More on upcoming movie, "Ye Olde Times." -- posted by JohnPaul on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 5:41PM
Chas also passes along this article which discusses the movie in more detail:

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/05/18/jack-black-leads-ye-olde-times/
[more...]

Jack Black in Ren Fest movie - "Ye Olde Times" -- posted by JohnPaul on Monday, July 30, 2007 6:35PM
Chas at MacGregor Games passes along this find:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034090/

It's a movie in pre-production starring Jack Black with the description:

"Two rival Medieval shows vie for supremacy in the world of Renaissance Faires."

Wow. Are we that main stream?

PS - visit http://www.historicgames.com/

Oklahoma Ren Fest 2007 video, Part 5 posted. -- posted by JohnPaul on Saturday, July 21, 2007 9:24PM
Check out my YouTube videos for the latest OKRF video journal entry, this time dealing with the pirate area and the Buccaneers of the Coast pirate museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNuO_CqmZk0
[more...]

Shattock Schoole of Defence in Des Moines this weekend. -- posted by JohnPaul on Thursday, July 19, 2007 11:20PM
Rage Theatrics, the new name for the Shattock Schoole of Defence, is performing in Des Moines this weekend at the downtown "Fringe Festival." They are involved in some kind of pirate show -- "Three pirate plays by Jeff Goode."

July 19-21 "in the tent outside 1315 Grand Ave" you can catch them:

Thursday 9:30
Friday 8:00
Saturday 9:30
and Sunday 3:30

(Well, we missed them today, Thursday, but a few more chances...) I was going out to a work lunch today when I passed a poster that read "Your swash is unbuckled" and when I went back to take a second look (thinking "hey, that would be a good renfest thing") I found out it was Rage Theatrics -- the Shattock parent organization (?). So small world.

And smaller, finding Jason and the others from Shattock actually dining at the same place! So there. Go check them out if you can. They are also going to be at the Des Moines Renaissance Faire one weekend.

RenRadio to cease broadcasting... -- posted by JohnPaul on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 5:33PM
It's been a few years now since Willa and I stepped in to cover hosting costs for RenRadio.com, and much has changed since then with internet "broadcasting." This note was sent out today concerning the future of RenRadio, though I fully expect there will be plenty of folks wanting to step in and keep it going... Our community is like that, it seems. -- JP

What a difficult thing to do. But I can't put it off indefinitely. It's almost like losing a family pet.
After almost eight years of continuous operation, I have come to the conclusion that I just don't have the time or energy to keep Renradio on the Internet. After all the legal worries, compromises to keep it free, and money issues, I am no longer motivated enough to do justice to the listeners or the artists.
I do wish to thank all of those that have sent notes of encouragement during some of my personal upheavals. And many thanks to those that donated money during the lean times. And of course to all the Rennie fans that wrote in about how they enjoyed hearing the music and the artist that donated their music. If not for you I probably would have shut down this train wreck a few years earlier.
Maybe someday I'll start it back up.
Maybe it's best to quit while I'm still somewhat ahead.
Maybe some daring soul out there would like to try their hand at running Renradio. If so, let me know. I would love to see Renradio continue with new management. But I won't hand it over to just anyone. It has to be kept updated and maintained. That takes dedication, time, and a little money. I'd rather see it go silent than see it turned in to another dull and uninspired radio station that has music between ads.

So I think it will be going down by the end of July. In its place I'll put some links up to some other sites for Renaissance and Celtic music.

In the immortal words of the late Douglas Adams, "So long and thanks for the fish.."

Michael McDane Harris
rengeek@renradio.com
Rengeek
Dee of Jay at Renradio.com

[more...]

Joe Get's... Bristol Ren Faire video. -- posted by JohnPaul on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 6:41PM
Fyne Hats by Felicity passes along this video link of a show that visited the Bristol Renaissance Faire:

http://uk.current.com/pods/joegets/PD04220
[more...]

Texas Renaissance Festival group discounts... -- posted by JohnPaul on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:52PM
(From the TRF folks...)

Come hither, m'Lords and Ladies, and make merry at the

Texas Renaissance Festival.

Bring thy family and friends so that thou may qualify for special group rates.

Group tickets are $15.00 for adults and $6.00 for children. This includes entrance to the festival grounds for the entire day, free parking, and admission to all stage shows and craft demonstrations.

You must have a minimum of 25 adults to qualify.

To make your day even more special, you can arrange for a bountiful buffet to be served in a private tented area reserved exclusively for your group. Our special packages allow you to choose from a variety of offerings, and menu selections start at only $15.50 per person.

For more information, please call 1-800-458-3435

or email us at groups@texrenfest.com

Be sure to visit our exciting new website at http://texrenfest.com
[more...]

Des Moines Renaissance Faire sneak peak at entertainment... -- posted by JohnPaul on Saturday, July 7, 2007 2:44PM
An initial list of what acts, characters, demonstrators and living history groups will be at this year's expanded Des Moines Renaissance Faire has been posted:

http://dmrenfaire.com/entertainment.shtml
[more...]

Historic playing cards. -- posted by JohnPaul on Friday, July 6, 2007 5:37PM
Just for fun, here's a place to get high quality reproductions of playing cards:

http://www.historicgames.com/RPcards.html

Tell them AtTheFaire sent you. [more...]

Wild West photos posted... -- posted by JohnPaul on Friday, July 6, 2007 5:37PM
To get a sneak peak at some of the stuff that's been done to Festival Park (home of the Des Moines Renaissance Faire) including landscaping and more buildings, AND the new restrooms, you can view the WIld West Music Fest photos here:

http://www.atthefaire.com/photos/Iowa/WildWestMusicFest2007/

Alas, you won't find any crowds there since only a few hundred showed up. [more...]

A long, expensive pre-July 4th weekend... -- posted by JohnPaul on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 9:18PM
Well the Wild West Music Fest is over and I think maybe a hundred people actually went to it :-) "The best laid plans," as they say. Our next step is to figure out how we're going to pay back the $25,000 we lost this past weekend putting on the event. I thought I was almost done with debt payments but I guess not now...!

Since our Erik Anderson medicine show was outdrawing the bands by 3-to-1, it looks like we should go back to the original "renfest" concept and have something that is primarily family fun stage acts, with maybe a token band playing mid day each day. That seemed to be the most popular type of entertainment at the event -- guess all the beer drinking country lovers were out at Waterstock Rock this weekend (go figure).

Until next time . . . this is J. "Broke" P.