A Mad, Mad World

This is on my list to see for sure.

Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver in re-imagined Treasure Island.

Izzard told TV Guide magazine,

“We certainly have softened and romanticised them (pirates)… It’s probably the Disney effect.

“The truth is, pirates were drunken, murderous bastards who didn’t give a f**k about anyone but themselves and would not hesitate to rip you up.

“They were well organised, like mafia gangs. In fact, our approach here is much less classic Treasure Island and much more Goodfellas.”

Yes, indeed. It was a very brutal world, far more rough than the cartoon Disney pirate images. Psychopathic captains and vicious, greedy crews who went rogue were decidedly not lovable types.

But, and I must mention this on the eve of International Worker’s Day, many a maritime worker in the 17th and 18th centuries became ruthless in response to gross and unfair exploitation of their labor by tyrannical captains and the expanding powers of merchants and governments seeking to profit from deep sea trade.

Coming out on DVD in July

Share

Come, Me Hearts! Shake Those Bones! There’s rum and beer and wenches and rogues and fine music to stir your blackstained souls. All tonight starting at 9:30 at the Sleeping Lady in Fairfax.

Share

Saturday night at the Sleeping Lady in Fairfax will be hopping!

Costume Contest!

Share

Hurray! Our fifth album is here.

We are back to the high seas with “Shake Those Bones“, our follow up album to “Skull and Magpies”. Ten new tunes (plus a bonus track) inspired by rogues, reprobates, romance and rum. There’s shades of ska, celtic flavors, a cumbiaesque song, a cajunesque song, a song in French, a song in Irish and more.

This is not your Disney pirate fare or rehashed trad — oh no. I can say with confidence that you’ve never heard anything like it. Take a listen and tell me if I am wrong. Go ahead. Be honest.

The beautiful album artwork is by fine artist and illustrator, Dale Horstman (who also did the artwork on “Skull & Magpies“.) He captured the feel perfectly!

We recorded at Wally Sound in Oakland, once again, to 2 inch analog tape, then mixed down to digital. Wally engineered mixed and mastered. Wally gives good sound!

I recently rebuilt our music shop using BandCamp so you can now listen to the tunes in their entirety–no more annoying short snippets. AND when you decide to buy, you can download in high quality audio formats–not just .mp3s. And, of course, you can order physical compact discs, too.

Shake Those Bones, the complete album, is just $9.99 for digital download and $11 for CD.

Our other albums and all individual tunes have a very modest minimum price which you can augment as befits your appreciative mood. You can buy single tracks or albums. And there’s free downloads to be had.

So go take that listen!

Share

Got the word that I will be an Accordion Babe in the 2012 “Accordion Babes Album and Pin-up Calendar”. Hurray!

Because of our new CD, “Shake Those Bones”, I chose a roguish, card-playing, dice throwing theme.

Once again photographer John Clayton took a fab shot. Thank you, John!

Our cut for the Accordion Babes compilation CD will be our cumbia-esque tune “The Cards On the Table” from “Shake Those Bones”.

And now I know quite a bit more about working with dry ice and fog machines

Share

Come now, you able-bodied rogues, lusty lassies and scurvy sluggards,

February 26 – Saturday pm – Hotel Utah, San Francisco with Shark Alley Hobos and Brian Belknap.

Be part of the fun and sport your finest piratical or hobo threads. You will save 2 bucks at the door.

We’ll be playing some new tunes from our upcoming CD!

Our special sponsor for the evening is Kraken Black Spiced Rum.

Share

Ahoy, me Hearts. This is an early notice to give you time to plunder your closets, second-hand stores and costume shops.

If you dress in your finest piratical or hobo threads, you save 2 bucks at the door and can be part of the fun!

February 26 – Saturday pm – Hotel Utah, San Francisco with Shark Alley Hobos and Brian Belknap. Oh, what a night it will be!

We are pleased to say that our special sponsor for the evening is Kraken Black Spiced Rum. Details to come about special rum drinks.

Share

In honor of “International Talk Like a Pirate Day” please enjoy this free mp3 download of our tune “Rough Music“. It refers to how when sailors were mistreated by their officers and were unhappy with conditions aboard ship they would wait until nightfall and then start to roll shot – cannon balls – on the decks and bang other metal objects. These discordant sounds are called rough music and often prefaced a mutiny.

—–
ROUGH MUSIC ©M. Martin

I’m a roving man, I ply the waves
from Bristol to Benin
from Boston Harbour to Barbados
and back again

Side by side I sail and fight with
brave and brazen men
Our bond is born of circumstance and the
quest for rich fortune

I owe the scratches on my back
to a captain drunk with power
His wrath bled all of loyalty
and set the crew to sour

We bade our time with firm resolve
to carry out the plot
Then one dark night every hand
took to rolling shot

Ay O Ay O Heed these sounds of righteous discontent
Ay O Ay O We shall have proper recompense

Of all the women I have known
I’m true to only one
To her I’ll bring these silver coins
and silks of dark crimson

I’m a roving man, I ply the waves
from Bristol to Benin
from Boston Harbour to Barbados
and back again

—–

FYI there are more free downloads on our fanfare page.

We are now working on the follow up CD to “Skull and Magpies“. More adventures on the high seas!

Share

September 19th is Talk Like A Pirate Day — one of those wonderful absurdities that has taken hold of many a lover of piracy legend and lore.

For an entertaining collection of real and fantastical English pirate language read “The Pirate Primer – Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers and Rogues” by George Choundas.

The stereotypical pirate speech pattern is based on the English coastal dialect made famous by actor, Robert Newton in his role as Long John Silver.

Truth is, the languages spoken by the pirates who plied the waves of the North Atlantic seaboards and Caribbean during the 17th & 18th centuries were as diverse as the mariners themselves. Sailors spoke Scottish, Irish and Manx, Welsh, Breton, French, Spanish, many African languages, indigenous tongues of the people in the new world, and many more, all laced with nautical lingo and a salty twist. I imagine many sailors were polyglots by sheer necessity especially on pirate crews.

Luck t’ye and a fair wind,

Mad Mags

“They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only one difference, they rob the poor under the cover of the law and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage.” — Captain Bellamy

Share

Thanks to everyone who made the “Skull & Magpies” party at the Accordion Apocalypse a success. It was a fine and rich musical feast. The night was clear and mild with a nearly full moon — perfect for a pirate’s party.

Shannon O’Hare of “Never Was Haul” fame created a wonder filled, nautical atmosphere with block and tackle, ship lights, skeleton, cannons and more. The revelers were fantastically garbed in periwigs, frock coats, bodices, tricornes, bandanas and stripes and skulls everywhere you looked.

Stew Murrie digitally photographed. Erin Cameron videotaped 24p with her Panasonic DVX 100. Dan Brandon ran sound and multi-track recorded to Digital Performer.

We’re eagerly awaiting the media captured so we can share it with everyone. We’ll post it for all to enjoy as soon as possible.

Skyler and Melody were gracious hosts and their tail-wagging accomplices, Ukelele and Garlic were very accommodating of the human sea dogs.

Luz sparkled as our mistress of ceremonies. Her art and humour moved the night along perfectly.

Nada Lewis and Alex opened the show with a skillfully played set of toe-tapping, traditional deck dancing tunes.

Entr’actes included Amber Lee, who sang and played beautifully, Secret Circus, whose antics razzled and dazzled and Vaughn, who performed a delightful, magical, balloon trick.

Joan Wilson Rueter as The Gunner’s Daughter dished up some fine, seafaring fare including a lively, “Drunken Sailor”. Next up was the inimitable, sea-dwelling troglodyte jugband The Hobo Gobbelins. Surprise guests Human Wine followed.

We took the stage at around 11 PM and roused the rabble with tunes from “Skull & Magpies” and other hits from our repertoire. Pirates danced, wenches sang, ghosts shimmied on the rigging, bumboo flowed.

Erstwhile Mad Maggie, JX Lovejones graced us with his clarinet playing on a couple of tunes.

Ah yes, my hearts, it was a grand evening. Happy and content we sailed away in the wee hours swearing to carouse again when next we meet such a lively band of rovers.

—

My rococco dress was made by clothing designer, Connie Walkershaw who is also the fabulous saxaphonist with Go Van Gogh.

The vintage pirate movies projected were “The Black Pirate” (1926) starring Douglas Fairbanks, filmed in two strip technicolor and “Captain Kidd” (1945) starring Charles Laughton and Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919) with Harold Lloyd.

Bumboo is a favorite pirate drink made of rum, water, sugar and nutmeg. Of course the recipe may vary.

Share