TheBanyanTree: Week The Third of The Castle

[Russ Doden]

Or Three Down and Two to go.

Herein be the contnuing chronicles of one poor minstrel at the Renaissaince
Festiveal known as The Castle at Muskogee.

 I have been enjoying sharing my thoughts with you.  This morning, I'm
sitting here in my day job, ignoring the time.  I should be turning on the
"open" sign.  I just can't get into it.  I have had my moring cuppa, and a
muffin so I "should" be ready to go.  I'm not.   In my mind, I'm thinking it
is timie to be finishing breakfast with who ever sits or is sitting at the
table I go with - and share a few stories and laughs.  Last Sunday it was
with Fat Angus and Guido and  Hans Uberdorc.  Real names?  I can't rmember
most of them.  I do know that as I was leaving, John Auld, aka King Henry,
came to our table for breakfast.  Such a nice man.  Funny how I'm looking at
the clock all week thinking it is time to ...and fill in the blank for what
I would be doing at that hour.  I know you do the same thing - especially on
Monday  Many of the performers, cast and booth people there all have the
same joy in sharing their experiences in the morning at faire - and those
that have a day job also have the same "time shift" experience at work
during the week.

Yesterday, I realized just how difficult it is to have a meaningful
conversation and visit time with anyone at Castle.  For me it is a challenge
anyhow.  At Castle, I am viewed as being a "performer" and people do want to
"connect" with performers.  I'm also realizing that I've "played" on the
circuit enough to know a lot more people than I thought I did.  I don't know
them by name or anything like that, but we have been to the same events,
know the same people and somehow they remember me.  That too seems strange
to me.

Last night, after the Gauntet, (the closing ceremony where we get people
to head home) I went back in to the Castle to get my guitar case and head to
the campground.  It only took me 30 minutes to make that trip.  As I said,
everyone wants to talk to the performers and make last minute CD sales.  It
is strange to me to have people treat me like I'm some "name" in some way.
I've talked to the other performers about the same thing, and they all say
the same thing.  We aren't "names" but are very little fish in the
entertainment world, but to the "playtrons" and to those who find the world
of the Renfaire to be something special to them, we are doing something they
wish they could do.  I encourage them whenever possible.  It was because of
the encouragement of others that I'm doing it now.  I guess that is a form
of paying it forward!

The weekend was a good one, though it started out pretty "iffy".  We have
had so much rain.  On Thursday the weathermen were saying we had 20 straight
days with rain.  The prior record was 13!  That night, yet another storm
blew in, and I do mean blew!  It seemed to be blowing at treetop level.
Then the rain came in and boy did it rain.  It seemed to rain quite a bit
that night.  Saturday morning the ground in the camp ground was a bit
squishy.  The walk in required paying attention to where you were walking.
The rest of the day was dry though and we had a good crowd.

There was a special after hours event this week called Kings Feast where
people purchase tickets to attend this Royal Feast.  The cast are the
servers and the musicians provide the entertainment.  Seeing things like
this from behind the scenes is always interesting.  From the performers
perspective it is a comparitively easy evening, but the cast works like mad
all evening.  Behind the scenes, as food becomes availble it is like
watching some scene out of the past, where the "poor folk" grab food as it
is available and delicate manners are . . . set aside.  The owner still says
he should put us out front - he wouldn't have to provide much entertainment
because our antics are sometimes over the top.  Of course if we were out
front, we would behave then too!

It is funny, how the memores all blur together.  Seeing people I haven't
seen for a year, being treated like I'm some notable or something, and just
"messing" with people.  I don't remember the work week, just the weekends at
Castle during May.

Sunday dawned bright and clear.  The rains stopped.  The new record was set:
22 straight days with rain.  People came out in thundering herds.  It was
good to see every performer have a full audience, and every booth have many
customers - and to have an abundance of patrons to mess with.

Our fist "adult pub" set on Sunday was . . . strange.  Talk about having an
audience of true fans.  They all seemed to know all the words to all the
songs, and even most of our antics.  As a result we tried to out do them.
Those are the sets one remembers, where nothing is "regular" or "normal" and
everything is over the top.

Now, here I sit, back in the "real world".  It is now a work day though and
I must figure out what it is that I need to be doing.  So I had best get
busy, turn on the open sign, and return to this life.  I do have a side
mission though.  I was told that the interviews that were done at The Castle
last year are up on U-Tube and my interview is among them.  I must find that
- and see what the buzz was all about.

How do I close this?  Color me wanting to go home to the Castle.

Your humble scribe,
Andruss