TheBlackFox

The Pyrates Way/me/cynthia/alex shall be in attendance for a fifth season! Hoooozah

If you've not gotten your summer issue. . .please give me your name and address (email it to: steve@pyratesway.com) and I'll check into it. With the new software, we pay the extra .18 for delivery confirmation, so I can check your account. There've been about 50 folks who didn't get theirs so far and we're updating records and getting them out ASAP. Hopefully all the bugs are worked out now. . . eeeesh.

This kind of conversation is what I live for. . . . like the drooling-pyrate-geek that I am.

I was baptized a Lutheran but since then I've never been in a Lutheran church. What makes someone think that their religious heritage means anything when they consider a life of crime? (Outside of Black Bart Roberts, of course) Look at the Jewish Mafia (the purple gang) of prohibition in Detroit. . . I'm not sure Canadian Whiskey was kosher. Neither the "Yiddish Black Hand" of NYC. Hell, even today the Israeli Abergil crime family is head of the ecstasy drug trade in most of America. . . . and I think they all ate bacon at some point. LOL There have been a lot of Jewish pirates. . .which should be no surprise since pirates usually are made up of the down-trodden, the spit-upon, the folks deemed "not worthy" by society (in those days). I've read that a lot of Morocco's Jewish minorities joined up with Barbary pirates as soon as they could get out of the house! Hey. . . . this might make for a fascinating article. . . . watch out for the Winter Pyrates Way. . .you might just read more about it!

FAIRE MAGAZINE IS AT PRESS! I just approved the final proofs. . . in just a week and a half, your first issue will be in the mail to you. . . provided you've subscribed! www.fairemagazine and $22 via PayPal and you get four quarterly issues of what promises to be the new favorite magazine of Rennies and Pirates everywhere! PLUS. . . if you're within the first 500 subscribers, you get a really fancy metal pin to wear on your garb. We've only got the first 300 spots taken so there's still time to get your FREE pin!

Pyrates Weekend At MDRF- Sir Black Fox's Photos of the Event

I'll have m'wife with me and on Saturday, Louie (From Pirate Master) and his wife Linda will be our guests. I'll be in the shire alone on Sunday. . . so watch yer cider money 'cause I'll be after it, mates!

It's those snails working at the Post Office, mate. . . but have no fear.

We're in the editing stages of the magazine and the last bit of advertising is coming in. . . of course we can always fit more if need be. This will be our THIRD Autumn issue, huzzzahh to all of ye for helping keep this rag afloat! What's in the Autumn issue? 5 hot PYRATES (not wenches) of the quarter (as promised, lovely ladies) The Curse of Yellowbeard Long Island Pirate Festival Pirates & Wenches Fantasy Weekend @ Rock Hall, MD Maureen O'Hara - Pyrate Queen of the Screen Northern California Pyrate Festival Sir Francis Drake - Privateer to the Queen And MUCH more . . . including the inside speculation on POTC:4 subscribe or advertise, mates: www.pyratesway.com

Know ye mates, that The Pyrates Way is having a wee bit of a Band Contest. Come up with either a new song (or parody an old song) and make it all about The Pyrates Way . . . we might just add it to our new give-away CD, sent to our subscribers at Xmas time! No you don't have to be professionals. . .but only the best will make it to the CD. The authors and the band keep all the rights except for ours to publish it not-for-profit. Bands making it onto the tracks of the CD will get free advertising space in The Pyrates Way, as well as their information included in the CD's packaging. We've already heard from 4 different groups who be workin' steady in their art. . . . . Deadline is Oct. 31! Publisher@pyratesway.com

Our first "color" TV was this piece of clear film that was blue for the top third (sky), pink in the middle (faces) and green for the bottom (grass). Dad got us a color TV the day prior to Batman's premiere. I remember the guy with the cart of local vegetables and was the knife sharpener screaming as he walked it up the streets of the neighborhood. Sometimes he had blue crabs (DC suburbs). A rotary phone in our house and a crank phone in my grandparents' up in Jersey. (early 60s even!) lastly. . . the dog chewing the hands and feet of every G.I. Joe. . . . it did mark the first time I put a pirate hook on an action figure. . . a bit of foreshadowing m'thinks.

Cyn and I traveled out to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and ran across "Magic" Miller who hand-makes boots out of his Texas lair. For just a bit over $300 I picked up some deer-skin pirate boots that may be the most comfortable boot I've ever worn. They are incredible. Buying from Magic isn't just a purchase, it's an adventure. He spent the better part of a half hour showing us the ins and outs of good bootmaking (while flirting with Cyn). It was a great experience and I can't tell you enough how fine the workmanship is on the boots and how great they look and feel. www.regalboots.com

We LOVE our clipclocks and will probably buy some for each of our styled-garb!

so you're NOT the distributor? oooops.

There's a two page photospread about the exhibit in the summer Pyrates Way

'tis a great book with very much documented research behind it. I'm reading it for the second time and spent an hour or two with the author down in Hampton at The Blackbeard Festival. He's a great guy and easy to talk to. . . if you get the chance to see him at a booksigning. . .take it!

Summer Pyrates Way is in the mail to YOU!

We had a ball and did some good business. The dingy race was fun as hell. . .some VERY creative folks out there. The Beach Bash was standing-room only, to the point that I gave up any chance of getting photos of it. . . it was bikini city. . .fun to see but not a lot of pyracy on the beach (although with the hot sun, I can't blame 'em). Saturday night was the Buccaneer's Bash at The Waterman's and it looked like half the town showed up and half of them were in some sort of pyrate costume. A couple of bands played, there were costume contests, and much rum-drinking. Our old friends from Pirates Choice Rum showed up and handed out free samples. There was much me drinking. Sunday was a bit more subdued with some ominous clouds coming in about noonish, so we packed it in early and enjoyed everything happening in town which we'd not gotten to see yet. Downtown there were pirate booths selling garb and a pirate encampment on one side of the street and more of a flea market event on the other side. . . place was teaming with folks. For a first year event, I thought it was done up pretty well and the scenery was great. You'll see it all in the autumn Pyrates Way!

We have an article about Science Fiction Pyrates in our summer issue. . .on sale TODAY!

Actually they concluded the series. They just did it on the web. uh. . . because the ratings sucked.

Louie from Pirate Master the TV series: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/pirate_master Louie and his drop-dead gorgeous wife Linda will be with m'wife and I at the Rock Hall Pirate and Wench event this weekend in Maryland. Come see us!

Well spoke and very interesting. . . THANX!

hmmmm. . . . I don't put a lot of stock in his writings. There's so much incorrect in that book that a lot of piratical historians think that the writer might have been a pen name of DeFoe. . . . the information presented, especially about Bart Roberts and Blackbeard are very much in question. If you pick up the book "The Last Days of Blackbeard The Pirate" by Kevin Duffus, he's found a LOT of historical discrepancies with the accounts of "Capt. Johnson." There's another recent pirate book that calls Johnson's statements into question, but I can't put my finger on the book as of yet (I'm reading 3 a month now).

The Summer issue is rapping up it's visit to the printer and should be in the mail dead on the 31st as planned (whew). Subscribers to get this issue closed a month ago, but it's already available on back order if you want to get a head of the game. We have to close subscriptions when the issue goes to press because of the lag time in getting all the mailing addresses set up. (Talk about the boring part of the job) Anyway. . . in the Summer Issue you'll see: • 100 photos from PyrateCon 2008 - including a shot of thousands of pirates marching up Bourbon Street! • Highlights from the Pirates Ball at the Blackbeard Festival in Hampton, VA • A feature about Captain Blood (and not just Erol Flynn) • A photo feature of the Whydah exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philly • 4 Page catalog from Dress Like A Pirate • Pirate Weekend at VARF (Revisited) • Pirates of Science Fiction! • One-on-One with Louie Frase from Pirate Master • Treasure! article • A visit to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure in Orlando, FL • We take a look at Jolly Roger Caribbean Rum And of course 5 hot wenches (no longer image-enhanced models. . .but REAL wenches), jokes, cartoons, crossword, Re-enactor's Corner, and lots more. TONS of stuff in this, our 8th issue!