The Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame honors the people who built the faire world: the performers, crafters, teachers, founders and friends whose work and spirit shaped Renaissance festivals for everyone who followed.
2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020
Bald Mountain Moccasins • Barbara “Bodge” Burinski-Shelton • Bill Huttel • Bob Bielefeld • C. Wayne Owens • Carol Black • Condit Wixon • Craig of Farrington • Dan Mehn • Danny Lord • Dick Wixon • Dirk & Guido, The Swordsmen • Doctor George Nicholas Geotsalitis • Don Juan and Miguel • Gabriel Q • Gypsy Guerrilla Band • Jenny Martin • Jesse “Jock Stewart” Linder • John Mills • Lolly Foy • Mallory & McCall • Nick Lavigne • Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band • Phyllis Patterson • Puke n’ Snot • Richard Weber • Rob Middleton • Ron Patterson • Smee and Blogg • The Sturdy Beggars • Terry Foy • “Thomas Snot” • Tortuga Twins • Will Wood
2006
C. Wayne Owens
Seymoure
by Karen J. Brady, February 23, 2007
C. Wayne Owens: A True Renaissance Man
When it comes to accomplishments, C. Wayne Owens, 56, known to many as Seymoure, has a lifetime of them.
“This man is, at his core, an entertainer,” said Jesse Slicer, Owens' son-in-law. “Never have I known someone personally who was so immersed in the entertainment arts. He's always one of those types of guys who works hard and never asks for anything in return. Just a satisfied audience. That's something every entertainer should strive for.”
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Born in Oklahoma in 1950, but raised in Los Angeles, Owens was already working as an extra on popular television shows like “My Three Sons” and “Circus Boy” by the age of five.
In 1963, he left home to work and to attend college at Southwest Missouri State College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he studied theater and performed in numerous landmark shows.
The show “King Henry's Feast,” which Owens co-wrote and also performed, is the longest-running live show in Kansas City, lasting for three years. It was from this show that the character Seymoure emerged, and Owens toured the Renaissance circuit as that character.
“That's the truly amazing thing about C. Wayne Owens,” Marc Gunn, a close friend and Renaissance performer, said. “He isn't just a comedian. He's a philosopher, a poet, a man who inspires.”
Brian Wendling, who worked with Owens at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival and the old Westport Stanford & Sons Comedy Club, agrees.
“Beyond his performing and writing abilities, he is a gentle and generous man, and to me, that says more than any of his performing.”
Owens is someone people respect. Not only does he perform, but he inspires others, not just performers, but those who take in his shows and see the very essence of this man.
“He has taught me that we all, as performers and as people, have something special to contribute, both to the performance environment and to the fabric of our lives as a community,” said Denise Goodson, a performer at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. “His work at faires has spanned a number of venues, over an extended tenure, and his contribution over the years has been not only to contribute to the performance at hand, but also to teach other performers what to bring to the table.”
Goodson noted another important characteristic of Owens: that he is a consummate professional.
In fact, Owens is the first inductee into the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame.
“I think he is the perfect recipient because of his contribution to the Renaissance festival circuit,” Gunn said. “He made people laugh, taught people improv, and best of all, he opened people's minds in a way that transcended history lessons, and in a way that ultimately leads to a better life for all in our current day. I've known no one else at faire who has inspired me so much.”
Wendling echoes those thoughts. “My sense of being a performer is twofold: to be a person of many interests and passions. Seymoure is certainly that, and to be a solo stage performer at a Renaissance festival, one should have the ability to hold the audience with your voice and your story, whatever that story is, and Seymoure has many stories, on many levels.”
To Goodson, it is the example that Owens sets that makes him the perfect recipient of this award.
Indeed, those who know Owens do try to live up to the example he has set on the Renaissance faire circuit. It seems every performer or anyone who takes in one of his shows walks away changed in some way by not only his presence, but the way he projects himself to those around him.
“Back in 2000, we struggled with anonymity and were trying to find a place in the Renaissance festival world,” Gunn says of his duo, the Brobdingnagian Bards. “C. Wayne Owens, through Seymoure, and also through our professional relationship that developed outside of faire, showed me that there is more to this business of music than self-service. There is a higher cause, to help inspire fans and to help bands selflessly so that others may share the love and dignity that we were shown.”
It seems to be a common tale told by other performers who know him.
“He was always kind to me, and since I was a shy transplant to the Kansas City area, that meant a lot,” Wendling said. “And as I get older, he is one of those touchstones that knows part of my history from almost 30 years ago. Those early days of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival were full of newness and energy and fun. Seymoure was one of those special people then…and he still is.”
For Slicer, Owens' influence goes beyond the realm of performances and faires to a more personal level.
“What can I say about my kids' grandpappy, my wife's papa and a fellow who has not only treated me like a son, but taught me so much about the entertainment world? Well, I guess I can, at a minimum, say ‘thanks' to him. He's been a major influence in many parts of my life, obviously, but I think I learn the most about him, and myself, watching his interactions with others.”
For a man like Owens, who grew up with entertainment in his blood, from credits for writing and performing in a variety of shows and films, an appearance on “Jeopardy,” touring Europe and the Middle East, headlining the first USO All Stand-up Comedy Show, creating comic strip characters, and recording five music and comedy albums, it might seem as though he'd find other venues in which to display his talent. On the contrary, it seems his performances at the Renaissance faires have touched not only other performers, but those who simply came to observe and instead found themselves inspired.
Gunn sums it up the best.
“When I talk to Seymoure, I find new meaning in my life. I find direction about what is important. Seymoure inspires me to think about life, the universe and everything. And if I had one wish for my dying days, it would be that I was able to inspire people as Seymoure has inspired me.”
2007
Barbara “Bodge” Burinski-Shelton
1955–2002
“Bodge” is a ren-faire legend across the country at the numerous faires where she portrayed the queen. Before taking on the role of queen, “Bodge” performed with a madrigal group, “The Jongleurs.” She was Queen Katherine at King Richard’s Faire for 24 years as well as queen at the Sterling Renaissance Festival and Arizona Renaissance Festivals.
Lolly Foy
Lolly contributed to many facets of the faire community throughout her years on the circuit. Angus and the Kilt, written by Lolly and Betsy Smith as WenchWorks, has become a staple of many festival acts. Lolly played queen at the Arizona, Minnesota, and Carolina Renaissance Faires and has many a loyal subject. She has retired from her role as queen to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Acting at Minnesota State University and, in her first year, placed 36th of 400 nominees at the Region V Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Our best wishes to Lolly as she pursues her dreams.
Bill Huttel
1953–2001
Bill’s stature and rich baritone voice helped visitors to the faire fall under the spell of King Henry VIII’s royal presence. He portrayed that role for 13 seasons at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and 8 years at the Florida Renaissance Festival, as well as smaller faires and festivals in Ohio, Virginia, and Ontario, Canada.
Dan Mehn
1937–2006
Dan, the Master Joyner of the Maryland Renaissance Festival, had a passion for American Indian culture, theater, history, and literature. Bringing them all together, he became known for reproducing historic furniture, at first only as a hobby, and then by turning his passion into a full-time business in 1993.
2008
“Thomas Snot”
Joe Kudla, 1951–2008
“He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet) For 35 years, Joe Kudla played Thomas Snot, one half of the Puke n’ Snot team. This old man in tights brought millions of family, friends and fans to tears with laughter. Sadly, Joe passed away only a few days before his hometown Renaissance Festival opened in Minnesota.
Joe and Mark Sieve (Ralph Puke) got their start in 1974 at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival under the names Mouldy & Wart. Shows were ten minutes long, largely improvised and always in the streets. The next year they changed their names to Puke n’ Snot, performing alongside Penn and Teller, who were also at the Minnesota festival. As the years went on, the Puke n’ Snot act grew bigger, and they were seen at many other Renaissance festivals. Soon the shows became too big for the streets, so in 1983 Puke n’ Snot moved to the stage, bringing their own “trademark brand of mock-Shakespearean vaudeville to audiences composed mostly of morbidly obese, turkey-drumstick devouring, semi-conscious yahoos.” Together, Joe and Mark put out four CDs and one DVD over their 35 years of playing the old men in tights.
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The show goes on. With Joe passing just days before the Minnesota Renaissance Festival opened, millions of family, friends and fans wondered what would happen to the show. It is a show you just have to see when Puke n’ Snot are out at the Renaissance festivals. Joe’s memorial fund helps his daughter Angela go to college. A “Thomas Snot Pilsner Mug” and “Thomas Snot Memorial Tee Shirt” can be found in their store or online at their home page, www.magaga.com.
Joe “always believed that the show was bigger than the actors… the spirit of the show carries on. People still laugh. Joe would want them to keep laughing. So, to honor Joe and his long legacy,” Mark and the Puke n’ Snot team keep the shows going with a longtime friend of both Joe and Mark. John Gamoke has picked up where Joe left off, playing “Thomas Snot Jr.,” and both men (Mark and John) are still performing at Renaissance festivals today.
You can find out more about Puke n’ Snot and which Renaissance festivals they will be at on their home page, www.magaga.com. There you can also read more about Joe, see what family, friends and fans have said, and leave your own thoughts about him. But most of all, go see their shows. Joe would have liked that; it would make him happy. Long live Thomas Snot!
Carol Black
2009
Mark Sieve “Sir Ralph Puke,” Joe Kudla “Sir Thomas Snot” and John Gamoke “Thomas Snot Jr.”
“He who shall… So shall he who.” Puke n’ Snot has been entertaining fans at Renaissance Festivals everywhere for more than thirty years. Their self-described “mock-Shakespearean vaudeville” has pleased audiences as far and wide as Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, where they performed as Perry & Slice, two crotchety pirate buccaneers. Puke n’ Snot is the longest-running two-man comedy duo in the country and has been a headline show at festivals and comedy clubs throughout North America since 1974.
The first appearance of Puke n’ Snot was at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, where they performed under the name Mouldy & Wart. A year later they would change their name to Puke n’ Snot… and so their legacy began.
In 2008 Sir Thomas Snot (Joe Kudla) passed away. However, the Puke n’ Snot show continues with John Gamoke as Thomas Snot, Jr. and Mark Sieve as Puke. It’s a different show than that seen 30 years ago, but it’s still got that same funny flair.
Actor, producer, and director Mark Sieve is the co-creator of Puke n’ Snot. Mark is the author of several books, with the most recent being Call Me Puke: A Life of the Dirt Circuit. If you want to know the gory details of Puke n’ Snot, this is the book to read. As an act, Puke n’ Snot have put out four CDs and one DVD. To find out more about Puke n’ Snot go to http://www.magaga.com.
Jose Granados “Don Juan,” Douglas Kondziolka “Miguel” and Dakota Star Granados “Esmeralda”
Don Juan and Miguel: “…charm friend and foe alike while engaging in the finest stage swordwork ever.”
Don Juan and Miguel have an enchanting stage act with breathtaking whip-wielding, side-splitting comedy, and hair-raising swordplay. For over 20 years this duo has shared their work on the Renaissance festival circuit. Jose Granados portrays Don Juan, the gallant and romantic Prince of Spain, while Douglas Kondziolka plays his faithful but odd manservant, Miguel. Dakota Star Granados plays Esmeralda, the beautiful daughter of the prince of Spain. Along with working the U.S. Renaissance festival circuit, they’ve performed at Disney World’s 25th Anniversary Celebration, the Art Institute of Kansas City, various clubs in Las Vegas, private and industrial parties, and made numerous TV and radio appearances.
As well as their unforgettable stage show Don Juan and Miguel, these men stand out for the role they take in helping their community. They own a production company, Blind Dog Entertainment, through which they develop various enterprises at Renaissance Festivals. Since 1995 they have built two dungeons (North Carolina and Pennsylvania), an archery game and a life-size maze (New York). Blind Dog Entertainment was formed to “utilize and promote the talents of a Developing Arts Community in the United States Renaissance Festivals.” To find out more about Don Juan and Miguel visit http://www.donjuanandmiguel.com.
Will Wood
Sir Francis Drake
“It’s a good time to escape from reality into this wonderful fantasy.” Seen often at the Northern California Renaissance Faire and an original performer at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire since the ’60s, Will Wood does a stunning and engaging portrayal of Sir Francis Drake, patriot and seaman. Will Wood does marketing for the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire and has been playing the role of Sir Francis Drake for 36 years. Not only is Wood an excellent stage actor, he is an excellent Master of Ceremonies.
Wood spends most of the year helping to organize the craftspeople and artisans who take part in the festivities. When not at the faire, Wood brings history to the classroom with his in-school programs. He teaches about life during the Renaissance and involves students in activities like wheat-weaving and a game of Nine Men’s Morris.
Wood never says “no” when asked to do something as long as it benefits the community that he loves so much. There isn’t a guest he comes in contact with that doesn’t feel as though something special has just happened to them, and he makes his fellow cast members feel the same way. Wood is the stuff legends are made of.
2011
Ron Patterson
Inventor of the Modern-Day Renaissance Faire
Today, everyone is familiar with Renaissance Faires. But it was in 1963 that Ron Patterson helped to start the very first modern Renaissance Faire, in Marin County, near San Francisco, California. The first Faire grew out of a children’s art program which Mr. Patterson and his then-wife, Phyllis, had established in their backyard in Los Angeles.
Patterson’s faire tried to evoke traditional Renaissance springtime markets and harvest festivals. Every performer, vendor, or staff person was subjected to various workshops to ensure as much authenticity as possible.
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The Renaissance Faires in California quickly became local traditions and then spread across the country. Today, there are over 200 Renaissance Faires operating in the United States and Canada.
Ron Patterson died in January 2011 at the age of 80.
While the family no longer owns the Renaissance Faire, Mr. Patterson’s sons Kevin and Brian continue to operate the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, which Ron Patterson and his wife founded in 1970 and which occurs yearly in San Francisco.
We are pleased to induct Ron Patterson into the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame.
Rob Middleton
Without Rob Middleton, Renaissance Faires across the country would have much less interesting music.
Back in the 1980s, Middleton was performing at King Richard’s Faire in Wisconsin. At that time, Renaissance Faire music consisted mainly of madrigals, ballads, and wandering minstrels plucking on harps. Middleton, who has performed with a number of groups including CrossRogues, Cloverleaf and Parcel of Rogues, introduced sea shanties and Celtic drinking songs and ballads into the mix. Suddenly, Renaissance Faire music was fun!
With the introduction of catchy sing-along tunes, music quickly became a vital part of the Renaissance Faire scene all over the country.
For changing the sound of Renaissance Faires from somber to sprightly, and from scholarly fare to pure entertainment, the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame honors Robert Middleton.
2012
Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band
by Mistress Isa and Cynthia Soroka
Period Music for Modern Times
Ancient music is a way of life for musician Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band, a musical ensemble which draws inspiration from the belief that a new, modern Renaissance will soon begin, typified by a rediscovery of the Renaissance spirit. Thus, the New World Renaissance Band has made it their mission to help bring about this awakening through their music.
Vocalist, instrumentalist, and composer, Owain Phyfe grew up in a bilingual family where Welsh was a second language. Nourished by his grandparents' appreciation for song, Phyfe's study of languages in college and his travels abroad to England, France, and Spain as well as his experience later as a musician in New York City's Greenwich Village led to the kindling of his own Renaissance spirit.
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In the mid-1980s, Phyfe and his wife Paula became festival performers at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Spellbound by early music, Phyfe decided to develop a "singer of songs" persona. While researching late medieval and Renaissance music, he found himself favoring faire life over the automotive engineering company he had started in 1983. "It became my dream to present the beauty of Renaissance music," Phyfe explains, "not as a documentary, but as a living expression." Thus, Phyfe began to visit other Renaissance festivals around the country in search of musicians to join him in forming a period musical group.
In the meantime, the group Cantiga, made up of harpist Martha Gay, fiddle-player Malcolm Smith, woodwind player Bob Bielefeld, and cellist Max Dyer, was touring the Renaissance Faire circuit. And it was at the 1987 Michigan Renaissance Festival that Phyfe first came into contact with Bielefeld. But it was not until the autumn of 1990 that a mutual friend provided him with an underground Cantiga cassette that Phyfe learned of the group's existence. On a commute to work a few months later, Phyfe finally listened to the tape and came to the realization that these were the musicians he was looking for.
Wasting no time in contacting Malcolm Smith, who had produced the cassette, Phyfe made plans to meet him at the Texas Renaissance Festival where Cantiga was performing. After a week of performances with the group as a guest vocalist, Phyfe asked Cantiga to record with him as the New World Renaissance Band.
The Band's Initial Success
Phyfe sold his engineering company in 1992 to record and promote early period music on a full-time basis. The union of Phyfe and the members of Cantiga soon proved to be alchemy, and with his new recording company, Nightwatch Recording, all the band members contributed to the recording, production, packaging, and marketing of their debut CD, Live the Legend, which was recorded at Heights Sound Studio in Houston, Texas.
The album's success placed it on the year-end bestseller list for classical releases at a number of retail chains across the Midwest, including Streetside Records and Harmony House, and ranked #13 nationwide on Public Radio Music Source's classical best-seller list. A few months later they released Where Beauty Moves and Wit Delights, an album defined by musical improvisation and spontaneity. And in 1994, Once Upon a Time was released, demonstrating Cantiga's musical depth through recording projects featuring different combinations of band members.
Even after the initial successes of their first few CDs, Phyfe felt that without a lutenist, there remained a gap in their music. His search led him to Stefano Pando, whom Phyfe befriended at an American Lute Society seminar. Phyfe was impressed with Pando's historical understanding of the lute and his adventurous performances. The two agreed on ideas of the Renaissance repertoire as a living musical expression, and from that connection, produced and recorded Sweet Was The Song in 1995 as a tribute to 16th-century lute music. Nightwatch Recording went on to release Lute Works by Pando and Odyssey in the fall of 1996.
On October 27, 1996, celebration of their new releases was cut short when Malcolm Smith died suddenly in his sleep at the age of 43, after a superlative performance at the Texas Renaissance Festival. The band's grief inspired many tributes to their comrade, including a cyberspace memorial on the web, a memorial fund, and a musical performance in Ohio dedicated to Smith, that yielded a standing ovation.
Despite their injured hearts, the band knew that the only way to bear their pain was to keep making music. And it was in this spirit that Phyfe became acquainted with Sasha Raykov, a Russian dissident and master bass viola da gamba player. After playing together in a number of impromptu jam sessions, Sasha joined the band in 1997.
Also in 1997, Phyfe's son, Jamin Fite, produced their first music video, Cessés Mortels de Soupirer (Sigh no More, Mortals), all filmed at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Within the year, the video had won best music video in the country from both Ohio's National Telly Awards and the International Communicator Awards.
Presently, band members are scattered about the country playing at various Renaissance faires. Phyfe and Raykov, in the past year alone, have performed at 14 different festivals across the country, including the Kent State Folk Festival. The Band's aspiration for 1998 is to record a soundtrack for a major motion picture.
The Inspiration Behind Their Music
Phyfe believes that good Renaissance music and lyrics imbue their listeners with the knowledge that man should exist in freedom, that virtue is worth pursuing, happiness is not to be sacrificed, and that life is an adventure worth living. Through his music, Phyfe endeavors to contribute to humanity these ancient values he cherishes so greatly.
In contrast to modern society's anti-individual influences, such as manufactured stardom and fluffy, insubstantial music, Phyfe's choice to record on his own independent label reflects his interest in maintaining integrity in his art while focusing on individuality. In fact, Phyfe only participates in projects whose underlying value judgements are not a contradiction to his own. With music, that means concentrating on the timeless songs of the Renaissance.
Although Phyfe considers the re-creation of period music as an homage to the era, the Band does not perform their music exactly as it was historically played. Rather, they use modern performance practices because, according to Phyfe, early music played in a scholarly fashion does not "press the same buttons" with modern audiences that it would have to audiences of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Purely as an esthetic choice, the Band emphasizes bass in their recordings; and where lyrics would have been historically sung with an Italian or French flavor, Phyfe's songs have a distinctly American folk flavor.
"We will never be 16th-century musicians," Phyfe chides. "We like modern conveniences like indoor plumbing too much." But with 250 radio stations nationwide now placing their recordings in regular rotation, Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band certainly seem to be coming close.
Note from the editor
Murder Most Medieval is an anthology of medieval murder mysteries by different authors. One story features a Welsh bard named Owain Phyfe in the 13th century. I have not read it myself yet, but it was highly recommended by Owain Phyfe himself.
For more information on how to order CDs or their music video from the New World Renaissance Band, call (248) 399-1070, write to Nightwatch Recording at P.O. Box 721010, Berkley, MI 48072, or visit their web site at www.nightwatchrecording.com.
© 1998 Renaissance Magazine
2013
The Tortuga Twins are improv-comedy storytellers. Outrageously unpredictable, these three “twins” present a variety of audience-interactive tales! With a background in street performance, the internationally renowned (yes, Canada counts) Tortuga Twins have thrilled audiences at festivals and private events.
Created in 1987 by Riki “Raphael” Robinson & Jef “D’Angelo” Hall, and led astray in 1990 when Ronn “Scaramouche” Bauman joined the troupe, the Tortuga Twins met with so much success they eventually created a spin-off troupe in 2008, affectionately dubbed the “Blue Team.” This new Tortuga troupe—currently consisting of Pahl “Valentine” McColgan, GuRegg “Bernardo-Bueno” Parks, and captained by Bryan “Salvador” Ragon—joins the original “Gold Team” in delighting audiences throughout the United States.
Their repertoire includes audience-participation shows such as Robin Hood, The Big Bad Wolf Show, and their naughty-bawdy Captain Morgan and the Island Queen (the pirate comedy show). Also high on the list of fan favorites are the character-driven Troy Story (the Helen of Troy comedy show) and Swordfighting & Stupidity (heavy on the stupidity)—the Tortuga Twins’ R-rated show.
The Tortuga Twins have also produced three theater shows, A Very Tortuga Christmas, Tortugapalooza and Tortugapalooza 2: Spies! They are currently working on their next—Sex Ed. Want to add life to any event and bring people together for a night of magical, mischievous storytelling? You want the Tortuga Twins.
Zilch the Storyteller
Terry Foy grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, went to college, and received a B.A. in theater from St. Cloud State University. He is a prime example of the damage a liberal arts education can do.
He has been performing as Zilch the Tory Steller at Renaissance Festivals for the last twenty-five years, including festivals in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas. He has performed at the "Robin Hood Festival" in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. His renditions of Rindercella, Loldigocks and the Bee Threars, and Jomeo and Ruliet have tickled audiences at theaters, civic celebrations, corporate parties and shopping malls from coast to coast.
Smee and Blogg
The Singing Executioners
2014
Phyllis Patterson
January 25, 1932 – May 18, 2014
The grande dame of faires in the US, Phyllis Patterson founded the original Renaissance Pleasure Faire & May Market on May 11th, 1963. That event, while not the first event ever of its kind, was the first to have a lasting impact and was the birthplace of the modern Renaissance faire as we know it in the US today. Phyllis and her husband went on to found the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in 1970. Her creations established faires not only as a viable commercial and fundraising entity, but also as a community endeavor that can bring people together.
In the half century that has followed, the community that Phyllis created has grown and bloomed into a family of performers seen around the world and has revitalized vaudeville-style performance for generations of new audiences. That first show has spawned an entire industry of faires and festivals across 46 states and many hundreds of shows (more than fifty different venues in California alone).
Beloved as the one who started it all, Phyllis’s passing in 2014 brought an end to an era and was felt nationwide through the community. We offer this simple tribute, her induction into the Hall of Fame, as a long-overdue recognition of the woman without whom there would be no Hall of Fame. For Phyllis.
Richard Weber
As an entertainer, writer, director, costumer, actor-combatant, monarch, merchant, and member of management, Richard Weber is truly a “Renaissance Man of the Renaissance Faire.” Richard began his faire career as a combatant with an acclaimed stage combat company. In 1978, The Ring of Steel participated at the new King Richard’s Faire in Kenosha, WI, and the company was contracted officially in 1979. Richard went on to play the Lord High Sheriff for the next four years.
A founding member of King Richard’s Faire in Carver, MA, Mr. Weber has appeared there every year since its inception and is currently the faire’s costumer and keeper of oral history. In 1996, Richard began at the Virginia Renaissance Faire, opening his hat shop, Masquerade. Masquerade still lives on at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. In 2010, he himself played the role of King Richard at the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire (alongside 2007 Hall of Fame honoree Lolly Foy). As a member of the Bobby Rodriguez entertainment staff for over fifteen years, Richard has played a role in shaping shows in Deerfield Beach, FL; Live Oak, FL; Miami, FL; and the Virginia Keys at Key Biscayne, FL.
Perhaps best remembered for his long-running (1982-present) character Lord Percival DeGage, Richard is known across the faire circuit as a man of integrity. He is beloved by casts far and wide and devotes himself entirely to the faire circuit and its community.
2018
Craig of Farrington
For more than a quarter of a century, faire-goers have encountered a roving “lutenist” who approaches, plays the perfect song, and then moves on. That man is Craig Merlin Broers, best known to the community as Craig of Farrington. A multi-talented musician with a repertoire of over 600 songs at his disposal, he has the right song for everyone and any occasion. In addition, he has never hesitated to contribute his time and talent to shows and to the community at large. A number of musicians have been mentored by Craig along the way, and they too have mentored what have become Craig’s musical “grandchildren,” a legacy of music that forever carries him forward.
From his first performance at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 1984 to his appearances on the circuit, his performances in New Orleans and his collaborations with the Minstrels of Mayhem and the New Minstrel Revue, Craig has been an ethereal presence. With his lilting voice, his kind eyes and kinder words, and his mischievous smile and wink, one could be forgiven for mistaking him for a timeless being who walks the world to sow joy and contentment. Frankly, that may be closer to the truth than one might think. He is a musician, mentor, and friend; the community is proud to honor Craig of Farrington with induction into the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame.
Danny Lord
Rollo Polo
Rollo Polo, Danny Lord, The Lord of Misrule, The Lord of Mischief, a Born Clown: Danny has graced our presence since 1980 with his wild wackiness. As a physical artist, a silent clown, a magician, a close-up artist, a mime, a brilliant performer, a crowd pleaser and a friend, Danny has influenced and inspired many of today’s Renaissance entertainers. A healer, a helping hand, an infectious laugh, a quick wit, a guide, a maddening intellect and an integral part of our early community, we are proud to honor Danny Lord with induction into the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame.
Community Inductee
Jenny Martin
Renaissance Festival Circuit Teacher
Jenny Martin became a teacher for the Renaissance community almost three decades ago. She fulfilled perhaps the most important role for vendors, artists and performers who chose a life on the road.
The education of their children became Jenny's responsibility. Year after year she taught these children, many of whom are now college graduates. She didn't just teach them reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science; she taught them humanity.
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These children look after each other and perform for patrons, singing and playing games. For the patrons who witness it, this miracle of children working together is probably the best representation of what we are trying to accomplish in the Renaissance community.
These are not normal children, they are the pride of all of us. In this community they are not only safe, but everyone here would protect them. This might be the only place left on earth where the expression “it takes a village to raise a child” is still true.
Make no mistake, Jenny has given these children all the tools to succeed in life. That is more than most of us have done with our lives.
Is she really a great teacher? I went to her classroom one day in Texas to wish her a happy birthday. I asked her students what the best birthday gift they had ever received was. One of her students said, “My life.”
That is Jenny Martin!
Crafter Inductee
Nick Lavigne
Lavigne Leather
Management Inductee
John Mills
Stage Entertainment Inductee
Mallory & McCall
Stage Entertainment Inductee
Dirk & Guido, The Swordsmen
Street Entertainment Inductee
2019
Dick Wixon
Condit Wixon
Bob Bielefeld
Inspirations and Influences
Bob Bielefeld was one of the most influential musicians on the Renaissance Festival circuit. Hailing from Waukesha, Wisconsin, he started in the mid-1970s at King Richard’s Faire (now Bristol) just north of Chicago. Through his participation in bands such as Sungarden, Cantiga, Celtic Stone, The New World Renaissance Band, the Burly Minstrels, the Gypsy Guerrilla Band, and so many others, he spread the joy of improvisational music in a way that proved that period music can still be fun and interesting.
You could say that he wrote the book on Renaissance Festival music, because, well, he did. Cantiga’s Renaissance Festival Favorites was published by Mel Bay, and is still available today. It has helped many young musicians and experienced performers get a grasp on the genre and expand their repertoire. He was always ready and willing to teach a song, score something from a recording for a project, or just lend an encouraging ear to someone else’s project. His discography is far too extensive to list with any accuracy, as he is on recordings from so many bands and performers around the circuit.
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He also led and inspired many jam sessions, both during festivals and after-hours. He played folk, jazz, rock, and whatever music he could get his fingers and voice to reproduce. He introduced many to the joys of odd tempos in music from Bulgaria and the Balkans. He even jammed with local birds, squirrels, and other animals, and drew inspiration from their songs.
Some of his inspirations were the Hoosier Hotshots, the Incredible String Band, the Marx Brothers, Steeleye Span, The Hot Club of Paris (Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli), Cole Porter, and the Beatles. It might be easier to list ones that did not inspire him, as he drew inspiration from everything that he heard around him.
He was preceded in death by several faithful dogs and a few musical starlings. He is survived by his wife, Leslie Tabor, his dog, Pepper, and countless bandmates and jamming partners throughout the Renaissance Festival world.
The Sturdy Beggars
Creators of the Mud Show: Paul Barrosse, Herb Metzler, Reid Branson and Rush Pearson
by Billy Billy vonBilly (née Will’m the Poorer)
The Mud Show® Embryo
1979
Jimmy Carter was President, gas was 86¢ per gallon, and the Charleston was all the rage. Well, that was also the year my buddies and I, on the first day of school, created The Mud Show® spontaneously from a combination of dirt, water, and the crowd.
I am sure, since the Renaissance Pleasure Faire’s birth in 1963, California's youthful zest sent many a Rennie into the mud to entertain the masses when the weather and grounds gave way, and that is how it started. In all the years of doing this, I have yet to discover any mud act pre-dating the beginning of our earthy enterprise.
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It was the year before I joined, back in the Spring of ’78, when Damian the Red-Eyed Bastard saw an audition notice for King Richard's Faire. He called upon his friends Spanky Nippletwist (née Caesar) and Ikey Noakes, and it was agreed that the three would audition for summer jobs as entertainers at the faire.
Their audition consisted of comedy bits, guitar playing, monkey-rolling, and other cheerful and reckless physical antics. Entertainment Director John Mills was delighted with the audition but had no idea what to do with them, so the trio suggested that they play the role of beggars and stroll about the grounds making mirth (and money) at will.
It was Caesar who suggested the name “The Sturdy Beggars” (the able-bodied unemployed) for the group after an English edict in 1572 (An Act for the Punishment of Vagabonds).
There was no show in the mud that first year in ’78. In the summer of 1979, when Damian took his summering elsewhere, Redbeard and I, Billy Billy vonBilly (née Will’m the Poorer), became part of The Sturdy Beggars. Since we had been given no instruction, guidance, or advice on how to conduct ourselves as faire street performers, Redbeard and I were eager and ignorant as to how we should spend our day entertaining the masses. Ikey, the leader of our leaderless band, exclaimed, “It is simple, we are beggars, we beg.” He assured us that all we had to do was just go out and play with everyone, which we did with manic glee. My indecisiveness (oh, what kind of beggar to be?) led me to be a mute beggar, with Harpo Marx as my guiding spirit.
Late in the afternoon on the first day, Ikey and I were hanging out just inside the front gate. What caught my attention was how patrons entering the faire would automatically stop at the banks of a puddle formed by the previous evening's rain to peruse their program and make that ever-so-strategic “right or left” decision. (I have since learned that most folks go right.) Since I was playing a mute, I thought that a mud puddle could be worth a thousand words. We would watch as our prey would stop and busy themselves in their program at the edge of the puddle. With a running start, I would slide up to their legs and grab hold, making my proposition known through expression and gesture. Ikey would hang coolly in the background throwing out color commentary on my form as an explanation to the patron.
After a fine 15-minute romp of executing and repeating, this one feller, who was intently watching my routine, deliberately walked and stood at “the spot” of contact. He stared me down. Slightly distressed at losing the element of surprise with my slide and grab, I fatalistically resolved to meet his challenge. I ran, slid, and grabbed as the feller held out a dollar and specified, “Ya gotta stick your face in it.” My face had yet to touch the wet loam. It wasn’t that I was trying to keep my nose clean; I just hadn’t thought to get my face dirty.
In less than a second, my face was in, and the dollar was ours. Things escalated rapidly into what I can now only recall in a fuzzy, frenzied memory montage. Verbose and rascally crafters who had been amused by these antics for the last quarter of an hour aided Ikey with shilling our premier “muddertainment” into a shape that began to resemble a crowd-stopping and crowd-pleasing pageant. The revelry came to an organic climax when one patron offered $5 to eat mud. Now back then, at this age in my life, I haughtily recognized very few boundaries. Our troupe lived to create “the moment” wherever, however, and with whomever, it could be accomplished without much regard for the consequences. Therefore, I popped the mud in my mouth without ever registering that a decision had been made.
At day’s end, as we split our jangly day’s beggings, we realized that most of our meager earnings came from that one lone mud event. I mused hopefully to the group, “Wouldn’t it be great if it rained every night so as to leave us some puddles to play in?” Then, one of the brighter members of our troupe suggested, “Why don't we just pour water on the ground right before we want to do whatever it was we had just done?” So for the rest of the run, we would spend the meat of the day playing the streets with our various and sundry loose scenarios consisting of “fighting money,” “fakespeare” and the “dance of death,” which would segue into the infamous amusement of “throw the coin into the hat on the dead beggar’s chest”, along with our standard leg grab/beg for a quarter.
During these exhibitions, we would say, “At the end of the day, come to the front gate and behold the crowning jewel of our street shenanigans, The Mud Show.” Even though our budding show was not listed on any sign or in the program, our advertising, along with word of mouth from front gate crafters, spawned an eager crowd, which after a few weeks was large enough to block the front gate and thus make the crowd grow even larger. Waiting for us, for up to a half-hour, standing shoulder to shoulder, the crowd would anxiously look in all directions to see if anyone was really going to show up for this unlisted, rumored show. We soon learned that this nervousness would release excited applause when we finally appeared (sweet). We would enter the center of the crowd and unleash a one-shot, not to be ever repeated, guerrilla thespian attack, an attack whose structure could loosely be described as an odd combination of “You Asked For It” and an inverted “The Price Is Right,” all built on the classic geek show base that has drawn rubberneckers for millennia. The one set-piece was our climax when Ikey Noakes asked the crowd, “What is even more disgusting than us eating mud?... (pondering silence)... the fact that you gave money to see it!” And right there, with that one line, with that simple ‘chicken or egg’ positing of who was baser, us or the crowd, Ikey gave our new show the means for the Mud Show to crystallize. Ikey Noakes was our troupe’s original patriarchal figure; he is the ‘Father of the Mud Show.’
1980
The faire’s headliner at the time, Turk Pipkin, not only told the other Renaissance faires about us but also mentored us in performer etiquette. He gave us faire contacts, and in 1980 we hit the road. We were hired at the Bay Area Renaissance Festival, the Maryland Renaissance Festival, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, and the Texas Renaissance Festival. When faires overlapped we asked our buds, Pike Spuzmonger (aka Hack Ptui) and Half-Wit Henry to create a troupe; they called themselves “The Bedlum Beggars,” a name given to those who lived in the local Bedlam, an institute for the mentally ill. There the tamer patients were given a patch designating they were from the bedlam and were allowed to beg for their food. (Yeah, we know, they liked spelling ‘Bedlum’ wrong.) For a few years, both troupes existed and created different types of shows, then in the mid-eighties, we united into the Sturdy Beggar design.
In 1980, we were told to dig our pit at King Richard’s Faire. This changed the dynamic of our show as the crowd knew for sure the time and place for our show to begin. The crowd no longer had that nervous excitement of ‘will they, or won’t they show up?’ Therefore we now had to craft ourselves into a real show. We would reenact “Wild Kingdom” episodes, tell stories, anything with some sort of conflict. We tried some mud wrestling and soon learned the mud made us mega-slow, and you could never get your footing, so whatever we did would look fake, even as we were spraining wrists and ankles, so after King Richard’s Faire in 1980 we never mud wrestled again.
Now
I carried on with the Sturdy Beggars, now consisting of myself along with Bert the Beloved, Grimey Fingers, and Figgy Pudding in Minnesota, and then at Texas Renaissance Faire, we were minus Figgy Pudding. (He lost his girlfriend, lost his car; you know, that’s just the way things are.) It was here at TRF that, instead of a day consisting mostly of street work and two shows a day, tops, we were scheduled for seven shows a day. Yikes. Plus, the hole-in-the-ground stage we were given was just that, a hole in the ground with railroad ties thrown around it and no seating. It just so happens when you dig a hole in the ground at Texas Renaissance Faire, you do not get mud. At Texas Renaissance Faire, if ya dig a hole in the ground and put water in it you would get a pool of silty water with a pea gravel bottom. So without any real mud to do our show in the mud in, Bert the Beloved began to craft the Mud Show® we have today. He took the focus off us and put the focus on the audience. We would pit one side of the crowd against the other, then we beggars would help solve their dilemma.
That is how it started. I doubt a show could start in this fashion in the Ren Faire Industry of today. That was a different time, there were still wisps of the ’60s in the air, and the Ren Faire was a different, wilder beast. We were fortunate that we started at faires that embraced the crazy. The promoters, Richard Shapiro at King Richard’s Faire, and George Coulam at Texas Renaissance Faire, a few times told us to “go ahead and turn it up a notch.” Oh, we crossed the line a few times back then and were blacklisted from several faires, but that is how we learned.
All the players to date (2020)
Ikey Noakes: Paul Barrosse
Damian the Red-Eyed Bastard: Jamie Barron
Caesar aka Spanky Nippletwist aka Rott Weiler aka Mr. Wiggles: Herb Metzler
Redbeard: Reid Branson
Will’m The Poorer aka Billy Billy vonBilly: Rush Pearson
Bert the Beloved: Dan Deuel
Grimey Fingers: Al Leinonen
Figgy Pudding: Conrad Warren
Pike Spuzmonger aka Hack Ptui: John Goodrich
Half-Wit Henry: David Silberger
Doctor George Nicholas Geotsalitis
April 17, 1959 – October 17, 2014
Dr. George Nicholas Geotsalitis was a family physician with Aurora Medical Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for 20 years. Known to the faire community as “Doctor George,” he volunteered as the physician for the Bristol Renaissance Faire, caring for the performers, crafters, workers and guests who made up the faire. We are proud to honor Doctor George with induction into the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame.
Bald Mountain Moccasins
2020
Jesse “Jock Stewart” Linder
Jesse 'Jock Stewart' Linder was a huge influence on everyone he met working at Renaissance Festivals. With his clear-as-a-bell voice and his positive attitude, Jesse made a mark on hundreds, if not thousands, of fans, friends, and fellow performers.
Jesse first joined the Renaissance world in 1992 at Bristol Renaissance Festival in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with no idea where he wanted to go. He was working in a warehouse when he started, and he brought his first hammered dulcimer to work to show it off to his co-workers, and his joy was infectious.
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For nearly 30 years, he worked with many groups and as a solo performer at Bristol, including Cross Rogues with Hall of Famer Rob Middleton, Tippler's Way, and Three Pints Gone. He was with Three Pints Gone for more than a decade, and they began traveling to various shows in the Midwest, which ignited his passion for traveling the circuit. Three Pints Gone eventually parted ways with Jesse, and he began a solo road career.
For the last three years of his life, Jesse traveled faires from coast to coast, including the Florida Renaissance Faire and the Northern California Renaissance Faire, and many shows, big, small, and in between.
Jesse was dealing with the consequences of diabetes-caused kidney failure. He had dialysis every night with a portable dialysis machine while he traveled, but he was unerringly cheerful, kind, and enthusiastic! His friends, fellow performers, and fans were amazed by his innate joy and creativity. He made friends wherever he went. He was so kind to everyone he worked with and met that he was beloved on the circuit.
Therefore, Jesse Linder is inducted into the Renaissance Festival Hall of Fame, joining many of his friends who are already there. After nearly 35 years of performing and touching lives, his legacy is one of music, joy, and love.
To nominate someone for the Hall of Fame, go to surveymonkey.com/r/RFHOF.
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