Scottish & Irish folk songs combined with Lord of the Rings music and Celtic music fun at Renaissance Faires

Brobdingnagian Bards Tales

The latest music news, stories, and events of The Original Celtic Renaissance music group, the Brobdingnagian Bards. CELTIC GEEK at its Best! Find out more from the Nagians page.

Don't miss it! One of the holidays I get excited about the most is coming this weekend. Yes, it's GROUNDHOG DAY! And it's also one of my favorite movies.

I don't know, maybe it's something I learned as a musician, but I've seen the movie dozens of times, and I still love it. If ye haven't seen it, Groundhog Day is a fun and repetitive movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Bill Murray plays a weatherman gone to Punxsutawney, Pa. for Groundhog's Day. He is forced to relive that one day over and over and over again until he gets it right.

Some of my favorite scenes include: Murray kidnaps the groundhog and is being chased by the police and tells the groundhog, "Don't drive angry!"... Guess ye had to be there. Any case, it's a great movie. Join me in spirit, because you can bet that I'll be watching the movie on Saturday night...over and over and over again!)

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Thursday, January 31, 2002
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Just saw the #s click over on our MP3.com. In just over a year, we've had over 200,000 people visit our MP3.com website! Not too shabby. Add to that, Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings) is back in the MP3.com Top 40 at #25, but's dropped down to #15 on Amazon.com.

Last night, Andrew and I also worked out a working list for Songs of Ireland which we hope to complete in the next couple weeks. Songs completed: The Unicorn Song & Spancil Hill. Songs planned for recording: Bog Down in the Valley, Patriot Game, Rocky Road to Dublin, Lanigan's Ball, Danny Boy, to name a few. I'll update you as the songs are completed.

While looking around the Robert Burns website, I found something else that was pretty cool. It's a list of some Scottish fairy tales. There's some neat stories in there. So check em out.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Tuesday, January 29, 2002
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Oh. Yesterday, I also did a little work in the Nagians Only section of the website. Mostly cosmetic, but there's a couple fun things too.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Monday, January 28, 2002
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Thanks to all who came out to Cafe Mundi on Saturday night. That was one helluva fun show. Small crowd, but a lot of fun. So thanks. We're gonna book some more gigs in the very near future. We also started the final touches on Nagians Only, Vol. 2. The sound quality is already a zillion times better than Vol. 1. I'm pretty excited. Tonight we're going to try and finish it up too.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Monday, January 28, 2002
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Today night is the night of the Scottish event called the Burns Supper, commorating the Scottish author, Robert Burns. He's most noted for the lyrics to the song Auld Lang Syne. A few years after his death in 1796, a few of his friends got together and began holding this annual supper. That supper spread throughout Scotland and Northern Ireland and his celebrated every January 25th.

Electric Scotland offers a cool audio version of the Burns Supper. You can also check out the Robert Burns Supper Night station on mp3.com and listen to many of the songs written by Robert Burns and songs written using his poems.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Friday, January 25, 2002
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I'm continually trying to learn the whole recording process. Andrew's been a great help. He is starting to master Cool Edit and home recording. Well I had a few problems with my last recording, so last night, I took my newly acquired knowledge to remix and master, Happily Ever After. Plus, I added an additional instrument to the mix to give it a wee bit more body. I like how it sounds much better now. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

This weekend, we will also start recording George Harrison's song Something. We did a rough cut on Monday and it's sounding great!

Last, I updated the Autoharp Radio website this weekend with some new info, and a link to a lot more autoharp music.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Wednesday, January 23, 2002
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I was listening to a very cool station on Live365 today. It's called Highlander Radio. If you want to listen to some of the more popular Celtic artists online, check out this site! You can even hear us now and then. :)

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Tuesday, January 22, 2002
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I came across an old article I wrote on Creative Booking. It was designed for Nagians interested in having us perform in your community. If you're someone like that, read through it and then drop us a line.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Monday, January 21, 2002
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Today, I learned my heart goes out to our dearly departed friend, Paul Wickman, aka Red Dragon. Dragon was one of our first Patrons at faire. Always willing to forcibly shut up an audience for us to his favorite song, "Do Virgins Taste Better (Than Those Who Are Not)", and he was always willing to share his latest drink from his horn. He was kind, giving man with a love of life. And he will be sorely missed by me and many, many others.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Sunday, January 20, 2002
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The Austin Chronicle's Music Poll 2002 is now taking votes until January 30th. So we deserately need your help. Austin is known as the 'Live Music Capitol of the World' due to its huge number of venues and many, many musicians. There are so many musicians, it is really tough to make an impact on the scene. But the Austin Chronicle is read but a huge segment of the population. Even if just our friends and Nagians made a small effort at voting, we could potentially win an award, thereby forcing our way onto the front of the music scene. It doesn't take much so, vote for the Brobdingnagian Bards. I've seen no requirement that you be from Austin, so Nagians worldwide can vote. Below are some category suggestions:

Best in Austin

- AUSTIN BAND OF THE YEAR: Brobdingnagian Bards
- AUSTIN SONG OF THE YEAR: "Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings)" by Brobdingnagian Bards

Best Texas Recording
- BEST NEW AUSTIN BAND: Brobdingnagian Bards
- ALBUM OF THE YEAR: "A Faire To Remember" by Brobdingnagian Bards

Best Performing band
- FOLK: Brobdingnagian Bards
- WORLD MUSIC: Brobdingnagian Bards
- NONE OF THE ABOVE: Brobdingnagian Bards

Best Austin Musicians
- MALE VOCALS: Marc Gunn
- STRINGS: Marc Gunn-Autoharp
- MISCELLANEOUS INSTRUMENT: Andrew McKee-Recorder

Related Categories
- RADIO PROGRAM: Celtic Storm, Donnelle MacKaskle, 91.7 KOOP Radio
- BAND WEBSITE: Brobdingnagian Bards http://www.TheBards.net/

Thanks a lot! Don't forget to tell your friends to vote too. Slainte!

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Thursday, January 17, 2002
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Way cool! Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings is the #10 most popular download on amazon.com. That means were beating out Elton John, U2, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, New Order, Rob Zombie, Drowning Pool, Ozzy Ozbourne, Kiss, the Cure, Sinead O'Connor, Michelle Branch, Barenaked Ladies, Weezer, Offspring and many, many more artists! That's just tool cool. Sorry, it's not often an Independent Artist can compete with the Major Label artists.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Wednesday, January 16, 2002
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No South Mall this week. School is back in session, and I'm back at my day job. But due to the sinus recovery, we've decide to wait until January 25th to start back to the South Mall to play music. I need to be a wee bit better healed up before I start submitting myself to the elements again.

I also made a decision recently that I'm going to try and record one new solo song every week. That's a tough goal to meet since I don't have a lot of time. But I'm learning the recording process, and yesterday, I layed down a solo version of Happily Ever After. The original version is on our first CD Marked By Great Size that's now on sale. And we are currently halfway through the month. So time is running out to get a copy of the Robin Hood Medley. Head over to our tip jar if you'd like a copy.

Last, for those of you with websites, it is now possible for you to earn money selling our CDs online. We've setup an affiliate program at our Celtic Music CD Store. So sign up if you'd like to earn a few bucks.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Wednesday, January 16, 2002
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I can breathe!!! I had the splints removed from my nose today. Ever see Total Recall? Remember the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger has to remove that surveillance bug from his brain. Well that's what it was like removing the splints. Though not quite so painful looking. But ahhh the relief of having them gone. Thanks for all the heartwarming encouragements from all of you.

Any case, I just got notice that The Rogues, last album was nominated for 4 grammys A big congrats to them. Go check out their music on mp3.com.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Tuesday, January 15, 2002
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Wow. Been a while since I've dropped a message here, but for good reason. Last weekend, we played a private party for the Cook family. The Cooks were some of our early patrons from Georgetown, Texas. They used to come out every weekend to see us play at Patti-Cake's Bakery & Pub. It was great seeing them again, and we had a blast playing that gig.

Well, two days later, and I had nasal surgery to correct a deviated nasal septum. I've been in recovery since then. Surgery went well, but it's left me majorly drained, but I figured I'd stop and tell all I'm doing pretty well, all things considered.

I saw our friends, Lothlorien have taken the charts back from us. Lothlorien is an incredible Celtic band from New Zealand. They've been on MP3.com since March, 2000 and have since then, completely dominated the charts. Their music is amazing and I plan to feature them in an upcoming Crier. So stay tuned.

Our contests online have been doing amazingly well. We're getting scores of new people daily coming to our site looking for Celtic music and finding our unique style. I welcome you all. Plus, I see people coming from Broadcast.com, Amazon.com (Tolkien is the #13 download there) as well as a dozen other places around the net. One Nagian commented that she sees our name everywhere, that's almost seeming true to me. But not quite yet. Please keep helping out!

Finally, the Online Tip Bucket is going slow, but helping a wee bit. Please feel free to lend a hand. Gonna start posting stats in a couple days about its success. Slainte!

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Friday, January 11, 2002
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A couple days ago, Andrew and I sat down and started planning our goals for 2002 and how we will achieve them. One of our big goals is turning music into a full-time profession. We have a good plan, but the big thing we need to do is generate a larger income. This means more CD sales, more gigs, and the latest addition, more tips.

Yup, we've installed an online tip bucket to help us achieve our financial goals. Many of you listen daily to our music, and we have thousands on our mailing list. Does the music inspire you? How about tipping some poor bards, eh? It doesn't take much, just a few dollars per person would help us to easily meet our goal. As a special bonus to people who donate, we are giving away an exclusive, new, Free MP3 every month as a way of saying thank you for your donation. This month's MP3 is the Robin Hood Medley. It's a live recording from Sweet Eugene's College Station, TX from back in March. You'll get our unique twist on Disney's classic cartoon music. And you will be one of an elite few who will actually own this exclusive, never-to-be-released MP3!

If you'd like to tip us and get this Free MP3 gift, click here.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Thursday, January 03, 2002
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Ever wonder what your name would be if you lived in Hobbiton and were a hobbit? Try out the Hobbit Name Generator and find out.

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Thursday, January 03, 2002
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Happy New Year!

I hope you all had an incredible holiday season. I know I had a blast. Both Andrew and I got keyboards for Christmas, so we're hoping to start transcribing our music at loooong last to sheet music. So look for bard sheet music in the future.

Yesterday, we started planning our upcoming year. We've had lots of suggestions for where we should play and what songs we should learn. We have some preliminary ideas in place. We have five albums scheduled for this year, and we're going to try and break into California, Colorado and some East Coast venues as well.

As a special gift for 2002, we are also giving away free tickets to the Excalibur Fantasy Faire in March. So click the link and tell us how many free passes you would like to have.

We've come a long way in less than three years, and we have big plans for the future. But we still need your help. Keep telling all your friends about us and visit our Nagians Only page for tips on how you can help. Thanks a million, and Andrew and I both wish you the merriest and most exciting new year. Slainte!

--posted by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Celtic Folk Music
  Tuesday, January 01, 2002
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