The crew of There Be Pirates! was shanghaied in early 2006, at a beachfront bar in Tortuga, after a weekend of celebratory post-voyage antics none of them are either willing or able to recall.
In addition to Shanghai Brown, there was Steve "Dublin" Lublin, the devil's fiddler Francis, and members of Really Shooo and the Barking Pupfish, who all came together to form Southern California's premier pirate jam band (OK, and possibly its ONLY pirate jam band). We abuse shanties, forebitters, sea songs, Irish drinking songs, songs older than dirt, and whatever pleases us at the moment. And we have a damned jolly time doing it! There Be Pirates! has played to great receptions at Pirates n' Plunder (Whittier), The River (Rancho Mirage), Water Canyon Coffee Co. (Yucca Valley), two annual appearances at Chuckwalla Fest (Pioneertown), Pioneer Days Festival (29 Palms), the 4th annual Shanghai Brown's St. Paddy's Day Melee, the 29 Palms Inn, and a special performance for the Port Royal Privateers, who have extended an invitation for the band to return every year to the Drunken Mermaid Tavern, paid in hard cash and rum. Often, at their performances, if you come dressed like a pirate or dance like a pirate, you'll get a little booty. Currently on the beach in the California desert (they're worried about getting shanghaied again if they're too close to the water), There Be Pirates! is hard at work on their first CD, "Drink & the Devil." (Note: Forget that awful "Rogues' Gallery" recording - this is true pirate party music.) For information or gigs, please e-mail [email protected], or call (760)367-6410. And bear with us - we'll be posting some of our finished tracks of music and updating the site here as soon as we finish holystoning the deck. The song tracks currently up on this page are very rough cuts, and we'll get the finished mixes up as soon as we stop adding new songs to the upcoming CD (we can't help ourselves - there are so many great songs to do). As for me, I am an itinerant shantyman, who plied the waters of the Northwest for many years, singing with my shanty group, Blue Peter, and Celtic groups as well. I've sung from the deck of the Lady Washington, to the stage at Northwest Folklife, maritime festivals and museums, conventions and yacht club parties. I also produced The Great Northwest Shanty Sing-Off of 1999, and served proudly as president of Victory Music, the Northwest's non-profit music cooperative - a great bunch of musicians and music lovers who do much with little. The crew of There Be Pirates! has really signed the articles - with their own names - and not only do they all rate as worthy musicians, but I'd sail anywhere with them. We're not a Ren Faire style group, though we love them, or a traditional shanty group, though we love them. We're about 10 rogues and scoundrels who are too damned independent to fit in any mold! Thankee Kindly, Shanghai Brown PS: Our shows can come in a variety of formats, including lights, cannon, belly dancers, fire dancers, pirate re-enactors, pirate bling for sale, etc. If ye like ta dance ta yer pirate ditties, we be the band fer ye. PPS: Stay tuned for news of a rumored voyage to England this coming year! PPPS: Help send a pirate to England this summer - get yer There Be Pirates! wear at My shop .