The Wind that Shakes the Preachin'

[Paddler]

From the Gig Journal, June, 2014


We arrived at Frozen Brook Farm at 2:00 in the afternoon. Shawn and Rebecca were fixin' to jump the broomstick together and the father of the bride hired us to get ourselves up in our best 18th Century fig and play music for the obsequies. The daughter and her parents had heard us busking at a restaurant and decided that we played their kind of music.

The old timberframe barn had been cleaned out and made into a party center. The Inside was festooned with antique farm and household implements. The reception would be in there and they had a disc jockey all primed to make loud noises for the chicken dance and conga line.

The wedding ceremony was held outside in a small grove of sycamore trees, hard by “the brook”. There were perhaps a hundred white folding chairs set up in a quadrant under the largest tree. In front of the guest seats was a table wrapped in white to serve as an altar. We set up out instruments (hammer dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, harp, concertina, and two guitars) in front, stage left. By 2:40, the instruments were tuned and we were ready for to twang.

The dearly beloved filed in and made their Xs in the guest book. At 3:00 we began to play. At 3:30 the groom and his men trooped up and arranged themselves stage left, in front of us. Then the bride's maids arranged themselves stage right. When the bride crossed the arched foot bridge with her father, it was our cue to play “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (concertina and classical guitar).

There were two liturgical engineers at this massacree. One of them seemed to dither a lot. I presume he was an apprentice.

Somewhere between the “Do thou . . .?” and the “Ah does!” portion of the proceedings, we began to hear this eerie singing sound. It seemed to come from all directions. At first, I thought it was the ring tone from a cell phone that some inconsiderate clod had neglected to turn off. But the singing got louder and broadened its range and became rich with harmonics. The men of the cloth began to show concern. They may have to grab candle and grimoir and do some “casting out”. What really happened was that the breeze had picked up slightly and the air blowing through the harp strings had made that puppy go aeolian. Jody quelled the beast before there was a stampede.

The ceremony ended and the newly married couple sealed a time capsule and led the parade offstage to more strains of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. We packed up and scarpered. If we do more of these outdoor gigs with a harp, we will have to get it a negligee.

MCR>
Abstractor of the Quintessence
Order of the Digital Grail

[Paddler]

Mom and Dad had another daughter. They are going to marry her off this June. We have been hired to repeat the performance.