Vakkotaur

( Wednesday )

After reading a post about the upcoming end of a Renaissance performance group and the effect it was having on one of the performers in it, I found myself quietly humming part of a tune that seems to fit, in attitude if not exactly in lyrics. It's not a Renaissance piece, but something from the First World War. If you've heard it, you know the feeling of forlorn wistfulness which it conveys.

( Lyrics, or at least some of them. )

( Details )

Last year I read this account of RST's visit to Wichita which included this line: "There weren't clocks in the hotel room, none of us had watches, and for some reason, the time on my cell phone was completely off." A bit later I saw RST at the Nishna faire in western Iowa and asked about things like that and was surprised to find they'd wound up at some place that didn't have clocks in the rooms. I found that rather boggling.

An idea formed and for the past several weeks when I'd stop in at some store or other I'd see if they had any inexpensive alarm clocks. Eventually I collected enough, and a pack of AA cells for completeness. I had planned on bringing a rather unmarked Box-o'-Clocks to the Waterloo faire and springing it on RST myself, perhaps in the morning or maybe just after close Saturday. But Waterloo seemed to be in doubt and it's on the same weekend as Siouxland - which is my "I will NOT miss this" faire.

So I gave away a bit of it to ginafae who found the idea amusing. I sent the box to RST, care of her. The parcel arrived last week. And this weekend, this happened.

This past weekend was the final full faire of the season for me and jmaynard. As Jay mentioned there is the Siouxland Harvest Feast on November 1, then nothing again until Spring. This is just as well. I'm about faired out for the season anyway and won't mind having some weekends again without much of anything planned.

The Nishna faire wasn't bad, but it seemed to be lacking. Mainly it was lacking patrons. It was a nice get-together for folks otherwise and it was good to see the Iowa (and South Dakota) folks again. Met (and watched, and photographed) ginafae of Renaissance Sword Theatre. It'll be a while before I get the prints back. And Jay is out on the east coast for the week so any pictures he took are probably still waiting in his camera's memory.

I'm really hoping I snapped a few shots when I hoped to. Seeing some of the members of Danza Mystique trying to scale a climbing wall was memorable. I think I have a good shot of Nasira in mid-air during a descent.
And when I tried the climb, on the section noted for being easiest, I found it isn't as easy as some can make it look. I expect there were a few photos taken of my climb, but I don't know when I might ever see them.

Saturday night, on the way to a not too far away restaurant (and away from the on-site activities) Jay and I both mused that the faire was somehow misfiring, but couldn't really point anything wrong that needed fixing. Others, on ATF, have now mentioned a few things. Hopefully those things will get fixed.

Someone on ATF pointed out that next year the Waterloo faire, assuming it remains part of the My Waterloo Days celebration, will fall on the same weekend as Siouxland. I like Waterloo, but not enough to miss Siouxland. Siouxland is my one real must-see faire when it comes right down to it. I'm hoping to get my folks down to see Siouxland.

Considering the amazingly impressive reputation Siouxland has built for itself, the Waterloo faire could find it has a problem: vendors and acts going to Siouxland. The vendors I talked to this year all said they were doing great business there. The performers I talked to said they were doing well and having more fun than they did elsewhere. And then add in that the Siouxland folks are organized to the point of being almost scarily efficient about most things. The main upshot is that contracts and such are handled well in advance, not at the last minute. Chances are by the time Doc (a good guy who pretty much runs the Waterloo faire solo) gets what he needs from the city, many vendors and acts will have been spoken for - for at least a few months.