Maryland Renaissance Festival, Oct. 2-3, 2004
Well, being the roving reporter of Roguish deeds at the Renn Faire, I have almost nothing to report from the Saturday half of Octoberfest since I was away being a good citizen, but I heard that Nelson was pouting for mine and Rogue Rat Alley’s absences so I blew off my community service and drove like a madman to reach the Dragon Inn show midway through the last set of the day.
For anyone there, I was the bluejeans and biker boots stagediving off of the table. For those who weren’t there, “… the wind coursed through my flowing mane as I sprang from my perch high above the ancient wooden floor, daring to escape the earthly bounds till I landed, softly as a ninja, quaking the floor beneath me and ran into the arms of my love … Nelson …,” but then, that sounded like a gay romance novel, so lets just say, the Dragon Inn show was a blast and the dance floor was rocking with some beautiful dancers.
I can’t name all those beautiful dancers, but Ruta, Stacy and fellow Turbans, Tassels and Tattoos bellydancers were getting into the swing of things while Warring and Holly from Kilt and Hilt were kicking out some Highland steps too. Of course, multi-talented hipslinger Stacy is playing crossover artist and learning the Scottish Lilt, which vaguely reminds me of a Country Line Dancing bar I saw in Morocco once.
Since my recollection of the day didn’t really amount to much more than my grand entrance, bare bellies, kilts, hilts and sexy highlanders, oh and a couple of real Roguishly done tunes, I asked others how the day was. Here are some of their responses:
How was the day?
“It rained this morning.”
How were the Rogues?
“Good.”
Anything interesting happen?
“Nothing unusual.”
Well, that’s why I write this column. I understand “nothing unusual” at the Renn Faire is “very unusual” outside the castle wall, so in the aftermath of my very short day, we went to dinner at the Double T … no … make that Old Country Buffett. We arrived to a long wait at the first on the list of our favorite afterwork hangouts and found it packed tighter than a Wisconsin cheese factory taste tester, so we went to the great backup buffett, whose only real drawback is that it closes too early, and some people complain that the food sucks, but that isn’t the reason we all go hang out after work. We do that so we can talk about all of you.
After OCB, announced last call and our gang attacked the coffee and dessert table like a screaming bag of banshees, the last bread pudding was downed and the last bit of coffee drained, we went outside to say our goodbyes, though, we said goodbye to the entire staff at OCB leaving to go home before we ever thought about tearing ourselves apart for the rest of the night.
Heavy on the list of conversations was what pajamas we were going to wear to the Hack&Slash Christmas Special Oct. 15. This was immediately entertaining since several of us Rogueys and friends are working for Hack&Slash during the show … and because most of us sleep buffer than bevy of beefcake bodybuilders. I assume this shows you the dilemma of working at a show where everyone is suppose to wear their Pjs, we just don’t have any. That could result in an entirely different kind of show that I am sure you have to have a license for … and most of us haven’t done that sort of thing since we were paying for college. Never mind the fact that all our bottoms will be covered … dental floss counts right? … there will be some interesting sights to see for all those coughing up some cash for this good cause benefit concert, and all of them aren’t going to be onstage. Let’s just tease you with this one … E.J. in curlers.
Second on our list of topics was Kilt&Hilt Holly’s 8-year-old commitment to being a vegan. We of course all support her in this decision, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t make fun of her for it. She took every remark about her leather Highland dance shoes, what constituted a vegetable, if it would be okay to eat an animal that was already dead, etc., etc., etc., in stride and laughed along to our nuckledragging-neanderthal meat-eater gags. She ended it all with the comment that, “Vegans taste better.” Now, this is suppose to be a family oriented column so maybe we should move on to another topic.
Kilt&Hilt’s Warring’s darling daughter Kiley was a hit and chasing her around the parking lot produced Shopping Cart Surfing stunts, Randy turning like a tugboat, Monkeyboy the Silverback, and a ton of other laughs as we all took our part in sharing a gas with each other. Bellydancing Stacy came along with us and added some radiance to our little gaggle of friends, as well as Medieval Mocassin Shoe Elves Vicky, Janeen and Cynthia, who are delightful in their ability to be crass, sweet and sexy all at once. Of course it wouldn’t be a Rogue outting without a couple of those so E.J., Randy, Sharon and Nelson did their part to keep entertaining through the night. Heather, myself and Jenesse were the Roguey sellers on hand sans baskets and CDs, and to the rest of Medieval Mocassins, and a few other friends, “Thanks for a great night!”
The second half of Octoberfest Celtic Style began at breakfast with Roguey sellers Heather, Jenesse, husband Steve and I all sitting around laughing about the night before, relishing in the cool temperatures and snarfing down the coffee, bacon and eggs for the energy we would need to delve out CDs to the 20,000 plus patrons anticipated for the day.
The crowds started small but the beautiful cool weather was more than anyone could stand so by the end of the day, we were taking back alleys and backstage routes everywhere just so we could make it to the next show on time.
We had the return of friend-from-last-year Lisa Hawkins, who hasn’t made it out to faire since she is working for the local sheriff’s department of late, intriguing new developments with new friend Sadie and apparently someone in our little entourage got into some tongue-twisting with another Rogue fan, not that I should really give any details on that one. We also got some fantastic invitations for the coming weeks as Faire winds down to the final three weekends. Rogues and Rogueys are scheduled high and low as we pulled out calendars to find out if we had any openings over before our final day of packing up and sending everyone home. That truth became a little too evident for us as we overheard Sharon planning for their trip back home with Houston Roguey Victoria
Our poor Nelvis seems to be catching the brunt of jokes of late. After recovering from being fired upon with granny panties last week, this week at our Jury Rig Show our Kilt&Hilt performers
dropped dollar bills in his kilt, and I being the friend I am had to get in on the gag and dropped in a wallet, a paperclip and a Canadian dime. The clockworks are ticking away as everyone tries to come up with something to beat an assembly of wenches with bananas-on-a-stick, granny panties, and the dance of the Fairy King by Sir Nigel Hack as the best, most twisted gag for the season.
At days end, we kicked off the Jimmy Show as everyone was a little late getting to our last gig, but thanks to some drum work with little Roguey Robin and Security Guy Shawn, the house started rocking and picked up tempo as Randy and E.J. arrived. As we were kicking it into high gear our little Nelson was making his way back to Canada to be brighteyed and bushytailed for teaching school Monday morning. As for the rest of us, we closed out another rocking show and headed off to grab some grub at Chilis, discussing the busy final weeks, cruises past and cruises future, and what this week can bring with Rennie Relief coming on Thursday.
For all those who don’t know yet, we raise money once a year at the Rennie Relief Benefit Concert down the road from MDRF to aide a Rennie with medical problems. Started by Klaus Weiland, it’s a great way helping someone in need, getting a bit of good grub, throwing down a bid on some fine Rennie artwork and listening to some cool sounds all at the same time.
Hope to see you there.
Lyn Bell