By C.E.Smith
(appylady21)
The anticipation, as I boarded the final stage of my flight in Atlanta, was rewarded by the arrival of many Pyrates...disguised in civilian clothes. Their swagger was present and I was encouraged by the vision of a few Cavalier-styled hats with feathered plumes, held in hands or stuffed in hand luggage. It was then, that the reality of the coming weekend started to sink in. Our flight arrived in New Orleans, without being "commandeered", and I was delighted to see my friend "Alex the Evil", standing there waiting for me.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Superdome in one piece, having witnessed some of Katrina's destruction along our travels. If our attending "Pyratecon 2007" in this fair city would help a small bit, with infusing some of our swag into its coffers, then it was indeed a great thing we were about to do. The staff at the hotel was to a man/woman, most gracious and hard working. Our needs were taken care of, almost before we could ask. We found that they were excited about the hotel being invaded for the weekend by Pyrates, and we would soon see that they were not to be disappointed.
One other thing that was evident quite soon into our weekend, was that we must be staying in one of, if not the, most secure hotel in New Orleans. There were two floors of the hotel completely habituated by the armed forces. Everywhere we went, we saw fatigues and it was humbling to be in their presence to be sure.
Our first night was quiet. We ate dinner in our room as we unpacked and set out our costumes, wigs and assorted accessories. Our once tidy room soon started to resemble the back stage of some play, but we were happy in knowing that in the morning, we would be amongst like folk, who would be our companions for the next few days.
Morning dawned and Alex and I helped each other primp and polish our piratical gear and we headed down to breakfast. We met Dragute and invited him to share our breakfast table which we also shared with our mate Mangy Moll, from Scotland. She couldn't make it for the Pyratecon, but her stand in was present...a Mickey Mouse pirate wearing her name badge. After a fine breakfast, we met up in the lobby with about 10 other wonderful pirates. Some included Captain Sea Wolf, Bosum Carmina, Captain Arrrdee with his Lady Fayre, Mistress Beatrice, Lady Scarlett and her Sir..., Captain Phleabag, Alex the Evil and me. The school's buses arrived and we loaded into them our booty of school supplies that we had brought for the students of N.P Trist Middle School. Off we went and on our way to the school, we were able to see the destruction to this parish that Katrina had left in her wake. It was not evident at first as the larger buildings are still intact. Looking past them you saw the houses boarded up and people living without all their needs being met. The family furniture store all boarded up, the local drug store and corner store, probably there for decades, now all boarded up or being used for other purposes. The people were there though, and trying to do what they could for themselves and their neighbors.
We arrived at the school and one of the other Pyrate groups was speaking to the students. There were approx one hundred students sitting on the floor, quietly listening. Not a twitter was heard and soon it was our turn. Captain Sea Wolf stood in front of the attentive students and explained who we were and why we were there. We showed them our booty of school supplies and their smiles grew. We left them by asking for a pirate "ARRRRRGH" and then the principal took us on a tour to show us some of the rebuilding that was happening. She had pictures from just after the storm and we could compare what we were seeing and how much had been done. It was amazing to see the joy in her eyes and hear it in her voice as she spoke of what her plans were for her students. You just had to believe it would be alright. That is the spirit of New Orleans...never give up, just rebuild and recover what you could. That spirit was reflected in the new buildings of the school. After all, the school mascot was a Pyrate and their students believed in the Pyrate code for sure.
School kids.
After piling into the bus for our return to the hotel, Alex the Evil and I met up with our friend from KTTC, Blonde She Devil, who had just arrived at the hotel. We decided to visit the display floor to see all the wondrous items up for sale and meet up with other friends, old and new. It was at that time that we ran into Isaac Singleton Jr. (Bo'sun from POTC: TCoTBP) He towered over us all but his smile and lovely, kind eyes took us in at the hello. He posed for pictures and shook hands with us all. We knew we would be running into him later for our chance to interview him. He was kind enough to even pose with our "stuffed" Mangy Moll.
Off to lunch in the hotel bar and while BSD and I enjoyed our food, Alex slipped away to try on a new corset. While we were waiting for our food, I struck up a conversation with a couple at the next table. We exchanged our reasons for being at Pyratecon and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she was one of the speakers, whose talk I wanted to attend later that day. Her name is Cindy Vallar and her topic was to be "Pyrate Surgeons". We chatted about her interest in Pyrates and where it had started. She is a retired librarian and now an author of many columns. She also has a website where she writes regularly about Pyrates. She conducts workshops and when she isn't writing she is editing for publishers and authors. Her husband is fully behind her career and was a pleasure to meet as well. I looked forward to her talk later that day but took this opportunity to ask her a few questions to which she graciously granted answers. It seems her one item of Pyrate surgery she would have loved to have been granted to see was an amputation, using a surgeon's saw... grisly to be sure, but interesting too. We had a lovely chat over lunch.
We met up with Alex and went back to the display floor to meet up with our other pirate friends and BSD and I took in the displays. We attended talks on cannons and knot tying and met Captain Phleabag and his band, The Jolly Garogers. We looked forward to hearing them the night of the ball.
Before long, it was time to visit Cindy Vallar and her talk on Pyrate Surgeons. Cindy was well informed and gave us a great description on the Pyrate life and how surgeons treated their mates in time of sickness and injury. Life was difficult in the time of the pirate and with the filth they lived in, the cramped conditions, the poor nutrition and the dangerous lives they led, it was amazing that there were any pirates left at the end of the age of piracy. Medicines for scurvy, syphilis and sailors' poor nutrition all melded into the same treatment, most times worse than the illness. Sailors, who were injured, ran the risk of infection and amputation. She had some graphic stories from diaries written from the time. All who heard her speak took away some information that gave you an accurate idea of the times and perils the pirates lived through. I thoroughly enjoyed the talk and was very pleased the next day to be presented one of her booklets which she so graciously signed.
The Natchez.
Alex, BSD and I had booked a dinner cruise on the riverboat Natchez and we hurriedly made our way down to the quay. It was a warm and sunny evening and we were excited to be included on this cruise with other enthusiastic "sailors". The music of New Orleans was represented by a wonderful Dixieland Band who played toe-tapping music, on the top deck. We enjoyed the wonderful array of the buffet with a true Southern flare. After dinner, we walked to the top deck to watch the shorelines flow by, the ferries, tugboats, super liners and birds move past us and the sun set on our first full day in New Orleans. We also saw the devastation of the wharfs and that they had not been repaired as of yet; another reminder of Katrina's fury. But we also saw commerce on the mighty Mississippi, giving all hope for the future.
Shoreline devastation.
As we were the only Pirates on board, we were a hit with the other tourists and I am sure our pictures are gracing many a family gathering and fingers are pointed at us asking "Who are they?" After the cruise we made our way back through the French Quarter, which was getting pretty rowdy by this time of night, and we found our way back to the hotel.
We sat up waiting for our other mate, Daisy, to arrive back from the interactive movie showing of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl". She arrived with a glowing report of what she saw and who was there. Many of the "stars" had joined in with the viewing and we found out later that some had only viewed the film a few times. Daisy stated that she and her hubby "dk" had a great time. We agreed to meet up with them the next day and we finally fell asleep, early Saturday morning.
Saturday was the day of the "Masked Ball" and we awoke to anticipation of this and for the appearance of our leader and Commodore, Dr.Bacchus. It was going to be fantastic to finally meet him and bittersweet too as we were going to attend the memorial of his partner (and another of our Commodores), Captain VanderDecken, who had passed away earlier this year. Dr.B, aka Bruce, arrived mid morning and we met up with him in Bosun Carmina's room, where we chatted for a bit, then adjourned to the bar to wait for our group picture to be taken.
We all went our separate ways afterwards to see the sights of the con and attend the conferences. Bruce was anxious to meet some of the many people he had spoken to before but had never met, and being our Commodore, he was a popular man.
Eventually it was time to get ready for the ball. We primped and pushed ourselves into bodices, and dresses, wigs and hats and made our way downstairs to await our carriages. We had a KeepToTheCode banner for the back of our carriage, which was tied on securely. The carriage took off at a mules amble and we finally arrived at the French Quarter to join in with the parade. There were hundreds of people on the sidewalks, begging for us to throw beads to them, as well as the balcony occupants; and we got quite good at throwing the beads to the second floors of the houses. One mishap did occur when our carriage bumped into a parked truck and one of the motorcycle police was both run into and then had beads thrown in his face. He took it in stride though; I bet he has had worse things happen to him. Our coordinator of Pyratecon is a Sherriff in NoLa, so we didn't fear that our driver, Charles, would get into too much trouble. We hoped that at least and it didn't dampen our fun of the carriage ride through the French Quarter.
Pyrate Parade.
Outside the Funky Pirate.
We finally arrived at our destination, the "Funky Pirate" where we met up with all the pirates from the parade, along with many tourists. It was difficult to assess how many mates shared our experience that night, but it had to be close to one thousand. We met many a bemused tourist who stumbled upon our happy group and we explained what was going on more than once. We also had our picture taken many times and we wondered where our faces would appear, all over the world, and how we would be explained to the families of these tourists.
Soon, it was time for Dr Bacchus to start the memorial for Captain Van, so we all gathered in the room reserved for this, which was across from the Funky Pirate. Before the memorial started, Alex and I presented Bruce with a candle Mangy Moll had sent for him to have for the night. There was an inscription, which he read and then he blew the candle out with tears in his eyes. It was a touching moment. The slide and music presentation put together by one of our Captains on KTTC, Captain Teach, was very touching, funny and a good representation on both Captain Van's life and our Commodores love for this wonderful man. There wasn't a dry eye in the room and we were all touched by the presentation; including both of the actors, Lauren and Isaac who attended. The memorial ended up on an up note and with our tears was laughter and indeed we gathered a few of the KTTC members and had a wonderful picture taken by Tiger Lee.
Doctor B leads the memorial.
Some of the crew gathered for Tiger Lee's camera.
Most of us adjourned to the Funky Pirate or partied in the street with the many other wonderful pirates. The night was still young and much participation was expected to include the KTTC group in the frivolity.
Captain Phleabag and the Jolly Garogers performed at the Funky Pirate and Alex and I enjoyed a set of their music. The courtyard behind the bar turned out to be our haven from the crowd later in the night and by the wee hours of the morning, we decided we had partied to the point of exhaustion, so we piled into a taxi and headed back to the hotel. Tired, we said our goodbyes to Dr B, who was leaving early the next morning and we all returned to our rooms to peal out of our costumes and head to bed.
The next morning, reality hit, as we were exhausted but pumped from the night before. Both Alex and I spent the morning saying goodbye to our friends BSD, Daisy and her hubby dk and then tried successfully to repack all our very tired costumes, wigs, jewelry, make-up and souvenirs from the Pyratecon. Alex made one more trip to the convention floor but was soon back to have a nap and get ready for the trip home the next morning. I too, was reluctantly leaving NoLa in the morning to fly back to Canada, so the last night we spent together, reminiscing about the Pyratecon, reviewing what each of us had seen and the interviews we had accomplished, and generally just being together. Morning would come too soon.
Monday morning did come quickly and we hurried downstairs to meet our taxi to the airport. As one last wonderful NoLa moment came to our attention, we ended our trip in almost the same way we started. In the lobby of the hotel we met up with Dragute and he wished us a safe journey as we did for him. The moment was that the taxi had come for us a few minutes early, so he was waiting for us to eat breakfast before taking us to the airport, even though he had loaded our luggage. He was a true Southern gentleman, as were all the taxi drivers we encountered. We were too early for the restaurant to be open but we did grab one quick complementary coffee and doughnut and joined our taxi driver for the trip to the airport.
The weather for the entire time we were in NoLa was pleasant and not humid, which was a surprise to me, but the last morning we were there, it was becoming more sticky. I was happy to not have had to wear my long dresses in that humidity that NoLa is famous for, but it was a nice reminder of the area as I flew north. Alex and I said our teary goodbyes at the airport and we both flew off into the blue sky.
I have fond memories of Pyratecon '07 and look forward to booking for next year's party. There was much to see and do, both at the con and in New Orleans and I thank the organizers, the volunteers and all who helped make this years Pyratecon a success.
New Orleans skyline at sunset.
