4 August 2009
I got home today and saw this yard ornament glinting in the late afternoon sun. It was really quite striking. I, however, cast a shadow large enough to obscure some of that glint in my photo. 
Cheers.
~KR (Written on 6 August 2009)
Listening to:
Not My Mistake by Mudmen
from Overrated
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: -4/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
3 August 2009
A simple photo of me holding my keys getting ready for the day to end. Unfortunately, I took this photo very early in the day.
Cheers.
~KR (Written on 6 August 2009)
Listening to:
Heat of Glass by Front & Centre
from Cover Collection
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -4/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
4 August 2009
Tuesday . . . the day before the show, and my skirt is done! After many years of faithful service, the 21-year-old cancan skirt can rest. And the fabulous new cancan skirt of purple-y goodness will see its debut at the Folk Dance Showcase show tomorrow night! Woo hoo! In fact, I finished this with time to spare, so I’ll spend much of today adding rows of ruffles to the remaining two cancan skirts for this season’s high-kicking first act finale.
It didn’t really start out this way, but this purple skirt has ended up being the perfect skirt if the TCU Showgirls were going to do a cancan number! Which, I might add, is a very interesting thought . . .”
So, Act I of Folk Dance Showcase—A World Tour, presents various folk dances from around the world. We visit England, Scotland and Ireland, then on to Syria for belly dancing, and the Balkans for some Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek dancing. Russia is represented by the well-known korobushka, and then, France, with my cancan girls. It really ought to be a load of fun.
Tonight’s dress rehearsal is for Act II, so that should go quickly. Act II is focused on American Folk Dance. I was hoping for square dancing and clogging, but that will have to be another show. We do have a native American dance, some fun country-western and club line dancing, some urban hip hop, and a bunch of fabulous swing dancing. We even decided to include the Hokey Pokey and get all our kids on the stage! And, we’re ending the act with a nod to Disco, complete with a disco ball and the whole company back on stage to do The Hustle! Most of the music for Act II is canned—Ginger has worked hard to gather it all into mp3 format and her wonderful little IPod and docking station or her computer will provide our sound tonight. Tomorrow, we bring in the big guns, and Jerry Barry will take Ginger’s work and put it through his larger sound system for the show.
So . . . more ruffles . . .
~MB
2 August 2009
Terrill, Bryan and I convened at No Frills Grill for the second day in a row to test our equipment and practice in front of the mics. We had a great time and, again, I failed to take a single photo. After the fact, I found Terrill’s shownotes and decided to use that as my photo since I failed to capture a single photo of the process.
Cheers.
~KR (Written on 5 August 2009)
Listening to:
Fight For Your Right to Party by Beastie Boys
from VH1 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: -4/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
1 August 2009
Bryan, Terrill & I got together today for the first of what will be many events. I fully intended to document the entire day and process, but failed miserably in that task by taking this single photo.
It shows Bryan, his beer & the brand new mixer board that we are using for our recording efforts. As things come to fruition I will post it here.
Cheers.
~KR (Written on 5 August 2009)
Listening to:
Houses of the Holy by Led Zepplin
from Mothership [Disc 2]
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired, Red-eye reduction
3 August 2009
This is a shot of the new and improved cancan skirt that Ginger will be wearing in our Folk Dance Showcase Wednesday night. I had completed two all new cancan skirts for girls who hadn’t danced a cancan with me before, and Ginger’s older skirt was decidedly bare in comparison. So, I beefed up her formerly four-ruffled skirt so she now has nine fabulous rows of red and white ruffles! Oooh-la-la!
I’ve been showing off ruffles, and “dancing” around the subject of this show for days, now, without ever giving the details. The cancan is just one number in a show that ought to run about an hour and a half. So, here goes:
In April, Jim Lillquist, talented Renaissance musician and the man behind the Gypsy Guerilla Band, contacted me and asked me if I’d be interested in working on a Folk Dance show at Bristol this summer. It sounded like a great idea to me, and before too many messages had passed between us, we were outlining the show and agreeing to be partners in making it happen.
That was a while ago, and I’m still not sure we really knew what we were getting into, but, now the week of the show is here! Jim gathered the musicians, and I recruited dancers. Musicians and dancers have been working hard for weeks, now, to pull this together, and it’s going to be great fun! The show is Wednesday evening, August 5th at 7 p.m. Tickets are five dollars in advance, available from me, or Jim, or Gail, or Cindy, or Kimbelle. If you show up the night of the performance, your ticket will cost you ten dollars. But, that’s okay, too, ’cause all the ticket money is a donation to RESCU. We even got permission to sell tickets to our patron friends and gate list them to get into the site that night. Everybody who is anybody will be here!
Except Kyle. Sadly, Kyle and I miscommunicated on this one. I agreed to do the show on this date, based on Kyle’s willingness to travel to Wisconsin, rather than me going home for our anniversary. And, then, somewhere in the weeks in between, the details fell through the cracks and the window of opportunity for Kyle to arrange to work in Chicago and be here on that Wednesday, closed. So, much to our chagrin and disappointment, I will be here, dancing a cancan, and he will be in Texas, and our “I love yous” by phone will have to carry us through our wedding anniversary this year.
We will, however, be together the very next week, when he comes for his annual visit on Milwaukee Irish Fest weekend, and we will make up for the whole anniversary snafu that weekend!
But, in the meantime, I am up to my eyeballs in ruffles and rehearsals—wishing as always for another week or so before the event!
~MB
31 July 2009
Truth be told, I don’t really remember this day.
But, I did get a pretty decent shot of a lit candle in the house at the very end of the day. I took this just before blowing out the candle and going to bed.
Cheers.
~KR (Written on 3 August 2009)
Listening to:
Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos by Shakira
from Pies Descalzos
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -4/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
30 July 2009
Terrill & I met at No Frills Grill in South Arlington tonight to discuss how best to proceed with a new project and to test some of the necessary equipment. You may be able to guess what we’re up to based on the bright yellow box
…or not. 
Cheers.
~KR (Written on 3 August 2009)
Listening to:
White Boy by Culture Club
from The Best Of
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired, Red-eye reduction
2 August 2009
Just when we might have been tempted to think we couldn’t possibly have a prettier day, we were given the gift of today. It was a fabulous weather day from the time the sun came up! And, the crowds showed up. Of course, they were still cautious, as a rule, and not inclined to easily spend $200 and up on clothing . . . but they were here and they were happy.
After being afraid that this morning would come without me having any bloody mary mix on hand, both folks I asked to try to remember to pick some up, did indeed, and a third did it just to be thoughtful! So, the resulting collection of bottles simply begged to be photographed.
Two of our bloody mary drinkers were absent today—Carol at her Fairy Festival and Paul on his way to Pennsyc. But, we involved Gregg and Susan and Brian and Renee this morning, so still the group grew, rather than shrank! I love that! Traditions are meant to be shared! Kelly and I actually enjoyed our drinks for quite a while, as it took a long while for the crowd to find their way to the faire today.
Another highlight of the day was that it was Sean and Amber’s second anniversary and he was caught often sending her beautiful flowers. I snapped this photo of her and some colorful stems he sent her throughout the day. They are a terribly cute couple and we wish them the best!
At the end of the day, it was decided that we wouldn’t go eat as a group tonight. Ginger was off to a special swing dance party in Chicago, and although I was hungry, I was also very tired. Kelly, too . . . so after some socializing in the MBistro, we all said good night. I joined Susan and Gregg for some yummy chicken cacciatore and the watching of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog Commentary: The Musical. Funny stuff.
The Pig and Whistle was the scene, tonight, for a wonderful evening of jazz and bluesy sounding music by Billy Miller, Jerry Barry, Craig Broers and I’m not sure who all else. I cannot see the stage from my booth, but I can hear it like it was in my space with me, and on these nights like this, it’s wonderful. I did my paperwork for Nicole while listening, and as the pub was shutting down, I went to take a hot shower. Now, I’m done with both, and struggling to be awake.
Tomorrow there will be more red ruffles for Ginger!
~MB
1 August 2009
Lammas Day
Happy Birthday, Kimbelle!
An absolutely glorious day here at Bristol, and yet a lackluster crowd. It was small-ish, and it took them a very long time to “warm up” and seem to be having fun. Our sales were neither awful or fabulous—just pretty average. But, we know how to have fun, regardless.
Steampunk is all the rage right now, of course. And, at Pendragon Costumes we are scratching that itch was a fabulous new item—a Victorian-style corset, made of top grain leather, with swivel buckles at the front busk, and laces up the back. Yum—mmyy! At Swashbuckler, the smaller store owned by Excalibur Leather, our dear friends next door, they are selling brass goggles—the obligatory steampunk accessory. Maron bought his pair today, and this photo shows those goggles bringing out the best in Sean at dinner tonight!
Much like Friday didn’t seem like Friday, today didn’t seem like Saturday. We kept saying it felt like a Sunday. That could be due to the smaller crowd, or the lack of make-ready work we had to do this morning . . . or perhaps it’s ’cause we snuck a bloody mary into our Saturday morning? 
(I finished off the Zing Zang bottle and requested that a couple of folks try to get to a liquor store for more before coming to work tomorrow—I just found out there are five bottles coming my way tomorrow! Sweet! Won’t have to worry about that again for a week or two!! Thanks Drew & Renee and Sean & Amber!)
~MB
