Happy Twelfth Night

Hey ho, the wind and the rain.

Dear Friends,

I just thought I’d drop a little note because it’s Twelfth Night, the Feast of Fools—one of my favorite feasts.

Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night plays (see what I did there?) on the theme of fools—and was actually written at Royal Command for festivities in Elizabeth I’s court. I directed this play when I was a Waldorf teacher and set his lyrics to tunes. I also did this with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest. One day I would love to record all of them and some of my other folk songs and arrangements of folk songs (like “Scarborough Fair” and “Jerusalem”). Maybe if I get The Druid Stares Back cranked up enough, I’ll be able to do that. One can hope.

In the meantime, here is the only one I’ve recorded to date. This was a few years ago when I was still playing with The Corktown Popes and has some of Detroit’s finest musicians playing on it (listed in the description). I am also adding a clip from the wonderful Trevor Nunn film version, with Ben Kingsley as Feste and Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia.

Tonight I’ll be chalking the lintel, drinking mead, and eating cake. Pray for me.