WE FINALLY MET OUR SPONSORS!
by Willa, ATF Staff Writer

Sure, you've seen the ads at the tops of quite a few of our pages, touting the latest CD for the Brobdingnagian Bards...but do you really know who they are?

Well, we can now say that we do. So there. We even have proof! (see photo there to the left)

They are extremely nice guys, even before they knew who we were! Actually, it was in that picture on the left that they finally figured out who we were. Very humourous moment.

Okay, so let's move on to the reason for this article. I picked up two of their CDs and I intend to review one of them for you here. The CD is a sort of "best of" of renaissance faire songs.

A Faire to Remember is their fifth (I believe) release since they started back in '99 officially as the Brobdingnagian Bards—when Marc was spotted strumming on his autoharp during a break from his job on the college campus in Texas where he was temping to try not to be one of those "starving artist" types. They got pulled into the renaissance faire community and they, as they say, were history.

Now that you have a tiny bit of background on them, let me get back to the CD at hand. They cover such popular songs as The Mermaid Song, Scarborough Faire, Whiskey in the Jar and more, but I have to say that it's the second half of the CD that I enjoy best (well, I can't really say that since I have listened to Do Virgins Taste Better repeatedly and that's the second song on the recording). When they throw in songs like their very own parody of If I Had a Million Dollars by Barenaked Ladies (I am a huge BNL fan!), titled If I Had a Million Ducats, I just fall madly in love.

Let me take a brief moment to let you know the moment I "met" the Bards. It was at Hamlet of Slater (before it was Mid-Missouri) in 2000, and I was wandering back from getting a lemonade. I heard these two guys start playing the tune to If I Had a Million Dollars, and when you hear something like that at a faire, you just seem to stop in your tracks. So I stopped and listened and laughed aloud at quite a few parts (thank you, guys, for leaving in the monkey...I've always wanted a monKEY!). At the end of the song, Marc looked my way and said, "I see we have a Barenaked Ladies fan in the audience!"

Of course, I didn't know who they were...I tried my darndest to find out, but no one knew what I was talking about. I'm quite used to this *grin* But then they found me! And I finally got to meet them face to face at the 2001 Kansas City Renaissance Faire. They really are friendly.

Back to the CD. The end of the recording has some really entertaining songs on it like Donald Where's Your Trousers, Irish Ballad, A Fairy Story (how unPC can you get!?) and Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

I highly recommend that you see these guys live if there's ever a chance. Hearing them live will let you know just why they have so many Nagians. It's an experience everyone should have. And when you do, make sure you take home a CD. And let them know Willa sent you :)

Help keep us online. Book your travel here, or patronize some of these folke:

1. Des Moines Ren Faire (IA)
2. Iowa Ren Festival (IA)
3. Iowa-Minnesota Pirate Fest (IA)
4. Greater Quad Cities Ren Faire (IL)
5. Midlands Pirate Festival (NE)
6. Nebraska Ren Faire (NE)
7. Ren Faire at Sleepy Hollow (IA)

1. thescotsdragon.com
2. threegryphons.com

1. danzamystique.com
2. gypsycomedyshow.com
3. mydragonstories
4. phoenixswords.atthefaire.com
5. piratecomedyshow.com
6. queenbea.atthefaire.com
7. revelers.atthefaire.com
8. wenchville.com

1. anothercrappypodcast.com
2. atthefaire.com
3. crocolyle.atthefaire.com
4. perin.atthefaire.com
5. renbanner.net
6. renreporter.com
7. sirclisto.com

Host your site with ATF and be listed here! $50/year (and the publicity is free!)

Permanent festivals in our area: Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Bristol Renaissance Faire, Des Moines Renaissance Faire and Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
Other ATF sites: DisneyFans.com DMHauntedHouses.com