Tuesday, August 31, 2004

 

Teaser

The Webwench says: Keep an eye on the Talk Like A Pirate Day Web site in the next day or two for a special opportunity for pirate fun.

Nope, I'm not tellin' ... not even if ye threaten me with broadswords or (as Cap'n Slappy prefers) pummel me with yer fists an' forehead.



Monday, August 23, 2004

 

On the air again - in the UK

The Pirate Guys will be on the air in the UK, in an interview with the Ugly Phil Breakfast show on Kerang 105.2, in Birmingham. When - well, that gets a little tricky. We're in Oregon, the Pacific Time Zone. We're eight hours behind England. We're talking to Ugly Phil and his crew at 6 a.m. OUR time, if I understood the message from Cap'n Slappy properly. So that means you should tune in at 2 p.m. in England, which doesn't make sense since Phil's show is on from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time. It's possible, probably even likely, that he's taping us for play later. But I don't know.

You can check out the station and even listen in to the broadcast by visiting the Web site at http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk. So you can try to tune in Tuesday morning around 6 a.m. Oregon time JUST IN CASE we're on live. Otherwise, if it's actually being taped, we'll let you know (if they tell us) when it'll air.

My brain hurts. Math is not my strong suit.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

 

Apologies and not

Well it was a busy day giving offense without meaning to.

We had a lot of fun at our Newport event, and the audience of about 150 did too. BUT the audience was somewhat younger than we're used to. Familes and kids average age about 7. We tried trimming and editing our material on the fly, but with only partial success. Everybody seems to have had a good time (they particularly liked the "I'm A Pirate" song,) but a couple of people left, grumbling that they had been told it would be family friendly. Certainly not by me. But seriously. it was much less offensive than most of what's on TV, but what do you want us to do? We're pirates!

But it went well, most had fun, and we had a good time ourselves.

This evening Cap'n Slappy got an e-mail warning that someone had fired a broadside at us on Piracy Pub, a Web site we link to. It's a chat place, mostly, and someone was extremely honked off because, they said, our link refers to it as a place for people "who take their piracy too seriously."

NO NO NO. That's not what we said at all. Look again. The Piracy Pub is linked with several other pirate re-enactor sites which, our Web Wench poiints out in the heading, are for "People who (unlike us) take their piracy seriously." It's not a slam at them. It's a light-hearted slam at US for being sort of wastrels and doofuses and ... well, guys. Our Web Wench was taking a poke at US, not at the pub.

So we're sorry if someone took offense and only wish they had read what it actually says on our Web site. We respect the Piracy Pub and its patrons, and have turned to its leader, Jamaica Rose, often when we had questions that needed answering.

But life is short enough without taking offense where none is actually intended or even offered.

Friday, August 20, 2004

 

See you at the coast

SHIP'S LOG: Aug. 20,
Aboard the Festering Boil
Ol' Chumbucket recording

Ahoy! We're spending the day taking care of last minute things (like picking up my pirate gear from the cleaners - don't want to hit the stage in me underwear, now do I?) for our visit to the coast.

Cap'n Slappy and I will be at the visitor center at the Hatfield Marine Science Center at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Lynne Wright, who runs the center's bookstore, expects a full house. Considering the Henning Auditorium hold about 180 folk - that's a daunting proposition. We'll be singing a little (Cap'n Slappy's sea chantey for the children - I'm a Pirate - is always a big hit at these events) doing a little reading and just generally being nonsensical. We hope you can all be there. The Hatfield Center (or HMSC, as is't know in some circles) is in Newport's South Beach area, just over the bridge and right next to the aquarium. HMSC, by the way, is one of the best tourist values on the Oreogn Coast. It's where a lot of the real science about the ocean is conducted, and its visitor center is free. For more information on the visitor center go to
http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/

See you there!

Thursday, August 19, 2004

 

A month to go!

Ship's Log: Aug. 19, 2004
Aboard the Festering Boil
Ol' Chumbucket, recording

One month until Talk Like a Pirate Day!

We sent out the Poopdeck today with that announcement. If you don't get the Poopdeck, it's our online newsletter that comes out periodically - whenever the mood strikes. You can sign up for it to come to your very own inbox at our site. No fancy HTML, mateys, just plain ol' text - and we won't share yer address with a soul! Just send a message to

majordomo@peak.org

with the words "subscribe poopdeck" in the body. Make sure yer usin' a valid e-mail address, or ye'll never get the thing!

And remember to post comments here on the Ship's Log to let us know what your plans are for Talk Like a Pirate Day Weekend!

Friday, August 13, 2004

 

Ready To Sail

Ship's Log: Aug. 13
Aboard the Festering Boil
Posted by Ol' Chumbucket

Ahoy all (and when I say all, I mean the three people who figured out we HAVE a blog and have read it). It's been quiet, and that explains why there hasn't been much posted here yet.

This is the calm before the storm, as it were. At least, we hope there's a storm. I'm referring, of course, to the buildup to Talk Like a Pirate Day. We got back after a wild week in Seattle and have been kind of coasting for two weeks - no events planned and not a lot to do about Talk Like a Pirate Day. But starting the following Saturday, things pick up as we reach the one-month date before Sept. 19.

The following Saturday (Aug. 21) Cap'n Slappy and I do an appearance and book signing in Newport, Oregon. The week after that I'll be attending the fifth annual Festival de Piratas - a pirate-themed concert with five bands - in Portland. Cap'n Slappy can't be there - he's actually performing a wedding in a tavern that day. Really. And we've got a reading Sept. 1 at Jackson Books in Salem. And during all this I've got a kid's birthday to deal with (12 years old) and a mother-in-law's birthday and my wife visiting a friend in L.A. So it''ll get busy, and you'll forgive me, I hope, for not being terribly productive lately.

And then there's the media interest in the holiday itself. We'll do whatever it takes to spread the word about the holiday, and we thank you for your help in making this the fastest growing holiday ever. And when radio stations from downstate Illinois or Geneva Switzerland call, we try to oblige them. So it gets busy.

All that to explain why there hasn't been much written in teh Ship's log yet. There hasn't been much to write. But that'll be changing shortly.

Saturday, August 07, 2004

 
Got questions for the Pirate Guys? Fire away, me hearties, and the Wenches will prod 'em till they answer!

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

 

I love Seattle!

SHIP'S LOG:
Entered by Ol' Chumbucket, aboard the Festering Boil, Aug. 4

Ahoy shipmates! It's been a wild summer, and last week was the highlight so far.

Before I say another word, let me say that the Seattle Seafair Pirates, our hosts for the week, are a great bunch of guys - a GREAT crew. They let us hang out with them - terrorizing tourists, riding the duck all over town, drinking and carousing and just generally behaving like pirates at all hours of the day and night. It was great! Thank you Peter, Mark, Jerry, Pat, Barnacle, Bunny, Bubbles (those last two are guys, really) Joel, Shane, Kerry and ... well ... all the Pirates. It was sort of like hanging out at a fraternity reunion - only with cannons.

In particular, it was the best week of Cap'n Slappy's life (he's an old Seattle boy, so this rang all kinds of memories.) I had a great time too.

The highlight of the week was the Torchlight Parade. Imagine - we're waiting in the staging area for hours. The Pirates and their vehicle, the Dreaded Moby Duck, are near the end of the parade, so we sat and watched virtually the entire thing go by before it was finally time to go. We swung out of the staging area, past Seattle's Space Needle, and onto the route, then made the big turn down Fourth Street heading through the heart of the city.

And there spread out in front of us was the 2 1/2 mile route with almost half a million people lining the streets waiting for us! What a rush! They enjoyed the whole parade, but the Pirates are a sentimental favorite and when we came into view, their cheers turned into an actual roar! It was incredible. About two thirds of the way through, as we started up the incline, I realized that I should be tired from all the walking, I should have a headache and a sore throat from hollering at the crowd, and I was drenched in sweat. But I felt great! The crowd's energy and enthusiasm carried me up the hill as if I were flying. It was over too soon.

Several adults I know who grew up in Seattle have talked about how big a part the pirates played in their memories. A common comment was, "They scared the hell out of me as a kid, but I loved it." Knowing that I am now one of those memories for some other kids is very cool.

At the party later a couple of the veteran pirates asked if that was my first parade. It was. They expressed surprise, telling me I'd worked the crowd like a pro. It may be the best compliment I've ever received.

Thank you Seattle. Oh, and we sold about 200 books there, so that's a good thing. A very good thing.

Signing off - buy the book, please.

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