The troupe did a second weekend at SCRF and
we broke a tip record which made me happy. We did some variation on the fire routine (no
pics yet) and burned a rabbit effigy. It went over better than we hoped. It was very nice that danielgreenwolf came and drummed for us –especially as we are ah, not musical.
Daniel tightening the drumhead with Monica
heating it because of humidity (more on this later)
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It’s a continuous issue-we have three really
good drummers available but because they ARE so good, they are generally
already booked. I’ve been trying to avoid
the bullet for two years but I gave in and am learning to drum. I don’t have the free time to join drum
circles or hang out so Eric Peterson is
showing me (for pay :) how to drum. I have a djembe (shown above) but it is an
instrument that takes a lot of physical “oomph” to pull nice sound out of it.
Eric had me try a synthetic tabla and it was a lot easier to “reach” and sit
with. My main problem is that once I
picked up speed, my reach started creeping across the drum head because I’m
used to working the bigger one.
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Don’t get me wrong- I *STINK* and have no
natural musical ability. People have tried to teach me but only Eric seems to
have hit on a method that works. We had
the practice space to ourselves (we decided not to have rehearsal) so we could
make plenty of noise :)
It was also nice to be out of the humidity.
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For the fire shows it adds an additional
element of danger. When there is precipitation in the air it makes the props
burn hotter and longer. (Essentially we are steaming the air) The most
impressive fire show happens under these conditions. But when it comes time for
these to go out –it changes everything. I had a set of fans burn so hot I ended up throwing them down and lost
all the hair on the back of my hands. Valkyrie turned to me and asked
“So, do I still have eyelashes?”
The photographer snapped a picture of the
flame *licking* up the front of her from the orb-it was quite breathtaking. But
man, the safety people have to be on their toes! But seeing some of the early pictures (we won’t
see the refinished ones for two weeks) it looks like they are good enough for
packets and demos.
I’ll try to remember that over the smell of
burning hair…maybe that’s the real reason I want to learn to drum *laugh*


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Holly, I got it for 50% off. It is very comfortable.
Lizette "Lizzy"07:11 PM EST