Gearing up for the Texas Renaissance Festival

Man, I'm getting psyched. The Texas Renaissance Festival is rapidly approaching. Just three more days, and we're back at faire. It's definitely fueling my desire to play more.

Today, I'm heading back out to the South Mall of UT Austin to practice. Course, most of my solo practicing isn't the funny music that the Brobdingnagian Bards typically play during our live show. A lot of my solo stuff is composed of Irish ballads, Scottish songs, and my own unique folk songs.

When the weather is as great as it is, it all comes together beautifully out on the South Mall. I'll be out ther from 12-1pm during my lunch break. Course, it's always nice to see people out there. So come out if you have the time.

If you've never heard me perform, the Brobdingnagian Bards have a lot of free music downloads on their website. I have my fair share of free folk music downloads as well.

Free music downloads are one of the main reasons we've progressed as rapidly as we have. I've built an entire directory of free music downloads online. And also publish an ezine of free celtic music downloads as well.

Course, none of this has squat to do with the Texas Renaissance Festival...

Wait. That's not entirely true. I've helped promote a lot of Renaissance Festival bands online with free music downloads. And at the Texas Renaissance Festival, you'll see bands like Cantiga, Tartanic, Iris and Rose, and many more who offer free music downloads.

Okay... Time to get back to work, and maybe go listen to some of that free music to get me ready... Oh! Shoot, I need to go to Ren Radio. That'll definitely put me in the mood. Slainte!

Digital Distribution of Celtic Music

I got a concerned email the other day. Someone was a wee bit shocked to find that we were on iTunes!

Whoops! Did I forget to mention it?

CDBaby, the leading CD store for independent music online, has put together some incredible digital distribution deals that allow us to sell our music digitally through sites like iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and a dozen other digital music websites online.

You can see the list by searching our free music downloads webpage. There's about twenty sites to choose from. So check it out.

Texas Renaissance Festival 2004

Next weekend, we're heading back to one of our favorite faires--the Texas Renaissance Festival. We've the same schedule as last year. Find the Warfside Music Gazebo, and you can see us four times a day. I think our last show of the day will be an all-request show, so get your favorite song requests ready.

Not too long ago, I compiled a list of all the Texas Renaissance Festival journal entries I've made over the years.

• Texas Renaissance Festival 2004 Free Ticket Winner
• And the Eighth Album is Called...
• Great weekend at TRF 2003 with percussion
• Glorious Weekend at the Texas Renaissance Festival 2003!
• For those not going to Texas Ren Fest 2003
• Catch all the action at Texas Ren Fest 2003
• Photo Fixes at Texas Ren Fest
• The Brobdingnagian Bards at Texas Ren Fest 2003 story continues...
• Texas Renaissance Festival 2003 starts this weekend
• Where to find us at Texas Renaissance Festival 2003
• Texas Renaissance Festival 2003 ends with a bang!
• Texas Ren Fest 2002 Comes to Sad Closing
• Texas Ren Fest 2002 and Clan Gunn Ceilidh
• Texas Renaissance Festival 2002 Firework Highlights
• Great First Weekend at TRF 2002
• Texas Renaissance Festivals 2002 Tickets Giveaway
• Places to Stay at Texas Renaissance Festival
• Texas Ren Fest Helpers Needed
• Texas Ren Fest 2002 Confirmed
• College Station Public Radio
• One weekend only at Texas Renaissance Festival 2001
• Texas Renaissance Festival 2000 Wants Bards for Seven Weekends

Oh! There'll be a lot of great bagpipe music as well as a bunch of great Renaissance festival music out there. So I'll see ye at the Texas Renaissance Festival!

My Favorite Bagpipe Music

There's a lot of great bagpipe music online. Course I love free bagpipe music downloads. So I compiled a bunch on my Celtic MP3s Music Magazine website.

My favorite bagpipe music bands and artists are:

• The Rogues
• The Willow Band,
• Haggis Rampant, and
• Tartanic.

I should also mention Mark Saul's electric bagpipe project. It's pretty much techno bagpipe, but it truly rocks!

Emerald Rose's "Vulcan Rubdown" on Dr Demento

Speaking of having fun...

This weekend was the debut of Emerald Rose's "Vulcan Rubdown" on Dr. Demento. This is a hilarious song about decontamination gel on the new Enterprise TV series. It's awesome!!!!

"I can't wait for Pon'far!"
Sorry, I'm listening to the song as I write.
"T'Pol, won't you rub me down with disinfectant gel."

Any case, I need a BIG favor. I want you to go request the song on Dr Demento's website. If that link doesn't work, go to the Dr Demento contact page.

I would LOVE to see this song in the Funny Five. You will love it... and right now, this is the ONLY way for you to hear it. The song is recorded, but not on any CD! (Though super, duper, duper, duper thanks to Arthur who slipped me an unreleased copy at Dragon*Con.

Georgetown's Ol' Time Fiddlin' Fair 2004

Sometimes it takes a little live music to realize what you have.

After spending a good day in the studio working on tracks for Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales, I went up to Georgetown, Texas to visit my folks and catch some music. The Ol' Time Fiddlin Fair is happening this weekend. It's a pretty small little fest, but man, there was some great talent in the mere four hours I spent there. In that short time, I really got a neat inspiring perspective on music.

The music was all bluegrass. It brought back memories of growing up. My dad used to drag me to all these bluegrass and folk music performances while growing up in Maryland and San Antonio. I never would've suspected that I'd love the music as much as I do now.

I only got to see three bands from a pretty cool lineup. Hard To Make A Living was there. I first heard about them through my Texas music and Texas musicians website. I loved the name... or the acronym at least, HTML. Three years or so after that I saw them at the Austin Farmer's Market. They're a heckuva lot of fun. Just some straight up great bluegrass from four guys who have fun with the genre. Definitely worth checking out if ye have a chance.

But it's the next two bands that I really want to talk about: The Lonestar Bluegrass Band out of Houston, and Austin's award-winning, high-energy acoustic, bluegrass fiends, The Greencards.

The Lonestar Bluegrass Band vs. The Greencards

The Lonestar Bluegrass Band have played bluegrass for over twenty years. The banjo player was just amazing. At the beginning of the show, my dad was joking, "Who plays the banjo that low?" The banjo player, Chris Hirsch, looked a Grunge Rocker with it hanging down below his waist. It did look kinda funny. Any joking disappeared when the man started playing. He was amazing!

The music lead by that killer banjo combined with a stand-up bass, guitar, and raging fiddle was tight. But best of all, you could tell the guys were having a lot of fun. The jabbed, played around, while still sharing some of the best rockin' bluegrass music I've heard in a while.

Oh! And their performance of "Dueling BanjO" was spectacular. Chris did both parts. I couldn't help but admire how well this band worked together as a team. It was brilliant.

The headliners for the evening were The Greencards. I first heard this band on probably the nations best, most-ecletic radio program, Eklektikos with host John Aielli. They've played there a few times. And everytime, it's breath-taking. The mandolin player, Kym Warner, is a God! He played fiddle tunes so fast, they had to remove any flammable objects for the saftey's sake.

I could see why The Greencards were voted the 'Best New Band' of Austin. Originally from Australia, the trio with Carol Young on electric bass and Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle put on a good show. They were as tight as a band can be and moved effortlessly between songs.

Seeing those two bands gave me an interesting perspective on things though. I saw phenomenal talent and a phenomenal fun. And I realized what I like. I like the fun one. Yes, The Lonestar Bluegrass Band, IMHO, blew The Greencards out of the water.

Sure, it looked to me like The Greencards were tired. They went through the motions, making those same old stereotypical, big stage comments, "You're a beautiful audience." "We love you [insert your town's name]." But the passion wasn't there. Maybe they were tired? I'll give 'em that. But there was something missing from their performance--honest, fun.

Yeah, they obviously love playing music. The bassist bounced stood bouncing back and forth like a reggae version of Gollum. The songs were more New Grass, contemporary songwriting, mediocre. The tunes of course kicked major arse. Yet, that let's have fun. Let's make the audience a part of us and not just watching us. It wasn't there.

The Lonestar Bluegrass Band, on the other hand, was all about interacting with the audience, while still playing great music... great and fun.

I guess what struck me so hard was that I still think The Greencards are phenomenal musicians. I still want to buy their CD, Movin' Along because I've heard cuts, and the performance is amazing. But I prefer the fun stuff. I'll own The Lonestar Bluegrass Band's CD before I buy The Greencards'. You see, The Lonestar Bluegrass Band reminds me more of the Brobdingnagian Bards. We like to have fun. That's what Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales is all about. It's a CD of fun songs with that live performance feeling.

Seeing the show tonight helped me to appreciate what we have all the more. Sure, we have a long way to becoming the caliber of musician of either of those bands. We have fun and do our best to help our audience have fun too. As the King once said, "You have to put on a show to draw a crowd."

But even that's not enough. You have to love what you do. You have to share it with all the love your heart can spare and then some. Man, do I love live music!

Return of the Austin Hippie Fest

When I first started practicing my autoharp and songs out on the South Mall of the University of Texas at Austin, I had a vision. It was an image of Janis Joplin (who also went to UT), back in the 60s playing her own autoharp and singing folk songs in the heart of the American folk explosion. She'd be out there playing music with other hippies and folk music lovers, pouring out her own heart into the music.

Move ahead 40 years and there aren't as many "hippies," but there's a whole new culture of people who love folk music, and they still take a moment to sit down and listen as I sat out on the fresh green grass once again practicing and dreaming.

It's a slow migration. Not everyone out there is ready to hear a man with an autoharp, but very rarely do I get even a sour look. They're all just looks of wonder and delight. The "hippies" gather, but they look just like any old college student with a baseball cap and t-shirt, carrying a backpack, or dressed like your latest Britney Spears look-a-like. Yet, they still enjoy the music. They smile and clap as the relax with their friends, eat their lunches, or sleep in the cool shade before their next class.

It fills me with joy, and leaves me aching for more. I can't wait until next week when I can head back out there during my own lunch break and practice once again, hoping for another sweet breeze, and a chance to sing "Soul of a Harper" in between bites of my turkey sandwich and various hellos and goodbyes to the next migration of happy smiles.

Trees of the Veneto

A couple years ago, I was driving around the back roads of the Veneto in Italy and took a marvelous photo of some of the trees.

The trees out of the area have a very unique look to them. During WWII, Italians cut off the top limbs to use for firewood. But they left a tall stump. This stump then grow lots of smaller limbs, which the continued to harvest.

This technique created a very unique looking tree that I was able to capture on my camera.

See the Trees of the Veneto.