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FOUR WINDS AT PAGAN PRIDE DAY 2002
Four Winds performs God Was A Woman at Pagan Pride Day 2002.
From left: Joni, Erica, Elsbeth, Jodi, Athalia, Richard, Kurt. Not Shown: Athena
Click for larger imageFirst off I want to bestow MAJOR kudos and thanks on all the members who participated in the Pagan Pride Day event on September 28. With the small exceptions of a little schedule slippage and perhaps a slightly more enthusiastic presence of the winds spirits than was convenient, the event went very well for us. Our team consisted of Joni, Erica, Elsbeth, Jodi, Athalia, Richard, Kurt and Athena. We performed quite well and everyone was really prepared despite the fact the we only had a month of rehearsal, essentially something like nine hours total. Everyone put in that extra beit of effort to be well prepared for the event, and it showed! Timewise, the difficulties of negotiating city traffic into Battery Park delayed Emerald Rose’s arrival... and their very effective sound system. This gave a couple of transit delayed Members a little fudge time! So it was setup-soundcheck-SING!
I will own up to the fact that we missed a trick and not having a encore piece in the bag, Spirit of The Wind had a couple of glitches. No one out in the audience seemed to care but we noticed. Still, Prophet's Song didn't seem a good ender... We ended up with a little time to spare at the end of the set. But all in all, nicely done everyone. Best moments, the boatload (Liberty Island ferry) of Japanese tourists that totally were grooving on us during the early part of the set. A few of them nearly jumped out of their skins at when I thanked them in Japanese. “Domo arigato gozaimasu!” Richard out of nowhere appearing in the jesters cap and shorts for Drunken Pagan. The south asian fellow who was beaming at our rendition of Om Namah Shivaya. Oh, did I mention screaming applause? Yes! Even from a relatively small crowd of pagans and BUNCHES of mundane folk. Cherry on top— good feedback from the people of Emerald Rose and Alchemy IV who thought we were cool, all the more so for being volunteer amateur performers.
And Director Kurt received this from the entertainment coordinator:
> I'm writing to thank you all for making Pagan Pride Day 2002 a fabulous event! Early counts
> say that we raised over 300 lbs of food (and that's not including the pet food), over 150
> people took part in the ritual, and all 200 of the "What Are These People Doing?" pamphlets
> were given out to curious onlookers, with more in demand. All-in-all, it was a fantastic event,
> and you should all be extremely proud of yourselves for helping to make it spectacular!
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Blessed Be,
> Wyllow
> Entertainment Coordinator for NYC's Second Annual Pagan Pride EventAs usual when we have the energy flowing, a tendency to speed up a little. Mostly under control, except for God Was A Woman, probably due to it’s 6 min. plus length. As I have explained, when the drum gets overrun by the singers, I’ve found it to be less disruptive to stay synched that to risk trainwreck by trying to pull back too hard. But overall, it is getting much better, and the sound was very good, balanced and harmonious. Again, thank you ALL! Huzzah!
GROVE SAMHAIN
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Grove Open Samhain Ritual |
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Samhain is the end of Enchantment's Grove season. We will be there to lend sonic support, song and chants to this annual honoring of the Ancestors and our place in the wheel of the year. Additonal Info about Enchantment's Grove: www.joeandjezibell.com |
Next up for us is Grove Samhain, on Saturday October 26. This will be a slightly different one since we have some Grove people joining us and working in some new material. Including the expanded Lake Wake Dirge which we have been toying with for a couple of years. Other new items are a chant: Blood of the Ancients and I Am Stretched on your Grave. Overall it will not be too onerous once you factor in the recitations. We hae been able to provice both practice tapes and custom-burned CD’s of the critical bits for participants to study.
HPs Jezibell has problems with Tuesdays, so we have chosen to move the rehearsal of the 22nd to Monday, October 21st at Elsbeth’s (see schedule). So far, things are shaping up rather well. People are absoringthe new material readily and sounding quitre nice. This one, dispite the some challenging material is turning out to be rather fun to prepare for
For you participating in the ritual, here’s the Outline: For those of you attending, lyrics of the songs and texts of the readings, as is both Chorus and Grove tradtion, will be provided.
| SAMHAIN 2002 - MORRIGAN & ARAWN Event outline - songs and chants in boldface |
| DEATH (recitation) |
| LYKE WAKE DIRGE - New Version |
| Anointing by Quarters (Theresa, Margarita, Heather, Kaye) |
| BLOOD OF THE ANCIENTS - New Chant |
| Elements |
| Spoken cast & quarter call/short intro Samhain, Morrigan & Arawn |
| SOWING & REAPING |
| HONORING OF MORRIGAN AND THE WARRIOR |
| MORRIGAN'S CHILDREN |
| IN FLANDERS FIELDS (recitation- Joe & guys) |
| THE GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE |
| MORRIGAN speech - Jez |
| HONORING ARAWN AND THE PASSAGE |
| DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT (recitation - Elsbeth) |
| I AM STRETCHED ON YOUR GRAVE - New Song |
| BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH (recitation - JJ) |
| ARAWN speech - Joe |
| WE ARE THE FLOW |
| Roll Call/Burning of the Scroll of the Ancestors |
| TAPS (Juns begin immediately after Taps) |
| THUNDER BEINGS |
| Great Rite/Bread |
| PROPHET'S SONG |
| Devoke/uncast |
Since we are busy with this event, we regretfully have turned down performing at Magical Realm’s Witches Ball this year,
Additonal Info about Enchantment's Grove is available at their new website: www.joeandjezibell.com
WINTER SOLSTICE
Open Choral Solstice Celebration (planning stages)
Saturday, December 21, 2002, 3:00-5:30pm (Members call: 2:00pm)
Musical Theatre Works, 440 Lafayette Street, NYC, Studio 4A - info: 212 677-0040
FREE (donations gratefully accepted)All Singing, all Chanting, all Dancing! Welcome the return of the Sun. All Welcome to celebrate with us! This will be a new incarnation of our very successful Sing-it-Ourselves Winter Solstice. Songsheets and lyrics will be provided. Help us plan and present this event! New Members always welcome!!
The Winter Solstice, falls precisely on Saturday, December 21st at 8:14pm. How could we NOT do ritual? I have already spoken to Jez about collaborating with the Coven on ritual structure. Eliminates potential schedule conflicts AND have a lot of fun. So thoughts and suggestions more than welcome. have not settled on Choral, Bardic, Ritual or Performance Format... But sho' 'nuff THINKING about it. Leaning towards our sing-it-yourself circle that has been very well reveived.
We have secured Musical Theatre Works for Saturday Afternoon, so will be in ritual space for the tansition from day into night. We hope to sructure the ritual to include some of our favorite set-pieces and some honoring of all the winter holiday traditions. Suggestions made so far include Invocation, Circles, Winter Solsice Sunrise, See the Sun Arising, O holy Night, and out totally kicking precussion enhanced version of Little Drummer Boy, with like, uh... drums!
We are OF COURSE welcoming new Members to the chorus for this event. Please attend any rehearsal to be a part of our circle of song. Please see the Chorus Schedule for rehearsal dates and times.
THUNDER NATION CEREMONY
The Northeast, and many other parts of the nation, are in the grip of an extended drought. Joni has received a sacred Thunder rhythm and a call to ceremony which I have agreed to help her manifest. Read about a ÒThunder Nation CeremonyÓ with the intention of summoning the blessing rains back to our people.
Please contact us if you are interested in participating.
UPCOMING
More details on our activities will come when we get then and will be posted to the Schedule Page. And keep checking back with us, things always come up.
Put this information in your appointment books and calendars! Print it out even! Stay in touch, don't forget to keep practicing! Please email us with any questions, problems or news. Send E-Mail to us at: khgriffith@worldnet.att.net
Mitaquye Oyasin * Blessed Be * Ashe * Shalom * A Salaam * Amen * Om
Kurt Griffith/Talking Stone
Choral Director
