Texas Renaissance Festival 1999: Set Two by Frank Hui (1)

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   I've needed a couple of days to collect my thoughts on final weekend of TRF. It was an intense weekend full of several things, acts and groups to juggle. Way too many things and not enough time. There was a mass visitation of Scarborough people, many of whom I didn't even have time to say hi to. There was a contingent from the Minnesota faire, but I didn't get a chance to meet them. There was a sizable Otter Invasion and I only had enough time to briefly talk w/ the ones I knew at the Sea Devil Tavern. Do you notice a theme here? Sometimes I miss the days I didn't know a lot of people at faire. Then I could get a lot more done with less of an energy drain. The attendance was high that final weekend which is not too surprising. The final season statistics was over 330,000. Not too shabby for their silver anniversary.
Continued beneath the pictures...

This description and all these wonderful images are brought to you by Frank Hui. Because of his devotion, I have nothing to say. --Robyn Sotherby

For information regarding the faire, check out the Texas Renaissance Festival's Official Website.

As Always... click on the image for a larger view...


The grammy nominated Rogues of Scotland

Accompanied by Scarborough dancers Kathleen, Gregg, Denise & Katrina

Jimmy "the rag" Mitchell

Randy Woetke

Mayhem being sent to collect tips

Dancers Katrina, Kathleen & Amanda

Dancers Gregg & Monica waltzing to "Cullen Anderson"

Me, Frank, as Anubis-God of the Dead. Mask by Mask Parade. Tights from the Faire Pair.

Piper performing at opening gate

Cantiga w/ guest Owain Pyfe a.k.a. the New World Renaissance Band

Kyle & Maribeth Carruthers - one of the great rennie couples. She manages Pendragon Costumes and owns A Wardrobe in Time. He's got one of the best ren wardrobes in the country.

Pirate's Treasure - distributors of cool piratical toys and things

   Anyway, I got to see the Rogues who incidentally are nominated for 2 grammys. They were in ripe form and as a special treat they had commissioned some of the country dancers from Scarborough to perform at their shows on this final weekend. I say this is a special treat since it is exactly year since the band used them. The dancers performed with explosive energy and did numbers that included slip jigs, free jigs, irish knot and of course the lilt. At times they even got a little silly w/ the repertoire. You don't often see people belly dancing or doing the Macarena to pipe music.
   I also attended the King's Feast. At first I was reluctant, owing to the price, but it was a wonderful 2 hr event w/ a 5 course, very filling, meal with endless quantities of liquor & beverages and 6 different stage acts throughout. It was well worth the price and people who reserved in advance for parties of 2 or more got a free bottle of wine from the king's cellar. If you can take time out to do it, I recommend it strongly. However this ain't for vegetarians.
   Last day of course was full of silliness. A number of faire people dressed in bell bottom tights. It's a tradition now to do that on last day at the Texas faires. And most of the patterns are purposefully violent on the eyes.
   The big event were the milestones. Merlin the Magician or Bill Palmer gave his last performance. It was his 25th anniversary as well and he decided to wait for the faire's silver year to officially retire. Then of course there was the end of the Flaming Idiots as a renaissance act. At 5pm that final Sunday, I along w/ countless others watched their farewell. I ran out of film by then, but I feel this is one event that is better described in words than in pictures. On stage was musical accompaniment and all about were plenty of camcorders and cameras. The beginning of the show had the Idiots come out and just talk to the audience. The first thing they asked was who never saw their show before. About 15-20% of the audience raised their hands. The guys gave an impish look of embarrassment since this show was to only consists of bits that were done at the faires but will not be done in their stage show . They assured the newcomers they will do juggling only they wanted to comment about the last 15 yrs first. They bantered in typical Idiots style. When they first got together, Gyro said he was 17, Walter said he was 22 and Pyro said he was 4 and then yelled out "see what happens to you when you smoke kids!". They noted they did about 4000 performances and Gyro mused that he stood on a collective 3 miles of men over the years and Walter swallowed 3 miles of latex over that same time. They commented on the hawking and verbal play they no longer will use. Per example they'd say "You might have seen us on Letterman or Leno. If you had then you were probably on hallucinagens. Because we've never been on Letterman or Leno, but we have been on hallucinagens!". The bits they performed for the last time included the "Chicken Fight" juggling stance, the "6 pin passing-sushi style" and the 10th pin. The last part was done with exceptional flair as Pyro and Walter were not only trying to pass the pins way behind Gyro but also way above and below him. Gyro was able to keep up. The final part had the guys come out with 3 suitcases. There they proceeded to strip down to their shorts. Walter was wearing ones w/a big smiley face in front. When they took off their shirts, they smell them in sync and threw them out to the crowds. Kudos to Gary for catching 1 of them. They then took clothes from their suitcases and changed into zoot suits. Pyro in black, Gyro in red and Walter in yellow. They took a final bow to a passionate standing ovation and then took 1 last tip collection using their suitcases as hats.
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