JW Sparrow leads August 12th Song Circle!

Lots of entertaining information here about JW Sparrow in a blog post from September 12, 2013, when John led his first Sea Shanties Song Circle here in Port Townsend. This will be John's 3rd visit to Port Townsend to lead our Sing Shanties Song Circle. Be sure to save the date and help us spread the word - invite your family and friends!

Canadian Shanty Group The Lazy Jacks Lead June 10th Song Circle!

The Lazy Jacks are crossing the Sound to lead the June 10th Shanty Sing. Be sure invite all your family and friends for a great night of listening to and singing songs of the sea with this entertaining, acapella shanty crew!

The Lazy Jacks is a group of acapella shantey singers from Vancouver, BC who have been together since 2009. They focus on traditional work songs of the sea and are the official group of the Vancouver Folk Song Society. They're unique in that the group is primarily made up of women vocalists. They perform under the direction of Captain Allison Campbell and should not be confused with another Canadian group also called the Lazy Jacks.

This is a free, family-friendly community event you won't want to miss!!

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.

Join Shantyman Jim Scarantino for our February 11th Shanty Sing!

WHERE?...The Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water Street, Port Townsend, WA

WHEN?…2nd Wednesday, February 11th, 6:00 to 8-ish

WHY?… Free, Phun, and Family friendly. The February sing will be led by Jim Scarantino, the man with the voice and energy of a “bully first mate.” Aaaaargh! Whether you sing or “knot,” come rant and roar for a fun evening that’s filled with songs, stories, and nautical tales that once echoed across Port Townsend’s waterfront…and still do!

Got a concertina or fiddle? Bring it!...and don’t forget your in-laws! 

Thanks to: The Courtyard Café, Judy Courtwright Studio, Northwest Maritime Center, and Pippa’s Real Tea.

Wayne Palsson Returns to Launch Sing Shanties Song Circle's 4th Year!

Chanteyman Wayne Palsson from Seattle will be back to kick off our New Year celebrating our 4th Anniversary at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend on Wednesday, January 14th from 6:00 to 8:00ish p.m. Bring yer mates for a rousing, family-friendly good time, and it's FREE!

"Wayne has been singing chanteys and maritime songs for over a decade, focusing on songs with rich tones reflecting the fishing and maritime trades. Wayne is the host of Northwest Seaport’s Chantey Sing Series and sings in the local group Strikes A Bell. His own nautical experience on the high seas and local waters helps to anchor his interpretations of traditional chanteys, new and local sea songs, and even a few overlooked classics by Gilbert and Sullivan." - Northwest Seaport

Deck the Hulls with Bows of Jolly - Captain Daniel (Dano) Quinn Returns to Lead December 10 Song Circle!

 

Climb aboard with award-winning storyteller Captain Daniel (Dano) Quinn as he leads us in song and maybe spins one of his colorful and original seafaring yarns, collected over 30+ years at sea!

When asked to share his bio with us, Dano writes, "I was born at a very young age, in fact I was an infant at the time, to two parents; my Mother & Father... I grew up in Mystic, CT. I fell in the water while crabbing when I was 5 years old and never came back out! I'm a licensed Captain of both sail and motor vessels and have been working aboard ships for over 30 years. The first half of my career was all in tall ships so I come by my shanty singing honestly. I'm also a story teller with a unique spin. I recite original humorous sea stories in ballad style. I've performed at the Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria for the past 6 years, I've won the Seattle Maritime Festival "Stories of the Sea" Contest 4 times, and have also won the Northwest Folklife Festival Liar's Contest."

For more about Dano Quinn, here's the link to a recent article about Dano on Three Sheets Northwest by Deborah Bach: Salty stories and tall tales on Dano Quinn CD.

Please share this link and flyer with your family and friends. Holidays are a busy time, so be sure to save this date, Wednesday, December 10 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30ish p.m. to join us at the Northwest Maritime Center (upstairs) for a fun and festive gathering. Please bring your favorite holiday finger foods and sweet treats to enjoy with hot cider, coffee and tea. 

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

February 6th - The Shifty Sailors Lead Song Circle at the Northwest Maritime Center!

The Shifty Sailors are a male singing group from Whidbey Island, Washington, well known in the Pacific Northwest for their enthusiastic singing and crowd-pleasing presentations. They are unique in that they are one of the only large groups in the U.S. dedicated to a nautical repertoire.

Their main mission is to make sure the surrounding maritime communities understand their own nautical history, by singing where ever they are invited to have fun with the public. The Shifty Sailors consider themselves Ambassadors of Whidbey Island, the State of Washington and the United States when traveling here and abroad.

Save the Date! On February 6 from 6-8 p.m., the Shifty Sailors will be here in Port Townsend to lead a rousing and entertaining Sing Shanties Song Circle!

This is a free, family-friendly community event. Invite your friends. Come early to get a seat. You are welcome to bring a snack. Coffee, tea, cookies and songbooks provided.

The Port Townsend Pizza Factory will also deliver pizzas to the NWMC shanty sing, and give a 10% discount (menus available).

We meet on this first Thursday of February upstairs at the Northwest Maritime Center in the Maritime Meeting Room West, above the Chandlery and across from the office, library and restrooms.

Tis the Season to Give Gifts - Last of our Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea Songbooks Available !

Christmas is a great time to give our Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea songbooks for gifts! We have 36 songbooks left in our retail inventory. If you live in the area, contact us at singshanties(at)gmail(dot)com to arrange local pick up and payment, or to have shipped. Price: $11.95 + 9% tax in the State of Washington + S/H $4.50.

Books also available in Port Townsend at the Northwest Maritime Center, Crossroads Music and Olympic Trading Post.

Greenland Whale Fisheries with Lewis Kane

November's Sing Shanties Song Circle was so much fun. Dan Roberts showed up to lead a rousing shanty sing with the other two members of The Whateverly Brothers, Matthew Moeller and Chris Glanister. Laura Martin brought a newcomer to our song circle - Lewis Kane, a traveling minstrel from Inverness, Scotland. What a delight to have Lewis with us for the evening. We hope he'll join us again, next time he visits Port Townsend!

Lewis posted a blog on his website about his time with us at our shanty sing on Friday, November 8th 2013:

"... The next day I went outside to find Dolly surrounded by the friendly neighbourhood deer. I then went off to find the local Coop for some groceries and also met mouth-organist, Roger from The Roadhouse the night before. After a few errands, I followed a tip I’d received and went back to the Coop to jam. I think the first time I’d jammed at a super market but it went down really well and I had loads of fun. I also met Laura who’d also been at The Roadhouse. She told me about a sea shanty song circle that was happening that night. So after more music and a bite to eat, we headed up to catch the song circle, hosted by Port Townsend favourites, The Whateverly Brothers.  

The Whateverly Brothers

It was such a good time and I won a draw for a free copy of the group’s songbook of maritime folk songs. I did a rendition of Greenland Whale Fisheries, which was a special moment for me in a night of great music and company. I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I actually pressed record for my turn at the circle so you can listen by clicking here. 

Afterwards I headed to the Boiler Room for their open mic night. A great comfy, accessible haven, mainly aimed at youth. The highlight was jamming Smells Like Teen Spirit with a local young guitarist. Then it was a late-night stroll down the town’s grand Victorian streets with Laura before sleeping in her vacant gypsy caravan."

Go to Lewis' website to follow his travel adventures, listen to his music and read the rest of his blog post Port Townsend.

Listen in as Lewis introduces himself to the group and leads a famous Irish tune "Greenland Whale Fisheries" with his accordion. The Whateverly Brothers, Mike James and the rest of us join in.

Shantyman and Storyteller Captain Daniel Quinn Returns to Lead December 5th Song Circle!

Please join us on Thursday, December 5th, for a fun and festive shanty sing with Captain Daniel (Dano) Quinn. Dano, who now captains the SS Legacy, spends a lot of time off shore, but will landing again here in Port Townsend to lead our December song circle. Not to be missed! So much fun! His stories are a hoot! Be sure to bring your family and invite your friends!

Here is a repost of Deborah Bach's Three Sheets NW blog post from November 2, 2012 about Dano Quinn and his CD Salty Stories and Tall Tales. Click on the title link below to hear the audio of Hawaii Blues, a maritime story that Dano authored and performed live at the 2011 Stories of the Sea.


Salty stories and tall tales on Dano Quinn CD 

by Deborah Bach

"Perennial audience favorite Dan “Dano” Quinn is a four-time winner of the annual Stories of the Sea competition. Dan “Dano” Quinn grew up with a father who loved to tell jokes and ballad-style stories, sometimes in a faux Cockney accent. 

So it’s not surprising that Quinn grew up to become a storyteller himself. The 55-year-old ship captain is a four-time winner of Seattle’s annual Stories of the Sea competition, captivating audiences with his comical, ribald rhyming poems of hijinks on the high seas. 

Quinn is now sharing his tall tales on a broader scale through his recently released CD “Slightly Salty! Sea Stories, Tall Tales and Outright Lies.” The dozen original stories, written over the past decade, tell of shipwrecks and pirates, of green young sailors and scallywags — good for listening during a road trip or ideally, Quinn says, onboard on a chilly evening while enjoying a rum toddy. 

If Quinn’s delivery seems effortless, it’s likely because he’s long loved telling jokes and eventually found his way to rhyming poems. 

“I just always thought it was a fun way to tell stories,” he says. 

 

A lifelong reader, Quinn was inspired by English poet and writer John Masefield, whose best-known works include “Sea-Fever” (“I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky … “), and Robert Service, an England-born writer who lived in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush and became known as “the Bard of the Yukon.” 

Reading the two poets’ works gave Quinn the idea to give rhyming storytelling a try, and Stories of the Sea provided the impetus to begin writing. His stories often start with the kernel of a joke or anecdote he’s heard somewhere. If it’s not maritime-themed, it soon will be. Embellishment, as the CD title makes clear, is a given. 

While there’s an “element of truth” in all his stories, Quinn says, “If I just told a straight story, it’s not going to be as humorous.” 

Several poems on the CD include nods to the Northwest, including “Changes,” an wry lament on the gentrification of Seattle’s waterfront and surrounding areas. 

“The folks that thought the fleet so quaint when they moved into the ‘hood now want those rusty hulks to move; it’s for the common good,” Quinn recites. “There’s 20 different restaurants and a lot of little shops, but no place to get your welding done or fix a dinged-up prop. 

“I thought I saw a little place where I could get some bait, but it’s just too damned expensive when it’s called a sushi plate.” 

The one serious poem on the CD is “Yearning,” in which Quinn speaks of the powerful pull of the sea: “They say you can never go back but I sure would like to try, to cross an ocean under sail again before I die.” 

It’s a tug that endures for Quinn, who is currently the captain of Wilderness Discoverer, a 76-passenger cruise ship that travels to quiet anchorages in southeast Alaska. He grew up in Connecticut and spent 15 years working on tall ships before moving to Seattle with his wife and their son. He’s crossed the Pacific several times, sailed through the Panama Canal and on the Great Lakes. 

And after 35 years of working on ships, Quinn says, it still hasn’t gotten old. “I still love what I do,” he says. 

“I still think it’s a pretty romantic lifestyle. I get paid to do something I enjoy doing. You can’t beat that.” 

“Slightly Salty! Sea Stories, Tall Tales and Outright Lies” is available at Captain’s Nautical Supplies in Seattle or by emailing Dano Quinn at danmast3@gmail.com. The cost is $12, plus $3 for shipping. Quinn is also available for parties and events."

Sing Shanties Song Circle Returns to the Northwest Maritime Center in 2014!

Do you remember? Did  you attend our very first Song Circle where we gathered in the Chandlery/Cafe area of the Northwest Maritime Center back on January 6, 2011? Nearly a hundred folks crowded together, sitting on chairs, on the floor, standing where ever they could. Good times!

Though crowded, anywhere from forty to a hundred folks, everyone loved that we were able to sing in a maritime environment.  This was the perfect venue for such a community event and most certainly fit the mission of the Northwest Maritime Center - "to engage and educate people of all generations in traditional and contemporary maritime life, in a spirit of adventure and discovery."

When the cafe management changed, we moved upstairs to the Maritime Meeting Room, a room with a sweeping view of the bay and more space to create a true song circle. Even of a warm summer's night with Concert on the Dock happening across the park new folks trickled in out of curiosity, wandering upstairs following the wave of robust singing filtering out through the doors. Seventy-five folks filled the chairs and joined in the singing. More good times!

I am very pleased to announce that starting on February 6 of 2014, we will once again be holding our Sing Shanties Song Circle upstairs at the Northwest Maritime Center in the Marine Room - West, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. We will also be hosting a Sing Shanties Workshop from 5:00-6:00 p.m. just prior to our group shanty sing. Anyone is welcome to attend - this is the perfect opportunity to learn along with others some of those traditional maritime songs in our songbook that no one ever seems to know! 

Through the end of this year, 2013, we will continue to meet at the Uptown Community Center on Tyler Street from 6:00-8:30 p.m on November 7 (Dan Roberts leads) and December 5 (Dano Quinn leads) [Calendar]. Although we won't be meeting every first Thursday of the month in 2014, as we have for the past couple of years, we will continue to meet on the first Thursday of the month on February 6, May 1, August 7 and November 6. Thank you to the Northwest Maritime Center for continued support and sponsorship for our maritime community gatherings. If all goes well, the NWMC will remain our permanent home for our seasonal shanty sings, four times a year! Our song circles will continue to be free, family-friendly community events, where "singin' is encouraged, but knot required!"

Please take a moment to read what Jake Beattie, Executive Director of the NWMC & Wooden Boat Foundation, wrote as the foreword to our Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea songbook, published in 2012.

Nearly every book of shanties includes a well-written passage that describes the value of work songs for traditional ship’s work. I’ve read that shanties were as good as having an extra crewmember on the halyard, and that shanties were the only way that sailors could publicly express discontent with the officer ranks. This could be true, and likely is, but while I have given an enthusiastic voice to these old songs more than a few times as crew on traditional ships, it was always as much as a re-enactment as the vessels themselves. While I’ve been onboard more than one vessel with a captain whose lack of ability was only surpassed by their ego, I’ve never faced capital punishment for saying so. As much as I read, and as close to the original experience as I’ve gotten sailing and working in traditional maritime education, for me the true value of shanties in our modern times can be boiled down to a single word: community.

It’s been years since I’ve given up the quarterdeck and began managing maritime programs from the office. They don’t make shanties extolling the arduous navigation of a tough budget year, but as the first Thursday of the month rolls around, voices from the shanty sing downstairs rise up through the floorboards and lift my spirits. Downstairs, on good nights, there are as many as 80 people sharing in the community of song. Even on the nights where there are fewer each person is connecting to the simple melodies in their own way, out of their own experience, but doing so in a way that draws them closer to those around them. Outside of church services and baseball games, sharing in song is increasingly rare in a world full of social media, guarded irony, and entertainment largely left to professionals. You can connect with multitudes of online “friends” through short updates about your cat, but I would argue that song is more a powerful way to build community since it draws people together through the celebration, courage, and vulnerability of looking your neighbor in the eyes and offering your voice alongside of theirs. Shanty circles are a chance to do just that.

Shanties are songs of hardship, of victory, of toil and mockery. They are songs of participation that are better to sing along with than to watch performed. For better and worse, the age of sail is an echo of a memory generations removed from anyone who actually worked under the conditions in which these songs were created. We can't possibly connect with their original meaning and purpose. Yet, despite that they are a vestige, despite that for all of the scholarly research, I will never as a modern individual understand them in the same context as the sailors who created them. When a heartfelt group gathers to join in the fellowship of songs of the sea, at that moment at least a part of me is part of the crew that is bound for South Australia.

Jake Beattie

Keep on Singin' Shanties!

Join us on August 1st for our next Sing Shanties Song Circle, led by Matthew Orr!

Matthew Orr, local boatbuilder and shantyman, leads our August shanty sing. Enjoy the camaraderie and fun as we each take a turn singing a song, requesting a song, or sitting back to enjoy hearing and learning some of the tunes that were, and many which still are, sung by the working crew aboard tall ships here and abroad. Songbooks available. 

Maritime Music at Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle

May 24, 25 and 26 - This weekend, there will be a lot of great maritime music at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle - Alice Winship, Victory Music Review

Friday, 3:40 pm, Chris Roe
Saturday, 11:40 pm, Spanaway Bay
Saturday, 12:20 pm, Percy Hilo
Saturday, 3 pm, Maritime Showcase at the Northwest Court: The Baggywrinkles 3:00 PM 3:25 PM (Dan Roberts, Matthew Moeller, Tom Rawson), The Great Sanger and Didele 3:30 PM 3:55 PM, Dan Maher 4:00 PM 4:25 PM, Broadside & the Handsome Cabin Boys 4:30 PM 4:55 PM, North by West 5:00 PM 5:25 PM, and Shanghaied on the Willamette 5:30 PM 5:55 PM
Saturday, 6 pm, Beer Garden Chantey Sing
 Saturday, 6:30 pm, Mary Garvey
Sunday, 4 pm, Sea Chantey Sing-Along
Sunday, 9:30 pm, Piper Stock Hill


For more information about maritime music, please read Alice's Maritime Musings column in the online Victory Review Magazine. Victory Music has a new website, you can read the May Review at VictoryMusic.us

Join us for our June 6 Song Circle with Helen Gilbert!

 We will meet at the Uptown Community Center from 6-8:30 p.m. Bring your family, invite your friends! Coffee and tea provided. Snacks welcome! This is a free, fun, family-friendly community gathering. Songbooks available. Singin' is encouraged, but knot required."

The Shifty Sailors singin' and sailin' to Port Townsend, May 2!

 The Cotton Building is located on Water Street next to Pope Marine Park on the waterfront. See you there, mateys!

Ahoy! The Shifty Sailors are back to lead our May 2 Song Circle!

Spread the word - The Shifty Sailors are comin' back to lead us in another rousing round of sea shanties, and sing us some of their maritime favorites. Please join us Thursday, May 2 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. Invite your friends, share this post and flyer... and "Keep on Singin' Shanties"!

Join Us March 7 - Song Circle and Sing-Along with Tugboat Bromberg

1613 Wood Carving

Will March be comin' in like a lion this year? Well, even if it does, don't let the wind and the weather keep you away from comin' out to our March 7 Sing Shanties Song Circle with Tugboat Bromberg. Warm up yer vocals with a hot cuppa tea or coffee, and get yer feet a stompin' to stave off the chill.

March Comes in Like a Lion

For more information about Tugboat, visit his website. We will meet in downtown Port Townsend at the Cotton Building next to Pope Marine Park. Please share this post and flyer with your family and friends, and email us at singshanties(at)gmail.com with a request to be added to our email list for future gatherings and events.

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.

Sweet Shanties, Wayne Palsson will be back leading our February 7 Song Circle!

Join us once again for our second Song Circle of 2013 with Wayne Palsson from Northwest Seaport leading our February 7 Sing Shanties Song Circle & Sing-Along. We'll be gathering at the Uptown Community Center on Tyler Street off Lawrence Street, across from Aldrich's Market. Since Valentine's Day follows closely thereafter, you are welcome to bring chocolate or other confectionaries to share. Coffee and tea are provided. Remember this a free, family-friendly community event, where "Singin' is encouraged, but knot required!"

Wayne's music bio:

Wayne Palsson has been singing chanteys and maritime songs up and down the West Coast for the past several years, focusing on songs with rich tones reflecting the fishing and maritime trades.  His own nautical experience on the high seas and local waters helps to anchor his interpretations of traditional chanteys and forebitters (leisure songs), new and local sea songs, and even a few overlooked classics by Gilbert and Sullivan. Wayne is the host of Northwest Seaport’s Chantey Sing, a monthly sing-a-long that continues a decades-old tradition of maritime music in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest (visit www.nwseaport.org).  Wayne has appeared in Northwest Folklife Festivals and Tacoma’s First Nights, participated in many of the chantey camps in the region, hosts the annual Chantey Sings at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, and produces maritime concerts.

Bring you sweetheart, invite your friends. Have a maritime love song (bitter or sweet) you'd like to share? Well, bring that too!