Brotherhood of the Gulf Party and Meeting

[Blackbead]

On June 21, 2008, the Brotherhood of the Gulf will have a huge get-together on the grounds of Middlefaire in Hillsboro, Texas. The party starts at 2:00 PM and will go on as long as people want to hang out (that includes being able to camp onsite for Saturday night.) There will be live music, pirate poetry readings, soft drinks, and a chance to audition for the cast of Middlefaire for the coming season.

We’ll also be talking about the future of the Brotherhood: what should the articles say? Do we want to charge dues and then put out a newsletter?

There will also be a Pirate Olympics that you can compete in for amazing prizes! The Olympics will include PYRAT (pirate bingo), Bluff, Pirate Trivia, and Captain Morgan’s Revenge. The prizes will be donated by Blackbead’s Treasure Chest.

Bring something to eat with enough to share and it’s BYOB for alcohol. I plan on putting some meat on a grill and making some boucan and I’ll have enough to share.

The purpose of the Brotherhood of the Gulf is going to be manifold –

1) This is going to be a group that is designed to have fun together: trips to PyrateCon, Pirates in Paradise, and other pirate festivals, a group of people to hang out with when you go to Scarborough Faire, or TRF, or LRF, or ANY of the local faires like Middlefaire (the groups home port), or Scarlet’s or Lawton, etc.

2) This is going to be a group that can provide a group of reenactors when called for – sword fighting and the use of gunpowder weapons will be discussed as will the presentation of a living history setting for the public when called for.

3) This is going to be a group that entertains as well. We want to be able to put together lane acts for Middlefaire (and elsewhere as we grow) that can perform for the public (for one, Captain Jasper and I are talking about putting together an act that includes a simulated knife fight.)

4) Finally, this is a group that is going to undertake charitable events when possible. I already have experience with Relay for Life and there are others out there with similar experiences. Can you imagine a group of us dressed in full garb doing one of the Heart Association walks? The interest that we would draw for this fantastic cause?

So, come out and get to know us – once you have, you will want to be a part of this effort!

[Blackbead]

Ahoy there, mates!

Last Saturday, some of the members of the founding cadre of The Brotherhood of the Gulf (BOTG) met on the grounds of Middlefaire Renaissance Faire in Hillsboro, Texas for a great day of talks, food, and entertainment. If you missed it, you missed a fantastic time. But there’s more to come, lots more, and you can join the crew anytime!

Paul Delacroix, the real founding father of the BOTG, was our host and he set the tone early by getting everyone into the air conditioning for our meeting. The initial meeting lasted about an hour and a half with presentations from Paul, Rev One-eye, and yours truly, Blackbead. We set down our ultimate goals – the four foundation stones of the group – which include 1) having fun, 2) educational efforts in the form of pirate reenacting, 3) having a performance-based part of the group that can do lane acts and sword-fights at events, and 4) providing a venue for people to get involved in some charitable functions.

Our first big event is going to be this year’s Middlefaire, closely followed by Pirate Days in The Colony. Paul wants us to provide some entertainment for the folks that come out to Middlefaire. Perhaps a brawl between pirates over at Rum Pot Alley. Maybe a sword fight or two. And definitely some real characters that folks can interact with while they are walking around. Can someone do a village drunk?? We’ll see. Paul wants to have another get together on the weekend of July 19th and maybe we can get some cast members matched up with their personae.

Kenny Sanders rode up from Beaumont to provide the musical entertainment and if you didn’t get the chance to hear him then go to www.myspace.com/kennysandersmusic to listen to some samplings of his incredible guitar playing. I used his PA system to do some poetry readings – poems like “The Homecoming of Danny Fry,” “The Captain’s Coat,” “Farewell, Brave Lion,” and Prize Island.” And the evening REALLY heated up with a fire spinning performance after the sun went down! We all had the chance to see three performers of varying experience put on a fantastic show that truly burned the night - from one person’s very first “burn” to someone who has been spinning fire since 1992!

The pot luck dinner was incredible and provided a feast for everyone from about five o’clock on – there were shrimp kabobs, sho-sho sticks, several kinds of salads, baked potatoes, cakes, cookies, and some very good baked beans. Paul provided ice-cold bottles of water and there were plenty of drinks to go around from the various folks who brought ice chests.

There was also a large group of folks who took part in the “Pirate Olympics.” The three vents were a pirate trivia quiz, Bluff, and Morgan’s Revenge. Third prize, a “Rusty Cutlass” CD was ironically won by Kenny Sanders’ singer, Robin! Second prize, a framed and matted print of “Raising the Black Flag,” was won by Rev One-Eye but wound up in the hands of Alma, a true piratetess who had had a run of bad luck playing Bluff. But the winner of first prize, a replica flintlock blunderbuss, was Lance, who took everyone’s money in both Bluff AND Morgan’s Revenge! A good time was had by all, although I need to get with Squinty about his “booby prize” for scoring the lowest on the Pirate Trivia Quizz!!

“Hey, I got half of ‘em right . . .”

All in all, this was a day of fun, laughter, great music and we even got some work done! I know that I’m going to remember the stars shining above us as we sat in the village of Middlefaire and the looks of determination while we talked about the future of the group. Like I said, BOTG will meet again down on July 19th – be looking for more information on the meeting (we think this time we’ll try to find a centrally located pub and all descend on it in garb!) Till we meet again, fair winds and a slow galleon to ye!

Blackbead