Lawrenceville, New Jersey
July 2007

Deep River Ancient Muster

Hosted by Fritz the Gnome

Next: Wherein Lies The Master

We generally try to keep our visits to a week but we couldn't resist the opportunity to hang with Del, Fritz & friends as they traveled to another unique event.

When we first contacted Fritz about a possible visit we noticed that Del was a rather unique sort of performer in a band named Browne Jenkyn.

Browne Jenkyn performs traditional music of the British Isles, as well as more recent and original pieces written in the traditional style. Their repertoire consists of songs of adventure, love and betrayal, death and the other world; along with a vast array of instrumental numbers including jigs, reels, waltzes and marches.

Pretty dang neat if you ask us! Well pretty dang neat whether you ask us or not actually. Del was right in his element.

For their next adventure, Fritz, Bud and Tiki Jr. joined the Bean, Del and Dave on a trip to Deep River, Connecticut. To start the journey right, they ate a questionable breakfast featuring a famous New Jersey delicacy, pork roll. The Gnomes enjoyed it, but Tiki Jr. thought it was awful (maybe he should stick to Spam).

A little more than an hour later, they were crossing the George Washington Bridge into New York.

And a little while after that, they stopped at a rest area for McNuggets.

Finally they reached their destination, the Deep River Ancient Muster. This is a gathering of hundreds of fifers and drummers (and bagpipe players too). Corps from all over the country and some from Europe flock here each year to play music, meet people, learn songs, jam and have a good time. Bud and Tiki Jr. were quite overwhelmed by all the fifers and drummers.

After Fritz and company said 'Hi' to some friends, they decided to get some food in nearby Old Saybrook. They had dinner at Johnny Ad's, a queer little seafood joint with a queer little name.

They went back to the muster that night. A mass of fifers and drummers had packed the tiny baseball field for the Friday night jam. Very loud! Then they visited the camp of their friends in Taggart Pipes & Drums. Dave and Del played bones and bodhran with the Taggart's George Martin (on the small pipes) and another guy we don't know on the uilleann pipes. Lots of fun!

Saturday morning, after another questionable breakfast, the little rag-tag bunch settled down to watch the parade through Deep River. There were many corps, some Fritz knew and some he did not know.

The Sailing Masters of 1812 are one of Fritz's favourite fife and drum bands. The lads from Puna enjoyed them too.

Every year, Pipe Major George Martin of the Taggart Pipes & Drums stops and plays 'Happy Birthday' to a nice lady who lives in Deep River. The crowd goes wild over this.

Back at the field, the bands performed again. Fritz pulled Bud and Tiki Jr. up close to see The Ancient Mariners. They are quite a spectacle. Then, after saying 'goodbye' to the people they knew, they climbed into the car and hit the road.

(Photos: Del, Bean & Fritz/ Dialogue: Del & Tony V.)