Morris's topics - tribe.net

Attracting new members

2008-05-08T22:39:47Z

Hi all,
I am looking for some suggestions on how to attract new members to a side. We are a relatively new team (just turned 3 in April) and we can't seem to keep enough members for a full side. We seem to keep attracting students who cannot make a total commitment and one of our core members just had a baby and he's been MIA ever since... So my question... without having a full side to dance out (I mean how many jigs can I do, really?) how do you get new members that will be involved for the long haul? We are printing up some flyers this week... now where is my target market?

posted in Morris - 8 replies

Amusing video

2008-05-08T00:26:17Z

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7I6JmoPId7I

posted in Morris - 0 replies

Happy May Day

2008-05-02T04:02:14Z

Hey there Morris folk. I want to wish you a happy May Day!. Morris on!

posted in Morris - 2 replies

Ale'ection Central- Malibu, CA

2008-04-26T00:16:43Z

Anyone going to the Rising Phoenix Ale April 25-27th 2008?

posted in Morris - 7 replies

Worthing morris dancers banned for being too dangerous

2008-04-01T21:15:38Z

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/generalnews/display.var.1996416.0.worthing_morris_dancers_banned_for_being_too_dangerous.php

Good for the article, but the comments are hilarious.

posted in Morris - 6 replies

Morris at the Man?

2007-12-21T22:57:59Z

So last year a couple of Rats and a Bruno answered the call of a Kiwi Morrisman who was making his initial trip out to Burning Man... except that we never did actually get around to dancing, since we couldn't get enough of us in one place at one time.

Just wondering, we've almost got enough for a set this year too - Any Morris dancers going out to Burning Man this year?

posted in Morris - 3 replies

T-Shirts

2007-07-05T15:39:45Z

Over on Facebook, Simon Care has started a group "I'm a morris dancer...... get over it" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2417532143
and is selling t-shirts with that on the front & "Lets get jiggy" on the back and I WANT ONE!

posted in Morris - 1 reply

Morris Dancing at Pennsic War?

2007-07-02T17:26:04Z

Aloha everyone--

I'm attending Pennsic War in Slippery Rock, PA during the first week of August. Anyone know of Morris Dance activities scheduled there?
Thanks,

Kevin

posted in Morris - 0 replies

Intro from a newbie

2007-06-12T23:37:47Z

Thought I'd post a quick intro, as I'm new here (new to tribe.net, in fact). I dance with Wolfshead and Vixen, based in Kent. In fact, I started the side back in 1995, so it's all my fault - sorry! ;0) I was with the "ancestor side", Long Barrow, before that. I'm pleased to have found some other Morris folk here - hello to all.
Philip

posted in Morris - 2 replies

May Morning

2007-05-05T16:27:57Z

As I type, dawn of the 1st of may is moving it's way westward across Asia and into Europe. In just a few hours now folks in England will once again make their way to their dance spots and be doing their thing - as will we all over the following hours.

I hope that all here have great fun with the up and coming dancing, and the season's further dances that follow.

posted in Morris - 2 replies

Hello, all.

2007-04-21T10:14:53Z

I'm Mark Rogers, muso for The Outside Capering Crew, Stroud Morris Dancers and have played in the past for quite a few other teams (and even danced for them) - including Seven Champions Molly Dancers, Wild Hunt (I started them), Buckland Shag MM (started them as well), Ashdown Forest MM, Old Palace Clog, Knockhundred Shuttles, Downes on Tour, and a whole host more.

So I admit, I'm a morris tart.

I moved to Gloucestershire 15 years ago because of Morris... and at least I'm in the Cotswolds (well, technically, on the edge - The Cotswolds being a range of hills, and I'm half way down the side).

For my sins, I've played on 3 of the Morris On albums for Ashley Hutchings. Although I only realised I was playing on 2 of them, as the third was recorded without our knowledge during live shows (at least it didn't add to my nervousness that way).

posted in Morris - 3 replies

English Folk?

2007-04-06T06:57:54Z

Hi! Anyone here know when the next horn dance is in the midlands....dates are always fuzzy for this annual bash as they depend upon the moon or somesuch.... Or have I stumbled upon a US only tribe here? Redirections also greatfully recieved....

posted in Morris - 6 replies

Any teams visiting England this year?

2007-04-05T18:58:43Z

And if so, where & when, so I can come and heckle / socialise!

posted in Morris - 1 reply

Hideous Will's Cotillion - SF Bay Area Pickup Morris dancing

2007-03-12T23:36:50Z

(I believe this will be moving to a thrice-yearly event soon, because of low attendance, but here 'tis for now:)

> > Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:23:00 -0800
> > From: Joshua <HideousWill@earthlink.net>
> > Subject: Hideous Will's Cotillion
> >
>
>---------------------------------
> Hideous Will gazes deep into his navel and wonders, "is
>this still working?" Where once the Cotillions were well
>attended, it seems that over the last year or two
>the...um...crowd has become rather thin. Has this concept
>run its course? Or has it perhaps somehow just gone
>off course, and needs adjustment? Or maybe there is yet
>something else at work; I don't know.
>
>Given that, my tentative plan is to reduce the frequency of
>the event from five times a year to three, and see how it
>goes. If you have ideas of ways to revive the spirit of the
>event, I'd be most interested in hearing from you. In the
>mean time, I hope you can join me for the last Cotillion
>scheduled prior to morris season. I will target the next
>for some time in August.

>Hideous Will's Cotillion
> 10 March, '07
>As always, the dates are Saturdays, with the event running
>from 7:00 PM until midnight, and take place at:
>Goat Hall
>400 Missouri Street (at the corner of 19th Street)
>That's in San Francisco, doncha know.

Need directions?
>Check out Goat Hall's home page. <http://goathall.org/>

>Hideous Will's Cotillion, for those not familiar with it,
>is an occasion for social morris dancing. It aims at
>creating a Saturday-night-at-the-ale pickup (or "scratch")
>dance scene without the circumstances of an ale. I
>commission a hall, put out the word, and the rest seems to
>take care of itself. All are welcome. There's no charge per
>se, though I will set out a gaping treasure chest for those
>who care to toss in a few bucks toward the hall rental.
>
>Cheers,
>--Joshua
>

posted in Morris - 1 reply

so many members, so little activity

2007-02-23T18:21:59Z

I'm sad that this community is so lonely... :( I guess everyone has shut down the computers and gone outside to dance in the fresh air! Maybe I should contemplate the same...?

~HeatherMelissa

posted in Morris - 2 replies

Berkeley Wassail

2006-01-17T23:34:23Z

I heard that it hasn't gotten out to everyone so thought I'd pass it on.

*2005/2006 Wassail Information*

*Saturday, January 21, 2006*
**

* *

This is the flyer without witty comments, silly games, or decoration of
any kind. I hope you will all provide these special touches yourselves
throughout the Wassail. I will encourage ye merry revelers to give
praise and adulation to the gods and goddesses of the day—the brave
Wassail hosts!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!! The song will be passed out at the
first stop. Don’t forget your bells and hankies, your instruments, and
your magic to keep any rain at bay. And bring your cell phone in case
these directions are terribly wrong. Here’s to the Wassail!!

--Abigail

_________________________________
*Stop One: 11:30 AM-12:55 PM
Jen Marks and Steve Jones
139 Arlington Avenue, Kensington
(510)524-2668
*
To get here you need to find Marin Avenue, which is easy to find from
the Albany/Buchanan Street Exit off of 580 and follow this road which
turns into Marin. You take this all the way up to the fountain with the
bears and then go around the round-about to the fourth/fifth streets
around, the lower one of which is the Arlington. These two streets come
off at the same place. You will be on Arlington which you take for a
while past Kensington Village and then it will start going uphill.
You'll know when you have reached the right area when you see balloons
on the right (hey—they may be there) or read the street number. It is
easier to park if you u-turn to the other direction of the street.
Their
stairs are to the left of a garage and wind up a ways. Keep going!
You'll find it!

This is where we learn the song. Copies will be provided here and along
the way. Anyone who really knows the song is encouraged to attend this
stop. For people who have not had their coffee, note that although some
caffeine will be provided at this breakfast stop, they will not have
coffee. On your way up through Kensington Village there will be a good
coffee shop though. There is a back area where some dancing could
happen.

*Stop Two: **1:05 PM** -**2:55 PM***

*Mark Biggin*

*726 Hilldale Avenue**, **Berkeley***

*(510)526-2072*

To get to stop two, head back the way you came down the Arlington to
the
fountain with the bears at Marin. Go around the round-about almost all
the way so you are now heading up the very steep Marin Avenue. This you
should follow up quite far until you reach Hilldale where our next host
lives. Turn left and proceeded up past two turn offs to reach the
house,
or start looking for parking after the first fork. The house is 726 and
will be on the left. The roads are narrow and parking is tight so you
can always park lower down and carpool as we will be heading down
again.
Wait outside, hidden from view, until we are all ready to sing the
song.

Dancing can happen in the street, down the hill a bit.

*Stop Three: **3:35 PM- 5:35 PM***

*Michelle Ellerbusch, Robert Hill and daughter Layla*

*1005 Verdemar Drive**, **Alameda***

*(510)414-1561*

To get to this stop you will be heading back down Marin, around the
bear
fountain, and down the hill to The Alameda which you get to by veering
left where the road divides shortly after the fountain. At the light
you
will turn left onto The Alameda which will become MLK after the next
light. Take MLK through Berkeley, past Ashby BART station, beside the
elevated tracks until you come to the highway entrance. Get on and
follow the signs for 980W toward Downtown Oakland, and then following
signs to 880S toward San Jose. Exit at High Street toward Alameda.
Proceed and turn right on High Street and then left on Fernside. Then
go
left on Bay Farm Island Bridge (61). Make a slight right onto Island
and
then a right on Mecartney. Left onto Verdemar and look for their house
number 1005.

*Stop Four: **6:00 PM- 7:45 PM***

*Daria Curtis and Eric Wrubel*

*1019 Bella **Vista**, **Oakland***

*(510) 532-9644*

To get to stop four you will head back the way you came and turn right
on Mecartney followed by a slight left onto Island Drive. Turn left
onto
Doolittle (61) and follow until Fernside where you make a right. Go
slightly left onto High Street and follow onward to merge onto 880N by
the ramp to the left. Take the 23^rd Avenue exit and follow 23^rd to E
12^th Street where you will make a left. Turn right on 14th Ave. and
then left on E 22^nd Street. Turn right on 10^th which will become
Bella
Vista as you cross E 28th. Look for the third house on the left after
28^th , orange with green trim, number 1019.

There will be a room for dancing inside, and a dog who will probably be
outside.

*Stop Five: 8:00 PM- 11-ish PM*

*Michael Siemon*

*6103 Harwood Avenue**, **Oakland***

*(510) 654-7974*

To reach this stop go back (west) on Bella Vista to E. 28^th and turn
right. Proceed to Park Blvd. and turn right. Proceed until you see the
highway signs and merge onto 580 W toward Berkeley/SF. Follow signs to
get onto 24 E towards Walnut Creek. Exit at Claremont and turn left at
the bottom of the ramp. Continue to the Claremont and College Ave.
intersection and turn sharp right onto College. Go one block to Harwood
and turn left (Barclay's Pub on the corner). 6103 is one block in on
the
right. However.... parking in Rockridge can be tricky so think about
parking at the BART station or on any other local street nearby. You
may
have to look around a bit.

This is the final stop. Michael will be serving a selection of
beverages
and a couple of hearty fare items like stews. Any leftovers from
previous stops are more than welcome, and people can bring some
beverages or potluck to share and even use the kitchen to prepare food!
There is a dance space inside, though not for sticks, and hankies may
not extend completely. It is a good space and should work well
anyway—we’ll see. Stick wielding folk can bravely dance in the street!
Help with cleanup at the end would be appreciated as the other
residents
are out of town.

posted in Morris - 0 replies

Faultline at Dickens this saturday (12/3)

2005-12-03T01:26:16Z

We have 3 sets officially scheduled :

- front gate at 10:45
- Mad Sal's at 12:30
- Fezziwigs at 2

Each set should be about 25 minutes.

At last discussion, there was talk of also doing at least one street set where we'll be teaching a dance (Tinner's Rabbits) for any who wish to join us. Time hasn't been fixed for that one.

Bill

posted in Morris - 4 replies

2005 CA ale - just a few more weeks

2005-03-16T21:30:09Z

Hey folks

as ever there are still a ton of folks who seem to be waiting until the last minute to get their ale registrations in. If you know of any folks who haven't sent their info and money in, *please* let them know that we're almost at the cutoff.

This friendly nudge brought to you by the guy who is getting a hold of the beer for the pickup nights...

posted in Morris - 0 replies

Dancing in, while out of town

2005-03-06T19:02:56Z

I seem to be spending quite a bit of time in Washington DC lately. Is there perchance a mixed side or women's side that would welcome an intermittent visitor who's likely to become a transplant?

Likewise, I'll say that my own team in Minneapolis is happy to have guests and new members. If you should find yourself longing for silliness and bells, feel free to drop me a line.

posted in Morris - 0 replies

Straw Bear Festival

2005-02-09T18:12:03Z

I got this from my team's email list. It's British and endearing, what more do you need?

****************************************************************
> > Let's cry God for hairies, England and straw bears
> > By Caitlin Moran
> >
> > With its Morris dancing and wobbly folk music the
> Straw Bear Festival
> is the essence of
> > Englishness - eccentric, scary and very cold
> >
> > WHITTLESEY is a Godforsaken village in the middle
> of frozen
> > Cambridgeshire fenland, ten miles from
> > Peterborough. To judge by the simple yet heartfelt
> graffiti on the
> benches ("I love cheese"; "I
> > love carrots"), very little occurs for most of the
> year. On the first
> Monday after Epiphany,
> > however, the Straw Bear Festival comes to town - a
> ritual of which
> nobody knows the provenance and
> > which fills thepavement outside Somerfield with
> Morris dancers, Molly
> dancers, pagans, real-ale
> > devotees, freaks and a 9ft straw bear.
> >
> > You see the special sights of a group of Molly
> dancers standing
> furtively around outside a pizza
> > shop, sharing a resoundingly unpagan American Hot;
> or Morris dancers
> trying to have a quiet wee
> > behind a church, forgetting that the bells round
> their ankles work as a
> deadly accurate aural
> > tracking device at all times. Indeed, if you're
> very lucky, you will
> see the man I chanced on this
> > year, who had not only dressed himself and his
> wife in the Morris mode,
> but also his two children,
> > three grandchildren, and a big fat golden Labrador
> - who, if my ears
> weren't deceiving me, was
> > actually called Morris.
> >
> > On paper, I wouldn't put money on this being of
> much interest. Indeed,
> before I went the first
> > time I wasn't intending to. "But Molly dancers are
> the evil Morris
> dancers," a Straw Bear-going
> > friend said, by way of encouragement.
> >
> > But surely Morris dancers are already the evil
> Morris dancers? I
> couldn't really see a way you
> > could possibly up the malevolence quotient of
> Morris dancers any
> further. Unless they had clown
> > make-up, perhaps. And danced to one of Tom Waits's
> more demented New
> Orleans funeral marches.
> >
> > Interestingly, when you arrive at Straw Bear, you
> realise that this is
> exactly what one of the
> > troupes - the Pig Dyke Molly from Yaxley,
> Cambridgeshire - have done.
> With their faces painted to
> > look like Edward Scissorhands, dressed in black
> and white Op-Art
> fabrics, and accompanied by a
> > large tuba, the Pig Dyke Molly look like Dress
> Down Friday at the
> Robert Smith Academy for
> > Troubled Youths.
> >
> > At 11am on a cold, sunny day they make a slightly
> alarming sight, like
> a giant Goth gang that
> > missed the last bus home last night and are now so
> out of their minds
> with longing for White
> > Lightning that they're dancing for pennies.
> >
> > Still, it's not as if the Pig Dyke Goth Hoedown
> are alone in looking
> incongruous. At the first
> > Straw Bear I attended, in 2001, we got off the
> train just as the main
> procession reached the
> > village square. A plough decorated with flowers
> was being pulled along,
> surrounded by dancing
> > women in long dresses with ivy in their hair.
> Alongside them were Old
> Glory - Molly dancing
> > transvestites in woollen frocks with blacked-up
> faces - and the Pig
> Dyke Sisters of Mercy
> > Knees-Up.
> >
> > Milling about at the edge of the procession were
> the Witchmen, the
> Hell's Angels of Morris
> > dancers, dressed in black and amber, spiked with
> pheasant's feathers
> and wielding big sticks.
> >
> > And in the middle, of course, was the Straw Bear -
> a villager bound up
> in 9ft of straw and looking
> > like an agrarian, medieval, extremely flammable
> Darth Vader.
> > Completely blinded by his straw head,
> > the Bear was being led on a chain by another
> villager and executing an
> odd, rhythmic, stumbling
> > dance, in which a key move seemed to be
> sporadically realising how
> top-heavy he was and nearly
> > pitching into the audience.
> >
> > I can't tell you how surprised I was when, on
> taking this all in, I
> immediately burst into tears.
> >
> > Obviously I had risen before 7am on a Saturday to
> stand outside a
> Somerfield in the fens - and at
> > an event, it was sadly clear, that had absolutely
> no jerk chicken
> stalls - but it wasn't all down
> > to that.
> >
> > I think it was a sudden realisation that this is
> what, until very
> recently, being English had all
> > been about. My conception of Englishness had been
> built on P. G.
> Wodehouse and Amnesty
> > International and Radio 4 and Dan Cruickshank but,
> in fact, they were
> preceded by hundreds of
> > years of this: peasants in the middle of winter,
> without antibiotics or
> telegraphs or thermals,
> > pretending to be witches and warlocks and Straw
> Bears until the spring
> finally came.
> >
> > Whatever modern Englishness is, it was either a
> reaction to or stemmed
> from what I was watching:
> > wild drunken joy, fear, cheap, deep magic and
> cross-dressing. I felt
> like Estelle in the recent
> > single 1980 when she raps: "I touched Africa and
> came back darker/
> Knowing myself, feeling my
> > roots a little harder."
> >
> > That cold, sunny January day in 2001, I suppose I
> touched
> > Cambridgeshire and came back whiter -
> > save around the nose, which went an interesting
> cherry colour as a
> result of the unbelievably
> > potent fenland winds.
> >
> > Because if there's one reason why the Whittlesea
> (as the organisers
> insist on spelling it) Straw
> > Bear Festival continues to be a small-scale affair
> - I would estimate
> no more than 300 people line
> > the route, or wander off to watch the dancing
> displays held in front of
> pubs across the village -
> > is that it's unbeoffthescalelievably cold.
> >
> > This isn't Glastonbury, with the odd spot of rain
> in an otherwise
> idyllic setting in the middle of
> > June. This is the fens in January. You know how,
> when you see a
> winter-blooming flower in a normal
> > part of the country, you think: "Oh dear, that
> looks very vulnerable to
> the cold"?
> >
> > In Whittlesey I thought that about a potato
> dropped in the road. When a
> pie from the chip shop
> > proved not to have been heated right through to
> the middle, it
> > precipitated an almost calamitous
> > loss of heart in our group as it was the family's
> only heat source.
> >
> > Indeed, all mystery as to why the Straw Bear
> Festival had originally
> come about - it was first
> > mentioned in newspapers in the 1890s, and nobody
> knew why it occurred
> even then - are quickly
> > resolved when one reflects on the insulating
> properties of straw. My
> reading of the festival is
> > that the Straw Bear is the only warm man in the
> fens and he is
> > flaunting his warmth at a
> > collection of villagers who are trying to keep
> warm by dancing.
> >
> > The music the bands play - stomping, hearty folk,
> a great deal of it
> very fast - is designed so
> > that the musicians lose as few fingers as possible
> to frostbite. And
> the dancing - stomping,
> > hearty, ramshackle - is basically a slightly more
> organised version of
> people hopping from one
> > foot to the other to keep warm.
> >
> > And I suppose this, above all other reasons, is
> why the Straw Bear
> remains a very special event in
> > the British calendar. For, while all other
> festivals - Harvest,
> Glastonbury, Christmas, Easter,
> > Solstice at Stonehenge and the Cheese Rolling
> Festival (May 30,
> Cooper's Hill, Brockworth,
> > Gloucester) - are products of surplus time,
> abundance and celebration,
> Straw Bear is conceived of
> > necessity. It's culture as a survival tactic. It's
> art as central heating.
> >

posted in Morris - 0 replies

return from exile

2005-02-08T23:56:28Z

Hey all - I've moved back to the SF area and am now living in San Mateo. I'm looking forward to getting chances to see all of you through the morris season...

posted in Morris - 1 reply

Ales

2005-02-08T22:25:05Z

OK - travel plans. Who is planning to go to various of the out of state ales this year, and which?

I'm likely to be able to make it to the california ale in a couple of months, and I'm hoping to make it to the midwest ale.

Anybody else?

Bill

posted in Morris - 4 replies

Hi ya!

2004-04-14T00:12:42Z

Hello all!

yours in Morris!
Jose

posted in Morris - 0 replies

Hm. We Have Enough To Form A Side - And, Hello

2004-01-30T01:09:38Z

This is Elaine - I know a few of you from BerkMo. I'm presently a Goat. I am SHOCKED, I say, SHOCKED, that we don't have more chatter and members in this tribe.

posted in Morris - 1 reply

thanksgiving holiday

2003-11-17T15:13:47Z

anybody know of any morris events going on in the bay around thanksgiving? I'm going to be back there for the holiday and I'd love a dance fix.

Bill

posted in Morris - 0 replies

tradition drift

2003-10-23T13:36:39Z

I'm finding it kinda fascinating in one way out here. I was introduced by my sister in law to a dance side local to St. Louis (Capering Roisters), and they have been very welcoming, even enthusiastic to have me there. It's much too far a distance to dance with them on a regular basis (2 hours away), but I've had fun playing with them a few times.

The interesting thing is really looking in depth at style variations. One of their primaries is fieldtown, but is only loosely similar to the fieldtown we know in the bay area.

Here's a big example of variation : they don't use ssds steps, which are directly out of Bacon (which makes their variant of stepback a bit interesting).

I have a feeling I'll be making mental notes and observations for a while and seeing if there's any wisdom to be gained about the institution of "morris" as a whole.

posted in Morris - 0 replies