Blackbeart, Bluebeard, and Redbeard

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! To celebrate, Eric Herman has a new video for you:

Weekend Notes

Yesterday, our friends had to cancel their plans to visit us on Three Kings Day. We shall take our cake over to another gathering today, and bring the Christmas crackers with us. Before the party, we'll head over to the Eastside to see Captain Bogg & Salty in concert.

By the way, I had thought Brad the Gorilla retired his blog. Imagine my surprise when I found this.

Bogg & Salty in Bellevue

Captain Bogg & Salty, the non pareil of pirate rock and roll bands,* are sailing the Pollywogg North from Oregon again. They'll be playing a 400 seat theatre space at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington, on January 7th, 2007. For more information, click here.

Remember to eat plenty of limes before you attend the concert. There'll be no episodes of scurvy on Captain Bogg & Salty's watch. If any out-of-towners** on my blogroll actually show up for this event, you can be sure there'll be a bottle of rum just for you.




*I've not heard any other pirate rock and roll bands, but I'm sure Bogg & Salty are cutlass and pegleg above the rest.
**"Out of town" actually means "outside of the Puget Sound area. "

Pirate Tre(a)sure

When I was seven years old, I planned to market a board game called "Pirate Treasure." I decided it would revolutionize the industry. When the initial beta-testing didn't go over as well as I would have liked, I abandoned the game for other projects... plays, novels, dance performances, and once, a carnival. I planned to make money from the things I loved to do. However, when one of our neighbors gave me 10 cents for my dance performance, I had to give the money back. Crivens!

Here is the game:

Pirate Video

Captain Bogg & Salty, the pirate rock and roll band from Portland, Oregon, have released their new video:

Pieces of 8ight

Their notes about the video can be found here and their animated video for "Cat O' Nine Tales" is available as a podcast here or streaming video here.

Th' Yardarm o' th' Night

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! I'm not much for talking like a pirate (though Stephen Colbert can, and does). However, from time to time, I've been known to attempt to sing like a pirate. Here, then, is a nautical rendition of Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun:

I come homeport in th' mornin' light
Me mother says when ye gonna live yer life starboard
Oh mother dear we`re nay th' fortunate ones
An' lasses they want t' be havin' fun
Oh lasses jus' want t' be havin' fun

Th' phone rings on th' yardarm o' th' night
Me father yells what ye gonna do wi' yer life
Oh daddy dear ye know ye`re still number one
But lasses they want t' be havin' fun
Oh lasses jus' want t' be havin' -

That`s all they really want
Some fun
When th' workin' tide be done
Lasses - they want t' be havin' fun
Oh lasses jus' want t' be havin' fun

Some boys take a beautiful girl
An' hide th' lass' away from th' rest o' th' world
I want t' be th' one t' keel haul in th' sun
Oh lasses they want t' be havin' fun
Oh lasses jus' want t' be havin'

That`s all they really want
Some fun
When th' workin' tide be done
Lasses - they want t' be havin' fun
Oh lasses jus' want t' be havin' fun,
They want t' be havin' fun,
They want t' be havin' fun....

Pirate Concert in the Library

I attended my first rock concert when I was 13. Ratt headlined, and a new band on the scene called Bon Jovi opened for them. Ulric, my brother, saw his first rock concert when he was 8 years old, when we went to see Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica of the Cliff Burton era. Most of the concerts we attended were in a sports arena. The concerts weren’t much out of the ordinary: there was the usual screaming, flicking of cigarette lighters and waving of fists in the air. People dressed-up in spandex and leather, or dressed-down in artfully shredded jeans and strategically ripped tee-shirts.

A few weeks ago, at the age of 3, Lucia went to her first rock concert. It was at a library, not a sports arena, and there were no cigarette lighters raised high in tribute to the band… but people did dress up. They had skulls and cross-bones on their tee-shirts, hooks in place of hands, and a proliferation of eye-patches. After all, Captain Bogg & Salty were in town.



Captain Bogg & Salty is a pirate rock and roll band from Portland, Oregon making its rounds through the library systems in my part of the country. Initially, Lucia was skeptical. As Captain Angus Bogg and his merry crew of the Pollywogg burst into “We are Singing Pirates,” Lucia wrapped her arms around my shoulders and said she wanted to go home. “Give them a chance,” I told her, and she did. She perked up when Buckle (acoustic guitarist and gunner for the good ship Pollywogg) sang “Scallywag” in his impressive bass voice. By the end of the concert, Lucia was waving her hooked finger in the air along with the rest of the brigands in the audience.

All week, Lucia clamored, “We go to the pirate concert today!” and demanded to hear “Scallywag" one more time. This morning, we attended another Captain Bogg & Salty concert. Bede joined us, as well as some good friends. The 3 ½ year old son of our good friend was a big fan of pirates in general, but the general boisterousness of the show was too much for him,* and he fell asleep in his mother’s arms. [Memo to the band: if this is a trend, there is untold treasure to be had in showing up at the doorsteps of parents with children who refuse to sleep.] Lucia, however, was attentive throughout the entire show, and bravely raised her hand when Captain Bogg asked, “Who’s ever been to a pirate rock and roll concert before?” The most enthusiastic person in our part of the audience, however, was a girl dressed to the hilt in traditional romantic pirate gear who spent much of the concert with her two plastic swords raised in an X.

The band took turns with the lead-vocals, and played a mix of songs off of their two albums, “Bedtime Stories for Pirates,” and “Pegleg Tango.” While the band is filed under “Children’s Music,” they really are an all-ages band. Among all of the songs about avoiding scurvy and sea-monsters, there is nary a tune about brushing teeth or tying shoes. Tonight, Captain Bogg and Salty are playing at an over-21 club. Now are you convinced that they are gruff enough to appear on your music mixes?

Yar!

*I blame the Blue Angels, who are in town this weekend and have been practicing their decibel-defying maneuvers over our heads these past few days. Confound those Blue Angels! Because of them, one of the bridges is closed and traffic is even more congested than usual. Why can’t Seattle host the Chartreuse Seraphim (premiere hot-air balloon group) or the Vermillion Thrones (hang-gliders extraordinaire) for Sea-Fair? I like my noise to have a beat you can dance to...

Booktalk Friday: 3 Illustrated Stories

Zzzng! Zzzng! Zzzng!, by Phyllis Gershator

A long time ago, when the world was new and everyone was looking for someone to marry, Mosquito was not a biter at all, but a lovely singer. However, after being rebuffed by Ear, Arm, and Leg for being "too small and weak," rejection sours Mosquito's song. Will Mosquito find true love, and if so, will it be enough? You may have thought you knew everything you ever wanted to know about mosquitos, but this Yoruba folktale reveals a different side to one of the world's most detested pests.


Saving Sweetness, by Diane Stanley

When Sweetness, the littlest child of the nefarious Mrs. Sump's orphanage, gets fed up with scrubbing the floors with a toothbrush, she runs away into the desert. The sheriff goes after Sweetness to save her from the terrible trials of the desert. However, Sweetness might not be the one who need rescuing from snakes, scorpions, and the outlaw Cowboy Pete, no matter what the befuddled sheriff thinks. Rescue from the orphanage, however, is another matter.



The Pirate's Parrot, by Lynn Rossiter McFarland

Help! The cantankerous pirate, Captain Cur, has lost both his parrot and his monocle, and the crew are commanded to steal replacements. A mix-up ensues, and instead of producing a parrot, they produce a "girlie" teddy bear. It's a good thing that Captain Cur can't see very well, as he has a terrible temper. Fortunately, Bar, the teddy-bear is up to the challenge of becoming the pirate's parrot. Beware: this story may give you the "dreaded giggles of fear."