TMI...Lengthwise
We have been very busy pyrates over the last few weeks, both collectively and singley.

The Fells Point Pyrate Soiree.
A simple 45 minute drive stretched out to nearly three hours for PyrateLady and I. Every person driving on the DC beltway tried to either kill us outright or simply make us late. We were assisted in getting into the location by several friends, including Dallas, Viv, RedSteve, and KittyBlue. Thanks folks!
There were a few momentary sightings of our old bandmate, Damon.
There were many delightful pirate outfits exhibited.
The crowd pleasing food choice was the very tasty Mac and cheddar with bits of crab meat as big as your head.
We shared the stage with a fun uptempo electric band from New Jersey, The Brigands. They assisted us at very turn, invited us to use their gear, sang a few numbers with us and were very nice. I haven't figured out their clever little game, but I'm watching them.

Southern Md. Celtic fest.
The weather was close to perfect except for the toasty heat.
I put the lie to the description of PyrateLady's solo set by rudely playing guitar with her, in spite of her protests. Fiddler Molly was ejudicating various fiddling contests and cheering on her students. They did quite well and some took home prizes!
The captain cut a dashing figure in a formal kilt.
We PRs had a good set with lots of pals in attendance. We were glad to see you.

That being said…
Mostly unbeknownst to us, we and other performers had some curious comments from one of the sound people. If reports are correct, nearly every group was told that the band up just before them were jerks; demanding rude, asses ...and [PARAPHRASE ALERT]"you're not going to be giving us that kind of trouble, right?" Various rude names were directed at various performers. It seems that this fellow who was working our tent regards performers who know where to place acoustic mics and know how their instruments should sound as troublemakers. Noone I heard communicated with him in any way that I thought was stupid, but what do I know?

The only groups that the tech found acceptable were the electric Irish band at the end of the day. Electric instruments are, of course, simply plugged into the board...no mics, except for vocals.
Clearly this person is confused about their position in the Great Circle Of Life of fest performers. Sound techs are at OUR (collective musician's) beck and call; not the other way around. I also know that the folks he was grousing about are all highly skilled experienced performers. It was odd to find out that we were having an argument with this fellow without knowing about it. It may also explain why, when I noticed an increasingly painful loud tone in our monitors, and asked this fellow to reduce our monitor volume, he did not adjust anything, but stood at the board, touching nothing, adjusting nothing, and stared at me like I was speaking an obscure Tibetan Dialect.
We found the whole thing rather odds we regard SMCF as one of our favorite events at which to play. Complaints were lodged with the proper persons. The group I was with had to leave shortly after our set, so I was not able to watch those that came after us.

Beaufort Wooden Boat Festival
The PRs , less Drake, made our way down to the North Carolina Outer Banks for the 35th iteration of this celebration of the watermen’s life. We were pleased to be concertizing with our old pal Bob Zentz, the troubadour of the Chesapeake Bay. We played at schools in the area, explored a wondrous Civil War fort, met some very nice folks, ate seafood, had good beer, sang songs and performed at a fancy party in a tent. We also discovered that little tiny buggies can be more bitey than we expected. An incident involving a drunk woman, lipstick, a wineglass, and a classic white Corvette (car, not ship) made for a very lumpy end to one of our events; but let us speak no more of this.. Otherwise, the whole rest of the weekend was delightful and fun.

The Captain and his Lovely and talented Lady will be diving into the Virginia Renaissance Fair this weekend. I am confident that a great time will be had by all.
Molly, Mr. Fairbanks, and I will be joined by 4-eyed Pete, of the Ship’s Company Shantymen in Upper Marlboro for a Pirate Invasion on May 23rd. Check the schedule page at the website for the fine details.