Renaissance Festival

Dayton Diary: October 2015

Arriving in Dayton on route 4, a gigantic billboard proclaims ’tis time for the annual Ohio Renaissance Festival: “Queen Elizabeth and 150 costumed characters invite you to join them in an authentically recreated 16th century English village.”

As someone who can trace their family tree back to the year 1086, the conjunction of the word “Ohio” with “Renaissance” is an oxymoron. Highlights of the Festival include: jousting, archery, falconry and… fish and chips (?). For the fact-oriented amongst you—Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!—fish and chips first appeared in Manchester, in the 1860’s. Anachronism aside, mention of chips does indeed make one lie back, reach for the salt and think of England. Note: Birds of the Gauntlet falconry display will not occur this year, to prevent possible spread of Avian Flu.

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!

By the way, the first time I visited Kim in Dayton she wanted us to go to the Festival because she thought it would make me “feel at home.” I was touched by the sentiment, though not sure if she was entirely serious.

But pray, let us leave this chimera of Merrie Olde England, casting your mind forward 500 years to present-day Dayton. We are recording demos of the new songs we’ve been working on—yes, I can hardly believe it’s true. I can’t share details as yet (song titles, etc) but forsooth, the four tracks we worked on last week are sounding, with English understatement, pretty good….

Next time: Trick or Treat?