Friends, for a moment please indulge us in our peculiar statement of faith, if you will, with the past. In all that we do, we hope that we are found to offer a portrayal of the past, and not a parody of that past and those people who created it. We are rather rigid in our adherence to several self-imposed rules that are, in brief, these few: - We dress is period attire so that we have the correct appearance - We groom ourselves in period styles for the same reason as above (and if that seems hard to believe, just take a sniff of Reverend Lee some time, with his macassar-oiled hair and beard, and his fragrant aroma of bay rum, and occasional bath) - We perform only music written between roughly 1800 and 1864 (some earlier; none later). Our repertoire is not compromised by later songs, or our original compositions. - We play reproductions of period instruments, including guitars fashioned after an 1856 CF Martin; banjos in the Boucher, Sweeney, and Gourd styles; violins after a 1798 French maker; limberjacks; etc. - We sing in period fashion - We entertain in a variety of ways, as was the case in medicine shows; and that includes reciting period poetry; conducting phrenology readings; performing period magic tricks; conducting Temperance meetings, and period church services (including a comedic sermon); and offering up the finest elixirs, decoctions, syrups, sales, and ointments as part of our medicine show. - We offer humor as well, and from a time in which the pun was considered the highest form of sophisticated humor. We are, in a word, authentic - not perfectly so yet, but working toward it in every appearance we make. Come see us perform. Good, bad, or indifferent, you will come away with a far better understanding of how folks were entertained 150-170 years ago, sans opera and the theatre. One way in which we do not seek to emulate those performers of old is in their ability to dodge a well-aimed dead cat, or a rat on a string, or overly ripe produce. We are not as agile or spry as we were 20 years ago, and find it difficult to avoid those missiles. Consequently, we ask that you keep those items at home.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 03:39:38 +0000
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