As usual, I spent my first day at the Faire simply prowling thru the craftsmen' booths, seeking the new and the unusual among the arts and crafts available. It took me five hours just to browse all the shops along the outer perimeter--and there were more than 200 booths to visit! Of course, I didn't spend ALL my time shopping: there was a demonstration of the Gutenburg Press at the print shop, the Royal Mint where they showed how medieval coins were struck and a display of Medieval cannons which the Pirates' gun crew fired four or five times a day.

Then there was Medumo, an African dance troupe....
Gods, how I love tribal drumming! Their music really carried across the Faire grounds: I first heard them when I neared the Lists--and they were still a quarter of a mile away thru the woods and across the pond behind the Tournament field! Basically, their dancers did a couple of sets accompanied by the drums, before they invited members of the audience to come up on stage and join in. While they were doing their show, I weaseled my way around behind the stage so I was no more than ten feet from the drummers...close enough, in fact, I could literally feel the drumbeats pounding in my head, heart and belly! Believe me: there is NOTHING like "live" music played on "real" instruments with only trees and sky for walls...
The worst part of their show was when they STOPPED DRUMMING!!! I was so much into the rhythm that the sudden silence came like a physical blow to me--it was actually quite painful! Frankly, I could have listened to them for hours. But of course their drumming was hot, heavy work--we ARE talking Southern Texas here, remember?--and they needed time to cool down between shows. Still, they could have sold me a lot of their tapes or CDs if they'd been available. Sure, it wouldn't be quite the same as the "real" thing, but it would have been close--and that would've been good enough for me...!
Now See and Hear Medumo in action! Click on the QT logo to view Steve Banks' Quicktime Movie of Medumo in the noonday Grand Marche parade--and check out his other pics/movies of TRF while you're there (DRUMS.MOV 415K Copyright (C) 1996 SBanks).

And the belly dancers! How could I forget the belly dancers???!
John, Sean and I had previously agreed to meet at the Beer Garden Stage at 12:30pm to see the Carol Shannon Belly Dancers do their show (the photo at left is by Sean Eddings).Now during my time in the U.S. Navy defending the flag, applehood and motherpie, I had the opportunity to see the belly dancers of Tangiers in action at least once. For my money, the Carol Shannon troupe is just as good as the native Moroccan dancers, tho methinks they did not show off their full talents to the mundane crowd at the King's Beer Garden. That, most likely, because such a crowd would not fully appreciate such nuances as the "quarter" trick (placing a quarter in the muscles of the abdomen and moving it up and down the abdomen thru muscle control alone) or making their hip tassles alternately toss and "do the wave" as they danced in place.
Frankly, I feel the Shannon dancers were quite capable of performing such feats. For example, one lady first balanced a LARGE sword on her head for a few moments as she danced--then laid it across her bosom, whereupon she "limboed" down almost to the stage floor and back up again keeping the sword rock-steady seemingly without effort! After the show, the dancers came down off the stage and shimmied through the crowd for tips from--and "souvenir" photos with--the gents. There was even a male dancer who set a couple of grey-haired female patrons to giggling when he swayed and shimmied up to them, finger cymbals ringing...! For me it was actually quite nostalgic, as it reminded me of the bar scene in Morocco long ago....
Now See and Hear the bellydancers on parade! Click on the QT logo to view Steve Banks' Quicktime Movie of the bellydancers in the Grand Marche. And don't forget there are many, many more pics/movies of TRF on his pages, too (BUXOM01.MOV 163K Copyright (C) 1996 SBanks).

TRF was also memorable for me in other ways. After the bellydancers' show, all three of us bellied up to the bar for our first taste of mead. That's right: altho I've had more than my share of Sherry from Jerez, Retsina from Athenai and (shudder!) Ouzo in Piraeus, it wasn't until 1996 that I first tasted Mead! This Mead had a fine, light-amber color; a rich, fruity bouquet and, when the cup was tipped and righted, the spirits crawled up the sides--all very good signs. Altho it was just a tad too sweet for my likes, it went down quite smoothly...
Then came back like a Missouri mule, with a wallop to my head! I mean it was potent, on the order of at least 25% by volume (where most Domestics only range 7-10%)...and there was no alcohol aftertaste, either. After that, tho, I quickly switched to Chablis for the rest of my Festival carousing: no need to court a Mead hangover in the morning! On the other hand, I can well understand now how my own Royal Irish ancestors could get fired up on the stuff. It wouldn't take but a few tankards of Mead to convince any red-blooded Kelt that painting himself blue with woad, brandishing a sword and raiding his nearest English neighbor for gold, cattle and women (not necessarily in that order) was a mighty fine idea, indeed!

We three enjoyed ourselves so much at the Festival Saturday, we even stayed for the impromptu closing ceremonies at the Main Gate that evening. The belly dancers came out again and did a long set, joined by one of the street performers who did his ball-walking, fire-juggling routine round and round the circle...in time to the music! It was awesome what with the night shadows drawing in to see the twirling flames of the juggler's batons, watch the belly dancers shimmy and hear their driving music as dusk closed in (for more pictures of the closing ceremony, click on the photo at right.)
We left in an excellent mood for the long drive back to our motel...
And it was a good thing, too, as we had to spend an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic just getting out of the Faire grounds...which was the only real downer of the entire day!