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Joe Jewell and Featherstone also performed at Norman. They staked out a shady spot by the North Bridge (photo, right) for their "street" performances during the Faire--and the traffick jam there gave them a large and appreciative (if somewhat captive) audience all day. Ryleh would have loved to hear Joe play his "Rennie" version of "Tamlin" again, but the crowd already had them booked solid with requests by then! Between sets under the tree, Featherstone joined with Celtic Visions and Brollywacker to form the large group, Tullamore (photo, left and below), playing on the west bank's Unicorn Stage. 
Their blend of Gaelic and traditional folk tunes always drew a large crowd whenever they played. Like Joe and Featherstone, Brollywacker and Celtic Visions also perform at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, so they were all familiar, friendly faces for Ryleh to find at a new (for Ryleh) faire!
It was also great to see "Toy, The Mechanical Man" again. Toy has been working Midwestern Faires since at least 1994 if not sooner. Here, (in the photo at right), he entertains a young Faire visitor by "winding himself up" -- with sound effects to match! Next time, Ryleh must remember to capture a few minutes of Toy's day-long performance on video, not only "for the record" but to share as a videoclip on these pages. It's always great watching a Master Mime at work!
As is Ryleh's usual wont, he just had to check out all the vendors' booths immediately that first day at Norman. Dragons, he noted, were really big this year. I mean, there were dragons everywhere: stuffed dragon toys and puppets, dragons silkscreened on t-shirts and banners, dragons cast in pewter and cold ceramic, dragons in paintings and sculture--large dragons, small dragons, cuddly dragons, fierce dragons: they came in all shapes and sizes and mediums. Whew! Norman was truly a feast of riches for dragon lovers that weekend!!! There were also many new and unusual "objects d'art", such as the strange piece shown at left. Ryleh's still not exactly sure what it's supposed to be. Mayhap it's some bizarre Klingon weapon used in an an alien ritual? Or perhaps the chief diety of some obscure Voudoun cult? Or maybe the "Staff of Power" of a Cimmerian shaman in some Conanesque sword-and-sorcery fantasy? Whatever it is, it's certainly unique and original!!!
More to Come...
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