Wisconsin Renaissance Faire

[vakkotaur]

Friday evening I drove up to the Twin Cities and checked into the hotel, which went smoother than it did the week earlier. As I was moving my stuff in, I was asked, "Are you an actor?" by someone who saw all the garb. When I told jmaynard about it later he suggested the ultimate comeback line: "No, but I play one on TV."

Saturday we drove over to Chippewa Falls and found the faire site without much difficulty. The were signs, including a reassuring "You're here!" at the otherwise unassuming parking lot entrance. There was some rain, but not enough to be really troublesome.

We saw Minstrosity pretty right off, and soon ginafae and pakiii were sitting near us as I recall. I didn't notice when my folks showed up, but they were there as well. I had brought along the double salt licorice for pakiii so we went to RST's prep/rest area where they were unleashed on whoever was willing to try them. I think a couple RST members cringed just at the mention of licorice, and only stayed to see how pakiii would react to the stuff. He liked it at first, then the ammonia hit him. And it was all the worse for being noticed as he exhaled.

We saw a couple other Minstrosity performances, and during an odd moment on Sunday jmaynard and I were treated to a quiet and unofficial performance of one of jcw_da_dmg's tunes which will be be on his upcoming solo CD, The Parking Lot Strip. This might be a "you had to be there" tune that some just won't get. For those who have been been there, it's hilarious. I'd been planning on buying his CD anyway, but now it's all but sold.

My folks and I saw a/the Teatro performance with Stupina. I'd only heard of Teatro and Stupina before. I think it would have been neat to see Stupina do her street bits, but if she did that this weekend I missed it.

Jay and I saw a couple RST performances, and I think we both saw a couple of their non-show fights. That is, RST folks were called upon to have fights that would work into the storyline and such. One of these was at a belly dance show, which was quite unexpected, and it made things even more memorable.

Saturday closing gate it had a very party-like feel to it. I've felt that feeling before, but this really reminded of Siouxland. There wasn't an impromptu limbo contest, but something resembling a conga line formed and grew.

There was a magician with rope tricks and cup & ball tricks who used the name Pizpor and made good use of the name and its implications. He also was talented and capable enough that he could get away with that. He was good enough that he could pretend to be bad and get away with it.

I watched the belly dancers a couple times. After their show they invite the audience to dance with them some. The second or third time, I joined the fairly large group that got up for that. The lady next to me commented that I was the only man in the group, the others either still sitting or having left. I quipped that must make me the bravest man in the area. Not really, but it was good for a laugh.

I met a few equines at the pony rides: Sammy the shetland, Topper the shetland mix, Classy and Sunny the paints. Sunny was mostly white and from the angle I first saw him, his being a paint wasn't something one would have guessed. I also met the jouster's horses. A big Shire/Percheron cross and a not quite as huge but still quite large Friesian stallion.

There was a fellow, Adam, Lord of the Whips, who was quite good. He had a long whip, and also a looonnnng whip. But his two-whip performance was perhaps the most impressive. By controlling the sharpness or loudness of the cracking as well as the timing, he could play tunes with the whips. I saw him a couple times, and Sunday afternoon after his act, I chatted with him a while and eventually experienced a bit of his act. He'd have someone stand still and crack a whip next to them and then with the energy largely dissipated, have the end wrap around them. He demonstrated that he could control how much energy was left, or the amount of wrapping. I felt a very slight stinginess (not a real sting) as he did that. He also did the 'wrap around the arm' bit, which might look more impressive and perhaps it is, but has even less energy in it - and that wasn't just because I was wearing bracers.

Even leaving before closing gate Sunday, it was a long day with the long drive home. But it was a good weekend. Everyone seemed to have been enjoying themselves and decided that what problems were there were not dealkillers.

And showing that the WiRF folks do listen and act to fix problems, when I last checked, their web site no longer redirected me to a non-existent page. Instead I got a plain page that while it lacked the fancy script-dependent navigation, had a working plain link to a the useful web-site map. I had sent the webmaster an e-mail about that problem re-direct, and after I mentioned it on LJ, wendyzski forwarded a bit of my post. And now the problem redirect is gone.

Overall, I am quite impressed with WiRF, which is more than I had expected.

Comments

[melissasutton.livejournal.com]

sounds like you had a very nice time hon - glad to hear it! =)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Oh - regarding a conversation at one point...
http://www.tomlewis.net/
Writer of "Sailor Ain't A Sailor" and "Marching Inland, among others. Tell him Minstrosity sent you!