Celtic Crossroads, Sept. 24, 2004
The Second Annual Celtic Crossroads monopolized our energies this week, and Rogues and Rogueys went in every direction connecting fans with tickets, setting up stages and polishing the final draft on what was going to be an incredible night of entertainment.
I personally headed off to D.C. this week bearing the flag of Rogueyness in my kilt and Rogues t-shirt to do some last week advertising, spreading the good word and cool tunes of The Rogues, Tinsmith and Klaus Weiland around our national capital. Then we went to downtown Annapolis spreading the word and talking up the show to the locals.
By Wednesday, we were all wired for the upcoming event. Singers and dancers met at the Jury Rig stage and with a picnic spread on the benches and makeshift spotlights on the trees and castle walls, we gathered in close to admire the fancy footworking of Jim and Lauren Mueller, and Kilt and Hilt Highland Dancers, along with Broeslers School of Irish Dance. The dance finale was worked out and choreographed, thanks to the happy toes of Jim and Lauren, who some will remember as the amazing, astonishing Irish dancers from faire three years ago. Our rehearsal spread late into the night as we listened to the clicking heels of hardshoes and the swishing of soft-shoes across the stage floors. Everywhere you looked, there was this great camaraderie that erupts from this Roguish family - Klaus Weiland and E.J. Jones sitting on a bench together laughing over smokes and spreading peace and love; Warring dancing through her choreographed dance to Holy Moly four-times straight, just because we loved to watch it so much; Lauren fussing over Heather’s rounding tummy; and the bright and beautiful face of Marion Mueller snoozing on Sharon’s shoulder.
Thursday offered no rest as we gathered at Maryland Hall in Annapolis for dress rehearsal. From 1 p.m., until the wee hours of the night, we ran through numbers and sets and lighting and sound and all that other boring stuff none of you want to hear about. I could go on forever about the first time I saw the full dress rehearsal for Jim and Lauren’s Faire Dance, and how great Suzanne DeVier was in taking care of Marion while mom and dad were tapping toes on the stage; I could go on about the fabulous spreads Sharon provided to keep our tummies from rumbling and the off-color jokes Chris Davis told to keep us rolling; I could go on for hours about how incredible Greg, our director, and Sarah, our stage manager was; I could go on and on about the energy that solidified into Friday night, but shouldn’t we just move on to what everyone got to see Friday night?
Hours before the curtain rose, the power play of Celtic Crossroads was laying demands on the artists getting ready to perform and the backstage crews readying to back them up. There was no time for last minute adjustments and finally, the hour arrived, and the group photo was called for. Everyone in costume, we gathered in the lower levels of Maryland Hall, took a deep breath and smiled as the shutter snapped, sending everyone into performance mode and the rapid fire of music, comedy and dance.
Tinsmith brought the evening to order, taking their normal, low-key approach to polished Celtic tunes, draped lovingly over a folky-frame and honeyed with the vocals of Brooke Parkhurst and Rowan Corbett, all backed up by the enigmatic acoustic arrangements with the aid of fellow Tinsmither Avril Smith. I can tell you for certain that there were a lot of new fans made Friday night as people flipped through their programs looking for more details on this local entity.
Next up Chris Davis took the stage as the Renaissance Man became our Segue Man introducing acts and displaying a bit of rye humor, charm, wit, satire, sarcasm and a laugh bag of tricks up his well tailored sleeves. Throughout the night, Chris was a steady, providing calm sereneness backstage … mostly … and flexibility and professionalism on, despite having to deal with a horde of Scots and Irish all night.
As Chris led us in, the Celtic Chorus of Heather Bell, Jenesse Jordan, and Brooke Parkhurst took to the stage for delivery of the Foxhunter’s Ballad, a lyrical journey that led to tears on cheeks for as many backstage as those in the house Friday night. They were accompanied by Klaus on guitar, E.J. on uillean pipes and Chelle Fulk on fiddle, along with dancers from The Broesler School of Irish Dance providing an interpretive dance to the vocal number. Many should remember Heather and Jenesse singing High Germany at last year’s Celtic Crossroads, and this year their sound was solidified with that of Tinsmith’s Brooke to form an unforgettable enchanting ensemble further enhanced by the instrumentations and dance.
As the curtain closed and the lights reduced to one spotlight on centerstage we were carried away to a mythical land as Jim and Lauren Mueller took us through the dance of The King of the Fairies. Jim and Lauren are world class in their Irish stepdancing performance, proving that again at world competitions last year, and the beautiful airy choreography, accompanied by E.J. and Chelle on lilting pipes and fiddle brought a much needed lift from the tears of Foxhunter’s Ballad.
Lauren, enchanting as always, was dressed in possibly the most beautiful fairy costume I have ever seen, with Monarch butterfly style wings and dainty petalled flowers perfectly coordinated with her glimmering red hair, provided a dark contrast to the dark bat-winged, black clad Fairy King. Their movements
At this point the evening showed the extremes it would go to make sure everyone got exactly what they wanted, but I worry about the people who needed to see the next act. John, who many will know as the big Hack in Hack-n-Slash, portrayed Johnny-Come-Too-Late in another interpretation to the King of the Fairies. For those who weren’t able to attend, imagine a 300 lbs. bald gorilla dressed in a pink tutu with fairy wings and a magic wand. Yes … it was just that frightening, but the crowds laughed, which worries me, and Chris Davis’ wit carried us directly into our first glimpse of The Rogues.
Tunes belted out of the Celtic glamrockers in black and plaid like old pros laying down good time grooves. There were no glitches, just straight up, shook down big-stage performances by the bad boys of Celtic boogy-woogy. Broesler’s Irish dancers strutted their stuff during a number, but Act One was topped off by Kilt and Hilt Highland Dance Company’s Warring Cushing’s choreographed dance to Groovy Scooby. Who knew stiff-backed Highland dancers could get that funky? Watching the action from the sidelines, I realized even though I had watched that dance performance half-a-dozen times over the past two days, it still wasn’t enough.
Act Two picked up again with comedic appeal by Chris Davis and a mandolin solo that ended with Big John making a butt of himself. Chris had a planned number with his grandfather’s mandolin, but a trip up left his foot through the sound hole, but John came along with broom in hand as his second character’s plumber’s butt produced an eclipsing laughter … nervous laughter at what else would appear after King of the Fairies and Mr. Low - Low-Lowriders. What else could top that?
Tinsmith again took to the stage and collected applause and new found fans with every number erupting from their smooth vocals and driving percussions and flowing rhythms. E.J. proved to be the man of the night as he stepped out with pipes in hand to play for Kilt and Hilts formal Highland rendition of the Broadsword. As the lights dimmed back down, the musical mood took on a minor key with the Celtic Chorus, accompanied by the 5-string fiddle in the capable hands of Chelle Funk. The dirge, as we began calling it, was Bonny Light Horseman, a traditional Irish song about a lover gone off to war and not come back, and by the end, everyone both in the audience and backstage were drowning in sorrowful tears.
Audience members were not about to get off easily with comic relief from either John or Chris, as the lights went down and rose slightly with the introduction of Klaus on sitar accompanied by E.J. on flute playing O’Carolan to Katmandu. The tune was only slightly less mortuary as The Dirge, but some airy notes drifted us up a bit so no one suffered whiplash from a power packed score coming from the next set with the Rogues. Broesler’s dancers came out once more following their footwork from last year’s Gravelwalk, which led to the finally to the tune of Itchy Finger/Clumsy Lover with the entire cast coming on stage for a step-dance throw down. The cast divided into small groups, and Scottish and Irish and modern steps all came together and developed into a rhythmic performance of toes, heels, drums, bones and bagpipes.
It seemed from the vantage point of the stage that the entire audience rose as one in the celebration of heritage, heart and love for music and dance. Backstage spilled onto stage and everything seemed to pick up the free love vibration coming from the house. It seemed that moment went on forever and the sincerity of that celebration broken only by the antics of a giant pink Fairy King passing out kisses and champagne to show director Gregory Isaacs. Greg made a return from last year’s Celtic Crossroads and his magical smile and calm spirit are always infectious. We also can’t go without mentioning stage manager Sarah Panyard who was a blessing on stage in keeping everything flowing and everyone on queue, and assistant stage manager Linda Wallace for keeping the Green Room under control.
We also can’t leave things off there without mentioning Tom and Sarita and Butch and Cindy, Rogueys and fans who came in from Texas and Ohio to join in on the fun.
Afterward, our energies up, the Celtic Crossroads crew along with some friends headed for our favorite dive at the Double T and settled in for a few more hours, as if we didn’t have 6 shows coming up with the sun. We can’t thank everyone for all they did - whether it was the stage crews at Maryland Hall, Janeen and Vicky from Medieval Moccasins, Andrea, Dave, Tammy, Mark, Jim and Amber who kept the tables moving outside, Todd and Pam for the wonderful artwork and preparations leading up to Celtic Crossroads, Suzanne for babysitting, Tigger for being Tigger, Sean, William and Holly for security, or the host of others who assisted in making this such an incredible show, but as we got home at 3:30 a.m., I know that we have a great gift in being part of this wonderful tribe - and we could never thank them all or thank them all enough.
Lyn Bell