SC - Manteca (was Emulsified Sauces)

[Vincent Cuenca]

BTW, I'm working on fixing this address.

Gunthar

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- --- Black Jade <Black_Jade at bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >Entertainment at medieval feasts was for the most
> part in between courses
> >and/or music (*vocal or instrumental) was used as
> background music. The
> >'entertainers should not expect to be 'listened' to
> if they perform during
> >the feast. That is (or was) not their function. The
> diners should realize
> >they need not listen and continue with their
> conversations.
> >
I enjoy "background music"--the musicians in the
gallery or the wandering lutenist, for example.
Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, I have been
at feasts with someone shouting nasally "Please pray
[sic] silence for the bard".  I feel for the perfor-
mer, certainly; but the concept irritates me, not
the individual musician.

The statement "the diners should realize they need not
listen [with undivided attention, I would add] and
continue with their conversations" is a good one,
but difficult to carry out with the aforesaid self-
appointed heralds or PR people shushing those who
continue to talk, even at a lower level.  I'd really
rather see vocalists and drowning-out entertainments,
like Middle Eastern dancing, saved for one agreed-upon
"break" in the feast, or somewhere outside the feast
hall altogether.

> I agree with this, both as a listener and an
> entertainer, (albeit not a
> very good one).  Most of the people in my barony, I
> think, do it out of
> courtesy more than expecting a floorshow.  But it
> can get very difficult to
> get it right when EVERYONE has their attention
> focused right between your
> eyes.  I usually enjoy myself more when I wander
> around a feast and croak
> my tunes at MY leisure, rather than having to wait
> upon other peoples.
> Some Tables ask me nicely if I could sing them a
> somg and it becomes a more
> private and much more rewarding affair, rather thn
> people feeling that they
> are having entertainment rammed down their throats.
>
I think that's a really good way to approach the
entertainment; a courtesy forced upon either party
is really no courtesy at all.

Berengaria