Originally posted 6/05/06

Captain Briggs

Originally uploaded by ateed.

The photo you are seeing is of Captain Briggs, leader of the Blue Gryphon Buccaneers… who we had the pleasure of hanging out with while we visited the Siouxland Renaissance Fesitval in Sioux Falls SD. It was a really nice faire, and it was a really nice thing to be able to go to faire without the responsibility of doing shows or working the pillory… or staying sober for that matter. Yes, yours trully had a wee bit too much Amber Bock on Saturday, but needless to say, a good time was had by all.

On to other matters… I think I'm going to abandon this blog. Or rather I should say, I'm going to find a new blog host. The format here is a little on the sketchy side… editing is difficult to say the least, and I've noticed that once an entry hits the bottom of the page, it's almost impossible to retreive for reading. Chances are I'll move over to blogspot.com, which is where I have my personal blog hosted. The pain will be trying to archive the entries I've already made… c'est la vie I guess.

One last note… John Paul (a.k.a. Allen Huffman) of AtTheFaire.com has put together a little music video using some footage he got at NRF and using one of my favorite Pirate Comedy Show songs, "Where Is The Renaissance In The Festival." A number of MOPO members make cameos, along with some other faces you'll recognize. Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5i34H7aMEw

THUMBS UP!

Originally posted 5/31/06

The Beatings Go On!

MOPO has just agreed to appear at the Renaissance Faire of the Midlands in Council Bluffs IA as strolling characters.  We won't be performing stage shows, and we won't have the pillories set up, but you'll find us wandering around with a shrew's fiddle causing whatever mayhem we can come up with.  It's a fantastic opportunity to get our foot in the door with a faire that's had a long and solid history.  RFotM has always brought in good performers and has had solid attendance year after year.  If we can get in good with them, it would be a nice big feather in our cap.

We're also trying to get in touch with the producers of a new faire in Charles City IA, who (recent news has it) are looking for performers for an event in mid August.  (Hey, it can't possibly be worse than the 95 degree weather we had at NRF)  We're also taking a close look at the Fall edition of the Great Plains Ren Fest in Witchita KS.

What with recent cast developments, we're also looking for new talent to fill in where needed.  If you are at all interested in possibly joining us in an official capacity, drop me a mail at:  ateed@yahoo.com and use "mopo cast" as the subject header.  (If it doesn't say "mopo cast" and I don't recognize your name, I'm likely to delete the email without looking at it.)  There will be an interview and audition process involved in some way shape or form once I see how much interest there is out there.

Right… that's it for now.  Keep an eye out for new developments… this time of year they can come along pretty fast!

THUMBS UP!

Let’s Try This Again!

Welcome to the new blog!

Some of you may know that I've been trying to get a spot set up strictly to keep everyone informed about what's going on with the troupe these days, and it's been a real pain in the neck.  First I tried the free blog that is hosted by geocities, and found the format a little on the irritating side, with archives seemingly impossible to access, editing of existing entries almost impossible, and I just didn't like the look overall… so I decided to move the thing over to blogger.com

Big mistake.  For the last couple of weeks, blogger.com has had serious problems… not just for me, but for a great number of people.  I created the new blog, but the server refused to recognize it.  I could write entries, but when I went to view the page, it would tell me the URL didn't exist on the server… a URL that THEY gave me!!  After a week or so of waiting for them to resolve the problem, I got tired and decided to move on. 

After checking out places like myspace (definately not) and LiveJournal (pffft) I finally wound up here.  Don't get me wrong, myspace and LiveJournal are great for personal blogs, but this one is intended to have a bit more of a professional feel.  So far so good… we'll see how it goes.

At any rate, here we are.  Once again I begin the process of moving the old entries over to this spot.  Before I start dishing out new updates, give me a few days to move the archives over, and then expect something new!  Along the way, if you have questions, comments or anything else you'd like to see addressed here, don't hesitate to drop me a note!

And without further ado… the first archive follows!

(originally posted 5/30/06)

A "faire"ly good weekend!

Well, we've just finished up with the first gig of the season at the Nebraska Renaissance Festival in Omaha. 

What can I say?  It was HOT.  Temperatures averaged mid 90's all weekend long, and there was for all intents and purposes absolutely no shade to speak of.   Everyone kept well hydrated and covered with sunblock, but the heat still took it's toll.  Many of us bear the pink marks of a rennie, and by the end of the day Monday, tempers were a little on the flashy side as well.

The two new shows worked.  They weren't spectacular, but for the first time out of the gate, they did indeed play well.  We held audiences for the most part, and we broke our single show tip record twice over the weekend, which was surprising given the smallish nature of most of our audiences.  I will say that the two new shows are a lot of fun to perform, and once we've tweaked them out a little, I think we'll have a great product on hand.  It was really great to do three shows in a single day and not repeat ourselves.  Got some good comments from folk who watched and the producer of the festival, so I'm really encouraged.

Our new member, Melissa, was absolutely fantastic.  I think I heard more good things about her from other people than I did about the shows themselves.  We feel extreemly fortunate to have her working with us, and hope that she'll decide to stick around for the forseeable future!

A huge thanks to Porkchop and Little John.  Because of our show schedule, we spent a LOT of time away from the stocks, and those two held the fort with the utmost proficiency.  I'm not sure how we would have gotten through the weekend without them.
One sad note… it looks like Steve Lindzy has decided to leave the troupe, which is a tough loss for us.  We wish Steve all the best of luck with his future endeavors, and I have a sneaky suspicion that we'll all still see him at faire… most likely with The Royale Pirates of Tortuga, which have always been Steve's first love.

With a little luck, we may be appearing at the Renaissance Faire of the Midlands in Council Bluffs IA in about three weeks or so.  We found out they might still be looking for street performers, and we're pursuing the opportunity.  More on that as it develops. 
Other than that, with no solid bookings until September, it might be time to sit back, re-write some material, come up with a few new gags and be ready to hit everyone with something sleek and shiny come fall.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday weekend!  See you 'round the village!

~~THUMBS UP!