Mike James Leads May 13th Song Circle at NWMC in Port Townsend!

Co-Founder of Sing Shanties Song Circle, local shantyman Mike James leads May's Song Circle with robust rounds of singin' shanties with gusto! "Singin' is encouraged by knot required." Be sure to invite your family and friends to this free community event for a fun-filled evening.

Port Townsend Victorian Days - Shanty Sing and Pub Crawl

March 20th, some of our regulars will be singing shanties at the PT Victorian days, accompanying Dano Quinn at the Hastings Building 7pm-8pm.

Shanty Sing & Pub Crawl

The Victorian Festival rears up Friday night, March 20th, with our Victorian Pub Crawl - featuring sea shanties, saloons, "shanghai tunnels," and fine vintage cocktails throughout a staggering selection of Port Townsends (in)famous watering holes. Join us in the corner room of the historic Hastings Building at the Hastings Building (Corner of Taylor and Water Streets)) at 7pm.
No charge, just good times with great folk
7 pm - Shanty sing! We start the night off roaring out the old sea shanties led by a handful of Port Townsend's saltiest shantymen.

8-? pm After all that singing, a fellow's throat could get a little dry so it's off to a fine selection of the city's finest watering holes. Join up with the entourage or sortie out on your own!

Sounds of the Sea Resound by Robin Dudley PT Leader

I opened an email from Mike James to read: "Holy Mackerel!  Front page, section B.. Robin did a nice job."

I agree. Great article and photo. Thank you for telling our story, Robin!

Robin Dudley, reporter for the PT Leaders interviewed Mike James, Jay Hagar and friends... "Tug" Buse, Jim Scarantino and Steve Blakeslee, about our Sing Shanties Song Circle and songbook.

Sounds of the Sea Resound  - "The skies above Victorian seaports like Port Townsend are accustomed to loud and lusty sea shanties, which are sailors’ work songs. At the Northwest Maritime Center, 30 to 40 people meet each month to sing songs that “echoed across this waterfront like cell phone conversations do today,” said Mike James, one of the acknowledged leaders of Port Townsend’s Sing Shanties group.

People who just want to listen are also welcome at the monthly sing-alongs, and it’s free live music. Beware, matey: when surrounded by voices belting out familiar, repetitive tunes, even stalwart non-singers have been known to chime in. (Almost everybody knows the chorus to “What do you do with a drunken sailor?”)

“When it comes to shanties, you don’t have to sing well, just loud,” James said. “Number one, it’s not a talent show.”

Shanties were developed and sung by sailors who did physical labor requiring concerted effort, often lined up pulling hand-over-hand on a rope, or pushing the bars of a capstan around and around in a circle, raising the anchor.

James has sung shanties at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, astonished that the 900-seat theater was filled to overflowing when his group took the stage. The songs are so old, people just seem to know them, and performances turn into sing-alongs.

“That’s the crazy thing,” he said. “You sing through one verse, and after the first three words, everybody knows the refrain.” For the full article click here.

First Shanty Sing of the Summer at the Northwest Maritime Center

Singin' Shanties down below at The Cellar Door June 11th!

Hey-Oh, below, below

Stowin' sugar in the hold belo-o-w

Sing it to me now, Huh!

Hey-Oh, below, below

Stowin' sugar in the hold belo-o-w....

Join Mike James and other shanty enthusiasts singin' shanties down below at The Cellar Door for the first time. Located at 940 Water Street in Port Townsend, an intimate venue, down the stairs, below street level, with a great selection of food and beverages.

June 11th Shantey Sing Venue... the Cellar Door!

"So here’s the scoop. Have you ever had a chance to sing a shantey in a real, below street level, 1800’s environment, complete with bricked over tunnels that led to the waterfront? Well, strap on your singing shoes and grease your tonsils for the second Wednesday, June  11th, shantey sing at 6 p.m. at the Cellar Door in Port Townsend. You can almost see Max Levy hanging out in the shandows while the employees of his “personnel department convince stragglers that they need to become a sailor.” The Cellar Door is a newcomer on the scene with music of all types, usually with no cover. 

If the Cellar Door likes what they see in June, we also have July penciled in. Families are welcome, and kids can be there until 10 p.m. They have a full menu and beverage bar. The Cellar Door entrance is across from The Palace Hotel on Tyler Street, although the address is given as Water Street. On the Cellar Door website click on the Gallery, which will give you a look at the interior. Steve Lewis would be proud! More laterrrrr. Double Aaaaaargh!" - Mike James

April 9th Shanty Sing with Mike James!

Mike James leads the April 9th Shanty Sing at the Port Townsend Pizza Factory at 1102 Water Street, near the ferry terminal. Come early and order a slice. "Singin' is encouraged by knot required.!" Lead a song, request a song or pass.

Join us March 12th at the Pizza Factory in PT for a Rousing Maritime Song Circle with Mike James

January 8 Song Circle Venue/Sponsor the PT Pizza Factory, hosted by Mike James

High on the sounds... and happy faces

How wonderful to receive this beautiful card enclosing a handwritten note from Barbara Miles, on behalf of the Sage Club and the Quimper Unitarian Universalist  Fellowship Cares & Concerns Committee, with such appreciation and thoughtful words. Thank you!

It was a genuine pleasure for the four of us from our Sing Shanties Song Circle, Mike and Val James, Mark Olson and Lee Erickson, to be their guests at their monthly luncheon of the Sage Club on February 1, 2013. Following lunch, the four of us engaged those who were able to stay for entertainment in a rousing round of sea shanties. We thank them for their kindness, hospitality and participation in song.

For more about this gathering with photos and a video, click here.

For the Adventuress! - Paddy Lay Back

On February 1, 2013, while 150 or more friends gathered at the Schooner Adventuress' stern at Haven Boatworks with the crew and the team of Sound Experience in Port Townsend, to participate in the "World's first Flash Shanty", in celebration of the Schooner Adventuress' 100 years of life... heartily singing the sea shanty "Paddy Lay Back"... "and wishing the Adventuress a happy historic "splash" day"... four members of the Sing Shanties Song Circle, Mike and Val James, Lee Erickson and Mark Olson led the members of the Sage Club in singing shanties, starting off with "Paddy Lay Back". Mark Olson, retired port captain, explains what a sea shanty is and why rhythm is so important to the task at hand. Happy Birthday, Adventuress!

Best viewed if you change quality to 360p (gear icon on bottom task bar)

Mike, Val and Mark

Mike, Val, Lee and Mark

Kick-started the New Year Celebrating with Song!

We've received great feedback about our January Sing Shanties Song Circle & Sing-Along - that night nearly 50 of us gathered at the Cotton Building on Water Street to sing shanties and celebrate our first year of monthly song circles. What a fun way to kick off the new year. Good energy all 'round. There were fifteen people sitting around the circle that were there for the first time. Welcome! Thanks to everyone who turned out for the occasion and to Mike and Val James for leading the song circle!

THANK YOU to Mike James for being the first to show enthusiasm and help kick start our community shanty sing, leading our our first song circle January 5, 2011. Thank you to Helen Gilbert and Mark Olson for your additional contribution as Sing Shanties Blog and Facebook administrators. Helen has been an awesome support throughout this past year, coming over every month from Seattle to assist in any way she can. 

Thank you to Mike James, Mike Fleming and now Jay Hagar for helping to distribute our flyers each month - it's a lot of work to spread the word...but, we are all very happy to volunteer our time to do so.

Thank you to Crossroads Music for printing our color flyers each month, the PT Arts Commission and City of Port Townsend for your endorsement and use of the Cotton Building for our community gathering in January and four other times this year. 

The songbook committee was thanked publicly for the great work they did this past year to assist Lee in bringing the songbook project to fruition and published for use and distribution before the 2012 Wooden Boat Festival - Mike James, Ellie Mathews, Carl Youngmann, Helen Gilbert and Susan Jensen for your contributions. We are enjoying the fruits of their collaborative labors. Thank you to the Friends of the Arts for making the songbook project possible with your grant. Lee also handed out certificates to those present - Mike, Helen and Mark who led a song circle this past year. Tug, your replacement certificate is in the mail! 

Thank you again to PDN's reporter Charlie Bermant for your article about our first anniversary song circle that was published on January 3. Thank you to Sheila Ramsey, show host of "Everybody Can", who interviewed Lee, Mike and Val at KPTZ the Tuesday following our January 3 shanty sing. This segment will air sometime shortly before our February 7 shanty sing.

A very special thank you, which was not made public at our January Song Circle, but is long overdue, is to profusely thank Cliff Bisch, who hangs in the shadows and sings softly, but has never missed a shanty sing. Cliff, aka DZ, comes an hour early and stays a half-hour or more later each month to haul in songbooks and much more, help set up and break down tables and chairs, then haul away what was hauled in three hours earlier and take out the trash. Without his faithful encouragement and support this monthly song circle would not be possible to maintain and sustain. DZ is Lee's husband... going on 38 years! Thank you and Cheers, DZ!

Thank you to the Courtyard Cafe for the $10 gift certificate door prize, which I believe was won by Karl Sebastian.

THANK YOU to EVERYONE who enjoys coming to our Song Circles. It's all about community where singin' is encouraged, but knot required."

I apologize if I left anyone out... everyone is important and appreciated!

I still haven't figured out how to get good photos of our indoors community gatherings, but here's the best of what I have. Maybe amongst us is an amateur or professional photographer who has nailed down how to work with such uneven lighting without a flash? I'd love a lesson. Unfortunately, these photos were taken later in the evening, after our break; some of us had to leave early. Please let me know the name of the sweet gal in the blue t-shirt, if you know her. 

Zhenya Lavy

 Helen Gilbert, Mark Olson and Tugboat Bromberg

 Mike & Val James - Song Leaders

 Sheila Ramsey and Cindi Dinan

Jay and Donni Hagar (center)

Joe Lavy

Tugboat Bromberg

Celebrating Our First Anniversary!

Thank you to Charlie Bermant for writing the following article about our first anniversary shanty sing, published in the Peninsula Daily News on January 3, 2013.

Sea Shanty Song Circle to celebrate first anniversary
By Charlie Bermant
Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND — In January 2012, a loose coalition of sea chantey enthusiasts decided to meet each month to sing songs of the sea.

A year later, the group has developed into a monthly gathering that goes a long way toward keeping the tradition alive.

“It has exceeded our expectations,” said Lee Erickson, one of the organizers of the gatherings.

“At first, we thought we might meet every other month, but the people who attended said they wanted to meet monthly.

“It's a family-friendly night where no one has to have a great voice,” Erickson said.

Preserving traditions

“The people are just giving a little bit of themselves in order to preserve the traditions,” he added.

The Sea Shanty Song Circle and Sing Along celebrates its anniversary from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. today at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St.

Port Townsend musician Mike James, who led the first song circle, will lead the anniversary celebration.

The gathering is held the first Thursday of every month, aside from September, when a chantey sing-along is held in conjunction with the annual Wooden Boat Festival.

The evenings begin with everyone sitting in a circle. In turn, participants can either lead a chantey or pass to the next person.

The chanteys, many with multiple verses in a call-and-response format, were published this year in a collected lyrics book and will be on hand during the event.

The impetus for the gatherings came after the 2011 death of Stephen Gottleib Lewis, a Port Townsend resident who had a huge collection of chanteys he was attempting to preserve for posterity. The book, which was published last summer, contains 141 pages of lyrics from Lewis' collection.

The enthusiastic response also prompted a location change. The first gathering was held in the coffee shop at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St. The crowd spilled out into the Chandlery, which caused a move upstairs to the maritime center's meeting rooms.

After a few months, the upstairs rooms were no longer available because they were being rented out with increasing frequency, so the song circles now alternate between the Port Townsend Community Center and the Cotton Building. 

To read the full article, click here.
________

Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.

Start off the New Year Singin' Shanties - Join us January 3rd for our 1st Anniversary Celebration!

T'was a year ago January that we began gathering once a month to sing maritime songs. Mike James led us off with a rousing good time of singin' shanties and other songs about the sea. This January 3rd we invite you to start off the new year with Mike James leading our song circle once again!

Bring friends, family and your favorite dish - we are having a potluck to celebrate our one year anniversary gathering together to sing maritime songs as part of the community that desires to enjoy, revive and preserve maritime music and culture.

Thank you to Deborah Gottleib Lewis, Friends of the Arts, Northwest Maritime Center, Crossroads Music and Port Townsend Community Center for your support in 2012. Thank you to the Port Townsend Arts Commission, the City of Port Townsend, Cross Roads Music and the Port Townsend Community Center for your support in 2013.

If you are new to this blog, we invite you to go back through our archived posts to see what we've enjoyed and accomplished this past year.

Snapshots from our April gathering with the Shifty Sailors.

Good time had by all... sixty men, women and children gathered at our April Song Circle led by the Shifty Sailors of Whidbey Island. Mike James, Helen Gilbert and Tugboat Bromberg sang some of their favorite shanties too.

Letter to Port Townsend Shanty Enthusiasts & Friends

Ahoy, mateys!

"A squinted eye may be the reaction from someone who hears about a Shifty Sailor. But it's straight ahead fun from Whidbey Island's Shifty Sailors, who will be leading the April 5th Sea Shanty Song Circle at the Northwest Maritime Center. The 6:00-8:30 event is free and family-friendly. You can lead a song, request a song, pass, sing along, or just listen....no walking the plank, sword play, or keel hauling involved! The circle will gather in the NWMC chandlery cafe, which will remain open for those wishing some "galley" fare. The circle has proven itself to be a popular event. It's not about the singer. It's about the musical heritage of our town and the sense of community that is generated. Hope to see you here. "Aaaargh!" - Mike James

The past few months have been so exciting for me... and hopefully for all of us shanty-enthusiasts! 

The idea of starting a Sea Shanty Song Circle, was just that... having recently moved to this amazing maritime community this past October, I had a notion that I would find others, like myself, who would be interested in learning and singing sea shanties, whether we had good voices or not. Being a good singer wasn't the focus, rather finding community and learning about our local, regional and international maritime heritage through song together. 

I don't know if I told you this, but my husband is a student at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB). Soon after school started, there was a party to welcome new students. There was a raffle. I put in his name. He won. The prize was a sail for two aboard the schooner Adventuress! A dream come true, for DZ. We went and had a great time. While aboard this beautiful vessel sailing off Port Townsend, I met Jake Beattie, the Executive Director of the Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC). A month later, he tapped me on the shoulder to say "Hi!" at a Maritime Center members' function. I asked him what he thought of my idea to host a Song Circle... a Thursday evening... the first Thursday of each month. He loved it! Then, he graciously offered the Maritime Center Cafe to be the venue after-hours. And that is how the Port Townsend Sea Shanty Song Circle and Sing-Along came to be. I inquired at Crossroads Music about who in town sang maritime music. They suggested I contact Mike and Val James. Mike was the first person I talked with about the Song Circle and he has been instrumental ever since in helping to promote, organize and lead our monthly gatherings. Since our first Song Circle in January, we have had an attendance each month of any where from 60 or so to nearly 100 sea shanty enthusiasts! 

Thank you to the shanty-enthusiasts who come out to learn, share and sing the songs of the sailors! What a treat, what an education and wonderful way to preserve our maritime culture through music and oral tradition... what family-friendly fun... for free!

Thank you to the staff Northwest Maritime Center and Crossroads Music for sponsoring us!

Tune in to KPTZ 91.9 FM Radio Port Townsend this coming Monday, April 2, to Boat Talk with show host Peter Guerrero between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Peter will be interviewing Mike James, myself and other shanty enthusiasts about sea shanties and our monthly Sea Shanty Song Circle, most likely between 1:40 p.m. to 2:20 p.m.

Another announcement, which I am so very pleased to share with all of you, is that the "Friends of the Arts" here in Port Townsend, has selected our Sing Shanties group to be the recipient of a grant to print a special edition of Stephen Gottlieb Lewis' personal collection of maritime songs. Fifty songbooks will be made available to lend during our Song Circle, so everyone has an opportunity to sing from a songbook and we can literally all be on the same page! We hope to print more, which can be purchased by those wanting their own individual copies. More to come about this later. We have a committee working diligently on cataloging, researching and preparing to print Lewis' collection. It is our goal to have this special edition songbook available for our September Song Circle and before the Wooden Boat Festival in September.

Thank you to the song book committee: Deborah Lewis, Mike James, Helen Gilbert, Ellie Mathews, Carl Youngmann, Susan Jensen, Tom Booth and Judy Courtwright.

Thank you to the Friends of the Arts.

Thank you to everyone who keeps coming out each month... sharing and singing from Lewis' orange, blue, green songbooks... shouting out book colors and page numbers to all!

Your continued participation, presence and camaraderie is wonderful and encouraging to keep on singin' shanties.

We hope to see you on April 5th! Bring your kids, bring your friends.

Remember, singin' is encouraged, but knot required." 

Please share the flyer in the previous blog post with family and friends.

Let's have a great turn out and enthusiastic welcome for Whidbey Island's Shifty Sailors!

Keep on Singin' Shanties

Another fun night!

Thanks to the 60 or so folks who came out last night to join the sing-along at the NW Maritime Center Cafe. 

Emily (Cafe Manager) and all the Maritime staff are awesome! Service with a smile!

A big thank you to Tug Bromberg for leading the Song Circle! Thank you to our shanty-friends Matthew Moeller and the Shifty Sailors for making the trek from places afar off to join us for another great time of camaraderie, sharing and singing songs of the sea! 

Our gatherings would not be possible without the faithful inspiration and support of Mike and Val James, Helen Gilbert and the growing number of shanty enthusiasts who come to our monthly gatherings and are volunteering to help in anyway they can. Keep singin' shanties!

Photos and videos forthcoming, courtesy of Helen Gilbert. Hopefully, she'll have some good ones of Tug, as I was staring at the back of his head all evening.

Judy Courtwright playin' us a tune on her Penny Whistle

Tugboat Bromberg writes:

I had a great time hosting the chantey sing last night. What Fun! I hope that you call on me again to host the sing.
Thanks again
keep your throat wet and powder dry,
Tug

Thank you to our sponsors: the Northwest Maritime Center and Crossroads Music 

Folks havin' fun at our February song circle and sing-along!