The Adventures of the Sage Lion

Pyrate's Way Magazine--WooHoo! We're Famous

I don't think I recounted our adventures of PyrateCon 2007, but when we were in New Orleans, we ran into the folks that put out Pyrate's Way Magazine.  Black Fox (Steve) is an affable fellow who was congenial and polite. I subscribed to the magazine while we were there and Black Fox took our picture. It had scarcely left my mind when my magazine arrived just yesterday.

Much to my pleasure, there we were. Me and me luvly wife, Salma Gundy, are sittin' there, she lookin' dead sexy and me lookin' like me ears 're still ringin' after a canon blast.

We are right in the middle of other folks we met at the PyrateCon. Here is a rough scan, but it is a scan nonetheless.

I haven't read the article yet, though I am sure with out picture in the mag, it must be wonderful.

Thank ye Black Fox and everyone else we met while at the PyrateCon.

Tribal Cafe 2007

All I can say is that this was one of the better events I have been to.  Tribal Cafe was put on by Blue Damsel , Rachel Lazerus-Soto and Politti Ashcraft with help from Erin Whatsername and my sexy wife Leslie Dunn. The event was a smash.

I must apologize now to many of the dancers. Due to a camera issue (my wife having it up in the hotel room and she rehearsing) I was unable to get a lot of pics.

There were quite a few dancers that are just amazing that I missed out on pics of. Rachel Brice in Indigo was one of them. And let the rumor be started here, Rachel Brice is in love with me. I know what you are thinking. I led her on? No way, no how. Look at the pic. She is obviously smitten. Rachel, I am sorry sweetheart, we have to remain platonic friends. I know. It hurts.

Actually, I just met Rachel Brice and not only is she is a spectacular dancer, but she is a phenomenally nice woman as well.

My adventures on this event were interesting. The Blue Damsels allowed me to set up camp with them and sell some of my leather work. Moreover, they allowed me to do some leather carving and tooling there at the event. They put me right behind the largest pillar known to mankind. I think it was the 8th Wonder of the World, and yet, people still managed to find me. I would blame Politti, but, as we all know, she is in love with me also and she let me use her card table, so I will not  blame her.

The first evening, Friday, I got to hang near Portia and Arlette of Burning Incense, who manned the Eventide Productions/Blue Damsel table. These women are some of the nicest (and attractive) around. We had a lot of fun.

The vendors in the area varied from the standard jewelry to the beautiful henna ladies to bellydance attire to a wonderful new artist on the scene, Sara the Wispy Gypsy. I liked Sara's artwork so much that I asked her for a piece to carve into a leather tray. As soon as I get it finished I will post it right here.

Laura Sutherland was a fantastic MC as usual. Her relaxed and candid humor keep the audience entertained and involved.

There are a few dancers that just get me going. They are simple great dancers and neat people. As I stated, Rachel Brice is one. Another is Mira Betz. She has this beautiful smile and a very comfortable countenance with here dancing.

Sedona is one of my favorites. I have enjoyed her since I first saw her perform at "Jingle All the Way," a holiday dance show in Lancaster, California.

Burning Incense are also some of my favorites. They are the local team. They are so skilled it blows my mind. You would think that such beautiful women would be all snotty and stuck up, but you would be wrong. Portia, Jennifer and Arlette are incredibly sweet. And, I have to mention, so are their husbands. Great guys.

Atash Maya performed a cool number with quite a large array of dancers. Sooz was dancing with Atash Maya for this performance and she was smokin'. Then again, Sooz is always smokin'.

Faizeh and her group Hiplash and  Diana's(a beautiful and talented dancer) troupe Alamkara were very clever as well. Midriff Crisis put on a great dark performance. Unmata unleashed a fun and energetic routine that left the audience going wild.

DaVid of Scandinavia, not only did some workshops but performed a more pop/East Indian dance that I can't remember the name of. It is something like bangadong or something. I will get that later.

Oh, yeah. I liked Jenna Francis a lot as well. And, there was a new dancer from Florida I believe named Daniella. She was superb. She really had a lot of energy and got the crowd going. No pics of her I am afraid as well as disappointed.

Last but not least, that I just have to mention is Blue Damsel. Blue Damsel did their disco number with the Damsels (the performance prep troupe) and rocked the house.

All of the performers that I saw, and that was a lot, were superb. The crowd was so into it. Sometimes at these events there are pockets of good dancers and a lot of mediocre dancers, but not this time. Everyone stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park (why am I using so many baseball metaphors?).

And, I sold some of my leatherwork. I sold one of my trays to the beautiful Max, that did henna next to me. I also sold a tray to a beautiful woman who bought one of my favorites, my greenman tray, for her husband.

Go check out the photo album for some pics of the dancers and other pics.

Tribal Cafe 2007

It is here, Tribal Cafe, tribal belly dance event. This event is taking place at the Clarion Hotel in San Bernardino, California. The first night went rather well. The dancers were superb and included such world famous dancers as Rachel Brice and Blue Damsel.

The vendor room is set up really well and everyone was truly in a great mood.

I am chillin' at behind a large column, just sittin' and doin' leatherwork. I will bring more info on the event later.

For more information go to http://www.tribalcafe.info/tchome.html.

Pictures and more details to follow.

Captain Dunn

Tiger Lee's "A Pirate's Life Party"

Last weekend on the 4th of August, me lovely wife Salma Gundy and I went to a most enjoyable pirate gathering. This was the 2nd annual A Pirate's Life Party put on by the renowned "Hot Pirate Babe" photographer, Tiger Lee. The party took place down in San Diego at the Playa Pacifica Park right on the water.

When we first arrived we were greeted by a slew of scurvy dogs as we seein' fit to enjoy the party. Affable blokes they were. We knew we would be havin' a grand adventure for certain as so far, everyone was friendly.

We caught sight o' some mates, Captain Greydog and the crew of the Orange Mermaid. We gathered and shared salutations and then I heard the knell o' challenge for me--the sword fightin' class. I figured this would be great fun as I am a swordsman. I study at the Bankside Schole of Defense in Riverside, CA under the most excellent provost Steve Leon.  Anyhow, I figured this would be great fun. Instead, I managed to be the only dumbass to fall over whilst fighint (slow fighting mind you) and had my ass handed to me by Luna, one of the most lovely pirate ladies there (aside from me stunning wife Salma Gundy). I claim it was the grog in me veins and Luna's beautiful eyes that threw me off.

After that, we all socialized and we got to me many new friends. A kindly pirate from Alaska and his date from Phoenix (I can't remember their names, so if you are reading this e-mail me and remind me please) were a couple of the first new friends. We met Captain Dandy. That bastard had the biggest head ever, but was great. Met many others, including the Hot Pirate Babes and other hot pirate babes.

Very soon two dashing rogues set to one another with swords flashing. Jerry Reyes and Louis took out their aggressions on each other. What a great sword fight. I don't think there was an absolute winner, but there was free grog, so who cares.

A pirate court took place next with some entertaining but scurvy dogs. While this was going on Salma and I visited a few of the vendors and took some pictures. Then it was time to sing some drinking songs. Now, I have to tell ye, any song that involves me yelling, "lift up yer shirt." is always a good song.

Not long after we sat down with our mates and partook of some mighty tasty grub. Had me some red beans and rice, some alligator sausage, and some other stuff I can't recall (remember--grog). AND, a brownie or two. I likes me some brownies. In fact, a lovely lass sitting behind me offered me an extra brownie and snatched it up quick as can be.

As the sun set we all relaxed and let our meals settle and then the evening entertainment began--fire dancer and a fire eater and blower. These were some great performers and they really got the crowd of pirates going.

As night wore on, I sold a couple of my pouches simply by happenstance and the lovely brownie providin' lass even bought one of me trays. Me favorite tray as a matter of fact.

The Hot Pirate Babes signed the new Hot Pirate Babe Calendar and we all laughed and drank grog and shared stories and drank grog and had a grand time overall.

As the party was waning, Greydog's beautiful wife Cantankerous Jan invited us to the crew for a late night snack at the local hostel, The Hilton. We all gathered there and laughed some more and relaxed and shared stories. I kept me eye on Naughty Nellie. She is scurrilous wench, though she did buy a most magnificent pouch as did her husband Steve.

We made good our tab with the serving wench and bid a fond farewell. Time for our long journey to sail the seas of the High Desert.

We had the best time. Everyone was in great spirits and Tiger Lee was a humble host. If ye haven't checked out Tiger drop by his site and tell him Captain Dunn, The Sage Lion sent ya.

Next up, Tribal Cafe, belly dance event.  Tribal Cafe is going to be in San Bernardino California. Check out the website: http://www.tribalcafe.info/tchome.html.

Four days to Texas (and back)

Alright, so there we were with our asses dragging from Comicon Thursday evening. So what do we do? We leave for Austin, Texas. Yep. Me lovely wife Leslie's sister Sharon was graduating the Le Cordon Bleu culinary arts school.

Crazy you say? Hell yes.

Anyhow, we got moving along and in a short period we hit Yuma, Arizona. Well, Leslie was tired and so she asked if we could stay the night there and rest. I personally would have rather pushed on through, but acquiesced to her request. We grabbed a room and passed out. We awoke the next morning refreshed and raring to go.

I am not going to go into detail about the drive for fear it might overexcite the average reader. 20 something hours on the road and all that heavy activity is not for the feint of heart. We did, however, drop by and see "The Thing." "The Thing" is one of them roadside attractions. We went in to the DQ, partook of the facilities and then paid our buck a piece and walked through one large warehouse full of antiquities of various sorts, a full size, hand carved replica of a torture chamber (odd), and a grip of driftwood with painted on eyes and mouths (odder).

Finally, we walked down another outside path to another large warehouse barn thing to where "The Thing" was. As we approached with trepidation, we eagerly anticipated what "The Thing" could be. Could it be an alien? Could it be Kryptonite? Could it be my mother-in-law? But, lo and behold it was a mummy with a baby mummy. So, perhaps it was a mommy mummy, though there were no tell-tale signs of breasticles.  All in all, well worth the buck each we paid for the little trip.  It must be noted that the mummy itself was far less creepy than the driftwood creatures adorning the warehouses.

It must also be noted that the folks that worked at "The Thing" Dairy Queen were very polite and friendly. In fact, the manager of the DQ part told us he would make us the best breakfast we would ever have from a fast food restaurant. And you know what? It t'weren't bad.

We finally rolled into Austin after about 5 bajillion hours on the road. We got to our hotel around and hour and 15 minutes before the graduation ceremony. We showered, dressed and headed out and arrived just in time for the commencement. It was a nice ceremony though the key speaker was very long winded.

After the graduation, we all (Sharon, Dillon[Sharon's boyfriend], Jill [Leslie and Sharon's mom], Leslie and I went to get some lunch at a French buffet sort of place called Le Madeline or somesuch. Food wasn't too bad and it was nice to enjoy Sharon's moment.

We are very proud of her. And, Sharon, if you are reading this, where the hell are my cookies, cakes, pies, and other lard enriched goodness?

Anyhow, Leslie and I went back to our room and finally got a good full 3 hours of sleep. We then went to dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse. Man, I can still taste that porterhouse smothered in garlic butter and the asparagus and mashed potatoes with the garlic and such.
After a full day of eating and a full night of sleeping we got up and had breakfast with the whole gang at one of my favorite restaurants when we travel, The Cracker Barrel. We chowed down and then hit the road. Off we went. It is Sunday around 1 p.m.ish for those keeping score and witnessing our insanity.

Texas rest stops are not to be missed. They are clean and have WiFi. I think we may have interrupted a homosexual encounter as well, which is always entertaining in the middle of the night at a strange rest stop in the middle of nowhere. I must say that I was not a participant, merely a casual observer, just to set minds at ease.

We drove and drove and drove and drove and drove to the 46 power. Mostly the trip was uneventful save for the exit of Arizona to California when we were hit by a dust storm which then became a monsoon. The temperature went from 104 and muggy to 86 and chilly. The traffic slowed down and vision became obscured. It was wild. After about ten minutes it all disappeared and the temp rose back up to 104.

We made it home around 7 p.m. nice and worn out.

Yes, it was insane and we are still feeling the effects, but I gotta tell you, we were thrilled to be there for Sharon. Once again, Sharon, if you are reading this, kick over the goods babe. I am losing weight here.

Don't forget to check out the photo album of our trip to Texas.

Up next The Pirate Party

Custom Leather work

Although I haven't stated it anywhere, if anyone is looking for some sort of leather work done, feel free to send me an e-mail. I am always looking for new projects.

If I can't do it, I will let you know. Give it a shot. Of course the prices will depend of what you want done, but you know you will be getting a one of a kind item made just for you.

The leather trays can be made with your business logo or almost anything not too terribly intricate. The trays can be made to accommodate whatever size you need as well.

Captain Dunn
The Sage Lion