Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 16:47:58 -0500 (CDT)
From: "J. Michael Shew" <jshewkc@cyclops.pei.edu>
To: Ken Theriot <lnktheriot@csi.com>
Cc: "'minstrel@pbm.com'" <minstrel@pbm.com>
Subject: Re: minstrel: sundries...
In-Reply-To: <01BDEE1C.598AB740.lnktheriot@csi.com>
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981002163051.4584B-100000@cyclops.pei.edu>
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On Fri, 2 Oct 1998, Ken Theriot wrote:
	(snip)
> 
> Mikal - WE BELONG TO THE SAME UNION!  I have been around long enough (as 
> the lady checking membership at Estrella a couple of years ago said when 
> she beheld my low member number, "Gosh, you're a dinosaur!  You must know 
> Frederick of Holland!") that I know good old songs from the bad old days. 

	Never needed to check the union membership.  In fact, I got a lot
of messages privately that tried to bolster my side over that of GB's
	To that end:  Folks, we are not fighting.  I admire and understand
everything that Greg is sending.  I even agree with him mostly, and have
expressed that in great detail.  I am sure he understands at least most of
what I am sending as well.  The responsiblities that he and I see as our
own are slightly different, that is all.  
	In fact, I would love to spend a Penssic night wandering the camps
with him.  Not likely, with my real-life schedule...But it is a nice
thought.  I could wow folks with my rendition of Norse tales!  And to get
a chance to do some of the parts of my own creation in Norse poetics...
	
>  My last stint as a throne bard was won specifically because I knew "the 
> old songs".  I have excised the really bad (most of it) filk, but you can 
> always get a laugh with "We are Called the Chivalry", and there (alas) is 
> always a political situation which calls for "Lie to the Council" (one of 
> the good filks, as few people know the proper lyrics to "Retreat Along the 
> Wabash").  If someone asks for really bad filk, I give a lame enough excuse 
> ("my dog ate my last copy of the lyrics....") to make it plain that I won't 
> do the song without having to be snotty and say "I'm sorry, but that song 
> just isn't up to my standards..."

	Yeah, I understand.  The Old Dun Cow was a favorite of a
particular Calontir figure who passed away.  It is almost required at some
fires.  Welsh history 101 will get you a laugh, and about a million folks
request it.  The King asked me to write a few pieces that are really OOP.
I did.  (Hey, he's got a crown!)
	Likewise, it is almost a law here a bard has to do Knight's Leap,
The Raven Banner, Song of the Shield Wall, Thor's Son, Under the Shield
Wall, and Pavel's song.  Such is life, I guess.  So I teach them, pass out
song sheets, and perpetuate a history of less than authentic performance.
Mea Culpa.  But I also get a lot of folks to hear authentic stuff as well.
Last Lillies war I was at a fire where the first thing out of the host's
mouth was, "do you know the Moose Song?"  I did it, and a few almost in
period things that they knew.  Then I gave them a rendition of the
Creation of the World, (my own translation in prose from the Old Norse).
The next time I went there, they wanted to hear more period stuff.
	Yup, I love educating the masses...
	Mikal
_______________________________________________________________________________
           Mikal the Ram, an annoying bard of no redeeming qualities
______________________________jshewkc@cyclops.pei.edu__________________________

                "The knowlege that you freely share
                You never really lose
                For Mistress and Apprentice
                Are just titles that we use
                When wisdom passes from your hand
                It travels back around again
                And the pupil gives more knowlege back to you"
                        (The Mistress' Song, composed for Lucianna)


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