Last week I learned that 13 Stripes in the old Southern Bleachery at Taylors Mill was hosting a sea shanty sing-along. I’ve been wanting to do one of these for a long time. I had even thought about getting a group started myself. I loved the sing-alongs I did at the Bellingham Celtic Festival and in Coupeville, Washington last summer and I was excited to see there was an event here in Greenville.
13 Stripes has been filling in a few gaps in the music jam world. When Stomping Grounds closed our local Celtic jam lost its home. They have found a new home at 13 Stripes and it looks like the group has even picked up a few new members from the photos I’ve seen. I have yet to participate, but hope to do that soon.
I arrived at the venue early enough to scope out the situation. I sat at the bar and ordered a non-alcoholic Guinness. I needed something with which to toast and sing. A guy in pirate garb sat next to me. I struck up a conversation with Kevin, and he said that he had also been looking forward to this event. He participates in Ren Fairs, Scottish Games, and other similar gatherings. Another pirate soon joined us. I realized I was underdressed.
As it turns out, there was a $100 prize for the best pirate costume. I was OK with not winning. It was hot in there and the thought of wearing a tricorn hat and leather tunic was a bit much.
Other pirates/singers arrived. Soon we met Aaron, the event organizer. Aaron and another one of the participants now play with the regular bi-weekly Celtic sessions. He invited us to pick up a copy of the printed songbook we would use. He also invited us to sign up if we wanted to lead a song. I did.
The songbook had the usual suspects, most taken from The Longest Johns catalog. The singers gathered in a circle in an open corner of the pub and we started in with Bully in the Ally and went from there with call and response songs. I didn’t know some of the melodies, but it was easy enough to pick it up.
The group was fairly large and seemed to be equally divided between men and women. These were nerds – misfits, cosplayers, Comicon attendees, RenFair participants, and gamers – my kind of people. They all sang heartily and everyone had fun.
I wound up leading several songs, starting with River Driver by Great Big Sea, which wasn’t in the book. I also did The Bonny Ship, the Diamond, also not in the book. I finished with Hog Eyed Man, which was in Aaron’s book. There were some other great leaders, some of whom had obvious musical and conducting training.
One pirate even brought his own treasure box on which to stand when he led a song. I ask Lindsey, who was standing next to me, if she thought it contained treasure or rum. Her response was, “Aren’t they the same?”
We didn’t sing through all of the book, but we did a lot of songs. The event was supposed to go from 6:30 until 8:30, but we were having so much fun that we kept it going until after 9:00. Here’s a couple of clips of our singing:
This was an absolute blast and I’m going to try to get to as many as I can. I met some fantastic people that also enjoy singing. If I had any complaints it would that it was kind of hot and the acoustics weren’t great, but I can live with that.