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Nov. 11th, 2007 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowangolightlyWe're now home, unpacked and fed after our whirlwind trip to Joplin to kick off things for the Joplin Renaissance Faire early next Spring.
Bruce and I hurried to pack the car to drive up for the Friday evening meeting with the owners and managers of the new faire in Joplin.
We were running a bit late and then got lost trying to find the Keltoi Winery outside of Joplin; Bruce M. had give directions in terms of "go two miles..." but the speedometer in the car is broken! A quick call and he drove to the intersection to meet us and get us there safely.
To catch everyone up and repeat the story as I've now told it several times to folk with a grinning Bruce M. standing nearby; the owners of the new Joplin are folk we met at White Hart on its first weekend. They came up to me at the royal pavilion and said, "We wanna start our own faire in Joplin and we want you and your court there." I thought, "Oh boy, here's another dreamer" but I said told them what a huge undertaking it is, both in time and funds and how very hard it is to start something like this. I understood that Chris J. and Di T. and Brother Donald all told them pretty much the same thing. But I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I said, "Well, here's what you need to do to get started, in order for me to take you seriously" and I outlined basically what it takes in brief terms. And truly, I never thought I'd see them again. But I was wrong; TWO WEEKS later they came back to me and said, "Ok, now what..." So that's how this all got started.
There was a small group of people there for what ended up being a Board Meeting for the Joplin Keltoi Renaissance Festival. (Details for which may be found at www (dot) joplinrenfestival (dot) com.) The only ones unfortunately missing were Eric and his lovely wife, Julie, who had both illness and car troubles unfortunately keeping them away. Bruce M., the owner, had copies of his written agenda with mission statement, goals, standards and intents which he handed out and lead us through. He has some impressive goals and has every step covered in order to begin and organize this faire properly. He said, "We're on a bus, the same bus, and I'm driving it in one direction. Anyone who can't do that is going to have to get off the bus right now." He said he has many years of business management experience, and boy, is that obvious. He led us through his printed document and then we discussed details, plans and scheduling. For a major miracle, the dates that were selected do not in any way conflict with the dates for academy weekends at OKRF. In his outline, he said that both Di Taylor of White Hart and Jeff and Karen at the Castle in Muskogee have been immensely helpful in helping him get started and nothing that we will do will ever conflict with either faire, but rather be supportive and cohesive. The major sticking point will be four weekends of academy for a one weekend faire; I did tell that several people mentioned to me that they simply cannot justify it, especially with the travel involved.
I must say that the academy as planned seems very well organized; a great deal of thought has been put into it so that time will not be wasted and so that veterans and newbies can work together in a mentoring partnership that will help everyone progress faster. This is crucial for a beginning faire. I believe that some flexibility will be taken into account for those who cannot make all weekends of academies, but I highly suggest that anyone who is at all interested, go to the web-site and the yahoo group and check it out. The royal court is under my directorship and so folk who've been in my court before who are wanting to be in it again need to be in email contact with me, if you haven't already. My returning court members will not be required to audition but rather, we will have a meet-and-greet with the Entertainment Director to chat about things, likely the weekend of auditions. The Royal Court will be a small-ish group, comprised of 15 people I believe, which is in keeping with the desired ratio of village folk to visiting nobility/royalty. It does always seem rather silly to me to have 50 court people descend upon a village of 10 peasants, 25 pirates and 30 Scotsman and no butcher, baker or candlestick maker. The projected cast list and story line are all on the yahoo group, http://groups (dot) yahoo (dot)com/group/joplinrenfestival/
Of course, an endeavor like this takes all sorts of help, commitment (sometimes we feel as though we should BE committed!) organization and cooperation. I can say after this meeting that any concerns or doubts I had about this venture were put to rest. The business management skills that this owner has, the connections he has in the community, the cooperation and enthusiasm I'm seeing in the town for this event, the heart and cooperation of everyone involved in organizing it....all these things bode extremely well for the future of this event. There is a combination of new energy, experienced folk, talent and commitment that I've rarely seen the like in a new event being produced. And yes, there is money, too. The event will be self-sustaining and paid up front with a combination of grants and endowments due to the smarts, connections and hard work of the owner. Ok, enough on that. Suffice to say that the meeting went well and any anxieties are dealt with. Communication is a wonderful thing as is excellent management skills!
After the meeting ended at about midnight, Bruce and I drove to the hotel where we discovered that we had no internet and were in the thin-walled new part of the hotel. That newer addition at the back of that Holiday Inn had obviously a much less quality of construction because the walls were too damned thin; I got hardly any sleep at all due to the noisy group of party-ers running through the halls, yelling and slamming doors. And that's with wearing ear plugs! Truly, the only noisier bunch of hotel guests I've ever encountered was the convention of Shriners' at the Downtown Marriott our wedding weekend this fall in Kansas City! Ye gods. More on this later...
Next morning we awoke soon enough to dress and run to breakfast with the same wonderful group of folk. I've rarely had breakfast in a bar but as it's right around the corner from Bruce M's office and is the purveyor of the pubs for the faire, it was a good place to meet. Our server was one of the gals who'll be a pub wench; she'll be awesome. And oh yes, our old friend Cat who formerly ran the after-hours pub at KCRF and runs them at White Hart is also running the pubs for Joplin Faire so that'll rock too. Bruce and Lane, Mark W., Cat, Bruce and me and eventually Kittye and Pam had a really good AND inexensive breakfast, all sat around and chatted, chuckled, discussed and got better acquainted. All was good...
From there, Bruce and I headed back to the hotel for him to deal with the lack of connectivity. I'm pleased to say that they fixed it up right; discovered that there was no internet service in that whole wing of the hotel which is the newer addition. So, the guy from engineering soon discovered the problem, called the front desk to get us another room, went to that room to ensure connectivity and then helped us move our stuff there plus brought the new keys back up to us. Yep, good customer service, I'm happy to relate. And this room was in the front part of the hotel, the older part with the thicker walls. Note to self; from here on at the Holiday Inn in Joplin, make sure to request the front corridor! So once we'd settled back in, Bruce and I headed back out to show him the park that the faire will be held at for this year, at least.
After that we headed to a grocery store to get our contribution to the pot luck and headed back out to the Keltoi Winery, on Highway M off I-43, north of Joplin. We got out of the car to discover KC's dear Rogues already in attendance, and other friends as well. There were a few surprises of folk I haven't seen in a long time and details to work out but it was great. And party we did! Bruce M. smoked a huge ham; I made quick baked beans, there was 7 layer dip and chips, veggies, nummmy corn-filled bread and lots of other stuff. The company was grand with old and new friends, and yes, those who were expected and couldn't make it were definitely missed! The only down-side to the whole thing I'll admit that bothered me was all the cigarette smoke in the smallish lodge partyroom. I felt like, at times, I was the only person in the world who didn't smoke! So I hung out near the door and breathed while trying to stay warm in the increasingly chilly breezes. Truly, we have to find a better, breathing-friendly way to have our meetings and parties with the blend of smokers and non-smokers that we have in this group. I may not be truly allergic to it but I certainly can feel the rawness in my throat, the congestion in my head and the nasty gunk in my chest and this is NOT a cold, this is just a reaction to all the cigarette smoke I was around. Not to mention how stinky it is; gods, I hate the smell of stale cigarette smoke, especially on ME and my clothing! As a singer and performer, I really cannot put up with too much of that and shouldn't have to, I think. *sigh* Hate to be a pain but I have to have cleaner air to breathe!
With all the stress and work leading up to this weekend and the lack of sleep the night before, I wore out early but hung in there until 10ish when the party started to thin out. I know that I crashed right out on the drive back to the hotel and then slept like a baby until we damned well felt like getting up this morning. Here's to no noise from the hallway in the hotel!
This morning we slept in with NO ALARM set, what a luxury! Then a lovely breakfast at Bob Evans and a calm relaxing drive home.
There, boy, that got long!
Bruce and I hurried to pack the car to drive up for the Friday evening meeting with the owners and managers of the new faire in Joplin.
We were running a bit late and then got lost trying to find the Keltoi Winery outside of Joplin; Bruce M. had give directions in terms of "go two miles..." but the speedometer in the car is broken! A quick call and he drove to the intersection to meet us and get us there safely.
To catch everyone up and repeat the story as I've now told it several times to folk with a grinning Bruce M. standing nearby; the owners of the new Joplin are folk we met at White Hart on its first weekend. They came up to me at the royal pavilion and said, "We wanna start our own faire in Joplin and we want you and your court there." I thought, "Oh boy, here's another dreamer" but I said told them what a huge undertaking it is, both in time and funds and how very hard it is to start something like this. I understood that Chris J. and Di T. and Brother Donald all told them pretty much the same thing. But I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I said, "Well, here's what you need to do to get started, in order for me to take you seriously" and I outlined basically what it takes in brief terms. And truly, I never thought I'd see them again. But I was wrong; TWO WEEKS later they came back to me and said, "Ok, now what..." So that's how this all got started.
There was a small group of people there for what ended up being a Board Meeting for the Joplin Keltoi Renaissance Festival. (Details for which may be found at www (dot) joplinrenfestival (dot) com.) The only ones unfortunately missing were Eric and his lovely wife, Julie, who had both illness and car troubles unfortunately keeping them away. Bruce M., the owner, had copies of his written agenda with mission statement, goals, standards and intents which he handed out and lead us through. He has some impressive goals and has every step covered in order to begin and organize this faire properly. He said, "We're on a bus, the same bus, and I'm driving it in one direction. Anyone who can't do that is going to have to get off the bus right now." He said he has many years of business management experience, and boy, is that obvious. He led us through his printed document and then we discussed details, plans and scheduling. For a major miracle, the dates that were selected do not in any way conflict with the dates for academy weekends at OKRF. In his outline, he said that both Di Taylor of White Hart and Jeff and Karen at the Castle in Muskogee have been immensely helpful in helping him get started and nothing that we will do will ever conflict with either faire, but rather be supportive and cohesive. The major sticking point will be four weekends of academy for a one weekend faire; I did tell that several people mentioned to me that they simply cannot justify it, especially with the travel involved.
I must say that the academy as planned seems very well organized; a great deal of thought has been put into it so that time will not be wasted and so that veterans and newbies can work together in a mentoring partnership that will help everyone progress faster. This is crucial for a beginning faire. I believe that some flexibility will be taken into account for those who cannot make all weekends of academies, but I highly suggest that anyone who is at all interested, go to the web-site and the yahoo group and check it out. The royal court is under my directorship and so folk who've been in my court before who are wanting to be in it again need to be in email contact with me, if you haven't already. My returning court members will not be required to audition but rather, we will have a meet-and-greet with the Entertainment Director to chat about things, likely the weekend of auditions. The Royal Court will be a small-ish group, comprised of 15 people I believe, which is in keeping with the desired ratio of village folk to visiting nobility/royalty. It does always seem rather silly to me to have 50 court people descend upon a village of 10 peasants, 25 pirates and 30 Scotsman and no butcher, baker or candlestick maker. The projected cast list and story line are all on the yahoo group, http://groups (dot) yahoo (dot)com/group/joplinrenfestival/
Of course, an endeavor like this takes all sorts of help, commitment (sometimes we feel as though we should BE committed!) organization and cooperation. I can say after this meeting that any concerns or doubts I had about this venture were put to rest. The business management skills that this owner has, the connections he has in the community, the cooperation and enthusiasm I'm seeing in the town for this event, the heart and cooperation of everyone involved in organizing it....all these things bode extremely well for the future of this event. There is a combination of new energy, experienced folk, talent and commitment that I've rarely seen the like in a new event being produced. And yes, there is money, too. The event will be self-sustaining and paid up front with a combination of grants and endowments due to the smarts, connections and hard work of the owner. Ok, enough on that. Suffice to say that the meeting went well and any anxieties are dealt with. Communication is a wonderful thing as is excellent management skills!
After the meeting ended at about midnight, Bruce and I drove to the hotel where we discovered that we had no internet and were in the thin-walled new part of the hotel. That newer addition at the back of that Holiday Inn had obviously a much less quality of construction because the walls were too damned thin; I got hardly any sleep at all due to the noisy group of party-ers running through the halls, yelling and slamming doors. And that's with wearing ear plugs! Truly, the only noisier bunch of hotel guests I've ever encountered was the convention of Shriners' at the Downtown Marriott our wedding weekend this fall in Kansas City! Ye gods. More on this later...
Next morning we awoke soon enough to dress and run to breakfast with the same wonderful group of folk. I've rarely had breakfast in a bar but as it's right around the corner from Bruce M's office and is the purveyor of the pubs for the faire, it was a good place to meet. Our server was one of the gals who'll be a pub wench; she'll be awesome. And oh yes, our old friend Cat who formerly ran the after-hours pub at KCRF and runs them at White Hart is also running the pubs for Joplin Faire so that'll rock too. Bruce and Lane, Mark W., Cat, Bruce and me and eventually Kittye and Pam had a really good AND inexensive breakfast, all sat around and chatted, chuckled, discussed and got better acquainted. All was good...
From there, Bruce and I headed back to the hotel for him to deal with the lack of connectivity. I'm pleased to say that they fixed it up right; discovered that there was no internet service in that whole wing of the hotel which is the newer addition. So, the guy from engineering soon discovered the problem, called the front desk to get us another room, went to that room to ensure connectivity and then helped us move our stuff there plus brought the new keys back up to us. Yep, good customer service, I'm happy to relate. And this room was in the front part of the hotel, the older part with the thicker walls. Note to self; from here on at the Holiday Inn in Joplin, make sure to request the front corridor! So once we'd settled back in, Bruce and I headed back out to show him the park that the faire will be held at for this year, at least.
After that we headed to a grocery store to get our contribution to the pot luck and headed back out to the Keltoi Winery, on Highway M off I-43, north of Joplin. We got out of the car to discover KC's dear Rogues already in attendance, and other friends as well. There were a few surprises of folk I haven't seen in a long time and details to work out but it was great. And party we did! Bruce M. smoked a huge ham; I made quick baked beans, there was 7 layer dip and chips, veggies, nummmy corn-filled bread and lots of other stuff. The company was grand with old and new friends, and yes, those who were expected and couldn't make it were definitely missed! The only down-side to the whole thing I'll admit that bothered me was all the cigarette smoke in the smallish lodge partyroom. I felt like, at times, I was the only person in the world who didn't smoke! So I hung out near the door and breathed while trying to stay warm in the increasingly chilly breezes. Truly, we have to find a better, breathing-friendly way to have our meetings and parties with the blend of smokers and non-smokers that we have in this group. I may not be truly allergic to it but I certainly can feel the rawness in my throat, the congestion in my head and the nasty gunk in my chest and this is NOT a cold, this is just a reaction to all the cigarette smoke I was around. Not to mention how stinky it is; gods, I hate the smell of stale cigarette smoke, especially on ME and my clothing! As a singer and performer, I really cannot put up with too much of that and shouldn't have to, I think. *sigh* Hate to be a pain but I have to have cleaner air to breathe!
With all the stress and work leading up to this weekend and the lack of sleep the night before, I wore out early but hung in there until 10ish when the party started to thin out. I know that I crashed right out on the drive back to the hotel and then slept like a baby until we damned well felt like getting up this morning. Here's to no noise from the hallway in the hotel!
This morning we slept in with NO ALARM set, what a luxury! Then a lovely breakfast at Bob Evans and a calm relaxing drive home.
There, boy, that got long!
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:20 am (UTC)Ah well..next time!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:25 am (UTC)Good to know the smoke problem is being taken care of!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:23 am (UTC)I've always wondered why, and resented, non-smokers being made to feel apologetic, or that we are "being a pain", when we ask people not to inflict potentially harmful, uncomfortable physical distress on us. I wonder if it's a hold-over from the days when smoking was "cool" and anyone who was "hip" did it, and only the "square" didn't.
To be cool, my mom started smoking at 14. Made her appear older, more "sophisticated." All the movie stars of her era did it.* If she hadn't, she might have lived into her mid-90's, like all her relatives before her, instead of dying of COPD at 75, with her last 10 years blighted by chronic lung infections, pneumonia, and dwindling energy making her incapable of doing more than nap through most days because she wasn't getting enough oxygen.
I guess I'm saying I wouldn't hesitate to politely but firmly insist on no-smoking, and not feel apologetic about it.
*(I was surprisd to find Carrie, the centerpiece heroine of Sex in the City, doing it in the past 5-10 years, as smoking had so fallen out of favor.)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:29 am (UTC)It's more that I hated to bring a 'downer' opinion to a party like this where the emphasis was to bring people together to feel more comfortable with one another. I also hate to appear to be the "prima dona" at the beginning of an event where I'll be portraying the Queen; it's too easy for people to think, "OH, there she goes, flaunting her authority and making us cow-tow to her." Yeah, I'm probably more sensitive to that than I should be, but I've been burned a bit.
Believe me, from here on, especially for classes, it will have to be no smoking.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:39 am (UTC)My aunt, otoh, got pneumonia just once and feel so terrible it was enough to make her quit cold-turkey. She's now 86 and walks for an hour every day, has more energy than I do.
I hear what you're saying about how others might perceive you, and wanting to be sensitive to that. I care about that too much, and am "recovering" from it by sheer force of will. :-) I know I'm not a prima donna, or an unkind, insensitive, or egotistical person. Quite the opposite. So I tell myself if someone else insists on casting me in that role, well, screw 'em.
But I can see you have to tread the boards more carefully, it's not just you you're representing.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 04:39 am (UTC)I think it's still a holdover from when it was almost entirely tobacco country. Old habits die hard, especially the addictive ones, and the culture encourages smoking.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:23 am (UTC)Some day, when I'm feeling spendy and long-term bored and in the mood for heatstroke, perhaps I'll tackle making myself some. Riiiight. (This from the girl whose first attempts at peasant garb were met with multiple cries of "Beautiful middles!" - the failure of the overachiever: missing the mark because you're too perfectionist to make half-assed garb or use the cheap stuff.)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:34 am (UTC)I'd much rather make something right and have it last than rush through because it's a "costume." Hell no, they're CLOTHES that you wear for a different period of time, is all!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:54 am (UTC)thank you!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 01:52 am (UTC)There was also a prospective vendor there; a wood-worker who makes furniture and even carves flowers. Yes, I told him about Riley and he's looking forward to meeting him. This guy does craft shows and art shows but is now looking into the faire market especially since this is so close for him. *grin* I have him 'my faire philosophy 101' which he said that he appreciated and also told him about Norman and OKRF after he asked me for details.
Yep, there will be more, plenty more get-togethers.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 02:57 am (UTC)"nothing that we will do will ever conflict with either faire, but rather be supportive and cohesive"
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:03 am (UTC)GREAT fella!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:09 am (UTC)Who is scared to death of our filk on "The Moose Song" BTW.... *snicker*
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:17 am (UTC)You should meet Shannon who WROTE it! She's Magdalene on my flist...
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 05:58 pm (UTC)But unfortunately with chessboard rehearsal every weekend in addition to the 4 weekends of OKRF Academy, I just cannot see myself doing it. Though I definitely hope to at least make it up for one day to play.
I am sure it will be a great show!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 06:02 pm (UTC)Please do come and visit; I think it's going to be a really good time. He is an awesome fella who's taking on all this new information and steep learning curve with a great deal of aplomb and class.
It'll be the only other soft-site faire in the midwest other than Norman so it'll be interesting just from that POV; we're trying to be pretty durned accurate.... Bearing in mind that "Renaissance Festivals are to History as Etch-I-Sketch is to Art."
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 06:46 pm (UTC)I look forward to seeing it, and it should be interesting to see how a soft-site faire that actually cares about performance does. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 07:06 pm (UTC)