A weekend of Embarassment, Majesty, Charity and Wallabies
PyrateLady and I stood in as members of the Ship's Company Shantymen over the past weekend. The occasion was the 375th birthday of the State of Maryland. The event was in our first state capital, St. Mary's City. I headed down with Drake and Janie, who would be Calico Jack-ing.
Janie began peppering me with demands in my half-awake state that I rewrite "Maryland , My Maryland. The 1863 lyrics are famously pro-rebel and anti-Federalist. I rattled off some of my typical doggerel and fell asleep with my face mashed against a bodhran case.
Stephen and Myron were setting gear up when we arrived at the ungodly hour of 9 am. I promptly repaired to the "Green Room tent" attached like a tick to the side of the main tent to spend the next several hours retuning in the high humidity.
Some friends from the Kalmer Nyckel arrived just as the actual ceremony was beginning some 150 feet away. I started quietly singing a silly song to one of the crew, when a couple of guys rushed over to shut me the hell up.
It seems that the acouistic properties of the side tent were such that my quiet guitar and dulcette voice were CLEARLY being heard on stage...D'OH!
A tent wall was rearranged to reduce the problem...they crammed it into my throat until the ceremony was over.
Janie and Drake were soon doing their duo bit and eventually got to the rewrite of the state anthem. I was startled to hear them singing my new verse:

Our state song needs a modern page
Maryland, My Maryland
To guide us toward a modern age
Maryland, my Maryland.
The words are mean, and quite uncouth
unsuited for adult or youth
Unless you agreed with John Wilkes Booth
Maryland, My Maryland

Listeners were then thankfully asked to write other new verses. Though I didn't hear any of their efforts, I hope that my co-recomposers were able to maintain the level of grandeur that I had established.

Back in our little tent Myron and I sang The Star Spangled Banner to the tune of the Soviet National Anthem for a very confused co-performer.
Our 1 1/4 hour performance was sandwiched neatly around several violent thunderstorms at the end of the day. We played an amusing panache of ship's Company and PR favorites for the sweaty folks massed under our big dry tent.
As soon as we were done the storms blew away, the sun came out, and singing birds filled the sky. Once again, the sky-gods mock me. We packed our gear and slunk away.

The next day I was able to visit the NCL Majesty in Baltimore harbor. Adam and I like the boat. It's a bit snugger than the CCL Valor, but without the chintziness.
We were given a very nice lunch and facilities overview. Adam found a perfect viewing area behind the stack for our scheduled stargazing.
I tooled down to McGinty's pub in Silver Spring for a fundraiser. Our friend Severn Savage was recovering from Chemo, but in the process burned himself badly in a cooking accident. He's had skin grafts and such over the last few months, and is now getting around. A huge crowd of folkies from FSGW and the DC shanty community got together for songs and drink. Money was raised for the lad, and many jokes were made at his expense. We are glad that he is progressing again.


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