excellent nostalgia.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

oh, I wouldn't suck at Bango now! I wish I hadn't gifted away that heavy brass letter opener I used to have, that would be too fun.

and, you are totally welcome.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

i've always loved the stick joke too :)

in a similar vein, what's greenish-brown and sounds like a bell?

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

Oh no. What?

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

DUNG!

[i-will-not-say.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you had a truly fun time, corny jokes and all! :D

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

It was a great time in my life. I still love all those people, just don't see them as often.

And we dress up in different costumes now.

=D

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

What's Bango?

[basric.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

G, it's a game we weren't supposed to play at faire because it involved throwing knives down to stick in the dirt, then you had to a)stay touching your partner and b)reach out and touch/retrieve the knife they had thrown. Then you tried to throw it so you could reach it but your partner could not.

This led to some EPIC splits contests!

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for saying so!

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Ren Faire does lend itself to the lowest of the lowbrow! But Shakespeare knew to throw some puns into the work... have to keep the chattel entertained too!

[sweeny-todd.livejournal.com]

the stick joke is a classic!

[solstice-singer.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you have memories that make you smile.