I know that I had promised you some photos and adventures from my Halloween excursions in 2010. However, I'm still gathering photographs from those wanderings, and I will present them complete at a later date. In the meantime, I realized I'd forgotten to tell you about my St. Patrick's Day's performance last year, and I wanted to briefly touch on the Christmas Season. Thank you for your indulgence.

Christmas descended on Old Town Eureka once again like a Dickens illustration, minus the snow. The shop windows were lit with holiday decorations, the horse-drawn carriage clipped along the cobblestone streets, and a certain spectre wandered through the December fog, bringing ghostly tale of Seasonal haunts to the audience of Old Town Coffee & Chocolates. It was my annual Christmas event, this year title “The Weather Outside Is Frightful” (a play on a seasonal song that many found quite delightful).

It's quite satisfying to realize there's a large audience waiting each year for my Christmas performance, more so even than my Halloween shows. Having tried very hard to establish that the December holidays are a natural time for ghostly tales, it's gratifying to have that sentiment returned enthusiastically. I have a theory, of course. (Don't I always?) The Halloween time is one of spookiness and eerie pleasures, and while many Christmas ghost stories are indeed frightening, many more are of a humorous bent, even albeit sometimes a dark, sardonic humor. Also, the Christmas tales seem to have an air of redemption about them, which I find perfect for the season as well.

There again, I believe the Christmas performances fit well into the repertoires of my human companions, Paul Woodland and Seabury Gould, who often appear with me. Paul has a specialty of telling folksy and traditional American tales; in the past he's regaled the audience with the story of how Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created, and the famous “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus” essay. Seabury provides the magic and music, enticing audiences to sing along on somewhat twisted carols such as “Pauncho Claus” (a Mexican version of “The Night Before Christmas”) and traditional gospel songs like “He Come From The Glory”, both in fine counterpoint to my macabre musings.

Alas, this year Seabury was unable to join us; at the last minute a family emergency and eventual tragedy called him away. Our thoughts were with him, and he was deeply missed. Still, we were fortunate to have other musical talents available to us, and a fine gentleman named Howdie Emerson filled the musical portion of the evening this year. Howdie is a master of the Celtic Harp, but not just any Celtic Harp: Howdie plays the traditional steel-stringed harp , as opposed to the more common catgut version. His tinny, delicate arrangements of traditional carols and original compositions were greeted with admiring applause, and he felt into accompanying my stories as though he had been doing it for ages, weaving small musical motifs around my narration. We were very fortunate to have him.

This publicity photo was used by The Times-Standard for their 2010 Holiday Entertainment Guide. To read the essay this accompanied, click on the image above.

We were also fortunate to have such a large audience this year! People crowded into Old Town Coffee, pulling in extra chairs or settling on the floor in front of us. There were a number of families there, including my young friend Tallulah from the Storytelling By The Sea Festival in September! Her parents had seen an article about the show in the Times-Standard's Holiday Entertainment Guide, and had decided to surprise her with a weekend in Eureka ! Needless to say, I was thrilled, and Tallulah finally got to hear an entire show by Yours Truly and company. (She particularly enjoyed Paul's tales about Christmas cookies!)

For my stories, I shared one of Jerome K. Jerome's Christmas ghost stories from his collection “Told After Supper”, the Hanukah story “Herschel & The Hanukah Goblins” (which is always a favorite), the dark tale of the anti-Santa “Nackles”, by Donald Westlake (with additional material from Harlan Ellison), John Updyke's “The Twelve Terrors Of Christmas” ( Number One - Santa: The Man – “…Something scary and off-key about him, like one of those Stephen King clowns.”) and one of my favorite holiday ghostly tales, “O Come Little Children”, by Chet Williamson, which brought welcome gasps from the audience.

After the show, many came up to us and told us what a wonderful time they had. One woman put it quite succinctly: “You gave us all a lot to think about during this Season; it was very meaningful.” That has always been our goal; to provide a Christmas show that was more than simply glitter and tinsel, but meaning and morals through the dark glass of the macabre. I'm very happy that we seem to be successful in our endeavors, and I look forward to welcoming in the holidays next year with my human friends. Thank you to Gail and the staff at Old Town Coffee, to my fellow performers Paul and Howdie, and to our very appreciative audience.

The Irish are known popularly as a kind and melancholy people; there's much sadness in Irish history, and a certain dry cynicism and morbidity are a fact of life for many on the Emerald Isle. They are also celebrated as marvelous entertainers, musicians, and especially fascinating storytellers; indeed, being able to tell a fine tale seems to be a requirement of Irish citizenship! This, coupled with their melancholy and a fine tradition of magic and macabre memories, makes Ireland a fine, haunted place to live, and the birthplace of many a wonderful ghostly tale, of which I am most appreciative.

Two fine Celtic musicians kick off a night of revelry! Blatant product placement is unintentional...

It's been a tradition for the past several years that I've performed a show during the St. Patrick's Day celebration filled with Irish music and ghost stories, performing with my human companion Seabury Gould's fine Celtic ensemble Scatter The Mud. In past years we've held court at Muddy's Hot Cup in Arcata, a fine coffee house and performing space. Sadly, Muddy's Hot Cup has recently closed for business, and this year Scatter The Mud was busy with other commitments the weekend following St. Patrick's Day.

What to do? Why, the show must go on, of course! Two Street Music in Eureka, a new music venue, offered their space for my use, and Seabury contacted the lovely and talented Judy Hageman (one of his former bandmates in Scatter The Mud before forming her own Bluegrass band Clean Livin'; Judy also performed solo with us at one of our Halloween shows a few years ago), who was delighted to join us in extending the celebration.

What to do? Why, the show must go on, of course! Two Street Music in Eureka, a new music venue, offered their space for my use, and Seabury contacted the lovely and talented Judy Hageman (one of his former bandmates in Scatter The Mud before forming her own Bluegrass band Clean Livin'; Judy also performed solo with us at one of our Halloween shows a few years ago), who was delighted to join us in extending the celebration.

What to do? Why, the show must go on, of course! Two Street Music in Eureka, a new music venue, offered their space for my use, and Seabury contacted the lovely and talented Judy Hageman (one of his former bandmates in Scatter The Mud before forming her own Bluegrass band Clean Livin'; Judy also performed solo with us at one of our Halloween shows a few years ago), who was delighted to join us in extending the celebration.

Sadly, as with any change of venue, there is the potential problem of communication, and even though Two Street Music did a superb job of promoting the event, the different location (moving from Arcata to Eureka ) took many by surprise. Also, we were performing the weekend after St. Patrick's Day, and our fans may just have been celebrated out by then! Whatever the reason, there was a very small crowd that evening that came to enjoy the music and tales. Yet as disappointed as we were by the size of the audience, their warmth and enthusiasm more than made up for it, and they seemed to truly enjoy themselves.

Spinning more Celtic tales before an audience that sits; awaiting the spectral drum solo.

I know that I had a very good time, for Seabury and Judy are excellent musicians and singers, and their selections ranged from classic Celtic reels and jigs to contemporary songs of the Green Isle, such as Richard Shindell's “Fleur De Lis” and Dougie MacLean's “Caladonia” , two of my absolute favorites. For myself, I told many of my Irish tales, such as “The Devil & The Dublin Lawyer” , “The Devil's Bit” , “The Coach-A-Bower (The Death Coach)” , and, of course, “The Leprechaun Vampire” , which I suppose is not technically an Irish story, but it is very well liked!

Seabury masterfully picks the Irish Bouzouki, an instrument of Middle East origins that has become adapted to traditional Celtic fare.

In the end, it was a delightful celebration of the Celtic Holiday, and what does it matter the size of the crowd? It's the enjoyment and entertainment that counts, and in that regard this year's celebration was a huge success! Thank you to both Seabury and Judy for your amazing talents, to Two Street Music for stepping into the crunch, and to everyone who stopped by to enjoy a taste of the Gentry Folk and the like. I hope we can spread the word again for 2011! Until then, Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!

(Which means, “Have A Good Journey!” )