minstrel: Madness at Bards & Cooks

[Cerian Cantwr]

Greetings,

During Pennsic many of you heard us talk of a non-competitive type of
bardic event called Bardic Madness, which has taken place in the Middle
Kingdom for a dozen years.  This event encourages bardic creativity both
spontaneous and planned, in a 'safe' and fun atmophere.  Everyone wins by
rising to the many challenges during the day.

Due to logistics however, many have not been able to attend.  Well for you,
the mountain is coming to Mohammed :-)  There will be several mini-fyts of
madness taking place at the Known World Bards & Cooks Collegium in Ealdormere
(http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~arnora/arnora/cooksbards.htm)
Here are the challenges that we'll be playing with:


First Fyt (Saturday lunch):

Mazacroca:
    Given several texts to choose from in foreign languages, "translate"
    one of them and explain what it "really" means.

Rings & Things:
    The tradition of using a ring as the McGuffin* for a story is an ancient
    and venerable on - it can be followed from Norse mythology, down through
    Wagner and Tolkein.  Using song, story, or verse cast us a tale where a
    ring serves as a central character or motivating force.

    *A McGuffin is the plot element that sets a story in motion.


Second Fyt (Saturday midnight):

Things That Go Bump:
    Using song, poem, or story cast a spooky spell involving ghosts, goblins,
    or things that go bump in the night.


Third Fyt (Sunday lunch):

Argue For or Against:
    Given a topic chosen out of a hat (or thought of by the audience) and
    five to fifteen minutes to prepare, present an argument for or against
    that topic. This can be done in prose or verse, with or without props or
    music.  The topics will likely be creative, as they will come from the
    participants.

The Gift:
    Present us with tales of remarkable, special, heroic, compassionate,
    funny, or surprising gifts given in period or in the SCA.  Make use of
    song, poetry, drama, or prose.


If you'd like to be a patron for any of these challenges, contact Cerian
(Saturday) or  Eliane (Sunday).  Patrons will introduce performers and give a
token to each participant.  If you hear something you especially like; you,
as a listener, are also encouraged to give tokens.


Cerian Cantwr
Provost, Bardic Madness South IV
Nov. 23, 2002, Canton of Vonspring (Lansing, MI)
cerian at minstrel.com

Eliane Halevy
Provost, Bardic Madness XIII
Spring 2003, Barony of Jararvellir (Madison, WI)
jfriedmn at pressenter.com


Website Links:

Bards & Cooks Collegium:
     http://www.ece.uwaterloo.ca/~arnora/arnora/cooksbards.htm
Bardic Madness South IV:
     http://tilted-windmill.com/bms4
Bardic Madness History:
     http://poet.minstrel.com/ncb/history.htm