Sunday, I marched in the Pride Parade with the White Rats Morris team. I had an amplifier plugged into my fiddle, that I wore with a guitar strap. I was one of four musicians, Lee on fife, Shay on banjo, Richard on clarinet, and me on fiddle. The parade goes for about nine blocks on Market street in San Francisco. It seems that each thing you see is more outrageous than the last. It was a lot of fun!
Before the parade, the White Rats bell-up. For most morris dancers, this means strapping bells attached to leather thongs around their shins.
The Rats do this too, but as an addition, we also attach bells to our arms. With monofilament. Yes, through the skin. Yes, it does hurt. But the reactions on people's faces are more than worth it. This is Laura getting her bells attached with Ari's expert help. This was Laura's first bell-up, and she's taking it in stride.
Here's a shot of the whole team. We had 15 dancers this year! That's gotta be a record!
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