Nothing Important

[LANGJ at mail.syntron.com]

                                      10:02  Thursday, 19 October 1995

         I've been learning to live with a bit of free time.
         My newest project, isn't new at all though.  It's been developing
         for several years, now is the time to run it up the banner pole,
         and see if it flaps in the breeze.

         During my tenure as a landed baron, I was often struck by the
         disparity in areas of entertainment.  Add to that, the void areas
         in some of the reenactments.

         I have two pet projects that I plan to sponsor at upcoming events.

         The first is an "Adults Only Bardic" competition.
         Why?  I've heard too many judges complain about the "earthy"
         material presented at some bardic contest.
         At times, the complaints about the nature of the material has
         overshadowed the necessary evaluation of the quality of the
         material and the merits of the performance.
         It's not that common, but I have concluded that it might be
         appropriate to have a bardic "contest" where minors might not be
         present, and where material might not have to be criticized for
         its content (vis a' vis suitability for children).
         I'm not talking about a dirty joke contest here.  What I want is a
         bardic safe for the Canterbury Tales.
         ?? Comments from bards??

         The next project is more interesting to me.

         It's the Dark Ages (go watch the movie "The Warlord").  We've just
         beaten off an attack by Frisian Raiders (or someone, pick your
         favorite scourge of civilization).  We return to the keep to
         celebrate!  We do the biggest feast we can manage, and have a
         revel to remember.  To entertain the court, we have singers,
         jugglers, story tellers, mimes, musicians, and . . . .
         dancers.
         When I mention the first five groups of entertainers, I think we
         all can share a common visualization.
         Not so with the dancers.
         This is Northwestern Europe, the full weight of the collapse of
         civilization is upon us (Middle Eastern "belly-dance" is most
         certainly unknown here).  What kind of dance will we see if we
         hire a "professional dance troupe?"
         These guys have fought all day.  They are tired, bruised, some are
         wounded.  There are empty chairs that last night held friends.
         No one wants to get up and dance a pavon.
         So, there is the basic question.  I want to host a performance of
         early period performance dance styles.
         What will I see?  What kind of dances?  What kind of costumes?
         The outcome depends on the response I get from the "dance
         community."
         I'd like to schedule this at an event where I can put a circle
         around some kind of "bonfire" type setup.
         (I can't dance my way out of a paper bag, but I think it is
         responsibility of the nobility to be patrons of the arts).

         I'd like your input (individually & collectively).  If you don't
         want to post replies to the group, send them to me at:

              langj at syntron.com

         This should be interesting.

         Bran
         (retired somebody)

         __________________________________________________________________
         Jim Langley                   |  yclept:
         Senior Hardware Engineer      |
         Syntron Product Development   |  Bran de Tintreak
         Syntron Inc.                  |  - Stargate
         langj at .syntron.com            |  (713) 869-1310
         __________________________________________________________________