Drake OranwoodHi all,
So people have started asking questions. (Yes, the idea that some people will miss me onstage does give me a warm feeling.) So let me take a few minutes to clarify why this year’s Pennsic concert (War Tuesday, 9-10 pm, Performing Arts tent in Pennsic U) is subtitled “Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow”.
Hi all. Pennsic is approaching so I wanted to give you a few updates.
Other than that, I plan on taking it mostly easy this war. I’m up for meeting up with people when possible and taking in some bardic circles.
Hope to see you there.
Drake
Toki Redbeard, also known as Toki Skaldagorvir (Toki the Skald-maker), passed from this life last Monday night. This is one of those seismic unexpected losses that shakes the SCA to its foundations. As far as we all knew, his cancer treatments were going well and about to wrap up.
This week has been a welling up of grief, stories, and remembrances across social media. Toki fostered and encouraged so many people, in the SCA and out of it, that his legacy is impossible to measure in this moment.
Happy new year my friends! My resolution was to deliver to you the best album I know how to make. We are on track for that (we’re now in post-production), so I wanted to share this sneak preview with you. Enjoy!
So we’ve been home for Pennsic a little over a week, but Herself tested positive for Covid right after we got home, so we’ve been quarantining, and my head wasn’t in the right space to post yet.
Yes, there was a lot of Covid going around at Pennsic, much closer at hand for us than previous years. From opening weekend to middle weekend to packout, it was taking down good friends of ours left and right. Ultimately it got a good chunk of our camp. How it keeps missing me I’ll never know, but I don’t want to jinx it. Current mood:
Sooo, it’s time to talk about something.
This will be the ninth Pennsic where I have the privilege of performing on the Performing Arts stage (aka the Three Crowns). Next year will be the tenth…and my last planned one.
Well, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…let’s talk about this summer. Pennsic is less than a month away (aaaaaaaaa!), and there are a few things going on…but first, you probably wanna know about the concert, right? So let’s talk about the concert.
My “Troubadour Next Door” concert will be happening Wednesday of War Week from 7 to 8 pm (August 7), in the big Performing Arts tent, now known as The Three Crowns. (I learned last year that some people have not been there and don’t know where it is. This is not the PA Rehearsal Tent. This is the giant yellow tent at the heart of Pennsic University, behind Aethelmearc Royal). PLEASE NOTE the 7 pm time slot, earlier than usual. However, I’m okay with it because I am opening for Heather Dale, whose concert is at 8 pm, which means there should be some solid turnout.
I have tried to return to this blog and post probably half a dozen times since (checks notes) just after last Pennsic. There is a page-long draft of one from April. Nope, I’m not using that. But I am going to push through and finish this, and share it, hell or high water.
Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve posted videos from the private concert we did in Artemisia Royal encampment during middle weekend of Pennsic 50.
Yes, a number of these songs were also done in the PA tent concert a few days later, and I’ve shared out those videos. But the private concert space was different. It was a small space, but it was quickly packed as we started performing. We were all looser. And the audience energy was much more like a regular SCA bardic performance than the stage was. And…we mixed in solo performances from my friends Silence, Bird, Colette, Robbin, and Eadaoin, which all were fantastic.
So check it out if you feel like it. My new filk “Putting It Together”, in particular, played completely different in this space, and it makes me really happy.
It’s a little over a week that we’re home from Pennsic 50. As usual, I’ve needed some time to process my thoughts. Here we go.
This was our first full Pennsic since before the pandemic. We did just Peace Week from a hotel room last year, which gave us a taste, but it wasn’t the same as really being there. Most of it was fear of Covid, and we managed to avoid it. (We managed not to get sick this year too, which was better than a number of our friends. We may be “done” with Covid, but it really isn’t done with us.) It was good to really be back, to be set up fully with our pavilion and moved in and living onsite, and not needing to head out every evening just as the night life was getting started.
Drake Oranwood