Merry Men (and Women)

For this multi-media (mm) project I'll be focusing on the newly formed folk group Thunder & Spice. This group of Merry men (and women) love the music from the Renaissance period--think the days of King Henry VIII. The group wants to reintroduce the music of days long ago to contemporary society.
I think now -literally- is a great time to talk about and highlight that period of music. The movie "Robin Hood" has just been released and we will hear a lot of this kind of music (both instrumental and with words). Just as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies have inspired a new era of pirates, the "Robin Hood" movie serves as a great way to highlight this genre of music and maybe even inspire a few singers and musicians to get involved. There are four members of the group, one of whom is a teenager. I'm curious as to why she gives up her weekends for North Carolina Renaissance Faires when she could be at the mall or something with her friends. The other three are adults and also volunteer their weekends at Faires. Why? What is the motivation? What about the music of the period draws them in? I will use audio (like that found here) and photographs. This audio is a little snippet of a song Thunder & Spice call "Lobo." Sung in Spanish and loosely translated, the song tells the story of an encounter of a beautiful young girl and a dangerous and dastardly wolf.

Little Thunder, Big Spice

As a way to take my career to the next level, I'm going to engage in a little multi-media (mm) storytelling over the next few weeks.
I’m going to start my intro to mm with a profile on a rising folk group out of the Raleigh area. When I think about the group, Thunder & Spice, I think about Malcolm Gladwell described how the club kids in the 1990s bought back the Hush Puppies brand. Intentional or not, they reminded a whole new generation of not-quite-as-young people that it’s cool to be retro.
In 2010, a quartet of folk singers is giving retro a whole new meaning. They are trying to revive the maritime and renaissance songs of centuries long ago. The recently formed Thunder & Spice, out of the Raleigh area, spend their available weekends at area Renaissance Faires where visitors are transported to the time of King Henry VIII, when women were Lady’s and Lass’ and curtseyed to a passerby and men were fine gentlemen hopefully of good standing with the King. But the music reflected a time of merriment on land—carousing in pubs, romancing a love (even if only for a night)--and of hard work on ships—turning the capstan or setting a sail.
Over the coming weeks, this blog will profile Thunder & Spice (Laura, Jerry, Elaina, and Jim), as they recall the days of old through song, balancing everyday work, life and family.
So if an underground movement of young club kids can make what’s old new again, Thunder & Spice should have an easy time of restoring a fading art form.

Country Life, City Life

I recently moved to North Carolina. Smithfield (not the ham place), specifically. I'm living in a farm house that was first built in the early 1900's with subsequent sections added on later. I'm liking the extra space--coming from a one bedroom basement apartment, 3 bedrooms feels like a mansion.
I'm taking advantage of the yard I never had growing up in the projects of New Jersey's seaside bedroom community of Red Bank. I shared a postage stamp size front yard with the neighbor next door. In the back, we shared a clothes line as part of postage stamp. On our 1 acre of land we've started a garden and a compost pile. It think it's the latter part that has really bought home my new diggs.
A friend called the other day and I didn't answer because I was turning my compost heap. Hmmm...turning my compost heap...not something any of my friends would ever think they (or I) would hear me say. But the composting is a good, albeit sometimes tedious and even downright boring thing, sometimes. On the plus side I'm trying to convince myself that having a few hours of boring tasks such as managing my compost heap or raking my yard is just the time I need for reflection. It's a chance for me to turn off my phones--actually I just put them away from my immediate reach--and get a little exercise.
Now I just need to repeat that little directive 100 more times and I'm sure I'll start to believe it.