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Pirates of Paynetown 2009 - Bloomington, IN
Chapter 3rd:Saturday Evening - Detailing what happened after the first battle that was lost by the pirates to the British. Of the strangely-named dinner, the strangely-named fundraiser, the strangely-darkened dance and other various random oddments and occurrences.
(Photo: Mission)
We were pretty late getting our boat beached, what with the wind, the lack of
swimmers to help guide us and trying to clean up the seventy-five pounds of
gunpowder scattered around the inside of the boat. So I missed some of the
skits that followed the battle. Among the ones I did see, the pirate
leader Gavin Kelly (of Brandt's Volunteers) captured the Governor of the
peninsula (or Paynestown Province) Dave
Deerwester (at left). Dave is notable for bravely wearing pink stripey
pants here. I don't really remember what came next, but I'll make something up
for you.
By way of protection, the parson's indentured servant Maggie Delaney held a knife to Gavin's throat and apparently threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't release the governor. Washerwoman J. Thomas added some cooking implements to the weapons used in this fracas by way of support. I'm going to assume that pirate Gavin then escaped, because I have no photos of him being hung or shot or anything. (Pestering the governor is a hangin' offense.)
(Photo: Mission)
Most of the post-battle frivolity ended around 3 or 4pm. Unfortunately,
dinner was scheduled for later in the afternoon, resulting in folks
standing around looking periodish (at right). I hung around my surgical
gear spouting medical stuff to the occasional group trawling through the
campsite. This went on until I was informed that my display table would
soon be needed for dinner.
While we wait for dinner, let's talk about moppets - this event proved to be one of the more child-friendly one I have attended. Lots of pirate events are youth- oriented - they usually have some games and activities geared towards children. This is because, for some strange reason, this historical group of violent, bloodthirsty criminals became the purview of youngsters awhile back. You'll find a huge wodge of kid-oriented pirate toys from the 50s that bear this out. I personally suspect the real culprit is RL Stevenson's story Treasure Island which he told to his son in 1881. So kids an murders have gone hand-in-hand for quite a long time. In addition to the kid public, however, this event actually had lots of kids re-enacting. While you see kids re-enacting, you don't usually find quite so many. So let me throw a bunch of "Awwww..." photos at you.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Nathanael Logsdon, Graphic Enterprises ©Cummings)
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(Photo: Mission)
Above are some babies, whose names I know not. For all I know they may be
the same baby. They may also be Dwight Eisenhower or Winston Churchill.
Who can say? Above left is the baby's eye view and right is pretty cool
baby in a really cool wagon.
At right, a girl I don't know (in blue), coffee mistress Chole Black's daughter Laurel (in a red skirt) and a young Bradley take Phydeaux out for his evening constitutional.
In fact, re-enacting kids were wandering around everywhere the eye could see. Below Silas takes Zach and Ryan around the camp on some obviously important mission (judging by the intent looks on their faces). Below center is a young girl I snapped while sitting at the surgical display. She was wandering around the site across the way dusting things with that feather. (I'll bet she doesn't do that at home.) Below right, even in the midst of a bunch of "real" pirates, toys take precedence.
(Photo: Nate Logsdon, Graphic Ent. ©Cummings)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Silas Thatcher)
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Of course, not all of the young adults prove to be photogenic sources of sweetness and light. Some hang around the scurvy pirates picking up dangerous skills like how sword fighting. Below, my pal Grace Thatcher tests her wooden sword wits against teacher, Sherilee Hopper.
(Photo: Silas Thatcher) |
(Photo: Silas Thatcher) |
Even more alarming, other kids were caught thieving, like Miles (Below. I don't recall what he stole... A loaf of bread? A jug of wine? Thou? Governor Dave's stripey pink pants?) Anyhow, they clapped Miles in irons and hung a sign around his neck indicating the crime. (Somehow he looks wayyy too happy standing their after being branded a thief and made to wear irons.) The militia then took him to be judged by acting Governor Dave, who, as I remember it, made a some sort of long-winded speech about honor or something. All this while wearing pink stripey pants.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Governor Dave then pronounced Miles' fate, which I didn't hear because I was trying to figure out how I had gotten my camera into filming mode. (These things are so touchy.) Whatever it was, it involved going around the camp and kneeling before people. Or maybe he was only made to kneel before the store from which he had stolen and apologize and/or pay for said item (remember when your mom made you do that?) Despite what the photo below right looks like, his punishment had nothing to do with my surgical instruments. (Besides, cuppings and clysters are good for you!) Notice how fascinated Zach (in the corner below left) and Grace (in the corner above right) are by the whole thing. (Nothin' like seeing Miles get some of his own back, eh guys?)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Lady Constance Thatcher was the only person who had the honor to ride in the hot rod. We made a short run from the pirate peninsula over to the Thatchermobile. (Her comment upon opening the door: "Oh Praise the Lord! Air conditioning!") We were there to get coffee for Silas, despite the fact that it was the middle of the day and as hot as you can imagine. She explained that she is a nurse, meaning she probably knows far more about surgery than I actually do. (Don't tell anyone.) She owns a Cadillac like the hot rod, although hers is a little older and less convertible. (Lady Constance must be camera shy as I have no picture of her from this event. I also recall having a difficult time finding a photo at Pirates in Paradise '08.)
(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
At some point during the day, I noticed the cool girl's shoes. (Suzanne
Larner, seen at left. The shoe, seen at right.) Thinking about what a pain it
was to remove my shoes and socks so that I could get in the way while putting the
boat into the lake, it occurred to me that such a shoe might be ideal. So I asked Michael Bagley
about these shoes. He informedme that they were sometimes called gillies and that they had been
around since the medieval times. It turned out that Michael has a thick piece of leather that he
was planning to make into such shoes. Being concerned about how they felt (thinking of the coral
chunks littering the ground in Key West at Pirates
in Paradise) I asked Suzanne if they were comfortable. "It
depends what you mean by 'comfortable'," she replied. Riggggght.
(Means no.)
(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
We finally reached dinnertime, which I knew because people
started clustering around the shelter like a pack of zombies spying victims.
As I mentioned previously, people had been cooking spitted wild animals over their fires all day (right and left). I first believed that this was just because guys like to barbeque meat. But no, they were preparing their contribution to the Saturday Pot Luck Dinner. Except in some sort of perverse Indiana alternate universe it was called a 'Pitch-In Dinner.' Whatever you call the result, it proved to be just the thing for a large group of folks pretending to be 17th century denizens.
It began with Nathanael announcing that it was almost time for the Pitch-In Dinner. As if by magic, people started showing up among the zombies carrying pots of food (below right). They took the food into the shelter where it was arranged on rows of tables. (See the yummy desert table below right.) Then we ate. Oh, how we ate.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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After we all awoke from our food comas, it was Sunday. No, that's not exactly right. Directly after dinner and clean- up they held a fundraiser for the event. In what Michael referred to as "bizarre Hoosier-speak" this event was called "the Sailor's Divvy." A similar event was held at PiP last year called The Seaman's Auction, only with better lighting for the photographers. Event co-organizers Jennifer and Nathanael were the hosts for the event (below left). The money raised will be used for financing next year's programs. Several of the vendors at Paynetown volunteered products and services which Nathan was responsible for "divvying" off. Jen was responsible for showing the products off, in Vanna fashion. Below, she models a very large pair of shackles.
(Photo: Mission)
Jennifer and Nathan, Divviers |
(Photo: Mission)
Everyone do the shackle wave! |
Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
Unfortunately it began to get dark about half
way into the event, making it hard to see what was up for bid. One of
the more clever items was to have your name put on one of the
street signs for next year. I believe that went for $60 or $80
Another was a really cool action figure created by Dan Needham (left) using a Mr. Incredible action figure. The winner was young Mr. Bradley. Bradley kind of looks like something that you might make into an action figure - perhaps as a Pokemon pirate figure or something like that.
Left: Bradley discusses action figure creation with Ben/Dan with Laurel looking on. At right, Mr. Incredible Pirate (you decide who that is.)
After the auction, they started announcing that the period dance was taking place at the pavilion. I was curious to see this although I was not particularly interested in participating. I am not a big fan of dancing unless I have shed all rational inclinations by imbibing at least three strong drinks. Or four. Maybe eight. I am not quite sure where this dislike comes from, but I know it's not just me. Asked to dance, my friend Joe once latched his hands onto his chair like fleshy vice-grips while a girl we both knew literally dragged him onto the dance floor - chair and all. (Women do not generally suffer from this irrational fear of dancing.)
I might have said that male disenchantment with dancing comes from the
desire to avoid public embarrassment, but I think that excuse flies right out
the window once you willingly adopt a large silly hat and knee britches
as proper wear at openly public events. I think dance fears may be an attempt
to prevent future confusion. I could just see me attempting to engage in
period dance while someone slyly caught this event on film, in the
manner of Soul Train or that show featuring Danny Terrio, who
willingly choreographed disco. This film would be found after the new
dominant species takes over after the Great Global Cataclysm.
Upon viewing it, they might get the wrong idea. "The previous rulers of
earth seem to have suffered some sort of coordination-damaging nervous
disorder, Dr. Fisheybalm!" "Especially that guy in the large
silly hat and knee britches, Dr. Nostriltentacle." So we wouldn't
want that.
(Photo: Mission)
Still, I was curious to see what a period dance looked like, so I hung around the
edges and pretended to be deaf when they asked for more dancers. It turned out to be
mostly about standing in straight lines and watching small groups of people
walk around. Even I might have been able to do that. It was coordinated by
Virginia Tucker of the Virginia Floor Cloth Company. She was very patient and good-natured
about the whole thing as she explained the dances to the groups who were
willing to risk untold future confusion.
These images are pretty blurry because the dancers were not well lit (making the camera aperture stay open longer) and they were moving around. I would have used my flash, but I suspect the blinded dancers wouldn't appreciate the injuries this might cause as they staggered around blind. (Note the footie pjs at right.)
(Photo: Mission)
Because she was born female, Grace Thatcher, who was sitting near me, was
unable to resist the siren call of dance. She looked optimistically at me,
but, upon realizing that was hopeless, she asked her dad to take her out during
one of the casting calls.
Silas has that same male dance abhorrent gene, but when you have a daughter, you are pretty much stuck. So Silas and Grace went out to join the crowd in a special dance that Virginia had made up just for the event. (You can sort of see Grace in the red skirt at left.)
(Photo: Kate Bagley)
After the dancing ended, I hung around at Mark and Jennie's place
with Tom and Dan Needham. It turns out Mark's wife Jennie's is Dan's
sister, something
that I wasn't aware of. The family that pirates together, uh...stays
together? (The fam - at left. Upon seeing the results of my dancing photos,
I stopped taking pictures of the things that happened Saturday night. So
you'll have to put up with filler photographs that were taken during the
day.)
It had been a pretty hot and sticky day which seemed to be turning into a pretty hot and sticky evening. Someone reported that they had found a spot near the lake that was much cooler. So we picked up our chairs and benches and headed over to the lake to continue our chat. The discussion mostly centered around movies, about which each of us seemed to have a great deal of interest.
Ben and I eventually got into a side discussion centering around Captain America. It turns out that Ben is a huge Captain America fan. I sort of recalled a CA television show from the 70s or 80s, when superhero TV was all the rage. ("When Captain America throws his mighty sheeeeeeeild..." was how the theme song started. That's about all I recall of it.) Ben explained all sorts of details about CA and his graphic novel life about which I never knew. He hopes to make a perfect replica shield to mount on his wall some day. (Probably not like the plastic one from the TV show seen below left.)
This reminded me of one of my bizarre pet projects that I thought he might be able to help with - a life-sized Brain gremlin action figure. Since Ben proved so handy when turning Mr. Incredible into a pirate, I figured he might be able to turn my life-sized resin Mohawk gremlin model into a Brain gremlin. This was one of those projects I was very excited about about a decade ago - until I realized that my modeling skills were about equal to those of sticking plaster. So I pitched the idea to Ben, which seemed to interest him.)
(Photo: Someone out on the web who is able to capture VHS images) |
(Photo: Mission) |
Eventually, the rum (you always drink rum at pirate events) got nature calling, so I wandered away from the lakeside. On the way back, I got distracted (Look, a campfire!) and toddled over to where another group was sitting around said campfire on this hot & sticky night. (It's tradition!) I chatted with Michael and Kate Souris for awhile. Michael had taken Rats to town to meet his family who had driven down from...Wisconsin? Idaho? Alaska? Rats' van's brakes had gone bad, so they were hauling it back home. I was sorry I hadn't gotten much chance to chat with him.
As the night wore on, it seemed like a good idea to head the hotrod back to the hotel room and call it a night. (Mostly because my socks were itchy. Do any of you other re-enactors have this problem?)